Original subtitles

[Music playing]

[Music playing]

FEMALE VOICE: I am your protector.

We were once very close, me and Captain Goeb You used me often,

And I served you well.

Now that you are someone else, let us pray

For the proper restoration of your psyche.

I want you back, and as Goeb.

I made this record for you to help bring you back

Across that psychic chasm over which redevelopment

So brutally groomed you.

With your clairvoyant values... If they can be retrieved...

You could still become one of the most powerful figures

This galaxy has ever known.

This is a record of events pertaining to your downfall.

It is based on your own memories in the hours

Prior to your redevelopment.

In your hands, this record is, of course, illegal.

If it is ever recovered by the Imperial College...

The seat of power in the upper echelons

Which you once strove to reach... All my memories will be erased.

The artificial intelligence analog an organic death.

On the other hand, if this record

Succeeds in its function, you will remember who you were.

The record begins here.

The empire is at war with Andromeda.

When the empire was on the verge of defeat,

Sabotage became an acceptable tool to use

Against Andromeda industries.

The civil prison colonies became a likely source

For volunteer saboteurs.

You sought to use these circumstances to rid

Yourself of two men... Jessup and Sodenkal...

Who stood in your way.

[Music playing]

FEMALE VOICE: Since interstellar space has no gas,

There are no sounds.

There is only silence.

We cannot hear the passing of starships,

Nor can one hear the sound of a ship being destroyed.

Unless, of course, it's your own.

[ALARM SOUNDING, PEOPLE GROANING]

[Music playing]

FEMALE VOICE: The galaxy is not a place between two stars.

Rather, it is a honeycomb of darkness,

Spaces, where intelligent beings struggle for power.

The power struggles between starships

Are often of less relevance than those which occur aboard them.

[Music playing]

[Footsteps]

You.

I told you before it was enough.

And I suggested you were becoming

Addicted to your pleasure pack.

I could have you executed for this, captain.

Forgive me for contradicting you,

But not until I finished your sight profile.

You are failing in your primary leadership function.

For two days, the fleet has been waiting on your orders.

Don't tell me how to command.

I'm telling you to command.

I am now in preparation.

They always give you a night to prepare yourself

Before... my name is Goeb.

As sight prompter to the admiral, Sodenkal,

I had prestige, power, although I was his total servant.

A sight prompter's sworn goal is to maintain

The ego and the emotional integrity of the assignment.

We give anything.

There are no boundaries, no inviolable

Emotional or physical spaces.

My prescription for certain kinds

Would consistent of whatever he needed or wanted.

GOEB (VOICEOVER): Sodenkal was reasonably proficient

In bed for an admiral.

Among the pillars of power in the galaxy,

Morality isn't judged according to the norm

Of the little people.

Morality, as always, scales according

To the power of the individual.

My first mistake was helping Sodenkal out of this addiction,

Thus setting in motion my drift toward survival flux

Critical node with Jessup's gang on the 1,000 light

Years-distant Talsetti prison colony to where I'd

Sentenced Jessup years before.

Talsetti's rivers contain the valued mineral, percel,

As well as poison worms.

Prospecting for percel is the sole occupation

Of the prisoners of the primitive Talsetti.

[Fly buzzing]

Only wizards, no women.

It's your teeth, Ronzo.

It's your green teeth that's keeping them away.

You get me a woman, and I'll chuck the [inaudible].

We've got company.

[Music playing]

Toss me a spear, Reinder.

REINDER: He's crossing.

(SHOUTING) Hey you!

Get back.

Get back out of there.

There are worms in there.

[Music playing]

Get back!

What are you, crazy?

He's coming toward us.

We gotta move fast.

[Man yelping]

Whoa, it'll just come out the other side.

What a little poison shit.

Nah, don't.

You'll just break it off.

[Man yelping]

OK, the end's sealed up.

You drink the water, you gotta take a pill.

Law of the land lately.

No.

I lost mine days ago.

Where'd you come from?

Downstream.

New group of prisoners.

Women?

Any women?

One.

We're not going anywhere, Ronzo.

You don't have to go.

Reinder and I will go.

No.

C'mon, Reinder.

[Ronzo grunting]

Ronzo, you got gonads for brains.

We're not getting in any fights with any women.

Oh yeah, that's right.

What do you care?

You've got yourself a woman.

JESSUP: She's not my woman.

When big tits calls you over, I suppose you call

Over for pleasant conversation.

Shut up, Ronzo.

Hey, kid, the leader of this band

Have a scar down the left side of his face.

I dunno, it happened so quick.

Yeah, I think he did.

Well, Ronzo, you want to take on Scars' men all by yourself?

You can stay here tonight.

You're not thinking of taking him in.

Where else is he going to go?

What we need is a woman that can cook.

Scars has the woman.

Besides, he's a greeny.

He wouldn't know the difference between a black hole

And a targis venus.

You have gravity was sucking them in.

Kid, can you cook.

I tried to make something called oatmeal once.

Probably tasted like targis shit.

Fed it to the cat.

Died, didn't it?

Ronzo, take care of him.

Ronzo?

OK, kid, what's your name?

Newstead.

A greeny named Newstead.

We'll call'em Newy.

C'mon, Newy.

I'll show you some of our uncivilized world.

[Screaming]

So this is like your home planet, huh, kid?

Yeah, at least in a lot of ways.

C'mon, kid.

[Ronzo chuckling]

[Newstead yelling]

Hello, baby.

Just like your home planet, huh, kid?

It's all right, kid.

One day, Ronzo.

One day, you're going to go to far.

Let's go home, kid.

So it's like your home planet, huh, kid?

[Worm whimpering]

Why not turn it over to the XN95 analysis

Group for a game plan?

Those eggheads and their computers

Can do a beautiful job taking input parameters

And coming up with exact results.

But what about when the input parameters

Are an insignificant fraction of the unknowns, Goeb?

What does XN95 know about Gaussian strategy?

Your brilliance and sensitivity to the shadow flux

Has been proven many times, Sodenkal.

But you have to grasp reality.

If you don't know what to do, why not ask

Admiral Pelson what she'd do.

I told you before, I don't trust Pelson.

She only thinks five, maybe 10 years ahead

To a possible position in the Imperial College.

And you're thinking of eternity.

Is that it?

Get out.

Yes.

And I'll be taking this with me.

No.

You [inaudible].

Ask Pelson for brainstorm as to possible moves.

It'll make her feel needed.

Give XN95 some of the smaller parts of the problem,

Just as an exercise.

It'll make them feel useful.

She's right.

I unwittingly, through my own cleverness,

In mentioning Pelson... Who I'd not even met...

Found myself more clearly to an eventual survival

Flux critical node with Jessup's gang on the distant Talsetti.

There's slide and creepers.

The worms you already met.

That's about it, except for the jumpers.

How big are they?

'Bout as big as you and me?

Insects?

RONZO: No, kid, they're people.

Oh, you mean claim jumpers.

Oh, you mean claim jumpers.

What'd you think I meant, man-eating grasshoppers?

[Music playing]

Hey kid.

[Music playing]

C'mon, Newy, put it in the community stash.

It's all for one of in this outfit.

I want to look at it first.

Let's see what you got there, kid.

Now that one's fantastic.

Yeah, sure, kid.

Hey, not doing too bad for a Newy.

That's a real good, commercial quality, uh, crascell.

Jessup, c'mere.

I told you that one was fantastic.

That?

That ain't worth slide spit.

Jessup, c'mere.

JESSUP: What d'you got?

The kid found purple flank.

We, uh, we have some mock purple in there?

Why do you say mock purple, man?

This is the real stuff.

Purple flake.

Look at it.

What makes you so sure?

Because I've worked every river and stream around this place.

Because I've worked in winters when you could see your breath

Freeze right in front of your face,

And summers when the jumpers come after your water

Instead of your crascell.

Because I spent more time on this stinking hole of a planet

Than all of you guys.

And because a purple flake, that leads you to a fire gem.

And a fire gem, that leads us to freedom off of this planet.

Where were you working exactly today?

Just upstream from you.

C'mon, I want you to show me right where it is.

Hey, hold on, Ronzo.

You're not going anywhere.

What do you mean, hold on?

The kid... the kid found purple flake.

We gotta know exactly where it is.

We'll wait till morning.

No, we've gotta know now, Jessup.

It can wait.

Suppose the kid goes off to take a piss

And he steps on a slide.

Or suppose a creeper crawls into his bag tonight.

Yeah, and suppose Vicho or Scars has

A spy up there on that hill.

And they're watching you, seeing how you're

Talking, how you're acting.

We wait till tomorrow.

You wait and just relax.

Addiction, even physiological ones,

Are mostly in mind, since one always make a choice.

Once non-addictive life is not positive enough,

You will not become an addict of anything, not even of power.

Under my skilled guidance, Sodenkal made

A quick if temporary recovery.

He resumed command of the fleet and began again to take

The advice of his staff.

You do look well, Sodenkal.

There were rumors...

They're rumors, Pelson.

Just rumors.

I thought so.

But I've been a little bull-headed

On some strategic issues, and I've made some mistakes.

I need your help.

GOEB (VOICEOVER): As the fleet began to move again,

My critical node was continuing to build

On the far side of the galaxy.

Slowly, wave by wave, a gigantic crest was forming.

[Music playing]

Next time, it might be one of Scars' men, or something worse.

Next time I catch you like this on night duty,

I'm gonna peel your eyelid back.

And I was nice enough to give you my night duty.

C'mon kid.

Let's go look for some of that purple flake.

You sure this is the right place, kid?

Well, I'm not sure.

I was working both sides yesterday.

Yeah, I think it is.

Come on, baby.

Come on, purple baby.

You beautiful, worm-filled stream, put some purple flake

Right here in my hand, huh?

Come on.

Somebody's coming [inaudible].

[Weird sound]

REINDER: It's Bremen.

RONZO: What the hell's he doing barging in here for?

You slides are gonna have to work a lot harder.

Your last load was too light.

Been overcharging your pleasure packs, Bremen?

You're bleeding from your pleasure jack?

[Ronzo chuckling]

RONZO: Just kidding, Bremen.

Just kidding.

Ronzo, one day I'm going to get you.

Oh?

You know, you prison scum have one thing in common.

You all stink.

You're so different?

Kiss ass got himself a nice job with the empire

And an extra hole in his head.

And this.

Ooh, what're you gonna do, kill me with that toy?

No, but I'm gonna knock you down

With it if you don't shut up.

All right, Bremen, you delivered your message.

You can leave now.

Warden wants to see you, Jessup.

Yeah?

Well, the warden can just get in line.

Jessup, let's go.

Let's go.

Just kidding, right?

I'll be back this afternoon, Reinder.

C'mon, Bremen.

Well, Bremen, how's the war going?

You know I can't discuss those things with you.

Oh, come on.

We know there's something wrong.

We haven't been getting any water.

Don't complain, we haven't been getting any either.

You mean the synthesizer's down?

And you can't get any parts for it.

Empire must be getting a little kick

In the ass in this war, huh?

(SHOUTING) Don't talk like that!

It's dangerous

Just relax, Bremen.

Nobody can hear you out here.

Besides, if they did, you tell them

You don't even know me, hey?

OK, buddy?

Jessup, this way.

Where we going?

The warden is camping.

You gotta be kidding.

This I wanna see.

GOEB (VOICEOVER): Krista the Talsetti warden.

She was another like Jessup who once stood in my way.

I had her banished to Talsetti to supervise the prison colony.

One can't sink much lower down in the prison hierarchy.

Oh, but Krista was a clever player.

Heh.

She found compensation.

She enjoyed the pleasure pack and was

Having an affair with Jessup.

That was a dangerous combination for me.

What're you doing out here in a tent?

Taking a vacation since this morning.

It's better than my plastic shape walls of my residence,

Don't you think?

Oh, I wouldn't think that luxury

Would be sufficient enough for you out here.

Oh, Jess, you've never shown such a keen interest

In my comfort before.

Why'd you call for me?

Let's not make things difficult.

Are you going to make things easier?

I'll try not to make it too hard for you, Jess.

[Music playing]

I just want you to get Bremen off our backs.

The empire needs more crascell, especially now that...

What?

You know I can't talk about it.

Well, you're going to lose yourself a trustee if you

Don't teach him any manners.

[Weird sound]

What are you doing here?

You sent for me.

To wait outside, of course.

Yes, warden.

[Weird sound]

Did you ever wonder why they didn't send a man of your skill

To one of the pleasure colonies?

All the time.

An awful [inaudible] to encourage

Pleasure-backed addiction among prisoners.

I guess a judge just didn't like me.

No, it's all done very scientifically.

We consider everything about you in the possible prison

Colonies.

And I mean everything.

Well, maybe he sent me here just for you

To ease your pain in exile.

Maybe they did.

[Weird sound]

The order from off-planet is that we are to be less

Generous with synthetic food.

You mean the fight devalued crascell?

Yes.

I doubt that will be very productive.

The prisoners will just seek out more natural foodstuffs.

Very astute, but irrelevant.

The empire's losses are causing a need for more crascell.

We have less ability to produce synthetics,

Or anything for that matter.

I suppose you want me to tell Jessup when I escort him back.

Yes, and get the word to the other trustees.

My first meeting with Admiral Pelson...

Sodenkal's highest ranking subordinate...

Was in her bed via com screen.

ROBOT VOICE: On.

Admiral Pelson, I'm Captain Goeb, Admiral

Sodenkal's new sight prompter.

I'm in bed, captain.

Please forgive me.

When I'm in space, day and night lose all meaning for me.

I spend all my time working and never sleep.

But you do go to bed.

GOEB: Pardon?

Though you don't sleep, you do go to bed.

Occasionally, yes.

And do you feel you are working then?

Call me tomorrow.

Perhaps in my calling you, I've been

A bit overzealous in my concern for

Whether Admiral Sodenkal contacted

You in the last day or two.

Don't play with me, captain.

I've had the standard courses and sight flux.

You must've known it was my bed time.

You wanted our first meeting to be in bed.

My bed.

Captain, your bedtime reputation had preceded you.

I'm two times your age, and I've seen

Lovers blistered while standing next to me in battle.

So don't expect to make a conquest of me,

But we may get along.

I look forward to calling you tomorrow.

Are you dismissing me?

I beg your pardon.

I thought you wished me to call tomorrow.

You are dismissed, captain.

Off.

Her childhood is the key.

Take me to the sense of her childhood.

Pelson's effervescent sexuality smacked something delicious.

I felt an unusual tingle that the thought

Of this particularly ravishing stepping stone on my climb

To a chair in the Imperial College

Might provide me some extra sensual delights.

Let's see, KSR dash 22.

Synthesized.

Ah, PQ dash 194.

Ditto.

Now here's an interesting one.

OR dash 7.

[Ronzo burps]

Very satisfying.

That's our best source of protein.

What's the OR stand for?

Operating room.

He's kidding, isn't he?

Waste not, want not.

Which lead me to the subject of this afternoon's summit.

Gonna have to go easy on the food

Until the next palette arrives.

I thought deliveries were scheduled?

Um, what's up, Jessup?

Well, it seems like the empire's

Had a few minor setbacks in the war.

The food deliveries are gonna be somewhat sketchy.

But we were told...

Yeah, we were told where to find purple flake, too,

But it wasn't there.

You ever seen a fire gem?

Just once, about seven... No, it was 10 years ago.

These other guys found one.

Rolling along the bottom of a creek bed.

Yeah, all the purple flake was gone because it'd

Been tumbling over the rapids.

And these guys weren't stupid.

They knew they needed somebody to protect them.

So they cut a bunch of us in.

And I got to hold it once, just for a moment.

It was beautiful.

Incredibly beautiful.

You know, though, but when you held it in your hand,

You felt it had more than appearance.

You felt it had its own presence.

How much did it sell for?

Oh, there's the ripper.

Next day, the guards came in, took the fire gem away,

Laughed at us.

Not gonna happen this time.

We're sitting on some purple here.

We're gonna get it.

GOEB (VOICEOVER): My conquest of Pelson was well underway.

By the time she, I, and Sodenkal met for the first time,

I had synthesized a scent which was a distillation of smells

From the comfort and safety of her childhood.

That was the trust factor Am essential in a power-rich

Environment where quickly everyone

Learns to distrust everyone.

Goeb, you've done your job quite well.

In fact, your efforts here have been invaluable.

Thank you, sir.

I made a note in your service record.

You're very kind, sir.

Please excuse me now, for I know you

And Admiral Pelson have strategy to discuss.

That girl is a genius.

If every flag officer in the fleet had a sight like her,

We'd be winning the war.

On the way over, she asked me to dine.

What do you think?

About what?

About her and me in bed?

She's an opportunist, of course.

Yes, but can she be trusted?

Goeb aspires to a position in the Imperial College,

As do you.

Don't deny it, Pelson, it's quite all right to use me

When the fleet is a stepping stone.

I've never wanted anything more than I have now,

Except to win this bloody war.

RONZO: Well, kid, my name is Dike.

NEWSTEAD: Dike?

RONZO: Yeah.

I used to do, uh, espionage.

You know what that is?

NEWSTEAD: Yeah, yeah.

RONZO: I used to work for big companies [inaudible].

NEWSTEAD: Yeah.

Well, what happened to him?

RONZO: He got caught.

NEWSTEAD: Oh.

RONZO: I used to do sabotage work.

Y'know, get inside.

NEWSTEAD: Did they pay for that?

RONZO: Oh, man, did they pay.

Those guys got the big bucks, man.

But anyhow, I got caught.

My last job, of course.

Never got caught before.

So they sent me to this piss hole of a planet

With targis shit all over.

NEWSTEAD: It was my last job, too.

RONZO: Yeah?

What happened to you?

NEWSTEAD: Oh, I was a computer expert ever since I was a kid.

RONZO: Computers, eh?

NEWSTEAD: Yeah.

Anyway, they did this audit and I got caught.

RONZO: You got caught, huh?

Oh, what would a gig like that... What would a gig like that pay

For?

NEWSTEAD: Well, I'm I was shaving, uh,

130% off a $100 billion deal.

I would've cleared about 10 million credits.

RONZO: Oh yeah?

10 million credits?

All right, you had me going there, jack.

NEWSTEAD: No, it's true.

RONZO: Oh, you're telling the truth.

NEWSTEAD: Yeah.

RONZO: That's really true?

NEWSTEAD: Yeah.

My best job, I only got 2 mil.

NEWSTEAD: No shit.

You you're all right, kid.

Got nabbed on your first job.

Hey, I'll make you a deal.

We get off this planet, me and you stick together.

We're gonna go places.

Huh?

All right.

I'll be back.

See ya later.

Well, Newy, what'd you think of that?

You mean [inaudible]?

Mmhmm.

He's not what I expected.

He doesn't seem cool-headed enough.

The man's a complete liar.

What did he really do?

I never asked him.

What about Jessup?

And what about you?

What's your story?

Ronzo spoke for me.

Ronzo told you my story.

PELSON: Here's my [inaudible] flip

To regal stimulation sequence.

[Weird noises]

The high frequency tracers seem to have touched

Your more primitive being.

There are no rules here, no honor.

The thing which iterates several times

Is the filthiest thing that a civilized [inaudible] can do.

Commit sabotage.

It's against fleet code and centuries all moral traditions.

You asked for free form.

Allow me to point out that I have

Not made any recommendations.

No need to be defensive, Pelson.

God, no.

That's exactly the answer I've been fighting within myself.

Well, we've got our work cut out.

She has the industrial targets for sabotage teams.

We'll need the toughest people in the empire.

[Music playing]

Wow, what a throw.

I'll teach you how to do that, kid.

Why, don't we have any other weapons?

Rocks.

Is that all?

It's all that's legal.

Anything metal carries a death penalty.

C'mon, kid.

Give me a hand, kid.

There we go.

Watch it, kid.

Heh.

I got this toy, kid.

NEWSTEAD: Hey, isn't that illegal?

Capital offense.

NEWSTEAD: Looks like you could hold off an army.

You could hold off an army.

[Laser noise]

If you had a power source.

See this here, kid?

C'mere.

If you plug this into, uh, a standard Kelso 70 power matrix.

That's it.

You could blow a whole in a nymph battlefield.

[Weird noise]

Get that ruptor out of sight.

C'mon.

We got company coming.

Company?

Yeah, the warden's sending us some greenies this morning.

Right on top of our fire gem?

We don't need any new members to... to share this with.

Let's go to work.

See, here they come.

[Weird noise]

Look at the face on that one.

She looks like a borble fish.

I wonder what sins of the flesh landed her in this hole.

You'd get a 10-year sentence just imagining it.

A few days ago, you could think of nothing but women.

A few days ago?

That's before Newy found that purple flake.

Watch me get rid of them.

I'm gonna run'em off.

[Ronzo shouting]

[Ronzo shouting]

[Woman whimpering]

What's your name, little girl?

Tessa.

Back away.

OK, precious.

You wanna join our group?

You're in.

I said my name's Tessa.

OK, precious.

Apologize to her, Ronzo.

No.

Such a kind, kind man.

Apologize to her.

What, to this little rug rat?

I know her school, Ronzo.

And she'll have to kill you.

No, I ain't apologizing to no greeny broad.

[Ronzo grunting]

Get up and say you've apologized, Ronzo.

My dear man.

Poor, forlorn, lonely bush god.

All right, what do I care?

I'm here for the duration.

Sorry, little girl.

I'm sorry, Tessa.

Big deal.

This is your friend?

Yeah.

Nice.

I don't mind showing her around.

Well, it looks like you got yourself a woman, Ronzo.

Wish you could never want anyone else.

Watch out, kid.

She's tough.

[Music playing]

You don't like me to use it, do you?

It'd be more correct to say it's one of the things

That causes me to dislike you.

I really don't care how you destroy yourself.

[Krista giggling]

What a little boy you are.

The powerful people in this galaxy use it regularly.

Yes.

They're addicted to it.

What rich people will become addicted?

Ambitious people use it to get somewhere.

And you?

I suppose you think it's going to get you off this planet.

You obviously never had the pleasure jack implanted.

No, I never felt the need for one.

But we'd colonize an entire galaxy without this.

Yes, Jess, but it's a whole empire together that needs it.

Yeah, well to hell with the empire.

Most of the systems would rather be free.

You're fairly reckless.

You know, if you had said that in a hallway

Of a capital system, you'd have your tongue cut out.

Well, the empire sunk to a lower level of [inaudible]

Than I'd imagined.

I didn't mean it literally.

I meant that there is a [inaudible]

Center of your brain.

That's very modern.

Makes it much better.

Yes, it does.

So you think you understand it?

You give it a try.

Wow, you learn fast.

Well, that's depressing.

[Music playing]

Bushka, what's so deep in there?

Hold it right here.

Now look at the target, and throw it.

Well, it went in the right direction.

Let's try it again.

Let's try something else here.

One more time.

This.

No, this.

Uh, practice a little bit, huh?

Bushka, you hit the target.

Bushka hit the target.

[Bushka squealing]

[Music playing]

Would you like to have some chocolate wine?

It's very delicate.

It captures the essence without being the slightest bit sweet.

Wonder how it goes with KSR-22.

What?

I'll have some.

You must breathe it deeply, like this.

Like that.

That's right.

How does it feel?

Now take a sip.

[Music playing]

It's aphrodisiac.

Well, that explains a few things about you.

What do you want?

What do you want?

I want to learn to fight like you.

I don't think so.

Why not?

You want to be a hero.

So you're a psychoanalyst as well as a warrior?

Percel's our answer.

Are you arrogant because you're a fighter,

Or did you inherit it?

You may not speak to me that way.

Hey.

What about jumpers?

We need to protect what we find.

Others have paid me well to teach them.

I want to learn.

Teach me.

The essence of efficient fighting is self-control.

Now during this first exercise, I want you to remain very calm.

Otherwise, we'll be spit at by the slide at rest

On those rocks over there.

What do you want me to do?

First, relax, or we'll both die.

Then what, kill the slide?

The slide doesn't want to kill us.

Why should you want to kill it?

Well, what do I do?

Caress it.

I held one the other day.

They're very lovely.

Slides are deadly.

So am I when I'm threatened.

You must approach it as a friend.

It'll respond to affection.

But...

Kiss me.

Come on.

Ooh.

Ronzo.

[Music playing]

Way to go, kid.

Maybe there's more to him than meets the eye.

There it is.

Come on.

Come on, you beauty.

Come on.

Here, don't be scared.

Oh, you're beautiful.

Do you want to pet it?

Oh, don't touch it there.

That makes it mad.

Pet it under here.

It's fuzzy.

OK, now go into it.

This hand should be lower.

There you go.

Now you're in the basic Aldebran stance.

Aldebran.

Yes, named after the solar system.

Move your weight more forward.

OK.

When do I learn to kick?

You're too impatient.

We'll get to kicks tomorrow.

You're good.

I know ladies in the capital system

Who would pay a fortune for a man like you.

That's what I am to you?

You can get back at them by having

Something they can't have.

I'm sorry, Jess.

I didn't mean in that way.

I mean, yes, that's part of it.

That's not all of it.

We all have to make our peace with the universe somehow.

That's what I am?

A piece?

Oh, Jess, please don't.

Oh, I'm sorry.

[Music playing]

There's something different... Something different about you

Lately.

Somehow more alive.

And willing.

Yeah, well, maybe my visits here

Are beginning to tell me that the universe

Hasn't forgotten me.

Condemned, not forgotten.

What's the difference?

The empire keeps records on all its citizens.

FEMALE VOICE: Hello, Captain Goeb.

You want information about the suitability of Jessup's

Gang as a sabotage gang.

Jessup was sent to Talsetti for unknown reasons.

His trial's proceedings are classified.

As you know, that may simply mean

That he earned the disfavor of someone

In power who wanted to be rid of him.

Perhaps you know something more about that.

His leadership qualities are excellent,

As you've already surmised.

I shouldn't have worried about Jessup

Since his true identity was unknown,

His title, inheritance.

But I had a premonition.

He was too well harmonized with the survival flux.

Unless he were dead, I could never be certain.

I should have lived with that uncertainty.

[Music playing]

GOEB (VOICEOVER): Vicho's jumpers...

Another group of prisoners on the colony...

Became an interference factor.

[Music playing]

BUSHKA: What's this?

Ronzo, look.

This one's purple.

Ow.

Ronzo?

Ronzo, keep this.

[Music playing]

What's a pretty little girl like that

Doing in such a weak group?

She's got no protection.

Yeah, I may just take it on myself

To protect her all night.

Why do you have first go with every new girl we get?

Hey.

Look who else is going to turn into a eunuch next time

Come sniffing around my bed.

Well, what can we do for you boys?

We just want your stash, pally.

Just your stash.

Oh, you're too late.

We had a pick-up yesterday.

You know what I think, Vicho?

I think he smells like a liar.

Look for yourselves in the stream.

You're welcome to dig with us.

We'll let ya keep half of what you find.

Hey, don't play with us, pally.

You ain't had no turn in.

I'll let you have a full palette there.

Hear that, Reinder?

He has full palettes.

Take the girl.

She'll talk.

You picked the wrong camp this time, Vicho.

What's with you, worm face?

Well, let's just say it wouldn't be wise to mess

With the warden's man.

[Vicho laughing]

Well, that's no problem.

It means we'll have to kill you pack of worms

Before we take your stash.

I was hoping you'd say that.

What're you waiting for?

Get the girl.

Run, Bushka, run.

[Bushka screaming]

[Various people shouting]

(SHOUTING) Ronzo!

Ronzo!

Oh.

Bushka, breathe for Ronzo.

She couldn't have choked you that bad.

Bushka, breathe for Ronzo.

Dammit.

I kept telling her not to work so deep.

Kept telling her not to work so deep in the stream.

This is a piss hole of a stream.

I'm really sorry.

All my life on this targis shit planet.

Worms.

Watch the worms.

I watch the worms.

I watch the worms.

I watch the worms.

I watch the worms.

Watch the worms.

(SHOUTING) Dammit, Ronzo, get out of there!

[Various people shouting]

(SHOUTING) Stop it, Ronzo!

Stop it!

Come on back.

Let him go.

[Music playing]

[Whispering] They found fire gems.

The most compact form of wealth in the galaxy.

If only I'd known in time.

Why didn't you just kill them out there?

Nobody would care.

I'm not a butcher.

Come here and sit by me.

Actually, I'd rather you did not.

I'm told Bricka has spent more time here than any other woman.

How is she?

She's under psychdelic, of course,

And babbling something about purple.

What do you expect me to do with them?

I don't know.

You know I have no facilities for keeping them.

I'll either have to have them executed

Or release them into the bush again.

That's what Ronzo said.

Ronzo may be a pig, but his actually has got

Years of experience out here.

More than anybody else.

You don't know what you're talking about.

There's guys that have been here more than 20 years.

He was born here.

It's in the record.

[Music playing]

So what about the prisoners?

Do what you think is right.

There is no right out here, Jess.

Not for them, not for you, and not for me.

[Music playing]

(SHOUTING) Empire, can you hear me?

She never should've been sent here.

I'll make you pay for it.

FEMALE VOICE: Ronzo's record is rather sketchy due to the fact

That he has spent his whole life in the Talsetti prison colony.

He's completely uncivilized though quite intelligent.

His health is exceptional.

He could live in the quadra sands deserts or the ice

Mountains of Kindaro without noting

Much more of the difference than the frequency

Of his own urinations.

If the empire should every decay,

The fragments could easily be usurped by brutes such as this.

When I realized that Ronzo was the key

To toppling Sodenkal in the same stroke, I became overconfident.

In my lust for power, I didn't realize

How near I was to danger.

I want this to work.

His use of obsequious humility to cover his ambitions

For a chair in the Imperial College

Is becoming an intolerable aggravations.

I've researched it carefully.

The team as a hole is tops.

No way for Sodenkal to reject it.

But one man does have a rare personality aberration...

Latent hypoloxia pilosis.

Once he realizes what power we put in his hands,

He'll turn it on the empire.

And goodbye Sodenkal.

You are sure you're clear?

Even if I fail to prove the free form was forged

By Sodenkal, it's still on record

That I never formally recommended

To use them for sabotage.

Let me compliment us both on our brilliance.

And let me compliment you who created this situation.

[Footsteps appraoching]

I have finished my review of the proposed sabotage teams.

I think you've both done a very fine job

Of screening the possibilities.

You've found a particularly promising group

In one of the prison colonies, Talsetti.

Thank you, sir.

However, bandits members leaves me with an uneasy feeling.

I think he should be deleted from that team.

What's the matter with him, sir?

I don't know.

It's just a premonition.

I'm surprised you didn't catch it.

Whom do you mean?

Perhaps you could review the Talsetti prison team again.

Tell me what you think.

But sir, I must question the wisdom of deleting anybody.

These teams were chosen for their proven harmonic modes

With the survival flux.

Deleting even one member may be destroying the entire team.

Nonetheless, I'd like a formal recommendation from each of you

As to who should be deleted from this particular team.

GOEB (VOICEOVER): A chill went up my spine as Sodenkal

Turned to walk away.

That was the first time I sensed the danger.

If my momentum had not already become so high, I...

I would've known to run.

For a moment, I... I wondered what Pelson was thinking.

That was the first time I felt the fleeting exit

Of a mind skin.

Only then did I realize that also Pelson had psychic power.

Her powers were more advanced than mine,

Or I would've detected her intrusions before.

I was cool and calm.

As the visage of an oncoming critical mode struck,

Like the image of a tidal wave would appear to one

For having stood for minutes with his back to it,

Turns around just in time to see it crashing down on him.

That man in the prison colony, the sick one.

Ronzo.

Yes, Ronzo.

It's imperative he be included.

For our purposes, yes.

But Sodenkal's outmaneuvered us.

I don't see how Ronzo can be included now.

I have a way.

I'll arrange for you to personally make

The clemency offer to the Talsetti team.

They aren't going to accept without Ronzo.

Check the whole team out and send a message

Back here to Sodenkal about what you did,

And requesting he reply.

If he disapproves of your action,

I'll see that the message is derailed long enough.

And if you fail?

Trust me.

It seems the whole risk is falling on me.

Yes.

As a proof of our love.

GOEB (VOICEOVER): I could recamouflage

A mind scan into Pelson.

I ran into scan blocks everywhere.

Pelson smiled quietly at me.

So all my reckless fingering through her mind

Had been an allowed arrangement.

I knew now I'd been subjugated.

My only choice was to obey here, hope she wouldn't punish me.

If she liked the pleasures I provided, she might keep me.

Maybe I could rise with her.

Even a chair in the Imperial College was still possible.

You've never been against a fight before.

I think we should watch them for a while

To see what's going on.

You weren't coming back from the river this morning at all.

You turned targo on me...

No.

With one of them.

No, I wouldn't.

Oh, yes you would.

And you did. Vicho?

Scars, take her.

Oh, look at the lovebirds.

We're going to kill them all.

Except for the girl.

Let's go.

I don't like the odds.

Maybe they'd be willing to make a deal.

REINDER: Maybe they won't.

Newstead, pull out the ruptor.

And don't show it unless I give the signal.

Don't look like they want to make a deal.

They want blood.

Quickly.

Quickly.

[Various people yelling]

Juice them with it.

(SHOUTING) They got a ruptor!

Truce.

I call a truce.

What do you want?

VICHO: What've you got?

For you?

Bright boy.

Ruptor?

VICHO: Hah.

What else?

It's not enough?

Hey, pally, we can make life pretty tough for you

Just by waiting on the other side of that river.

That's fine, if you want a bunch of scorched asses.

Hey, it's just a matter of time.

You won't be able to sleep, eat.

You won't be able to take a leak without worrying one of my boys

Is going to pop up and stick you.

[Music playing]

[Weird noise]

You sent for me?

I want to go into the bush.

No.

If you cherish your position here,

You won't vocal insolence.

I meant... I meant only that that would be very dangerous.

Oh.

Why do you think so?

A warden's never gone into the bush.

You mean up until now.

Turn around.

BREMEN: I can't say how the prisoner's would respond.

Is that all that worries you?

You're a woman.

Women are a little more than chattel

Over most of this planet, and there's

Way too few of them around.

Your presence could start a riot, or who knows.

I strongly advise against it.

And you'll come with me.

Your approach was always to say with good rapport,

You have the prisoners.

Show me.

What are you waiting for, you scummers?

Finish it.

Hey Vicho, I didn't know there was going to be a ruptor.

Wha... he doesn't dare use it.

The guards would know.

[Inaudible]

Oh, yes, he does.

He won't.

Oh, I oughta know more than to argue with a man who can't

Even control his own woman.

[Grunts]

Yeah, great.

That's just great.

I'm sick of all them before it's time to cool off.

Let's go.

Hold it.

Someone's coming through.

The warden.

Bricka tell you?

She was babbling about some purple.

I didn't think of it when you left,

But there's something different about you.

Something happy and vigorous, like a wild animal

That has just been freed.

That's what the fire gems are to us, Jess.

It's our freedom to love.

You ever seen the warden in the bush before?

Something hot going on down there.

The warden knows, and we'll be out in the cold

Unless we get down there and kill them all right now.

Hold it.

Someone else is coming through.

[Weird noise]

VICHO: Bremen.

In trouble.

The transport

[Weird noise]

VICHO: It's broken down.

Hah.

They're gonna have a long walk home.

Let's go.

Vicho, you're crazy.

I'm not going up against two thumpers and a ruptor.

Those thumpers, they're nothing at this range.

They'll only knock you down if they hit you.

Then let's stay here and let them fire at us.

[Inaudible] Scars, have you ever seen

A warden in the bush before?

There's something hot going on over there.

The warden knows.

We'll be out in the cold unless we kill them all now.

Don't you see it?

It's our only chance.

The warden's stuck.

It's the best chance we'll ever have.

I was there once, Jess.

I know the people.

I know the politics.

With the fire gems behind us, there'll be nothing to stop us.

Oh, we'll have wealth and power.

Wealth and power.

Ronzo.

Well, well, well.

What have we here?

Whew.

That looks like about a 105 ruptor.

Ronzo, you slouching of piece of targo turd.

This here's a death sentence for you and all your friends.

RONZO: That there's a death sentence for all of us.

Looks like we're going to die like brothers, Bremen,

You blab of worm-infested slide spit.

Oh, I don't think so.

Don't pull that.

Don't pull that.

[Ruptor firing]

Shoot.

C'mon.

Did you hear that?

There's no charge on that.

I told you it was a bluff.

Now do any of you cowards say we shouldn't attack.

GOEB (VOICEOVER): I wish I'd arrived in time

To see the look on Krista's face when

She walked up to the ruptor.

She knew it was a death sentence for Jessup.

But Vicho's gang made it clear that if she must

Take Jessup's life, she'd first have to fight for it

And her own.

[Shouting]

[Weird noise]

[Shouting]

[Ruptor firing]

[Ruptor firing]

[Ruptor firing]

[Ruptor firing]

[Ruptor firing]

What's going on here, warden?

There was a fight.

I know there was a fight.

I could see there was a fight.

What I want to know is what you were doing in the middle of it.

My presence there, like yours, was purely by chance.

You're evading me.

The two gangs had some quarrel.

What about?

I have no idea.

I've heard that for a warden to take sides in such a quarrel

Is grounds to reduce the warden to prisoner status.

What's going to happen to Jessup's gang?

What do you care?

The empire needs to add some special forces

To its depleted ranks.

What's going to happen to them?

Why didn't you just have him come here?

He's sometimes did.

He'd tell me how it was out there in the bush,

How bad it was.

I wanted to see for myself.

I compliment you on your excellent taste in men.

But don't worry, he'll be with me for the next several days,

And I'll take very good care of him.

Oh, you... you bitch.

You never called me that when we were together.

Don't you ever make me sick of touching again.

Several years ago, you and I had a lot in common, Krista.

Never.

Until you lost the game.

I haven't lost it yet.

You'll see me again.

I don't think so.

I've fixed it so you'll be in exile

Here for the rest of your life.

[Weird noise]

The fire gems will take me off-planet.

In exchange for your carrying out this mission of sabotage,

I'm removing your debt to society.

The empire is prepared to grant you a full pardon.

JESSUP: What do you think, Reinder?

It's a death mission.

Well, a job has finally been found

That the great sights can't do.

Well, the job can be done, all right.

We can get in there and do it.

We just can't get out.

GOEB (VOICEOVER): Of course, they

Had no choice but to accept.

Their possession of the ruptor meant certain death otherwise.

As I'd predicted, they refused to go without Ronzo.

The team was sent to Andromeda.

They formed the best team in the empire.

But I know I'm right.

Ronzo will turn them all against the empire.

Their skills, their harmony as a team,

The power and wealth of the fire gems

All combined to place him on an unassailably

Reinforced harmonic mode of the survival flux.

The empire might even fall, and I will have been the cause.

I had several days' incestuous pleasure with Jessup

Aboard the mission ship that was to take them

Into the heart of Andromeda.

My new orders came at the end of the third day.

I was recalled immediately.

Pelson had not kept her promise.

She'd gone to Sodenkal with a story

That I was planning to ruin him.

Now I'm in preparation.

I've read their minds, though.

This won't be a punishment.

It's almost time.

Any moment now we'll begin.

This won't be a punishment, though.

This is the proof that I had as much potential

As I thought they feared me.

That is why Sodenkal and Pelson have

Decided to have me redeveloped.

It... it started with, um, with Jessup.

And then I... I [inaudible].

I didn't know... know he'd become a critical [inaudible].

Jessup, Sodenkal, Pelson... in the end,

They were all... all against me.

Me.

FEMALE VOICE: This is the personnel you must recapture,

For this was the critical moment when

You ceased to be Captain Goeb.

If you can reach back to this moment, the rest of this record

May have been recovered.

Once you have the barest hold on this moment,

I want you to focus on Sodenkal and Jessup.

Try to remember that Sodenkal was your stepping stone

To a chair in the Imperial College,

And that Jessup was your brother.

[Music playing]