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00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:12,074
Advertise your product or brand here
contact www.OpenSubtitles.org today
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00:01:55,422 --> 00:01:57,880
Listen patiently.
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00:02:04,463 --> 00:02:09,922
We, who are the Last Men, earnestly
desire to communicate with you.
4
00:02:47,380 --> 00:02:49,380
I am speaking to you now
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00:02:49,547 --> 00:02:54,922
from a period about two thousand million
terrestrial years in your future.
6
00:03:02,213 --> 00:03:05,213
Astronomers have made
a startling discovery,
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00:03:05,380 --> 00:03:08,672
which assigns a speedy end to humankind.
8
00:03:20,755 --> 00:03:23,713
We can help you -
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00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:26,047
and we need your help.
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00:04:41,588 --> 00:04:45,422
When your writers romance
about the future,
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00:04:45,588 --> 00:04:49,880
they imagine a progress
toward some kind of utopia
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00:04:50,047 --> 00:04:54,380
where beings like themselves
live in unmitigated bliss.
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00:04:59,755 --> 00:05:02,297
No such paradise existed
14
00:05:02,463 --> 00:05:06,505
through the eons
that lie between your age and mine.
15
00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:19,713
Instead, we have watched
huge fluctuations of joy and woe,
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00:05:21,963 --> 00:05:26,130
the results of changes
not only in humanity's environment,
17
00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:31,880
but also in its fluid nature.
18
00:05:47,422 --> 00:05:50,922
Human existence has been less
like a mountain torrent
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00:05:53,255 --> 00:05:57,380
than a great sluggish river,
seldom broken by rapids.
20
00:06:11,963 --> 00:06:16,797
Ages of dormancy,
often of stagnation,
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00:06:17,797 --> 00:06:23,380
filled with monotonous problems and
toils of countless almost identical lives,
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00:06:26,213 --> 00:06:30,130
were punctuated by rare bursts.
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00:06:55,380 --> 00:06:58,297
Existence has always been precarious.
24
00:06:59,380 --> 00:07:03,505
At any stage of its career,
humanity might have been exterminated
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00:07:03,672 --> 00:07:07,338
by some slight alteration
to its chemical environment,
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00:07:08,297 --> 00:07:12,088
by a more than usually malignant microbe,
27
00:07:12,255 --> 00:07:15,380
by a radical change of climate,
28
00:07:15,547 --> 00:07:18,630
by the manifold effects of its own folly,
29
00:07:26,838 --> 00:07:29,422
or by some celestial event.
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00:07:49,713 --> 00:07:56,130
And so it was that humanity detected
a volume of non-luminous gas.
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00:08:10,422 --> 00:08:14,505
Calculation showed that
this object and the sun
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00:08:14,672 --> 00:08:19,297
were approaching one another
at a tangent and would collide.
33
00:08:28,630 --> 00:08:35,005
As a result of this, the sun would flare up
and expand prodigiously.
34
00:08:53,588 --> 00:08:58,297
Life would be quite impossible
on any of the planets
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00:08:58,463 --> 00:09:02,172
save, perhaps, Neptune.
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00:09:22,005 --> 00:09:23,880
Some of our predecessors,
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00:09:24,047 --> 00:09:28,880
realizing that they themselves could never
live on the inhospitably remote planet,
38
00:09:29,047 --> 00:09:33,047
advocated an orgiastic celebration
of pleasure until the end.
39
00:10:13,297 --> 00:10:17,672
But at length, our earlier species
excelled itself
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00:10:17,838 --> 00:10:22,547
in an almost unanimous resolve
to devote its remaining centuries
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00:10:22,713 --> 00:10:27,755
to the production of a new human species
into a new world.
42
00:11:17,505 --> 00:11:22,005
Ten more species succeeded one another
on the plains of Neptune.
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00:11:32,172 --> 00:11:36,172
We, the 18th, are the Last Men.
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00:12:24,297 --> 00:12:27,297
If you could enter
this world of the Last Men,
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00:12:27,463 --> 00:12:29,797
you would find some things familiar
46
00:12:29,963 --> 00:12:34,088
and much that would seem strangely
distorted and perverse.
47
00:12:36,797 --> 00:12:41,422
You would encounter creatures
recognizably human,
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00:12:41,588 --> 00:12:45,463
yet in your view grotesque.
49
00:12:49,713 --> 00:12:55,547
Some of these fantastic beings you would
find covered with fur or mole velvet,
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00:12:55,713 --> 00:12:58,297
revealing the underlying muscles.
51
00:13:02,755 --> 00:13:06,963
Others display brown, yellow, or ruddy skin,
52
00:13:07,130 --> 00:13:10,797
and yet others a translucent ash-green.
53
00:13:26,297 --> 00:13:31,672
You might call us faun-like, ape-like,
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00:13:31,838 --> 00:13:36,130
bear-like, or even elephantine.
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00:15:21,713 --> 00:15:25,422
Yet some characteristics
are common to all of us.
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00:15:27,505 --> 00:15:32,672
The upward-looking astronomical eye
on the crown of the skull would shock you.
57
00:15:50,838 --> 00:15:57,422
This organ, when fully extended about
a handbreadth from its bony case,
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00:15:57,588 --> 00:16:03,755
reveals the heavens in as much detail
as your astronomical telescopes.
59
00:17:21,755 --> 00:17:26,338
Scattered about the green plains
of our colonized planet,
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00:17:26,505 --> 00:17:28,922
you would notice many buildings.
61
00:17:38,672 --> 00:17:43,880
These buildings would seem like
geometrical mountains to you.
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00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:54,922
In many cases, the whole fabric
is translucent or transparent.
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00:17:55,088 --> 00:18:01,088
So that at night, with internal illumination,
it appears as an edifice of light.
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00:18:53,463 --> 00:18:57,797
Springing from a base
twenty or more miles across,
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00:18:57,963 --> 00:19:03,588
the star-seeking towers attain a height
where even the atmosphere is breached.
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00:19:41,130 --> 00:19:44,713
Some of them are almost
as old as our species.
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00:19:47,088 --> 00:19:49,838
Some are not yet completed.
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00:20:13,963 --> 00:20:17,505
Every successive culture
has expressed itself
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00:20:17,672 --> 00:20:21,005
in one or more of these
supreme monuments.
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00:20:29,838 --> 00:20:34,005
In their summits work
the hosts of our astronomers:
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00:20:34,172 --> 00:20:40,922
the essential eyes through which our community
peers across the boundless ocean of space.
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00:20:49,713 --> 00:20:53,047
Each of us goes there,
at one time or another.
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00:20:54,297 --> 00:20:57,547
Together, we perform
the symbolic acts
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00:20:57,713 --> 00:21:02,463
which replaced the debased rites
of your religions long ago.
75
00:23:30,672 --> 00:23:34,755
Our children are very different beings
from the First Human children.
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00:23:36,088 --> 00:23:40,797
Their number in our world is small
in relation to our immense population.
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00:23:42,005 --> 00:23:46,505
Yet, seeing that every one of us
is potentially immortal,
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00:23:46,672 --> 00:23:51,047
you may wonder how we permit ourselves
to have any children at all.
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00:23:59,255 --> 00:24:05,588
Our policy is to produce new individuals
of a higher order than ourselves.
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00:24:10,463 --> 00:24:14,630
As a result, we need
a continuous supply of children.
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00:24:22,213 --> 00:24:24,922
The fetus is carried for twenty years.
82
00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:30,463
Infancy lasts for about a century
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00:24:30,630 --> 00:24:34,797
when the foundations of body and mind
are slowly laid.
84
00:25:04,422 --> 00:25:11,130
When our children attain physical adolescence,
nearly a thousand years after birth,
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00:25:11,297 --> 00:25:16,297
they leave the safe paths of childhood
to spend another thousand years
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00:25:16,463 --> 00:25:21,880
in one of the polar continents
known as the Land of the Young.
87
00:25:28,130 --> 00:25:33,880
There, our young people live
the half-primitive, half-sophisticated life
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that suits their nature.
89
00:25:40,130 --> 00:25:41,963
They love
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00:25:43,297 --> 00:25:45,130
and hate.
91
00:28:19,755 --> 00:28:23,963
We live through all the
mistakes of thought and action
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00:28:24,130 --> 00:28:27,422
that humankind has ever made.
93
00:28:29,005 --> 00:28:34,755
And, at last, we emerge ready
for a world of maturity.
94
00:29:40,880 --> 00:29:46,213
The designers of our species set out
to produce a new order of mentality
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00:29:46,380 --> 00:29:50,922
in a system of distinct brains
held in telepathic unity.
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00:29:55,463 --> 00:30:00,505
The immense difference between ourselves
and all other human species
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00:30:00,672 --> 00:30:04,005
lies in the group-mind.
98
00:30:46,088 --> 00:30:50,672
When these individuals join
in simultaneous mental unity,
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00:30:51,380 --> 00:30:56,463
the entire past of the species
appears as a personal memory.
100
00:31:22,838 --> 00:31:25,922
They are able to enter into past minds.
101
00:32:19,047 --> 00:32:25,213
Away from those contented to remain
on the planet's surface are the navigators
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00:32:25,380 --> 00:32:29,880
who embody humanity's
proud mastery of interstellar space.
103
00:32:34,505 --> 00:32:39,672
The navigators mentally form
a unique class among us
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00:32:39,838 --> 00:32:42,463
because they spend so much of their time
105
00:32:42,630 --> 00:32:47,005
in the empty regions beyond the range
of telepathic communication.
106
00:32:54,297 --> 00:32:58,130
They are a hardy, simple,
and modest folk.
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00:34:13,088 --> 00:34:19,338
Recently, an exploration ship returned from
a voyage into the outer tracts through space.
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00:34:22,755 --> 00:34:25,380
Half the crew had died.
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The survivors were emaciated
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and mentally unbalanced.
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00:34:38,963 --> 00:34:42,838
Throughout the voyage,
an unexpected alteration
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taking place in a neighboring star
was observed.
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It began to change from white to violet
and increase in brightness.
114
00:35:03,713 --> 00:35:07,797
When the ship returned,
the crew flung open the ports
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00:35:07,963 --> 00:35:11,713
and staggered blubbering
into the arms of the crowd.
116
00:35:17,880 --> 00:35:22,880
These poor human wrecks
have shown a phobia of the stars
117
00:35:23,047 --> 00:35:25,547
and of all that is not human.
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00:35:28,422 --> 00:35:30,880
They dare not go out at night.
119
00:35:32,297 --> 00:35:34,797
They cannot find companionship.
120
00:35:39,213 --> 00:35:43,630
They cling piteously
to the sweets of individual life,
121
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a mere defense against reality.
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00:37:54,547 --> 00:37:56,672
Listen patiently.
123
00:38:01,172 --> 00:38:05,172
The navigators have made
a startling discovery.
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00:38:07,380 --> 00:38:09,797
It is something unprecedented:
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00:38:11,713 --> 00:38:17,922
a normal star suffering from a
fantastic acceleration of its vital process.
126
00:38:20,297 --> 00:38:26,588
We hoped that our sun might prove
too distant to be seriously influenced,
127
00:38:26,755 --> 00:38:29,838
but this hope had to be abandoned.
128
00:38:31,588 --> 00:38:34,213
Within thirty thousand years,
129
00:38:34,380 --> 00:38:39,672
life will be impossible anywhere
within a vast radius of the sun -
130
00:38:39,838 --> 00:38:42,047
so vast a radius
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00:38:42,213 --> 00:38:46,880
that it is quite impossible to propel
our planet away fast enough to escape.
132
00:40:54,505 --> 00:41:00,047
The discovery of this doom
kindled in us unfamiliar emotions.
133
00:41:15,422 --> 00:41:20,172
Outwardly, everyone behaved
with perfect serenity,
134
00:41:23,005 --> 00:41:26,922
but inwardly, every mind was in turmoil
135
00:41:27,088 --> 00:41:30,838
as we faced the sudden destruction
of our world.
136
00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:50,338
There was nothing left for us to do
137
00:41:50,505 --> 00:41:54,297
but to crowd as much as possible
into our remaining life
138
00:41:54,463 --> 00:41:57,380
and meet our end in the noblest manner.
139
00:42:19,380 --> 00:42:21,672
And there again came upon us
140
00:42:21,838 --> 00:42:26,338
the rare experience
of a unified mind among the species.
141
00:42:29,172 --> 00:42:33,672
For a whole year,
every individual entered a trance
142
00:42:33,838 --> 00:42:37,130
in which we resolved
many ancient mysteries.
143
00:43:04,755 --> 00:43:07,297
And in consequence of this,
144
00:43:07,463 --> 00:43:13,422
we found ourselves faced with two tasks
that had not yet been contemplated.
145
00:43:18,338 --> 00:43:21,755
First, we have set about the forlorn task
146
00:43:21,922 --> 00:43:26,797
of disseminating the seeds of
a new humanity among the stars.
147
00:43:38,713 --> 00:43:42,630
We have devised minute
electromagnetic wave-systems
148
00:43:42,797 --> 00:43:47,963
individually capable of sailing forward toward
the most promising regions of the galaxy.
149
00:44:01,255 --> 00:44:07,672
These units are so cunningly interrelated
that they combine to form spores of life.
150
00:44:20,005 --> 00:44:23,755
We shall project these particles
in immense quantities.
151
00:44:24,838 --> 00:44:30,672
But the chance that any of them will survive
to find a suitable environment is small.
152
00:44:34,422 --> 00:44:39,088
It is clear to us that the work
will not be completed
153
00:44:39,255 --> 00:44:42,630
until the disintegration
of our community has begun.
154
00:44:51,047 --> 00:44:54,797
The second task that occupies us
relates to the past.
155
00:44:59,463 --> 00:45:01,755
We need your help.
156
00:45:40,172 --> 00:45:45,380
We have long been able to enter and
participate in the experiences of past minds
157
00:45:45,547 --> 00:45:47,755
as passive spectators.
158
00:45:48,963 --> 00:45:53,505
But recently, we have discovered
the power of influencing the past.
159
00:45:55,255 --> 00:46:00,380
This may seem to be an impossibility.
A past event is what it is.
160
00:46:06,963 --> 00:46:11,172
But, in certain cases,
some feature of a past event
161
00:46:11,338 --> 00:46:14,922
may depend on an event in the far future.
162
00:46:20,130 --> 00:46:22,172
In certain rare cases,
163
00:46:22,338 --> 00:46:28,130
mental events far separated in time
determine one another directly.
164
00:46:40,963 --> 00:46:45,213
The past can help us learn once again
165
00:46:45,380 --> 00:46:48,797
that supreme achievement
of the human spirit:
166
00:46:50,255 --> 00:46:55,463
the loyalty to the forces of life
embattled against death.
167
00:47:28,172 --> 00:47:31,755
But what is it that we seek
to contribute to the past?
168
00:47:36,672 --> 00:47:40,338
We want to help the past
make the best of itself.
169
00:47:44,047 --> 00:47:49,130
We seek to direct the attention
of past individuals to truths,
170
00:47:49,297 --> 00:47:51,797
which would otherwise be overlooked.
171
00:47:55,588 --> 00:47:58,588
Those of us who still care
for the life of the mind
172
00:47:58,755 --> 00:48:03,672
are tempted to regret that humankind
did not choose decent suicide
173
00:48:03,838 --> 00:48:06,672
before the degeneration began.
174
00:48:08,380 --> 00:48:11,005
But this could not be.
175
00:48:11,172 --> 00:48:14,672
The mission we undertook
had to be completed.
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This is the last office of humanity.
177
00:49:12,588 --> 00:49:14,588
I am speaking to you now
178
00:49:14,755 --> 00:49:20,255
from a period about two thousand million
terrestrial years in your future.
179
00:49:26,005 --> 00:49:28,880
It has become very difficult to reach you,
180
00:49:35,630 --> 00:49:38,713
and still more difficult to speak to you.
181
00:51:03,047 --> 00:51:05,172
Some centuries have now passed
182
00:51:05,338 --> 00:51:10,380
since the sun began to show
the first symptoms of disintegration:
183
00:51:10,547 --> 00:51:14,922
namely a slight change of color
toward the blue,
184
00:51:15,088 --> 00:51:18,505
followed by a definite increase
of brightness and heat.
185
00:51:43,172 --> 00:51:49,297
The deluge of solar radiation has had
a disastrous effect on the human organism.
186
00:51:56,255 --> 00:51:59,297
We are the wreckage of our former selves.
187
00:52:57,713 --> 00:53:03,172
The normal power of telepathic
communication is now so unreliable
188
00:53:03,338 --> 00:53:09,172
that we have been compelled to fall back
upon the archaic practice of vocal symbolism.
189
00:53:58,963 --> 00:54:02,255
Away from the sun's destructive heat,
190
00:54:02,422 --> 00:54:08,672
we are forcing our planet outward from
its old orbit in an ever-widening spiral.
191
00:54:14,672 --> 00:54:19,963
But we have not been able to prevent the
climate from becoming more and more deadly,
192
00:54:24,380 --> 00:54:27,630
even at the poles where we have migrated.
193
00:54:28,713 --> 00:54:32,713
The intervening regions
have all been deserted.
194
00:54:39,255 --> 00:54:43,880
Evaporation of the oceans has thrown
the whole atmosphere into tumult.
195
00:56:55,963 --> 00:57:00,588
Now and again, we meet together,
the few that prevail,
196
00:57:01,755 --> 00:57:04,672
to hearten ourselves
with one another's presence.
197
00:57:11,463 --> 00:57:14,630
We can only sit in silence,
198
00:57:14,797 --> 00:57:18,630
groping for consolation and for strength.
199
00:57:24,505 --> 00:57:28,922
Sometimes, the spoken word
flickers between us,
200
00:57:29,088 --> 00:57:34,213
shedding a brief light but little warmth.
201
00:58:01,588 --> 00:58:03,880
But listen patiently.
202
00:58:12,005 --> 00:58:14,838
This is not our last word.
203
00:58:26,088 --> 00:58:33,213
We, the Last Men, still have something
in us left from the time that is past.
204
00:59:09,005 --> 00:59:13,588
The stars have their beginnings
and their ends.
205
00:59:15,005 --> 00:59:19,547
For a few moments,
somewhere in between,
206
00:59:19,713 --> 00:59:24,130
a few, very few,
may support thought.
207
00:59:55,838 --> 00:59:59,672
The universal End comes in due course.
208
01:00:10,088 --> 01:00:15,172
After the End,
events unknowable will continue
209
01:00:15,338 --> 01:00:20,672
in a time much longer than that which
will have passed since the Beginning.
210
01:00:27,963 --> 01:00:34,797
The whole duration of humanity,
its evolution and many successive species,
211
01:00:34,963 --> 01:00:39,588
is but a flash
in the lifetime of the cosmos.
212
01:00:52,380 --> 01:00:58,463
Looking at the heavens and at the violet
splendor that seeks to destroy us,
213
01:00:59,838 --> 01:01:03,463
we are filled with awe and pity:
214
01:01:08,463 --> 01:01:13,588
awe for the inconceivable potential
of this bright host
215
01:01:20,963 --> 01:01:27,047
and pity for its self-thwarting effort
to supplant the universal spirit.
216
01:01:38,463 --> 01:01:42,672
We find ourselves filled,
in spite of everything,
217
01:01:42,838 --> 01:01:46,255
with a triumphant love of our fate.
218
01:04:00,838 --> 01:04:03,213
Great are the stars,
219
01:04:08,630 --> 01:04:12,213
and humankind is of no account to them.
220
01:04:27,630 --> 01:04:32,463
But humankind is a fair spirit,
221
01:04:47,047 --> 01:04:49,630
whom a star conceived
222
01:04:51,505 --> 01:04:54,130
and a star kills.
222
01:04:55,305 --> 01:05:01,173
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