Original subtitles

NARRATOR: In the city of Betaville, in the near future,

the technology we developed confronts us.

The science we created seduces us,

but will our dreams of tomorrow be turned into a nightmare?

Welcome to paradox.

Be careful what you wish for.

Nothing is impossible anymore.

In Betaville, a group of visionaries

once believed that the precision of machine intelligence

could free them from the destructive impulses

of humankind.

They founded an isolated community where computers could

teach human children the right way

to live, free of the conflicts of human emotion.

Hemiac is one of these students, a young man purged

of all destructive feelings, all irrational passions,

in the pursuit of a robotic ideal.

Until he discovers that his computer teachers may

have gone mad.

ANNOUNCER: All students must be in their classroom

in 15 seconds, 14 seconds, 13 seconds, 12 seconds, 11

seconds, 10 seconds, 9 seconds, 8 seconds, 7 seconds,

6 seconds, 5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second.

Class, sit.

Opsic, recite.

The history of the Academy.

Founders created the Academy as a refuge

from destructive human passions when the outside world

was torn by war and chaos.

In the absence of the founders, the Dean

has continued the pursuit of the Academy's ideals

to their fullest extent.

State the Academy ideals.

To lead the organic intellect into the highest orders

of knowledge and discipline, and to eliminate

destructive human passions.

Very good, Opsic, you may sit down.

Hemiac, recite.

Click.

Face front, mind blank.

Why is the term organic included in the statement of ideals?

Because robots are not educated.

Inaccurate and incomplete.

The robotic intelligence cannot be educated.

Unlike organic intelligence, it is

functional to the full extent of its capacity

from the moment it is switched on.

Is that clear?

Click.

You may sit down, Hemiac.

Iac, account for your absence.

I was in the Dean's office for the special examination.

The Dean no longer has any record of your presence there.

In fact, the Dean no longer has any record of your presence

at this Academy.

Account for your presence in this classroom.

I was instructed by the Dean to return to class.

Incorrect.

You have been expelled from the Academy.

Monitor.

Hemiac.

Hemiac.

Hemiac.

Help me, Hemiac.

Help me.

Hemiac, please, help me.

Hemiac!

ANNOUNCER: Stand at attention outside your cubicle

until otherwise instructed.

Face front, mind blank.

Watching you, Hemiac.

ANNOUNCER: Any student still in the corridor in 59 seconds

will attend mandatory time sense retrieve.

58 seconds.

57 seconds.

56 seconds.

55 seconds.

54 seconds.

53 seconds.

52 seconds.

51 seconds.

50 seconds.

49 seconds.

48 seconds.

In the troubled times, savages attack the Academy.

The founders were killed.

The replacement parts factory was gutted,

supplies and equipment were stolen and destroyed.

Only when the Dean set the detonator on the power plant

did the savages withdraw and leave us to our way of life.

The Dean and her assistants have continued what the founders

had set out to do for their children

and their children's children.

You may sit, Opsic.

IAC [VOICEOVER]: Hemiac.

Hemiac.

Help me.

Hemiac, please, help me.

[tapping noises]

Were you asleep?

No.

I wasn't able to.

Neither was I. I was thinking about the outside world.

What it must be like.

I remember somebody told me that the savages

wait outside the gate for you when you are expelled.

Those people out there are like animals.

They will eat you.

That is why they are waiting.

We don't know that.

We know they don't have robots to teach them.

How can they be anything but savages?

I want to be good, Hemiac.

I do.

But I also want to be closer to you.

You must be careful, Iac, or you could be expelled.

I'm scared, Hemiac.

It's getting more and more difficult not to make mistakes.

Everyone's being expelled.

The commands are always the same, Iac.

All you have to do is keep your mind blank.

One day we will learn enough not be afraid.

We'll never miss commands.

Hemiac, recite.

What is the purpose of the detonator?

The detonator, entirely under her control,

the Dean will protect the Academy

indefinitely provided she is given adequate maintenance.

Detonation of the power supply would

contaminate the atmosphere of the planet for centuries.

Even the savages know and respect such a threat.

Explain why you were late leaving your cubicle this morning.

Waiting, Hemiac.

Someone spilled oil in the corridor.

What does spilled oil have to do with your time sense?

It is a waste and should be reported.

It already has been reported.

Pay better attention in the future.

Click.

ANNOUNCER: All students report to the refectory

for retraining.

Stray not, Hemiac.

Any more random motion and you'll

attend a mandatory retraining.

Click.

ANNOUNCER: Life at the Academy is a privilege, not a right.

Wild inefficiency, Hemiac.

It's unlike you.

I keep thinking about Iac.

Why?

About what it's like in the outside world.

She was expelled for failing to achieve

the goals of the Academy.

You should be encouraged by her fate to try much harder.

What did she do wrong?

You should be careful in what you ask, Hemiac.

The Dean is already watching you,

in case you hadn't noticed.

Living at the Academy is a privilege, not a right.

One that must be earned day in and day out.

If I need a lecture, I'll ask an instructor droid.

Do you understand?

Fueling is complete.

Move away from the tables.

Why did you stand before the signal, Hemiac?

Step out of line.

Afraid of something, Hemiac?

Someone Someone spilled oil in the corridor.

Duly noted in your history class, Hemiac.

Why the redundancy?

There was oil.

I slipped on it.

In keeping my balance, I strained a muscle.

I stood to relieve the strain.

Are you lying, Hemiac?

No.

Report to the clinic after rest area.

We'll see.

Click.

And watch your stress tones.

They are highly suspect.

- Yes. - Return to Unit.

The bonding surface is not in alignment.

Restart.

Well done, Hemiac.

ANNOUNCER: All instances of random or excessive motion

will be entered into your behavior files.

Iac.

I never thought I'd see you again.

All these months.

I never stop thinking about you.

I promised myself that one day I would come back,

so somehow I could--

I disconnected the room monitor.

I can do a lot of things now I never used to be able to do.

We don't have to wait until sleep time to talk.

I thought you were killed by the savages.

No, Hemiac, there are no savages.

The world out there isn't what you think.

There are animals and savages, the ruins of a dying planet.

No, there is a city far away.

It's different from anything we ever knew.

When I got there, I was hungry and sick,

and the people helped me.

They were very kind.

If what you say is true, why have you come back?

I was sent back, Hemiac.

The Dean doesn't know I'm here.

None of them know I'm here.

I haven't been detected.

That is not possible.

No, in the past, it wouldn't have been.

But now it is.

Would we have been able to talk like this before

without being intercepted?

Why have you come back?

The people in the city have detected a radiation

leak from the power plant.

The Dean will repair it.

The savages must be kept out of the Academy.

Hemiac, everything has started to malfunction.

The people are afraid that the Dean will break down

and detonate the power plant.

An explosion like that could poison the whole planet.

I must disconnect the Dean.

You can't.

The reactor core will self destruct.

Inside the main power cylinder,

there's a communication channel that links the Dean

with all the other droids.

If I can manage to sever this link,

the Dean will be unable to communicate with the detonator,

and the droids will be deactivated.

Your instructions are inaccurate and incomplete.

Then help me, Hemiac.

I told the people you're the Academy's

best student in circuitry.

You must report yourself, Iac.

or I will have no choice.

I risked coming here for you, because I

have feelings for you.

In the outside world, feelings are allowed.

I want us to be together, Hemiac.

ANNOUNCER: All students must be in their classroom

in 60 seconds.

Please?

Don't tell them that I'm here.

Hemiac, 27 seconds late.

Did you not receive the assembly command?

I was told to report to the clinic.

The command to report to the physician

should have come after the command to report to class.

You will explain your unauthorized presence

in the dormitory during class hours.

Click.

Very suspicious stress tone.

Unexplained presence in the dormitory.

Two simultaneous offenses are beyond my capacity to analyze.

You will report to the Dean's office

for a special examination.

The physician--

The Dean will determine whether you should

report to the physician or not.

Click.

Come in, Hemiac, come in.

We must talk about things.

Now, then, how are you getting on with your work, Hemiac.

Satisfactory progress.

Good.

You know how fond of you I've always been.

Now, let's see, you are charged with stalling in the classroom,

suspicious stress tones, and failure to report to the clinic

as ordered.

Can you account for these matters?

It was an accident.

An accident?

Hm.

Something in here about spilled oil in the corridor.

Did you spill some oil this morning?

No, Her.

It was just some old oil in the corridor somebody else spilled.

And did the spilled oil frighten you

just because we have so little of it these days?

No, Her.

Splendid, Hemiac.

Always remember, fear is a purely organic reaction.

It interferes with the society of machines

and men and cannot be tolerated here at the Academy.

Stop.

Stop.

Explain your presence in this sector.

I'm with the maintenance department

during preliminary assessments.

I am unable to confirm your data.

You've put in a requisition for servicing,

is this not correct?

Correct.

Your inability to read my data is part

of a specific servicing need.

This will be addressed while undergoing

general overhaul and repair.

You may proceed.

Now, why did you miss the command--

just a moment, Hemiac, while I relocate the record.

I seem to have misplaced it.

Oh, yes, here it is.

There was some oil spilled this morning after all.

A janitor had an accident owing to the fact

that she is badly in need of repairs.

Ever since the trouble when the savages destroyed

the replacement parts factory, maintenance

has grown steadily worse.

Do you remember the trouble, Hemiac?

I have a report of an unscheduled maintenance person

in one of our unused sectors.

Click.

Sweating, Hemiac.

A security door has been opened.

I can't explain this occurrence.

I did not do anything.

I told her to leave.

You will explain this sudden break down in your emotions

just because you spilled a little oil.

I saw the oil, Her, I did not spill it.

No savage has ever infiltrated the Academy.

It is unfortunate that my design did not include mobility.

Then again, mobility can be a double-edged sword,

but we are getting off the subject, aren't we?

Subject, Her?

There.

Now that certainly sounded like a suspicious stress tone.

You will explain your presence in my office.

My dormitory monitor ordered me here.

I have no record of such an order,

and I can't contact your monitor.

As a matter of fact, I have no record of your presence

at this Academy.

Her?

Oil?

Oil.

No reason for you to worry about the savages, Hemiac.

Detonation of the power plant will

result in the contamination of the planet for centuries.

Click.

No reason for you to waste time talking to me when you

should be in history class or to be punished

for something the janitor did.

She spilled oil in the corridor.

Oh, yes.

Odd you should have that information.

And in the trouble, the savages

launched only that single attack before asking for a truce.

Very good, Opsic, you may sit down.

And where have you been, Hemiac?

I was in the Dean's office for a special examination,

which I passed.

There was a report of an unauthorized maintenance person

near the power plant during your absence,

yet when I feed the Dean the data on you,

there is not the slightest pip of recognition from her.

As if there were a full open circuit in her central control.

Why are you stalling, Hemiac?

Don't you know the lesson?

It is considered self-evident that the replacement parts

factory will be restored, since without replacement parts,

the Academy cannot fulfill its function.

Very well.

Except, you have used unnecessary tonals,

and you missed the matter of wh-- wh-- wh--

Please, I need your help.

The malfunctions are getting worse, Hemiac.

We have to disarm the detonator before the Dean malfunctions.

Without the detonator, the Academy could be dismantled.

Listen to me, Hemiac.

The Dean could activate the detonator.

Millions of people will die.

Life on this planet could disappear.

The Academy is dedicated to the ideal

of reason, the elimination of destructive human passions.

That's right, Hemiac.

Destruction is wrong.

Now please, help me.

You've been expelled, Iac.

You do not belong here.

None of us belong here, Opsic.

You will discover that very soon.

I will help you, Iac.

You would conspire with her?

What she says is treason.

Her mind has been altered by the savages.

She's attempting to subvert and destroy the Academy.

Let's go, Hemiac.

Stay out of it, Opsic.

Remove your hand, Hemiac.

Let go of my arm, Opsic.

You don't know what you're doing.

I am going to help Iac.

You are a traitor.

You've betrayed the Academy.

Remember the discipline we were taught, Opsic.

We must go, Hemiac.

Now.

[alarm]

Security of the Academy had been compromised.

All students move away from perimeter.

Remain calm and await further instructions.

Come on, Hemiac.

We better hurry.

There are traitors in the corridors.

The security of the Academy has been breached.

All droids immediately secure perimeter and main gates.

Wait for the s-s-s-signal before l-l-l-leaving your cubicle.

Hemiac, th-th-this is the Dean.

Think of what you're doing, Hemiac.

It's not too late to turn back.

Hemiac, listen to her and we all die.

Let's go.

Come on.

HER: F-f-f-face front.

Mind blank.

Face front.

Mind blank.

Face fr-fr-fr-front.

Mind blank.

Mind b-b-blank.

Face fr-fr-fr-front.

Security alert.

A security door has been opened.

Security alert.

Unexplained presence in the dormitory.

Stop.

All movement in this sector is forbidden.

Come on. We have to hurry.

The savages are preparing to storm the gates.

The trouble has returned.

All Academy alert.

Think of what you're doing, Hemiac.

Betraying everything we believe in.

Iac has brought with her from the outside the destruction

of our world.

Come on, Hemiac, the Dean is malfunctioning.

I've seen out the Dean's window.

I've seen the city.

Hemiac, you won't understand until you go to the city.

It's really very beautiful.

You are referring only to outside appearances,

which is unimportant.

Yes, but it's still beautiful, in an imperfect way.

You'll understand once this is all over.

Warning, all security w-w-w-warning.

All security alert warning.

Failure to secure.

Result initiation of protector detonation sequence.

Warning.

Hemiac, she's starting the detonation sequence.

I heard.

Commencing detonation sequence.

The beams are off.

HER: Commencing detonation.

She's going to detonate.

Three minutes until detonation.

Commencing detonation sequence.

We have to raise the core.

Hurry up, Hemiac.

Commencing detonation sequence.

Commencing detonation sequence.

Something's happening over here.

It's one of these.

Warning.

All security alert.

Warning.

Stop analyzing and do it.

I cannot determine which one.

Hemiac, you're going to have to guess.

You did it.

You did it.

We must go, Iac.

Savages.

No, Hemiac, they're soldiers.

Everything's going to be all Right Come on.

The primary computer is inoperative.

The detonator's been disarmed, sir.

It's finished then?

Yes.

After all this time, it's finally finished.

Thanks to Hemiac. he stopped the detonation sequence.

Hemiac?

Yes, He--

Hemiac?

We did it, Hemiac.

You're free.

Please, Hemiac?

Please?

It's as if they're not even human anymore.

Like robots.

Years of effort had brought Hemiac

to the brink of machine perfection he'd

been striving for all his life.

Fortunately for his fellow savages,

a few feelings remained long enough

for him to aid their cause.

But when the job was done, the crisis passed,

his conditioning proved to be too powerful.

The founders high-minded dreams had crushed the human spirit.

Welcome to Paradox.