Original subtitles

(COW MOOING)

(ROOSTER CROWING)

(COW BELLS JINGLING)

Good morning. I thought you would like to feel at home.

-I was surprised, Master. -Pleasantly, I hope.

Of course, but... Are we not still in the City of Gold?

(CHUCKLING)

Questions, questions.

I thought for a moment that you had sent me home,

that I was not worthy to serve you.

We are still in the City. You are still in my service.

I found the Tyrolean scene in our picture library.

But it was so real. Didn't the cows move?

You have a lot to learn, Will.

And so short a time in which to learn it.

Now, wash and eat. We must not waste the little time we have.

How are you feeling now?

(REPLIES IN FRENCH)

Without your help, I would not have survived the first day.

Fully recovered?

The thing is to pace oneself more.

I was so keen to please the Masters, I forgot to do that.

-Providing their Guards will let you. -Oh, they are very encouraging.

On your move!

So you want to join the Power Elite, eh?

Sorry, I...

Come on.

-Hello. -I'm Katrina.

-My roommate? -Just clean-up.

I'm Will.

-Enjoying your breakfast? -Yes, yes. It's wonderful.

You're the first girl I've seen in the City.

When they segregated us at the Games, I began to wonder.

There are quite a few of us. But we're only second-class slaves.

-Oh, how come? -You're privileged.

You've been chosen to serve the Masters face-to-face.

We only glimpse them from a distance. Wish I'd been a boy.

I don't.

You're doing what you told me not to do.

-I have offended the Guards. -But you'll kill yourself!

I must prove my love for the Masters.

What you said to me was that none of us could serve them dead.

Please, don't stop me.

So, how long have you been here?

Since summer. I was taken at my capping. I still can't get over it.

-No. No, no, of course. -You don't seem so pleased about it.

Oh, I am, yes. It's wonderful.

Tell me, did you know the old man who was here before me?

Dear Georg. He has won a happy release at last.

Yes, I was there.

What a wonderful servant he was. Four years.

-Hope I can serve as well. -You will.

I worry about it a bit.

I mean, does it ever happen that a...

Well, that a slave proves unworthy?

That would mean the Master has made a bad choice, and that's impossible!

Don't worry about it. You'll be fine.

(BEEPING)

Go on. That's your Master calling.

This girl in a neighbouring village to mine,

she was queen of the summer tournament, and was taken by a Tripod last year.

-I wonder if you've... -I haven't seen her.

But perhaps she serves in the Hall of Beauty.

(BEEPING)

You must go.

Long live the Masters.

A well-regulated life of dedication is what's required.

Now, get up and take it a bit easier!

That's the one who tried to sneak into the control room.

Been going like a madman ever since to make up.

-I've been watching him. He's unstable. -He saved my life!

Yeah, well, I say we dump him.

-Yeah. -Take the arms.

MASTER 468: You have a very inefficient single-star system.

Your planet Earth spins on its axis only once in 24 hours.

So for roughly a third of its cycle, any point on the surface is in darkness,

starved of the life-giving energy of the sun.

That is why you have to sleep.

WILL: And Masters don't?

MASTER 468: We were born under a different system.

Our world, called Trion, is fixed at a point between three suns.

-So you never have darkness? -A ceaseless supply of sunlight.

On Earth, you depend on the conversion of solar energy to food,

which you then have to cook and eat three times a day.

You mean you don't need food, either?

Mmm.

Then how do you get your energy?

Through perpetual transfusion from our three suns.

And from water. Trion is a water world.

Is that why the City is built on a river?

It was essential.

You say you've already been here for over 100 years.

WILL: Then how long do you live?

In comparison with the brief, butterfly lifespan of you poor humans,

we live for, well... Can you understand eternity?

Immortal?

(MASTER 468 CHUCKLES)

Well, relatively speaking.

(SHOWER RUNNING)

MASTER 468: Do you recognise this?

It's a daisy.

MASTER 468: Bellis perennis. The flower that opens in the morning.

The day's eye.

Utterly a creature of its diurnal world. What do you know about it, Will?

Well, it, uh...

It grows wild pretty well everywhere, Master,

even in places where people don't want it to grow.

-What is its purpose? -Purpose?

-Well, apart from looking pretty... -Is it pretty?

Even when it is so undisciplined as to grow in places where it's not wanted?

Well, that would be a matter of opinion, wouldn't it?

MASTER 468: What is your opinion?

I think it's one of the prettiest flowers there is.

I like its simplicity.

MASTER 468: Who designed it?

WILL: No one designed it, Master. It just grows.

MASTER 468: You're not so good at answering my questions as I am yours.

WILL: No, Master.

MASTER 468: It's not surprising.

The process by which you gain knowledge is so very primitive,

and your lives are so astonishingly brief,

I'm surprised you know anything at all.

-I do ask questions. -Indeed you do.

But for my purpose, I need more precise knowledge.

I require you to bring me a daisy.

From outside the City?

(CHUCKLING)

Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Hey!

-Me? -Weren't you...

Yes, I came off shift about 10 minutes ago,

but as soon as I got out of the shower, I realised I'd forgotten my notes.

Okay.

Excuse me, sir.

-One of the new trainees? -Yes. I mean, that is, I'd like to be.

Were you not chosen?

I wish to serve the Masters to the best of my ability.

I know I can do much better in here than in the slave camp.

There's lots who think that, my boy.

They all think we have an easy life in here.

It's not the privileges I'm after, except to serve the Masters.

It might be as well to give the boy a trial.

Recent intake is poorer than ever. We could do with new blood.

I don't want to upset the Guards by appearing to encourage defection.

He only wants to serve the Masters at a higher level.

Who can complain about that?

Mine? He's an anthropologist, making a detailed study of the Earth.

Mine's a dreamer, I think.

He does nothing all day but sit in his steam bath,

calling for gallons of water and gas bubbles.

Mine hasn't had one of those yet. What do they do?

I understand they expand their powers of perception.

And the water they drink so much!

My Master they come from a water world.

Certainly with tentacles outstretched,

he does tend to look a bit like a squid.

-Will. -What?

Don't say another word. That's blasphemy.

BOLL: We're talking of a people who can build all this,

about a race who can master the universe!

And all you can think of is...

-Squid. -I don't wish to hear it.

-I think my Master would be amused. -Don't try it, Will.

An insult like that, and we could all be punished.

What do you think that is?

BOLL: My predecessor called it the Pool of Fire.

This place was built by the ancestors to produce a power called electricity.

It's called a fission reactor,

and it was once capable of supplying electric power

to much of northern Europe.

Now the Masters have taken it over. They have built their city round it,

and the reactor now supplies them with the power they need.

And your job is to keep it working for them?

What a wonderful privilege,

to provide such a real service for the Masters.

Excuse me.

Come on down.

-What a wonderful place! -This must be your first visit.

Yes, I'm a new slave. I was chosen by Master 468 in place of Georg.

Ah, dear Georg. He used to love to come here and look at the tulips.

-My name's Jeanne. -I'm Will.

You're very welcome. Now, what can I get you for Master this time?

He wants a daisy.

A daisy? He'll want the whole root, I expect.

He's always wanting to get to the bottom of things.

Excuse me while I fetch a container.

Thanks. I like it here.

Bye.

Come with me.

So you think there is a chance I might be accepted?

The Power Master will almost certainly consider you.

I could give you some basic training before he interviews you.

-I think that would help. -I'd be very grateful.

Okay. We'll see what we can do.

-You have a problem, Captain? -You have a skiver in here.

Stole a uniform, got in under false pretences.

-No objection if we flush him out? -Go ahead, Captain.

Identify the culprit.

CAPTAIN: Right.

Speak, Captain.

Master, the accused is a new slave chosen for the slave camp.

This is the second time he has tried to defect.

POWER MASTER: The boy must certainly be punished.

But I will speak to the Slave Master about a possible transfer.

By the time I'm finished with you, boy,

the only bits left for transfer will be bacon rind.

Squad, march.

Master?

Master?

Ah, the daisy.

Hmm.

I agree it does have a beguiling simplicity.

But as with so many Earthly species,

appearances will almost certainly be deceptive.

Ah, you're tired. How did the journey go?

The City is fantastic, amazing.

It is a hybrid of Earth and of Trion.

You would be even more amazed by Trion itself.

-I'd like to see it. -We shall see. We shall see.

Now, place the specimen for examination and take yourself off for a rest.

I sense the beginning of a fruitful relationship.

Thank you, Master.

The Slave Master did well to pick you at the choosing.

I only wish to serve the Masters, sir.

The Power Elite are over-privileged and under-worked.

When the Masters' own power plant is installed,

they'll be for the scrapheap.

-And when will that be? -Never mind when.

Your first loyalty is to the Slave Master who chose you.

I understand that now, sir.

Between you and me, you've got potential.

You want advancement? Join the Guards.

Thank you, sir.

If you survive the punishment.

(DOOR OPENS)

Hi.

You look all in.

He suddenly had me running errands all over the City.

What an incredible place, though.

Hey, your friend Fritz Eger, the 100 metres champion...

-Not my friend. -You know him, though.

Go on.

Called in at the Recreation Centre on the way back.

The buzz is the Guards have flogged him to death.

I thought you said he wasn't your friend.

Come in.

-Hello. -What happens to people who are...

-From the Punishment Room? -Fritz Eger?

If they survive, they're brought here to recover.

-If not... -Is he here?

He offended the Slave Master.

Fritz.