Original subtitles

Our struggle to survive

in a hostile universe

had long erased the memory

of the cataclysmic disaster

that first hurled our moon

out of Earth’s orbit.

But recent events

on the planet Arkadia

have revived that painful memory

and forced us to reconsider

our purpose in space.

And when it started,

it was to prove terrifying.

Aaaaah-ya!

Commander.

- Yes, Paul?

Emergency.

- I owe you one.

Return match next week, right?

- All right, Commander.

- Well, what is it?

Sandra, what's our position?

- 8.5 degrees relative.

It is no mistake,

our course is altering.

- That's strange.

We're nowhere near the gravitational pull

of that planet.

- Oh, no, it’s nothing to do with

gravitation, or magnetism, either.

- Let's find out what it is.

Activate long-range sensors.

- Scanner malfunction.

And there is a power loss.

- There's a generator fault,

there's a 5% power loss across the board.

Power loss rate now 7%.

- We're slowing down!

- Check the sensors.

- Nothing.

- Power loss now...

8%.

- We've stopped dead.

The unbelievable had happened-

our moon was locked in space.

- Gravity or magnetic forces

could affect the course, the speed,

of an object the size of the Moon...

- But they couldn't stop us cold

like this.

- No, no, nothing we know of

could do that.

- Then there's gotta be a third force.

And it must have something to do

with that planet out there.

We've completed the generator tests.

We can't trace any faults, but...

- But?

- we're still losing power.

- How, if there's nothing wrong with the generators?

- The computer puts it down to external forces.

- External forces, great, that tells us everything

- Computers not a crystal ball, Commander.

She can only predict on specific data.

All right, Kano.

Paul, what’s the situation?

- Alpha's feeling the effect

of the power loss.

A kind of, uh...

Creeping paralysis.

So far only long-range systems

are affected, but its getting worse.

- Sandra, how long can we last?

- At the present rate of loss, we have 38 hours.

Phased economies would give us 10 hours more.

- 48 hours.

What’s the flying time to that planet?

- 30 hours, round trip.

- 30 hours.

All right, we'll take down a team.

Victor, Scientific. Helena,

Environment.

We'll two security men.

Kano, I want Computer to select two

people with the widest experience

to round out the team.

Now when the wiring systems not functioning,

we won't be able to rely on Main Computer,

down there, so take what we need on the surface.

Alan, I want you to arm and provision

the Eagle for eight.

Immediate liftoff. - All right.

- Paul, power economy,

starting right now!

The planet had already been

under routine observation for some time before the crisis.

Every indication told us it was

devoid of any form of life.

As the power loss was affecting

our long-range systems,

we would shortly lose contact

with Alpha.

So we set course for the planet.

Once there, we would truly be on our own.

With us went the future of our people,

for if we failed, our existence, like the Moon,

would come to a full stop.

It’s a long ride, so get some sleep.

- Activate phase three power cut, Sandra.

- Did you sleep well?

- Morning.

- Morning, John.

- Morning, John.

- We've circled the planet twice

with no sign of habitation.

Certainly no indication of intelligent life,

but we're still looking.

- We're wasting our time, Commander.

It’s just desolation and more desolation out there.

- All right, Alan, keep looking.

Victor, what have you got?

- Um, This was a living world once.

And then, something happened,

some kind of holocaust,

which obliterated all life.

- Then the planet is uninhabitable.

- Ah, well...

- No.

The atmosphere is stabilized,

the radiation levels are tolerable,

the planet is as it was

before life stopped.

- Let’s get down there and find some real answers.

Before life stops on Alpha.

Alan, take her down.

Overpowering impressions crowded in on us

as we stepped onto the alien planet.

A sense of timeless solitude.

The silent touch of an empty world.

The total absence of life.

Death had visited this world,

so our data told us.

And as we moved on, we could feel it

closing in around us,

like a shroud.

All right, let’s set up camp over there.

- There were living things here once.

Birds, animals, maybe even intelligent life.

- Yeah. we're just a few thousand years too late.

- Right, that's the lot.

- Everything's here, Commander.

- Good.

All right, now, if you must leave

your designated areas,

let Security know.

Stay in pairs and maintain

communication at all times.

And one more thing.

The fate of Alpha, all of us...

Depends on the answers

we come up with.

All right, let’s go.

- Strange place, isn't it?

So barren and solitary.

- Any open space would seem like that

after being cooped up on Alpha.

- No, no, it’s something else.

A feeling that maybe

we are intruders.

I don't know, maybe you're right.

- Luke!

- What is it?

- Scan those trees.

The first discovery had been made.

The first link in the chain of events

that would forge themselves

into the inevitable, shattering conclusion.

Helena and Victor had also forged a link.

The planet was not dead.

Its soil was simply locked in stasis,

waiting for the bacteria that would

restart the cycle of life and death.

But that was before the

most incredible discovery of all.

- John.

How much do you know about

ancient Earth languages?

- Earth languages?

- 'cause unless I'm very much mistaken,

that inscription is in Sanskrit,

a basic proto-European

root language.

Sanskrit, the mother of tongues.

- Are you sure?

- Well, not entirely, but...

- John, Anna Davis is a trained philologist.

- What?

Maybe Computer knew something we didn't.

Anna, get here right away.

Anna.

- I don't believe it.

- Sanskrit?

- Sanskrit, yes.

But different, somehow.

An earlier form, perhaps.

But here, a million light years

away from Earth?

How?

- Can you decipher it?

- Without the use of Main

Computer, it will take some time,

but yes, I think so.

- Luke, would you...

Luke!

- Yes, Commander.

- This should warm the game up.

- This is controller, Paul Morrow.

Attention, please.

Phase four power reductions

are now operative.

Until further notice,

travel tubes between sections

one to five are suspended.

Heating will be automatically reset

to number four,

and lighting systems to half power.

- Paul, look, I know you've got problems,

but without more power,

or my patients will freeze to death.

- Sandra, allocate Medical Section

four extra units.

- Thanks, Paul.

- Now reduce heating in here

by four units.

- Don't worry.

It can only get worse.

- How is it going?

- If only I had access

to the reference library.

- Yes.

And if they could talk,

we'd know how they died.

What have you found out?

- If you give me a chance,

I might be able to tell you!

- Sorry.

- Oh, I'm sorry.

Don't mind me.

It’s just that its very difficult.

And I can make no real sense of it.

I find it very disturbing.

- Yes.

The sooner we get out of this place,

the better.

- Oh, hello.

Any luck?

- No, nothing we've seen could be

causing what’s happening on Alpha.

Helena, those skeletons.

- They're humanoid.

People very much like ourselves.

Bones show that they died of

radiation as long as 25,000 years ago.

That cave could have been

their last refuge.

- And those inscriptions

could be their last message.

- To you, who seek us out

in the ages to come,

we salute you.

The desolation you find

distresses...

No, grieves we few

who will soon die.

Our civilization gone, our world...

Arkane or Arkadia,

poisoned, dying.

We who happened...

Sorry, caused our own...

Something...

- Destruction?

- Yes, destruction.

No need now to say, no,

tell of the final...

Event happening...

- Holocaust?

- Yes, that fits.

The final holocaust,

when our world flamed in the inferno

of a thousand exploding suns...

There's more, but the imagery is difficult.

- Keep trying.

- Arkadia is finished.

But she, Arkadia, lives on in the

bodies, hearts and minds of those few

who left before the end, taking...

The life, the something...

- The seeds.

- The seeds of a new beginning,

to seek out and...

- Discover?

- No, begin.

Yes, that's it, to seek out and begin again

in the distant regions of space.

Heed now the teachings, testament,

yes, the testament of Arkadia.

There's a passage

I can make no sense of.

I'll need the reference library.

Then it continues...

You who are guided here

make us fertile.

Help us live again.

- An Earth language.

How could people from Earth

be here 25,000 years ago?

- No.

Earth people didn't come here.

The Arkadians, they found Earth!

Ask Anna.

She knows.

Tell him, Anna.

The trees.

Tell him!

- We found oak, pine, willow, beech,

40 different varieties of trees,

all native to Earth!

- You heard the inscription, the

Arkadians took the seeds with them.

They found a new Arkadia...

Earth.

Our people originated here,

on this planet.

Though the discovery

in the cave left us shaken,

it did not explain

what was destroying Alpha.

- We're running out of time, Commander.

We have to get back to Alpha.

- Alpha was freezing to death and

we were no nearer to understanding the force

that held our moon

a static prisoner in space.

We could bring life back to this planet.

How long would it take to rejuvenate the soil?

- It would take two years to get the crops growing.

- If we brought our people down, how long

could we last on survival rations?

- There are over 300 people, John.

Six months at the most.

- Six months.

- But with no power, Alpha will freeze to death

in 24 hours.

- So it’s a suicide run either way.

But at least down here, we'd be buying time.

- Not much time.

- But time enough to hope.

For a miracle.

And a miracle did occur, one that even now

is beyond our understanding.

A force, an indefinable

intelligence, existed on the planet.

And Anna Davis and Luke Faro activated it,

or we're chosen as the agents of its will.

What passed between them, we will never know.

But they emerged from the cave their personalities

profoundly transformed.

- We've decided to abandon Alpha.

Get back here right away.

- Phase six power cuts now operative.

Heating now automatically reduced to number two.

And that includes Medical.

All experimental sections are closing down.

Travel tube facilities throughout Alpha

will cease, effective immediately.

- Morrow, what the hell is going on?

- There's nothing I can do, doctor.

- If you don't give me more heat,

you might as well shoot my patients.

- And I'm telling you, there's no way

I can give you that power back.

- Damn it, those people cant survive in these temperatures!

- If these temperature drops continue,

none of us will survive!

- That is on your conscience.

Main Mission,

come in Main Mission.

- This is Koenig, do you read me?

- We have you, Eagle One.

- What's the situation?

- Desperate.

50% power loss.

- All right, listen carefully.

Put operation Exodus into effect.

We're evacuating, details later.

- Stand by for an important announcement.

We are putting phase one of operation Exodus...

- Paul, it has stopped.

The power has stabilized.

- Check Computer.

Commander, the power seems to be stabilizing.

- Stabilizing?

Are you sure?

- Computer confirms.

Power loss 50% and stable.

- Were not losing any more power.

The power's holding.

Commander, do we still evacuate?

- No, hold everything till we get there.

The inexplicable had happened again,

another event that defied logic.

Was this a sign that at last our desperate

situation on Alpha was easing?

That eventually we could hope for a full recovery

and avoid committing our people to an uncertain future

on a hostile planet?

Only time would tell.

Helena, check our chances of survival

against a permanent 50% power loss

and rush it right through.

- Do you want me to work on the planetary data?

- No, store it for now, we'll deal with it later.

- Right.

- How are we doing?

- No change.

- Good.

Paul, inside, thank you.

Morale?

- Bad.

But with this situation, what can we expect?

- Our first priority is the lives of our people.

- Planet?

- Even worse than here.

- John, if the power situation remains stable,

our food and essential life support systems can cope.

It'll be hard, but we can survive.

- Paul, cancel operation Exodus.

- Right.

- Neither past nor future.

The future is the past.

And the testament of Arkadia, the link.

They spoke to us, and we listened to them.

You and I, Luke.

There is no mistake.

Technical and Service sections at

loading bases may stand down.

Security alerts and reconnaissance

patrols no longer operative.

Main Mission to all sections Alpha.

Operation Exodus is canceled, repeat, canceled.

Personnel are instructed to report for normal duties.

- Commander, we want to live on that planet.

Well, that's completely out of the question.

- We belong there.

We were guided to that planet.

- Now, listen to me.

Up here we have a chance.

A small chance, but a chance.

Down there we have none at all.

- A few of us could survive down there.

We could, Luke and I...

- Yes, you'd make out, but you'd

have to take half our supplies with you.

Which would make life for us virtually impossible up here.

No, no, I'm sorry.

- But we must go, Commander!

- Just do what I say!

Now, look, we have enough problems up here.

Now, please go.

- The combination of the protein store.

Give it to me.

I'll kill you.

I'll kill everybody here.

Four, zero, nine, eight, zero,

four, two, eight, end.

Combination correct.

- Faro, you must be out of your mind.

Put that laser away!

- I'll kill her!

Now, do what I ask.

- All right, an Eagle.

Fueled and ready to take off.

Now release Dr. Russell.

- Commander, there was an attack on the food store.

Suspect, Anna Davis.

We're looking for her now.

- Call them off, do it!

- Security, call off the search.

All right, an Eagle.

What else?

- A moon buggy.

Stores and supplies to last us three years.

- Do you realize what the loss

of those supplies will do to us?

- Be rational.

- You'll do it Koenig, or shell die.

- Faro, you have no chance of survival

on that planet surface!

It's dead, barren!

- No, Commander,

we must bring back the seed of life

to its place of origin.

- Luke, if you get what you're demanding,

you'll be condemning Alpha

and all of us to certain death.

If it is Alpha's fate to be

the sacrificial lamb, so be it.

Don't you understand?

It was no accident that brought us to that planet.

Our destiny is clear, preordained from the moment

the Arkadians set foot on Earth.

- He's asking too much, John.

- Luke, you've got a deal.

Paul, I want you to order stores and provisions

and have them stowed on the Eagle.

Alan, prepare the Eagle for immediate liftoff.

Do it!

Be warned, any attempt to stop us will fail,

and bring down upon you the terrible

forces of chaos and destruction.

- No, let him go.

Luke and Anna were beyond

the call of logic and persuasion.

They were caught gripped of a fanatical obsession,

time bombs ticking away, with incalculable results

for all of us if we opposed them,

especially for Helena Russell.

My first priority was to get her back safely.

But to do that would put the whole of Alpha in jeopardy.

- The supplies are aboard the Eagle.

- Now, those supplies are vital to us, John,

regardless of whose life's at stake, including Helena's.

- Don't you think I know that, Victor?

- Is it ready?

When the ships sinking, the rats are the first to leave.

- Move aside.

- They're inside.

- Luke.

We've done everything you've asked.

Now release Dr. Russell.

- Not yet, Commander.

- We've kept our side, release her!

- Dr. Russell comes with us.

Don't.

We won't harm her, you have my word.

- Huh, we've heard that one before, Luke.

- This is what you'll do, Koenig.

Escort us out into space.

Use the unarmed Survey Eagle.

And when we're out of range,

then you can have her back.

- Alan, do as he says.

Take Survey Eagle 2 and follow them.

- Listen, Luke, there's still time.

Release Dr. Russell, hand over those weapons,

and there's still a place here for you.

- There will be no more argument.

I do what I must.

Don't forget, Koenig, any sign of pursuit

and Dr. Russell dies.

- I understand.

There'll be no pursuit.

- Survey Eagle, clear to lift off.

- Doctor, we're terribly sorry about all this.

- Sorry?

- Mmm.

- You are killing 300 people.

- Try to understand.

Think of all we've suffered since the Moon was cast out

to roam the wilderness of space, inexplicably, to stop here?

Think, Doctor.

It gives meaning to all this.

- Believe us, there is a purpose.

- A purpose?

And you believe this purpose of yours

justifies destroying Alpha?

- Doctor, when the lines of destiny meet,

the tools it uses are no longer necessary.

Isn't that so?

- Look, look, even if you could survive, Luke, Anna,

do you realize what it'll be like?

The only living beings on that whole barren planet.

You're going to a living hell.

- No, Doctor.

We are going home.

We were powerless.

We had no way of knowing

what went on out there in space.

Would they release Helena, or would they foist

more desperate demands on us?

Even Alan Carter, following in the Survey Eagle,

was now outside radio contact.

All we could do was trust the words of fanatics and wait.

Commander?

- Yes, Paul.

- We've tracked them on optical.

They're just about to go into orbit around the planet.

- Let me know the second you have radio contact with Carter.

Carter?

- Yeah?

- Stand by for docking.

It's time to part company.

Goodbye, Dr. Russell.

We'll have voice contact

with Carter in a few seconds, Commander.

Come in Main Mission, Carter calling.

Survey Eagle heading for Alpha.

- Helena?

Safe. But we've lost Luke and Anna.

- Technical.

Commander?

- Everything ready?

No problem.

It's coming through on frequency 2-2-0.

- Good.

Pursuit Eagle 3.

Commander?

- Pursuit Eagle 5.

Eagle 5.

Switch to subspace frequency 220.

Right.

- Activate.

- So, you put a trace on him.

- That's right.

- Better get those supplies back.

- Now, get those Pursuit Eagles launched.

- Pursuit Eagle 3 and 5 ready for launch, Commander.

We're moving!

- The power, we are gaining power!

- Cancel the launch.

- But the supplies.

- We've got our power back,

we won’t need them.

- Alan and Helena.

- Alan, this is an emergency.

Full power.

Alphas on the move again.

Hit that throttle or you'll get left behind.

- Anna!

- All right?

- Fine.

- Yeah, we're fine.

Excuse me a moment.

- You're sure you're all right?

- I'm fine.

They're all alone down there.

- Yeah, Helena, I know.

And there's nothing we can do about it.

It was their choice.

- Was it their choice, John?

And so the circle was complete.

The seeds from Earth, so carefully

stored and nurtured by us, had returned

to their place of origin.

I believe it is futile to seek answers to

the incredible things that happened on Arkadia.

All we know is that life has restarted there,

and that for us, the creation myth

of the first man and woman has a new significance.

Our immediate struggle is over.

For Luke Faro and Anna Davis, it has just begun.

They have found their beginnings.

We still wander the emptiness of space seeking ours.

We must keep faith and believe...

That for us, for all of mankind, there is a purpose.