Original subtitles

Moonbase Alpha status report,

2009 days since leaving Earth orbit.

Dr. Helena Russell recording.

This morning we heard the most terrifying sound in space.

The universal plague warning signal.

Commander John Koenig is in the north quadrant

investigating a belt of asteroids

which give some hope of colonization.

- Tony, it's in a position to

go into a high orbit around us.

- Magnify.

- Our Eagles are just Model Ts compared to that.

- It changed course!

- Heading? - Directly towards us.

- It's a plague ship, Tony.

- Yeah, I know.

Weapon station.

- Prepare lasers.

Target that approaching spaceship.

- Permission to land.

Urgent.

We require permission to land.

- Identify yourself, please.

- My name is Sahala.

I come from the galaxy of Croton.

One of my crew is dead, another severely injured.

I am left alone to control the ship,

will you permit me to touch down?

- No, you do not have permission to touch down.

- She says she has injured on board.

- Sahala.

Your ship is transmitting the universal plague signal.

- That is true, we have a plague on board

but isolated, there can be no danger to you.

Please will you help us?

- Maya, run a scan on that ship.

- Our Psychon astronomers did identify

controlled sources of photon emission in the third galaxy.

Scanner confirms, the ship is photon driven.

- What's its armament?

- It has no armament.

- Helena.

Will you get a medical team down at the launch area

to take care of the injured, wear anti-contamination suits

and check, double-check that there is absolutely no danger

to any of us from the plague before you board the ship.

- Right.

- You have permission to land.

- Thank you.

- Alan, take Maya, go meet the landing party

and make sure there's no threat.

Lower launchpad to boarding level.

- Apart from the skull fracture she's lost a lot of blood.

- But with your help we can save her, we must.

- How did it happen?

- We have a criminal onboard, one

who nearly destroyed our civilization.

My mission was to deliver him to exile on Thessalina,

the most distant planet of our Croton system.

Well, for a few disastrous moments

he broke loose and this is the result.

- And this criminal is the nature of the plague you carry?

- Yes, but we now have him safely in isolation.

- She'll go right to our medical center.

What have you done?

- What I had to do.

- Not a thing.

- There's no sign of any decay,

just some form of suspension.

- I've never seen anything like it.

- How's Yesta?

- Not good.

I'm waiting for the lab report.

- We'll have to operate.

- Because she's a Psychon!

- And that gives you the right to

shoot her, because she's a Psychon?

- Yes, because of what they've done to my people, we were...

- I don't care what you were!

Now look, if Maya doesn't come out of this

then you are gonna remain locked here

in detention for the rest of your life.

- Please let me tell you...

- You cannot tell me anything!

- Tony, give her a chance.

- Alan, she gets nothing.

Come on, Alan, let's go.

- I'll be with you in a second.

- Okay, but a guard stays outside this door permanently.

- Thank you for trying to be kind.

- Well it's not that I'm a better listener than Tony,

it's just that Maya means an awful lot to him.

- The Croton system is made up of many peoples and

many planets, of which my planet Norvah was one.

For thousands of decons it has been cultivated

into a peace-loving federation.

- And the planet Psychon, is that a member?

- We didn't know of its existence

until the arrival of one named Dorzak.

He came in a spaceship with other Psychons

begging for refuge, saying that his own

planet was about to be destroyed.

- Yes, Maya knew that some of her people left Psychon

before it blew up, but she never knew if

they ever made it to another star system.

- Technologically, they were very advanced

and we welcomed them on Norvah.

But in time, we realized the Psychons were a virus

that would destroy our society.

- Now wait a minute, wait a minute.

You see, you've got something out of balance.

Maya is no virus.

- You don't know Psychons like we do.

Their power is insidious.

Dorzak incited to violence people who had

been at peace for thousands of years.

- But you said Dorzak's the prisoner on the ship?

- Yes, we developed a weapon to defeat him,

and the psychology to use it.

- The weapon you used against Maya.

- The stazer.

Please help me.

- If Maya doesn't recover...

- Crotons don't kill, that was our weakness against Dorzak.

I can bring her back.

- Well do that, and you'll get Tony on your side.

- The stazer?

Can you convince him to trust me?

- Let her prove you wrong, Tony.

- I've got a pulse.

How do you feel?

- I feel fine.

Why?

Why did you do that?

- Because you are a Psychon.

I have had experience with Psychon.

- Get her away from me.

- No, it's okay Maya.

- Get her away from me!

- Take it easy, Maya.

- All right, I want her back in detention.

With a guard outside her door at all times.

Maya, listen to me.

One of the spaceships that escaped from Psychon

before it blew up, it made it to the Croton system.

- That's wonderful!

Well, isn't it?

- They caused grief when they got there.

It seems one of your people, Dorzak...

- Dorzak!

- Yeah but listen, according to Sahala

he turned on them, he tried to take over.

- No, she's lying.

- Well she says that he incited an

insurrection on her planet, Norvah.

- She's lying, I tell you.

Dorzak was a philosopher, a poet.

He was a man of peace.

He wouldn't change.

- Well the claim is that he caused great suffering there.

- That can't be.

- Well she's taking him to exile.

- He's alive?

- He's a prisoner on Sahala's ship.

- Here? - Yeah.

- Tony.

Tony, I want to see him, please take me to him.

- Am I so much a leper I must eat alone?

- I wouldn't think of it.

- You seem somehow different from the others.

- Different? No.

We all come from the same planet, Earth.

Unless you mean my accent.

Yeah, I guess I am a little different.

On Earth I come from a country called Australia.

- Australia.

Is that very important?

- Yeah, it is to me.

- Our origins are different, but you are

very easy to be with, and you are kind.

- Well that's because you're easy to be with.

- There's only one way to repay you for your kindness,

by continually warning you of the danger you are in.

Your Psychon Maya will do her best to free Dorzak.

- Maya will do nothing she is not permitted to do.

- Their loyalty to each other

transcends all other relationships.

- You don't know Maya.

- I don't know Maya, but I do know Dorzak.

Even in stasis he's dangerous.

One of my crew's dead and another near dead.

They were both specially selected for their

ability to resist his psychological attack,

but even so he got through their defenses.

- How?

- Well, the trouble began when

we were halfway to Thessalina,

the planet which Dorzak was exiled.

The journey to Thessalina is the longest we make,

and apart from the presence of Dorzak, the crew had to face

the psychological stress of this very long flight.

Claire was on watch when things began to go wrong, and she

was unfortunately not as strong as Yesta and myself against

the fatal influence of Dorzak even as he lay in stasis.

Computer to crew, computer to crew.

I wish to communicate.

- Speak.

We are approaching a rogue asteroid.

It is the former moon from planet Earth.

Its trajectory is random and it is

inhabited by some 300 Earth people.

Their culture is primitive, being bound

by the laws of the ancient continent.

They represent no danger to the mission.

Course adjustments have been made to avoid collision.

Communication complete.

- Thank you, computer.

I am reporting a fault in the

long range communicator, the fault lies in...

- Quiet!

- We have arrived in Thessalina?

- How could I ever allow them

to submit you to that indignity?

- But where are we?

- Approaching an asteroid.

There are 300 people there.

Backward, but potentially useful.

- What do you have in mind?

- We could take over the ship and

use their base for return to Norvah.

- What about the others?

- I thought that you could eliminate

them after the Psychon fashion.

- Why are you doing this for me?

- Oh, Dorzak.

- Claire, Claire, my wonderful Claire.

- Oh no, what have I been doing?

- He is evil, Claire, evil.

- I know, I know.

- Come, come.

How did it happen?

- I don't know.

- I'll get you something to drink.

- When I woke to take over the watch in the normal way,

Yesta had nearly bled to death.

- What happened to Claire?

- Well I released her from stasis,

then she confessed what I've just told you.

The guilt was too much for her to bear.

She threw herself out into space.

And that's when I changed course to ask for your help.

- Mr. Verdeschi would like you to bring Sahala to him.

- Where is he?

At the docking port,

waiting to enter the Croton ship.

- Is the Psychon Maya with him?

- Yes.

- You see, it begins.

- Tony, why do we have to wait for her permission?

- It's protocol, Maya, we don't go aboard a visiting

spaceship unless we have permission from its commander.

- Even if she's obviously trying to deceive us?

- We're not sure of that, Maya.

- We would like permission to board your ship.

- For what purpose?

- So that we can talk to Dorzak.

- You cannot talk to him, he's in stasis.

- You can bring out of stasis,

just long enough for us to ask him a few questions.

- You should be anxious to cooperate

if you were telling the truth.

- She is.

Why don't you listen to her.

- If I am lying, why is Dorzak a prisoner on my ship?

- Because Dorzak was in command

and you were the one in stasis.

- Just like a Psychon, twist a lie to resemble the truth.

- Quit stalling, Sahala.

Let us talk to Dorzak, we'll know the truth soon enough.

Just you get him out of stasis.

- Too dangerous.

- Look, there is a witness that can tell us what happened.

She's in the medical center, Yesta.

- She is still unconscious.

- It's safer to wait 'til she regains consciousness.

- We don't know that she ever will.

- Sahala, I don't want to board your ship without your

permission, but if you don't give it, I will anyway.

- And it's on kill.

Mr. Verdeschi will you move from the entry hatch.

- All right, get her back to detention.

- Let's go find Dorzak.

Thanks.

You had me worried for a while,

thought maybe she'd got to you.

- She has got to me.

Impressive place.

- Yeah, Crotons are obviously a very cultured people.

- It's just like the lady said.

Something?

- Yeah, looks more functional than ornamental.

- Yeah, I've been through the other alcoves,

no trace of anything similar.

- What do you think, an electronic bug?

- Yeah, could be.

Maybe some kind of channel.

- I'll get technical to check it out.

- Dorzak.

That's a force field.

- He doesn't look much of a menace there, does he?

- Well he sleeps easy for somebody who perverts minds.

- He doesn't pervert minds.

More than likely the Crotons were so impressed

by him that they were drawn to him.

- It's possible his ideas were seen

as a threat to the Croton establishment.

- If the Crotons were oppressing the people and he was

opposing them, of course they'd send him into exile.

- Then Sahala could be telling the truth,

at least about what happened on the ship.

- Well a version of the truth,

anything to keep us from reviving him.

- What if Sahala is telling the whole truth about that man?

- And if she is, it would be dangerous to revive him.

- Tony.

- I'm not sure we oughta take that risk.

- But he's a wonderful man, I know him!

- You knew him, Maya, on Psychon.

You know nothing of him since he left.

- Dr. Russell? - Yes, Ed.

- We're ready to operate. - I'm on my way.

- Helena.

If you can, bring Yesta back to consciousness.

It might help solve a lot of problems.

- Tony.

I'm not the only Psychon alive.

- I know.

- I think I can get him out of stasis.

- Now why don't we wait until we hear Yesta's story.

- I never thought I was ever going to see anyone

of my own race again, I must speak to him.

- If what Sahala said is true...

- Well even if her accusations are true,

he can't harm anyone, he's behind a force field.

- Okay.

Go ahead, see if you can revive him.

- First phase is to relieve the cortical pressure

caused by the compound fracture.

- At least we've been successful

in stopping the internal hemorrhage.

- It may recur, all monitors functioning.

- Yeah.

What do you make of this?

- I don't know, it seems to be some sort of metal alloy.

- Just could be a deliberate implant of some kind.

- It'll have to come out, it's involved in the wound.

All set, then?

Run some tests on this, Ed, please.

Tony.

- Yes, Helena?

Yesta will be out of

the anesthetic in a few minutes.

- Okay, I'll be right there.

Now Maya, that force field must remain intact.

- I understand, Tony.

- Let's go, Alan.

Get Sahala to medical center.

Maya, can you handle it?

- Don't worry, Tony, I wouldn't do anything against Alpha.

- Okay.

- Dorzak.

- Maya?

It is Maya, isn't it, daughter of Mentor?

But how are you here in this Croton ship?

I thought you were dead.

- I survived the destruction of Psychon.

The only survivor.

We thought all of you were dead.

- I survived the hatred of the Crotons, the only survivor.

It's just you and me, Maya, we're the only Psychons alive.

The force field.

I thought you came to rescue me,

Maya, am I still a prisoner, then?

- Not for long.

Sahala, the commander of this ship...

- Sahala, that evil being, what lies has she told about me?

- Her lies won't help her now that Yesta's been revived.

- Yes.

If there is a Croton with integrity, it's Yesta.

Where is she?

- In medical center.

- While we wait for the truth to come out,

tell me of yourself, Maya, since I saw you last.

- She's coming out of it.

Yesta.

- I am Yesta.

And Mentor tried to restore the planet

by the use of a biological computer.

- Thank you, Dr. Russell, for helping my friend.

How is she?

- She doesn't know where she is, she doesn't know me.

A familiar face would be reassuring.

Yesta.

Sahala is here.

- Yesta.

Yesta.

Take her away!

- It's me, Sahala.

Take her away!

- Yesta, please.

- It's wrong, what we did to the Psychons.

We should have let them live in peace.

- Yesta...

- Get her away, get her away!

Please get her away from me!

She killed Claire!

- But Mentor's brilliant intellect

was not sufficient; Psychon blew up.

- She's dead.

- Well at least we know where we stand.

- Maya? - Yes, Tony?

- It seems Dorzak is innocent.

- I knew it.

If you succeed in reviving Dorzak...

- I already have.

Then I have your permission to

release him from the force field?

Yes, take him to more

comfortable quarters, level D.

- Your faith sustains us both.

- Get her back to detention.

She was obviously lying, Alan.

- Obviously?

Something doesn't hang together here, Tony.

- She talked about Dorzak's mind

having power over other people.

Maybe she's the one with the power.

Will you take some advice from an old buddy?

- Stay away from her. - Something like that.

- Hey, Sam?

- Want you to run a check on that for me, will you?

- I just ran a check on the twin of that for Dr. Russell.

- Yeah?

Well how about filling me in.

- Sure.

Now this is the one Dr. Russell removed from Yesta's head.

It's a neuro-pulsonic jammer.

- A deliberate implant?

- I didn't say that, Dr. Russell said it.

- What was it supposed to jam, you have any ideas?

- Now these are organic psycho-waves.

- What does that mean?

- Well, they're electrical impulses

associated with extrasensory perception.

- If I was gonna give you an order or a message,

the impulses from my brain would look like that?

- Yes they would.

- And you could jam that message if you

had one of these implanted in your head?

- Exactly.

- Phew.

Sam, did our sensors pick up any organic

psycho-waves like these transmitted today?

- Yes they did.

- You must tell me more about the

technique of molecular transformation.

Have you mastered it?

- I have.

Of course, with the help of my father.

- What about your friends on Alpha,

have you taught them the technique?

- Only Psychons have the unique molecular structure

that permits the transformation.

- Then you must teach me.

- You're so brilliant about everything,

I enjoy doing something you cannot.

- You must teach me the principle.

- Maya, will you report to medical center please?

- I'll be right there, Tony.

Exercise that famous brain of yours in finding

my Alphan friends a habitable planet, and I will

teach you molecular transformation when I get back.

- There it is, just behind the ear.

Right under the scalp flap.

It's a simple operation, be done in minutes.

- If only we'd known what that thing was

before we removed it from Yesta.

- Yesta, poor Yesta.

She died with his foul accusations on her lips.

She must be in misery thinking I might blame her.

- No.

Wherever she is, she'd know that you wouldn't blame her.

- Then you're convinced I'm telling the truth?

- Of course.

- Maya, look at this, it's a neuro-pulsonic jammer.

- Its purpose is to jam electrical

waves, amongst other things.

- Yeah, such as hypno-suggestion.

- Our sensors picked up a hypno-suggestion

transmission at 13 hundred hours and 22.

That was the time that you brought Dorzak out of stasis.

- And they stopped just after Yesta's death.

- She's accusing Dorzak of transmitting those impulses?

- Yes.

The Crotons developed the device

to jam psycho-waves before they enter the brain.

- Well if that's true then why

was Claire affected, and Yesta.

- Claire was in love with Dorzak and removed

the one thing that protected her from his power.

- I have to take the responsibility for Yesta.

I removed the device, and Dorzak was able

to have her say what he wanted us to hear.

- Helena, how can we be sure that she's not tricking us?

- Maya, we can't be sure of Dorzak, either.

If he can control minds from stasis,

he could take us over completely.

- The only one who he can't control is Sahala.

- Yes, give me a weapon, I'll take him prisoner again.

- No, Tony.

- Don't worry, I don't intend to do that.

Would you escort the lady back to detention?

Please.

- It's gonna be okay this time.

- Maya, there is a way we can get to know the truth.

If Sahala and Dorzak were left alone together,

then all the cards would be on the table.

- If Dorzak suspects...

Be careful, Maya.

- Attention all security personnel.

The Croton woman Sahala has broken out of detention

and is holding Dr. Russell hostage at gunpoint.

She is presently in section L

proceeding towards the Croton ship.

No one, I repeat, no one is to try to stop her.

- If I can help in any way...

- Well thank you.

- If any of your people suffered injury because of me.

- All right, Alan, how did it happen.

- I don't know.

- Well what the hell is security playing at!

- Tell Sahala that you will exchange me for Dr. Russell.

That is what she wants.

- It crossed my mind.

- They're on their way to the Croton ship.

- I have a demand to make, Mr. Verdeschi.

- Yeah, I'll bet.

Dorzak for Dr. Russell.

- Correct.

And should Dorzak make you reluctant,

may I remind you that if I choose to ignite

the photon drive before I am clear of Alpha,

all life here will be extinguished by radiation.

- I thought Crotons didn't kill.

- It's the language you appear to understand.

I expect the Psychon immediately.

Dorzak.

- It's absurd we should be at war.

- War seems to come naturally to you Psychons.

- This far from Norvah, I see things clearer.

You Crotons are in far greater danger

from yourselves than you are from Psychons.

- We're no longer in danger from you.

- But your civilization is enfeebled by contentment.

We Psychons are steeled by the struggle for survival.

- You cannot subvert my mind as you did Yesta's.

- It may be decons old, but your civilization

was based originally on military supremacy.

Only when that was achieved

could the luxury of culture grow.

- On the stasis couch, this gun is set to kill.

- Yes, couch is very comfortable.

- How did you subvert Yesta's mind?

- You should know that, Sahala would know.

Why do you tremble, Sahala?

- I am not trembling.

- Are you suddenly afraid of me?

Sahala would not be afraid of me.

Do you know why you are afraid of me?

Because you are not Sahala.

You are Maya.

You betrayed me.

- Oh, she must know by now.

- Give her another couple of minutes, then we'll go in.

- Is there some flaw in the Psychon nature

that turns us all into monsters?

First my father...

And now you.

- Philosophy doesn't win space for people to live.

It's the struggle for survival

that makes monsters of us all.

- But the Alphans aren't warped by their struggle.

- They're a pathetic example of the lingering

process of extinction; without your Psychon

help they would have died a dozen deaths.

- They saved me.

From our doomed planet.

- You are a child, Maya, but a child

that can be of a great service to me.

- I refuse.

- Only the Crotons are trained to operate this spaceship,

so I must have Sahala under my control.

To do that, I must have Dr. Russell

remove the neuro-pulsonic jammer.

- No.

- I command you to convey to me

the knowledge of molecular transformation.

- It's been too long.

- Right.

- Okay.

Maya.

- I was wrong.

- Are you all right?

- Not really.

I could hardly believe what I heard.

From his own lips.

He's not the Dorzak I knew.

- I'm gonna go tell Sahala.

- Hey.

Tell her she can have her ship back now,

but I want it off Moonbase as soon as possible.

- I was afraid.

- He's safely in stasis, Maya.

There's no need to be afraid anymore.

- Hey.

I know what'll cheer you up.

How about a beer?

I just made a fresh lot.

You know how my beer always cheers you up.

- Yes, I'd love some.

- Great.

Then there is a fabulous French restaurant that I know

at the end of block D level nine, mm, ooh-la-la.

Or we can have a nice relaxing time

floating around in outer space.

Come one, let's celebrate, sweetheart.

- In a while, Tony.

I'd like to stay here and apologize to Sahala.

- Apologize?

Ah, come on, Maya, you don't have to do that.

- Please, Tony.

I'll meet you back in command center.

- Okay, but I'll be waiting.

- Come on, Helena, let's go.

- You go ahead, Tony.

Before they leave, I'd like to learn something about stasis.

- This is just not my day.

- I want you to perform an operation for me, Doctor.

- Yes, Dorzak.

- Then I may go back to my ship?

- Maya caught him off guard,

he thought he was talking to you.

We got the truth.

- How can I thank you?

- Well you can start by forgiving us for doubting you.

- I felt through it all you were my friend.

- I was, and I am.

- Helena, I have the report you asked for.

- Oh, thanks.

- Tony.

- Yes, Ed.

- Helena was just in here.

- She's a doctor, that's a medical center, hm?

- She picked up some surgical instruments

and walked out without saying a word.

I had some reports she was anxious

to see and she didn't care.

Her actions were, well, very unusual.

- Well there've been a lot of unusual

things happening around here lately, Ed.

You know, I even suggested Maya have some of my beer

just now and she actually said she'd love some.

That's pretty unusual behavior.

From Maya.

- It's a relief to see him safely in stasis again.

- Don't feel too comfortable.

Mr. Carter.

If you will hand your weapon to me.

And now, Mr. Carter, if you will walk

into the stasis chamber, please.

Forgive me for pointing this at you, Sahala,

but until that implant is removed from

your head I cannot reach your mind.

Ah, Dr. Russell.

Would you kindly prepare yourself, Sahala?

Dr. Russell has agreed to perform the necessary operation.

- She just took the surgical instruments

out of that drawer and walked out without a word.

She's just never acted that way before.

Something bothering her?

- I'm not sure.

- Dr. Russell.

Your patient is ready.

- Helena?

- Mr. Verdeschi.

If you will hand me your weapon, please.

- Helena, you all right?

- Yes, I'm all right.

- The wall!

- Tony.

- Welcome back.

- It's all right, Maya, everything is all right now.

- What happened?

- I'll let you know everything soon as

we get Dorzak back behind this force field.

- Very clever, these earthlings.

- Easy, Tony.

Nice job with inserting that capsule, Doctor.

- Nice job removing it, Doctor.

- Where's Alan?

Least he could do is spare me a few

grateful words for saving his alien friend.

- He's with his alien friend right now.

- Crotons are conditioned never to be sad at a parting,

but I am ashamed to say I am sad at this one.

- Well I'm not conditioned.

And I'm not ashamed of the way I feel

knowing I'll never see you again.

- How does your species say goodbye?

- How do you say goodbye on Norvah?

- The way you say goodbye is better.