Original subtitles

ARIEL:

When it came to pass

that the men of the Earth

could not make

peace among themselves,

and so took up arms

against one another,

the fires of hatred rained

down upon the land,

laying waste to all that

was good and gentle,

Those who survived

saw death and

destruction all around,

and it was called what? Hmm?

-Phoebe?

-The Great War,

Yes,

And in the days that followed

there was more death,

as a miasma called "fallout"

bore down upon the survivors,

But even then,

the men who had made

of Earth a fiery hell,

saw not the error of their ways,

and so the Goddess raised

her mighty hand,

and wrecked vengeance upon them,

and the men who remained

fell victim one by one,

to what?

-Nomi?

-The scourge?

That's right,

And the scourge cleansed

the Earth of evil,

singling out the men,

and leaving

the women unscathed,

And the Goddess

saw that the evil was gone

and the men were no more,

and she unfurled the fingers

or her hands,

and she made a sign of

blessing upon the females,

who now inherited

the sea and the sky,

the land and all its bounty,

and when the males

of the Earth had vanished,

so too did wickedness

and war and hatred,

and the peace and the glory

of her kingdom was restored,

And let us say,

"Praise Goddess,"

ALL: Praise Goddess,

(MAN EXCLAIMING)

(GASPING)

(EXCLAMATIONS)

Shh, it's all right,

(PANTING)

(GROANING)

Help me,

(GIRLS SCREAMING)

CONTROL VOICE:

There is nothing wrong

with your television,

Do not attempt

to adjust the picture,

We are now controlling

the transmission,

We control the horizontal

and the vertical,

We can deluge you

with a thousand channels

or expand one single image

to crystal clarity

and beyond,

We can shape your vision

to anything our imagination

can conceive,

For the next hour,

we will control

all that you see and hear,

You are about to experience

the awe and mystery

which reaches from

the deepest inner mind

to The Outer Limits,

CONTROL VOICE:

Evolution teaches

that the failure

of a species to adapt

will result in extinction,

but could an entire gender

fall victim to the same

immutable loss?

Feeling better?

Much, thank you,

I'm called Hera, the elder,

I see you've met

my grandchild, Ariel,

the teacher,

This is Sarah, the healer,

and Celeste, our baby nurse,

What is your name?

Oh, that's a good question,

You don't know your name?

Well, I'm still a bit foggy,

I've been in deep cryo,

You were frozen?

Hang on, a little bit of it's

coming back to me,

It was an experiment,

I volunteered,

-What's the date?

-March 9th,

-The year, what year is it?

-2055,

55?

40 years, It was supposed

to be six months,

Then you remember the Great War?

I remember how it started,

I was in the service,

My name is Mercer,

Major, US Army,

We won, didn't we?

No one won,

How bad?

How many were lost?

Over 7 billion,

99% of the Earth's population,

-Oh, God,

-That was before

the worldwide starvation,

the attrition

from radioactivity,

and the scourge,

-GIRL: He's crying,

-That'll do, children,

Everyone, outside,

Come on,

Is this some sort

of girls' school?

No, this is our enclave, Lithia,

So, uh,

where are your men,

in the fields?

I didn't see any

when I got here,

You might say

they're in the fields,

That's where they're buried,

So, my war wasn't the last one?

Oh, no, it was the last one,

-Something I'm missing here?

-The scourge,

It was a mutated virus

that killed only men,

It was men who brought the war

and it was men who

paid the ultimate price,

So, your town, your enclave,

there are no men at all?

No, Not here, not anywhere,

40 years?

No men, What about those kids?

Even in your day,

the technology existed,

Frozen seed from

the last of the survivors,

There's enough stored

for generations,

But, even still, males

must have been born?

They didn't survive more than

a few days, weeks at the most,

I want you to tell me

this is a nightmare,

I want to wake up,

What I can tell you

with certainty, Major Mercer,

is that you are

the last man on Earth,

(CHILDREN PLAYING)

Phoebe, Phoebe, come here,

You saw him,

is he as handsome

as they say he is?

Well, I don't know, I've never

seen a real man before,

only the picture people,

He looked so strong,

-Did he?

-He can't stay here,

The Council won't allow it,

PELE: His arrival is a curse,

The Goddess is unhappy with us,

HERA: Perhaps, but it

may also be a test,

A test of what?

Our goodness, our faith,

our morality,

How do we know he doesn't

harbor the same disease

which decimated the others?

What if his arrival

is a blessing?

Miranda, please,

Well, of all the world's

enclaves, he finds ours,

There's only one devil,

Would his arrival be

a blessing too?

I just don't think we should

react out of ignorance,

I mean, what if he's been sent

to restore the balance?

(CHUCKLES)

There was no balance

when men ruled, Miranda,

Believe me, I was there, I know,

I have no fondness for one

who worships destruction,

but I believe that if it was

a woman who came to us

hungry and in need,

we wouldn't turn her away,

Ariel's right, we are measured

by our generosity

and kindness,

and we can't possibly

make an exception

just because he's a man,

I still think we're making

a big mistake,

-Pele, we can't starve him,

-No, I'm serious,

-(BELL RINGING)

-A message from the Council!

Greetings, Lithia,

Greetings, Pontella,

I wish I were bearing

better news,

The austerity measures we

instituted the last solstice,

-

won't be lifted

as I had hoped,

-(SIGHING)

There were weather-related

shortfalls in the crops

of many of the enclaves,

yours included,

Rations will have

to be cut by another 10%,

and the tithe will be

increased a like amount,

We hope this will not

impose too much of

a hardship on your citizens,

We'll manage, Pontella,

We're sure the Council

wouldn't institute these

measures without good reason,

Thank you for your

understanding, Hera,

More austerity, There's

barely enough as it is!

All the more reason

to banish the man,

You have to tell them

eventually, you can't keep

something like this a secret,

No, but we don't want

to cause a panic,

Now, we'll deal with

the newcomer without

the Council's assistance,

for now, Is that agreed?

Pele?

Agreed,

(ROOSTERS CROWING)

(GRUNTING)

I've been sent to wake you,

-What time is it?

-Time to work,

(SIGHS)

Good morning,

This is how you

grind your wheat?

Ever since

the waters diminished,

Here, you can take

the outside position,

(WORKERS PANTING)

Men can't be trusted,

you heard what Hera said,

Hera's memories grow dim,

The war killed everyone

she ever loved, believe me,

she remembers,

-Are you jealous?

-Why, should I be?

Of course not,

But what's the matter with you?

I'm exhausted,

Come here, I'll wash your back,

(MOANING)

(GASPS)

Sorry,

They said that I was supposed

to shower before the meal,

That's all right,

the shower's for everyone,

-Miranda!

-What?

Pele!

Don't be shy,

we're all one family here,

When the waters

powered the wheel,

we processed three times

the amount of grain we do now,

What happens to the grain

you don't get to?

Some of it goes bad,

most of it we give away

before it does,

When did the river dry up?

When they repaired

the old dam upstream,

Who did?

Hyacinth Enclave,

They're trying to restore

portions of a century-old

hydroelectric power plant,

and they're hoping to be

able to barter power

the way we do flour,

Let me get this straight,

this other enclave,

they dammed up your river

and now your

paddle wheel won't turn,

That's right, but you can't

blame them for what they did,

Really? Why not?

Their soil is poor,

They can't produce

food for themselves,

much less to trade,

Besides, we can still use

labor to turn the wheel,

I'm sorry, but where I'm from,

that's highway robbery,

They have children, as we do,

and a larger population,

They have to survive too,

I understand, but not

at your expense,

I mean, you can't take care

of the whole world, you have

to look after your own first,

Those are the very beliefs

that led to war,

You know, in my day,

these rural paddle wheels

sometimes had an electro-

mechanical system as a backup,

Ours did once, but it's been

broken for a long time now,

Yeah? You mind if

I take a look at it?

Be our guest,

but we don't have

the electricity to power it,

even if repairs could be made,

Well, what about those

power lines I saw?

Relics of the apocalypse, Major,

Your apocalypse,

MERCER: So, uh, Ariel,

do you do much traveling?

What for? Everything

we need is here,

What about over to

that other enclave,

the one with the dam?

Miranda's

the trade representative,

She's visited Hyacinth on

a number of occasions, why?

I don't know,

just thought maybe,

sometimes curiosity might

get the best of you,

I'm curious about you,

You got questions, fire away,

-What was it like?

-What's that?

Life before I was a popsicle?

Well, Hera's told us about

the world before the war,

but her perspective

is that of a woman,

Well, we had our problems,

I don't mean between nations,

I know all about that,

I mean, between men and women,

Oh, yeah, we called that

the battle of the sexes,

(CHUCKLES)

The battle?

Guess we know who won,

-You didn't always fight?

-No, no,

Most of the time it was

pretty damn good, Thanks,

So was there someone special?

A wife?

No, I never did marry, but,

there was,

there was someone special,

Must have been very difficult

to leave her behind,

Yeah, it was,

I'm sorry, I didn't mean

to bring back bad memories,

No, hey, memories

are all I've got, or what

there is of them,

What about you?

With relationships, I mean,

There's no one,

if that's what you mean,

I was just wondering,

I mean, there's nobody

around here but women,

Don't flatter yourself,

Major Mercer,

those women are very contented,

(GRUNTING)

I hope I'm not interrupting,

Not at all, In fact, I was

just getting nowhere fast,

What a shame, I was hoping

we could elevate ourselves

from the status of oxen,

Listen, uh, Ariel tells me that

you're the one in charge

of bartering with

the other enclaves,

Among other things, yes,

Well, how long before

this Hyacinth enclave

would be ready to

have electricity they

could trade with us?

-Us?

-Well, as it were,

Well, from what I'm told,

they're only beginning

to produce marketable power,

but it's controversial,

The Ruling Council's leery

of the whole idea,

Yeah, you get electricity,

before you know it,

somebody turns on a light,

You mock us, but our ways

have served us well,

Yeah,

(GRUNTING)

Why don't you take a break?

You must be tired,

Well, I've been resting for

about three or four decades,

A little hard work feels good,

Do you know

what else feels good?

PELE: Miranda,

are you in there?

Miranda?

I've got to go,

Come on,

-Hera, tell us a story,

-Oh, past your bedtime,

Just a short one, please?

It's all right, Celeste,

it's all right,

-Tell us about the olden days,

-Yeah, when you were young,

(GIGGLES)

Oh, fans of ancient history,

I see,

There were men

before the war, right?

Of course there were,

I even know that,

Did you ever fall in love

with one? With a man, I mean,

Yes, uh, I suppose, once,

A long time ago,

-Did you get married?

-We had plans,

What happened?

Didn't he like you?

Yes, he liked me very much,

but like most young men,

he chose to go to war,

Did he die?

-Yes, I'm afraid he did,

-That's sad,

-What was his name?

-Jason,

Was he handsome?

(CHUCKLES)

Yes, he was very handsome,

Do you miss him?

I still keep this to

remember him by,

-What is that?

-It's the locket he gave me,

Do you wish things were the

way they used to be?

With men and everything?

No, I don't waste my time

wishing for things like that,

I think Ariel likes

Major Mercer,

Oh, that's enough, (LAUGHS)

-(LAUGHS) Good night, Girls,

-GIRLS: Good night!

HERA:

Sweet Dreams,

What are you looking at?

Sorry, I was just, um, ,,

I just have to know,

Know what?

What I have been missing,

Is that a problem?

Oh, No,

That's no problem at all,

Come here,

There you go,

(BREATHING HEAVILY)

(GENTLE MOANING)

(GASPS)

(SOBS)

MERCER:

The mill's motor is

almost operational,

It's not that we don't

appreciate your efforts,

Major Mercer,

but, as I told you, there's

no way we could possibly

power it,

With your permission, Hera,

I'd like to explore future

trade with the Hyacinth,

Flour for electricity,

Once they have Council

approval,

Miranda! We have gotten by for

two generations without a

power source,

But it doesn't have to be that

way,

It's by choice, Major Mercer,

We choose not to

depend on machines,

Clearly, you don't understand,

You've never understood,

Men can't seem to grasp the

value of simplicity,

Well, we're not talking about

nuclear power, just a few

amps,

Please, Hera,

Well, as long as no pressure

is applied, I suppose there's

no harm in talking to them,

We've heard rumors of men

in suspended animation but

we thought they were myths,

I certainly never expected to

meet one,

Well, the pleasure is all mine,

Now, what do you think of

our proposal?

-It's a just one, I believe,

-I wish it were simply a

matter of justness,

Even among our own citizens,

there is no consensus that

this undertaking was

a wise one,

And as you probably know,

the Ruling Council won't

allow us to go much beyond

testing our capacity

to produce electricity

until the ramifications are

fully debated,

Well, considering the

hardships your dam

has imposed,

I think you can make an

exception for Lithia,

All we're asking is that

you trade us a few kilowatts

of power per season,

If and when we get our

approvals, I promise you

we will give your enclave the

highest priority,

How long is that going to be?

The Ruling Council has asked

to study the matter for

another year, perhaps two,

-Well, that's not soon enough,

-I beg your pardon?

(ELECTRICITY BUZZING)

You're producing power now,

Why not share some of it?

Miranda, perhaps you can

explain to this man

what our code of honor is about,

Oh, I know about your code

of honor, Take care of your

own first,

-Thank you for your time,

-Give our regards to Hera,

I want the hunters to

organize into small patrols,

-What kind of patrols?

-The man was armed with a

laser pistol,

I'm concerned about what he

might do,

You're not suggesting we

take arms against a human

being?

We will pray to the Goddess

that it never comes to that,

but it would be

irresponsible not to protect

ourselves,

We have redrawn the levies, It

will take effect immediately,

20% of your trade

goods will be collected for

the Ruling Council's

distribution,

Essentials and allocations

will continue to be

supplied on a need basis,

so please keep us current on

your supply status and your

productivity,

Until we speak again,

Praise Goddess,

ALL: Praise Goddess,

Well, so much for the

austerity measures being

moderated,

We can't possibly give the

Council another 20%,

Well, what would you have us

do, Miranda? Rebel?

Oh, is that a dirty word too?

I'll remind you that

you are here at our pleasure,

Major Mercer,

It would be unwise to place

any additional strain on that

relationship,

Right,

It's just that Miranda and I

passed the distribution poles

on the way back from the dam,

I don't understand, What's

the significance?

Well, the power lines running

into Lithia are just a

stone's throw

away from one of

their transformers,

Now, I could easily tap into

that transformer, hook us back

up,

and nobody's going to know

the difference,

You want to steal their

electricity?

There's enough power in that

river for both enclaves,

And you have just as much

right to it as they do, More,

because you had it first,

So who's stealing from whom?

We do not steal, Major Mercer,

We do not lie, we do

not cheat,

I did not ask to be here,

Hera, but I'm here,

Now let me do something,

(LAUGHS) I've known many

like you, Major,

You've always gotten your

way, you can't stand being

thwarted,

-Ariel!

-All I ask is you think this

through,

-Ariel! Just listen for a

second!

-Mercer!

You don't need her, You don't

need anyone, No one but me,

I'm your only convert, and the

only one who can bring your

plan to fruition,

There's some old cable locked

up in a storage shed,

I can get the key,

How's it going?

Almost there,

We did it,

Miranda, I couldn't have done

it without you,

You can thank me later,

-I'll see you in an hour?

-Yeah,

If you ever come near Miranda

again, so help me,

I'll carve you a new smile,

(MOTOR WHIZZING)

(LAUGHS)

Hera!

Hera, can you hear it?

The great wheel, it's

turning on its own!

What you did was wrong, Miranda!

No good will come of it,

We can produce more

wheat in 24 hours than your

workers can in a week,

When the Ruling Council finds

out, we will be punished,

Mercer says we're already

being punished,

Don't you people see what's

going on?

There are enough resources to

go around, You Ruling Council

is going to squeeze the other

small enclaves just

like yours,

They're going to tax you

into oblivion, At least now,

you've got a fighting chance,

Women don't fight,

Major Mercer, We cooperate,

You think you have us all

figured out after five days,

but obviously you haven't

learned anything about

who we are,

What I do know, Hera,

is that no good leader would

stand by and watch

her community

slowly be taxed into starvation,

I suppose we needed a man to

save us?

This is not about men and

women, It's about standing

up for our rights,

Since when did we

acquire the right to plunder

from our neighbor?

You don't want to survive?

I'll unplug the damned thing,

You don't see the irony

in this, Major Mercer,

your telling a community

of women how to survive?

When your gender has all but

disappeared?

(LOUD BANGS)

(GIRLS LAUGHING)

Wanna try it?

Let's go up a little closer!

All right,

Now, you just look right

through here,

sight right through there,

What are you doing?

Scoot, both of you,

Where did that come from?

Cryo-capsule, Soldier doesn't

go far without his weapon,

This is our day of rest,

You're disturbing the

tranquility,

-Hera wouldn't be happy,

-Hera hasn't been happy

since I got here,

Neither has anybody else,

no matter what I try to do to

help you,

-What about you?

-What does it matter what I

think?

-Oh, it matters?

-Why?

It does,

What wrong?

Nothing,

Yeah? You sure?

Now that wasn't so bad, was it?

No,

It was good,

(MECHANICAL SQUEAKING)

The motor stopped working,

The electricity's been shut off,

I've got to go,

MERCER:

Yeah, they cut it,

all right,

Here,

-What do I do with this?

-Cover me,

Please, Stop what you're

doing and get down,

You can tell your people that

we're only taking what's

rightfully ours,

I said get down!

I said please!

Please, get down!

MIRANDA:

What do I do?

MERCER:

Stop her,

(CRIES IN PAIN)

Oh my God!

What have I done?

(GASPS)

Mercer!

They had a long bow

trained on me,

Miranda fired her weapon in

defense of my life,

I could be dead right now if

she hadn't had the guts to

shoot,

A citizen of Hyacinth would

still be alive

if it weren't for your

ill-advised marauding,

You want me to take the hit?

Fine,

I just want the chance to

make amends,

I want to bring Miranda

back safely,

But law, they have the right

to keep her,

And she could end up losing

her life because of my

mistake,

An eye for an eye is men's

idea of justice,

I'm going to bring her back,

Hera, With or without

your blessing,

I'll come with you, Mercer,

I'm not abandoning Miranda now,

I'll come too, If you'll

have me,

You have your gall,

Major Mercer,

I didn't come here to cause

any trouble,

I just want Miranda back,

She slew one of our own,

-Where is she?

-She's alive and well,

But until the Council rules,

she will atone through her

labors,

Look, if you want to blame

someone, blame me,

I'll take her place,

Please, Major, How

could a man possibly take

a woman's place?

All right, Then we'll trade a

woman for a woman,

(WHISTLES)

(WOMEN GASP)

Bring out the wrongdoer,

WOMAN:

Bring the wrongdoer!

Now then, Nice and easy,

Let her come forward,

First, lay down your weapon,

Not a chance,

(BANGING)

Elysse! Run!

Hold it, Right there!

(GASPING)

WOMAN: Stop it!

(WHEEZING)

(WHISPERS)

Enough!

I say enough!

(GASPING) I finally

found someone,

This is madness!

WOMAN:

Lay down your weapons!

All of you!

(WHISPERS)

It's not fair!

(GASPING)

HERA:

We beseech you, oh

Goddess, to lift up the souls

of our dearly departed,

And make of them a sign in the

heavens,

that they will always know our

love is constant,

(WOMEN WEEPING)

And to those who would

try to change us,

who would try to bring the old

ways back into our midst,

let this be a warning,

We will never, never

succumb to the Devil's

enticements,

Males worship death,

Females, life,

Men destroy but women endure,

And let us say,

"Praise Goddess,"

WOMAN: Praise Goddess,

Praise Goddess,

(WOMEN WEEPING)

Impetuous, stubborn,

you're so much like him,

I just came by to tell you

I'll be leaving at

first light,

Where will you go?

Someplace I can get

a second chance,

While you were gone

I reported to the Ruling

Council,

I told them all about your

arrival,

That's just all the more

reason for me to get the hell

out of here,

To my surprise, they knew all

about you,

You're not the only man on

Earth, Major Mercer,

There are 11 others,

They found you all in cryonic

suspension during an

excavation,

And they decided to place

each of you near an enclave,

And then arranged to have you

revived,

One by one,

-Go on,

-Well, it was to be an

experiment, you see?

They wanted to see what would

happen if men were

reintroduced into the world,

And from what they tell me, in

each case it was a disaster,

There was violence, jealousy,

Evil ran rampant,

You still don't understand,

do you?

That fact is for you, for

all men now and forever,

this was your second chance,

MERCER:

What I did, I did

because it was right,

If I find someone in need,

I want to help them,

I see someone in danger,

my instinct is to protect

them, To be strong,

It's who I am, I'm a soldier,

I'm a man,

MERCER: No!

Listen! Listen, we're not that

different!

Not down deep, we all want the

same things!

Just to be happy and live and

raise our children and love

each other!

Please! I don't want to die!

Please, just one more chance!

Just one more chance,

Hera, please!

Oh, God!

Goodbye,

Jason,

What did you say?

What did you call me?

MERCER:

I never told you that!

How did you know my name?

MERCER:

How did you know?

HERA: I'm sorry,

MERCER:

Wait!

How did you know my name?

Please!

Please! No! No!

No! Help me!

(SILENTLY) Please, help me!

(CRYING)

CONTROL VOICE:

The differences

between men and women have

been debated

among philosophers since

recorded history began,

If indeed males by their

nature are the aggressor,

it is this quality that