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Freedom Reading: Scripts
Equilibrium Movie Transcript
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Complete Transcript of the
Film
-Father-
In the first
years of the 21st century...a third World War broke out.Those of us who
survived knew mankind could never survive...a fourth...that our own
volatile natures could simply no longer be risked. So we have created a
new arm of the law...
[Gun cocks]
...the
Grammaton Cleric, whose sole task it is to seek out and eradicate the
true source of man's inhumanity to man.
His
ability...to feel.
[Thud]
-Resistance-
Police!
[Tire screech]
[Men shouting
indistinctly]
[Guns cocking]
-Seamus-
You know what
to do.
[Guns cocking]
[Glass
shattering]
-Seamus-
Get down!
[Gunfire and
shouting fade]
[Gunfire in
distance]
-Man-
We have an
unknown number barricaded in the southeast end of the compound.
-Man #2-
Read that.
Tetragrammaton team en route.
-Enforcer-
Cleric, lights
out. Maybe more than a dozen inside.
-Preston-
When the door's
down, blow the bulbs.
-Enforcer-
Yes, sir.
[Guns cocking]
-Enforcer-
Go.
[Suspenseful
clock-like rhythm]
[Thud, gunfire]
[Gunfire stops]
-Man-
Where is he?
-Man #2-
Shut up.
-Man-
Anybody get
him? Did anybody hit him?
-Man #2-
Shut up!
Listen.
[Gunfire, men
screaming]
[Gunfire stops,
casings rattle]
[Clicking]
[Footsteps]
[Casings
jingling]
[Squealing]
[Clicking]
-Preston-
This is it.
-Partridge-
Where?
-Preston-
There.
[Wood
splintering]
-Chemist-
It's real.
-Preston-
Burn it.
-Preston-
Why didn't you
just leave it for the evidentiary team to collect and log?
-Partridge-
They miss
things sometimes. And I thought I'd take it down myself...get it done
properly. How long, Preston, till all this is gone?
Till we've
burned every last bit ot it?
-Preston-
Resources are
tight.
We'll get it
all eventually.
-Father-
Libria...I
congratulate you. At last...peace reigns in the heart of man. At last,
war is but a word whose meaning fades from our understanding.At
last...we...are...whole. Librians...there is a disease in the heart of
man.Its symptom is hate.Its symptom...is anger. Its sympton is rage.
Its symptom...is war. The disease...is human emotion. But Libria... I
congratulate you. For there is a cure for this disease. At the cost of
the dizzying highs of human emotion, we have suppressed its abysmal
lows.
And you as a
society have embraced this cure. Prozium. Now we are at peace with
ourselves, and humankind is one. War is gone. Hate, a memory.
We are our own
conscience now. And it is this conscience that guides us to rate WC-10
for emotional content all those things that might tempt us to feel
again...and destroy them. Librians, you have won. Against all odds and
your own natures...you have survived.
-Preston-
Every time we
come from the Nethers to the city, it reminds why we do what we do.
-Partridge-
It does?
-Preston-
I beg your
pardon.
-Partridge-
It does.
-Woman-
The following
items have been rated EC-10 -- condemned -- seven works of
two-dimensional illustrated material, seven discs of musical content,
20 interactive strategy computer programs.
-Man-
Seven works of
two-dimensional...
[Voice fades]
[Bell chiming]
-Dupont-
Thank you for
coming, Cleric. I assume you know who I am.
-Preston-
Yes, sir. Of
course.
You are
Vice-Council Dupount of the Third Conciliarly of the Tetragrammaton --
Father's voice.
-Dupont-
Quite frankly,
Cleric, I am told that you are very nearly a prodigal student, knowing
almost instantly if someone is feeling.
-Preston-
I have a good
record, sir.
-Dupont-
Why, do you
imagine, that is, Cleric?
-Preston-
I'm not sure,
Vice-Council. Somehow...I'm able, on some level, to sense how an
offender thinks, to...put myself in their position.
-Dupont-
If you had
ceased your interval, if you were a sense offender...
-Preston-
I suppose you
could say that, sir.
-Dupont-
You're a family
man, Cleric?
-Preston-
Yes, sir -- a
boy and a girl. The boy's in the monastery himself, on path to
becomming a Cleric.
-Dupont-
Good. And the
mother?
-Preston-
My spouse was
arrested and incinerated for sense offense four years ago, sir.
-Dupont-
By yourself?
-Preston-
No, sir -- by
another.
-Dupont-
How did you
feel about that?
-Preston-
I'm sorry. I
don't... fully understand, sir.
-Dupont-
How did you
feel?
-Preston-
I didn't feel
anything.
-Dupont-
Really? How is
it that you came to miss it?
-Preston-
I...I've asked
myself that same question, sir. I don't know.
-Dupont-
A nearly
unforgivable lapse, Cleric. I trust you'll be more vigilant in the
future.
-Preston-
Yes, sir.
-Preston-
Every time we
come from the Nethers to the city, it reminds why we do what we do.
-Partridge-
It does?
[Tape rewinding]
-Preston-
Every time we
come from the Nethers to the city, it reminds why we do what we do.
-Partridge-
It does?
[Click, tape
rewinds]
-Partridge-
It does.
-Preston-
Prosecutorial
evidence for A.N.R. 136890. I need it.
It was late
this afternoon. May not have showed up in the records yet.
-Evidentiary
storage officer-
I'm very sorry,
Cleric. Nothing has been logged and nothing is pending under that entry.
-Preston-
It was an item
of evidence brought in personally by Grammaton Errol Partridge. Check
again.
-Evidentiary
storage officer-
Sir, Cleric
Partridge has not entered anything in for weeks.
-Preston-
You're
mistaken. It was a book of some kind.
-Evidentiary
storage officer-
Cleric...there's
nothing.
-Preston-
Thank you.
-Gate guard-
He's been
passing through the gate into the Nether every night for the last two
weeks. We assumed it was enforcement-related.
[Footsteps]
-Partridge-
You always knew.
-Partridge-
”But I, being
poor...have only my dreams. I have spread my dreams under your feet.
Tread softly...because you tread on my dreams.”
I assume you
dream, Preston.
-Preston-
I'll do what I
can to see they go easy on you.
-Partridge-
We both
know...they never go easy.
-Preston-
Then I'm sorry.
-Partridge-
No, you're not.
You don't even know the meaning. It's just a...vestigial word for a
feelling you've never felt. Don't you see, Preston? It's gone.
Everything that makes us what we are -- traded away.
-Preston-
There's no war.
No murder.
-Partridge-
What is it you
think we do?
-Preston-
No. You've been
with me. You've seen how it can be -- the jealousy, the rage.
-Partridge-
A heavy cost.
I'd pay it
gladly.
[Gun cocks]
-Preston-
Don't.
[Shoots]
-Brandt-
You and your
partner were close? I hope you're as pleased to be assigned me as I am
the placement. I was told this would be a career-making advancement.
I'm like you, Cleric -- intuitive. Sometimes I know when a person's
feeling before they know it themselves.
-Brandt-
Cleric...I can
only hope one day to be as...uncompromising as you.
-Preston-
Good night.
-Father on TV-
The later 20th
century saw the foutuitous and simultaneous rise of two synergistic
political and psychological sciences. The first, the revolutionary
precept of the hate crime.
-Robbie Preston-
John?
-Preston-
Yes?
-Robbie-
I saw Robbie
Taylor crying today. He didn't know, but I saw. Do you think I should
report him?
-Preston-
Unquestionably.
[Click]
-Father on TV-
...a single
inescapable fact --that mankind united with infinitely greater purpose
in pursuit of war...than he ever did in pursuit of peace.
-Partridge-
”But I, being
poor...have only my dreams. I have spread my dreams under your feet.
Tread softly...because you tread on my dreams.”
-Enforcer-
Viviana
Preston, Don't move! Don't move!
Comply! Comply!
Stop! Stop
where you are!
Get down! Get
down!
-Enforcer-
Don't shoot.
This is a lawful entry. We have a warrant for your wife's arrest. She's
charged with sense offense.
-Enforcer-
Hey!
Get her!
Get her off him
now!
-Viviana-
Remember me.
- Father -
Libria...
Awake. Awaken
to triumph again in the face of yet another day,another step in our
unified march into the unwavering purpose...move ahead together into
the certainty of our collective destiny.
[Faucet squeaks]
[Glass shatters]
-Robbie-
What are you
doing?
-Robbie-
I said, what
are you doing?
-Preston-
I accidently
dropped my...morning interval. I took it out before I brushed my teeth.
I never take it out before I brush my teeth.
-Robbie-
Then you'll go
by Equilibrium, log the loss, and get a replacement.
-Preston-
Yes. Of course.
-Robbie-
Your new
partner called. He says he'll pick you up at 10:00 for the A.N.R. I
hope you don't mind. I took the liberty of telling him you would be at
Equilibrium, replacing your dose.
-Preston-
No, of course
not. That was the right thing to do.
-Robbie-
Stop that.
-Man and Woman
alternating-
Due to
terrorist activity, this site is temporarily closed. Proceed to the
Equilibrium Center in Sector 8A.
Due to
terrorist activity, this site is temporarily closed.
-Man-
This site is
temporarily closed. Proceed to the Equilibrium Center in Sector 8A.
-Brandt-
More than
punctual, Cleric. Hop in.
-Brandt-
How were the
lines?
I'm surprised
you were able to get your interval and get out so quickly.
-Preston-
No,
they're...they're fine today.
-Brandt-
Maybe I'll drop
by later, get my interval adjusted.
[Gun cocks]
-Preston-
You expecting
Resistance?
-Brandt-
That's
something you'll find about me, Cleric. I'm a wary person, cautious by
nature. Always expecting the worst.
-Mary-
You can't do
this. You cannot do this.
-Preston-
Tetragrammaton,
There's nothing we can't do.
-Preston-
How long have
you been off the dose?
Look at you....
Look at you!
[Breathing
heavily]
Look at you.
The mirror's
frame is illegal. Destroy it.
-Man-
We have
suppression, We're making entry.
-Man #2-
Standard
deployment.
Collecting
catalog. illegal articles.
[Glass shatters]
-Mary-
You're gonna
burn it, aren't you?
[Bell jingles]
-Preston-
Eventually.
However, you couldn't have accumulated all this by yourself. It'll all
be sorted and examined. We'll discover who your confederates are.
-Man-
Gun!
[Shot]
-Preston-
We need her.
-Preston-
What's your
name?
-Mary-
O'Brien, Mary.
-Prston-
Well, Mary...
you can either wait and tell the technicians at the Palace of
Justice... or you can tell me now. Who are your friends?
-Mary-
I'm wondering
if you have any idea at all what that word means -- "friend."
-Preston-
There's nothing
you don't feel? How about guilt?
-Mary-
Let me ask you
something.
-Mary-
Why are you
alive?
-Preston-
I'm alive... I
live ...to safeguard the continuity of this great society. To serve
Libria.
-Mary-
It's circular.
You exist to continue your existence. What's the point?
-Preston-
What's the
point of your existence?
-Mary-
To feel.
Cause you've
never done it, you can never know it. But it's as vital as breath. And
without it -- without love, without anger, without sorrow -- breath is
just a clock ticking.
-Preston-
Then I have no
choice but to remand you to the Palace of Justice for processing.
-Mary-
Processing.
You mean
execution, don't you?
-Preston-
Processing.
-Dupont-
The Gun Katas.
through analysis of thousands of recorded gunfights, the Cliric has
determined that the geometric distribution of antagonists in any gun
battleis a statistically predictable element.
-Man-
The Gun Kata
treats the gun as a total weapon, each fluid position representing a
maximum kill zone, inflicting maximum damage on the maximum number of
opponents while keeping the defender clear of the statistically
traditional trajectories of return fire.
-Dupont-
By the rote
mastery of this art, your firing efficiency will rise by no less than
120%. The different of a 63% increase to lethal procifiency makes the
master of the Gun Katas an adcersarty not to be taken lightly.
-Mary [Echoing]-
Without love...
breath is just a clock...ticking.
[Flames roaring]
[Heart beating]
-Father-
Prozium -- the
great nepenthe. Opiate of our masses. Glue of our great society. Salve
and salvation, it has delivered us from pathos, from sorrow, the
deepest chasms of melancholy and hate. With it, we anesthetize grief,
annihilate jealousy, obliterate rage. That those sister impulses
towards joy, love, and elation are anesthetized in stride, we accept as
fair sacrifice. For we embrace Prozium in its unfying fullness and all
that it has done to make us great.
[Loud footsteps]
-Guard-
Good morning,
Cleric.
-Preston-
Good morning.
-Father-
...intrinsically,
humans, as creatures of the Earth were drawn inherently always back to
one thing --war. And thus we seek to correct not the symptom but the
disease itself. We have sought to shrug off individuality, replacing it
with conformity. Replacing it... with sameness... with unity, allowing
each man, woman, and child in this great society to lead identical
lives.
The concept of
identical encironment construction allows each of us to head
confidently into each moment with all the secure knowledge it has been
lived before.
[Voice fades]
-Brandt-
What are you
doing?
-Preston-
I'm rearranging
my desk.
-Brandt-
You didn't like
the way it was before?
-Preston-
I have no
feelings about it. I'm merely attempting to optimize.
-Brandt-
Sense offenders
holed up in the Nether.
-Enforcer-
We estimate --
we estimate 50 men, sir. Intelligence tells us they're all fully armed.
-Brandt-
This is the
group that bombed the Prozium factories. You'll clean, we'll sweep.
-Enforcer-
Yes, sir.
[Indistinct
shouting]
-Enforcer-
Go! Go! Go! Go!
-Resistance-
Aah!
-Enforcer-
Take it! Take
the landings!
-Resistants-
Aah!
Aah!
-Brandt-
Cover me, I'm
going in.
-Resistance-
Aaaaaaah!
-Brandt-
Nice grab,
Cleric.
[Casings
rattling]
[Door rattles,
creaks]
[Door opens]
[Stairs
creaking]
-Preston-
"Ludwig Van
Beethoven."
[Record
scratching]
[Powerful
classical music plays]
[Music
continues]
-Brandt-
Cleric... Why
didn't you leave that for the evidentiary team to collect and log?
-Preston-
They miss
things sometimes. I'll take it in myself... make sure it gets done
properly.
-Brandt-
[Sighs]
You know,
Preston... If we keep burning all this contraband, eventually there
won't be anything left to burn.What'll there be for men like us?
-Enforcer-
Sir! We got
something out back.
[Man talking
indistinctly]
-Enforcer-
We're gonna
need two more men on this.
[Barking]
-Enforcer-
These animals
were defended by women and children. We put them down easily.
-Brandt-
This isn't the
first time we've seen this. Why do they keep these animals? What do
they -- do they eat them?
-Enforcer-
What do you
want me to do sir?
-Brandt-
Exterminate
them, of course.
-Enforcer-
All right.
Let's do it.
-Preston-
No.
[Guns cocking]
-Brandt-
What's wrong,
Cleric?
-Preston-
Nothing.
[Barking
continues]
[Gunshots, dogs
whimpering]
-Enforcer-
Hey...
[Dog running]
-Enforcer-
Grab it.
Sir... toss it
back in.
I'll finish it
off.
[Gun cocks]
Give it to me,
sir.
Give it to him,
Cleric. He'll finish it.
[Whimpering]
[Whimpering
continues]
-Preston-
Wait!
It seems to me
that... at least some of these animals ought to be tested for disease.
If there's an epidemic in the Nether, it's best we know about it.
-Dupont-
I don't quite
follow your logic, Cleric.
-Preston-
They were
Resistance. They could have led us to the Underground. But instead of
apprehension and interrogation, they were slaughtered.
-Dupont-
Yes, but,
Cleric, given the circumstances, the Father has decreed that there will
be no more "process" for sense offenders. They are either to be shot on
sight or incinerated without a tiral.
-Preston-
But it's
counter to law. You're a member of the Council. if--
-Dupont-
It is not the
will of the Council, it is the will of Father and he is law.
-Preston-
Sir... without
the logic of process, is it not just myhem -- what we have worked so
hard to eradicate?
-Dupont-
You must
understand, Preston, that while you -- and even I -- may not always
agree with it,it is not the message that is important, it is our
obedience to it. Father's will. Call it faith. You have it, I assume?
-Preston-
Yes. I have it.
-Dupont-
Good.
[Click,
whirring]
[Click]
[Click,
whirring]
-Preston-
Confiscated
evidence X23-T45 -- Mary O'Brien.
[Exhales
deeply]
[Car engine
reves]
-Preston-
Cleric John
Preston passing into the Nether -- enforcement-related.
-Guard-
Thank you, sir.
[Whimpers]
-Preston-
I don't know
what else to do with you.
Go on. Go on.
[Trunk door
creaks]
[Trunk door
closed]
-Preston-
Go!
[Keys jingle]
[Dog barks]
[Panting]
[Engine turns
over]
[Yelps]
[Engine shuts
off]
-Preston-
Fine. But
you're going back in the trunk.
[Yelps]
[Chuckles]
-Preston-
Okay.
Here.
[Engines
revving]
-Enforcer-
Step away from
the vehicle!
Step away from
the vehicle!
This is your
last warning! Step away from the vehicle!
Identification.
-Preston-
I'm a Cleric.
I'm here on official business.
-Enforcer-
Identification!
-Preston-
It's in my coat.
-Enforcer-
Where's the
coat? Where is it?!
-Presto-
I don't have it.
-Enforcer-
Unidentified
individuals are subject to summary destruction.
-Preston-
You're making a
very big mistake. I'm a Grammaton Cleric, first class.
-Enforcer-
We're gonna
search your vehicle.
-Preston-
No, you're not.
There's nothing in it.
-Enforcer-
Search it!
-Enforcer-
Clear, sir.
-Enforcer-
Keys to the
trunk.
-Preston-
I'm trying to
tell you. I have a predawn combustion to witness. I'm not--
Captain, this
is a waste of my time. My name is John Preston. I'm the highest-ranking
Cleric of the Tetragramm--
-Enforcer-
Wait. Stand off.
I'm sorry I
didn't recognize you, sir.
-Preston-
That's okay.
Just doing your job.
-Enforcer-
Thank you.
We'll escort
you back to the gate.
-Preston-
Thanks.
[Dog yelps]
-Preston-
Animals.
Nether's full of them.
-Enforcer-
Sounds like it
came from your trunk.
-Preston-
Impossible.
Just give me my keys. I'll be on my way.
Captain...I'm
asking you one last time -- don't do this.
-Enforcer-
Down on your
knees!
Down on your
knees!
Down on your
knees!
Drop down!
On the ground!
Comply!
On the ground!
Comply!
Do it!
-Enforcer-
No.
Fuck!
-Enforcer-
What?
Aw, shit! Shoot
him! Shoot him! Shoot him!
-Enforcer-
Aah!
[Casings
rattling]
[Wind blowing]
[Exhales deeply]
[Grunting]
-Brandt-
Always
practicing, Cleric. I guess that's why you're the best.
-Preston-
Maybe I'm just
better.
-Brandt-
Something on
your mind?
[Both grunting]
-Preston-
Why do you ask?
-Brandt-
The intuitive
arts, Cleric. It's my job to know what you're thinking.
[Mask thuds]
-Preston-
So, then...what
am I thinking?
-Brandt-
About the
murders in the Nether last night...
[Whooshing]
And if they
know who did it.
[Both grunting]
-Brandt-
Am I close?
-Preston-
So, tell
me...do they know?
[Panting]
-Brandt-
There are
theories. I have one or two of my own, but at the moment...
[Straining]
they're
premature!
I'm glad it
happened.
-Preston-
Why?
-Brandt-
Because now
Father and the Council have decreed an acceleration in the crackdown on
offenders. Whoever did it-- all the accomplished was a quicker end to
the Resistance.
It's goona be a
massacre, Cleric.
I came to tell
you... there's a raid in the Neter -- Sector 7.
[Panting]
So get ready.
-Preston- That
door behind you...
Go.
Go, damn you!
Get out of
here, God damn it! If you don't, you're dead!
-Resistance-
Don't do it.
He'll shoot us in the back.
-Preston-
If I was gonna
shoot you, I'd shoot you in the face. Now go.
Damn you!
Follow me. Now!
-Resintance-
Let's go!
-Man-
There will be
no detention.
Repeat -- no
detention for any purpose. All prisoners and apprehendees are to be put
down.
-Enforcer-
Look out!
Aah!
Aaaah!
-Enforcer-
Cleric, what's
happening? We heard gunshots.
-Preston-
Go!
-Enforcer-
What are you
doing? Cleric!
They're
Resistance fighters.
Cleric!
He's a sense
offender!
[Indistinct
shouting]
-Enforcer-
Cover all
quadrants!
Secure the
perimeter!
-Preston-
What is this?
What are you
doing?
-Brandt-
Nicely done,
Cleric.
You drive them
into the trap... I close it.
The very
definition of... teamwork. Don't you think?
Why don't you
take the honors of the execution, Cleric?
-Preston-
These people
should be taken for clinical interrogation.
-Brandt-
Cleric...
Father's rulings are quite clear. Offenders are to be shot on sight.
-Preston-
They have
valuable information.
-Brandt-
Cleric...
-Preston-
They can be put
to much better use.
-Brandt-
Cleric. If your
weapon's low, please, use mine.
[Gun cocks]
-Preston-
No. I think, in
the end... it'll be better if you have it.
-Brandt-
Captain.
-Enforcement
Captain-
Yes, sir.
Firing positions.
Ready...
[Guns cocking]
Aim... Fire!
[Gunfire]
[Men screaming]
-Preston-
Sir?
-Dupont-
Yes, Cleric?
-Preston-
You asked me to
become Father's instrument against the Resistance. I'm ready. Today. I
wish to show my faith. I wish, with you permission, to locate the
Underground once and for all.
-Dupont-
To destroy it.
-Preston-
To destroy it.
-Dupont-
Good. Do it.
-Preston-
I'm so... so
very sorry.
-Crematory
Technician-
These are the
possessions he had on him at the time of death. The illegal ones will
be burned with him.
-Preston-
Good.
-Preston-
Errol Partridge.
-Mary-
The name
supposed to mean something to me?
-Preston-
He was a
Grammaton Cleric, first class. You knew him.
-Mary-
News bulletin
-- I'm a sense offender. I don't hang around much with the Cleric.
-Preston-
I want to know
about him.
-Mary-
Well... I
suggest you go ask him. But I understand that he's dead -- killed by
your friends at the Tetragrammaton.
-Preston-
Not by my
friends. By me.
-Mary-
Aaah!
-Preston-
You were lovers.
-Father's voice-
The Underground
is our foe, and greater than even the threat of those who have forsaken
their Prozium for emotion is the threat of those selfsame individuals
united. They are the secret organization...
-Reading Room
Proprietor-
And thus, it is
in the writing of the Father that we find our greatest --
Good afternoon,
sir.
What will it be
for you? The latest copy of the inserts? Revised edition of the
manifesto?
-Preston-
Errol Partridge.
What do you
know about him?
-Reading Room
Proprietor-
I beg your
pardon?
-Preston-
Everybody out.
Now.
-Preston-
I'm gonna ask
you one more time.
Errol Partridge
-- What do you know about him?
-Reading Room
Proprietor-
I'm sure this
must be some mis--
-Preston-
You're an
offender.
-Reading Room
Proprietor-
I'm not.
-Preston-
No? Then why
are you so scared of me?
Now you will
tell me everything you know about Errol Partridge,or I will have a
wagon come to take you to the Hall of Destruction for summary
combustion.
[Breathing
heavily]
-Reading Room
Proprietor-
I - I really
don't know --
-Preston-
Speak!
-Reading Room
Proprietor-
He -- he'd come
in here with a fellow named Jurgen.
-Preston-
Why?
-Reading Room
Proprietor-
That's --
that's all I know. I swear.
-Preston-
Jurgen!
-Preston-
Interesting.
-Reading Room
Proprietor-
Ugh-ow!
Ugh!
[Groans]
[Gun cocks]
-Jurgen-
We've been
watching you, Preston.
-Preston-
You're Jurgen.
-Jurgen-
You're feeling.
-Jurgen-
Do you know why
you came?
[Buzzes]
-Jurgen-
Welcome to the
Underground.
-Jurgen-
Polygraph.
It detects
fluctuations of human emotion.We have to be sure.
Mary.
You're carrying
in your left pocket a red ribbon sprayed with her scent.
You breathe it
in sometimes when you think there's no one to see.
But what you
feel...what you feel could only be satisfied by falling yourself into
her.
-Preston-
She's scheduled
for combustion -- tomorrow.
-Jurgen-
I know.
You know ,I was
like you
But the first
thing you learn about emotion is that it has its price -- a complete
paradox.
But without
restraint...without control...emotion is chaos.
-Preston-
But how is that
diff--
-Jurgen-
The difference
being is that when we want to feel, we can. It's just that...some of
us...some of us have to forgo that luxury so that the rest can have it.
Some very few of us have to force ourselves not to feel. Like me. Like
you.
-Preston-
What can I do?
-Jurgen-
You can kill
Father.
[Man speaking
indistinctly]
[Horn honks]
[Engines
roaring]
-Enforcer-
Cleric John
Preston...
[Gun cocks]
you are to come
with us immediately.
-Dupont-
Cleric Preston.
-Preston-
Sir.
-Dupont-
I've heard the
most disturbing rumor.
-Preston-
Rumor, sir?
-Dupont-
Yes. A rumor
maintaining that one of us, one of the Cleric, has secretly taken it
upon himself to cease his dose, that one of our elite number is
actually feeling.
-Preston-
Feeling, sir?
-Dupont-
Are you playing
with me, Cleric?
[Guns cocks]
-Preston-
No, sir.
-Dupont-
This person,
I'm told, is actually attempting to contact the Resistance. Now tell
me, if you'll be so kind, how exactly...have you been making use of
your time of late?
-Preston-
Attempting to
contact the Resistance, sir.
-Dupont-
Attempting? How
is it that you intend to expose this traitor if all you do is attempt?
-Preston-
You're...absolutely...100%
right, sir.
-Dupont-
Of course I am.
The Cleric is
the final line of defense. If the Resistance compromises it, we are
doomed. Father is doomed.
-Preston-
I will redouble
my efforts, sir, to locate the Resistance, to find this traitor, and
bring them all to the Council's fair justice.
-Dupont-
Do it.
[Creaking]
-Robbie-
What are you
doing?
What are you
doing?
-Preston-
I, uh...I was
checking to make sure you've been...taking your interval.
-Robbie-
And are you
satisfied?
-Preston-
Yes, I am.
-Robbie-
Good night, Dad.
-Mary-
I don't
understand. My execution's set. Why are you here?
[Distant
buzzing]
[Beeping]
[Beeping stops]
[Buzzing stops]
-Mary-
Aren't you
gonna dose?
My God.
What...what'll
you do?
-Preston-
I don't know.
-Preston-
50 sweepers,
maybe more.
-Jurgen-
What about an
audience? Can you arrange to meet with him?
-Preston-
Father's never
given a single audience since the upheaval. The danger of assassination
is too great.
-Jurgen-
They trained
you your whole life to fight these kind of odds.
-Preston-
Even if I
could...even if I could make it through, what guarantee is there it
would accomplish anything, that anything would be different?
-Jurgen-
We have a
network that's larger than you could ever imagine. Instant word comes
that Father is dead, that the Council is leaderless. Bombs that have
already been planted will be set off at Prozium clinics and factories
around Libria. If we can succeed in disrupting the supply for even one
day -- one day-- our cause will be won by human nature itself.
-Preston-
What about war,
the everyday cruelties that are all gone now?
-Jurgen-
Replaced by the
touch of Grammaton.
Will you do it?
[Exhales slowly]
-Preston-
Yes.
-Jurgen-
Can you?
-Preston-
I don't know.
-Jurgen-
Don't -- Seeing
her one last time will only make it harder to do what you have to do.
[Man speaking
indistinctly]
-Father-
...designed
especially to deal with it. The Cleric was implemented and sent out to
search and destroy such objects that remained and, if necessary, those
who attempted to...
-Preston-
File footage.
-Father-
The Council...
-Preston-
Viviana
Preston. Sentence and incineration.
Auditory.
-Voice-
Viviana
Preston, for ceasing your interval for the crime of feeling. you stand
condemned to suffer annihilation in the city furnaces. You will be
taken there immediately, and you will burn.
[Man speaking
indistinctly]
-Father-
The Cleric was
implemented and sent out to search and destroy such objects that
remained and , if necessary, those who attempted to... The Council...
[Rapid
footsteps approaching]
-Preston-
The
incineration -- has it gone through?!
-Guard-
It's going
through now.
Hey!
[Fire roaring]
[Quivering]
-Woman-
Machine
turbines priming. Machine turbines priming.
-Preston-
Tetragrammaton
-- I need to speak to this woman!
-Enforcer-
You're too
late, sir. The time lock is engaged. If we force the door now, the
turbines will explode at street level.
-Woman-
...personnel,
clear the area immediately. All unauthorized personnel, clear the area
immediately. Turbines primed.
Fire in 10
seconds...
9 seconds...
8 seconds...
7 seconds...
6 seconds...
5 seconds...
4 seconds...
3 seconds...
2 seconds...
Turbines...fire.
-Brandt-
Cleric John
Preston...
You are under
arrest.
-Brandt-
This man...
this senior Cleric -- has ceased the dose.
He is feeling!
He is the worm
that has been eating at the core of our great society! And I... I have
brought him for your justice.
-Preston-
Ugh!
-Brandt-
I told you I'd
make my career with you, Preston.
-Brandt-
Vice-Council...
This man is
guilty of consorting with sense offenders, of having relations with a
female, of sense crime itself.
-Dupont-
Dispatch a
search team to the Cleric's quarters to search for unused.
-Brandt-
Uh, that won't
be necessary, Sir. If you'll run the trace record on his side arm, you
will find that it was he who was with the sweepers team when they were
murdered.
-Dupont-
Cleric... I
assume you have something to say to me.
-Preston-
I know... it's
hard to believe...
[Spits]
..that a Cleric
of the Tetragrammaton could turn his back on everything he's been
taught, would become associated with the Resistance, even becoming a
champion in its Underground.
But it's true.
I promised that
I would bring you that man. And I have.
-Dupont-
Cleric Brandt...
-Brandt-
Sir?
-Dupont-
The trace shows
that it was your gun in the Nether with the sweepers.
-Brandt-
That's
impossible.
[Guns cock]
-Brandt-
This is wrong.
-Preston-
I think, in the
end...it'll be better if you have it.
-Brandt-
He switched
them.
He switched
them. See, I have his gun now.
-Preston-
Of course you
do. You took it when you arrested me.
-Brandt-
What?
-Dupont-
Take him to the
Hall of Destruction for summary judgment and combustion.
-Brandt-
Wait,
wait,wait. Wait!
I can explain
this. Uh, Sir, I'm not felling! He is the one who's feeling! This is a
mistake!
-Dupont-
Of course...
since a complaint has been lodged, law and the letter is that I allow a
team to carry out the search of your premises.
Do you think
that's entirely necessary, Cleric, or am I being too...exacting?
-Preston-
As you say,
Sir, it's the law and the letter.
-Dupont-
And it doesn't
disturb you in the least that your colleague is going to his end?
-Preston-
The only thing
that disturbs me, Sir, is that I am Father's instrument against the
Underground, and yet... I've never had the honor of meeting him.
-Dupont-
Hmm. Yes, but,
Cleric, you know that Father never grants an audience to anyone.
-Preston-
Even to the man
who brings him the Resistance?
[Tires screech]
-Enforcer-
Sorry, Sir.
Just a formality. The search team will be up momentarily.
-Preston-
Excellent. I
have nothing to hide.
-Enforcer-
The search
teams are already inside, Sir.
[Beeps]
-Preston-
Excellent.
[Men speaking
indistinctly in distance]
-Robbie-
Looking for
something?
If I were
you... I'd be more careful in the future.
-Preston-
How long?
-Robbie-
Since Mom.
-Preston-
And Lisa?
-Robbie-
Of course.
-Preston-
How did you
know?
-Robbie-
You
forget...it's my job to know what you're thinking.
-Preston-
Then you know
what I'm gonna do now.
-Man-
You have a
message for the Vice-Council?
-Preston-
It's done.
I've located
the Resistance. Come now. You'll have them all.
-Dupont's
Secretary-
Do not address
Father unless first addressed by him. Avoid eye contact. If you should
break his personal security zone, you will be immediately put down by
snipers. Is that understood?
You'll be
required to surrender your firearm, of course, and then there's the
test.
-Preston-
Test?
-Dupont's
Secretary-
Yes. You didn't
imagine we would risk exposing Father to even such a dedicated servant
as yourself without first having tested you, did you?
Please.
[Mechanical
whirring]
[Man speaking
indistinctly]
-Enforcer-
Cleric...your
weapon, please.
-Interrogator-
Here.
Sit.
We'll start
with a test question first.
[Snaps fingers]
More of a
riddle, actually.
What would you
say is the easiest way to get a weapon away from a Grammaton Cleric?
[Guns cocking]
-Brandt-
You ask him for
it.
I told you I'd
make my career with you, Cleric.
-Father-
...to combine
the capacity...
Preston.
Brandt's job was simple -- to make you feel like you'd won, to make you
feel safe. For years, I tried to infiltrate an agent into the
Underground... until it hit me -- in order to pass undetected into
their midst, in order to be trusted by them, my provocateur would have
to think like them and would have to feel like them. But where to find
such a man -- a man with the capacity to feel who didn't yet know it?
-Preston-
But... we've
never met.
-Father-
No?
-Dupont-
Don't look so
surprised, Preston. Why should Father be more real than any other
political puppet? The real Father died years ago. The Council simply
elected me to pursue his paternal tradition.
And you,
Preston, the supposed savior of the Resistance, are now its destroyer,
and, along with them, you've given me yourself...
calmly...
coolly...
entirely
without incident.
[Polygraph
machine scribbling rapidly]
-Preston-
No.
[Beeping]
-Polygraph
technician-
Oh...
Shit.
-Preston-
Not without
incident.
I'm coming.
-Dupont-
You really
should learn to knock.
How did it
feel, Preston?
[Growls softly]
-Men-
Agh!
Ugh! Ugh!
Uhh-ah!
Wah!
Ugh! Agh! Uhh!
Ugh!
Aggh!
-Brandt-
Mind the
uniform, Cleric.
[Whooshing]
I plan to be
wearing it for a long time.
[Thud]
-Dupont-
Be careful,
Preston.
You're treading
on my dreams.
-Dupont-
Ohh!
Wait!
Wait. Look at
me. Look at me.
[Breathing
heavily]
I'm life.
I live, I-I
breathe...
[Breathes
deeply]
I feel.
Now that you
know it...can you really take it?
Is it really
worth the price?
-Preston-
I pay it gladly.
[Thud]
-Father-
The following
items have been rated EC-10... condemned.
[Speaking
indistinctly]
[Thud]
-Father-
In the 19th
century...
[All shouting
indistinctly]
-Father-
...world to its
knees. Two millennia ago...in his conquest of the known world,
Alexander the Great slaughtered more than one million human beings.
Three centuries later, purely out of jealousy, Gaius Germanicus,
"Caligula", murdered his own sister, impregnated with his own child. In
the--
[Electricity
crackles]
[Speaking
indistinctly, echoing]
-Father-
...items have
been rated EC-10...
...rated
condemned, destroyed.
[Sputtering]
-Father-
...items have
been rated...
[Silence]
[Rumbling]
[Rumbling
continues]
[Indistinct
shouting, gunfire]
[Shouting
continues]
[Men cheering]
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