Pilot: Shuttle one to c&c. The package is on its way in.
C&C: Confirmed, shuttle one.
Hang on, hang on.
Garibaldi: Welcome home.
Sheridan: Uh, this was your idea, wasn't it?
Well, we figured you'd probably want to come back
with as little fanfare as possible,
your usual low-key approach.
But there's a time and a place for everything.
And this is the time,
and this is definitely the place
for one hell of a party.
Mr. President,
we have a lot to celebrate,
including and especially
your marriage,
and you two just can't avoid it.
If I could find some way
to pay you back for this, I will.
[Laughter]
Thank you!
So, doctor, who died?
What are you talking about?
Among my people,
this is how we celebrate state funerals.
Our marriage ceremonies are solemn, sober...
Moments of reflection--
also regret, disagreement, argument,
and mutual recrimination.
Once you know that it cannot get any worse,
you can relax and enjoy the marriage.
But to start with something like this...
No, it is a very bad sign for the future.
[Chuckles]
Perhaps it was something I said.
Perhaps it is everything you say.
I knew we should have gone to Minbar first.
[Sighs] Well, I suppose we can't blame them.
I mean, Clark's gone, Earth and Mars are free,
they want to celebrate.
I guess they see us as a symbol of that.
They should be applauding themselves, not us.
We did it together.
There's something immodest about all this.
Oh, I wouldn't worry about it.
What matters is what we did here together.
In a hundred years,
it won't matter who we were.
They probably won't even remember.
That's true.
Ohh.
ISN newscaster: And here's our first shot
of the first couple of the interstellar alliance,
President John Sheridan and Delenn, live on ISN.
Their triumphant return to Babylon 5
after the liberation of Earth
has generated good-w... Messages from the senate
and most worlds in the former league
of non-aligned worlds.
[Transmission breaking up] ISN...Provide coverage--
computer: Continuity error caused by high energy.
Correcting for error.
Resetting. Do you wish to continue?
Please select a time period
or select auto play
for chronological display of records.
Loading records
for period covering one year through 1,000 years
from events shown.
Please stand by to receive.
It was the year of fire.
The year of destruction.
The year we took back what was ours.
It was the year of rebirth.
The year of great sadness.
The year of pain...
And the year of joy.
It was a new age.
It was the end of history.
It was the year everything changed.
The year is 2261.
The place...
Captioning made possible by Warner Bros.
Announcer: A no-holds-barred look at the events of today
that will shape the world of tomorrow.
And now your host Derek Mitchell.
Good evening.
By any definition,
the events of the last few weeks
have been among the most remarkable
in recent memory.
The end of a civil war
that split Earthforce squarely down the middle,
the death of President William Morgan Clark,
the birth of an independent Mars,
and the creation of a new interstellar alliance.
It can be more than a little overwhelming.
However, there's a word in the old testament
used to call for silence between passages: Selah.
It means, "pause and consider."
So tonight, starting with a report
from special correspondent Jim Bitterbane,
and a word or 10
from our usual panel of experts,
we've set aside a few moments
to reflect, discuss, pause, and consider.
Selah.
Greatness is a quality that is often sought
by those who want it most, but are the least worthy.
Correspondingly, greatness
is sometimes thrust upon those who want it least,
but are the most deserving.
These words would seem
to best describe Captain John j. Sheridan,
both in the way he came into the world,
and as the position that he currently occupies
as that of the President of the new interstellar alliance.
The only son of a career diplomat,
Sheridan was an average but enthusiastic student.
He drifted in and out of various hobbies,
including a brief but obsessive interest
in the works of the Dalai Lama,
before entering Earthforce shortly after the Dilgar war.
He served with distinction during the Minbari war
and the food riots on Mars.
Quite a change from those early, unremarkable years,
and the man who came to Earth leading a fleet
and carrying an ultimatum.
But now, an even greater challenge stands before him.
Can he hold together this newborn alliance
of competing, even mutually hostile races?
Derek?
Thank you, Jim.
We'll now turn to our panel of experts
for their thoughts.
From Earthdome,
senator Elizabeth Metarie.
From Mars, author and journalist Leif Tanner.
And from Paris, Henry Ellis,
former speech writer and political commentator.
Gentlemen, senator, welcome.
Guests: Thank you, Derek.
I don't know which of you
wants to be first out of the gate on this--
I'd like to jump in here, Derek.
All right.
What amazes me is the way
that everyone has tried to turn Sheridan
into some kind of hero.
This is the man
who resigned his commission in Earthforce
under dubious circumstances--
the President cleared him and his crew, Henry,
and she called him the hero of the hour.
Ellis: Yes, she did.
And she's going to have to answer for that
in the next election.
But that's besides the point.
Now there was obviously some sort of deal made,
which is how he got out of there
with his hide in one piece.
Call me old-fashioned, but that doesn't sound
like the best qualification
to run a major alliance.
Sounds to me like most of the generals and politicians
who have made history in the last few hundred years.
Oh, come on. Let's look at the facts.
The man isn't qualified to run an operation
as large as this interstellar alliance.
He could barely keep Babylon 5 operational
without shooting at everything in sight.
Tanner: Oh, that's an exaggeration.
He can barely get along with his own race,
and now he's going to stitch together
an alliance of radically different aliens
and make it work?
No, this whole shebang
is doomed from the get-go.
Tanner: You're overreacting.
Why not at least let him try to prove
if he can do it or not, before you subject him--
Ellis: With what's at stake?
Tanner: I agree with the senator.
Give Sheridan a break.
To write him off before he's even started...
Well, that's irrational, even for you, Henry.
He fires on his own ships
and you're calling me irrational?
Come on, Leif.
Tanner: That's not fair--
Mitchell: I beg your pardon.
Do you actually believe the alliance will work?
I don't know if it will work,
I'm just saying that he deserves a chance
to try and make it work.
Metarie: What I think is missing
and being lost in this whole discussion
is that this is an election year
and that Mr. Ellis was working as a speech writer
in the Clark administration.
And I think that he and others of his party
consider Sheridan a real threat
to their hopes for a majority in the senate,
so they're doing all that they can
to discredit him in advance.
Ellis: That is completely unfair.
It is not unfair. It's true, Henry.
I hate to interrupt you at this point,
but we're coming up on a commercial break.
So, why don't each of you
give me your calls for the next couple of years
on the following:
Can Sheridan and his people make a go
of this new alliance?
Tanner: Absolutely.
Do you think they'll make any difference whatever?
And what do you consider
to be the number-one problem waiting for them?
[All speaking at once]
Ah-ah. Mr. Tanner.
From where I sit, they've already made a difference.
The senate has been debating
what to do about Mars for years
and did nothing.
It took Sheridan to push them into recognizing
our sovereign rights of independence.
Ellis: At gunpoint.
Senator?
Obviously, there's a degree of uncertainty
in any new political situation.
This next year will prove critical
for Sheridan and the rest of his people.
Look at what they're up against.
He has to ride herd on a dozen or so alien races
that've signed on to this alliance
and probably don't fully understand
what's being required of them.
There's still sporadic fighting
between many of those members.
On top of that, he has supply problems,
telepath problems, raiding parties,
not to mention distrust among elements
of his own government here at home.
This man has his work cut out for him,
but I know that he can handle it.
Mr. Ellis, last words.
Whatever Sheridan and Delenn say
about this economic alliance,
he's going to have to apply
military force to make it work.
Mitchell: Why do you--?
He has to apply military pressure--
let me finish.
I didn't interrupt you people
when you were talking.
Now, when this happens,
it's all gonna fall apart.
He's power hungry, and he's unprepared,
and that is a dangerous combination.
Tanner: Dangerous combination! That's what leaders--
thank you. Thank you very much.
We'll be back in just a moment
to consider the political implications
of this new interstellar alliance,
and the recent calls for the formation
of independent political parties on Mars--
computer: Auto-play feature engaged.
Date: 100 years from first time period.
Stand by.
Announcer: ...With another in our series
of educational stellarcasts
on the 100th anniversary
of the interstellar alliance.
Taking part in today's discussion from Earthdome:
Historian Dr. Jim latimere from the university of York;
political scientist Dr. Barbara Tashaki,
university of Japan at Tokyo;
and psychologist Dr. William Exeter from nyu.
Dr. Latimere: Good morning.
We seem to have roughly 1/2 million students and faculty
on-line today, waiting with questions,
which is a little more than we expected,
so if the system runs a little slow, bear with us.
Our first question,
from ray Winston, university of Kiev.
"What role do you feel the Babylon station played
in the creation of the hundred-year peace?"
Well, the station, none at all.
It's a place-- was a place--
that served as a nexus for others.
I agree.
Latimere: A nexus how?
Well, the first thing you have to do
is separate fantasy from reality.
The publicity machine for the alliance
would have you believe that somehow all this
came about because of what a few people did.
But large political movements
are rarely the work of any one person.
The individual at the center
gives permission for others to act,
can inspire others, but the individual
really cannot effect change
as an act of will.
They did not do,
they allowed others to do.
By "they" you mean Sheridan and Delenn?
We all have a profound psychological need
to believe in heroes.
The shining knight on a white horse.
If they don't exist, we create them.
Sheridan and Delenn are 2 classic examples.
If you look at the social dynamic around them,
they actually didn't do anything.
They were the open vessels
in which people poured their hopes
and their dreams.
That sets up sort of a gestalt
where events take on a life of their own.
So you think the record of their accomplishments
is overrated?
Absolutely. Good PR, as Tashaki said.
In a lot of ways, they blew it.
It was only the force of history
that saved the situation from collapsing
of its own weight after so many people died
in its first year of operation.
And the incident concerning their son--
I don't want to get off the track
and into associated biography,
so, let's move on to the next question:
[Console beeps]
"If your assumption is correct,
where did Sheridan and Delenn and those involved go wrong?"
Where do you start? I started to say,
so many people died in the year
after Sheridan and Delenn returned
to Babylon 5.
Well, you can't lay the blame for all that at their feet.
Of course you can.
As one example, they had no business
creating a colony of telepaths on Babylon 5.
He as much as said later
it was the worst mistake of his career.
He thought they could control the telepaths,
when any fool knows that's impossible.
Sooner or later they were bound to turn on Sheridan
and everybody else.
And that's exactly what happened.
I have to agree. That one event
may have done much to precipitate
the telepath war, and--
latimere: You can't pick one incident
and say that was the cause--
not the sole cause, no, but it was
a contributing factor.
[Sighs]
I'd like to turn our attention now
to this historical record.
It's from later in 2262,
just after the creation of the interstellar alliance.
I'd like to get your comments on it.
You gotta listen to me.
This isn't gonna work.
If you give yourselves up, we could go back,
we could talk to the others.
You say you're doing this for a cause.
What kind of sympathy are you gonna get
by killing innocent people in cold blood?
You want to send out a message,
this ain't it.
Look, I can work with you.
I can get you out of this.
But you've got to work with me.
What do you say?
Oh, yeah.
That's what I thought you were gonna say.
This is President Sheridan.
I have consulted with Captain Lochley,
and we have reached a decision
regarding the current situation.
It is not the policy of the interstellar alliance
or this station
to bargain with terrorists for the lives of hostages.
If we open that door even once,
we will never be able to close it again.
Now you have 2 choices:
Surrender,
or we will use lethal force to bring you down.
You have 10 minutes!
Swell.
Oh, whoa. Wait, look, we can--
[gun fires]
Comments?
Well, I don't know what more needs to be said.
The pictures speak for themselves.
Sheridan was clearly pathological.
Latimere: Well, to be fair,
most governments take that position.
I'm not debating that.
But you can see it in his attitude,
the way he addresses the terrorists.
That coldness is emblematic of his personality.
He was power-hungry, it's as simple as that.
And he never let anything get in his way.
Dr. Tashaki?
A truly pathological individual
could never have constructed
a mythos around himself
the way Sheridan did.
It's a very sophisticated
PR campaign, brilliantly done.
And then there's that bit
about the way his death was handled.
Exactly. Everyone knows
Sheridan died on Minbar.
The cover story they put out
was clearly designed
to perpetuate the myth of his character.
And I guess it worked, 'cause a lot of people
still believe it 80 years later.
So...where do the two of you fall on the Delenn question?
Well, everyone knows Minbari live a long time,
but not that long.
I think the record is 120 years.
140? Forget it.
No, this is just what Dr. Tashaki
was talking about earlier.
This constant perpetuation of fantasy.
The idea that Delenn is still around after this long
and living in seclusion,
so, of course, no one can see her--
it's very convenient.
The alliance is continuing the illusion
that Delenn is alive for their own purposes.
Frankly, I don't think she would have approved.
Apparently, they feel they have
to maintain this fiction
in order to keep their people in line.
But if the alliance and the Rangers
are as strong as they say,
they don't need the security blanket
of lies and myth.
Looking back,
has the alliance been a force for good?
Well, for the most part, yes.
Although good things can grow in questionable ground.
I think it's clear that the motives of those
at the birth of the alliance were not as pure
as their biographers and allies would suggest.
The force of history is what moves us forward:
Our common shared destiny.
The individual does not move society forward.
To give them undue credit
is immodest and impertinent.
Sheridan was a megalomaniac,
and to allow history to feed
that megalomania, even posthumously,
simply compounds the error.
We have an obligation as academics
to uphold certain standards--
[alarm beeping]
I've just heard we've had a security breach
in the building. We're going to--
Latimere: Delenn?
[Weakly] John Sheridan...
Was a good...
And kind...
And decent man.
Delenn, wait. Uh...
You came all this way just to say that?
You came...
Just as far...
To say less.
But this is extraordinary.
There's so much more we'd like to ask you.
So much more we'd like to know.
You do not wish to know... Anything.
You wish...
Only to speak.
That which you know...
You ignore because it is inconvenient.
That which you do not know...
You invent!
But none of that matters.
Except that he was...
A good man.
A kind man...
Who cared about the world...
Even when the world cared nothing for him.
Well, of course we would expect you
to say that. We--
Good-bye.
Computer: Auto-play feature engaged.
Date: 500 years from first time period.
Stand by.
Continue holographic recording from last index point.
Test sequence number 5.
2 January 2762.
All monitors set to record mode.
Initiating environmental hologram, location 2c,
sequence...start.
Virtual environment functioning,
identical to Babylon 5 system records from 2262.
Data transfer of records is complete, successful,
in spite of extreme age of original files
and destruction of original Babylon 5 station
480 years ago.
To recap for politdivision central:
The purpose of this simulation
is to provide reverse-correct infospeak
as support for current changes in Earth policy.
It is the new policy that
the interstellar alliance is restrictive
and against the best interests of Earth.
Intent is to deconstruct historical figures revered
by prole sector,
thereby legitimizing current government policies.
Initiating phase 2 of re-creation.
To determine if the psychohistorical research
has been sufficiently thorough,
phase 2 will begin with the control holograms
working with the actual psychological makeups
of the subjects in question.
The holograms will thus perform
in a fashion consistent with real fact.
Program starts...Now.
Do you know where you are?
Babylon 5. The... The conference room,
level blue 3.
And what year is it?
2262.
Daniel: Very good.
The next step is to determine
how well the system can be modified.
Computer.
Update system files for holographic figures,
filling in period from 2262 through 2762.
Computer: Stand by.
The system is now updating
the holographic representations
with our current political situation
and the developments leading up to them.
This will demonstrate system flexibility
and capacity to spontaneously emote
to changes in programming.
Download complete.
Well...
500 years?
Are we...?
Yes. You-- the real you--
are deceased.
We have reconstructed your thought patterns
and your forms for purposes
of a series of vids designed to help--
designed as propaganda to justify your break
from the interstellar alliance.
Not propaganda.
Goodfacts...
As opposed to realfacts.
Facts the government has endorsed.
I don't get it. Why are you doing this?
Why the break with the alliance?
500 years of working with the alliance
has weakened the position of humans
in the greater scheme of things.
We have lost our uniqueness.
We have been polluted by too many outside ideas.
That's a great story.
I'm sure that's the one you're putting out.
What's the real one?
The realfact, not the goodfact.
Earth needs room to expand.
The Rangers and the alliance
prove a hindrance to our plans to expand.
Can't you see?
They've re-created us
so they can provide false records
and portray us to be-- what? The bad guys?
Only out for interests of our own?
They want to undermine the alliance
by attacking the people who created it.
Looks like--
just a second.
I'm remembering things I never saw.
Those are the records they downloaded to us.
There's another force out there.
Earthgov is split,
the 2 sides are fighting each other over...
Land and resources, power.
We're on the cusp of another civil war.
You know, he's right.
I'm getting it, too.
That's the reason for the planned invasion, isn't it?
They want to take over several colony worlds
that have gone over to the opposition,
which is still loyal to the alliance.
Daniel: Your legacy has proven a hindrance to that intention.
Therefore you must be...
Deconstructed.
Initiating phase 3.
Goodfact scenario ready for testing.
Look, if you think this is going to work--
engaging reprogram.
You may proceed.
Welcome to Babylon 5.
I understand that you surrendered to our forces
in the hopes of finding mercy.
The interstellar alliance
is not here to be merciful to the weak.
In all the universe there are only 2 kinds:
The conquerors...
And the conquered.
Through your blood
and the blood of your children,
we will Blaze a path across the galaxy!
What we cannot take by force
we will win...
By subversion.
And in the end, we will bury you.
Your lives are not the first,
and they will not be the last.
If a billion must die
to ensure the continuance of our empire,
then so be it!
You are only...
A down payment.
Stand ready!
Aim!
Fire!
There must be something we can do.
How? We're dead.
We're not even here.
Just our memories, our thought patterns.
That must be worth something.
What we are is not a matter of flesh,
it's a matter of will.
We know their backgrounds, right?
We know what they're doing.
Why don't we just--
Daniel: Phase 2.
Instituting Franklin reprogram.
Placing Delenn module in standby mode.
Proceeding with next simulation.
Doctor's personal log. May 3, 2262.
We have secured several test subjects
for the next series of experiments.
We will now continue with
the use of alien organs in human bodies
in an attempt to create a genetic crossbreed
that will be compliant to the needs of the alliance.
Later today we will begin again
with our experiments on children.
Now the problem with the vivisection
is that the younger children
can only survive the initial removal of organs
for a short period of time.
Now we hope that, by increased use of drugs,
we may find a way to prolong their lives
while we work.
Very good. Very good.
Program hold while I make notes on this
for infospeak division.
So...daniel, right?
Dan. Danny.
Can I call you Danny?
Oh, right. Sorry, I forgot.
I'm just a hologram,
and you're busy getting ready to reprogram me.
Didn't mean to interrupt.
No point in having a conversation
with someone that doesn't really exist.
I was just thinking,
when you've got all your pieces in place,
you're probably going to launch
a preemptive strike
against the enemy, right?
I mean, it's what I would do.
Computer, initiate shutdown of Garibaldi.
Whoa, whoa, wait.
Just one second.
Before you do that,
I might have some useful information for you.
See, the thing is,
me and Sheridan were close, but I was the one
who did most of the strategic planning during the war.
A resource like that...
You might not want to wipe it out just yet.
I could help you...
Give you some tips to pass along to the big boys
and maybe... Get you a promotion.
Go on.
Well, before I can help,
I have to ask just a few small questions.
Now you're a realfact kind of guy.
You know what they're up to out there, don't you?
Come on. You can tell me. Am I right?
Ah, your boys are planning a first strike
against the enemy, aren't they?
That's why you're rushing ahead like this,
because you're under the gun.
We will strike at the outer world colonies
and the enemy nations here on Earth
at the same time.
Our attack fleet will be leaving
within the hour.
Good.
Good, that's very smart.
Now, will you be targeting military bases
or civilian population centers?
Civilian population centers.
We...
My superiors feel
it will demoralize the enemy,
force a surrender.
Hmm. Estimated dead?
Mm. 15 to 20 million enemy casualties.
Can't make an omelet
without breaking a few eggs, hmm?
Absolutely.
Now,
what...suggestions do you have?
Well, I suggest
that you put your head between your legs
and you kiss your ass good-bye.
Thank you.
Computer!
The funny thing about being a holographic record
is that you don't really exist,
except in patterns of light and shadow and information.
And I happen to have a knack for breaking system codes.
So while you were downloading the new world order into me,
I was watching the system work.
I know where it comes in, and I know where it goes out.
And I just sent out our entire conversation.
Broadcast the whole damn thing.
So, as of right now,
the enemy knows what you have in mind, Danny.
Now, from your records,
they're actually a lot more humanitarian than you are,
so they'll probably just target your military bases
and research facilities.
Hell, their missiles
are probably halfway here by now.
You're lying.
[Alarm whoops]
Hmm.
Holograms don't lie, Danny boy.
Computer, end simulation.
End simulation!
Whoops, guess the system's busy.
This little lab of yours-- this isn't, by any chance,
located on a military base, is it?
Nooooo!
Rest easy, friends.
Rest easy.
[Incoming missile whine]
[Explosion]
Computer: Auto-play feature engaged.
Date: 1,000 years from first time period.
Stand by.
Ooh. Huh!
Surprised it all still works after this long.
Well, better get to my report.
Start auto-track systems. I--
[knock on door]
Oh! Ohh...
[Knock on door]
Yes! I--
[panting]
[Mildly] Yes, yes, just a moment.
Well, brother Michael, it's--it's rather late.
Yes, I know, I know,
but I really had to talk to you, brother alwyn.
Um, um, so it would seem.
I am having a, uh...
A crisis of faith.
That again?
What? N-nothing. Nothing.
And what is afflicting your conscience
tonight, brother Michael?
Well, I don't know what my role is
or what I'm doing here.
You're doing god's work.
Yes, but to what end?
The ways of the Lord are mysterious
and do not bend to your or to my desire
for answers on a certain schedule.
"Where wast thou when I called forth leviathan?"
Yes, I've read job, brother alwyn.
And it is really not helping.
All right, brother Michael.
[Sighs]
What has precipitated
this particular crisis of faith?
Th-there's a rumor going round
that our request for recognition
has been turned down yet again by Rome.
Yes, I see. Hmm...
A better rationale
for the vow of silence I've never heard.
Is it true?
The ways of Rome are like unto god.
They are mysterious,
and sometimes they transcend understanding.
They confess to an inability
to see the wisdom of our mission:
To keep alive the knowledge of the past,
the knowledge that would have been lost forever
after the great burn 500 years ago.
Science and technology?
Well, it's not really their calling,
but it is ours.
But, I mean-- well, how?
How do we know it's our calling?
How exactly can we be sure?
Brother Michael!
I'm not actually saying anything
that Rome hasn't already asked.
And you know it.
I mean, most of the records
were destroyed in the great burn,
so we only have word of mouth to go on.
In the holy books written after the great burn!
And so it came to pass
that in the 500th year of the alliance,
the children of Earth did war one upon another
with missiles and terrible weapons,
and they burned the Earth...
And the air
and the cities
and the sea!
You need only look outside to have that part verified.
Why is the rest suspect?
It's all too clean, it's all too...
Well-thought-out to be real.
Here. Here, here.
The blessed Lorien,
the last of the firstborn.
Exactly.
The last shall come first, the first shall come last.
A fable, specifically created to match scripture.
That's what the others say.
And there is not one shred of evidence
that he even existed.
Oh, there is proof-- out there. In space.
But space is closed to us now.
Just look at us, brother alwyn.
And look at what Earth has become.
Our cities are little more than villages.
All those great secrets of our ancestors
are almost gone.
Almost. That's why we're here:
To find the ancient wisdoms and preserve them.
Why, we've already found
and restored so many books!
Yes, but we are not one inch closer to...
To those flying machines that the books talk about
or to the stars.
And if the truth really does lie in the stars,
then how will we ever know the truth?
Look at the others:
The blessed Sheridan,
who lived and died...
And returned from the dead
and was taken bodily into heaven.
And Ivanova the strong, Delenn the wise...
They could all be fables for all we know.
And the worst of it...
What?
I was halfway through illuminating it when...
My heart just left me.
The prophecies...
The prophecies of Delenn III...
Said that the anla-shak-- the Rangers--
would come again to the Earth
in her greatest hour of need...
And rebuild
what was once the cradle of Sheridan
and the alliance.
We have waited so, so long, brother alwyn,
and they have never come...
If that's a myth, then...
Then everything else could be a myth,
and the whole of my life
could just be a lie.
And if they do not come today, but they come tomorrow,
is your life a lie then?
I cannot help you, brother Michael.
That is what faith is for.
Faith sustains us
in the hour when reason tells us
that we cannot continue,
that the whole of our lives is without meaning.
Then why were we born able to reason
if reason's useless?
Not useless, but it's also not enough.
Faith and reason are the shoes on your feet.
You can travel further with both
than you can with just one.
If you must have reason for an answer,
then consider this:
If today the Rangers came back to Earth
from their place in the heavens,
you would not know about it.
They would come in secret and move around and help us,
and we wouldn't even know they were here,
because the secret that they bring
is feared by people
who still blame science for the great burn.
Then you think the Rangers are here today?
Well...i believe... They could be.
That's all that faith requires:
That we surrender ourselves to the possibility of hope.
With that, I am content.
And I believe you will be as well.
[Turning pages in book]
It's beautiful work.
Too lovely and significant for you to half-finish.
Finish your illumination, brother Michael.
You've gone this far.
It's too late to lose your faith now...
Or my faith in you.
If the truth's really in the stars,
brother alwyn,
then just once-- once before I die--
I really wish
that I could walk amongst those stars.
If there is a way, brother Michael,
I pray that your wish comes true.
Ohh...
Oh, dear.
The energy level's down to nothing!
I'm going to have to sit you in the sun tomorrow to recharge.
Alwyn macomber reporting in.
Nothing of substance to report since my last.
Uh, we think we may have gathered
enough information from the time pre-burn
to assemble a working gasoline engine.
Obviously, there's no gasoline
in this part of the country.
Therefore, we ask the supply department
if they could, uh,
arrange to have a suitable supply of gasoline
found in the vicinity
near the Abbey in a few days.
Only this time, for valen's sake,
please make it look like an old container.
The last one could've been produced
a hundred years ago.
We will rebuild the Earth.
Mmm. Though it take us another 2,000 years.
But this time we will build it better.
I'm attaching a conversation I just had
with brother Michael,
who I still think would be
a worthy recruit after he's grown a little.
Give him another 20 years, and he'll be fine.
Alwyn, anla-shak, Earth sector. End report.
We live for the one, we die for the one.
Computer: Auto-play feature complete.
Stand by.
Computer: System has finished processing
and archiving records
for period of 1 million years
from initial scanning date.
Instructions?
Our job is finished. Convey records to new Earth.
Computer: Confirmed.
Use enhanced tachyon sequence
to ensure arrival in time for the celebrations.
Computer: Confirmed.
Note: Atypical solar emissions
increasing in intensity.
Estimate sol will hit Nova
in less than 5 standard hours.
Recommend immediate evacuation.
Tell the others not to worry.
I wouldn't miss this for anything.
Now go on.
This is how the world ends...
Swallowed in fire, but not in darkness.
You will live on--
the voice of all our ancestors,
the voice of our fathers
and our mothers to the last generation.
We created the world
we think you would've wished for us.
And now we leave the cradle for the last time.
You should sleep.
We both have early meetings.
Yeah, I know.
I was just thinking about it all.
Everything we've done...
And what I said earlier.
And I was wondering if they will remember us
a hundred years from now, or a thousand.
And I figure probably not.
But it doesn't matter.
We did what we did because it was right,
not to be remembered.
And history will attend to itself.
It always does.