Thursday 7 October 2021

I Know You Weren't Always Like This.



This is unreal!
You don't care about Death 
because you're already DEAD!

I know a lot about you. 
I know you weren't always like this.

What's the last thing you cared about?



You really haven't been listening.

Falken :
Yes, I have. 
I loved it when you nuked Las Vegas.
Suitably biblical ending for the place, don't you think?


You gonna tell them what Joshua's doing?

Falken :
Children, come over here.
I'm gonna tell you a bedtime story.

Are you sitting comfortably?
Then I'll begin.

[He projects Dinosaur movies onto The Wall (and himself)]

Once upon a time, 
there lived a magnificent race of animals,
who dominated the world through age after age.
They ran and they swam and they fought and they flew, until suddenly — quite recently —
they disappeared.

Nature just gave up 
and started again.

We weren't even apes then.
We were just these smart little rodents hiding in the rocks.

And when we go,
Nature will start again,
with the bees probably.
Nature knows when to give up.


I'm not giving up.
If Joshua tricks them into launching an attack, it'll be your fault.

Falken :
My fault?
The whole point was to practice nuclear war without destroying ourselves.
To get the computers to learn from mistakes we couldn't make.
Except that I never could get Joshua to learn the most important lesson.


What's that?

Falken :
Futility
That there's a time 
when you should just give up.

What kind of lesson is that?

Falken :
Did you ever play tic-tac-toe?

Yeah. Of course.

Falken :
But you don't anymore. 

No.

Falken :
Why?

Because it's a boring game. 
It's always a tie.

Falken :
Exactly. There's no way to win.
The Game itself is pointless.
But back at the war room, they believe you can win a nuclear war
that there can be acceptable losses.


So you gave up?
Decided to play dead?

Falken :
For security reasons, 
they graciously arranged my death.

Did you know that no land animal with a body weight of over 50 pounds survived that age?

Extinction is part of 
The Natural Order.

[He turns off The Projection.]
Bullshit!
If we're extinguished, it's not natural. It's stupid.

Falken :
It's all right. I've planned ahead.
We're just three miles from a primary target.
A millisecond of brilliant light...
...and we're vaporized.

Much more fortunate than the millions who'll wander sightless through the smoldering aftermath.
We'll be spared 
The Horror of Survival.

I'm only 17 years old.
I'm not ready to die yet.
You won't make a simple phone call?

If the real Joshua were still alive, your Joshua, you'd do it.

Falken :
We might gain a few years, enough for you to have a son and watch him die.
But Humanity planning its own destruction…
that, a phone call won't stop.

This is unreal!
You don't care about death because you're already dead!
I know a lot about you. I know you weren't always like this.
What's the last thing you cared about?

Falken :
You've missed the last ferry.
You're welcome to stay.
You want to sleep on the floor?
Good night.


Let's get out of here.
Come on, we'll find a boat.
There's gotta be a boat.


What kind of asshole lives on an island and doesn't have a boat?
Maybe we can swim. 
How far do you think it is?
No, it's two, three miles, at least.
Maybe more.
What do you say? Let's go for it.
No. Come on.
No. I can't swim.
You can't swim?
I can't swim, OK, Wonder Woman?
What kind of asshole grows up in Seattle and doesn't learn to swim?
I never got around to it, OK?
I always thought there was gonna be plenty of time.
Sorry.
I wish I didn't know 
about any of this.
I wish I was like 
everybody else in the world.
And tomorrow it would just be over.
There wouldn't be any time to be sorry about anything.
Oh, Jesus.
I really wanted to learn how to swim.
I swear to God I did.

Did I tell you that next week...
...I was gonna be on TV?
You're kidding. No.
Just on that aerobics show with some girls from my dance class.
A movie star.
Yeah.
It's kind of stupid, huh?
Nobody would've been watching me anyway.


I would have.
Oh, Jesus!
The bastard turned us in!

Falken :
It's all right. Get in!


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