Project Liberty

Project Liberty (Planet Of The Apes)

Landon, get out a last signal! What signal? To Earth! That we've landed! The air's OK! Blow the hatch before we lose all our power! It's no use! The power's gone! Forget it! Abandon ship! She's sinking. Going... Going... Gone. OK. We're here to stay. Well, where are we? Do you have any notion, skipper? We're some light years from Earth on an unnamed planet in orbit around a star in the constellation of Orion. Is that close enough for you? That could be Bellatrix. It's too white for Bellatrix. You didn't have time to read the tapes. So you really don't know, do you? What went wrong? We weren't programmed to land in the water. The question is not so much where we are as when we are. We've had enough sleep to hold us for a while. Let's start earning all that back pay. Dodge, run your soil test. - Got your sensors? - Right. - Geiger counter? - Got it. Let's see. One pistol, rounds ammo, a medical kit, camera, TX . We've got food and water enough for three days. How long is a day? That's a good question. Landon! Hey, Landon! Join the expedition. Sorry. I was thinking about Stewart. What do you suppose happened? Air leak. She died in her sleep. You don't seem very cut up about it. It's a little late for a wake. She's been dead nearly a year. That means we've been away from Earth for months. Our time. You've gone gray. Apart from that you look pretty chipper for a man who's years old. I read the clocks. They bear out Hasslein's hypothesis. We have been away from Earth for years, give or take a decade. Still can't accept it? Time's wiped out everything you ever knew. It's all dust. Prove it. If we can't get back, it's still just a theory. It's a fact, Landon. Buy it. You'll sleep better. Nothing will grow here. There's just a trace of carbohydrates. All the nitrogen is locked into the nitrates. No dangerous ionization? No. Well... If there's no life here, we've got just hours to find it. That's when the groceries run out. Let's go. Which direction? That way. Any particular reason? None at all. Come on... Everybody all right? Water check. Eight ounces. It doesn't add up. Thunder and lightning, and no rain. Cloud cover at night. That strange luminosity... yet there's no moon. If we could just get a fix. What would that tell you? I've told you where you are and when you are. All right, all right. You're light years from your precious planet. Your loved ones are dead and forgotten for centuries. ! Even if you could get back, they'd think you were something that fell out of a tree. Taylor, quit riding him. There is just one reality. We are here and it is now. You get hold of that, or you might as well be dead. I'm prepared to die. He's prepared to die. Doesn't that make you misty? Chalk up another victory for the human spirit. Clue me in on something, will you? Why did you sign on for this trip? You volunteered. Why? Never mind. I'll clue you in. You were the golden boy of the class of ' . When they nominated you for the big one, you couldn't turn it down. Not without losing your all-American image. Climb off, will you? Oh, and the glory. Don't forget that. There's a life-size bronze statue of you standing out there somewhere. It's probably turned green by now and nobody can read the nameplate. But never let it be said that we forget our heroes. - Taylor, I'm telling you to climb off my back. - And there's one last item. Immortality. You wanted to live for ever, didn't you? Well, you damn near made it. Except for me and Dodge, you've lived longer than anyone ever born. And with our lovely Lieutenant Stewart dead, it looks like you're the last of the line. You got what you wanted, tiger. How does it taste? 

Landon :

OK. You read me well enough. 

But why can't I read you? 

Taylor :

Don't bother. 

Landon :

Dodge, there. He's not like me at all.

 But he makes sense. He'd walk naked into 

a live volcano if he thought he could 

learn something that no 

other man knew. But you... 

You're no seeker. You're negative.

Taylor :

And I'm not prepared to die. 

Landon :

I'd like to know why not. 

You thought life on 

Earth was meaningless. 

You despised people. 

So what did you do? 

You ran out. 

Taylor :

No, no. It's not like that, Landon. 

I'm A Seeker too. But my dreams 

aren't like yours —

I can't help thinking somewhere 

in the universe there has to be 

something better than Man. 

Has to be. 

***** 

Don't try to follow us. I'm pretty handy with this. Of that I'm sure. All my life I've awaited your coming and dreaded it, like death itself. Why? I've terrified you from the first, doctor. I still do. You're afraid of me and you hate me. Why? Because you're a man. And you're right. I have always known about man. From the evidence, I believe his wisdom must walk hand in hand with his idiocy. His emotions must rule his brain. He must be a warlike creature who gives battle to everything around him, even himself. What evidence? There were no weapons in that cave. The forbidden zone was once a paradise. Your breed made a desert of it... ages ago. It still doesn't give me the why. A planet where apes evolved from men. There's gotta be an answer. Don't look for it, Taylor. You may not like what you find.