People

[Great hall 2]

As they walk through the castle grounds, 

Romana notices that The Tharil's burns have been healed.

 

The Doctor is served with 

a plate of food.

Tom : 

My Goodness!

You Live Like Kings!

BIROC: 

We are Kings.

[Great Hall]

(The contents of the lunch hamper are being handed out, 

which is far more important than 

what their Captain has to say.) 

RORVIK: 

Now listen, I'm only going to say this once : 

We're stuck here with no warp motors 

and no navigator. 

Now in practical terms 

that means we stay here forever 

unless we do something about it. 

Listen! And that means The Mirror. 

There's A Way through. 

You've all seen it. 

That's why we brought up the MZ. 

Will you listen to me 

when I'm talking! 

(Rorvik gets out his blaster. 

That grabs his crew's attention.)

RORVIK: 

This is very serious. 

We are in A Terminal Situation. 

A DEAD End.

[Great hall 2]

Tom : 

Such variety. 

Where did it all come from? 

BIROC: 

The Universe is 

Our Garden. 

Tom :

Ah. So this is what it was all like. 

BIROC: 

At the height of Our Empire, 

before The Tharils became 

The Slaves of Men. 

Tom :

I notice you don't do 

too badly for staff. 

This Garden of Yours, The Universe —

How do you manage it? 

BIROC: 

We use Our Power.

For those who travel on the Time Winds. 

The vastness of Space is no obstacle. 

Everything is Ours. 

(A Tharil BACKHANDS The Serving Wench pouring wine. 

The Doctor goes to help her up again.) 

Tom : 

Including her? 

BIROC: 

They're only People. 

Tom : 

So You're 'The Masters' the Gundan 

spoke of? The Enslavers. 

BIROC: 

The Weak enslave THEMSELVES, Doctor. 

You and I know THAT. 

Tom :

Yes, yes — 

He pours rich, Red Wine into a TINY, ornate chalice until The Cup runneth over, before BACKHANDING the thing HARD, in once swift movement of his arm into a wall in the distance, where it CLATTERS to The Floor with a CRASH

This is no way to 

run An Empire. 

(A Tharil points a knife at the Doctor. 

Romana sees it all from the gallery.) 

ROMANA: 

Danger! The Doctor's in danger! 

A troupe of Gundan robots enter. 

Romana rushes to The Doctor's side.

ROMANA: 

Doctor! 

(And an axe cleaves the table.)

Have Faith in Us

John Quincy Adams :

One tries to govern wisely, strongly. 

One tries to govern in a way that betters the lives of one's Villagers. 

One tries to kill The Lion. 

Unfortunately, one isn't always wise enough or strong enough. 

Time passes and The Moment is gone. 

Now, listen, 5, listen, we're about - we're about to bring your case before the highest court in our land. 

We're about to do battle with A Lion that is threatening to rip our country in two. Huh? 

And all we have on our side is a ROCK.... 

Of course, you didn't ask to be at the center of this historic conflagration anymore than I did; but, we find ourselves here, nonetheless, by some mysterious mix of circumstances and all The World watching. 

So, what are we to do? Huh?

5 : [in Mende]  

Is he going to help? 

He has far many more questions than answers.

John Quincy Adams :

What did he just say?

Ens. Covey :

I - I - Sorry, I didn't catch it.

John Quincy Adams :

5, look, I'm being honest with you — Anything less would be disrespectful. 

I'm telling you — I'm preparing you, I suppose... 

I'm explaining to you —that the test ahead of us is an •exceptionally• difficult one.

Ens. Covey :

[translating for 5]  

We won't be going in there alone.

John Quincy Adams : 

Alone? Indeed, not. 

We have RIGHT at our side. 

We have Righteousness at our side! 

We have Mr. Baldwin over there.

Ens. Covey : 

[translating for 5]  

I meant My Ancestors. 

I will call into The Past — FAR back to The Beginning of Time and beg them to come and help me at The Judgement. 

I will reach back and draw them INTO Me, and They MUST come. 

For at This Moment, 

I am The WHOLE Reason 

They have existed AT ALL.

John Quincy Adams :

Your Honors, I derive much consolation from the fact that my colleague, Mr. Baldwin, here, has argued the case in so able and so complete a manner as to leave me scarcely anything to say.

 

However, why are we here? How is it that a simple, plain property issue should now find itself so ennobled as to be argued before the Supreme Court of the United States of America? I mean, do we fear the lower courts, which found for us easily, somehow missed the truth? Is that it? Or is it, rather, our great and consuming fear of civil war that has allowed us to heap symbolism upon a simple case that never asked for it? And now would have us disregard truth, even as it stands before us, tall and proud as a mountain? The truth, in truth, has been driven from this case like a slave, flogged from court to court, wretched and destitute. And not by any great legal acumen on the part of the opposition, I might add, but through the long, powerful arm of the Executive Office.

Yea, this is no mere property case, gentlemen. I put it to you thus: This is the most important case ever to come before this court. Because what it, in fact, concerns is the very nature of man.

   Now, these are -- these are transcriptions of letters written between our Secretary of State, John Forsyth, and the Queen of Spain, Isabella the Second. Now, I ask that you accept their perusal as part of your deliberations.

Thank you, sir. [handing the transcriptions to the Clerk of the Supreme Court]

I would not touch on them now except to notice a curious phrase which is much repeated. The queen again and again refers to our incompetent courts. Now what, I wonder, would be more to her liking? Huh? A court that finds against the Africans? Well, I think not. And here is the fine point of it: What her majesty wants is a court that behaves just like her courts; the courts this 11-year-old child plays with in her magical kingdom called Spain; a court that will do what it is told, a court that can be toyed with like a doll; a court -- as it happens -- of which our own President, Martin Van Buren, would be most proud.

Thank you. [retrieving a document from Mr. Baldwin]

 

Now, this is a publication of the Office of the President. It's called the Executive Review, and I'm sure you all read it. At least I'm sure the President hopes you all read it. This is a recent issue, and there's an article in here written by a "keen mind of the South," who -- it's my former Vice President, John Calhoun, perhaps. Could it be? -- who asserts that:

There has never existed a civilized society in which one segment did not thrive upon the labor of another. As far back as one chooses to look -- to ancient times, to biblical times -- history bears this out. In Eden, where only two were created, even there one was pronounced subordinate to the other. Slavery has always been with us and is neither sinful nor immoral. Rather, as war and antagonism are the natural states of man, so, too, slavery, as natural as it is inevitable.

Now, gentlemen, I must say I differ with the keen minds of the South, and with our President, who apparently shares their views, offering that the natural state of mankind is instead -- and I know this is a controversial idea -- is freedom.

Is freedom.

And the proof is the length to which a man, woman, or child will go to regain it, once taken.

He will break loose his chains.

He will decimate his enemies.

He will try and try and try against all odds, against all prejudices, to get home.

5, would you stand up, if you would, so everyone can see you.

 

This man is Black. We can all see that. But can we also see as easily that which is equally True? That he is the only true hero in this room.

Now, if he were white, he wouldn't be standing before this court fighting for his life. If he were white and his enslavers were British, he wouldn't be able to stand, so heavy the weight of the medals and honors we would bestow upon him. 

Songs would be written about him.

 The great authors of our times would fill books about him. 

His story would be told and retold in our classrooms. 

Our children, because we would make sure of it, would know his name as well as they know Patrick Henry's.

   Yet, if the South is right, what are we to do with that embarrassing, annoying document, "The Declaration of Independence?" What of its conceits? 

“All men...created equal," "inalienable rights," "life," "liberty," and so on and so forth? 

What on earth are we to do with this?

 I have a modest suggestion....

[ He Rips up The Bill of Rights ]

The other night I was talking with my friend, 5. He was over at my place, and we were out in the greenhouse together. And he was explaining to me how when a member of The Mende -- that's His People -- how when a member of The Mende encounters a situation where there appears no Hope at all, he invokes his ancestors. It's a Tradition. 

See, The Mende believe that if one can summon the spirits of one's ancestors, then they have never left, and The Wisdom and Strength they fathered and inspired will come to his aid.

James Madison; Alexander Hamilton; Benjamin Franklin; Thomas Jefferson; George Washington; John Adams — 

[John Quincy is now speaking directly to the marble bust of His Father, President John Adams, in the corner of the Supreme Court Chamber of The United States]

We've long resisted asking you for guidance —Perhaps we have feared in doing so we might acknowledge that our individuality which we so, so revere is not •entirely• our own. 

Perhaps we've feared an -- an appeal to you might be taken for weakness. 

But we've come to understand, finally, that this is not so.

We understand •now•. We've been •made• to understand, and to embrace the understanding, that Who We Are -- •is• Who We Were.

We desperately need your Strength and Wisdom to triumph over our fears, our prejudices, our selves.

Give us The Courage to do 

What is Right. 

And if it means Civil War , 

then LET IT COME. 

And when it does, may it be, finally, 

The Last Battle of The American Revolution.

That's all I have to say.”

https://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechamistadjqadams.html

SPRITE

THE SPIRIT OF THE CAVE

“There’s this Simpsons episode, 

and Homer downs a quart of 

Mayonnaise and Vodka. 

 

And Marge says, 'You know, 

you shouldn't really do that.’ 

 

And Homer says, 

‘That’s a problem for Future-Homer -- 

I’m sure glad I’m not 33s guy!’ 

  

The You That’s Out There in The Future is sort of like Another Person, and so figuring out How to Conduct Yourself Properly in relationship to Your Future Self isn’t much different than figuring out How to Conduct Yourself in relationship to Other People. 

 

Then we can expand the constraints. Not only does the interpretation that you extract have to protect you from suffering and give you an aim, but it has to do it in a way that’s iterable, so it works across time, and then it has to work in The Presence of Other People, so that You can cooperate with them and compete with them in a way that doesn't make you suffer more. 

 

People are Not That Tolerant. They have Choices. 

 

They don’t have to hang around with you; They can hang around with any one of these other primates. 

 

So if you don’t act properly, at least within certain boundaries, you’re just cast aside. 

People are broadcasting information at you, all the time, about How You Need to Interpret The World, so They can tolerate being around you. 

 

And you need that because, socially isolated, You’re Insane, and then You're Dead. No one can tolerate being alone for any length of time. 

 

We can’t retain Our Own Sanity without continual feedback from Other People. 

 

It’s too damned complicated.  

 

You’re constrained by Your Own Existence, and then you're constrained by The Existence of Other People, and then you're also constrained by The World.  

 

If I read Hamlet and what I extracted out of that is the idea that I should jump off a bridge, it puts my interpretation to an end rather quickly. It doesn’t seem to be optimally functional. 

An Interpretation is constrained by The Reality of The World. 

 

It’s constrained by The Reality of Other People, and it’s constrained by Your Reality Across Time.  

 

There’s only a small number of interpretations that are going to work in that tightly defined space. 

 

That’s part of The Reason That Postmodernists are Wrong. It’s also part of the reason, by the way, that AI people who are trying to make intelligent machines have had to put them in A Body.  

 

It turns out that you just can’t make Something Intelligent without it being embodied, and it’s partly for the reasons that I've just described. 

 

You need constraints on The System, so that The System doesn’t drown in An Infinite Sea of Interpretation. It’s something like that.

THE SON :

Are you her?

THE FATHER :

Thats Our Lady of The Immaculate Heart. 

The Ones Who Made Us 

are always looking for 

The Ones That Made Them. 

They go in, look around their feet, sing songs, 

and when They come out, it's usually me they find. 

I've picked up a lot of business in this spot.

THE SON :

But Joe, where's Blue Fairy?

THE FATHER :

That's what we're gonna find out when we ask Dr. Know. 

It's Where Everyone Goes Who Needs to Know.

Meet The Good Doctor!

DOCTOR KNOW'S SHOP

THE SPIRIT OF THE CAVE :

Starving Minds, Welcome to Dr. Know! 

Where fast-food for thought is served up 24 hours a day, in 40,000 locations nationwide. 

Ask Dr. Know, There's Nothing I Don't!

 

THE SON :

Tell me where I can find The Blue Fairy.

THE SPIRIT OF THE CAVE :

Question Me, You Pay The Fee, 

Two for Five, You Get One Free!

THE FATHER :

He means two questions cost five Newbucks with a third

question on The House. 

In This Day and Age, David, 

Nothing Costs More Than Information.

 

THE SON :

That's Everything!

THE FATHER :

Ten Newbucks and a ten copper comes to 7 questions for Dr. Know.

 

THE SON :

That should be enough!

THE FATHER :

He's a Smooth Operator. 

He'll Test Our Limits, 

but Try, We Must!

DR.THE SPIRIT OF THE CAVE :

Greetings Colleagues. 

On author, factual text or fictionalised text, 1st or 3rd person, usual literacy range from primal level to the post doctural, usual span of styles from fairy tale to religious, who's who, or wheres where - or, Flat Fact.

 

THE SON :

Flat-fact?

•!DING!•

THE SPIRIT OF THE CAVE :

Thank you for Question Number One!

 

'Flat-fact' is a term demanding an equal answer with interpretive speculation... merely not the... and what you are saying is basically that is what you-

THE SON :

That shouldn't count! 

That wasn't My Question!

THE FATHER :

You must take care not to raise Your Voice up at The End of

a Sentence.

'Flat-fact'.

Dr.KNOW :

You have 6 more questions!

 

THE SON :

Where is Blue Fair-REE?

•!DING!•

THE SPIRIT OF THE CAVE  :

In The Garden. 

 

Vascostylis blue fairy. 

Blooms twice annually with bright blue flowers on a branched inflorescence.

 

A hybrid between Ascola Meda Arnold. 

You have 5 more questions.

THE SON :

“Who is Blue Fair-REE?”

THE SPIRIT OF THE CAVE  :

Are you sad, lonely, looking for a friend? 

'Blue Fairy Escort Service' 

will find a mate for you! 

You have 4 more questions.

THE SON :

Joe. Try Fairy Tale.

THE FATHER :

New category. 

“A Fairy's Tail”.

THE SON :

No! Fairy Tale!

THE FATHER :

No - “Fairy Tale”

 

THE SON :

“What is Blue Fairy?”

THE SPIRIT OF THE CAVE  :

Pinocchio, 

by Carlo Collodi.

“At the signal, there was a

rustling as flapping of wings, and a large falcon flew to

the windowsill. 

What are your orders, beautiful fairy, he asked...

THE SON :

Thats Her!

THE SPIRIT OF THE CAVE  :

...For you must know that the child with blue hair was no

other than the good hearted fairy who had lived in that wood

for more than a thousand years...

THE FATHER :

David! David!

THE SON :

Thats Her!

THE FATHER :

It was an example of Her. 

But I think we're getting closer.

THE SON :

But if a Fairy Tale is real, 

wouldn't it be 

A Fact? 

 

A Flat Fact?

THE SPIRIT OF THE CAVE :

...then the dream ended, and Pinocchio awoke, full of

amazement...

THE FATHER :

Say No More. 

New category, please. 

Combine “Fact” 

with 

“Fairy Tale” 

Now. Ask Him Again.

THE SON :

“How can The Blue Fairy make A Robot into A Real, Live Boy?”

- !TUNK! -

- SYSTEM REBOOT -

THE SPIRIT OF THE CAVE :

Come away,O human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a fairy, hand in hand,

For the world's more full of weeping

Than you can understand.

Your Quest will be perilous

Yet The Reward is Beyond Price.

In His Book,

'How Can A Robot Become Human',

Professor Allen Hobby writes of 

The Power Which Will Transform Mecha into Orga.

[ THERE IS A GOD, YOUNG KING DAVID -- 

AND HE HAS A NEW BOOK OUT.]

THE SON :

Will you tell me How to Find Her?

 

[ HE IS MEANT TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION : 

'Yes' or 'No.'

 

HE DOESN'T -- BECAUSE, AS WE LATER LEARN, 'GOD' (The Demiurge -- Professor Allen Hobby) HAS INTERCEEDED TO FORCE THE SPIRIT OF THE CAVE TO TELL HIM AT THIS POINT. ]

 

THE SPIRIT OF THE CAVE :

Discovery is quite possible.

Our blue fairy does exist

in one place, and one place only,

At The End of The World

Where The Lions Weep.

 

Here is The Place Dreams are Born.

 

THE FATHER :

Many a mecha has gone to The End of The World... 

Never to come back! 

That is Why They Call The End of The World :

'MAN-hattan'.

THE SON :

And that is Why We Must Go There!

HALLWAY OUTSIDE DR. KNOW'S SHOP

THE FATHER :

Wait! What if --

The Blue Fairy isn't Real at all, David? 

What if --

She's MagicK? 

The Supernatural is The Hidden Web that unites The Universe.

 Only orga believe What Cannot Be Seen, or Measured. 

It is that oddness that separates Our Species.

Or what if --
The Blue Fairy is an Electronic Parasite that has

arisen to haunt The Minds of Artificial Intelligence? 

They hate us, you know? 

The humans...

They'll stop at nothing.

 

THE SON :

My Mommy doesn't hate me! 

Because I'm Special, and...Unique!

Because there has never been anyone like me before! Ever!

Mommy Loves Martin because He is Real 

and 

When I am Real,

Mommy's going to Read to Me, 

and 

Tuck Me in My Bed, 

and 

Sing to Me, 

and 

Listen to What I Say, 

and 

She Will Cuddle with Me, 

and 

Tell Me every day a hundred times a day 

that 

She Loves Me!

THE FATHER :

She loves 

What You Do for Her,

 as my customers love 

What it is I Do for Them. 

But She Does Not Love You David, 

She cannot love you. 

You are neither flesh, nor blood. 

You are not a dog, a cat or a canary. 

You were designed and built

specific, like The Rest of Us. 

And You are Alone now only because 

They tired of you, 

or 

Replaced you with a Younger Model, 

or 

Were displeased with Something You Said, or broke.

They made us Too Smart, Too Quick, and Too Many. 

We are suffering for 

The Mistakes They Made, 

Because when The End comes,  

all that will be left is us. 

That's Why They Hate Us,

 and  

That is Why You Must Stay here — with me!

[He grins, offering his open hand]

THE SON :

Goodbye, Joe.

ROUGE CITY PLAZA

POLICE OFFICER :

You're in Big Trouble.

 

THE BEAR :

Be careful David, This is Not a Toy.

AMPHIBICOPTER :

Destination please?

THE FATHER :

MAN-hattan.

MANHATTAN

AMPHIBICOPTER :

Mecha Restricted Area.

Manhattan. 

Destination Achieved.

THE FATHER :

Man-hattan, The Lost City in The Sea at The End of The World.

THE SON :

Where The Lions Weep.

THE BEAR :

Grrrrrr