Do You Hide from The Flood or Build a Boat?

What did he just say..?

He said,  

“There’s a Storm Coming.”

An ORION Pictures Release

Jor-El:

Even though you've been raised as a Human Being, 

You are Not One of Them. 

They can be a Great People, Kal-El, 

They Wish to Be. 

They Only Lack The Light to Show The Way. 

For this reason, above all, 

Their Capacity for Good, 

I have sent Them YOU... 

My Only Son.

 

Fierce Orion

ORION : 

I thought My People would grow tired of Killing. 

But You Were Right. 

 

They see that it is easier than trading and it has pleasures. 

 

I feel it myself. 

Like The Hunt,

but with richer rewards.

 

KRELL,

The Klingon : 

You will be rich one day, Apella,

beyond your dreams. 

 

The Leader of a Whole World. 

A Governor in the Klingon Empire.

 

See, The Deal was a secret, but Metron has worked it out --

Everyone else must just assume that Highfather’s Son, 

Orion, The Fierce,

is a blood-relative — that’s assuming that New Gods have blood….

Let Them Be for Signs

Observational history

Galileo Galilei was the first astronomer to view the Pleiades through a telescope. He thereby discovered that the cluster contains many stars too dim to be seen with the naked eye. He published his observations, including a sketch of the Pleiades showing 36 stars, in his treatise Sidereus Nuncius in March 1610.

The Pleiades have long been known to be a physically related group of stars rather than any chance alignment. 

John Michell calculated in 1767 that the probability of a chance alignment of so many bright stars was only 1 in 500,000, and so surmised that the Pleiades and many other clusters of stars must be physically related.

When studies were first made of the stars’ proper motions, it was found that they are all moving in the same direction across the sky, at the same rate, further demonstrating that they were related.

Charles Messier measured the position of the cluster and included it as M45 in his catalogue of comet-like objects, published in 1771. Along with the Orion Nebula and the Praesepe cluster, Messier’s inclusion of the Pleiades has been noted as curious, as most of Messier’s objects were much fainter and more easily confused with comets — something that seems scarcely possible for the Pleiades. One possibility is that Messier simply wanted to have a larger catalogue than his scientific rival Lacaille, whose 1755 catalogue contained 42 objects, and so he added some bright, well-known objects to boost his list.

Edme-Sébastien Jeaurat then drew in 1782 a map of 64 stars of the Pleiades from his observations in 1779, which he published in 1786.

OF THE COMING OF THE ELVES AND THE CAPTIVITY OF MELKOR 

Through long ages the Valar dwelt in bliss in the light of the Trees beyond the Mountains of Aman, but all Middle-earth lay in a twilight under the stars. While the Lamps had shone, growth began there which now was checked, because all was again dark. But already the oldest living things had arisen: in the seas the great weeds, and on earth the shadow of great trees; and in the valleys of the night-clad hills there were dark creatures old and strong. 

To those lands and forests the Valar seldom came, save only Yavanna and Oromë; and Yavanna would walk there in the shadows, grieving because the growth and promise of the Spring of Arda was stayed. And she set a sleep upon many things that had arisen in the Spring, so that they should not age, but should wait for a time of awakening that yet should be. But in the north Melkor built his strength, and he slept not, but watched, and laboured; and the evil things that he had perverted walked abroad, and the dark and slumbering woods were haunted by monsters and shapes of dread. 

And in Utumno he gathered his demons about him, those spirits who first adhered to him in the days of his splendour, and became most like him in his corruption: their hearts were of fire, but they were cloaked in darkness, and terror went before them; they had whips of flame. 

Balrogs they were named in Middle-earth in later days. 

And in that dark time Melkor bred many other monsters of divers shapes and kinds that long troubled the world; and his realm spread now ever southward over Middle-earth. And Melkor made also a fortress and armoury not far from the north-western shores of the sea, to resist any assault that might come from Aman. That stronghold was commanded by Sauron, lieutenant of Melkor; and it was named Angband. It came to pass that the Valar held council, for they became troubled by the tidings that Yavanna and Oromë brought from the Outer Lands; and Yavanna spoke before the Valar, saying: ‘Ye mighty of Arda, the Vision of Ilúvatar was brief and soon taken away, so that maybe we cannot guess within a narrow count of days the hour appointed. Yet be sure of this: the hour approaches, and within this age our hope shall be revealed, and the Children shall awake. Shall we then leave the lands of their dwelling desolate and full of evil? Shall they walk in darkness while we have light? Shall they call Melkor lord while Manwë sits upon Taniquetil?’ And Tulkas cried: ‘Nay! Let us make war swiftly! Have we not rested from strife overlong, and is not our strength now renewed? Shall one alone contest with us for ever?’

But at the bidding of Manwë Mandos spoke, and he said: ‘In this age the Children of Ilúvatar shall come indeed, but they come not yet. 

Moreover it is doom that the Firstborn shall come in the darkness, and shall look first upon the stars. 

Great light shall be for their waning. 

To Varda ever shall they call at need.’ 

Then Varda went forth from the council, and she looked out from the height of Taniquetil, and beheld the darkness of Middle-earth beneath the innumerable stars, faint and far. 

Then she began a great labour, greatest of all the works of the Valar since their coming into Arda. 

She took the silver dews from the vats of Telperion, and therewith she made new stars and brighter against the coming of the Firstborn; wherefore she whose name out of the deeps of time and the labours of Eä was Tintallë, the Kindler, was called after by the Elves Elentári, Queen of the Stars. Carnil and Luinil, Nénar and Lumbar, Alcarinquë and Elemmírë she wrought in that time, and many other of the ancient stars she gathered together and set as signs in the heavens of Arda: 

Wilwarin, Telumendil, Soronúmë, and Anarríma; and Menelmacar with his shining belt, that forebodes the Last Battle that shall be at the end of days. 

And high in the north as a challenge to Melkor she set the crown of seven mighty stars to swing, Valacirca, the Sickle of the Valar and sign of doom. 

It is told that even as Varda ended her labours, and they were long, when first Menelmacar strode up the sky and the blue fire of Helluin flickered in the mists above the borders of the world, in that hour the Children of the Earth awoke, the Firstborn of Ilúvatar. 

By the starlit mere of Cuiviénen, Water of Awakening, they rose from the sleep of Ilúvatar; and while they dwelt yet silent by Cuiviénen their eyes beheld first of all things the stars of heaven. Therefore they have ever loved the starlight, and have revered Varda Elentári above all the Valar. In the changes of the world the shapes of lands and of seas have been broken and remade; rivers have not kept their courses, neither have mountains remained steadfast; and to Cuiviénen there is no returning. 

But it is said among the Elves that it lay far off in the east of Middle-earth, and northward, and it was a bay in the Inland Sea of Helcar; and that sea stood where aforetime the roots of the mountain of Illuin had been before Melkor overthrew it. 

Many waters flowed down thither from heights in the east, and the first sound that was heard by the Elves was the sound of water flowing, and the sound of water falling over stone. Long they dwelt in their first home by the water under stars, and they walked the Earth in wonder; and they began to make speech and to give names to all things that they perceived. 

Themselves they named the Quendi, signifying those that speak with voices; for as yet they had met no other living things that spoke or sang. 

And on a time it chanced that Oromë rode eastward in his hunting, and he turned north by the shores of Helcar and passed under the shadows of the Orocarni, the Mountains of the East. Then on a sudden Nahar set up a great neighing, and stood still. And Oromë wondered and sat silent, and it seemed to him that in the quiet of the land under the stars he heard afar off many voices singing. 

Thus it was that the Valar found at last, as it were by chance, those whom they had so long awaited. 

And Oromë looking upon the Elves was filled with wonder, as though they were beings sudden and marvellous and unforeseen; for so it shall ever be with the Valar. 

From without The World, though all things may be forethought in music or foreshown in vision from afar, to those who enter verily into Eä each in its time shall be met at unawares as something new and unforetold. 

In the beginning the Elder Children of Ilúvatar were stronger and greater than they have since become; but not more fair, for though the beauty of the Quendi in the days of their youth was beyond all other beauty that Ilúvatar has caused to be, it has not perished, but lives in the West, and sorrow and wisdom have enriched it. 

And Oromë loved the Quendi, and named them in their own tongue Eldar, the people of the stars; but that name was after borne only by those who followed him upon the westward road. 

Yet many of the Quendi were filled with dread at his coming; and this was the doing of Melkor. 

For by after-knowledge The Wide declare that Melkor, ever watchful, was first aware of the awakening of the Quendi, and sent shadows and evil spirits to spy upon them and waylay them. 

So it came to pass, some years ere the coming of Oromë, that if any of the Elves strayed far abroad, alone or few together, they would often vanish, and never return; and The Quendi said that The Hunter had caught them, and they were afraid. And indeed the most ancient songs of the Elves, of which echoes are remembered still in The West, tell of the shadow-shapes that walked in the hills above Cuiviénen, or would pass suddenly over the stars; and of the dark Rider upon his wild horse that pursued those that wandered to take them and devour them. 

Now Melkor greatly hated and feared the riding of Oromë, and either he sent indeed his dark servants as riders, or he set lying whispers abroad, for the purpose that the Quendi should shun Oromë, if ever they should meet. Thus it was that when Nahar neighed and Oromë indeed came among them, some of the Quendi hid themselves, and some fled and were lost. 

But those that had courage, and stayed, perceived swiftly that the Great Rider was no shape out of darkness; for the light of Aman was in his face, and all the noblest of the Elves were drawn towards it. 

But of those unhappy ones who were ensnared by Melkor little is known of a certainty. For who of the living has descended into the pits of Utumno, or has explored the darkness of the counsels of Melkor? Yet this is held true by the wise of Eressëa, that all those of the Quendi who came into the hands of Melkor, ere Utumno was broken, were put there in prison, and by slow arts of cruelty were corrupted and enslaved; and thus did Melkor breed the hideous race of the Orcs in envy and mockery of the Elves, of whom they were afterwards the bitterest foes. For the Orcs had life and multiplied after the manner of the Children of Ilúvatar; and naught that had life of its own, nor the semblance of life, could ever Melkor make since his rebellion in the Ainulindalë before the Beginning: so say the wise. And deep in their dark hearts the Orcs loathed the Master whom they served in fear, the maker only of their misery. 

This it may be was the vilest deed of Melkor, and the most hateful to Ilúvatar.

Let Them Be for Signs

Observational history

Galileo Galilei was the first astronomer to view the Pleiades through a telescope. He thereby discovered that the cluster contains many stars too dim to be seen with the naked eye. He published his observations, including a sketch of the Pleiades showing 36 stars, in his treatise Sidereus Nuncius in March 1610.

The Pleiades have long been known to be a physically related group of stars rather than any chance alignment. 

John Michell calculated in 1767 that the probability of a chance alignment of so many bright stars was only 1 in 500,000, and so surmised that the Pleiades and many other clusters of stars must be physically related.

When studies were first made of the stars’ proper motions, it was found that they are all moving in the same direction across the sky, at the same rate, further demonstrating that they were related.

Charles Messier measured the position of the cluster and included it as M45 in his catalogue of comet-like objects, published in 1771. Along with the Orion Nebula and the Praesepe cluster, Messier’s inclusion of the Pleiades has been noted as curious, as most of Messier’s objects were much fainter and more easily confused with comets — something that seems scarcely possible for the Pleiades. One possibility is that Messier simply wanted to have a larger catalogue than his scientific rival Lacaille, whose 1755 catalogue contained 42 objects, and so he added some bright, well-known objects to boost his list.

Edme-Sébastien Jeaurat then drew in 1782 a map of 64 stars of the Pleiades from his observations in 1779, which he published in 1786.

OF THE COMING OF THE ELVES AND THE CAPTIVITY OF MELKOR 

Through long ages the Valar dwelt in bliss in the light of the Trees beyond the Mountains of Aman, but all Middle-earth lay in a twilight under the stars. While the Lamps had shone, growth began there which now was checked, because all was again dark. But already the oldest living things had arisen: in the seas the great weeds, and on earth the shadow of great trees; and in the valleys of the night-clad hills there were dark creatures old and strong. 

To those lands and forests the Valar seldom came, save only Yavanna and Oromë; and Yavanna would walk there in the shadows, grieving because the growth and promise of the Spring of Arda was stayed. And she set a sleep upon many things that had arisen in the Spring, so that they should not age, but should wait for a time of awakening that yet should be. But in the north Melkor built his strength, and he slept not, but watched, and laboured; and the evil things that he had perverted walked abroad, and the dark and slumbering woods were haunted by monsters and shapes of dread. 

And in Utumno he gathered his demons about him, those spirits who first adhered to him in the days of his splendour, and became most like him in his corruption: their hearts were of fire, but they were cloaked in darkness, and terror went before them; they had whips of flame. 

Balrogs they were named in Middle-earth in later days. 

And in that dark time Melkor bred many other monsters of divers shapes and kinds that long troubled the world; and his realm spread now ever southward over Middle-earth. And Melkor made also a fortress and armoury not far from the north-western shores of the sea, to resist any assault that might come from Aman. That stronghold was commanded by Sauron, lieutenant of Melkor; and it was named Angband. It came to pass that the Valar held council, for they became troubled by the tidings that Yavanna and Oromë brought from the Outer Lands; and Yavanna spoke before the Valar, saying: ‘Ye mighty of Arda, the Vision of Ilúvatar was brief and soon taken away, so that maybe we cannot guess within a narrow count of days the hour appointed. Yet be sure of this: the hour approaches, and within this age our hope shall be revealed, and the Children shall awake. Shall we then leave the lands of their dwelling desolate and full of evil? Shall they walk in darkness while we have light? Shall they call Melkor lord while Manwë sits upon Taniquetil?’ And Tulkas cried: ‘Nay! Let us make war swiftly! Have we not rested from strife overlong, and is not our strength now renewed? Shall one alone contest with us for ever?’

But at the bidding of Manwë Mandos spoke, and he said: ‘In this age the Children of Ilúvatar shall come indeed, but they come not yet. 

Moreover it is doom that the Firstborn shall come in the darkness, and shall look first upon the stars. 

Great light shall be for their waning. 

To Varda ever shall they call at need.’ 

Then Varda went forth from the council, and she looked out from the height of Taniquetil, and beheld the darkness of Middle-earth beneath the innumerable stars, faint and far. 

Then she began a great labour, greatest of all the works of the Valar since their coming into Arda. She took the silver dews from the vats of Telperion, and therewith she made new stars and brighter against the coming of the Firstborn; wherefore she whose name out of the deeps of time and the labours of Eä was Tintallë, the Kindler, was called after by the Elves Elentári, Queen of the Stars. Carnil and Luinil, Nénar and Lumbar, Alcarinquë and Elemmírë she wrought in that time, and many other of the ancient stars she gathered together and set as signs in the heavens of Arda: Wilwarin, Telumendil, Soronúmë, and Anarríma; and Menelmacar with his shining belt, that forebodes the Last Battle that shall be at the end of days. And high in the north as a challenge to Melkor she set the crown of seven mighty stars to swing, Valacirca, the Sickle of the Valar and sign of doom. 

It is told that even as Varda ended her labours, and they were long, when first Menelmacar strode up the sky and the blue fire of Helluin flickered in the mists above the borders of the world, in that hour the Children of the Earth awoke, the Firstborn of Ilúvatar. 

By the starlit mere of Cuiviénen, Water of Awakening, they rose from the sleep of Ilúvatar; and while they dwelt yet silent by Cuiviénen their eyes beheld first of all things the stars of heaven. Therefore they have ever loved the starlight, and have revered Varda Elentári above all the Valar. In the changes of the world the shapes of lands and of seas have been broken and remade; rivers have not kept their courses, neither have mountains remained steadfast; and to Cuiviénen there is no returning. 

But it is said among the Elves that it lay far off in the east of Middle-earth, and northward, and it was a bay in the Inland Sea of Helcar; and that sea stood where aforetime the roots of the mountain of Illuin had been before Melkor overthrew it. 

Many waters flowed down thither from heights in the east, and the first sound that was heard by the Elves was the sound of water flowing, and the sound of water falling over stone. Long they dwelt in their first home by the water under stars, and they walked the Earth in wonder; and they began to make speech and to give names to all things that they perceived. 

Themselves they named the Quendi, signifying those that speak with voices; for as yet they had met no other living things that spoke or sang. 

And on a time it chanced that Oromë rode eastward in his hunting, and he turned north by the shores of Helcar and passed under the shadows of the Orocarni, the Mountains of the East. Then on a sudden Nahar set up a great neighing, and stood still. And Oromë wondered and sat silent, and it seemed to him that in the quiet of the land under the stars he heard afar off many voices singing. 

Thus it was that the Valar found at last, as it were by chance, those whom they had so long awaited. 

And Oromë looking upon the Elves was filled with wonder, as though they were beings sudden and marvellous and unforeseen; for so it shall ever be with the Valar. 

From without The World, though all things may be forethought in music or foreshown in vision from afar, to those who enter verily into Eä each in its time shall be met at unawares as something new and unforetold. 

In the beginning the Elder Children of Ilúvatar were stronger and greater than they have since become; but not more fair, for though the beauty of the Quendi in the days of their youth was beyond all other beauty that Ilúvatar has caused to be, it has not perished, but lives in the West, and sorrow and wisdom have enriched it. 

And Oromë loved the Quendi, and named them in their own tongue Eldar, the people of the stars; but that name was after borne only by those who followed him upon the westward road. 

Yet many of the Quendi were filled with dread at his coming; and this was the doing of Melkor. 

For by after-knowledge The Wide declare that Melkor, ever watchful, was first aware of the awakening of the Quendi, and sent shadows and evil spirits to spy upon them and waylay them. 

So it came to pass, some years ere the coming of Oromë, that if any of the Elves strayed far abroad, alone or few together, they would often vanish, and never return; and The Quendi said that The Hunter had caught them, and they were afraid. And indeed the most ancient songs of the Elves, of which echoes are remembered still in The West, tell of the shadow-shapes that walked in the hills above Cuiviénen, or would pass suddenly over the stars; and of the dark Rider upon his wild horse that pursued those that wandered to take them and devour them. 

Now Melkor greatly hated and feared the riding of Oromë, and either he sent indeed his dark servants as riders, or he set lying whispers abroad, for the purpose that the Quendi should shun Oromë, if ever they should meet. Thus it was that when Nahar neighed and Oromë indeed came among them, some of the Quendi hid themselves, and some fled and were lost. 

But those that had courage, and stayed, perceived swiftly that the Great Rider was no shape out of darkness; for the light of Aman was in his face, and all the noblest of the Elves were drawn towards it. 

But of those unhappy ones who were ensnared by Melkor little is known of a certainty. For who of the living has descended into the pits of Utumno, or has explored the darkness of the counsels of Melkor? Yet this is held true by the wise of Eressëa, that all those of the Quendi who came into the hands of Melkor, ere Utumno was broken, were put there in prison, and by slow arts of cruelty were corrupted and enslaved; and thus did Melkor breed the hideous race of the Orcs in envy and mockery of the Elves, of whom they were afterwards the bitterest foes. For the Orcs had life and multiplied after the manner of the Children of Ilúvatar; and naught that had life of its own, nor the semblance of life, could ever Melkor make since his rebellion in the Ainulindalë before the Beginning: so say the wise. And deep in their dark hearts the Orcs loathed the Master whom they served in fear, the maker only of their misery. 

This it may be was the vilest deed of Melkor, and the most hateful to Ilúvatar.

THE FUTURISTS

"Who is Man? Is He a rational being?

If He is, then The Goals can be achieved.

But if He isn't, there seems little point in attempting  The Effort."

Robert McNamarra,

Montreal, 1967

“I believe that in 130-200 years, if things go all well, 95% of The World’s Population will be living at higher than current American Standards of Living

Young Men will come from everywhere  poor, everywhere in danger of hunger and starvation to a Life where The Technology largely insulates you from The State of Nature.”

— Herman Kahn, 

RAND Corporation Futurist, 

1965

My Armor was never a distraction or a hobby, it was a cocoon, and now I'm a Changed Man. 

You can take away My House, all My Tricks and Toys, but one thing you can't take away - 

I am Iron Man.

— Tony Stark,

Futurist, 2013

So let Us infect Them.
Infect Them to the point where They Become Us.
Where there’s nothing left in This World, but Us.

And then Some Kid’ll come up and fuck that as well.
And that’ll be Exactly What We Need at the time.

And that’s me finished, so thank you very much. 

 

  

The Futurist : 

I see, a Suit of Armour around The World.

The Doctor : 

Sounds like Pretty Cold World, Tony

Orion, The Huntsman : 

The Futurist, gentlemen! 

The Futurist is here! 

He sees ALL ! 

He sees ALL ! 

He knows What's Best for You, 

Whether your like it or not.

The Futurist : 

Give me a break, Barton. 

I had no idea they'll put you here. Come on.

Orion, The Huntsman :

[spits] 

Yeah, well, you knew they'd put us somewhere, Tony.

The Futurist : 

Yeah, but not some super-max floating ocean pokey. 

You know, this place is for maniacs. 

This is a place for . . .

Orion, The Huntsman :

Criminals? 

[He stands up.] 

Criminals, Tony. 

Think that's The Word you're looking for. 

[He eyes Tony through the bars.] 

Right? That didn't used to mean Me. 

Or Sam, or Wanda. 

But Here We Are.

The Futurist : 

Because you broke The Law.

Orion, The Huntsman :

Yeah.

The Futurist  : 

I didn't make you.

Orion, The Huntsman :

La, la, la, la, la . . .

The Futurist : 

You Read it, you Broke it.

Orion, The Huntsman :

La, la, la, la la…

The Futurist : 

Alright, you're all grown up, you got a wife and kids. 

I don't understand, why didn't you think about them before you chose The Wrong Side? 

[He walks away.]

Orion, The Huntsman :

You gotta watch your back with This Guy. 

There's a chance he's gonna break it.

The Little Guy : 

Hank Pym always said, you never can Trust a Stark.

The Futurist : 

Who are you?

The Little Guy : 

Come on, man!

Release The Hounds

"These puppies are of the same parents, but by virtue of a different bringing up The One is pampered, and The Other A Good Hound." 

Let so much suffice for habit and modes of life.

SCULLY :

You've always said that you 

Want to Believe. 

 

But Believe in WHAT, Mulder? 

 

If this is The Truth that you've been looking for then what is left to Believe in?

MULDER: 

I Want to Believe That The Dead Are Not Lost to Us.

 

That They Speak to Us as Part of Something Greater Than Us - Greater Than Any Alien Force. 

 

And if You and I are powerless now, 

I Want to Believe That if We LISTEN to What is SPEAKING --

 

It can Give Us The Power to Save Ourselves.

SCULLY :

 Then We Believe in 

The Same Thing.

She reaches down  to the gifted Gold that hangs on a chain around her neck, the same Golden totem that has hung there in plain sight for 9 whole seasons of Network Television without attracting ANY real notice or curious interest —  or not any from Mulder, at least — and she gently turns her Cross ever-so slightly, 45-degrees or so from the perpendicular —

It is an X. The Unknown and Unquantifiable, Endless-Nameless Mystery

 18 INT. SEWER - DAY 

Connor and Angel are walking through the sewers under Los Angeles.

CONNOR 

She's been down here.

ANGEL 

How old were you when you realised you could track like this?

CONNOR 

I don't know. Five, six. 

We didn't exactly celebrate birthdays in Quor-Toth. 

Holtz made up a game 

so I could practice.

ANGEL 

What do you mean he'd 

hide things for you to find?

CONNOR 

Kind of. 

He'd tie me to a tree 

and then run away.

ANGEL 

(shocked, stops walking) 

What?

CONNOR 

(shrugs) 

You know, so I'd have to escape 

and then find him. 

One time it only took me five days.

ANGEL 

Five days. 

He abandoned you... 

Connor, that's terrible. 

That's—

CONNOR 

(unfazed) 

Why I'm so good at tracking. 

Fred rested here for a while.

You do not Pass Judgment because you sympathize with Them --

A deprived childhood and a homicide really isn't necessarily a homicide, right? 

The Only thing you can blame is circumstances : Rapists and murderers may be the victims according to you, but I, I call them DOGS and if they're lapping up Their Own Vomit, The Only Way to Stop Them is with The Lash. 

But Dogs only obey 

Their Own Nature.

So why shouldn't 

we forgive them? 

DOGS can be taught Many Useful Things, but not, NOT if we Forgive Them every time They Obey Their Own Nature. 

So, I'm arrogant…

I'm arrogant because 

I forgive people? 

My God. Can't you see how condescending you are when you say that? 

You have this preconceived notion that nobody, LISTEN, that NOBODY can POSSIBLY attain the same High Ethical Standards as YOU, so you exonerate them.

I can not THINK of ANYTHING more arrogant, than that. 

You, My Child... My DEAR Child, you forgive Others with excuses that you would never in THE WORLD permit for yourself.

Why shouldn't  I be merciful? 

Why? 

No, no, no You SHOULD, you SHOULD be merciful, when there is TIME to be merciful. 

But you MUST maintain Your Own Standard,  You OWE them that, You OWE them that.

The penalty you deserve for your transgressions, they deserve for their transgressions.

They are Human Beings.

No, no, no  -- Does EVERY Human Being need to be accountable for their actions? 

Of COURSE they do. But you don't even give them THAT chance! 

And that is EXTREMELY arrogant -- I LOVE You, I LOVE You, I LOVE You to DEATH.... 

But you are The Most Arrogant Person I have ever met, and you call ME arrogant! 

I Have No More 

to Say. 

Full shot. 

Planetarium seen from The Parking Lot--a Great Dome crowns it -- The City lies Below.

 Camera picks up JIM STARK'S car maneuvering through the crowded lot. In b.g. a few other late-comers are dashing up steps to Planetarium. 

JIM drives into a small lot behind observator, parks, then runs to observatory entrance.

Full shot. 

Lobby as JIM runs through, opens door of theater and passes inside.

Long shot. 

Sky Full of Stars seen past JIM's Head.
Darkness. This is not Our Sky. 

It is a replica of it projected onto The Dome of The Planetarium. 

 

The Stars slide their tentative ways in an ever-changing pattern. 

 

One of them is much larger than The Rest and increases in size as we watch. 

Music of The Spheres is heard -- a high threatening tremolo.

 LECTURER (O.S.)
 For many days before The End of Our
 Earth, People will look into The  Night Sky and notice a star,  increasingly bright and increasingly near.

JIM looks around for a seat and passes down aisle. 

Seen beyond him is the projector, moving slowly, its great dumb-bell head sparkling with pin-points of light. 

JIM takes a seat in front row. 

PLATO, in the row behind him, moves over
a seat to be nearer. They exchange looks.

Full shot. 

Normal students watching intently.

 LECTURER (O.S.)
 As This Star approaches Us, The Weather will change. 

 

The Great Polar fields of The North and South  will rot and divide, and The Seas
 will turn warmer.

Low angle. 

LECTURER. 

A dry, Elderly Man in a stiff white
collar. 

He is seated at a desk, the light from the reading lamp spilling upward onto his face.

 LECTURER
 The Last of Us search The Heavens and Stand Amazed. For The Stars will still be there, moving through their ancient rhythms.

Angle shot. 

Students. Some watching, some taking notes.
An OLD LADY TEACHER in f.g. taps the heads of two kids in the row before her. 

They stop their whispering.

 She smiles at them.

 LECTURER (O.S.)
 The familiar constellations that  illuminate our night will seem as  they have always seemed, eternal,  unchanged and little moved by the shortness of time between Our Planet's Birth and its Demise.

Med. shot. PLATO staring upward.

 LECTURER (O.S.)
 Orion, The Hunter.

PLATO looks off.

Med. shot. JIM (from PLATO's angle). 

JIM is seated in the row ahead of PLATO. 

His lips are parted as he looks up.

 JIM
 Boy!

 PLATO
 (leaning forward)
 What?

 JIM
 (surprised)
 Once you been Up There, 

you know  you been 

Some Place!

 LECTURER (O.S.)
 Gemini, the Twins.

Two shot. JUDY and BUZZ. 

BUZZ has his arm around her. 

He is nuzzling her ear. 

She is blandly watching The Dome.

 LECTURER (O.S.)
 (continuing)
 Cancer, the Crab.

BUZZ pokes JUDY who looks at him. 

He curves his wrist toward her, opening and closing his first two fingers like
the pincers of a crab.

“Maybe There’s Hope.”, said Special Agent Fox "Spooky" Mulder,

Once-More Enunciating The Stated Truth.

 

"Maybe There's Hope."

And So There Was.

And It was Good.

Good it is,

and remains Good still.

[Fade to Black]

Dear Clarice,

I have followed with enthusiasm the course of your disgrace and public shaming.

My own never bothered me, except for the inconvenience of being incarcerated, but you may lack perspective.

In our discussions down in The Dungeon, it was apparent to me that Your Father, The Dead Night Watchman, figures largely in your value system.

I think your success in putting an end to Jame Gumb's career as a couturier pleased you most because you could imagine your father being pleased.

But now, alas, you're in bad odour with the FBI.

Do you imagine your daddy being shamed by your disgrace?

Do you see him in his plain pine box crushed by your failure?

The sorry, petty end of a promising career?

What is worst about this humiliation, Clarice?

Is it how your failure will reflect on your mommy and daddy?

Is your worst fear that people will now and forever believe they were, indeed, just good old trailer-camp, tornado-bait, white trash, and that perhaps you are, too?

Mmm?

By the way, I couldn't help noticing on the FBI's rather dull public website, that I have been hoisted from the Bureau's archives of the common criminal, and elevated to the more prestigious Ten Most Wanted list.

Is this coincidence, or are you back on the case?

If so, goody, goody, 'cause I need to come out of retirement and return to Public Life.

I imagine you sitting in a dark basement room, bent over papers and computer screens.

Is that accurate? Please tell me truly, Special Agent Starling.

Regards, your old pal,

Hannibal Lecter, M.D.

 

 

P.S., clearly this new assignment is not your choice.

Rather, I suppose it is part of the bargain, but you accepted it, Clarice.

Your job is to craft my doom, so I am not sure how well I should wish you, but I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun.

Ta-ta. 

"H."

"To speak generally, what we are wont to say about the arts and sciences is also true of moral excellence, for to its perfect development three things must meet together, natural ability, theory, and practice. 

By theory I mean training, and by practice working at one's craft. 

Now the foundation must be laid in training, and practice gives facility, but perfection is attained only by the junction of all three. For if any one of these elements be wanting, excellence must be so far deficient. 

For natural ability without training is blind: and training without natural ability is defective, and practice without both natural ability and training is imperfect. 

For just as in farming the first requisite is good soil, next a good farmer, next good seed, so also here: the soil corresponds to natural ability, the training to the farmer, the seed to precepts and instruction. 

I should therefore maintain stoutly that these three elements were found combined in the souls of such universally famous men as Pythagoras, and Socrates, and Plato, and of all who have won undying fame. Happy at any rate and dear to the gods is he to whom any deity has vouchsafed all these elements! 

But if anyone thinks that those who have not good natural ability cannot to some extent make up for the deficiencies of Nature by Right Training and Practice, let such a one know that he is very wide of The Mark, if not out of it altogether. 

For good natural parts are impaired by sloth; while inferior ability is mended by training: and while simple things escape the eyes of the careless, difficult things are reached by painstaking. 

The wonderful efficacy and power of long and continuous labour you may see indeed every day in the world around you.

Thus water continually dropping wears away rocks: and iron and steel are moulded by the hands of the artificer: and chariot wheels bent by some strain can never recover their original symmetry: and the crooked staves of actors can never be made straight. 

But by toil what is contrary to nature becomes stronger than even nature itself. 

And are these the only things that teach The Power of Diligence? 

Not so: ten thousand things teach the same Truth. 

A soil naturally good becomes by neglect barren, and the better its original condition, the worse its ultimate state if uncared for. 

On the other hand a soil exceedingly rough and sterile by being farmed well produces excellent crops. 

And what trees do not by neglect become gnarled and unfruitful, whereas by pruning they become fruitful and productive? 

And what constitution so good but it is marred and impaired by sloth, luxury, and too full habit? 

And what weak constitution has not derived benefit from exercise and athletics? 

And what horses broken in young are not docile to their riders? while if they are not broken in till late they become hard-mouthed and unmanageable. 

And why should we be surprised at similar cases, seeing that we find many of the savagest animals docile and tame by training? 

Rightly answered the Thessalian, who was asked who the mildest Thessalians were, "Those who have done with fighting."

But why pursue the line of argument further? For the Greek name for moral virtue is only habit : and if anyone defines moral virtues as habitual virtues, he will not be beside The Mark. But I will employ only one more illustration, and dwell no longer on this topic. 

Lycurgus, the Lacedæmonian legislator, took Two Puppies of The Same Parents, and brought them up in an entirely different way : The One he pampered and cosseted up, while he taught The Other to Hunt and be A Retriever. 

Then on one occasion, when the Lacedæmonians were convened in assembly, he said, "Mighty, O Lacedæmonians, is the influence on moral excellence of habit, and education, and training, and modes of life, as I will prove to you at once." 

So saying he produced The Two Puppies, and set before them A Platter and A Hare : The One darted on The Hare, while The Other made for The Platter. 

And when the Lacedæmonians could not guess what his meaning was, or with what intent he had produced the puppies, he said, 

"These puppies are of the same parents, but by virtue of a different bringing up The One is pampered, and The Other A Good Hound." 

Let so much suffice for Habit and Modes of Life.