Blake's 7, Series Three

Avon:
Well, I hope she's not totally insane. Under the circumstances that could be a little bit embarrassing.

Zen:
Damage control estimates that breakdown is now beyond the capacity of auto-repair systems in all areas. Serious malfunction in life-support would indicate that evacuation by life capsule is a priority one requirement.

Dayna:
I Like the ancient weapons. The spear, the sword, the knife. They demand more skill. When you fight with them, conflict becomes more personal... More exciting.

Avon:
More dangerous.

Dayna:
Of course! Without danger, there's no pleasure.

Avon:
That must limit your range of pleasures a bit.

Avon:
I have had enough excitement for a while. Right now a little boredom wouldn't come amiss.

Servalan:
[Pointing a gun at Avon's head from behind] Stay quite still.

Avon:
Servalan.

Servalan:
You don't sound surprised.

Avon:
Why should I be? It has a perverse kind of logic to it. Our meeting is the most unlikely happening I could imagine; therefore, we meet. Surprise seems inappropriate somehow.

Hal Mellanby:
You're not alone in losing your ship. The losses on both sides have been tremendous. I've been monitoring the status transmissions.

Kerr Avon:
Did we win?

Hal:
Sounds very confused, but there's not much doubt. The aliens were virtually wiped out.

Avon:
Well the price was high enough. But at least we got what we paid for.

Hal:
You almost didn't. It was a close run thing; what's left of the federation fleet, which isn't much, is scattered halfway across the galaxy. I'd say the Federation is in a lot of trouble.

Avon:
Yes, it's difficult to sustain a military dictatorship when you've lost most of the military. [Hal laughs] I only hope Blake survived long enough to know that he was winning.... Both wars.

Hal:
Blake? You were with Blake?

Avon:
Yes. Though it hardly seems to matter now, if it ever did.

Hal:
If it mattered? Blake and the Liberator. I've been hearing reports over the last couple of years. You were magnificent!

Avon:
Not from where I was sitting.

[Discussing Dayna]

Hal:
She has a genius with weaponry systems. And that's not just a father's pride talking.

Avon:
And yet, with all this to choose from, she still goes around with a bow and arrows.

Hal:
She takes absurd risks. I try to discourage her but I think she's trying to prove to herself that there's no weapon, ancient or modern, she cannot master.

Avon:
I seldom comment on other people's ethics.

Servalan:
I'm going to be honest with you.

Avon:
That should be mildly disconcerting.

Avon:
It's a great pity you and I have always been on opposite sides, Servalan.

Servalan:
You have one other quality I admire. Very much.

Avon:
Yes?

Servalan:
You are infinitely corruptible. You'd sell out anybody, wouldn't you?

Avon:
I don't know. I never really had an offer I felt was worthy of me.

Avon:
Imagination our only limit? I'd be dead in a week.

Vila:
It's not that I'm I coward or anything, it's just that I have a very low pain threshold. Hardly a threshold at all, actually.

Dayna:
And once we're out?

Avon:
This is my ship.

[Avon is trying to pick the lock to their cell]

Dayna:
Do you want me to try it?

Avon:
Are you any good with locks?

Dayna:
No. But then neither are you by the look of it.

Avon:
You should never judge by appearances.

Dayna:
I don't. I judge by results, and you're not getting any.

Avon:
Wrong again. [Opens the door]

(Avon and Dayna find a guard with a knife in his back)

Avon:
That's a difficult way to commit suicide.

Dayna:
Perhaps he was cleaning it and it went off.

Dayna:
I'll come with you.

Avon:
I can do it faster on my own.

Dayna:
Do what? Avon, why do you keep everything to yourself? Why so secretive?

Avon:
Perhaps I'm shy. (Goes to leave) Anybody comes through this door, kill them! (Pause; sardonic smile) Anybody that isn't me, that is.

Tarrant:
Oh, don't blame yourself.

Avon:
I'll try not to.

Tarrant:
I imagine you've been under considerable stress.

Avon:
I had hoped for a more inspiring epitaph.

Avon:
That one is Cally; I shall introduce her more formally when she wakes up. This one is Vila; I should really introduce him now, he's at his best when he's unconscious.

Cally (to Vila):
Given the choice, would you rather be a load of spare parts down there?

Avon:
Or one spare part up here?

Tarrant:
It all seems quiet enough, Cally, if you don't count the volcano. I should let Orac take over. I think it's going to be some time before we find these friends of Dayna's.

Cally:
All right, but keep in touch. Heroic rescues can be embarrassing if you're not actually in danger.

Cally:
And what about Dayna? Don't you trust her either?

Vila:
Dayna's a… different case entirely.

Cally:
Well, she's pretty, for one thing.

Vila:
Pretty? Yes, I suppose she is. I hadn't really noticed.

Avon:
We've seen you not really noticing. Frequently.

(Vila and Cally are unable to contact Avon on the surface)

Vila:
Communications blindspot… or maybe he landed in the volcano.

Cally:
No, I think he's all right.

Vila:
Yes, of course he's all right. There isn't a volcano alive that would dare to swallow Avon.

Cally:
Vila, be quiet.

Vila:
He's cold enough to put out the fire, anyway.

Tarrant:
One day, Avon, I may have to kill you.

Avon (smiles):
It has been tried.

Vila (Waking up with Avon looking down at him):
I'm in Hell... and it's full of Avons.

Tarrant:
[Holding up his index finger] Groff, what's that?

Groff:
A finger?

Tarrant:
A finger. And as you can see, it is better designed for pressing buttons than holding writing implements.

Servalan:
You say any fool could take The Liberator with three pursuit ships. Could you?

Jarvik:
I could take her with one. But, as a man, Tarrant is worthy of honour. Three would not insult him.

Servalan:
But first, there is the matter of that degrading and primitive act you subjected me to in the control room... I should like you to do it again.

Servalan:
So tell me, Zen, how does one operate this craft?

Zen:
One manipulates the controls and the craft functions accordingly.

Avon:
[Discussing Sopron] This happens to be the most sophisticated life form that it has ever been my good fortune to come across. Present company Not excepted.

Tarrant:
Life? But it looks like...

Avon:
A rock. Yes. Well, when you live on the permanent dark side of a planet nobody cares too much what you look like.

[The crew are approaching Liberator in an antiquated, unarmed, landing module]

Tarrant:
Zen will have picked us up by now.

Avon:
So?

Tarrant:
So what do we do before they blow us out of the galaxy?

Avon:
We Attack.

Tarrant:
Attack? We have nothing to attack with.

Avon:
Then bluff it. Tell them to surrender.

Tarrant:
Is that a weapon?

Avon:
That? No, no, it's purely defensive. An analogue of something that evolves on the permanent dark side of a planet. A highly simplified copy of course.

Tarrant:
Permanent dark side? Are you saying you've...

Avon:
I've built an artificial Sopron. Yes, that's what I'm saying.

[Zen informs Servalan that the module is marginally better equipped than Liberator]

Avon:
Self defense. Some animals bristle out their fur to frighten their enemies. But that doesn't count for much in the dark.

Vila:
So what does Sopron do?

Avon:
Sopron is a mirror. A distorting mirror. It reflects a slightly greater image of whatever it is that happens to be scanning it. Zen saw a capacity-charged brain, because that is what Zen is. Orac saw a highly sophisticated computer because that is what Orac is. Cally thought that she saw her parents, But what she actually saw was herself.

Tarrant:
And will that work?

Avon:
Oh yes. The question is... what will Servalan see? And will she be fooled by it?

Vila:
Are you sure you can dock this thing?

Tarrant:
I hadn't really considered it.

Vila:
What?

Tarrant:
I thought we'd be dead by now.

Vila:
All my life, for as long as I can remember, there's been people like you.

Tarrant:
And I thought I was unique.

Vila:
You're not even unusual, Tarrant.

Avon (on Vila):
I don't know how you persuaded him to go, Tarrant.

Tarrant:
I appealed to his better nature.

Avon:
He hasn't got one. Leave him alone in future.

Tarrant:
Or?

Avon:
Do you want me to threaten you?

Tarrant:
Why not. I haven't had a good laugh in ages.

Avon:
Sensible. You could die laughing.

Cally (on Vila):
He was terrified. So terrified he might just get himself killed, because it's easier than going on.

Tarrant:
I'll take that risk.

Cally:
It isn't yours to take.

Vila:
I'll get you for this, Tarrant! I'll tear your arm off and beat you to death with the wet end! I'll get you for this!

Vila:
Ah. Well, if you put it like that, of course I know who you are. You're -- you're, ah --

Bayban the Butcher:
Bayban.

Vila:
Bayban, yes.

Bayban the Butcher:
Bayban the Beserker. Bayban the Butcher.

Vila:
Bayban the Butcher . . . you're Bayban the Butcher! Oh, no.

Bayban the Butcher:
That's better.

Vila:
You're top of the Federation's Most Wanted list -- after Blake.

Bayban the Butcher:
What do you mean, "after Blake"? I was working my way up that list before he crept out of his creche. WORKING my way up. I didn't take any political shortcuts.

Vila:
I know, I know. You have a reputation for straightforward mayhem that's second to none. I've been an admirer of yours for, um, well, for as long as I can remember. Well maybe not that long, I mean, uh, you're not that old, are you? But, uh, then again, you did start very young, didn't you? I think I feel sick.

Bayban the Butcher:
My mother [Sees the look on Vila's face] Oh yes, I had a mother; truly evil person. My mother used to say "Babe" -- she called me Babe -- "babe", she said, "Live every hour as though it were your last." I'll be back in an hour.

Avon:
The point is that Vila won't trust you whereas he will trust Cally and me.

Tarrant:
Cally yes, but why you?

Avon:
Because he knows what I think about him.

Tarrant:
You despise him.

Avon:
Right. But at least I'm consistent about it.

Sherm:
You've twenty-five minutes left.

Vila:
Who told you that?

Sherm:
Bayban:

Vila:
I didn't think you could have worked it for yourself... Joke! Just a joke.

Vila:
I don't believe in suicide, it stunts your growth!

Vila:
[Sees a corpse decayed to a skeleton] Lost a lot of weight, hasn't he?

Avon:
[Pointing his gun at Bayban] Bloodthirsty little maniac aren't you? Where's Vila?

Bayban:
I don't know what you're talking about.

[Tarrant and Dayna enter]

Tarrant:
Hello, Bayban. I heard a rumour you were dead. Funny that, seems to be true.

Bayban:
Do I know you?

Tarrant:
That's the trouble with celebrities. They never remember the little people.

Avon:
Where is Vila?!

Bayban:
Who?

Avon:
How would you like me to let some fresh air into that rancid little brain of yours?

Bayban:
Go ahead, you'll be famous, "The man who killed Bayban."

Cally:
[Pointing her gun at Bayban] I'd quite like to be famous too. How about "The woman that killed Bayban"?

Dayna:
[Pointing her gun at Bayban] Or better still, "The girl who killed Bayban"?

Kerril:
If you think what happened in here gives you the right to treat me like some sort of...

Vila:
Treat you like some sort of what? I haven't treated you like any sort of anything.

Cally:
Vila, we thought we'd lost you!

Avon:
…but every silver lining has a cloud.

Vila:
I'd say you'd got that wrong, except I know you didn't.

Kerril:
Are you coming with me?

Vila:
I can't.

Kerril:
Why not? It's a chance to be free, you saw that place, it's beautiful.

Vila:
But there's nothing there worth stealing!

[Vila has left Kerril]

Vila:
I think I've just made the biggest mistake of my life.

Orac:
In the light of your previous record, that seems unlikely. I would predict that there are far greater mistakes waiting to be made by someone with your obvious talent for it.

Vila:
Shut up, Orac. [Switched Orac Off] Still, it's a comforting thought. Let's hope they've all got good legs!

Cally:
Why Earth?

Tarrant:
Why not?

Vila:
The Himalayas are quite tall at this time of year.

Vila:
And the Aurons punished you for your defiance, didn't they?

Tarrant:
Were you exiled?

Cally:
Yes. Why d'you imagine I've never gone back? (Looking at Avon) Affection for him?

Tarrant:
Democracy. You're outvoted, Avon. Three to two.

Vila:
Four to one. I like to stay with the winners whenever possible.

Avon:
The trouble with the people of Auron is that they all suffer from a superiority complex.

Vila:
You should get on with them then.

Avon:
Too good to become involved with the rest of humanity.

Cally:
That's not true. Just because we happen to be neutral...

Avon:
[Interuppting] Neutrality or pacifism: it all boils down to the same gutless inanity.

Tarrant:
This should snap her out of it.

Vila:
That stuff would snap an asteroid out of orbit!

Avon:
[Over communicator to Vila] Liberator? [No response] Idiot! Wake up!

Vila:
They stand as much chance as a bubble in a black hole.

Shrinker:
Why? I don't even ... I never saw him before. What have I ever done to him?

Dayna:
You killed someone he loved.

Vila:
And there aren't many of them about. Avon's not a very lovable man, in case you hadn't noticed.

Shrinker:
Who was it?

(Tarrant, Dayna and Vila begin to circle Shrinker)

Tarrant:
Did they give you names when they gave you your orders?

Dayna:
And even if they did, could you put a face to the name? One screaming face among so many screaming faces?

Vila:
Did they beg, Shrinker? Did they plead? No, Shrinker, please, Shrinker?

Tarrant:
Can you remember how they cried, what they cried? Can you separate the voices now?

Dayna:
Or is it just one long, satisfying scream?

Cally:
Stop it! Stop it! All of you! Leave him alone.

Tarrant:
He's an animal, Cally.

Cally:
Yes, and it's contagious, isn't it?

Tarrant:
Is it done?

Avon:
Yes, but it isn't finished.

Vila:
Wonderful. Who's next on your list? Servalan?

Avon:
[Activates Orac] Orac.

Orac:
[Annoyed] What is it now?

Avon:
Gracious as ever. Orac, I want you to interrogate the Federation Security computers and get me Servalan's present location.

Vila:
I was joking, Avon!

Avon:
Of all the things I am, I never recognized the fool.

Avon:
Auron.

Cally:
Yes, Auron. It's pointless to think about it. I'll never see it again.

Avon:
That's why you've been shut in here for ten hours, thinking about Auron and how you'll never see it again?

Cally:
That's why.

Avon:
I wish I could promise you that the sparkling company on the flight deck would take you out of yourself.

Cally:
I'm all right.

Avon:
No you're not. But you will be. Regret is part of being alive. But keep it a small part.

Cally:
As you do?

Avon:
(Smiles) Demonstrably.

Tarrant:
Ah, Cally - I've been going over that theory of yours about the teleport bracelets boosting each other. As you're aware, it doesn't make sense.

Cally:
You have a better one?

Tarrant:
There was some kind of power source on that alien ship that you were telepathically receptive to. When the teleport failed, you were able to use that source to get yourself out, and to get Avon and Vila out with you.

Cally (sarcastically):
I seem to be more clever than I thought I was!

Tarrant:
What I really want to know is why you're being so bashful. (serious) What are you hiding, and why?

Avon:
Shut up, Tarrant.

Tarrant (angrily):
Did you say something to--

Avon:
I said, shut up. I apologise for not realising you are deaf.

Tarrant (to Avon):
When you found me on the Liberator, it was quite a blow. And every time you look at me it hits you harder, doesn't it? I'm faster than you and I'm sharper. As far as it goes, I've made a success of my life. But you? The only big thing you ever tried to do you failed at. The greatest computer swindle of all time… but you couldn't quite pull it off, could you? If it hadn't been for Blake you'd be rotting on Cygnus Alpha right now. No, you failed, Avon. But I win. Not just at games. At life.

Avon:
You also talk too much.

Tarrant:
Be thankful I'm restricting myself to talk.

Avon:
Well now, that's fascinating. You mean you can do something else?

Deyna:
We need sleep, all of us. Even you need sleep, Tarrant.

Tarrant:
And it'll all look better in the morning.

Avon:
If it does, you can assume you're on the wrong ship.

Alien/Cally:
I thought you were the clever one. You're a fool, like Tarrant! The pain Tarrant is experiencing ... visualise that pain and much more. You're as close to death as you have ever been. Think about human death, Avon, irrevocable...

Avon:
I have thought about it, what's keeping you?

Alien/Cally:
What did you say?

Avon:
You claim you can kill me. You'd better get on with it. Make me die. There's nothing else you can make me do.

Avon:
Either it is dead or there is a total radio blackout. I wonder what they have to hide.

Dayna:
I'm not keen on finding out.

Tarrant:
This time, neither am I.

Avon:
Don't you find it interesting?

Dayna:
You'll be telling us next 'We can learn a lot from whoever built it'

Avon:
Well we certainly have nothing to teach them unless it's how to remain ignorant. What do you think Cally? Shall we stay and observe or shall we scuttle off with our closed minds intact?

Tarrant:
Touch of conscience?

Avon:
More like insanity. You really believe in taking risks, don't you?

Tarrant:
Calculated ones.

Avon:
Calculated on what? Your fingers?

Vila:
Come out, come out, wherever you are... help... I'm being got at...

Avon:
Tell me, Orac, how precisely did Vila confuse and distract Ultraworld?

Orac:
Quite simple. With a series of random and illogical brain impulses. The planet was programmed to assimilate orderly coherent thought patterns. Anything else confused it.

Vila:
Eh?

Avon:
You mean Vila spouted nonsense.

Vila:
I resent that!

Avon:
Oh, I wouldn't if I were you. Orac is saying that a logical, rational intelligence is no match for yours.

Vila:
I tell you, she's mad! She's finally gone over the top! Well, that's an interesting viewpoint, Vila. Yes, isn't it? Came from talking to myself. Fascinating. And do you have any other theories about... paranoids?

(Tarrant threatens Vila at gunpoint)

Vila:
If it comes down to that, Tarrant, there isn't really a lot of point, is there?

(The Liberator is being attacked by three of Servalan's ships)

Dayna:
Do we fight?

Avon:
Certainly not, we run.

Avon:
Put it on the main screen.

Orac:
I must point out that this is a gross misuse and an absurd waste of my capabilities.

Avon:
Put it on the main screen.

Orac:
I will do it only under protest.

Avon:
You can do it any way you like, just so long as you put it on the main screen.

Vila:
Couldn't you re-design him as something useful, like a drinks dispenser? Or an empty space! I think he'd look really good as an empty space.

Vila (on Servalan):
Her idea of chivalry is never to shoot a blind man in the back.

Dayna (pointedly, given that that's exactly what Servalan did to Dayna's father):
That's very true, Vila.

Vila:
Wonderful. And for my next trick I shall swallow my other foot.

Servalan:
I don't think of you as an enemy, Avon. I see you as a... future friend.

Avon:
Tarrant. I presume you have no tedious scruples about cheating and lying.

Tarrant:
None at all.

Avon:
(smiles) Oh good.

Tarrant:
How do we approve of something we don't know about?

Avon:
You could try trusting me.

Tarrant:
All right, Avon, we'll try trusting you. Just don't expect us to make a habit of it.

Tarrant:
Oh, come on, Avon. Look, we've been through a lot together. We've always been at risk; we've always taken chances. But we've survived because we worked as a team. So what is it you have to do that makes this so different?

Avon:
This happens to be my problem. None of you are involved.

Dayna:
But we are involved. However much you like to pretend you're a loner, you're not really. We depend on each other; I wouldn't be alive now if it wasn't for you, and I'm sure that's true of everybody else. So why not trust us?

Vila:
Look, you don't have to give reasons. You don't even have to explain. Whatever it is, we'll back you up.

Cally:
Or, if you want one of your own cold, rational explanations, we can't afford to lose you.

Avon (poker-faced):
Sentiment breeds weakness. Let it get a hold of you and you are dead.

Avon:
One last thing. I don't need any of you. I needed the Liberator to bring me here so I had no choice but to bring you along, but this is as far as you go. I don't want you with me, I don't want you following me. Understand this: anyone who does follow me, I'll kill them.

(Tarrant and Cally are teleporting down despite Avon's orders)

Vila:
What're you going to do if he spots you?

Tarrant:
Duck.

Blake:
It must have been so dull, having no-one to argue with.

Avon:
Well now, there were times when your simpleminded certainties might have been refreshing.

Blake:
Careful, Avon! Your sentiment is showing.