The Tripods

Cognosc:
It has been a little more difficult for me to know you than most of the slaves, because your cap is false. That intrigued me. "Why," I asked myself, "Why would a young lad go to such trouble when he has only to call on the Tripods to be given the real thing?"

Will Parker:
[clenching fist] I wish you would show your face.

Cognosc:
But now I know all the answers. I know that you rebelled against the imposition of the cap. I know why you travelled all the way from England to the White Mountain to join Julius and the free men. You hate the Tripods and all they stand for. You deceive and despise the Masters. And your ambition is to destroy every vestige of the Trion occupation of earth. Dear Will, I know the entire contents of your mind. [laughing] And it amuses me no end.

Cognosc:
The Masters intend to colonise earth.

Will Parker:
But out atmosphere is poisonous to them.

Cognosc:
This equipment is intended to reconstitute the atmosphere here, to make it compatible with Masters' needs. It will mean the total annihilation of the human race, with the exception of those few specimens selected to survive in glass houses, like a human zoo.

Will Parker:
But that's...

Cognosc:
Monstrous. Absolutely, I agree. But I thought it would sharpen the resolve of you and Fritz and your friend Julius to do something about it.

Will Parker:
Is it even possible for us to do anything?

Cognosc:
Where there's a will... [laughs] Oops.

Will Parker:
You take it all very lightly. What right have they got to do that? What right have they got to be here at all? Why should they take away our freedom? Why should they be allowed to take away our civilisation?

Cognosc:
Because your "civilised" ancestors were threatening the peace of space, remember?

Will Parker:
Well even if that was true then, that certainly isn't the case now. The Masters have destroyed our technology. They've set us back hundreds of years. What possible excuse do they have for poisoning the whole planet?

Cognosc:
I agree. It's the worst kind of space imperialism - absolutely inexcusable.

Ozymandias:
About a hundred years ago - not long - when the Tripods first appeared, they destroyed whole cities. Millions of people were killed or starved. And those that were left, the Tripods capped.

Ozymandias:
Once that cap goes on, out go other things.

Will Parker:
What other things?

Ozymandias:
A sense of wonder, curiosity... feelings of aggression and rebellion.

Ozymandias:
There is no land in this whole world without Tripods. But there is a place where men are free, waiting for sufficient numbers and power to rid the world of Tripods.

Will Parker:
Where is this place?

Ozymandias:
We call it the White Mountain.

Will Parker:
I won't be capped.