The year 3000 BC.
Earth, cradle of humanity, has been occupied for 1,000 years...
...by the cruel inhabitants of the planet Psychlo.
Like in so many other planets, other galaxies, the Psychlos explote the metals...
...to teleport to their mother planet.
Gold is the most rare and precious metal.
The human race, decimated, fights for its survival.
Hidden in caves, in the irradiated areas, mankind is on the brink of extinction.
The entire tribe must not be endangered...
because of the defiance of one person.
You must forget about him.
He was a wild spirit and this was always to be his fate.
You talk as if he's already dead
Even if he does survive this time, he's a greener...
so set your sights elsewhere for a husband.
I'll never set my sights elsewhere.
- This is all the medicine I could find. - I'm sorry.
The gods took your father in the night.
As long as we stay here, there'll never be enough to eat. Never.
There may be other places we could live where food is plentiful.
All it takes is one demon to follow you back from the forbidden land.
Then we'd all be struck down.
Have you ever seen one?
Have you?
Has anyone here ever seen one?
A demon?
A monster!
A beast!
The stories are true.
The gods used to live here.
They watched over and protected man, but man grew selfish...
and cruel. So the gods left...
allowing the demons to descend from the sky.
As survivors, we must dedicate our lives to pleasing the gods...
so that one day they will come back and drive away the demons.
That is our fate.
Only if you believe in fate.
I'm sorry. I can't take you.
I can't handle myself as well as a man?
- No. - You arrogant greener.
You can handle yourself better than most men...
which is why you need to help the village.
Your mother gave this to me before she died.
She hoped it'd be passed to your children.
It's for good luck.
Don't let anything happen to you out there.
Easy!
So you're the beast we're all afraid of.
Not a lot of meat on a dragon.
You have been fortunate in the hunt.
I hope you thanked the gods.
- A nonbeliever. - I believe what I can see.
A nonbeliever, huh? You from the caves?
Probably never seen a god. Would you like to?
- What do you know about gods? - We've seen gods. Rock and l.
You lying thieves.
Wait a minute.
Wait a minute, we're hunting.
No time to show you gods with no food.
We need food. We must hunt. Nonbeliever.
Wait.
First you show me the god.
Then we eat.
Look.
Frozen ones.
The way to the great god village is marked by these frozen ones.
When the gods left this world, they ordered man not to look at them.
Those that disobeyed were frozen in place for all of eternity.
When the gods lived here they could fly through the air.
They'd drive chariots in front of special caves with golden arches.
Golden.
And the food would magically appear.
Magic.
Here!
The gods weren't allowed to fall in love with mortal women.
This one did...
and was left behind, frozen as punishment.
Are you sure this was a god?
I thought you said you believe what you can see.
If you need proof...
when the sun goes down, you can see the rest of the gods in the sky.
They're the bright lights.
The evil beasts hunt in the dark. We need to find shelter.
There's a cave over here.
Look at those poor bastards. They really angered the gods.
Carlo.
Let's eat.
Go. Go.
What's a "greener"?
The grass is greener on the other side.
Always looking for something better, something out there.
Maybe she was right.
God stone.
Sharp.
No, you keep it. You keep it.
Where we're from, a good woman is a hard thing to find.
So if you were stupid enough to leave a good woman behind...
why don't you tell me where she is so I can go get her for myself?
No!
Forget about me. Get out of here. I can't move!
No!
Oh, heavenly gods!
Don't breathe the air!
It's poison!
My chest is on fire!
It helps you breathe. Take it!
I can't!
Get off my brother.
- What's he saying? - Don't know.
Who's responsible for allowing him to run around?
He shot the wrangler.
I'm a little pressed for time. Save the going-away jokes for later.
No joke, sir. I swear.
The man-animal got ahold of this gun.
Really?
Show me.
Sir?
Reach for the gun.
But, sir, I might get shot.
Sure, you might. And I might suddenly grow a third arm!
But it shot the wrangler.
Any report filed today still has my name on it...
and you are out of your skull-bone if you think I'm going to write...
"shot by a man-animal" as the cause of death unless I see it!
If I obey your command, I may get killed.
If you don't, it's a certainty you will be killed.
Reach for the gun.
Well, I'll be damned.
Teleportation sequence activated.
It is a pleasure to see you, Your Excellency.
I would be honored to expedite your clearance through security.
Please, call me Zete. Does all of Earth look like this?
I'm afraid so, sir.
Pathetic. All the green and the blue sky.
They told me this planet was ugly, but this is one of the ugliest...
- in the entire universe. - I couldn't agree more.
I hate these puny, undersized planets. The gravity is so different.
One does get used to it.
And the human-animals, grossly undersized.
They don't make good eating, Your Excellency.
- My executive assistant, Ker. - Thank you.
He has been fully trained to replace me as chief of security.
- As soon as my transfer goes through. - Well, Ker...
once we finish mining out this miserable little planet...
let's do the universe a favor.
Let's exterminate the lot of them.
- Oh, you're too much. - So they tell me.
Please, come this way.
Spy satellites recorded those.
- What is this species? - According to the Clinko historians...
the species is called "dog."
- Dog. - Yes.
Obviously the superior race, having the man-animal chauffeur.
Well, dogs did prove to be more cooperative than the man-animals.
They weren't as useful when it came to manual labor.
I am honored by your visit, Your Excellency.
Thank you, Planetship.
You'll be pleased. I approved additional labor resources.
They'll be here by the end of quarter cycle.
Thank you, Your Excellency.
Now, let's see.
Your long overdue transfer.
You must be looking forward to getting off this disgusting excuse of a planet.
I just want to do whatever serves the corporation best, sir.
Very admirable. And I must say, you've done...
a first-rate job here as interim security chief.
Hear, hear! Hear, hear!
I do what I can.
So we've decided to keep you for another tour of service.
There must be some mistake.
Home Office does not make mistakes.
Of course not. But have you looked at my file?
It explicitly says that this is a temporary assignment.
Are you not aware that I graduated top of my class?
Quite an accomplishment.
I don't mean to second-guess the Home Office...
but surely I could be of better service...
Home Office is well aware of your academic achievements and talents.
That's why we've decided not to keep you here for another five cycles.
It's a joke.
Thank you, sir.
I don't know if I could've kept my sanity...
to be here another five cycles.
We've decided to keep you here for another 50 cycles!
With endless options for renewal!
Those options, of course...
being at Home Office's discretion.
Not yours.
The senator...
has a lot of friends.
Would you please tell the senator...
if I'd had even an inkling that that was his daughter...
Watch your tongue.
The senator's exact words to me were, and I'm quoting:
"If that blasted Terl tries to talk his way out of it...
have him vaporized on the spot."
But cheer up. There's one bright side to this.
One day you're going to die, and when you end up in hell...
at least it'll be a step up from this place.
You haven't left for Psychlo.
Your powers of observation are simply startling.
Give me three pans to go.
I don't know what you're so down about.
You still get to be head of security.
Which, from what I can tell, is a pretty cushy job.
Well, I can assure you...
that I was not groomed since birth to have some cushy job...
that even a moron like you could perform.
While you were still learning how to spell your name...
I was being trained to conquer galaxies!
To do anything less...
is a disgrace to my entire family line.
That'll be six credits.
Put it on my tab.
You don't have a tab.
I do now.
You're new here, so I'll explain how it works.
I eat first.
Then my men eat.
If there's anything left, you can share it with them.
That's how it used to work.
Greener, let's just stay alive.
You're right.
- So I'll fight you. - No.
Without food, we don't have strength to escape.
- So now we're escaping? - I am.
Come if you want.
We fight, it's to the death.
Say your prayers to the gods!
We have enough problems without killing each other over food.
From now on, we eat at the same time.
Sir.
I was wondering when you'd look at that.
It came in last week, and I put it right in your box.
I've wasted my time, haven't I?
If you're going to lie to me, have the decency to do a credible job...
so I don't look like an idiot for training you.
But I'm not lying. I put the photo in your box as soon as it came in.
You are pathetic. You wouldn't last one day at the academy.
- And I saw you. - What?
You said:
"We use picto-cameras to spy on other offices.
But under no circumstance do we spy on our own office."
That's right. We don't. I do.
Start talking.
The photo's from last week's recon drone.
It shows a rockslide in the mountains. It exposed a gold vein.
You were waiting for me to transfer...
so you could turn it in and get credit.
I didn't think you'd mind.
I don't mind. Turn it in. But before you do, pretend you're not...
a complete imbecile...
and check the compo gradients.
It's full of uranium. No Psychlo...
can get there without his breath gas exploding. No way to mine the gold.
But what I do mind is that you betrayed me over a lousy recon photo!
It's worthless! You said so!
But you didn't know it was worthless!
I would never hurt you, sir.
I'm unarmed. You can't shoot me. It's against regulations, sir.
I can make this up to you, sir. I promise. I swear.
Please, sir.
You do not have to shoot me, sir.
Shoot you? My most trusted colleague?
Of course not. We have work to do. Come.
Tomorrow morning, we must warn the Planetship of the mutiny.
What mutiny?
The one you're going to pretend is in the works...
like your life depended on it. Because it does.
If the worker revolt takes place, my informants tell me...
that the first order of business is to separate you from your head.
Which is why there will be no revolt.
I am authorizing you to use whatever means necessary to prevent it.
The best way is to increase profits and stop cutting the workers' pay.
Production equals profits.
And I've already ordered as many new workers as possible...
to boost production.
But we have to pay the new workers.
Maybe you were absent the day they taught economics at the academy, Ker.
But nobody works for free.
Man-animals do.
What if we were to train them how to mine?
Man-animals operating machinery?
Have you blown a head gasket?
I will be the laughingstock of the universe.
So you should have me take man-animals...
with equipment, out to a remote area...
better that you don't know where, and try and train them.
Have them do some test mining.
If it doesn't work out, no one will know.
- Right. - And if it does work...
I will be vaporized.
It is against the law.
Regulations say...
a Planetship faced with a profit-threatening situation...
is relieved of all other ordinances...
to pursue, to protect and to acquire said profits.
There you have it.
We stick to the original plan.
Bring in new workers...
and they go on half-pay as soon as they arrive.
And that is final!
Run! Run!
Okay, now! Pull his breath mask off.
Last time we didn't even stop timing until its lungs burst.
That's the wager.
No way this man-animal lasts more than four minutes.
Help me!
I need your air!
The wager's off. The damn thing cheated.
The Planetship is hiding something.
All we have to do is find out what it is...
then we'll have leverage.
And then we can get the gold.
What do you mean, we? It's my plan.
I'm sending the gold to Psychlo, then I'm getting off this stinking planet.
Come on, sir.
You gotta let me in on it.
I barely make any lousy credits in this job.
And I've got five wives to support, sir.
I don't know if I want to partner up with an idiot.
How do I even know you understand the plan?
We train man-animals who don't need breath gas...
to mine the gold for us.
But Home Planet owns this planet. The gold belongs to them.
That's the beauty of it.
Home Planet doesn't know the gold exists.
Those corporate crapheads won't know we stole it.
It's the perfect crime, sir.
Putting aside the serious violations of teaching mining to inferiors...
and insulting corporate superiors, each one punishable by death.
So it is my duty to report you...
though you'll be vaporized, and I'll have to train a new assistant.
But it's your stinking plan, sir.
So I'm glad I have a recording of you...
laying out the plan and my reprimanding you.
Think of it as part of your education.
Education, huh?
Never engage in a criminal activity unless you have a patsy to pin it on...
in case you ever get found out.
Thank you. That's great.
But why do I have to be the patsy?
So you don't get any bright ideas to get rid of Terl...
and keep the gold for yourself.
But I'd never double-cross you.
I've arranged that if any unfortunate accident were to befall me...
this would go straight to the Home Office.
Double or nothing I can blow off one of its limbs.
That one does seem to be unusually intelligent and resourceful.
But it's also defiant.
We'll need leverage over it.
Leverage? Over a man-animal?
Man is a primitive species...
so we'll need something primitive for leverage. Like food.
What do you think a man-animal would like to eat?
What would he consider a treat?
How the crap should I know?
There's no way of knowing that.
But before we educate it on the machine...
we'll take it to the mountains with a couple of the others.
Let them think they've escaped...
and then we'll sit back and watch it choose its favorite food.
Yes.
Look!
Three days, and they still haven't eaten anything yet.
Precisely. Now that the man-animals feel...
that they have enough distance from us...
soon they'll find their favorite food and celebrate.
What is it?
Food. Food!
No spark, no flints, nothing. You, Floyd?
Plenty to burn. Nothing to start a fire with.
- That's their favorite. - Of course it is.
- They could've selected anything. - It's not cooked.
If man-animal prefers rat uncooked, then our job is that much easier.
If they like their rat so much, how come those two aren't eating?
Don't you know anything? The leader of the pack always eats first. See?
We're really going to have leverage over them now.
What are you doing?
They know about the camera.
Don't be a knot-head. It's a man-animal.
It couldn't possibly know about it.
You sure called that one, sir.
No way they know about the cameras.
Move your fat ass and let's go round them up!
Crap, lousy ceiling!
Great. This is great.
What do we do now?
What are you thinking, Jonnie? Don't even think about it.
You wouldn't live the jump, Jonnie. You wouldn't live the jump!
You can surrender and rot in those cages.
That's your choice. I'm not going back!
The monsters catch us, they'll take us to the mines.
Run!
How do we know what he wants?
They made me do this before. Follow me and you'll be fine.
Don't touch anything.
Get them mad, think what they'll do to us.
Excuse me, but I am your instructor...
if you'll forgive such arrogance...
for I do not have the honor to be a Psychlo.
I'm a lowly Clinko language slave.
As you are listening to me, I most likely do not exist...
as we may have been exterminated like many other races...
by the gas drones of our conquerors.
Please forgive my pretension...
as I try to educate you in Psychlo...
the noble language of our superiors.
You understand?
You understand me?
Are you hungry, little fella? Yes?
Obviously, this is going to take a while.
Jonnie! Jonnie!
Carlo! Carlo!
I know who they are and where they're from. I can speak their language.
- Monsters? - They're called Psychlos.
What did they do to him?
They made him look into a light, a god machine.
It teaches. It's a knowledge machine.
It sends pictures through your head so fast, it's spinning.
Let's go, Jonnie. Come on.
No, I can't. I have to stay. I have to learn more about them.
This may be our only way out of here.
So this is the monster's language?
No, no. This is mathematics.
This is the unifying language of the entire universe.
Look.
This symbol is called a triangle.
If all these sides are equal...
then these three angles must also be equal.
Equal to what?
To each other.
It's the basic foundation of Euclidean geometry.
Seems pretty hard to understand.
No, only at first. And then it becomes clear in your mind.
I learned molecular biology.
This is the symbol for water and engineering.
See, a wing, see? And line and form and artistic composition.
You see, this is a square, like a cage.
I thought we were supposed to be working on stuff to help us escape.
This will.
All this will.
Jonnie. Jonnie. Human.
"The security chief should secure the field vault..."
with an eight-digit combination code...
and do not use a personal or employee...
"identification number."
What's an identification number?
There.
- How many numbers is that? - Eight.
Eight?
Eight.
It's more clever than that.
The question is, how clever?
Try the numbers backwards.
Look at this.
It's a recording machine.
This is how he watches us.
Stop! Chrissy, stop!
What if he's not dead?
Hope is an admirable quality, but foolish isn't.
I can't give you permission to go and get killed.
I don't need your permission.
I'm no longer a child.
Do you want lunch?
It's obviously too much to ask a man-animal...
to learn a language as sophisticated as Psychlo.
What if it can understand and it's pretending it can't?
- What the hell for? - I don't know.
Maybe it's secretly listening, trying to get leverage over on us.
Man-animal getting leverage over a Psychlo. That'll be the day.
What if this one is particularly stupid?
Maybe we should train another one.
No time. When they detect the gold...
the Planetship will know what we're doing.
We'll have to terminate the operation and cover our tracks.
It speaks Psychlo.
Go on, say something else.
You'll stay here as my prisoner...
while you, you go and get a transporter.
Because you've learned Psychlo doesn't mean you are one.
Follow my orders or I'll have you killed.
How exactly do you plan to do that?
- Mickey, no! - Mickey, no!
If any of you rat-brains knew anything about firearms...
you would know that you never store loaded weapons.
You drop him now!
Drop him or I won't mine an ounce of your gold.
I'll have you vaporized and find someone else to mine it.
You don't have time.
You can't hide this from Home Office forever.
A man getting leverage over a Psychlo. That'll be the day.
I think it's time that we show our little friend a thing or two.
As long as you cling to the feeble hope...
that you'll ever get the better of me...
you'll be distracted from more important things.
Which is exactly why...
I share the following with you:
When we attacked your planet...
all your soldiers and all their advanced technology...
could only put up a nine-minute fight...
before they were exterminated.
Which is why man is an endangered species.
Everything you humans knew is here.
You can look at anything you want...
because there is nothing that will help you.
Satisfied?
Yes.
I have one more demonstration for you and your friends.
You will be relocated to a new mining site.
If any of you get any bright ideas about escaping...
keep in mind that although you know nothing about firearms, I do.
I graduated top marksman in my class. I can kill any of you at 1000 paces.
Tell them what I said.
We try to run, he'll kill us.
- That's it? - Yes.
Allow me to demonstrate.
No! Wait!
Let's give this demon what it deserves.
Kill it, I say! Destroy it!
Shoot! Shoot!
Why wait? Kill it!
Kill it. Then we'll run.
Then what?
What kind of life is it to run? Living in fear of being hunted?
What about those we're leaving behind?
There's nothing we can do.
Only the gods can free them.
You think the lights in the sky are gods waiting to save us?
Do you? Those are planets, planets like this one.
The great villages were built by us.
By men and women just like us.
Willing to fight to the death for one thing:
Their freedom!
Do you think no one has tried?
You can't defeat them.
That is our fate.
Yes, we can. Yes, we can!
But we have to go back.
We go back and learn about their weapons.
Our race is slowly dying and will be gone forever.
Let it be said that we took this one chance and fought!
Are you with me? Are you with me?!
We fight!
If you're fighting the beast, me and my men are with you.
Thank you. It's good to have friends out here.
May the gods be with you.
One as wise as you has ways to stop me from shooting.
I know if I'd tried, you would've killed me first.
Damn right, rat-brain! That's the first intelligent thing you've said.
Rest break is over.
There's something I need you to see so you're properly motivated.
You don't know her?
No, I don't know her.
She's one of the foulest looking females I've ever seen.
While I tend to agree...
it's obvious that you show a lack of aptitude for strategic deception.
On the other hand, what you show marginal proficiency at is...
drawing.
This was found when she was collected.
The collar has enough explosives to remove her head from her body.
And this remote...
will activate it from anywhere on the planet.
So if you disobey me, let me show you what will happen.
Please don't harm her.
I believe you.
Don't worry, rat-brain.
Every collar has its own frequency.
I'm not going to blow up your little female friend.
Just...
this one.
You made your point.
I said I would mine your gold.
Please don't kill him. Please.
Fine.
Due to our new working relationship, I will grant you this one request.
I won't kill him.
But you may never ask of me anything again.
I promise.
As I've said, I won't kill him.
Yes, sir.
Stupid humans.
No, no, no.
What you did was right.
It was right for all of us.
Greener, you're a thinker...
and the gods respect thinkers.
You didn't kill Sammy.
Jonnie, this is not living.
This is...
cages!
Cages!
Even if we escaped and went back to where we all came from...
it'd be like you said.
We'd be waiting for the Psychlos to hunt us down.
I think that is not living either.
We all chose to fight.
- Count us in too! - What's going on?
Someone knows how to speak the Psychlo's language.
He's gonna help us fight.
Yes.
Ker, I'd like you to meet Chirk.
She's...
His soon-to-be newly acquired secretary.
- Yes. - Really?
She's stupid enough not to be a menace, pretty enough to be decorative.
She gets drunk with economical speed and has other advantages.
I can see that.
- Don't you have some work to do? - No.
Ker?
All right, sir.
Now, listen, missy...
I'm still waiting for the Planetship's accounts.
I had to go way beyond the call of duty to get these.
I see. Well, that's why I especially chose you.
So you'll keep your side of the bargain?
Which was?
You said we'd have a huge house when we go back to Psychlo next year.
- We're going to be rich, right? - Right.
I am going to make you as happy as a baby Psychlo...
on a straight diet of Kerbango.
Well, isn't it interesting...
that you have been keeping two sets of books...
and telling all the workers...
that the planet has been operating at a loss?
I only claimed that it was running at a loss...
to try and motivate them all to work harder.
Oh, yes, of course.
And it had nothing to do with the fact...
that it allowed you to cut the workers' pay...
and keep all the extra credit for yourself. Did it?
That. Well, I can explain that.
Well, unfortunately, the company requires me to vaporize you.
On the other hand...
I could understand someone in your situation...
being old and having no future...
coming up with ways to solve your financial problems.
- You can? - Oh, yes.
It's really of no interest to anybody...
to have you not be Planetship.
But it would be prudent of you to start to share your authority.
But these forms are all blank, undated.
You could put anything you wanted on them.
You would run the entire planet!
I would be nothing but a puppet.
Well, if you don't want to do it that way...
we could always do it by...
the book.
What the hell does the Planetship need with all this mining equipment?
That's not even the crazy part.
He's ordered me to take a group of man-animals to a remote area...
with the equipment to see if they can be trained to mine.
Man-animals being able to mine?
Yes.
Old Psychlo's gone completely insane.
Indeed.
But what can I do?
An order is an order.
You have a busy day, rat-brain.
First, learning how to fly...
then on to the learning machine for mining techniques.
Crash one more time...
and your little friend will no longer be among the living.
Again.
Again!
Never underestimate what a little leverage can do, rat-brain.
That's good, man-animal.
This is the lever where we mine the gold!
Lever! Up, down!
Warning: External sensors indicate dangerous radiation levels ahead.
This is as far as I can go!
Land it!
Meet me back here in 14 days.
I want the ship's cage half-filled with gold.
And even though I won't be at the mining site...
I'll be watching you.
- How's your side? - It's good. Good.
Next time, you fly.
No, no, no. Even if we do mine enough gold...
we'll be lucky to fill half of that cage in time.
That's why we're not mining.
What about the big uglies watching us with that eye in the sky?
Carlo, look. Here's the men, right?
We split them in half. One group goes...
and one group stays...
and it looks as if we're still working.
But if we don't deliver it in 14 days to Terl, he's just gonna kill us.
There's a place called Fort Knox where the gold's already been mined.
Listen, there will be no mining, but we'll deliver it.
Okay, so we have to pretend that we're mining the gold.
We have to figure out where we're gonna get the gold...
then we have to get the supplies to help our revolt.
Yeah.
We barely have men to do one of those things...
let alone all three.
It's good to have friends on the outside!
Come on!
If you two kept your eyes open, that'd be a great help.
Look for an ocean. If you see any, we've gone too far.
I think this is it.
I think we're in Washington.
- We're still in Colorado. - That's impossible.
I've been watching, we haven't crossed this line.
You're not paying attention.
Let him navigate and watch me. You're gonna fly on the way back.
We couldn't have crossed all these lines.
Well, we did. The lines must have faded over time.
This great village was the capital for all our tribes.
This is where our people's history was buried.
Here. When the Psychlos attacked Earth...
they sent out flying gas drones.
Our ancestors must've made it out into these remote radiated areas...
and the only reason they survived was because radiation is...
lethal to the Psychlos.
- And that was not good for them. - That's good for us.
Even if we fail, the people will be safe if they stay...
Safe from being hunted...
but radiation is also poisonous for humans.
So, you see, either way...
if we don't take back our planet...
the last of humanity becomes extinct.
Based on what I've read about Psychlo security...
if we revolted...
only using weapons they don't perceive as any real threat...
if we just use rocks and sticks...
they'll just throw us back in the cages.
But...
we're gonna stage this revolt inside the dome.
So the Psychlos are gonna have to come inside the city to round us up.
And that is when we blow the dome.
Carlo's gonna blow the dome.
- They won't have masks. - They can't breathe.
- They die. - Carlo?
- I'm gonna blow the dome? - You're gonna blow the dome.
Piece of cake. Piece of cake, piece of cake.
But remember, as soon as we blow the dome...
boom, stage 2 alarm.
What is that?
Thousands of gas drones and troops will be teleported here.
- We can't fight against that. - Then what's the point?
If they send more monsters to Earth, we get wiped out.
Well, the point is, we don't let it get to stage 2.
We'll destroy their Home Planet before it happens.
- Their Home Planet? - Their Home Planet.
We need some extra supplies before we can do that.
Our first stop is a radiation bomb storage bunker.
Is everyone clear?
Count us in.
- Look. - Flying machines.
These are flying machines. They're weapons of some kind.
Flying spears.
I think there's a little more to it than that.
It's a learning machine.
Teach us to fly.
You're right.
It's like breaking a horse.
Can you teach your men to fly this?
- Piece of cake, piece of cake. - Piece of cake.
- Try and keep it level. - Jonnie!
- What is it? - I think I found one.
Come on! Nuclear firebomb!
Piece of cake.
According to the book, there's a firing mechanism...
that has to be in place before it's operational.
Don't touch the auto-sensor.
What happens if we do?
The bomb will explode. Big fire.
Look. Greeners from this cave.
Off. Off.
War...
ning.
Warning. Warning.
Warning.
Get it?
What does the auto-sensor look like?
There's an illustration in Appendix A.
What? What?
We don't have Appendix A.
More books, Jonnie.
It's okay.
I thought you said nuclear fires were powerful?
It's not nuclear. Mickey!
Sorry.
You're sorry. Mickey!
Stop touching things and turn off the damn light.
Leave it on.
Look.
Good work, Mickey.
You just found Appendix A.
Will this be enough to blow up their whole planet?
Radiation reacts with their planet's atmosphere.
- There's enough to destroy it forever. - Let me do it.
Let me go there and detonate the weapon.
It's brave of you, Mickey, but it's my plan, so I go.
You're the only one who speaks the monsters' language.
You know things about them!
Listen...
without you leading this revolt...
we might not succeed.
I hope their eye in the sky didn't see the gold through the lead walls.
Start filling the cage.
We'll hide half and deliver the other half to Terl tonight.
Why is it in bars?
I assumed, sir...
that a Psychlo of your refinement wouldn't want raw ore.
Really?
Since you have had extra time...
to smelt it into bricks...
I'll expect the rest of the gold in seven days.
He has no intention of sharing that gold with you.
What the hell are you talking about?
Why are you here? You should be mining the gold!
You really think the only reason he made that recording...
was to have you as his patsy? Do you, Ker?
No. He has leverage over you...
and it'll guarantee you never see an ounce.
How do you know about those recordings?
It really is amazing...
the collection of discs you find in Terl's personal vault.
First, we trade.
- The disc... - I don't think so!
Because if you don't give me the disc now...
I will blow your head off.
You want to trade?
Let's trade.
Hooray!
Won't the Psychlo see I'm not wearing the collar?
After tonight, won't matter much either way.
Jonnie, I know you don't believe in fate...
but I've always known this was your destiny.
This is our destiny. It's freedom for all of us.
For our children.
Children?
Beautiful.
Quickly!
What if this one is particularly stupid?
There's no time. When they detect the gold...
the Planetship will know what we're doing.
We'll have to terminate the operation and cover our tracks.
When they detect the gold, the Planetship will know what we're doing.
We'll have to terminate the operation and cover our tracks.
I've been thinking.
80/20 is a pretty fair distribution of the gold.
But I should get the 80%.
And with my share, I'm gonna fire all my wives...
and buy new ones.
Maybe pretty ones this time.
Ker-bango!
Congratulations.
You've learned how to get leverage over someone, haven't you?
Which means I haven't wasted my time training you, have I?
- You're not upset? - Don't be crazy.
You know how long I've waited for this day?
I know the perfect way to celebrate.
What are you doing?
You can't shoot me.
I made a copy and gave it to someone for safekeeping.
You are just too good of a teacher.
How about giving your old teacher a clue as to who this might be?
You insult yourself, sir.
You taught me better.
How am I supposed to know who it is?
I don't know.
It could be anybody on this damn planet.
- It could be a mechanic. - No.
- It could be a concubine. - No, no.
It could be anybody in communications.
Wrong!
I hate these things. It's like it's a test I'm not prepared for.
Well, hell, it could even be our friendly bartender!
Please. I made a mistake.
Now, give me the original disc...
then meet me at the teleportation platform in two hours.
Sir.
The control bunker's to the right.
Three guards left.
Two from the guardhouse, one coming from the north.
I'll take the guardhouse.
Jonnie, the shooting's triggered the alarm.
Five guards from the south, heavily armed and moving fast.
Between you and the bunker.
Jonnie!
The man-animals have escaped. They're running into the city.
Send some guards out and round them up. I'm busy.
Don't bother me with every little detail.
Gotta round them up.
Psychlos!
7-7-3.
Greener? Carlo. Explosives are set. Can I blow the dome?
Greener?
What's going on? Talk to me!
It's Carlo. What's going on? Talk to me.
Hold on!
If I don't get Mickey to Psychlo, they'll send drones.
Well, hurry up. Just hurry up, because I've got company.
Here they are.
Panther!
Hang on. I'm right on his tail.
You know what you gotta do.
Greener, come on.
I've gotta blow this dome now!
I'm teleporting Mickey and the bomb. Hang on.
I'm seconds away.
Jonnie, come on.
They're destroying the bombs.
- It's now or never. - Now!
Now, go ahead! Blow the dome! Go! Go! Go!
Teleportation sequence terminated.
Interrupting something?
Jonnie? Jonnie?
Why isn't it coming down?
The dome is holding!
- It's not working. - It's only cracked!
The dome isn't broken. We can't hold out long.
Attention! This is Terl, your chief of security.
Exterminate all man-animals at will.
And happy hunting!
Run! Run!
What's with the dome?
Hold on, I'm taking it out now.
Help us!
They're killing us!
We're not gonna make it! I think we should pull out!
I'm blowing the dome. In five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
Piece of cake.
Everyone on the ground now! Go!
Teleportation sequence activated.
Psychlo War Center, this is a stage 3 alert!
I repeat, a stage 3 alert.
Initiate the gas drone extermination sequence.
You have been quite a challenge, rat-brain.
You'll make a hell of a conversation piece...
when you're stuffed and hanging on the academy wall.
Where's the rest of my gold?
I'll exchange it for my woman's life.
My life is over, but hers is of no consequence to you.
Thanks for reminding me, rat-brain. Now, where is it?
Trust me, you don't want to do that.
Trust me, there's nothing I want more.
Carlo came through.
Why don't you vaporize me?
Leverage.
If there are other Psychlo colonies out there...
they'll send out gas drones and exterminate us.
But if they learn that it was your greed...
that destroyed their Home Planet...
then all the credits in the universe...
won't equal the bounty on your head.
But there is one thing you rat-brains weren't smart enough to realize.
Kill them.
I fixed the problem with it.
- It works now. - You imbecile!
What kind of game are you playing?
Since I'm teaching them our technology, they made me the head Psychlo.
Look at the bright side.
You may not be wallowing in luxury on Psychlo...
but at least you finally got your gold.