Blakes 7
1978
Soolin: Vila doesn't have much time for Tarrant. Kerr Avon: Well, Tarrant is brave, young, handsome; three reasons *not* to like him.
Kerr Avon: One of the almost human things about Orac is that it does not like to work.
(about Avon) Dayna Mellanby: Beneath that cold exterior beats a heart of pure stone.
Vila Restal: This is stupid, Avon! Kerr Avon: When did that ever stop us?
Servalan: I'm just the girl next door. Del Tarrant: If you were the girl next door, I'd move. Servalan: Where would you move, Tarrant? Del Tarrant: Next door.
(Orac is possessed by an evil android) Orac: Soolin, I can fulfil your every desire. Soolin: Orac, you wouldn't know where to start.
Servalan: Where there's life, there's threat.
Kerr Avon: No good deed goes unpunished.
Cally: My people have a saying, "A man who trusts can never be betrayed, only mistaken." Avon: The life expectancy must be fairly short among your people.
Space Commander Travis: Power usually makes its own rules.
Kerr Avon: Heroics seldom run to schedule.
Kerr Avon: I am not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going.
(Blake is under treatment after witnessing a massacre) Dr Havant: Reality is a dangerous concept. Each one of us interprets it in a slightly different way. Every sense impression is filtered by the brain and altered, sometimes just a little, sometimes completely, to fit our individual model of what the world is about. If that model should be challenged... Roj Blake: (chanting over and over to himself) I am *not* insane. I am *not* insane... Dr Havant: No. You must put that thought completely out of your mind. You've had a shock. Roj Blake: (stops chanting) Yes. Dr Havant: We must work together to uncover what that shock was. I'm going to prescribe a mild sedative - Roj Blake: No drugs! Dr Havant: A mild sedative to help you to sleep. You must rest. Roj Blake: No! No drugs. Dr Havant: All right, no drugs. Now try not to think an more. Don't worry, we'll get it sorted out.
(Blake has been invited to a rebel meeting several years after his brainwashing) Bran Foster: Now, I want you to listen to what I have to tell you. After that you can do whatever you like. Roj Blake: All right. Now what do you know about my family? Bran Foster: Well, I'll come to that. There are other things you should know first. Roj Blake: Forget the other things. Just what do you know? Bran Foster: They're dead. Your brother and sister are both dead. I'm sorry, I didn't intend you to hear it like that. They were executed four years ago just after your trial. Roj Blake: (disbelievingly) Executed? No, that's not true. I hear from them regularly. I had a vistape only a month ago. Bran Foster: Those tapes are fakes. Part of the treatment to keep your memory suppressed. Now, this isn't going to be easy for you, but I'm going to have to tell you things about yourself of which you have no memory. Will you hear me out? Roj Blake: Go on. Bran Foster: Four years ago, there was a good deal of discontent with the Administration. There were many activist groups. But the only one that really meant anything was led by Roj Blake. You and I worked together. We were outlawed and hunted. But we had supporters and we were making progress. Then someone betrayed us, I still don't know who. You were captured. So were most of our followers. They could have killed you. But that would have given the Cause a martyr. So instead they put you into intensive therapy. They erased areas of your mind, they implanted new ideas. They literally took your mind to pieces and rebuilt it. And when they'd finished, they put you up and you confessed. You said you'd been "misguided." You appealed to everyone to support the Administration, hound up the traitors. Oh, they, they did a good job on you. You were very convincing. And then they took you back and erased even that. Roj Blake: What happened to the others? Bran Foster: In their benevolence, the Federation allowed them to emigrate to the Outer Worlds. Like your family, they were executed on arrival.
(about Blake) Dr Havant: Can't he be eliminated? Alta Morag: No, he's a symbol of opposition to the Administration. Dr Havant: So? Ven Glynd: We've done cross-sectional psych readings, which show that a high percentage of people, particularly the younger ones, believe that Blake's trial was a showpiece, that his statements were rigged. Alta Morag: His death could be used by the dissidents. They need a hero. Alive or dead, Blake could be it. Dr Havant: Difficult. I suppose my department could infect him, some rapidly terminal disease. Would his natural death help? Ven Glynd: I don't think so. Alta Morag: What we need is something to discredit him. If he could be deported to Cygnus Alpha. ... Doctor, am I right in thinking you can create experiences, implant them into a subject, who will then believe that they really happened? Dr Havant: Of course. In fact, creating an illusion of reality is quite simple. Alta Morag: Good. Then I think we can totally destroy Blake's credibility and get him sentenced.
Roj Blake: Where are we? Vila Restal: In a transit cell. Roj Blake: I don't understand. Vila Restal: You're on your way to the penal colony on Cygnus Alpha. Or you will be when the prison ship's refueled. Try to look on the bright side. It must have something. None of the guests have ever left early. In fact, none of them have ever left at all. Roj Blake: Why are you going there? Vila Restal: They didn't give me a choice. I steal things. Compulsive, I'm afraid. I've had my head adjusted by some of the best in the business. But it just won't stay adjusted. Roj Blake: A professional thief. Vila Restal: More a vocation than a profession. Other people's property comes naturally to me. (Jenna sits down next to them) Jenna Stannis: (to Blake) What's the time? Vila Restal: (returning Blake's watch) Just taking care of it while you were unconscious. The place is full of criminals.
Vila Restal: (about Jenna) She's a big name. It's an honor to be locked up with her.
(as the prison ship leaves Earth) Guard: Take a long look. That's the last you'll ever see of it. Roj Blake: No, I'm coming back.
Sub-Commander Raiker: (to Blake) What have we here? Not a troublemaker, I hope? Roj Blake: I didn't hear an order. Sub-Commander Raiker: You didn't hear an order, sir. ... *Say it!* Roj Blake: I didn't hear an order... sir. Sub-Commander Raiker: That's better. What's your name? Roj Blake: Blake. Sub-Commander Raiker: So you're Blake. Well, made quite a name for yourself a few years back. Quite the celebrity. Something of a comedown for a leader of men, isn't it? Molesting kids? Roj Blake: The charges were false. Sub-Commander Raiker: Oh, yes, of course. Well, let me tell you something, Blake, as far as I am concerned, you are just another piece of cargo. Remember that and you might just survive the journey. Do you understand? Roj Blake: I understand... sir.
(Blake's first encounter with Avon) Vila Restal: Blake - Kerr Avon. When it comes to computers, he's the number two man in all the Federated worlds. Nova: Who's number one? Vila Restal: The guy who caught him.
(after meeting Zen for the first time) Kerr Avon: It didn't answer any of your questions. More than that it deliberately ignored them. A computer can't have a will of it's own. Jenna Stannis: You'd better tell Zen that.
Kerr Avon: Before I decided to put my talents to more profitable use - Jenna Stannis: And got arrested. Kerr Avon: I handled the computer analysis for a research project into matter transmission. It was based on a new alloy - Roj Blake: Aquatar. Kerr Avon: (surprised) That's right. Roj Blake: Yes, I worked on that project too. Kerr Avon: Small world. Roj Blake: Large project. Jenna Stannis: I didn't work on it.
Vila Restal: (looking around Cygnus Alpha) This is nice, isn't it. What a miserable hole. If we all complained do you think they'd give us a refund. Arco: Shut up.
Selman: What do you think it will be like, Arco? Arco: How should I know? It won't be good, will it? They don't put penal colonies on easy-living planets. Selman: What about guards, authorities? Vila: Why should they bother? It's a long walk back.
Vargas: I am the supreme power here. (he picks up Blake's gun and points it at him) Vargas: My word is law. My followers obey without question. They worship me. Roj Blake: Or fear you. Vargas: The two are inseparable.
Vargas: My ancestors came here on that first shipment. They had nothing! The Federation gave them no tools, no supplies! So they worked together! *They worked hard!* And made a community! There were children born here. They were settlers trying to build a new world on a new planet! Later, more Federation prisoners came. There were disagreements. The community began to break up. They fought and killed. All that they had achieved was being destroyed! And it was my great-great-grandfather who found a way to unite them. He gave them a religion. Brought them together in the love and fear of God! That is the line I stem from! *That is what gives me the right to rule!*
Kerr Avon: I'll tell you a fact of life, Blake. Change is inevitable. Roj Blake: Why else do we fight, Avon?
Kerr Avon: I can talk or I can work, but I can't do both.
Kerr Avon: If you didn't want the answer, you shouldn't have asked the question.
Kerr Avon: In the end, winning is the only safety.
Kerr Avon: Trust is only dangerous when you have to rely on it.
Orac: The idiosyncratic syntax of riddles interests me. They seem to depend for their effect on solecisms and grammatical discrepancies. Vila Restal: (totally confused) Eh? Orac: Do you have another riddle for me to analyze? Vila Restal: You'd only spoil it. Orac: I thought you liked riddles. Vila Restal: I do when I'm allowed to tell them properly. All you're interested in is the idiotic tintax or something. Orac: That's very clever. Vila Restal: What is? Orac: For idiosyncratic syntax you substituted idiotic tintax. Yes, very good. Vila Restal: (brightening) Is it? Orac: Another one, please. Vila Restal: Right. What's the best cure for water on the brain? Orac: I don't know. What is the best cure for water on the brain? Vila Restal: A tap on the head. Orac: A tap on the head. Yes, I see. In this instance the word tap has a double meaning, as in to strike something and as a device for controlling the release of fluid from a tank or pipe. The fluid referred to is water, therefore, tap on the head has two ambivalent meanings, one pertaining to the striking of the cranium... (Vila grabs his head in frustration)
Gambrill: If there's anything in this message, sir, I suppose this could be a little piece of history. Dr Bellfriar: A high point in your scientific career, Gambrill. Just think of it, in less than twenty minutes you could be shaking hands with an exomorph. Gambrill: Not if it's hostile sir, I've got my pension to think about.
Dr Bellfriar: So you really do teleport, do you? Roj Blake: Over short distances, yes. Dr Bellfriar: Well, of course, the theory's as old as physics, but I didn't know it had been cracked yet. Roj Blake: Liberator's a very advanced ship. Of course, you have to know the surface conditions, otherwise teleporting's a bit like a jump in the dark. You're quite liable to surface in a fission reactor. Dr Bellfriar: Not a mistake you could learn by, really.
Vila Restal: Nerves getting a little frayed? Kerr Avon: There are a quarter of a million volts running through that converter. I make one false move, I'll be so crisped up what's left of me won't fit into a sandwich. Vila Restal: I'm a vegetarian. Thanks for the offer, though.
(Vila is teaching Orac riddles) Vila Restal: No, Orac, you don't understand. I say "Where to space pilots leave their ships?" and you say, "I don't know, where do space pilots leave their ships?" Orac: And supposing I don't wish to know that? Vila Restal: But you've got to say it or the riddle won't work. Orac: It is plainly nonsensical. Vila Restal: Of course. That's the whole idea. Orac: I fail to see why I take part in a meaningless, illogical conversation. It doesn't make sense and is therefore a waste of time. I'm shutting down. Vila Restal: Do it for me this once, Orac, please. Ready? Where do space pilots leave their ships? Orac: I don't know. Where do space pilots leave their ships? Vila Restal: At parking meteors. (Vila laughs. Orac shuts off indignantly)
Vila Restal: Knock, knock. Orac: Who's there? Vila Restal: Atch. Orac: Atch who? Vila Restal: Sorry, I didn't know you had a cold. Orac: A cold what? Vila Restal: No, not a cold what. Just a cold. You know, cold, chill. Orac: I am not subject to colds and chills. Some trace deposits on my anodizers perhaps, but I am quite capable of dealing with that myself. Vila Restal: (giving up) Forget it. Go back to sleep. Orac: Is this another riddle? Vila Restal: No.
Servalan: Jarvik? Of course. Jarvik. Jarvik, the construction worker. What was it now? "Any fool could take the Liberator with three pursuit ships." Well, the Liberator will soon be diffusing itself throughout the galaxy as so many billion split particles. So, regrettably, we shall never know. Thanks to the folly of your president, who with her aides and her technical advisors, her battle computers and her captains, extravagantly disposed herself to use *four* pursuit ships. And yet any fool could have done it with three. Perhaps this particular fool will tell her how. (pause) Servalan: Well? Have you nothing to say to Servalan? Jarvik: Woman, you are beautiful. (Jarvik grabs Servalan and kisses her)
(Orac is teaching Gan something when Cally enters) Cally: How is the lesson? Olag Gan: Difficult. Cally: Well, Orac isn't exactly the ideal teacher. Olag Gan: Well, I'm not exactly the ideal pupil. Orac: That is because you are too easily distracted.
(Avon has caught Travis on Star One) Kerr Avon: Well, now. Travis. Fancy meeting you here. Travis: Put the gun down, Avon, it's too late to stop it now. Kerr Avon: Convince me. Travis: Be polite and I may let you live. Kerr Avon: Be informative and I may let you die. You'll want that after I've shot off an arm and a leg or two. Travis: I thought you were supposed to be the one with brains. Kerr Avon: Brains but no heart. Now talk or scream, Travis, the choice is yours.
Kerr Avon: What's a freighter doing this far out? He's in Zone Eight already. Where the hell is he going? Roj Blake: Zen, plot of the freighter's course? Zen: Freighter's course is one oh four grid. Roj Blake: (surprised) That'll take him into Zone Nine. Kerr Avon: (ironically) So, we are free of the Federation. Roj Blake: Persistent, aren't they? Kerr Avon: Let's just get out of his way. Roj Blake: It was you that asked the question. Where are they going? We're hiding, already on the edge of the spiral rim. He's going further out. Roj Blake: (after a moment's pause) Zen, give us a course and speed where we can observe out of range of the freighter's detectors. Kerr Avon: I'm sorry I mentioned it. Vila Restal: Aren't we all?
Gola: If you say that once more, your head is forfeit!
Stot: (about Cally) Who is this woman? Roj Blake: She is my mother.
Orac: My preliminary examination of the defence zone indicates that it is made up of a network of satellite generators. Vila Restal: We could have told you that. Orac: Each of which performs a dual function: namely, to indicate the approach of an intruder and then to destroy that intruder by a powerful anti-matter implosion. Jenna Stannis: So it's a combined alarm system and minefield. Orac: Correct. If I may continue. Vila Restal: He always makes me feel as if I should be taking notes. Orac: (annoyed) *If* I may continue.
(Avon is in a Federation prison cell with an interrogator) Kerr Avon: Your name wouldn't be Shrinker, by any chance, would it? Shrinker: You've heard of me? Kerr Avon: Ah. I knew if I held out, you would show up eventually. Shrinker: That says more for your nerve than your brain. Kerr Avon: (signalling the Liberator) You think so?
(the Federation's top torturer is now Avon's prisoner on the Liberator) Shrinker: Why? I don't even ... I never saw him before. What have I ever done to him? Dayna Mellanby: You killed someone he loved. Vila Restal: And there aren't many of them about. Avon's not a very lovable man, in case you hadn't noticed.
Vila Restal: Don't leave me here! At least leave me a torch. I don't like the dark. I like to see what I'm scared of.
Vila Restal: I hate personal violence, especially when I'm the person.
Cally: (about Vila) He fears death? Vila: I plan to live forever - or die trying.
Vila Restal: I'm entitled to my opinion. Kerr Avon: It is your assumption that *we* are entitled to it as well that is irritating.
Vila Restal: Why do I get all the dirty jobs? Soolin: Typecasting.
Vila Restal: I've got this shocking pain right behind the eyes. Kerr Avon: Have you considered amputation?
Jenna Stannis: What would you know about guilt? Kerr Avon: Only what I've read.
Dayna Mellenby: Don't you ever get bored with being right? Kerr Avon: Just with the rest of you being wrong.
Orac: The art of leadership is delegation.
Vila Restal: Where did you come from? Kerril: Here and there. Mostly there.
(after wacthing a tape of three Federation ships exploding) Kerr Avon: Well, Orac, what do you think? Orac: I think you have brought back a most fascinating recording. Kerr Avon: We are looking for conclusions, not critical acclaim.
(Under heavy Federation attack) Roj Blake: Hang on everyone, this is going to be rough! Vila Restal: I don't mind rough. It's fatal I'm not keen on!
Olag Gan: You're never involved, are you Avon? Have you ever cared for anyone? Vila Restal: ... Except yourself? Kerr Avon: I have never understood why it should be necessary to become irrational in order to prove that you care. Or indeed why it should be necessary to prove it - *at all*. (exits) Vila Restal: Was that an insult, or did I just miss something? Cally: You missed something!
Vila Restal: I think I just made the biggest mistake of my life. Orac: It is unlikely. I would predict there are far greater mistakes waiting to be made by someone with your obvious talent for it.
Kerr Avon: Dammit! What on this ship weighs seventy kilos? Orac: Vila weighs seventy-three kilos, Avon...
Vila Restal: What did I do to deserve this? Kerr Avon: How long a list would you like?
Kerr Avon: Blake is an idealist; he cannot allow himself to think.
Dayna Mellanby: Do we fight? Kerr Avon: Certainly not. We run.
Shrinker: Why should I trust you? Kerr Avon: Because I've got the gun!
Vila Restal: Surely you're not going to shoot an unarmned prisoner? Soolin: Since when did you get religion?
Servalan: Ours will be the only voice. Imagination - our only limit. Kerr Avon: Imagination my only limit - and I'll be dead in a week.
(Trooper Par is discussing his service under Commander Travis) Major Thania: You served a full tour with Space Commander Travis, didn't you? Trooper Par: Five years. He was hard. Major Thania: But fair? Trooper Par: No. Not often, anyway. But you could always rely on him not to get you killed unnecessarily. He never wasted troopers. Major Thania: Oh, that's something, I suppose. Trooper Par: Major, when you're up to your neck in slime and lasers, that's everything.
Kerr Avon: Have you murdered your way to the wall of an underground room? Supreme Commander Servalan: It's an old wall, Avon. It waits. I hope you don't die before you reach it.
(Avon has just saved Blake's life) Roj Blake: Thank you. Why? Kerr Avon: Automatic reaction. I'm as surprised about it as you are.
(regarding a temple on Cygnus Alpha) Vila Restal: The architectural style is early maniac. Arco: We need food and shelter. Vila Restal: But do we need them that badly?
Kerr Avon: It is frequently easier to be honest when you have nothing to lose.
Roj Blake: (Blake picks up an alien device on the Liberator) Hand gun? Kerr Avon: It's a bit elaborate for a toothpick. Roj Blake: It depends on how *elaborate* their teeth were.
President Sarkoff: Assassination has always been a legitimate tool of statecraft. Its respectability and public acceptance has varied from civilization to civilization, but its practical application has remained remarkably consistent.
(ex-President Sarkoff thinks Blake is an assassin) Roj Blake: I said, I'm not a murderer. President Sarkoff: I'm grateful for your semantic precision. Political assassination I can ... live with. To be murdered would the final, sordid indignity. (Sarkoff picks up an antique pistol) President Sarkoff: Now, my educated friend, do you know what this is? Roj Blake: Uh, it's a projectile weapon. President Sarkoff: (pointing the gun at Blake) It's called a revolver. Explosive charge here, projectile emerges with great force and considerable accuracy, over short distances anyway. Primitive, but efficient enough for my purposes. Roj Blake: (urgently) President Sarkoff, I must speak with you! Will you listen to what I have to - (Sarkoff pulls the trigger, knowing the gun is empty) President Sarkoff: (lowering the gun) Ex-president. Roj Blake: I haven't got time for the niceties of this game that you're playing. President Sarkoff: Just time for a hasty rationalization. Roj Blake: I just want you to listen. President Sarkoff: I've wasted my life listening, listening to people who are arrogant, or vacuous, or just plain vicious. I smiled and acquiesced in the face of prejudice and stupidity. I've tolerated mediocrity and accepted the tyranny of second-class minds. But now all that is over. I am ready to die, here among the things I value. I am ready to let you kill me but I am not ready to listen to you justify the act.
Tarvin: You talk too much. President Sarkoff: Yes, it's an occupational hazard, I'm afraid.
Space Commander Travis: These are your orders? Servalan: Destroy Blake. Space Commander Travis: Depend on it.