Specifically, you're bargaining for the right to stay in a horrible social spectacle.
It has its purposes. You've served those purposes brilliantly.
Why argue when you can quit?
And you say you want to know why decisions are made.
Your future comfort is assured. You don't need to know.
Why argue about decisions you're not powerful enough to make for yourself?
Energy will treat you well, you know that.
If the rule changes stay, Mr Bartholomew, I'm playin' with my team.
Too late. The rule change is scheduled and announced.
There's no going back. You've seen to that.
I'll see you in Tokyo.
You can be made to quit! You can be forced!
You can't make me quit!
Don't tell me I can't. Don't ever say that! I can!
You can be stopped!
You could have killed someone!
- It's all goin' too fast. I'm not packed... - You're not going, Daph.
Those bags are ready. Here. Take this extra hat.
Sir, I've had a call. I have to go over to Energy.
- You can't go to Tokyo? - What do you mean, I'm not going?
I hope this isn't an inconvenience.
No, no, it's no problem.
I'm supposed to go with you.
Well, what's that mean?
Who told you you're supposed to go with me?
Nobody told me.
Listen, Jonathan, I really wanna go with you. I do really. You'll need me.
Get yourself another assignment, will you, Daph?
Everybody's an assignment. Life's an assignment.
You better do as you're told, Jonathan. That's all I have to say.
Are you threatenin' me?
- Don't be here when I come back. - You won't be back, Johnny boy...
Don't try to frighten me, Daphne, you don't know how.
You go tell them people that I'm going to Tokyo and you're not, huh?
You tell 'em that.
Ciao!
Keller.
Make sure my gear gets to the track in Tokyo.
I'm gonna travel with the team this trip. You call Transportation and tell 'em.
Yes, sir.
What chance does Houston have of defeating Tokyo tonight?
Both teams have fine players and different styles.
What do you say, Moonpie?
It's not an even match, see, because the Tokyo team has all these little short guys!
What about the rule changes?
Well, at Houston, we kinda play a wide-open system.
Will you comment on a game where the rules are always changing?
The game's always had rule changes. They don't affect good teams.
You're a great new player. What's the secret of your success?
Oh, it's no secret. I just imitate him and plastic surgery keeps me beautiful.
There are rumours that the last game of the season will be without time limits.
Any comments?
I don't think it will. It's still a game.
There are also other rumours. Some say you retired from the game.
Here I am.
Corporate society was an inevitable destiny,
a material dream world.
Everything man touched became attainable.
I've been touched all my life, one way or the other.
Either caressed or hit.
Don't much seem to matter which any more.
I guess that's why I wanna see Ella again.
To see if I still feel things now.
You know what I mean?
Yeah...
There are some other things, too.
They took Ella away from me.
Now they're tryin' to push me out.
I'd sure like to find out why.
I think I'll go to one of them computer centres.
See what I can find out.
Findin' out things, that's...
That's the thing, Moonpie.
Welcome to Tokyo and tonight's dramatic semifinal match
for the world's rollerball championship between hosts Tokyo and Houston.
Big rule changes tonight.
There will be no penalties called and limited substitution.
Ladies and gentlemen, please stand for our corporate hymn.
The name ofthe controller for tonight's game - CC Nakamura.
- You all right? - Yeah, I'm all right!
I just wanna get out there and hit them little fellas.
Listen, stay close now, all right?
Yeah. OK, Johnny. Let's go, let's go!
Attention. Your attention, please.
Rule changes for tonight's game. Iimited substitution and no penalties.
The controller checks the computer, ready to fire,
and the first ball is fired. The game is under way.
Remember, there'll be no penalties and limited substitutions.
This will be a punishing game for both teams.
- Here they come! - Next time around.
- Spread! Spread out! - All right, boys! Go ahead!
Stay close now, stay close.
Stick with 'em!
Go, go, go!
There's a scramble in front ofthe goal.
Kubo, on his knees, scores!
Kubo scores from a kneeling position in front ofthe goal.
And Tokyo takes a 1-0 lead over Houston.
This is a fast-paced game tonight with Tokyo leading 1-0.
Houston being pressured by the faster Tokyo team.
The second ball is fired.
- Spread out! - Slow 'em down!
Spread out!
Now the faster tactics ofthe Tokyo team.
And now Houston. Their bikers and skaters form a wall.
- Watch the ball! - Get 'em out!
Bike, bike!
Bike him! Bike him!
You got him, baby, you got him!
The ball is fired, the second period is under way. Tokyo leading.
Houston forced to come from behind tonight.
Here you go.
Watch the man behind me! Watch the man behind me!
The ball is in play again. It is scooped up by Carter for Houston.
Houston on the offensive attack.
Come on!
Right in the slot, through three men and he scores!
Houston goal scored by Jonathan E!
The time - 12.05, second period.
- I love this game! - Yeah!
Some injuries here as three players are helped offthe track.
- Sprint! - Yeah, right!
Come on, Moonpie! Over here! Over here!
- What the hell are those guys doin'? - I don't know. Stay close.
I told you to stay close.
All right, turn loose next time around.
All right? Go on, go on, go on, go on!
Moonpie!
I got him, I got him!
Take it easy. Everything will be all right. Sit down over here.
Sit right here. Everything's gonna be all right.
Medic, hey, medic, come over here! Come on!
Moonpie!
- Come on, Moonpie. - Come on, get some help!
Set him down, set him down!
Just a bit more.
Breathe.
Come on now, Moonpie.
Come on, Moonpie!
Come on, Tokyo! Go get 'em!
Go, go, go, Tokyo!
Jonathan, watch yourself out there! Now, watch them!
Keep behind, Blue.
Look out!
Jonathan E!
Time in the third period - 11.35.
Sprint! Sprint!
Roll out! Roll out!
Blue!
This way, please.
May I say first, please, that you played a superb game in our city.
Thank you.
A simple problem, yet I know it is difficult for you.
Your team-mate has no family
and permission is required now before consummating matters.
So, he's technically dead?
Yes, unfortunately.
His heart and lungs will function, but his brain is...
It has expired.
From the first minutes, it was hopeless. I believe this was explained to you.
He's warm.
Yes. But if you will, please, you must sign a release form.
It is required.
Does he...
Does he dream?
No, there is no brain wave at all, no sort of consciousness.
Just a deep coma, a vegetable.
No dreams, nothing.
But even a plant feels somethin'.
Who can say? Please.
It senses life.
I mean, it turns towards the sun.
- It's alive, isn't it? - You must sign.
You...
You just leave him the way he is.
- Just leave him as he is. - You must sign. There's no other way.
- Arrangements will be made. - Please!
- There are hospital rules that... - No, there aren't.
There aren't any rules at all.
Let me know if you have any problems.
You won't find any answers in Geneva.
Take care of your arm.
In my opinion we are confronted here with something ofa situation.
Otherwise I would not have presumed to take up your time.
Once again it concerns the case ofJonathan E.
We don't want anything extraordinary to happen to Jonathan.
We've already agreed on that.
No accidents, nothing unnatural.
The game was created to demonstrate the futility ofindividual effort.
Let the game do its work.
The Energy Corporation has done all it can.
If a champion defeats the meaning for which the game was designed,
then he must lose.
I hope you agree with my reasoning.
Thank you all.
Will you follow me, please?
Hello! Hello! Yes, it is!
The famous Jonathan E. Hard to believe!
Sorry things are in a mess. The rollerball champion. Wonderful!
Not many people come to see us, you know.
We're not easy to talk to, Zero and l.
We're a little confused again here today.
This is embarrassing.
It's embarrassing to misplace things.
You've misplaced some data?
Mm, the whole of the 1 3th century.
Misplaced the computers - several conventional computers.
We can't find them.
We're always moving things around, getting organised, my assistants and l.
But this is Zero's fault.
Zero, he's the world's file cabinet.
Pity. Poor old 1 3th century.
Well, come along now. You want to get started, don't you?
Yes, sir.
This way.
Now...
We've lost those computers with all of the 1 3th century in them.
Not much in the century - just Dante and a few corrupt popes.
But it's so distracting and annoying.
You've unlimited restrictions here, of course,
but you'll have to come so, so many times.
It all takes such effort.
Do the executives still come here?
Oh, they used to, some of them.
- What about the books? - Books, books? They're all changed.
All transcribed. All information is here.
We've Zero, of course. He's the central brain, the world's brain.
Fluid mechanics, fluidics.
He's liquid, you see. His waters touch all knowledge.
Everything we ask has become so complicated now.
Each thing we ask... This morning we wanted to know about the 1 3th century.
He flows out into all our storage systems.
He considers everything. He's become so ambiguous now,
as if he knows nothing at all.
Could you tell me about the corporate wars?
Wars, wars? Oh, yes, of course, we have them all here.
Punic War, Prussian War, Peloponnesian War. Crimean War, Wars of the Roses.
One doesn't recall them in sequence, but corporate wars...
Well, Zero will or can, I'm sure, tell you anything.
A memory pool, you see.
He's supposed to tell us where things are and what they might possibly mean.
Look, Zero. A visitor.
Jonathan E, the rollerball champion.
You've filed away a lot of data on him.
Do you remember?
- Does it answer you? - Oh, yes, it speaks.
It finds things
and loses them
and confuses itself.
Ask anything, he'll find it for you, section and lot.
Won't you, Zero?
All right. I'd like...
I'd like some information about corporate decisions.
How they're made and who makes them.
Zero, you heard the question.
Answer him.
Negative.
You don't have to give him a full political briefing.
- Answer. - Negative.
This is Jonathan E.
He has to know.
Make it simple.
Answer.
Corporate decisions are made by corporate executives.
- Corporate executives make... - I know we have the answers.
Knowledge converts to power. Energy equals genius.
- Power is knowledge. - I don't want to bully you.
Genius is energy.
- Corporate entities control elements... - But you have to answer!
..of economic life, technology, capital,
Iabour and markets. Corporate decisions are made by...
- You have to, Zero! - ..corporate executives.
The 13th century...
- Negative, negative, negative... - It's so embarrassing!
Hello, Johnny.
How are you, Ella?
Nervous.
How are you?
I'm all right, I guess.
What are you doin'?
Looking at you.
Counting your scars.
Seeing how you've changed.
Oh, you mean that's how I've changed? Just a little more beat-up.
Oh, no!
You're just not...
Yeah, well...
Come on.
You want a drink or somethin'?
No, thank you.
You have a lovely place.
Thank you. Well, I've seen your house.
You have?
Yeah. When we played in Rome, I stood a block away
and watched your front gate for a couple of hours.
I was just standin' there wonderin'
what your furniture was like, what you said to each other in the mornings.
What's he like? What's he do, this...?
He's a city engineer.
We have a jet-copter, a son,
two cats and a place in the Alps.
You don't really want to hear all of this.
- A son, huh? - Yes.
We have a lot of friends.
And he has a lover. We have furniture a lot like yours.
Same taste in furniture. How about that?
You know, Johnny,
all they want is a kind of incidental control over just a part of our lives.
They have control economically and politically, but they also provide.
Provide, huh?
They were responsible for takin' you away
and I started to hate 'em.
But they weren't.
It was the game, Johnny.
I mean, it was so important to you.
It was as if I wasn't even there.
The play, there was nothing else.
I'm sorry.
You know I wanted you here.
Well, I mean...
This might sound all wrong, but...
Well, I was just tryin' to remember myself then.
Yeah.
Maybe it was love I wanted to try to remember.
There's a lot of things I wanna talk to you about.
Yeah.
I've been thinkin', Ella.
Thinkin' a lot.
I've been watching.
It's like people had a choice a long time ago between...
well, having all them nice things or freedom.
Of course, they chose comfort.
But comfort is freedom. It always has been.
The history of civilisation is the struggle against poverty.
No! No, that's not it. That's never been it.
I mean, them privileges just buy us off.
Look...
They want me to quit, Ella.
Then quit.
Just like that, huh?
But you've got to do it now.
You've got to before it's too late, whether you want to or not.
Look, Johnny...
The next game, there won't be any substitutions allowed. And no time limit.
You'll die, Johnny. Everybody will die.
No time limit. They tell you that?
Yes.
- They tell you to convince me to quit? - Yes, but that isn't why I came here.
You have to get out for your own sake.
Please, Johnny, please.
Did they tell you to stay if I did quit?
Are you my big reward?
You still don't understand why I came here.
You're the only person I ever wanted.
I wanted you on my side, that's all.
It's like you're a god now.
Maybe you know what I don't.
I've been so stupid for so long.
I've been so stubborn.
I don't even know why.
It scares me.
I know I'm probably gonna... I'm probably gonna die.
And you'll be in there pumpin' away long after I'm gone.
Hey, you...
You got it made, old buddy.
Bluebonnets and everything.
Jonathan's dead! Jonathan's dead! Jonathan's dead! Jonathan's dead!
Attention. Your attention, please.
Rule changes for tonight's world championship game.
No substitutions, no penalties
and no time limit!
Watch now, he's got the ball. Next time around we defend.
Come on! Come on, get outta there!
Get him up.
He did it!
Get him in the elevator.
Get off the rail!
Get him off the track!
I don't want another man on that track! Houston, what the hell are you doing?
- Ain't nobody gonna win this game! - Game! This wasn't meant to be a game!
Never!
Watch his leg. Easy, easy!
Let me have him, let me have him. Let me have him!
Move out.
Move out!