[TIRES SQUEALING]
Wow.
I wonder how many channels they can get with these.
Is that some kind of radio telescope?
If it is, it's a strange configuration.
Telescopes next to a stargate?
Maybe they like to see where they're going.
It looks like they haven't been anywhere in a long time.
Very beautiful and very large.
- That's a comet, Draga. - Comet.
A ball of cosmic dust and ice bigger than a mountain.
They're different from asteroids. Asteroids are rocky and don't have tails.
BONNER: That comet looks kind of close.
Even a dirty snowball's dangerous when it's that big...
...and traveling at thousands of miles an hour.
- Civilization. - Good. Maybe I can get a decent burger.
Let's get a good night's sleep and make contact in the morning.
I think I'll check the observatory and see if the telescope is still working.
EC'CO: It took me hours to get this focused.
There's a lot of odd equipment here I don't understand...
...something to do with the antenna...
...but I managed to work out a trajectory for the comet we saw.
[COMPUTER BEEPING]
I hate to ask, but, which planet is that?
You're standing on it.
EC'CO: We have perhaps 60 hours until impact...
...when it will wipe out all life on this planet.
Do you think the locals know?
They will when we tell them.
You notice anything odd about this place?
Well, there's nobody around.
[YAWNING] That's because anybody with any sense is still asleep.
[TIRES SQUEALING]
What's on your mind, Stacey?
Look at the signs on the buildings.
There's nothing that looks like writing, like words.
It's all pictures.
In medieval times, inns would have signs like that...
...a boar's head, a rooster, or whatever because most people couldn't read.
But a society as advanced as this one couldn't be illiterate.
That means unable to read, Harrison.
[HARRISON MURMURS]
Hey, give me a break, Seattle. I can read.
Can the chatter, you two. Let's move out.
[PIKTOPOL SPEAKING IN ROKARI ON TV]
[SPEAKING IN ROKARI]
That explains the three eyepieces on the telescope.
My mom had three eyes, but one of hers was in the back of her head.
Uh-oh. We've got company.
[HARRISON GASPS]
[SPEAKING IN ROKARI]
Easy, Harrison.
[SEATTLE GASPS]
I hate to see a bunch of guys picking on one guy.
You mean like the police arresting a criminal?
[SPEAKING IN ROKARI]
You are not of the Commonality.
You must have come through the Gate of Worlds.
PIKTOPOL: You must come with us.
Well, he's a bundle of laughs.
He not laughing.
Well, we wanted to make contact, so let's go.
PIKTOPOL: Though you have been a great disruption to the Commonality...
...we must make allowances as it is clear you have come through the gate...
...and do not know our ways.
Why have you come?
A comet will hit this planet in just over two days.
If you do not know how to work the stargate...
...we can show you and help you evacuate to a safe planet.
Many comets pass close to the planet, therefore you are mistaken.
My calculations are correct. This is elementary mathematics--
[ROBOT ALARM BLARES]
You can see from the tail of the comet that it is flying past the planet...
...not straight at it.
Therefore, you are wrong, and we are safe.
BONNER: Huh? - The tail of a comet...
...doesn't trail behind it like something flying through the air.
The tail is formed of dust and gases...
...blown from the comet by the energy of your sun.
The tail of a comet always points away from the sun.
Your words do not fit the Commonality, therefore you are wrong.
BONNER: Ugh. - If you don't believe us...
...then check your computers.
We have no such information on our computers.
Then go to a library and look it up.
Any book on astronomy can tell you about comets.
We don't allow books.
Reading and writing on paper...
...is a primitive form of communication that our society has outgrown.
PIKTOPOL: All our communication...
...is by picture or voice, electronically assisted.
Then check it out electronically.
That would not be the knowledge of the Commonality, therefore it is not allowed.
The Rokari outside, the one you arrested, had papers with writing on them.
You are mistaken.
Where did your order-keepers take the Rokari they captured in the square?
He is being held for his own protection.
That is not your concern.
We wanna see him. Now.
And we say that is not your concern. You must depart at once.
- Wait. - What?
Huh?
Ec'co, your calculations must have been wrong.
After all, comets come by this planet all the time.
With your permission, we'll leave. Sorry to have bothered you.
My calculations? Wrong?
I can't believe you'd be willing to walk...
...and leave millions of Rokari just waiting for that comet to hit.
[BONNER MUMBLES]
You used to give a sign when you don't mean what you say.
- Don't you know me well enough to tell? - Apparently not.
BONNER [ON RADIO]: I thought you should know that we're kind of...
- ...organizing a jail break. - About time.
[SPEAKING IN ROKARI]
[EXPLOSION]
Glad to meet you. Now let's get out of here.
[STACEY GASPS]
This is not good.
[STACEY GRUNTS]
There must be another way out of here.
DONRAL: Down. - Ah!
Ah! Down!
Is this a private jail break, or can anybody join in?
[BONNER GRUNTS]
I told you there was another way out.
[TIRES SCREECHING]
[SEATTLE YELPS]
[TIRES SCREECHING]
[DONRAL SPEAKING IN ROKARI]
Is there any place safe? You know, safe?
Where they won't shoot walls at us?
Down it is.
[CHATTERING]
What?
[SPEAKING IN ROKARI]
[STACEY YELLING]
Any ideas?
- Thank you for help of me. - That's okay.
I'm not trying to be difficult, but why did we?
I mean, how is this going to help save the planet from the comet?
The government won't tell the Rokari...
...but maybe the anti-government can.
How big is the resistance movement?
We saw you protesting. Aren't you part of a movement?
Many don't like Piktopol and others...
...but hard to organize without reading and writing.
Council controls all broadcasts.
Can't you teach others to read? Create a resistance movement that way?
I.... I can't read or write either.
The papers I put on picture screen were just old papers.
- Don't know what they said. - So, what happens now?
If the government won't warn the Rokari and resistance can't reach the Rokari--
EC'CO: That may not matter. - Huh?
I was thinking.
If there are more old writings, old books....
Yes. Yes, come with me.
[SEATTLE & STACEY GASP]
BONNER: Wow!
- Donral. - Nyrna.
[NYRNA WHIMPERS]
You got a plan?
The Rokari council said that comets come by all the time.
I'm betting that comets have threatened to strike the planet before...
...and that a civilization as advanced as the Rokari...
...had some means of defense.
Only they've forgotten.
How could they forget something as important as that?
Civilization is a body of knowledge passed from generation to generation...
...like links in a chain.
One generation of people who can't read and write...
...who don't have the key to that knowledge break the chain.
People who can forget how important it is to know how to read...
...can forget anything.
- They not forgot how to read. - What do you mean, Draga?
DRAGA: Many books. Many words.
They made to forget.
Why would anyone do that?
BONNER: To control them.
Like Donral says...
...how do you start a resistance if you can't write anything?
There may be something here that will tell us...
...how to protect the planet, if only we knew how to read it.
We've got two days to learn.
[EC'CO GROWLS]
[STACEY GROANING]
Huh? Weird.
[STACEY SCREAMS]
It could take months to decipher.
- Maybe years. - You gonna quit just because it's hard.
I know all about quitting, and I haven't done it yet.
I'm dyslexic.
Growing up it was hard for me...
...because I saw letters differently from other people.
But I got help and kept trying because I knew how important reading was.
I never knew that.
But you're right, if there is something in these...
...the comet may be here before we can decipher them.
BONNER: It'll take time to get the Rokari out through the stargate.
If we're gonna save them, we have to start now.
Where are the central broadcasting facilities?
- The main transmitter? - In the Council Building.
If we can take over the transmitter...
...could you send out a warning about the comet...
...and tell them to head for the stargate?
[NYRNA GASPS]
Yes, I can do that. But transmitter will be, uh, guarded.
I'll take the jet pack.
Stacey, you and Seattle come with me on your vehicles.
Ec'co and Harrison can stay and keep hitting the books.
Aw, take me along, major.
- I'm no scholar. - Just keep at it.
Ec'co, you get Draga out through the stargate before that comet hits.
No. I choose.
DRAGA: More useful with you. I go with you.
Okay, Draga. I guess you're growing up.
They will be going to the transmitter, into our trap.
Huh?
[EC'CO GROWLING]
HARRISON: Hey....
The computer should be able to decipher it, translate it.
It's as if it can't even see it.
Take it easy. You're worse than Stacey.
Ah. I'm sorry.
This is a job for my brain, not my temper.
I didn't mean that. Nobody's worse than Stacey, ha-ha.
Stacey.... Maybe the computer is like Stacey.
Hmm. It can be annoying.
I don't mean that.
Stacey's dyslexic. She sees letters differently.
What if the computer can't see like the Rokari?
What if we can't either? The Rokari have three eyes.
Huh?
HARRISON: Trinocular vision.
See things with new eyes. How'd you figure this out?
Something I read in a book. A science fiction novel.
[COMPUTER BLEEPING]
- Hey. Ha-ha-ha. Unh. - It's working.
Okay. Easy there, guy.
Major, we figured it out.
HARRISON [ON RADIO]: Ec'co's programming it in now.
Good. I'll pull us out of here.
Uh-oh.
[TIRES SCREECHING]
[STACEY YELPS]
[GRUNTING]
There's too many of them.
Resistance is futile. Surrender now.
[CHATTERING]
Piktopol not in screen.
Yeah, but I know where he is.
PIKTOPOL: You may not disturb the peace of the Commonality.
[PIKTOPOL SHRIEKS]
Wanna bet?
[CHATTERING]
EC'CO [ON RADIO]: The equipment at the observatory...
...is some kind of defense system.
The answer was right there. We just didn't know enough to see it.
Understood, Ec'co. We think we can stop the comet.
Call off the attack on our friends until we can try it.
- We shall call off the attack. - No!
Stacey, Seattle, meet us at the observatory.
- We'll be there, Uncle Gus. - I forbid it.
It's a trick.
[PIKTOPOL CRIES]
I never argue with her.
[PIKTOPOL MUTTERING IN ROKARI]
How dare you. I am head of the council.
Maybe you'll need a new job soon.
[TIRES SCREECHING]
[HARRISON PANTING]
According to the books we found...
...your scientists knew a comet would hit this planet someday...
...so they built a system to deflect it.
I just hope it still works.
EC'CO: Huh?
[PIKTOPOL SHRIEKS]
How could we have forgotten?
You can't remember everything. That's why people write things down.
BONNER: Come on, hold together....
Come on.
EC'CO: Amazing. - I did not believe. Uh, Did not know.
I, uh, was wrong.
Probably not the first time.
After Piktopol resigned from the council...
...we voted to start reading and writing classes for all the Rokari.
We were wrong to think a society could exist...
...without knowing how to read.
Without books and writing...
...our civilization would have ended, even without a comet.
We are going to publish a newspaper...
...as soon as there are Rokari who can read it.
I'm writing an editorial...
...criticizing the way the reading classes are being run.
[LAUGHTER]
I have something for you.
It's a book that's always been important to me.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
What was book you gave?
History? The Declaration of Independence?
The Constitution?
- Philosophy maybe? - I'll bet it was science.
Science is something every culture can understand.
Hmm. Science fiction, am I right? What people wanna read is a good story.
Find your own book.
[TIRES SQUEALING]
Subtitles by SDI Media Group