The Quiet Earth

Hello?

Hello?

Come on! I know someone's in there!

Hello?

Hello?

Hello? Is anybody out there? Is anybody receiving me?

Complete.

Warning: Radiation danger. The lab will be sealed immediately.

Warning: The lab is now sealed.

There's nobody in administration!

You did it this time, Perrin. International Cooperation, eh?

Well, you got everybody, including yourself.

Ultraviolet level now exceeding 100 milliwatts. Don protective clothing.

Even me.

...from Tanko, Texas.

Analysis of these programs by our own computer

indicates that the programs being supplied are incomplete.

It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the LinCo HQ

are deliberately withholding information.

I am unable to continue

blindly working on a project of such phenomenal destructive potential.

Accordingly, there is only one course of action open to me.

Zac Hobson, July 5th.

One: There has been a malfunction in Project Flashlight

with devastating results.

Two: it seems I'm the only person left on Earth.

Three: Perrin has been incinerated at the grid control. Four: ...

I've been sealed in the lab

so I've setup a gas device in the washroom hoping to

Warning: Alternate fire extinguishers not operating.

Name, address, phone number.

Hello. My name is Zac Hobson.

If there's anybody out there at all, could you

please contact me at home. 2 Thurston Avenue, Grey Lynn.

Or ring me on 396-121.

Hello. My name is Zac Hobson.

If there's anybody out there at all, could you

please contact me at home. 2 Thurston Avenue, Grey Lynn.

Or ring me on 396-121.

Attention, attention. Would all those alive please step forward and show themselves.

...will be regarded as a direct contravention of regulation 366025,

section 11 paragraph B.

Please somebody come.

Time I moved up in the world.

12th of July. I have now been broadcasting this message for 5 days without reply.

Please ignore my previous address

as I am now a resident at 5 Rosehill Gardens, Churtin Heights.

Pop in for a visit, or phone 665-058.

I'd be delighted to hear from you.

Hello. This is Zac Hobson again.

12th of July. I have now been broadcasting this message for 5 days without reply.

Please ignore my previous address

as I am now a resident at 5 Rosehill Gardens, Churtin Heights.

Pop in for a visit, or phone 66-

Very flamboyant. Pity nothing went down.

Thought I'd give you a bit of a chance.

Big mistake. Polish this game off in one break.

Terrified.

Can't win against that kind of luck.

Skill.

...should be shut down immediately. - Well I don't think that's the right thing to do.

I honestly and sincerely believe that.

It is your country's duty, as part of the free world, to pursue all avenues of

technological research that contribute to our position.

thus maintaining the balance of power that exists in the world today.

Now I cannot overemphasize this point, because you can rest assured

that - even as I speak - this is what the other side is d-

What are you gonna do? Destroy us all?

I'm taking over.

Look, I haven't got time to talk to you. I'm a very busy man.

Besides, you've had your chance.

I have dedicated all my scientific knowledge and skill to projects

which I knew could be put to evil purposes.

For the common good!

How easy to believe in the common good,

when that belief is rewarded

with status, wealth

and power!

How hard to believe in the common good.

When every fiber of my being tells me

that the awesome forces that I have helped to create

have been put into the hands of madmen!

I've been gay by the volume of my own corruption!

Is it not fitting, then, that I be president?

Of this...

...quiet Earth?

I've been condemned to live.

Where is he?

Alright, where are you?

Where are you?

Where is he?

If you don't come out, I'll shoot the kid!

And now I am God.

Hello. - G'day.

How are you? - Pretty good. Whaddya know?

UV's up a bit. Keep an eye on that.

It's not real.

God, it's good to see someone.

So, I went into my sister's room...

...and she was gone.

I mean gone.

Just...

...disappeared.

I hung around for about two weeks after that. I don't remember much.

It was pretty bad.

Guess you were a little crazy.

I didn't decide I was president of the world.

It was really strange walking through the hospital in the dark.

No sound. Empty beds.

I was quite shocked when I saw the baby. - Baby?

Yeah, not just that it was a baby

I didn't look too closely. There were maggots.

That means there must be flies.

No. The effect happened three weeks ago.

The baby hadn't been dead that long.

Something's changed.

I can't quite measure it, but I can feel it.

It's as though we've been shifted sideways.

North Pole's still up north,

but the water keeps going down the plug hole the wrong way.

I get the feeling...

We're either dead...

...or in a different universe.

Are you in a different universe? Are you a woman?

...or a child?

I've got this theory...

I believe people's faces are soft, like plasticine.

They're not rigid, like bone, as doctors would have us believe.

And the shape of the face is determined consciously by the brain.

So, if your brain has got a low capacity,

you would be both ugly and stupid.

But if you've got a reasonably good brain,

then it's up to you to decide how to use its energy.

You could be reasonably attractive and reasonably intelligent...

...or you could be smart, but ugly.

Or beautiful, but stupid.

I thought one didn't get a hangover with champagne.

So did I.

Now, if you got really lucky, you could have an exceptional brain...

...and you could be both extremely beautiful

and highly intelligent.

Like me.

Did you make all that up yourself - Yeah.

You're beautiful.

Hey...

Are you calling me stupid?

No, no.

Wouldn't do that.

No maggots.

She was calling for help.

She was definitely alive after The Effect.

Pull over.

What's wrong?

Does it look to you like the sun's pulsating?

No.

No. Doesn't to me, either.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith?

This one's yours. - Thanks very much.

If we find anyone alive, what do you think we'll be like?

We might find all manner of horrors.

Politicians.

Transvestites.

I think we should look in places where

people are either trapped or too afraid to leave.

Mental hospitals, prisons.

That sort of thing.

Then let's hope we don't find anyone.

We have to look.

There you are.

Run out of words?

Where are we sleeping? - I'm sleeping over there.

Thought you might say that.

This one'll do. Keys are in it.

I still don't like it.

Don't be beautiful.

It's simple: I'll cover that side of the river, you cover this.

Call me every half hour. - Yeah.

Zac, can you hear me?

Joanne, come in please.

Zac, I'm at the hospital. Where are you?

I'm driving past the university. Everything okay?

Yes. I'm just going in.

Okay. Call you in half an hour.

You there, Zac?

Hello. You okay?

I felt really strange a few seconds ago. Where are you?

I'm at Mental Street and Hillcrest. There's nothing here.

Is there anything at the university?

Not a thing.

Call you later. But, keep in touch, though.

Okay. Over and out.

Are you trying to tell me that you

and your white-coated cronies up the road there

really had something to do with this?

Don't know.

I was an American idea.

They were experimenting with energy transmissions

through a grid surrounding the Earth.

Aircraft, drawing directly from that grid,

so they wouldn't have to refuel.