Rollerball Page #6

---

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,

labour 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!

Rate this script:4.5 / 2 votes