The Final Conflict Page #3

In 1971 he took over

his uncle's business, Thorn industries,

and in seven years has turned it

into the world's largest multinational,

producing everything from nuclear

armaments to soya bean food products.

And now, at the age of 32,

Damien Thorn has...

Are you lost?

You're not connected

with this programme, are you?

- This is stage eight, isn't it?

- Four.

- Studio eight's the next one along.

- Yes. Thank you.

A brilliant career

for one so young, Mr. Ambassador.

Not when you remember

that Alexander the Great

was commanding

the Macedonian army at 16.

Of course, that's how many people view you -

as a sort of 20th-century Alexander,

Leading the world out of the doldrums of

recession into the golden era of prosperity.

- You've seen too many of our commercials.

- But it is the image you put across.

Well, the image of Thorn as a corporation,

not a personal image of myself.

But yes, it's true. I certainly have

tremendous optimism for the future,

and I wanna see Thorn play

a major part in achieving it.

You have an interest in young people.

What are your plans as president

of the United Nations Youth Council?

A great many things, but I think

the most important task I have

is to help young people gain

a more prominent role in world affairs

than the one we currently

afford them, or rather deny them.

I mean, what is this arrogance that makes us

think that we know better than them?

We call them immature and naive. "Wait till

you're grown-up. Then we'll listen to you."

What we really mean is "Wait till you're

grown old. Then you'll think the way we do."

And so youth stands aside because

it has no other choice, and we set to work.

We ply them with our values,

we indoctrinate them with our mediocrity.

Until finally they emerge from

their brainwashing education

as so-called fully fledged citizens,

clipped, impotent, and above all safe.

Damien!

Grab one of these extinguishers! Come on!

God!

I need a drink.

I keep seeing that face.

How about you? You want one?

That was an assassination attempt.

What?

I found this on the studio floor.

This is one of the seven knives of Megiddo -

the only thing on earth that can kill me.

They were discovered in Israel

when I was a child.

An archaeologist, Bugenhagen, found them.

He gave them to my father to destroy me.

But I had the love of my true father

to protect me.

You said there were seven.

Where are the other six?

That's what we have to find out.

Someone must have dug them up

from the old Thorn Museum in Chicago.

And now they're in the hands

of someone who knows who I am.

And whoever knows who you are

must also know the prophecy.

Get hold of Buher right away. Tell him

to get to Chicago as soon as he can.

Excuse me, sir. The Harley Street Hospital

has just telephoned for Mr. Dean.

Barbara. I...

She went into labor this afternoon.

Can I borrow your car?

Call by the embassy first.

Get hold of Buher right away.

Are you OK, Damien?

"In a statement issued

from the American embassy,

Ambassador Thorn stated that he was

satisfied that there was no connection

between himself

and the unfortunate victim."

Thorn knows it was no accident.

Our priority now is to locate

the holy child as soon as he's born.

Brother Simeon and Brother Antonio,

I want you to make ready to come with me

tonight to ascertain his birthplace,

for the hour draws near.

The rest of you must wait until we return

before deciding how we proceed.

Our efforts must be

strictly coordinated next time.

We can't afford to make a second mistake.

- George.

- Yes, Mr. Ambassador?

- I won't be needing anything else tonight.

- Right you are, sir. Good night.

My father,

Lord of silence, supreme god of desolation,

who mankind reviles yet aches to embrace,

strengthen my purpose to save the world

from a second ordeal of Jesus Christ

and his grubby, mundane creed.

2,000 years have been enough.

Show man instead

the raptures of thy kingdom.

Infuse in him the grandeur of melancholy,

the divinity of loneliness,

the purity of evil,

the paradise... of pain.

What perverted imagination has fed man the

lie that hell festers in the bowels of the earth?

There is only one hell -

the leaden monotony of human existence.

There is only one heaven.

The ecstasy of my father's kingdom.

Nazarene charlatan,

what can you offer humanity?

Since the hour you vomited forth

from the gaping wound of a woman,

you've done nothing

but drown man's soaring desires

in a deluge of sanctimonious morality.

You've inflamed the pubertal mind of youth

with your repellent dogma of original sin.

And now you're resolved on denying

him ultimate joy beyond death

by destroying me!

But you will fail, Nazarene.

As you have always failed.

We were both created in man's image.

But while you were born

of an impotent god,

I was conceived of a jackal.

Born of Satan, the desolate one,

the nail...

Your pain on the cross was but a splinter

compared to the agony of my father,

cast out from heaven,

the fallen angel,

banished, reviled...

I would drive deeper the thorns

into your rancid carcass,

you profaner of vices.

Cursed Nazarene.

Satan,

I will avenge thy torment

by destroying the Christ for ever.

Father De Carlo, welcome. Gentlemen.

The simulator has established

the approximate location

over which the three stars are to converge.

- How accurate is that?

- To about 50 square kilometers.

Once the alignment has taken place, we can

narrow it down to the nearest square metre.

Excuse me, sir. We're at T minus 500.

The final countdown is about to start.

There, gentlemen, are your three stars.

The waiting of 2,000 years... is at an end.

Mr. Ambassador!

Is there any connection between

the accident at the BBC and today's news?

- No.

- What about Schroeder's revelation

that the Israelis were responsible

for the Aswan Dam disaster?

- If it's true, it's a sad blow to world peace.

- Is that an official condemnation?

I condemn all violence,

but it's too early for that.

The Soviet Union's offered

support to Egypt for retaliation.

- How do you react to that?

- Gentlemen, I have nothing else to say.

Mr. Ambassador, I tried calling you

last night but there was no reply.

Isn't there something we can do

to make up for what happened?

- Like what?

- Well, like...

- Like finishing the interview?

- Well, yes.

All right. But I'd sooner

we did it at my place than yours.

Yours is a little... dramatic for my taste.

Why not stay on for dinner afterwards?

- I'd love to.

- All right. I'll have Harvey fix it.

Fine.

No, a boy.

Yeah, he sure is ugly.

Yeah.

All right. Thanks, Paul. Yeah.

Yeah, I'll talk to you later.

That was Buher. He just sent over

the NLF report to the White House.

He said it's so full of holes,

you can drive a truck through it.

Thanks for the flowers.

Barbara really appreciated...

And the daggers?

Apparently all seven came up

for auction a few months back.

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