War Games Page #6

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Surprise!

- What are you doing here?

- You didn't sound too good on the phone.

- You shouldn't have come. I'm in trouble.

- Why?

Is this because of

what you did with my grade?

You kids better hustle.

The ferry leaves any second.

Thanks. Come on. We gotta run.

- Wait, wait, wait, wait! Whoa!

- Hold it, hold it!

If he's still alive,

why would the obituary say he's dead?

No, he's not dead. He left.

When they know too much,

they give 'em new identities.

- Anyway, the computer said so.

- Oh, the computer said so.

The computer that's still playing

the games? It's the military's computer!

- Why wouldn't they know about it?

- They don't know about Joshua.

Falken knows about Joshua. He's

the only one who knows what it can do.

That computer is trying to win the game

that we asked it to play.

For real!

You don't even believe me!

David... David.

- He's not dead.

- I'm sorry.

I believe you.

Oh!

What was that?

I don't know.

Did you see that? There are still people

who won't believe they could fly.

The sky was once filled with them.

- I'm looking for Dr Robert Hume.

- Is either of you a palaeontologist?

No. We're high-school students.

Oh... Pity.

Well, high-school students,

you're on my land and I didn't invite you.

But

aren't you Stephen Falken?

Now, listen carefully.

Path. Follow path.

Gate. Open gate, through gate, close gate.

Last ferry 6.30, so run, run, run.

Wait! Wait.

I came because of Joshua.

Radar reports two unknown tracks are

penetrating the Alaskan air defence zone.

Confidence is high. Flight profile

suggests Soviet backfire bombers.

I want a visual confirmation on that.

Scramble two F-16s out of Galena.

Go to DEFCON 2.

Crystal Palace, this is Delta Foxtrot 27.

I have negative radar contact.

Repeat, negative Soviet aircraft.

27, this is Brass Hat.

They're right in front of you!

You're almost on top of 'em.

Brass Hat, we got nothing on radar

and 40 miles visibility.

There's nothin' out there, General.

Just blue skies.

What the hell?!

- You haven't been listening.

- Yes, I have.

I loved it when you nuked Las Vegas.

A suitably biblical ending for the place,

don't you think?

Are you gonna tell them

what Joshua's doing?

Now, children, come on over here.

I'm going to tell you a bedtime story.

Are you sitting comfortably?

Then I'll begin.

Once upon a time, there lived

a magnificent race of animals

who dominated the world

through age after age.

They ran and they swam

and they fought and they flew.

Until suddenly,

quite recently, they disappeared.

Nature just gave up and started again.

We weren't even apes then.

We were just these smart little rodents

hiding in the rocks.

And when we go, nature will start again.

With the bees probably.

Nature knows when to give up, David.

I'm not giving up.

If Joshua tricks them

into launching an attack, it'll be your fault.

My fault? The whole point was

to find a way to practise nuclear war

without destroying ourselves.

To get the computers to learn from

mistakes we couldn't afford to make.

Except I never could get Joshua

to learn the most important lesson.

What's that?

Futility. That there's a time

when you should just give up.

What kind of a lesson is that?

Did you ever play tic-tac-toe?

Yeah. Of course.

- But you don't any more?

- No.

Why?

Because it's a boring game.

It's always a tie.

Exactly. There's no way to win.

The game itself is pointless.

But back at the war room,

they believe you can win a nuclear war.

That there can be acceptable losses.

So you gave up? Decided to play dead?

For security reasons,

they graciously arranged my death.

Did you know that no land animal

with a body weight of over 50lb

survived that age?

Extinction is part of the natural order.

Bullshit!

If we're extinguished, it's not natural.

It's just stupid!

Oh, it's all right. I've planned ahead.

We're just three miles

from a primary target.

A millisecond of brilliant light

and we're vaporised.

Much more fortunate than the millions

who'll wander sightless

through the smouldering aftermath.

We'll be spared the horror of survival.

I'm only 17 years old.

I'm not ready to die yet.

You won't make a simple phone call?

If the real Joshua was still alive,

your Joshua,

- you'd do it, wouldn't you?

- Look, we might gain a few years.

Perhaps time enough for you

to have a son and watch him die.

But humanity

planning its own destruction...

That a phone call won't stop.

This is unreal! You don't care about death

cos you're already dead.

I know a lot about you.

I know you weren't always like this.

What was the last thing you cared about?

You've missed the last ferry.

You're welcome to stay.

You want to sleep on the floor?

Good night.

Let's get outta here.

Come on. We'll find a boat.

There's gotta be a boat.

Mr President, we've got 48 nuclear subs

closing on the United States.

And we've got 100,000 Soviet troops

massing in East Germany.

We're monitoring their bombers

that are on alert. Yes, sir...

Well, that's a load of sh*t!

No, sir. Not you.

Yes, sir. We'll be in touch

as soon as the information changes.

Intelligence reports rumours of a new

Soviet bomber with Stealth capabilities.

It can project a false radar image

600 miles away from the real aircraft.

Christ! Now they got us chasing shadows.

I think I saw one.

What kind of an a**hole lives on an island

and he doesn't even have a boat?

Maybe we can swim for it.

How far do you think it is?

No. It's two or three miles.

At least. Maybe more.

- Well, what do you say? Let's go for it.

- No.

- Come on.

- No!

I can't swim.

You can't swim?

No. OK, Wonder Woman? I can't swim.

What kind of an a**hole grows up

in Seattle and doesn't know how to swim?

I never got around to it, OK?

I always thought

there was gonna be plenty of time!

I'm sorry.

I wish I didn't know about any of this.

I wish I was like

everybody else in the world.

Then tomorrow it would just be over.

There wouldn't be any time to be sorry.

About anything.

Oh, Jesus!

I really wanted to learn how to swim.

I swear to God I did.

Did I tell you that next week

I was gonna be on TV?

You're kidding?

On that aerobics show

with some girls from my dad's class.

A movie star.

Yeah!

It's kinda stupid, huh? I mean, nobody

would have been watching me anyway.

I would have.

Oh, Jesus!

The bastard turned us in!

It's all right. Get in.

We have a launch detection.

We have a Soviet launch detection.

BMEWS has confiirmed a massive attack.

- Missile warning. No malfunction.

- Confiidence is high.

- Cobra Dane, is this an exercise?

- This is not an exercise.

General, DPS is tracking

300 inbound Soviet ICBMs.

- Tell me this is one of your simulations.

- It's not, Jack.

All right. Flush the bombers.

Get the subs in launch mode.

We are at DEFCON 1 .

DEFCON 1.

Major Lem, get me a report on the WOPR.

Initial attack profile

is a full-scale Soviet strike.

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