Hello?
Come on! I know someone's in there!
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.
That sort of thing.
Of course. An exclusive all-male club
playing God with the universe.
We were just one small unit in a whole network of stations around the world.
Acting simultaneously. Besides...
We might not have been responsible.
God may have just blinked.
God blinked and the whole world disappeared?
A world of noisy, brawling,
wonderful human beings.
God, I miss them.
It's alright.
Hello?
Dr. Hobson, this is reception.
I suppose you realize you must vacate your room by 10 o'clock.
And, are you aware there is an extra charge for your guest last night?
Didn't realize I had to pay for it.
You don't get anything for nothing, you know? - Come back to bed.
Thank you. - Anything else, sir?
More crumpet? - Sorry, love, crumpet's off.
See you 1 o'clock in the plaza. - Okay, then we head south.
We go back. - We'll discuss that at lunch.
There are a number of constants
which have never been known to change in the history of science.
One of these is the unit charge of an electron.
In an experiment I have just conducted
I have established that this charge has changed
and, in fact, is oscillating between two new values.
I cannot to measure these values,
as it seems the amplitude of the oscillation is increasing.
I can only conclude that the fabric of the universe
has not only altered, but is highly unstable.
God knows where that leaves us.
Hello, mon cher.
Joanne, is that you? - You mean there is someone else?
Hey, you know you're the only girl in the world for me, sweetheart.
Okay.
Au revoir, cheri. - I'm on me way.
Freeze, mister!
You alone?
You seen anyone else?
Up against the truck.
Turn around.
Zac, are you there?
Zac?
What's holding you up?
You tell lies. - No, well, what would you have done?
How many of you? - Just her and me.
Two of yous?
Switch it off and cruise.
Look... - Come on!
She's not there. - You'll find her.
Zac, where've you been?
Why didn't you answer me? - This bloody radio.
I thought I was gonna be alone again.
Good.
Hide the bottle. It's a cop.
Straight face, please.
Fish. Fish in that stream. - Baby ones.
Yeah, that makes sense. The fish eggs settle on the river bed.
The male fish swims along dropping sperm on them.
So, if the sperm was released before The Effect, and penetrated after...
...there's be fish.
For awhile there, I thought I was dead. - He thought he was God.
Why did you think you were dead? - Cause I was.
I was in the bush down south with a mate. Well, sort of mate.
As I began to go unconscious, I could see it all happening.
I was watching from high up.
I could see him, and I could see myself.
It was really peaceful.
Like a weight'd been lifted off.
There was another thing. Like a light a long way off.
I was traveling towards it Yearning to reach it.
Suddenly, I felt the whole weight of life crash back on me.
I was so disappointed.
You felt that, if you could reach that light, you'd never want to come back again.
Happened to me.
The same. - The moment of death.
The effect happened at the exact moment of death and that's why we survived.
Is that what you think? - I reckon.
For awhile there I didn't know what I was. And when I found I was alone in this world...
I thought I was a ghost.
It was really sad.
I reckoned if I was here and alive, I'd better head north to look for survivors.
And if I was a spirit, I thought I'd better head for Cape Reinga.
Either way, I was heading in the right direction.
So there's just the three of us.
Well, you're alive and so am I.
How about you?
I suppose so.
What do you think of him? - He plays the odd bum note.
Oh, come on.
Nah, I think he's great.
See you made the beds. - Mmhm. One...two.
It's ironic.
Of all of us, I thought I'd be the one most equipped to handle
Whatever it is that's happened.
I used to enjoy being a loner.
And then you came along.
I'm thinking about the three of us now. Not just you and not just me.
Hey Api, play us another song which we can sing.
Okay.
Let auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind
Let auld acquaintance be forgot,
for the sake of auld lang syne
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
for the sake of auld lang syne
If the oscillations in the sun continue to increase at the present rate
the sun must collapse in a few days, taking everything with it.
Computer analysis is needed immediately for a more accurate prediction.
You know, the interesting thing about friendships is, is that they're not logical.
You know how some people will come up to you
and they'll ask you why do you like so and so,
and you'll give them all these interesting reasons why you do,
but you've actually made them up after you've decided you like them.
I reckon you decide you like somebody
in the two seconds you meet them. You stick to it regardless.
So, if you like them, you're gonna find good things in all the bad things they do.
And if you don't, you're gonna find bad things in all the good things they do.
The other thing is, you tend to like people who like you.
And what did you decide about me?
Guess you like me.
Why was your mate trying to kill you?
Cause I killed his wife. - Killed his wife? Why?
It was necessary.
Necessary.
And who decides when it'll be necessary?
And when'll be the next time that you decide it's necessary?
Who the hell do you think you are? God?
You're not God.
Joanne, look, something really strange is happening.
I don't quite understand it, but we're gonna...
What's the matter? - Leave me alone, please.
What's happened?
Look, I got something really important to tell ya.
We went through all that shit last night.
I'm not talking about last night, I'm talking about the sun!
You wanna talk about the sun? Go and talk to that God out there.
Listen to me!
Take your hands off me. - What are you doing?
Api...
How soon can you get your gear together? We've gotta head up north.
But you just got here?
Yeah, I know. But please, mate, how quickly?
My place not good enough for you? - No, no. It's not that.
Look, I'll explain it along the way, okay? - Are you in charge here?
Okay. Yeah, if that's the way you want it, yes I am. Yes.
She came back crying. What did you do to her?
What will you do? - I'm in charge, remember?
Joanne, get your ass into gear. We're leaving straight away.
Listen, honky, haven't you noticed? Things have changed around here.
The white boss went with the rest of them. There's just you and me now.
Look, it's complicated enough for people like me
without trying to explain to people like you.
People like what? - Will you listen to that!
Okay. If that's the way you want it.
You coming?
I wouldn't ride with you if you were the last man on Earth.
I'm working on it.
It would seem that Domingo's Operation Flashlight is still intact.
Self-energizing from the entire balanced grid.
And this is somehow affecting the Sun.
You!
If you don't stop, I'll shoot. And I don't care which one.
I'm not going to live with two of you at each other's throats
trying to prove which one is God.
If you don't believe me, try it.
You don't trust -
For Christ's sake!
Look, that bloody thing's been worrying me for over a year now.
I knew there was something wrong with that project.
And I said nothing.
Can you be more guilty than that?
You condemned yourself to death.
On the morning of The Effect, you were trying to kill yourself.
What you gonna do about it? - Don't know.
You trying to tell me you jokers caused all this
and you can't even fix it?
Well, we never did know the full story. The Americans withheld information.
Are you monkeying with the universe
without even knowing what you're doing?
Nobody realized what was happening.
We trusted them. They were on our side.
You can't be that dumb.
They might as well tell the Russians as tell you jokers.
Besides: They don't tell you, you don't tell us...
You're all the same to me.
Well, I've told you now.
You tell lies.
Try it again.
Same result. - Those two lines that meet.
What do they mean?
It's a time scale. That's the point of maximum instability.
About 6 o'clock tomorrow morning.
What happens then?
Well, I think it's The Effect. It's gonna happen again.
Zac?
Joanne?
Api?
Hey!
Yeah?
Zac?
Api?
Where are you?
Api!
Zac?
Api.
Joanne? Where are you?
Joanne! - I 'm here.
You okay?
Your calculations are wrong. It's too soon.
No. That was just a tremor.
Next time that happens, it'll be the real thing.
Your calculations are a waste of time.
You reckon the grid is ballast?
Okay. We take the sand out, the grid collapses.
Didn't work.
Neat, eh? - He's an artist.
Are you sure there's enough?
How much you reckon we need?
A ton?
We take a truckload.
So, Perrin throws the switch, The Effect happens, and everyone disappears.
But our little effect is happening again tomorrow morning.
Now there's no Perrin, no switch.
So maybe The Effect and the grid are totally unrelated.
You mean like that boy with the stick? - Ay?
The boy with the stick.
Remember that massive power blackout in the States?
The whole east coast was out for about 6 hours.
They reckon this boy was on his way home.
He was pissed off about something.
And he whacked this power pole with all of his might.
And, at that instant, his whole world went black.
And he thought he had done it. What do you reckon?
Well, I reckon The Effect was a cosmic event, like the creation.
And nobody has ever explained that properly.
On the other hand, perhaps nobody disappeared. Only me.
I am The Effect.
And us? - You're not real. You're in my mind.
You're God.
I actually do think it's the grid. Besides, it's our best bet.
So I'll get the other truck.
We're not real.
You were born under the shadow of Pirongia.
Down that way...
Patupaiarehe. The red-haired people of the night.
Maybe you're not real.
Real enough.
Oh well. I suppose, if this works, we all live happily ever after.
Don't we? - Hopefully.
All three of us? - We have to.
It's easier for me because I like both of you.
But you do prefer him...
I get a really strange notion sometimes.
Sometimes I feel as if you and Api
have known each other a long, long time.
As though I'm the victim of some huge conspiracy.
And you and Api have been sent to be my guardians.
I feel as though you pass secret messages
when I'm not looking.
Perhaps we do.
There's some pretty odd things about Api.
Are you worried about why his mate was trying to kill him?
Yeah.
He killed his mate's wife.
She was in love with him and he rejected her.
So she committed suicide.
And he felt he was responsible. So did his mate.
That's really sad.
The things I've learned about people...
...in the last few weeks.
You needn't worry about me.
Whatever happens, I can handle it.
Look out!
Api! I knew there was something I forgot to tell him.
What do you reckon? - Blow it up?
I'll push it out of the way.
Hey, Api?
Be careful. - No sweat.
He's going an awfully long way back.
Surely he's not... - No.
He is!
Anybody coming? - See ya.
Api. You read me?
Api. Come it, Api.
Here comes the boss. - Answer your bloody radio, Api!
Give him a bit of a squeeze, eh? - What the hell are you doing?
We can't go any closer. - Why?
The lab's so hot with ionization,
it'd be like walking into a microwave oven.
Are we safe enough here?
It's about a mile away.
Looks like we didn't bring enough. - Shall we take a look?
The lights are still on. - Yeah. Are supplied by the network.
We'll know whether the grid's collapsed. The lights will go out.
If we ever get the truck in there at all.
Who's gonna take it in?
I got something back in the city that could do this job.
It's a radio control unit. I've used it on a lawn mower.
Will it work on a truck that size?
We can adapt it. - Have we got time?
Think so.
If I leave now, I'll be back in two hours.
Like me to come with you?
Best you stay. - Okay.
What do you think will happen?
He will try with the radio device.
Probably won't work on a truck that size.
So I'll drive it in.
Why you? - Cause I'm the driver.
Anyway, it is easier for me.
My old kuia's looking after me.
What's that? - It's the truck!
How long's it been?
About 20 minutes. - He can't have gone at all.
He tells lies!
It's started. - Zac?