1
BASED ON A SPACE EPOS
BY HARRY MARTINSON
- No!
- He'll be here later.
No.
- Want to wave goodbye to Earth?
- No.
You'll regret it if you don't.
Want to say bye-bye to Earth?
- Bye-bye, Earth.
- Bye-bye...
We will now begin docking with Aniara.
Please remain with your belts
fastened until the gangway is ready -
- and the seat-belt sign
is switched off.
Please note that checked containers -
- will not be available
during the voyage.
We hope you've had a pleasant ascent -
- and wish you a happy,
new life on Mars.
Excuse me, I work here.
Hi.
FOREBODY
Welcome aboard Aniara.
A state-of-the-art transport ship -
- which will take you all the way
from Earth to Mars in three weeks.
ASTRONOMER
The air we breathe on the craft
is completely natural.
It derives from our extensive
algae farms.
And our 21 restaurants...
Also feature a spa, a tanning salon...
You'll want for nothing.
As we enter our set course, -
- please lie down
with your seat belts fastened -
- until the gravitational load
has adapted to our cruising speed.
All communication systems
will be down -
- until we've reached our destination.
- Hi!
- Hi.
- So you're in my room now?
- Yes, here I am.
Served my whole life.
Still have to bunk.
That's how they treat astronomers here.
Yes.
Leave people behind on Earth instead
so I can have my own closet.
I don't care if they melt
into the tarmac.
- I was only kidding.
- I wasn't.
I've never been very impressed by people.
Sorry to hear that, but...
You sure seem to enjoy books.
I took the top shelves.
- I hope you don't snore?
- No.
Or, a little, maybe.
Then I'll have to change cabins
on the way back.
Goddamn it!
HOUR 1
ROUTINE VOYAGE
This is your Captain Chefone speaking.
We are now cruising at a speed
of 64 kilometers per second -
- and are expected to dock
with the space lift Valles Marineris -
- in 23 days, 7 hours, and 25 minutes.
- It's a pressure suit.
- Not exactly designer stuff.
I guess these are all you have,
so I'd like a size 104.
Please wrap it for me...
- Mima Hall introduction?
- I'm good, thanks.
Care to do the Mima Hall
introduction, starting now?
No, thanks.
Okay then. Might as well get started.
I'm called MR.
I work as a Mimarobe here on Aniara.
Quick back story:
Mima was originally created -
- for the first settlers on Mars,
who...
Simply put, she transports us
back to Earth as it once was.
Right, shall we? Let's go inside.
If you tilt your head down.
No one else do it.
You can tell, it gets more intense.
Is it okay if I have a look?
And look up.
What you see is personal to you, -
- since Mima has access
to your memory banks.
Now, let me explain
how to use this space.
Once you go into the images,
you won't feel your...
Stabilization initiated!
Two, one...
We've got protruding sections
by the Saba reactor.
Stand by for cooling results.
- Passing field SARI-17!
- Return to course.
Hondo, initiate course return.
Hondo!
Captain, initiating course return.
Field egress ICE-12.
What's happening?
Not sure, but don't worry.
Why don't you lie down
on the Mima pillow.
You can lie here for as long as you want.
- What happened?
- No idea.
- Nuclear fuel ejected.
- Good.
- Status on the back-up system?
- Techs are working on it.
Copy that. Isagel, course?
Field SARI-16, angle YKO-9.
Lyra constellation ahead.
Copy that.
Just keep still!
Everything is under control.
Nobody move. Just keep still.
Now, all is in order.
Need help?
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
FROM CAPTAIN CHEFONE
We will soon be going live -
- with Captain Chefone
from the Light-year Hall.
The broadcast will also be delivered
across all audiovisual devices.
Excuse me, could you scooch over?
Good evening, dear passengers.
We've had an incident,
and I understand your concern.
Let me get straight to it.
Something highly unlikely has occurred.
We had to make an emergency maneuver -
- to avoid a collision
with space debris.
It saved our lives.
But our reactor took a hit, -
- as a screw penetrated the hull.
The power station caught fire -
- and we had no choice
but to eject all our fuel.
This unfortunately means
we can no longer steer Aniara.
We've been knocked off-course
and cannot turn back.
But... you can remain calm.
Once we pass a celestial body
we'll use its gravity
to get back on course.
I can't tell you exactly
when this will happen.
But you should prepare for the fact
that it could be a couple...
Definitely no more than two years.
Hey. Excuse me?
It was supposed to take three weeks.
I'm afraid things have changed.
Listen to the captain now.
That's not possible. I told my son
I'd be there for his fourth birthday.
You will of course be duly
compensated upon arrival.
But for now we need to cooperate
and be there for one another.
Remember we have much
to be grateful for.
No one was hurt,
and our voyage is still ahead of us.
In that sense, we've been lucky.
Come.
Come here.
- Was her name Chebeba?
- No, that's me. Her name is Libidel.
Libidel? Listen to me.
Just let the images come to you.
Tilt your head down
and they'll come at once.
Breathe slowly.
Lie down here. That's it...
I'll let you know as soon
as I have more information.
In the meantime, help yourself
to a night snack from the management.
Have some snacks,
courtesy of the captain.
How soon can we increase algae
production to cover our food needs?
Immediately. It won't burden
the oxygen system.
Restaurants? How long can we last?
When do we run out of supplies?
It depends, but in two months
we'll start noticing a difference.
- Including the algae?
- We can survive on it.
But it's not exactly tasty.
How are you?
- Good.
- Nice repression.
I don't really have anyone
waiting for me...
- No family?
- No. None still living.
You've got Mima.
- Is anyone waiting for you?
- I'm separated.
- After 31 years, in total.
- Shit!
- What?
- I'm sorry! It just sounds so...
Long.
Of course, 31 years is a long time
in a human life span.
- How come it ended?
- I don't know.
It's so hard to tell
when you're involved.
You're right about that.
You usually need to view it
from a distance.
Guess I'll be able to do that now.
So check back with me
in a few years' time.
WEEK 3
WITHOUT A MAP
Excuse me. Where can I find
the Mima Hall?
Once you're inside the images,
you won't feel your body.
That's why you need to lie
on one of these.
Then you can spend hours in here.
Hey! You can't come in here!
I'll be right back.
No shoes in here! You need
to take the introduction first.
I'm sorry.
There we go. Lie down,
face down and just relax.
Now you lie down as well.
Let me take your glasses.
I need to speak to the captain.
He's busy. What's it about?
This past week I've had more visitors -
- than I usually get
for an entire trip.
- I need help.
- I'll pass it on.
- They need training too.
- I'll write that down.
Do you know how long it'll be
before we can... turn around?
- You can't sleep either?
- No.
Sorry!
Can I ask you something,
as an astronomer?
Ask away.
Do you have any idea
which celestial body
we'll be able to turn at?
What did you say?
I didn't say anything.
Because I'm not... anticipating anything.
Okay. I thought you knew about
that stuff.
I do know about that stuff.
The answer is, "none."
- None?
- No.
What?!
There's no celestial body to turn at.
You're kidding?
GM-54 is the closest we'll get to.
But we'll never reach its mass.
The pilots must have figured
that out too.
I don't get what they're doing
on the captain's bridge.
Will you turn off the light?
Turn off the light, please.
- Is he okay?
- It looked quite brutal to us...
- Let him out!
- Can I get by?
I work here. Excuse me.
It's some kind of panic attack
or psychosis.
Hi.
I work as a Mimarobe,
I'd like you to come with me.
He's asking if you're a devil?
A woman at the Planetarium told him
she's an astronomer and she knows...
She says we won't be able
to turn around.
No, that's not true.
Tell him...
Tell him to come with me,
I promise he'll feel better.
What do you think life on Mars is?
Some kind of paradise?
It's not.
It's cold.
Nothing grows except for a small
frost-proof tulip, this small.
Want me to translate?
Just say we may as well live here.
Further in. This way.
You need to put your head down.
Put it down.
There.
You'll have to come back another time.
No!
I really need some help.
This is untenable.
I need to train them as well.
Teach them to resist the images
to maintain focus in the room.
Sounds reasonable.
How many do you need?
- How many...?
- To help you out.
Right... five? Six.
People will freak out when they learn
we'll never be able to...
Never be able to do what?
Who told you that?
Right, I'll get you at least
eight people.
- Thanks.
- Good.
Once the passengers get used
to eating algae,
we'll go public with the situation.
I mean, the fact is...
The fact is what?
We've built our own little planet.
YEAR 3
THE YURG
What's your name?
- What's that?
- Daisi!
Come on, don't be so lori.
- Lori?
- Don't get all gammed down.
What?
Finish yourself off!
An important message
for all passengers.
Right now we're offering double points -
- for new algae-plant employees.
Sign up for duty at your nearest desk.
Nasty.
Sulfate?
- I don't smell anything.
- It stinks.
We need more people
on the water purification plant.
- Copy that.
- Shit!
- This is not good.
- No.
All the food we eat on the craft
comes from here.
Come in.
Keep walking.
Look at that beautiful color.
If it's brown, it's no good.
It must be washed.
Shall we continue into the next room?
See? This is good stuff.
The only hard thing about this job
is getting up in the morning.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Thank you. See you tomorrow.
- Beautiful.
- It's a tree, a duck, and a sea.
You think I could stay a little longer?
I'm afraid not.
What if I transfer points to your card?
- No, sorry. Come back tomorrow!
- It's like that?
- Fine then...
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
- Sure.
Wait!
The guy you saw me with this morning...
It meant nothing.
Just so you know.
There's much to be ashamed of
in life, but that's nothing.
I don't get her!
It's like she has no emotions.
You need to understand,
that's how pilots are.
- They're a new kind of fatalists.
- What?
They're experts at repressing their emotions.
Isagel...
Represses her feelings!
The utter nonsense of living.
What? Being in love is nonsense?
It's all so peripheral,
what we're doing.
It's so futile, so meaningless.
You see this bubble?
If you think of it as Aniara, -
- maybe you'll understand
the vastness of space.
You see, the bubble actually
moves through the glass.
Infinitely slowly.
We move forward in the same way
Even if we drift
at an incredible speed, -
- it's as if were standing perfectly still.
That's us: A little bubble
in the glass of Godhead.
Welcome.
- Good morning.
- Good morning.
Welcome!
What are you doing?
Three-VEB is fighting a cloud of shame.
How terror blasts in.
How horror blasts out.
Deliver me from the vision.
There. It's okay.
I'm sorry, I'm going to have
to close early today.
You can't just send us away...
- What's going on?
- She's sending us away!
We're not allowed in there.
Everybody back up.
What do you think you're doing?
Sit. Sit down!
How can you throw people
out of the Mima Hall?
Mima needs to rest.
- How do you know?
- She tells me.
- She tells you?
- Yes.
And that she reduces herself
to human speech is worrying.
She sees everyone's memories, -
- what they've been through...
- I know how a Mima works.
Right, but people are starting
to see awful things.
I need to close up for a week, -
- preferably a month.
- That's too rash.
We've got a system in place that works.
People go to work,
most of them contribute...
So we're not changing things
or dictating over Mima images!
- Right?
- It's untenable.
Get out of here.
Get out!
My conscience aches for the stones...
I've heard them cry
their stonely cries, -
- seen the granites white-hot weeping...
Do you understand?
I've been troubled by their pains.
In the name of Things, I want peace.
I will be done with my displays.
There is protection
from nearly everything...
Stop! You can't be in here! Stop!
But there is no protection
from mankind.
Get out!
Get out!
Get out, you can't be in here!
Prolonging the very second
when you burst.
How terror blasts in.
How horror blast out.
Mima!
How grim it always is, one's detonation.
No!
Unbelievable...
The Mimarobe stayed in there at night -
- and kept Mima all to herself.
How dare she?
Has Isagel been here?
I ran into her out in the corridor.
I need to get back.
Rumor has it you will be punished.
- Punished?
- Yes.
You can't blame the Mimarobe.
It's not her fault.
Two things.
One: we can do whatever we want.
Two: she's gotten a number of complaints.
What has she done?
She's been locking herself
in the hall to sabotage Mima.
You know that's not true.
I don't think I've ever seen you
this upset.
Nice to see you've got a little heart
beating in there...
Stop her!
We're headed for her cabin now.
It's 3151.
Hey! We want to talk to you!
What are you doing? Stop! Stop!
Emergency stop is activated.
The operator has been notified
and will arrive shortly.
YEAR 4
THE CULTS
Come closer. Give us light.
Come closer. Give us light.
Come closer. Give us light.
Come closer. Give us light...
He does not, and I quote: -
"Want his body to be buried
in the Light-year grave."
What exactly does that mean?
Seems he was frightened of space.
- What's the suicide count?
- Forty-eight.
- Forty-eight this month?
- Yes.
- That includes the family in 32?
- Yes.
You.
You.
You.
You.
You...
And you.
Let's go!
Come on. Go inside. Get in, get in!
We're in need of staff.
You'll be reassigned to your jobs.
Algae. Deoxidation. Algae.
You can stay down there, up to you.
Just take it! Come on!
Please, Isagel.
You'll be going back to Logistics.
MR, you're going to teach.
We need to focus on kids
with a talent for tensor theory.
Find the right size uniform.
And make us proud.
How can you even consider
staying down there?
- I've got my principles.
- You don't say.
Let's talk about artificial
gravitation. I'm quoting:
"Only with the new era's fifth
tensor theory" -
- did it become possible
to outsmart gravity.
Previously we had tried shooting
ourselves out of the curve vectors
or, which worked slightly better,
pulsating the spaceships -
"Out of the fields using force cadences."
Forgive us! Forgive us!
Forgive us! Forgive us!
Forgive us! Forgive us!
Forgive us...!
I won!
Hello.
Libidel wants you to carry the lantern.
Libidel and her Libidellas.
- Sorry, I didn't get it. What?
- Libidel and her Libidellas...
We're going to canonize Mima.
- You what?
- We're going to canonize Mima.
We'll form a choir at her grave.
Then what? You'll sacrifice me
for killing Mima?
Mima killed herself.
She died of grief.
She died of grief.
You have to come with us.
Mima, we pray at your grave.
- Mima...
- Our day of days.
YEAR 5
THE CALCULATION
What did you say?
There are no possibilities...
There are no possibilities here.
I'll give birth to a prisoner.
Why do you say that?
Because it's true.
I'll deliver someone to eternal night.
It's going to be fine.
I promise, it's going to be fine.
You'll feel better.
- You can't promise that.
- Yes, I can.
I'm going to get rid of the darkness.
What are you doing here?
Why aren't you with Isagel?
I said, why aren't you with Isagel?!
She wants to be alone.
I'm sneaking into the reception.
What reception?
I think it's called "Eternal Spring".
- Want to come?
- Eternal Spring...
What's the point of it?
I want to talk to the captain.
I want to build a beam-screen
outside the windows.
To escape the darkness.
You want to build a substitute for Mima.
A substitute for the substitute!
Excuse me. Got a minute?
It's about a beam-screen.
I'd like to build one.
Instead of teaching?
Yes. It would display images,
like Mima.
But outside the windows,
so we're shielded off from... space.
You don't grasp how serious this is.
But I do!
We must think of future generations.
Make a home for them here.
- Absolutely.
- I guess you want that too?
- Yes, and that's why...
- Then nothing is more important -
- than the work you do.
The kids you teach,
every little piece of shit...
Are our best and brightest.
- Understand?
- Yes...
- I just...
- You won't be allowed
to build your invention. Okay?
No!
I don't want to... I don't want to!
- I don't want to!
- You're doing great.
No!
One more push, Isagel, and it's over.
Give it all you've got. Come on!
Hello! Welcome, little buddy!
You're so big.
But you need to sleep!
You don't need to keep feeding, right?
No.
Look here. Now, it's night!
Two children play
In a field of wheat
Play with the thought
That they might with their eyes
Walk high atop the spikes
Walking on water is hard...
Stop singing.
If you just let
Your eyes wander round
And allow you to turn into a
butterfly or a wind
You'll be able to go...
But then came Gopta through QWI.
Without this major discovery
we wouldn't be where we are today.
Hello, Isagel!
- Here.
- How do I do it?
Where's Isagel? Tell me!
She was called up to the bridge.
- How come?
- They've discovered a rescue ship.
We're being rescued?
Fourteen arcseconds. It's moving closer.
Seventy-six kps.
- How fast was Samara supposed to go?
- Upwards of 73 kps.
What's going on?
I've discovered an anomaly -
- using one of the star deck telescopes.
It displays a clearly deviating
spectral signature.
It's not big enough
to be a rescue ship.
It's about 100 meters long,
two meters wide. Linear.
Then it's probably a high-speed probe.
Containing fuel?
Is it big enough to contain fuel rods?
- Affirmative.
- Enough to turn the ship around?
- Yes.
- Yes!
That's amazing! How far off is it?
Fourteen months.
Dear passengers, -
- I'm happy to announce help
is finally on the way.
An emergency fuel probe
is headed our way -
- and will be here
in about a year's time.
Then we can restart the engines
and turn back home.
Tonight we have every reason
to celebrate.
YEAR 6
THE SPEAR
Let's go, A-6. Full aperture.
Nice.
Focus, A-2.
Rotate out.
Rotate out!
Damn it! What are you doing?
Want to be stuck here
for the rest of your lives?
Stop the simulation.
You just shattered the probe
and tore a hole in the craft.
We're all dead. God help us.
We just need to keep practicing.
And you're supposed to be our best?
Unbelievable.
Do it again! Goddamn it!
Look! It's your favorite Chebeba!
- Not okay to be this late today.
- Sorry.
Wanna say bye?
You'll see it grow bigger.
Soon you'll...
- What?
- No Swedish.
This is your Captain Chefone.
We will soon begin docking, -
- so we ask you to return
to your cabins.
To slow down the probe,
artificial gravity levels -
- may have to be increased
up to seven or 9g.
Ready for manual increase
in T-minus ten.
Magnetrons aport,
astern of frame 370 disengaged.
Three... two... one.
NG in the stern.
Point-three...
Five...
Seven...
Deceleration achieved at 1.7g.
Neutralizing gravity levels.
We're only getting a read
on the cosmic radiation.
Listen up!
Pack up our analytical instruments,
all of them.
- We need to report to Chefone now.
- Okay.
You, too! Hey!
- We need to report to the captain.
- Quiet, I'm busy.
- Hello!
- Leave her. She's more useful here.
Neither the initial spectral analyses
nor the goptic-STEM could determine
the elemental composition.
It's not necessarily an issue.
I mean, our method of measuring
may be... out of date.
Maybe we shouldn't have said
it's a rescue probe?
Have you seen what that information
has done?
How motivated everyone has become.
We should have said it was coming -
- long before we even knew
it was coming.
So we're not ruling out
that it can contain fuel?
Absolutely not.
Probably the material itself
can be turned radioactive...
Though we don't know exactly how.
But we'll find a solution.
What does the horse say?
No!
That's how the horse goes!
Want to go riding?
Maybe you'll be a jockey one day?
Who knows?
What does the horse say?
- I don't know.
- What does the horse say?
No.
- I need to get her home.
- Of course.
Hello? Time to go home?
How's his vocabulary coming?
Is he learning anything?
Has he mentioned spiral galaxies?
- Come on, let's go.
- No. Why?
We need to get to work
in a few hours. It's important!
It's a goddamn waste of time.
Hey! Do you believe in the probe?
Cut it out! You can't act
like this in public! Come!
Let's take a 20-minute break.
In any case,
this is a revolutionary discovery.
It's a miracle.
If only we could extract some data.
Did you say it was a miracle?
Don't you know that "miracle"
and "chance" -
- come from the same source?
Okay, that's great.
That thing showing up
has nothing to do with us.
It's chance. Devoid of any meaning.
- Damn...
- Let's just stop right there!
Why don't you hit me?
What's this? What is this thing?
- You think it'll save you?
- Let go!
- Let go!
- So hit me!
- Tell us what's going on!
- I don't know.
We demand you tell us!
- Back up! Back up!
- Why haven't we turned around yet?
Back up!
It wasn't even cranked up that high!
- I'm burning!
- Back up!
- I'm burning!
- Everybody back up!
What are you doing?
You'll be receiving an award
for your discovery tonight.
Award?
So you're going to use it as a prize?
You're not going to spread any fear.
Listen up!
We've all had high hopes
for this object.
And until we have certainty,
we don't say anything.
The last thing we want
is for people to lose hope.
So tonight I'll say everything
is going as planned.
And we'll need to present
a united front. Is that clear?
We are in a sarcophagus... a coffin.
That's all we know with certainty.
- I won't have that tone.
- I won't have any hypocrisy.
You're not spreading
any rumors this time!
I knew she wrote...
But not that she wrote poems.
"We came from Earth, from Dorisland," -
- the gem in our solar system.
The only orb where life could grow, -
- a land of milk and honey.
Describe the landscapes
we found there, -
- the days which there dawned.
Describe the man who sewed the garb
for the funeral of his spawn, -
- till God and Satan hand in hand -
- through a ravaged, poisoned land -
- took to hills, fled up and down -
"From man: A king with ashen crown."
It was during autumn time.
Stones were glazed.
All that could burn turned to ash.
This is our punishment.
I'm living through my own funeral.
If you're going to scream,
you need to leave!
I'm off.
I don't want to live here.
Daisi, Daisi Doody! Don't go!
Wait, I'm coming with you.
I want to dance!
Return immediately to your cabins
and fasten your seat belts.
I repeat.
Return to your cabins immediately.
Everyone buckle up!
Hurry up! Buckle up!
- Yes, I'm on it.
- What's happening?
The bow shock is killing
all our equipment.
Run... birdie!
I'll handle this.
Isagel!
I'm so sorry!
She calls out to me.
Who?
She cries out to me,
but she calls me by another name.
Listen to me, Isagel.
You're high. But you'll come down.
Mama.
Hi!
Make sure to gather sheets...
and clothes.
Yeah.
Careful now.
- Connect this with the focus-works.
- Sure.
Go play with your toys.
No, no, no! You cannot play with that!
It's very dangerous.
I know, I'm sorry.
Don't be angry.
- I think you're very tired.
- Mommy!
We're going home. It's looking great!
Want to do it yourself? There!
I'm on the verge of making it work.
That's great. Congratulations.
What's wrong?
You're so talented.
At brushing my teeth?
The corners of your mouth...
I love how they point upward.
It's like you can't be sad.
I admire you. How you persevere.
Wait till you see the result.
I want you both to be proud of me.
Should I go with another image?
No, this one's great. Really.
- Really?
- Yes.
God, I don't know why I'm so nervous.
I want it to be a paradise...
Let's do it. Turn it on.
Yes!
Have you seen the image?
What do you think?
- It's nice.
- Isn't it?
I can change images too.
Isagel!
Isagel!
No...
No. No!
You asshole! You asshole!
Get up!
YEAR 10
THE JUBILEE
Punt and Tyrus.
Vinland and Da Gama.
NASA and Aniara.
We are pioneers who have gone
further into space -
- than anyone before us.
That's worth a round of applause.
I would now like to hand out
an honorary medal.
May I ask you, Mr,
to come up on stage?
MR is awarded
the Aniara Honorary Medal -
- for her beam-screen, -
- which has helped us
remember our origins -
- and transported us
to glittering waterfalls, -
- wonderful pine forests,
and glorious summer meadows.
YEAR 24
THE SARCOPHAGUS
On Earth I saw the light...
With my skin.
The vision seared me...
My skin.
I was blinded by a god.
Give us light.
Give us light. Give us light.
YEAR 5,981,407
LYRA CONSTELLATION