1
You have selected Japanese.
The "Sarajevo Roses" are craters
left by shells fired on the city
by the Army of the Republika Srpska
during the Bosnian War
after the dissolution of Yugoslavia.
"Sarajevo, 2015"
The craters were filled with red resin
to honor those who died in the bombings.
Officials are unable to contact
the American Embassy there, and--
"Washington D.C., 2022"
Captain Clavis Shepherd, I believe
you hold the answers to our questions
about Special Operations
I Detachment and its mission,
as well as to the question
nobody here has voiced yet.
Now tell me: who is John Paul?
"Georgia, 2020"
Amateurs.
They've got nothing on 'em.
What now, Clavis?
We'll use our standard play.
Propaganda by the military government?
Yes, sir. I remember hearing
the same broadcast six months ago.
You were part of the Ossetia op, Alex?
Yes. Evidently,
Georgian speakers are in demand.
But when a new Public Enemy No. 1
pops up so soon after the last one,
I start to wonder if our job
really means anything.
There's a checkpoint in 500 meters.
Don't let your guard down.
We ran out of fuel
and food while we were on patrol.
Oh?
Hold it!
It's like they don't know what
"information literacy" means.
The Majority Leader has arrived, sir.
Who told him about this?
I wish you'd informed me
a bit sooner, Mr. President.
Sorry, George.
But we may be released
from this nightmare today.
Will we go to Hell, do you think?
I'm an atheist.
Sir, Hell exists whether you
believe in God or not.
Yeah, this place is pretty much Hell.
Not what I meant.
Hell is here. In your head--in your brain.
What we're seeing right now isn't Hell.
We can leave this and go back
to our normal lives in America.
But we can't escape Hell.
Because Hell is in our heads.
So is Heaven in there, too?
Don't make fun, Leland.
Hey, we're coming up on the church.
What do we do
with our foot soldier disguises?
The church may have a built-in ID reader.
Using some grunts' tags
would work against us. Yank 'em out.
"Moonlight"...
What?
Take this seriously, would ya, bookworm?
The American isn't here.
What now?
I'm looking for an American. The man
who was supposed to meet you here.
I didn't know he was American. He's our
Deputy Secretary of Cultural Information.
Was, I should say.
You killed him?
No. But he said he was going away.
For all his eloquence, he only left us
one sentence on official letterhead...
He disappeared?
In other words,
Mr. President, he's a no-show.
"Official letterhead" my ass.
There's no government here.
Just some militias--and you're the worst
of the lot, you genocidal scum.
"Genocidal"? How dare you profane
our wish for peace with a word like that?
This is a battle against the base terrorism
that threatens
my government and my citizens!
You're the one going around
killing those citizens.
And your so-called "government"
isn't recognized by any UN member states.
The UN, pah! imperialist pigs
who trample our culture
and sneer at our right
to self-determination.
Different races coexisted in peace here
for centuries until they...
That's right, how did we end up this way?
Tolerance and multiculturalism
are our country's virtues...
I know, it was the terrorists.
This is the terrorists' fault!
No, wait... we didn't have to
send troops into the capital for them...
Why did we end up this way?
Repentance won't save you.
What are they talking about?
I don't care what your religion is--
if it has a Hell, you're going straight there.
Yes, I imagine I will.
But you misunderstand me:
This isn't a confession. I really don't know.
I don't know how this land
that was so beautiful two years ago
became so devastated.
You started this war!
I started it...?
--You...
--Why have I been killing...?
Colonel! These emotional
optimization values are abnormal.
--T-Tell me!
--Shut up.
P-Please... tell me...
--Why have I been killing?!
--Please... stop...
--Why have I been killing?!
They're out of control.
They've risen to a level
self-restraint can't conquer!
What's going on?
Captain Shepherd, come in!
--Colonel...
--Shepherd!
--Why did I kill them?
Captain Shepherd!
Please shut up.
--Shepherd!
--Why?
No... no...
Wait. These numbers
aren't Captain Shepherd's!
Alex...
Hey.
Why did you do that?
"Why II?
Shepherd, do you read me?
The second lieutenant's
vital signs have ceased.
Captain Shepherd! Sitrep, now!
Target A confirmed dead.
I made the call to take out Alex.
I'll dispose of the body per procedure
in imminent-danger situations.
He's going to abandon the body
of an American soldier?
You think the public will stand for that?!
It's a logical decision, sir.
While Executive Order 12333
remains in effect,
we have to prevent this mission
from becoming public.
Permission granted.
Rendezvous with Williams and
do whatever it takes to get back to base.
We'll talk after that.
Williams, I assume you're here?
Yep, right below the window.
How's it looking?
We're clear as moonlight.
Ultimate soldiers
uninfluenced by emotion, eh?
Sir?
Well, has the situation--
Er, have the survivors' conditions changed?
No, sir.
They're perfectly flat.
The White House has officially
denied rumors of its involvement
in the death of the Georgian
"Defense Minister" reported three weeks ago.
In response, Georgia's self-proclaimed
provisional government stated--
The day New York's twin towers were lost,
something inside us changed.
The scope of our freedoms
shrank in order for us to fight terror,
and although the pendulum
did swing back a little,
the trauma of losing our peers meant that
public sentiment never changed course.
Since a homemade nuclear bomb
leveled Sarajevo five years ago,
that trend has gained momentum.
Thanks to which, we were
released from the fear of terrorism
and gained better
security conditions than ever before.
Perhaps in reaction, the terrorists
stopped threatening developed nations
and unleashed a storm of civil wars
and genocides in their own backyards.
It's like the whole world
just decided to go crazy.
Richmond Stadium is packed again today.
The pass in the second down
was a quick pass to the outside,
but it was incomplete,
so we're now in the third down and 10.
The players are passing very well today.
Now it's a matter of which route they pick.
He looks left, then throws a pass
from the shotgun formation.
Will it work? No! The receiver drops the ball!
That was intense.
That's an incomplete pass.
The receiver is devastated.
The quarterback returned, but...
Yes, we're seeing a flag.
Looks like there was a foul.
Hmm... Ah, look at Smith the wide receiver.
That's a little worrisome.
Yes.
He must've taken a hit to the head.
Personal foul.
A penalty against the defense
has triggered an automatic first down!
--The rule against going after a
defenseless player with your helmet, correct?
--Stupid rule. --The rule against going after a
defenseless player with your helmet, correct?
--Yeah, too overprotective. --lt's a very
dangerous move called "helmet-to-helmet."
--Let's just hope Smith is all right.
--He's dead, but I don't feel anything.
--Let's just hope Smith is all right.
I couldn't feel anything
even when I killed him.
Really?
Lately I have these dreams.
Nightmares, maybe.
Me too, actually.
They get me thinking...
Maybe there's still
something there in our brains
even if we're too overprotected
to feel it anymore.
Alex talked about that.
Yeah. "Hell."
Maybe we'll end up like him someday.
I'll foul out before then.
You're fine with that?
It's just my job.
Yes.
Yeah, he's with me.
The Pentagon?
Right now, sir?
Goodbye.
We've been summoned.
--Ah, Smith has stood up!
--Yes he has.
I guess he's okay. And the crowd
is going wild in response.
What's next for you?
Antiterrorism data aggregation. You?
The Libyan Liberalization Committee, I think.
Captain Clavis Shepherd, I believe?
Yes, sir!
You saved the US from a crisis.
I'd like to offer my thanks.
Yes, sir...
Ah, yes.
Come right in.
That was Erica Sales from Eugene & Krupps.
The private military company?
She's quite the saleslady, too.
You two!
What are you waiting for? Get in here.
PTSD, sir?
Yes. That was the experts' consensus.
They discovered a flaw in Alex's pre-mission
Battle Emotion Adaptive Regulation.
"Flaw"?
I can't go into the exact numbers here,
but they've admitted a mistake
in the optimization value.
You're saying the emotional regulation
designed to prevent PTSD caused PTSD?
I'm sorry for the worry this must cause you.
We've already planned measures
to prevent a recurrence.
Your decision under the circumstances
has been 100% affirmed.
But that's not--
Did you want us to discipline Captain Shepherd?
N-No, sir...
You have a new mission.
The American, I presume.
Yes.
John Paul. I know
you're familiar with the name.
The lntermedia Group
coordinates image strategy
for countries and large corporations.
Three years ago, it leapt to fame
when it put Somalia's economy on track
by getting investments
from international companies.
At the time, John Paul was in charge
of signing companies as clients,
and he juggled several at once.
His accomplishments were soon recognized,
and he became aide to the Cultural
Publicity Ministers of several nations.
And then the genocide started.
Yes. It seems you already
understand the situation.
You're saying he's at the center
of the nonstop political chaos
happening around the globe.
Just six months.
Peaceful countries he visits
descend into civil war in just six months,
and eventually genocide starts.
But you people knew, didn't you?
You knew this before I was
ever ordered to assassinate John Paul!
That's right.
We attempted his arrest several times
before we asked Special Operations
Command to assassinate him.
"We" as in who?
The CIA. Foreign matters
fall under our purview.
So basically, we have to
risk our lives to fix your mistakes.
Watch your tongue.
Apologies, sir. But if they hadn't
screwed the pooch, Alex wouldn't be dead!
You're quite right.
But in our defense, at that point,
the strength of our suspicions was,
"He seems to have been
involved in several atrocities
in a manner as yet undetermined."
The chaos spread like wildfire
while we obtained the intel that
convinced us John Paul was the source.
You want us to believe one man
is leading mass murders around the globe?
Yeah, right.
Why have I been killing? Please, tell me!
Wh)' have I been killing?!
So, why are we here?
A trailing op.
We think John Paul is hiding out
in the Czech Republic.
You're telling us to play spy?
As you know, the main mission
of our Special Operations I Detachment
is to respond
to crimes against humanity:
To contain genocides by killing
whoever commands the armies responsible.
But if John Paul is out there somewhere
fomenting mass murder right now,
we need to know where.
Lucie Skroupova.
She teaches private Czech lessons in Prague.
Three days ago, John Paul met with her.
It was the first time
in our two years of surveillance.
John Paul's woman, eh?
Could he have already
left the Czech Republic?
We don't know. The man never raises
any flags during airport ID checks.
So we're watching the broad, betting on
the chance that he'll come back... right?
We're appointing you to the DIA,
as well as temporarily assigning you
to the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Intelligence Department.
You're the only ones
who can stop another genocide.
Even as we speak,
John Paul could be planning
to plunge another country into Hell.
John Paul's profile is
a crossword puzzle steadily being filled in.
We figure the suits would've been
better off telling us everything on Day One.
John Paul lost his family in Sarajevo.
His wife and six-year-old daughter
went for a simple sightseeing trip,
and in a split second they
turned into ash at the bottom of a crater.
My ID trace puts him at the home of
a student named Lucie Skroupova that day.
So: an affair.
A month later,
he visited the Sarajevo Crater
as a family member of the victims.
Soon after, he quit MIT.
It was six months later
that he joined the lntermedia Group.
To spread the word about
his client countries' plights,
he arranged receptions
for famous bureaucrats
and got cabinet members
guest spots on American news shows.
The company started thinking
very highly of him.
Here's the part of his career
the suits wanted to hide.
He was an export fully authorized
by the US government.
Basically, at that Pentagon meeting
there were more than a few people
who knew our friend John.
Probably because of the genocides
in every country he managed,
he was compelled to leave the company.
And he dropped off the map
at this shopping mall in Prague.
Apparently European info specialists say
that people who disappear in Prague
have zero traceability.
"Apparently"? Not exactly concrete intel.
But the fact remains that
John Paul disappeared in this city.
Twice, in fact. Three years ago,
and seven days ago.
"Waiting for John Paul," eh?
This is like a Kafka play.
If you're alluding to Waiting for Godot,
that's a Beckett play.
And Godot never shows up, so the people
waiting just talk about him forever.
Try not to jinx us, okay?
Anything absurd is Kafka to me.
True, Czech may be more difficult
to learn than other languages...
...Mr. Bishop.
While Czech is a Slavic language,
like Russian or Croatian,
it takes their trademark inflection-heavy
nature to quite an extreme.
The "over 200 inflections
for one word" thing, right?
That's the most drastic example.
But in my experience,
the difficulty seems to lie in its
free word order and its pronunciation.
People like you who move here for work
all seem to struggle with pronunciation.
I see.
Lucie Skroupova makes her living
teaching Czech to foreigners.
Students learn the language from her
right here in this living room.
Your English is impeccable, ma'am.
English is the hegemonic language, after all.
Where did you learn?
In America. I studied linguistics there.
So you're a word pro, then!
Where in America?
MIT.
Wow, that makes you an elite.
--"Wow, that makes you an elite!"
--There was something I could only study there,
so I went. --"Wow, that makes you an elite!"
--There was something I could
only study there, so I went.
That's all.
What did you research at MIT?
Hmm... You could say I studied the effects
of language on human behavior.
"A man's language
molds his perception of reality"...
Like the thing about Eskimos
having twenty words for snow?
Ah, the good old Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.
No, not like that.
Are you familiar with the
inherent ability to generate grammar?
No...
This goes back to the era
when slavery was legal.
People from different tribes
kidnapped from different places in Africa
were forced to work together without
understanding each other's languages.
In time, they picked up broken versions
of their masters' languages.
These were grammatical messes,
and any literary technique was impossible.
First-generation systems
like that are called "pidgins."
When children of those slaves
grew up speaking the pidgin natively,
a lively, natural syntax arose
that the rigid pidgin didn't have.
The children acquired a complex
grammar that didn't exist before!
The only explanation is that our brains
have a faculty for generating sentences.
An inherent ability
to generate sentences...
It's a mechanism hardwired into our DNA.
An organ that gives birth
to language, if you will.
When you say "organ," is it like
our internal organs, or arms, or eyes?
That's right.
Well, you two enjoyed
a very cultured conversation.
Leave it to a Lit major.
It just happened to play out that way.
Oh yeah? Looked to me
like you steered it that way.
Jealous of my single status?
Hey, I've still got it, I'll have you know.
That teacher lady
would've been putty in my hands.
As if you're capable
of cultured conversation.
I'd talk about Eskimos.
Or Kafka.
Knowledge gaps are key. Gotta leave
openings for the women to poke fun.
That's not a gap, that's a crater.
"Penhaligons eau de toilette"...
a cologne for men.
Pretty sure she hasn't had
any men over since John Paul.
The lingering scent of John Paul, eh?
Maybe even he wants to seem
gentlemanly in front of his girlfriend.
No sperm in the air?
You'd think they'd be excited
after so much time apart.
Watch out, Clavis.
I'd peg her as a femme fatale.
She brings men grief.
Not that your nerd pheromones
attract women anyway.
We're set. May I have your
authentication, for the contract?
I'll make my "gaps"
a bit classier than Williams's.
I hope I can read Kafka in Czech one day.
Oh, no, Kafka wrote his novels in German.
You know this country used to be
part of the Austria-Hungary Empire, right?
It rings a bell.
Kafka was also a Jew... but he couldn't
quite fit in with Jewish society.
And he apparently thought of German
as a borrowed tongue not his own.
I wonder if works like
The Castle and Amerika
reflected his sense of having
no group to belong to.
"L have nowhere to belong, and my words
are a string of borrowed sounds."
Yes, perhaps Kafka felt that way.
Like the land surveyor
loitering around the castle?
I'm sorry.
I was just remembering someone
you remind me of. He loved books, too.
What was this boyfriend like?
That's a very personal question.
You're the one who brought him up.
I suppose so...
He was an academic
doing linguistics research, like me.
He was the more brilliant scholar, though.
He was involved in a Department
of Defense language project.
The Pentagon invests in linguistics?
He said he was funded by DARPA.
That's one impressive guy.
We met at MIT. We dated
for a while, but it didn't last.
Then I came back to
the Czech Republic and started this job.
Welcome to the Czech Republic
Ministry of Tourism.
Please select your language.
Nothing, huh?
Thanks, Williams.
What a surprise.
Now, then. What I want
to know is, who are you?
Like I'd tell you!
Now, then. What I want
to know is, who are you?
I'm nobody!
Now, then...
Who are you?
I'm no one! Please believe me!
I'm really nobody!
You're a cruel guy.
I'm a cruel guy.
Either he lost his fingers in an accident
and got transplants, or...
That'd be in the records.
A database mismatch?
"L'm nobody," he said...
How about this explanation?
He has a contact who's capable
of illegally altering the database.
If so, he's probably an agent
of one government or another.
Is that why the Pentagon is in
such a hurry to assassinate John Paul?
Very possible.
Hey.
Hello!
It was a lucky break that Lucie
offered to show me Kafka's grave.
If someone's tailing her, it means
the enemy isn't only interested in me.
Which of us are they
keeping tabs on? Or is Lucie in on it?
Were these Kafka's sisters?
Yes.
They all died around the same time...
...Oh.
Yes. Auschwitz.
They all died in the Holocaust.
His youngest sister, Ottla,
was married to a German,
but she divorced him and
voluntarily went to the ghetto.
Even though as the wife of an Aryan,
she could have gotten an exemption...
You know all the details.
John told me many times.
"John"... That's the man
you used to date, right?
John talked about the Holocaust a lot.
He seemed interested
in the history of genocide.
He'd talk about Stalin,
Cambodia, the Sudan, Rwanda...
The history of genocide, huh?
He said it had a particular smell.
A smell?
One that lingers in the Nazi death camps,
Katyn Forest... all those sites.
So, in the end you never knew
what John was researching?
No. I don't think he told anyone.
He did it all himself.
I doubt even his wife knew.
His wife? You mean you--
I knew he had a child, too.
I'm the worst sort of woman.
L-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have pried.
It's fine. But if you're sorry,
will you come to one more place with me?
Do you drink Budweiser?
Budweiser? That's what
I always drink in America.
Ah, the Busch one. I won't say it's bad,
but you need to try the real thing.
--Paper money? --I suppose ID-pay
is the norm these days, isn't it?
So that was illegal currency?
Of course not! It's a regional currency
recognized by the government and the EU.
I thought the experiments
with regional currency were over!
Yes, past attempts were about
reempowering the community,
so they leaned too far to the left.
But this isn't a community movement
so much as a punk one.
Punk?
People want something to balance out
the information society.
Hi, Lucie.
Ciao, Lucius!
Lucius owns this place.
He's very smart, and a deep thinker.
This is Charles Bishop. His company
just transferred him here from the US.
Pleased to meet you. This is a great bar.
Thank you.
You haven't been by in a while, Lucie.
Everyone's missed you!
Poor Tyrone's been pining.
Oh, has he?
What's your relationship with Lucie?
I'm her student. She's teaching me Czech.
Wow, she's never
brought a student here before.
I'll bet you were surprised
that we use paper money
and don't screen people at the door.
I was, frankly. This would be
unthinkable in America.
America was once known as
"the land of the free,"
but these days it seems like
parts of Europe have a tad more freedom.
I'm certainly impressed
by Europe's broadmindedness,
operating places like these
even after Sarajevo.
It's about choosing your freedoms.
Labor robs the individual of his freedom,
but in exchange, he gets a salary
that he can buy goods with.
He relinquishes one freedom
to gain another.
You're saying that Americans have
relinquished some of our right to privacy
to gain freedom from
the oppressive fear of terrorism?
That's one way of looking at it.
I mean that your country and Europe
differ slightly in the balance they strike.
Do you run this bar
to protect your freedom?
Nothing so grand as that.
It's just hard to get this crowd
to really understand
that "freedom" is made up
of those compromises.
Young people mistakenly think that
pure and absolute freedom exists.
Right now they need to
rejoice in their false freedom.
So that as adults, they realize that
a consciously chosen freedom
is a higher form of freedom.
You're an educational person.
I prefer to be called
"enlightening," actually.
What are you two talking about?
Freedom as currency.
Again?
Well, there aren't many people
I can have conversations like this with!
This was fun.
Let's talk again sometime, Mr. Bishop.
Absolutely!
It must be tough to run
a place like this in today's world.
Yes. But people who remember times when
you didn't need biometric ID for everything,
and today's young people...
they need a place like this.
Spaces like this always pop up somewhere.
Are you seeking that freedom, too?
Personally, I just want a little breather.
Sometimes I just need
someplace I can relax
without anyone knowing
what I drank and who I danced with.
Let's get out of here.
Huh?! But my beer...!
Sarajevo was wiped out
while I was sleeping with him.
John's wife and daughter were there
to visit his sister-in-law.
Boston was so much fun
without them. I was in heaven.
The epicenter of the blast,
which reports indicate was nuclear,
was most likely
Sarajevo's "Old City," Stari Grad.
Officials are unable to contact
the American Embassy there, and--
He flew to Sarajevo.
And the horrible thing was,
even after that, I still loved him!
But he came back from Sarajevo
without telling me, quit MIT,
and disappeared.
I couldn't look for him.
Because he was the embodiment of my sins!
And I can't atone for my sins now!
The dead can't forgive anyone.
You know him, don't you?
He visits me for the first time
in five years, and then you show up.
What did he do?
What are you investigating?!
--Lucie...
--I don't know who you are.
But I just can't believe
you're the villain he claims!
Are you... in league with him?!
It's not that simple! Our relationship is...
You're...
'an.
Your accomplice?
I don't know her. "Accomplice"?!
You're going too fast!
Fingerprint authentication? So, you're a spy.
Mr. Bishop?
Charles! What's wrong?!
--I'm sorry.
I didn't know this would happen!
--Run... --l'm sorry. I didn't
know this would happen!
Run!
He only told me to bring you to the bar!
Lucie... run...
You don't need to run, Lucie.
A US government hit squad,
is that about right?
John Paul...
The Lord of Genocide.
What gave me away as military?
Soldiers have a certain way of walking.
My work was all about
finding patterns in unorganized data.
You were doing linguistic research
with Pentagon funds.
Why does a little language scholarship
need to be classified info?
They didn't tell you?
So you're willing to submit
to that much control.
In the beginning,
it was simple academic research.
Official Nazi documents,
radio broadcasts...
I acquired all possible
text data from Fascist regimes
and performed syntactic analysis.
When I presented my results,
the Pentagon offered me funding.
They gave me access
to classified CIA documents,
records of foreign traffic
intercepted by the NSA, all of it.
And what did you find out?
That genocide has a grammar.
Shortly before genocide occurs,
you start glimpsing the patterns.
Because it's an innate deep structure
independent of any specific language,
those who enjoy the use
of those languages can't see it.
Innate grammar...?
The organ.
The Pentagon figured you could predict
genocides through traffic analysis, didn't they?
I started being able to see the signs
of future violence hidden in language.
When people hear too many sentences
generated by this grammar,
a change occurs in their brains.
Activity in an area of the brain
related to value judgments is inhibited.
It recalibrates what we call
the "moral compass"...
...in a very specific direction.
Words can't influence
your subconscious that way.
We know the Sapir-Whorf
hypothesis is wrong!
Our thoughts aren't dictated
by our language!
What's so funny?!
Sorry, you're just very learned for a spy.
Lucie told me.
Do you ever find yourself
thinking that words have no meaning?
Goethe wrote that hearing
a military air made him sit up straight.
Music rapes the heart.
"Meaning" is like a useless noble
that puts on airs based on that music.
Sound can bypass meaning.
There's a sort of cursed layer
that we can't perceive or grasp?
Let me offer you proof.
I buried a certain grammar
in my conversation with you.
No need to worry. It's not
the one that incites genocide.
What have you done to me?!
I simply stimulated a certain brain function
that's a remnant of past evolutionary needs.
As someone once said, ears have no lids.
No one can block out my words.
That's enough.
The pain is from nanomachines
shocking your nerves.
I put them in your Budweiser, sorry.
Lucius!
What did you do to Lucie?!
She's with John. Poor woman, she lost
her place here when you showed up.
I didn't figure you
for John Paul's accomplice.
John's a client of ours.
We cooperated with him
to protect ourselves.
"We l. ?
We are the Uncounted.
"Uncounted"?
There's an extremely low-tech method.
The world is full of sensors,
but most scan only one thing.
Retinas, prints, or veins.
Brainwave sensors here,
security cameras there.
Map out every sensor, and you can
see the least-watched routes.
Then, if you have nanolayer fingerprints
and copies of someone else's retinas,
it's almost impossible to track you.
Sarajevo?!
We made those into living IDs.
Aren't you the one who said
freedom was about compromise?!
Sure, but things are
very unbalanced right now.
The authorities take far more privacy
than they give back in safety.
After 9/11, the world ramped up security
by managing all our personal information.
But the higher they raised the security,
the more terrorism happened.
Liar!
You can verify it just by
graphing the official statistics.
Governments lie about it,
and the media follows suit.
There are plenty of tragedies
in this world that don't get reported on.
For example...
That artificial flesh.
It's made of genetically modified
dolphins and whales.
They're bred in Lake Victoria,
then they're dissected and the muscle
fibers shipped to industrial companies.
By little boys and girls, and for low wages.
Anyone could trace all this
if they had even a shred of interest,
but they don't want to know
what terrible conditions
their daily comforts are produced under.
And you would know exactly how many
civil wars are going ignored in this world.
People are only interested
in a fraction of them.
We're built to see only what we want to see.
A Tracer Dog!
You bastard!
Okay there, Clavis?
Where's Lucie? ls she--
Dunno. She disappeared.
The natural elimination anti-nanomachines
are doing a great job
at removing the Paingivers.
The nanomachines in your blood
should all be gone in about three days.
The biggest problem is how
the mental stress they cause
--may influence
your psychological state in batt--
--Sins. --may influence your
psychological state in batt--
This footage was captured by
an Aerospace Force recon satellite
on the old India-Pakistan
border four days ago.
The New India government
filed a claim with the Hague,
whose investigative team issued warrants
for eight leaders of
an Indus fundamentalist alliance
operating in the Indian countryside.
The indictments are for
crimes against humanity,
using children to participate
in hostilities, and genocide.
What is this...?
A goodbye present the generals left when
they fled to escape trial for their nukes.
John Paul may be traveling with them.
The New India government received
UN approval for military action,
some of which has been
outsourced to Eugene & Krupps.
And I take it America doesn't want them
to get to John Paul before we do.
We'll be operating as
the Japanese government's military proxy.
Which means we'll be categorized as
mercenaries under the Geneva Convention.
The Rome Statute?
Exactly.
Then the goal of our op
is to take out John Paul?
No, just arrest him.
However, we cannot let him fall
into the hands of the Hague or New India.
We believe 60% of the local
combatants are minors.
I need you to start getting
tactical counseling tomorrow.
The op is in one week.
Does this murderous intent
really belong to me?
Of course. It's your own intent,
beyond a doubt.
Beyond a doubt, eh?
Well, it's just like coming
to the clinic when you get sick.
Your intent is to get better.
That's why you act.
Counseling and partial
frontal lobe masking are tools.
After all, you'd already chosen to fight
before you entered my office.
Human thoughts and actions are formed
by a vast system of modules in the brain.
Modules?
Think about the word "crowd."
We can probably agree that
a thousand people is a crowd.
But what about a hundred? Ten?
When does a group become a "crowd"?
How many modules
must exist to form the "self"?
How many modules must unite
to form "consciousness"?
The counselor asks questions.
I don't know what function
these questions have
within the larger process called
Battle Emotion Adaptive Regulation.
I don't know what judgments
the counselor makes when I answer.
I don't know what effect the
string of words coming from his mouth
has had on my emotions or reason.
Well? Do you feel you could
kill a child right now?
It's friendship in a bottle, Clavis!
Okay, okay.
Man, I wish I could show you
just how much I love you right now.
Says the family man.
Put in your AR lenses.
No issues with the display.
I always think this test pattern is a trip.
Wipe off that cream. You look like a panda.
Pandas have white faces
and black eye rings, dude.
We're nearing the drop point.
Get ready for your high dive!
Mechanics, put on your oxygen masks!
Opening the ejection gate in 20 seconds!
As planned, you're touching down
right after we've hit their tanks with CCBs.
Let your Pods calculate
when to deploy the drogue chutes.
We'll start the countdown
after we drop the CCBs.
Open the gate!
Drop.
5, 4, 3--Godspeed.
Jaeger One, touchdown.
Have you noticed? These kids are drugged.
All the more reason
to make sure you kill them.
We're no different, Jaeger.
We've put nanomachines
in our brains to block the pain.
Have you ever thought about the fact that
if we had to take out one of our own,
we'd just have to keep shooting
until we're 100% sure of the kill?
That's what I call Hell.
Snipers.
We're cut off. What now?
Crawl on our bellies?
Blue Boy, are you here?
That's a yes, Jaeger.
Can't say I want to bet on
how many snipers there are, though.
Wanna fill the place with smoke?
Smoke is no fun to get attacked in.
Guess we better pray, then.
Seaweed, I need you to drop a bomb.
We'll point out the target.
Roger that, Jaeger.
Gotcha.
Thanks, Seaweed!
Don't move.
We're here to execute the ICC warrants.
Why, were you expecting
different visitors with assault rifles?
Mercenaries, eh?
You're dirtbags who live off of war.
Yup, same as you.
We are holy warriors battling infidels
who defile the great land of India!
We don't worship money like you.
Hey, he's a comedian.
John Paul.
Hello, spy. I didn't know
you were also Special Forces.
This is my main job.
Where's Lucie?
Not here.
It sounds like you've got a different goal
than your country ordered.
You're under arrest.
I've got this, Jaeger.
Seaweed, we've secured
the goods. Settle our accounts.
This way, guys!
We've got them all!
Jaeger! How many floors is this hotel?
Four. Eight feet per floor.
Office, this is Jaeger.
The op is complete.
We have all the packages,
and we secured the treasure, too.
Returning to base.
Message from the Seaweed, sir.
They've secured Target A.
Any of our men hurt?
No, sir.
The Flying Pig has crossed the final
warning line into Eugene & Krupps airspace.
If they stay on the planned route,
their ETA at the Mumbai base
is 0253 tomorrow Washington DC time.
Jaeger, we've crossed the final
warning line. No one in pursuit.
Hey, did you hear me quote
"The Spanish Inquisition"?
Are you sure you did?
It's the funniest joke of the century!
--How dare you treat us
as if we have no human rights?!
--Hey, these are first class seats. Wasted on you, really.
--How dare you treat us as if we have no human rights?!
--Leland.
--Sir?
I'll handle that one.
Don't play too rough, sir.
Artificial-flesh coffins? How perverse.
But they'll keep us alive even if we crash.
I suppose they really are first class.
Where is Lucie?
That has nothing to do with your mission.
What I want is Lucie.
And you'll kill children
for her sake, will you?
It's painful, but I have
no choice. It's my job.
"Painful"?
Liar. I know the truth.
You people don't feel anything.
"It's my job, so I have no choice."
Since the dawn of the 19th century,
those words have unleashed so much
brutality from ordinary people
who "wouldn't hurt a fly."
"lt's my job" allowed the Nazis
to send the Jews to the gas chambers.
"It's my job" enabled East Germany's
border police to shoot escapees.
Jobs exist for the purpose
of numbing the human conscience.
You're a hard worker yourself.
You fly around the world causing
mass genocide, cool as a cucumber.
Well, look at that: we're birds of a feather.
Bullshit!
No, we're the same.
I'll confess: all I do is chant a curse.
It doesn't feel like killing.
What about you?
When your brain is regulated for battle,
do you feel the proper relief and guilt
after shooting the kids gunning for you?
Let me tell you.
You're a flat line.
When emotionally optimized,
in the moment you kill someone,
your actions are reflexive,
but you're also perfectly calm.
I'll put it to you straight:
even though you've fought in real wars,
you, and probably your friends,
always feel like it's not enough.
You harden your hearts.
Or rather, you allow them to harden.
You let yourselves not care
when you take a life. A young life, at that.
In a way, that's far crueler
than just killing a child.
I'll tell you a secret: the grammar
of genocide affects the brain
in much the same way
your BEAR process does.
Inhibiting conscience, recalibrating
value judgments in a specific way.
You do it with technology, and I do it
with the ancient power of language.
What's wrong?
If the grammar of genocide were to reach
our brains, with our masking in place...
Yes, I think it would be
even more effective.
Want to try it and see?
Jaeger One.
What is it?
Something's on our tail.
Indus pursuers?
It's Chinese-made.
No idea whose chopper it is.
Seaweed, we've got--
Williams...
At least he's not dead.
Dammit!
Blue Boy. Blue Boy, come in!
Is that you, Jaeger?
I'm about 200 yards from you.
What's the sitrep?
Looks like the chopper got shot down.
A heliborne unit arrived right after.
We're exchanging fire with them
from cargo bay two.
The prisoners?
I don't know.
But everyone left in cargo bay one
is showing up as status: deceased.
And I got my left arm blown off
the second I tried to step outside.
Does it hurt?
Sure it hurts. I can't feel it,
but I'm aware of it.
It's no problem, sir.
I can't physically sense the pain.
Barry!
Shit! Clavis, they just got Nelson.
Fuck!
Masking?!
Be advised the enemy has sensory masking!
Yeah, I know.
We'll just have to keep firing
'til they're hamburger meat.
This is such shit!
Dammit...
Hi, sir.
How's it looking outside?
Can you wait a bit for the other one?
How is it outside? Are they...
I don't know.
--Yep, it's a foul for the defense.
--Stupid rule.
--Yep, it's a foul for the defense.
Yeah, too overprotective.
Alex talked about that.
Yeah. "Hell."
Maybe we'll end up like him someday.
Can you keep going?
I'll keep going-
It's my job.
Other than Williams and I,
the only survivors were Sean and Bob.
We were the first US Special Forces unit
to be defeated in a long time.
Most of the enemy corpses
were in pieces, too.
A week with the meat puzzles told us
that they'd been dead men in another sense.
They were all soldiers who'd been
reported as missing or killed in action
by the military contractor they worked for.
It was pretty much a given
that Eugene & Krupps was the culprit,
and it didn't take long to figure out
that one of their execs was behind it.
Namely, the Senate Majority Leader.
The Indus fundamentalist
bigwigs we captured
never made it to a holding cell,
let alone the Hague.
They skipped straight to the graveyard.
The sheaths that saved them
from dying in the crash
ended up being their coffins.
The ghost soldiers' objective
was to retrieve John Paul.
That was all.
This is Mouse Two.
I'll bring you back a gold medal, Seaweed.
I'll hold you to that, Mouse.
Someone on the ground
just locked on to us.
No way. They can see us?!
Cut us loose, now!
Don't be stupid.
The enemy's got our location!
--Just push the release button!
--That's crazy.
Missiles fired!
Hey, Clavis?
A priority interruption has been executed.
The Pod will be released after five seconds.
Two, one, mark.
Splashdown in five seconds. Two, one, mark.
Ten, eleven, twelve... Deploying propeller.
The Uncounted.
It's the same fake-ID technique
that Lucius showed off to me
while I was staring
death in the face back in Prague.
He told the truth.
John said it, too...
"Patterns in unorganized data."
Once I'd excluded all the IDs in valid use,
only the IDs with inconsistencies were left.
By sorting and tagging those,
I could see their traffic.
They were telling the truth.
The honest truth...
Destination reached.
The Pod will self-destruct in 30 seconds.
Passenger, please prepare to dive.
It still hurts to see people outside
living in such unbelievable poverty.
Don't trouble yourself
about them, Madam Paul.
I feel better hearing you say that.
Good night, Mugabe.
Good night, Madam.
Lucie...
What's this?
A genocide text editor.
You made it in time for once, Mr. Hit Man.
I've only just started sowing the seeds here.
That's an antique Browning.
No ID checker--
anyone can use it to kill anyone else.
Tonight's the first time
I've picked it up, actually.
I actively avoid guns.
Makes sense. After all, you've got
the power to slaughter whole hordes
without getting your hands dirty.
I just found it.
Brutality has lurked
in the human brain all along.
You didn't have to bring
this genocide language into it--
Our brains have always had the faculties
for killing, stealing, and raping.
Indeed. I'm getting ready
to kill you as we speak.
But if raping and pillaging
are acts born of our survival needs,
then logically speaking, sympathy,
love, and sacrificing oneself for others
were born of our evolutionary needs, too.
Yes. Our brains have several
competing emotional modules.
And among them are some
that are completely obsolete,
yet stubbornly remain with us.
Imagine that a drought hit,
back before we'd developed agriculture.
Our species learned that in that scenario,
community and cooperation
were more efficient
than betrayal and competition.
Adaptation for survival...
But now let's say that another drought hit,
and the community was larger
than the available food could sustain.
Now what? Must that
altruistic community perish?
Are you saying the grammar of genocide
was an adaptation to food scarcity?!
Yes. It's the artifact of a time when humans
couldn't control food production.
But...
Genocide is carried out,
the number of individuals drops,
and the food supply stabilizes.
Masking the conscience and
engendering a mood tolerant of genocide
actually gives the individual
a survival advantage.
Is that your reason for starting wars
in impoverished countries?
That's what you want? To prove
that humans are essentially cruel?
It's my fault, isn't it?!
When Sarajevo was wiped out,
you couldn't forgive yourself.
Lucie...
That's why you wanted to convince yourself
that betrayal and violence
are human nature.
You keep proving the darkness
of the human heart
to get away from your own sin!
You're wrong, Lucie.
I'm not doing this to prove anything.
Why. then?
I discovered an ancient human mechanism.
But at the same time, I know that
the biological basis for loving thy neighbor
is as strong-no, is stronger
than the one for barbarity.
I didn't despair of human nature
just because I found a genocidal organ.
If you're not killing out of despair,
what the hell is your reason?!
To protect the ones I love.
When I lost my wife and child,
I made up my mind
that I didn't want to feel that sorrow again.
But you're the one causing the sorrow!
You've killed so many people,
half the world is nothing but sorrow!
But it's a sorrow no one sees.
People only see what they want to see.
Our world doesn't care
what tragedies might happen in others.
But ours is the world I grew up in.
We go to Starbucks, shop on Amazon,
and see only what we want to see.
I love that depraved world,
and I cherish the people who live there.
Civilization and the conscience
are very fragile things.
On the whole, civilization trends
toward valuing others' happiness,
but we're not there yet.
Terrorism born of true despair
doesn't consider traceability risk.
It's suicidal.
A phenomenon born of societal despair
can't be reduced by systems,
whether based on
ID security or anything else.
So I had an idea:
Let's get them to kill each other
before they start wanting to kill us.
That way, our world
and theirs will be uncoupled.
A world of murder and hatred,
and a world of peace.
I'll keep them busy
killing their own people.
I won't let them lay a finger on our world.
The framework of deep structure is clear.
If we translate it into a local language,
the effect is limited to that
linguistic area and its surroundings.
As long as no one decides
to transmit it in English,
controlling the scope is easy.
Please, John. Put the gun down.
I'm capable of shooting you right now.
You see that, don't you?
Yes, Lucie. It's your way
of taking responsibility for your sin.
Bishop.
What's your real name?
Captain Clavis Shepherd.
I'm with the Intelligence Department.
Clavis, arrest this man.
Take him back to the US
and put him on trial.
Everyone needs to know.
They owe the world that much.
They need to be accountable for
the freedom their choices brought them.
If we kill him and end this,
it'll be at the expense of those
who died in the genocides.
That would be unforgivable.
Lucie...
Okay -
I'll take John back to--
Lucie!
Wait--
She didn't have to die.
Nobody needed to get killed!
Why did you kill her?!
For Monita and the baby!
My wife doesn't need to know
how shitty this world is!
I want my kid to grow up without knowing
our world floats on a sea of Hell!
I'm going to protect my world.
You bet I'll protect the world where I order
jalapeno pizza and pay with my ID.
Where I throw away
half my Big Mac because I'm full!
Lucie didn't have to die.
You ought to die here!
Clavis, calm down! We have to
cooperate to get past the guards.
I'll kill you and cooperate with your corpse!
The brass ordered the hit, okay?
You just didn't know about it.
Why?!
You can't stop it now!
Our citizens, the state, and the
corporations started this on purpose.
You wanna just waste the whole
infrastructure they built to do it with?!
The whole damn thing is a lie, Williams!
Maybe so, but the economy
it got going is sure real!
Time to run.
We left her behind. We left her body...
It's so selfish to not see her corpse
as a "thing" because I loved her...
When I lost my family in Sarajevo
and started to lose sight of myself,
Lucie said...
"If words have the power
to dictate our lives,
I want to change this world into one
where we never lose anyone so suddenly."
I regret nothing.
I weighed lives against each other.
The lives of the people in our world,
versus those of people in poor countries
that show signs of animosity.
I made my choices knowing exactly
how many deaths would be on my head.
Once you know what you're capable of,
you can't escape it.
What will you do now?
Lucie said someone should explain
to the world what I've done.
I intend to fulfill her wish. It's my
form of atonement for her suffering.
But... I doubt our world will allow it.
Like your partner said, to my homeland,
I'm the dictionary definition
of "inconvenient."
Then Lucie's wish...?
There is one solution.
You could do it... In fact,
you're the only one who could.
Welcome back, Captain Shepherd.
So... the mission is over, right?
Where's Williams?
I heard he died.
That's according to a transmission
the NSA team intercepted.
Let's go.
Yes, sir.
War as a spectacle is always necessary.
We need to know
a war is happening somewhere.
Especially if it's a miserable war
somewhere we have no connection to.
You see, only by knowing
and witnessing that
can we define ourselves.
Captain Clavis Shepherd.
Clavis Shepherd, member of
a top-secret assassination squad,
was indicted.
And thus I fulfill my promise to John.
My story will probably plunge Washington
into the biggest scandal of the 21st century.
But will the people who
criticize the government for this
change their tune the next time
the US is a target of terrorism?
When that leaves them shaken,
they'll start hardening their hearts again.
They'll start letting themselves
be indifferent to others.
What occurs to me now
is that John Paul was just another
resident of Kafka's castle.
They had the wings to fly away,
but they chose to protect the castle instead.
Even though if we take steps,
this world will change...
I decided to bear responsibility for my sins.
To punish myself.
Before my heart is hardened.
Before I become indifferent.
It's a betrayal of John, but I've realized
it's how to keep my promise to Lucie.
I'll probably lose the ones I love,
but it'll be the beginning of a new world.
This is my story.
Erue a frame-a animam meam
et de manu canis unicam meam.
Salva me
After accepting an eternity
The peons grab on tight
Scale the wall in your path
And with this blow, strike back
An unkept promise
And the fruit of sin that we feared
When we bit into it and perceived love
We learned hope
Footsteps drawing near
Cock your weapon and slaughter
It's too late for anyone now
Now call the reloaded
Become salvation
For those who can no longer turn back
O advocate, shout loud and strong
We offer up this symphony of wailing
Change our fate
Why can't I hear?
Submerge the inconsistencies
Who hurt you?
Show us the barb
Show us his justice
Now call the reloaded
Become salvation
For those with no tears left to cry
O resister, shout loud and strong
A transcendent philosophy
Will change our fate
After accepting an eternity
The watch fires of the peons burn
Fuel them with quiet rage
And with this blow, strike back
Now call the reloaded
Become salvation
Shoulder the shadow to seek the light
Which looks too fragile to touch
We offer up this symphony of wailing
Change our fate
Now call the reloaded
Become salvation
For those with no tears left to cry
O resister, shout loud and strong
A transcendent philosophy
Will change our fate