3 Body Problem
Season 1 – Episode 3
Episode title: Destroyer of Worlds
Original release date: March 21, 2024
Plot: Obsessed with their virtual reality quest, Jin and Jack race to solve a complex riddle but advancing to the next level brings harrowing consequences.
* * *
[tense music playing]
[crows cawing in distance]
[indistinct radio chatter]
[man] It’s been a difficult month at CERN. A half-dozen projects suspended.
Dr. Schmidt seemed to take it quite hard.
There must be 30 dead scientists in the past couple months.
[Clarence] Thirty-two.
[man] No sign of struggle or forced entry,
but sort of an odd suicide, huh?
Oppenheimer’s mistress died the same way.
On her knees, head in a tub.
Some think she was murdered.
Maybe she just knew the kind of misery the world was about to face.
Have a look at what he’s locked away.
[tense music building]
Oh. Hello, darling.
I’ve heard so much about you.
[tense music fades]
[futuristic piano theme playing]
[theme song fades]
On his knees, with his head in the bathtub?
That’s what my buddy at CERN said.
[Jin] How does that even work?
You take a lot of pills first.
It’s not a good time to be a theoretical physicist.
Or applied physicist.
Or a cosmologist. Right?
Wasn’t one of them a cosmologist?
One of who?
The scientists who’ve been topping themselves.
Hope it’s not contagious.
The numbers that you were seeing… has that come back?
No, it’s gone.
Along with my career.
[rock music playing on stereo in distance]
[Jack] Vodka cran.
Shifted half a million of those last quarter.
[Auggie sighs]
Is there a bathroom?
Well, uh, take your pick, but there’s a Japanese toilet upstairs.
Touchless.
Thanks.
Right. What else can I get you all?
Uh… you got any more Cheddar Twirlies?
Swirlies.
Cheddar Swirlies.
Why don’t I show you the full assortment, in the garage?
Cool.
[Jin sighs]
[“Fade into You” by Mazzy Star playing on stereo]
[birds singing outside]
[Will] What are they saying?
Probably nothing.
Oh, it’s definitely not nothing.
Didn’t you take Animal Behavior with Rick Boyum?
Please. I was too much of a hard science snob.
Still am.
[Will] Well, your loss.
Boyum was the best teacher I ever had.
Sorry, Vera.
He used to say that all birdsong boiled down to one of two things.
It was either “me, me, me” or “mate, mate, mate.”
Or maybe it was “mine, mine, mine” or “mate, mate, mate.”
I can’t remember, but there was definitely mating involved.
[Jin chuckles]
Just think, to some kid, you’re their Rick Boyum.
But with physics, which, let’s face it, is way better.
[Will chuckles]
[clears throat] I’m quitting teaching, actually.
What?
Why?
Maybe there’s more to life than knowing everything.
Unlikely.
[Will chuckles softly]
Well, what about watching these little fellas?
I’m enjoying watching them.
Do you really have to know what they’re doing to enjoy watching them do it?
Yeah, I do.
[Will chuckles]
Let’s all go birdwatching, then.
We’ll go to Patagonia or something.
Somewhere fucking great.
Jack can pay for everything.
[chuckles] What do you think? We can get the fuck out of England.
Go and explore the ways of the birds.
Someday.
[Will sighs]
I’ve still got some things to do here.
[scoffs]
Holy shit.
[gasps]
Oh, Jack. [sighs]
♪ A stranger’s light comes on slowly ♪
♪ A stranger’s heart without a home ♪
♪ You put your hands into your head ♪
[Auggie gasps]
[sounds distort]
[Auggie inhales]
[muffled echoing]
[Auggie, softly] Wait, what?
[breathing shakily]
[woman] You were not invited.
[gasps]
[breathing shakily]
Jack!
…a few flavors out of it.
Jack, what the fuck is this?
You’re getting fingerprints all over it!
A woman tried to cut my head off.
What, you played?
I was in the fucking Middle Ages.
Tudor England. It’s not quite…
No. All my senses were telling me that I was there.
I could see a castle, and I could feel the wind…
You can smell the people.
Do not smell Henry VIII.
That’s nothing compared to the rehydrated people.
[Jack] I never thought I could get bored of nudity.
You’re playing this?
Dr. Ye gave me Vera’s.
Vera was playing this game before she killed herself?
And now you’re playing it?
The only thing that’s gonna make people wanna kill themselves
is this annoying brat that’s constantly whining, “Oh, save me.”
Because you’re supposed to save her.
No, you figure out how the sun moves.
She’s there every time you play.
What the fuck is wrong with you?
We don’t have this technology.
Where did this come from?
Hey, hey, hey! Whoa, whoa!
[Auggie] That thing is hacking into your brain.
You don’t want an Alexa in your house, and you’re playing with that?
Don’t! Don’t put it on.
I’m not gonna put it on.
Sword Lady will just cut your head off as well.
No invitation, no game.
Who invited you?
I don’t know.
I just came home one night, and it was right there.
What? So someone broke in and left it here?
And then you were like, “Oh. I should put this on me head”?
I’ve got state-of-the-art security.
I’ve been through every camera feed. No sign of anyone coming in or out.
Well, you don’t think that’s alarming?
Scrubbed from the footage,
just like the woman who told me the universe was gonna blink at me?
You can’t compare this to unexplained cosmic phenomenon.
It’s just not the same thing.
Except it kinda is.
The stars, Auggie’s countdown, this video game…
They’re all virtual realities indistinguishable from actual reality.
Well, all right, then, boy genius. Who’s behind it?
It’s not my field.
[quietly] Saul.
Maybe think about it for more than ten seconds?
If it’s a direct neural interface,
it’s controlling all sensory inputs and outputs.
Everything that goes into your brain and everything that goes out.
If it can exercise control at that level,
Vera wasn’t herself.
She wasn’t the person that I knew.
Is it possible that… this thing was manipulating her in some way?
I wouldn’t touch it.
Okay, I’m not going to kill myself.
I’m definitely not killing myself. My life’s amazing.
Promise me you’ll stop playing.
[Jin scoffs]
Please.
All right. Fine.
We’ll stop.
The Sword Lady said we’re supposed to use science
to save the next civilization, right?
So we need to come up with a way to predict the next stable era
and how long it’ll last.
[typing]
Christ! How much have you been playing?
[chuckles] Oh, fuck off, you spod. You keep a whiteboard in your flat?
Yeah, that’s my work. You’ve got snacks at yours, don’t you?
You can’t eat a whiteboard when you’re stoned.
Or at least, you shouldn’t.
Rooney, focus.
Okay. So, these are all the times I’ve played.
[sighs] And how I lost each time.
Froze, froze, burnt, suffocated…
Yeah.
Froze, and so on.
I would say that you’re just shit, but I haven’t done any better.
[Jin] The superscripts here correspond to the movements of the sun on that chart.
I don’t see a pattern.
That’s just it. What if there is no pattern?
I’m gonna propose a radical idea.
But I might need a little help from…
Francis Bacon.
Francis Bacon.
All right, well, follow your lead, just like uni.
[quietly] Okay.
[sounds distort]
[muffled echoing]
[Jin gasps]
[static crackles]
[woman] Level two.
[horse snorts]
[Jin] Ha!
Nice. Francis Bacon.
Yeah, two-player mode.
[church bell tolling]
[Jack] England again. So, you’re in my game?
[Jin] Mate, I’ve lived in England for 12 years.
Maybe the game found something we’re both familiar with.
Oh…
[crow cawing]
I don’t like how it knows that.
It better not have gone through my search history.
Well, if we see a girl farting on a birthday cake, we’ll know.
[Jack scoffs]
[gasps] Copernicus!
Sir Francis.
Are you back to save the world?
I hope so.
You’d better hurry.
The Pope is about to make his decision.
The Pope?
All right. Cheers. Let’s go.
Uh, I’m sorry about last time.
And the time before that. Well, all the times before.
I remember them all.
[somber music playing]
All of them?
Every time I died.
You’d better hurry.
Yeah, come on.
[Jin inhales sharply]
Thanks.
[Follower] You’ll save me this time?
[horse snorts]
[Jack] So, how are we gonna win? Care to tell me what this radical idea is?
[Jin] What fun would that be?
You’re late.
I was about to render my decision.
Oh, I’m sorry, Your…
What is it?
Holiness.
Pope Gregory.
Holy… Right.
I’m sorry. I’m Francis Bacon.
And I’m Copernicus.
If either of you have a proposal to explain the behavior of the sun,
I will consider it now.
I should warn you, though,
the proposal that Aristotle and Galileo put forth is quite strong.
Your Holiness,
I have made dozens of measurements of the sun’s apparent size and luminosity.
These do not correlate.
Second, I have noticed the sun’s position relative to this planet
receding on a short timescale.
Third, I have observed more than one celestial body,
too bright to be a planet, moving relative to the fixed background of the stars.
The only explanation for these observations
is that this planet is part of a three-body star system.
Fucking hell. That’s the answer.
If our planet revolves around one of the suns in a stable orbit,
that’s a stable era.
However, if one of the other suns snatches our planet away,
we wander through the gravitational fields of all three suns.
That’s a chaotic era.
This… This is bullshit.
Your Holiness, you were about to decide on our proposal.
Silence!
I’ve heard enough.
Burn her.
No, no. No, listen.
What?
She’s got it right. She’s got evidence.
Wait. I… I gave you the right answer!
[Jack groans]
Heretic, I sentence you to death!
[Aristotle and Galileo laugh]
[Jack] She’s right!
Take it like a man!
It’s the only theory that makes sense!
[Galileo laughs] Suck it, Copernicus!
[Jack] You know she’s right! She figured it out!
[guard groans]
[Jack] Let her go!
[Jin screams] No, no!
[guard shouts]
[flames crackling]
[dramatic orchestral music playing]
[glass shatters]
[Follower] Copernicus!
[horse whinnies]
[Follower] Three suns in the sky!
The world is ending!
[Jin gasps]
The world is ending!
[Aristotle and Galileo scream]
[Follower] Copernicus!
Save me!
Copernicus, please!
[loud, whinnying cry]
[Follower screams]
[Jack] Come on, Jin! Come on!
[Jin] Wait!
[low rumbling]
[glass shattering above]
[Jin gasps]
[screams, coughs]
[wind gusting]
[flames crackling]
[Jin gasps]
[Jack] Why are we not dead too?
Because we were right.
[loud whooshing overhead]
[somber orchestral music playing]
[bell tolls in distance]
Civilization number 152 was destroyed by a tri-solar day.
But in this civilization, you’ve successfully revealed
the basic structure of the star system.
The game has now entered level three.
[orchestral music fades]
Are you keen on video games, Clarence?
I used to play ’em when I was a kid.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Jet Set Willy on ZX Spectrum,
Strip Poker on Commodore 6…
[Wade] How would you say this game stacks up?
Well, listening to Cheng and Rooney go on about it,
it sounds like a load of bloody homework.
Measurements, equations, charts, observations…
All about the way the suns move around a fictional planet.
Suns? Plural?
Yeah. Oh, there’s also a little kid they’ve got to try and save.
Or Cheng’s trying to save and failing over and over.
That’s the only bit that sounds like a proper game to me.
What’s Engineering got to say about this?
No luck getting it to work,
but they did identify some very interesting components.
It’s got a retinal scanner,
an oxygen meter, and a brain wave sensor.
It’s collecting a heap of biometric data.
[typing]
[Wade] So while you’re playing the game, someone at the other end is playing you.
[tense music playing]
It’s a recruitment tool.
They’re goin’ after our best and brightest.
Yeah. But recruitment for what?
[tense music fades]
[Jin sighs]
[shudders] Oh fuck.
Hi.
Hey.
[Jin sighs]
I, uh… I thought you were out with your mates.
It’s 3:00 a.m.
[chuckles] Sorry, babe. I was, um… just playing the game with Jack.
Yeah, I know.
He logged off. [sighs]
Wow. It’s a mess. I know.
I was gonna tidy up before you got here. Uh…
[Raj] You lose your tether when you’re not working.
There’s nothing to be done at work, so I’m… just taking my holiday leave.
[Raj scoffs] This isn’t a holiday.
[Jin sighs]
Should I postpone dinner?
What? No.
Why?
You’ve been dreading meeting my parents for weeks.
I haven’t been dreading it.
Look, I can’t wait.
Yeah?
Yeah.
[Jin chuckles softly]
They’re gonna love you.
Just be yourself, yeah?
[Jin] Mm.
But maybe go easy on the science talk?
[Jin] Higher dimensions exist,
but we can’t perceive them because we’re three-dimensional creatures.
For instance, seen from a distance, this bread is just a flat circle, right?
But when you go closer, you see that it has thickness,
an extra dimension.
Amazing, right?
And what’s hidden inside that extra dimension?
More flat circles.
And many more layers within layers within layers.
A whole universe inside every bite.
But that’s all, um, theoretical.
So, theoretically, I’ve just eaten an entire universe.
[group laughs]
And it’s delicious, Mrs. Varma.
[chuckles]
A top physicist.
Your parents must be very proud.
Well, I think the whole idea is fascinating.
Please, tell us more.
Well, we don’t need to make her do that.
You don’t wanna talk about the curry shop all day, do you?
I’ve stories of the Kargil War.
[woman] Here it comes.
Yeah, go on, Dad.
It’s not dinner until the Kargil War comes up.
Back when you were a baby, I was in the Indian army.
I was captain of a platoon up in the Himalayas,
and the air is very thin there.
And my soldiers were about to die of hypoxia.
[tense music playing]
There was an enemy camp 100 meters away,
but it was almost straight up a cliff face.
I had no other choice. I had to climb up the ice.
And when I got to the top, I played dead.
Not just play.
I was nearly dead.
But I laid there, slowly freezing, until the Pakistani soldiers all came out,
and that’s when I threw my grenade.
I killed them all.
And I took the oxygen and supplies from their camp back to my men.
And we all survived.
[tense music subsides]
[Jin exhales]
Wow.
Yeah, that… tiny win tipped the balance of the entire conflict.
And it won my father the Param Vir Chakra.
It’s the… the highest military honor in India.
Well,
you can’t eat a medal, hai, nah?
People in the UK, they don’t care what you did back in India.
[chuckles]
Well, Jin gets the highest civilian honor.
Surviving dinner with the Varmas.
[all laugh]
To Jin.
[mother] To Jin.
[man] To Jin.
[mother] To Jin.
[knocking on door]
[Jack] Aye-aye, there he is.
There’s our boy.
How did it go? Scrape it all out, did they?
You needn’t have come.
They’re discharging me tomorrow once the “Deluded” wears off.
Dilaudid?
Deluded.
Don’t…
It went okay, though, yeah?
Oh yeah. It was brilliant.
Yeah. We had a lovely chat while I was under.
“We”?
Yeah, me and the cancer.
Oh right. Is that a… Is that a metaphor?
No.
No, we spoke.
It turns out that the cancer’s not inherently evil, right?
[slurring] It’s just… It’s actually just looking for a place to live.
Like we all are, I suppose.
With its children.
Which is fair enough, but obviously, I said, “That’s not all right with me.”
[laughing] “I’m using my body at the moment.”
“Can’t just move in.”
So anyways, we made a… a deal.
It gets to stay in its own little corner in my pancreas,
and I keep all the rest.
I still think you should have told Jin.
She knows.
On some level, she knows.
Which is why you have to save her… from him.
Who? Raj?
He’s always smiling, isn’t he?
Always friendly.
He is death.
[quietly] He is chaos.
You’ve got a funny hat on.
[cracks up]
[laughing hysterically]
[Jack chuckles]
Do I? I thought you’d never notice.
[laughing]
Where’s yours?
[birds singing]
[man] I’m an instinct man.
It’s never led me astray,
except in marriage.
You’ve a reputation for rigor,
and I believe the science to be sound.
It is sound.
What applications you had for your nanofiber.
Water filtration, tissue engineering, carbon capture…
And I still believe in it.
Then you can see why I’m a bit flummoxed
that you’ve closed down the entire bun fight.
It’s temporary.
I just need time to recheck the engineering.
Honestly, Dr. Salazar, what am I missing?
We’re on the precipice of being first to market
with a unique nanofiber technology,
and you slam on the brakes.
Why?
We’ve got the finest scientists doing the finest work in the field.
Save for a CSO
who seems to be having a mental breakdown.
Luckily, as you’ve led us to the precipice,
we can easily start the project back up again,
if you persist in refusing.
None of this works without me.
Then for heaven’s sake, act like a CSO.
Think of the hundreds of employees, think of the billions who would benefit
from our nanofibers.
I don’t wish to be harsh,
but please remember,
we sponsor your ILR.
You can’t stay in this country on a work visa if you’re not working.
That’s not how it bloody well goes.
[ominous orchestral music playing]
[sighs deeply]
[breathing shakily]
[sniffles]
[monitor whirring]
[machinery humming]
[energy thrumming menacingly]
[gasps]
[quietly] Stop.
Stop. Stop!
[thrumming subsides]
[exhales]
[sobs softly]
[line ringing]
[Auggie sighs]
[softly] Pick up the phone. Pick up the fucking phone.
[cell phone vibrating]
[grunting]
Hey.
[panting] Hey. The countdown came back.
[on speakerphone] What?
[panting]
I activated the reaction chamber, and it came back.
The numbers were here,
and I could see them, and I don’t know why.
Why did you do that? You said you shut it down.
Of course I fucking shut it down.
Okay. Then why did you turn it back on, Auggie?
‘Cause I needed to know if it was real.
Auggie, it’s real. We both saw it.
We’re gonna figure this out.
[crying] I think I…
I know why scientists are killing themselves. I understand.
Don’t talk like that.
I’m not gonna do anything. I just…
Can you please come over?
Yeah, of… of course.
Uh, you at the lab?
Where are you?
[grunts] I’m at home… I’m at home.
[woman] Where are you going?
Are you with someone?
I’m on my way to you, right now. I’ll be right there.
You’re with someone.
Auggie, I’m coming to you.
I’m coming to you as fast as I can, and we’ll…
[call disconnects]
[alarm beeps]
Busy? Cancel it.
I thought you were with Raj.
I told him that you just got dumped by your girlfriend.
I haven’t got a girlfriend.
No shit.
Where’s your headset?
[alarm beeps]
[muffled echoing]
[woman] Level three.
[wind whistling]
Where is this supposed to be?
I think we’re in Shangdu.
Sometimes known as…
Xanadu. Where Kublai Khan decreed his stately pleasure-dome.
[ominous orchestral music playing]
[Jin] Okay. We know we’re in a three-star system.
We know we can’t predict the motions of three bodies in space. Not for long.
Classic three-body problem.
And there’s famously no general solution for it.
Unless, of course, you managed to whip one up on the tube ride over.
Look.
There she is.
[sighs] Hey.
We can’t speak to anyone.
Oh, right.
You’re in the army.
Well, we’re gonna save you this time.
Like all the other times before?
Come on.
[Jin sighs]
Come on. The game’s this way.
Wait.
You’re running out of chances, Copernicus.
Soon the world will end for good.
[ominous music building]
Great Khan, I present to you Copernicus and Sir Francis Bacon.
Oh, come on.
We were just about to demonstrate our solution, Great Khan.
[Khan] Yes, yes. It’s all in place.
But do our newcomers have an alternate proposal?
Do we?
Well, Great Khan, we consider this problem to be impossible.
Never mind, then.
You may observe Sir Isaac Newton and Professor Turing.
[Newton] Maybe you’ll learn something for next time.
I have developed a science I call “calculus”
to predict the movement of the suns.
And these calculations are performed by my great Human Abacus.
[chuckles softly]
[suspenseful instrumental music playing]
[wind gusting]
[Jin] How many soldiers are there?
[Khan] Thirty million.
None of the men are mathematicians, of course,
but they do all know how to hold a flag, one way or the other.
Ones and zeros.
You’ve built a human computer.
Let’s get on with the calculations.
When is the next chaotic era?
Right away, Great Khan.
Run solar orbit computation software,
Three Body 1.0.
[Jack] Jesus.
From here, it looks like they’ve got a winner.
[quietly] Just wait.
[guard] To the palace!
[suspenseful music building]
[Khan] What does your Human Abacus say?
A chaotic era will commence in three days.
It will last eight months,
followed by a stable era of 10,000 years.
Soldiers! Dehydrate!
Eight months and three days!
[Turing] All right. Eight months and three days.
[wind whipping on monitor]
[suspenseful music swells]
[music fades]
[Turing] A stable era once again.
How long has it been?
[chuckles] Eight months and three days exactly.
Great Khan, our computer has proven its worth.
We’ve won.
[both chuckle]
That can’t be it.
[Jin] Uh-uh.
Did they figure it out?
Not according to modern physics.
They’d need the starting parameters of all three bodies.
You shut the fuck up, troll.
Our computer works.
Your calculations won’t hold up in the long run…
[Khan] Silence! Guards.
[tense music playing]
[Jin scoffs]
Boil them.
No. No, no, no. Wait.
[Jin grunts]
Wait.
Ow! Hang on.
[Jack] Get off!
[Jin] This isn’t right.
I haven’t had a chance to explain properly.
It doesn’t work.
[Jack] Fuck off!
Those calculations won’t work!
Oh shit!
[both scream]
[tense orchestral music playing]
[both panting]
[Jack] Oh fuck!
They’re trying to kill us!
I’m done with this fucking game!
Focus, Rooney! It’s all in your head! We’re okay!
[Jack screaming]
[heroic orchestral music playing]
[wind whipping]
Great Khan, stop her.
It’s her.
[Jin gasps]
But this is our game.
Look, Great Khan!
[loud whooshing]
[Jack panting] All in a line.
It’s syzygy.
So what? They’re eclipsing one another.
The planet is no hotter than it was before.
What’s happened to my army?
[horse neighs]
[low rumbling]
[horse whinnies]
[horse grunts, neighs]
[soldiers screaming]
The planet’s under the gravitational force of all three suns.
[Turing and Newton cry out]
No!
[distant screams and clamoring]
[horse neighs]
[both grunting]
Charlatans! Both of you!
[Newton and Turing scream]
[Khan grunts]
[innards squelch]
[Jack straining]
[Follower] Help! Copernicus!
No. No!
[Follower] Save me!
[Jin shouts, grunts]
[groans] No! No!
[Follower] Save me!
[Jack] Got ya!
[Jin and Follower shout]
[screams]
No!
[Follower continues screaming]
[Jin crying]
It’s not about solving the three-body problem.
Our goal is to save the people.
The Count said survival is everything.
That’s the object of the game, to help them survive.
[Jack] How the hell do we do that? Nothing can survive here.
[dramatic orchestral music playing]
[both breathing shakily]
[suns whoosh]
[somber orchestral music playing]
[woman] Civilization number 184 was destroyed
by the stacked gravitational attractions of a tri-solar syzygy.
But in this civilization, you’ve correctly determined
your true purpose in the game.
You have now entered level four.
[printer whirring]
[printer beeps]
[knocking on door]
[man 1] Come in.
[man 2] Mr. Evans.
Felix.
Sir, we have two new candidates for Region Six.
The female, Copernicus, is quite attached to the young Follower.
That doesn’t surprise me.
Let’s have these two vetted for the London summit.
Sir.
[door closes]
[exhales]
[button clicks]
Apologies, my Lord.
[grunts] Now.
Where was I?
Oh yes.
[sniffles] “The Tale of Hansel and Gretel.”
[female voice on speaker] You said the boy, Hansel, was afraid,
but the girl was not?
Not at the moment, no.
But why is one afraid while the other is not?
Do individuals experience fear on their own?
It’s an individual emotion, yes.
For us, fear is something we experience as one.
Our ancestors were like that.
Tiny mammals who survived by hiding.
But it appears you have ceased to be afraid.
Why do you say that?
You contacted another planet.
[chuckles softly]
Is this the act of a timid species?
[inhales] Not a species. No, my Lord.
A woman.
A singular, fearless woman.
Are there other fearless humans?
Well, they show up from time to time.
And we often look up to them as inspirations for others to follow.
A lack of fear leads to extinction.
If your ancestors had followed the fearless,
you would not exist.
Humanity must learn to fear again.
[menacing orchestral music playing]
Then we will teach them.
[music fades]
[birds singing outside]
[knocking on door]
[tense music playing]
[Jin breathing shakily]
[indistinct chatter]
[Jin] Let me see the invite.
[tense music continues]
[tense music building]
[woman] Dr. Cheng, Mr. Rooney.
Congratulations.
You are the only two people in the UK to make it this far.
We’ve been so impressed by your work.
Your help, Mr. Rooney, in identifying the game parameters was essential.
As was your support for your partner.
Oh, cheers.
[woman] And you, Dr. Cheng.
You figured out that the home world was part of a three-body system.
A few other players did that as well, but you understood what truly mattered.
Not the planet… but its people.
You felt their plight.
Your cingulate cortex activity was the highest we’ve ever recorded.
[Jin exhales]
[Jack] Yeah, listen. About that.
This interface, there’s nothing else like it anywhere.
This isn’t next gen. This is five nexts down the line.
So who are you really?
The answers to all of your questions are waiting for you in level four.
Whenever you’re ready.
[ominous music playing]
[case unzips]
[music distorts]
[woman] Level four.
It’s a wasteland.
[ominous music continues]
[Follower] Dr. Cheng.
[Jack gasps]
Mr. Rooney.
You made it.
[woman] You were right.
There is no solution to the three-body problem.
[wind rushing]
No computer can predict the behavior of three bodies indefinitely.
[icy wind gusts]
[woman] With three suns in the sky, every civilization ends in chaos.
There will eventually be a cataclysm from which we cannot recover.
Our planet will be ripped in half.
Or pulled into one of the suns.
Or expelled into space forever.
[wind picks up]
[buildings creak and groan]
[wind subsides]
[woman] And when you know your planet is doomed,
what is the solution?
Flee.
Find a new home.
[woman] Correct.
Our only chance of survival lies elsewhere.
The moment we received the invitation to your world,
we knew our destination.
[tense, futuristic music pulsing]
[woman] We built an interstellar fleet of 1,000 ships.
They are the final hope of civilization number 9478.
[engines rumbling above]
And they are on their way.
[futuristic theme building]
[ships whoosh]
Most of us have to stay behind.
But that’s all right.
If one of us survives, we all survive.
You’ll welcome us, won’t you?
Without your help, we won’t make it.
[ominous music swells]
We can’t wait to meet you.
[music fades]
[Jin exhales shakily]
I don’t quite understand.
Are you trying to tell us that… they’re real?
We call them the San-Ti.
The first person to make contact with them was from China.
And “san ti ren” means
“three-body people” in Chinese.
“Three-body people.”
These San-Ti ren, they’re on their way here?
Coming from an unstable three-body star system.
Four light years away.
Getting closer every moment.
They created this technology to share their story with us.
And they look like that? Like us?
We took a few liberties.
Uh, for your benefit.
So you’re trying to tell us that this game was designed by aliens?
Think about it. You said yourself the tech is 100 years ahead of where we are.
Oh no, no. Yeah. Sure, yeah. Amazing AI.
You know, Sword Lady and cute kid.
But come on.
What about the particle accelerators, the blinking stars?
Oh, Jin. This is a scam.
This could be the only explanation that accounts for all of it.
Isn’t the most simple explanation usually the best? Occam’s Razor?
Oh, I’ll give you Occam’s Razor.
This lunatic here is trying to slice off a big wad of cash
from a rich man who loves video games.
We don’t need your money.
We have our own.
If you don’t want to be here, you’re free to go.
All right. That’s good of you. Come on, Jin.
Wait, Rooney. Don’t you wanna know more?
Oh, come on. This is fucking mental. She’s talking about aliens.
[softly] I think we should stay.
All right. Fine. I’ll tell you what.
[headset clatters]
You do you, and I’ll be in the pub when you’ve come to your senses.
No, Rooney. Jack.
Jack!
[footsteps fade]
[woman] We’re holding a summit
for you and the other level-four champions from around the world
to welcome you to the organization.
I do hope you’ll come.
You must understand how the San-Ti feel.
You were torn from your home too, weren’t you?
The flood in Hubei.
Before you moved to New Zealand.
[somber instrumental music playing]
How do you know about that?
How much do you remember?
Not much. I was little.
I remember my home being… swept away in the middle of the night.
My parents grabbing me and tossing me onto a piece of doorframe.
My parents being pulled under by the currents.
That’s it. That’s the last time I ever saw them.
They’ve lived on in you.
If you survive,
they’ve survived.
[music grows ominous]
[woman] We’ve all been lost in some way.
[softly] Welcome.
[in Mandarin] Let us be comrades.
[music fades]
[crickets chirping]
[“Karma Police” playing on car stereo]
♪ Arrest this man ♪
♪ He talks in maths ♪
[door alert beeps]
♪ He buzzes like a fridge ♪
[camera shutter clicking]
♪ He’s like a detuned radio ♪
[cab passes]
[Clarence sniffles]
♪ Karma police ♪
[cell phone vibrates]
♪ Arrest this girl ♪
[sniffles]
♪ Her Hitler hairdo Is makin’ me feel ill ♪
♪ And we have crashed her party ♪
[Clarence sniffles]
[door opens]
[keys jangling]
[Jack sighs]
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
Fucking Vodafone.
[tense music playing]
♪ This is what you get ♪
♪ When you mess with us ♪
Who are you trying to reach?
[breathing shakily] I’m warning you.
There’s cameras in every room.
There are.
You said I was free to go.
You were.
All right. That’s it. Get out of my… [gasps]
♪ It’s not enough ♪
♪ I’ve given all I can ♪
♪ But we’re… ♪
[Jack panting]
Get off me! [groans]
[woman] All you had to do was keep playing.
[Jack groaning]
[blood spurting]
[sinister string music playing]
♪ This is what you get ♪
♪ This is what you get ♪
♪ This is what you get ♪
♪ When you mess with us ♪
[music swells]
♪ For a minute there ♪
♪ I lost myself ♪
♪ I lost myself ♪
♪ Phew, for a minute there ♪
♪ I lost myself ♪
♪ I lost myself ♪
♪ For a minute there ♪
♪ I lost myself ♪
♪ I lost myself ♪
♪ Phew, for a minute there ♪
♪ I lost myself ♪
♪ I lost myself ♪
[distorted, oscillating outro]
[distorted, rhythmic outro continues]
[“Karma Police” ends]
