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THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN -- SCREENPLAY

Directed by Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet
© 1995 Claudie Ossard Productions, Constellation Productions S.A., Lumiere Studio Canal +, France 3 Cinema, Elias Querajeta, and Tele Munchen
English Subtitles © 1995 Sony Pictures Classics, Inc.

The City of Lost Children -- Screencap Gallery
The City of Lost Children -- Little Movies
Eye of Horus
Through a Glass, Very Darkly -- Cops, Spies and a Very Odd Investigation
The City of Lost Children Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Suicide Santa, by Charles Carreon
The Franklin Cover-Up -- Child Abuse, Satanism, and Murder in Nebraska, by John W. DeCamp
Dante 01, directed by Marc Caro -- Illustrated Screenplay & Screencap Gallery

Lo, a Shadow of horror is risen
In Eternity! unknown, unprolific,
Self-clos'd, all-repelling. What Demon
Hath form'd this abominable Void,
This soul-shudd'ring Vacuum? Some said
It is Urizen. But unknown, abstracted,
Brooding, secret, the dark Power hid.

Times on times he divided, and measur'd
Space by space in his ninefold darkness,
Unseen, unknown; changes appear'd
Like desolate mountains, rifted furious
By the black winds of perturbation.

For he strove in battles dire,
In unseen conflictions with Shapes,
Bred from his forsaken wilderness,
Of beast, bird, fish, serpent, and element,
Combustion, blast, vapour, and cloud.

-- William Blake, "The Book of Urizen"

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  My poor baby.

[Uncle Irvin]  Who has stolen the child's dream?  The mad genius Krank in his evil scheme.  To what vicious depths will he not descend?  Will the tale turn to tragedy or have a happy end?

[Montruer]  Step up, ladies and gentlemen!  Step right up!  Come closer.  Don't be afraid.  See the strongest man in the world.  Look at those chains, made of the same steel as that used to lift --

Dark, revolving in silent activity,
Unseen in tormenting passions,
An Activity unknown and horrible,
A self-contemplating Shadow,
In enormous labours occupièd.

But Eternals beheld his vast forests;
Ages on ages he lay, clos'd, unknown,
Brooding, shut in the deep; all avoid
The petrific, abominable Chaos.

His cold horrors, silent, dark Urizen
Prepar'd; his ten thousands of thunders,
Rang'd in gloom'd array, stretch out across
The dread world; and the rolling of wheels,
As of swelling seas, sound in his clouds,

In his hills of stor'd snows, in his mountains
Of hail and ice; voices of terror
Are heard, like thunders of autumn,
When the cloud blazes over the harvests.

`Lo! I unfold my darkness, and on
This rock place, with strong hand, the Book
Of Eternal brass, written in my solitude:

`Laws of peace, of love, of unity,
Of pity, compassion, forgiveness;
Let each choose one habitation,
His ancient infinite mansion,
One command, one joy, one desire,
One curse, one weight, one measure,
One King, one God, one Law.'

The roaring fires ran o'er the heav'ns
In whirlwinds and cataracts of blood,
And o'er the dark deserts of Urizen
Fires pour thro' the void, on all sides,
On Urizen's self-begotten armies.

But no light from the fires! all was darkness
In the flames of Eternal fury.

-- William Blake, "The Book of Urizen"

[Illuminati]  Yes, my friends, the true light is invisible.  Penetrate the corridor of shadows and you will enter the world of the chosen ones.  Renounce the gift of sight.  I know there are skeptics among you, afraid to share with us the dead of night.  Be brave.  Renounce your gift of sight.  Pluck out your eyes.  Come and join us.  Help us build a better world. 

[Montruer]  The crusher Bones is going to try once more to shatter steel only using the power of his mighty arms.  Please, ladies and gentlemen, I want absolute silence during the demonstration.  I must beg of you, for your own safety, not to look him in the eye, because his power of concentration is so great that he might provoke a cerebral hemorrhage in the weaker ones among you.  Mr. One, ready?  And now, attention! -- Little thief!  Stealing money from orphans.  I'll teach you!  Let go of that!

[Peeler]  What's going on?  What's the matter?  The poor man's not well.

***

And Urizen, craving with hunger,
Stung with the odours of Nature,
Explor'd his dens around.

He form'd a line and a plummet
To divide the Abyss beneath;
He form'd a dividing rule;

He formèd scales to weigh,
He formèd massy weights;
He formèd a brazen quadrant;
He formèd golden compasses,
And began to explore the Abyss;
And he planted a garden of fruits.

-- William Blake, "The Book of Urizen"

[Bogdan]  Don't move!  Don't move or I'll waste you!

Adam stood in the garden of Eden,
And Noah on the mountains of Ararat;
They saw Urizen give his Laws to the Nations
By the hands of the children of Los.

Adam shudder'd! Noah faded! Black grew the sunny African
When Rintrah gave Abstract Philosophy to Brahma in the East.
(Night spoke to the Cloud:
`Lo! these Human-form'd spirits, in smiling hypocrisy, war
Against one another; so let them war on, slaves to the eternal elements.')
Noah shrunk beneath the waters,
Abram fled in fires from Chaldaea;
Moses beheld upon Mount Sinai forms of dark delusion.

To Trismegistus, Palamabron gave an abstract Law;
To Pythagoras, Socrates, and Plato.

Times rollèd on o'er all the sons of Har: time after time
Orc on Mount Atlas howl'd, chain'd down with the Chain of Jealousy;
Then Oothoon hover'd over Judah and Jerusalem,
And Jesus heard her voice -- a Man of Sorrows! -- He receiv'd
A Gospel from wretched Theotormon.

The human race began to wither; for the healthy built
Secluded places, fearing the joys of Love,

And the diseasèd only propagated.
So Antamon call'd up Leutha from her valleys of delight,
And to Mahomet a loose Bible gave;
But in the North, to Odin, Sotha gave a Code of War,
Because of Diralada, thinking to reclaim his joy.

These were the Churches, Hospitals, Castles, Palaces,
Like nets and gins and traps, to catch the joys of Eternity,
And all the rest a desert;
Till, like a dream, Eternity was obliterated and erasèd,

Since that dread day when Har and Heva fled,
Because their brethren and sisters liv'd in War and Lust;
And, as they fled, they shrunk
Into two narrow doleful forms,
Creeping in reptile flesh upon
The bosom of the ground;
And all the vast of Nature shrunk
Before their shrunken eyes.

Thus the terrible race of Los and Enitharmon gave
Laws and Religions to the sons of Har, binding them more
And more to Earth, closing and restraining;
Till a Philosophy of Five Senses was complete:
Urizen wept, and gave it into the hands of Newton and Locke.

-- William Blake, "The Song of Los"

[One]  Denree!

[Killer]  Kill him!  Kill him!  Kill him!  Kill him!

***

[Miette]  Who's that?

[Tadpole]  He's the strong man at the fun fair.

[Jeannot]  I don't know him. 

[Miette]  What do you want?

[One]  I have lost little brother.

[Miette]  He didn't come all by himself.

[Bogdan]  Well, well, kiddies, hard at work?  It looks like you're doing really well.  Thanks for waiting for us.

A time passèd over: the Eternals
Began to erect the tent,
When Enitharmon, sick,
Felt a Worm within her womb.

Yet helpless it lay, like a Worm
In the trembling womb,
To be moulded into existence.

All day the Worm lay on her bosom;
All night within her womb
The Worm lay till it grew to a Serpent,
With dolorous hissings and poisons
Round Enitharmon's loins folding.

Coil'd within Enitharmon's womb
The Serpent grew, casting its scales;
With sharp pangs the hissings began

To change to a grating cry --
Many sorrows and dismal throes,
Many forms of fish, bird, and beast
Brought forth an Infant form
Where was a Worm before.

The Eternals their tent finishèd,
Alarm'd with these gloomy visions,
When Enitharmon, groaning,
Produc'd a Man-Child to the light.

A shriek ran thro' Eternity,
And a paralytic stroke,
At the birth of the Human Shadow.

-- William Blake, "The Book of Urizen"

Melchior:  Thank you.  Thank you.

[Rufus]  Just remember, my ears are so sharp that I can hear you think. 

[Bogdan]  Go buy yourself some sweets.

[Miette]  Don't overdo it.  Come on.  Move your bum. 

[Bouteille]  Go on.  Here.  Move it!  Move it! 

[Miette]  Get the tools and let's beat it. 

[Pipo]  Move it! 

[Miette]  Those rotten Cyclops. 

[Tadpole]  Don't worry.  We know where to find them.

[Bouteille]  And him?  What about him?

[Miette]  You helped us out.  Here.  Now we're even.

[One]  Hey, girl.  Cyclops.  You know where to find Cyclops?

[Jeannot]  Will you get lost?  Beat it!

***

[Clones]  Happy birthday, Uncle dear.  Our wish is most sincere.  We hope this cake of ours will bring you happiness, good fortune and success.

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  Wait till the candles are blown out!

[Clones]  In fair or foul weather we'll always be together -- Happy birthday, Uncle Irvin.

[Uncle Irvin]  A cake for me?  You're really too kind.

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  Are you ready, children?  Not you.  You've got a cold.  One, two.

[Krank]  What is all this bellowing about?

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  But, sweetheart, it's Irvin's birthday.

But Urizen, laid in a story sleep,
Unorganiz'd, rent from Eternity.

The Eternals said: `What is this? Death?
Urizen is a clod of clay!'

Los howl'd in a dismal stupor,
Groaning, gnashing, groaning,
Till the wrenching apart was healèd.

But the wrenching of Urizen heal'd not.
Cold, featureless, flesh or clay,
Rifted with direful changes,
He lay in a dreamless night,

Till Los rous'd his fires, affrighted
At the formless, unmeasurable Death.

-- William Blake, "The Book of Urizen"

[Krank]  Irvin's birthday?  Why, of course.  How could I have forgotten?  Let us celebrate.  Let us all make merry.  Everyone, let's shout!  Scream out!

[Uncle Irvin]  Krank, come back.  I had a thought last night.  If these children only have nightmares, it's perhaps because the evil is in you.  Why not seek the cause of your torment in the molecular study of your own tears?

[Krank]  Who could make me cry?

[One]  Well, boss. we could make you cry with laughter.

[One]  I am a gnome, a bag of bones; A man of means, and full of beans; The girls in Spain, sing my refrains; I've such a pain, that it's insane.

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  You mustn't be angry.  Your brothers are doing their best.

[Krank]  My brothers?

[Uncle Irvin]  May I give it a try?

[Krank]  Go ahead, mollusk.

[Uncle Irvin] Once upon a time, there was an inventor so gifted that he could create life.  Truly remarkable man.

[Krank]  Ah, a fairy tale.  I can already feel tears in my eyes.

At length in tears and cries embodièd,
A Female form, trembling and pale,
Waves before his deathly face.

All Eternity shudder'd at sight
Of the first Female, now separate,
Pale as a cloud of snow,
Waving before the face of Los.

Wonder, awe, fear, astonishment
Petrify the Eternal myriads
At the first Female form now separate.
They call'd her Pity, and fled.

`Spread a Tent with strong curtains around them!
Let cords and stakes bind in the Void,
That Eternals may no more behold them.'

They began to weave curtains of darkness,
They erected large pillars round the Void,
With golden hooks fasten'd in the pillars;
With infinite labour the Eternals
A woof wove, and callèd it Science.

But Los saw the Female, and pitièd;
He embrac'd her; she wept, she refus'd;
In perverse and cruel delight
She fled from his arms, yet he follow'd.

Eternity shudder'd when they saw
Man begetting his likeness
On his own Divided Image!

-- William Blake, "The Book of Urizen"

[Uncle Irvin]  Since he had no wife or children, he decided to make them in his laboratory.  He started with his wife, and fashioned her into the most beautiful princess in the world.  Alas, a wicked genetic fairy cast a spell on the inventor so much so that the princess was only knee-high to a grasshopper.  He then cloned six children in his own image.  Faithful, hardworking, they were so alike, no one could tell them apart.  But fate tricked him again, giving them all sleeping sickness.  Craving someone to talk to, he grew in a fish tank a poor, migraine-ridden brain.  And then, at last, he created his masterpiece, more intelligent than the most intelligent man on Earth.  But, alas, the inventor made a serious mistake.  While his creation was intelligent, he, too, had a defect.  He never, ever had a dream.  You can't imagine how quickly he grew old, because he was so unhappy.

[One]  Boss.  There!

[Krank]  Ey, ey, ey, ey, ey, ey, ey, ey!

Urizen explor'd his dens,
Mountain, moor, and wilderness,
With a globe of fire lighting his journey --
A fearful journey, annoy'd
By cruel enormities, forms
Of life on his forsaken mountains.

And his World teem'd vast enormities,
Fright'ning, faithless, fawning,
Portions of life, similitudes
Of a foot, or a hand, or a head,
Or a heart, or an eye; they swam mischievous,
Dread terrors, delighting in blood!

Most Urizen sicken'd to see
His eternal creations appear,
Sons and daughters of sorrow, on mountains,
Weeping, wailing. First Thiriel appear'd,
Astonish'd at his own existence,
Like a man from a cloud born; and Utha,
From the waters emerging, laments;
Grodna rent the deep earth, howling,
Amaz'd; his heavens immense crack
Like the ground parch'd with heat; then Fuzon
Flam'd out, first begotten, last born;
All his Eternal sons in like manner;
His daughters, from green herbs and cattle,
From monsters and worms of the pit.

He in darkness clos'd view'd all his race,
And his soul sicken'd! He curs'd
Both sons and daughters; for he saw
That no flesh nor spirit could keep
His iron laws one moment.

For he saw that Life liv'd upon Death:
The Ox in the slaughter-house moans;
The Dog at the wintry door;
And he wept, and he callèd it Pity,
And his tears flowèd down on the winds.

Cold he wander'd on high, over their Cities,
In weeping and pain and woe;
And wherever he wander'd, in sorrows
Upon the agèd Heavens,
A cold Shadow follow'd behind him
Like a spider's web, moist, cold, and dim,
Drawing out from his sorrowing soul,
The dungeon-like heaven dividing,
Wherever the footsteps of Urizen
Walkèd over the cities in sorrow;

Till a Web, dark and cold, throughout all
The tormented element stretch'd
From the sorrows of Urizen's soul.
And the Web is a Female in embryo;
None could break the Web, no wings of fire,

So twisted the cords, and so knotted
The meshes, twisted like to the human brain.

And all call'd it the Net of Religion.

-- William Blake, "The Book of Urizen"

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  An eye dropper, quick!  An eye dropper!

[Uncle Irvin]  Then the poor masterpiece became so crazed that he believed a single teardrop could save him.  And, after committing many cruel deeds, he died a horrible death, never knowing what it is to dream.

[Krank]  Get out!  All of you, get out!

[One]  Good-bye, Uncle.  Happy birthday.  See you tonight.

[Krank]  Silence, you glub!

***

[La Pieuvre] What do you expect us to do with that?  I wouldn't waste a nail to hang it up.

[Jeannot]  But it's pretty, isn't it?

[La Pieuvre]  Don't get smart with us.  The picklock won't always be there to save your behind.  All right, get lost. -- That's all? 

[Miette]  Afraid so.

An Angel came to me and said: `O pitiable, foolish young man! O horrible! O dreadful state! Consider the hot, burning dungeon thou art preparing for thyself to all Eternity, to which thou art going in such career.'

I said, `Perhaps you will be willing to show me my eternal lot, and we will contemplate together upon it, and see whether your lot or mine is most desirable.'

So he took me thro' a stable, and thro' a church, and down into the church vault, at the end of which was a mill. Thro' the mill we went, and came to a cave. Down the winding cavern we groped our tedious way, till a void boundless as a nether sky appear'd beneath us, and we held by the roots of trees, and hung over this immensity. But I said: `If you please, we will commit ourselves to this void, and see whether Providence is here also. If you will not, I will.' But he answer'd: `Do not presume, O young man, but as we here remain, behold thy lot which will soon appear when the darkness passes away.'

So I remain'd with him, sitting in the twisted root of an oak. He was suspended in a fungus, which hung with the head downward into the deep.

By degrees we beheld the infinite Abyss, fiery as the smoke of a burning city; beneath us, at an immense distance, was the sun, black but shining; but round it were fiery tracks on which revol'd vast spiders, crawling after their prey, which flew, or rather swum, in the infinite deep, in the most terrific shapes of animals sprung from corruption; and the air was full of them, and seem'd composed of them -- these are Devils, and are called Powers of the Air. I now asked my companion which was my eternal lot? He said: `Between the black and white spiders.'

But now, from between the black and white spiders, a cloud and fire burst and rolled thro' the deep, blackening all beneath; so that the nether deep grew black as a sea, and rolled with a terrible noise. Beneath us was nothing now to be seen but a black tempest, till looking East between the clouds and the waves we saw a cataract of blood mixed with fire, and not many stones' throw from us appear'd and sunk again the scaly fold of a monstrous serpent. At last, to the East, distant about three degrees, appear'd a fiery crest above the waves. Slowly it reared like a ridge of golden rocks, till we discover'd two globes of crimson fire, from which the sea fled away in clouds of smoke; and now we saw it was the head of Leviathan. His forehead was divided into streaks of green and purple like those on a tiger's forehead. Soon we saw his mouth and red gills hang just above the raging foam, tinging the black deep with beams of blood, advancing toward us with all the fury of a Spiritual Existence.

My friend the Angel climb'd up from his station into the mill: I remain'd alone, and then this appearance was no more; but I found myself sitting on a pleasant bank beside a river, by moonlight, hearing a harper, who sung to the harp; and his theme was: The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.'

-- William Blake, "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell"

[La Pieuvre]  If you keep being sassy, you'll be sorry.  There's no shortage of orphans, Miette. -- Listen carefully, Tadpole.  You don't want to go to the hole, do you?  It's very cold there.  And pitch black.  And full of spiders.  So give us all the rest.  The rest.  There's a fine lad.  See?  When you want to.  Now, the second shift.

***

[La Pieuvre]  The neighborhood's calm, isolated.  But be careful.  You never know.  There's a backyard.  You'll go that way with all the stuff.  On the landing, there are three doors.  One is locked from inside.  That's the one that must be forced.  Behind is what interests us.  Here's the prize.  It's identical to the one where he hides his loot.  The problem with this safe:  it takes two hours to crack it.

[Bouteille]  Two hours?  We're going to get caught.

[La Pieuvre]  We have no choice, unless you know someone capable of carrying it.

[Peeler]  Somebody got in.

[La Pieuvre]  You big idiot!  He's right here now.  Do I pay you to sleepwalk?  Who is this guy?

[Peeler]  Don't ask me.

[Tadpole]  I know who he is.  The strong man at the fair, the one who breaks his chains.

[La Pieuvre]  Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

***

[Bouteille]  Nice going, Mr. One.

[One]  One don't like whistles.  One not thief.

[Jeannot]  A thief?  Who's a thief?  We're not stealing, just borrowing.

[One]  What he said?

[Miette]  He said you can take it back.  It just won't be as heavy.

[Illuminati]  The true light.

[One]  Little brother.

And their children wept, and built
Tombs in the desolate places,
And form'd Laws of Prudence, and call'd them
The Eternal Laws of God.

And the Thirty Cities remain'd,
Surrounded by salt floods, now call'd
Africa: its name was then Egypt.

The remaining sons of Urizen
Beheld their brethren shrink together
Beneath the Net of Urizen.
Persuasion was in vain;
For the ears of the inhabitants
Were wither'd and deafen'd and cold,
And their eyes could not discern
Their brethren of other cities.

So Fuzon call'd all together
The remaining children of Urizen,
And they left the pendulous earth.
They callèd it Egypt, and left it.

And the salt Ocean rollèd englob'd

-- William Blake, "The Book of Urizen"

[Illuminati]  Renounce the gift of sight and penetrate the corridor of shadows, the world of the blind.

[Bouteille]  That guy is crazy.  The Octopus will kill us. 

[Miette]  Tell her I'll bring him back.  I won't be long.

The Kings of Asia heard
The howl rise up from Europe,
And each ran out from his Web,
From his ancient woven Den;
For the darkness of Asia was startled
At the thick-flaming, thought-creating fires of Orc.

And the Kings of Asia stood
And cried in bitterness of soul:--

Shall not the King call for Famine from the heath,
Nor the Priest for Pestilence from the fen,
To restrain, to dismay, to thin
The inhabitants of mountain and plain,
In the day of full-feeding prosperity
And the night of delicious songs?

Shall not the Counsellor throw his curb
Of Poverty on the laborious,
To fix the price of labour,
To invent allegoric riches?

And the privy admonishers of men
Call for Fires in the City,
For heaps of smoking ruins,
In the night of prosperity and wantonness,

To turn man from his path,
To restrain the child from the womb,
To cut off the bread from the city;
That the remnant may learn to obey,

That the pride of the heart may fail,
That the lust of the eyes may be quench'd,
That the delicate ear in its infancy
May be dull'd, and the nostrils clos'd up,
To teach Mortal Worms the path
That leads from the gates of the Grave?'

Urizen heard them cry,
And his shudd'ring, waving wings
Went enormous above the red flames,
Drawing clouds of despair thro' the Heavens
Of Europe as he went.
And his Books of brass, iron, and gold
Melted over the land as he flew,
Heavy-waving, howling, weeping.

And he stood over Judaea,
And stay'd in his ancient place,
And stretch'd his clouds over Jerusalem;

For Adam, a mouldering skeleton,
Lay bleach'd on the garden of Eden;
And Noah, as white as snow,
On the mountains of Ararat.

Then the thunders of Urizen bellow'd aloud
From his woven darkness above.

Orc, raging in European darkness,
Arose like a pillar of fire above the Alps,
Like a serpent of fiery flame!
The sullen Earth
Shrunk!

Forth from the dead dust, rattling bones to bones
Join. Shaking, convuls'd, the shiv'ring Clay breathes,
And all Flesh naked stands: Fathers and Friends,
Mothers and Infants, Kings and Warriors.

The Grave shrieks with delight, and shakes
Her hollow womb, and clasps the solid stem:
Her bosom swells with wild desire;
And milk and blood and glandous wine
In rivers rush, and shout and dance,
On mountain, dale, and plain.

The Song of Los is ended
Urizen Wept.

-- William Blake, "The Song of Los"

[Illuminati]  Help us build a better world, or we shall witness a reign of terror.

[Miette]  One!  Where do you think you're going?

[One]  Cyclops truck.  Denree, little brother.

[Miette]  What about the truck?

[One]  Cyclops truck.  Kidnap Denree.  Kidnap little brother.

The Eternal Female groan'd! It was heard over all the Earth.

Albion's coast is sick, silent. The American meadows faint!

Shadows of Prophecy shiver along by the lakes and the rivers, and mutter across the ocean. France, rend down thy dungeon!

 Golden Spain, burst the barriers of old Rome!

Cast thy keys, O Rome! into the deep, down falling, even to eternity down falling,

And weep.

In her trembling hands she took the new-born terror, howling.

On those infinite mountains of light, now barr'd out by the Atlantic sea, the new-born fire stood before the starry king!

Flagg'd with grey-brow'd snows and thunderous visages, the jealous wings wav'd over the deep.

 The speary hand burnèd aloft, unbuckled was the shield; forth went the hand of Jealousy among the flaming hair, and hurl'd the new-born wonder thro' the starry night.

The fire, the fire, is falling!

Look up! look up! O citizen of London, enlarge thy countenance! O Jew, leave counting gold! return to thy oil and wine. O African! black African! Go, wingèd thought, widen his forehead!

The fiery limbs, the flaming hair, shot like the sinking sun into the western sea.

Wak'd from his eternal sleep, the hoary element, roaring, fled away.

Down rush'd, beating his wings in vain, the jealous King; his grey-brow'd counsellors, thunderous warriors, curl'd veterans, among helms, and shields, and chariots, horses, elephants, banners, castles, slings, and rocks,

Falling, rushing, ruining! buried in the ruins, on Urthona's dens;

 All night beneath the ruins; then, their sullen flames faded, emerge round the gloomy King.

With thunder and fire, leading his starry hosts thro' the waste wilderness, he promulgates his ten commands, glancing his beamy eyelids over the deep in dark dismay,

Where the son of fire in his eastern cloud, while the morning plumes her golden breast,

Spurning the clouds written with curses, stamps the stony law to dust, loosing the eternal horses from the dens of night, crying Empire is no more! and now the lion and the wolf shall cease.

Chorus

Let the Priests of the Raven of dawn no longer, in deadly black, with hoarse note curse the sons of joy! Nor his accepted brethren -- whom, tyrant, he calls free -- lay the bound or build the roof! Nor pale Religion's lechery call that Virginity that wishes but acts not!

For everything that lives is Holy!

-- William Blake, "A Song of Liberty"

[Miette]  You know something?  You won't find Cyclops truck like that.  When you get there, someone will have eaten Denree.  The wolf will have eaten him.  Take a break.  No use wearing out your shoes.  I know where the truck's going.

[One]  Miette and One together?

[Miette]  And then what?  And anyway, how old was this brother of yours?

[One]  Little, little brother.  Found him one night on his rubbish bin, crying.  One comes close.  Discover --

[Miette]  Okay, I can guess the rest.  He's just like I thought.  He's too little to bother.  Let's go.  We have to get out of here.

[One]  Stupid!  Imbecile!  Idiot!

[Woman]  Have you finished?  My crystal glasses are broken!  You'll crack my chandelier!

[Miette]  Are you calmer now?

[One]  One look for Denree.

[Miette]  See you. -- Oh, come on, fat head.

***

[La Pieuvre]  Where did those brats go?

[Tadpole]  I don't know.  It's the big guy's fault.  Miette's different since he came.

[La Pieuvre]  Does he have all the jewels?  That's all he's interested in?  You had big ideas?  Poor little Tadpole.  You haven't fallen in love, too, like the others?  Get to bed!

***

[La Pieuvre]  Filthy brats.  -- All the same.  We really can't count on them.  Raise crows, they'll rip out -- Your eyes.  It's the best ones who want to go. -- It's not the first time it's happened.  It's always the same old story.  Remember little Lucas six years ago? -- And Marcus before. -- Yes, Marcus.  I'd almost forgotten him.  When we think -- Of everything we've done for them.  And if she had an accident? -- You never know.

***

Ages on ages roll'd over him;
In stony sleep ages roll'd over him,
Like a dark waste stretching, changeable,
By earthquakes riv'n, belching sullen fires:
On ages roll'd ages in ghastly
Sick torment; around him in whirlwinds
Of darkness the Eternal Prophet howl'd,
Beating still on his rivets of iron,
Pouring solder of iron; dividing
The horrible night into watches.

-- William Blake, "The Book of Urizen"

[Clone]  At that moment, the winkles suddenly break into a dance, then cast off their shells and begin to use them as megaphones to announce the concert.  Winkles, winkles.  Shells, shells.  And then, at that moment, all the winkles cast off their shells and use them as megaphones to announce the concert.

[Krank]  The winkles?  The winkles cast off their shells?  Please continue.  Continue, and with colors as well.

[Clone]  Yes, yes, yes.  Then the hammerhead shark plays xylophone with the catfish bones.  The walrus plays the Jew's harp with the ... the sperm whale's suspenders.  The sea is blue like the sky, and the sky is blue like the South Seas.  And I don't know if I'm swimming in the sky or ... or flying at the bottom of the sea.  I swear it gives me the shivers.

[Krank]  Shivers?  Shivers all over.  And igloos?  Oh, yes, tell me about the igloos.  Igloos that turn into mushrooms.

***

[Uncle Irvin]  Ah, it's you, my boy.  I was expecting you.

[Clone]  Not so loud.  Turn it down.  The boss might hear you.

[Uncle Irvin]  The boss?  He's out of a test tube, like all of us.  Lay the boy in the sarcophagus and come here.

[Clone]  But before -- Well, you promised me --

[Uncle Irvin]  What's tormenting you, my son?

[Clone]  Well, this story that among us there's an original clone, different from the others.  Is that true?

[Uncle Irvin]  Of course it's true.  The others are nothing but cheap copies, while the original one is unique.

[Clone]  Unique?

[Uncle Irvin]  Yes.

[Clone]  And do you know who it is?

[Uncle Irvin]  Do you really want to know?  Connect yourself to the child.

[Clone]  To the child?

[Uncle Irvin]  Yes.

[Clone]  Connect myself to the child?  But I can't.  It's forbidden.

[Uncle Irvin]  Exactly.  The others wouldn't dare, but you, you can do it because you're the original.

[Clone]  Me?  I'm the original?  But it's not lonely being the original?

***

[Clone]  All the penguins, the centipedes, everyone applauds.  Except, even if you climb to the treetops, it's impossible to catch the candy floss.

[Clone]  And so, everybody climbs to the top of the mountain except the giraffes who, of course, stay in one spot, munching the clouds.

***

[Uncle Irvin]  Sleep.  Sleep, my little one.  I am the sandman and you can't resist me.  Your eyelids are so heavy.  Sleep, my little one.

***

[Clone]  The snowflakes evaporate, and then turn into hailstones.  In the farmyards the turkeys scramble towards the hailstones.

[Krank]  The better to peck them?

[Clone]  And then when the children's voices cry for help, the chickens are merciless.

***

[Uncle Irvin]  There.  Now he's going to come around very nicely.

[Clone]  Who, the boss?

[Uncle Irvin]  No, the child.  He's a real nightmare factory.

[Clone]  What's that?  A fuse blew!

[Uncle Irvin]  Perfect.  Be careful.  Someone will hear you.

[Clone]  It's hard to be original.

[Uncle Irvin]  Now, throw this message -- uh, bottle into the sea.  Yes.  Go on!  -- "May someone find my plea to get it over with."

***

On ages roll'd ages in ghastly
Sick torment; around him in whirlwinds
Of darkness the Eternal Prophet howl'd,
Beating still on his rivets of iron

-- William Blake, "The Book of Urizen"

[Gabriel Marie]  I, Gabriel Marie, I came into this world with open eyes, but I saw a world that was a world of dogs.  Litter of dogs!  And so, the creator sent me down here to Earth to recover the power that men have illegally seized.  My brothers, you who have joined me in this struggle understand that together we must fight human beings from their own grounds.  The world of appearances.

[Mademoiselle Bismuth] I thought we had agreed on half a dozen.

And the original Archangel, or possessor of the command of the Heavenly Host, is call'd the Devil or Satan, and his children are call'd Sin and Death.
But in the Book of Job, Milton's Messiah is called Satan.
For this history has been adopted by both parties.
It indeed appear'd to Reason as if Desire was cast out; but the
Devil's account is, that the Messiah fell, and formed a Heaven of what he stole from the Abyss.
This is shown in the Gospel, where he prays to the Father to send the Comforter, or Desire, that Reason may have Ideas to build on; the Jehovah of the Bible being no other than he who dwells in flaming fire.
Know that after Christ's death, he became Jehovah.
But in Milton, the Father is Destiny, the Son a Ratio of the five senses, and the Holy-ghost Vacuum!
Note. The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels and God, and at liberty when of Devils and Hell, is because he was a true Poet, and of the Devil's party without knowing it.

-- William Blake, "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell"

[Gabriel Marie]  But you know it's becoming more and more difficult.  People are suspicious.  They've put up posters.  In any case, this batch is as fresh as they come.  Not one of them is over five years old. Listen.  Let us have maybe a couple of hours and we'll sort this thing out. -- [to audience] Only the third eye will enable you to enter the world of appearances.  But beware because this sordid world of temptation and perversion is also the world of desire.  Try, Brother Angel Joseph, to discover it without your losing sight of the only true light.  Be strong.  My brothers ... our grace ... our great superior race ... shall reign once more on Earth!  From that day on, our faithful third eye will become useless, as the world of appearances will be abolished.

[One]  It's Denree.

[Brother Angel Joseph]  I see!  I see!  I see!  What's that?  What's that?

[Gabriel Marie]  That, Brother Angel Joseph, is a female.

[Brother Angel Joseph]  A female.

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  Do you have a problem?

[Brother Angel Joseph]  What's that?

[Gabriel Marie]  That is a condemned man.  Take them. Go on!

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  Come back when those idiots have had enough.

[Gabriel Marie]  Search her!

[Brother Angel Joseph]  What is it?  What is it?

[Gabriel Marie]  Kill her!

[Melchior]  She's clean.

[Gabriel Marie]  Then tomorrow night at Pier 24.

***

[La Pieuvre]  100,000. We'll never get half that. 

Melchior:  One more scrap of information.  A girl in a red dress, with a big moron.  We found these on them.

[La Pieuvre]  But there was much more in the -- What'll you do with them?

[Melchior]  A midnight snack for the fishes, tonight, Pier 24.

[La Pieuvre]  A midnight snack for the fishes.

***

[Krank]  Irvin?

[Uncle Irvin]  Such a migraine.

[Krank]  Irvin, you know all about feelings.  Won't you try to help me?  Won't you explain why all those children only have nightmares?

[Uncle Irvin]  'Cause you were their nightmare.  You can persecute all the children in the world, but there's one thing you'll never have.

Krank.  What?

[Uncle Irvin]  A soul.

[Krank]  Because you believe you have one?  You don't even have a body.  He who created us made us all monsters.

[Uncle Irvin]  No, Krank, you're wrong.  You are the only monster here.

[Krank]  Be quiet!  He's the only one responsible.  For that, I say I'm innocent.  I'm innocent!  Anyway, I thank you for your help.

***

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  Hurry up!  And don't break any of the baubles.  Well done.  And don't cut yourself. 

[Krank]  Are you sure that we're doing the right thing?

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  Of course, my pet.  All children love it. Lift your elbow.

[Uncle Irvin]  Why worry, Krank?  If you're sincere, you have nothing to lose.

***

[La Pieuvre]  How are you, Marcello?

[Marcello]  What's it to you?

[La Pieuvre]  We need you, Marcello, and your creepy-crawlies.  Have you still got the knack?

[Marcello]  No, please, not again.  I paid enough already.

[La Pieuvre]  Nice Place -- You've got here, Marcello.  I'm glad to see it hasn't changed much.  You know, I never liked that blue cage.  You were always so kind to us, Marcello.  It's only fair -- That we look after you.  Today -- A little girl in a red dress -- With a big moron.  We want him.

[Marcello]  And what do I do with her?

[La Pieuvre]  A midnight snack for the fishes.

***

[Marcello]  Come on, my little flea.  There, there.  Easy does it.

[Bird]  Midnight snack for the fishes.

***

[Krank]  Will you shut up, you idiots?

[Clone]  It wasn't me.

[Krank]  I don't care.  Work this out among yourselves.

[Clone]  How dare you hit the original.

[Clone] You, the original?  Have you looked in the mirror lately?

***

[One]  Miette ... One will die?

[Miette]  You're born in the gutter.  You end up in the port.

[One]  Miette too little.

[Miette]  Not as little as all that.

[Brutus]  Five thousand on the kid.

[Bogdan]  Ten thousand on the monster. There are pebbles in the meat pie.  There are pebbles, bits of --

[Killer]  Did you hear anything?

[Bogdan]  Just them crazy birds.

[Brutus]  There's something over there.

[Bogdan]  I don't see anything.

[Brutus]  Who is that guy there?

[Bogdan]  What's all that monkey business? 

[Killer]  Well, Brutus.

[Brutus]  I can't see anything now.

[Killer]  Don't you like the music?

[Brutus]  What you doing?  I can't see. 

[Bogdan]  I don't want to be dead.

[Marcello]  Jump!  Go on!  Jump!

[One]  Save Miette!

[Marcello]  Hurry!  Jump!

[One]  Nooooooooooo!

***

[Professor]  Found, West Pier, eve of St. John.  Oh, it's a miracle!  She's come to.  Spit!  Feel better?  Look at me.  Are you all right?  You're very lucky that I came by.

[Miette]  Haven't I seen you somewhere?

[Professor]  I doubt it.  No one ever sees me.  I'm always underwater.

[Miette]  Why?

[Professor]  It's dangerous up there.  He wants to kill me.

[Miette]  Who?

[Professor]  I can't remember anything.  Some people lose their marbles.  And me, I've lost my memory.  I'm glad you're here.  I bring in more than enough stuff for two.  Look.  You see, I'm a treasure hunter.  The city's history is here.  Cast into the sea and forgotten forever.

[Miette]  I see.

Times on times he divided, and measur'd
Space by space in his ninefold darkness,

-- William Blake, "The Book of Urizen"

[Professor]  I'm here, cataloging, dating.

[Miette]  Wait.  That's the land shark's safe.

[Professor]  Oh, yes.  Yes, I brought it in yesterday.  And this is Vito Nine Fingers.  Everyone thought he ran away with his money.  They're wrong.  What are you doing?

[Miette]  I stole them.  I'm taking back what's mine.

[Professor]  Don't go back up there.  It's dangerous!  You're a kid.  Stay with me.

[Miette]  Well, thanks for everything, but I've got to go.

[Professor]  Not that way.  The children.

[Miette]  What about them?  What do you know?

[Professor]  He takes them.  The devil takes them away in his boat.  He takes them to hell.

[Miette]  What hell?

[Professor]  The Tattooed Man, he knows where.  The map.  The map of the minefield is tattooed on his body.  It's all my fault.

[Miette]  This man's a proper nutcase.  Holy cow, it's little brother again.

***

[One]  Miette!

[Marcello]  Take care of him.  He's hopeless.

[Lune]  Sure.  What's the trouble, handsome?  There's no reason to be depressed.

***

[Marcello]  What?

[La Pieuvre]  The girl --

[Marcello]  Yes.  The girl drowned.  I wasn't going to resuscitate her. You should be twice as happy.

[La Pieuvre]  Why are you sniffling?

[Marcello]  Why I sniff?  So what?  I caught a cold at the pier.

[La Pieuvre]  Get ready in half an hour.

[Marcello]  In a half hour?

***

[Bouteille]  Cyclops truck kidnap little brother.  Kidnap Denree.

[Miette]  Very funny.  What are you doing here?

[Bouteille]  Well, smarty, it wasn't nice of you to disappear.

[Miette]  I'm sorry, but incredible things happened to One and me.

Pipo and [Jeannot]  No kidding?

[Miette]  The Cyclops are stealing the children.

[Bouteille]  Yeah?  And if you want to know, that doesn't seem to bother Mr. One. 

[Jeannot]  He's picking up girls.

[Miette]  Who says so?

[Tadpole]  Pipo saw him. That night.

[Pipo]  In the bar.

***

[Lune]  You're feeling a lot better already.  You can handle your liquor, a strong man like you.  That body, hard as a rock.  May I touch you?  Oh, wow!  Pretty nice.  I don't like to brag, but they've haven't failed me yet.

[One]  Miette.  My little angel.

[Marcello]  Little angel.  Life's a real bitch.

[Lune]  Feel better? 

[One]  You're not cold? 

[Lune]  You kidding?  You're a real radiator. 

[One]  Radiator. 

[Miette]  You should be ashamed of yourself!

[One]  Miette?

[Miette]   Of course Miette!  You expecting Santa Claus?  When you're through being ridiculous, maybe we can talk.

[Lune]  Oh, well, there's no problem.  I'll leave you.  See you later, Mr. One.

[Miette]  I know where your brother is. 

[One]  Miette?  Meitte.

[Miette]  Why, you're absolutely smashed.

[Marcello]  It's really you!  But how did you manage to --

[Miette]  You won't believe me.

[Marcello]  Tell me about it.

[Miette]  No, I have to take him back.

[Marcello]  He's too heavy.  See what state he's in?  You won't be able to carry him all alone.

[Miette]  Maybe you can help me.

[Marcello]  Me?

[Miette]  Yes, but for real this time.

[Marcello]  I'm embarrassed.  You know I didn't do it for money.  I didn't betray you.

[Bouteille]  What's she doing?

[Marcello]  Quick, run!  Go on, run!  They think you drowned.  Let them go on believing it.

[Miette]  We have to do something.

[Bouteille]  Shhh!

[Miette]  Lower him! Get him!  Careful!

[Bouteille]  Great!

[Jeannot]  A job well done.

[Pipo]  Trapped like a big, slobbering fish.

[Miette]  What's the matter:  What did he do to you?

[Jeannot]  What did he do to you?

[Bouteille]  You're inseparable.  You must be in love.

[Miette]  Think you're funny?

[Jeannot]  He's a grown-up, and you know it.

[Miette]  He may be big, but he's not grown up.  And maybe you're not so little either.  Or you, or you.

[Tadpole]  I am. 

[Bouteille]  Okay, we get the message.  See ya.

[Jeannot]  Bye, Miette.

[Miette]  [To Tadopole] You'd better get going.  It'll soon get dark.

***

[Miette]  One?  You asleep?  What did you do before?

[One]  One sailor.  Harpooned whales.  One night, One hear whales singing.  After, always the target I miss.  One loses job.

[Miette]  What's it like to have a little brother?

[One]  Keeps you running.

[Miette]  Well, he can't complain he's got nobody to worry about him.

[One]  Denree -- little brother.  Miette -- little sister.

[Miette]  What are you doing?

[One]  Radiator.

***

[One]  Okay, Miette?  You had bad dream?

[Miette]  I saw that woman again.  You know, who steals children.  There were huge balls in the port full of spikes.

[One]  Mines?

[Voice of Professor] "The Tatooed Man knows where they've taken them.  The map of the minefield is tattooed on his body." 

[Miette]  One, you were a sailor.  You should know about tattoos.

***

[La Pieuvre]  Big strong guy.  Kinda stupid.  Now that rings a bell -- with red hair.  And hands like a baboon. -- He was supposed to deliver him.  We sent him the trumpet.  He brought it back empty.  Nothing!

[Marcello]  But he took my sight, I swear!

[Peeler]  Shut up!

[Marcello]  The beacons.  Don't hurt them.

[La Pieuvre]  Would we do that?  On the contrary.  Finish him.

[Peeler]  Those sluts.  Always naggin' at me.

***

[Mishinka]  Boss?  The boy ate your dinner.

[Krank] It doesn't matter.  You were hungry, no doubt, my angel.  Come closer.  Come closer.  No violence, Mishinka.  After all, this young man is our guest.  The merciless burden of solitude.  And no one -- no one is spared.  Not even great minds.  And that shows just how much I appreciate a visit that's as spontaneous as yours.

[Uncle Irvin]  I'm glad I have no ears to hear such nonsense.

[Krank]  Mishinka, it's getting rather late for Irvin.  He becomes so tired.

[Mishinka]  I'm sorry, Uncle Irvin.

[Krank]  Tell me, are you susceptible to the influence of the full moon?  And to the werewolf?  No!  You're only sensitive to your nutritive urges.  You're not at all terrified of me.  You and I were made for each other.  You are the little boy that I need.  Mishinka!  Mishinka!  Let everyone know.

***

[One]  There.  Tattoo artist there.

[Miette]  Fifteenth one we've seen.  Hey, Cro-Magnon, slow down!  I'm pooped.  For every step you take, I take three.  Tell me, after you've found your little brother, what'll you do?

[One]  Don't know.  Find work.  House.  One day take wife, maybe.

[Miette]  Well, what kind of wife?

[One]  No hurry to choose.  Need time to find shoes One's size.

***

[One]  "Miette for life."

[Miette]  Are you sure you don't remember?  He was a sailor who worked the minefields.  You tattooed the map on him.

Tattoo Artist's Wife:  He will be most honored to answer your question.

***

[Clone]  What on Earth is that, Mama?  It can't be a submarine.  It's going through the mines.

[Uncle Irvin]  It's the Messiah.  The Messiah has come to save us.

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  The Messiah walked on top of the water.

***

[Miette]  Two hands are better than one.

[One]  Phew!

***

[La Pieuvre]  Hello, Miette.  Oh, no!  Don't say you've forgotten us.  Days and nights without news.  We were beginning to worry about you. 

[Miette]  Don't bother.  We're never coming back.  Right, One?

[La Pieuvre]  Truer words were never said.  You'd better give us those jewels, quick.  Good work. Very good.  Now we'll play a little tune for you in our own way.  A farewell tune.  All right?  -- He's killing her.

***

[Tramp]  Will you keep quiet?  Shut up, I said!  Will you shut up?

[Man]  There's been an accident!

[La Pieuvre]  The two little brats got away, Zee.  But it's not over, is it?  They're hiding.  And why are they hiding?  Because they don't want to play.  So that's why they hide.

[Marcello]  Why, it's you, my little flea.  Tell me where you've been.

[La Pieuvre]  How horrible.  What's the Octopus doing?  Scratch.  Ohhhhh!  Go on.  Be careful.  You got stung, you bitch! -- Bitch! -- Bitch yourself! -- Die! -- Let go!  You're hurting me! -- Die, you crazy witch! -- Why must you look like me? -- That's not true!  I don't look like you!  It's you who looks like me!  You old hag!  I'm going to kill you! -- I'll kill you first! -- I'll tear your nose off! -- Die! -- If I die, you die too!  Think you can live forever.  Always better than anyone else.  You ugly old bitch!

***

[Krank]  Not a migraine tonight.  I want you in impeccable condition.

[Uncle Irvin]  Your concern is really touching.  Has the boy put you into such good spirits?

[Krank]  A perfect specimen that is totally uninhibited.  Tonight is my last chance.

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  What is it?

[Clone]  The thing is here, Mama.  In the house.  What do we do now?

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  Don't you panic!  Are you men?  Yes or no?

[Clones]  No.

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  Well, that's enough!  Inspection and report!

[Clone]  The explosives!  They've disappeared.

***

[Miette]  It came from there.  There must be a passage.

[One]  Too small.  Mouse hole.

[Miette]  It's worth a try.  I'm off.  -- We're really starting to get attached.

***

[Uncle Irvin]  Concentrate on my voice, Krank.  You're sinking into sleep.  You're falling into a void.  Always deeper.  Together, we shall open a door.

***

[Clones]  Please don't hurt me.  Don't hurt me. Don't hurt me.  Don't hurt me.

***

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  Good-bye, grasshopper.  You, Professor.

[Professor]  There's no more professor, Martha.  Just a terrible mistake.  It must be erased.

[Professor]  Say, I recognize you.  So, little crayfish, huh?  You fell into a strange net, huh?  Run.  Run before it's too late.

[Clone]  Does it hurt?

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  Yes.  I'm allergic to steel.

[Clone]  It's nothing.  He'll erase everything, like a mistake, you see.  He explained it to me.  You'll feel better after.  Yes.  He really knows.  He's the original. 

[Miette]  What are you doing?  What are you doing?

[Clone]  I found him.

[Clone]  Who?

[Clone]  There.

[Clone] The original.

[Clone]  The original?

[Clone]  Quite a shock, no?

[Clone]  The original.  That's the original.

[Clone]  But I'm the original.  It's me!

[Clone]  No, I'm the original.

[Professor]  Smell that.  33% sodium nitrate, 20 glycerine carbonate and S02.  Very strange.  You remind me of someone.  All of you.  Well, come on. Back to work, huh?

[Miette]  Hey!  And the kids?  You've forgotten?

[Professor]  Of course!  The little children.  I came for them.  I even brought them this.  And this.  Give them back to them, huh?  Come on!  Let's go!

[Miette]  Please, help me!  Which is the way out?

[Mademoiselle Bismuth]  Miss?  The passage there.  Take the key.  Here.  But don't hurt him.  Go save the children.

***

[Uncle Irvin]  Here you are at last.  I've been waiting so long.

[Miette]  Is someone there?

[Uncle Irvin]  I'm the one speaking.  In the fish tank.  Come closer.  Don't be afraid.

[Miette]  It's you who's speaking, mister?

[Uncle Irvin]  The mines.  The oil rig in your dream.  Remember?  That was my message.

[Miette]  Don't try to trick me, too, mister.  Get up, little brother.  We have to go.  Wake up, now.

[Uncle Irvin]  Oh, no, no!  You'll kill him!  He's under a spell.  There's only one way.  Go find the child where he is in the clutches of evil.  Inside the dream.

***

[Professor]  Look, no hands!

***

[Miette]  I don't believe this.  What am I doing here?

[Uncle Irvin]  Don't worry.  Everything will be all right.

[Miette]  If you say so, mister. It's funny.  I don't even know the little brother. 

[Uncle Irvin] But I know you.  The little brother could have been yours.  Don't be afraid.  Just relax.  Now, close your eyes, listen to my voice, and sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep.  -- Be brave, little girl, brave.

[Krank]  Who are you?  Why are you in my dream?

[Miette]  Why is it his dream?

[Krank]  Because he's not afraid of me.

[Miette]  Please let me take his place.

[Krank]  What would you get in exchange?

[Miette]  A brother.  If I take his place, maybe I'll see his big brother again.

[Krank]  You are trying to trap me, aren't you?

[Miette]  You don't risk very much.

[Krank]  So be it.

***

[Professor]  Waaaaaaa!  Well, my chickadee, huh?  Sometimes it's better to land in the muck, huh?  Hey, you'd better get out of this place.  It's going sky-high!

***

Why art thou silent and invisible,
Father of Jealousy?
Why dost thou hide thyself in clouds
From every searching eye?
Why darkness and obscurity
In all thy words and laws,
That none dare eat the fruit but from
The wily Serpent's jaws?

-- William Blake, "Nobodaddy"

[One]  Miette.  Miette.  Miette.  Miette!

[Miette]  One?  I had a weird dream. I was very, very old.  And you were dead.

***

[Professor]  Yeehaw!  The void equals infinity!

***

[Clone]  Oh, no, Uncle!

[Uncle Irvin]  [The Suicide Bomber]

***

[Clones]  Heave, ho!  Heave, ho!

[Clone]  Row faster, guys!  It's following us!

[Clone]  What do you man, following us?  Untie the bowlines, idiots.

[Professor]  Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!  Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!  Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.  Come back!  It's me!  Your creator!  I made you!  I gave you life!  Irvin!  You hear me?  I order you to come back!  Ohhhhhhhhhhh!

THE END.

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