Orbiter.
Yes, I heard that. Thank you, Gambit.
You really must try and learn that
attack is the best method of defence.
You've got yourself into a hopeless tangle
here again, you know.
Unauthorised personnel have entered Orbiter.
We have visual contact.
I wish you'd concentrate on the game.
The security systems are quite capable of coping.
In fact,
Orbiter's defence is a lot better than yours.
Of course,
if this stuff does blow up planets by mistake,
we're going to need to be a bit careful.
I mean, do we really need money that badly,
I ask myself.
The crystals themselves are safe enough,
I assume.
The Federation's mistake
was to underestimate the system potential.
So much energy built up that it became unstable.
What you are now looking at is a blueprint
of what the Mark II version will look like.
It's a tiny power station.
Cheap to produce,
small enough to transport in a cargo ship,
and capable of developing enough power
to make a minus 250 degree planet workable.
What, using energy from fairly distant stars
concentrated through the crystals?
- Could you run a ship on it?
- You could run anything on it in theory.
That's why the Federation is staking so heavily.
The consignment we are after
is worth approximately 900 million.
Let's get one thing straight. We want it to use,
not to sell. We've seen what it can do.
- We can't risk it getting back to the Federation.
- Yes, agreed.
Not by me, it's not.
You steal for your reasons, I'll steal for mine.
Why not get it first and quarrel about it later?
This is not going to be easy.
For one thing, the consignment
has already been stolen from the Federation.
They are not going to be pleased about it
when they find out.
Secondly, it is protected by a security system
that is supposed to be impassable.
They're all supposed to impassable.
And thirdly...
ORAC: And thirdly,
you may already have missed your chance.
The following message has just come in
from Sector 9.
Dayna.
(Beeping)
"Federation security may reveal target.
Going in at once."
The fool!
Get the ship ready for launch.
- What happened to that rest we all needed?
- It just got too damned expensive.
Eureka!
I really will have to re-programme you again.
You don't last any time at all these days.
Are you going to resign on this last one?
Or do we have to go through the motions?
There are 380 possible endings from this position.
Defeat is by no means inevitable.
Have it your own way. We both know you've lost.
(Laughing)
COMPUTER: Next player, please.
Obviously not a natural games player.
Well, you've either got it or you haven't,
I suppose.
I suppose.
COMPUTER: Next player, please.
(Beeping)
Oh, not bad. Not bad at all.
You're beginning to get sneaky. I like that.
Do you want to resign now,
or shall we go through the motions?
So, Avon, are you going to tell us
what's going on now?
I didn't think we would have to move on this
so soon.
And that made it unnecessary to tell us?
And in the meantime,
you were doing deals with outsiders.
- There were no deals and there were no risks.
- What about the message?
The man who sent that knows where the base is,
and that's a risk.
He has no idea where the base is.
All messages were beamed via
an obsolete communications beacon in Sector 4.
So who is he, this partner we didn't know we had?
His name is Gerren. Academician Gerren.
GERREN: Seriously wounded, I need help.
I repeat, Gerren calling Scorpio.
Avon, if you're coming to the rendezvous point,
hurry!
He's been shot.
He looks bad.
So, why should this middle-aged
Federation professor want to help you, Avon?
Because apart from being a brilliant geologist
and an expert in mining techniques,
he is also greedy, avaricious, and a crook.
- Has he got any faults?
- How do you know so much about him?
I got Orac to tap the Federation data banks
for information concerning the Feldon project.
- Gerren is part of the survey team.
- It sounds