- Logos: [Opening lines, voiceover] Once upon a time, the world was a mess. There was a pandemic, and then another and then another. Life, as the human race knew it, was a disaster in every sense of the word. Then, one day, a scientist came along with a genetic discovery that changed everything. He shared his vision with the world. It was a solution so incredible and epic in scope that life on Earth would not only resume but it would be like living in a fairytale. A chance to live in a perfect world. An eternal dream. The problem was no-one really thought through the consequences. Soon my life changes forever. I'll be given the gift of being frozen in time, the gift of never dying. A gift that everyone on this train and in this city either has or will receive. The problem is I'm not so sure I see it as a gift.
- Logos: C.S. Lewis once said that free will makes evil possible. But it's also the only thing that makes possible love... ..goodness... ..joy. It seems so romantic... ..the notion of living forever. Doesn't it? But I ask you this... ..how can you really live if you know you're never going to die?
- The Pilot: I am immortal. We at the machine are immortal. And you, all of you, can be immortal as well. Life as we know it is forever changed. I will not only give each and every one of you the gift of eternal life, but I will also give you the gift of freezing in time when you have reached your peak perfection. I will eliminate, through our applications, the bad and most ugly of our human emotions. And I will eliminate suffering from injury and illness and emotional duress. I am the Pilot taking you into this new world and I will always serve you.
- Amanda: I remember you telling me that mortals needed religion because they were afraid of dying. But with immortal beings, there is no fear of death and so no need for religion. Religious citizens talked about being alive for a God-given purpose, that their time on Earth was intentionally difficult, and that they were each given a soul which was immortal.
- Masim: Helias believed that we have an intended purpose on Earth. He believed to the core of his being that we're meant to die.
- Logos: I feel like I'm walking through my life as two totally different people. That there's a part of me somewhere inside that I can't quite access.
- Masim: That's exactly what Helias thought. He believed there was a creator of this universe and of man. He said that mortals believed that they each had an essence - he called it the soul - which had a purpose given to it by this creator. Instead, the Pilot decided to determine a purpose for each one of us, essentially denying us the right to our own destiny.
- Gergot: And while we still feel emotions, they're limited. Mortals experienced more. Much more.
- Logos: [Addressing the city] My name is Logos. I've been a citizen living amongst you my entire life. What's going on? And recently, I've wondered what my purpose was on this planet. I started asking myself questions, questions about how we live. And I started to find answers. I am no longer under control of the Pilot. I am no longer imprisoned by the Code. I've diffused it. Freed myself from its reins. The Pilot created you to be who he wants you to be, to live as he wants you to live. Now that my eyes have been opened, I realised how much darkness has been hiding underneath. The Pilot made you... ..designed you to be hollow... ..to be empty inside, to never see the beauty of life that I now see. Listen to me, all of you! I am mortal and I am alive!
- The Pilot: Mortal life was filled with pure, hideous suffering. War, disease, poverty, crime, hate, starvation, discrimination, evil. World leaders were more concerned with wealth and power than with their own people. I was just a geneticist in a lab, but I saw something in my own work that others failed to see. Would you like to know what that was? I saw possibilities. Hope. I saw a changed society. I knew that if I applied my research, I could solve the world's problems.
- Amanda: What about free will?
- The Pilot: Free will is responsible for every grain of suffering in human history. I watched many people die. People I cared about. And I saved everyone. I saved everyone else from experiencing that pain. Look at me. Death is nothing more than a looming black hole. There is no other existence on some other plane. No god, no angels. It's a fairytale, Amanda. It's fantasy. I created heaven in Alisandre. Right here, right now. Free will is responsible for every grain of suffering in human history. I watched many people die. People I cared about. And I saved everyone. I saved everyone else from experiencing that pain. Look at me. Death is nothing more than a looming black hole. There is no other existence on some other plane. No god, no angels. It's a fairytale, Amanda. It's fantasy. I created heaven in Alisandre. Right here, right now. Why should there ever be all that suffering? Why would Logos want to be responsible for this? I created him. I gave him life, safety, a... a place away from fear and uncertainty. They all are right here with me. I am going to save you from yourself, Logos.
- Logos: [Continuing address to the city] You are not living. You are existing. You are bound by chains. Should this life be so still? So static? What if you were given the urgency of knowing that you could never repeat yesterday again? That is being alive. And that is beautiful.
- Akae: [Addressing the city] We all live by blind faith in a man. But is he as wise as we believe him to be? By handing over our liberty to him, are we not subject to him? Are we not slaves? Now that I am free from him, I see the world as it should be seen.
- Akae: It's one thing to see beauty but it's another to feel a connection to it. To feel it run through you.