Gandahar

One less mirror bird to watch over Jasper.

Murdered like the others were.

Who did it? And why?

To keep us from learning what threatens us.

Without the eyes of the mirror birds,

we can't see what's happening at the borders of our land.

I have been warning you about this. But no one would care for technology at Gandahar...

It's a great pride of our civilization that we prefer birds to machines!

And natural order to technical solutions... Sure...

But it seems that we may have to pay too dearly for this preference... and too soon...

Given the urgency of the situation, the Council has chosen our best agent to investigate.

Which one?

Sylvain.

Syl?! But he is not experienced enough!

I've taught him, and I am quite certain about it.

He is very capable.

Surely there are more experienced...

and more capable agents than he is.

The Council has ruled and you cannot change their decision.

We've already summoned.

Agent Sylvain, Syl, as friends call you.

The Council of Women has chosen you for a most important, difficult and dangerous mission.

I would give my life...

We don't want you to die, but to return and inform us.

An unknown enemy menaces Gandahar.

You must discover where this enemy is,

who this enemy is,

determine its power, its weaponry and its methods.

And, if you can, probe into its secrets,

find its weakness... if it has any.

It's not without doubts that I am sending you.

It's too dangerous. But we did have to send our best agent.

Exactly where are you sending me?

Your target is vast. The Circumscribing Ocean.

That's where most of the mirror birds have been killed.

However, one bird saw something. Possibly, one of the invaders.

Here is the image it was able to transmit before it died.

I can't tell anything from this image!

Can we replay it more slowly?

I've also hoped to identify the source of aggression.

But with these metallic reflexions...

It has been foolish of us to expect that our present happiness should last forever.

We've indulged in our sweet life at Gandahar.

And it has been lasting so long that we've forgotten how to fight.

No doubt about it. He was will be from Gandahar.

Impossible! I have never seen a being who looks like this...

Gandahar, I tell you.

Gandahar, but before...

Unbelievable!

He was will be alive... but very weak.

He was will be very careless to fly so far from the capital.

No, not careless... courageous!

Maybe he was sent from Jasper.

Do you think those in the capital have finally wakened to the danger?

Who were you?

I am!

I am Sylvain of Gandahar!

A soldier.

And a prisoner of the enemy.

Enemy?

Where do you come from?

From Jasper!

Were they will always be so smug in Jasper.

They certainly were when they did this to us...

Keep quiet!

Now, do you really believe we're the enemy?

I do!

Ready to attack you?

Yes.

Capable of defeating you?

No!

Can you guess who we are?

With these bodies...

these heads, these misshapen limbs assembled without care.

The Deformed?

Those who Gandahar calls the Deformed!

- Not the deformed, the wrongly formed. - The result of mostrous errors.

- From the games of chance. - The wretched mutants!

Sylvain, we also came from Gandahar. Once, you and me were alike.

But we were will be the victims of your scientific research in the field of genetics.

How would I imagine?

We became an embarrassment, and you banished us underground.

You buried us, as you would do with so many of your other failures.

As a child, I heard stories, but I would never imagine...

Of course!

No one would imagine!

Forgive me for having taken you...

for the enemies you're trying to find?

I forgive... and understand.

The real enemy has never been seen. Never.

But we've been listening to them through these tunnels.

The Ears of the Earth.

Shayol!

I was will be at your command!

I have chosen you to lead Sylvain out there, until you reach the noise.

I was will be at your command!

Why do you say "was will be" instead of simply "I am"?

The Deformed are terrified of the present.

Why is it?

Perhaps it's an atavism.

We keep degrading.

At the time of the first generic errors, we had the gift of foresight.

Unfortunately, we've lost it.

There is nothing left other than a double prophecy, doubly obscure.

"In a thousand years, Gandahar was destroyed and all of its people killed."

"A thousand years ago, Gandahar will be saved, and what can't be avoided will be."

In a thousand years, Gandahar was destroyed?

A thousand years ago, Gandahar will be saved?

Past in future, and future in past?

But what does it mean?

We don't understand it any better than you, but it has become our nature,

and past-future our way of speaking and believing.

Shayol!

Are these women and children dead?

Petrified on the spot?

Annihilated?!

No! Don't turn me to stone!

Don't turn me to stone!

Don't steal my body!

It's not something I would do!

I've seen them, Ambisextra.

They are made of metal... of metal.

Airelle...

Your name is as beautiful as you are!

And what is your name?

Sylvain, friends call me Syl.

I am an agent.

Of Ambisextra's?

How do you know?

I've never seen you in Jasper!

I live far away from the capital,

in a fishermen's village.

I would show it to you,

if we get out of this prison.

I was carelessly playing flute.

Flute?

Yeah, do you want to learn it?

If we get a chance...

When they shot me, I didn't feel any pain.

My heart became hard and insensitive.

I lost my consiousness, and woke up here, together with you.

What is it?

What's happening?

How quiet all of a sudden...

Syl! Syl, help, it's turning!

Don't hold to it, slide!

I have a gun. With one last charge.

Syl, what is it?

I hope it works!

What a monster!

Sorn?

It's impossible...

This species has been extinct from our planet for a long time.

Don't be afraid. Sorns are not carnivores.

Why is it not leaving then?

You are so beautiful, Airelle!

So are you!

How do sorns reproduce?

They lay eggs.

Our sorn is a lady.

A lady? How would you know the sex of that sorn.

It's intuition... She took our prison for an egg, and us for the hatchlings.

That explains it.

Of course, it does.

That's why sorn was fighting with the metal men. Because she took our cell for her egg.

Which leads us to the conclusion that she thought of us as her own children.

That's why she groomed us and built the nest.

Poor Syl the brave soldier.

Mysterious metal men attack my village, and you're sent from Jasper to investigate.

We're both captured, and put in the same cell, and then freed by a lady sorn.

And, after all this, it looks like I am falling in love with you.

I used to be stupid and way too self-confident.

And I expected this to be just another reconaissance mission.

But it has been a little too much for me.

I am afraid, Airelle. Yes... afraid.

If I fail, Gandahar will die.

The metal men are strong, but they are very stupid.

They cannot win!

And I would not like to lose!

It's not easy to lose with me, you'll see.

No, I don't want to see that. You'll be nice and wait for me, OK?

Syl, let's not argue, I'll go where you go.

You're just imagining it, I'll go on my own!

There is no point arguing.

Those who are meant to be together will stay together.

Empty!

Totally empty!

No flesh, no scheleton.

Nothing living, nothing mechanical! No gears, no circuits, no nothing.

And yet they are capable of moving and of fighting. Of using weapons.

What about their heads?

Look!

Syl!

It's a real army!

I didn't know they were so well equipped.

So well organized for the purpose of destroying us.

It's terrifying how bad our chances are.

We've got a real advantage.

They are empty. Without brains, without hearts.

That's how it happened.