Breakaway (quotes)

Intro

Quotes

• Simmonds to in-transit John Koenig: "... your job is to put man on Meta."
• Victor Bergman to arriving John: "Things are far more serious than I suspect you've been told."
• Victor to John, about Dr. Helena Russell: "Commander Gorski refused to let her report any of her findings."
• Koenig: "Simmonds, why did you lie to me?"
• Simmonds, in reply: "You mean those men are no better?"
• Koenig, in response: "No. They're no better. They're not going to get any better and you know it."
• Koenig to Alan Carter: "You were told lies. They died of an illness no one can understand. Earth Command wanted you to think it was a temporary set back."
• Koenig, thinking to himself about Meta mission: A giant leap for mankind. It's beginning to look like a stumble in the dark.
• Koenig to Russell, in Medical Center, after his Eagle crashed in Area One: "Well, I told you there was nothing wrong with me, I walked away form it, there's no damage."
• Russell, in reply: "Commander.... That is not the kind of damage I'm looking for. [....] We're looking for answers, Commander. Not heroes."
• Koenig, in response: "I didn't know you cared."
• Victor, to John and Alan: "I think we're facing a new effect, arising from the atomic waste deposited here over the years. Magnetic energy outputs of unprecedented violence."
• John, to Controller Paul Morrow, after a remote-controlled Eagle crashes in Area Two due to a magnetic surge: "Paul. Contact Commissioner Simmonds immediately. Pass Emergency Code Alpha One." Then to Helena: "You were right, Doctor. It was radiation. Magnetic radiation. Now we're sitting on the biggest bomb man's ever made."
• Simmonds, prematurely optimistic about breaking up Area Two pile: "Well done. Now, I have to issue a communiqué sooner or later. Well, it'll give us more time to consider our next move. You see, John--"
• Koenig, interrupting: "I see men risking their lives to avert disaster -- total disaster. Now, wake up, Commissioner. If this goes wrong there won't be anybody to issue a communiqué. There will be no survivors."
• Paul, immediately after the above: "Commander! It's going up!"
• Alan, to Alpha: "The Moon is going out of the Earth's orbit. That explosion... it has pushed us out of the Earth's orbit."
• Paul: "Can we make it back to Earth?"
• Main Computer, after listing various negative factors: "Human Decision Required"
• John: "As you know, our Moon has been blasted out of orbit. We have been completely cut off from planet Earth. As we are, we have power, environment, and therefore, the possibility of survival. If we should try to improvise a return to Earth, without travel plots, without full resources, it is my belief that we would fail. Therefore, in my judgement, we do not try."
• Koenig: "September Thirteen, Nineteen Ninety-Nine. Meta signals increasing. Yes, maybe there."