- [first lines]
- Narrator: Two hundred years have passed since the nuclear war raged to an end and the computers took over what was left of the world - sealed it off from the outside - and made it perfect. Now, in the Domed City in this year 2319, living is unending joy. Every wish is granted; every sensual dream is realized; and all the world is young... for in this perfect society, no one is allowed to live past 30. On your 30th birthday, you must enter the Great Sleep in the ceremony of the Carousel, to be renewed; to be born again in another body and so begin another 30 years of blissful existence... but there are those in the Domed City who have begun to ask questions, to doubt. They talk in whispers about a refuge in the vast unknown that lies outside - a place they call "Sanctuary."
- Logan: Runner!
- Jessica: Logan, don't shoot!
- Logan: ...You know my name?
- Jessica: Logan 5.
- Logan: How do you know?
- Jessica: We've been watching you. You're not like the rest of the Sandmen. You've been asking questions.
- Logan: Sandmen don't question the order of things.
- Jessica: Logan, Carousel is death! No one is renewed.
- Runner: When you're 30, you'll die, too.
- Jessica: Unless you run for Sanctuary.
- Logan: You're saying there is Sanctuary?
- Jessica: Yes! Outside!
- Logan: There is nothing outside! The air was poisoned in the nuclear war.
- Jessica: Logan, that's part of the lie - to keep us in the Domed City. It's all right. The air is clear now.
- [to Jessica, referring to Francis whom he has just knocked unconscious]
- Logan: He'll know you. We're both runners now.
- [Francis walks into a room full of gray-haired old men then feels his face for wrinkles]
- Morgan: You're still the same, Francis 7. We're different. You're looking at old age.
- Francis: How can anyone be old. Everyone goes to the Carousel at 30.
- Morgan: Not everyone. Not the elders who control the City of Domes. Come closer. Haven't you ever wondered how the city functions; how it's run?
- Francis: No! Everything's... everything is.
- Morgan: *Is* because we keep it so. For 30 years you all live lives of pleasure. There's no need for decisions, for questions. Your every desire is gratified. Your food, your clothing - all there for the taking. Yet none of you work a great deal for any of these things. Doesn't that strike you as strange?
- Morgan: Find Logan 5 and the girl. Show that you deserve to join us.
- Francis: Join you?
- Morgan: Call it renewal... our renewal because, you see, we too, at a point in time, must die. Others must replace us on the Counsel. We are constantly seeking such men.
- Jonathon: Are you such a man, Francis 7?
- Morgan: I will bring them back.
- [touches an old man's wrinkles]
- Jessica: Does it hurt to have your face with *cracks* like that?
- [the old man's friends chuckle]
- Old Man: Hurt? Of course not. That's just part of being old.
- Logan: Are you many years past thirty?
- Old Man: Twice thirty and then some, but I can still handle myself with the best.
- Rem: You're Logan and Jessica from the City of Domes. I know all about you. Of course, I know everything that goes on here, but that usually isn't much.
- Logan: Who are you?
- Rem: My name is Rem. I'm the one who brings them up to snuff when they break down, which they do with monotonous regularity. The way they build servants these days.
- [Rem shakes his head ruefully]
- Rem: But then, nothing is ever perfect, is it? Including my situation.
- Jessica: Then you're not happy here?
- Rem: Who could be happy surrounded by robots? "It is a pleasure to serve you, sir." "Your wish is my command, sir." "Is the water satisfactory, sir?" Never a word that hasn't been prerecorded. Boring. The only fun I get is changing their faces.
- [points to Siri's head]
- Rem: Oriental next time, perhaps.
- Jessica: Maybe you can help us.
- Rem: How?
- Logan: We want to leave, but your robots seem to have other ideas.
- Rem: My robots? Well, I suppose you could call them mine. It's a dubious honor, though, at best. One track minds... Good idea, though. Leaving, I mean. Always wanted to leave - never had anyone to leave with... nor any place to go, come to think of it. I'll leave with you... if you don't mind company.
- Jessica: Of course we don't. Do we?
- Logan: No, of course not.
- [last lines]
- Rem: Well, where are we off to?
- Logan: We're looking for a place called, "Sanctuary".
- Rem: "Sanctuary"?
- Jessica: Mm-hmm. It's a place where humans can live out their lives in freedom and in peace. Where they can raise their children with love and teach them the values of dignity and loyalty.
- Rem: Freedom, love, loyalty - those are human concepts, I suppose.
- Jessica: Oh, yes, of course.
- Rem: Worthwhile?
- Logan: Very.
- Rem: Hm. Fascinating. Drive on!