It's been a difficult month at CERN.
A half-dozen projects suspended.

Dr. Schmidt seemed to take it quite hard.

There must be 30 dead scientists
in the past couple months.

Thirty-two.

No sign of struggle or forced entry,

but sort of an odd suicide, huh?

Oppenheimer's mistress died the same way.

On her knees, head in a tub.

Some think she was murdered.

Maybe she just knew the kind of misery
the world was about to face.

Have a look at what he's locked away.

Oh. Hello, darling.

I've heard so much about you.

On his knees,
with his head in the bathtub?

That's what my buddy at CERN said.

- How does that even work?
- You take a lot of pills first.

It's not a good time
to be a theoretical physicist.

Or applied physicist.

Or a cosmologist. Right?

- Wasn't one of them a cosmologist?
- One of who?

The scientists
who've been topping themselves.

Hope it's not contagious.

The numbers that you were seeing...
has that come back?

No, it's gone.

Along with my career.

Vodka cran.

Shifted half a million
of those last quarter.

Is there a bathroom?

Well, uh, take your pick,
but there's a Japanese toilet upstairs.

Touchless.

Thanks.

Right. What else can I get you all?

Uh... you got any more Cheddar Twirlies?

Swirlies.

Cheddar Swirlies.

Why don't I show you the full assortment,
in the garage?

Cool.

What are they saying?

Probably nothing.

Oh, it's definitely not nothing.

Didn't you take
Animal Behavior with Rick Boyum?

Please. I was too much
of a hard science snob.

- Still am.
- Well, your loss.

Boyum was the best teacher I ever had.

Sorry, Vera.

He used to say that all birdsong
boiled down to one of two things.

It was either "me, me, me"
or "mate, mate, mate."

Or maybe it was "mine, mine, mine"
or "mate, mate, mate."

I can't remember,
but there was definitely mating involved.

Just think, to some kid,
you're their Rick Boyum.

But with physics, which,
let's face it, is way better.

I'm quitting teaching, actually.

What?

Why?

Maybe there's more to life
than knowing everything.

- Unlikely.

Well, what about
watching these little fellas?

I'm enjoying watching them.

Do you really have to know what they're
doing to enjoy watching them do it?

Yeah, I do.

Let's all go birdwatching, then.

We'll go to Patagonia or something.

Somewhere fucking great.

Jack can pay for everything.

What do you think?
We can get the fuck out of England.

Go and explore the ways of the birds.

Someday.

I've still got some things to do here.

Holy shit.

Oh, Jack.

♪ A stranger's light comes on slowly ♪

♪ A stranger's heart without a home ♪

♪ You put your hands into your head ♪

Wait, what?

You were not invited.

- Jack!
- ...a few flavors out of it.

Jack, what the fuck is this?

- You're getting fingerprints all over it!
- A woman tried to cut my head off.

What, you played?

I was in the fucking Middle Ages.

Tudor England. It's not quite--

No. All my senses were telling me
that I was there.

I could see a castle,
and I could feel the wind--

You can smell the people.

Do not smell Henry VIII.

That's nothing compared
to the rehydrated people.

I never thought
I could get bored of nudity.

You're playing this?

Dr. Ye gave me Vera's.

Vera was playing this game
before she killed herself?

And now you're playing it?

The only thing that's gonna make people
wanna kill themselves

is this annoying brat that's
constantly whining, "Oh, save me."

- Because you're supposed to save her.
- No, you figure out how the sun moves.

- She's there every time you play.
- What the fuck is wrong with you?

We don't have this technology.

Where did this come from?

Hey, hey, hey! Whoa, whoa!

That thing
is hacking into your brain.

You don't want an Alexa in your house,
and you're playing with that?

- Don't! Don't put it on.
- I'm not gonna put it on.

Sword Lady will just
cut your head off as well.

No invitation, no game.

Who invited you?

I don't know.

I just came home one night,
and it was right there.

What? So someone broke in
and left it here?

And then you were like,
"Oh. I should put this on me head"?

I've got state-of-the-art security.

I've been through every camera feed.
No sign of anyone coming in or out.

Well, you don't think that's alarming?

Scrubbed from the footage,

just like the woman who told me
the universe was gonna blink at me?

You can't compare this
to unexplained cosmic phenomenon.

It's just not the same thing.

Except it kinda is.

The stars, Auggie's countdown,
this video game...

They're all virtual realities
indistinguishable from actual reality.

Well, all right, then, boy genius.
Who's behind it?

- It's not my field.
- Saul.

Maybe think about it
for more than ten seconds?

If it's a direct neural interface,

it's controlling
all sensory inputs and outputs.

Everything that goes into your brain
and everything that goes out.

If it can exercise control at that level,

Vera wasn't herself.

She wasn't the person that I knew.

Is it possible that... this thing
was manipulating her in some way?

I wouldn't touch it.

Okay, I'm not going to kill myself.

I'm definitely not killing myself.
My life's amazing.

Promise me you'll stop playing.

Please.

All right. Fine.

We'll stop.

The Sword Lady said
we're supposed to use science

to save the next civilization, right?

So we need to come up with a way
to predict the next stable era

and how long it'll last.

Christ! How much have you been playing?

Oh, fuck off, you spod.
You keep a whiteboard in your flat?

Yeah, that's my work.
You've got snacks at yours, don't you?

You can't eat a whiteboard
when you're stoned.

- Or at least, you shouldn't.
- Rooney, focus.

Okay. So, these are
all the times I've played.

And how I lost each time.

Froze, froze, burnt, suffocated...

- Yeah.
- Froze, and so on.

I would say that you're just shit,
but I haven't done any better.

The superscripts here correspond
to the movements of the sun on that chart.

I don't see a pattern.

That's just it.
What if there is no pattern?

I'm gonna propose a radical idea.

But I might need a little help from...

Francis Bacon.

Francis Bacon.

All right, well,
follow your lead, just like uni.

Okay.

- Level two.

Ha!

Nice. Francis Bacon.

Yeah, two-player mode.

England again.
So, you're in my game?

Mate, I've lived
in England for 12 years.

Maybe the game found something
we're both familiar with.

- Oh...

I don't like how it knows that.

It better not have gone
through my search history.

Well, if we see a girl farting
on a birthday cake, we'll know.

- Copernicus!

Sir Francis.

Are you back to save the world?

I hope so.

You'd better hurry.

The Pope is about to make his decision.

- The Pope?
- All right. Cheers. Let's go.

Uh, I'm sorry about last time.

And the time before that.
Well, all the times before.

I remember them all.

All of them?

Every time I died.

You'd better hurry.

Yeah, come on.

- Thanks.
- You'll save me this time?

So, how are we gonna win?
Care to tell me what this radical idea is?

What fun would that be?

You're late.

I was about to render my decision.

Oh, I'm sorry, Your...

What is it?

Holiness.

- Pope Gregory.
- Holy... Right.

I'm sorry. I'm Francis Bacon.

And I'm Copernicus.

If either of you have a proposal
to explain the behavior of the sun,

I will consider it now.

I should warn you, though,

the proposal that Aristotle
and Galileo put forth is quite strong.

Your Holiness,

I have made dozens of measurements
of the sun's apparent size and luminosity.

These do not correlate.

Second, I have noticed
the sun's position relative to this planet

receding on a short timescale.

Third, I have observed
more than one celestial body,

too bright to be a planet, moving relative
to the fixed background of the stars.

The only explanation
for these observations

is that this planet
is part of a three-body star system.

Fucking hell. That's the answer.

If our planet revolves
around one of the suns in a stable orbit,

that's a stable era.

However, if one of the other suns
snatches our planet away,

we wander through the gravitational fields
of all three suns.

That's a chaotic era.

This... This is bullshit.

Your Holiness, you were
about to decide on our proposal.

Silence!

I've heard enough.

Burn her.

- No, no. No, listen.
- What?

- She's got it right. She's got evidence.
- Wait. I... I gave you the right answer!

- Heretic, I sentence you to death!

- She's right!
- Take it like a man!

- It's the only theory that makes sense!
- Suck it, Copernicus!

You know she's right!
She figured it out!

Let her go!

No, no!

Copernicus!

Three suns in the sky!

The world is ending!

The world is ending!

Copernicus!

Save me!

Copernicus, please!

Come on, Jin! Come on!

Wait!

Why are we not dead too?

Because we were right.

Civilization number 152
was destroyed by a tri-solar day.

But in this civilization,
you've successfully revealed

the basic structure of the star system.

The game has now entered level three.

- Are you keen on video games, Clarence?

I used to play 'em when I was a kid.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms,
Jet Set Willy on ZX Spectrum,

Strip Poker on Commodore 6--

How would you say
this game stacks up?

Well, listening to Cheng
and Rooney go on about it,

it sounds like a load of bloody homework.

Measurements, equations,
charts, observations...

All about the way
the suns move around a fictional planet.

Suns? Plural?

Yeah. Oh, there's also a little kid
they've got to try and save.

Or Cheng's trying to save
and failing over and over.

That's the only bit
that sounds like a proper game to me.

What's Engineering got to say about this?

No luck getting it to work,

but they did identify
some very interesting components.

It's got a retinal scanner,

an oxygen meter, and a brain wave sensor.

It's collecting a heap of biometric data.

So while you're playing the game,
someone at the other end is playing you.

It's a recruitment tool.

They're goin' after
our best and brightest.

Yeah. But recruitment for what?

Oh fuck.

Hi.

- Hey.

I, uh... I thought you were out
with your mates.

It's 3:00 a.m.

Sorry, babe. I was, um...
just playing the game with Jack.

Yeah, I know.

He logged off.

Wow. It's a mess. I know.

I was gonna tidy up
before you got here. Uh...

You lose your tether
when you're not working.

There's nothing to be done at work,
so I'm... just taking my holiday leave.

This isn't a holiday.

Should I postpone dinner?

What? No.

Why?

You've been dreading
meeting my parents for weeks.

I haven't been dreading it.

Look, I can't wait.

- Yeah?
- Yeah.

They're gonna love you.

Just be yourself, yeah?

Mm.

But maybe go easy on the science talk?

Higher dimensions exist,

but we can't perceive them
because we're three-dimensional creatures.

For instance, seen from a distance,
this bread is just a flat circle, right?

But when you go closer,
you see that it has thickness,

an extra dimension.

Amazing, right?

And what's hidden
inside that extra dimension?

More flat circles.

And many more layers
within layers within layers.

A whole universe inside every bite.

But that's all, um, theoretical.

So, theoretically,
I've just eaten an entire universe.

And it's delicious, Mrs. Varma.

A top physicist.

Your parents must be very proud.

Well, I think
the whole idea is fascinating.

Please, tell us more.

Well, we don't need to make her do that.

You don't wanna talk about
the curry shop all day, do you?

I've stories of the Kargil War.

- Here it comes.
- Yeah, go on, Dad.

It's not dinner
until the Kargil War comes up.

Back when you were a baby,
I was in the Indian army.

I was captain of a platoon
up in the Himalayas,

and the air is very thin there.

And my soldiers were
about to die of hypoxia.

There was an enemy camp 100 meters away,

but it was almost
straight up a cliff face.

I had no other choice.
I had to climb up the ice.

And when I got to the top, I played dead.

Not just play.

I was nearly dead.

But I laid there, slowly freezing,
until the Pakistani soldiers all came out,

and that's when I threw my grenade.

I killed them all.

And I took the oxygen and supplies
from their camp back to my men.

And we all survived.

Wow.

Yeah, that... tiny win
tipped the balance of the entire conflict.

And it won my father the Param Vir Chakra.

It's the... the highest
military honor in India.

Well,

you can't eat a medal, hai, nah?

People in the UK, they don't care
what you did back in India.

Well, Jin gets the highest civilian honor.

- Surviving dinner with the Varmas.

To Jin.

To Jin.

- To Jin.
- To Jin.

Aye-aye, there he is.

There's our boy.

How did it go?
Scrape it all out, did they?

You needn't have come.

They're discharging me tomorrow
once the "Deluded" wears off.

Dilaudid?

Deluded.

Don't...

It went okay, though, yeah?

Oh yeah. It was brilliant.

Yeah. We had a lovely chat
while I was under.

"We"?

Yeah, me and the cancer.

Oh right. Is that a... Is that a metaphor?

No.

No, we spoke.

It turns out that
the cancer's not inherently evil, right?

It's just... It's actually
just looking for a place to live.

Like we all are, I suppose.

With its children.

Which is fair enough, but obviously,
I said, "That's not all right with me."

"I'm using my body
at the moment."

"Can't just move in."

So anyways, we made a... a deal.

It gets to stay
in its own little corner in my pancreas,

and I keep all the rest.

I still think you should have told Jin.

She knows.

On some level, she knows.

Which is why
you have to save her... from him.

Who? Raj?

He's always smiling, isn't he?

Always friendly.

He is death.

He is chaos.

You've got a funny hat on.

Do I? I thought you'd never notice.

Where's yours?

I'm an instinct man.

It's never led me astray,

except in marriage.

You've a reputation for rigor,

and I believe the science to be sound.

It is sound.

What applications you had
for your nanofiber.

Water filtration, tissue engineering,
carbon capture--

And I still believe in it.

Then you can see why I'm a bit flummoxed

that you've closed down
the entire bun fight.

It's temporary.

I just need time
to recheck the engineering.

Honestly, Dr. Salazar, what am I missing?

We're on the precipice
of being first to market

with a unique nanofiber technology,

and you slam on the brakes.

Why?

We've got the finest scientists
doing the finest work in the field.

Save for a CSO

who seems to be having a mental breakdown.

Luckily, as you've led us
to the precipice,

we can easily
start the project back up again,

if you persist in refusing.

None of this works without me.

Then for heaven's sake, act like a CSO.

Think of the hundreds of employees,
think of the billions who would benefit

from our nanofibers.

I don't wish to be harsh,

but please remember,

we sponsor your ILR.

You can't stay in this country
on a work visa if you're not working.

That's not how it bloody well goes.

Stop.

Stop. Stop!

Pick up the phone.
Pick up the fucking phone.

Hey.

Hey. The countdown came back.

What?

I activated the reaction chamber,
and it came back.

The numbers were here,

and I could see them,
and I don't know why.

Why did you do that?
You said you shut it down.

Of course I fucking shut it down.

Okay. Then why
did you turn it back on, Auggie?

'Cause I needed to know if it was real.

Auggie, it's real. We both saw it.

We're gonna figure this out.

I think I...

I know why scientists
are killing themselves. I understand.

Don't talk like that.

I'm not gonna do anything. I just...

Can you please come over?

Yeah, of... of course.

Uh, you at the lab?

- Where are you?
- I'm at home... I'm at home.

Where are you going?

Are you with someone?

I'm on my way to you, right now.
I'll be right there.

You're with someone.

Auggie, I'm coming to you.

I'm coming to you
as fast as I can, and we'll--

- Busy? Cancel it.

I thought you were with Raj.

I told him that you just got dumped
by your girlfriend.

- I haven't got a girlfriend.
- No shit.

- Where's your headset?

Level three.

Where is this supposed to be?

I think we're in Shangdu.

Sometimes known as--

Xanadu. Where Kublai Khan
decreed his stately pleasure-dome.

Okay. We know
we're in a three-star system.

We know we can't predict the motions
of three bodies in space. Not for long.

Classic three-body problem.

And there's famously
no general solution for it.

Unless, of course, you managed
to whip one up on the tube ride over.

Look.

There she is.

Hey.

We can't speak to anyone.

Oh, right.

You're in the army.

Well, we're gonna save you this time.

Like all the other times before?

- Come on.

- Come on. The game's this way.
- Wait.

You're running out of chances, Copernicus.

Soon the world will end for good.

Great Khan, I present to you
Copernicus and Sir Francis Bacon.

Oh, come on.

We were just about to demonstrate
our solution, Great Khan.

Yes, yes. It's all in place.

But do our newcomers
have an alternate proposal?

Do we?

Well, Great Khan,
we consider this problem to be impossible.

Never mind, then.

You may observe Sir Isaac Newton
and Professor Turing.

Maybe you'll learn something
for next time.

I have developed
a science I call "calculus"

to predict the movement of the suns.

And these calculations are performed
by my great Human Abacus.

How many soldiers are there?

Thirty million.

None of the men
are mathematicians, of course,

but they do all know how to hold a flag,
one way or the other.

Ones and zeros.

You've built a human computer.

Let's get on with the calculations.

When is the next chaotic era?

Right away, Great Khan.

Run solar orbit computation software,

Three Body 1.0.

Jesus.

From here, it looks like
they've got a winner.

Just wait.

To the palace!

What does your Human Abacus say?

A chaotic era will commence in three days.

It will last eight months,

followed by a stable era of 10,000 years.

Soldiers! Dehydrate!

Eight months and three days!

All right.
Eight months and three days.

A stable era once again.

How long has it been?

Eight months
and three days exactly.

Great Khan, our computer
has proven its worth.

We've won.

- That can't be it.
- Uh-uh.

Did they figure it out?

Not according to modern physics.

They'd need the starting parameters
of all three bodies.

You shut the fuck up, troll.

Our computer works.

Your calculations won't hold up
in the long run--

Silence! Guards.

Boil them.

- No. No, no, no. Wait.

- Wait.
- Ow! Hang on.

- Get off!
- This isn't right.

I haven't had a chance
to explain properly.

- It doesn't work.
- Fuck off!

- Those calculations won't work!
- Oh shit!

Oh fuck!

They're trying to kill us!

I'm done with this fucking game!

Focus, Rooney!
It's all in your head! We're okay!

Great Khan, stop her.

- It's her.

But this is our game.

Look, Great Khan!

All in a line.

It's syzygy.

So what? They're eclipsing one another.

The planet is no hotter
than it was before.

What's happened to my army?

The planet's under the gravitational force
of all three suns.

No!

Charlatans! Both of you!

- Help! Copernicus!

- No. No!
- Save me!

- No! No!
- Save me!

- Got ya!

No!

It's not about solving
the three-body problem.

Our goal is to save the people.

The Count said survival is everything.

That's the object of the game,
to help them survive.

How the hell do we do that?
Nothing can survive here.

Civilization number 184
was destroyed

by the stacked gravitational attractions
of a tri-solar syzygy.

But in this civilization,
you've correctly determined

your true purpose in the game.

You have now entered level four.

Come in.

Mr. Evans.

Felix.

Sir, we have two new candidates
for Region Six.

The female, Copernicus,
is quite attached to the young Follower.

That doesn't surprise me.

Let's have these two vetted
for the London summit.

Sir.

- Apologies, my Lord.

Now.

Where was I?

Oh yes.

"The Tale of Hansel
and Gretel."

You said the boy, Hansel, was afraid,

but the girl was not?

Not at the moment, no.

But why is one afraid
while the other is not?

Do individuals experience fear
on their own?

It's an individual emotion, yes.

For us, fear is something
we experience as one.

Our ancestors were like that.

Tiny mammals who survived by hiding.

But it appears
you have ceased to be afraid.

Why do you say that?

You contacted another planet.

Is this the act of a timid species?

Not a species. No, my Lord.

A woman.

A singular, fearless woman.

Are there other fearless humans?

Well, they show up from time to time.

And we often look up to them
as inspirations for others to follow.

A lack of fear leads to extinction.

If your ancestors
had followed the fearless,

you would not exist.

Humanity must learn to fear again.

Then we will teach them.

- Let me see the invite.

Dr. Cheng, Mr. Rooney.

Congratulations.

You are the only two people
in the UK to make it this far.

We've been so impressed by your work.

Your help, Mr. Rooney, in identifying
the game parameters was essential.

As was your support for your partner.

Oh, cheers.

And you, Dr. Cheng.

You figured out that the home world
was part of a three-body system.

A few other players did that as well,
but you understood what truly mattered.

Not the planet... but its people.

You felt their plight.

Your cingulate cortex activity
was the highest we've ever recorded.

Yeah, listen. About that.

This interface, there's nothing else
like it anywhere.

This isn't next gen.
This is five nexts down the line.

So who are you really?

The answers to all of your questions
are waiting for you in level four.

Whenever you're ready.

Level four.

It's a wasteland.

- Dr. Cheng.

Mr. Rooney.

You made it.

You were right.

There is no solution
to the three-body problem.

No computer can predict the behavior
of three bodies indefinitely.

With three suns in the sky,
every civilization ends in chaos.

There will eventually be a cataclysm
from which we cannot recover.

Our planet will be ripped in half.

Or pulled into one of the suns.

Or expelled into space forever.

And when you know
your planet is doomed,

what is the solution?

Flee.

Find a new home.

Correct.

Our only chance of survival
lies elsewhere.

The moment we received
the invitation to your world,

we knew our destination.

We built
an interstellar fleet of 1,000 ships.

They are the final hope
of civilization number 9478.

And they are on their way.

Most of us have to stay behind.

But that's all right.

If one of us survives, we all survive.

You'll welcome us, won't you?

Without your help, we won't make it.

We can't wait to meet you.

I don't quite understand.

Are you trying to tell us
that... they're real?

We call them the San-Ti.

The first person
to make contact with them was from China.

And "san ti ren" means

-"three-body people" in Chinese.
-"Three-body people."

These San-Ti ren,
they're on their way here?

Coming from
an unstable three-body star system.

Four light years away.

Getting closer every moment.

They created this technology
to share their story with us.

And they look like that? Like us?

We took a few liberties.

Uh, for your benefit.

So you're trying to tell us
that this game was designed by aliens?

Think about it. You said yourself the tech
is 100 years ahead of where we are.

Oh no, no. Yeah. Sure, yeah. Amazing AI.

You know, Sword Lady and cute kid.

But come on.

What about the particle accelerators,
the blinking stars?

Oh, Jin. This is a scam.

This could be the only explanation
that accounts for all of it.

Isn't the most simple explanation
usually the best? Occam's Razor?

Oh, I'll give you Occam's Razor.

This lunatic here
is trying to slice off a big wad of cash

from a rich man who loves video games.

We don't need your money.

We have our own.

If you don't want to be here,
you're free to go.

All right. That's good of you.
Come on, Jin.

Wait, Rooney. Don't you wanna know more?

Oh, come on. This is fucking mental.
She's talking about aliens.

I think we should stay.

- All right. Fine. I'll tell you what.

You do you, and I'll be in the pub
when you've come to your senses.

No, Rooney. Jack.

Jack!

We're holding a summit

for you and the other level-four champions
from around the world

to welcome you to the organization.

I do hope you'll come.

You must understand how the San-Ti feel.

You were torn from your home too,
weren't you?

The flood in Hubei.

Before you moved to New Zealand.

How do you know about that?

How much do you remember?

Not much. I was little.

I remember my home being...
swept away in the middle of the night.

My parents grabbing me
and tossing me onto a piece of doorframe.

My parents being pulled under
by the currents.

That's it.
That's the last time I ever saw them.

They've lived on in you.

If you survive,

they've survived.

We've all been lost in some way.

Welcome.

Let us be comrades.

♪ Arrest this man ♪

♪ He talks in maths ♪

♪ He buzzes like a fridge ♪

♪ He's like a detuned radio ♪

♪ Karma police ♪

♪ Arrest this girl ♪

♪ Her Hitler hairdo
Is makin' me feel ill ♪

♪ And we have crashed her party ♪

Oh, for fuck's sake.

Fucking Vodafone.

♪ This is what you get ♪

♪ When you mess with us ♪

Who are you trying to reach?

I'm warning you.

There's cameras in every room.

There are.

You said I was free to go.

You were.

All right. That's it.
Get out of my--

♪ It's not enough ♪

♪ I've given all I can ♪

♪ But we're... ♪

Get off me!

All you had to do
was keep playing.

♪ This is what you get ♪

♪ This is what you get ♪

♪ This is what you get ♪

♪ When you mess with us ♪

♪ For a minute there ♪

♪ I lost myself ♪

♪ I lost myself ♪

♪ Phew, for a minute there ♪

♪ I lost myself ♪

♪ I lost myself ♪

♪ For a minute there ♪

♪ I lost myself ♪

♪ I lost myself ♪

♪ Phew, for a minute there ♪

♪ I lost myself ♪

♪ I lost myself ♪

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