Oh, mercy, mercy me
No, things ain't what they used to be now
Where did all the blue skies go?
Poison is the wind that blows From north, south, east and west
Oh, mercy, mercy me
Oh, things ain't what they used to be Now, no
Oil wasted on the ocean And upon our seas
Time to go, Decima.
Fish full of mercury
Dad, I love this song.
Hey, Dec, who's the millennial?
Please tell me that's not real.
Is that your dad? He looks fucking weird.
Make it go away.
Oh, things ain't what they used to be
When you do things like this, you put us both in a very risky position.
You know that.
Alpha, mute.
You are an extraordinary young woman, and I am trying to protect you.
I'm sorry.
And him? Really, Decima?
But I love Tyrone Downs.
You know what he tried to do to me? To Alpha?
Fucking simulator needs an upgrade.
What's happening?
Really? In front of my daughter?
Get me Turner.
Dad?
I am recording this in anticipation of any eventuality that would cause me
to relinquish my position as CEO of Alpha International.
If you're seeing this, it is because unforeseen events have occurred,
and immediate action must be taken for the good of the enterprise.
What happened to Nick?
Arrested. International Criminal Court.
Ecocide. Same thing they charged the BP board with.
This is for you.
Congratulations on your promotion.
You're the new CEO of Alpha.
Alpha, is Nick Bilton guilty?
The case of the International Criminal Court
versus Nicholas Bilton has not yet begun.
Alpha, when did ecocide become a crime?
Ecocide officially became a core international crime in 2050.
There are no evidences to date...
Punishment for ecocide is imprisonment...
Alpha, will this impact the Alpha drones that deliver my groceries?
Alpha, who is the lead prosecutor
in the trial against Nick Bilton?
Prosecutor Lucy Adobo will be representing the International Criminal Court.
He deserves to be sent to the penal colony on Phobos, hmm?
Like the others. Twenty-five years.
The most successful hunters have more patience than hunger.
And what Alpha did to the mines alone-- He should be made to pay.
Money is just another one of his tools.
Hey, it's a tool we can use to change things.
The law does not apply to men like Bilton.
I stood outside the Alpha mines for months.
I remember, Ty. I was there with you.
50,000 workers dying in the hot sun until we shut that shit down.
Yes, you did.
This ends with him hanging upside down from a balcony, or it never ends.
Hear ye, hear ye.
The International Criminal Courts Tribunal on Crimes Against the Planet
is now in session.
Nikolai Biltonov, legally registered as "Nicholas Bilton," please stand.
To the charge of ecocide, how do you plead?
Not guilty.
These proceedings will be presided over by three virtual judges,
programmed to create a universal standard of justice
reflecting legal and ethical traditions from across the globe.
Do both counsels agree to accept these rulings as binding?
- I do. - I do.
The court recognizes Lucy Adobo, Esq,
representing the International Criminal Court.
Good morning.
This case will establish a premeditated and carefully executed conspiracy
led by Nicholas Bilton over the past 50 years
to profiteer from and proliferate climate change
across the planet in an act of ecocide.
As Mr. Bilton himself said over 30 years ago...
Around the turn of this century, climate change was described...
- Mr. Bilton is a great humanitarian. - ...as a symptom of capitalism.
He rescued you and brought you into his own home.
I'm here to suggest that capitalism is also the cure.
But rather than hear the story from me,
no fewer than ten former employees
have agreed to testify to the matter before the court.
I will now call the first witness, Dr. Rebecca Shearer.
State your name for the court.
- Dr. Rebecca Shearer. - And you are currently?
In New York City.
Can you identify Nicholas Bilton?
Yes.
And is he in the courtroom today?
It's either him or a hologram of him. Hard to tell.
I can attest that Mr. Bilton has appeared here in person.
Such is his concern for the charade that are the charges brought against him.
Ecocide?
- Consider the statute itself-- - Oh, we have.
Ecocide is described as unlawful or wanton acts
committed with the knowledge that there is a substantial likelihood
of severe and either widespread or long-term damage to the environment
being caused by those acts.
So you somehow are gonna prove that he knew the future of the world?
Of the air we breathe, the oceans, the temperature?
Flattering, in a way.
We move for immediate dismissal.
Overruled.
Dr. Shearer, can you please explain how you first came in contact
with Mr. Bilton?
In 2046, I was an archivist with Menagerie2100.
I'd been with the company for nine years when I was told that
Nick Bilton was interested in gathering genetic IP of charismatic megafauna.
Orangutans, whales, elephants and--
It became clear that the pivot to the charismatic megafauna was his decision.
Any idea why he made that pivot?
Mr. Bilton felt people were more inclined to buy tickets to see those species
once they were extinct.
However, to preserve the megafauna
you also need to save everything they rely on to survive.
Can you explain the effect of increased carbon
on species already facing extinction?
Extinctions go up when temperature goes up,
and temperature tends to mirror carbon. So, yes, they are related.
And if scarcity creates value, then isn't there a business model
that Menagerie2100 benefits from increases in carbon?
Objection. We all caused carbon to go up, not just Mr. Bilton.
Sustained.
Dr. Shearer,
were you paid for your work at Menagerie2100?
Yes.
Depressing work, I'm sure. All that saying goodbye.
Yes?
That explains why you receive mood-stabilizing therapeutics from Alpha.
Ms. Shearer relies on Alpha for her retirement and her medicine.
What if her ongoing depression has caused her to blame
the medicines that Alpha provides her with?
I know you want people to think I'm crazy, Mr. Turner.
And maybe-- maybe I am.
Maybe that's what climate change is doing to all of us.
Some of us are crazy because we look at the world
and all we have lost, and we still have hope.
I think it's unfair to ask you to testify here,
especially after your son has deleted you from his memory.
He lost his memory from summer heart-- dementia.
For which he also was taking Alpha therapeutics.
I bet that makes you very angry at Mr. Bilton.
How is her son's medical condition relevant?
It's an invasion of her privacy.
And her presence here constitutes a violation of her Alpha loyalty oath.
No further questions.
Maybe she jumped.
Did she? They're going to investigate.
Let them.
We need to be careful here, Nick.
Homicide gets you shipped off the planet just as fast as ecocide.
How is a woman falling through the sky in New York City my fault?
Stop worrying about Shearer, and tell Martha to get me out of here.
I assure you that we here at Alpha are confident
that Nick Bilton will be exonerated of all charges.
I'm fully aware that Mr. Bilton's arrest has eroded our stock value by 17%,
so I want to tell this esteemed group that we will be launching a new product.
One that will directly address the grim reality
that carbon is now at 564 parts per million in our atmosphere.
It has the potential to be the biggest new offering from Alpha
since the gift of clean water.
I see many of you have questions.
However, on the advice of our lawyers,
we are not taking questions at this meeting.
Thank you for your time.
Well done, Martha.
I'll let Mr. Bilton know.
I think this is a mistake.
Then I encourage you to use your time to think about something else instead.
Congratulations. Alpha had its best year ever.
I'm glad you're pleased.
And subscriptions to LifePause are heading in the right direction,
- little by little. - Finally.
The reach of Alpha certainly plays a role in that, so thank you.
Where did it come from? The idea?
Always wanted to ask.
When I was a little girl, I loved wildflowers.
I would draw them with my grandfather's crayons.
I would venture out to look for them on days that weren't too hot.
But once the bees were gone, they'd taken the wildflowers with them and...
My grandfather used to tell me a story that the flowers are just hiding.
They'll be back again someday.
Could probably get our people to make you up some new seeds.
I took a different approach.
I thought, "What if I could stop time?"
- Hence LifePause. - Exactly.
Thank you for sharing. Really lovely story.
Can I ask you another question?
What would be the most exciting good or service
that Alpha could bring to this world?
Cancer's been cured. Literacy is a simple CRISPR hack.
Anything?
Sky's the limit.
I guess, finding a way to grow a brand-new, breathable atmosphere on Mars
that allows humans to start over.
Mars.
It would solve a lot of things.
What if we were able to do that here on Earth?
Do what?
Start over.
Are you kidding?
I think I know how to make Newcomen work.
And I'd like you to run it.
- We called it "Newcomen." - Why is that?
Well, Thomas Newcomen invented the steam engine in 1712.
It was used originally to prevent coal mines from flooding, ironically.
Mr. Bilton saw it as the moment that humanity's carbon footprint started
to stomp on the natural order of things.
And what was Project Newcomen at Alpha?
It was the holy grail.
It was gonna be a machine, a technology to take carbon out of the atmosphere.
It was scalable and affordable.
Did Newcomen ever come into existence?
No. No.
It always had design problems at scale,
and we never really solved the problems with the downstream by-product.
I'm confused. Why are we here?
Mr. Chopin just said he ran a program, funded by Mr. Bilton,
that was meant to pull CO2 out of the atmosphere.
Save the world from climate change.
A noble endeavor, to be sure, but your witness failed.
Couldn't get it done. So why is my client on trial and not him?
And why did you leave, Mr. Chopin?
Decide you wanted to go fail at something else?
Objection!
Sustained.
I'll tell you. I'll answer the question. I got fired.
Well, it sounds like Mr. Bilton made the right move.
And who replaced you?
I understand that Newcomen got restarted seven years ago
and that Martha Russell was put in charge.
The woman that Mr. Bilton just announced as CEO.
So he's on trial for promoting someone now?
What was Mr. Bilton's position on geoengineering?
Objection. Not relevant.
I beg to differ.
If one is concerned about limiting carbon, as he claims,
one cannot be in favor of a course of action
that allows the world to keep putting it in the sky.
On multiple occasions, he expressed his enthusiasm.
It was obviously the best way to lower temperature in the short term,
and he said he liked the short-term solution
because it was the best from a PR point of view too.
So, he endorsed geoengineering.
And so did you, Mr. Chopin. Nearly half the world did.
Then you changed your mind.
Do you want the court to review your comments on the issue?
Some of us realized that if you decouple carbon from temperature,
you're gonna rationalize ongoing polluting.
Nick saw it as a way to make limitless money by customizing the stratosphere.
He wanted both sides of the trade.
- Objection. Conjecture. - Sustained.
How can he say these things about my father?
He's lying.
- Mr. Bilton is a great humanitarian. - You did, Nick.
He's among the top ten philanthropists in the world.
Just admit it. You said it over and over.
It didn't matter how high the carbon levels got
'cause one day, you were gonna make a machine
that could suck it out of the atmosphere. And y--
You said on that day, the more CO2 that's up there,
the more money you can make eliminating it.
You called it a fucking vacuum cleaner for wealth.
You failed, Johnny.
Failed at your job, failed as a father.
You gonna have me killed, like Rebecca Shearer?
- Ms. Adobo, control your witness. - Mr. Chopin.
You smug little prick. You're just-- You're at the center of this problem--
Humanity's frying, and you look at the temperature
as an inconvenience that you just have to tweak
to optimize your latest investment strategy.
You're the guy who-- who kicks the dog half to death,
- and then offers it a bone. - Dr. Chopin, I must ask you
- to not address the defendant directly. - Let him speak.
He needs the therapy. Let it all out, Johnny boy!
Order. Order!
No further questions.
Dr. Chopin,
your son, Rowan, is currently in prison for geoengineering, isn't that right?
Yes. He--
He was convinced to participate in a-- in a scheme by my ex-wife.
Convinced?
More likely he was confused over your change of heart on the issue.
Rowan Chopin is not the one on trial here.
No, he's not.
But I think it's important to note that your son's conviction
for using Alpha delivery drones to commit an act of terrorism was secured
after Mr. Bilton gave secret testimony to this court.
I'm sorry, what did you say?
I'm sure that's upsetting,
but I'm wondering if your son's liberty has not been offered to you
- in exchange for your testimony today. - I made no such deal!
I have no arrangement whatsoever. None.
I move to dismiss this witness and his testimony be deemed inadmissible.
Sustained.
The witness is dismissed.
I wanna testify.
My father is a great man.
Help me record something?
I can do that for you.
Who is Decima Bilton?
How do you know that name?
She claims to be your daughter.
You're not to mention that name again.
She'd like to testify on your behalf.
She's recorded something.
It's very touching stuff.
Destroy it.
Immediately.
You saved an orphan from a refugee camp in Sydney.
What are you doing?
Nick.
Your NatureFix simulation will begin in five seconds.
You have selected "Autumn Woodlands" with mood-balancing enhancements.
How do you like the venison?
Exquisite.
Real or lab?
We keep a small herd of deer on the property.
This is all real.
And this, this is the last pinot from the Anderson Valley.
2053. Before it burned.
The rest of the world has to get by on fantasy and facsimile, Martha.
Most everything in my life is very real.
Does that bother you?
Does what bother me?
That the rest of the world has to get by on fantasy?
No, what bothers me is hypocrisy.
What bothers me is wanting comfort and ease,
and then being outraged by its real cost.
You burn coal for a few hundred years to keep yourself warm.
Seems like a great idea.
Makes you feel like you defeated winter.
And one day, you wake up nice and toasty,
only to realize you've developed lung cancer
from inhaling the smoke from burning all the coal.
And yet you keep burning coal.
Because the most powerful fantasy is that there is no cost to our comfort.
Life is a transaction, Martha.
That is its most meaningful measurement.
I never thought of it that way.
Well, I'd like you to start.
- Turner. - Yes?
Rebecca Shearer's autopsy...
What about it?
"...has revealed irregularities in her medications
- as delivered by Alpha Therapeutics." - Bullshit.
Well, that's what it says right here
in the goddamn summons the ICC just dropped on my head.
They've got nothing. They're desperate.
They're going to ask for records.
What would Nick like me to do about that?
As little as possible, lest you fuck this up.
An opportunity.
That's what you call it? An opportunity to lose my job.
The truth is dangerous to some people.
No comment.
We have reason to believe he's tampered with other witnesses.
Have you been threatened?
I took a loyalty oath. Hence the avatars.
I am prepared to offer you immunity, Dr. Russell.
In exchange for your testimony.
And how do I explain that to Turner? He's chief counsel.
Obviously, you would need to keep our arrangements confidential.
Ms. Adobo, privacy went extinct 25 years ago.
Along with whistleblowers.
Is there a secret you're concerned about? Something with Newcomen?
Newcomen is no different than LifePause.
Just because he didn't think of it, doesn't mean he can't buy it.
You're not going to win against him. Nobody ever does.
Selma,
get me every IP acquisition Alpha made since Jonathan Chopin was fired.
Would you state your name for the court?
Arden Miller.
Who is Matafele Kabua?
Matafele and I met in Boston in 2060.
In what capacity?
- In microfinance... - Who is that?
...with a focus on female entrepreneurs.
Mr. Bilton is a great humanitarian.
Were you aware that the bank that employed you had a relationship with Alpha?
No, I was not.
And when you learned that they did, what was your response?
I resigned.
Because of what happened with Matafele Kabua?
Yes.
And what exactly happened?
Alpha was able to use our loans to women
as an incubator to generate new inventions.
I think I speak on behalf of everyone in saying
I have no idea who Matafele Kabua is or why this person here is relevant.
Can you enlighten Mr. Turner and the court?
She was from the Marshall Islands.
When they became uninhabitable, she moved to the United States,
where she attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Her degree was in atmospheric chemistry.
She had a product that she wanted to finance.
And what did this product do?
She claimed that it was the first viable carbon-removal device.
She asked for our help in developing and patenting it.
So, a device that could make the planet carbon-neutral?
She believed it could do more than that.
She believed that it could draw down carbon to a target level.
And what would that level be?
That would depend on a mutually agreed upon number determined by scientists.
Or businessmen.
What was my mother's name?
Your mother's name is unknown.
You were rescued from the displaced person facility in Sydney.
Alpha, tell me everything about Matafele Kabua.
Alpha has no record of this person.
Right.
And if it had worked, none of us would be sitting here right now.
But obviously it didn't,
or people wouldn't constantly be uploading themselves
- to escape this unbearable climate. - Order.
And hundreds of millions of refugees wouldn't be roaming the Earth
looking for higher ground.
- Order! - Nick, please.
I apologize for my client's outburst.
But can you explain to the court
why any of this is relevant to the charges in front of us?
Who controls the patent to Ms. Kabua's device?
My understanding is that Alpha holds 49% interest in the Decima.
The Decima?
She named the device after her daughter.
Ms. Kabua's terms included
that the controlling interest be part of her inheritance.
Mr. Bilton has made the world a better place.
And he is sure you will do the same.
Fuck him.
- It failed. - Order.
- It's evident it never worked! - Nick, please.
So then you wouldn't object to sharing the IP with the court?
The design.
I mean, why would sharing a failure be problematic?
We at Alpha prefer to keep what we own to ourselves.
A failure is just a rough draft of a solution.
I mean, did Kabua go on and invent anything else that saved humanity?
No, she did not.
She died nearly ten years ago. Paramyxovirus 58.
And her daughter?
In my line of work, we look for new ideas, not lost children.
Thank you, Ms. Miller. Thank you so much for your time.
If you wanna win here, Nick,
you need to tell me where the holes are, or we'll keep falling through them.
What Verdictware are they running? Do you know?
What, the court?
Is it E-Justice by Royce Majors?
I can get to Colin Royce.
I don't like the idea of both of us going away
for hacking the International Criminal Court.
Well, we can't wait any longer, Turner.
Time to save the world.
"Innovation."
Seems such a slight word for the scope of change we are about to witness.
In 2020, the IPCC reported that,
to avoid the worst ravages of climate change,
carbon-neutral needed to be reached by 2050.
The world failed to meet that goal
and the next goal and the one after that as well.
As a result, we have seen exactly what the science warned us against.
But today, Alpha Atmospheric Interventions announces "Newcomen,"
the first scalable device that removes carbon dioxide from the air around you
and transforms it into safe and useful by-products.
Today, we begin a new journey.
One that allows us to create a climate
that provides what is best for our planet, its people and our businesses.
A planet where children can walk among wildflowers...
instead of merely drawing them.
So, ready?
For?
Dessert, I suppose.
I would like to introduce you to some people.
Who?
Friends. Shy friends.
So I'll need you to put this on first.
I don't understand.
Please.
It can't be 417. That's not gonna work.
Gentlemen, we have to reach an agreement.
It's not gonna work that way. It can't be 510.
350. Did I hear 350?
- It can't be 350. - 480.
480's too high.
- 550. - 550 is way too high.
470.
470 is a good number!
Do you understand what we've been discussing?
Yes. I believe I do.
And do you understand the agreement we've reached?
Newcomen, I assume. The drawdown.
Bravo. I told you she was brilliant.
And the agreed-upon number?
470 parts per million.
It's higher than I would've thought. I'd like to see the science.
Loyalty, dear Martha.
You don't want to go down the same path as Jonathan.
I think you'll find 470 a very rewarding number.
We're not done yet.
We'll now take questions from both our invited guests and the press.
Let's start with you, Mr. Palmer.
It's a great day for the world, to be sure.
I'm wondering if Martha and Mr. Bilton have discussed
a target number for the drawdown.
Great question.
Mr. Bilton has been sequestered in the Hague, so there are...
Sounds like a party out there.
I wonder how these people would feel
if they knew that this party could have started years ago, eh?
That Bilton and the banks traded their wealth for what?
A few more dollars, faster planes, bigger houses.
But they don't really know what's going on, or they choose not to.
And they won't until you figure out a way to tell them.
I realize that recent events
surrounding Alpha's latest offering appear to exonerate Mr. Bilton,
but the question remains.
Is the solution to carbon, which conveniently appeared today
for our benefit or for his?
Are we responsible only for what we do,
or should we also be held accountable
for what we elected not to do when we knew better?
I ask you to keep asking this question, regardless of the verdict.
For you will be the ones to live with it.
Mr. Bilton would prefer to speak for himself.
Four million years were required for Homo sapiens
to go from crawling on all fours to standing upright.
So how could our bodies adapt to the changes in the climate
that have occurred in the 250 years since the Industrial Revolution?
They couldn't.
So if our bodies couldn't change,
it fell to our minds to develop technology that would allow us to survive,
maybe even thrive.
Carbon has gone from 280
to 564 parts per million,
due in a large part to human activity.
Today, thanks to the Newcomen,
I can announce I will be lowering that number to 470 parts per million.
Now, some, including the prosecutor here, would have you believe
that I have gamed the system,
profiteered from your circumstances.
That I am some Satan forcing you to live lives you would never have chosen.
To seek comforts you didn't actually want or--
or suppress information that you truly needed.
But Nick Bilton did not create your God-given appetites.
He merely noticed them and turned them into businesses.
The rules I have played by are the rules set by your leaders.
The ones you elected. The ones sworn to protect you.
They did not.
Instead,
they traded away your children's future for just one more term,
one more donation.
And now, those leaders are not the ones on trial.
I am.
So allow me to point out the obvious.
If I am guilty here today,
then I am only guilty of winning a game started generations ago.
And if I am guilty here today, then so are your parents, and their parents,
and all the way back to the first tree felled to make way for man.
Some are guilty
of furnishing the generations with what they wanted.
The rest of you are guilty for wanting it in the first place.
Beautiful.
Will the defendant please stand?
To the charge of ecocide against Nikolai Biltonov,
the International Criminal Court will now announce its final decision.
A minimum of two red lights will be required for a verdict of guilty.
Mr. Bilton has been ruled not guilty of the charge.
Congratulations.
Alpha, will Nick Bilton win the Nobel Peace Prize?
It's too early to say. Nominations are due later this year.
Why is the Newcomen only taking carbon to 470 ppm?
The amount of carbon parts per million has been set by...
Is Newcomen the most beneficial invention of the century?
Alpha, when will things start to get better?
Alpha would encourage you to find what is good about right now.
What's your name?
Decima.
Where did you come from?
I'm Mr. Bilton's new daughter.
You are? I didn't know Mr. Bilton had a daughter.
I think I'm supposed to be a secret.
Do you have any friends here?
Just the AIs. They play with me.
Do you have any human children?
No.
No, I don't. But I could be your friend.
If you ever need a friend, you can call me using that.
I'm Martha.
I know it's been a long time.
I hope you remember me.
From what I can remember, losing can be very painful.
What are you doing here?
I'd like to make a peace offering.
To me? Or to the world, huh?
To you, Lucy.
And what might that be?
Tyrone Downs was your lover, if I'm not mistaken.
Remarkably effective chap.
Nearly shut down our mines.
I enjoyed a number of his songs too.
I wonder how that would have made him feel.
Yeah. We'll never know.
But his death must've been devastating for you.
And I thought you might like to know who ordered it.
Rest assured,
you will have my full support in bringing the guilty party to justice.
Are you saying that one man with a microphone
is more powerful than our entire company?
Seriously?
This sort of thing spreads if you don't hit it hard.
Just make him go away.
So tired, Ty. And so sad.
Okay, so what's next?
If you could make someone pay for hurting someone you loved in the past,
or if you could maybe stop someone else from hurting others in the future,
which one would you choose?
The past is always the past.
The most successful hunters have more patience than hunger.
Alpha...
stop loop.
Close Tyrone Candle App.
I know what you did.
How did you get in here?
It's easy when you have an arrest warrant for conspiracy to commit murder.
Even easier when the man you killed was my partner.
Let me guess.
He neglected to mention that Alpha planted that story.
"Music icon gunned down by schizophrenic outside hotel."
I believed it.
I know Bilton only gave you to me on a silver platter
because he has something to hide.
Yes. Yes, he does.
You want to tell me what it is?
You have nothing to lose.
Her name is Decima.
Can we ask the breeders to release some new pheasants?
I'd like to do some shooting later.
I said I'd like to do some shooting.
Alpha! Can we get tech support down here?
Alpha!
Decima?
Alpha, tech support!
Alpha, stop.
Stop!
It's been programmed to ignore you, Dad.
Where are you, my darling?
What are you doing, Decima?
This is not something these people need to see.
You could have fixed it years ago, but you didn't.
You and your friends.
470 is just a way for the rich to get richer.
How can you possibly justify that?
350.
That's the right number for the rest of us.
- Decima! - I'm not a daughter to you!
I'm a piece of IP.
Based on the new evidence presented here today by Decima Kabua,
we move to reopen the case against Nick Bilton.
Is that where he is?
On that one?
There are a few prisons in orbit. Not sure which one that is.
When he gets out, he'll be almost 90.
Maximum penalty for collusion.
Do you think carbon will be down to 350 parts per million by then?
Hasn't been that low since the 1980s.
But it could be again, right?
I don't know. Maybe.
You know, the problem has never been technology.
The problem is us. Always has been.
We did this to the planet.
To each other.
Ourselves.
I think we're gonna fix it now.
Yeah?
I wonder.
Attention, all inmates, please return to your cells.