The Final Conflict

This way.

50,000 years ago, mankind faced

its first major threat of extinction,

a devastation rocked by nature: the Ice Age.

It lasted 5,000 years, rendered four fifths

of the earth's surface uninhabitable,

and wiped out all but the hardiest

of nature's creations.

One of these few was man.

From that devastation

dawned a new age - and a new hope.

Phoenix-like, man arose from the frozen

wilderness and set forth upon his dream.

Mankind has endured

many catastrophes since then,

but none so grave

as the one which faces him today.

The economic crisis of the past decade

has brought inflation, famine and chaos

to every corner of the globe.

Some label it the Great Recession.

Others are calling it Armageddon,

that final upheaval of the world

foretold by the prophets of old.

But amid all the pessimism,

one voice rings out its faith in the future:

Thorn, the world's leading light

in building a new tomorrow.

Trite, rhetorical,

clich?d, inane.

Viewers don't pay

much attention to that, Damien.

No, you're right. And there won't be

much attention to that bullshit either.

I said I wanted action, not words.

I wanna see Thorn at work.

A thousand starving kids

clamouring for a bellyful of Thorn soya.

Thorn medical teams,

construction, engineering.

Instead of which, you spend half the

commercial giving us a third-grade version

of the history of the Ice Age.

Do we have footage of

the Australian drought relief?

Sure, but nothing new,

and most of it's been seen on TV already.

We'll find you something.

In the meantime, go with the old commercial.

I don't want that one used.

- What have we got coming up?

- Botswana next week, then the Aswan Dam.

- Can we get a film unit to Botswana?

- Sure, but no relief unit till after the coup.

- No one's sure how long that's gonna take.

- All right. It'll have to be the Aswan Dam.

Have a film unit there when it goes.

Make sure they give our relief units coverage.

Don't let the Red Cross beat them to it.

Why don't you go?

Now that would be a real coup.

Damien Thorn

supervising relief work in person!

No, I've got to stay here.

- What for?

- To be on hand when the president calls me.

He's gonna offer me the post

of ambassador to Great Britain.

- I beg your pardon?

- Are you familiar with the Book of Hebron?

No, I don't know anything

about the Book of Hebron.

It's in the Apocrypha - one of the more

obscure backwaters of the Septuagint Bible.

"And it shall come to pass

that in the end days

the beast shall reign one hundred score

and thirty days and nights."

"And the faithful shall cry unto the Lord:

Wherefore art thou in the day of evil?"

"And the Lord shall hear their prayers."

"And out of the angel isle

he shall bring forth a deliverer,

a holy lamb of God

who shall do battle with the beast...

and shall destroy him."

"The beast shall reign one hundred score

and thirty days and nights"

is another way of saying seven years.

That's the time I've been head of Thorn.

"And out of the angel isle

he shall bring forth a deliverer."

The "angel isle" - the original Latin

has "exinsula angelorum".

England.

The Second Coming.

Only it won't be the beast that is destroyed.

It'll be the Nazarene.

You said you were gonna be offered

the post of ambassador to Great Britain.

What about our present ambassador?

Afternoon, sir.

Good afternoon, Mr. Ambassador.

Good afternoon, Mr. Ambassador.

I just had Mr. Sears on the line.

- No calls from anyone.

- He said it was urgent and I was to remind...

- Press office.

- This is the ambassador.

I want a press conference.

Three o'clock.

Come in.

Oh, my God!

I know that.

No. I'm not giving out any statements -

to him or to anyone else.

It'll only make matters worse.

Make sure that the cable

is noncommittal as well.

Yeah.

Let me see it before you send it.

Gee. Can you believe that?

Some sons of b*tches from

the Egyptian opposition party

want us to endorse their condemnation

of Israel for blowing up the Aswan Dam.

How the hell do we know

Israels responsible?

- My guess is it's the work of the NLF.

- Who?

The Nubian Liberation Front -

a quasi-Marxist outfit.

They've had a gripe against Cairo since the

'60s, when the High Aswan Dam was built.

They claim that it submerged 50 per cent

of their homeland, which, of course, it did.

Until now.

How'd you get this information?

One of our Thorn relief teams - they were

on the scene ahead of the Egyptians.

I wanna take a look at that.

It's quite unofficial, of course.

I don't have to point out to you that... if we

can prove it had nothing to do with Israel,

we could be averting

one mother of a major flare-up.

I'll have to check it myself. I wouldn't want

to feed the White House false information.

As to the other matter,

I'm afraid I can't accept the post.

If I were ambassador to Great Britain,

I'd have to relinquish my control over Thorn.

Hell, no! We can take care of that for you.

- It is against the law.

- Then we'll just have to bend it a little.

But there are two other conditions.

What?

Well, first,

it could only be for two years,

because of running for the Senate in '84.

And second, I'd want

the presidency of the Youth Council.

- I've already promised that to Foster.

- I realise it's a problem.

The NL... what?

The Nubian Liberation Front.

- Craig.

- Yes, Mr. President.

I've just appointed Mr. Damien Thorn as our

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