what?
shit! you didn t tell him i was here, did you?
so what s the rush?
wanna ride down?
you re gonna have to tell him about us eventually.
isabelle .  the woodchips on the floor shift and suddenly the plexiglas steams up right in front of matt s face. the plexiglas begins to shake violently. matt calm down baby. calm down. it s okay.  matt takes a pair of thermal goggles from his belt and pulls them down over his eyes. thermal pov - a rather large heat signature, ape-like in shape, rattles about the cage. matt slowly unlatches the plexiglas door and reaches inside. matt it s okay, baby. it s okay. i m not going to hurt you. come here. thermal pov - he reaches out to the creature. he grabs hold of it, firmly. stroking it. the creature coos. matt reaches for a hypo and brings it up to the creature. matt just hold still. something clamps down on his hand, breaking his skin. blood erupts in a bite pattern. matt ow, shit. matt drops the hypo and falls back. the cage door flies open and something runs out. matt pulls himself up to see the heat signature running down the hallway. he turns around to see another heat signature coming at him. matt pulls off his goggles to see linda coming up the corridor.
she bit me.
and give you a chance to pull ahead? never. linda opens a lock-box at the end of the hallway and pulls out a two tranquilizer guns. she hands one to matt.
shh. be vewy, vewy quiet. i m hunting simians. heheheheh.
good shootin , tex.
i m still ahead. 6 to 5. like a smug gunfighter, linda blows imaginary smoke from the top of her tranquilizer gun.
as we pull out we see we are.
protocol is hot.
maybe if you stopped naming them after yourself, you d have better luck.
a whole mention? and i thought i was just gonna be a footnote. matt unwraps a hypodermic needle and jabs the needle into the vial, drawing up the colored liquid.
okay. frank and janice monitor isabelle s vitals.
let s make some history. matt lowers the hypo to the vein. but sebastian takes the hypo from matt s hand.
it s reacting. spreading out from the bloodstream, soon becomes visible.  the shadow of a skeletal system.
do it. do it. come on. muscles spread like a rash on bone as the monkey twists and turns, frightened. then skin. the monkey howls. skin forms over the muscles reappearing like it was being painted on before our eyes.
yeah. i can't wait to slice up her brain and trace her neural pathways.
well maybe not right away.
what was that about?
yo. reality check! what the hell was that about?
the protocol works. why'd you tell them it didn't?
but they're the oversight committee. they're supposed to know.
well, then.  mind telling us how you're gonna get a human test-subject for phase three without the committee finding out?
what if we volunteer?
can we talk about this later? i'm trying to make love to you.
i know how you're feeling. hell, he and i've been friends since freshman year.
what if you were given the opportunity to be the first person on ,mars, would you go?
what if they didn't know whether or not they could get you home?
is about who gets to be on top?
why do you always get philosophical before we're about to get physical?
they said the same thing about the bomb. they said we'd never survive the nuclear age.  but here we are.
we made our deal with the devil years ago. might as well stick around to cash in.
we're ready.
it's not too late to back out. i'm happy to take your place.
nervous?
ever tell you the one about superman and wonder woman?
so superman's flying around the city, and he's horny as hell. lo and behold he looks down and sees wonder woman, completely nude, sunning herself up on the roof of the justice league. i mean she is lying there naked and spread eagle. so superman starts thinking, "man.  this is too easy. i could go down there, do a little fast pumping and be gone before she even sees me." after all he is faster than a speeding bullet, right? anyway, he swoops down, takes care of business so quick, you can't even see him. well .  i tell ya. wonder woman looks up, surprised as hell and says "what the hell was that." and the invisible man replies "i dunno know, but it sure hurt like hell."
c'mon, man. that's funny shit.
ready.
any last words?
human dna structure is slightly more complex.  it's possible that it may take more time.
we've got to stop it!
is he dead?
un-fucking-believable.
s'okay. you nodded off.
seventeen hours.
in the lab crunching numbers. we've got enough data there for two lifetimes of research.
he may be coming out of it.
over here in the corner.
it was painful?
sebastian?
well, i see the procedure hasn't changed your personality.
it doesn't sound like something sebastian would do.
you sure?
so, how was your first night?
yeah? what'd you do?
yeah, sarah mentioned you weren't in your cubicle. she said she called you over the intercom and you didn't respond.
it'd be helpful to us if you'd tell whoever's on duty where you're going to. i mean, if something were to happen, we'd want to know where to find you.
it isn't. i just don't want it to become one.
we'll have to draw some more blood.
okay, man. here we go.
subject manifesting.
get a tranq. stat.
start cpr.
holy shit. what happened?
i can't see his goddamn pupils!
just got the tissue sample results. cellular cohesion is stable.
sometimes the test pilots make history. sometimes the planes crash and people die.
it's just a little hitch is all. he'll be the first to tell that he'll crack it and i'm sure he will. it'll just take time. listen, let's got out of here. we could drive up to the old observatory. we'll take some wine and go count the stars and forget all this for awhile.
not too bad.
you're physiology has changed and, well, all bets are off.
he could be anywhere. hell he could be right behind us.
see you there.
what a mess.
we're just saying we need to be cautious.
where the hell have you been?
it was bad enough you left without an escort, but to take off the.  out in public?
sorry, man. you'd do the same if it were the other way around.
come on, man. we've got a ton of tests scheduled today.
60% reversion. 70% .  75% .  80% .
93% .  95%.  95%
full quantum cascade at 95%. i'm sorry.
leave him alone. he just needs to blow off some steam.
how'd it go?
why so cheery this morning?
i'm happy if i make it to my coffee machine.
think he knows about us.
i don't know. i don't see anything.
relax.  it's nothing. where were we?
you saw the tape. the man was in his chamber.
and it wasn't him.
what do we do in the meantime?
he's probably meeting with the committee trying to figure out what to do.
what?
let me see that.
let me try mine.
kensington two romeo one five nine.
how long before anybody starts looking for us?
what is it?
removed? by who?
this is bad.
what happened?
intercom.  the phone lines. they're dead.
what the fuck is going on here?
what?
can you fix the elevator? restore our codes?
right now that sounds like good news.
systems hot. activating motion detectors.
that's him.
got 'em.
just watch our backs. hey carter, ready?
if we split up, can we trap him on corridor eight?
going thermal.
he probably just stopped moving.
do you have anything?
how did he get by us?
sebastian! we're here to help. sebastian.
we see him. but he's not responding. the heat signature doesn't move.
c'mon.  c'mon.
what the.
looks like.  looks like we're pumping out heat.
no fucking shit!
where is he? where the fuck is he?!?
carter's down. hurt bad. bleeding from a head wound.
shit.
goddamnit. the doors are closing. he's shutting me in.
where?
goddamnit, i got thermals all over the place. eight, maybe ten of them. must be ghosts.
i'm starting to lose resolution on my thermals.
sebastian. get a hold of yourself. you aren't thinking rationally.
calm down, sebastian.  we can talk this through. it's not too late.
c'mon sebastian. don't do this. i'm your friend.
he was going to kill me.
we've got to got out of here.
oh god. that's right between us and the lab.
ahh! shit!
it won't kill me unless it gets infected. you?
so he could be anywhere right now.
it happened alright. now we have to deal with it.
where?
don't listen to him. it's not worth it.
he does anything, anything at all, come get us. i'll be back to check on you in five.
get out of here!
i'm dizzy. i can't feel my legs.
he surprised us. we weren't expecting.
lin.
a little.
what're you doing?
barely.
there's no way out.
they say freezing to death isn't so bad. you just kinda pass out.
thought i'd.  thought i'd save you for a change.
he said it himself.  all they'll find is a pile of charred corpses.
in an enclosed space, he'll wipe out the whole lab.
forget about me. you go.
but.
i can't. i'm going to pass out.
don't look.
it's coming down!
sebastian, you fuck.
no!
get off of her!