damnit. sebastian pears out his window. across the courtyard, a light comes on in a neighboring window. he sees a brunette, mid-twenties, absolutely stunning, enter her living room. the brunette thumbs through the mail, tosses it and then begins to undress. sebastian loans over to the window, getting interested. but when the brunette reaches her bra and panties, she crosses to the window and lowers her shades. sebastian damnit. sebastian leans back in his chair and closes his eyes. he s obviously tired. he opens his eyes and stares up at the ceiling. painted across the white matte finish in big red letters is a brief reminder - you should be working. sebastian sighs, leans forward and begins pecking away again.
i am a goddamn genius. he hits a few more keys and a telephone keypad appears on the screen. he dials.
you know da vinci never slept. said it was waste of time.
who s that? linda pulls the camera off the top of the of the computer screen and positions it so sebastian can t see the bed.
touche.
i cracked the reversion. upon hearing this, linda receives a jolt of adrenaline.
look at this. sebastian hits a couple of keys. a moment later the molecular structure appears on linda s computer.
watch this.
91% sure.
the usual. coffee and twinkies.
i know. you think you could hunt down matt and get to the lab early. i want isabelle prepped for a live test.
well y know. it s daylight in switzerland. i gotta call the nobel committee and tell them to get our prizes ready. see you in a few. on linda s computer screen as sebastian clicks off. linda crosses to her bed, and shakes the guy awake.
morning, ed.
sorry, ed. you know the rules. sebastian presses his thumb against a glass screen. a laser reads his print. scan readout: caine, sebastian clearance: alpha alpha three division: classified the doors whisk open and sebastian steps inside.
caine zero zero two seven. elevator authorization verified. good morning, dr. caine. the elevator descends with a groaning hum. it passes below us and keeps descending into the belly of the earth, the shaft goes down forever.
most normal people say good morning.
how many tissue samples have we successfully regressed? hundreds, right? how many have gone on to work on the full system? none.
no, that is the point. i m not going to waste six months of my life on an outmoded testing procedure. this thing works. i know it. i feel it. linda comes down the corridor, listening in on the tail end of the conversation.
you think i m going to kill isabelle?
sarah, thank you for your opinion, but i m the project leader. understand? she says .
how did you ever convince me to hire her?
yeah, well she cares more about the animals than the research.
who da man? you da man.
vitals? sarah, checks over the various readouts .  heartbeat, blood pressure, the rest.
how many times do i have to tell you, frank you aren t god. i am.
you guys ready to roll?
okay. roll em.
why thank you, dr. kensington, for that keen scientific observation. i ll be sure to include it in my memoirs.
ready. she wraps a bungee cord around nothing and pulls it tight. she then takes some dye and sprays it. a surface appears, floating beneath the restraints. it sheens in the light as linda searches for a vein. she slaps the surface several times. a small bulge appears, like a vein.
nice try, sparky. matt relinquishes the needle.
do you see this?
subject began manifesting almost immediately. protocol is reacting quickly. isabelle starts to struggle against her restraints. she begins to howl.
what? what problem! sarah checks her monitors.
no! it s got to work. the body is only half there. it looks as if its caught in decomposition. linda rubs the cardiac paddles together.
how is she?
to the finest research team i've ever known.
hey.
where would i go?
something like that.
actually it does. i guess since you were there from the beginning, you know me better than anyone else on this godforsaken planet.
yeah.  but i was working so hard, i didn't realize i'd have no one to share it with.
what's it like? talk goddamnit! tell me what it's like!
to successful phase-shift a human being out of quantum sync with the visible universe and then return him safely, with no after affects.
but now.  but now, we feel we are closer than ever to resolving this issue. we've been experimenting with a new regression formula that looks rather promising. a four star general leans forward.
sir?
shouldn't be more than another year, sir.
keep your voice down.
i wasn't ready for them to know.
i had more than a reason. i had a goddamn epiphany.
i know. but not yet. there's too much for us to learn. i don't want my hands tied by their political agenda when we go to phase three.
that's easy. i've decided to test the procedure .
 on myself.
was jonas salk nuts?
if we're that unsure, how can we morally justify testing it on someone else?
we'll have plenty of time to collate and cross-reference later. monkey data doesn't matter anyway. the only real data is human data.
how are we gonna find out? besides, we've succeeded with a gorilla and their dna is 98% the same as humans. and the 2% is not that significant.
we're all concerned. i know that. but if we're gonna move forward ever, this is something we have to do.
the risks. i couldn't ask.
i'm project leader. it's my formula and my call. the best way to express your concern is to make damn sure you do your best work. i'll want about four weeks to.
to run some more reversions and tissue tests and then we'll attempt the phase shift. i'll stay shifted for three days of testing and then we'll perform a quantum regression.
come in.
you don't understand.
lin, trust me.  nothing's going to happen.
yes?
okay.
no. i'm ready.
a little.
i don't think so.
you know, that could be the last joke i ever hear.
fine.
to be expected.
hey.  it's gonna be okay.
i'll inject myself. if anything goes wrong, they can't blame you.
yeah. if i'm killed, pretend i said something deep and clever.
nothing so far.
recheck the protocol. it can't be non- reactive.
goddammit.
shit.  it's starting to burn.  oh god. it hurts. i didn't think it would hurt.
pain!
no. oh god! no! stop it! stop it!
i guess i didn't hear. i had the radio on.
i didn't think it was a problem.
you just seem a little nervous.
not really. i was just starting to enjoy myself.
i can't br.  br.
so i guess it didn't work.
the latex'll limit the amount of light delivered to my optic nerves.
the testing's making me sick.
i can't believe i have to spend another night here. suppose you're gonna go home now, meet up with that boyfriend of yours now.
no. that's okay. it's just, being a guinea pig is more work than i thought. i'll be fine.
just stopped by to let you know, i'm going out for a bit.
if i don't get out of here, i'm gonna go crazy.
why not?
yes, but i made that rule. it's my rule and i'm changing it.
carter, i was suppose to be like this for three days. three fucking days and i'll be damned if i'm going to spend the rest of my life as a prisoner in this godforsaken dump. now i'm going out. i'll be back in a couple of hours. okay?
yeah, well. you know how it in sometimes.
thanks, but everything's cool.
shit.
i got a little stir crazy, so i went to my apartment to pick up some stuff.
what are you talking about?
just what did you see in my apartment?
don't make a mountain out of molehill. i didn't let anyone see me.
come on, linda. you don't expect me to be some kind of prisoner.
i'm still project leader, linda. it's my decision to make.
matt?
how much blood do you think you've taken so far?
every day.  feels like you're sucking me dry.
the shoe being on the other foot. you getting to run things.
don't patronize me. and for the record, you've got no idea what it's like. i get up every morning and you people stick needles in me. you bombard me with radiation until i vomit. and then at six it's over for you. you get to go home. but sebastian is still here. sebastian can't leave, or else. that's the worst part, you know. here i have this .  this gift and i can't even use it.
you're goddamn right it's a gift. and if you weren't so goddamned short sighted, i'd be out there right now trying to master it.
looks like i'm going nowhere.
do them yourself.
no.
funny, huh? i've become a literal metaphor.
i know. and you being right doesn't make it any easier for me.
i'm not scared of being stuck this way. with a little more make-up and practice, i could.  .  pass. y'know, get by in the world. but the testing.
what if it's years? i don't know how much more testing i can take.
we've got it. we've got it.
come on, baby. come on.
you're sorry? you're fucking sorry?
i'm going to the lab.
waste of time. da vinci never slept.
ah, my two favorite people. good morning.
you know some days you just wake up feeling the world is full of potential. like your eyes have been opened.
cook up a batch and let's see where we go.
i trust you. now if you'll excuse me, i need to have my head examined.
and what if it weren't fantasy? what if you were out there in the world and could do whatever you wanted with no consequences whatsoever. how far would go? i mean.  if it were real?
let's say you saw a woman with amazing tits. would you brush against them?
human nature. so if you could get away with more, would you do more?
eighty two percent? makes you wonder if the world's ready for what we're doing.
what do you mean?
i just walked around. y'know.
like what?
kind of sophomoric, don't you think. besides, it was late and i wasn't out that long.
there was this one girl.
naw.
what of?
any big plans for tonight?
really? whatever happened to that guy your were seeing?
being locked down here, i'm forced to live vicariously. someday you'll have to tell me what he's like.
au domain.
so.  just out of curiosity, how long has my best friend been fucking my ex- girlfriend.
you.
caine. one one one one one.
you said it yourself, lin. i shouldn't hold on to the past.
oh god!
i'm gonna find everyone in your family and kill them-. your sister.  she never liked me. i think i'll go after her and her little boy first.
remember the day we met? you were wearing a red dress and you were so pretty. now.  now look at you.
you fucked it all up.