in the same capsule, a month later. he is asleep.
in the same capsule, two months later. he is dictating some coordinates to earth. he absently scratches his heavy growth of beard.
two months later still. he is looking out his small, rectangular window, and for the fist time we cut around to see the approaching planet: solaris.
prometheus, this is athena 7, on approach, do you read me? prometheus, this is athena 7, on approach, do you read me?
snow. didn't you hear me radio? i'm kelvin.
what's wrong? what happened to gibarian?
how?
what?
what happened here?
where's sartorius?
he'll let me in.
let me in.
all right.
what happened to gibarian?
i want to hear your version.
i am here to recover this mission, report my findings, and make a recommendation. now: what happened to him?
where's his body?
her? who are you talking about?
they shouldn't let people like you into space.
listen --
is there anybody else here?
gibarian warned me. he left me a message.
she was real. where did she come from?
tell me. i won't think you're insane.
where did she come from?
how much sleep?
that depends.
the prometheus, as far as i can tell, is functionally intact. crew status: one dead, gibarian. cause of death appears to be suicide.
interviews with the surviving members and a perusal of the deceased's personal effects indicate he was suffering from severe depression with psychotic features, along with bouts of hypomania, dementia, delirium, and primary insomnia. all of these symptoms, combined with a profound sense of isolation, are commonly found in studies of low stimulation environments, particularly long range space travel. snow and sartorius show indications of depression, including dysthymic and bipolar i; a variety of stress disorders, including acute and posttraumatic; and suggestions of agoraphobia, obsessive. compulsive disorder, and hypersomnia. i emphasize these are preliminary opinions on my part. i will attempt to convince snow and sartorius to return to earth, but as they currently view me as an intruder of sorts, this may take some time.
awakens, blinks, and slowly recognizes her.
oh, god. i'm awake.
where did you come from?
how are you here?
yes.
i need to see snow.
i'll just be a minute.
why?
i'll be right back.
all right. all right. here.
to calm your anxiety.
yes.
go ahead. i'll close the door behind me.
in agony as he watches a real-time, beat-by-beat brand of technological murder take place: rheya's pod is pushed off into space.
collapses to the ground, shattered.
shut up.
what was it?
and professionally?
my wife.
rheya.
will she come back?
i wish you'd told me.
to who?
i don't know.
gibarian said he thinks solaris should be destroyed.
rheya.
"and death shall have no dominion".
poem. dylan thomas. i thought of it when i saw you on the train.
you didn't look very happy.
and tonight?
that's good to know.
stop it.
rheya. not here.
let's go home.
i am. please come with me. i don't want to do this here.
you're better when you take them.
all right. how about i feel better when you take them?
what do you remember?
do you remember beethoven? the beatles? movies, books, restaurants, friends?
not exactly. it exists in a continuum that wasn't proven until ten years ago, a higher mathematical dimension superimposed on top of the universe. an infinite number of them, in fact. it was a violation of all of our various laws regarding the universe, space, or space-time. it was completely counter-intuitive. we had to unlearn everything.
intelligent beyond our comprehension.
it's something.
the whole idea of god was dreamed up by a silly animal with a small brain called man. even the limits we put on it are human limits. it can do this, it can do that! it designs, it creates!
you're talking about a man in a white beard again. you're ascribing human characteristics to something that isn't human. human beings look for causes and patterns. how could we know what solaris is up to, if anything?
as i said, it is beyond our comprehension.
what is it?
why?
all right?
rheya.
you were trying to break down the door. do you know why?
yes.
this is my wife, rheya.
go ahead.
no. there's no behavior modification.
is it being deliberately cruel, you mean? i don't think so.
when you cut yourself pounding the door, did it hurt?
where've you been?
how old were you?
what kind of look?
i know. i know. we don't have to talk about that.
i did too.
i used to watch you undress.
i never tired of watching you undress. every time, it was exciting. right until.  to the end.
you don't know?
i'm sorry. i'm sorry.
i don't know. i couldn't understand why you didn't tell me.
with rheya still in his arms.
when you said you wouldn't make it.  i didn't believe you. or i didn't take you seriously, which is worse.
squeezing her.
i should have believed you.
it's genetics. you know this. you know where it comes from. there is nothing wrong with uncrossing a few crossed wires.
-- we are not sure of that. we are not sure we aren't all hallucinating.
not necessarily.
consciousness is enough, that's all i've saying. consciousness should be enough for anybody.
i think so.
how could she not be real? i can smell her, taste her. she does exactly what she did.  it's not possible.
like i said, it's not possible.
i know. i'm putting that in my next report.
snow thinks we shouldn't leave until we figure out a way to document it, to prove its existence to the planet earth. this is hilarious: he thinks it's god, but he wants it to sit still for a photograph so he can show the folks back home.
well. he doesn't think it's god, but for different reasons than me. he's thinking: if i can figure out how to make it stop, than i am smarter than it is, and therefore it cannot be god.
he does have a point. that's just not the way i'd like to see it proven.
it's a violent response to something we haven't figured out. don't let the cowardly demeanor fool you: he is ruthless. unblinking in his prejudice.
yes. yes.
everything you pursue, you end up becoming disinterested in. the fact that you're good at everything you try makes it worse. you have a degree in animal science, you could be a terrific vet. you drifted into writing and turned out to be a perceptive journalist. then it was politics, which seemed best of all, you had an actual gift for understanding the best pattern for a group of people to be arranged for you to achieve your goal. and they didn't even know they were being arranged. but you got bored with it, like you do with everything.
i don't know what it's really like, to not know what you want to do. to not have anything that you love to do more than anything else.
what's wrong.
stop.
what are you talking about?
who have you been talking to?
when? when i'm asleep?
i'm sure there are worse people to talk to, but i don't know who they are.
yes. especially toward the end.
you.  she said i didn't love her.
no. i love you.
can you sleep?
those are dreams.
meaning man can do whatever the fuck it wants?
that's fantastic.
don't debate him; he'll say anything.
get out of here.
no.
i've never heard you express any desire to leave before now. why now?
but why is it doing what it's doing? given it's resources, it could have done anything. presented me with your double, and you with mine.
human beings can die.
they come when you sleep.
rheya.
for a reason that neither of us understand, you are forced to stay near me. that's all i know right now.
neither can i. not any of it. there's no reference point for what's going on; it's never happened before. it's a clean break in the fabric of the universe; a gap. there is nothing to do but experience it, moment-to- moment, and not let it destroy us.
not this time.
do you?
gibarian.
what do you want?
can it work?
i can trust rheya.
you're not gibarian.
a puppet.
wakes up, gulping air. rheya, startled:
gibarian. he was here.
he is. but he was here.
he spoke to me.
are you going to take them?
it's all right.
i love you.
that won't happen again. we're different.
i don't think it knows it's torturing us. it's just watching.
she drank liquid oxygen.
she's dead.
get out --
rheya --
listen: i don't care about anything but the fact that you are here. you are her, you are rheya.
no.
rheya, i am not going back. i'm staying here with you.
i want every second i can get with you.
we'll know soon enough.
that's good to know.
you should have told me.
thank you.
neither did i.
i never said i didn't.
i can't stay here.
then you won't make it.
i came back. you have to know that. i came back that night.
i couldn't make it, either. i'm so sorry.
i want you here.
you exist here. i keep telling you.
who are you, then?
yes, you are --
yes. i told you. it was exactly like mine.
is that really what you want?
i wish you wouldn't.
i think they help.
you have to remember that i love you, that's all that matters --
it put you here. i'll admit it, it acted like a god and put you here, put you into my consciousness. i was asleep, and it put you into my dream. i saw your mouth. and there you were. whether you've been sent here to make me happy or punish me, it doesn't matter. the decision we make now is all that matters. stay with me.
i don't know anymore. all i see is you.
stay with me. stay with me.
she knows everything. she knows who she is.
no.
i want you to get sartorius to abandon his plan.
just get him to stop.
yes.
her oxygen would have run out.
into what?
i love her.
a sleeping pill. do you want yours?
what does it want?
please. don't.
wakes up. rheya is beside him, asleep.
breathes a sigh of relief at being home. everything seems slowed down, somehow.
i though i was home.
i thought it was over.
wakes up again. rheya is asleep beside him.
where did you go before?
last night. you were talking to someone in the corridor.
what's the matter?
rheya?
sweating. struggling. beyond fear.
i'm losing my mind. i'm breaking apart.
is this what it means to die? am i in the moment of my own death? is this the last thought i will ever have?
i am home now. i try to find the rhythm of the world where i used to live.  but i feel completely and continually out of-sync. i am separate. why did i return to earth and lie about what happened? lie about having contact with something like solaris? i knew something else was out there, and didn't tell a soul. i left them in the dark. we all did.
so why come back at all? to see if she comes here?
looking from the doorway, notes this. he doesn't seem surprised, though.
i don't believe it will happen.
but i will wait, anyway.
i thought it was over.
"though they go mad they shall be sane. though they sink through the sea they shall rise again."
you killed her!
you murdered her!
she'll come back.
why would you let her to do that?
you fucking bastard.
how quickly?
where's snow? did you call him?
snow! we need you up here.
snow!
what's wrong with you? we need your help.
when did this happen?
jesus.
maybe you can.
earth. what did that word mean to me? i have returned. finally.
i work in the city now. after work i wander and lose myself. i am silent and attentive. i follow the current. i make a conscious effort to smile, nod, stand, and perform the millions of gestures that constitute life on earth.
i will study these gestures until they become reflexes again. i will find new interests and occupations, but --
i will not.  give myself. i will not give myself to anything or anyone, because i am haunted by the idea that i remembered her wrong. that i shaded my memory of her to suit myself. that i was unfair to her and caused her destruction. what if i was wrong about everything? i've come to believe that memory is a curse.
opens the door. he cannot speak.
how can you be here.
i love you.