"The cradle rocks above an abyss
"And common sense tells us that our existence
"is but a brief crack of light
between two eternities of darkness."
Yes, the cradle rocks,
and, I think you'll agree, so does vladimir nabokov...
( laughter )
Every time he sets pen to paper.
But whether old vlad's description
of the human condition is born of hope or of dire pessimism...
( watch beeping )
is the question...
3:56 P.M.
Is, is the question we will come back to
when I return from my leave.
Now, before you go, no doubt a lot of you
have heard the rumors circulating around campus
about my upcoming operation
and I figured I'd better set the record straight.
The next time I see you, I may actually see you.
Dear sweet Molly Bloom here may be out of a job.
I know that sounds
kind of crazy, but I volunteered to be a guinea pig
in a medical procedure that I and my doctors Hope
will allow me to see for the first time
since my childhood accident.
I could give you the hard science,
but, uh, there's a reason I teach the humanities.
I can tell you that it involves a combination of an implant
of some state-Of-The-Art micro-Electronics
and the use of a sophisticated drug --
Get this -- That could only be manufactured
in the zero gravity of outer space.
So if, uh, if anyone asks me
what the hell good all those space shuttle missions are for,
you can tell them...
they may have just made a Miracle possible.
You're looking at areas B-1 and 17 of the occipital lobe,
better known as the primary visual cortex.
By removing the damaged portion
of the necrotic area
and replacing it with our neural prosthesis,
we expect to fully restore
the patient's visual circuitry.
Syringe.
I'll now be injecting the cerebral sheath
with the same iridium suspension
which has been part of the patient's
pre-Surgery drug therapy for the last seven days.
Ready for the implant now.
Patrick?
How are you feeling?
Like I parted my hair with a jackhammer.
We've cut down on the painkillers
until we can assess the results of the surgery.
Are you going to take the bandages off now?
Before we do that, I want to introduce you
to dr. Louise Burrows, the consulting psychologist.
You're still convinced I'll need therapy?
Regardless of the results,
you will be facing a period of Adjustment.
Hi, Patrick.
It's a pleasure to finally meet you.
Are you as attractive as you sound?
Let's hope you'll be able
to answer that question yourself, Patrick.
Okay.
Oh, my god, there's light.
I can sense light, doctor.
That's wonderful, Patrick.
Just take it easy.
Oh, my god, there's light.
Oh, my god.
Oh, I can see your face.
I can see your faces.
Oh, it's incredible.
It's incredible.
Thank you, doctor.
Thank you.
What is it, Patrick?
What is that?
What is that? Oh, my god! Who are you?
Oh, my god.
What are you--
Patrick, what do you see?
( control voice ) There is nothing wrong with your television.
Do not attempt To adjust the picture.
We are now controlling the transmission.
We control the horizontal
and the vertical.
We can deluge you with a thousand channels
or expand one single image to crystal clarity
and beyond.
We can shape your vision
to anything our imagination can conceive.
For the next hour,
we will control all that you see and hear.
( ♪ )
You are about to experience the awe and mystery
which reaches from the deepest inner mind
to --The outer limits.
It is said that what we behold
with our eyes is merely the surface of reality.
But if we could see
beneath that facade, what would lie within?
( knocking )
Come in.
Louise, I was hoping it was you.
Remember, you promised,
no more jokes about "a sight for sore eyes."
All right, I'll try to restrain myself.
Have you talked to Dr. Lennox? Yes.
He can't keep you in the hospital
against your will,
although it is his strong preference.
I did manage to convince him
that what you experienced is not likely to recur.
So what happens now?
I get remanded to the custody
of my personal shrink?
No, Patrick.
I'm only here when you need me.
Just like Molly.
Louise, do you still think it was all a hallucination?
This was the first use of your eyesight in almost 20 years,
and they tell me
your brain's visual cortex
is actually being retrained.
It was so damn real.
Yeah.
Tell me again,
what did she look like?
Red eyes.
Red hair.
The rest...
her skin, it was,
it was so pale, it was strange,
almost like a ghost.
Is that what you think you saw then, a ghost?
You just got finished
with a perfectly plausible explanation.
When you were a child
when your vision was still intact,
did you ever see anything like, like this woman?
You mean like the bogeyman?
Give it any name you like.
I had fantasies, phobias,
like any kid.
Such as?
Well, um, I remember lying in my bed
staring at the half-Open closet door.
I swear the door started to move.
It doesn't mean we're crazy when we see something
that's not there.
Well, I think I'm ready to face the world.
Do you mind if I accompany you?
Twist my arm.
The trees, the sky -- Everything is so beautiful.
So they tell me
you lost your sight in an accident
when you were, what, 7?
Going blind was the least of it.
I lost my parents in the same accident.
I'm sorry.
It was a single-Engine plane crash.
We were on our way to alaska.
They wanted me to see the Aurora borealis,
the northern lights.
My father was at the controls when we lost power
over Fort yukon in the arctic circle.
So who raised you?
My aunt -- My mother's sister.
She never let me wallow in self-Pity.
If it wasn't for her,
I don't think I would have gone on to college or teaching.
She died of cancer a little over a year ago.
That certainly puts things in perspective.
How do you mean?
Uh, it's just those kinds of losses,
the emotional trauma can affect us
in ways that are, well, sometimes unpredictable.
That's psychoanal-Ese for "This guy's a whack-Job"?
I'm not here to make judgments.
I thought that's exactly--
What is that? What do you see?
Patrick, talk to me.
Did you--
She's gone.
Who's gone?
The girl.
You didn't see a girl right there?
No headaches or dizzy spells?
No.
Any discomfort associated with
shifting focus from near to far?
No.
Any halos around objects?
I don't think so, no.
Artifacts.
I'm sorry?
Oh, um, spots of light or dark
that seem to float over your field of view.
Not really, no.
Well, everything looks Good.
Very good.
No evidence of rejection, no brain swelling.
Except for the restricted peripheral vision, Patrick,
you're doing better
than we could have ever hoped for.
So there's... there's nothing abnormal.
Physically, I don't see anything anomalous.
Why, is there something that doesn't feel normal?
No, I just...
you know, when the bandages first came off.
You experience anything like that again?
No.
Uh, no, dr. Burrows explained how that was
just a figment of my imagination.
Vivid as hell from the sound of it.
Yes, it was.
I'm going to give you another injection
of the iridium suspension.
Are you all right?
Yeah.
Not my favorite part of the process.
Yeah.
Look, Patrick...
we're going to have to hope
that your body becomes acclimated
to the side effects,
because without the drug,
the bridge to your neural prosthesis
would quickly disintegrate.
Well, like I said,
best feeling in the world.
You didn't say anything to dr. Lennox?
I did, actually.
He pretended he hadn't heard a thing.
Maybe he wanted you to volunteer it.
Why are you all playing games with me?
No one's playing games with you.
I think dr. Lennox just feels
it's best dealt with in a therapeutic realm.
Can you go back there?
Do you remember what you saw?
She's trying to talk to me.
I can't hear her,
but I can make out what she's saying.
She's crying for help...
over and over and over and over and over.
Would you like to help her?
I'm not a child, Louise.
I know what you're driving at.
Which is?
Wish fulfillment, unconscious cravings.
I've created an imaginary girl
to fulfill some twisted need.
We do that routinely in our dreams.
Both times I wasn't dreaming.
You were there.
Why would my mind fantasize
something so terrifying?
Patrick, listen to me.
For 20 years you were blind.
You lived in a world that was cloaked in darkness.
And then as sudden as turning on a switch,
your senses are flooded with light.
How can it not be overwhelming?
When does it stop?
I don't think anyone Can answer that question but you.
This is everything we could have hoped for
and more.
I'm still not persuaded
that it is anything more
than an EMOTIONALLY inspired vision --
Like the Madonna appearing
in the reflection of an office building.
Listen to the tape of Dr. Burrows' session.
I defy you to write that off as a fantasy, a mirage.
Maybe you're just seeing what you want to see.
Joseph, I don't have to remind you
that without the iridium we supplied, your experiment
would have had no chance of succeeding.
I would like to be able to report
your continued cooperation to my superiors.
It'd be a shame to have
as precious a gift as your patient's snatched away.
( screeching )
Help me, Patrick.
( screaming )
This isn't happening.
( growling )
You're not real. You're not real.
You can't be.
I'm not dreaming, am I?
Who are you?
Kyra.
That's beautiful.
You said you wanted me to help you.
How could I help you?
You're not alive, are you?
You're some, you're some...
( whimpering )
No.
No...no, Kyra, wait, please.
Kyra. Kyra, don't go.
Will I see you again?
Just tell me that.
All right.
Let's take it at face value then.
This girl--
Kyra. She told me her name.
Okay.
She appears to you and no one else.
She can't be heard,
so she communicates by writing in the air.
And she tells you
she's from another planet?
Another world.
I never should have said anything.
Your mother had red hair, didn't she?
Who told you that?
I read about it in the story of the accident.
She looks nothing like my mother, Louise.
Please stop twisting what I say.
I am just trying to make sense of it.
I won't be able to help you
if you don't meet me halfway.
Patrick, is it happening?
Kyra, Kyra.
Kyra.
I'm sorry, I thought you were someone else.
I'm sorry.
It's all right.
Leave me alone, okay?
Get the hell away from me.
All right.
Oh...
I wasn't dreaming.
Both times I wasn't dreaming.
You were there.
Why would my mind fantasize something so terrifying?
Patrick, listen to me.
Where did you get that tape?
Oh, Louise.
I never recorded that session.
And if I had, it would have been for my own use.
You were told from the moment you came in
how important this experiment was.
I feel like I've already betrayed Patrick's trust.
He opened up to me with the understanding
that it would be strictly confidential.
Louise, please understand that your participation in This
is just one part of a larger picture.
Well, if you expect me to continue to participate
I won't have you spying on me or my patient.
With all due respect, you won't lay the ground rules.
If you choose to withdraw from this project,
there are other mental health professionals
who would jump at the chance.
I have a connection to this young man.
I'm not walking.
After all, this is a case that could make one's career.
Or am I reading between the lines?
Besides, he's not just your patient.
He's our patient too, and something of a milestone.
He's a human being, Joseph.
And a very troubled one.
He insists on going back to the classroom.
He's clearly delusional.
And if he deteriorates any further,
it might develop into a serious psychosis.
If in fact his symptoms Truly are signs of a psychosis.
Joseph, I have the strongest feeling
I haven't been thoroughly briefed on this case.
You know as much as you need to know.
No, that is not good enough.
I want to know what the hell is going on here.
Louise, have a seat.
Please.
You know the iridium that has been an integral part
of Patrick's post-Operative therapy?
The synaptic stimulant,
the one that helps stroke victims.
There's compelling scientific evidence
that it doesn't just enhance the brain's receptivity.
But it enhances perception, heightens the senses,
even in Faculties sometimes referred to as extra-Sensory.
What are you trying to tell me?
That what Patrick is experiencing...
it just might be real.
Aside from their immeasurable genius,
what Virginia Woolf, William Faulkner, James Joyce
all had in common was their use of a literary technique
that we've come to know as stream of consciousness,
in which the characters'
thoughts, their actions, their emotions
all have an associative pattern rather--
No.
Uh...
uh, stream of consciousness, right, where...
the characters, their thoughts, their act--
Is everything okay?
If I had a trophy room,
I'd probably hang a picture of your brain scan in it.
You are the real-Life six million dollar man.
So is that it for today?
Not yet.
I'll be giving you another injection.
In fact, I'd like you to come in
every day this week for a treatment.
I don't know if my body Can handle that.
You don't want to backslide.
Of course not.
It's just...the drug wreaks havoc on my system, doctor.
I can't eat for hours afterwards.
The headaches are unbearable.
Something's wrong, isn't it?
No, nothing is wrong.
I don't believe you.
Patrick, you're proof that the treatment is a success.
It's the drug, isn't it?
The iridium is allowing me to see her.
See who?
Oh, I know Louise has told you everything.
Why won't you tell me the truth?
He's right. We should.
It's time you were told the truth.
Oh.
Mr. Borden, I didn't know that you were observing.
What truth?
I wasn't aware there was more than one.
Who are you?
Forgive me -- Dwight Borden.
I work with British intelligence
and the national security agency.
National security?
The iridium drug that was produced on the shuttle,
Mr. Borden's agency made it possible.
Rarer than a flawless diamond.
And far more costly.
It wasn't developed
for your procedure per se.
It's used in your case as one of those
unexpected byproducts of scientific research.
What was --It produced for?
Actually, Mr. Tarloff... may I call you Patrick?
Patrick, eight years ago
a small group of scientists within the government discovered
that a drug originally developed for stroke victims
had some extraordinary properties.
It allowed certain subjects to perceive
faint but consistent signs of what we could only call
a non-Visible lifeform.
Now, we surmised that if we refined the drug
and found the right person,
we could track these signals, amplify them...
that he might become a receiver of sorts.
A receiver?
We tried it on hundreds of volunteers in a dozen studies.
We never got further than trace evidence.
Until now.
Patrick, these visions you've been experiencing.
We believe they are the first corroborative proof
of the lifeform I'm talking about.
It's...I can't... it's too bizarre.
You are that human receiver, Patrick.
Are you all right?
I can hear you.
That's what I'd hoped.
What was that thing? What did you do to me?
It's something I salvaged from my craft.
I can only use it in limited areas like this one.
Magnetic nodes, where currents cross.
I'd hoped it would break down the remaining barriers.
But you're still visible only to me?
I can feel you.
I can really feel your hand.
It's been so long since I felt another's touch.
I don't know how long this will last.
We were warned about COMING too close
to the magnetic field of your planet,
but my father wanted a better look.
I was the only survivor of five.
It was almost seven years ago.
I was orphaned
in a craft that crashed too.
It was just a single-Engine plane.
All these years, I've wandered your planet, seeing everything.
But unable to be seen.
Until you.
I still don't understand
how you found me, how you knew.
The system,
the substance that was created in space.
The iridium drug.
As soon as it was returned to earth,
I found myself drawn to it,
drawn to the people who were treated by it.
I was scared though.
I'd seen so much cruelty here,
so much darkness and suffering.
But when it was used on you,
it was so intense,
became irresistible.
And like a moth to flame...
why do you say that?
Because I could pose a danger to you.
I don't understand.
The people who created it,
they know about you.
They used the iridium before I even saw you
to somehow detect your presence.
The worst...
the worst of it is,
now they think I have a way to reach you.
Through you.
I can't go back to being alone.
You have no idea what it's been like.
To have no one to talk to,
share my feelings, my thoughts.
To touch, to embrace.
It's still so hard to fathom.
We need your help, Louise.
We want him to bring the alien to us.
How can you be so certain that this energy phenomenon
is an alien?
We've heard them communicate.
Of course, all we hear is his side
of the conversation. They speak?
Yes, it's a recent development.
They were up half the night, talking, laughing.
Sensory exchange is
even...tactile.
It's quite astonishing, really.
You bugged his apartment.
Louise, you must realize
the importance of what we stumbled upon.
Oh, I do, but--
Louise, it seems Patrick trusts you.
We want you to assure him that we mean this being no harm.
On the contrary, we want to learn all we can from her.
Eventually we might be able to return the favor.
Our telemetry might be used to signal her world.
We know she wants that.
I just don't know.
Louise, Patrick's psychological state Depends
on his being able to help this creature.
You thwart that
and he may never recover.
I don't know, Louise.
Bringing Kyra to meet them,
it scares the hell out of me.
What's scary is making
the scientific discovery of the century
and not being able to share it with the world.
And you really believe that Borden is willing to help her
make contact with her home planet.
All they want is to be able to ask her questions
and you'd serve as interpreter.
You're in love with her, aren't you?
You must really think I'm crazy now.
No.
On the contrary.
It's enough to make a cynic believe in fate.
Welcome...
to both of you?
What's all this?
Some instrumentation.
Measuring devices.
She is with you, yes?
She's right here.
Would you direct her to take that seat?
She can hear you.
She can understand everything you say.
Kyra, please.
Let's start, shall we?
Ask her where she comes from.
Beyond your reach.
Could she be a little more specific?
You would call it a neutron star.
How is that possible?
The temperatures are unthinkable.
Only by your measure.
What are the coordinates
of the star?
Something's wrong.
Something's very wrong.
She's not comfortable giving you that information.
Tell her we've been to a lot of trouble
on her behalf.
Patrick, please. I want to go.
We're not doing this right now. We're leaving.
( screaming )
Don't! What have you done?
My god, Kyra!
Patrick.
( Borden ) Do you really think that We would harm her?
This is a strong magnetic field.
Nothing more.
She can't pass through it.
Once she's over her skittishness,
we will switch it off.
You can both go. That's a promise.
If she's still alive.
Turn it off now!
Borden, maybe he's right.
I want you to consider where your allegiance lies, Patrick.
With the scientists
who gave you back your sight,
or with An INTERLOPER
whose agenda you don't really know.
No, when she's ready to talk to us,
we will be ready to listen.
She's not the enemy -- We're the enemy!
This is all my fault.
I never should have brought you here.
It's the nature of your kind.
Fear what you don't know.
We don't have any choice, you know.
You have to tell them everything.
You know better than that, Patrick.
I'm a trophy now.
They'll never let me go.
How much time do we have?
I don't know.
Hours, maybe less.
Kyra...Kyra.
Kyra, no.
Kyra, you can't. Kyra!
No, no, Kyra.
You can't!
Kyra, you need help.
( Louise ) Patrick, I have to talk to you.
Just for a moment.
Patrick, I swear, I knew nothing of Borden's plan.
I'm as appalled as you are.
You expect me to believe that?
It's the god's truth.
All right.
All right, you told me.
Now go.
I, uh, wanted to leave you with this.
What is "This"?
it's the remaining stores of iridium suspension.
It's all that's standing between you and total blindness.
So you struck a deal with the devil?
Patrick.
As long as there's iridium pumping through my veins
they've got the perfect bait
to lure Kyra back.
They knew about her
before you gained your eyesight.
She was only a shadow.
She was a whisper in the void.
She was free.
Thank you.
I better go.
Goodbye, Patrick.
Kyra!
No!
You can't.
I didn't think I'd see you again.
You're the only thing I have in this world.
The only thing that matters.
I thought going home mattered.
It's never going to happen.
The only people who can help me are so ignorant
they'll wind up killing me first.
That's why I'm doing this.
Patrick, please.
The iridium is preventing you
from being consigned to darkness.
It's also the only thing that's guaranteeing your doom.
If there's a Link between us, they can track you,
they can hunt you down and imprison you.
I made that mistake once
and I won't let it happen again.
You'd rather lose your sight?
Not meant to see something so wondrous
picked at and prodded by their damn machines.
We have no right.
I have no right.
I love you.
That's enough for me.
( voices shouting )
I knew I'd be followed.
There isn't enough time.
You have no idea
what you've done.
In closing, for those of you
who've expressed concern about my condition,
I refer you to Victor Hugo's Les miserables.
"Possessing love, he is not deprived of light.
"a love, moreover, that is wholly pure.
"There can be no blindness
where there is this certainty."
Well...
see you next time.
( control voice ) of all the gifts his maker has bestowed upon man,
none is more precious than his ability to love another.
Captioning performed by
Western captioning service ltd. Vancouver, B.C. 2000