Original subtitles

My name is Thomas Vail, or at least it was.

I'm a photographer.

I had it all. Life, Allison, friends, a career.

And in one moment, it was taken away.

All because of a single photograph. I have it.

They want it.

And they will do anything to get the negative.

I'm keeping this diary as proof that these events are real.

I know they are. They have to be.

I run, whether I'm running towards something or away from it, I'm not

sure.

Then there are times that I stop out of sheer exhaustion and fear, because I

need a job and money to live on.

During the last few months, I've found that I am not the only person who lives

in fear.

Fear takes many shapes and claims many victims.

This is the fourth time I've been to this house, and it is a house of fear.

I know it. I can feel it.

I can smell it.

But it's difficult to determine if what I feel is the fear that I carry with me,

or if something inside this house, or perhaps even the house itself, has

nightmares of its own.

And because we live in darkness and hide in the shadows, we remain mostly

unknown.

I suspect that there are more of us in the darkness than most people imagine.

Those who hide, those who fear.

I know this is where I live.

A medium pepperoni, onions, and an extra large stromboli special. Pull the

jalapenos. All right. Come on, keep it moving, Pepe. Okay, man, I'm doing it.

People are starving out here.

Yeah, I know, I know.

You better put on your hat.

I can't find it.

Brace yourself.

Hat's cost $3. You make $6 .50 an hour, so maybe next time you'll hold on to

yours.

You're not out in ten minutes. I'll call in the troops.

Peppy, we're backing up here.

Yeah, I know. Tom, we have orders going out.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where's your hat, Tom? I don't know. Maybe in the car.

Maybe? Yeah, hats cost three dollars, Tom. You make $6 .50 an hour.

Maybe next time you'll hang on to yours.

There you go, man. Fifth night in a row.

Looks like you picked up Joel's old run.

South Ardmore.

Guy's a weirdo. Wouldn't know. I've never seen him.

Yeah, that's what I mean. Nobody has ever seen him.

The pie goes in, the money comes out.

Weirdo. He keeps to himself. He's not hurting anybody.

Not anybody we know about.

Right.

That's right. You find that hat, I want the new one back.

And don't think I didn't see you take that soda.

Come on, Pepe.

Hurry up.

Okay, order up.

Yeah.

Whoa. Hey, pizza's here.

Hey,

everything okay in there?

Oh.

Oh.

Oh. Oh.

Oh.

Oh.

Hey. Hey.

Hey.

Hey, man, you all right? Don't touch me. Don't touch me.

Okay. Okay.

A little more. Take it easy.

That's good.

It's not going anywhere. There's plenty more. Just slow, slow. Take it slow.

I get dehydrated. I forget to drink.

You have to drink to stay alive, right?

Here you go. You can hold this.

Sorry, I really...

Don't like to be touched.

Okay.

All right, well, I'll just put this right here.

You're the pizza guy, right?

I'm the pizza guy.

Then this is for you.

No, no, no, it's on me. Forget it. No, no, no, please take it. Forget it.

You don't have to shout.

Well, so, uh... When was the last time somebody else was in this house?

When was the last time you were out of this house?

Thank you for the pizza. You can go now, please.

Hey.

Hey.

You need a doctor. No doctors.

Look, I'm fine. I just got a little dehydrated. I'm fine now, okay?

Okay. You're

pretty

good at this stuff, huh?

What's this thing?

It's a router.

Right. I guess it comes in handy when you've got some major routing to do.

It's a high bandwidth connection to the network.

Oh.

Don't you know anything about computers?

Yeah, sure. I mean, they're confusing and impersonal. When I get near one, it

doesn't work.

You don't get it at all, do you?

No.

This stuff is beautiful,

man.

It's pure poetry. It's orderly.

It's logical.

It's contained.

On, off, zero, one.

The power to recreate intelligence.

Maybe even better.

Click, click.

On and off.

It's beautiful.

Well, I guess I'm just more the beer babes and baseball type.

You think I can't do that here?

You think I can't go there?

What do you want?

Major league scores from the U .S.? How about from Tokyo?

Batting averages from 1960.

Team earnings, league profits, ballpark dimensions, architect names. Come on,

name it.

Kofax's ERA.

What do you want? What do you want?

How about just a bag of peanuts?

You think you're joking, right?

There is a market down on Flower in Carlson. They have a fax machine and

deliver. What do you want?

Salted or un?

In the shell or out?

All right, all right. I get your point, but I mean...

That isn't everything, Scott. I mean, there's more to life than just click,

click, zero, one.

Oh, yeah. You're out there delivering pizzas in a paper hat.

Are you having fun?

I'm flesh and blood, man. I'm out there.

I'm out there.

I haven't been computerized.

Come on.

You think you can avoid this? You think that just because you're not sitting in

front of a monitor that you're not involved in this? You're in here. We're

in here. Like it or not, this is one big cyberspace gangbang, and we're all

invited. No.

You won't find me in there.

What are you talking about?

Well... This isn't the dark ages. This isn't the 70s.

You get a paycheck, you rent an apartment, you buy something in a

store, you're in here. I could get your whole life up here in one second.

Okay.

Go ahead, show me what you can find.

I'll need some information.

Name?

Thomas J.

Vale, V -E -I -L.

What's your social security number?

549.

24 -1889.

Totally amazing.

What? You found me.

I did, and I didn't.

What was that supposed to mean?

You've been deleted, man. Big time. I've never seen anything like it. I can't

understand this. It's amazing.

What does that mean? If I've been deleted, how could you find me? Well, I

you because I know what I'm doing.

You have to understand that deleted files only look deleted to the system.

until they're wiped out, if you know what you're doing, you can find them.

And they haven't all been wiped?

Well, most of them have been.

What is this? Do you realize the access required to accomplish something like

this?

You couldn't do it. The president of the United States couldn't do it. This is

big. time big brother freaky stuff man it's almost impossible

obviously not entirely yeah but how i mean computers are not centrally linked

this would take years and even then how do you get into every computer into

every database access secure lines and totally eradicate every trait of a

person's life

Who the hell are you?

She's pretty

And you have no idea how she got into this?

No, I'm not sure.

I mean, part of me needs to believe she was pressured, and somehow she did what

she did because she was trying to protect me, but... I don't know, part of

just... It's hard with people. You can't always be sure.

I mean, not like computers.

Click, click.

Yeah, but computers don't light you up with a look of recognition.

You know, they don't brighten when you come into a room.

It's not quite the same.

That's closer.

But no cigar.

It's a phrase, man. Close but no cigar.

I know. Yeah, I know.

Need a little lighting.

Hey, close it. It's too bright in here. Come on.

It's better like this.

It's always twilight in here. It's always the same. I don't have to worry

what the outside world is doing right now because right now never changes.

Hey, um... Scott, no.

You know, before your parents died, did you go out?

I mean, you must have had friends from school.

Hey, I got my first computer when I was 13, and it's the first time I ever

remember feeling happy.

Happy or just safe?

Like there's a difference.

Hey, man, it's all the same. No, it isn't. Safe is happy.

You were safe, and you felt happy. Now you're not. Scott, there's more to it

than that. I mean, it's... I don't know, it's a feel of fall on your face.

It's the pain in your stomach after one chili dog too many.

It's something lost and something gained.

Somebody's touching the side of your face.

And it's being afraid.

And loving someone.

And being loved. That is a poem, man.

That's something you read in a book. That's something you look at over and

again, wanting it to be real, and it never is.

Scott, you can't live without other people. I mean, believe me, I know you

live without human contact. I don't live without human contact.

I just make it the way I need it to be.

What is this?

You know what virtual reality is?

No, not first -hand.

Well, you want to know how I get by, right?

With virtual reality, I can create any environment I want, and it's as good as

the real thing.

It's okay.

You can get a feel for it. Just move your legs like you're walking.

It's incredible.

Feel a ball on your face?

But it's not real.

It's virtually real.

You feel it.

You taste it. You believe it.

It's real.

Hi, Scott.

I've missed you.

She always says the right thing.

Oh, this is my friend, Tom.

Hi, Tom.

Well, you had no trouble talking when you were giving me advice.

Sorry.

Sorry, hi.

Didn't we make arrangements for you to, uh, bring...

A friend?

If you're going to play hard to get, then it just means I get to keep both of

them for myself.

This is Tom.

It's a pleasure to meet you, Tom.

She's in my database now, but don't worry.

I'll save her for you.

I'm taking.

Would

you?

You're staring at me.

You're just so beautiful.

You're very beautiful.

Would you dance with me?

Are you expecting someone?

No.

I love you.

I love you.

Scott, no, don't.

About two hours after you passed out.

What are you doing?

I think I found a way to get to whoever's doing this to you.

What I thought... No, you said... No, no, what I said is I'm the best.

Whoever the hell they are, they're not better at this than me.

See, I just have to stop relying on the domain servers and plug in some raw IP

addresses.

I'm getting through some major doors now.

I guess I really freaked you out with the VR.

Your brain looks like it's on an overdriver.

It just felt so real.

It is real.

That's what I told you. I mean, your head believes it and everything else

along for the ride.

I think I've got something.

What?

It's a government computer at MIT.

Tricky. What's that?

They've routed you through a weather server in Reykjavik.

One more and we got it.

Pardon?

I don't know

why

this is taking so long.

What's been happening? What?

They've tunneled into my system. Turn the power off. I can't. Not with them in

here. I've got to get them out.

Damn it. Get out of here.

Get out of here.

They know where we are, man.

Scott, we've got to get out of here. This is my whole life. This is

I've got.

Damn it. Get out of here. Get out of my system.

No, we've got to go. We've got to go. Come on.

No.

No. Get back there. I've got to get back there.

Oh, no!

Close it! No, Scott, we gotta... Close it!

Clark, take me upstairs.

Right.

Come on. Are you getting on or what?

Got a schedule to keep here. Come on.

Take me inside.

Take me inside.

Please, Tom.

Please.

Scott. Scott.

Scott. We can't stay here.

I can't do this, Tom. I can't stay out here. Why are they doing this, Tom? I'm

not sure. Maybe we got too close. Maybe we wandered into something that they

didn't want us to see. Either way, we're not safe here.

Scott. Scott. You've got to listen to me.

Listen. You know anybody who lives around here? Anybody at all?

Relatives, friends of the family, anybody.

Scott, we've got to get off the street.

Scott. Scott, think.

Think. I have no friends. I have no friends. I have no friends. There's got

be somebody someplace.

Only Pam. Only Pam.

Pam. Who's Pam? My teacher.

My high school computer teacher.

Scott, that's ten years ago. That's the only one I can think of.

Okay. Okay, that's good. That's good.

What's her last name?

Peters. Pam Peters.

Peters? She lives on Larchmont.

I'm going to find the phone booth. I'm just going to leave you here for five

minutes. Don't leave me. I've got to find out if I can even find her. I'm

going to the corner. I'll be right back. Don't leave me. Don't leave me. Please.

Okay. Okay. He took everything.

He took my whole life.

He took my whole life.

He took my whole life.

I miss Peters.

Scott? He's not doing too well.

You were the only person he could think of. Do you mind if we come in?

Oh, sure.

Yes, please. Come on in.

He was always the best.

Whenever everybody else saw dead ends, Scott saw open doorways. He was such a

bright kid.

At 18, he designed a significant piece of software for a venture capital firm.

I heard he made a good deal of money off of it. Yeah, he told me he's been

living off the profits and bonuses for the last 10 years.

I had heard that he had some problems, you know, after his parents died, but I

had no idea.

A rough whimper of insanity.

What's that?

A rough whimper of insanity.

It's an anagram, something that Scott discovered, a rearrangement of the

information superhighway.

God, in a sad way, it really seems to fit.

Well, yeah, he seems to take more comfort in solos in front of a computer

monitor than he does in the real world.

Yeah, well, the world's been pretty cruel to him.

God, I just wish I had known how far it had gone. Maybe I could have been there

for him.

Well, I think in some ways you were.

Well, he's really lucky to have a friend like you.

Actually, we just met.

He was helping me track down some information at his house, and then there

problem, and we had to get out pretty quick.

Damn it.

The permissions on this file are locked.

What are you trying to do?

I'm trying to locate a file.

So why can't you just circumvent the permissions and access it directly?

You can't fetch it without initiating defense. Forget it. Forget it, Scott.

We've already been there.

Wait a minute. I think maybe there's a way to do this. Let me just be clear.

are trying to access a highly secured file that's surrounded by firewalls?

Okay.

Of course.

Scott, how do you get the file?

I don't know what you're saying.

The answer's in the question.

How do you look at a file that you can't open and you can't fetch?

You don't try.

That's right.

You guys just came up with a dictionary. What are you talking about?

We don't try to get the file. We go to the file. Oak Park, Michigan.

We can go there.

We can look at the file. We just can't take it with us.

Go on.

Essentially, you'll be making a one -way connection.

No one will even know the file's been read.

How do we go there?

I'll need your VR helmet.

Where are we?

Discarded heat memory. Random data that they use to fill the space between

files.

Wow, they sure went to a lot of trouble to dress this place up.

Somewhere around here should be the door to your file.

This is it.

What is it?

It's a painting of the photograph I told you about.

Stand back.

Okay, one of these is yours.

No, no, no, don't worry.

They're all sequential. We just have to find the right sort of key.

Okay, let's see.

There's eight digits.

It's not a driver's license.

Okay, it's not a social security number.

Stage 1, 120, 1985.

Maybe it's a birthday.

No, no, no. That's not a ten -year -old girl.

Where do we start?

Eight digits.

It's a date.

I bet you it was the date that the file got copied to the disk.

It's August 28th, 1995.

That was the day.

The day it happened.

What?

The day I lost everything.

This is 70s, 80s.

It's gotta be up there.

How are you a person climbing?

Nice and slow.

Oh, I see.

How you doing?

Harder, Bugs.

I can't get my footing.

Take it easy. Remember, it's virtual reality.

It's okay. I'll get the files.

I found it.

82895.

This is it, man.

This is really it. Scott, what does it say?

Oh, my God. What?

It's not what you thought.

Just bring it down, Scott.

God, what's happening?

What happened? I don't know.

Something went wrong.

Oh, dear God.

Scott!

Scott!

Scott, come on.

Come on, Scott. Come back to us. Come on.

All right, I need you to tell me everything that happened in there. We

trying to get out, and the walls were disintegrating. Scott said it was

they were deleting the system.

And he could have made it. He stopped intentionally.

I think he's still in there.

I think when the system went down, he went down with it. What are you talking

about? It wasn't real. We weren't really there.

Yeah, but if your mind believes it, it's real.

This is insane.

Scott.

Scott.

Scott.

It wasn't real. It didn't happen.

It didn't happen.

It didn't happen. It wasn't real.

It was like two more feet you could have made.

Tom, it was what he wanted.

You made a choice.

What? What, to stay in that room while it disintegrated?

I don't think that he thought there was anything out here for him.

There's a chance that he can still find his way back.

So he can come back.

Yeah, he could if he wants to.

Tom, I'm not sure that he ever will.

Those of us who live in fear keep our secrets hidden, protected from prying

eyes, and only Scott knows what drove him to make the decision that he made.

And only Scott knows the answer to the question that I've been searching so

to find.

There are more of us in that darkness than most people imagine.

I know this is where I live.