Original subtitles

[Patrick] "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...

[students laughing]

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] 3:56 p.m. -...is the question... [sighs]

[stammers] 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, [sighs] yeah, there's a reason I teach the humanities.

What I can tell you is 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 you

what the hell good all those space shuttle missions are for,

you can tell them... [sighs]

they may have just made a miracle possible.

[Joseph] 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 I'm pointing to,

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.

[heart monitor beeping]

Ready for the implant now.

[Doctor] Patrick?

How are you feeling?

Like I parted my hair with a jackhammer.

[Joseph] We've cut down on the painkillers

until we can assess the results of the surgery.

Does that mean you're going to take the bandages off now?

Before we do that, I want to introduce you

to Dr. Louise Burrows, the consulting psychologist I was telling you about.

You're still convinced I'm gonna need therapy?

Oh. 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, Dr. Burrows?

Let's hope you'll be able to answer that question yourself, Patrick.

[Patrick chuckles]

Okay.

[Patrick] Oh, my god, there's light.

I can sense light, Doctor.

That's wonderful, Patrick. Just now... Just take it easy.

[Patrick] Oh, my god, there's light.

[sighs] 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... -[whooshing]

What is it, Patrick?

What is that?

[woman shrieking]

What is that? Oh, my god! Who are you?

Oh, my--

[inaudible]

What are you...

[screams, whimpers]

[groans]

[Louise] 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?

-[knock at door] -Come in.

Louise, I was hoping it was you. I tell you--

Remember, you promised,

no more jokes about "a sight for sore eyes."

All right, I'll try to restrain myself.

-Thank you. -Have you talked to Dr. Lennox?

-Yes. -And?

Well, he can't really keep you in the hospital

against your will,

although it is his strong preference,

and 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?

[chuckles] 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. [sighs]

Yeah.

Tell me again,

-What did she look like? -Hmm.

Red eyes.

Red hair.

The rest...

[stammers] 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.

Okay.

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?

[chuckles] Give it any name you like.

I had fantasies, phobias,

you know, like any kid.

Such as?

[sighs]

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.

[sighs]

Well, I think I'm ready to face the world.

You don't mind if I accompany you, do you?

[chuckles] Twist my arm.

[Patrick] The trees, the sky, everything is so beautiful.

[Louise] So they tell me

you lost your sight in an accident

When you were, what, seven?

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?

Hmm. My aunt, my mother's sister.

She never let me wallow in self-pity, you know?

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?

[ducks quacking]

Uh, it's just, those kinds of losses,

the emotional trauma can affect us

in ways that are, well, sometimes unpredictable.

That's psychoanalese for "This guy's a whack-job"?

I'm not here to make judgments.

[scoffs] I thought that's exactly--

[woman shrieking]

[Louise] What is it? 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?

[sighs]

[Joseph] No headaches or dizzy spells?

[Patrick] No.

[Joseph] Any discomfort associated with shifting focus from near to far?

[Patrick] No.

Any halos around objects?

I don't think so, no.

Artifacts.

[Patrick] 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 you're experiencing that doesn't feel normal?

No, I just...

You know, when the bandages first came off.

Oh. You experience anything like that again?

No.

Uh, no, Dr. Burrows explained how that was

just a figment of my imagination. [chuckles]

Hmm. Vivid as hell from the sound of it.

Yes, it was.

I'm going to, uh, give you another injection

of the iridium suspension.

[groans]

[Joseph] 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, [sniffles]

best feeling in the world.

You didn't say anything to Dr. Lennox?

I did, actually.

[scoffs]

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, Patrick.

I think Dr. Lennox just feels

it's best dealt within a therapeutic realm.

Can you go back there?

Do you remember what you saw?

[sighs]

[inaudible]

She's trying to talk to me.

I can't hear her,

um,

[stammering] 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?

[scoffs] I'm not a child, Louise.

I know what you're driving at.

Which is?

[sighs] Wish fulfillment, unconscious cravings.

I've created an imaginary girl

to fulfill some... Some twisted need.

We do that routinely in our dreams, Patrick.

I wasn't dreaming. Both times, I wasn't dreaming.

You were there. [groans]

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.

Assaulted with images.

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.

The Madonna appearing

in the reflection of an office building, that sort of thing.

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.

[groans]

[shrieking]

[faintly] Help me, Patrick.

[gasps]

[screaming]

[exclaims]

[panting]

[door clattering]

This isn't happening.

This isn't happening.

[sighing] This isn't happening.

[breathing heavily]

-[whooshing] -[exclaims]

[gasps]

[growling]

[gasping]

[inaudible]

You're not real. You're not real.

You're not real. You can't be.

I'm not dreaming, am I?

Who are you?

Kyra.

It's beautiful.

You said you wanted me to help you.

How can I help you?

You're not alive, are you?

[stammering] You're some...

[dog 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 has a name. 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 where? Another planet?

Another world.

I never should have said anything. [sighs]

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.

And please stop twisting everything that I say.

I am just trying to make sense of it.

For God's sake, Patrick. I'm not gonna be able to help you

if you don't meet me halfway... Patrick.

Patrick, is it happening?

Kyra, Kyra.

Kyra.

I'm sorry. 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.

[groans]

[sighs]

[Patrick on recording] I wasn't dreaming. Both times, I wasn't dreaming.

You were there.

Why would my mind fantasize something so terrifying?

[Louise on recording] 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 try to understand that your participation in this

is just one part of a much 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, I won't have you laying the ground rules.

Now, if you choose to withdraw from this project,

there is no shortage of mental health professionals

who would jump at the chance.

I have a connection to this young man.

There is no way I'm walking.

I mean, after all, this is the kind of 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, but he's not ready.

He's clearly delusional.

And if he deteriorates any further,

I'm concerned it might develop into a serious psychosis.

If, in fact, the symptoms that he is exhibiting

truly are signs of a psychosis at all.

Joseph, I have the strongest feeling

I haven't been as thoroughly briefed on this case as I could've been.

You know as much as you need to know for the moment.

[Louise] No, that is not good enough.

I want to know what the hell is going on here,

and I wanna know now.

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.

[Patrick] 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.

No.

Uh...

Uh, stream of consciousness, right, where...

The characters, their thoughts, their--

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.

[Patrick] I better warn my insurance company.

-[Joseph chuckles] -So is that it for today?

Not yet. I'm gonna be giving you another injection.

As a matter of fact, I'd like you to come in

-every day this week for a treatment. -Every day?

Doctor, I don't know if my body can handle that.

You don't want to backslide now, do you?

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 living proof that the treatment is a success.

It's the drug, isn't it?

It's the iridium that's allowing me to see her.

See who?

Oh, I know Louise has told you everything. This is crazy.

Why won't you tell me the truth?

[Borden] He's right. We should.

It's time you were told the truth.

[Joseph] Oh.

Mr. Borden, I didn't know that you were observing.

[door opens]

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.

You might say that its use in your case is 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 or she 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.

[exhales]

It's... It's... I can't... It's too bizarre.

You are that human receiver, Patrick.

[grunts]

[gasps]

Are you all right?

I can hear you.

That's what I'd hoped.

[stammering] 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 rest of 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.

[Kyra] 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.

[sighs]

And like a moth to flame...

[Kyra] Why do you say that?

Because I could pose a danger to you.

I don't understand.

[sighs] 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... [grunts]

The worst of it is,

now they think I have a way to reach you.

-Through you. -[sighs]

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 or a lifeform at all, for that matter?

We've heard them communicate.

Of course, all we hear is his side of the conversation, but...

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.

[Louise] You bugged his apartment.

Louise, the scientist in you has got to realize

the importance of what we stumbled upon here.

-Oh, I do, but-- -[Borden] 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.

And 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 rest of the world.

[sighs] And you really believe... I mean, 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.

[sighs]

You're in love with her, aren't you?

You must really think I'm crazy now.

No. No.

On the contrary,

it's enough to make a cynic believe in fate.

[beeping]

Welcome...

to both of you?

What's all this?

[Borden] Oh, uh, some instrumentation. Measuring devices.

She is with you, yes?

She's right here.

Uh, would you direct her to take that seat?

She can hear you.

She can understand everything you say.

[chuckles]

Uh, 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.

[chuckles] 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.

[Borden] 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.

[snaps fingers]

[machine whirring]

[screaming]

Don't! What have you done? My God, Kyra!

[gasping]

Patrick.

[Borden] Do you really think that we would do anything to harm her?

This is a strong magnetic field. Nothing more.

-She can't pass through it. -[continues gasping]

Once she's over her skittishness,

we will switch it off. We'll debrief her.

You can... 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.

[stammering] 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!

[whimpering]

[groans]

[sighs] 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.

[machine powering down]

-[door opens] -[Louise] Patrick.

[Patrick sighs]

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.

[sighs]

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 figure 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.

[sighs]

I better go.

Goodbye, Patrick.

[exhales]

[Patrick] Kyra!

Kyra!

Kyra!

[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.

[Kyra] Patrick, please.

The iridium is the only thing preventing you

from being consigned to darkness.

[breathes heavily]

It's also the only thing that's guaranteeing your doom.

As long as there's a link between us, they can track you.

They can hunt you down and imprison you like they did before.

I made that mistake once,

and I'm not gonna let it happen again.

You'd rather lose your sight?

Than to see something so wondrous,

so beautiful picked at and prodded by their damn machines.

[sighs] We have no right.

I have no right.

[breath shaking]

I love you.

That's enough for me.

[men shouting]

I knew I'd be followed. There isn't enough time.

[rock pounding]

-[rock pounding] -[glass shattering]

[man 1] Stop! Stop!

[man 2] Freeze!

[gun cocks]

[whooshing]

[Borden] 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.

[students chattering]

[Kyra gasping]

[Control Voice] Of all the gifts his maker has bestowed upon man,

none is more precious than his ability to love another.