" Doctor?" " He'll be all right." "All right, now tell me what happened here." "We were helping Mateo with his experiment." "What equipment were you using?" "The transmitter." "Victor, check it out." "I warned him." "I-I-I warned him repeatedly." "You had no right to interfere." "You could have killed him." "I will not tolerate these experiments in my..." "Calm down." "Tell me exactly what happened." "Commander, I told Mateo his experiments were dangerous." "Dangerous, how?" "Well, look what's happened to him." "Something did happen." "He went into a sort of trance." "See, Commander?" "I did warn him!" "Warren, please." "What kind of a trance?" "It WAS all quite scientific." "Yes, Paul?" "'Drop in temperature recorded in all Alpha sections.'" " Did you trace the source?" " 'We don't know what caused it, 'but it originated in the section you're in.'" "John." "I want the four of you to fill out full reports right away." "Yes, Commander." "The equipment's fine." "There's no equipment here that could cause a drop in temperature." "Something caused it, Victor." "And it started here." "It's OK." " How long have I been out?" " Not long." "Do you remember what happened?" "Mateo believes we have an innate affinity with plants." "Even the possibility of communicating with them." "Yes." "His work's based on sound scientific principles." "Both human beings and plants have nervous systems." "We both respond to pain, hunger." "Even happiness." "Let's say he's convinced that certain wave patterns of the human brain correspond precisely with wave patterns plants send out." "Yes." "And what Mateo was trying to do in tonight's experiment was to tap those human wave patterns at source, boost them by using the combined mental powers of his friends, project them and then measure the results." "All leading to the ultimate goal of communication between human beings and plants." "So what went wrong?" "Could that experiment have caused what happened on Alpha?" "I can't see how." "Victor, that computer didn't imagine that drop in temperature." "This was the first time I used the mental resources of other people." "I felt the difference immediately." "A feeling that... something unusual would happen." "Our concentration deepened." "I was aware of a new feeling." "A coldness seemed to grow inside my mind, my body." "With it came fear." "A part of my mind struggled... wanted, tried to resist." "Then... pain." "Burning, intense pain." "Then nothing" "You're probing into areas of the mind we know little about." "Of course, that's what makes it so fascinating." "We need a new way, Doctor." "A new direction." "And I am convinced we are on the right track." "You should be careful, then." "You seem to be susceptible to psychic phenomenon..." "Oh!" "Laura, I'm sorry." " How is he?" " Oh, he'll be fine." "I will keep him in the medical centre tonight." "He needs a good night's sleep." "Hi." "Hi, yourself." "Mateo..." "Warren's stopping your experiments." "Warren!" "He doesn't even understand what I'm trying to do." "He thinks it's too dangerous to go on." "It is... to him." "If it succeeds he'll be as much use around here as a gardener." "I think you should stop them too." " Ridiculous." " I'm serious!" "I was there." "I saw." "I felt what happened." "I thought you, at least, understood." "I'm scared, Mateo." "Well?" "We've checked." "There's been no reoccurrence anywhere on Alpha." "Whatever happened was sudden and swift." "Kano?" "Computer cannot trace the disturbance source." "It tells us everything else except that." "I will NOT give up my work, not now." "Not for anybody." "Not for anybody, for yourself." "Why are you so stubborn?" "If you won't help me, I'll do it alone." "Time for your nightcap." "We could all do with a good night's sleep." "Just relax." "OK, now." "Sleep well." "Good night." "Mateo... is that you?" "Mateo?" "No!" "No." "Mateo's still under sedation." "We've searched the whole section, there's no one in here." "All right, stand down." " Give me a few minutes." " Sure." "Nurse." "Helena, there were only two people in this area, you and Mateo." "And he was in a drugged sleep." "You're sure about what you saw?" "I don't know, I'm not sure of anything any more." "Wait a minute, I..." "I-I am sure about what I... felt and what I think I saw." "Mateo told me certain things that happened to him during his experiment." "Feelings of... coldness and... dread." "And that's precisely what happened to me just before I... saw that..." "What are you saying?" "There was some kind of psychic experience?" "All I know is what I felt... and what I saw." " Well?" "Did you check on it?" " 'Yes.'" "Computer recorded a temperature drop in the medical area." "Identical to the first and still no reason why." "Something else, John." "Our equipment picked up a strong wave pattern, too." "'The same pattern our friend Mateo uses." "'And very strong.'" "Warren, I'm putting a temporary stop to Dr Mateo's work." "A very wise decision, Commander." "What are you doing?" "This experiment is now finished." "There's more important work for Mateo to do... for all of you to do." " Leave it, I'll do it." " Uh?" "Don't worry." "I said I'll do it." "All right." "I want a 24-hour check on temperature levels, inform me of any drop." "Commander, what are we looking for?" "I wish I knew." "I'm not going to let him do this." "It's just for the time being." "I've heard that before, too." "Look, Doctor." "We are living out here in space, living on borrowed time." "If any one of our essential support systems fail... maybe we survive." "But if our food chain goes, we are finished." "My work is important." "Because I know I can increase the margin of survival." "Mateo, it was Commander Koenig's decision." "Yes, with a big push from Warren." "Well, we'll see." "Mateo?" " Warren!" " Mateo!" "Get out, Mateo." "I don't want you in my department." "I'll kill you if you say another word." " Mateo!" " You saw that." "You were a witness." "Commander, temperature drop registering." "Source unidentified." "Hydroponic unit." "Alan." "Warren." "Warren." "Who's there?" "Who are you?" "Who is it?" "Commander, I wasn't even in here when he died." "I couldn't stand the man, but kill him?" "Mateo, no one is accusing you." "But you did quarrel with the man and minutes later he was dead." "Will you excuse us?" "Please?" "Three times we experienced temperature drops, each time something strange happened." "First, you had some kind of mental attack." "Then Dr Russell is terrorised by an Alphan who doesn't exist." "And now... this." "Nothing like this happened on Alpha before your experiment." " Yes..." " Mateo." "We've recorded the wave pattern you used in your experiment." "That's impossible." "Your equipment cannot record that wave pattern." " It's so slight it hardly exists." " We did." "It was recorded when the temperature dropped, including when Warren died." "And how do you record psychic energy?" "A very rare and very powerful source of psychic energy." "Psychic energy" "Because that's what we've got, John." "Right here on Alpha." "Totally shattered spinal column." "I've never seen anything like it." "Fear generated to an unimaginable intensity." "Are you positive no person could have caused this?" "A blow of some kind?" "No blow could have caused this, John." "Paul, command conference." "You want us to believe that Alpha is being terrorised by some kind of... psychic being?" "A spook?" "Call it what you like, Alan." "What it adds up to is a destructive force that has killed and may do so again." "Commander, most of us here are scientists, rational human beings." "We believe in the laws of cause and effect." "What happened to Warren was an effect, but can we really accept that the cause was supernatural?" "Yes, but Paul, we all know that human beings use no more than about" "18% of their actual brain potential." "What happens in that other 82% is anybody's guess." "So you reject the idea that these events are supernatural?" "Supernatural, yes..." "paranormal, no." "What we're talking about is a wave pattern that's created by electrical activity and originates in the most primitive, least understood area of the brain." "We do know that people that have psychic powers have this wave pattern in greater strength than others and that something happened in Mateo's experiment which boosted this wave pattern to a previously unknown intensity." "Does it matter what it is or where it came from?" "The important thing is that it is here, amongst us." "Mateo, you're deliberately disobeying orders." "I know what I'm doing." "You're destroying everything you've worked for." "You don't understand." "Warren was right." "Your experiment is too dangerous and you must stop it now." " Listen to me..." "Listen to me..." " No." "...carefully, Laura." "It's possible something did happen in here." "If Bergman did record that wave pattern, then we're on the verge of some tremendous breakthrough." "How..." "How it happened, I don't know." "But don't you see I must pursue it?" "All I see is that I'm frightened." "Well, don't be frightened." "I must try to recreate what happened, to locate and identify this force if it exists." "Don't you see?" "No." "But it's the only way we can understand what's happening here." "Give it to me." "No." "Give it to me." "No." "No." "OK, then I shall have to tell Commander Koenig." "Get out of here." "But it's an esoteric supposition." "Hold it, we're not getting anywhere." "The simple fact is..." "'Hydroponics, temperature drop.'" "She died the same way as Warren." "It's my fault." "It's my fault." "I wouldn't listen and now she's dead and I did it." " Do you hear?" " Mateo." "This thing on Alpha, it's my fault." "It is my fault, I raised it." "It's not a question of whose..." "It's..." "It's here now." "In this place." "It's waiting to kill again." "To kill us... all." "Mateo." "Mateo, come with me." "Come on." "Come on." "Ever since the experiment..." "I've known." "I've sensed this thing." "A presence." "I tried to convince myself..." "I was mistaken." "That I imagined it." "But no." "It is with me everywhere I go." "Watching." "Waiting for something." "You know I threatened to kill Warren?" "You are not responsible for Warren's death." "But... he died only minutes after I threatened him." "And Laura?" "Take it easy." "It's all right." "Just take it easy." "She was going to tell the Commander..." "I was trying to recreate the experiment." "I tried to stop her." "She wouldn't listen." "A few minutes..." "later... she was dead." "This force has some bizarre connection with Mateo." "As he understands it, it's seizing on the destructive urges within him and carrying them out." "What do you think?" "John, I've seen this... being." "I believe it." "Mateo wants to try the experiment again to bring it out into the open." " It could be dangerous." " Let him, John." "Let him recreate the experiment." "My concern is for the safety of Alpha." "But we can't fight this thing unless we know what it is." "I say let him." "And give him all the help we can." "Everybody put it on their right wrist." "I've told you what to do." "Please follow my instructions and do not break the circle." "Now... concentrate." "John..." "That's it, that's what I saw." " Bergman!" " Don't break the circle!" "Mateo?" "I was once who you say." "What do you want?" "Mateo lives, he is one of us." "You have no existence here." "You took my existence from me." "Your legacy." "Witness the result of your actions." "Your presence here is an accident." "No accident." "I have returned." "My being cries out for vengeance." "For the collective act which destroyed my existence." "No." "NO!" "Well?" "He's in deep shock." "Of course, he's under heavy sedation." "What I'm concerned about is what happens when it wears off." "When full awareness returns." "Whether we believe in the occult or not, there is a tradition in our culture of ghosts, spirits... some force which continues to work after death." "Coming back in search of revenge or justice or whatever." "But this thing that Mateo has summoned up is coming back to avenge a terrible death." "Its own death." "Which has not happened yet." "Right now it draws its existence from Mateo." "And it's capable of carrying out his aggressive urges." "The present danger is restricted to just that." "What if it gets stronger, starts acting independently against us?" "Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves?" "Surely we just sedate him until we find a solution?" "No, Victor." "Sedation will not keep his unconscious from operating." "Helena's experience occurred while he was under sedation." "Yeah." "So, how do we deal with it?" "How?" "Of course, there is the traditional way of dealing with demons and spirits and such." "You mean... bell, book and candle... exorcism?" "Yes, that and the use of occult symbols like the pentagram is one way." "But what I've got in mind is an extension of those techniques." "Now, this being has power, it has energy." "And we know where that energy originates." "It has a structure." "So what we've got to do is determine what that structure is and then maybe... just maybe... we can deal with it." "Mezadrine?" "That will bring out the most violent, aggressive responses." "Exactly." "That's just why we have to try it." "If we can summon this creature in a time and place of our choosing, we might just be able to contain it." "It should work, but... it could destroy him." "Yeah, I know." "That has to be my responsibility." "Paul, withdraw all personnel from Alpha Section 5." "Restrict access to everyone except Dr Russell, Professor Bergman," "Dr Mathias and myself." " Is he ready?" " About." "The area within those four terminals is lethal." "So whatever happens, nobody go in there." "Ready." "What is this?" "What are you doing to me?" "Let me go, Commander." "Doctor, do you hear?" "Do you hear me?" "Let me go." "If those straps don't hold, he'll harm himself." "Helena, we've got to go through with it." "Do you hear?" "Let me go." "You will pay for this." "All of you." "Let me out." "I'll kill you, Koenig." "Koenig!" "Koenig!" "Koenig!" "Koenig!" "Koenig." "Let me out of here." "No!" "Leave him alone!" "Leave him alone!" "Kill Koenig." "You mustn't blame yourself, John." "Every death on this base is personal to me, Helena." "But Mateo..." "I feel his just that little bit more." "Mateo was burned in precisely the same way as the spirit we saw." "It was inevitable he'd die like that." "It was preordained." "He was beyond our kind of help." "I just can't get it out of my mind." "I mean, life after death - maybe, maybe not." "But to be haunted by your own ghost even before you die?" "What's that all about?" "Life and death - still the big questions, the greatest mysteries."