"They say ignorance is bliss." "For the first time in my life, I agree." "I wish I had never uncovered the awful truth." "I know now once they find out, they will try to silence me." "That is why I've written this all down for you in this letter." "You are the only one whom I can tell this to." "The only one who could possibly understand." "Good luck, my friend." "I hope you enjoyed your stay." "Mr. Fuller, nice having you here." "Your usual table?" "No, thanks, Gene." "Her name is Erika." "She's from Toledo." "Ashton, would you do me a favor?" "You'd like to meet her?" "I want you to keep this letter." "Somebody will ask for it." "A man named Douglas Hall." "Remember, it's crucial that he receives it." "It's a walk in the park." "Going home, Mr. Fuller?" "Yes, Charlie." "We're out of cat food, honey." "Yes, I'll buy some in the morning." "You've been smoking again." "Download complete." "Link to simulation terminated." "Martini, please." "One martini." "You forgot the olive." "We're out of olives." "How about pretzels?" "No, thank you." "Please leave a message at the tone." "Douglas, it's me." "Listen, I've stumbled onto something incredible." "This changes everything." "I don't know...." "I don't even know how to begin." "What are you doing?" "You have new messages." "You have new messages." "You have three new messages." "First new message: 5:25 a.m." "Douglas, it's Hilary." "Don't forget to call Marshall." "Legal is screaming for the contract." "I'll have a notary come to the office at lunch." "Next new message: 5:48 a.m." "It's me again." "Please call me as soon as you get up." "Next new message: 6:13 a.m." "Mr. Douglas Hall, this is Detective McBain, LAPD." "I'd appreciate a callback, please." "My phone number is 555-7876." "I'm Detective Zev Bernstein." "Sorry to drag you out of bed so early." "This is Detective McBain." "Mr. Hall?" "Thanks for coming down." "Where is he?" " Can I get you some coffee?" " No, thank you." "That him?" "We found him in an alley at Spring and Grand." "Looks like he ran into some guy who wasn't just asking for a quarter." "Carved him up like a ham." "Took everything:" "wallet, credit cards." "Got a kick out of it." "What's your connection to the old man?" "I worked with him for six years." "He was my boss." "My friend." "Hey, cigarette?" "I don't smoke." "We found these on him." "Traced the prescription." "According to his doctor Fuller listed you to call in case of medical emergencies." "He had no next of kin?" "No, he didn't." "You sure?" "I think he would've told me." "Have any idea who killed him?" "Everybody liked him." "Mind if I tag along?" "Or we can continue in my office, if that's more convenient." "That's fine." "What do you do for a paycheck, anyway?" "Computer software." "Would you mind taking care of the car this morning?" " Must make some decent bucks, huh?" " I make a living." " This was his apartment." " You could be home already." "I see these signs every time I leave work:" ""You could be home already." "Apartment living in downtown."" "Never expected it could look anything like this." "This company was Fuller's life." "He worked and lived here." "So what exactly do you people do here?" "You wouldn't be interested." "I'm paid to be interested." "Computer research." "Fuller was onto a whole new frontier." "Very sensitive material." "Not at liberty to discuss it." "A lot of money involved." "This apartment must be worth a few million dollars." "One of the perks of the job." "This job has a whole lot of perks." "Can I help you?" "I just talked to him two days ago." "I can't believe he's gone." "My name is Jane Fuller." "Hannon was my father." "I'm sorry." "I'm Douglas Hall." "You're the one he always wanted me to meet." "He never mentioned that he had a daughter." "He didn't?" "I arrived from Paris this morning." "I was supposed to meet him." "But then I heard." "My condolences, Miss Fuller." "I'm Detective McBain, LAPD." "I have to ask you some questions." " Of course." " Would you excuse us, Mr. Hall?" "Sure." "Have we ever met before?" "No, that's not possible." "You look very familiar." "Nice to meet you, Miss Fuller." "Hey, Whitney." "How you doing?" "Sliced him up like an animal." "And for what?" "He was the Einstein of our generation." "It's a waste." "What the hell happened while I was away?" "He was jacking into the system a lot." "I thought you knew." "You didn't know?" "We're months away from the first trial run." "We are." "You know, he was taking a big chance." "What was I supposed to do?" "You know how he is." "Were there complications?" "None that I know of yet." "Did he ever tell you he had a daughter?" " Why?" " Because I just met her." "You're kidding me." "John, I need the number of that cab company." "No need, sir." "She went to the Omni Hotel." "Detective McBain." "Sorry to disappoint you." "I'll find Doug." "It's you I wanted to talk with." "What for?" "Want me to catch your boss's killer?" "Of course." "The whole thing's a giant computer game?" "No, it doesn't need a user to interact with it to function." "Its units are fully formed, self-learning cyber beings." " Units?" " Electronic, simulated characters." "They populate the system." "They think they work they eat." "They fuck?" "Let's just say that they're modeled after us." "Right now, we have a working prototype:" "Los Angeles, circa 1937." "Why '37?" "Fuller wanted to start by re-creating the era of his youth." "You see while my mind is jacked in I'm walking around experiencing 1937." "My body stays here and holds the consciousness of the program link unit." "You think one of them units crawled up an extension cord and killed its maker?" "Miss Fuller checked in yet?" "Miss Fuller." "Glad I caught you." "Mr. Hall." "What are you doing here?" "It's about your father, actually." "You said you spoke with him a few days ago." "Can you tell me anything about that conversation?" "Did he seem strange to you at all?" "He'd been under a lot of stress lately." "He asked me to fly to the States, so I could help with the company." "Help him run it?" "Shut it down." "I worked with him for six years." "If he wanted to shut it down he would've told me about it." "He didn't tell you about me." "But I wish he had." "It's nice to see you again." "Sorry I'm late." "Have you looked through the paperwork?" "Yes, I have." "And I think we have a very strong case." "The company should be yours in no time." " Strong case?" " What I'm saying is, your father changed his will in favor of the employees." "In fact, you aren't mentioned in the original will either." "But as I said, I think we have a very strong case." "Who will head the board now?" "Douglas Hall." "Not bad." "Owner of a $2 billion enterprise." "Strange, Fuller would amend his will just before he died." "I was on an airplane when it happened." "According to the security guard, Fuller left the office at 10:30 p.m." "30 minutes after your plane arrived." "Autopsy shows that he died around midnight." " You had time to catch up with him." " But I didn't." " I went straight home." " Didn't talk to him?" "No e-mails, no faxes, not even a message?" "None of the above." "You know, that's funny." "We checked Fuller's phone records." "He made a call with his calling card at 11:02 p.m." "Shit!" "Your home number." "I'd appreciate it if you didn't leave town for a couple of days." "And get that game fixed." "It's missing a spring." "You have no new..." "Restore." "Restore." "To restore messages, press "rewind" now." " Yesterday at 2:45 p.m." " I managed to reschedule..." " Yesterday at 5:14 p.m." " Hello, Mr. Hall..." " Yesterday at 11:02 p.m." " Douglas, it's me." "Listen, I've stumbled onto something incredible." "This changes everything." "I'm here in some bar on Main and 7th." "In case something happens to me, I left you a message in the system." "I gave it to..." "How did you find me?" "What's going on?" "I'm trying to get into Fuller's files." "For what?" "He left a message for me the night he died." " He knew someone wanted to kill him." " Did you tell the police?" " No." " Why not?" "He also said he left a message for me in the system." "Douglas, please." "This is my stuff, okay?" "These are the units that Fuller interacted with when he was there." "Maybe he wanted me to go in." "If you're thinking what I think you're thinking don't even think about it." "I need your help." "No, no, no." "I won't help you." " It's a serious risk." " I have to get in." "You could die." "The cops think I killed him." "They may be right." " What do you mean?" " Everything points to me." "To be perfectly honest, I don't know what the truth is anymore." "Either I did murder Fuller and I can't remember, or I'm being framed." "The one clue I have is in that machine." "I need your help if I'm going to find it." "I'll set it for an hour." "Set it for 120 minutes." "Sixty is better." "120 minutes, Whit." "60 is safer." "I'm setting it at 60." "1-2-0." "120 minutes." "Engage timer." "Mr. Grierson, 117 West Winston, Pasadena...." "Transference beginning." "Download complete." "Five cents!" "You owe me 12 dollars and five cents." "Listen, young man!" "I do not have all day!" "Ferguson, anything wrong?" "John, are you okay?" "I'm terribly sorry, ma'am." "Someone will be right with you." "Oh, my God." " Cigarette?" " No, thanks." "Don't smoke." "Since when?" "Listen, John why don't you...." "Why don't you break for lunch?" "Get some fresh air." "You look terrible." "I think I look pretty good." "Extra!" "Extra!" "Zeppelin blast kills 35!" "You want one, mister?" "It's five cents." "Hey, watch out, buddy!" " How much to Pasadena?" " 90 cents." " If I forget to turn the meter on." " I understand." "This is it, 117 Winston." " Do you mind waiting?" " It'll be a pleasure, sir." " Tell me if you need any help." " Thank you." "You own this place?" "I mean, it's not much but it's mine." "You looking for anything in particular?" "Interested in a scientist." "Wrote a couple of books about semiconductors and the limitations of the 64-bit microchip." "Microchip." "Semiconductors." "What year?" "Early '70s?" "His name was Hannon Fuller." "Hannon Fuller." "1870." "No, I can't say I've ever heard of Hannon Fuller, 1870, microchips." "But I'm not much of a technical person, you know." "You been here before?" "You look kind of familiar." "Name's Douglas Hall." "It doesn't ring a bell." "Guess you just have one of those faces familiar faces." "Oh, it's late." "I'd like to close up now." "Of course." " Pleasure." " Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hall." "1257 Palo Alto Road, La Cienega Heights." "I guess that's it." "Excuse me." "I'm looking for Bridget Manilla." "What do you want her for?" " I want to ask her some questions." " She got a job now." "I'm her mother." "Can you tell me where I can find her?" "You a copper?" "Now, listen." "She ain't doing nothing wrong no more." "If you don't cause her no trouble you'll find her at Wilshire Grand Hotel." "Welcome to the Wilshire Grand Hotel." "I'm looking for Bridget Manilla." "She's over there, second from the end." "Bridget?" "I got your name from a good friend of mine." "Come back later." "I'm really busy right now." "His name's Fuller." "The manager's very tough on us." "You'll have to wait till I'm off duty." "I really don't think I can wait that long." "Go talk to Ashton over at the bar." "Bridget, do we have your attention now?" "Thank you." "Let's go." "Excuse me." "I'm looking for Ashton." "Right there." "Ashton, some guy wants you." "You're a lucky man." "I just opened." "Oh, my." "Something wrong?" "Bridget just sent me over here." "What can I do you for?" "You know a gentleman named Hannon Fuller?" "Gin martini up, one olive and likes them frigid as an Eskimo." " Talk to him recently?" " Why?" "I'm his friend." "He didn't come home last night and his wife is concerned." "My name is Douglas Hall." "Concerned wives?" "I can't help you with that." "How about something fancy?" "So did...." "Does Fuller come here frequently?" "You could say that." "What does he do?" "What everybody does:" "drinks, dances, has a good time." "Especially has a good time." "He really goes for the girls." "Girls?" "Thought you said you knew him." "Yeah, I thought I did." "Are you in a hurry or something?" "Did you happen to talk to Fuller the night before last?" "Yes, I did." "Did he mention my name?" "Did he give you something for me?" "What would that be?" " A message or a note, maybe." " No, sorry." "Did you see him talking to anybody else?" "I'm a very busy man." "Listen if you like, I can arrange something for you too." "You see anything you want?" "Can you tell me where the bathroom is, please?" "Timer engaged and counting." "Douglas Hall!" "Hey, man!" "You all right?" "You sure?" "All right, take it easy." "Hey, man." "Take it easy." "I told you, 120 minutes." "It's too long." "You're really pushing your luck." "I need something to drink." "Some water." "Mr. Hall, you forgot your coat and hat." "Name's Ferguson." "Johnny Ferguson." "Anything wrong?" "Didn't finish your drink." " What happened?" " What happened?" "The memory transference with your link it froze." "Started overlapping!" "Thought I'd be shooting hoops with Ferguson forever." "You got a smoke?" "Sure." "Thank you." "Mind if I ask you a question?" "Can you tell me where I am?" "It works?" "Oh, it works!" "It works." "How about Ashton?" " My bartender?" " He's got a better haircut than you." "Much better." "I wish I could see it for myself." "How's the lighting?" "Textures?" "Colorization needs work, but the units don't notice." "What are they like?" "They're as real as you and me." "You see, the old man was right!" "All those years of work!" "Did you find out what he was doing there?" "He was having sex with girls." "You're kidding me." "Excuse me, Mr. Hall?" "A man in the lobby says he needs to talk to you." "Thanks." "Have him call my office in the morning." "He says it's urgent." "That he's a friend of Fuller's." "So, you're a friend of Fuller's." "You're Hall, right?" "How can I help you, Mr...." "Tom Jones." "You know, like the singer." "How about some privacy?" "What do you want to talk about?" "About the night the old man died." "I'll be right back, Joe." "So where'd you meet Fuller?" "In my bar the other night waiting for you." "Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?" "No, I want to talk about money now." " Something in the seven figures." " What money?" "Come on." "You think you can get away with it?" "Get away with what?" "You took the old man, asshole!" "Listen to me." "He was at the bar." "You pick him up, leave together." "Next day he's an obit." "You do the math, asshole!" "Oh, Jesus!" "Crazy son of a bitch!" "You're nuts." "I'll see you on America's Most Wanted." "Omni Hotel." "How can I help you?" "Miss Jane Fuller, please." "Hello?" "Who is this?" "On the night your father was killed he tried to reach me." "He wanted to meet at some bar." "What for?" "He felt someone was after him." "Did you talk to him?" "I know how strange this sounds." "I can't remember." "What do you mean?" "Did you talk to the detective about this?" "No, but the bartender will if I don't pay up." "Christ!" "I know how crazy this sounds." "You can't just plug your brain into this machine and not expect to be affected by it." "Please walk away from this before you get hurt too." "Why do I get the feeling we've met before?" "Maybe we have, in another life." "What about Paris?" "What's that other life like?" " I don't want to talk about it." " Why not?" "I guess I don't want you to lose interest in me." "Don't worry about that." "Let's dance." " Me?" "No, no." " Yes, come on." "I buy all my shoes in left pairs." "It's easy." "I'll show you the steps." "You're doing pretty good for a man with no right foot." "Must've picked it up in another life." "You know that feeling you have that we met before?" "It's the same with me." "Why is that?" "They say that déja vu is usually a sign of love at first sight." "Go, go." "Ready!" "Don't make any sudden moves." "What's this all about?" "What it's usually all about." "Murder." "Is that your car?" " Those are my plates." " No shit." "That's from a security camera in your office garage..." " ...the night Fuller was killed." " I don't understand." "That makes one of us." "Fuller wanted to shut down the project, and you sliced him up." "It's time I call my attorney." "You say you left at 10." "I was working late with Whitney." "Anybody with you?" "You're picking up bad habits left and right." "Must be the stress." "Then you'll need a carton." "Name's Tom Jones." "Said he saw your picture in the paper." "Said you looked like the guy Fuller left the bar with that night." "We took his statement." "Said we'd be in touch." "Somebody reached out and touched him first." "Looks like you found an alibi." "You're free to go for now." "What did you tell him?" "The truth." "We met for a drink, one thing led to another we spent the night together." "Your picture was on the news." "He saw you and thought you were good for quick cash." "You should've seen the pictures." "The guy was slaughtered." "He was an ex-con." "Who knows what else he did!" "Just because I don't remember it doesn't mean I didn't do it." "You're not a killer." "Your father stumbled onto something." "He left me a message having something to do with this." "So what are you going to do?" "Jack back in and find out." "Downloading." "Time:" "Two hours." "Engage timer." "Timer not engaged." "Warning!" "Timer not engaged." "Warning." "We're up next!" " Ready?" "Come on." " What?" "!" "What's wrong?" "Come on, John!" "What are you doing?" "We're gonna be disqualified!" " Here you go." " Thanks a lot, chief." "Come on!" "Grierson!" "I'll call the police!" " I need to talk to you!" " I told you!" "I'll call the police!" "Listen." "Listen!" "I know why you pass out from time to time." "I know why you wake up and have no idea where you are." "What'd you do three nights ago?" "Any idea?" "When did it first happen?" "First time?" "About four weeks ago." "And the last episode was three nights ago?" "It lasts for about two hours?" "My wife thinks I have a secret love life." "What about memory flashes, déja vu?" "I was in World War I." "I'm still having these nightmares." "I'm talking about fantasies." "I do have them." "In these fantasies, you're having sex with young girls." "When I wake up I even have a perfume smell..." " ...all over me." " Real or imagined?" "According to my wife it's pretty real." "I found this a couple of days ago." "Your size?" "I am married over 35 years now." "And not once have I cheated on my wife." "Not once." "Let's have a drink." "Warning." "Timer not engaged." "Warning." "Timer not engaged." "You been here before?" "I can't afford places like this." "My treat." "Good evening, Mr. Fuller." "That's you." "Good evening." " Nice to see you again." " Good to see you too." "Members only." " Mr. Fuller, your usual table?" " Of course." "He's with me." "May I help you with that?" "Hi, honey bear." "I'll be with you in five minutes." "Let's talk, "honey bear."" "You remember her?" "Of course not." "She's mistaken me for someone else." "Your martini." "For someone else." "I want you to look around and tell me what you remember." "I don't know." "I'd rather go home." "I don't feel very well." "You have the feeling you've been here before?" "Please try to remember." "Do you recognize anybody?" "I'm trying." "Her?" "What's her name?" "I think her name...." "Erika, I believe." "I believe her name is Erika." "Did you talk to her?" "I'm not sure." "And that one looks familiar too." "Bridget." "Her name's Bridget!" "Bridget." "Oh, yes." "I remember Bridget." "Did you give her something to give me?" "Did you give her a letter or a note?" "The man behind the bar...." "You're right." "I wrote a letter, and I gave it to him." "To him!" "You looking for anything special?" "What are you?" "My name's Ferguson." "I'm a bank teller." "I'm Clark Gable." "I talked to the Ferguson guy." "He doesn't know a thing." "I need to talk to Fuller." " He's upstairs." " Cut the crap!" "You think I don't know what's going on?" "I need to talk to him again." "You read the letter." "I need to know what's in it." "Everything." "When I read it, I thought it was a gag." "The world's a sham." "Fat chance!" "But I'm not stupid, Mr. Hall." "I watched you and Ferguson do the old switcheroo." "That stuff about going to "the ends of the earth."" "What stuff?" "I did exactly what the letter said." "I chose a place I'd never go to." "I tried to drive to Tucson." "I figured, what the hell." "Never been to the countryside." "And I took that car out on the highway." "I was going over 50 through that desert." "After a while, I was the only car on the road." "It was just me, the heat and the dust." "I did exactly what the letter said:" ""Don't follow any road signs and don't stop for anything." "Not even barricades."" "But just when I should've been getting closer to the city something wasn't right." "There was no movement, no life." "Everything was still and quiet." "And then I got out of the car." "And what I saw scared me to the depths of my miserable soul." "It was true." "It was all a sham." "It ain't real." "Why would Fuller write about the limitations of the simulation?" "I know them." "I'm asking the questions!" "I wanna know why." "Why would you put us through this?" "Why are you fucking with our minds?" " You weren't supposed to find out." " Well, I did." "Now I want you to show me what is real." "Is this real?" "Is that real blood?" "You like having your life fucked with?" "What the hell's going on?" "Come on!" "Come on!" "Where's the letter?" "Snap out of it!" "Not gonna hit me again, are you?" "Did you yank me back?" "Yeah, barely, man." "Just barely." "You didn't start the timer." "It couldn't engage." "What were you doing this alone for anyway?" "He tried to kill me." " Who?" " Ashton." "Jesus!" "He found out his world isn't real." "This is a mistake." "This whole project, this experiment." "We are screwing with people's lives!" "Now you're talking crazy." "I know you just had a bad fucking trip..." ""Bad fucking trip"?" ""Bad fucking trip"?" "These people are real." "They are as real as you and me." "Yeah, that's because we designed them that way." "In the end, they're just a bunch of electronic circuits." "Here's something else." "I'm shutting this "bad fucking trip" right down." " I'm telling everybody tomorrow." " You can't do that." "You can't do that." "You're talking about six years of our lives." "All of us." "You can't just pull the plug and go home!" "I'm looking for Jane Fuller." "Sorry, she's no longer with us." "The lady vanished." "Any idea where to?" "Why would I?" "Hannon Fuller doesn't have a daughter." "I think I made the age-old mistake:" ""Never trust a beautiful woman."" "Who is she, then?" "We don't know." "It took us a couple of days to contact the French authorities." "Guess what?" "They never heard of her, either." "Do you remember me?" "Miss Fuller checked out." "Did you drive her anywhere?" "I'm looking for her." "No can do." "Company rules." "I'm Douglas Hall." "I'm looking for a young woman named Jane Fuller." "I think you picked the wrong house." "Maybe she's going under another name." "She's about 5'8"." "Blonde hair." "What do you want from her?" "Excuse me, I'm looking for Natasha Molinaro." "Over there on register four." "Here you go." "Thank you." "$7.01." "Just slide it through." "You want cash back?" "Why don't you take a picture?" "It'll last longer." "Must be déja vu or something." "Paper or plastic?" "Plastic." "There you go." "Mr. Hall!" "You forgot your credit card." "Thanks." "No problem." "Sorry about staring at you in there." "You must get that a lot." "Yeah, but mostly from the wrong kinds of guys." "You're not from here, are you?" "What makes you ask?" "Well, it's just...." "I just had this funny feeling that we met before." "Maybe in another life." "Yeah, I guess that would explain it." "Anyway, I gotta get back to my daily grind, so...." "Maybe I'll see you around sometime." "$7.28." "Out of 10." "Here's your change." "Thank you very much." "Thank you." "Natasha Molinaro 27, single." "Changes jobs like others change underwear." "Comes from Austin, Texas." "Made some money modeling." "Left school without a degree." "Her roommate has no idea what she was doing yesterday." "Looks like Molinaro doesn't have an alibi." "What else did the roommate say?" "Says lately, Natasha hasn't been feeling well." "She's been having some sort of amnesia attacks." "Going out all night, sleeping all day." "Thought she was using drugs." "She have a history of drugs?" "Nope." "She's clean." "Hey, Bernie?" " Good work." " Thanks, Chief." "Look, I can explain." "I'm sorry." "I need to see you." "Meet me in Fuller's office." "I know the truth." "Where are you?" "You could call it the end of the world." "How many simulated worlds like this are there?" "Thousands." "Yours is the only one that ever created a simulation within the simulation." "Something we never expected." "So you had to kill Fuller." "No." "I was sent in after his death." "I was to pretend to be his daughter, inherit the company and shut it down." "But he tricked us." "He changed his will." "If you didn't kill Fuller who did?" "I stabbed him." "But it wasn't you." "It was your user." "He downloaded into you." " Manipulated you." " Like a puppet." "A puppet doesn't have a soul." "I can't have a soul any more than Fuller." "But you do." "Fuller did." "I never expected that." "We programmed this world so no one in it could learn the truth." "And you and Fuller did." "Don't you see what that means?" "There's just one little flaw in your thesis." "None of this is real." "You pull the plug I disappear." "And nothing I ever say nothing I ever do will ever matter." "Why don't you find my user?" "I'm sure he's a much better catch." "I told you about my other life." "I was referring to my husband." "He's your user." "He killed Fuller." "I'm his program link." "A reflection of his character profile." "I fell in love with a decent man." "But he..." "Something happened to him." "He began to use the simulation as his own personal playground." "Like Fuller with the girls." "He made himself a god, and it corrupted him." "He began to enjoy the killings." " He became abusive." " What do you mean?" "He said he would kill me." "Why?" "I fell in love with you." "You don't even know me." "Yes, I do." "From the moment the simulation was created, I've watched you." "Your kindness your integrity." "I fell in love with you before I even met you." "How can you love me?" "I'm not even real." "You can't fall in love with a dream." "You're more real to me than anything I've ever known." "Preparing user for download into simulation." "Program link ready for download." "Transference beginning." "Download complete." "Shit!" "Shit!" "Oh, wow!" "Nice driving." "There was something in the road and I had to swerve and I lost control." "You drunk?" "I don't drink." "License and registration." "Look, I didn't jack in..." "I left it at home." "Why don't you look in the glove box?" "Need a light?" "Hey, I got it." "Here you go." "You ought to get this car looked at." "It's leaking oil." "That could be dangerous." "Be a little more careful, huh?" "You want to turn off the car and step out, please?" "Turn off the car, sir." "Right now, please." "Open the trunk, please, sir." "Hands in the air." "Step away from the trunk." "Shit, man, it's Douglas!" "Back up!" "I said, back the hell up!" "Hey, this is a joke!" "Watch out!" "Sorry to bother you but Mr. Whitney's in the building and he's acting kind of strange." "I'll be right down." "Los Angeles Police Department." "This is Jane Fuller." "I need to speak with Detective McBain." "You've got a lot of explaining to do." "Or should I say, "Miss Molinaro"?" "How you doing?" "All these pictures, this is your world?" "Ashton." "I never imagined it could be so beautiful." "How'd you do it?" "Last thing I remember, I was dumping Ferguson in the trunk." "Son of a bitch!" "He did it." "He jacked in." "Who's Jack?" "What'd you do to the world?" " Turned it off." " Well, put it back!" "Don't do that!" "Put it back!" "What did I do?" "Where are you?" "Look at this." "You are really a god." "No, Ashton, I'm not really a god." "I'm just like you." "Just a bunch of electricity." "What are you talking about?" "It's all smoke and mirrors." "Just like your world." "We're nothing but a simulation on some computer." "It's like a machine." "Like this arcade game." "You've got your players and you put your nickel in." "This one pitches this one runs around the bases." "You got a bat, you got a ball." "They play, they score." "Preprogrammed movements generated by electrical energy." "We've improved on this model since then." "Now the players can beat the shit out of and try to drown one another, which is always fun." "But the letter said..." "Everything was fake?" "The letter was meant for me." "Fuller was talking about my world." "So what are you saying?" "You're saying there's another world on top of this one?" "That's right." " I don't understand." " Fuller found out about it." "They killed him." "Why didn't they kill you?" "Maybe they will." "Maybe that's why you're pointing a gun at me." "I'm sorry, Ashton." "We're stuck here." "You and me and the rest of us." "I want to see it." " See what?" " My arcade game." "It's breathing." "So this is where I was born." "And this is where you die." "What are you doing?" "Watching you dream." "How much longer do you have?" "Ten minutes." "Hi, honey, I'm home." "Did you miss me?" "David." "When did you download?" "Obviously, not soon enough." "I was just doing my job." "Sure you were." "He's shutting down the system, isn't he?" "Aside from his devilish good looks what's so special about this guy?" "He reminds me of you." " The way you used to be." " I'm still the same." "No, you're not." "Why did you butcher those people?" "Because it was fun." "You've lost your mind." "You're the one who's fucking sick!" "Falling in love with a fucking simulation." "I was just having some fun." "Just like you did." "I think you're lying." "Just remember, he's a part of me." "That's not true." "It's okay." "Just pretend you're fucking him." "Why?" "I guess I'm just jealous." "You okay?" "What the hell took you so long?" "How'd you know he'd try to kill you?" "I knew when he was planning to download." "He's dead?" "A bullet will do that to you." "So, is somebody gonna unplug me now?" "Do me a favor, will you?" "When you get back to wherever you come from just leave us alone down here, okay?" ""June 21st, 2024."" "Where am I?" "Come, I'll show you." "Jane, we're getting hungry!" "Tell Virginia we're waiting for lunch." "My father." "Fuller was modeled after him." "There's so many things I have to tell you about, Doug."