"Who's there?" "Sebastian." "Sebastian!" "Hmm?" "A word." "You have to give me something, Sebastian." "Something more than this." "Project scope." "Repatriation of the long-term comatose." "Hmm." "Progress report:" "on track." " Hmm." " Two words." "I gave you a page of space." "It was supposed to be a hint." "What did you want me to do, write an essay?" "I don't have time, and they wouldn't understand it anyway." "I know that." "You know that." "But do they want to hear that?" "You're the chairman, for God's sake." "I'm the chairman of a pack of sharks." "They smell blood in the water, they'll rip me to pieces." "You know the business I'm in." "It's not medicine." "It's PR." "And I can't pretend that that nurse business helped either." "Though I'm not responsible every time so prepubescent gets cold feet and decides to bugger off." "Look, don't bring the curtain down on me." "I'm closer now than I've ever been." "You better be." "You bloody well better be." "I can give you two months maximum." "Then you've got to come up with some of your own magic." " Right?" " Right." "You're getting soft in your old age, you know that?" "I feel that my..." "I know that my..." "I'm sure that my... fuck!" "Oh, shit." "Shit, shit." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Matron Cassidy?" "You're early." "Oh, the GPS on my phone knows where I am before I" "Follow me." "Well, you certainly seem qualified, academically speaking." "But we're engaged in more than theory here." "Oh, I'm excited by this opportunity" "I can't afford to take any chances." "We don't have that luxury here." "Traumatic brain injury stream." "Yes." "Result?" "High distinction." "The eye characteristic a grade 2 on the Glasgow Coma Scale." "Oh." "The subject opens eyes in response to painful stimuli." "Patient has been in a vegetative state for several months." "What are the complications to the digestive system?" "An excess secretion of stomach acids." "With an increased risk of gastric ulceration." "So you're an expert." "Are you going to tell me how to do my job?" "No, Doctor." "Mm-hmm." "We're doing remarkable things here." "Are you ready to do remarkable things, Miss Jacquard?" "Yes." "Yes, I am." "Hire her." "The pay is minimum, the hours abominable, and I reserve the right to terminate your employment without notice." "Agreed?" "Hmm." "Not a bad fit." "It's almost new, too." "The last one wasn't around long enough to get it all grimy." "What happened?" "Mmm..." "I don't know." "I came in one day and the ice queen told me she was gone." "Got the impression she went AWOL." "This place has a revolving door on it." "I'm the only one stupid enough to stick around." "Oh, shit." "Sorry." "I'm not selling it very well, am I?" "Crusty old place, isn't it?" "Used to be a convent." "Rooms no one's been in for years." "Bit of a maze, really." "Couple of the other nurses reckoned it was haunted." "But the only spook I've ever seen around here is Cassidy." "She's not exactly friendly, is she?" "It's mostly bark." "Still, you can't really blame her for being a bit cranky." "She grew up in here." "No dolls or party dresses for her." "Just Dr. Roget and the zombies." "Oh, she grew up here?" "What do you mean?" "Yeah." "You didn't know?" "She's his daughter." "I suppose they don't advertise it." "It's kind of cute in a creepy way." "Went to the family business." "I have heard that she did have a life once outside." "Well, a husband, at least." "Supposedly he offed himself." "I can hardly blame him." "What's the doctor like?" "Roget?" "Um, lives in his own world." "Down in the lab most of the time." "Strictly off limits." "But you're the, um, specialist." "You'll be helping him out up here." "My strengths are bodily fluids and sponge baths." "Ready to meet the party crowd?" "Car crash, motorcycle, complications from brain surgery, stroke, boot to the head, unlucky, and hit a sand bar diving off a pier." "My God." "What about visitors?" "Relatives?" "Count them on one hand." "People end up down here because they're pretty much forgotten." "It's an involuntary muscle reaction." "It doesn't mean anything." "Sorry." "I know." "You'll get used to it." "At least you'd better hope you do." "Nurse Williams." "A moment in my office, please." "Whatever pickup line he used, it worked." "Patrick, Kathy." "Kathy, Patrick." "He's pristine." "The muscle tone." "There's no wasting." "How?" "Electrical treatments." "Drugs." "I don't really know." "He's Roget's special project." "What happened to him?" "Some kind of accident with his family." "I think he was the only survivor." "Hello, Patrick." "I felt like it was on purpose." "Oh, if there's one thing about our friend Patrick, he doesn't do anything on purpose." "It's an involuntary-- Muscle reaction." "You're learning fast." "Hello?" "That's fine." "Let him go." "That's fine." "Well, fine for him." "That's Mr. Fraser, our resident athlete." "What happened to him?" "Electrical explosion." "He was a railway signalman, whatever that is." "Come on." "He's obsessed with time." "Well, being on time." "On time for what?" "Shh." "Come here." "He does it every night." "Sometimes he sits up there till the morning, just to switch it off." "It was Roget's idea." "He was a total basket case before he had something to focus on." "The thing hadn't been switched on in years." "Why is he here?" "I mean, he can definitely walk." "As far as I know he came in the normal way:" "on his back, dead to the world." "Roget managed to wake him up." "God!" "Kathy, open up." "Paula, you scared the crap out of me." "What's wrong?" "I'm bored out of my skull." "Five minutes." "Get changed." "Go on." "Go on." "Just one, love." "And here she comes." "See you later." "See you later." "Someone's popular." "Oh, you will be too." "And I promise, not everyone who drinks here is" "Like that?" "Exactly." "Cheers." "Cheers." "I mean, only if you're, um, looking for... a distraction." "Tan line on the ring finger." "You know when people say, "It's not you, it's me"?" "Mm-hmm." "It was me." "You played some away game." "No." "It was nothing like that." " Hey, I'll see you later." " Yeah, mate." "Nurse Williams." "Always a healing sight." "Hello, we haven't met." "Dr. Brian Wright, this is Kathy" "Jacquard." "Kathy's our latest arrival." "Another of the belles among the brain-dead." "Seat's empty, Brian." "Can't." "Deadline looms." "Just came down to pick up a bottle of inspiration." "But soon." "Deal?" "Hmm." "So, what do you think?" "He's a bit sure of himself." "Did you say doctor?" "Psychiatrist." "I don't think he practices much anymore, though." "He writes, and he's on the radio." "He has an amazing beach house and a really nice place in the city too." "Mm-hmm." "What?" " Mmm?" " Once or twice." "Uh-huh." "Okay, maybe more than a few times." "But it was a very, very long time ago." "And I don't have dibs on him if you want to..." "I just..." "You move fast, right?" "We've had a death." "It's, um, diving accident." "Funny, you know." "When they go, you realize you sort of become quite attached to them." "Doctor." "This patient isn't dead." "No need for it down here, then." "Put it back." "See me at room 15." "Once the medication is administered the window of opportunity is vanishingly small." "We're waking up dormant neurons, goading them into making new connections." "And they're mercurial little bastards." "Very hard to train." "We only have a matter of minutes to get them to do what we want before the drug wears off." "So you follow my instructions to the letter." "Yes, Doctor." "But when that door opens, your old ways die." "We're trailblazers, do you understand?" "He spits, you know." "Ophthalmoscope." "Retinal vessel perfusion distinct." "Perturbation peaking at four seconds." "Perturbing the base line in eight seconds." "Slightly perturbed frontal lobe." "Returning to base line in three seconds now." "Damn." "Too much attenuation." "Clean up the patient, nurse." "Okay, Patrick." "This might sting a bit." "What did you say?" "Oh, nothing, Doctor." "I was just talking to him, I suppose." "What were you discussing?" "Doctor, are you absolutely certain that he isn't aware of us?" "Nurse Jacquard," "I have monitored him for 24 hours a day with an EEG that registers every kind of brainwave from a fart to a nervous breakdown." "What do you suppose it has registered?" "I don't know, Doctor." "Just farts." "You're wasting your time, Kath." "Nothing grows in here." "It must be all the, um, electrical stuff." "It's a wonder we don't glow in the dark." "Okay." "I might have said something to Brian about taking you for dinner." "You could have asked me first." " Fine." "Shut me up." "Say you'll think about it." "I'll think about it." "Jesus, Kathy." "Up, up." "I'm not trying to sell you for body parts." " Got him?" " Yes." "Do you know with a ridiculously attractive man, you spend way too much time here at the vegetable farm." "Once in a while you should speak to someone other than a turnip." "Shit." "Stupid thing." "You can go, and I'll finish up here." "Good." "Is anybody in there?" "Nurse Jacquard." "What do you think you're doing?" "Attending" " And who instructed you you try to engage this patient in conversation?" "Step outside, please." "I will make myself very plain." "You will not be given the opportunity to hear me say this again." "This facility presents special challenges to those who work here, both for the body... and for the mind." "You will not invest emotionally in any of the patients here." " Am I understood?" " Yes." "Kathy." " Brian, isn't it?" " Yes." "Never really liked it, but I got used to it." "I'm recklessly avoiding a deadline." "What's your excuse?" "Just wanted to get out." "Needed somewhere cheery, right?" "So, what do you make of Patrick?" "How do you know about him?" "Williams." "Not much she doesn't talk about." "Well, technically, she's breaking her confidentiality agreement." "Not sure if I should as well." "The Roget veil of secrecy." "Do you think it's possible that patients in a vegetative state can be aware?" "Well, I guess that depends on the quality of the diagnosis." "One of the tests for a vegetative state is that there is no awareness." "Over-hopeful families see meaningless twitches, and read signs of responsiveness." "I'm skeptical by nature, and by training." "Don't know what this says about me exactly, but I'm feeling a bit peckish." "There's a place around the corner." "Two-thirds, maybe even three-quarters decent coffee." "All right." "What the hell did you do that for?" "Paula, I really don't feel like going out." "How about staying in?" "I'm sorry for whatever I did, or didn't do, the other day." "I honestly can't remember a thing." "Thank you." "You're a great cook." "Yes, I am." "Actually, I can't take all the credit." "They did most of the work." "Fresh Corn." "Poor little things didn't know what they were in for when they woke up this morning." "Then again, who does?" "Cheers to that." "What are you looking at?" "Ed." "Hey." "How did you find me?" "Oh, it's not hard to find people these days, Kath." "We have to talk." "Leave." "There." "Talking's finished." "Kath!" "I think you should go." "It's fine, Brian." "Well, I'm staying at the boat sheds." "I'm not going to leave till we sort this out, yeah?" " You okay?" " Yeah." "I think you should go too." "Look, I think I should stay." " Shit." " Oh, my God." "What happened?" "Oh, my God." "Shit." "Christ, Brian." "Nurse." "See to the patient." "Ah!" "Oh, God!" "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "You felt that, didn't you?" "Patrick, can you hear me?" "Can you see me?" "Once for yes, twice for no." "Can you feel that?" "That?" "That?" "That?" "When you have a moment." "My office." "You have to listen to me." "Patrick is" "Not your concern." "He cried." "I was communicating with him." "Nurse, these personal experiments of yours will cease immediately." "You will keep your eyes down, your mouth shut, your nose clean, and your hands off." "Am I perfectly clear?" "Dismissed." "But he... he..." "Would be better off dead." "They all would." "Nurse." "Show me." "Patrick, show the doctor that you can hear me." "Same as before." "Patrick, show that you can hear me." "He was communicating with me." "How?" "Spitting." "Alive." "Correct?" "Hmm." "Dead." "Agreed?" "Now, to imitate life all bodily movement, voluntary or otherwise, depends upon electricity." "Stimulate the right nerve centers, and you see what happens." "Although he is a vegetable, electrons still swarm around inside 15's head." "Every now and then enough of them randomly conspire to cause an action." "It signifies nothing." "As much as I would wish it otherwise, he is currently 160 pounds of limp meat hanging off a dead brain." "Do you understand?" "Do you understand?" "Hmm." "Transcribe, please, nurse." "zero." "five seconds." "Patterns are eccentric and seem to bear little relation to expected outcome." "Patrick, you can hear me now, can't you?" "Why won't you show the doctor?" "On phase two..." "Remember to tell me when he has a bowel movement, yes?" "Hmm." "...Plus 90 seconds." "Perhaps there's something there." "I doubt it's the output." "Time plus 180 seconds." "What am I missing?" "Patterns are eccentric..." "Kathy, could you give me a hand next door?" "Kathy!" "Sorry." "Oh, I wasn't concentrating." "That's my job." "Next door?" "I don't require you." "Where on earth did you get that from?" "I won it in a raffle." "Doctor, this patient cannot possibly give consent!" "Indeed not, so I give consent on his behalf." "Patrick, show him!" "What good can it do?" "Despite not being obliged to answer your questions, nurse," "I will tell you again." "Our endeavors rely on my being able to forge new connections in 15's brain." "To do that, I need to stir things up a bit." "I cannot do it with a feather duster." "Now that you're here, you can see to the patient." "He's not getting any younger." "And neither am I." "Patrick." "Can you fell that?" "Ed Penhaligon in a place like this?" "Better not let the golf club find out." "I'm sure they've revoked memberships for less." "Coming in from the outside, your family..." "Everyone is so spectacular, or expected to be." "What did you want me to do about it?" "Stand up to them." "Let them know, let me know, that I'm good enough for you." "More than good enough." "I never thought anything else, Jacs." " Come here." " Mm..." "Come here." "Come here." "You can do it." "I think we need a drink." "Ed, is something burning?" "Ed?" "Ed!" "We're keeping him under for a while." "In some ways, he's lucky the trauma is so severe." "No nerves left, no pain." "Yet." "It'll come, though." "But how the hell did it happen?" "A sandwich grill?" "Ouch." "Patrick." "Can you hear me?" "Do you want the doctors stopped?" "Why, Patrick?" "Why is it a secret, Patrick?" "Patrick?" "Patrick." "Patrick?" "Patrick?" "Are you asleep?" "If you're awake, Patrick, then why won't you show anyone?" "But why just me, Patrick?" "Why no one else?" "Kathy?" "I'll leave you two alone." "You still don't remember anything?" "Nothing." "Just you screaming." "Psychologist came in yesterday." "They're going to do epilepsy tests now." "So the folks are going to fly in." "Mom's doing the full theatrics." "Ed, have I ever seemed delusional to you?" "You?" "God no." "It's this patient at work." "Patrick." "Whenever I'm around, he..." "What is it, Jacs?" "It all seems so ridiculous." "Hey, when I get out of here, we're getting out of here." "Deal?" "We'll see." "Transcribe." "Patrick?" "You said that you wanted me to help you." "But you must need help." "I've seen what the doctor does to you." "I don't understand." "Patrick?" "You'll kill him." "You know that, don't you?" "Mmm." "Unethical things, Brian." "Like what?" "Little or no protocols, unorthodox methods, treatment without consent." "What specifically?" "Well, he's using a shock therapy machine." "The thing looks like it fell off the back of a truck in the '20s." "Shock therapy on coma patients?" "What the hell for?" "To try to blast them back to life?" "Why didn't you tell me this before?" "Look, I'm telling you now, all right?" "I'm going to make a few calls." "To the department?" "To the money." "Give me a day." "Thank you." "I really mean it." "What are you hiding from, Patrick?" "Watching what?" "What do you know, Patrick?" "I don't need you to do that, Patrick." "What have you been telling your boyfriend?" "Ed?" "That fucking peacock on the radio." "Brian?" "He's been calling with questions." "What does he know?" "You're going to have to ask him." "Did you have to push so hard?" "What did you expect me to do?" "I don't really know." "Some kind of middle ground." "There isn't one." "This is big." "Establishment money." "Medical malpractice." "The lights are going to get shut off and the locks changed." "That's the way these things happen." "But Patrick, he..." "He's..." "He's what?" "When will little happen?" "Soon." "I'm going to come and get you." "I'll call." "If you're there you drop everything, understand?" "Okay." "I've done something to help you." "We're not always the best judges of what we need, Patrick." "You said so yourself." "I don't think I'll be here much longer." "You're going to have to decide." "Stay in your own world alone, or let other people in." "I can't, I won't, be the only one." "You have one new voice message." "Received at 1:00 p.m." "Sebastian, it's Morris." "I don't know what the fuck has happened, but the knives are out." "There's talk of an emergency board meeting." "I'm stalling them, but I'm running out of excuses." "Whatever you've got, show it and show it now." "Hi, this is Kathy." "Ow!" "Shit!" "Ow!" "Ow!" "Please fasten your seat belt." "This is ending now." "You can't pummel him into submission." "You're here to wipe up mucous and urine." "I don't give a shit what you have to say." "You will." "Nurse Jacquard." "Do you believe in God?" "I don't." "But I do believe in fate." "You see, I didn't choose any of this." "It chose me." "And when you've been cursed with true insight, half the answer is never enough." "Now, I have clawed my way up the cliff face by my fingertips." "It has taken me decades to get a glimpse of the peak." "And I don't have a minute to spare." "Now, you are a prissy, meddling little bitch who's wasting my precious time, and I would dearly love you to fuck off." "I'm finally reaching you." "Everything I know screams it out to me." "I'll make hiding in there worse than being ripped out." "Hi, this is Brian." "I can't get to the phone right now, so please leave a message." "Brian, it's Kathy." "Roget is insane." "Whatever you're going to do, you do it now and call me." "Kathy!" "Both of you, out." "Now." "Nurse." "Hey, hey." "Ah!" "Ah!" "Oh!" "She died in anguish, you know." "My mother." "She knew that after she was gone, all that was left for me was this." "She never understood." "But you do." "I know you do." "Shh." "I'm shocked and saddened to have to tell you that colleague and friend," "Dr. Brian Wright, has been found dead." "The report states that police divers have recovered his body from the waters below the Old Coast Road." "He has been sent to punish us." "No, no, no, Julia." "He's our legacy." "Everything we worked for." "I am this close." "I can't give up now." "You've got no idea what you've done, Father." "Julia." "No." "I" "You." "You killed him." " Killed who?" " Brian." "Dr. Wright." "You killed him." "Oh, believe me, if I had it's not an accomplishment I'd deny." "What are you going to do with those, give me a haircut?" "Get rid of her." "No need, Matron." "I'm leaving." "But I'll be back with the licensing board and the police." "If you leave, it will all be your fault." "You mustn't go back to the clinic." "Not ever." "My father has done terrible things." "I've done terrible things." "We will be punished for them." "But it's not us you have to fear." "The only thing more dangerous than his hate... is his love." "I was planning to settle this by other means, but I'm too tired for any of that now." "Kathy." " Ed?" " Kath, you all right?" "Oh." "Please, Kathy, what's going on?" "I, um..." "I'll call you back." "Just tell me" "Where the hell have you been?" "You've been called to the city." "An accident crash." "Male victim, severe head trauma." "You were asked for by name." "The family have money." "Lots of it." "Williams." "Um, I was just, um" "Do you have your car here?" "Um...yes." "We're out of ammonia." "There's none left in the storeroom." "They won't have it at the general store." "You'll have to drive into town." " How much do you want?" " Go." " Are you all right?" " Now." "You're a cancer." "And you need to be cut out." "Police divers have recovered his body from the waters..." "Ed!" " Hi, this is Ed." " Please leave a message." "I can't explain it, but you have to believe me." "Everyone close to me is in terrible danger." "As soon as you get this, leave." "It must be radio waves or something." "Just get over the mountains." "Please run." "I'm not yours, Patrick!" "I never will be!" "You're a sick, twisted, pathetic child, do you hear me?" "!" "When you first came I pitied you." "Even more than the others." "You were so... beautiful." "But then I realized what you were." "I'm not yours, Patrick!" "I never will be!" "You're a sick, twisted, pathetic child, do you hear me?" "Hi, this is Kathy." "I can't take your call..." "You were such a prize for my father." "A puzzle he thought he could solve." "But he has woken you in ways that he will never understand." "Good night, Patrick." "Lights out." "Huh?" "Your little boy is here." "Get out of here." "You pathetic little creep." "All you do is sneak around and perv." "Is this what you want to see?" "Huh?" "Go on, take a good look." "Julia?" "Kathy!" "Kathy!" "Kathy!" "Kathy!" "Hello?" "Is there anybody here?" "Hi, I'm looking for, um, Kathy Jacquard." "Is she here?" "Uh, excuse me." "Hello?" "I'm not sure if you understood." "I'm looking for Kathy?" "Can you tell me where Kathy is?" "She's in danger." "You understand?" "Excuse me." "Hey!" "Hey!" "Hey!" "Let me out!" "Hey!" "Paula!" "Paula!" "Paula!" "Patrick... wants his hand job." "Paula." " Patrick wants his hand job." " Patrick wants his hand job." "Patrick wants his hand job." "Paula!" " Patrick wants his hand job." " Patrick wants his hand job." "Patrick wants his hand job." "Shut up!" "Paula." "Patrick, no." "She's done nothing to you." "Please." "Please let her go." "Kathy?" "No!" "Paula!" "Yeah." "I'm okay." "No!" "Let me in!" "Let me in!" "Just end this now!" "You're pathetic." "What are you scared of?" "You think you love me, Patrick?" "You don't know how to love." "Did you love your mother?" "What did you think, Patrick?" "That if you stopped other men from getting to me that we'd be together forever?" "Who?" "Ed?" "Ed!" "Answer me!" "Ed!" "Let me in!" "Where is he?" "Where is he?" "Ed?" ""Cold."" "Ed?" "Ed?" "He made me." "You fucking lunatic." "Where is he?" "Just tell me!" "Don't!" "Doctor!" "Please!" "Let me out!" "I told you to get out of here, you little perv." "Get out!" " Ed." " Help!" "Jesus, Ed." "Come on!" "Let him out!" "Help!" "Please, please, please let him out!" "Can't move it." "Help!" "No!" "Patrick!" "Patrick!" "No!" "Stop!" "How do I join you?" "How?" "What do you want me to do?" "Ah!" "Ah!" "How?" "I want to join you, Patrick." "I do." "I want to be with you." "But I'm weak." "I'm scared." "You have to help me." "Kathy." "So this is Patrick." " Good morning, Matron." " Good morning, nurse." "Your package arrived." " Thank you." " Great, thanks." "Oh, nurse." "I'll be occupied until after lunch." "That's fine." "Hey." "Hey."