"Sorry about that, Steg." "Turns out there's a fault line under the hospital." "Continental drift, something of that nature." "Sure wish we'd known, would have built on the other side of the river." " Does this happen often?" " It depends on how you define often." "We have had two or three tremors." " What?" "Since the hospital was built?" " Just this past year, I'm afraid." "But the geologist, the key person the Kingdom had brought up from Boston... assures us that they'll stop soon." "But you know geologists." "With them, soon can mean five centuries." "So how can I help you?" "As I told you when you interviewed, I'm here to help." "Yeah, well, I'm having a serious problem with Hook." "Now, he ordered an MRl-MRA scan... for Mrs. Druse without my permission... and then the scan was carried out this morning... and I was presented with it as a fait accompli." "You know what my son would say?" "No, what?" "lllness sucks." "Unfortunately patients come here, don't they?" "Problem with a hospital is we're surrounded by them." "More coming every day." "Dave, you want to come down off of there?" "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." "It's all right, Officer Downes, you didn't startle me." "I was just..." "Yeah, a little home improvement." "That's it." "It's just a little home improvement." "I want to ask you about an accident... that happened yesterday afternoon out on Route 7." "You want to come down here?" "Yeah, see, I don't know nothing about an accident, man." "I'm just shingling my roof, bro." "Yeah, I see that." "I also see that you appear to be wearing a good variety of transdermal patches." "Transdermal patches." "No, man, these ain't patches, bro... these are tattoos." "Watch it, Dave." "Watch it." "It's all right." "No problem." "I had it all the way." "Why don't you come down here and tell me... about how the front of your van got all banged up." "Listen, man, I ain't seen that artist all day." "No, no. 'Cause, see, I didn't mean to." "Charlie was eating my dinner." "And he just..." "Way to go, slick." "Who's gonna feed me now?" "I got a seriously injured fellow here... on the Barker Road about a quarter mile off Route 7." "We're on it, Frank." " What have we got?" " Déjà vu all over again." "It sounds like another scoop-and-run." "Dreadfully sorry, old boy." "All right." "He can't be discharged, I agree." "But there must be consequences." "Now, I insist there be consequences here." "Calm yourself, Dr. Stegman." "Let me show you something." "You see, I've added a rising sun... to indicate the dawning of a new attitude at Kingdom Hospital." "It's morning in Lewiston." "Well, what if your potential contributors think of it as a setting sun?" "So what do you think?" "Do you like it?" " No." " Good." "Let me show you something." "Look at these." "Do you know how many times Mrs. Druse has been admitted?" "Fourteen in the last two years, and that's just in this hospital." "It's terrible to be so ill." "Now, look..." "Dr. Stegman, I wonder if I could show you around the sleep lab when you have" "Not now." "Stegman's still in a foul mood, I see." "He's not such a bad fellow." "Our young Dr. Hook won't agree, I fear." "Have you told Stegman the Klingermans have retained a med-mal lawyer?" "Not yet." "I thought his mood was foul enough as it was." "I brought you some roses, your favourite." " Now, then, open wide." " Come on, honey." "A little more." "He isn't making sense." "Rodney must have an awful high fever." "Sweetie pie, you have to eat." "Clear." " Are we in business or not?" " Not yet." "I'm going to try some epi." "Come on." "Clear." "Ladies and gentlemen, we're back." "This is so much like yesterday, it's spooky." "Clear." "Hey, Bobby, come and sit down." "I got you a coffee." "I can't." "Mama wants me upstairs." "And a prune Danish, big boy." "Also a prune Danish, big boy." "Just for a minute." "It's another one of her damn séances." " Those terminals." " They go alone." "They're all circling the drain." "Maybe your ma helps them get used to the idea." "Yeah, but I hear that Stegman's after her." "After my mama." "Let's get a portable chest and c-spine." "Cross and match report." "I'm going to get a soda." "You want one?" "Yeah, bring me a Nozzy, will you?" "Peterson's still in the local hoosegow, I see." "Hey, no problem." "Help yourself." "Why'd he kill them?" "Does it say?" "Now he claims it was for the insurance." "But what he said when he first brought them in... was that he wanted to smell them cooking, his wife and kiddies." "That's horrible." "Finish your coffee and Danish then go see your mom." "I want to read Beetle Bailey." "Catch up on Sluggo and Nancy." "Tell me where they took the children." "I don't work here, but Paeds is on 7." " "Paeds"?" " Paediatrics." "It's a real antique, huh?" "Seventh floor, thank you." "Arrest number three, and I've lost the line." "Hell and gone." "Start compressions." "Let's get a subclavian in." "Get me an 18-gauge needle, 10-millimeter syringe and a wire with a "J" hook." "I have flesh swooning underfoot, and it needs repositioning, stat." "Sunshine room 26." "This is a full code." "Repeat, full code." "Code Blue Team to Room 26." "I don't want to put him in with Hook's painter... but right now it's the only space in ICU we've got." "Maybe he won't make it out of recovery?" "Recovery, what a joke." "Mama, this isn't a good idea." "Not with that Dr. Stegman mad at you." "There goes Mrs. Kinney." "She was the best gin rummy player that I ever knew." "Sorry about Mrs. Kinney, Sal." "She was something special." " Hi, Bobby." " Hey." "You having a little get-together?" "I'd watch out for Stegman if I were you." "That's what I told her." "She won't listen." "There's someone not at rest here, a little girl, I think." "I've spent most of my life trying to communicate... with people on the other side." "And I feel this spirit so powerfully." "A word to the wise, you two." "Don't let Stegman catch you talking to the spirits." "That should make you feel better, Lenny." "Now you heard her, Mama." " Let me put these chairs" " You will not." " The dead only want one thing, Bobby." " I know." " To go into the light." " And how we gonna help them... if we don't know why they're caught in between... why they won't leave the lair of the living." "The dying are very powerful." " Will you go get the others?" " Mama..." "Okay." "You want me to go do it myself, fine." "All right." "Sally, Bobby, how are you?" "We're just fine, Lenny, just fine." "I must have dozed off." "I keep expecting to do that and wake up dead." "Oh, no." "Lenny, you got a long time before you join the dead." "No, Mrs. D, he used to leave." "Had other business I guess." "But now he's always right behind me." "Who is, Mr. Stillmach?" "The emperor of ice cream." "I'll get the others, Mama." "Are we going to make the circle, Mrs. D?" "Yes, Lenny, we are." "There is someone here who needs us." "Peter, wake up, damn it." "God, you were awake before." "Where are you now?" "I'm right here, Nat." "Peter, please." "What happened?" "He was here." "He was responsive." "He said your name, Mrs. Rickman." "It may not be the same thing." "I don't understand what you mean." "Your husband may be semiconscious." "He may be hearing every word that we say and just unable to respond." "Then why doesn't he open his eyes?" "They are open." " Mrs. Rickman." " It's Natalie." "Nat." "Your husband experienced frontal lobe trauma." "When he awoke so soon after..." "I've never seen anything like it." "I've heard about it, I've never seen it." "Now, Babinski signs are negative." "Okay?" "This tells us two things:" "First, your husband may not be paralysed." "Second, there seems to be no damage whatsoever... to the cortical spinal tract." "It's a miracle to my way of thinking." "And it gets better." "The EEG shows that your husband is producing organized brain wave activity." "He's still having complex partial seizures, but we're dealing with these with Dilantin." "Wait." "These seizures mean that he's going to slip again?" "He's exhibiting some disorganized rhythms." "Just more than we'd like." "This is nonsense." "I'm wide awake and I understand everything you're saying." "Can he hear us?" "Hear?" "Probably." "Process, probably not." "The sound of your voice means much more to him than any words that you might say." "Your fly's unzipped." "So who gave you a license to sell hot dogs, Sonny Jim?" "He still has some bacterial hot spots, okay?" "Hot spots?" "Yeah, the gall bladder, although it's quieting down." "And there's still some haziness in his right lung." "But it is diminishing." "Dr. Montrovie doesn't think he's going to develop pneumonia after all." " Pneumonia?" " It happens, Mrs. Rickman." "Nat." "But the major bugs that we're dealing with... are right down in here." "Watch your hand, Dr. Kildare." "We cultured the bacteria from the compound fracture sites." "We've identified the antibiotics that the bugs are most susceptible to." "That way we can send in guided missiles, as opposed to broad-spectrum antibiotics." "Red underwear." "Look, Nat, his schavenga." "The famous Dr. Hook, the world famous Dr. Hook." "I wonder if I might beg a moment of your time." "Dr. Stegman, Natalie Rickman." "And her husband, Peter." " How do you do?" " My patient." "Who's this bozo?" " We're having a bit of a consult." " I see." "I'll simply have to discharge the malingerer without you." "Good day, Mrs. Rickman." "Sorry to intrude." " Would you give me one minute?" " Of course." "Looks like Dr. Hook's in trouble." "Looks like Dr. Hook is in trouble." "So, we have our eyes closed and we're preparing to voyage." "We're lifting our energies to the higher mental level... and cleansing this room and all of us in it... by purifying... the emotional energy of the lair of the living." "Are there spirits here?" "Will you speak with us?" "Is there a child?" "Come to us and speak to us." "Sorry to drag you away from your consultation, Hook... but I thought you may be interested in these $4,000 pictures of your Mrs. Druse's nut." " I wish you'd stop calling her my Mrs. Druse." " But she is." "If not for you and Dr. Draper here... she'd be out on the street right now where she belongs... so you take a look and you point out for me... any meningiomas or gliomas or aneurysms or astrocytomas." "See anything like that?" "No?" "That's 'cause they're not there." " What's this?" " What?" "It's nothing." "An artefact at best, a flawed image." "Perhaps even a chip in the lens of the imager." "Not the first piece of substandard equipment around here." "Possibly it's a UBO." "Unidentified bright object." "That old wives' tale." "What's next?" "Giant alligators in the sewers... or great hordes of expensive equipment squirreled away in secret rooms." "You come with me..." "I'll show you how we deal with the Mrs. Druses of the world in Boston." "I'm gonna take a rain check on that if you don't mind." "I've been on duty for the last 14 hours." " Sixteen hours." " Nonsense." "Now if your boots are big enough to order a $4,000 mri scan without my approval... then they're big enough to flick one elderly leech off the skin of this hospital." "Come on." "You know, unidentified bright objects are sometimes actual lesions... confirmed by autopsies in several report cases." "Yeah, well, some people wish rain were beer, but it ain't." "You know, I thought my husband was supposed to have a private room." "Dr. James asked me to tell you that this is only temporary." "All the other pods are full." "Oh, man, you gotta be kidding me." "What's the matter with him?" "Fractured skull, severe brain swelling." "C4 fracture of the spine, and that's just for starters." " My God." " I understand he fell off his roof." "The poor man." "That's the idiot who..." "Hey, are you awake?" "Hey, honey." "My God." "Look at you, Peter, you look absolutely terrified." "Nurse, could you please come check him?" "His heart rate's a little high but everything else looks okay, Mrs. Rickman." "He may have been dreaming." "Man, I hope I was dreaming." "You should talk to him, keep him connected." "Oh, yeah, that's what Dr. Hook said." "Hook?" "He's the best." "Hey, Peter." "Honey, can you open your eyes?" "Peter, open your eyes if you can hear me." "I'm here." "Open your eyes, it was a bad dream." " It's okay." " I wish it was a dream." "I don't think it was." "Someone is coming." "He seeks one in this circle." "He's getting closer." "Is she here?" "Druse, I heard she was on this floor." "She's in the solarium, but she's busy right now." "Busy, busy." "For one so ill, dear, dear." " Steg, what are you doing here?" " Come with me." "School's in session." "Blonde, tall... one lost in his inner darkness." "He's a pitiful, terrible man." "He means me harm." "Excuse me." "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen." "This was entirely my doing, Doctor." "I'm sure it was." " Is this Druse, Nurse Bannerman?" " Yes." " The healthy one?" " Yes." "Come with me, Mrs. Druse." "Inside this skull is another universe... the biggest, scariest, haunted house of them all." "You did this." "Nurse!" "Let the lamper fix its beam." "The only emperor is the emperor of ice cream." "Hello." "Hello, where is everybody?" "Mrs. Rickman, what's the matter?" "The man that you just put in with my husband..." "I think he's having some kind of seizure." "Popsicle or Fudgesicle?" "Full code." "Call Dr. Traff." "What happened?" "Come on." "I heard a bell." "What?" "Her name is Mary." "So you're a kind of a spiritual guru to the terminal patients here, is that right?" "It's all a sham." "Just like all the illnesses that she dreams up to get in here." "These are six admissions... just this year and 14 over the last two." "You are a malingerer." "This is not a hotel, madam, no matter how often you may treat it like one." "That's enough, Doctor" "No, my good Dr. Hook, it is not enough." "Not quite." "You're a parasite on the body of this hospital... and it's you and all of your type that hold it back from greatness." "Now, look, mark them well." "Nota bene." "Here is the medulla of a malingerer... the hippocampus of a hypochondriac... and the midbrain of a Munchausen." "You discharge this patient immediately, and if he won't do it, you do it." "Yes, Dr. Stegman." "This is my fault." "Will you take care of discharging this patient, Dr. Hook?" " This is my patient." " Dr. Hook." "I'll take good care of this lady, thank you." "Good." "Sorry you were subjected to that, Mrs. Druse." "You know what they say, sticks and stones." "Young man, your fly is unzipped." " Elmer, what is this?" " A surprise, that's what it is." " Who are you?" " Rudy Jenkins, ma'am." " Maintenance." " What happened to Mr. Goode?" "He's out today, wisdom teeth." "Okay, Elmer, what are we doing..." "Dinner for two in chez mort." "And the cuisine, I promise, is excellent." "No cafeteria chow." "This is from Hook's private stock." "Madame?" "What about him?" "Someone else's responsibility... and as long as he doesn't want any of our champagne, who cares?" "This is insane." "I'm insane, especially when it comes to you." "Elmer, don't think I'm not flattered." "I am, but you can't be thinking that you and I..." " could sort of" " No." "Let the lady taste." "Please." "Excellent." "But I'm gonna say again" "We can discuss our age difference later, if you want." "For now, let's just enjoy our dinner." "Fresh asparagus and noisettes of veal... new potatoes with crème brûlée to follow." "Please." "All right, Elmer." "If you please, waiter." "Merci." "To the Traffs, who never give up." "To the Massingales... who never give in." "I'll call you a taxi." "Thank you, but that's not necessary, Dr. Hook." "This bus stops right across the street, and that's not even the point." "What is the point, Mrs. Druse?" "There is something wrong here." "There are many things wrong here." "There is a little child not at rest... and we may hear her going down in that elevator." " Paediatrics?" " This child is not from Paediatrics." "Dr. Hook, this is a child that is not even alive." "And I think you may find out because you're not as closed off as some... and it's not just the child." "Things have changed here at Kingdom Hospital... since the last time that I was here, and something has awakened... something evil." "That child needs help." "If I'm to help, I must be here." "I don't think that that's going to be..." "There." "Did you hear that?" "Yes." "We're nowhere near Paediatrics." "What are we, below four?" "ICU." "Who's in there?" "Are you all right?" "Yeah, Otto, fine." "We just hit the wrong button by mistake." " Is that Hook?" " Yep." "Push the stop, give it about 15 seconds, the car will restart." "Right." "It sounds like she's right on top of the car." "Yes, but is it the voice of a living child?" "Listen to the echoes." "That's the sound of a voice coming from Swedenborgian space." " What?" " Never mind." "Look, can you tell me that there's a living child on top of this elevator car?" "Well, if there is, I'm going to get her down." "Whatever you do, don't hit the button while I'm up here." " I've had enough excitement for one day." " Of course I won't." "But, Dr. Hook, please, be careful."