"Do you think there's anything that we don't know about each other?" "What a question at six o'clock in the morning." "Secrets mysteries we still hold for each other?" "We are one big mystery." "That is the only reason we are together." "No, come on." "Answer me." "It's been ages since you gave me one of your vests." "Will you be serious?" "Is there something I don't know about you that I should do?" "The other ones have lost your scent." "Then I'll wear one the next time." " At the Conference?" " No, kamikaze." "Sooner than that." "Just whistle for me." "I'll join you wherever you want." "I'm sorry we can't be together as much as we'd like." "We've talked about this." "It's enough that you're there." "Nothing else matters." "I'll wait for you." "Always." "You are going to miss your flight." "You never answered my question." "You can talk, you're a galaxy full of unknown stars." "That's why I'll never tire of observing you, to discover every last one of them." "Well, good luck!" "Thanks." " See you soon my love." " Yes please." "Soon, baby ..." "THE CORRESPONDENCE" " Good morning." " Good morning." "One less for you to have to discover?" "Amazing!" "How on earth did you know we'd talk about stars?" "Dexterity, my dear kamikaze, an old man's dexterity!" "Cut!" " Everything 0k, Amy?" " Yeah, it just hurts a little bit." "You tensed up as you fell." "You were leaning too far to the right." "When you land, be more flexible, balanced, like this, yeah?" " You guys 0k?" " Yeah!" " Hello?" "Am I speaking to this world or the next?" " It's hard to say." " I hope the first hypothesis." " So how did it go?" " Still in one piece?" " You might be disappointed but it would indeed appear so, yeah." "Ok everybody." "Let's take it from the fall to the explosion!" "Oh, looks like you spoke too soon." "You're gonna be blown apart all over again." "You're not being very nice today." "Get it into your head that in one or many pieces, you're going to have to put up with me for a long, long time to come." " Will eternity suffice?" " Umm, I'm not sure about that." "But we can negotiate that point." " Ready to roll!" " Off you go, my love!" " But don't die too much." " Yeah, I'll do my best." "Big kiss." " What did they ask you?" " About the formation of the galaxies." " How did you go?" " Ok." "He's a nice guy, yeah." "Amy Ryan!" "Please..." "Good morning." "Have you finished polluting the heavenly vaults with syncopated chopped up words?" " I'm sorry Professor." "I'm mortified." " All right." "That's enough." "Reveal to us the nature of the God particle." "The God particle is none other than the Higgs boson, theorised in 1964." "But I refuse to believe that was a lucky strike, this time." "A case of joint collective synchronicity, I guess." " What's up on your face?" " What?" "Have you been making a remake of "Braveheart"?" " No, I've just started painting the room." " Well..." "Synchronicity or not , I'm really glad it went so well for you." " Hello?" " When's the next exam?" " What?" " I said when's your next exam?" "March 27th, Spectral Evolution of Galaxies." "Wow, what a tough one!" "You're gonna have to do less cartwheels and more study, my girl." " Too paternalistic." " Ok, I might forgive you." "If you tell me the title of your talk in the conference." "String Theory:" "Literary Illusion or the Theory of Everything?" "Cosmic harmony, parallel universes." "Exactly." "And the space-time dimensions on the basis of which we should all have ten doubles dispersed in the infinity of multiverses." " So there are eleven of us?" " Eleven Eds and eleven Amys." "So even if all your clones were married, adding up all their free time, we could be together forever." " Yes we could." "But, darling, I'm afraid I am not going to be able to be there." " I have to do a lecture in California." " Oh, no!" "When will I see you?" "It's already been two months." "Soon." "Soon, I promise." " Soon." " At Borgoventoso?" "Yeah." "We haven't been there for ages." " But I've got something really awful to tell you." " Hold on." "Hallo?" "I'll be done there in five minutes." "Excuse me, daddy." " What's the matter?" " I'm going to do my homework at Emily's." " See you later." " All right." " Nicholas!" " Yes, daddy?" "Take it easy on the nice boy act." "You were saying something awful?" "Yes." "I've lost the keys." "One of your ten doubles will probably find them for you." " Ok, one second." " You go, I'll hold on." " Hi." " Ryan?" "Amy Ryan?" "Yes, that's me." " Sign." " Thanks." "An anonymous package." " Who could it be from?" " Certainly not from me, even though since I've known you I have used that magnificent identity from time to time." "You really are a wizard!" "How did you do that?" "Because you've already told me that you'd lost your keys." "Afraid it's a case of cryptomnesia, very rare in somebody your age." "How did you get him to come here while we were speaking about it?" "Collective synchronicity, gravitational pull or just a low fashion case of luck!" " I think you have to go." " Yes, but stay there a minute." "Let me look at you." "You're so beautiful." " Not like the show?" " Do you?" " Really sociable, your friend." " Not half!" "Cut!" "Move it!" " Are you 0k?" "Everything ok?" " Yeah, ok." "Perfect Amy!" "You were great!" "We're doing a disembowelling scene in about a month." "Interested?" " Yeah, sure thing!" " Fantastic." "When she's risking her neck, she's happy!" "Well, let's just say I like opening my eyes again, afterwards." " You've improved enormously." "That's enough for today." " Thank you." "See you next time." " You take your iPhone to bed with you?" " Why not?" "Anything not to have to sleep with you." " Hey, what's up with you?" " Keep your nose out of my private life." "Cool it, cool it." "I'm unavailable right now, please leave a message." "Hello." "How are you?" "What?" "What is it?" "Butch!" "Butch!" " Hello, Amy..." " Hi!" " For you!" " Oh, thanks Tommy." "Thanks." "See you soon." " Bye." " Bye." "My only girl today is our sixth anniversary." "How could you think I'd forget?" "Yes, all right." "I know I've seemed to have my head in the clouds much of the time but in fact as I get closer to Hyperuranium" "I feel closer to you." "Well, what was I lecturing on when I first saw you?" "The concept of infinity in the history of astronomy." "The only truly worthwhile symposium of my career." "I remember the exact moment when I first caught sight of your entranced expression." "And I knew then, how a lost soul must feel when it recognises the one into whose body it wishes to be reincarnated." "And then we were together even when distance kept us far apart." "And this is how it will always be, how it's been all these wonderful years these six most beautiful years of my life." "For me, too." "So thank you, my darling, my love, my soul." "Thank you for what you've given me." "Take care, see you soon!" "Bye!" "I'm unavailable right now, please leave a message." "Dear Professor Phoerum," "I don't know if you'll remember me but I'm Amy Ryan, the kamikaze student." "I wished to inform you that I've just received your excellent lecture." "I'm most grateful to you for remembering." "I hope to see you soon in order to put to you some further questions on infinity and the new frontiers of metempsychosis." "Until then, accept my good wishes for your work." "Good morning." "Welcome." "Delighted to see such a lot of... and thank you to everyone who has contributed to the organisation of our annual conference on Astrophysics and Cosmology" "Centre for Quantum Computer Technology allow me to say a few words about Professor Ed Phoerum who for many years enhanced the life of our university with his unforgettable seminars and who just a few days ago regrettably, passed away." "It was only last week that he called me from Edinburgh, to tell me that he wouldn't be able to make this conference." "I wonder if you would all rise and observe a minute of silence for our colleague, for a wonderful man." "A colleague and a dear friend." " Ed Phoerum." " Excuse me." "I'm unavailable right now, please leave a message." "I'm sorry, Professor, it's Amy Ryan again." "I need to speak to you urgently." "Anyway, I'll try again later." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Hello?" "I'm unavailable right now, please leave a message." " Hello?" " Amy, at long last!" "I've been trying to reach you for days." "I dreamt about you last night." " Yes, I'll call you back." " Wait, Amy!" "Don't hang up!" "His exceptional gifts as a populariser..." "According to Phoerum and many other astrophysicists..." "Lectures and seminars all over the world..." "Professor Ed Phoerum died on 15th of January, but only today did his family... 15th of January?" "My only girl, today is our sixth anniversary." "How could you think I'd forget?" "Yes, all right." "I know I've seemed to have my head in the clouds..." "My sweet Amy, suddenly I felt the need to write to you." "We chat everyday but..." "I miss the excitement of holding in my arms the same piece of paper you'd lain yours on." "Of knowing you'll hold my letter and stop whatever it was you were doing to read it." "Hello." "The first flight to Edinburgh, please." "So here I am wondering what you're doing right now..." "Where are you?" "How should I picture you?" "What are you looking at?" "I feel like missing the whole world around you, almost as much as I miss you yourself." "Take care, my lovely girl." "See you soon." "Your Ed." "Edinburgh, January 20th, 2015." "I'm unavailable right now, please leave a message." " Is it you who's looking for Professor Phoerum?" " Yes." " I haven't heard from him for some time." " Doesn't he teach here?" "Oh, not anymore." "I know he wasn't well." "But why are you looking for him?" "I'm sorry, I can't find him." " Have you checked to the graveyards in the city?" " Yes, I have." " But there's no record." " And you're sure he's deceased?" "Oh, hang on." "I'm sorry." "Here he is." "Edward Phoerum." "In fact, there's no grave but he was cremated on the 20th of January." "Thank you." "My love, if you're the girl I know," "I guess you'll be going to my home town exploring my old homes." "If that's right, if I'm not mistaken please go to the offices of Glen Durrell ...342 Newington Street." "I'm thinking of you and hugging you." "I will never abandon you." "Your Ed." "Please, sign here." "So Professor Phoerum isn't... isn't..." "Unfortunately." "Shortly before he died, he left me something in fiduciary deposit for you." "If there's anything I can do, don't hesitate to call." "Hello Amy, this belonged to my Dad." "He wore it for every university exam and never failed one." "I wore it after him." "I'm sure it'll work for you." "I will love you anyway, everywhere, forever." "Your Ed." "Miss!" "Miss!" "You forgot this." " Miss Amy Ryan?" " Yes." "You're the last one." "Hello Amy." "You know, I'm beginning to get it." "I mean, the reason why when you cross to the other side the first thing you lose is the right to speak." "Because... because you don't have a clue where the fuck to begin..." "Yeah, I know what you're thinking." "I know perfectly well." "Why didn't I tell you." "Why didn't I tell you?" "Well, because it seemed pointless, inappropriate, I mean, out of tune." "Something that should have no part of us, something that had nothing to do with us" "and which, at the end of the day, hasn't happened." "Besides that, I didn't want to see you suffer." "You'll think it's easy for me now, not seeing your pain." "And you're right, it is easy, but you know I have always been a lucky devil." "On the other hand, I am sorry not to be able to get your messages." "But who knows, maybe our doubles will come up with something." "Who knows?" "Let's see." "In my own small way," "I've been putting a lot of thoughts into this lately." "So you'll see, your old wizard won't abandon you without a struggle." "But I don't want to become one of those ghosts who end up in a kind of limbo, just being a pain in the arse to those they leave behind." "When you get fed up with my existential stubbornness you'll send an email to my address with your own name repeated eleven times." "Just that." "Then I'll leave you in peace." " What's going on?" " Is there a problem?" " Everything all right?" " Uhm..." "OK, we're done." "Are you 0k, Amy?" "UK, got it'?" " Be careful." " Ok." "She moved." "The cast isn't right." " The face stands out very badly..." " Hey, something up?" "No, no." "Everything's fine." " Sorry." " Sit down." " It's terrible in there, I know." " I felt I was suffocating." "A day's work wasted." "We'll have to re-do the whole thing." "She must stay completely still." "She can't shed tears." "If the body is ok, let's just do the head, eh?" "No short-cuts, guys." "The whole body." "If you don't feel like it, I'll get someone else." "It's all right, I'll do it again." "Closing time!" "Excuse me, but this arrived for you a few days ago." "We were going to forward it to your home address but since you are here..." " Thank you." " Good evening." "Forgive me, kamikaze, I forgot." "Big kiss." "Your Ed." "If my memory hasn't failed me, you've got to take an exam today on the Spectral Evolution of the Galaxies." "Have you studied hard enough?" "I hope so." "If I happened to be your examiner," "I'd ask you about the Statistical Fluctuations of the Tonry-Schneider Method, because I know you like that subject." "Anyway fingers crossed," "I'll try calling you later." "Kisses, Ed." "I see here you have excellent marks." "So why the long face?" "What's on your mind?" "Nothing." "Not enough sleep, maybe." "Sorry." "I'd like to help you." "Pick any subject, of your choice." "Statistical Fluctuations in the Stellar Populations..." " And the Tonry-Schneider Method." " Excellent choice." "Go ahead." "Impossible." "Hello Nicholas, today is your eighteenth birthday." "I couldn't miss it, certainly not this one." "I've no doubt you're turning into a fine young man." "But if you've followed your instinct to ignore all that good advice I've given you over the years, then I've no worries for your future." "But a father is a father and can't help doling out wise counsel to his children..." "Miss Ryan!" "This is for you." "Oh, thank you." "Sign here, please." "But I'm comforted by the fact that I know you'll go your own way," "I have faith in you, and your intelligence." "All you've got to do is blow on it and it springs open." "How many times I have got to tell you!" "I'll change the lock on Monday." "It's all arranged." "Darling, I know you too well to think that the exam didn't go anything but brilliantly, so let's take that for granted." "Congratulations." "You deserve a present but you have to go to Borgoventoso to get it, on April the 9th as usual." "In the envelope you'll find the umpteenth set of keys." "Just in case!" "Big kiss." "Talk soon." "Your Ed." " Good morning, Miss." " Good morning." "Let you go." "And the professor?" "Always late." "Let me know when I have to come for him." "Fine, Ottavio." "Last time he wasn't too happy." "Too many people trooping to his door." "What people?" "Never saw them before." "A man and a woman, then a younger man." "With bits of equipment." "I was never away from the pier, waiting for you, Miss, but..." "Maybe that's why the professor looked out of sorts." "Anybody here?" "Welcome home my darling." "Thank you for coming today on my birthday, as always." "Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday dear Edward, happy birthday to me." "But today the present is for you so at last you can stop fighting with your laptop." "How do I look?" "Gorgeus, don't I?" "Well, I'm gorgeous." "You know, all things considered, it's the same being here as being there." "Except that I don't get to touch you and I miss that." "No point dwelling on this, I agree." "But remember what I said." "When I get too much for you to deal with, you know what to do." "Your name, eleven times." " Amy, I was expecting you." " Of course." "It's April 9th." "I was sure you would come!" "Come in!" "Come in!" "The table is ready." "The Professor was very insistent." "Everything as before." "The music, the menu, the cake." "Thank you." "We're all sorry here in the village, but in a way we expected it." "We hadn't seen him for months and months and then suddenly he staid for the whole season." "We shall look on it as one of his longer absences." "Do you know what it was?" "The last time he stayed nearly two weeks." "There was a doctor and I heard them talking." "Nasty word." "Astrocytoma." "You know, one day Ed said to me:" ""if you live with your head among the stars sooner or later one will lodge in your brain."" " How did he spend his days?" " Writing, always writing." "Letters, notes, messages... on his computer, on his mobile, with his camcorder." "He never stopped though he had trouble with his eyes." "He complained a lot." "Eat up, it's getting cold!" "Good morning, Amy." "Hello, Angela." " The village is more deserted than before." " Yes, it is." "He'd be happy to know you're here." "He was a different man when he spoke about you." "His eyes would light up." "The only time I saw him look strange was that last day." "In the morning he went to sit on the black rock." "He leaned his back against it." "He looked out at the horizon all day until nightfall." "Who knows?" "It's true, I'm looking at the reflection you saw, but..." "Ed!" " Ed!" " Amy, it's me." "Sorry I woke you." " I wasn't asleep anyway." " You've caught me in the act." "The Professors was so specific:" ""if Amy stays more than two days, put this on her table, without letting yourself be seen."" " I didn't manage too well." "I'm sorry." " No problem." "When you're out at lunch, I'll drop by to tidy up." "Hi, kamikaze." "I'm glad you stayed on in Borgoventoso." "You know my soul resides there." "I've never brought anyone else except you." "I wonder if it's one of those days when the light on the water makes you feel you're in another dimension." "Or if it's one of every colour turns grey and you feel in the world's shadow." "I've no way of knowing." "I think I do know what it is that you have been keeping secret from me." "You mustn't get upset if I talk about it." "I would have done so, sooner or later anyway." "Your advantage now is that if you don't like listening to my paternalistic ramblings you can just switch me off, any time you want, get rid of me all together." "I'm talking about your parents." "I've always felt your discomfort with this subject, so I've never forced you, but I think now is the time." "For you and for your own good." "Lately, your mother has been phoning you a lot." "And I suspect as usual you never call her back." "Well, I have a confession to make." "After our last time together, I went to see her." "She's very welcoming." "Don't worry, I didn't..." "I didn't tell her about us." "Although, I can't rule out that she did understand more than I was trying to keep back." "Perhaps that's why she confided in me so much about you about the accident," "your feelings of guilt." "Stop it!" "You think she hates you because she'd rather you had died instead of your father." "Is that it?" "Stop it!" "Amy." "She's suffering because of your accusation." "She misses you." "I know you detest me at this moment, but I have to say this." "Now I understand why you like to submit yourself to that atrocity on films." " Stop it!" " You'd like to disappear yourself, but instead it's those around you who vanish." "I admit, I'm not too original in this." "But I promise I won't do it again." " So listen to me, my darling.." " Stop it!" "Stop it!" "Stop it!" "One, two, three, four, five, six," "seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven..." "What the hell's going on?" "!" "Cut!" "Hey, release it." "She's got to stay there for longer." " How many times do I have to say this?" " It was perfect, Amy." "But you need to hang there without moving for a bit longer." "The clasp broke." "I was actually beginning to suffocate." "Come on, Amy, that is easy." "We're behind schedule," " for fuck's sake!" " Oh, you really want me to die?" "Hey, no argument, please." "We have got to do it again, all right?" " Please get ready!" " Easy, Amy, take it easy..." "Yeah, 0k, "easy!" I'm through with this!" "You've pissed me off!" "You go hang yourselves!" "Fuck off, you bunch of shits!" "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven." "My darling wizard, when you were writing your letters and recording your videos," "you knew that, one way or another," "I'd get them and see them." "Right now I know you'll never receive my replies" "but I'm going to try anyhow." "For my own sake." "As long as you were here, a galaxy of my life held together to some extent," "but now it's crumbling into nothingness and there's no stopping it." "If I have cut off your correspondence, it wasn't because I didn't need you any more." "Quite the reverse, in fact I am devoured with remorse." "Even though I flattened out the disc, the support system is too degenerated." "I tried with a very special method." "I managed to transcribe the data, but the content is damaged beyond repair." "The whole thing is like that, including the sound." " And there's no other way?" " Afraid not." "Sorry." "Ok, thanks." "Bring in the camcorder." "The whole recording will be there." " Hey, what can I do for you?" " Hi." "It's about the deliveries you've been making to my place for the last few months." "Could you tell me when you got the packages" " Sure." "Ryan, right?" " Yes, yes." "Ryan." "Here we are." "Ok, everything was brought in on the 10th of January." "How did you know when to deliver the individual items?" "The sender, one Ed Phoerum, left a set of delivery dates and we just went along with his schedule." "Why?" "ls something wrong?" "No, no." "Everything's fine." "Oh, hang on." "We had three other parcels and six envelopes but last week we got an order to return the lot to sender." " What order?" "From whom?" " From Ed Phoerum." "Hi." "Butch!" "Come on!" " Hello, Mum..." " Amy, you never answer!" " Have you had any more dreams?" " Yes, but I won't tell you about them because you're avoiding me." " So we're switching roles now, is that it?" " What do you mean?" "I miss your presence," "I miss wanting to keep back things you don't know about me, because then I can just spring them on you, whenever I choose" "knowing that you'd have listened, understood and helped me" "as you always did." "I know how absurd it is, but just because you can't hear me today I want to make the effort to tell you things that I've never told anyone." "To be honest, your questions don't surprise me unduly." "So what is it that embarrasses you?" "Well, I've known Ed since he was at school." "When he gave me all that stuff to forward on specific days chosen by him , I didn't ask to..." "You only gave me one package." "Why do you talk about "all that stuff"?" "I suppose you've recently received quite a number of things from Ed." "Apart from emails and other messages that I can't even begin to imagine." "You should know everything was dispatched from here." "But I repeat, I didn't ask to know the content of those envelopes." "Ed was Ed." "I would never let him down but, please, I can't say any more." "Can't even tell me if you've posted everything?" "I've received notice to stop dealing with the mail." " From whom?" " From Ed." "Or at least, from the system he set up to keep his will alive but evidently not everything went as it should." "So you still have material destined for me." "Yes, but I can't hand it over to you, unless Ed Phoerum asks me to." " Do you think he'll ask?" " Please believe me." "If I knew I'd tell you." "I can assure you of one thing." "In all my life I've never seen a man as deeply in love as him." "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven..." "Hello?" "I was just wondering what'd happened to you." "I wasn't even twenty years old." "Dad and I took the oar to go and see my grandparents." "I was driving." "Dad said I was managing fine at the wheel." "He liked speed." "So did I." "Out of nowhere, on a straight road we'd driven on thousands of times before," "I lost control of the car." "Maybe because the road was wet," "or maybe because I was overdoing it with the accelerator." "I went off the road." "The car rolled over down a steep embankment." "I don't know how, but I managed to get my door open and throw myself out." "A clump of bushes softened the blow and I was unhurt." "But my dad my dad my dad" "he was trapped inside." "I couldn't do anything." "Anything" "I couldn't do anything." "Hello?" "Hello?" "Hello?" "Hello?" " Yes." " I know exactly who you are and you know exactly who I am." " So what do you think you're playing at?" " I'm sorry." " It's just that..." " Is what?" " Miss Phoerum?" " Yes." "It's me." "I'm Amy Ryan." "Yes, of course." "I've seen photos of you." "And I recognised you outside my house in January." "Nice to meet you." "Yes, January." "I was very confused." "Thank you." "I was waiting there." "I was hoping to find out it was all untrue." " But I didn't want to bother you." " So, what are you looking for now?" "Understanding?" " No, no..." " Consolation, then?" "What would you like?" " Green tea, please." " Nothing for me." "I don't think it was a good idea for us to meet." "I've never thought the day would come when I could meet you." "Because I've hated you from a distance." "You're fully entitled to, Miss Phoerum." "Please, no need for formality, we are the same age." "Three months difference." "You're a bit older." "It was only the existence of my brother which prevented Ed from abandoning us." "If I were you I wouldn't be so sure." "My mother and me, yes, he loved us but evidently it wasn't us who kept him balanced." "You've nothing to say?" "Anything I say now would be completely useless." "I can only swear that I've always respected what Ed wanted." "I never forced him to tear his life apart." "I was happy with fragments of his time." "It wasn't easy, but I've never hated anyone of you." "Good." "Now you can just vanish and leave us in peace." "My father is no more." "Do you understand?" "Stop searching for him and stop sending these absurd messages." "Ed is dead." "This is the explosion of a supernova 1987A, the expansion of its mass and finally, its dissolution into nothingness." "Professor Phoerum was thrilled whenever he discovered one." "Could you tell me what his last field of study was?" "There's no need for a telescope anymore, but sometimes the professor enjoyed it." "Look carefully." " The Crab Nebula!" " Exactly." "It's still visible today since 1054." "Latterly the professor spent a lot of time observing the Crab Nebula." "Why that one in particular?" "Because he thought it had the same shape as his astrocytoma." "Ed talked to me a lot about you, in those final days." "I can imagine how much that fed your hate with." "A bit." "But I'm gonna surprise you." "As he went on with these stories, fragmented and mangled by the illness, my hostility towards you changed into envy." " Envy?" " Yes." "The more I heard him talk about you, the more I realised that no man would ever love me in the same way." "Yes, the truth is I do envy you and I'd like to help you," "but I don't know how." "Why didn't Ed want to tell me anything about what was going to happen?" "He tried to conceal it from us too, but he couldn't keep it up for long." "We found out quite quickly." "With you, distance helped him." "I don't know, I think he wanted to protect you." "He tried to predict every move in your life for three months, so as to be at your side, to be there for you." "He looked at it from every angle." "He wanted to show himself immortal for you." "He almost succeeded." " Then I just ruined everything." " I know." "I wonder if he also devised a way to, to revive his communication network." " I don't know." "He did it all by himself." "But I can give you this." "Oh, it's his camcorder." "Doctor Sobieski, who took care of my father until the end, he gave it to me." "I haven't even switched it on." "I can't accept the idea that you won't give me another chance to... to enjoy hearing all the words you addressed to me," "and that I was stupid enough to delete." " Excuse me, are you Doctor Sobieski?" " Yes but I'm in a hurry." "You can make an appointment at the reception desk." "My name is Amy Ryan." "Here I used to see him every day, but I only went to Borgoventoso at weekends, for his therapy." "Why did he stay there, so far from anyone who could look after him?" "I did all I could to discourage him but it was no good." ""I have to organise my future life" he'd say," ""I don't want anyone in my way" and he'd laugh." "Did he ever talk to you about me?" "Very rarely." "Offhand comments but, believe me Amy, he wrote letter after letter, composed streams of emails, recorded and edited hours of filming, transformed the email software." "All destined for you." "He used everybody around him as pawns right until the end." "Everyone was handed something they had to mail off on a specific day to someone who'd send it to somebody else, who'd finally send it to you." "But nobody ever knew what those missives contain." "Even the emails were encrypted." "A perfect plot." "And when I broke the spider's web, what happened?" "Everyone received a telegram from Ed in which he bugged his accomplices to send everything back to his lawyer." "Did you receive one, too?" "No." "I was the only one who didn't agree to play his game." "He took it badly, but I left him in no doubt that he couldn't count on me." "He knew I didn't agree with the way he was treating his family." "Well, I hope that it didn't compromise your friendship." "I'm a doctor." "I see everything close up." "If things go wrong I fix them or at least" "I try to, to make sure people don't suffer." "Ed was a friend, but it didn't stop me accusing him." "He was self-centred." "He succeeded in making everybody unhappy his wife, his children and in the end, I imagine, even you, Amy." "You were right to put a stop to it all." "This plan of Ed's was insane." "Good only for a splash on the cover of a second-rate sci fi novel." "What'll happen to all that mail?" "It'll probably end up alongside those wills whose existence nobody knows about." "But I've got to have those messages." "Please, help me to convince Mr Durrell." "I know him well." "He's completely unbending." "He'd hand everything over to you only if he received a request from Ed." "Somebody cancelled everything to make room." "I know you can work miracles with these gadgets." "Help me." "There's one thing I could try." "But you'd have to leave me the camcorder." " And authorise me to get others involved." " Who do you mean?" "The Intelligence Service." "I've got a friend there but you can't be present." "And if we find something, inevitably we'll all see it." "What are you looking for in here?" "I can't believe you'd give in to one of my tantrums." "I just can't believe it." "If you even gave me the possibility of breaking off with you, after you." "And if you know me, you must allow me the right to reconsider." "You must have dreamed up some system for letting me get back in touch with you." "Eleven times Ed, eleven times Amy, eleven times you and me, eleven times me and you." "Upper case, lower case." "I've tried every combination." "But it's no good." "You can't leave me in a maze with no exit." "That's how I'd go off the road, my love." "Understand?" "We'll shoot the explosion separately." "There's no way I'm ever doing that scene!" "But the director wants you." "He'll put three cameras on the car." "You're in shot, and he's calling you in other scenes." " Don't go on." " It's a great chance." " You'd make a fortune!" " I don't care!" "What's got into her?" "I don't recognise her anymore." "Try talking to her, Jason." "Don't do it, Amy, n00ne's forcing you." "Ut don't take it so badly." "He's only so insistent because he doesn't know anything." " Maybe I understand though." " You've changed profession." "You're a mind reader now?" "There are some traces of recordings done on memory cards, but it's impossible to recover them without the cards themselves." "Apart from that, the hard disc is blank." "Sorry." " Thanks for trying." " No problem." "You can always count on me." "I'll talk to him." "What are you looking for, Amy?" "Apart from the envelope you gave me last time, did the professor give you anything else?" "Yes." "A big envelope addressed to a foreign lawyer, in Edinburgh." "It was stamped." " But open inside there were some smaller envelopes." " Envelopes?" "Letters for you." "Numbered." "I was supposed to let you find them in the house one at a time, when I saw you coming to the village." " Where are they?" "The Professor told me:" ""I hope not, but maybe one day I'll send you a telegram with further instructions"." "Dear Angela, please seal the big envelope I left with you and send it to the address given." "Thank you for everything." "Always." "Ed Phoerum." "It arrived the day after you left, the last time." "See how beautiful it is." "It's yours." "The Professor liked these." "He used to study them." "Study and study." "Study and study." " Study and study and study." " Ottavio!" "Did he leave you anything?" "No." "But when he left, this fell on the shore." "I've dried it in the sun." "It's not in good shape but I've kept it for him." "Ottavio." " The Professore is..." " When he comes back, he will get it." "Wonderful, wonderful years, the six most beautiful years of my life." "So thank you, my darling!" "Hi, Amy." "I do this later." "Hi." "Sorry." "I hope you're..." "Hello, Amy." "Hello, Amy!" "Hello Amy, how are you?" "Hello Amy, how are you?" "How are you?" " If you want I'll stop the whole thing." " No, it's ok." "How are you?" "How are you?" "Not such a good day here, today." "I hope the weather's better where you are." "I trust, let's say, you are in a good place to listen to me." "Surprise visits can be disastrous, I know, but the guest always hopes for a welcome." "Yes..." "Who knows what you're doing right now." "Who..." "Who knows..." "Who knows if I've managed to make you happy." "I can't say these things to her." "No I can't, I can't, I can't." "As usual, you're right." "If it wasn't for you" "I might never have gone to see her." "She was happy." "So was I." "I stayed three days." "We had a lot of catching up to do." "It all felt right." "Thank you for insisting." "We've been able to talk about you and me, with nothing off limits, did me a lot of good." "I felt lighter when I left." "Good night, my love." "Talk soon." "NOW!" "Cut!" "Give me a playback!" "Rick!" "Rick!" " Rick!" "Come on!" "Wake up!" " Relax!" "I'm alive!" " Excellent!" " Both of you!" " You were great." " Thanks." " There were at least eight of them." " We are going to call the police." "Did they break into yours as well?" "There was only one, the lady on the third floor says." "Impossible." "It was a professional job." "They work in packs." " What happens..." " I don't know what's happening." " Call the police!" " Someone call the police!" "My apartment as well." "Cleaned out six apartments but nobody saw them leave." "At the space-time dimensions on the basis of which we should all have ten doubles dispersed in the infinity of multiverses." " So there are eleven of us?" " Eleven Eds and eleven Amys." "Why didn't I cross with that right away?" "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, and ten." "Hi, kamikaze." "It's been too long since we spoke but I'm glad we decided to make it up." "I hereby swear never to bore you with my sermons ever again, although I hope the last one was some help." "If not, no matter." "But you'd better know that I'm not gonna give up my job without a fight as your tutor, because I'm pretty good at that and I suspect that you might have fallen behind in that department." "Have you?" "Ok, you're right." "Not now." "We'll talk about it another time." "You just tell me when." "I'm not completely deaf, you know." "I can still hear you clear as a bell." "I miss you." "I miss you, too." "But a bit less now, partly because I've decided to answer all your messages." "Take it easy, I'll try not to go on too much." "Besides, you know," "I'm confident that one way or another, you'll receive my correspondence." "Amy!" "it's ready!" "Coming!" "Well, as you heard, lunch is ready." "I have to go." "But let me tell you" "I've given up being a kamikaze." "Happy?" "See you later." "I made a promise: that at the beginning of your third lunch here" "I'd give you this." "Did I ever talk to you about the St. Just library?" "I'd check it out, if I were you." "I made an appointment for you for the last Monday in May." "Try to make it if you can." "All my love." "Your Ed." "These are the volumes requested by Professor Phoerum." "Oh." "Thank you." "You'll find the chapters suggested by the professor marked." "Do be careful, these are rare texts and very delicate." "I'll do my best." "Hello Amy." "I know, I never call a pretty girl at dinner, you never know what risk you are running but I had a terrible dream last night." "You were being courted by some young men." "At first you shut them off and then little by little you warmed to one of them who bore little resemblance to me and I realised that," "this is inevitably how things will end up, it's only natural if I wasn't there." "So, this is why I'm ringing you:" "to spoil the dinner you're having with whoever you are flirting with." "Yourjealous little scene really upset me." "I'm disappointed at your bad timing." "For the first time you seemed to me out of order." "I feel like such an idiot talking to you knowing that you can't hear me." "You're incredible." "I wonder if I really deserve all this." "It'd have been better that during those three months you'd focused more on yourself and your family." "Oh, and I forgot to tell you that I'm getting on with my thesis, but I doubt if I'll ever finish it." "I'm going to be an eternal failing student." " Apart from studying, what are you up to?" " Having a great time." "If that's the effect it's having, you'd be better getting blown up with us." "At least you'll have a laugh." "Is it so important if I laugh or not?" "Well, yeah!" "if you laugh, it means you're happy." "Good morning, kamikaze." "You're going to find a mountain of important books." "Have fun doing whatever research you want." "Now, by my calculations you should already be at Saint Just." "The monks should have everything ready, with bookmarks at the relevant chapters." "These are the accounts..." "There's somebody who makes her happy." "Lucky guy." "In other words, and without any fear of being proved wrong, we could conclude that in the history of astrophysics knowledge about the universe derives from the study of dead stars." "The catastrophic event that marks the end of a star, whether it's the explosion or collapse of a supernova, a hypernova or a bynar driven supernova, enables science to understand something, which, on the hypothesis of the immortality of the stars," "would remain even more inexplicable to us than it already is." "By virtue of the relationship between the speed of light and the distance of billions of solar systems from the earth, we continue to see dead stars even though they no longer exist." "Indeed, it is precisely their disastrous end that reveals them to us." "An epiphany that can last centuries, months or a handful of seconds." "In any case it is the revelation of a death that occurred billions of years ago." "What scientists are doing is dialoguing with that, which no longer exists." "What do you make of that?" "Amy Ryan." "Her thesis," ""From Guest Stars to Supernovas:" "a Dialogue with Dead Stars,"" "was highly commended by the university board." "We now confer on her a degree in Astrophysics and Cosmology." "First class honours with distinction." " Oh, I'm so proud, so proud of you." " Thank you." " Congratulations." " This is for you, Amy." "Or should I say Doctor Ryan?" " Thank you very much." " You are welcome." "Congratulations my darling, Ed." " Hi." "Thank you for coming." " Very well done." "Thanks." "Ah well, we could hardly fail to be here." " Can I introduce Nicholas, my brother?" " Congratulations, Amy." "Thank you." "Excuse me." "...but remember you still have to earn your graduation gift." "Go tomorrow to 45 Herrmann Street, first floor." "I'll be in touch soon, your Ed." "I'm sorry." "I don't understand." "Professor Ed Phoerum has left you sole ownership of his property in Borgoventoso." " But..." " Would you now be so kind to sign for acceptance of the legacy?" "Here." "After that we can finalise the deed." "Excuse me, but..." " Does the Phoerum family know about this?" " Of course they do." "The legacy is part of the professor's last will and testament." "Please." "Hi, kamikaze." "You don't know how happy I am that you're here." "Who knows why, but I don't imagine you in the house by the fire somehow but outside, by the lake," "or on the terrace." "Excuse my back." "I don't mean to be rude." "But the more time goes by, the more vain I seem to get." "So today I decided to show you my best side." "After all, even a supernova continues to rotate in its orbit." "Although sooner or later, in centuries or in seconds, a moment comes when it reverts to the nothingness from which it was born." "And there's no way I am going to be an exception to that rule." "So I fear, my darling..." "I won't manage to come up with any more ideas, how to be with you." "But you know, it's not fair to attribute anguish and fear to a sense of nothingness." "The human mind will never be able to grasp infinity, not even truly understand love." "So I don't want you to cry." "There's a logic to everything." "For all I know, at the moment of birth, all of us possess the gift of immortality." "You'll ask "Then why do we die?"." "Because in the course of our existence we commit one mistake, just one" "but that makes us lose the gift of eternal life." "I can already hear you asking:" ""What mistake?"" "it's not given to us to know but it is because of that mistake that human beings become mortal." "Of course you'll probably raise the objection" "that no one has ever lived long enough to demonstrate the reliability of that theory and that's true." "But it's also true that nobody has ever been an exception to it." "Logic, logic, logic." "I understood what my mistake was." "Not everybody reaches that." "But I did." "My mistake was not meeting you sooner." "Not being able to live with you longer." "That seems to me a good enough reason to forfeit the gift of immortality." "But thanks to you, these last three months have been... beautiful," "beautiful, beautiful..." "I'm trying to think of an original closure," "but all I can come up with... is I love you." "Now, there's a curious story connected with this work it's actually the reject." "When we made it, the model wasn't well, she moved." "We repeated the cast, absolute perfection." "But from that moment on I couldn't stop wondering why the deformed version was so expressive, while the perfect cast said nothing to me." "Who knows what happened to that woman, but I feel what's captured here is it's an imprint of a mysterious pain." "I'd like to have talked to her about it." "I've tried to find her since, but she seems to have vanished." " That's very interesting." " Yes, sure." "This is the first time I see you working in white." "Is this a new direction for you?" "I don't know what direction my work is going to take." "Amy!" " Jason!" "What are you doing here?" " Nothing..." "I thought I might find you here." "Haven't seen you for ages." "You've changed all your contact numbers." "Uhm... yeah, yeah." "You're tied up?" "Do you wanna go for a drink?" "Uhm... not tonight, no, but I'll call you, and that way you'll have my new number and we'll fix something up." "Promise?" "Promise."