"Balance metric pressure at 057." "Metric pressure sustaining 057." "Releasing valves." " Prepare to load M.R.D." "Radioactivity meters online, ready for exposure." "Docking hatch open and clear." "M.R.D. removed from containment." "Preparing to load." "Hold full exposure duration at no more than ten seconds." "Nine, eight... seven, six... five, four... three, two... one." "M.R.D. in place." "Close hatch." "Turn handle left 45 degrees." "Lock it at high noon to engage sequence." "Left 45, then right." "Left... right." "You just caused a thermonuclear explosion, wiped out the whole city." "Sorry, Jim." " I promise I'll get it right on the day." " This is the day, Matty." "You want us to switch?" "No, there's no time for him to learn the meters." "I'll never understand how you're able to solve the most complex mathematical equations, but you can't tell left from right." "It's a form of dyscalculia." "The parietal lobes of my cerebral cortex..." "Okay." "We have time for one more practice run at this." "Reset everything." "We've been at this for 72 hours straight." "Only two more till we go live." "I'll get you some more coffee." "Coffee, amphetamines, more coffee." "You're gonna kill yourself." "We are precious moments from a topological anomaly." "Is that what I should tell everyone at your funeral?" "No." "You signed a confidentiality agreement." "Jim Beale, project log." "Part one of the experiment." "Tentative results." "Opening a traversable wormhole in the space-time continuum, first ever recorded." "This tear that I will create in the fabric of the universe is powered by M.R.D." "Extremely volatile, radioactive substance, so, of course, all precautions will be taken." "Possible dangers range from manageable radiation leak to... well, the universe collapsing onto itself." "It's now 47 minutes until we initiate the first part of the sequence... opening one end of the wormhole." "Okay." "He should be here." "I'm gonna give him the Big Bang speech." "Oh, Jim, give him the fireworks." "That's what he's here for." "Now, once opened, we should detect a unique sequence of particles sent through from the other side, a sequence so unique that we will know that we sent them to ourselves." "And I will have proof of the findings to show our venture capitalist, Klaus Meisner." "And he will then provide the necessary M. R.D." "for us to open the other end." "Let's see what I'm paying for." "Then we will send this unique sequence of particles back through to ourselves, thereby proving that the project is a success." "The Big Bang." "We have proven theories..." "This isn't my ideal situation." "To have an investor be this kind of major factor in an experiment." "But I only have enough M.R.D. to open one end." "We are about to embark on a journey" " that's going to take..." " Enough of the physics lesson." "Get on with the light show." "This whole thing is an experiment in certainty." "I'm certain it will work." "Balance metric pressure at 057." "Metric pressure sustaining 057." "Releasing valves." "Docking hatch open and clear." " Prepare to load M.R.D." "M.R.D. removed from containment." "Hold full exposure no longer than ten seconds." "Nine, eight... seven, six... five, four... three, two... one." "M.R.D. in place." "Close hatch." "Turn handle left 45 degrees." "Lock it at high noon." "Engage sequence." "Here we go." "Jim." "Jim." "We thought you were having a seizure." " Did it work?" " Kept you from biting your tongue." " No, the machine." " The magnetic core melted." " The regulator's blown." " Where's Klaus?" "He left when you were unconscious." "You can only burn a candle at both ends for so long." "You should go home and get some sleep." "I sold my home to pay you and Matty." "Maybe it was sabotage." " Right." " No, I'm serious." "Maybe it was visitors from the future who came back to destroy our project because it eventually leads to some distant apocalypse." " It's a distinct possibility." "" "Guys." "Look what I found." "It's an exotic hybrid of the dahlia genus." "There." "Right there." "That black speck." "Could be a missing pixel." " It's moving." " Yeah." "There it goes." "There." " I think that was Matty." " No, no, I saw someone." "I saw it before I blacked out." "It looked like a person." "Not Matty." "They went out the front." "Where did you just come from?" "I should be asking you." "How did you do that?" " What?" " That." "How did you get here?" "In a car." "How did you get here?" "You didn't just walk through a wormhole?" "You're making me feel like I did." "I just met you." "Then why are you acting like you know me?" "I don't." "You left before you could see." "It was a success." "Didn't appear that way to me, Mr. Beale." "If you just come back into the lab." "You've wasted my money." "Now you're wasting my time." "I can prove to you that it worked." "Look, I'm already late for a previous engagement." "We made history tonight." "I'm sure whoever it is will understand." ""Whoever it is" is my wife." "She's already at the restaurant, and I assure you, she will not understand." "Why don't you and your little friend join us and we can discuss this over dinner?" "We just met." " Another time, then." " No. no, no, no." "We would love to join you and your wife for dinner, wouldn't we?" " Abby." " Abby." "Abby." "What's going on, Jim?" "Start running preliminary tests on the flower." "I'm gonna go to dinner with the Meisners and Abby." "Okay." "Who's Abby?" "What we've done is folded on top of itself by forming a tunnel, a shortcut between one location in space-time to another light-years away." "But in order to traverse a wormhole, you have to have two openings." "What we did tonight was open one end of it." "Where's the other end?" "We have to do it again to find out." "I'm not sure I follow." "The way it works is, you need a transmitter and a receiver." "Now, like a telephone..." "I'm mixing metaphors here, but you can't complete a call without another phone involved." "We already have the receiver." "We got the call." "How much?" "It's not capital I'm asking for." "No, for the whole project." "The research, the formulas, the machine, everything." "How much?" "It's not for sale." "Then what do you want, Mr. Beale?" " Another unit of M.R.D." " And for that I get what, 10%?" "We're talking about dangerous radioisotopes, enriched uranium, yellowcake, the sort of thing countries go to war over." "Not anymore, once we have the ability to answer the fundamental questions of the universe." "But how will we make money on our investment?" "With all due respect, we're not talking about hover cars and x-ray goggles." "We're talking about an epoch of human evolution." "Pardon my pedestrian viewpoint, Mr. Beale, but how do you plan to market that?" "Pardon my pedestrian viewpoint for a moment, Ms. Meisner." "Do you know who pioneered electricity?" "Of course." "Thomas Edison." "I thought so, too." "Until I stumbled upon a book about Nikola Tesla." "You see, Tesla was working towards a way to get everyone on the planet safe, free, limitless electricity, and he would have, except Edison did everything in his power to discredit him and crush his reputation." "Mm." "Edison's company developed a patent for an inefficient current you had to pay for." "Tesla wanted to better the world." "And Edison forced us all to have a monthly power bill because he was envious of a profound idea." "Now, I don't have a horse in this race, but I would put my money on Jim, because he's Tesla, and Edison was a dick." "I'll supply you with the M.R.D." "But I want to own half the machine." "Can't do that." "Well, you see, my company is in the enviable position of being the sole manufacturer of M.R.D." "So, best of luck." "Forty-nine percent." "And money for the repairs." "You have a week." "I won't sleep till it's complete." "Thank you." "Thank you." "You want to share a cab?" "Was I playing the beard tonight?" "Why do you ask?" "Well, either you came to the lab with Klaus or you got there through the wormhole." "I did arrive with Klaus." "But I'm leaving with you." "That kiss could've cost me millions of dollars." "Would it have been worth it?" "I'd have to do more research, eliminate the variables." "Mm." "This is me." "You sure he won't mind?" "He went home... with his wife." "Drinks?" "Black coffee for me." "KMC 0-14." "You like my dahlia?" "Yeah." "Where did you get it?" "Sorry." "I have to take this." "Chuck, what do you got?" "What are you doing?" "Uh, talking to you." "What time do you have exactly to the second?" "9:45:22, 23." "Come on, get on with it." "When did you and I first meet?" " What is this?" " Just tell me." "It's important." "Uh, ten years ago at that karaoke bar with the weird name." "What's going on?" "So, we've known each other along time." " We trust each other?" " Yeah." "Stay away from that girl." "She's no good for you." "What?" "Just don't tell her or anyone else about the experiment." "We're onto something much bigger than we imagined." "What are you doing here, Jim?" "I went to the lab." "You guys were gone." "You should go back." "We'll meet you there." "No, no, no, you called." "You said something..." "We were onto something." " And what was this stuff about Abby?" "" "My head is killing me." "See?" "I told you, you need to stop popping those pills and get some sleep." "What did you mean earlier when you were talking about Abby?" "Let me get you some pills." "Chuck." "Chuck, I figured it out." "It makes sense." "I finally see it now." "Fucking intense." "Matty, stop." "You're giving Jim a headache." "This isn't a headache." "This is a lightning storm between my temples." "Just tell me, what did you mean earlier when you were talking about..." "How long was I out?" "Huh?" "Oh, Jim, you're awake." "Um, you were unconscious for approximately 8.5 hours." "Why didn't you wake me?" "Your biological imperative requires a minimum amount of dormancy per day in order to properly function." "But you should lie back down in case of another..." "I just needed some sleep." "I got plenty." "Where'd you get that jacket?" "Haven't you considered the correlation between your episodes and the arrival of KMC 0-14?" "KMC 0..." "The serial number of the dahlia." "We have to wait for Chuck to get back." "You and Chuck meet me at the lab." "We have another wormhole to open." " We have to wait for Chuck." "" "Hey, did you forget your keys?" "Is this the residence of Abby Ross?" "She's not here." "This is Jim Beale." "I'm a friend of hers." "Hey, sleepyhead, looking for me?" "Is there a man in your place?" "I guess you buzzed my neighbor by accident." "I need to see your flower." "Wow, classy." "I am a lady." "You can at least buy me breakfast first." "Do they even serve breakfast here?" "Two morning specials, Mike." "Your dahlia, where did you get it?" "It was a gift." "Exotic plants like that are hard to come by." "It's an expensive present." "Ahh." "It was from someone who gave me everything I wanted except a minute of his time." "Well, time is our only real currency." "Hm." "Meeting you was the most important part of my experiment." "Is that a fact?" "Hm." "No, it's not a fact." "I, uh, only meant to say that your dahlia, that may be important to my research." "Mm-hmm." "Hit me again, Mike." "Or maybe not, I don't know." "Right now it's just a theory." "So, what's all this fuss about my dahlia?" "How do I know I can really trust you?" "The truth will set you free." "The ID number matches the one that came through the wormhole." "But that's probably just a coincidence." "You people don't believe in coincidences." "Sure we do." "Yeah." "Einstein himself said that they're God's way of remaining anonymous." "So, your machine working was total happenstance." "No." "No, that was me." "I did it." "I'm the one that came up with the idea that made it work." "And what was that?" "The rotation of the Earth." "The biggest obstacle in opening a wormhole is creating enough energy." "Not unlike the tremendous amount of energy that an entire planet makes as it spins on its axis." "The power is there." "I didn't have to generate it." "I just thought of a way to utilize it." "Kind of like us." "I mean, the energy's there." "We just got to think of a way to use it." "Jim?" "Are you okay?" "Chuck." "You found me." "Technology's come a long way." "Not being found is hard." "I think we sent this to ourselves." "Chuck... you were right about the girl." "...five, four... three, two..." "Jim." "Jim, Jim." "The pressure dropped below 029." "We have to abort." "All right, abort." "It's that damn bracket again." "We're gonna have to reconfigure the output." "It might take a while to recalibrate." "Why don't you take a break?" " I like your lighter." " Take it, it's yours." "Needs fuel." "Hand me those matches." "So, my flower's really the same one that came through your wormhole?" "I'd have to run some tests to know for sure." "What's my finder's fee?" "What?" "Okay, fine." "I'll settle for one butterfly kiss." "It's a match, Jim." "Identical DNA match." "KMC 0-14, you're the first organism to time-travel." "Yes, but in a parallel-universe scenario, we have to consider that the Klaus Meisner Corporation" " may not have..." " Whoa, whoa, whoa." " What did you just say?" " Parallel universe?" " We have to..." " No, no." "Klaus Meisner Corporation." "KMC 0-14." "Klaus Meisner Corporation 0-14." "They license exotic plants and flowers for domestic use." "We have to take into account the very distinct possibility that these two plants when they traversed..." "Jim Beale." "I have Klaus Meisner for you." "Yeah, put him through." "Mr. Beale, you have the dahlia in your possession." "Yes." "Did she tell you that?" "I want you in my office to go over the contracts." "What's going on here?" "You're about to get fucked." "Logic." "Rationale." "Dignity." "All seem to disappear with the scent of that perfume." "Good reason, common sense, they just go by the wayside 'cause of the way her hair breaks across her forehead and frames her eyes." "The total reckless abandon that you have absolutely no control over, Mr. Beale." "Have a seat." "I prefer to stand when I'm getting it from behind." "You watch your tone." "If you're gonna come at me, you better come hard and fast and be willing to go all the way, because I never lose." "Klaus, listen." "You call me Mr. Meisner." "My best friends and associates call me Klaus, but you, sir, are neither." "You are an employee." "I don't work for you." "The hard cost of one unit of M.R.D." "is five million, give or take a little." "What for you is a small fortune is for me negligible." "I've lost larger sums in the cushions of my sofa." "But you need M.R.D. for your machine to work." "Therefore you come to me, hat in hand, begging." "Forty-nine percent of my project hardly makes you my boss." "This is true, but you need tangible proof that your prototype works, evidence that you've actually created a traversable wormhole." "And to do that, you need to be able to send the original specimen, which is registered as KMC 0-14, back through to the other side." "Now..." "It just so happens that I own all copyrights, ommercial and private, for all KMC products, which means... this is your lucky day." "I'm willing to sell to you those rights for let's say, 50% of your operation." "Now, if you put that together with the 49% I already own..." "Let's crunch the numbers, that leaves you with... one percent for your efforts." "Now, if you want to finish this experiment that leads to the invention of time travel, then you, Mr. Beale, work for me." "You are an employee." "So, you slipped up." "Had a moment of weakness." "I have to admit, she's an incredible piece of ass." "But you and I both know you're not gonna walk away from the find of the century because of whose name's gonna end up in the textbooks." "Like our little friend said, you're Tesla, and I'm quite content being just another Edison of the world." "Jim Beale." "Project log, final entry before zero hour of the experiment." "A piercing sound has been cutting through every synapse of my brain ever since I opened the first end of the wormhole." "It's finally ceased." "Hopefully for good." "Klaus Meisner has me on the ropes." "He knew that I needed a correlative between side "a"" "and side "b" to prove that the machine works." "Otherwise, it's just a bunch of blinking lights." "I mean, if I send the dahlia back to myself, then he owns my machine." "Wait, what are you doing?" "I'm taking it back to its rightful owner." "The one variable in this is Abby." "And I need her to be a constant." "So if the fate of my machine is predetermined, it has to be because of her that the dahlia goes through." "She has to be the one to put it through the wormhole." "If she brings it to the lab, if she comes there with Klaus... that is very fucking unfortunate, but at least I will know." "Jim." " I really wasn't expecting you." " You don't have to invite me in." "Good." "It's a bit of a mess in there at the moment." "The gun is to my head." "But I'm sure as shit not gonna pull the trigger myself." "This is yours." "You get to decide what happens." "In two days, I'm gonna start the machine, and I'll open the wormhole." "But now it's up to you what goes through it." "You have to make the choice." "Mr. Meisner, would you be so kind as to wait here while I escort Ms. Ross and her dahlia to the lab floor?" "So, this is the way it's gonna be?" "It's the way it has to be." "The way it is." "It only seems that way now, but eventually you will see it in a different light." "We had our time together." "Goodbye, Jim." "Put these on." "Wouldn't want you to miss a thing." "Five, four... three, two... one." "M.R.D. in place." "Close hatch." "Turn handle left 45 degrees." "Lock it at high noon." "Engage sequence." "Commence graviton resonance." "You may own the dahlia, but you don't own me." "Do you have a light?" "Matches?" "Two sticks I can rub together?" "Yeah." "Recognize that?" "Should I?" "It's yours." "It is now." "Thanks." "What you and Klaus are doing is wrong, and it has to stop." " Excuse me?" " I know what you're up to, and I'm not gonna let it happen again." "That's none of your business." "It'll be my business if you and I get involved." "Does this technique usually work for you?" "Or have you been cooped up in the lab too long," " you've forgotten how to flirt?" " Listen, I'm onto you." "I should have known that someone as intelligent and as beautiful as you are, I should have known there had to be some kind of catch." "There is a catch." "It's a big one." "Where did you just come from?" "I should be asking you." "How did you do that?" " What?" " That." "How did you get here?" "You didn't just walk through a wormhole?" "You're making me feel like I did." "I just met you." "Then why are you acting like you know me?" "I don't." " Tell me, Matty, again where it was." " It was exactly right here." "You and I both almost stepped on it." "I didn't." "I didn't see it when I came in." "I would've seen it, Matty." "When I was on the stairs, I came here, and I almost tripped on it." "Jim?" "I thought you were at dinner with Klaus." "I am." "Let's try this." "That's my phone." "Now, call it with yours." " It went to voice-mail." "" "Right." "Try it again." "It's ringing." "Chuck, what do you got?" " What are you doing?" " Uh, talking to you." "What time do you have exactly to the second?" "What?" "9:45:22, 23." "Come on, get on with it." "It could be an imposter." "Ask him something only you and I know." "Uh, when did you and I first meet?" "What is this?" "Just tell me." "It's important." "Uh, ten years ago at that karaoke bar with the weird name." "What's going on?" "Ten years ago at the karaoke bar with the weird name?" "I didn't know that." "Chuck, you there?" "Now, tell me not to trust Abby Ross." "She's just using me." "What?" "No." "You're my best friend." "I will understand." "So, we've been friends a long time." " We trust each other?" " Yeah." "Stay away from that girl." "She's no good for you." "What?" "Just don't tell her or anyone else about the experiment." "We're onto something much bigger than we imagined." " So, that happened." " What is it?" "Matty, you ever been to a Native American orgy?" " No." " It's fucking intense." "I don't get it." "If I'm doing my math correctly, then there is a good chance that I'm on my way here right now." " How do you know?" " 'Cause it's what I did before." "I'm telling you, this is where I'm coming next." "We don't know that for sure." "We need to keep you isolated from the world as much as possible to avoid any collisions of causality." "But my being here hasn't effected any real change yet." "That we know about." "We have to make sure that the machine doesn't fall into the wrong hands." "Uncover the conspiracy before it's too late." "What are you now, a secret agent?" "You're a scientist, and as a man of science, you need to step back, breathe, and take a moment to properly analyze the data." "Fine." "Let me stay here and observe this strange new habitat I've encountered." "Oh." "What is this?" "It's a remote control." "In our time, we use it to operate the television." "Oh, wow." "In the future, we control the TV with our minds." "Oh, right." "You're only five days ahead of us." "This isn't a game." "You're now part of the experiment, Jim, the same as the dahlia." "That means we have to study you the same way, follow the process." "I need you to go step by step and tell us exactly how you did it." "What did it feel like?" "The wormhole opened." "I jumped in." "I don't know why you're being so obtuse." "Because we're wasting time sitting around here yapping about it." "We must take action." "I got duped." "We have to strike back." "We can't do anything until we fully understand what happened." "We are messing with the primal forces of nature here." "The primal forces of nature are telling me I have to take a piss." "What are you doing here, Jim?" "I went to the lab." "You guys were gone." "You should go back." "We'll meet you there." "No, no, no, you called." "You said something..." "We were onto something." "And what was this stuff about Abby?" "And you were..." "My head is killing me." "See?" "I told you, you need to stop popping those pills and get some sleep." "What did you mean earlier when you were talking about Abby?" "Let me get you some pills." "Stay in here." "Don't come out, no matter what you hear." "Give me the aspirin." "Chuck, I get it now." "It makes sense." "I finally see it now." "Fucking intense." "Matty, stop." "You're giving Jim a headache." "No, this isn't a headache." "This, this is a lightning storm between my temples." "What were you saying earlier?" "When we were on the phone, you said something about not trusting Abby and then we were onto something bigger." "No, no, no." " No, no, no, no." " Matty." " This is far too much to calculate." " You have to keep it together." " Matty, look at me." " You can't..." "No, no." "Look at me." "Sing the pi song." " 3.14159" " Yeah, there you go." "Sing it." " 265358" " Yeah." "93238..." "Jim." "Shit." "Time travel made that guy a real asshole." "The drink offer is rescinded." "Okay." "But what about coffee?" "Does that count?" "I never had a chance to finish my coffee." "What do you want, Jim?" "Look, I know I left without saying goodbye, but if you let me back up, I just want a chance to apologize for leaving the way that I did." "So, let's hear it." "It better be good if you want to see what's underneath." "I know what's underneath... trouble." "Do I really have to explain how this works?" "You grovel at my feet." "And then..." "I came here with a plan." "There's so much that I want to say." "I don't know where to start." "There's certain tribes in the Amazon where women use shamanistic ritual to control their men by driving them to insanity." "Are you a shaman?" "No, I'm just a girl." "I'm sorry." "I'll take it." " Ow!" " Ow!" "Is this the residence of Abby Ross?" "She's not here." "This is Jim Beale." "I'm a friend of hers." "Hey, sleepyhead, looking for me?" "Is there a man in your place?" "I guess you buzzed my neighbor by accident." " I need to see your flower." " Wow, classy." "I am a lady." "You can at least buy me breakfast first." "The biggest obstacle in opening a wormhole is creating enough energy." "Not unlike the tremendous amount of energy that an entire planet makes as it spins on its axis." "The power is there." "I just thought of a way to utilize it." "Double or nothing if I hit it again." "I'll take those odds." "The booze just hit me." "Not much of a drinker." "Give me that." "Ready?" "Not being found is hard." "Especially when there's two of you." "That's not me, 'cause I'm sitting right here." "He might as well be some other guy." "But it's not." "That is you a week younger." "But from now on, she's only gonna be with me." "How can you know that?" "Because that's what I'm about to make sure of." "Whoa, Jim." "Jim!" "This isn't some relationship problem." "It's a little bigger than you and that girl." "Not to me." "Not anymore." "You can't go around changing the past because you got your feelings hurt." "This is not the past for you." "I'm not changing anyone's past but my own." "No matter what happens to that guy, I'm still gonna feel this way, right?" "I have no idea." "You're the first person to ever do this." "Well, then the only way that I know how to fix my past is by taking control of my future." "What about the fact that she's using you to get to the machine?" "She's not." "She's using him." "And that puts me in a fantastic position to turn it all around." "Jim?" "You okay?" "Chuck." "You found me." "Technology's come a long way." "Not being found is hard." "You taste like ash." "Who's that?" "Just ignore it." "They'll go away." "Will they?" "They will." "It's Klaus." "Then definitely ignore it." "Doesn't he know I'm here?" "I don't care if he knows or not." "Well, tell him." "Tell him everything is going according to plan." " What are you talking about?" " Answer it." "I want to hear what you two have to say to each other." "Fine." "I can't invite you in, Klaus." "Jim Beale is here, and he's about to fuck the shit out of me again." "Well, what are you waiting for?" "I just cut off my only source of income for you, so better make it worth it." "So you do work for him." "He was funding my research." "You're working on a time-travel project for him." " It's not for him." " So why is he paying you for it?" "You know, for a brilliant man, you really are quite dim." "Please, enlighten me." "Don't make me say it." "Come on, the truth will set you free, remember?" "'Cause I was fucking him, all right?" "Yeah, he paid my bills and my rent, and whatever else I needed." "So then, why me?" "It ended for me the night you and I first met, but it wasn't official until right now." "So you jump at the first guy who comes along?" "I mean, you must have had ulterior motives to fuck me like you did." "You are being a childish asshole." "And you're right." "I was using you." "I was using you for my research." "A ploy to steal my ideas for your nefarious scheme." "So, what is it?" "Let's get all the cards on the table." "It's... it's not done yet." "Waiting for my next move, huh?" "Well, you're making it." "You want to see what I'm working on?" "I'll be down at the pub drinking this day off." "Working in secret for two years in a hidden lab on the outskirts of the city," "John Bane's prototype had become the stuff of legend." "They say he invented a time machine." "But what no one knew was that only moments before I met him, it had actually worked." "Do you have a light?" "I knew everything there was to know about John Bane the physicist, but I never imagined I would get to know John Bane the man." "A science fiction novel." "More of a novella at this point." "Your hero, John Bane, that's supposed to be me." "There was an article about you that inspired the idea, yeah." "But once I met you..." "Do you know who I am?" "John, a physicist named John Bane." "The whole story got a lot more involved." "That's why it's not done yet." "I wanted to see how it played out." "Yeah, but it's not actually me." "It's just a version of me." "It doesn't have my memories or feelings." "That's unfortunate." "If we only had time." "Time to get closer." "I'm just a girl." "The girl of my dreams." "We could have a chance of something real." "I led myself to believe in serendipity." "But the cosmos had a cruel way of making me believe otherwise." "As the day of the final experiment grew near," "I wondered if we had a future together." "Or would fate keep us apart?" "What happens from here on out is up to me." "That's why I'm here with you right now." "But you can't change fate." "It's like trying to make the sun set with your mind." "Who's to say I can't?" "See that?" "That right there..." "I did that." "Tell me I didn't." "Scientists and their God complex." "I'm supposed to be the smoker here." " Are you okay?" " Jim, are you okay?" " Jim?" " It's not Jim." "It's Abby." "There's something wrong with Jim." "He's coughing up blood, and he's... he's been having seizures, and I don't know what to do." "Can you please... can you please come?" "He won't let me take him to the hospital." "I'm just..." " Abby, Abby." " Yeah?" "Don't do anything until I get there." "Don't call anyone." "Don't do anything." " I'm coming." " Okay." "Wait, what are you doing?" "Uh..." "Tell Jim Prime I'm taking this to a specialist for more intensive examination." "Where's the other one?" "Chuck took it to an examinist for further specialization." "Must be who called." "Wait, what are you doing?" "I'm taking it back to its rightful owner." "Wormhole." "Such a weird word when you think about it." "Right now he's experiencing what can only be described as a kind of temporal feedback." "It seems that two beings of the same consciousness cannot exist in the same universe." "This must be nature's way of correcting the anomaly." "That's your diagnosis?" "Temporal feedback?" "That makes the most sense given what we know." "Okay, Dr. Chuck, if you're such an expert on space cancer, then what should we expect from here?" "If the rate of deterioration stays in sync with 0-14, terminus... that's what we call..." "I get it." "What?" "He has about 48 hours, give or take." "Then his vital organs will disintegrate until his biological functions shut down." "He's been chosen for extinction." "You have one hell of a bedside manner." "I'm a physicist, not an M.D." "How am I supposed to believe any of this?" "Now's your chance." "This is your proof right here." "But please handle with care." "The fate of the universe is in your hands." "Jim." "I really wasn't expecting you." "You might want to hide in the other room in case he comes in." "He won't." "He thinks Klaus is in here." "No need to tell me who's in there." " I have my theory." " And what is that?" "I'm not giving any more theories to you." "It's not why I came here." "It's not what I want from this." "And what do you want from this?" "To ignore the facts, give you the benefit of the doubt." "All of the observable evidence leads to the inevitable conclusion that you are playing me." "But I refuse to accept it." "I barely know you." "But something happened in those brief hours we spent together." "It was how you looked at me." "Like how you're looking at me now." "Is the pain worse when he's close by?" "Yeah." "Proximity to him must be a factor." "The best course of action is to get you out of town as far as possible to alleviate the effects of the feedback." "You mean prolong the inevitable." "So, here it is." "My act of faith." "The gun is to my head." "I'm sure as shit not gonna pull the trigger myself." "This is yours." "You get to decide what happens." "In two days, I'm gonna start the machine, and I'm gonna open the wormhole." "But it's now up to you what goes through it." "Chuck, I want you to take your friend and get the fuck out of here." " Okay." " Abby." "You lied to me." "Not about me and you." "Me and you is all totally based on bullshit." "If you could just see my logic on this." "Don't." "There's an explanation for all of it." "Not for how I feel." "I'm not even sure who I'm talking to right now, but whatever Jim you are, I want you to get the hell out of my house before I contract this psychotic disease." "I don't think that temporal feedback is contagious." "No." "Matty?" "Where's Jim Prime?" "I need you to slip away and meet me at our place." "Tell him that you left your reading glasses at home." "He knows you're useless without them." "Then break them and tell him you have to go get your other pair." "Just do it, and bring D-29B." "Dextro 29 boost." "Still in beta." "It's a hybrid synthesis of adrenal epinephrine secretions." " Oh, yeah." " It won't keep you alive." "But when you take it, you won't know you're dying." "I'm dying." "I'm dying, yes." "Yeah, okay." "All right, what to do?" "What to do?" "What to do?" "I'm dying." "Dying." "Death, dead, 48 hours." "Forty eight hours." "We have to prevent that, don't we?" "We do." "We should." "I say we don't do anything." "Don't open the other end of the wormhole." " Then it's like it never happened." " Have you considered..." "I'm here." "It happened." "Yes... yes, it did." " But have you considered..." " Yes, it did." "No, we roll up our sleeves." "We find a workable solution, to explain the absence of paradoxes..." "We have to get one of you out of here." "Let's come clean with Jim Prime." "He can go, and you can live." "He's not gonna do it if he knows he will die." "Would you?" "No, you wouldn't." "I wouldn't." "I've been..." "I mean, I did." " I'm here, so..." " There is the notion..." "Maybe it should be me that goes." "And make things worse?" " The theory..." " Are you joking?" "Is he joking?" "Make things worse?" "I have less than two days to live." "I lost the rights to my life's work." "My girlfriend, she hates me, so how could it possibly get any worse?" "Parallel dimensions." "Parallel dimensions." "There exists not one singular universe, but an infinite number of possibilities coinciding simultaneously and eternally, every conceivable version of every being persisting forward in a concurrent reality." "Your time-space excursion was not to the past of your present universe." "On the contrary, it was simply a migration from your plane of existence to the one adjacent." "You're operating independently of yourself in an alternate timeline." " No." " But..." "That's still hypothetical at this point." "And, of course, I already thought of that." "But being here, seeing it for myself, everything played out exactly the same." "But your journal accounted for..." "What journal?" "Where did you get this?" "It was in your coat pocket when you traversed." "And you've had this the whole time?" "I was processing it as a data set." " It's not my handwriting." " You were both so busy." " This is her book." " Whose book?" "Abby's." " It was alarmingly accurate." " Matty?" "This is a made-up story, a work of fiction, and an incomplete one at that." "Okay, enough theorizing." "All right?" "The machine should be up and running." "How much more of this go juice do you have?" "Enough." "All right, I'm pulling the trigger on our best option." "Klaus only paid for one unit of M.R.D." "We can't do this again." "If I go back through the wormhole knowing what I know now to that first day... we won't have to do this ever again." "I can take over from here." "Where have you been?" "Uh, our mass spectrometer was on the fritz." "I wanted to take 0-14 over to the institute for final evaluation." " How's it doing?" " Clean bill of health." "But they're gonna keep it tonight so that they can run it through the liquid scintillation counter." "Okay, as long as they don't know what it's for." "They think it's a sample." "We're almost online." "You want to do a practice run?" "Absolutely." "Oh, and, Chuck, dahlia 2.0 is also gone for now, so we have to send something else through the wormhole." "I think I can find a replacement." "Balance metric pressure at 057." "Metric pressure sustaining 057." "Releasing valves." "Docking hatch open and clear." "Radioactivity meters online." "Ready for exposure." "Prepare to load M.R.D." "M.R.D. removed from containment." "Preparing to load." "Keep full exposure duration no more than ten seconds." "Nine, eight... seven..." "Insertion of M.R.D. commencing." "...five, four... three, two... one." "M.R.D. in place." "Close hatch." "Jim." "Jim, Jim." "The pressure dropped below 029." "We have to abort." "All right, abort." "It's that damn bracket again." "We're gonna have to reconfigure the output." "I know how to fix it." "It might take a while to recalibrate." "Why don't you take a break?" "I don't take breaks." "What about that stack of readouts in your office?" "Have you gone through those yet?" "Oh." "I see what you're doing." "You do?" "You want me to sleep." "You're onto me." "Fine." "I'll leave you be to work on that for a bit." "But I'm not napping." "Okay, Jim, get ready." "Matty, close the docking hatch." "Handle left 45 degrees." "Slide forward, then lock at high noon and engage sequence." "Chuck, I don't, uh..." "Matty, let's go." "The left and right..." "Matty, he could come back any second." "The left and right, they're not, um..." "The left and right..." "Matty, you've done it a thousand times." "Do it now." "You're still chasing after her, huh?" "I never realize that's what I'm doing... until I do it." "The power to cross the universe in an instant." "The impossible dream becomes possible." "All the unbelievable things you could accomplish, the eternal questions you could answer." "And you just want to get laid." " You'd do the same if it were you." " You're probably right." "The machine still works." "But the M.R.D. is gone." "We could try to find the money." "Thirty six hours?" "I don't see how." "What about Klaus?" "You have seen the future." "Could buy some stocks, play the over-under on a game." "You didn't happen to catch the news before you left?" "It's over." "I'm done with the past." "If this is goodbye... least I could do is buy you dinner." "Okay." "We'll let Jim Prime keep on without a clue, at least until you're gone." "Yeah." "Where's Matty?" "He was devastated by what he did." "Didn't want to face you." "This is you." "I mean him." "I should take this." "Go ahead and order." "I'll be right back." "It's not done yet." "Chuck told me everything." "Chuck is an asshole." "I want to hear it from you." "Why did you really go through the wormhole?" "Because my heart was broken." "And you blame me?" "Abby, the only one to blame here is me." "I did it to myself." "I'm willing to let technology take some of the fall here." "So, I understand the only way to get the other Jim into the wormhole is to show up tomorrow with the dahlia and Klaus." "That is one scenario, yeah." "One that I would prefer not to repeat." "But if it would save your life..." "It wouldn't, because we're about five million shy of there even being a wormhole." "I can get the money." "No." "Any questions about the menu?" "Can you please give us a minute?" "But it would be for us." "Then we can have more time together." "Look!" "I'm not gonna let you do that." "It's my choice, not yours." "Then it'll be your choice." "Take me as far as you can." "Checking in?" "Yes." "Name, please." "James Beale." "Seems you are already staying with us, Mr. Beale." "What?" "Right." "I forgot my key card." "May I get a replacement, please?" "Of course." "There exists not one singular universe, but an infinite number of possibilities coinciding simultaneously and eternally." "Every conceivable version of every being persisting forward in a concurrent reality." "Your time-space excursion was not to the past of your present universe." "On the contrary, it was simply a migration from your plane of existence to the one adjacent." "John Bane's time-space excursion was not to his own past." "Little did he realize he had traveled to the past of a parallel universe..." "A timeline so similar to his own, he had simply overlooked the differences." "An infinite number of possibilities, an infinite number of choices, an infinite number of outcomes." "Take me to The Grand Hotel." "Mr. Meisner, would you be so kind as to wait here while I escort Ms. Ross and her dahlia to the lab floor?" "Is this really what you want?" "Isn't there usually champagne at these things?" "I could kill a whole bottle right now." "Oh, so, this is the way it's gonna be." "It's the way it has to be." "The way it is." "It only seems that way now, but eventually you'll see it in a different light." "So that's it, then?" "It meant nothing." "Put these on." "I don't want you to miss a thing." "Turn handle left 45 degrees." "Slide forward." "Lock it at high noon." "Engage sequence." "I'm not interested, so don't even try." "It may not look like it, but I'm actually working." "Do you know who I am?" "Should I?" "Oh, my God." "You look just like him." "Who?" "John." "A physicist named John Bane." "What a coincidence." "I'm a physicist." "They say he invented a time machine." "Did he?" "No one knows." "Anyways, he died in a lab explosion before I got to interview him." "Really?" "That's too bad." "The fire destroyed all of his work." "It's sad, really." "To be so close to controlling time, and then poof... gone in an instant." "Time is a great teacher that eventually kills all of its students." "I like that one." "That's a good one." "You have any more?" "Yeah." "Have a drink with me." "I'll tell you all about my time-travel experiment." "Mine would make for a much better story." "Your story is better?" "Is that a fact?" "No, just a theory."