"Please, you must drink some tea." "Here." "Take it off." "Here." "Could you move your head forward please?" "A little." "There we go." "Nice meeting you again." "I demand to be set free." "Now... now!" "Please drink." "No, thank you." "It may taste strange, even bitter, but it will help you adapt to the altitude." "I do not care." "The tea is brewed from Coca leaves, that is it." "I want my handcuffs removed." "You have scratched one of my men and bitten another." "I am proud of that." "Well, that is why you are wearing handcuffs!" "Can I take them off now?" "Look at me!" "Look at me." "Can I take them off now?" "Yes, you can!" "Please put the cup down." "Put the cup down." "Your hands..." "Ah!" "Ah!" "Is that better?" "I demand an explanation." "Everything will fall into place." "When will I get my passport back?" "I'm not sure." "When will I be able to leave?" "Of that, too, I am unsure." "I'm hungry." "I haven't eaten since I was on the plane." "30 hours ago." "Thank you." "Here." "Please, take the tablecloth." "Thanks." "Would you like me to get you something else?" "No, I get terribly jet-lagged when I eat too much on overnight flights." "Just leave me the apple juice, please." " Okay." " Thank you." "Sweetheart." "Can I have another glass of champagne, please?" "Your fourth?" "I like that you keep count on what's good for me." "And another glass for my most attractive companion." "Professor sommerfeld." "L-a-u-r-a sommerfeld." "Merci." "Let's celebrate." "Celebrate what?" "Can we get another glass for Dr. meier, who's right there, across the isle?" "We are all on the same..." "Journey together." "We need to warm up for the journey ahead." "Make mine a double bourbon." "Straight, no ice." "And, uh, what, if I may ask, is your joyful party all about?" "We are a scientific delegation." "Ah." "She's professor Laura sommerfeld, our fearless leader." "We come with the united nations." "To look into an ecological disaster." "The diablo blanco disaster." "Diablo blanco?" "I hadn't heard of that." "Diablo blanco will soon be a household name." "Dr. cavani." "Fabio." "You can call me fabio." "Sorry." "Is there anyway I could change seats?" "I am so sorry." "The plane is completely full." "I'm so sorry I can't help." "Professor sommerfeld." "Sleep well." "Call me Laura." "What's the local time?" " I don't know." " Let me do it for you." "Thank you." "What's our greeter's name?" "Helmholtz." "He's from the ministry of agriculture and the environment, and he's coming with two people, um... which, uh..." "Uh..." "I can't seem to read this." "It's..." "It's my own handwriting." "I..." "I don't even understand it." "I'm sorry." "I'm sorry." "Hm, no." "No signal." "Mine's dead, too." "We will ask them to provide us with local phones." "You know but, my apps can become very useful." "Such as?" "My diary." "April 14th..." "Arrivals hall, immigration line." "The line is, uh... lethargic." "It's, uh, listless... torpid... moribund." "I think I put that quite well, didn't I?" "Right?" "And, uh, we're waiting." "And staring." "Staring." "People staring at us." "As if they were competing for the world championship of slow looks." "Dr, meier, why are they staring at us?" "When I stare back at them, they don't look away." "Where is my luggage?" "Mine is not coming out either." "Oh, fuck, I forgot to pack my toothbrush." "I didn't bring a toothbrush with me." "Mierda." "No?" "Bueno." "Gracias." "Let's just go." "Yeah." "It happens." "Well..." "I'm sure they'll come any minute now." "Sure thing." "Oh, yeah." "Where are they?" "You confirmed our arrival plans, cavani?" "Right?" "Right-o!" "Yeah." "I did." "Shall I check at the curb?" "No, no, no." "Let's stick together." "Someone will show up sooner or later." "Hello, hello." "I'm sorry I'm late." "It's me." "Welcome." "Oh, professor sommerfeld." "Welcome, welcome." "Hello!" " Doctor cavani, welcome." " Yes." "You must be Dr. meier." "Welcome to you, too, sir." "Welcome." "Did you have a good flight?" "Yeah." "Good." "We are just a little bit jet-lagged." "Of course, I can understand." "Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself." "I am aristides from the ministry." "Aristides?" "Yes." "Aristides." "Now... the minister and his group apologize." "There has been a change of plans." "The minister is already in oruro, and he asks that you take his plane directly there." ""Forgive us, kind gentlemen, but we are forced to meet you in oruro later today."" "The letterhead says internal security." "Isn't our liaison the minister of agriculture and the environment?" "Oh, there's been a mistake." "This shouldn't be here." "A mistake?" "Yes." "This is a mistake." "Uh..." "Uh..." "I wasn't supposed to let you know, but I am obliged to now." "The minister is, in fact, also associated with the security establishment." "It shows his increasing importance within the government." "But we don't have our luggage yet." "Oh, don't worry about that." "Don't worry about anything." "My boys will take care of everything." "In fact, they'll see you through security." "No inspections, no passports." "I just need your luggage tags and we'll have your luggage taken directly to the plane." "Great." "Sounds like a treat." "Okay." "Let's go." "I'm afraid I'll have to leave you here." " And our luggage?" " It's already loaded." "How did you load it so quickly?" "This isn't a German airport or New York." "We are much more efficient." "It's just my instruments." "I don't care about my shirts, but my equipment." "Let us worry about all that." "Bon voyage." "Please, come aboard." "I'm kind of hungry." "My apologies." "I ate half." "Thank you." ""For one, too much." "For all, too little."" "Sounds familiar." "Who said that?" "Alexander the great." "One day his army was perishing from thirst... and a foot soldier came by with a helmet filled with water he had collected drop by drop for weeks." "He gave it to Alexander, who spilled it on the floor." "And he had said that." "He said, "for one, too much."" "For all, too little."" "It's not going to be easy out there." "As long as I have my equipment everything will be fine." "As long as we have some pasta al dente and some white truffles... and a buxom wench serving wine." "And some vineyards in the mountains... and the lusty cheers of the vintners..." "Cavani, you are a poet." "Everything will be fine." "Please come out." "What is this?" "Who are these men?" "I am not going to get out here." "Where-where is the minister?" "Please." "Please step out." "Ay." "No, no, no." "No, no, no, no, no, no no." "What is this?" "You are under our protection." "We have a security problem." "Who are you?" " I know who I am." " Who sent you?" "I'm not gonna tell you." "I am professor sommerfeld and leader of this delegation." "We are under the protection of the government." "Yes, yes." "And?" "And we are under the protection of the united nations." "I know, I know, I know." "Come outside, please." "We have cars waiting for you." "Hey, and our luggage?" "Hey... don't touch me." "I'm not going." "I'll stay here!" "I'm not going with you!" "Don't touch me!" "You are my prisoners!" "All of you are my prisoners!" "Hold this motherfucker!" "Ah!" "Dr. meier!" "Ah!" "Ay, ay, ay, ay." "Okay, okay." "Okay, okay, okay." "Okay, okay, okay, okay." " Vamos!" " Ay!" "No!" "Dr. meier, don't fight." "They'll hurt you." "Stop fighting back!" "We give up!" "Stop!" "Ah!" "Meier?" "Meier?" "Vamos, vamos!" "Get him away." "Come on." "Get this motherfucker away." "Don't touch me." "So..." "This was all a plan from the beginning?" "In a way, yes." "Why have you abducted us?" "What's your plan now?" "Everything will fall into place." "It depends on you." "There is no question that our embassy has been alerted to our disappearance." "They are already in crisis mode." "But it is irrelevant, because there will be no negotiations." "And the delegation who was supposed to meet us upon arrival?" "Have you taken them, too?" "No." "They were easily bribed." "I take no pride in this." "I don't approve of pay-offs to anyone." "Do me one favor!" "Do not try to come to the rescue... of a tired world." "I'd like to know your name." "As long as I wear this mask I have no name." "But I know the face of this gentleman." "Krauss, why don't you remove your mask?" "You are compromised, aren't you?" "Krauss?" "You said your name was aristides." "In fact, if facts count here, it isn't aristides." "So it is krauss." "Yes, and no." "And how were you able to get here so quickly?" " We have our ways." " And who is "we"?" "I would like to know." ""We"... that is basically me." "I am the brain." "I am leading a delegation." "I am responsible for its members." "Where are they?" "Are they all right?" "I can assure you they are fine." "I accept no assurances from an unidentified man with no name and no face." "I want to see them, now." "Well, hopefully... the time will come when there are no more secrets between us." "Dr. Arnold meier and Dr. fabio cavani are both here at the compound." "How is Dr. meier?" "I saw your men hurt him." "He is bruised, but otherwise subdued." "Meaning what?" "As Dr. meier proved to be so combative, we had to calm his heroism a little bit." "Krauss, why don't you show professor sommerfeld the food she should avoid." "Go on, have a look." "Please do not eat these, even if offered with every indication of warm hospitality." "You gave this to my delegation?" "We did nothing." "Our guests ate it... and then they came down with a local form of..." "What's happened to them?" "Say it." "Diarrhea." "Krauss... why don't you show our guest to her quarters?" "Life in a wheelchair has its comforts, but not all the time." "I see." "It's okay." "One day I shall walk again." "Dr. meier, Dr. cavani, please come to the window." "I..." "I'm dying." " No, you're not." " I'm dying, I'm..." " No, you're not." " I'm dying." " No, you're not." " I'm dying!" "The dumplings, it must have been the dumplings." "Are you hurt?" "Yes, but I am going to be fine." "It's just my stomach." "I've got the dresden of diarrhea." "It's a horde of protozoans swirling around my intestinal tract." "I may be dying." "I may be dying." "The noblest place for a man to die is the place he dies the deadest." "This is the mother of all diarrhea." "Take care." "Keep yourself hydrated and get some rest." "Professor sommerfeld," "I wish I could help you." "Please abstain from gossiping in that ugly language." "I'm fine, I can take care of myself, of my situation, of our situation." " Let me try." " Madame... please follow me." "Your quarters are in the adjacent courtyard." "This way." "Ay, ay..." "Ay, ay..." "Laura, you look a mess." "Good morning." "Good morning." "Good morning." "Rest assured." "This food is safe to eat." "Thank you, krauss." "Half for you, half for me." "You choose." "Excuse me for taking your share, but I'm hungry." "And I'm sure... you didn't abduct me to poison me." "Not at all." "I'm glad to see you eating." "I would like to see Dr. meier and Dr. cavani." "Be assured... they are my respected guests." "Why are you holding me hostage?" "Is it for money?" "I can contact some officials to negotiate." "No." "Tell me what you want." "You must be secret service." "Are you enjoying the massive support of the government?" "I am no secret service, no government, no plot of the CIA, or anything of the sort." "Who are you, then?" "Professor, I expected more of you." "Matt Riley." "The ceo of the consortium." "The consortium exists only as a legal entity today." "As you may know, after the ever-opportunistic Swiss sold their majority stock, the Chinese, the Americans, the south Koreans... all ducked into the trenches and became invisible." "But they're still there." "They are all responsible for the diablo blanco disaster." "Despite that the disaster had already begun when I took over as ceo, I personally feel responsible." "But you must have known it was not a singular event." "It has evolved over decades." "We have measurements, data and statistics since the '70s." "Data." "Statistics." "I see another side to it." "Public relations." "Don't belittle yourself." "I'm not prepared to speak about it now." "Because you are trying to hide a big conspiracy, mr Riley?" "Ah, I find that silly." "There is no reality... there are only views of reality." "Only perceptions." "All collective anxieties condense into conspiracy theories." "My data is real." "There is a disaster." "Yes, and there are three million Americans who claim they have had encounters with aliens." "Among them, three hundred thousand women who claim that they have been abducted and gang-raped by aliens." "Now this leads me to two questions." "One..." "Why do all these women weigh over 350 pounds?" "And, two..." "Why have we never heard of a single abducted woman in Ethiopia?" "Hm?" "Of course the diablo blanco disaster exists." "And it is not static." "It is spreading." "And my delegation has been sent to determine at what rate... and make our findings public." "What prevents me from doing so is that you have taken me prisoner." "I am prepared to accept the consequences." "Even go to prison for what I am doing." "I demand to be released!" "Don't pressure me!" "This could end very badly for both of us." "Do you want to be a martyr?" "!" "I'm Laura sommerfeld." "I've been abducted." "I have been in a car... at least two or three hours." "I do not know where I am, but I will play their game to figure out what Riley wants." "Hola." "Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth." "This magnificent specimen, Mr. mcmurphy, speaks." "What did it just say?" ""Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth."" "You know what nostradamus said about talking birds?" "No." "I do not read nostradamus." "Hm." "He foretold what sounds like science fiction today." "He said, "household pets finally communicate with man."" "Life then possible outside the planet." ""A new tyrant sows terror." "Events to come."" "A world run by big data and predictive analytics doesn't care about renaissance predictions." "I want to know how meier and cavani are." "It's not so much the predictions themselves that fascinate me, it's... where they come from." "Are they true?" "Is it possible that there is something all-pervading around us which we are incapable of seeing, that your data can't analyze... which only the prophets and birds can express?" "He has the habit of saying it at the oddest moments." ""Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth,"" "while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say," ""I had no pleasure in them."" "Ecclesiastes." "You have done research at the institute for developmental biology in tubingen?" "I worked with model organisms, such as the zebra fish, fruit flies, and a form of cress from the cabbage family." "Interesting." "It has been shown that genes which influence development work in a similar way in different organisms, be they flies, or people, or cress." "And you are currently doing research at the Max planck institute of biochemistry in Munich." "Technically yes." "But here, you are thrown back into biochemistry." "Sometimes you do step back in your life." "You don't seem pleased by this." " Well..." " Your life... as I have observed it, seems to be a happy one for you." "There is someone's future to care for." "What do you know about my life?" "Are you not blessed with a beautiful daughter?" "Eight years old?" "I'm..." "I'm sorry." "What a clumsy fool I am." "I find your treatment of my colleagues and me clumsy." "Accepted." "But for that, I shall not apologize." "I've given up part of myself, but not that." "How are meier and cavani?" "If you have harmed meier or cavani, you will be tried before an international tribunal and you will suffer severe punishment." "Can we finally talk business?" "Mr. krauss, do I see you walking?" "Yes, you do." "Is this a miracle?" "No, I only use the wheelchair when I am tired of life." "This is not the way we should do it." "I propose we finish it now." "The moment of truth." "Not the entire truth." "If that moment is to ever come, it will depend on professor sommerfeld." "And on time." "How much time?" "Truth... is the only daughter of time." "I somehow feel a threat out there." "I'm glad I have the distraction of my data." "There is something strange and potentially dangerous about Riley." "I need to keep him talking." "We have a lot of documentation on the court proceedings against animals." "Oh yeah, see." "A sow was sentenced to death for killing and eating a toddler." "The pig was burnt at the stake." "And here." "The salamander?" "Oh yeah, the salamander was... believed to originate from fire, being a companion of the devil." "See, here it says," ""this salamander was exorcised with a bucket of holy water." "Then burned."" "I think I was meant to live a different life." "Look in this silver column." "Wow." "I see, it's anamorphic art." "Yes." "And this is the descent from the cross." "You see, this is what your situation must look like to you, unclear, contorted." "But if you move one step further, everything falls into place." "Everything makes sense." "At least, that's what I think." "It's a question of which angle you choose to look from." "This sounds like a banality, like-like..." "Like what?" "I am open to criticism." "Well, I don't want to sound insulting, but it sounds like a shallow pseudo argument, like "all africans have rhythm in their blood."" "I bow to you." "May I be more precise about different angles, perspectives?" "Yes." "All my life..." "I've wanted to see this in person." "Where is this cloister?" "In Rome." "In the convent of the santissima trinità." "Now, just look along this corridor." "Completely normal." "A Saint sitting under a tree." "But... the nearer one approaches, the more... incomprehensible the forms become." "Until..." "Look at this." "The folds in the Saint's cowl become this vast stretched out landscape." "The folds, in fact, elongated like this, become the strait of messina, which the Saint wanted to cross, but the boatman would not take him." "So he threw his coat onto the water... and surfed to sicily." "Just imagine yourself walking along this cloister." "I have always dreamed of this." "You know, the truth is" "I don't really wanna be ceo of the consortium anymore... or anything else, for that matter." "That's why I live here." "It's a different life." "I'm trying to bring who I really am into focus." "You see?" "I would have offered you these quarters for your comfort, but I couldn't." "Why is that?" "Well." "A hundred years ago... the President of the Republic died in this bed, and it has to be kept this way for all time." "There are so many ancient things here." "May I be straightforward?" "What do you want from me?" "I kind of like you." "Me, as a person?" "No." "As a woman?" "I find you very attractive, but there is something beyond that." "I know I act as if I know everything, but allow me to ask about your daughter again." "My apologies." "If you do not wish to speak, I fully understand." "I only took this assignment because of my daughter." "In what sense?" "I had to divert my thoughts." "I had to be occupied by something." "I had to have a job far out in the field." "This makes me curious." "My daughter has not been with me for four years now." "Where is she?" "She is in Morocco." " Morocco?" " Yeah." "She's with her biological father." "But I know that you've never been married." "Her father took her back to his country... and he refuses to return her." "I have sued ever since, but the Moroccan legal system is very slow." "I'm sorry to hear that." "Having children invites tragedy." "You have children?" "Are you afraid of something?" "Do I look like it?" "No." "I apologize." "I used to be afraid as a little boy." "Children who aren't afraid scare me." "A little boy who isn't afraid would cease to be a boy." "Hmm." "I used to be afraid of the dark, but my grandmother told me something that stuck with me ever since." "She said," ""it's okay to be afraid of the dark,"" "but the real tragedy in life..." ""is when men are afraid of the light."" "Get your bag." " Where are we going?" " Get it now." "I demand to know where we are going." "Get in the car." "No, I'm-I'm not leaving without my colleagues." "Where are they?" "Please do not embarrass me." "Tell me what's happened to Dr. meier and Dr. cavani." "They are safe." " And me?" " You are not." "I am your prisoner, but as such, I would like to..." "As much as you are, I am a prisoner myself... of my plans." "There is no way back now." "Where are we?" "Only a short distance from the very place you traveled ten thousand miles to see." "Lake diablo blanco." "Although these trains were abandoned here a hundred years ago... time has propelled them somewhere, maybe even into the future." "Is there such a thing as science fiction that looks back in time instead of ahead?" "Certainly." "See, these trains, they never had a purpose." "They had nothing to transport, nowhere to go." "Aliens must have left them here." "Sure thing." "Can I take a picture?" "Yes, as long as you keep my men out of the frame." "Please do it quickly, we have to move on." " But the railroads..." " They are senseless." "They only allow us to go from where we already are to where we're no better off." "This is uturuncu." "I thought it was important you see it." "Uturuncu." "The dormant volcano?" "I know what your field of study is, professor, but there is something much bigger looming than the diablo blanco disaster." "The entire area of uturuncu, thousands of square miles, is lifting, and the volcano itself is rising and expanding all at a rate that exceeds any previous measurements." "In fact it is rising so rapidly that we are experiencing permanent, round-the-clock tremors." "And what could happen?" "You should ask how fast it could happen." "It might happen in 200 thousand years, maybe in 20 thousand... or maybe in twenty." "There's no point in asking about nearby population." "When uturuncu erupts, our entire planet will be obscured for decades." "It won't matter if you live in the arctic, or the himalayas, or Australia." "We will disappear as a species." "I am more concerned about what we have created here." "Here and now." "A gigantic salt flat that is expanding rapidly." "So am I." "But what may overtake it all is the fire lying underneath." "We must face both." "Salt and fire." "Here lies a monster, on the verge of waking." "My guess is one day soon everyone will know how to pronounce uturuncu..." "Uturuncu." "This is my goal." "To bring you here." "But this is exactly where my colleagues and I were heading." "What's the point of all this?" "I only had an abstract idea how vast this is." "Just numbers." "The alarming thing is the speed of its expansion." "Almost 800 square miles per year." "If it continues to grow, the salt will cover the entire continent one day." "I'm inclined to think it could cover all land mass on the planet." "Science fiction." "I'd love to think that way." "Well, you know, speaking of that, this is the ideal landing site for aliens." "Nothing on the planet is so totally flat and so vast." "Even our satellites use it to calibrate their distance from the ground." " So, this is incahuasi island." " Put it on the ground." "Put it all down here." "I know it from maps." "I thought the world might see the depth of this place if you experience something new." "Meaning what?" "What are they doing over there?" " Hey!" " Drive!" "Go!" "Stop the car!" "Hey!" "Open the door!" "No, you can't leave me here!" "Stop it!" "Hey!" "There are children there!" "Are you mad?" "!" "Are you crazy?" "!" "You left children behind!" "What am I supposed to do with these kids?" "!" "Who are you?" "Huh?" "Do you know why we are here?" "Who are you?" "Do you know those men?" "Riley?" "Do you know Riley?" "Have you been here before?" "You know this place?" "Huh?" "Can you see me?" "Can you see me?" "Do you understand me?" "Can you understand me?" "Huh?" "Who are you?" "I am Laura." "Laura." "And you?" "What is your name?" "Laura." "Your name." "Huascar." "Huascar." "Huascar?" "And the other boy?" "The other boy?" "Is he your brother?" "Huh?" " Laura." " Laura." "And what is your name?" "Atahuallpa." "Ata-atahuallpa?" "Huascar." "Laura." "Are you brothers?" "Huascar?" "Atahuallpa?" "The royal inca brothers?" "Have you been here before?" "Do you know this island?" "Hey." "Do you know this island?" "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight." "That's all the water we have." "Come here." "Smell." "Onion." "In your language?" "Do you like onion?" "And now?" "What do we do, huh?" "We have to build a camp." "Let's do this together." "So, please, help me with this." "Unroll it." "Good." "And now unfold." "Very good." "And... one, two... three." "Very good." "Give me your hands." "Hold this." "Hold." "Okay?" "Hold still." "Good boy." "Good job." "Thank you." "I need your help, too." "Okay?" "Come with me." "Atahuallpa, hold it, please." "Stay here." "Stay here." "Stay here, stay here." "Don't move, don't move." "This is good now." "Don't move." "Good job." "Stand still." "Good." "Now..." "This is our home now." "All we have is food for about a week." "I worry about the water." "The salt absorbs all the humidity." "We have blankets, toilet paper, kitchen utensils, and a stove." "We are trapped here." "In a vast expanse of salt." "No fences, no locked doors." "Getting away from the island is impossible." "Returning to the shore would mean a three day trek across salt." "Okay." "Rice." "How do you call it?" "Hm?" " Sal." " Sal..." "Salt." "How about rice... and some of the dried fish?" "Hm?" "Wow, you did a nice job with the stove." "So..." " Laura." " Yes?" " Laura." " Hm?" "Ah, I'm supposed to hold my hand like this?" "Wow!" "Wow!" "This is magic!" "A magnet." "Wonderful." "Considering the circumstances, the night was good." "One of the boys talked in his sleep." "Why are we stranded here?" "Why is Riley doing this to us?" "How can we hold out?" "Huascar." "Ah, hm." "Is it good?" "Hmm, yes." "Si." "Ja?" "Ja." "Come here." "Like it?" "Hm?" "Atahuallpa." "Atahuallpa." "Huascar." "Huascar." "Come here." "It's good." "Huh?" "Like it?" "Yeah?" "Is it good?" "We better save the water for drinking." "Come here." "Huascar." "Atahuallpa!" "Huascar!" "Atahuallpa, you stay here." "You stay here, okay?" "What are you doing?" "Hm?" "You should hold your brother's hand." "Are you okay?" "Give me your hand." "Let's go." "Good." "One step to your right." "Big step there." "Do you hear anything?" "Uturuncu." "I can hear something." "Very distant." "Like a faint grumbling." "The salt plain obviously behaves like a gigantic membrane." "Are we sitting on a fire that is moving beneath us?" "My wish to have my scientific instruments with me is vanishing." "The ocean of salt around me changes my way of seeing things." "I find myself in a maze of lines I do not comprehend." "Just like an alien planet." "This is not of our world." "I wish the boys could see what I see." "If I stretched out my hands, I could harvest the stars." "Good." "Uno." "Ooh!" " Laura." " Laura." "Wow." "Six." "Oh!" "Feel." "Feel." "Six." "One, two, three, four, five, six." "Huascar." "Wow!" " Seis!" "Feel it." "Burry." "Uno, dos, tres, cuatro." "Aqui." "Cuatro." " Mm-mm." "Mm-mm." " Uno, dos, tres..." "Oh, oh." "Atahuallpa." "Did you cheat?" "Ja?" "You go back with this, huh?" "Four." "One, two, three, four." "Huascar." "Huascar, what did you do?" "Hm?" " Si, si." " Ja, ja, ja, ja." "You like cheating, huh?" "You like cheating." "Si." "Oh." " Congratulations." " Laura." "Come here." "You are two cheaters!" "You are two cheaters." "I saw that you were cheating on me." "Is that true?" "Did you cheat on Laura?" "All the time you were cheating on Laura, huh?" "You were cheating on me, you..." "Hm?" "I can't believe it is already Tuesday." "Time makes no sense anymore." "Here I am, stranded with two blind boys." "My former life has almost completely disappeared." "I feel that I'm changing." "But how, I do not know." "No..." "No." "What if nobody comes to our rescue?" "What do I tell the boys when we run out of water?" "They are totally unaware of the impending danger." "What are you doing?" "!" "There's such little water left!" "Hey!" "What did you do, huh?" "!" "Hey!" "I'm sorry." "Sorry, boys." "I'm sorry." "I hear nothing." "Niños!" "Here I am!" "Here I am!" "My boys." "Atahuallpa." " Hola, papa." "Huascar." "Hey, hey." " Papa!" " Oh!" "Oh!" "Oh!" "Oh." "Come closer." "You are part of the family now, so to speak." "Are you kidding?" "Are you kidding me?" "Good to see you again, Dr. sommerfeld." "Nice to see you again, krauss." "I want an explanation." "Accepted." "And an apology." "I will not apologize." "I deserve an apology." "You are with a man who is accepting he is going to prison." "How are my companions you have so kindly kidnapped and poisoned?" "They are in excellent shape... professor." "Thank god." "Well, there is one grave concern with Dr. cavani." "He is grown slightly pale and needs to be sent to a tanning salon." "These boys... they are my sons." "Their mother died shortly after she gave birth to the younger one, atahuallpa." "She died because of the toxicity of the environment around the town." "She was a local woman from colchani." "These boys are mine now." "I adopted them after their mother died." "And in three years they will be completely blind." "Blind children have no stake in any regime." "What does it have to do with my report on diablo blanco?" "This disaster is man-made." " Of course it is." " No." "Let me speak." "You see, I am the ceo of the consortium, which is responsible for all of this." "The toxins, the desiccation of the lake, the transformation of a whole landscape... into salt." "The failure of a "glorious" irrigation system which diverted two large rivers." "Both of which are now beyond repair." "And the salt here is expanding." "There were fish here... a few decades ago." "Boats." "Fishermen." "Hard to imagine, isn't it?" "But I was prepared to report on this." "Why did you take me hostage?" "I wanted a report back to the united nations that contained something more than scientific data, graphs and lifeless statistics." "A report with something different in it." "A report of a lake so poisonous... that two boys who grew up near its shores became blind!" "They will never see a world like this again." "And now, before I turn myself in to the authorities... please allow me two things." "And this is number one." "Number one." "Laura, can I call you by your first name?" "Of course." "Please bring me..." "Your tablet... a toy, and a spoon." "My tablet... a toy, and a spoon?" "Yes." "Okay." "Okay, Laura, take a step to the left." "Tiny." "Right." "Good." "Okay." "Hold your arms up." "Okay, now, elbows to hips." " Like that?" " Right, and your hands flat." "Like this." "Okay..." "One... two..." "Three." "Okay, crouch down." "Crouch down." "Okay, now hold still." "Perfect, perfect." "Laura, a little bit to the left." "That's good, okay." "Put your back foot up!" "Ah, that's good." "Okay, scream!" "These photos will keep me company in prison." "That's why I wanted them, you see." "And here is the second thing I wanted to do." " It's for me?" " Yes." "A ticket to Rome?" "First class?" "Have you forgotten santissima trinità?" "The Saint under the tree?" "Right." "But what if you do not turn yourself in?" "I'll be caught anyway." "Then go on the run..." "To Rome." "I guess that's where I'm going to be." "I don't know what to say." "Why are you standing here?" "Book yourself a ticket." "Guys, guys, I have a premonition about this." "We have to celebrate with champagne." "All that's missing are alien astronauts from a faraway galaxy, traveling for centuries through the eternal darkness of space." "They see this white heaven below, and they descended their space craft with flickering lights in a cloud of salt." "Wonderful." "But how do we attract them?" "We need some kind of satellite transmission." "Nonsense." "The champagne will be the bait."