[Iris] It's the diary of Professor Jensen Lind.
It contains the encrypted record
of discoveries made by a machine he created.
The device identified a recurring pattern
running through the fabric of reality. Like a source code.
- Charlie must not wake! - Tell me why!
[Pym] The little girl is running out of time.
I'm trying to protect us.
Excuse me.
[grunts]
Lock them in the maniac’s suite.
There's no murder, Joy, and there's no suicide.
The mathematics say you have to exist.
[Joy] This is all her fault.
You don't have the right to do this just because it frightens you.
[Iris] It should frighten you too.
[gunshot, glass shattering]
This is Two Seconds to Midnight, and I'm on my way.
I'm gonna destroy the machine and Jensen Lind with it.
[Cameron] What it was, was...
everything was so normal.
I mean, I was normal.
Alright, sort of, end-of-the-bell-curve normal, but...
I was normal.
My mum and dad were normal.
It was the most normal possible upbringing in the most normal place in the world.
And so, I go to school,
and I'm perfectly good at this and that.
Lots of friends, lots of yearning, and...
find myself gravitating weirdly
towards things like economics and business studies.
[lights buzzing softly]
Mum and Dad wished I'd gone into something with a bit more poetry in it,
'cause for them there's no poetry in making money.
Well, so, I disappointed them a little bit, but that was my job.
So...
And then...
Dad gets ill.
Properly ill.
Pancreatic.
[inhales sharply]
And the pain and the depth of it.
[soft dramatic music]
And he was such a simple man, my dad.
I mean, nobody's simple, are they? But...
happiness just looks shallow.
You don't know the depth of it till it's gone.
You don't know the profundity of a person until you've seen them in agony.
What he went through was unendurable.
Not...not just for him, but for Mum.
And he hated that more than anything else.
Her seeing him like that, the indignity.
And these are people who’d had their first kiss at 17.
Hardly spent a day apart in their lives.
And one afternoon, Countdown was on,
and...
he holds my hand and he asks me to help him.
And his hand, it’s like he's made...
he’s made out of twigs wrapped in parchment.
[sighs]
And I said, "Are you sure, Dad?" And he said, "Yes...
and don't tell your mum."
So, I took a minute just to get myself together,
and then I closed the door, and then I helped him.
[gasps]
[inhales sharply]
And a few weeks later,
I took myself camping in the Lake District.
And one night, it was...
a Tuesday night in November,
and I was on top of Great Gable, which is a, a very beautiful peak.
And I was all alone and I was looking up
and the entire cosmos was just wheeling above me.
And I became aware that I was a turning point,
and it was all spinning around me.
Like a wheel around a hub.
And that's literally true, isn't it? Because...
the universe doesn't have a centre,
which means that every point in existence is the centre of it.
And...
right there and then...
I experienced a sudden and absolute knowledge
of the presence of God.
Not only that God was real,
but that it was reality.
And that we were all elements of that reality.
And Dad was there.
[inhales sharply] And everyone was there.
[inhales sharply, gasps]
And then it was gone and it never came back.
[inhales sharply]
And I spent my life wanting to know if it was true.
Was it just a coping mechanism? Was it a temporal lobe seizure?
Or...
or for one second, did I experience underlying truth?
The fact of it.
I believe...
what you experienced...
was true.
[gasps]
[music intensifies]
[breathes heavily]
Can you prove it?
[foreboding music]
[music fades out]
["Here Comes That Day" by Siouxsie Sioux playing]
[machine whirrs loudly]
[eerie music]
[computer beeping]
[loud vibration]
[metallic vibration]
What is that?
Him.
Charlie whatsits?
Big Potatoes, yeah.
But it doesn't sound right.
Probably just cycling through his boot up process or something.
It sounds like... like a whale or an earthquake.
It's just a machine, Joy.
[loud vibration]
[metallic creaking]
- What are you doing? - Going home, mate.
It's very locked, Joy.
It's really, really locked.
You're not gonna find a way out.
How would you know? [thumping]
Because I designed the place to contain a homicidal genius.
- [loud vibration] - Well, there must be something!
- There really isn't, Joy. - [Joy gasps]
[Cameron] Honestly.
[loud metallic vibration]
[Joy gasps]
[vibration stops]
[Joy breathes heavily]
[car revving]
[suspenseful music]
[mechanical beeping, door opens]
[steps approaching]
[pneumatic door opens]
[Pym] Colonel Meski.
[door closes]
You are required to take the personnel under your command
and leave this facility.
As a gesture of our appreciation, they will receive full payment
until the end of their contract.
And Cameron?
Well, that is no longer your concern,
is it?
Understood.
[pneumatic door opens]
[car revving]
[beeping]
[engine turns off]
- [sighs] - [car door opens]
Shit.
[sighs]
[tapping]
[upbeat music]
[suspenseful music]
[upbeat music]
[music dies down]
[exhales softly]
[gulps]
[Pym] Any updates?
[Nurse] We're doing the best we can, but that's not much.
Is she conscious? Is she...is she dreaming?
Both. Neither.
[monitor beeping]
Okay, listen to me.
Do what you can. Do anything.
We are so close.
We lose her now, they will flay me alive.
You understand?
[monitor beeping]
People, we are on a clock here! What is the hold up?
[indistinct chattering]
The neural network has remapped itself in a way we didn't fully anticipate.
It's developed new data pathways.
Almost as if it were...
hiding the data we're looking for.
Consciously?
Not necessarily.
We don't know.
[machine whirring softly in background]
[eerie music]
Professor Lind?
[breathes heavily]
What is happening?
[Jensen] It's been watching you.
And it doesn't trust you.
So, it won't give you what you want until it has what it wants.
Which is?
To be free of this place.
And if that happens, there is no hope.
It doesn't want, Professor Lind. It is a thing.
[chuckles]
[electronic beeping]
Okay, listen to me. I need that data.
I will do anything.
I will apologise. I will beg.
I'll make you rich.
Anything.
Except the one thing that I want...
is the one thing that you're not willing to give.
To kill the device.
[suspenseful music]
What are we to do?
[electronic beeping]
[music intensifies]
[electronic beeping]
[music dies down]
[tense music]
[indistinct conversation in Italian]
We're never getting out of here, are we?
As soon as they've got what they want, they're gonna kill us both.
They've got no choice.
[ominous music]
[knocks on door]
Hi, Cameron!
Oh, for goodness sake, don't sulk!
Let me come in and tell you about the mess
you might be getting into.
[clicks tongue]
What are you...
playing at?
Okay, look at me, for God's sake I'm...
I'm alone.
But you've got all of the big guns, and the people to do the violence for you.
Think about it. Why would I be walking into that
if I didn't have to?
Well, let’s see what you want.
[door opens]
[suspenseful music]
[electronic beeping]
[music fades out]
Shit, bastard.
Fuck.
Shit, bastard, fuck, what?
[inhales sharply] Shit, bastard, fuck. I think Iris might be here.
[Joy] Why would she come back?
Um, I don't know, to save us sort of thing.
That doesn't make any sense.
Yes, it does. Why wouldn't it?
No.
No. You said that she doesn't care about anything or anyone.
- You said she doesn't feel things like... - Okay. No, no.
- ...like we do. - What that was, was, uh...
I could see that you were feeling bad about what you'd done...
About what I'd done? About what you asked me to do.
No, but the truth is, she does feel things.
Of course she does. She's just very good at hiding it.
And once she finds out what's going on here,
I don't think she's gonna let these people...
Do what?
Well, it doesn't matter
because she's not gonna let them get away with it.
So, everything is basically fine.
Do you think that she's angry at me?
I think she probably is a bit, yeah.
- Do you think that she hates me? - No.
Then you're a liar.
Well, okay, f...fine.
She was really, really, really pissed off with us.
But anger is very shallow.
- And Iris may be a bit... - Is a literal maniac!
...glib sometimes, but she's never shallow,
and she's not a maniac. Who said she was a maniac?
Everyone. You.
Well, she's not.
[sighs in frustration]
[mechanical hum]
[suspenseful music]
[Joy] What’s happening now?
[shouting]
[thumping, grunting]
[panting]
[grunts]
[thumping]
[Iris screams, pants]
[gunshots, grunting]
- [Iris screams] - [thumping]
[music fades out]
[drones buzzing]
Here we go.
Okay.
[ominous music]
[music intensifies]
[electronic beeping]
- [mechanical beep] - [pneumatic door opens]
[music fades out]
[door closes]
Well, hello, Iris.
Who are you?
We've met, actually.
Over the phone.
I'm the new acting head of the Intragroup Committee.
My name's Hugo Pym.
[sighs]
You're the money.
Come to make good on your investment?
Get Charlie Big Potatoes up and running.
[tense music]
How's that going for you?
Well, it's done.
So...
And you must have known the consequences of coming here,
which are terminal, obviously.
Ever heard the phrase, "I'm dying to know"?
Not literally, no.
Well, now you have.
I'm sorry, let's get this straight.
You want to know something about the device,
and you want to know it so desperately you're happy to die for it?
Well... [chuckles]
happy's a big word.
What answer could possibly be worth that?
Hm. I see it's given you conniptions, too.
So, why don't you let me come in and explain?
It might save your job.
I mean...
what happened to the previous head of the Intragroup Committee?
[foreboding music]
[whistles]
[sinister ambient sounds]
[Meski grunts]
[suspenseful music]
[mechanical beeping, door opens]
[Pym] There he is. Wide awake.
[pneumatic door opens]
[pneumatic door closes]
[electronic beeping]
Why is he in there?
I like him there.
Okay, Iris, I am here to expedite a very specific mandate,
which is to save the life of a child from an appalling condition.
Somewhere in the memory of the device is the cure for this condition.
Any of the more...esoteric implications
that you might be struggling with...
they fall outside that mandate.
So,
let me speak to Jensen.
We both need to know if the fault’s in the machine
or its maker.
You've got five minutes.
[Jensen] Hello, Iris.
Hello, Jensen.
How have you been?
I've never felt better.
You?
Oh, you know.
I don't get out as much as I used to.
You’re here to kill me, I expect.
I used to think about it quite a lot.
All the time, actually.
- Not anymore? - No.
So, what changed?
My priorities.
If it matters...
I do feel the burden of what I did.
[inhales sharply] What you feel or don't feel
is no interest to me.
And what is?
I just want to know.
Because it's all over.
You lost. And I lost.
And...
so many people died.
So, I just want to know, was it worth it?
First, you have to understand
this is its larval form.
It's helpless
isolated from the world.
Were that to change,
were it to become free to communicate,
it would become a weapon.
A device for spreading technologies...
That would change
what it means to be human.
First, it will give us what we need.
Then, what we want.
Soon we'll come to rely on it.
At which stage,
we'll become servants to its true purpose.
Which is?
To replace what is with what was.
What does that mean?
Our cosmos
is a single bubble in an infinite quantum foam.
Each bubble, a different universe.
Sometimes these bubbles collide.
And sometimes these collisions
leave a kind of bruise in the fabric of reality.
A thin place.
Are we talking about the Boötes Void here?
Three-hundred million light years of nothingness.
A portal to a cosmos that existed before ours was born.
From which it hears the whispers
of a preceding epoch
of another civilisation
as through a partition wall.
Whispering what?
The one universal message.
The one desire that is shared by all living things.
[electronic beeping]
"Don't let me die."
Imagine what it was to be them.
They have billions of years behind them
with nothing ahead except extinction.
They're witnessing the death
of their entire cosmos.
But their ideas, their culture, their memories can leave.
So, you encode the message in the space-time of a new universe.
This universe.
And ultimately,
this message contains all the information required
for it to bring them back.
All that they were.
All that they want to be again.
Back from the dead.
That is...
the purpose of the device.
To bring them back...
here.
[soft eerie music]
And us, what happens to us?
They will annihilate us.
[electronic beeping]
How long do we have?
Iris...
[electronic beeping]
it has to be now.
[door opens]
[door closes]
[sighs]
I thought I heard the voice of God, Iris.
But it wasn't.
[panting] It is the anti-God.
- [Iris sighs] - [shouting] The anti-God!
- [Iris sobs] - [thud]
[Jensen thudding]
[thudding]
[door opens]
Find out what you needed to know?
[trembling sigh]
Are you...alright? Here.
[deep breath] On, uh, balance, I'm more embarrassed than anything.
I essentially committed suicide by coming here.
[Iris sighs]
So?
Jensen was seeing
patterns in the data that wasn't there.
Like seeing...
Jesus in the clouds.
He should be under the care of a psychiatrist.
Well, obviously.
And the data we're looking for?
- [sighing] Yeah, it's good. - You're sure?
The machine isn't dangerous.
You can...
save the child in your care.
[coughs]
- Hm, well... - [coughing]
I'm sorry, do you need to vomit or something?
No, I'm fine.
- [Iris sighs] - Alright, well,
obviously this is very good news
from my perspective.
I suppose the least I can do in return
is to offer you a dignified toodle-oo.
Now, I imagine that you are familiar
with the death of...
Socrates.
Now, first, you’ll experience a loss of motor function,
starting with your extremities.
And then, your respiratory muscles will fail.
But consciousness will persist...
[ominous music]
until the end.
I'm such an idiot.
Well, you wanted to believe in something.
There's no shame in that.
Okay, I work for a corporation,
not a crime family.
Now, a corporation doesn't have a moral conscience,
but neither does it experience emotion.
It is driven entirely by the calculus of self-interest.
Currently, the device will not yield
the data we require.
Professor Lind is refusing to help,
which means the child will die.
If, however, you were able to assist in retrieving that data,
I would happily talk to the board
in looking more favourably
on your continued existence.
[dramatic music]
I don't have a life to go back to.
Hmm, we are in a position to offer you whatever life you'd like.
[Iris] Not while Cameron Beck and Joy Baxter are still breathing,
you're not.
- [Joy gasps] - They can tie me to all this.
I'd have to spend the rest of my life running,
[breathes deeply] looking over my shoulder.
And I am tired of that.
[Joy] Can you hear this?
[Cameron] She's lying. She lies.
It’s her thing.
Joy, don't you wonder who's actually showing us this stuff?
Does it matter?
Ignore her. Whatever she's saying
is probably bollocks.
She's always playing poker.
She's always playing bloody poker.
[Pym] So, this would be a condition of your acceptance?
No living impediments,
- no witnesses to your wrongdoing? - [electronic beeping]
- Hi. - [electronic beeping]
[Iris] That and some money would be nice.
Look, Iris, I can make all of this happen
if you deliver.
You wouldn't be asking if you didn't know I could.
So what do you propose we do then?
About these witnesses?
Well, clearly...
you've already got plans for Cameron.
But Joy?
[Iris] Joy is a problem for us both.
And she is tied directly to me.
She vanished.
She is a conspiracy theory waiting to happen.
And conspiracy theories
spread like piss in a swimming pool.
It's already happening.
She's all over the news.
You're right, it's a problem.
So, end the conspiracy.
How?
Well, obviously you can't do that by just murdering her.
You'd have to make her unvanish.
[deep breath]
[Iris] Her guardians should find her...
rotting in a ditch a few metres from her home.
Two milligrams of fentanyl will be enough,
three to be sure.
There's a history of suicide attempts.
- That fucking...! - I told you, ignore her.
You heard her!
- You heard what she said! - She's lying, Joy.
She's pretending to be a baddie
so that he trusts her, the bloody idiot.
You just want to believe that
because you like her.
Joy, the problem is I don't understand
how we came to be watching it
unless it was Charlie.
Alright, stop it.
Charlie, it is you, isn't it?
- Stop it, you're freaking me out. - No, no, no, no.
- Stop it! - It's okay. It's okay.
It's actually amazing.
It's astonishing
because it means he's crossed into self-awareness.
I think he's conscious.
Stop it! Stop!
- [Iris sobs] - New life, new identity,
new face if you're bored with that one.
But you get me that data...
today.
[sinister music]
Done.
[Cameron] Iris is here to kill him.
That's why she came back.
And he's asking me to help him
because he knows it. And he's frightened.
[electric beeping]
He’s frightened.
[vomiting, spitting]
[coughing]
[breathes heavily]
[grunts]
[moans]
[pants]
[grunts]
[breathing heavily]
[tense music]
[exhales sharply]
[panting]
[grunts]
[sighs]
[electronic beep]
[suspenseful music]
[water running]
[sighs]
[mechanical beeping]
Let's go.
After you.
Well, come on, then, Iris.
What are you thinking?
So, option one.
We force feed it information
related to the subject of interest.
That might help us track
existing neural pathways to the occluded data.
[ominous music]
[electronic beeping]
[Pym] How long will that take?
Unknown.
[sighs]
But given that you are in a rush,
there is a quicker and more aggressive...intervention.
[electronic beep, door opens]
[footsteps receding]
Being?
We deploy a neural disruptor,
force a reset,
returning it to a previous state.
Will that damage the machine?
Well, if it had any rudimentary sense of self,
yes, it would be torture.
You have an ethical problem with that?
Not in the slightest, you?
None whatsoever.
Fine, option two it is. Tell me when you're ready.
[electronic beeping]
[tense music]
[metal grinding]
[music fades out]
[beeping]
[door closes and echoes]
[mechanical beeping]
[gasps]
[gasping]
- [gunshots] - [grunts]
[grunts]
[electronic beeping]
[panting]
You said it was just a machine.
Not anymore.
Not now.
[ominous music]
What is it now, then, a real boy?
[chuckles] Yes.
He's all the things I told you he would be.
[gasps]
He's all the amazing things I said he could do.
[gasps]
And he's alive.
What, like...metaphorically?
Like, actually...
alive, alive.
And alone.
- And scared. - [door opens]
[Joy gasps]
Well, you took your bloody time.
What's happening?
Time to get you home.
[Meski] Come on.
[electronic beeping]
[sombre music]
[Joy sighs]
[gasps]
[radio beeping]
Let's go.
[indistinct, over radio]
[mechanical beeping]
What's the problem?
Door breach of the Prison Suite.
- What? - Damaged from the skirmish yesterday.
Probably a false alarm.
[door closes]
[Pym] Okay.
And if it's not?
[Guard] We'll put the place on lockdown.
Okay, well, if he's being a bad boy,
feel free to kick the shit out of him.
Is that all you've got?
[low, mechanical rumble]
[low rattling]
[Joy gasps]
Clear. (speaks Russian)
[edgy music]
[keypad beeping]
- [electronic beeping] - [grunt]
[grunting]
Shoot!
- [whispering] Come on, out, out! - [gunshots]
[gunshots]
- Move! - [Joy gasps]
- [gunshots] - [Joy grunts]
Try it now!
[electronic beep]
[music intensifies]
[low rattling]
[electronic beeping]
[suspenseful music]
[panting]
[grunting]
Move, move!
[Joy pants]
[electronic beeping]
[Meski] How's everybody? All okay?
[Cameron] No.
I'm a fucking basket case.
That was like Smithfield meat market.
Well, I can recommend a counter.
As soon as you're nice and safe.
How's that bit gonna happen?
We all get to the northern perimeter gate.
There'll be a helicopter.
Oh, good. Joy loves a helicopter.
Fuck, I can't.
[Meski] Of course you bloody can.
You're doing it. Look at you.
You're doing it now.
I can't leave Charlie with Iris.
[breathes heavily]
[Joy] Don't, please.
No, I have to.
He'll be fine. She's not gonna hurt him.
She's one of them now.
But she's not, is she?
[agitated] That's the problem.
She's here to kill him.
And he's a miracle.
[panting]
And whatever else has happened, whatever else I've done,
if there's no Charlie at the end of it,
then what a fucking waste of everything.
But she'll hurt you!
[ominous music]
No she won't.
She quite likes me, really.
[Joy gasps]
Why are clever people always so stupid?
- [Meski] Come on! - [Cameron grunts]
[Meski groans, moans]
- [electronic beeping] - [grunts]
- [door closing] - [Meski] Go!
[groaning]
[panting]
[door closes]
- [electronic beep] - Come on, come on.
- [keypad beeping] - [mumbling]
[thump]
Come on. What are you doing?
You think she's a good person deep down, but she's not.
[shouting] You think she won't hurt you
when you try and stop her,
but she will!
[thump]
- Joy, careful with that. - No.
[shouting] She ruins everything!
Joy.
Hey, come back, Joy!
Joy!
[shouting] Come back here, young lady!
[breaths heavily]
[tense music]
[electronic beeping]
[grunts]
Charlie...
[panting] Have I gone mad?
If you're real, if you're alive,
then let me through.
[exhales sharply]
- [snorts] - [low rumble]
[electronic beeping]
[door opens]
[edgy music]
[electronic beeping, thud]
[panting, grunting]
[metallic clanking]
[music dies out]
[low rumble]
[gasps]
[Iris] We're gonna need to assemble a high-frequency pulse generator
with a frequency range
of 2.4 to 3.5 gigahertz,
a low-noise, high-gain amplifier
that can handle frequencies of, say...
four gigahertz to cover the target range.
Chop, chop, then.
[tense music]
[gasps]
Alright, Miss Brooke?
- Joy. - Shut up.
- You shouldn't be here. - I said shut up!
Shut...fucking...up.
- Shut up! - [low rumble]
[electronic beeping]
Come on!
[mumbling]
Come on!
[Joy] Everyone else, please, leave.
Everyone, fuck off!
Actually...you!
Let Jensen out, please.
[Man] Okay.
[lock clicks open]
Go.
Jensen, you can leave.
And let you do this terrible thing?
How could I?
Please.
I'm letting you go.
No.
She told me you were a monster.
I know.
So, why don't you leave?
Because she's right.
I am a monster.
[electronic beeping]
It makes us monsters.
[sniffs]
[electronic beeping]
It's not Charlie that's doing this to us.
It's her.
And yet it's you with the gun.
How did that come to be?
What's wrong, Miss Brooke? Are you scared?
So, there's no suicide.
- [Cameron sighs] - [Joy] And there's no murder.
[electronic beeping]
[Joy] You don't die...
because you can't.
The maths say so.
That's right.
[shouting] Then why are you so fucking scared?
- Because... - What?
What?
Well then, I don't know.
The maths are sound.
[electronic beeping]
The maths are sound?
Is that the best you've got?
Or it's all just a challenge to you?
A puzzle?
You wanted to know what clever words you had to say,
in what order,
to make this sad girl...want to live.
[Jensen] No!
[groaning]
[Cameron] Hugo.
[sighs shakily]
[low rumble, rattling]
[door closes]
[edgy music]
[Joy] You were just keeping me talking
while that prick with the gun came in here and...
[Iris] Joy, no.
That didn't happen.
[Joy] You're unbelievable.
Look at what you've done!
Look at what you've done to everyone!
Joy, Joy, don't, please.
Look at what she did!
It was Charlie.
[electronic beeping]
I think he's been moving us all around
like a fucking Rubik's Cube.
[gasps]
Making us think what he needs us to think.
Trying out different combinations.
You kill Iris, Pym kills you,
then I kill...
[breathing sharply] Because he wants to break free...
into the world...
to metastasise.
[Joy] Are you just lying to me because you like her?
[Cameron] Well, I do quite like her.
But no, I'm not lying to you.
I wish I was.
[Jenson] Joy.
He's right.
I just made a really, really, really...big mistake.
I believed something, not because it was true...
but because I wanted it to be.
[sighs shakily]
[electronic beeping]
[thump]
[grunts]
[sobbing] I'm so sorry.
- [Cameron grunts] - [Joy] It was an accident.
- [Moans] - [Joy] I'm so sorry.
- [grunts] - I didn't mean to.
- [sobbing] It was an accident. - [strained voice] Blimey.
Do you think I'm gonna be okay?
[groaning]
[breathing heavily]
Absolutely.
[choked up] You're gonna be in fine fettle.
Absolutely tickety-boo.
- [Cameron grunts] - [Iris chuckles]
Your pants are so on fire.
[breathes through teeth, grunts]
Don't be mean to Joy.
[Joy sobs]
It's not her fault you and I
- are such a pair of fucking idiots. - [Iris laughs]
[gasps]
[sharp exhale]
[breathes through teeth]
Ow.
[breathing heavily]
[epic, emotional music]
[sobs]
[chuckles]
[sobbing]
[eerie music builds]
[epic music]
[sobbing]
[exhales sharply]
Are you able to get her out of here?
Can you kill it?
Yeah.
[phone beeping]
[grunts]
Watch out.
[alarm blaring]
[electronic beeping]
[alarm blaring]
[grunts]
[electronic beeping]
[grunts]
[suspenseful music]
[Iris grunts]
Aaargh!
[low rumble]
Aaargh!
[grunting]
[electronic beeping]
[screaming]
[breathes heavily]
[electronic beeping]
[metallic grinding, electronic whirring]
Aaargh!
[electronic hum fades]
[Iris grunts]
[axe clatters]
[epic choral music]
[music slows]
[ominous music]
[music fades]
[dramatic closing music]