[Off-kilter synth music]
[Upbeat synth-pop music]
[Eerie music]
[The Voice] 25 kilometres from the epicentre.
[Music continues]
[Harsh electrical crackling]
- [The Voice] Bulk. - [Man] Number 21.
[Explosive rumble reverberates]
[Low whoosh]
[Man] Two.
[Moody music]
[Man] Three.
[Tyres screech]
Where are we going, cabbie?
- I'm not your cabbie. - [Harlan] What's going on?
[Harsh electrical crackling]
[Music continues]
[Man] Four.
[Music stops]
Is this a kidnapping? This is it, isn't it?
- Who sent you? - Shut up.
Ah, Mr Harlan. Always good to see you.
- We've met? - [Aclima] I'm Aclima. This is Karl.
Don't say my name in front of him.
We have to hurry this along. We are on a schedule.
Chop chop, darlings.
[Harlan] Okay, okay, but I don't feel good.
- [Aclima] Do you want a glass of water? - [Harlan] Please.
[Sessler] Move it, sunshine.
[Aclima] Have you got his credentials, qualifications, diplomas?
[Uneasy music]
[Sessler] He's a freelance journalist, single...
[Harlan] Looking for love.
[Sessler] Physically, he checks out -
brain scan, ECG, cardio, graphology, iris scan...
...astronomy, astrology.
So, basically, you are who we think you are.
Well, what do I know about you two?
You vibe "cop".
You're a little harder to pin down.
Is that a squirt of Coco?
It's not perfume, it's room freshener.
- Academic. Technical training... - One thing...
...from your general demeanour.
[Aclima] Sure.
Is this what passes for charm in your world, Mr Harlan?
[Pulsing music]
It looks like he's been poisoned.
- Not your doing? - [Sessler] Nah, not this.
Heavy metals. I only use opioids.
We have two minutes to get this.
The portal will start to close otherwise.
You've got a nosebleed. Too many big words.
You're so obnoxious.
- Does that ever work for you? - [Harlan] When I was younger.
- Where am I now? - [Sessler] You've arrived at the House.
You're his boss. The ex-cop and the scientist.
- She's not my boss. - Yes, I am.
And I'm not an ex-cop.
- Come in here, please, Mr Harlan. - [Harlan] No drugging. No drinking.
- No gouging. No kidnapping. - [The Voice] Reception.
[Steady ticking]
[Harlan] This isn't a kidnapping, it's...
too formal.
Must be his journalistic background that makes him so sharp.
I work for Chambers. Anton Chambers.
- [Harlan] Chambers? - [Aclima] Mm-hm.
Can you fill this in, please?
Now, none of your scrawling. Use the Underwood.
[Harlan] Hm, Anton Chambers is behind this?
[He exhales]
[Harlan] This is his house, isn't it?
The Brain Collider. Anton's science project.
[Typewriter clacks]
We don't call it that. The Brain Collider.
- [The Voice] Interview 85. - I don't call it that.
[The Voice] Aclima Benton.
They nicknamed it the Brain Collider because...
...because of what it did to people's minds.
It was designed to take every moment of your being
and merge them together.
From that point, they could re-sequence you
and rebuild you from scratch, but...
...there were problems in the early versions of the House's build.
And people had been hurt.
- Badly hurt. - [Steady ticking]
[Ticking continues]
- It's all clocks with you. - We are on schedule.
- [Sessler] Chambers is the big dog. - [Shutter clicks]
Yeah, I know who he is.
Oligarch tech guy.
Disappeared about two years ago, in some sort of accident.
- What was it? An explosion? - An explosion?
Yeah, I knew him when he was just a billionaire,
messing about in crypto.
His interests became a little more... esoteric, later.
He was meant to be tapping another dimension for power sources.
Difficult business. No wonder it blew up in his face.
- Who hit you? - [Aclima] Oh.
Weak veins - sometimes they pop.
Mm.
You're lying.
- Know how I can tell? - Illuminate me.
You're not convincing.
In the eyes.
They're the windows to the soul.
My advice is get some shades, if you're going to fib.
Huh. Charming.
I don't lie well because I never learned. If that's a crime...
- sue me. - [Harlan] Did you have to drug me?
- [Typewriter clacks] - Procedure.
It's important that you have no baggage.
Yeah, I have no baggage, 'cause he got me out of bed.
- Past baggage. Context. - [Harlan] That's fuzzy.
[He groans]
[Aclima] Here's your itinerary.
And here is your procurement form.
Mm-hm.
- [Sessler] Okay, all good. - [Aclima] It's an order, Mr Sessler.
[Sessler clears throat]
Welcome to the House. Now, we don't have long.
[Throbbing music]
[Sessler] Psst! Psst!
Don't keep saying my name in front of him.
The process is self-deleting, memory-wise.
- This bit... - [Sessler exhales]
[Harlan] I know who you are.
Don't worry about it. I remember now.
- Yeah, because she told you... twice. - Because you look like a Sessler.
What's that supposed to mean?
[Harlan chuckles]
I'm joking.
I saw you last week.
You followed me around for a bit.
I got a picture of you.
Reverse image search with ex-service and police,
in nearby cities in the last ten years.
Sessler. K. Took about five minutes.
- [Aclima] Wow. - Karl... right?
You were in the military.
Then military police, then police, then went private.
[Harlan groans]
[Sessler whistles]
Clever. That's some real spy shit.
Funny, though - all your qualifications are science-based.
I wouldn't have thought you'd be into quantum physics.
There's no time for this. Chop chop.
Maybe you aren't as smart as you think you are.
Why do you find it so odd that a guy like me
could be into some serious science?
Maybe people can be two things at the same time.
Hm. In my experience...
they struggle to be one thing at the same time. Hm?
[The Voice] Interview 106.
[Interviewer] Were you flirting with Aclima?
- [The Voice] Corey Harlan. - Well, I'm glad you call it that.
I thought I was being charming.
But, looking back on it now, she was right.
I was being obnoxious.
I didn't know any other way.
Will this be like Anton's Mars trips?
The one that blew all those passengers to bits?
His company was cleared of any wrong-doing.
[Eerie music]
Well, I'm sure that's a relief for the families of the people who got killed.
This makes Mars look like a bus ride.
No commercial flight has ever travelled so far inter-dimensionally.
- We're travelling inter-dimensionally? - Always. In time, in space.
But... between dimensions?
Sure. It's the new frontier.
[Harlan] Where are we, really?
I'm lying in a bed somewhere, cabled up to computer, aren't I?
This is all a construct, isn't it?
No.
It's real enough.
You have a look to you I'm not sure about.
[Aclima] How so?
- There's something not right here. - [Click]
[Creak, clink]
I don't recognise you, but you look familiar.
I'm not sure how to take that.
- It's all déjà vu. - [Sessler] Ah, yes.
I feel like I've had one of those.
I've been here before.
[Gunshot reverberates]
- I've been here before! - [Voice echoes]
He's going into shock. Help me.
- I've been here before! - [Voice echoes, distorts]
I've been here before!
[Echo rises in pitch, dissipates]
- I've been here before! - [Echo dissipates]
- Please... no more drugs. - [Sessler] Take it easy.
[Harlan gasps]
- No more drugs! - We are here to help you, Mr Harlan.
- Let me do it sober. - [He breathes shakily]
Partially.
[Tense music; He breathes heavily]
[Aclima] Okay, are you calm?
[Music stops]
It was a sense of... fight or flight.
The room's atmosphere tasted of electricity
and smelled like... burning cables.
I mean, it didn't help whatever Sessler had given me,
along with the general poisoning that was making its way through my system,
that I didn't know about then.
I just felt awful.
And then embarrassed
I had the distinct feeling I knew them both,
but I just couldn't put my finger on it.
Like seeing an actor in the street - you think you know them, but you don't.
- [Sharp blip resonates] - I'm sorry.
It was like a rising panic.
Here's your itinerary. You better read it.
[Cup clinks]
[The Voice] "Itinerary - orientation phase -
- "Sessions - finish." - [Distorted electronic screeching]
And this is tailored to me? 'Cause it doesn't seem that specific.
What are these things?
They just kind of appear. The house generates them.
[He groans softly]
"Go with it."
Oh, brilliant.
[Aclima] Mm-hm.
Okay, I need to go now.
- See you, Aclima. - [Sessler] Good luck, Mr Harlan.
- Yeah, see you around, Flatfoot. - Huh, funny.
By the time you've finished here, you won't remember a thing.
- So, get fucked! - [He chuckles, door rattles]
- [Aclima] Sorry about that. - What did Sessler mean?
Part of the experience involves memories. It's better that you don't carry forward.
- [Uneasy music] - [Harlan] I won't remember?
Not all of it. You will retain the helpful parts,
and every time you pass through the process,
it will get better.
Great, so... I don't remember getting here,
I don't know why I'm here,
and, in the end, I won't remember anything about it.
Wait.
Have I been here before, then?
[Aclima] I don't think so.
Would you be able to remember if I had?
We help people at the House. We have rooms to give you room.
I have been here before, haven't I?
If you had, I wouldn't know. And if I did, I wouldn't tell you.
[He groans]
[Harlan winces]
- Are you okay? - [Harlan groans]
[Aclima] Can you smell... burnt toast?
[Harlan winces]
- Almonds? - [Harlan] No.
Dizzy? Nauseous?
- [He groans, winces] - No, I... I...
[Harlan groans, strains]
I am a reporter.
I'm doing a piece.
- That's why I'm here. - [Aclima] Mm-hm.
Paid for by my publisher, Jericho House Press Group.
J-H-P-G.
I'm here to...
Write...
Well, more of a puff piece, an advertorial.
He owes me. Freddie Bishop, the owner.
Had a bit of trouble on a job.
Guadalcanal.
It was bad.
PTSD.
I guess this is his way of...
That's what Anton said.
Oh, he did, did he?
- So, you have spoken to him? - Via internal electronic letter.
Anton said to be... on our best behaviour,
because a prize-winning reporter was coming through.
A reporter who needed some TLC.
He's going to write an article setting the world straight about the House.
So they understand it's safe. No more talk of accidents.
Hm. We'll see.
Everything is arranged, you see.
Well, we got there in the end, didn't we?
We have to be careful.
Spies.
[Aclima clears throat]
[Harlan] Well, not me.
I'm Corey Harlan, investigative reporter, Figero Pravda.
That's my byline.
- [Door opens] - [Harlan] Another visitor.
- [Aclima] Leaving, yes. - [Harlan] In a hurry.
[Aclima] I can't talk about it.
There's a confidentiality clause.
Can you take these pills and watch the video for me, please?
[Sharp blip resonates]
Down the hatch.
How long have you been working here for?
Me? Long time.
[Man, on tape] Introduction video presented by Aclima Benton.
My name is Aclima Benton.
- It's you! - [Aclima] I will be your guide today.
The House is a set of co-ordinates inside a multi-dimensional construct
known as the Bulk Brane.
- [Harlan] What? Who's brain? - No.
Brane, like crane with a B.
I know it's confusing. These are some challenging concepts.
Yeah, and, remember, I'm double-drugged at this point.
[Aclima, distorted] The central idea is that the visible, three-dimensi...
[Voice fades]
- [Voice re-emerges] -..inside a higher dimensional space,
called... the Bulk,
also known as hyper-space, so, no, Mr Harlan, it's not virtual reality.
[Aclima continues, distorted, on tape]
Should I have taken these on top of the stuff Sessler gave me?
Just listen to what I'm saying. It's important.
[Harlan] if you haven't been inside, how can you be my guide?
[Aclima] Oh, that's true.
I haven't, but she has.
[Aclima continues, distorted, on tape]
...and that will cause effects not seen in more standard cosmological models.
Maybe if I sat up...
[Aclima] ..the House is a narrative-based learning experience where the visitor -
you, Mr Harlan - is guided through a series of scenarios
by the House systems, bouncing from one dimensional room to the next.
This is the moment when you receive a call to adventure,
which will come in the form of a message, a dream
and an encounter with a mentor or guide.
Me, Aclima. Come, Mr Harlan.
Where are we going?
[Unnerving music]
- I have some bad news for you. - Is there any other kind?
- You have been poisoned. - A metaphorical poisoning?
- No, a literal one. - What with?
Heavy metals have been injected into your blood.
- [He groans] - I do feel sick.
I only have a few moments before the induction drug takes fully hold.
Is this the narrative system?
No, no, no, that's all broken.
We haven't much time.
- Okay. - You came to us to help.
- I did? - Anton Chambers reached out to you,
his old friend, to help us.
The poison you have been given - only Anton can help you.
You have 12 hours. Quid pro quo.
You save him. He saves you.
- That's the deal. - Save him how?
There's no time for this. Do you agree with the deal?
- I'll take it. - [He inhales]
[He groans]
[Chiming music]
[He breathes raggedly]
[Music continues]
[Off-kilter electronic music; Indistinct voice echoes]
[The Voice] Room 1.
[He mutters]
[The Voice] Please e-mail your waivers to the address supplied.
You are now under strict non-disclosure terms.
So, basically, you are who you think you are.
[The Voice] By listening to this warning, you are agreeing
to the terms and conditions outlined in the policy document
displayed at the end of this transmission.
[Female voice] Is that a squirt of Coco?
[Music continues]
[The Voice] Room 1. Room 1.
Room 1.
- Room 1. Room 1. - [Explosive boom]
Room 1.
[Intense, rapid gunfire]
[The Voice] Illegal dimension intrusion.
Bulk Brane dilation detected.
Stay where you are.
[Soldier] Identification! Come on! Fucking hurry up! Fuck!
- Give it to me now! - It's me! Harlan! Corey Harlan.
[Gunfire, in distance]
[Soldier] What are you doing here, Corey Harlan?
I'm here to find Anton Chambers.
[Soldier] Good luck with that,
'cause Chambers is dead, or as good as.
What happened to him?
They lied! This is all wrong! They said it was a series of rooms!
[Soldier] They always lie!
I was told I'd be home in a week! It's been three fucking years!
[Rapid gunfire; Bullet ricochets]
Hurry up! Give me your fucking papers, quick!
- [Harlan] Okay... Okay, all right! - [Soldier] Come on!
[Gunfire, in distance]
Harlan.
[Soldier] His ID says he is who he says he is.
I know that's no proof, but hey. What do you want me to do with him?
- [Indistinct voice, on radio] - [Soldier] Roger.
Come on!
Move it!
[Gunfire, in distance]
- [Soldier] Come on, pick it up. - [Harlan] All right!
[Soldier] Hurry up!
Come on, pick it up. Move it!
We haven't got all bloody day!
[Explosive boom; Harlan exclaims]
[Soldier] Move it!
Your pal Anton Chambers' doing.
[Whooping siren blares]
- [Soldier] Are you sick? - [Harlan coughs, splutters]
[Soldier] Are you sick? You can't stop here.
Anton's dead, you said?
[Soldier] No-one's heard from him in months.
Apart from his bloody soldiers bombing us!
This is real?!
[Soldier] Shut up! Course it's real!
What are you, a fucking teenager? Now, move it!
[Train creaks]
[Announcer] The train on Platform 1 is all stations to Terminus,
via the Valley of Screams.
[Wind howls; Eerie, disembodied screaming]
[Harlan splutters]
I take no pleasure in this.
Can you hear that?
[Screaming continues]
You get used to it.
[Screaming continues]
[Train approaches]
[Announcer, on PA] Welcome to Terminus. All change, please.
[Soldier mutters]
[Soldier sniffs, exhales]
Come on.
[Harlan] I recognise you.
[Soldier] I don't think so.
[Tense music]
[Soldier] End of the line.
Karl... it's me.
Harlan.
You know me.
Is...
- Is that you? - [Music builds]
[Gunshot; Sessler groans]
Harlan!
You just shot that soldier! He recognised me.
He was going to talk to me. He knew who I was.
It's best not to dwell on that unfortunate incident.
Just move on.
You killed him. He was...
I did.
Are we going to have a problem, Harlan?
We do what we must to survive.
He was going to kill you.
You will need to toughen up.
Toughen up?
It's not my fault that you come from a privileged reality
where this is not everyday.
Are you Aclima from the video?
[She chuckles bashfully]
Yes, I'm Aclima from the video. Or I was once.
[Harlan] I'm starstruck.
- You're teasing me. - [Harlan] Genuinely.
- I mean, you must hear that a lot. - [Aclima chuckles]
No, darling, no.
Welcome, though. Welcome to the House.
You made it.
[Harlan groans softly]
- [Aclima] Oh, no. - [Harlan groans]
[Harlan exclaims in pain]
- What did you do that for? - [Syringe clicks]
Hm.
Huh?
- Do you feel bad? - Yes. Sick as a dog.
We have a mission, don't we? Find Anton Chambers and get me cured.
You are so forthright.
What agency. Yes, we must find Anton.
[Harlan] The soldier said he was dead.
He's not dead, just hiding from his many enemies.
[Tense percussive music]
[Harlan] This looks like a police station.
[Aclima clears throat]
I've got one.
- [Harlan] Huh? - [Aclima] Mm-hm.
Sorry, you are under arrest.
For what?
All right, let's go.
Arrest for what? Hey!
Calm down. We just want to ask you some questions.
[Door creaks]
- What is he? - Looks like a Harlan.
Well, we'll be the judge of that. Check his blood?
- [Aclima] Not yet. - I am a Harlan!
- Where'd you find him? - [Aclima] Terminus.
One of the rebel soldiers had him. Was going to kill him.
- One of the Sessler Popular Front? - [Aclima] From his uniform, I'd say yes.
You sold me out?
For what?
Hey!
She did you a favour.
You can't be out there wandering around the wastelands.
We will assess you. See if you are who you say you are
- or if you are a spy. - I don't like the sound of that.
It depends on how well you co-operate.
- [Harlan strains] - Aclima.
- You're supposed to be my guide. - I guided you here, didn't I?
Circumstances change.
I'm sorry, darling. There's nothing I can do.
[Off-kilter music]
Don't be hard on her. She's just doing her job.
[The Voice] Room 1.
- [Sessler sighs] - Karl Sessler.
- It's me, Harlan. - [Sessler sniffs]
I worked with the real Harlan a long time ago.
- And you don't think I'm me? - [Sessler scoffs]
Well, we get a lot of people like you.
- And they look like me? - They look exactly like you.
I'm a reporter, sent to do a story on the House.
[Sessler] They all say that as well.
It's not true.
- Where's Anton Ch...? - [He groans, winces]
I ask the questions! Yeah?
[Tense music]
[Harlan groans]
[Sessler] Right, let's get serious.
You use that on me and I'll say anything.
- Well, that's the point. - [Harlan] I mean literally anything.
- [He groans] - Right.
I'm sorry, I don't want to see its eyes.
There you go.
How can you be here and the soldier and the desk sergeant?
You get used to it over time. Sesslers, Aclimas, Harlans.
- [Explosive boom] - Was that an explosion?
[Explosive boom; Both groan]
The Aclima Liberation Army says "hello".
[Gunshot reverberates, Sessler groans]
[Pulsing music]
Just a moment.
Come on, Harlan.
[Harlan] I've got a bag over my head. I can't see anything.
[Music continues]
[Officer groans]
[Gunshot reverberates, Officer wheezes]
[Distorted, dissonant tone]
[Gunshot reverberates, Officer groans]
[Pained shrieking]
[Gunshots reverberate, Officer groans]
[Gunshot reverberates, Officer groans]
[Distorted buzzing]
[Gunshot reverberates, Officer groans]
[Pulsing music]
- [Aclima] Hurry up. - [Harlan pants, burps]
[Gunshot reverberates, Guard groans]
[Warbled groaning; Music fades]
I'm sorry about that. Was it very loud?
Yes! Very loud.
So, you save me, sell me out and save me again.
[Aclima] it must be irritating.
Do you find it undermining?
Just confusing.
I needed you to get me into the police station.
You were a decoy duck.
Quack, quack!
So, you think I am who I say I am?
Oh, I don't know about that.
They send a lot of Harlan spies out into the wasteland
to lure in resistance fighters.
We are always hopeful they have finally sent the right one.
[Harlan] And you're a resistance fighter?
I'm part of the Aclima Liberation Army,
the ALA, yes. Yes.
And you still think I might be a spy?
They don't usually torture their own people.
That's a good mark for you.
So?
So, I trust you for now.
Still, it doesn't mean I won't shoot you if you do anything suspicious.
Thanks.
[Siren wails]
- [Harlan] What's that? - [Aclima] We're in trouble.
[Harlan] It's the police!
[Tyres screech, siren continues]
Take the wheel! Take the wheel!
[Suspenseful music]
[Aclima] Okay...
[Seagulls caw]
[Siren continues]
[Harlan] You're crazy!
Son of a bitch!
[Gunshot; Tyres screech, seagulls caw]
[Engines rev]
[Music continues]
- [Tyres screech] - On their tail.
Still there!
- Taking south exit. - [Harlan] Don't lose him!
[Aclima] Don't worry, we'll be fine.
[Siren continues, tyres screech]
[Tyres screech]
[Pilot] In my target range now. Do I have permission to fire?
[Harlan] It's a helicopter plane!
[Truck engine revs; Rapid gunfire]
[Siren continues]
[Pilot] What now, mate?
[Music continues]
[Tyres screech]
[Engine revs]
[Music builds]
[Pilot] Right. Firing now. Commence firing!
[Rapid gunfire]
[Vehicles clatter, tyres screech]
[Tyres screech]
[Vehicles clatter, tyres screech]
[Explosive boom]
[Pilot] I'm losing control! Losing control!
[Explosive boom; Debris clanks]
[Tyres screech]
[Harlan] You've got him!
[Uneasy music]
[Harlan] Here again?
[Aclima] It's a house. It's not the House.
A house within the House. A safe house.
The House is all around us.
[The Voice] Reception.
[Sirens blare, outside]
- [Sirens recede] - [Aclima] Let me check.
[Automated voice] Results available: Corey Harlan.
- [Harlan] What'd it say? - [Aclima] Good news from the blood.
[Harlan] Oh, yes?
- You are Harlan. - [Harlan] That's great.
[Aclima] I can tell because you are poisoned.
Oh.
Who is it that's coming for us?
Anton Chambers is imprisoned somewhere in the interior.
The Sessler Popular Front are a faction whose goals are opaque.
There's some complicated lore there, but it's not worth going into.
The ALA, who I work for, search for the true Harlan
and hope to free Anton and return the House to its original state.
What?! Where do I fit into all this?
We need to get you to Anton.
[She exhales shakily]
I'm poisoned?
I have, what, 12 hours?
- I'd say less. - Is it gonna be a long journey?
90 minutes, max.
Any longer is an indulgence, no?
That's quick.
56 minutes now. I mean, it could seem longer.
Oh.
It could seem like an eternity.
[Uneasy music]
[Harlan pants]
[Aclima] Come here.
Would you like a cigarette?
- Well, I'm... - I knew it.
Here, it's a terrible, terrible, disgusting, dangerous habit, I know.
No-one should smoke. No-one.
It's basically death.
I'm so bad. A bad influence.
- [Aclima exhales] - I'm so bad!
[Sirens blare, in distance]
This is calming me down. Taking the edge off it.
The house holds a lot of memories.
Babies are born, grandparents die,
babies are made, people trying to make babies.
- In every room? - Sure.
The walls are thin, emotionally.
I mean, this was Anton's house when he was a child.
That's what he wanted it modelled on.
It's built as a life raft, in case of accidents.
It's modelled on a universal childhood home.
To be comforting.
Yeah, well, I grew up in an apartment.
Yes.
Anton has the empathy of the wealthy, I suppose.
So, this narrative is a man's story about a man.
[Aclima] As usual, yes.
I think we should do this together.
- The two of us. - I'm starting to like you, Harlan.
You're a good egg. No-one's ever said that before.
No?
Seems kind of obvious. I mean, we need each other.
[Aclima] When the big one went up, I saved Anton.
- [Harlan] What big one? - [Aclima] The explosion.
That's how this all started.
This is the known world inside the House.
I got this from Carmel Sefer, the Hermit of the Dunes.
[Paper rustles]
[Aclima] He was an engineer that got caught in the explosion.
[Harlan] Oh, I remember these from school.
- Pick a colour. - Grey.
[Aclima] G-R-E-Y.
- Pick a number. - Nine.
Hold it like that.
The fortune teller allows you to tap into your subconscious
and let it guide us. You are the only one who can work it.
- [Harlan] Why me? - You're special, I guess?
I don't know why it's set up like this. Man business, no doubt.
- So... this will guide us toward Anton? - No, to Carmel Sefer,
then he will guide us to Anton and help you with your poison.
[Shrill, warbling tone]
They are here. They are trying to break in from another dimension.
Follow me.
[Tone undulates in volume]
- [Explosive boom] - [Aclima] Another dimension.
- Follow me. - Another dimension.
- [Disorienting music] - Follow me.
Another dimension. Another dimension.
How?
[Aclima] Another dimension. Another dimension.
- How? How? - Another dimension.
- How?
- Another dimension.
- Follow me.
Another dimension.
- Follow me. - [Music stops]
[The Voice] Spare room.
You're like a multi-dimensional estate agent.
Why is there no furniture?
Sometimes there is, and sometimes there isn't. Shh!
Be quiet, I can hear them.
[Shrill, warbling tone]
[Muffled thump, clack]
How many are there?
Please, this takes a lot of concentration. I'm looking across dimensional space.
[Tone subsides]
[Shrill, warbling tone; He shrieks]
[Harlan groans in pain]
Oh, good God!
They have found us again. That was quick!
They must be tracking the heavy metals inside you.
Yeah, about that - I still feel pretty wretched.
- [Aclima] Okay. - Please, can't we stay here a moment?
Hello, and welcome to this room.
Anton!
- [Aclima] It's not Anton. - Anton, it's me, Harlan.
What can I tell you about this room?
It's an Al greeter from an early version of the system.
This room is sitting in a pocket dimension
between X1 333.5 and X1444.0 tetrabyte hertz.
As you can see, it is modelled on the back bedroom of 38 Bathland Street,
the childhood home of Anton Chambers.
[Harlan] Can he see us?
I'm aware of you.
- Ask me a question. - [Harlan] Where is Anton Chambers?
I'm sorry. I have no perception outside of this room.
I can answer who is Anton Chambers.
[Harlan] Yeah, well, I know who Anton Chambers is.
You're Corey Harlan,
- a friend of Anton Chambers. - Yes.
You two had a falling out, after Guadalcanal.
What do you know about that?
You blamed him for what went wrong, didn't you?
[Pulsing, distorted wash]
[Harlan] No, that's not true.
After the explosion, you blamed him for the accident.
The explosion? Your explosion, Aclima?
- [Aclima] it wasn't my explosion. - [Anton] Aclima, tell him.
It wasn't Anton's fault all those people died.
It's lying. Don't listen, Harlan.
- Aclima, tell him we were trapped. - [Harlan] "We"?
We are all to blame. Not just me.
Not just Anton. You need to find us, Harlan.
You need to bring us back.
- Shut up. - Bring us back, how?
Back from the dimensional collapse.
They will follow you everywhere.
- How? - The heavy metals in your blood.
- [Tense music] - Come on!
[Door opens; Distorted, wind-like howl]
[Door creaks]
[Door thuds]
[Music stops]
We have a bit of time before they track us here.
There's something wrong with your paperwork.
Did I fill it out wrong?
I hate forms.
[Aclima] it says you're a scientist, not a journalist.
What has changed?
Really? That is quite a big difference.
[Aclima] Did you make a mistake? Is that a possibility?
A distinct possibility.
A certainty.
Why would you do that?
I'm prone to self-sabotage.
I don't really remember filling it in.
Thinking back, I always wanted to be a journalist.
It was my parents that wanted me to be a scientist.
We need to move.
The House will send its security systems after us.
They could pose a considerable threat.
- Physical? - Initially, and then something worse.
Their ultimate sanction is to meld us into the fabric of the Bulk.
We would be lost forever, screaming spectres in the void.
- For filling out a form wrong? - [Throbbing electronics]
That's unreasonable.
Paperwork is taken very seriously here. Get choosing.
What have you got? Two-three-one-nine-slash-three.
- [Sharp thud] - Get ready.
For what?
We are moving.
[Harlan] The hero leaves behind the known world
and crosses the threshold into the unknown,
often encountering tests, trials and challenges along the way.
What's that building in the distance?
It's a jungle temple.
God.
Even in a wasteland.
We seek Carmel Sefer...
...the Hermit of the Dunes.
And Sefer can guide us?
That's his thing, map-making.
And... he's in that building, so... we need to get to it.
- We can try, but we will never make it. - [Harlan] Why is that?
It's an illusion. You can reach out and touch it
but if you try and walk, you will never get there.
- Metaphorically? - No, literally.
It's not real, look.
[Wind howls]
I wasn't convinced when I saw it.
- [Aclima] Sure, darling. - It's just cardboard.
Yes, forced perspective. Happens more often than you think.
We better get going. It's a few hours' walk.
- So, we can walk there? - Come on.
[Insects chirr, leaves rustle]
[Birdsong]
[Pulsing, alarm-like tone]
There's an oasis.
We can rest there.
[Low whoosh]
[Insects chirr]
[Birdsong]
[Low, throbbing electronics]
[Low whoosh; Fierce wind howls]
- Have you got any cigarettes? - I'm out.
That's bad.
A desert storm. They can be brutal.
Hold on!
- I'm slipping. Harlan... - I can't lose you, Aclima!
[Harlan groans]
- No! Aclima! - Find Sefer. Be careful.
- Don't trust... - Aclima!
- [Wind intensifies]
[Wind subsides]
[The Voice] Please, e-mail your waivers to the address supplied.
You are now under strict non-disclosure terms.
- [He groans] - Aclima!
[Stirring music]
Where are you?!
[He groans in frustration]
[Chiming music]
[Harlan] Aclima!
Aclima!
[Eerie music]
Aclima!
[Music fades]
[Rubble clatters]
[Harlan grunts, splutters]
[Low rumbling]
[Fearsome shriek]
[Shrieking continues]
[Blow thuds; Pained cry]
[Blows thud]
[Strained groaning]
[Strained clamour]
[Harlan groans, strains]
[Harlan groans, exclaims]
[Harlan strains]
[Man] Get away from him!
Leave him! Leave him!
Go! Go away!
Get away, leave him alone!
- [Music subsides] - Come, come.
Quickly! Quickly! Come on.
- That's right. - What was that?
A rock beast.
We must hurry, before it returns with its pack.
I can handle one, but I don't know about ten.
- You live out here? - Are you a seeker?
- I suppose I am. - Well, then,
you've come to the right place. Plenty of seeking around here.
- [Man chuckles] - Where are we?
In the Wastes! We are in grave danger.
My name is Carmel, Carmel Sefer.
- Sefer! - Act fast, boy, or we will both perish.
"Boy"? I'm 40!
40 is a boy to me!
I wish I was 40 again, I can tell you.
You get to my age... you'll know.
Listen on - enjoy 40, it never comes again.
Yeah, I'm happy with it.
- Be happy with it! - I am!
- [The Voice] The Trader's Cave. - It's a trader's shelter.
The rock beasts won't dare venture in here.
What are they?
What's left of the workers that were burnt in the explosion.
Their flesh fused in the white heat.
Pitiable, really.
They are the lost souls of the technicians.
- Poor bastards. - Yeah.
There is no rest for those who die at work.
[Throbbing electronics]
This storm will last a good few hours.
Let me see your face.
I don't get to see many people out here in the wastes.
What they tell you about me, the butchers?
- Butchers? - Mind butchers!
Anton Chambers and his people.
I'm here to find Anton Chambers.
I know.
Do you know Aclima? I was with her.
Yes, Aclima, of course. She told you about me?
She told me about the explosion.
The fools. They blew themselves up.
Everyone else with them.
I warned them.
God knows, when it all comes out, I'll be vindicated.
Aclima knows.
Does she work for Anton Chambers?
We all work for Anton, even you.
What?
[Carmel groans]
[Harlan exclaims curiously]
[Carmel grunts encouragingly]
"The hero must navigate a series of tests,
- "trials and challenges..." - [Carmel scoffs]
"..often with the help of allies and the opposition of enemies.
[Carmel scoffs]
- Don't bother with that. - No?
Oh, it was Anton's idea - make it a story.
Breadcrumbs to help you keep moving forward.
The ancient tale that appears in all cultures.
That's old news, brother man.
The hero with a thousand faces is also a myth. Source bias.
The mono-myth compilers ironically only chose stories that fit the pattern.
They left out anything inconvenient.
That's not good.
I'm more of an Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index man myself.
I see you as a classic bildungsroman.
- What's that? - The journey of a naive dunce.
Mm.
But in a good way.
This place is a story machine.
Anton is no dummy.
He realised we're not interested in truth or facts.
Just the story of finding them.
I'm interested in truth.
- [He scoffs] - People always say that
until it bites them on the arse.
I want to know what happened here.
I have a root...
[Tense music]
...that will help you see through to the other side,
- but it's very, very dangerous. - Let's do it.
I see.
Oh. Not... Not all... Oh, well.
Look into this.
Name a colour.
Yeah, have a look.
- [Music fades] - Grey.
[Paper rustles]
G-R-E-Y.
That's it, off to bed.
[Unnerving music]
[Eerie music]
[He groans]
[Music continues]
- [Aclima] Morning. - How did you sleep?
[Aclima] Okay.
- Lots of dreams. - Mm.
It's funny, they're so vivid, and then they're gone.
Is it work, giving you dreams?
I'm worried, yeah, I suppose.
[Soft clink]
It's okay to be scared about Guadalcanal. It's dangerous.
Why is Anton even sending you? Haven't you done enough?
It's not like that.
It's not about enough. They keep sending you
till you're burned out, you know that.
I don't like it.
I don't like Anton. Or that oily little creep, Freddy Bishop.
Anton's all right.
I mean, I can trust him as far as I can throw him,
but that's not always the measurement of a friend.
We have very different ideas about friendship.
[Music continues]
I don't want you to go.
- Okay. - That's what I'm saying.
- Well, I don't want to go. - Well, but you still are.
- Yes. - Yes. Against both our better wishes.
Well, I don't have much choice.
You need to think about that,
and you know you always shave a choice, but you choose destruction.
- Hm. - [Soft clinking]
It'll be fine.
[The Voice] Interview 63.
- I loved him. - [The Voice] Aclima Benton.
- It was a love that crept up on you. - [Soft, echoing electronics]
A background hum that's always there...
heavy in the air.
Like someone was...
slowly turning the dial up, louder and louder.
And you realise... it's all you can hear.
It's frightening.
Then it would ebb back, and I could think I was my own person once more, but...
...at night, I could sense it again.
We were no longer two people.
The third person was there, somewhere between us.
It was different from the two of us. Wanted different things.
[She exhales]
When he went away, I felt free for a while.
But then, little by little...
that feeling ebbed away.
[Electronics subside]
[Aclima inhales, exhales]
What would happen if they...
broke you down?
Tortured you?
Do you think you'd crack?
Well, I've got nothing worth holding out for, so, er...
-...yeah, I think I would crack. - Yeah, me too.
[He exhales]
- Hm. - Hm.
- What are you doing? - I'm going to inject you with this.
What is it?
If you get lost...
then I can track you.
[Harlan] Track me, how?
[Soft sizzling; Syringe clinks]
The heavy metals leave a trace element that can be seen inter-dimensionally.
- [He scoffs] - Inter-dimensionally?
Where do you think I'm gonna get lost?
I don't know. I just feel like I should do it.
- Seems like a strange thing to do. - I'm a scientist.
Yeah.
You are.
And I'm a journalist.
- Pick a colour. - Grey.
- [Harlan] Pick a number. - [Aclima] Nine.
I-I-O-V-E.
Open it.
[Aclima chuckles]
- Harlan. - Oh!
[Both chuckle]
[Aclima] Yeah. Cute.
I'm not falling for that.
[Harlan kisses]
[Ruminative music]
[Music continues]
[Harlan] Bye.
[Music continues; Soft, echoing electronics]
[Soft chime]
[No audible dialogue]
[Music continues]
[Anton] Yeah, well, I don't care how long it takes.
Yeah, ring me as soon as they get in touch with you.
But I don't care.
Hold on.
- I'll ring you back. - What do you want, Anton?
- Can I come in? - What's happened to Harlan?
- [Music stops] - Coffee?
I've never been here.
You used to visit all the time at the old place.
Yes.
[Cup clinks, scrapes]
You two fell out.
I don't remember how. Silly, isn't it?
These things happen between work colleagues and friends.
Things slip away. Where is Harlan?
We don't know. There was an explosion.
We went to the hospital, but he wasn't there.
The local militia has him.
So, you do know?
We don't know where.
- [Uneasy music] - [Aclima] You lost him.
You lost him, you get him back. Whatever it costs.
You go down there and find him.
We have our best people on it. You know I can't leave.
None of us can.
Not you, me or Sessler.
This is your fault Anton. You pushed it too far.
I don't know what I can do there.
You are the type of person who thinks about every possibility,
so when you say you don't know what you could do there,
I hear... you don't want to go.
Because you have something better to do? Or are you afraid?
That's not fair.
I'm very worried for Harlan. That's why we have our best people.
We think Freddy Bishop has him.
Bishop? Why him?
Doesn't he own your newspaper?
Yes, but Freddy has his fingers in a lot of pies.
[Music continues]
This isn't right, Anton.
Harlan is not a journalist.
He's a seeker.
I thought... you were a billionaire.
Why do you work for a newspaper? What...?
What happened to us?
We all signed up for it.
What do I do?
You work at your laptop.
You're a scientist.
[Music continues]
Get out.
Get out!
[Music continues]
[Door opens]
[Aclima] Somewhere on Earth, he was under the same sky.
Maybe it was night there, or morning.
The two of us hurtling through space on this rock.
- [Low whoosh] - What did you see?
[Wind howls]
It was so real.
Another life.
My life.
- But Aclima was there. - Hm.
Maybe...
two realities merging.
Truths from both, intermingling.
There seemed to be elements of here.
- Is that how it works? - [Carmel groans]
A reality full of clues to tell you it's a construct?
Warnings hidden in the culture, screaming at you to wake up?
Or you are a paranoid narcissist.
Shifting planes.
Welcome to the desert.
[Aclima] Hello, darlings.
[Both groan]
You found us.
It's a dusty storm out there. I'm tired.
I'm surprised you'd show your face here, lady.
Oh.
What do I have to be ashamed of?
- You are the architect of all this. - [Aclima] What?
[She scoffs]
Come, now, Carmel. I'm just a guide.
You came back for me?
Hm. Sure, why not?
You're pretty easy on the eye.
Oh, dear. You won't have Harlan!
- She's not to be trusted. - No?
Get away from him.
[Carmel exclaims]
He wants to stay here, with me, don't you?
We can find Anton together.
Yeah, sure he does, darling, sure he does.
- You get behind me, Harlan. - [Carmel] What?
He's trying to beguile you, drag you down.
[Carmel] No, I'm not.
He just wants to stay in this wasteland, moaning about the world.
You're not trying to fix it.
Don't listen, Harlan.
She's using you. Remember the police station?
You were just bait to her.
- Huh? - Now, get away!
- Or I'll shoot. - No, you won't.
Just because I never have in the past doesn't mean I won't now.
Darling, it's not in you.
- [He groans in frustration] - You like that, don't you?
To see me pathetic.
- No. There's no pleasure in it. - [Harlan] This has happened before?
Yes. I always think it's gonna turn out differently,
but it's the same every time.
It must be a pattern, I guess.
Okay, let's go.
Shame on you, Carmel. You are supposed to enlighten him.
[Indifferent grunt]
- There is no escape out there. - [Paper rustles]
I tried.
Through the desert and the jungle.
It's a loop!
But... then how did you draw that map?
It's not a map, it's a blueprint.
- Mm... - [She scoffs]
We will take our chances. Bye, Carmel!
[Eerie music; Carmel groans]
Carmel just spouts bullshit, but sometimes there's truth in there.
[Music continues; Birdsong]
[The Voice] Please, e-mail your waivers to the address supplied.
You are now under strict non-disclosure terms.
By listening to this warning, you are agreeing to the terms and conditions
outlined in the policy document displayed at the end of this transmission.
[Music, birdsong continue]
[Insects chirr]
[Low whoosh]
[Music continues]
- [Aclima] He's a liability. - [Harlan] Carmel? I kinda liked him.
- Sure. - Was he a worker caught in the explosion?
He was one of the engineers. Fell out with Chambers.
Later, he tried to sabotage the House.
The desert is a result of it.
- Could he help us, though? - Maybe.
[Low whoosh; Music fades]
[Birdsong]
[Unnerving music]
[Frog croaks]
[Guttural muttering]
[He exclaims]
You made it, then.
[He chuckles, sighs]
- [Aclima] Ah! - Huh?
[Aclima] No thanks to you.
You should listen to me now and again. You might learn something, hm?
What do you mean?
- You pulled a gun on me. - It was a test.
You cover your lies in riddles.
What?! It's your fault this wasteland exists.
Oh, uno reverso. Nice.
- Why is it always old men? - [Carmel chuckles]
Beats me.
In my case, just the way it happened.
I started off young, and the oldness came upon me a day at a time.
We don't have time for this.
Are you going to tell us where Anton Chambers is?
What makes you think I know?
- [Sharp clack] - Ow!
Huh? What was that for?!
Now we are even.
Imagine you get straight to the facts.
Skip the gobble-gobble. He doesn't have long.
Oh!
- The poisoning. - Yes, the poisoning.
[Carmel] I don't know how that is my fault.
Wasn't that Aclima who did that?
[Harlan] You did?
Not me. Science Aclima.
[Harlan] Science Aclima?
Wasn't it Dream Aclima, the one I'm married to?
Science Aclima is the main one.
- She's the one at Guadalcanal. - [Carmel] No, no, no, no.
Here, this is good.
Nobody's made it this far before.
I have something for you, Harlan.
Hold on. Pour le metal hurlant.
For the poison. It's lost in translation.
[Aclima exhales, Carmel inhales]
[Carmel] Giv... at...
to... Ac...
Give that to Aclima. Aclima.
[Aclima] Thank you.
[He exhales]
[Ominous music]
[Mellow music]
I don't think we should be doing this.
Objection noted.
Anton seems pretty confident.
You know what's going on in his head. What do you think, Cory?
I think we all signed on for this and we should trust him. It's his gig.
How is this about trust?
It's about odds.
The research is there.
He rushed the research through.
It's been expedited in a speedy manner, but I've checked it over.
It's sound.
This is Daddy business.
You all look up to him, and it's blinded you.
[Sessler] General Freddy Bishop is demanding results.
And we'll give him results.
I'm the Chief Safety Officer, and I'm raising a major concern.
Are you really all arrogant enough to just ignore me?
[Sessler] We're not ignoring you.
We're taking your advice and considering it within a wider remit.
Risk versus bringing the project in on time to secure funding.
- That kind of metric? - It's a factor. Sure.
Anyway, we have your dimensional lifeboat as backup.
It's never been tested.
[Sessler] I read your white paper.
It runs the risk of wiping the minds of anyone who enters.
As opposed to having our atoms scrambled across space and time?
I'll take confusion over decimation.
[Sessler] Are those the options?
Never mind us. If Guadalcanal goes nova,
it will kill everything in a 25 kilometre radius.
That would not be an optimal outcome.
[Aclima] No, Karl, it would not.
We might be safe in our fancy dimensional lifeboat
while everybody else burns in a maelstrom.
HMS Brainsmasher?
We might be safe.
But who's going to find us and pull us out?
I'm sure you've thought of some elegant solution.
Some kind of tracking device?
Mm. Not one that isn't terminal.
- Hm. - [Sessler exhales]
- [Aclima] Oh, Karl. Oh, Karl. - [Sessler] Unit one, check.
[Eerie music]
[Banging]
I don't call it that.
[Man] Number four.
- Unit one, check. - Hm.
Let's see what $15 billion looks like.
It's going to look very sweet indeed.
If this goes well, we will open a rift in the Bulk Brane
and be able to tap infinite dimensional power.
Nothing less than a new dawn for humanity.
Well, that sounds good for starters.
This project is either a work of genius
or the worst idea anyone's ever had anywhere.
Okay. Let's get going.
[Indistinct chatter]
[The Voice] Alert. Alert. Dimensional buffer overridden.
It's well within the failure field, Dr Chambers.
- Huh? - I'm well aware.
If this continues, the cascading error could cause anomalous results.
[Dr Chambers] Okay, noted.
- Let me make a formal caution. - Noted.
[The Voice] Alert. Alert.
It's just a board blown in the auxiliary bus.
- I'll change it out. - [Dr Chambers] It's gonna be fine.
[The Voice] Full stack insertion.
- Harlan, what do you think? - I agree.
It's worth the risk. It's what we've been working towards.
All good, Anton?
[Dr Chambers] All good, sir, but if it's not,
it's why you're in a bunker 25 kilometres away.
[Birdsong]
The readings I have suggest that the radiation generated
could cause irreversible damage to all four of us, if not the facility.
We have 200 workers in here.
Not to mention the base town, the families!
We are on the edge of something fantastic here.
[Aclima] ls nobody listening to me?
[Dr Chambers] Breathtaking.
We must push this forward. If not now, when?
I don't get it.
We all want to pursue something original and new.
And yet, when we see it, we retreat.
Because it could quite literally blow up in our faces.
Then let it. We will see where the chips will land.
Harlan... you have to stop him. He's out of control.
He's so close to breakthrough.
The Bulk is unstable. There's a chance of a reality quake.
I'm sick of reality.
[Indistinct chatter]
[Dr Sessler] This does not look good.
The dimensional feedback dampner's failing!
Dimensional failure imminent!
- [Harlan] We're passing go/no-go. - It's all happening.
[Intense whooshing]
[The Voice] Danger. Danger.
- Danger. Close. - [Panicked shouting]
- [Aclima] It's so loud. - [The Voice] This is not a drill.
- This is a full-blown disaster. - This is not the end.
Please, leave the facility, and don't look back.
We are sorry.
We will pay all funeral expenses.
Run, don't walk.
You need to be at least 25 kilometres from the core.
[Panicked chatter]
[Aclima] There's a chance you can survive.
If you do, you need to pull us out.
- It's the only hope. - Activate the House protocol.
Argh! What was that?
[Gentle music]
Heavy metals.
[Harlan] You poisoned me.
When the system goes nova, it might save your life
and then you save us.
- It's going to kill me. - Eventually, but not today.
- [Machinery whirs] - [The Voice] Danger. Danger.
- Danger. - [Sessler] It's happening.
- [Aclima] No! - [Sessler] It's happening.
- God-damn it, Chambers! - [The Voice] This is not a drill.
This is a full-blown disaster.
Please, leave the facility, and don't look back.
We are sorry for this cataclysm, and we will pay for all funeral expenses.
Run, don't walk.
You need to be at least 25 kilometres from the core.
[Distorted electronic chirping]
What was it? Some sort of explosion?
[Distorted crackling, chirping]
[Harsh, swirling feedback]
[Intense whoosh]
[Feedback subsides]
[Birdsong]
Oh, God!
We did this to ourselves!
Was that reality, or was that a dream?
Looks to me that the experiment went wrong, and...
I injected you with a trace heavy metal that allowed a rescue team to find you
and pull you out of the destruction field.
What am I doing back here?
They must have sent you back in.
Then what is this place?
The dimensional life raft that was supposed to save us
in the event of an accident.
It only partially worked.
The explosion was of an order of magnitude higher than I planned for.
It must have damaged the protocols.
I always feared I wasn't real.
- [Shrill, warbling tone] - What's that?
He has found us.
- Who? - Anton.
[Distorted] Harlan!
Stay where you are.
Harlan, run. Run!
[Rapid gunfire; Bullets ricochet]
[Carmel shrieks]
No, you stay.
[He shrieks]
[Gunfire continues]
[The Voice] A moment's pause here.
Anton kills Carmel Sefer.
Aclima is pushed into a dimensional portal and disappears.
Harlan is knocked unconscious.
[Chiming tone resonates]
[The Voice] The boat.
[Horn blares]
[Uneasy music]
[Announcer] We will be arriving on the island in two hours.
[The Voice] The island.
- We're sending you back. - [The Voice] Previously on Bulk.
You gotta shut that thing down.
We pulled you out of there at great expense, Dr Harlan.
[General] 25 kilometres to ground zero.
Everything has been destroyed in the implosion.
A whole town reduced to a superdense marble.
[Bishop] And at the centre of it, we can see a building.
What do you know about it?
I've never seen it before in my life.
We've sent troops forward and lost every god-damn one of them.
Either vaporised or brains turned to soup.
And you want me to go out there?
You're god-damn right, you're going back there!
You and that maniac Anton Chambers caused this, and you're gonna fix it!
You're goin' into that house, and you're gonna see what's inside.
[Harlan] Yes, sir.
It looks like there's a distortion field
that starts about five kilometres outside the building.
To be honest, we are not sure that is even a house out there.
We think it's the remains of the Guadalcanal device when it exploded.
We think we can detect life signs of three other people.
- Aclima's alive? - Aclima!
[Whispering] It's his wife, sir.
Maybe. Maybe.
This is your only chance to find out.
Over and out!
[Television sets zap]
[The Voice] Make your way to the staging area.
Exit the briefing room using the blue door marked "exit".
Use your multi-key card on your security lanyard to...
[Wind howls]
Self-driving car can take you to ground zero.
After that, you're on your own.
Here, take these.
- What are they? - Doc said. For the distortion field.
Otherwise, you're going to be as sick as a dog.
[Tense music]
[Music continues]
[He growls]
[Music continues]
[The Voice] Entering the Distortion Zone.
[Music continues, tyres screech]
[Dazed groan]
[Tyres screech]
[Sessler] Oh...
you've woken up.
We'll be there soon.
Where are we going, cabbie?
- [Sessler] I'm not your cabbie. - [Harlan] What's going on?
Where am I?
[Soft whistling]
[The Voice] The time distortion has ended,
and we will now return to the present moment on the island.
[Horn blares]
[Foreboding music]
[Insects chirr]
[Horn blares]
[Unnerving music; Footsteps reverberate]
[Shrill, warbling tone]
[Footsteps reverberate]
[Door creaks]
[Door shuts]
[Shrill, warbling tone]
Is this the heart of the House?
[Anton] Amazing, isn't it?
I'm not sure that's what I'd call it.
[Anton] Oh, Harlan, you made it.
I wondered how you were doing.
Can't you stop what's going on and send us back?
I'm not sure I can any more.
Even if I wanted to.
You have to.
A lot of people have been hurt.
What is it in us that makes us do bad things?
Well, I can only speak for myself, but I think...
when we lose track of other people...
and reduce the universe to ourselves,
it's a desperately selfish place that just wants to survive
and it doesn't care who it hurts to do it.
[Shrill, warbling tone]
Maybe.
This place was meant to be freedom.
That was what I was searching for.
[Harlan] What did you find?
I found me.
Isn't that what everyone's searching for?
No. Not really.
You found me, though.
I mean, that's something, right?
This place has held me in check for months.
Maybe years.
[Door clacks]
- Oh, you're back. - [Aclima] Hm.
I've been on a side mission.
It was really hectic and action-based. I survived, though.
- I would have liked to have seen that. - [Aclima] Hm.
- Why did you do it, Anton? - Do what, Aclima?
- Trap us all here. - Me?
You built this place.
As a life raft in case of an accident, not as a prison.
I don't see it as a prison.
You're not being held hostage at all, are you?
Well, what gave you that idea?
You don't want to leave the House ever.
You don't want to release us.
What's the saying?
Rule in Heaven rather than be ordered around in Hell?
That's not a saying.
Why did you push the experiment to fail?
I thought it would be a good idea to break reality.
But I didn't really think beyond the breaking.
You were the ones who lost their nerve.
We should have pushed through.
The experiment failed. I think we can all agree on that.
We were blown sky-high.
It was clever, jabbing Harlan with that heavy metal.
I had to do something.
It's a shame our employers only had the wit
to send him back to us.
It's easier to think...
this far into the House.
Anton.
If we are all free of the illusions of the House...
why are you still not helping?
I don't want to go back, ever.
I love it here.
It's not perfect, but it's ours.
It's ours, is it?
It's yours.
A gun.
How tawdry.
Well, sometimes it takes a blunt tool to get things done.
[Gunshot reverberates, body thuds]
Did you just use me again to get back here?
- Yeah. - Hm.
That it? Has that worked?
Nothing seems to have happened.
This is the furthest we have got.
So, who knows?
You still... reading those things?
- They're important, aren't they? - I don't think so.
- The House is still spitting them out. - The House is broken.
Is this a code?
It's just gibberish now.
I liked knowing where I was going.
They were the only thing I had to cling on to in all this chaos.
False hope. Narrative is tyranny.
[Electronic chiming]
So... are we abandoned out here?
I guess...
...we go back.
[Intense whooshing; He wails]
[Tense music]
[Harlan pants, door creaks]
[Door shuts, he exhales]
This is the end. You made it
- I did? - You did well.
We are closer to resetting the House.
You think it can happen?
Sure.
We have all the time in the world.
Wait!
[He wails; Intense whooshing]
[Wailing continues, muffled]
[Metallic cricking]
[Wailing continues, muffled]
[Harlan pants]
- [The Voice] Reception. - Where's Aclima?
House Aclima? You won't see her again.
You are just with boring old me. Reception Aclima.
I didn't get to say goodbye.
I was growing to like her.
She wanted to say goodbye, but... this place holds her back.
She's better back there.
I'm going back.
No, you can't. The story only goes forward.
Yeah, well, that's for saps.
- I'm going back. - Um... I won't let you.
You saw me with a bloody nose earlier.
Yeah.
Does that mean I hit you? 'Cause I'm not going to do that.
[Blow thuds, she grunts]
Sorry.
- I'm sorry. - [Door creaks]
[He pants]
- Huh? - [Aclima] Oh... hello.
Aclima tried to stop me.
It wasn't so hard getting back here.
I'm on a break. You shouldn't be here.
Another Harlan turning up?
Yeah.
It's all Harlan, Harlan, Harlan around here.
- Is that it, then? - Don't question the story out loud.
It undermines it.
- [Door shuts] - [Harlan, muffled] Is this a kidnapping?
- This is it, isn't it? - Oh.
That's me and Karl Sessler.
You can't talk to Harlan.
I have no intention of talking to him.
- What time do you get off work? - Hm?
[Watches tick]
I'm not sure.
Is it working?
You get a little closer each time.
- Where am I going now? - I don't know what happens to you.
I suspect you get drugged and end up in Sessler's car again.
Okay.
We can do this.
We are saving each other.
See you on the flip side.
[Gentle music]
[Door creaks]
[Intense whoosh; Music continues]
- [Music continues] - Okay, we are done.
Let's wrap it up. Let me present the players.
Anton Chambers was played by Mark Monero.
Carmel Sefer and all the Sesslers were played by Noah Taylor.
Harlan was played by Sam Riley.
Aclima was played by Alexandra Maria Lara.
This is a Rook Films production, presented by Film 4.
Production design was by Matty Mancey-Jones.
The Colourist was Rob Pizzey.
Music by Dave Welder,
and the sound design was by Martin Pavey.
The editing was by Ben Wheatley,
and the Director of Photography was Nick Gillespie.
Executive Producers are Ollie Madden and David Kimbangi.
This film was produced by Andy Starke and Ben Wheatley,
and it was written and directed by Ben Wheatley.
So, darlings, thank you very much. Lights up, you can go home now,
and please tell your friends what you saw here.
Be generous... hit the Like button and "suscribe..."
- Scheiße! - [Laughter]
[Lively chatter]
[Cheering, applause]
Subscribe! It's with a "B"!
"Suscribe", subscribe.
[Film-maker] It's dubbed. Doesn't matter.
- It was great! - [Film-maker 2] Yeah, really good!
[Film-maker 3] That's it, you've done it. So, we just do...
One more. Give me one more chance.
- [Film-maker 3] Yeah. Cool. - [Film-maker 4] Do one of these.
[Alexandra] I'll probably never be...
[Film-maker 4] Oh, no, it's not framed up!
[Film-maker 2] Okay, do it again?
[Indistinct chatter]
[Film-maker] Doesn't matter, you've done it.
You've done most of it, so it's fine.
[Gentle music]
[Moody music]
- [Music concludes] - [The Voice] Bulk.
[Deep, rhythmic throb]
[Throb fades]