ReGenesis s04e10 Episode Script

What It Feels Like

- Where are you? - In Michigan.
I found her.
I found Nina.
Wait a minute.
Are you telling me that you had this procedure done? I have a heightened sense of empathy.
What happened here? The second stage primate trials.
Injected with my stem cells.
They did this to themselves.
Oh, my God.
I spent the evening with Enuka Okimba.
- You know Enuka? - Hottest virologist in the US.
Quite the reputation.
I was referring to her science.
Yes, so was I.
What do you want? Wes' job.
Done.
I love you, David Sandstrà m! Something's wrong.
What's going on here? Get back to your work! - What are we making? - Weaponized measles.
- Stop it! Stop! - Your password.
Showtime.
You.
- Is this the real thing? Take it.
- No! Ms.
Tran, line 2.
Hello? Yeah, hi.
I had a chance to look at your CV.
No, Dr.
Sandstrà m hasn't seen it yet.
Believe me, hiring a virologist is a priority, but he's not ready to do any interviews this week That's right.
I see that you did your graduate work with Jim Smiley, and your post-doc at NIH? Yeah, a few of them.
I liked your article in Nature, the HIV Infection angle of preventing MS.
It's on the edge, exactly where David likes to be.
Ms.
Tran, line 3 is still holding.
You're definitely on the short list.
The rest is just up to David.
Okay? Great, bye.
Ms.
Tran, lines 2 and 3 are still holding.
And there's a Maggie and Stewart Berner here to see you.
Ms.
Tran? Yeah, can you tell them that I'm in a meeting, please? Yes, ma'am.
Ah, shit.
Jesus.
Enuka Okimba.
David Sandstrà m.
You look a little rough.
It's been a rough couple of years.
Come on in.
So was that message of yours serious? Of course.
You realize I don't always play by the book.
- Why should you? - And I hate authority figures.
I got my first detention in kindergarten.
I don't mind sleeping with the boss.
Fine by me.
Then I accept your job offer.
Once we've discussed my salary.
Have you got any beer left? Let me take your coat.
Your test results came in.
And keep in mind they're just - preliminary, exploratory tests.
- Please just tell me.
You have elevated dopamine levels.
Have you been feeling anxious, paranoid? No.
Are you sure? Bob.
I'm fine.
But I saw those monkeys too.
I know what may be coming.
So? Well, the herpes virus is still hidden.
We just need to treat it.
I wish it were that easy.
Nina, look at this.
It's overdone.
It's perfect.
Is something wrong? I'm just glad it's not overdone.
ReGenesis Team NorBAC Anyone, Bbsiocnarf, Dapitch666 Linwelin, Michvanilly Transcript Version NoTag 1.
0 Just got it in last year.
It's an amazing machine.
It's great.
Finally, your new home away from home.
I hope it meets with your standards.
That's the tour.
Welcome to NorBAC.
Thanks, David.
This is fantastic.
Yeah, it's pretty great, eh? If there's anything else you need, you just let me know.
Are you all right? David, we cannot do this.
We can't cooperate.
I don't fucking want to do this and I don't fucking need to do this! Then why are you here? Contractual obligation, company rules, whatever lets you cash your cheque with a clear conscience.
Look, I I just need some time alone, that's all.
Are you drinking? Not nearly enough.
David, you all right? Rachel's? It's 17 days.
Shit.
If it would be easier, I could tidy her belongings away, if you like.
My history.
I'll take care of it.
Thanks.
I know we haven't talked about this in a while, but now we've re-staffed I met Rachel several times over the years.
She was an amazing person.
- Get the fuck out! - I'm a doctor! Let me attend to her! All I see, all that I want to do is grab one of those sons-of-bitches and toss him through a wall! For what they did to her, it was not fair that they be killed quickly.
I feel like I was robbed of an opportunity.
To inflict pain? Yes.
Yes.
To make them suffer the way I do, except far worse.
Can you picture living with that? If you were given the opportunity? Yes, I can.
That's what gets me through the day.
Consider this a homework assignment, reschedule this around our current investigations, but we have to figure out - what happened at Roth's lab.
- The dead monkeys? The macaques were supposed to become peaceful, cooperative, empathetic.
Instead they went apeshit and tore each other apart.
Killed their keeper.
And what Roth manipulated in the monkeys, - he first did to you.
- Not exactly.
We were trying to re-establish Bob's eyesight using an experimental protocol.
Yeah.
I was trying.
It was my bright idea.
The delivery system, a herpes virus, was to deliver a growth factor to my optic nerve.
But instead it took a billion-to-one side trip to Bob's Jacobson's Organ.
The chemosensory organ located behind the nose.
It's sensitive to chemical signals between animals.
In the lower orders, it's like telepathy.
- But dormant in humans.
- Until now.
In a higher order like Bob, you get empathy.
He's annoyingly sensitive to other people's emotions.
Fear, despair, anger it's overwhelming at times.
What about joy or love? Also overwhelming.
If it weren't for Bob's Asperger's syndrome, it would probably send him over the deep end.
- Before Roth kidnapped Bob - I went willingly.
Yeah.
We were trying to turn off the herpes virus with an antiviral: acyclovir.
- I gather it didn't work.
- Another mystery worth investigating.
Our best guess is that the viral DNA somehow inserted itself in Bob's cellular DNA.
But if Bob's fine and the test primates are dead, - why are we taking a look at this? - Nina.
My fiancée.
Roth's human guinea pig.
Willingly, David.
If humans follow the same timeline as the monkeys, in a week, possibly two, Nina may begin to experience the same violent tendencies.
So this is a little more serious than homework.
Bob, how is Nina doing? She's fine.
She seems a little preoccupied at times.
All this waiting.
All these tests Did she experience the same empathy effect? Yes, she did.
See, Mr.
Roth believed that if we felt each other's emotions as our own, then we could eliminate war, greed, murder.
A revolution through compassion.
But Roth rushed the science, which was questionable to begin with.
We experimented and found the number of cells and delivery protocols The monkeys' behaviour changed.
Aggression declined, cooperation increased.
And then it all went to Hell, Bob.
People, we gotta figure out a way to turn off Nina's Jacobson's Organ.
First prize: you get to be emcee at Bob's wedding.
Welcome.
Excuse me.
Hey, sorry I'm late.
What's going on? We were just filling Enuka in on Nina's situation.
Yeah, I got that e-mail.
Mayko Tran, Enuka Okimba, our new virologist.
You mean the new virologist who wasn't cleared by security? The new virologist who didn't have to be vetted by any of our 3 governing bodies? Excuse me It was nice to meet you.
I think I know what we need in lab personnel.
This is so typical of you, David.
You can never keep your personal life separate from your professional life and then you leave the rest of us picking up the pieces.
Who the fuck are you? Enuka Okimba.
Our new virologist.
She's competent, outgoing, and I'm sure she has all the qualities that NorBAC needs, and I feel horrible for saying this, but She's not Rachel.
I'm sorry.
I miss her.
I know you do.
I thought you weren't back till tomorrow! You.
- Test it on me! - Come.
- Test it on me! - No.
Her.
- Come.
- Wait! But you feel partly to blame for her death? Rachel wouldn't want me believing that.
She was an understanding person, an amazing scientist and a good friend.
And yet? I'm not hiding any guilt.
I know that terrible things happen every day.
Human beings inflict as much pain and death as any other predator species.
I don't mean to sound dismissive.
In fact I find myself thinking what she must have been thinking at that moment.
Hearing the trigger squeezed, thinking "Why me?" And then nothing.
What are you feeling so guilty about? We never should have gone through with this.
But I let Mr.
Roth convince me.
No.
You let me convince you.
I wanted this.
Listen.
Baby, I'm one of those people, okay? When the spaceship lands, I want on board.
This was my chance to enter a new world, and I got to be there with you.
Bonus.
You're worried about me.
You can't keep blaming yourself, because I don't.
You're still feeling guilty.
I'm not.
I am not feeling guilty.
Stop it.
Come here.
- Where are you going? - I've got a lunch across town.
Yeah? With who? A potential virologist I was going to pre-interview for you.
I reviewed a study by Andrews and Maron, where they thought they saw herpes simplex integrate into chromosome 11, but no one believed it.
- They could only detect by FISH.
- Run the experiment past Bob, he's really good at finding holes in things.
Of course it's almost impossible to ID the virus and see if it's replicating without a slice of Nina's brain.
That's too bad.
- You know what I mean.
- I know what you mean.
Would a slice of monkey brain do? You brought back samples? - Where are you going? - I've got a lunch across town.
Yeah? With who? A potential virologist I was going to pre-interview for you.
Ms.
Tran? Ms.
Tran.
Please.
Our daughter has aplastic anaemia.
Her bone marrow doesn't work.
She's dying.
Please, just read this report.
She's only 6 years old.
We have nowhere else to go.
- Got a minute? - Sure.
What do you know about aplastic anaemia? She's deteriorating rapidly.
Red blood cells are borderline, and white blood cells and platelets are down.
Bone marrow transplants are really painful, right? They can be, yeah.
The marrow is irradiated to kill all the cells and the immune system is suppressed before the donor cells are introduced.
Some patients never survive the procedure.
How do you know the family? And then after that, the new marrow is transplanted.
That's only if it's a very close HLA match, which is quite rare.
Usually, best chance is with a sibling, even then, it's only a 35% probability.
Remember that case, they made test-tube babies to create donors? That's unsubstantiated science fiction.
It's genetic? Sometimes.
Do you think she looks like me? Yeah, her eyes her smile.
When is the last time you saw her? The day after she was born.
She was so tiny It must have been a hard decision.
Not as hard as you'd think.
Well, even though it's a slim chance, you should contact the father and have him tested to see if he's a match.
Are you still in touch with him? Well, maybe you'll have the chance to give her life twice.
It only takes a blood test to find out.
Sorry I'm late.
Nina? Did I wake you? - No! - Nina! It's happening.
Louis settling down okay? He pissed in my kitchen.
You must be making him nervous.
You find a place to board him yet? David, he's just not good in kennels.
He hates other dogs.
He's a people dog.
He likes you.
David, are you busy? There might be a way to differentiate between Bob's stem cells and Nina's, and if we could do that, we could open up a way of exploring different treatment options.
Any luck? I tried retinoic acid, nerve growth factor, brain-derived neurotropic factor Nothing.
Bob's cells would have divided, specialized by now, it's bound to be a maze.
Maybe titrate up? - We overpower him - I prefer not to anger armed men.
- They're going to kill us! - You don't know that! When I add it all up, the last three years, before Rachel was Hira was shot right in front of me.
And I just never thought I just never thought that I would see something like that in person.
I know I work in a science lab, I deal with death all the time, but But murder is Murder is something that you see on the news.
And And you say "That's awful," you know, and then you go on with your life, or you change the channel.
And 18 months later, the suicide attack Lying there, wondering why I could see a part of my body torn off Your recovery from those events, both physically and emotionally, was exceptional.
Yeah, but now, with Rachel gone, I just Oh, God.
I'm just wondering, "what's next?" I've never gotten the sense that you're the type of person to repress.
Sure, I'm dealing with it.
Care to say how? Cut myself off.
I've already got one phantom limb, why not the whole body? Excuse me.
- Where you going? - I'll be back in two hours.
- You just got here.
- And now I'm going.
What is it with you? When you're here, you're not here, when you're not here, at least we can breathe.
Breathe deeply.
You've got a lot of work with these two jobs.
Maybe you should think about moving back to bioinformatics.
- Are you demoting me? - I'm close.
It's not about the job.
It's personal.
I have a daughter at Sick Kids.
She has aplastic anaemia and she needs a bone marrow transplant, - and I'm not a donor match.
- You have a daughter? Gave her up for adoption.
Now I'm going back to the hospital to repeat the blood test - in case there was an error.
- Jesus, Mayko Look, I'll be back soon.
I'm sorry about all this.
- Sorry.
- Sorry.
Hi, David.
What's wrong? Acyclovir didn't work on me.
We've got nothing else.
Not yet.
Yet? There're some cancer treatments that blast stem cells.
But how can you differentiate between my stem cells and Nina's own? - She would become anaemic.
- It's all we've got so far.
Nina, can you describe the state you were in when you attacked Bob? - Carlos, she didn't really attack me.
- Bob.
I felt like he's was going to suffocate me.
It was like I didn't know who he was but I knew he meant me harm.
- And you felt this? - I saw it.
I was hallucinating.
I had another hallucination where I stabbed Bob in the hand.
Bob, Nina's on the edge here.
She needs to be someplace where she won't harm herself - or anybody else.
- But she wouldn't.
I'm sure she wouldn't.
It's not me anymore, Bob.
Not all the time.
Once we check into the hospital, what're the chances of treating her with anything other than psychotropic drugs? If anything we've been investigating here has any merit, the hospital won't let us use it.
Or if they do, it'll take months to get administrative approval.
I'm afraid.
And I need help.
There is something we can do here, now.
When we really need the hospital, then Taking her there now would be like giving up, David.
How long will the sedative last? She'll be groggy about 4 hours.
Hey, did Mayko tell you about her friend? - Her friend? - The little girl, at the hospital, friend of hers.
Her daughter.
I saw her.
Aplastic anaemia.
It's tough.
Mayko flunked out as a match.
She went back to get re-tested.
Parents are rarely, if ever, a good match.
How old is she? The little girl? Six.
Hey.
So, how is she? Not good.
Sorry.
I need to get in touch with the father.
Excuse me.
I thought about an abortion, okay, but then I kept thinking: "You were adopted, Mayko.
People are always looking for babies.
" You never considered talking to me about this? It was so obvious that you didn't want another kid.
You barely saw the one you already had! That's your take on it, and it's hardly the point.
David, what were we back then? Another one of your student-professor relationships.
I needed a solid guy, not some uncommitted temperamental alcoholic asshole! - I'm sorry, but - How fucking dare you? How dare you dump this on me like I shouldn't have a fucking feeling about it? You want to have a feeling? Maggie and Stewart Berner.
That's his cell number.
That's the hospital room.
Oh, excuse me.
Are you the specialist? I'm sorry, say again? Dr.
Denver told us there's a medical conference in town, that several blood specialists would be here and that he'd try to be in touch.
Are you? A specialist, no.
I'm the father.
The the biological father.
Mayko found you.
Yeah, Mayko found me.
So you understand, about Hannah's illness? Who do I see about this test? I can find the herpes viral DNA in the monkey samples, but there's no indication it's replicating.
And it sure looks chromosomal.
Did you probe with other herpes strains? Yes.
There's nothing.
Do they all look like this? Well, there's a few samples where the herpes virus is more prevalent.
Sorry I'm late.
- The herpes DNA? - Yes.
Shit, it has integrated.
How many more cells have it? but I haven't determined any correlation between these samples, however.
How many samples are showing this increase? - Thanks for all your help, Enuka.
- You're welcome.
Bob.
- How's Nina? - She's still sedated.
It's disconcerting to see her like this, but I'm grateful she's here.
That's okay.
Go do your thing.
Thank you.
What're you doing tonight? I gotta get the hell out of that hotel, so I'm going to go see some apartments.
You feel like having another look at mine? So, what have you got? The last 3 monkeys injected with my stem cells; I detected some extra chromosomal viral DNA.
I'm staining for herpes proteins as we speak.
They might actually be replicating.
We found no replicating virus in the previous set, so if what you're seeing is right, at the start of the operation the virus begins to replicate, but as time passes it becomes dormant? Anything else administered in conjunction with the stem cells? Saline.
Completely innocuous.
Were they anaesthetized? Some kind of interaction between the anaesthetic and my stem cells? Something has to be activating the herpes virus.
Bob! Wait! Carlos, get a sedative! Nina! Nina! Let's get her to the couch, come on.
Sedative's not going to last long.
We need to get some restraints.
- I'll go get something.
- She needs to be admitted, Bob.
I think I may have found something.
Carlos? Maybe.
We were conjecturing.
David, please.
Just ten minutes, please We don't know what type of anaesthetic was used to knock out the monkeys, eh? We don't have those records.
I suspect it was ketamine combined with some kind of opioid.
And that, what, interacted with Bob's stem cells and the herpes virus got stimulated? Ketamine can increase dopamine levels.
If they made a mistake in the dosage We don't have time for maybes and maybe nots.
Don't we have a definitive conclusion here? These monkeys had a replicating virus.
They were the most recent test subjects.
The previous ones had no virus.
So you would have got the dose right with this group? Yes.
Maybe it has something to do with ketamine blocking the NMDA receptor? Maybe.
We got a whole lot of maybes here and Nina should be on a program of anti-psychotics while we figure this out.
It doesn't mean we're giving up, Bob.
You can be with her as much as you want.
Bob, she has elevated dopamine levels, like the monkeys.
This can lead to psychosis.
We should try Risperidone.
- It's a strong dopamine-blocking drug.
- What are the side effects? Insomnia, low blood pressure, tremors, the usual risks diabetes, ketoacidosis.
I hate this.
She's coming to.
Maggie Berner called.
You were a marginally better match.
But not enough.
So that's it? Well, I can't I can't change my blood type.
I still cannot believe, after everything we've been through together, that you never once thought I thought about it every fucking day, David, okay? I'm sorry, I didn't see anything that made me want to talk about it.
Well, we are gonna fucking talk about it now.
I can't undo the past, okay? You keep going there if that's how you need to do it.
Looks scary, but she's fine.
It's going to take some time, Bob.
You should get home, get some rest.
I will.
I just wanna watch her for a while.
Okay.
Thanks, Carlos.
What? What? What's happening? He's staring.
He'll lose interest.
That's what I'm worried about.
Come on, David.
This isn't a performance review.
Then again, it could be.
What? What? David You know what? If she wanted me to support her, if that had been her choice, I would've supported her.
You know, to cut me out of the equation like that, it's just so fucking cold.
I know.
I know.
It's harsh.
Doesn't make her a bad person.
I have a little girl.
I have a daughter that I never knew about.
David, why don't you think of this as a beautiful gift? The little girl's gonna die.
She's gonna die.
There's nothing I can do about it.
If I'd known about it, if I had been there when she was born, I sh I Fuck! What? If I'd been there when she was born! My daughter! When my daughter was born My first When my first daughter was born, Lilith, her mother and I, we signed her up for this new service.
We We saved her cord blood.
We saved her cord blood! It was a brilliant idea.
It should never be privatized.
Cord blood from a half-sibling? Here it is.
I just hope they're still in business.
It was a long shot.
Lilith isn't a perfect match either, but she's a better match than Mayko, me, or anything in the blood bank.
There's still a chance she might reject them.
Yes, but remember, these are stem cells we're talking about.
They're very potent, flexible.
Most importantly, once in her system, they'll become exactly what she needs them to be.
Pure, fresh virginal bone marrow.
That's a beautiful idea.
We're really lucky David did this.
Eighteen years ago, no one was storing cord blood.
Thank you so much You can't get at it, not in words, what she means to us It's okay.
We understand.
Stewart and I feel that it wouldn't be right to go back to the way it was.
To just pretend that you don't exist.
We were hoping after you could still be a part of her life.
That you'd be in her life.
Yeah.
We'd all be lucky to have you.
All ready then? Clear the hallway, please.
Hey, sweetie.
Ready to be brave, little girl? Yes, Mama.
Okay, kiddo.
- Let's go.
- Bye.
See you.
Bye, Hannah.
Let's do this.
She's improved remarkably, but normally it takes weeks to notice the effects of anti-psychotic drugs.
But we are going to keep an eye on you, in case of adverse reactions.
I understand.
There's a functional MRI scheduled for this afternoon, and we'll take a look at the Jacobson's Organ.
But your cognitive function's improving and your vitals are approaching normal.
These? You need those for your own safety, Nina.
All right? I'll check in on you later.
Thanks, Dr.
Bruen.
Actually, I'd like to see a battery of tests.
Is the MRI enough? Come here.
Beside me.
We're gonna get through this, alright? I feel a difference.
Don't you? Can't you feel me? Sorry.
Just undo one.
I want to hold you so much.
We have to be careful.
Then loosen it just a little.
Don't you miss me? The board meeting's been pushed 'till next Thursday.
I've blocked out Wednesday afternoon- evening for a quick internal review.
And that malaria outbreak in Oaxaca has supposedly been stabilized - but I'm keeping my eye on it.
- Okay.
Hannah? She was a trooper during chemotherapy.
The transplant went as well as they could hope for, but they won't know if her system accepts the new stem cells for a while.
They.
Not we? They're the family, David.
Offer was on the table.
Yeah, it was.
I mean, we made that little girl, Mayko.
We've got a chance here to do something.
And what would that something be, David? I don't know I don't know.
There's There's a conference coming up in Rio that you might be interested in.
But, I mean, we should do something, right? I'll leave it for you to think about.
- Was it you that called earlier? - Yeah.
You wanted to know if everything was okay.
I took off one of her restraints.
She asked me to.
She pulled the keychain out of my pocket, the one with the little Army knife on it? And then she started stabbing herself.
Your hands I tried to take the knife away from her.
It's so little It's ridiculous to call it even a knife Where is she? To be understated, her recovery was obviously misleading.
Have you taken her off the Risperidone? No.
There could still be some traces of Acyclovir in her system, and I'd like to see how she reacts to the Risperidone on its own.
And if that doesn't work? Lithium Prozac? There're thousands of different chemicals in the brain.
When there's an imbalance like this, it's not easy coming up with a cocktail.
- And in some cases - You never do.
Thank you.
When she was stabbing herself, she looked me in the eyes and told me that she loved me.
Every time the knife went in I could feel it.
I understand.
Take it easy.
I'm on my way.
- What? - Nina's got a blood clot or something.
They don't think she's gonna make it through the night.
I did this to her.
I was playing God, I was meddling with the human species.
I have no right to call myself a scientist.
I don't know what to do.
Telling everybody that your kid was dragged off by a fanged creature isn't screwing with the system; that's crazy.
My boy was killed by a monster! You don't think she did this to my boy? - She didn't do anything to Billy.
- You don't know her anymore.
I only found one pint of blood.
A boy his size and weight should have 3 or 4 quarts.
I saw it, Enuka.
Dragging him off.
Some farmer shot something down here this morning.
Something? - It's a coyote.
- This is not.
It is, according to the barcode database.
Hair samples under the boy's fingernails: not a match to the coyote tissue.
What's going on?
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