The Outer Limits (1995) s07e13 Episode Script

Free Spirit

1 (MONITOR BEEPS) TERRY: Wire systems check, All three floaters are in full experimental mode, I need a status update on floater number 3, Stage 5 non-REM, He's in the abyss, ,, RACHEL: Are the other two floaters approaching Stage 5? TERRY: Negative, Stage 1, Stage 2 at best, RACHEL: All right, Let's concentrate on 3 then, Maintain delta wave generation of 0,2 cycles per second, Copy that, 0,2, He's definitely out of body, (THUMPING HEARTBEAT) Yeah, we've got a good clean out-of-body going here, Getting maximum response, 3,59,8, Attention, everyone, I'm afraid you're gonna have to stop what you're doing, -Why? -Word just came down, We're to terminate all operations, Terminate all operations! We're right, ,, The orders are for a full shutdown to begin immediately, What did they say? They feel the results we're getting don't warrant any additional funding on their part, We've been making progress, They don't trust that we're ever gonna give them what they want, They're concerned that the project is too risky, Too many negative after-effects, And all the time and energy, ,, What are we, ,, What are we supposed to do with the test subjects? They're practically dead already, If you don't have the stomach for it, ,, I'll take care of it, (MONITOR BEEPING) RACHEL: Emergency override engaged, Terry, I need you to input the abort code, Affirmative, lead, Abort procedure activated, On my mark, initiate emergency shutdown, Three, two, one, ,, Termination sequence enacted, COMPUTER: Danger, Subject's vital signs below prescribed parameters, Danger, Subject's vital signs below prescribed parameters, (GASPING) Danger, Subject's vital signs below prescribed parameters, (SIREN WAILING) EKG is flat, -No vitals,  -(CONTINUOUS BEEP) (GASPING) Time of death, 1500 hours, 36 minutes, 24 seconds, Project aborted, Termination complete, CONTROL VOICE: There is nothing wrong with your television, Do not attempt to adjust the picture, We are now controlling the transmission, We control the horizontal and the vertical, We can deluge you with a thousand channels or expand one single image to crystal clarity and beyond, We can shape your vision to anything our imagination can conceive, For the next hour, we will control all that you see and hear, You are about to experience the awe and mystery which reaches from the deepest inner mind to The Outer Limits, Heartfelt regret can sometimes serve as compensation for past misdeeds, But what happens when dark secrets resurface unexpectedly to claim their due? REPORTER: But they've not been able to prevent the closure of many of our country roads, In addition, power outages and disruption to phone service are expected in some areas, This storm is now in its fifth day and is clearly taking its toll, Unfortunately, it doesn't appear we'll be getting any relief soon, Tom, our weather forecaster says there's a new storm front looming in from the north directly behind this one, This means, ,, What's the matter, Leon? REPORTER: Ice, snow and generally sub-range of temperature, ,, He's scared of the storm, He thinks the lights are gonna go out, He's nothing but a big baby if you ask me, -(WHIRRING) -(GASPING) Well, if the power dies, the generator will go on, There's no need to worry, We'll be fine, Hey, promise, Somebody stole my crayons, Well, are you sure you didn't leave them somewhere? Uh-uh, I swear, somebody took them, -Really, -Mmm-hmm, Well, it just so happens that I have a box right here, I love you, Dr, Harris, (CHUCKLES) Well, just hold on to these, okay? (WHIRRING) REPORTER: When asked about the current weather crisis, one official quoted the Bible saying, "These things too shall pass," This breaking news just in, About 30 minutes ago, Midland Valley schoolteacher Benjamin Hayes allegedly set fire to a waiting room at Prior Hospital, then brutally murdered an emergency room doctor who attempted to put the fire out, This country is going straight to hell, After leading local authorities on a chase through the corridors of the hospital, Hayes reportedly dove through a second-story window and escaped, Police fired several shots at the suspect, estimating he was hit at least once, Witnesses say the setting of the fire and the subsequent attack were totally unprovoked, (PHONE DISCONNECTS) It's no use, Can't get a signal, Give it up, Doctor, I told you the storm's shutting down everything, It's gonna be a long lonely night, What are you looking for? Some gum, Loretta's always got gum, I thought she would have left some in one of the drawers, (DOOR OPENING) Evening, Dr, Thornton, What are you doing up front, Mike? I thought Carl was off-duty, Which means you're on duty, I just had to ask Dr, Strickland a question, Right, Doc? Right, Heading back to the ward right this minute, (DOOR CLOSING) What, you calling for an outside consultation? The phone's not working, I mean, you get a dial tone, but then you dial the number, you just get a dial tone again, As for the cell, I just get static, Sounds like we're cut off from the outside world, -(KNOCKING) -KATE: What's that? Code blue! In the lobby now! Code blue! DAVID: Come on, turn over, -(GRUNTING) -Okay, open up, (ALARM BLARING) Leon, you're not supposed to be here, We got multiple gunshot wounds, KATE: I can't get through, I dial 911 and nothing happens, (PHONE DISCONNECTS) How is he? Who is he is the real question, We're not equipped to handle this kind of injury, He's lost a lot of blood, MIKE: Doctor, ,, Doctor, I don't know what I'm doing here, -Tell me, ,, Tell me what you want! -DAVID: Blood pressure there? Project aborted, DAVID: Yeah, that's good, Right there, -Termination complete, -(MUTTERING) MIKE: Doctor, I can't stop this, God damn it, This gauze! I can't get it open! -Need 25 mg, ,, -Bye, Rachel, (GASPING) (COUGHING) (GASPING) Leon! Let her go! (SCREAMING) DAVID: Leon, let her go! (SCREAMING) (KATE COUGHING) Put him in isolation, Full restraints, I've never seen Leon act out that way, You okay? Yeah, Is he dead? Yeah, (WIND WHOOSHING) (SIGHS) (GRUNTING) (POWER SHUTS DOWN) (GASPING) Carl, you scared me, I'm on my way to the basement, Turn on the generator, The damn thing's supposed to go on automatically, But you know how it is, That guy who showed up at our doorstep this evening, he was bad news, Dr, Harris, Big time killer, He murdered an ER doctor over at the Prior, Yes, that's terrible, but I don't think he'll be hurting anyone else, Hmm, If you say so, (ALL MUTTERING INDISTINCTLY) Just a little power glitch, that's all, SARAH: Marty! Sarah? Sarah, Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take, Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take, Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take, (IN MALE VOICE) Pray for the dead, and the dead will pray for you, (INDISTINCT CHATTERING) Tony, Angela, settle down, -You okay? -Yeah, It's quite a night we're having, huh? Yeah, Have you seen, David? Uh-uh, no, Oh, just like a man, Never around when you need them, I ran into Carl, He was going down to check on the generator, I thought that was supposed to come on automatically, Yeah, so did I, So did Carl, (GRUNTING) (GIGGLING) (PEOPLE MUTTERING) Sarah, I need to talk to you, Sarah, honey, This is important, okay? Okay, Do you remember seeing me a little while ago just out in the hall? Just, um, right after the lights went out? Uh-uh, You sure? You were praying to yourself, Don't you remember? Uh-uh, It was a, ,, It was a children's prayer, "Now I lay me down to sleep," Do you know that one? Uh-uh, I don't know it, (DIESEL TRICKLING) Wonder what's taking Carl so long, He should have had the lights back on by now, -Come on, that's great, -RACHEL: What's this? What is he doing here? I found him wandering around the isolation ward all by himself, He swears he doesn't remember a thing about attacking you, Isn't that right, Leon? Who let him out of his restraints? That's where the scenario gets a little strange, He says that Mike set him free, Didn't he, Leon? Oh, it gets better than that, I'm telling you, I didn't do anything, Someone knocked me out downstairs and busted up the diesel tanks, The same diesel that's on your shoes, my man, You're gonna take the word of a crazy like Leon? Especially after what the nutcase did to you and me earlier? Why would I set him free? Tell me, why? You believe me, don't you, Dr, Harris? I want to believe you, Mike, Not only was the generator's fuel tank destroyed, the ignition coil was taken, We couldn't even use the fuel we had, Why would I sabotage the generator? It doesn't make sense, I also found these on him, CARL: Dexedrine, Let you in on a little secret, I'm afraid of the dark, I always have been, I, ,, It's why I like to work at nights, I don't like to sleep at night because, ,, I have bad dreams, I take a few Dexedrine from the dispensary to make sure I don't fall asleep, This just gets better and better, Look, the truth is, I blacked out for some reason tonight, I don't know why, But when I woke up, my boots reeked of diesel fuel and, ,, I didn't do it, I swear I didn't do it, Mike, Mike, what do you remember? RACHEL: Mike? Question is, Rachel, (IN DEEP VOICE) what do you remember? (YELLING) Carl, what are you doing, man? What are you doing? I didn't, ,, I didn't do anything! Dr, Harris, I, ,, I didn't do it! Oh, God, please don't, ,, Don't leave me here alone, You didn't have to sedate, ,, You didn't see that? You didn't see the way he became another person for a second? You're spooked by things you don't understand, I can see it in your eyes, You need to come with me, (DOOR CLOSING) In a related development, the governor has threatened to fire the snow plow crews if they don't return to work immediately, In his words, this is no time to be playing, ,, You have your own power supply, I see, I never turn off the TV, It wards away evil spirits, , ,,and that the governor has made no effort to bring in additional crews from neighboring states, You think I'm making a joke? But what you're going through is no joke, Something is not right in this place, I can sense it too, I'm gonna give you this gris-gris, It will help keep you safe, Safe from, ,, From what? Calfu, The black spirit, (INDISTINCT CHATTERING ON TV) Oh, yeah, he's in here, I can feel him, Too near, And I know what he's up to, He's going around stealing, ,, Souls, Dr, Harris, Souls, In other news, the identity of the Prior hospital emergency room doctor whose life was tragically cut short earlier today has been released, His name is Terry Collins of Woodville, He was 36 years old, What is it, Rachel? What's wrong? You know that emergency room doctor over at Prior? The one that got murdered earlier today? Do you, ,, You know who that was? It was Terry Collins, Terry, Our Terry, How do you know? I saw a picture of him on the TV in Carl's room, Terry was there that day that we, ,, Yes, I know he was there, So what? "So what?" Don't you find it the least bit odd that Ben Hayes should appear tonight after killing Terry Collins? Well, it's a bizarre coincidence but that's all it is, A coincidence, Kate, three men died that day, One of them was in stage 5, non REM, the abyss, which means he wasn't really there, His consciousness was not in his body, Not once did we ever witness a single episode of post mortem activity -in any one of our test subjects, -(SIGHS) And when his body died, his consciousness died, It's as simple as that, Then he has called me by name, Do you know what you're saying? Are you listening to yourself? You didn't see the way he looked at me, I am telling you he knew who I was, I can see now that you're harboring a tremendous amount of guilt over this, And what about you? Don't you feel guilty? I try not to live in the past, Rachel, how am I ever going to convince you that what happened to those men was out of our hands, We had no choice, You know, Kate, maybe we did have a choice, Maybe there was something we could have done, Ah! Great, (GASPING) Look, it's right over here, It's right, ,, I don't understand, It was just here a minute ago in big red letters, It said, "Free spirit" right there! Rachel, you've gotta get a hold of yourself, Hey, I am not delusional, okay? Which is why it pains me to see you this way, I remember the first day you walked into my office, Fresh out of grad school, all ready to the show the world what you know, And now we're here, This is where they stuck us, This is what we get for spending tens of millions of their dollars, We're still under contract to them, Rachel, and if you keep talking about Free Spirit you'll end up getting us both in trouble, We're already in trouble here, Has it ever occurred to you that the same people who ordered our test subjects disposed of could very easily have something similar happen to us, You signed a non-disclosure agreement just like I did, I shouldn't have signed it, Okay, that's it, I am taking you off duty, I want you to get some rest, Here, I want you to take these, Oh, come on, Kate, ,, -Take these, Take them, -Okay, fine, fine, fine, Here, Good, Now, when you're feeling up to it and after you've calmed down I could use your help in the ward, Okay, Please, no more talk about "free spirit," It's over, It's done with, Now get some rest, (CREAKING) By the way, Carl, my name is not Calfu, SARAH: Rachel, ,, Rachel, ,, Rachel, ,, (GASPING) Come quick, Dr, Strickland's hurt, he needs help, Hurry, (SOFTLY) Down here, Down in the basement, Sarah? SARAH: In here, Rachel, Quick, Hurry, Sarah? Sarah Gemma, this is not funny, Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take, Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, SARAH: Pray for the dead? MAN: And the dead will pray for you, (SCREAMING) (GASPING) -SARAH: In here, Rachel, Quick, -(GASPING) (INDISTINCT CHATTERING) (SIGHS) (GHOSTLY WHISPER) Rachel, Sarah, (BREATHING HEAVILY) Where are all the doctors and nurses? (LAUGHING) I'm sure you'll find them stashed around here somewhere, What's the matter, Rachel? Bad dreams? I know all about bad dreams and I know all about planting them in your head, And I can do it again and again and again for the rest of your life, Who are you? Mark Gregory, Alex Hannover, -Kevin Lockwood, ,, -No! No, MAN: Help me, (SCREAMS) (GASPING) Kate, No, You thought you got away with it, hmm? Well, I'm here to tell you, you didn't get away with it, -Hey, Carl, -Hmm, (GRUNTING) Kate! (PANTING) She's dead, (WEEPING) Did Carl do this? It's all right, (RACHEL SOBBING) Let me see, Did he hurt you? Did he hurt you? We have to take him to isolation before he wakes up, Doesn't matter where you take him, It'll just possess someone else, I'm not kidding, David, It wasn't Carl, This entity was just using his body, just like he did Mike and Sarah, (SNIFFLING) Well, say something, You're asking me to believe that a certain phenomena exists that goes against everything I believe in as a doctor, Human consciousness can exist outside of the body, Kate and I proved it, You're saying this thing can literally be inside anybody, You, me, uh, one of the nurses, one of the patients, That's exactly what I'm saying, yes, How do you know it's not inside me, right now? I just know, Yeah, Look, it has a way of speaking, of looking at me, okay? I mean, maybe, when you knocked Carl out, you rendered it unconscious as well, Okay, so when Carl wakes up, this thing is gonna wake up? It's gonna transfer itself into someone else's body and take over someone else? That's seems to be the pattern, yeah, Excuse me for a second, do you know how crazy that sounds? -I am sorry, -Look, David, I know this sounds crazy, -Look, ,, -Okay? -DAVID: What's Leon doing here? -I don't know, Leon, Leon, what is it? This is no good, No good at all, Look, What? It's the whole staff, Are they dead? No, they're alive, They appear to be heavily sedated, It's taking us out one by one, Rachel, please, (GASPING) RACHEL: David, Sarah, what you doing with that knife? I was thinking of cutting their hearts out, Too late, David, I am in Leon now, What do you think, Rachel? Should I possess David? Force him to slit his wrists? Or maybe I'll set fire to the place as stupid little Sarah, Nobody would ever suspect Sarah of anything, I can be whoever I want to be, Make people do whatever I want them to do, I think maybe David believes you now, What do you think, David? Rachel, come on! You two have yourselves a pleasant evening! Okay, you've got my attention, What's this all about? Kate and I worked for Cryo-sync Laboratories, They were a research facility devoted to the development of a radical technology the military couldn't wait to get their hands on, A new breed of intelligence operative, Ethereal beings with no mass or shape possessing the subject's consciousness, Silent, Invisible, Perfect spy, The project was called Free Spirit, And that's what these entities were, literally, We took three test subjects to the brink of death to produce the desired ethereal effect, (STUTTERING) It worked, Well, for a short periods of time anyway, Until we found out that humans weren't designed to deal with such a separation of mind and spirit, Subjects became delusional, Sometimes they'd rock back and forth uncontrollably or scream for hours, What happened to the test subjects? They're all dead, How? When they pulled the plug on the project, they pulled the plug on the test subjects, Instead of sending raving lunatics home to their families the Corporation sent caskets and huge settlement checks, Their loved ones were told that the men were part of something as sensitive as the Manhattan Project, That they were heroes who died valiantly in the service of their country, And this thing is one of them? Somehow his consciousness lived on beyond his body, So how do we stop it? I don't know, There's dial tone, Not that it means anything, (DIALING) Oh, God! DAVID: Rachel! Run! (DIAL TONE) -Come on, Yes! -(RINGING) OPERATOR: Emergency 911, (DOOR OPENING) (GASPING) It's me, it's me, it's me, (DOOR CLOSING) DAVID: He's gone, he's gone, I finally got through to the police, They're on their way, RACHEL: I don't know if they're gonna be able to help, Oh, they will, We just have to wait, I'm sorry about not believing you considering what's going on tonight, And if the entity is what you think it is, it must be out for revenge, I guess it didn't like it when you pulled the plug, Who gave the order? The Corporation that was funding the project, No, no, who actually pushed the button? Kate, You know, you're not a half bad liar, And I should know, After all, I was there, (GASPING) Kate was just the messenger, You were the executioner, You know who I am now? Lockwood, Kevin Lockwood, Test subject number three, The last surviving guinea pig, in the flesh, Well, David's flesh anyway, for the moment, Why now? Why after four years? Steep learning curve, You know, the human mind is not all that hard to control once you get the hang of it, Now that you know how, why not possess someone who has a lot of money and go back to your family and live out the rest of your life? Unfortunately, I can't possess a body for any length of time, So you are not so God-like after all, I bet you'd love to get your hands on that, wouldn't you? You'd kill me all over again, (SOBBING) I never wanted to kill anybody, But that didn't stop you from carrying out your orders, did it? Guilt's a bitch, huh? Guilt has been eating all over my heart for four years, Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? You convinced me to volunteer for the project! You told me we were about to embark on a great adventure together, I did everything in my power to stop it, No, you didn't! You didn't even try! You could have stood up to them and you didn't, You could have stopped them from killing us but you made a deal, You saved your ass! -(STUTTERING) It wasn't like that, -Shut up! You're still doing it, You're lying to me with a straight face just like you did on my first day of the project, Do you have any idea what you've condemned me to? What do you want me to do? I want you to suffer with me, Well, then do it, Possess me, Force me to kill myself, Not a chance, I've saved you for last, And before carrying out your sentence there is something that I would like to share with you, Would you like to know what that is? (GASPING) DAVID: You know who killed Kate? Surprise, (RACHEL GRUNTING) (DAVID SCREAMING) Come on, you can do it, You have it in you, Drop the weapon, Get her off! Get her off me! Drop it, Now, She did it, She killed Dr, Thornton, (GATE BUZZING) (IN KEVIN'S VOICE) Hey, Rachel, Pray for the dead and the dead will pray for you, See you around, CONTROL VOICE: If we are unwilling to heed our conscience, our worst moral judgments will inevitably
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