I found Father Carlton this morning.
He was taken to the hospital, but he never regained consciousness.
Why was he here?
He had an appointment with His Eminence this afternoon.
Let's talk about our beliefs...
and what we can learn about them.
We believe nature is solid...
and time a constant.
Matter has substance, and time a direction.
There is truth in flesh, huh,
and the solid ground.
The wind may be invisible, but it's real.
Smoke, fire, water, light... they're different,
not as to stone nor steel, but they're tangible.
And we assume time has an arrow,
because it is as a clock.
One second is one second for everyone.
Cause precedes effect.
Fruit rots, water flows downstream.
We're born, we age, we die.
The reverse never happens.
None of this is true. Say good-bye to classical reality,
because our logic collapses on the subatomic level...
into ghosts and shadows.
From Job's friends insisting...
that the good are rewarded and the wicked punished...
to the scientists of the 1930s...
proving to their horror a theorem...
that not everything can be proved,
we've sought to impose order on the universe.
But we have discovered something very surprising.
While order does exist in the universe,
it is not at all what we had in mind.
Professor Birack, in relativity...
geometry breaks down on the cosmic scale, and in quantum physics...
logic breaks down on the sub-microscopic scale.
What's this? I don't know.
Birack did that whole series of debates on the B.B.C. A few years ago.
Oh, with the English priest. Right.
Maybe they're planning another one.
He died before his appointment with the Cardinal,
but he left a diary.
You-You must help us.
Please.
The discovery of this supernova...
has immense significance to the scientific community.
Particles collected date from pre-Cambrian times...
before man walked on earth.
Light from the explosion was hurled through space...
at 186,000 miles per second,
and is just now reaching us across the vast expanse of the universe.
He was the guardian priest.
Apparently, he lived here for over 30 years.
Once a week, he would venture out for food.
And every day,
he opened this door.
Built in the 1500s...
by arrangement with the Spanish government.
Who knew about this? Only the members of this forgotten sect.
The Brotherhood of Sleep.
There was a vow of silence.
Even their very existence was kept from the Holy See.
The Vatican didn't know?
The guardian priest would keep the secret,
and before he died would pass it on to another.
The sect had enormous power and authority.
Their actions were never questioned.
Latin. Some of it is in Latin.
Some in Coptic, Greek, numbers.
It's not easy to decipher.
The original text has been distorted over the years.
Distorted? Rewritten.
Writing upon writing,
sometimes two or three times,
and improperly erased.
You can still see the old writing.
It's underneath.
What is it?
A secret that can no longer be kept.
Do you feel it? Yes. Something.
It was never here before.
It started a month ago. What started?
A change in the earth... and the sky.
His power.
I don't get it. What don't you get?
The whole thing. It doesn't make sense.
It violates common sense. That's the whole point. That's what Einstein couldn't accept.
I can't accept it either. Do you know anything about spontaneous human combustion?
Walter, come on. That's Schrodinger's cat. I know, I know.
So what's the point? The point is, until the cat is observed by someone,
he's not in any definite state, either alive or dead.
He's in a wave superposition state, both dead and alive at the same time.
Huh? Okay.
Only when we open the box and observe the cat...
does he materialize into reality, either dead or alive.
But it doesn't make sense. That is the entire, complete point.
It doesn't make any common sense.
Our common sense breaks down on a subatomic level.
Why do I want a Ph. D in this?
Particle beam weapons, research grants.
A millionaire when I'm 40. Now I remember.
You're really gonna like this. Class canceled?
"Will the following students please see Professor Birack. "
Shit, there I am. Me too.
All of us. And we heard Birack wants us to cancel our plans for the weekend.
What? That's not all. A couple of biochemistry's finest are coming with us.
And someone to translate Latin. Coming with us where?
I'm gonna have to pull some strings here. This is just not gonna happen. I have serious plans for the weekend.
4:00, Walter, Birack's office. Oh, I gotta ditch Pagels again. He's not gonna like it.
Sleep with him. Get an "A."
So what about your plans? I was gonna study, actually.
Me too. I'm Brian Marsh, by the way,
since we're spending the weekend together.
I know. Catherine Danforth.
I know.
So where did you transfer from?
Kneale. Theoretical physics.
I came here to study with Birack. You're applied physics, right?
So why are you taking Birack for theory?
I wanna know what the math means.
Birack's ruthless. He wants philosophers, not scientists.
Well, I've read his books. He's a brilliant man.
Just when I think I've got it, visualized it, it just all goes away.
I start seeing old-fashioned classical reality again.
I want the clock put back. I wanna put it all into a little box.
But whenever I try, it just, uh, slithers out.
Some things aren't changed by quantum physics though.
Such as? Well, for instance,
every theoretical physicist I know wonders why it is...
that no one who looks like you...
ever seems to settle down in our end of the building.
That's not true, and that's an extremely sexist thing to say.
Confirmed sexist, and proud of it.
Hey. I was just joking.
What happened?
You talk numbers, you get romantic.
You talk people, you clam up.
Just a little miscue, that's all.
It's not your fault.
I'm sorry. I'll see you later.
Hey, wait.
This conversation isn't what I had in mind. Can we start over?
Okay. Okay.
I was hoping that you would need some help with your theory,
and that maybe we could discuss it...
over... over dinner or something.
Well, I suppose something could be arranged.
There are other things that I need help with... over dinner.
I have volunteered our services to the Archdiocese.
Now, each of you is a competent physicist,
even though you don't have a degree to prove it.
Participating in this examination...
will greatly improve your classroom averages, I might add.
Plan to take your meals there.
We'll bring cots to sleep on.
There are other departments joining us. Excuse me, sir.
Is there some reason why you're not telling us what we're gonna be doing?
In time.
It's your disbelief that powers him.
Your stubborn faith in... in common sense...
that allows his deception.
He lives in the smallest parts of it...
in the atoms.
Smaller,
invisible.
He lives in all of it...
in the sum of its parts.
We must translate this book.
You must prove it scientifically.
Convince the outside world.
The outside world doesn't want to hear this kind of bullshit.
Just keep it locked away.
You've already managed that for 2,000 years.
No prison can hold him now.
Hi. HI.
It's getting cold out here. I thought this was supposed to be California.
Did you have a class tonight, or... Library.
Oh. Actually, I was hoping you'd have a cup of coffee with me again.
This is startin' to become a habit.
Okay. Okay.
Good morning.
Thank you.
We didn't get much sleep. Mmm.
Who needs sleep?
We do. Today's Friday.
Can I tell you something?
Oh, please, don't. I want to.
Tell me next time...
if there is one.
Or the time after that, or...
two years from now.
Who was he?
The one who gave you such a high opinion of men?
I wouldn't like it if either of us jumped to conclusions.
How do you know I was going to say what you think I was gonna say?
Because if you don't,
I don't wanna know.
Oh, please, don't tell me.
This place gives me the creeps. Well, it was abandoned.
Hmm. I never would've guessed.
No, I hear it used to be a beautiful church. When?
In the 1950s. My husband's parents used to come here.
And then for some reason, it was closed down.
Well! Yeah.
Hi. I'm, uh, Leahy. I'm looking for Birack.
Hi. Brian Marsh. He's over in... There he is.
Ah. Thanks.
Professor Birack. Yes.
Hi. I'm Paul Leahy. Oh. Dr. Leahy.
I'm glad you could come. Yes. Well, now, all I really know about what's goin' on here...
is what one of your students told me on the telephone.
We're just getting organized. If you have some equipment, find a spot over there.
All right. We're making this the central lab.
Sure. Well, what are we actually doing here?
Well, I gotta cover for Leahy over the weekend. Extra credit seminar. Wow.
Hi, Frank. Don't leave.
Excuse me. I have to set up.
Hi. Hello.
Frankie, who's that?
Susan Cabot. Radiologist. Married.
Ah. How married? Very.
Oh. Hi, Doc. Hi. I'll be workin' upstairs.
I want you to set up the basic panel down here. Right.
What are you supposed to be testing?
I don't know. Compounds? Basic structures?
When I know, you'll know. Uh, Leahy.
Great. Science marches on.
Yeah.
Need any help? No, I'm okay.
There better be a diploma in my mailbox when I get home on Monday.
I really can't believe this is happening. I had a date tonight...
with this beautiful young trial attorney from Century City.
Where were you taking him? Please, it isn't funny.
What are they doing? They're watching us.
They started comin' around when I got here at 9:00 this morning.
I'm Calder. Microbiology. Brian Marsh.
Walter. Lomax. Engineering.
Nice meeting you. Hi.
Lomax. How you doing?
So anybody know what this whole deal's about yet?
Not a clue. Nobody's got a clue.
I'm getting my doctorate in theology.
Analysis of ancient scriptures.
This shouldn't be too difficult, except for the numbers.
It's so wonderful what you're doing, Father,
opening the church again.
Are you all right?
We're ready.
He's gaining strength.
I can feel it all around us now.
So what's going on?
Something downstairs.
Yeah? What?
I hate to tell you guys, but this is real bullshit.
I know there's a reason why nobody's opened this thing yet, right?
Let me have your pen for a second.
Is this some kind of toxic crap? Could be.
Okay, but I still don't understand why we're not taking direct samples.
I mean, what's the big mystery?
Catherine's entering these equations upstairs. They're translated from Latin.
Differential equations?
From a book written 2,000 years ago.
We hadn't invented differential equations... Right.
Professor Birack, I don't think we have too much to worry about.
The lid on that thing won't open. Look.
It's incredibly elaborate.
Right here, there's a... there's a weird locking mechanism.
Looks like it can only be opened from the inside.
I'm going back.
Look at this.
Now, a friend of mine at U.C.L.A. Did a study of chronic schizophrenics.
They're supposed to have stereotyped routines that they repeat every 20 minutes or so.
You know, like a stuck record in their brains repeating the same phrase over and over.
Well, I have been watching them on and off all day,
and they don't seem to be making any movements.
They just stand there. With those kinds of problems,
I say let 'em stand there if they want to. Ooh!
You okay?
Yeah. I bumped into something this afternoon.
It's starting to hurt. Probably nerves.
It's a bruise, Walter. You don't bruise from nerves.
I used to break out when I was 12. Doctor said it was homosexual panic.
I'll see you Monday morning. You got anything for me?
No, I'm afraid not. I'm guessing on the acidity based upon the corrosion samples.
The figures you gave me. Yeah.
Well, it can't be that high. Well, I know, but you asked me to guess.
All right, get outta here. Good night, sir.
Hey, what's with the "sir" business? Okay, good night, Sir Doc.
Better. A lot better.
My God.
Hey, look, can I talk to you for a minute? Yes.
Nobody's really saying much of anything here.
We're still putting together the first round of tests, and nobody's really stopped since we got here.
Get to the point.
Nothing... anywhere ever is supposed to be able to do what it is doing.
Now, settle down now.
Go back to work. A life form is growing out of pre-biotic fluid.
It's not winding down into disorder. It's self-organizing.
It's becoming something. What?
I mean, an animal? A disease? What?
The hardest thing to hear for any of us is something we don't agree with.
"I saw a star fall from heaven unto the bottomless pit,
and he was cast out as water from the flood... "
This is crazy.
Man. Hadn't you seen it yet?
No. For the last four hours, I've been carbon dating the corrosion on the lid there.
We're talking about seven million years.
What? Yeah.
I'm goin' topside.
Want me to wait for you? No, uh-uh. Go on.
This whole section's a kind of history. Part of it was indecipherable,
as if someone were deliberately trying to erase it.
I managed to piece together most of it. Okay, it kind of starts here.
"The container was buried somewhere in the Middle East eons ago by... "
It gets a little wild here... "the father of Satan,
"a god who once walked the earth before man...
but was somehow banished to the dark side. "
Apparently, the father buried his son inside the container.
This was the section someone was trying to erase.
Now later on here, "Christ comes to warn us.
He was of extraterrestrial ancestry, but a human-like race. "
Finally, they determine Christ is crazy,
but he's also gaining power converting a lot of people to his beliefs, so they kill him.
But his disciples keep the secret and hide it from civilization...
until man could develop a science sophisticated enough to prove what Christ was saying.
Something like this can really fuck up your weekend.
How did the Roman Catholic Church manage to keep this a secret for 2,000 years?
Apparently, a decision was made...
to characterize pure evil as a spiritual force,
even within the darkness in the hearts of men.
It was more convenient.
In that way, man remained at the center of things.
A stupid lie. We were salesmen, that's all.
We sold our product...
to those who didn't have it.
The new life.
Reward ourselves, punish our enemies...
so we can live without truth.
A substance,
malevolence.
That was the truth.
Asleep...
until now.
Help me break this up. The others shouldn't hear this.
Faith is a hard thing to come by these days. Look at this.
That thing down therejust directed a fairly sizable burst of energy.
Directed?
In a straight line... with the precision of less than a millisecond.
Everybody's acting like we should really be taking this seriously.
You two aren't taking this seriously, are you?
What are we supposed to do? Just go back to work?
What would you rather have, a wreath of garlic?
A benediction? A crucifix?
Then it really is Old Scratch knocking at the door.
A few minutes ago, a vibration was triggered in the metal on that thing downstairs.
A strong one. Some kind of...
kinetic emission came out of it.
Now, if it can transmit a signal strong enough...
It can move other objects...
instantaneously across a distance...
Without outside intervention.
Psychokinesis.
Mind-directed energy.
Don't tell the others yet. Why not?
They have a right to know that this... that it... it's conscious.
Not until you prove it wasn't something else...
a power surge or a draft of air.
All right.
You missed the big history lesson.
You're not gonna believe what's been going on up here.
Want one?
Anyone ever tell you that you could pass for Asian?
Whew.
What was that all about? No sense of humor.
Have you seen Susan? Who?
Radiologist, glasses. Oh, yeah. She's right outside.
Where?
She was there. I think somebody oughta tell her.
Look, am I crazy, or are we stroking ourselves heavily here?
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Susan?
There's more to it.
There's some kind of power... directed outward.
A controlled force.
What's it doing? Reaching out.
Influencing.
Changing things.
Moving objects by thought.
Extraordinary intervention.
Intelligent cause other than man.
Susan?
Hello?
Suppose...
what your faith has said was essentially correct.
Suppose there is a universal mind controlling everything.
A god willing the behavior of every subatomic particle.
Now, every particle has an anti-particle.
Its mirror image.
Its negative side.
Maybe this universal mind...
resides in the mirror image instead of in our universe...
as we wanted to believe.
Maybe he's anti-God,
bringing darkness instead of light.
Why weren't we told the truth?
Without the technology to confirm,
it would have been another legend.
But he was our prisoner, not yours!
We had a responsibility...
to warn the rest of the world.
Only the corrupt are listened to now,
and they tell us what we want to hear.
We believe it to be divine light.
It just got colder in here.
I know.
Suddenly, as if...
as if something...
moved through the room.
Listen, do you realize what's going on up there?
We are on the brink of the ultimate truth!
Oh, this priest is a real case.
He is looney tunes, and I'm beginning to wonder about Birack too.
I'm going back. Come on, Calder.
Come on, Frank!
You're outta your minds! This is a joke. This is caca.
Come on!
Caca.
Hello?
Where's Wyndham? Uh, he left.
When?
Oh, about 20 minutes ago.
We tried to talk him out of it, but, uh...
Has anyone seen Susan? Who?
The radiologist. Glasses?
Well, maybe she left too.
Maybe they both had the right idea.
This is not a dream. Not a dream.
We are using your brain's electrical system as a receiver.
We are unable to transmit through conscious neuro-interference.
You are receiving this broadcast as a dream.
We are transmitting from the year 1-9...
Walter?
What? Have you seen Mullins?
What? No. Susan?
Who? Radiologist. Glasses.
Come on, man. I was asleep.
We can't find them. And Wyndham's left.
Couple of the others are talking about leaving. We're gonna have a meeting in the lab in half an hour.
Mullins left? I don't know.
I'm gonna go downstairs and look for him.
Well, since I'm up now.
If I don't come back, you can have my Porsche.
You are receiving this broadcast in order to alter the events you are seeing.
Our technology has not developed a transmitter strong enough...
to reach your conscious and your awareness.
What were you dreaming?
Your kingdom, Father, does not include my unconscious.
It's mine, and I may abuse it any way I wish...
without having to confess what's in it.
Something I haven't told you.
The Brotherhood of Sleep...
Anyone in close proximity...
has the same dream.
The one you had just now.
Um... Excuse me, but I...
The guardian priests had the dream for years.
What does it mean?
A premonition.
The dream evolves, unfolds.
We shall start to have it every time we go to sleep.
As if it's pushing everything else out.
Making room for itself.
Mullins?
Do you think he really just took off?
I mean, like he was actually believing this whole business?
Why is everybody looking at me that way?
'Cause you're being asshole-ish. That's very asshole-ish of you to say so.
Look, Mullins is probably off asleep someplace.
Or he's boffing the radiologist.
I hope he's getting laid. I hope they're both on their way to a nice Chinese restaurant.
How can you keep working like this?
It's... 3:30.
No wonder I'm so tired.
I keep getting these figures in the computer,
but they're not making any sense.
I stopped making sense about 15 minutes ago.
No, I mean these equations are beyond me now.
They're like another language. Mmm.
Go get some sleep. I'll wake you in half an hour.
Oh, 45 minutes? Okay.
Hey, are you okay?
No.
I know what you mean.
I just want to go home, pretend none of this is really happening.
What's that? Hmm?
Oh, it's just a bruise I got somehow.
Finally stopped hurting.
This looks like a figure of some kind.
No, I got to close my eyes. Okay.
I'll wake you. Thanks.
Hello.
I'm opening the door, if you want to stop what you're doing and put your clothes on.
Big doings in the lab tonight. There's a meeting.
Oh, give me just 15 minutes.
You want me to come back? Later.
Any luck? Can't find anybody.
I'm going up to the lab. I'll be there in a minute.
We're having a meeting in the lab.
Lisa.!
Mona Lisa!
Lisa?
This whole building is gonna have to be encased in concrete.
No way. A building this size? I say we launch the fucker into space.
I'm hearing something.
Where are the others? We think they've left.
Kelly's asleep. I didn't want to wake her up.
I'm asking you to stay.
The work that we do in the next 48 hours is critical.
How many of you have fallen asleep tonight? Please, tell me.
Come on. Please.
You dreamed... You dreamed about the front of this church.
About a dark figure coming out.
Didn't you... Didn't you feel it?
Not like a dream.
Like something else. Here.
I had the dream too.
This image of something that didn't seem to belong to my subconscious.
Almost if I was watching something prerecorded.
Tachyons? One possibility.
What's that? - It's a Greek word.
It means "swift one. "
So what is the dream? Huh? Precognition?
Previous knowledge of a future event?
A shared vision of something that is yet to occur?
Caused by that thing downstairs? Perhaps not.
Tachyon is a subatomic particle that travels faster than light.
Supposing it isn't a dream.
Supposing it's a message.
What if these dreams, premonitions, omens...
What if they're really...
visual messages sent by other human beings?
Photographs. Video signals.
From where? The future.
Anything traveling faster than the speed of light...
would appear to be going backward in time.
A future scientist calculates the exact spot...
that the Earth occupied in space in the past,
given trajectory and speed.
He then beams a tachyon signal...
at that spot,
transmitting video information backwards through time.
For us to receive as electrical impulses, neural stimulus.
Man, oh, man. For what purpose?
Could be a warning.
To show us what's going to happen.
A sort of...
remote camera view of the future,
so that we can change it.
Someone has finally shown up to tell us.
I think it's time we stood up for what we are.
I think there's something wrong with this. I'm not getting anything now.
It's gone dead.
Maybe the generator's dead. No, it looks more like the units downstairs were cut off.
Hello? Hello?
Hey, Wyndham!
Hello? Hello?
Come here. Look at this.
I've got a message for you.
And you're not going to like it.
Look at his chest.
Pray for death.
Jesus Christ!
Calder?
No, Calder! No! No!
Oh...
no.
Kelly?
Aah!
Hey. Hey, you guys!
They got the back doors blocked away there.
What the hell's happening here?
The back doors are locked!
You okay? Check the windows?
What's going on here?
We can't get out.!
- It's in here! Don't come in here!
Go, go, go!
Lock the door!
Come on! Get over here!
The sun's coming up.
Normally, I love being dominated by women.
Lisa, I'm sorry about what I said before.
You don't look Asian at all.
Shit.
I thought I heard Walter.
Walter? Walter!
What the fuck do you want? Where are you?
If I told you, you wouldn't believe me.
Hey. Can you dig through and get me out of here?
I don't know. The wall's pretty thick. Are you all right?
Well, that's a relative thing right now, but yeah.
Wait a second.
They're just standing there outside.
Not trying to get in. They've stopped attacking for some reason.
Walter, where are you, exactly?
I'm in this closet.
I think we can get through with this.
It's gonna take a while.
Walter, we're gonna try and dig through.
How long will it take? A couple ofhours.
Oh, great. I'll tell you what. I'll hang out here anyway.
Well, get ready to pull me back.
Come on, Brian. Come here. Come on, Brian.
Come on! Let's go! Now!
Come on.! Come up here. Come on, man. Hurry up.!
Come on.! Come on, Brian.
Come on.!
Come on.
You guys seen any movies you like?
All right.
AJewish mother goes to the airport to meet her daughter.
The daughter steps off the plane with an eight-foot-tall Zulu warrior...
with a bone through his nose.
The mother screams, "You fool!
I said a rich doctor!"
Not a dream.
We are using your brain's electrical system as a receiver.
We are unable to transmit through conscious neuro-interference.
You are receiving this broadcast as a dream.
We are transmitting from the year 1-9-9...
We can try the hallway after it gets dark.
If I can make my way up front, I could break some windows, call for help.
No one out there can help us.
The other morning you said that you had something to tell me.
And you probably...
think that none of that matters now.
But you're wrong.
It's the only thing that does.
Worker ants, driven to a higher purpose,
unknown to the individual.
Street people...
our colleagues, all controlled.
Demonic possession? Of a kind.
Not what we would expect, though. Never that.
Why would he need us?
The book says his purpose is to bring the Father...
back from the dark side, wherever that is.
There could be a limit as to what he could do, you know,
as a volume of liquid.
He controls simple organisms easily.
But maybe he needs something more complex to complete a life cycle,
a host in which to live.
Hello? Hello?
- Walter? - It's Kelly. She's changing again.
The swelling's gone down, as if the liquid was absorbed into her system.
I can see tissue changes on her face.
Also, I think her bone structure is changing.
Maybe this is the only way he could actualize his power.
A parasite growing into its host.
This could be some kind of gestation period.
I know I'd seen it before.
Kelly had a mark. It was a bruise, almost like a figure.
I saw it in a history book... the astrologer's staff,
used in ritual magic in the middle ages.
The mark was on her? Yes.
As if she were chosen.
- Walter! - What?
Keep watching her closely. Anything that you see, tell us.!
I have to go to the bathroom.
God... and Father...
of our Lord...
Jesus Christ.
I appeal to your...
holy name,
humbly begging that You...
will grant us help...
against this...
unclean...
spirit.
Thou...
tormenteth these creatures...
of hell.
Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Look down...
upon these, Thy servants,
caught in the coils of...
Where are You?
Christ,
where are You?
Holy shit!
Get me the hell out ofhere.! Help me.! Help me get out ofhere.!
They're gonna kill me! I don't want to die!
Help me! Help!
Help me.!
Behind the door. Behind the door! You can't, Brian!
Oh, God! Help!
Help me! Oh.
Hey!
Aah!
Come on!
It's not working!
Father!
I could.
Unclean spirit.
Father.
Come to freedom!
No!
We stopped it.
We stopped it here.
Through the grace of God,
I stopped it.
The future conjured up by the...
that vile serpent...
will not happen now.
The smaller parts could not live...
without the strength of the whole.
They had to die, to fade away,
as the whole was thrown back and repelled.
We're safe,
but he's waiting on the other side.
She died for us.
This is not a dream. Not a dream.
We are using your brain's electrical system as a receiver.
We are unable to transmit through conscious neuro-interference.
You are receiving this broadcast as a dream.
We are transmitting from the year 1-9-9-9.
You are receiving this broadcast in order to alter the events you are seeing.
Our technology is known to those with transmitters strong enough...
to reach your conscious state of awareness.
But this is not a dream.
You are seeing what is actually occurring...
for the purpose of causality violation.