36 Hours Page #3

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- And you didn't succeed, huh?

- We didn't try.

General Ungerland didn't think

I was prepared.

But since then, we've been adding

material to this every day.

I know this man

as well as I know my own brother.

He'll accept me as a friend,

as an American doctor trying to help him.

Just because you speak the language

without an accent, ja?

Well, partly, yes.

I was born in the United States.

I wasn't brought to Germany

till I was 16.

I know the idiom, I know the attitudes,

I know the customs.

And he'll be convinced,

just like all the others.

And what if he becomes suspicious of

the surroundings and tries to escape, huh?

He won't.

This hospital is completely isolated.

The nearest village is eight kilometers.

There are no military or industrial targets

within 90 kilometers.

Consequently, there's no air traffic

and no necessity for blackouts.

As I was saying, when he

sees through all this nonsense...

...and tries to escape...

...what precautions have you taken?

After all, the Swiss border is

only six kilometers away.

The hospital grounds are

completely fenced.

So was the prison camp at Bregenz.

And only last week,

seven men escaped into Switzerland.

Yes, well, it wasn't from here, was it?

Excuse me, Standartenfhrer.

I must see the prisoner.

By the way, I've arranged for the billeting

officer to find you quarters at the castle.

You doctors and professors amaze me.

You learn everything at the universities

except common sense.

Even a peasant would know better

than to oppose the SS.

I'm merely trying to take advantage

of the little time left to me.

Doctor?

Why don't you turn the prisoner over to me

now and avoid the risk of failure, huh?

And in that way,

you could avoid the risk of my success.

Do you really believe

this scheme of yours will succeed?

I'll stake my reputation on it.

You'll stake more than your reputation,

doctor. Much more.

Heil Hitler.

The waiter must have slipped

a mickey in the coffee...

...because as I walked down the steps

into this courtyard, it hit me.

Well, I passed out.

And when you came to,

they questioned you.

When you wouldn't talk,

they beat the hell out of you.

Here's what you looked like

when they got through with you.

- So that's what caused the amnesia.

- No.

No, unless there's a permanent brain

damage, which wasn't true in your case...

...loss of memory from concussion

lasts anywhere from a few minutes...

...to a few hours, a few days,

never longer than a week or so.

You had what we call

a functional or hysterical amnesia.

Oh, swell. That explains everything.

All right.

Well, let's look at it another way.

You possessed information

you didn't want to reveal.

And also, the experience,

the beating, was too painful to tolerate.

So as a defense mechanism,

a protection...

...and a protection against

revealing the invasion plans...

...you just washed it out of your brain.

Wasn't a conscious effort on your part,

you had no control over it. It just happened.

Well, I don't understand all of it,

but I'll take your word for it.

Wait a minute.

Let's take an easy classic example.

A little boy's in a rowboat on a lake...

...and he's looking

at the cottage where he lives.

Suddenly, the gas stove explodes

and his parents are burned to death.

When they find the boy,

he doesn't remember anything.

You see, the experience was

so shocking, so horrifying...

...that the mind just forced itself

to wipe it out, to forget it.

Oh, I see. If he couldn't remember,

it just didn't happen.

Exactly. As in your case, you took

the expedient of complete nihilism.

In other words, you lost your identity.

All right. All right.

Now that I've got it back,

where the hell did the last six years go?

Yeah, well,

that's a little tougher to understand.

Wait a minute, look.

Let's assume

this is the day you were born.

This in the center is the day in Lisbon

and that edge is today, now.

Right.

Now, everything from here to here...

...everything that's happened to you

your whole life, up to this point...

...is suddenly wiped out because

of the traumatic episode in Lisbon.

It's a blank now. You remember nothing.

That's retrograde amnesia.

Now, slowly, through treatment,

we bring this back into focus...

...into your consciousness,

and you remember again.

But sometimes when

we succeed, suddenly...

...this portion is blanked out.

And that's what's called

anterograde amnesia.

That's what you've got right now.

Our job now is to

bring these six years back...

...so that eventually, you remember

everything form here to here.

That'll take another six years.

No, it won't.

You see, you want to remember now.

In the retrograde phase,

you wanted unconsciously to forget.

How the hell do you do that?

Same way you try and recall

any experience that slipped your mind.

First, you remember a face,

an object, an experience.

We keep adding pieces

until the jigsaw is complete.

Here. This is gonna help you.

This is your medical record since Lisbon.

Your charts, your reactions to various tests,

your talks with the doctors.

Looks longer than

Gone With the Wind.

Might find it even more interesting.

- I'll get you something to eat.

- Yeah. Good, I'm starved.

Are you finished

with these letters from your dad?

Oh, yeah. Thanks, Walt,

for being a friend of the family.

- I appreciate it.

- You're welcome.

See you later, pal.

- Sore?

- Oh, no. Not much.

You should be.

You've had three IVs and five hypos.

What for?

Dr. Gerber's method is

a variation of a British treatment.

With sedation, he keeps the patient on

the verge of a deep sleep for a day or so...

...and during that time, he talks to him...

...tries to get him to remember

what he's forgotten.

Without the conscious mind resisting...

...he very often comes to

with complete recall, as you did.

So if your arm's a little lame,

you blame me.

I gave you the shots.

Considering the results, you're forgiven.

Now that you remember them,

we can put it out.

- Thank you.

- Would you like a little drink?

- The doctor said you may have one.

- Lady, I could use one.

Only, not a little one.

Make it a great big slug.

I can barely lift this thing,

let alone read it.

It's the technical language.

Words like "hypnonarcoanalysis"

weigh a ton.

I remember, the last physical I had, the

doctor told me I'd need glasses someday.

He was right.

Have you waded through this thing?

As the nurse on the case,

I practically know it by heart.

Even with a medical dictionary,

it'd take me days, and I'm a little impatient.

Could you give me a fast synopsis?

I'll trade you.

- Lisbon...

- I'm gonna need some fresh air with it too.

Well, after you were missing

for three days in Lisbon...

...they found you

wandering around the airport...

...and you didn't know

where you were or who you were.

One of the legation staff members,

a Dudley, Thomas...

Oh, that was Norweb's deputy.

- He took custody of you

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