96 Souls Page #2

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Come on, this way.

This way.

I'm going to shut

down the experiment.

All right.

I'm going to check your eyes.

Lean back, please.

What?

How do you feel?

Like I was just shot

through the "2001" star gate.

Wow, my eyes felt like

they were on fire.

You were here all night, Jack.

Well, after you left, I plugged

in the ORN data you gave me.

It fell right into place

with the theoretical values

we set up.

When I saw that, I

didn't want to stop.

I needed to see if it

could actually work.

Did it?

I didn't get to test

all the wavelengths.

But so far, no.

Close but no cigar.

Thanks, both of you.

I know I can be a

taskmaster at times.

And I appreciate you going

with the change in direction.

We support your work, Jack.

The other things, well,

just have a bit more faith

in your staff.

Mhm.

You want some, Jack?

No.

But try to keep sunny-girl's

ashes curry-free, will you?

Heh.

Your eyes... is it the spices?

You know, they've never

affected me before.

Photophobia maybe?

I don't know.

Well, Jasmine is in bloom.

Maybe allergies.

Ram, roll down your window.

Jack, are you ok?

I feel a little dizzy.

Jack?

Jack, are you ok?

You ok, Jack?

Jack?

I saw it.

I saw it all.

What did you see?

The scent of the oranges.

The flowers' attractants.

The burnt hydrocarbons.

I could see it, ram.

It was all there.

What did you see?

Colors.

Even your curry in your

container and on your breath.

I could see the aromas swirling,

naturally flowing in the air.

It was astonishing.

You saw this without

the apparatus?

Are you sure?

Yes, yes, yes, of course.

The gases I mixed in the

lab must be some residue.

Why can you see this now?

I don't know.

You ever have a song

change your life?

There's one from a while back.

You might not be

familiar with it, ram.

My dad used to play

it all the time.

A song describing stardust

and billion-year-old carbon.

Those words connected

who we are here

to the stars in the universe.

And I wanted to

be a part of that.

That's why I went into science.

Now I'm about to scatter

this very special collection

of billion-year-old

carbon into the sea.

Bye, girl.

Ugh!

Thanks, ram.

Let's get back to the lab.

The compounds must have gone

through some sort of change

when the gases distilled.

We can begin a full analysis.

Just prepare everything

in the morning

and wait till I get back.

Tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow morning.

I have to see my mom and... oh,

damn, that freaking deposition.

Billy, great.

Whoa.

What...

Oh, it's nothing.

There's been a breakthrough.

We have proof.

Scents, smells

can be visualized.

They can be seen without

any special instruments.

Seriously?

We're about to give every

institution researching

Chemoreception a run

for its money, man.

Can you see them now?

It was only temporary.

But I could see them flowing

out like hundreds of fountains

and at different rates.

Graham's law of effusion

seen with the naked eye.

It was uncanny,

illuminating, a radical shift

in our understanding

of the visual senses.

Imagine an app on a smart device

that you move over a patient,

and then it points you

in the right direction.

Well, I'm glad I took action.

What do you mean?

The regents... they moved

to pull the funding.

Oh.

I came here to tell you there's

a separate fund I can tap.

It's used for emergencies.

It will allow you to

continue for a while.

A while?

Through next month.

Christ, do me a favor.

Smear some testosterone

cream between your legs

and grow a pair.

Don't you realize

what we have here?

They're walking all over you!

It will have to

do for now, Jack.

And if what you're saying is

true, the funding will happen.

All we need is the proof.

Ram, let's keep

this quiet for now.

Even from Medina?

Yes.

I'll lock up.

See you at dinner.

Damn.

All right, there's got to

be a better way than this.

Oh, hey, ram.

Something came up.

Melanie can't make it.

Everything ok?

Well, we're working

some things out.

I've been staying

at my mom's house.

No, no, I meant your eyes.

You're rubbing them.

Is it the same

sensation as earlier?

Probably a latent effect.

Something came up with

my dinner date as well.

She brought a friend.

How long have you been with

the university, Dr. Sutree?

Sorry.

Over a decade.

And ram tells me that your lab

is involved with world health.

Yes, practically every

university research group

is trying to eradicate the

spread of malaria and dengue.

Studying the odors

our bodies give off

could be a way to help do that.

Mosquitoes seem to be

attracted to these odors.

Wouldn't improving

the infrastructure

so that cleanliness wasn't

an issue keep them away?

It's more complicated than that.

Our bodies also

give off natural pheromones,

regardless of our cleanliness.

Sounds like there is more

to attraction than just

wearing aftershave or perfume.

Oh, I daresay pheromone

detection would even

be able to tell when

a woman is ovulating.

Dr. Sutree, has your department

tapped into the data mining

modules that Brenda's

group has developed?

Not that I'm aware of.

John is an amazing programmer.

He's been assisting me on

the voice-pert project.

The goal is for workers

throughout the state health

care system to be able

to instantaneously search

any database via

voice recognition.

She's just impressed because I'm

really sensitive to

semicolons and parentheses.

So John, will you be

staying and ordering

food or just having a drink?

Yeah.

I haven't eaten.

I only ask because when I

invited Brenda to dinner,

I didn't know that an expert

in parentheses and semicolons

would be joining us.

Oh, I apologize, ram.

I just thought it would be good

for John to meet Dr. Sutree.

We'll take care of our part.

No problem, dude.

I can cover myself.

How about some oyster shooters?

Yeah.

We're doing studies on

parasites that cannot survive

without their host or hostess.

Cool.

Did I miss

something, Dr. Sutree?

Oh, I was just

thinking, it's a bold man

who first ate an oyster.

Tell me about it.

Well, that was one of the

most interesting dinners

I've ever had.

Do you think I have a

chance with Brenda, Jack?

Ram, there's a

western expression

that associates

potential romance

with an ocean of sea life.

You may want to

swim yourself over

to a different

section of the sea.

This pair seems a bit small, ma.

I've always been a size 7.

I guarantee you not

one part of my body

has grown with that

food they give me.

Grown with?

I thought you were

a proud grammarian.

Being chair-bound for a

year could have something

to do with it, don't you think?

Nonsense.

There we go.

If it feels too tight, I

don't want you wearing them,

no matter how good they look.

You sometimes have to

suffer for beauty, hon.

You're already beautiful, and

it wasn't from any suffering.

Your father wouldn't

have agreed with that.

I'll take them.

Ok.

One, two, three.

Are you comfortable, Katie?

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