Altered States Page #5

with apes.

I've been corresponding

with the University of Nevada.

I may just go out and spend

a couple of weeks there this summer.

I've got nothing else to do

except write my report.

I don't suppose you recorded

any of those baboon sounds?

Yes, of course I did. Why?

I'd like very much to hear them.

Of course.

Mrs. Tally said she'll be here

tomorrow morning at 10:30...

...to help you put everything away.

She wanted to know if you wanted her

to come back to work steady.

I got a letter from Mason

about a week ago, just before we left Nairobi.

He says that you've been working

with a very complex drug...

...which you brought back from Mexico.

It hasn't been thoroughly tested yet

and is dangerous as hell.

What else did Mason write you?

That over the past year you've taken

about two grams of that drug yourself...

...and that you had a very unusual instance

of genetic regression...

...about three months ago.

You may have leukemia or lymphoma.

He's been trying to get you in for a

complete workup but you've refused to go.

He's worried stiff that you're cracking up.

He thinks you're behaving

very strangely...

...and he begged me to talk to you

about this when I got back.

Mason is pathologically incapable

of keeping his mouth shut.

- He's worried.

- He's a stupid, doctrinaire idiot.

- Mason is a first-rate doctor.

- Lt's not leukemia.

Or any other kind of cancer.

I've let him do a liver-spleen scan

on me and a CAT scan.

I have been probed,

scoped and palpated.

Mason's had a mirror down my throat

or up my ass for three months.

And there is no evidence,

no suggestion whatsoever of cancer.

What else did Mason write you?

Which of these has

the baboon vocalizations?

- 'd like to hear them.

- Why?

Did Mason write that during the regression

I had an aphasic experience for four hours?

The only sounds I could get out were

clicks and grunts.

I've got a hunch they're like

the baboon vocalizations.

You took blood tests

and the lab report showed...

...some characteristics

of simian blood groups.

- Also antigens specific to man.

- 'd like to see that data.

The thing to do is for me to get back

to that isolation tank and try it again.

Let's see if it happens again.

None of us believed it happened.

After three months, I'm beginning

to wonder if it happened myself.

They won't go back to the tank.

Mason's taken over the whole project.

He's got Arthur up in his lab

fractionating rats' brains.

What the hell am l supposed to do

while they're fractionating rats' brains?

Mommy.

Everybody thinks your father's

going nuts.

Mommy, when are we going to eat?

Run along, play with Grace.

I am convinced that the regression

was triggered by an act of consciousness.

When I was in the tank,

I entered another consciousness.

I became another self,

a more primitive self...

...and the drug in some way...

...triggered the externalization

of that other, more primitive self.

At least look at my data.

Maybe tomorrow afternoon...

Don't patronize me.

It's just possible I'm not mad, you know.

I'm asking you to make a small quantum

jump to accept one deviant concept.

That our other states of consciousness

are as real as our waking state.

- And that reality can be externalized.

- You're screaming.

I've been getting this patronizing sh*t from

Mason for three months. I'm sick of it.

We've got millions of years stored away

in that computer bank we call our minds.

We have got trillions of dormant genes

in us, our whole evolutionary past.

Perhaps I've tapped into that.

I want to get back into

that tank and repeat the experiment.

The most elementary laboratory behavior.

Repeat the experiment. Confirm it.

I'd like other responsible scientists

with me when l do it.

I would like

a little consensual validation on this.

We may have demonstrated

a whole new force in nature.

For God's sake, don't you agree

it merits further investigation?

I've got tapes, notes,

everything at my place.

What time would you like to come

look at the stuff?

Two, 2:
30.

Oh.

I just want to get the girls.

I'll be right back.

l'll get it, I'll get it.

No, no, I will.

It's 8:
30, so get washed

and changed right now.

I don't want any trouble

from either of you tonight.

Hello?

Oh, Mason. Thank you for calling.

I assume you've spoken to Arthur.

No, no, I just got back

from dinner with the kids.

Well, l just don't know what to say.

I think you're absolutely right.

He's on the verge of a breakdown.

He was here all afternoon, carried on

like a madman and then disappeared.

Ordinarily l wouldn't be this panicky,

but I just am very worried.

- What's the trouble?

- There's an animal loose in the basement.

- What kind of animal?

- Monkey, l think.

Charlie. Charlie Thomas.

Where are you?

Listen, we got some kind of animal

loose here in B-building basement.

I'm heading into the north corridor,

to the boiler room.

You guys come down the other way.

Now, watch your step.

He's a pretty good-sized ape.

Call the animal rooms and find out

what the hell he's doing down here.

Must be in here somewhere.

I'm gonna take a look up here.

What the-?

Get out. Get on out of here!

Hey. Get on out of here!

What were you doing in the tank room?

I remember large fragments

of what happened, but not all of it.

You'll have to be patient with me.

I've had Mason looking all over Boston

for you all night.

It's okay. I'm all right.

I suppose getting a call at 2:30

in the morning from the police...

...to the effect your husband

has been found sleeping naked...

...in the city zoo

might have caused you some concern.

- Yes, I think you could say that.

- Mason telling you this whole time...

... I'm having a nervous breakdown...

...and you figured

I'd finally flipped out altogether.

I'm sorry, Emily. Forgive me. L know

what a harrowing day I've caused you.

I suppose you've been sitting here...

...trying to figure out

how to get me to a psychiatrist.

As a matter of fact, I have.

I don't know how you've put up with me

all these years.

I loved you.

My God, Emily, l don't know

how to tell you this. L really don't.

The implications are staggering.

Apparently I entered

a very primitive consciousness.

All I remember is what was

comprehensible to that consciousness.

I don't remember, not clearly,

how l got out of the tank room.

The first thing l remember are the dogs.

I followed a pack of wild dogs to the zoo.

That's how l got there.

In the zoo, l hunted down,

killed, and ate a small sheep.

I was utterly primal.

I consisted of nothing more...

...than the will to survive,

to live through the night...

...to eat...

...to drink...

...to sleep.

It was the most supremely

satisfying time of my life.

I may have killed a man tonight.

I remember...

...beating on a...

You don't know the trouble I had

getting these clothes.

I had to go down to the security office.

They want you to call

the security office right now.

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote