OtherLife Page #2

- Don't insult me.

- You have given up.

I'm sorry, I have another class.

You can't unplug him without my consent.

I can.

I'm not asking you for your permission.

Just your support.

Hey, Cass?

- What's up?

- What's going on?

Sam needed to quarantine.

He said you knew.

You didn't know.

- Can you do me a favor?

- Anything, babe.

Can you take my archives off the network?

Yeah, uh, that's going to

unlink a lot of projects.

- That's fine.

- Okay.

Is this a creative meeting?

- It wasn't in the diary.

- Yeah, I, um...

I wasn't digging or anything, it's just...

You said 482

and we've gone through more than

twice that amount of nanite stock.

Is this costing us?

No.

Just your time, energy and extra

strain on our infrastructure?

What's the simulation?

I don't have to tell you.

I'm sorry, Ren, you do.

We are supposed to be partners.

- It's personal.

- It's long-term, whatever it is.

Short and linear, your words.

- And now you're developing...

- It's an unproven idea.

- But I am close...

- Close? We're live in five days!

I'll leave you guys to it.

Sit down.

Listen up.

Remember the lifeline

from yesterday's meeting?

His name's Furlong McClean.

Now, there's Department of

Corrections and there's him.

- Corrections...

- He tells the minister

where to spend the federal budget

and he's prepared to put

money down, unencumbered.

- Prison?

- It's a government contract.

You're talking about a virtual prison.

Confinement. Imagine it...

A kid gets convicted, pays his

debt in the courthouse lobby,

a few minutes later, comes back...

Rehabilitated.

It's hard time without the time.

No. No. No way.

- Proof of concept's all we need.

- We're trying to broaden minds.

Not put them in a box.

Okay. So, you can have

your secret project,

but I can't innovate?

You want hardware and staff,

but won't let me raise the capital?

Not like this.

Well, then get back to work

on the actual f***ing product

all these people are here to create!

Hey.

What's up?

Nothing.

- Hey, you need to slow...

- Don't!

Do you want to go somewhere

and actually talk about it for once?

No.

I'll see you later.

Do you want to see something cool?

Whoa!

Whoo!

Uh...

Oh...

- I didn't think it'd be so real.

- Mmm.

As real as anything else.

Right. 'Cause memory is a chemical.

Everything is.

It's amazing.

Go. Go work.

Mind if I go again?

F***ing Sam.

He's still trying

to push this confinement app.

Do you know anything else about it?

Hey, Danny. Listen to me.

It's just a glitch.

Danny, you will be fine.

Danny, can you hear me?

Danny. Danny?

Oh, f***.

Hey, wake up.

Please.

Danny... No, no, no, no, wake up.

Wake up. Please.

Oh, my God.

F***!

Yes! I need an ambulance.

Thoroughly tested the drug

before administering a dose?

It's not a drug, it's biological software.

Sam, can we find counsel

who understands what we do?

Nobody understands what you do,

that's the problem.

- Did you check the software?

- I wrote it.

So, our defense is going to be

that you don't make mistakes.

Could you give us a minute?

Is this what I think it is?

- Is Danny okay?

- What happened?

I don't know.

Something I missed.

- Please, can you see...

- Three years of human trials,

twelve million in peer review from MIT,

- Caltech, Tokyo...

- They missed it, too.

Well, they never tested it

in the first place.

Ren, what is it?

It doesn't fit the adventure brief.

I didn't think you would be interested.

Right. You've been spending

thousands of hours

off in your own little world.

We're finished.

This is going to destroy us.

I hope whatever it is

you've been working on

is worth something.

What is your ambition

for this technology, Ms Amari?

Ms Amari, this is Mrs Wilson

from the Attorney General's office.

A pleasure.

- And Mr McClean...

- With the Department of Corrections.

Amazing technology, Ms Amari.

Truly remarkable.

They have enough to go to trial.

Realistically, we're looking at 10 to 15,

and while I'm sure

I could plea down, this...

This is an offer of deferred prosecution.

If you are compliant with the terms,

the state has agreed not to press charges.

- Charges...

- Unauthorized human testing,

drug fraud, malpractice...

And all you have to do

is agree to be a test subject

in the virtual confinement

program of one year.

Sam, what have you done?

The best I could

to save my lead programmer.

No, no, no. Um...

No, I am not compliant.

Ren, these people

can keep it out of the press.

They've agreed to inject enough capital

to get us over the finish line.

OtherLife can live.

How long have you been

planning this behind my back?

A year in virtual confinement

is a minute of your life.

A minute to save everything.

No.

Ren.

You gave Danny

an untested sample and he died.

Consider the alternative.

The confinement program

is the longest simulation we've run.

At 365 days,

it far exceeds our 24-hour limit.

The subject will be

in a limited environment,

which includes food, hygiene

facilities and a daily reset,

to give the brain a sense of continuity.

There really isn't much more you need

for solitary confinement.

Are you ready?

One year.

On the dot.

And you ran the exit routine?

Sometimes you code these

circular module dependencies which...

Ren.

You ever had to use one of those?

No.

Base of the skull,

straight into the limbic.

- Don't f*** it up.

- Is there a problem?

Oh, sh*t.

Separation of spaces.

A view to an exterior.

A window.

Any kind of human interaction.

No one can read this.

F***!

F***!

Are we going to stay here forever?

Mind if I go again?

Do you want to go again?

I'm not giving up on you.

You're my little brother.

I can show you a way out.

Frederick Martin, 2008.

Woke by music after three years in a coma.

It's possible that during

long-term exposure

the brain adjusts to small changes.

The simulation becomes lucid.

Alice Thompson, 2012.

A random change in her medication

resulted in full recovery after two years.

A simple matter

of invigorating subconscious data.

Jeremy Wallace, four years,

described the process

of rewiring his brain from

the inside to wake himself up.

A sufficient dose of the right

mnemonic trigger could produce

a recursive process and then eventually...

Life can be restored.

Full recovery

from brain death.

The will to live is connected to memory.

Memory is a chemical.

Therefore life can be restored

through biological programming.

Life can be restored.

You know he's gone.

His eye moved.

Oculocephalic reflex.

Mmm-mmm.

No. He's in there.

He's gone.

Everyone knows he's gone except you.

- There's nothing you can do...

- I'll restore function.

With snowboarding?

I needed funding.

And look where that got you.

What?

No, no, no, no, no.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Byron. Your f***ing code!

The exit routine!

The f***ing exit...

That's impossible.

Hey!

Sh*t. F***!

Oh, my God!

Long-term care, ward 10.

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