Scanners

Look at that fellow over there.

I have never seen anything

so disgusting in all my life.

I'll tell you something, he's staring.

I think he's looking at us.

- I think we're being picked up.

- Oh, it's too awful.

Can you believe

they allow creatures like that in here?

Really!

Uh...

Uh-uh-uh...

Uh-uh-uh-uh-uh...

Oh, help, someone, please!

She's going to be all right.

It's all right. Stand back.

Ugh!

Damn it!

You're 35 years old, Mr. Vale.

Why are you such a derelict,

such a piece of human junk?

The answer is simple.

You are a scanner, which you don't realize.

That has been the source of all your agony.

But I will show you now

that it can be a source of great power.

Let them in.

Hurry up!

Hurry up!

You can talk now.

I would like to scan all of you

in this room, one at a time.

I must remind you that the scanning

experience is usually a painful one,

sometimes resulting in nosebleeds,

earaches, stomach cramps, nausea,

sometimes other symptoms

of a similar nature.

There's a doctor present. Dr. Gatineau.

I know that you've all been prepared for this

but I thought I'd remind you just the same.

There is one other thing.

No one is to leave this room,

once the demonstration has begun.

At this point I'd like to call for volunteers.

Anyone. It doesn't matter.

Fine.

Just sit right here, please.

Now, I'd like you to think

of something specific,

that will not breach

the security of your organization,

and that can be disclosed to this group.

- Something personal, perhaps.

- All right.

- I have something. Shall I close my eyes?

- It doesn't matter.

All right, yes, I have something.

Get everybody out, now!

Call ConSec leader!

- I want you to come with me.

- I didn't do anything.

I said I want you to come with me!

Come on!

Gatineau, come with us!

Down there! Quick!

Move it!

Get down!

Give him a shot of Ephemerol!

Come on!

OK.

Take it easy.

All we need is to get stopped by a cop.

It would serve him right. Why the hell

do they have to send us to the old factory?

If this guy's a scanner, they don't want him

down at Central. They're afraid of him.

He is a scanner.

Hey, where's Security 2?

He's moving up fast on the left.

Hey, man, what's happening?

Ray! What the hell's the matter with you?

You gotta pull back behind him, man.

Come on!

Ray, I'm gonna kill you if you don't do it.

Ray!

Oh, my God!

Don't stop! Move it!

No, we gotta get him out of there!

Come on now, let's go!

There are people inside!

Get up.

Let's get out of here, man!

Do you want to get us killed?

All right, now! Pipe down. All right.

Last night, we at ConSec

chose to reveal to the outside world

our work with those telepathic curiosities

known as scanners.

The result, six corpses...

and a substantial loss in credibility

for our organization.

So this morning we have a new director

of internal security, Mr. Braedon Keller.

Thank you.

Mr. Trevellyan, gentlemen,

we're in the business

of international security.

We deal in weaponry and private armies.

We do not trade

in fantasy and pipe dreams.

Let us leave the development of dolphins

and freaks as weapons of espionage

to others.

With all due respect to Dr. Paul Ruth,

I recommend that we drop

our scanner programme immediately, sir.

Dr. Ruth, what's your response?

Mr. Keller, who composed

our audience last night?

We had 25 financial and political VIPs

from all over North America.

Were these VIPs carefully screened?

The screening process used

was very sophisticated, yes.

Yet an assassin managed

to infiltrate this group.

- Yes.

- And kill six of our people?

- Yes.

- How did he kill them?

We have reason to believe

he used scanning techniques.

Then do you suggest, Mr. Keller,

that this highly skilled assassin, very deadly,

who embarrassed us all in front of

the community we were trying to impress

was himself a scanner?

We believe so, yes.

That, gentlemen, is my response.

The weapons capability of these telepathic...

Curiosities?

...is obvious.

If I may, Doctor? Your programme is based

on a list of 236 known scanners, is it not?

It is.

Of that number... Of that number,

how many are now working with us?

As of last night, none.

Well, then, we don't even have

a programme to drop, do we?

It shouldn't be very painful for anyone.

ConSec Surveillance has gradually lost

contact with all the names on our list.

I submit that this is not an accident.

I think we've lost them to a programme

far in advance of ours.

- You might elaborate, Dr. Ruth.

- In my study of the situation

I've come to the conclusion

that there is a scanner underground

developed at North America.

It has an organization that's well motivated,

it has a leader.

That's ridiculous. You can't get

two of them to sit in the same room

without going berserk.

You're making

a very provocative allegation, Dr. Ruth.

Who controls this group?

If you study the descriptions in this report,

you'll find that you probably met him

last night.

His name is Darryl Revok.

And he was on our list.

This is total fiction. Mr. Trevellyan...

One moment, Mr. Keller.

What do you suggest?

- Eliminate the competition.

- How?

Contact a scanner who is as yet

unknown to the underground,

convert him to our cause, and then send

him out to infiltrate the underground.

Convert him, Doctor? How?

They're all pathetic social misfits.

Unstable, unreliable.

That is because their unique gifts

are not understood, Mr. Keller.

There's one point about which

there's no doubt at all,

and that is that ConSec was attacked.

For our own peace of mind,

we have to retaliate in some way.

And I think Dr. Ruth's suggestion

is a very interesting one.

Except that... we don't have

any scanners left to send into the field.

As a matter of fact...

I do have one still unaffiliated.

A very special one.

I don't suppose you speak much.

No.

It's not surprising.

With all those other voices in your head,

how can you hear your own voice?

How can you develop a self, a personality?

How do you feel?

I feel... crystal clear.

How do you like it? Clarity.

I'm not sure.

I think I'm a bit afraid.

Why?

I feel so exposed.

I can hear myself.

- You hear your own voice?

- Yes.

- Good.

- You called me a scanner.

What is that?

A freak of nature,

born with a certain form of ESP.

A derangement of the synapses,

which we call telepathy.

It could be a disease, possibly.

Or a result of radiation.

We don't really know why.

Who are you?

My name is Dr. Paul Ruth.

I'm a psycho-pharmacist by trade,

specializing

in the phenomenon of scanners.

The woman in the shopping mall,

what were you doing to her?

I wasn't doing anything to her.

It was her.

She was... forcing me...

'To what?'

'To think about her.'

'The 50 people that were here

appeared to disturb you.

- 'Why was that?'

- 'They talked too loud.

- 'They talked, and they talked...'

- 'Really?

'I didn't see their lips move, did you?'

'No, it was the other voices, the ones

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