The Fly Page #2

What else?

Why didn't it work?

I think it turned the baboon

inside out.

Why?

It can't deal with the flesh,

only inanimate objects.

It must be my fault.

Why?

Computers only know

what you tell them.

I don't know enough about the flesh.

I have to learn.

I don't want to talk now.

Do you ever change your clothes?

What?

You're always wearing

the same clothes.

No, these are clean.

I change my clothes every day.

Five sets of exactly the same clothes?

Learned it from Einstein.

This way I don't have to...

...expend any thought on what to wear.

I grab the next set on the rack.

I bought some steaks.

Can I make you one?

We could go out.

Cheeseburger?

No, we don't have to go there.

You're very cute. You know that?

Am I?

Ew. Ow.

- What happened?

- On my back. Ow.

Oh, God,

something's stuck to your back.

Pull it off.

Oh, ew.

Ow.

Sorry.

I wondered where this was.

- Do you have any disinfectant?

- No, that's okay.

I'll kiss it for you.

Sorry.

I just want to eat you up.

That's why old ladies

pinch babies' cheeks.

It's the flesh. It makes you crazy.

Ronnie. Ronnie.

You want to try an experiment?

Sure.

Eat this.

I need an objective opinion.

- Yes?

- Well...

...it could use some finesse,

but it tastes like a steak.

Okay.

Now try this teleported half.

- A monkey just came apart in there.

- Baboon. Eat.

It tastes funny.

- Funny how?

- It tastes...

...synthetic.

Mm-hm.

What have we proved?

The computer is giving us

its interpretation...

...of a steak. It's translating it,

rethinking it...

...rather than reproducing it.

Something gets lost

in the translation.

Me. I'm lost.

The flesh.

It should make the computer crazy.

Like old ladies pinching babies.

But it doesn't yet.

I haven't taught the computer

to be made crazy by the flesh.

The poetry of the steak.

So I'll teach it now.

I knew it.

What are you doing here?

I followed you.

Psychology Today, my ass. You

stayed with Brundle all night.

Why didn't I believe you?

I think he'd look great in this.

Don't you?

For your Time Magazine cover,

you have to look good, right?

Don't you get it?

I am finally onto something big.

- Huge.

- Yeah? What? His cock?

Crude, Stathis. Very crude.

You're too perfect.

You're a goddess.

Thanks for making my

paranoid fantasies come true.

I don't have to report to you,

you creep.

Ronnie?

You have to talk to me.

No, I don't! We're finished.

I'll spend the night

anywhere I damn well please.

Sorry. I'll take this too.

I think it's time for champagne.

Oh, God, Seth.

It really happened. You did it!

- You'll never be carsick again.

- Or airsick or seasick.

I know. Or tricycle-sick.

What's next?

Send the baboon out for tests,

see if he's okay.

How long will that take?

Could be weeks.

Really?

Yeah, why?

Well, I was thinking that

we could take a holiday.

We could?

Yeah.

Like an old married couple.

Old man's got

a couple weeks off, so...

...they go to Florida, someplace warm.

Just you and me?

Is there someone else

you want to bring along?

No, no, I just....

Is this a romance we're having?

Yeah. Could be a romance.

Come here.

I have a great idea.

You like Chinese food?

Yes.

We'll have a romantic dinner here.

What's this?

From your editor.

It was under the door.

Victor, it's Seth Brundle.

Yeah, I'll wait.

What's that?

Nothing.

It's just personal bullshit.

Old married couples share everything

to stay old and married.

- Listen, Seth, don't rush it.

- What are you talking about?

I have to go out for a few hours.

Now? No, Ronnie,

spicy eggplant, champagne.

Just a few hours.

I have the residue of another life.

I have to scrape it off my shoe

and get rid of it, once and for all.

Hi.

What's this supposed to mean?

I'm your editor and I'm shaping

your material into a story.

You told me there was no story.

You said Brundle was a con man.

I've decided to trust

your journalistic instincts.

Thanks very much.

But this is not your story.

It's mine.

Says who?

I sent you to the Bartok party

to see what you could find.

Your discovery is my discovery.

I have a lot of background on Brundle.

He's worked on this for six years.

There's material to find

if you dig deep.

- I dug.

- Stathis....

All transportation is going

to become obsolete.

And I'm in the middle of it.

- The only inside recorder of the event.

- Okay.

Okay.

Look, just keep me informed.

All right?

As a friend?

As a professional confidante?

That's all?

I don't want you

to disappear from my life.

Okay.

What about sex?

I'm not saying love or affection.

Just stress-relieving sex.

You and me.

You're disgusting.

As always.

Couldn't disappoint you.

Residue means your old boyfriend,

doesn't it?

Stathis Borans is her old boyfriend.

"From the desk of Stathis Borans".

How about, "Under the desk

of Stathis Borans"?

She works for her old boyfriend

and runs out late at night to see him.

Is this the Ronnie game?

I'm catching on. I'm catching on.

I didn't mean to kill your brother,

but he didn't die in vain.

I wouldn't ask you to do anything

that I wouldn't do myself.

You're all right.

I can tell you're okay.

What are we waiting for? Let's do it.

How you doing?

Now, you tell me.

Am I different somehow?

"Is it live or is it Memorex?"

It's too bad Ronnie missed it.

I missed you last night.

It's still night. I came back.

You had to celebrate without me.

I'm sorry.

I went through last night.

You went through?

Without testing the baboon?

I was drunk. I was a bit upset.

You could've killed yourself.

Are you sleeping with Stathis?

What are you talking about?

I don't know.

I just get that feeling.

That's why you were upset?

I got jealous.

Oh, God. Seth, you don't

have to be jealous.

He's an old boyfriend.

He taught college.

I was a science major.

He got me started in journalism.

Does he love you?

How could he not?

You went through and I wasn't there.

I taped it for you.

You did?

I asked the computer if it improved

me, but it didn't understand.

That made me think about what

I'm feeling and why. I'm thinking...

...that process of being taken apart

atom by atom and reassembled...

It's like filtering coffee.

It's a purifying process. It's cleansed me.

I think it's going to allow me

to realize...

...the personal potential I've been

neglecting all these years...

...that I've been obsessively pursuing

goal after goal.

- Do you take coffee with your sugar?

- What?

I've never given me

a chance to be me.

Interestingly, when I achieved...

...what will prove to be my

life's work...

...I've become the real me, finally.

So, listen...

...not to wax Messianic...

...but the synchronicity of the two

events may blur the individual effect.

But it is, nevertheless, also

certainly true.

I will say now, however

subjectively, human teleportation...

...molecular breakdown and reformation

is inherently purging.

It makes a man a king.

Since I left the pod, I feel great.

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