Eleventh Hour s01e06 Episode Script
Frozen
Whoa.
I take it you're the ice man from the FBI.
Ice man? Hmm.
That's a little harsh.
Actually, I'm the science man from the FBI.
I'm Special Agent Rachel Young.
I'm assigned to Dr.
Hood.
Well, I'm Detective Cordero, LAPD.
This is Dr.
Nash from the coroner's office.
Hi.
Dr.
Nash.
How are you doing? This was our case till the feds showed up, told us to wait for you.
Why is the FBI so interested? Uh, you should, uh, put on a mask.
No.
- I don't think so.
- Funny, I wouldn't have pegged you as the "live dangerously" type.
There's nothing dangerous about it.
An airborne pathogen couldn't have frozen her like this.
- Why not? - It's thermodynamically impossible.
Uh, airborne molecules they're too small.
They don't have anything close to the heat capacity to cause this kind of damage to a human being.
Well, then, what did? I mean, there are no wounds, no puncture marks on the body,no bruising, lesions, injection marks.
No indication of physical trauma whatsoever.
Who was she, Detective? Marlena Gower.
Marketing student at Malibu State.
She spent most of last night at a house about 100 yards from here.
Left near dawn.
Was a big party.
A few noise complaints from the neighbors, but no reports of screams or signs of a struggle.
39 degrees Fahrenheit.
Seven degrees above freezing.
Her body shows no signs of sub-thermal exposure.
And it appears like she's not warming up, either.
Detective, can you tell me how a seemingly healthy college student in the prime of life freezes to death on the beach on one of the hottest days of the year? No.
Doctor? No.
Neither can I.
Which is why the FBI is interested.
Anything unusual on Marlena's body, maybe in her purse? We found a near-empty bottle of champagne pricey stuff a bottle of prescription tranquilizers and some odd text messages on her cell.
Odd in what way? Well, they were pretty cryptic, asking her if she had reconsidered something.
Have you traced them? To a prepaid cell.
We're trying to track it down right now.
She wrote back some pretty nasty responses, so whatever it was about, she didn't like it.
And you checked her cell record? There were three other "Have you reconsidered?" text messages.
First one came in five days ago.
Could be connected to the death.
I asked Dr.
Nash to run a metabolic panel, also to check the stomach contents, see if there was anything unusual in that champagne she had.
Please call us with the results.
Will do.
Thank you.
Also, we should check out the house she visited last night, see if there's anything there to give us a clue as to how she ended up like this.
Or why.
Yeah,she was here.
Too bad she was a real hottie.
Came with a bunch of coeds from Malibu State.
Real party girls, if you know what I mean.
And I'm sure they were all over 18, right? All my parties are legal.
Hey.
Hey! What are you doing, man? Just checking out your AC unit here.
Yeah, well, it's up to code and state of the art.
You use it very often? Now and then doesn't get over 90 in Malibu that often.
It did yesterday.
Yeah, well, I had it on for a few hours in the afternoon.
Turned it off as soon as the sun went down.
Okay, thank you very much.
Someone slipped our victim a Freon Mickey? They don't use Freon in air conditioners anymore.
Damages the ozone layer.
Any sign of tampering on the unit? No.
So we can rule out death by air conditioner.
She was taking prescription medication.
Maybe we should go talk to her doctor.
She was taking benzodiazepine for anxiety.
Understandable, of course.
Why, was she having trouble at school or with a boyfriend? She had bigger problems.
- I assumed you knew.
- Knew what? She was diagnosed last month with severe aplastic anemia.
Unfortunately, we couldn't find it in time to begin effective treatment.
She was terminal? I'm afraid so.
Could the illness have contributed to her freezing to death? It's a very rare blood disease with a lot of horrible symptoms, but fatal hypothermia isn't one of them.
It's amazing.
You can actually see the heart beating.
And now we know what color to paint the nursery.
I've always loved the color blue.
We'll name him after you.
I just wish I could give him more than a name.
Maybe you can.
Honey, I made that appointment for us at the Foundation.
I think you should at least consider it.
We still have some time left before It's, uh, been over 24 hours and the extremities are finally starting to thaw.
Her body is just a,uh,few degrees below ambient.
Autolysis has begun.
The body has started to digest itself.
It's always such a brutally efficient process to watch.
Yeah.
Life is a miracle, but, uh, death, in its own terrible way, is no less beautiful.
She was only 21.
Oh.
Well,her death is tragic, no question, but, uh I did this autopsy on a guy last month who had been hooked up to a heart-lung machine for, uh, 12 years because his family just couldn't accept the fact that he was brain-dead.
The way our culture tries to deny death, uh, hide from it I just think that's tragic, too.
You got a tissue sample? Yeah,I got a liver section right over here.
Thank you.
No frostbite.
But that's impossible.
I mean, she was frozen, wasn't she? Well, that's the interesting thing.
She was frozen, but but not with ice crystals.
Were there any chemical compounds in the blood work you couldn't identify? Well, the tox panel was clean.
There were a few lines in, uh, the spectral analysis that I didn't recognize, but of course, that in itself isn't unusual.
Well,I'm gonna need at least 100cc's of her blood, tissue samples from her major organs, and a real lab.
Rachel, can you find me one? Oh, yeah, not bad.
Not bad at all.
Can I help you? Yeah, I'd like to borrow your facility, please.
I beg your pardon? Uh, Dr.
Hood and I are here to discover exactly what killed Marlena Gower, a 21-year-old student from your school, and to ascertain whether or not it poses a risk to national security.
Now, I can't legally compel your cooperation or the use of your lab, so I'm asking you to compel yourself to do the right thing.
I have good days and bad days.
I'm set to start chemo treatments next week.
I'm doing everything that the doctors tell me.
I'm glad to hear you're following their advice.
We at the Forever Forward Foundation want to see you live a long and productive life.
Look, I know that time isn't on my side, but I don't intend to go out a moment before I have to.
We just found out it's gonna be a boy.
I may not be around when he's born but maybe, with your help, when he's grown up, I could be back and spend some time with him, Talk to him.
That would certainly be our hope as well.
But I have an ethical obligation to be crystal-clear on this point with both of you.
We can't make any guarantees.
It could be decades before a cure is found for your illness,Edward, even longer before the technology is available to successfully revive you.
Maybe you'll be able to meet our son and our grandson.
Now, I'm using a fluorite substrate instead of glass.
Why? Glass blocks infrared.
Very good.
And we need infrared data to get a complete organic profile.
And fluorite is transparent to infrared.
You care to assist? Sure.
Run this sample, please.
- Mm-hmm.
-Thank you.
Is that an ice pack? Did you hurt yourself? You got a spare one of those I could borrow for a second,please? Mmm.
Sure.
Here you go.
Thank you.
This is an example of an endothermic reaction.
Squeeze it; water mixes with the ammonium nitrite; it gets colder than ice.
Exactly.
I have a lot of experience with ice packs.
See, most reactions, they release heat.
An endothermic reactions does the opposite.
It absorbs it.
Thanks, Dr.
Hood.
Bye now.
See you around.
So, you think Marlena Gower was dosed with ammonium nitrite? No, because it would've left behind ice crystals.
But it's something similar.
It's a pair of compounds that absorb heat when they react.
Just got to work out which compounds.
So, who would have a reason to create something like this? Well, sometimes people need to ship,um, transplant organs from one state to another.
Refrigeration's a way of keeping them viable, but if ice crystals form inside the cells, it can cause a lot of damage.
If you could find a way of preserving organs without freezing them, you could save a lot of lives.
Or take them.
Or take them.
Where's Mr.
Science? He's at the lab.
You two,um,strictly business,right? - Of course.
Why? - Oh, just checking.
Tell you the truth, I wouldn't mind brushing up on my biology with him.
Janitor found him about a half hour ago.
Name's John Robbins.
Big-time entertainment lawyer.
Coroner's on the way.
Unnaturally low body temperature.
No apparent signs of trauma.
Same text message.
Little less cold and stiff than the other victim.
But just as dead.
We'll take excellent care of you, Mr.
Grekowski, when the time comes.
My wife convinced me.
If there's even a one-in-a-million chance I could see my son someday, I'm gonna take it.
I'll, uh, I'll bring you the check tonight.
I think you've made the right decision for yourself, and for your family.
Thank you.
The trunk is still somewhat rigid, but the rest of him is nearly back to room temperature.
And still no puncture wounds.
It took Marlena Gower close to a day to thaw out.
This man's been dead for less than eight hours.
If this is due to a chemical reaction, the hormonal differences between men and women could affect its rate.
He's also older than the previous victim.
He was getting the same text messages she was, asking if he'd "reconsidered," but with no indication - of what he was supposed to reconsider.
- The text message on the second victim's phone gave us probable cause to geo-locate the caller's location, but so far nothing.
Whoever made those calls knows their telecom tradecraft.
What does that mean? It means they compartmentalized the device.
Never use it for anything but those calls.
And probably remove the SIM card and battery when they're done sending the text.
These spectrographs from our victim's blood samples represent half a dozen different compounds.
We've got to identify the one that caused her to freeze to death.
So, we have to work backwards, right? Figure out the set of all possible reactions that could make them.
Yeah, but there's literally hundreds of possibilities.
Just got the final autopsy report for our latest victim John Robbins.
He was terminal, too.
Hemochromatosis.
That's a fatally high level of iron in the blood.
The answer is here.
I just I just can't see it.
You'll figure it out, sir.
You're brilliant.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Janet, but I keep telling you please stop calling me "sir.
" It's Jacob.
Okay, well, we know what the reaction makes, but we don't know what makes the reaction.
Maybe I'm thinking of this the wrong way.
I'm assuming that these two or three different compounds were going together to make the reaction.
That's how chemistry usually happens.
Yeah.
But what if the fragments we've identified are all part of the same molecule? But how would that work? What would it react with? With itself.
It's like the Ouroboros from the Egyptian methodology the snake that swallows its own tail.
Eventually, it consumes itself.
But if this is a self-reacting molecule, there would still have to be some kind of catalyst to get the reaction started.
Potassium? It's a catalyst in lots of organic reactions and there's plenty of it in human cells in mineral form.
There's only one way to be sure.
We have to synthesize the molecule.
Rachel, you hungry? Not particularly.
I need a hamburger.
Okay.
I'll see what I can find at the cafeteria.
How do you want it? Raw.
One raw hamburger.
So that's our killer, huh? Well, if we're lucky, and my organic chemistry isn't too rusty.
Here's a perfectly raw hamburger.
Now watch.
This'll just take a a few moments for the potassium in the meat to trigger the process.
Do you want me to go back to the cafeteria for some fries? Where's your team spirit? Have a some patience, please.
It's 39 degrees.
Same temperature as the first victim.
Frozen solid.
But what about John Robbins? If the same compound killed him, why didn't he end up frozen? His terminal hemochromatosis too much iron in the blood.
Iron reverses the process.
Janet, could you get the iron sulfate for me, please? Watch this.
You see, Robbins had just enough iron in his blood to prevent the process from completing.
But not enough to keep him alive.
Unfortunately for him, no.
And now we're back to normal temperature.
Okay, you said the chemical would be developed to preserve organs for transplant, right? Absolutely.
To that market, it's gonna be worth its weight in gold.
So, it would definitely be worth patenting.
Janet, there's no Internet on this computer.
Is there a T3 connection anywhere in the building? Our professor's computer.
Or if you'd like a little privacy, I have WiFi in my dorm room.
No.
Your professor's computer will be fine.
Application No.
8293024 An endothermic chemical process for the purpose of tissue preservation.
It's the same as the molecule we just synthesized.
The patent was filed by Adastra Pharmaceuticals.
Biomedical firm in El Segundo.
Now we know where the murder weapon came from.
Agent Young, Dr.
Hood, I hope this is important.
You pulled me out of a stockholders meeting.
I need to get back as soon as possible.
Oh, I'm very sorry, Dr.
Ramesh.
Were you telling your stockholders about Trimethyl-cryazine? Cryazine is still in development, not nearly ready to bring to the public.
What's your interest in it? My interest is, I, uh, synthesized it in a lab.
And we believe it's being used to murder people.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
Cryazine is manufactured to preserve organs.
At this stage, the FDA has only approved of limited clinical trials on kidneys and livers.
Who's conducting your clinical trials? I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say.
You know, two people have already died because of your research.
I hardly believe anyone associated with this company is responsible.
Anyone familiar with the chemical is a possible suspect, including you, Doctor.
If Cryazine is successful, it could save thousands of lives.
An investigation could compromise our research, scare off our investors.
Well, we wouldn't want anyone getting cold feet.
We're simply asking for your cooperation.
Tell us who your partner is on the clinical side,and we'll be discreet.
And I'm sure your stockholders will be relieved when you go back to your meeting and tell them you avoided a federal subpoena.
The Forever Forward Foundation.
Here at the Forever Forward Foundation, the idea of immortality is no longer a fantasy.
Dr.
Gregory, there's someone to see you from the FBI.
At 320 degrees below zero, liquid nitrogen can preserve them indefinitely.
A doctor is always present to certify time of death.
It's best that our clients spend their last moments here, so we can begin the process as quickly as possible.
So how many floating heads do you have here? We prefer the term de-animated neural suspension.
Each cylinder contains four clients.
There are ten cylinders in this storage unit and five more units just like this one.
You do the math.
You promise these people that someday when there is a cure for cancer or whatever else killed them, you'll just thaw them out? It was good enough for Walt Disney.
And then what? You put their heads on wheels? In the future, it will be possible to clone yourself a young and healthy body.
Why bother preserving the old one? Plus,it's cheaper to just freeze the heads, right? Do you know a Marlena Gower, or a John Robbins? They have contracts with us.
What do those contracts run, exactly? $80,000.
Our service isn't cheap.
But they both have money.
Robbins is a successful lawyer, and I believe, Ms.
Gower has a trust fund.
Do you know they're dead? When? How? A couple of days ago.
Well, they have to be brought here immediately.
The longer we wait, the lower their chances are for reanimation.
Are you aware of a substance called Trimethyl-cryazine? How do you know about it? It killed them both.
Do you use it here? For clinical trials only.
We encourage our neural suspension clients to donate all of their harvestable organs for research.
If Cryazine proves effective, it could be a huge step forward.
See, our biggest challenge is preventing cellular damage caused by freezing brain tissue.
Do you have the chemical on the premises? Oh, yes.
There are only nine bottles.
There should be, uh 15.
Who else has access to this cabinet? Our lead researcher, uh, two technicians, uh, security guards.
We'll need all their names so we can run a background check.
I'll also need to see a list of your clients.
Just the ones who aren't dead.
Yet.
So, you do have a contract with the Forever Forward Foundation for de-animated neural suspension? Actually, I'm calling to see if you've received a threat of any kind recently, possibly a text message from an unknown sender asking you to reconsider? Okay.
Well, if you do receive such a message, please contact us immediately.
Thank you.
Still waiting to hear back from a couple of clients, but no one else got an unusual text.
Not yet.
Rachel Young here.
Something came up on one of the employees at the frozen head shop.
Security guard named Joey Lux.
He used to be a cop.
Retired? He was forced to resign.
One too many police brutality complaints and a corruption charge to go with it.
Sounds like a real upstanding citizen.
I have a search warrant, and I'm texting you his address.
I'll see you there.
Okay.
That was Cordero with a possible lead.
We could use one.
By the way, she likes you.
What? Police! Open up! Police! Open up! Don't move! LAPD! What the hell?! We have a few questions to ask you, Mr.
Lux.
You worked security at the Foundation when they started testing a new tissue-preserving chemical.
So? So, several bottles of the chemical are missing.
Stolen.
And two people are dead because of it.
- Who's next, Joey? - I don't know what the hell you're talking about.
We're talking about the fact that you're one of the few people who had access to the chemical.
And a couple of your coworkers saw you snooping around the room where the chemical is kept after your shift had ended.
And you think that makes me a killer? Well, standards for promotion to detective have seriously dropped since I left the force.
We canvassed the neighborhoods where the two victims were killed.
We found a syringe with traces of the compound in it and your fingerprint.
You care to explain that? Hey, kiss my ass, Detective.
I was a cop, remember? If you'd found a syringe with my prints on it, we wouldn't be talking.
Are we done? We're done.
For now.
But don't leave town.
Rachel? What? Not a syringe.
A gun.
I don't follow.
Detective Cordero just tried to trick him into confessing by suggesting that we had found a syringe.
Well, there are no puncture marks on any of the victims' bodies.
No bullet holes, either.
I don't mean that kind of gun.
Jet injector gun.
Uses a powerful jet of liquid instead of a needle to penetrate the skin.
No puncture marks.
We need to subpoena all medical suppliers of jet injector guns and get names of any individuals or companies in Southern California who've made purchases in the last 12 months.
What is it? Uh uh, it's nothing.
I just keep getting the same junk mail text message.
Uh, it's so annoying.
Do you think there's really a chance the people in those cylinders those heads can ever be revived? Well, the science is debatable and the ethics are questionable, but sure, there's a chance.
Just as there's a chance a snowstorm could bury the East Coast on the Fourth of July.
I'm serious.
So am I.
It happened.
It was a combination of low-magnetic activity from the sun, ash clouds and sulfur aerosols from a volcanic eruption the year before, but it it created a a summer of snow and rain across the entire Northern Hemisphere.
So, if there is a chance, it's probably worth taking it I mean, considering the alternative.
Sooner or later, Rachel everyone dies.
I mean, you can fight it.
My wife did.
But in the end, um in the end, I think it's how you face your death that counts.
I don't know about you, but I wouldn't like to face mine as a frozen head on a Popsicle stick.
Cordero.
This is Rachel.
We'll be right there.
That ex-cop, Lux they just found him dead in his apartment.
Nothing says guilty like killing yourself with the murder weapon.
I'm not so sure.
Drinking this compound's not a very efficient way of absorbing it into the bloodstream.
The stomach acids would break it down before it had a chance to reach the rest of the body.
One thing we do know for sure.
Our prime suspect just became our latest victim.
Anything good? Jet injectors were ordered by Camp Pendleton near San Diego and a diabetes research institute in Pasadena.
All of them are accounted for.
Another dead end.
Hang on a second.
I also got a subpoena for all PayPal transactions involving online purchases of surplus jet injectors - over the past six months.
- And? One was shipped to a Malibu PO box less than a month ago.
The user name on the PayPal account is Glacialis? Glacialis.
That's Latin for "frozen.
" What's the name on the account? Eddie? No, Mrs.
Grekowski.
Yes? This is special agent Rachel Young.
I'm from the FBI.
I'm trying to find your husband.
I've been calling his cell phone, but he doesn't pick up.
Is something wrong? He signed a contract with the Forever Forward Foundation yesterday.
I'm afraid he might be in danger.
And I'm wondering if he's gotten any odd text messages recently? No, just junk mail, but nothing.
He's at the Foundation right now dropping off a check.
Dr.
Nash.
What is this? FBI, Mr.
Grekowski.
What are you doing here? We could ask you the same question, but we already know the answer.
I'm here to certify a death.
That's my job.
"The way our culture tries to deny death is tragic.
" Isn't that what you told us at the morgue? I'd be happy to have this discussion some other time, but right now I have work to do.
Whoa, whoa, what the hell is going on here? Dr.
Nash is the one who sent you those threatening text messages.
I don't understand.
There's nothing to understand.
This is crazy.
Cryonics attacks your whole belief system, doesn't it? Your world view.
I just respect death.
I think everybody should.
Well, that respect is what's kept you going, helped you cope with your job day in, day out.
Year after year.
Corpse after corpse.
You know how much money people like Grekowski here waste trying to cheat death, what that money could be used for? A billion children go to bed on this planet every night hungry while hundreds of millions of dollars are thrown away on ridiculous dreams of immortality.
Joey Lux stole the chemical for you and provided information on clients.
You killed him to keep him from talking and tried to make it look like suicide.
And you came here to kill Mr.
Grekowski on the premises.
A customer frozen to death at a cryonics lab? Well, that's big news.
Could certainly close down this facility for good, maybe bring the whole field into disrepute.
You're both crazy.
You don't have proof of any of this.
Well,we know that you took delivery of a jet injector gun, the type used to administer cryazine without leaving any marks.
The LAPD's on their way.
I wonder what they'll find when they search your place.
More missing bottles of cryazine, maybe? Don't move! You move He dies.
They were all gonna die anyway.
Let's go.
Stay here.
Drop it, Nash.
It's over, Doctor.
Let him go.
Step back! Everybody Move away.
I mean it! I will kill him.
Don't do it, Nash.
One more step.
It's over, Lucas.
Everybody back away.
I'm serious.
Come any closer, he dies.
Please I just want to see my son.
Nash, listen to him.
Oh, no.
Rachel, this man needs an iron infusion now! This is Special Agent Rachel Young.
I need an ambulance at Forever Forward Foundation.
Third and Rosemead.
Temp is 95.
7 and falling.
Come on, Mr.
Grekowski.
- Stay with me.
- Is he gonna make it? If we keep his temperature above 86 degrees, he may have a chance.
Temp is 95.
2.
He needs more iron.
Eddie, you hear me? I need you to stay awake for me, Eddie.
I need you to stay awake.
We're almost at the hospital.
Now, please, keep your eyes open.
Can you see me? Now, I want you to think about your little boy.
I want you to think about your son.
Think about how much you want to see your son.
Keep your eyes open.
Can you see me? Stay awake.
We're almost at the hospital.
He's right over there.
- Oh, hi.
- Hi.
I'm Emily Grekowski.
Yes, of course, please sit down.
Oh, no, thank you.
I just wanted to let you know that the doctors say my husband's going to be fine.
For now.
Thanks to you.
Uh, but I don't even know your names.
Oh, I'm Jacob Hood.
This is Rachel Young.
Hi.
- Hi.
- Mrs.
Grekowski, a friend of mine works for Memorial Sloan Kettering in, uh, Manhattan.
He's part of a team working on a new treatment for your husband's illness.
Last I heard they were getting some positive results.
No worry.
He's expecting your call.
We were going to name him Edward, but I kind of like the sound of Jacob.
Thank you.
No, you should, uh, you should call him, uh, Edward.
It's a cool name.
Thank you so much.
What? Pregnant women, they they get really emotional.
Actually, it's more to do with the buildup of oxytocin hormones in the bodies.
Of course.
So, you said the ethics of cryonics is debatable, and it's probably crazy to have your head lopped off and preserved for future use.
Does that mean you agree with Nash? You think cryonics should be stopped? Oh, on the contrary.
When, uh, immortality is outlawed only outlaws will be immortal.
I take it you're the ice man from the FBI.
Ice man? Hmm.
That's a little harsh.
Actually, I'm the science man from the FBI.
I'm Special Agent Rachel Young.
I'm assigned to Dr.
Hood.
Well, I'm Detective Cordero, LAPD.
This is Dr.
Nash from the coroner's office.
Hi.
Dr.
Nash.
How are you doing? This was our case till the feds showed up, told us to wait for you.
Why is the FBI so interested? Uh, you should, uh, put on a mask.
No.
- I don't think so.
- Funny, I wouldn't have pegged you as the "live dangerously" type.
There's nothing dangerous about it.
An airborne pathogen couldn't have frozen her like this.
- Why not? - It's thermodynamically impossible.
Uh, airborne molecules they're too small.
They don't have anything close to the heat capacity to cause this kind of damage to a human being.
Well, then, what did? I mean, there are no wounds, no puncture marks on the body,no bruising, lesions, injection marks.
No indication of physical trauma whatsoever.
Who was she, Detective? Marlena Gower.
Marketing student at Malibu State.
She spent most of last night at a house about 100 yards from here.
Left near dawn.
Was a big party.
A few noise complaints from the neighbors, but no reports of screams or signs of a struggle.
39 degrees Fahrenheit.
Seven degrees above freezing.
Her body shows no signs of sub-thermal exposure.
And it appears like she's not warming up, either.
Detective, can you tell me how a seemingly healthy college student in the prime of life freezes to death on the beach on one of the hottest days of the year? No.
Doctor? No.
Neither can I.
Which is why the FBI is interested.
Anything unusual on Marlena's body, maybe in her purse? We found a near-empty bottle of champagne pricey stuff a bottle of prescription tranquilizers and some odd text messages on her cell.
Odd in what way? Well, they were pretty cryptic, asking her if she had reconsidered something.
Have you traced them? To a prepaid cell.
We're trying to track it down right now.
She wrote back some pretty nasty responses, so whatever it was about, she didn't like it.
And you checked her cell record? There were three other "Have you reconsidered?" text messages.
First one came in five days ago.
Could be connected to the death.
I asked Dr.
Nash to run a metabolic panel, also to check the stomach contents, see if there was anything unusual in that champagne she had.
Please call us with the results.
Will do.
Thank you.
Also, we should check out the house she visited last night, see if there's anything there to give us a clue as to how she ended up like this.
Or why.
Yeah,she was here.
Too bad she was a real hottie.
Came with a bunch of coeds from Malibu State.
Real party girls, if you know what I mean.
And I'm sure they were all over 18, right? All my parties are legal.
Hey.
Hey! What are you doing, man? Just checking out your AC unit here.
Yeah, well, it's up to code and state of the art.
You use it very often? Now and then doesn't get over 90 in Malibu that often.
It did yesterday.
Yeah, well, I had it on for a few hours in the afternoon.
Turned it off as soon as the sun went down.
Okay, thank you very much.
Someone slipped our victim a Freon Mickey? They don't use Freon in air conditioners anymore.
Damages the ozone layer.
Any sign of tampering on the unit? No.
So we can rule out death by air conditioner.
She was taking prescription medication.
Maybe we should go talk to her doctor.
She was taking benzodiazepine for anxiety.
Understandable, of course.
Why, was she having trouble at school or with a boyfriend? She had bigger problems.
- I assumed you knew.
- Knew what? She was diagnosed last month with severe aplastic anemia.
Unfortunately, we couldn't find it in time to begin effective treatment.
She was terminal? I'm afraid so.
Could the illness have contributed to her freezing to death? It's a very rare blood disease with a lot of horrible symptoms, but fatal hypothermia isn't one of them.
It's amazing.
You can actually see the heart beating.
And now we know what color to paint the nursery.
I've always loved the color blue.
We'll name him after you.
I just wish I could give him more than a name.
Maybe you can.
Honey, I made that appointment for us at the Foundation.
I think you should at least consider it.
We still have some time left before It's, uh, been over 24 hours and the extremities are finally starting to thaw.
Her body is just a,uh,few degrees below ambient.
Autolysis has begun.
The body has started to digest itself.
It's always such a brutally efficient process to watch.
Yeah.
Life is a miracle, but, uh, death, in its own terrible way, is no less beautiful.
She was only 21.
Oh.
Well,her death is tragic, no question, but, uh I did this autopsy on a guy last month who had been hooked up to a heart-lung machine for, uh, 12 years because his family just couldn't accept the fact that he was brain-dead.
The way our culture tries to deny death, uh, hide from it I just think that's tragic, too.
You got a tissue sample? Yeah,I got a liver section right over here.
Thank you.
No frostbite.
But that's impossible.
I mean, she was frozen, wasn't she? Well, that's the interesting thing.
She was frozen, but but not with ice crystals.
Were there any chemical compounds in the blood work you couldn't identify? Well, the tox panel was clean.
There were a few lines in, uh, the spectral analysis that I didn't recognize, but of course, that in itself isn't unusual.
Well,I'm gonna need at least 100cc's of her blood, tissue samples from her major organs, and a real lab.
Rachel, can you find me one? Oh, yeah, not bad.
Not bad at all.
Can I help you? Yeah, I'd like to borrow your facility, please.
I beg your pardon? Uh, Dr.
Hood and I are here to discover exactly what killed Marlena Gower, a 21-year-old student from your school, and to ascertain whether or not it poses a risk to national security.
Now, I can't legally compel your cooperation or the use of your lab, so I'm asking you to compel yourself to do the right thing.
I have good days and bad days.
I'm set to start chemo treatments next week.
I'm doing everything that the doctors tell me.
I'm glad to hear you're following their advice.
We at the Forever Forward Foundation want to see you live a long and productive life.
Look, I know that time isn't on my side, but I don't intend to go out a moment before I have to.
We just found out it's gonna be a boy.
I may not be around when he's born but maybe, with your help, when he's grown up, I could be back and spend some time with him, Talk to him.
That would certainly be our hope as well.
But I have an ethical obligation to be crystal-clear on this point with both of you.
We can't make any guarantees.
It could be decades before a cure is found for your illness,Edward, even longer before the technology is available to successfully revive you.
Maybe you'll be able to meet our son and our grandson.
Now, I'm using a fluorite substrate instead of glass.
Why? Glass blocks infrared.
Very good.
And we need infrared data to get a complete organic profile.
And fluorite is transparent to infrared.
You care to assist? Sure.
Run this sample, please.
- Mm-hmm.
-Thank you.
Is that an ice pack? Did you hurt yourself? You got a spare one of those I could borrow for a second,please? Mmm.
Sure.
Here you go.
Thank you.
This is an example of an endothermic reaction.
Squeeze it; water mixes with the ammonium nitrite; it gets colder than ice.
Exactly.
I have a lot of experience with ice packs.
See, most reactions, they release heat.
An endothermic reactions does the opposite.
It absorbs it.
Thanks, Dr.
Hood.
Bye now.
See you around.
So, you think Marlena Gower was dosed with ammonium nitrite? No, because it would've left behind ice crystals.
But it's something similar.
It's a pair of compounds that absorb heat when they react.
Just got to work out which compounds.
So, who would have a reason to create something like this? Well, sometimes people need to ship,um, transplant organs from one state to another.
Refrigeration's a way of keeping them viable, but if ice crystals form inside the cells, it can cause a lot of damage.
If you could find a way of preserving organs without freezing them, you could save a lot of lives.
Or take them.
Or take them.
Where's Mr.
Science? He's at the lab.
You two,um,strictly business,right? - Of course.
Why? - Oh, just checking.
Tell you the truth, I wouldn't mind brushing up on my biology with him.
Janitor found him about a half hour ago.
Name's John Robbins.
Big-time entertainment lawyer.
Coroner's on the way.
Unnaturally low body temperature.
No apparent signs of trauma.
Same text message.
Little less cold and stiff than the other victim.
But just as dead.
We'll take excellent care of you, Mr.
Grekowski, when the time comes.
My wife convinced me.
If there's even a one-in-a-million chance I could see my son someday, I'm gonna take it.
I'll, uh, I'll bring you the check tonight.
I think you've made the right decision for yourself, and for your family.
Thank you.
The trunk is still somewhat rigid, but the rest of him is nearly back to room temperature.
And still no puncture wounds.
It took Marlena Gower close to a day to thaw out.
This man's been dead for less than eight hours.
If this is due to a chemical reaction, the hormonal differences between men and women could affect its rate.
He's also older than the previous victim.
He was getting the same text messages she was, asking if he'd "reconsidered," but with no indication - of what he was supposed to reconsider.
- The text message on the second victim's phone gave us probable cause to geo-locate the caller's location, but so far nothing.
Whoever made those calls knows their telecom tradecraft.
What does that mean? It means they compartmentalized the device.
Never use it for anything but those calls.
And probably remove the SIM card and battery when they're done sending the text.
These spectrographs from our victim's blood samples represent half a dozen different compounds.
We've got to identify the one that caused her to freeze to death.
So, we have to work backwards, right? Figure out the set of all possible reactions that could make them.
Yeah, but there's literally hundreds of possibilities.
Just got the final autopsy report for our latest victim John Robbins.
He was terminal, too.
Hemochromatosis.
That's a fatally high level of iron in the blood.
The answer is here.
I just I just can't see it.
You'll figure it out, sir.
You're brilliant.
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Janet, but I keep telling you please stop calling me "sir.
" It's Jacob.
Okay, well, we know what the reaction makes, but we don't know what makes the reaction.
Maybe I'm thinking of this the wrong way.
I'm assuming that these two or three different compounds were going together to make the reaction.
That's how chemistry usually happens.
Yeah.
But what if the fragments we've identified are all part of the same molecule? But how would that work? What would it react with? With itself.
It's like the Ouroboros from the Egyptian methodology the snake that swallows its own tail.
Eventually, it consumes itself.
But if this is a self-reacting molecule, there would still have to be some kind of catalyst to get the reaction started.
Potassium? It's a catalyst in lots of organic reactions and there's plenty of it in human cells in mineral form.
There's only one way to be sure.
We have to synthesize the molecule.
Rachel, you hungry? Not particularly.
I need a hamburger.
Okay.
I'll see what I can find at the cafeteria.
How do you want it? Raw.
One raw hamburger.
So that's our killer, huh? Well, if we're lucky, and my organic chemistry isn't too rusty.
Here's a perfectly raw hamburger.
Now watch.
This'll just take a a few moments for the potassium in the meat to trigger the process.
Do you want me to go back to the cafeteria for some fries? Where's your team spirit? Have a some patience, please.
It's 39 degrees.
Same temperature as the first victim.
Frozen solid.
But what about John Robbins? If the same compound killed him, why didn't he end up frozen? His terminal hemochromatosis too much iron in the blood.
Iron reverses the process.
Janet, could you get the iron sulfate for me, please? Watch this.
You see, Robbins had just enough iron in his blood to prevent the process from completing.
But not enough to keep him alive.
Unfortunately for him, no.
And now we're back to normal temperature.
Okay, you said the chemical would be developed to preserve organs for transplant, right? Absolutely.
To that market, it's gonna be worth its weight in gold.
So, it would definitely be worth patenting.
Janet, there's no Internet on this computer.
Is there a T3 connection anywhere in the building? Our professor's computer.
Or if you'd like a little privacy, I have WiFi in my dorm room.
No.
Your professor's computer will be fine.
Application No.
8293024 An endothermic chemical process for the purpose of tissue preservation.
It's the same as the molecule we just synthesized.
The patent was filed by Adastra Pharmaceuticals.
Biomedical firm in El Segundo.
Now we know where the murder weapon came from.
Agent Young, Dr.
Hood, I hope this is important.
You pulled me out of a stockholders meeting.
I need to get back as soon as possible.
Oh, I'm very sorry, Dr.
Ramesh.
Were you telling your stockholders about Trimethyl-cryazine? Cryazine is still in development, not nearly ready to bring to the public.
What's your interest in it? My interest is, I, uh, synthesized it in a lab.
And we believe it's being used to murder people.
I have no idea what you're talking about.
Cryazine is manufactured to preserve organs.
At this stage, the FDA has only approved of limited clinical trials on kidneys and livers.
Who's conducting your clinical trials? I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to say.
You know, two people have already died because of your research.
I hardly believe anyone associated with this company is responsible.
Anyone familiar with the chemical is a possible suspect, including you, Doctor.
If Cryazine is successful, it could save thousands of lives.
An investigation could compromise our research, scare off our investors.
Well, we wouldn't want anyone getting cold feet.
We're simply asking for your cooperation.
Tell us who your partner is on the clinical side,and we'll be discreet.
And I'm sure your stockholders will be relieved when you go back to your meeting and tell them you avoided a federal subpoena.
The Forever Forward Foundation.
Here at the Forever Forward Foundation, the idea of immortality is no longer a fantasy.
Dr.
Gregory, there's someone to see you from the FBI.
At 320 degrees below zero, liquid nitrogen can preserve them indefinitely.
A doctor is always present to certify time of death.
It's best that our clients spend their last moments here, so we can begin the process as quickly as possible.
So how many floating heads do you have here? We prefer the term de-animated neural suspension.
Each cylinder contains four clients.
There are ten cylinders in this storage unit and five more units just like this one.
You do the math.
You promise these people that someday when there is a cure for cancer or whatever else killed them, you'll just thaw them out? It was good enough for Walt Disney.
And then what? You put their heads on wheels? In the future, it will be possible to clone yourself a young and healthy body.
Why bother preserving the old one? Plus,it's cheaper to just freeze the heads, right? Do you know a Marlena Gower, or a John Robbins? They have contracts with us.
What do those contracts run, exactly? $80,000.
Our service isn't cheap.
But they both have money.
Robbins is a successful lawyer, and I believe, Ms.
Gower has a trust fund.
Do you know they're dead? When? How? A couple of days ago.
Well, they have to be brought here immediately.
The longer we wait, the lower their chances are for reanimation.
Are you aware of a substance called Trimethyl-cryazine? How do you know about it? It killed them both.
Do you use it here? For clinical trials only.
We encourage our neural suspension clients to donate all of their harvestable organs for research.
If Cryazine proves effective, it could be a huge step forward.
See, our biggest challenge is preventing cellular damage caused by freezing brain tissue.
Do you have the chemical on the premises? Oh, yes.
There are only nine bottles.
There should be, uh 15.
Who else has access to this cabinet? Our lead researcher, uh, two technicians, uh, security guards.
We'll need all their names so we can run a background check.
I'll also need to see a list of your clients.
Just the ones who aren't dead.
Yet.
So, you do have a contract with the Forever Forward Foundation for de-animated neural suspension? Actually, I'm calling to see if you've received a threat of any kind recently, possibly a text message from an unknown sender asking you to reconsider? Okay.
Well, if you do receive such a message, please contact us immediately.
Thank you.
Still waiting to hear back from a couple of clients, but no one else got an unusual text.
Not yet.
Rachel Young here.
Something came up on one of the employees at the frozen head shop.
Security guard named Joey Lux.
He used to be a cop.
Retired? He was forced to resign.
One too many police brutality complaints and a corruption charge to go with it.
Sounds like a real upstanding citizen.
I have a search warrant, and I'm texting you his address.
I'll see you there.
Okay.
That was Cordero with a possible lead.
We could use one.
By the way, she likes you.
What? Police! Open up! Police! Open up! Don't move! LAPD! What the hell?! We have a few questions to ask you, Mr.
Lux.
You worked security at the Foundation when they started testing a new tissue-preserving chemical.
So? So, several bottles of the chemical are missing.
Stolen.
And two people are dead because of it.
- Who's next, Joey? - I don't know what the hell you're talking about.
We're talking about the fact that you're one of the few people who had access to the chemical.
And a couple of your coworkers saw you snooping around the room where the chemical is kept after your shift had ended.
And you think that makes me a killer? Well, standards for promotion to detective have seriously dropped since I left the force.
We canvassed the neighborhoods where the two victims were killed.
We found a syringe with traces of the compound in it and your fingerprint.
You care to explain that? Hey, kiss my ass, Detective.
I was a cop, remember? If you'd found a syringe with my prints on it, we wouldn't be talking.
Are we done? We're done.
For now.
But don't leave town.
Rachel? What? Not a syringe.
A gun.
I don't follow.
Detective Cordero just tried to trick him into confessing by suggesting that we had found a syringe.
Well, there are no puncture marks on any of the victims' bodies.
No bullet holes, either.
I don't mean that kind of gun.
Jet injector gun.
Uses a powerful jet of liquid instead of a needle to penetrate the skin.
No puncture marks.
We need to subpoena all medical suppliers of jet injector guns and get names of any individuals or companies in Southern California who've made purchases in the last 12 months.
What is it? Uh uh, it's nothing.
I just keep getting the same junk mail text message.
Uh, it's so annoying.
Do you think there's really a chance the people in those cylinders those heads can ever be revived? Well, the science is debatable and the ethics are questionable, but sure, there's a chance.
Just as there's a chance a snowstorm could bury the East Coast on the Fourth of July.
I'm serious.
So am I.
It happened.
It was a combination of low-magnetic activity from the sun, ash clouds and sulfur aerosols from a volcanic eruption the year before, but it it created a a summer of snow and rain across the entire Northern Hemisphere.
So, if there is a chance, it's probably worth taking it I mean, considering the alternative.
Sooner or later, Rachel everyone dies.
I mean, you can fight it.
My wife did.
But in the end, um in the end, I think it's how you face your death that counts.
I don't know about you, but I wouldn't like to face mine as a frozen head on a Popsicle stick.
Cordero.
This is Rachel.
We'll be right there.
That ex-cop, Lux they just found him dead in his apartment.
Nothing says guilty like killing yourself with the murder weapon.
I'm not so sure.
Drinking this compound's not a very efficient way of absorbing it into the bloodstream.
The stomach acids would break it down before it had a chance to reach the rest of the body.
One thing we do know for sure.
Our prime suspect just became our latest victim.
Anything good? Jet injectors were ordered by Camp Pendleton near San Diego and a diabetes research institute in Pasadena.
All of them are accounted for.
Another dead end.
Hang on a second.
I also got a subpoena for all PayPal transactions involving online purchases of surplus jet injectors - over the past six months.
- And? One was shipped to a Malibu PO box less than a month ago.
The user name on the PayPal account is Glacialis? Glacialis.
That's Latin for "frozen.
" What's the name on the account? Eddie? No, Mrs.
Grekowski.
Yes? This is special agent Rachel Young.
I'm from the FBI.
I'm trying to find your husband.
I've been calling his cell phone, but he doesn't pick up.
Is something wrong? He signed a contract with the Forever Forward Foundation yesterday.
I'm afraid he might be in danger.
And I'm wondering if he's gotten any odd text messages recently? No, just junk mail, but nothing.
He's at the Foundation right now dropping off a check.
Dr.
Nash.
What is this? FBI, Mr.
Grekowski.
What are you doing here? We could ask you the same question, but we already know the answer.
I'm here to certify a death.
That's my job.
"The way our culture tries to deny death is tragic.
" Isn't that what you told us at the morgue? I'd be happy to have this discussion some other time, but right now I have work to do.
Whoa, whoa, what the hell is going on here? Dr.
Nash is the one who sent you those threatening text messages.
I don't understand.
There's nothing to understand.
This is crazy.
Cryonics attacks your whole belief system, doesn't it? Your world view.
I just respect death.
I think everybody should.
Well, that respect is what's kept you going, helped you cope with your job day in, day out.
Year after year.
Corpse after corpse.
You know how much money people like Grekowski here waste trying to cheat death, what that money could be used for? A billion children go to bed on this planet every night hungry while hundreds of millions of dollars are thrown away on ridiculous dreams of immortality.
Joey Lux stole the chemical for you and provided information on clients.
You killed him to keep him from talking and tried to make it look like suicide.
And you came here to kill Mr.
Grekowski on the premises.
A customer frozen to death at a cryonics lab? Well, that's big news.
Could certainly close down this facility for good, maybe bring the whole field into disrepute.
You're both crazy.
You don't have proof of any of this.
Well,we know that you took delivery of a jet injector gun, the type used to administer cryazine without leaving any marks.
The LAPD's on their way.
I wonder what they'll find when they search your place.
More missing bottles of cryazine, maybe? Don't move! You move He dies.
They were all gonna die anyway.
Let's go.
Stay here.
Drop it, Nash.
It's over, Doctor.
Let him go.
Step back! Everybody Move away.
I mean it! I will kill him.
Don't do it, Nash.
One more step.
It's over, Lucas.
Everybody back away.
I'm serious.
Come any closer, he dies.
Please I just want to see my son.
Nash, listen to him.
Oh, no.
Rachel, this man needs an iron infusion now! This is Special Agent Rachel Young.
I need an ambulance at Forever Forward Foundation.
Third and Rosemead.
Temp is 95.
7 and falling.
Come on, Mr.
Grekowski.
- Stay with me.
- Is he gonna make it? If we keep his temperature above 86 degrees, he may have a chance.
Temp is 95.
2.
He needs more iron.
Eddie, you hear me? I need you to stay awake for me, Eddie.
I need you to stay awake.
We're almost at the hospital.
Now, please, keep your eyes open.
Can you see me? Now, I want you to think about your little boy.
I want you to think about your son.
Think about how much you want to see your son.
Keep your eyes open.
Can you see me? Stay awake.
We're almost at the hospital.
He's right over there.
- Oh, hi.
- Hi.
I'm Emily Grekowski.
Yes, of course, please sit down.
Oh, no, thank you.
I just wanted to let you know that the doctors say my husband's going to be fine.
For now.
Thanks to you.
Uh, but I don't even know your names.
Oh, I'm Jacob Hood.
This is Rachel Young.
Hi.
- Hi.
- Mrs.
Grekowski, a friend of mine works for Memorial Sloan Kettering in, uh, Manhattan.
He's part of a team working on a new treatment for your husband's illness.
Last I heard they were getting some positive results.
No worry.
He's expecting your call.
We were going to name him Edward, but I kind of like the sound of Jacob.
Thank you.
No, you should, uh, you should call him, uh, Edward.
It's a cool name.
Thank you so much.
What? Pregnant women, they they get really emotional.
Actually, it's more to do with the buildup of oxytocin hormones in the bodies.
Of course.
So, you said the ethics of cryonics is debatable, and it's probably crazy to have your head lopped off and preserved for future use.
Does that mean you agree with Nash? You think cryonics should be stopped? Oh, on the contrary.
When, uh, immortality is outlawed only outlaws will be immortal.