Forever Knight (1992) s02e23 Episode Script
Near Death
[.]
[PANTING.]
[SCREAMING.]
[TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS.]
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER.]
I mean, there's absolutely no trauma in the body, there's no aroma of alcohol, there's no evidence of a seizure.
I don't know, maybe the toxicology tests are going to tell me something.
Guy must be out on a day pass.
Did he give you anything? I hope not.
Just found the body a couple of hours ago.
So how about you guys? No, nothing.
You? Nothing? All right.
He just dropped dead.
Are you happy? I am telling you guys, there is no apparent cause of death.
Yeah.
[.]
NARRATOR: He was brought across in 1228.
Preyed on humans for their blood.
Now, he wants to be mortal again To repay society for his sins To emerge from his world of darkness From his endless forever night.
[GROWLS.]
[.]
KNIGHT: All I'm saying is I think you should have told me it was Myra's birthday.
I would have bought her something.
No, no, no.
It's okay.
Besides, I got her what she wanted.
Oh, that dream vacation? Yeah, right.
Only in her dreams.
What, then? A pair of 20-point ice crampons and rope.
Myra wants to take up ice-climbing.
Ice-climbing? Exactly.
Did you know that 10 yards--? No, no, scratch that.
Ten meters of rope cost $150? Now, Myra will only do it once.
And then she'll be on to the next expensive hobby, and I'll be stuck with a $150 clothesline, which I might hang myself with.
Is that why you're all bent of shape? Expensive rope? Nah.
It's birthdays.
They just get to me.
It's another year closer to the end.
Myra has a birthday, and you worry about dying? It's just that sometimes it hits you, Nick.
Death means the end of Of you.
Doesn't that make you think? I try not to dwell on it too much.
But what is it, anyway? I mean, how can you experience death if there's no more of you to experience it? I don't know, I've never died before.
Would you just wish Myra a happy birthday for me, okay? We got an ID on your John Doe from last night.
Name's Dr.
Julian Welner.
Matches a missing person's report filed by his employer, a Dr.
Alex Nystrom.
He's head of the McCallum Neurological Institute.
Ooh, the McCallum Neuro, heh, heh.
Keep out.
Psycho City limits.
[SIGHS.]
Dr.
Lambert is requesting the pleasure of your company at the morgue, as in, "Tell them this is getting stranger by the minute.
" LAMBERT: Well, his toxicology test came back clean and that was my last gasp at cause of death.
If you'll pardon the expression.
The only thing I did find was advanced prostate cancer, but that didn't kill him.
So the verdict is? He shouldn't be dead.
But, uh, he is isn't he? Oh, he is.
His brain simply stopped functioning.
The only thing that can do that to you is death.
However, since I can't list death as the cause of death Well, you see my predicament.
KNIGHT: Well, we can't move on this unless there's evidence of homicide.
Well, I can tell you this much, Welner didn't die where we found his body.
His shoes were clean, no trace of soil of any sort.
I'd say he died indoors, and uh, somebody moved his body.
Sounds like a case to me.
Might be interesting to find out what kind of work he was doing at the McCallum Institute.
Yeah, right, like we speak fluent neurological.
Yeah, we could use a translator.
I thought you'd never ask.
Come on.
SCHANKE: Look at this.
Some poor schmuck's entire existence, his hopes, his dreams, his memories, his fears, his loves, his lusts.
All reduced to one gray glob plopped in formaldehyde.
Oh, man.
Is this any way to end up? What's with Dr.
Doom here? It's Myra's birthday.
Oh.
Here is Dr.
Welner's file.
Do you suspect foul play? You been watching too many mystery movies, Dr.
Nystrom.
We're just here for some background.
[NATALIE GASPS.]
Um, what kind of work was Dr.
Welner doing here? He was part of a team that was studying consciousness states.
We're a research facility, so we do a lot of experimental work here.
Putting chicken brains into monkeys? That sort of thing? Actually we have been doing inter-species brain-tissue transplants for some time now.
KNIGHT: We'd like to meet the rest of Dr.
Welner's team.
Certainly.
The lab's this way.
NYSTROM: Doctors Naomi Ross and Joel Becker.
Naomi will do.
Oh, Dr.
Linsman must be in her lab.
I can go and get her if you wish.
No, no.
Uh, we'll talk to her later.
Well, if you'll excuse me, I have quite a lot of paperwork to clear.
An administrator's job is never done as they say.
KNIGHT: Thank you.
So, uh, have you found out how Julian died? We can't say at the moment.
SCHANKE: When was the last time either one of you saw Dr.
Welner? ROSS: He was working here last night.
SCHANKE: How did he seem to you? Fine.
Did you know he had cancer? Yes, it was a terrible thing, but he was coping with it very well.
Exactly what kind of research are you doing here? Our particular team is studying consciousness states, measuring synaptic activity in the ascending reticular activating system.
Could someone say that in English? Uh, it's the part of our brains that keeps us awake.
ROSS: Exactly.
Would you like to see some of our work? I'd love to.
Excuse me.
Where would I find Dr.
Linsman? Room 201, hang a right at the end of the corridor.
[THUNDERCLAP.]
[.]
[WIND HOWLING.]
[KNOCKING.]
Dr.
Linsman? Yes.
Nick Knight, Metro Homicide.
I'd like to ask you a few questions about Dr.
Welner's death.
Uh Sure, have a seat.
Thanks.
Homicide? Does that meanyou think Julian was murdered? Oh, we just want to clear up a few details.
Did you notice anything unusual about Dr.
Welner prior to his death? Well there was the cancer, of course, but it wasn't giving him much pain.
Of course, with prostate cancer the prognosis is never very good.
He was optimistic, though attitude can make a huge difference, but And now this? Poor Julian, I can't believe he's dead.
Death is never easy to accept.
Well, I've been around it a lot.
I'll never get used to it.
You see it all the time.
How do you handle it? No better or worse than anyone else, I guess.
And death is simply a fact of life.
This is a stereotaxic apparatus.
We use it for lesion experiments.
It requires no incision, just a puncture.
Mm.
SCHANKE: Lesion experiments? Uh huh.
We use the pith needle to destroy a section of the brain to see how it affects behavior.
You don't do this on people, do you? Unfortunately, that would be considered unethical.
That is unfortunate.
Before I got into research, I used to intern at Glen Cross ER, right smack in the middle of the combat zone.
I'll never forget the first patient I lost.
It was a young woman, about 25.
Horrible car accident.
And when she arrived, she was Well she barely looked human.
But she was alive perfectly aware that her body had been terribly mangled.
[.]
At one point, her eyes became incredibly clear.
And it was as if her spirit was somewhere else.
She was looking back at me from the other side telling me not to fear death.
That the place she was in was a good one.
She looked so calm.
I believe she died well.
I hope Julian did too.
Say, what--? what--? What is this over here? Looks like something out of Star Wars or something.
It's a cortical tomography apparatus, something we've been developing in the past year.
It electronically measures adrenergic and cholinergic levels in the brain.
Uh, it measures consciousness levels.
It-- It's able to detect the minute electrical charges exchanged between whole neurons during synaptic transmission, without invasive procedures.
Of course.
But can it make coffee? I guess like most people, I don't like to believe that we die when we die.
I prefer to believe that our consciousness lives on.
And after all, people have come back.
[.]
From the dead, I mean.
I'm not sure I follow.
Well, technically, they're dead.
But if the circumstances are just right, they can be revived.
Resurrected, if you will.
And every time they come back changed.
[THUNDERCLAP.]
Transformed.
[.]
LACROIX: I can grant you a gift that only the gods can grant, Nicholas.
Give your life to me, and I will give you Your existence will be transformed in ways that mere mortals cannot even imagine.
Come to me.
Each one of those people came back changed, with a reverence for life they never had before and no fear whatsoever of death.
Is this what led you into the study of consciousness? Yes.
I believe that there's a state between life and death.
A A zone, if you will, where life and death merge.
How do you know this? I've been with people who've been there.
If there's anything else, I'll be in touch.
I'll be here.
[.]
SCHANKE: There is something very, very wrong about that place and the test-tube gods that work there.
Their stories all match.
Oh, come on, they've been rehearsed.
Maybe not that head brain boy, Nystrom, he's a classic paper-pusher.
But the others [CHUCKLING.]
Dr.
Jekyll-- I'm sorry, I'm sorry-- Becker.
Becker.
That was a classic case of LINSMAN: I believe that there's a state between life and death [THUNDERCLAP.]
where life and death merge a zone got to be guilty of something.
How about Linsman? You must choose.
[SUCKING.]
Ground Control to Major Nick.
What? Come on, Nick, try to stay within the foul lines.
How about Linsman? Is she on the level or what? Well, it depends.
What's the level? Come on, let's get down to terra firma here, guys.
Somebody moved Welner's body.
Now, I say it was one or more of those gal or guy scientists that did it.
After they whacked him.
Motive? Maybe it's the mad-scientist thing, huh? I mean, they're all buggy, it comes with the territory.
Present company excepted, of course.
While you're grasping at straws, Schanke, maybe you can shed a little light on how Welner died.
Help me out here, doc? Well, I don't know.
Maybe they're doing something they're not telling us about.
Some kind of research that got out of hand.
Well, maybe like he was a human guinea pig or something? Well, look, it's all still conjecture.
You're assuming that there's been a murder in the first place.
Nick, come on, somebody moved the body.
[SIGHS.]
Something ain't right here.
[WILD DANCE MUSIC PLAYING.]
[SNARLING.]
Nicolas.
Nicolas.
Elsewhere? What was it like for you? When Lacroix brought you over? Very Intense.
What did you feel? At first, nothing.
I was, after all, dying.
Then everything.
I felt everything.
[GASPS.]
I was in a place where life and death become one.
There was a light.
I was moving towards it, but then I heard Lacroix calling out to me.
Calling me back.
You remember that light, don't you, Nicolas? Did you feel at that moment that you had a choice? Whether to live or to die? A choice? If you call death a choice.
I, however, did not see it that way.
Neither did you.
[.]
[THUNDERCLAP.]
[WIND HOWLING.]
[SCREAMS.]
[MACHINE HUMMING.]
[MACHINE BEEPS.]
How are you feeling? Very strange.
What was the experience like this time? They're getting more disturbing.
I saw Julian.
We were [SCREAMING.]
He was grabbing at me, and I was trapped.
I [SCREAMING.]
He was trying to kill me.
[WHIMPERING.]
Oh, God.
Did we kill him? No.
[.]
BECKER: You know we had nothing to do with that.
[.]
ROSS: This is making me nervous.
We had her under too long.
It's getting dangerous.
BECKER: It'll be all right.
Need a lift? Uh I have some more work to do.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Sure, tomorrow.
[DOOR SHUTTING.]
Oh, detective.
Time for some answers, Dianna.
What are these experiences you've been undergoing? You have to hear me through on this.
I'm listening.
I suppose Dr.
Lambert told you about the cortical tomography apparatus, the device we designed that reads synaptic transmissions? She mentioned something that measures consciousness levels.
Well, it does a lot more than measure.
It controls.
It actually functions as a synaptic-field damper.
Have you ever heard the term "flatlining"? Deliberately induced brain death.
For the purposes of undergoing near-death experience.
The damper does it without harming the body.
That's what we've been doing.
Although we don't call it flatlining.
It's just a movie term.
What's the point of it? We feel that the near-death experience has significant therapeutic potential.
I first saw it at Glen Cross ER.
Three people with different terminal diseases have near-death experiences and come back changed, psychologically and physically.
Their diseases go into remission.
[.]
How can that be? We feel that in the near-death state we reach a point of reckoning with ourselves.
We are offered the choice to confront what haunts us and banish it before we die.
Now, if we're brought back to life after this reckoning, we return profoundly changed, knowing that the demons or disease that we banished in death can be banished in life.
And is this related to what killed Dr.
Welner? His cancer was terminal.
Julian wanted to go under to confront it, to banish it.
Butmaybe he never truly believed he could.
Well, I don't know how, exactly, but I think that's why he lost the battle.
He died while he was under? Yes.
We tried everything we could to revive him.
I mean-- I can only guess why he didn't come back.
Either he chose not to, or something stopped him.
While I'm slitting my own throat, I might as well tell you that we moved his body.
What else were we supposed to do? If it got out that he died because of these experiments, we'd have been shut down.
We opened the door to curing some incurable diseases.
Not to mention our understanding of the nature of death and life.
How could we stop? But, Dianna, what you did was a crime.
The real crime would be if you shut us down.
I have to know.
You've had a near-death experience, haven't you? What have you seen? I've seen that there's more to death than dying.
Some people are given a choice to confront what they are.
You must choose.
And to decide their own destinies.
You'd like to try it, wouldn't you? I want you to.
Once you see what we've seen you'll understand why we have to continue the research.
Let me show you.
I have to go.
Detective? What are you going to do? I don't know.
[.]
NYSTROM: How could your team keep this from me? Do you realize you leave me no option? Your careers are over.
[SIGHS.]
NATALIE: Oh, Nick.
We have to shut them down.
So what if a few of Dianna's emergency room patients went into remission after these experiences? That doesn't prove a thing.
A lot of diseases go into remission without the benefit of near-death experiences.
What if the experiments are valid? [SIGHS.]
Nick, when the brain senses impending death, it floods itself with signals doing anything it can to hang on to consciousness.
Now, there is evidence to suggest that what a dying person sees as a result of this brain activity is an intense light.
The light that people have reported.
Exactly.
Naturally induced hallucinations, that's all.
These people are kidding themselves.
Are you sure? People have seen a lot more than you're describing, Nat.
Come on.
You know what I believe.
Is there an afterlife? Yes.
Can you just knock and walk in, visit any time you like? I don't think so.
There's something I never told you, Nat, about the night Lacroix brought me over.
[.]
That's why I'm asking you to understand.
LACROIX: He's dying.
He has gone to the light hasn't he? As I did? [THUNDERCLAP.]
What will you do if he decides to step into the light to die as a mortal? He will return to me.
[HEART BEATING SLOWLY.]
Oh, I want him.
I hear your heart, Nicholas, growing weaker with each beat.
I have drained all but the last of your life from you.
[WIND HOWLING.]
LACROIX: It has become a part of my own.
Do not be afraid.
This is the day of your death, Nicholas, and rebirth through me.
You may come to us, Nicholas.
Who are you? What is this place? Come to us, and you will know.
Choose to return to the evil that awaits you, and you will be lost.
LACROIX: Turn away from the light, Nicholas.
It is not your salvation.
It is only for the weak, the defeated.
Come back to me, Nicholas.
He has offered me a thousand lifetimes, everything I desire and covet.
Can you do the same? Why should I go with you when I can live? You must choose.
What can you offer me? The choice.
LACROIX: Come back to me, Nicholas.
[GRUNTING.]
Welcome back.
KNIGHT: I chose to return to live as a vampire.
The seduction of it was too great.
I had to know what it was like.
I wanted it.
So, what are you saying? You think if you have a near-death experience, you'll go back to the light? And this time? Choose to step into it.
To die as a mortal.
The guide, the person I saw there, said that I had a choice.
I have to try, Nat.
And you have to let me.
NYSTROM: What you've done is contemptible! I'm going to the police about this.
You're all finished! Can't you see what we've got here? This could be an unprecedented medical breakthrough! Not to mention the chance to explore the nature of life and death! You were hired to study consciousness, not play God! You can't stop us.
This is bigger than you or me or any ethics committee.
That's where you're wrong, Dianna.
The work stops.
It's over! [.]
You can't do this! It's done.
No! [NYSTROM GRUNTS.]
PHONE RINGS.]
LINSMAN: Hello? Dianna, Nick.
Is your offer still open? Yes.
I'm so glad you-- Can you bring the equipment over to my apartment? There's less chance of being disturbed.
Yes.
Yes, all right.
[DIAL TONE HUMMING.]
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER.]
SCHANKE: A security guard found the body on his rounds.
According to these time sheets, all of the staff left within the last hour.
Joel Becker at 2:40.
We got Dianna Linsman, 3:25, Naomi Ross at 3:05.
Now, what do you bet one of these times corresponds to the actual time of death? Is Nick here? No, no, he called in.
The poor guy's caught that flu that's been going around.
LINSMAN: Are you ready? KNIGHT: What do I do? Just lie down.
Don't worry nothing can go wrong.
You'll feel a little tingly at first.
After that, it's just like falling asleep and dreaming.
It's a little more than that.
[MACHINE BEEPS.]
There.
You're ready.
I flip the switch here, and the damper field is generated.
Two minutes after that, you're under.
[BEEPING CONTINUES.]
Here we go.
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER.]
Uh, Arnie, can you complete the prelim on him for me? Yeah, okay.
Thanks.
Oh, my God.
What's the problem? We gotta find him.
Now, Schanke.
Find who? Security called my home, said there'd been an accident.
Now, what's goin--? Oh, my God.
Where is it? The synaptic-field damper-- Look, I know all about it.
Just tell me where it is.
Room 201.
[.]
[BEEPING.]
[HUMMING.]
Damn, it's not here! [BEEPING & HUMMING.]
Your brain-wave functions are nearing zero activity.
All other systems will function normally.
So he's not answering the phone? He's probably in bed.
ROSS: No, you're wrong! What does this have to do with Nick, anyway? This is my fault.
This is all my fault.
What does she mean, it's all her fault? I told him about the experiences.
Naomi-- Experiences? What is she talking about? Natalie! Okay, Bill, take these two downtown and hold them till I get there.
Natalie! Natalie.
Okay, if this has something to do with Nick, and he's in trouble, I want to know, as in now.
There is no time to explain it all here, Schanke.
Okay.
We'll take my car.
[ELEVATOR BELL RINGS.]
You're almost there.
Can you hear me? I was only trying to protect the work.
What we discovered would've changed our understanding of what we are, how we live and die.
It could have saved countless lives.
SCHANKE: Let's put an APB out on her.
[CAR ENGINE STARTS.]
[TIRES SCREECH.]
[BEEPING CONTINUES.]
Dr.
Nystrom wouldn't accept it.
He-- He closed his mind off like a frightened child.
But not you.
Somehow you sensed, like I do the greater purpose.
I need you to see for yourself.
So you can convince others to continue our work.
[HUMMING'S PITCH INCREASES.]
[.]
[BEEPING ACCELERATES.]
Why is it taking so much power? Wait a minute.
Whoa-- Nick's gonna hook himself up to this machine? Not if I have anything to do with it.
[BEEPING CONTINUES ACCELERATING.]
[WHIMPERS.]
What is that? That isn't right, that's not human.
[SNARLING.]
[CLICK AND BEEP.]
[GRUNTS.]
[RAPID BEEPING.]
No! [THUNDERCLAP.]
[WIND HOWLING.]
[.]
SCHANKE: Why didn't you tell me that, Nat? Oh, man.
I'm getting units over to his place, immediately.
No.
No, this has to stay between us.
I promised him, and you have to make that same promise.
For Nick.
[.]
[WIND HOWLING.]
Lacroix.
No.
But we have met before.
The first time you approached death, 800 years ago.
[THUNDERCLAP.]
You may come to us, Nicholas.
Yes.
I remember.
You were with me, near the light.
But you were different then, a woman.
Why? Why do I appear to you now as the one you call Lacroix? Lacroix is the source of the evil that infests you.
His evil is still the greater part of what you are.
I simply mirror the condition of your existence.
It is you who have altered my form, not I.
Who are you? I am one of many.
You have called me a guide.
Let that be sufficient.
What is this place? Am I dead? That depends on why you are here.
The last time I was here I made a choice.
The wrong choice.
And now you wish to right that wrong? I know there is great evil in my past.
But I fought it.
I stopped killing long ago.
I've always believed that there was a way to become mortal again, to confront and defeat this evil in me.
And in so doing, gain the absolution for which you have struggled so long? Yes.
Can it be done? Are you willing to face the consequences of your action? Yes.
Then behold.
[SQUISHING.]
Why the hell would Nick fool with this--? This near-death experience, anyway? I-it's It's crazy.
It is crazy, isn't it? Yes, of course it is.
And Linsman's a suspect-- I mean, why the hell would he let her within a mile of him with this damn gizmo, whatever the hell it is? I mean, he's too smart for that.
Well, he's-- He's what? He's complicated.
He's wha--? He's compli-- Oh, man.
He is playing with his life! I'm curious what happens when we die, but I don't go on reconnaissance missions to find out.
Here is the soul of the vampire in its true state, deformed by the evil it has embraced.
This is your soul, Nicholas.
[SOFTLY.]
No.
After all I've been through trying to become human.
You're lying to me! This is not what I am now! We do not sit in judgment of you.
We do not accuse.
The truth is simply the truth.
It must be confronted.
It must be accepted.
The legacy of your evil has not been purged.
Behold, the souls of the innocents that you have murdered.
They linger here.
[SCREAMING.]
They persist.
[SNARLING.]
They will not forgive you until your task is completed.
[SNARLING.]
How can I complete my task? Can you raise the victims from the dead? You know I can't.
[VOICES CRY OUT INDISTINCTLY.]
I must finish it here and now.
That is your choice.
So be it.
What is it you're not telling me? It is what you're not telling yourself, Nicholas.
Do you wish to proceed? Yes.
I didn't want to kill anyone.
I'm not a murderer.
The world needed my work.
I could have prevented so much suffering.
And death.
[TIRES SCREECHING.]
[.]
Your decision? What will happen to me, if I step through? You will be reclaimed.
As a mortal? Yes.
And my soul? Will be judged.
[BELL TOLLS.]
Then I am damned.
Linsman, get away from Nick! No! I don't know what happened.
It-- It overloaded.
I've never seen anything like it before, I don't understand! NATALIE [ECHOING.]
: Nick Our work must continue! The world would change! What did you do to him? My God.
What the hell did you do to Nick? How long has he been dead? Answer me! Come on! Less than 10 minutes.
You're too late.
I don't know what happened.
It malfunctioned.
Tell me, Nicholas, after 800 years of torment, what is the one thing you value above all else? Humanity.
And what is humanity? Merely a race of peoples? No.
A state of being.
Of grace.
And is that not the way to the forgiveness that you seek? Oh, God.
Do something, Nat! Okay.
Uh How does this thing work? SCHANKE: Come on! It It blocks neural transmission.
Okay, it blocks neural transmission, so, what we need is a hell of a jolt to jump-start his system.
I've waited centuries.
We know.
But there is much left undone for you.
Your debt to humanity has not been repaid.
I have to go back.
That's what you've been telling me, isn't it? If I die here now, my soul will be damned.
I have to atone.
I have to go back.
Uh rat poison.
What? Rat poison! Schanke, he keeps it under the sink.
Bring it over and, uh, and a spoon and a candle! What the hell do you need with rat poison? For the strychnine.
In small doses, it's a neurostimulant.
GUIDE: When you first approached the light, you came as a human.
And so you alone could choose whether to die as a mortal or return as a vampire.
But this time, you have come as a vampire.
It may be too late for you to return.
How do I get back? Tell me! GUIDE: Only the humanity that you desecrated can save you now.
Come back to me, Nick.
LAMBERT: Don't you dare leave me! [.]
Pound his chest, hard! [SCHANKE GRUNTS.]
Come on, you bastard.
[SCHANKE'S GRUNTS ECHO.]
[GAGS.]
[SNARLS.]
It's all right, Nick! It's okay.
It's okay, you're with me.
You're with me.
[.]
SCHANKE: Yeah, yeah, captain.
I'll run him over to St.
Joe's for evaluation.
Yeah, don't worry, captain.
I'll do it.
Yes.
Whoa.
You know what is gonna make great cottage reading? Linsman's psychiatric evaluation.
[SCHANKE CHUCKLES.]
Speaking of shrinkage, what were you thinking of when you let her hook you up to that machine? I mean, you didn't actually buy that near-death experience mumbo jumbo? I was just trying to be thorough.
You know, the investigation? Thorough? The investigation? [SCOFFS.]
No, I-I think you did buy it.
So, uh, what did you see on the other side of life? There's nothing to see, Schanke.
Nothing? I knew it! Death is nothing, nada, niente.
We just go out like a light, into the body bag, end of story, that's all she wrote.
Oh, man, doesn't that scare the hell out of you? At least we're here to think about it.
Well, I do not even want to think about it.
I'm history.
Hey, Nat, w-w-when you said he was, uh, dead-- I-I was really worked up, Schanke.
Nick was never dead.
I'm sorry if I scared you.
That's all right.
I'll get over it.
Just not anytime soon.
I know how he feels.
Come on, Dianna, let's go.
[.]
LAMBERT: Soyou learn anything when you were dying on me? Yeah.
I learned that I have to live with the choice I made 800 years ago.
And that forgiveness is not something you ask for, it's something that you earn.
Here.
Among the living.
[.]
[PANTING.]
[SCREAMING.]
[TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS.]
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER.]
I mean, there's absolutely no trauma in the body, there's no aroma of alcohol, there's no evidence of a seizure.
I don't know, maybe the toxicology tests are going to tell me something.
Guy must be out on a day pass.
Did he give you anything? I hope not.
Just found the body a couple of hours ago.
So how about you guys? No, nothing.
You? Nothing? All right.
He just dropped dead.
Are you happy? I am telling you guys, there is no apparent cause of death.
Yeah.
[.]
NARRATOR: He was brought across in 1228.
Preyed on humans for their blood.
Now, he wants to be mortal again To repay society for his sins To emerge from his world of darkness From his endless forever night.
[GROWLS.]
[.]
KNIGHT: All I'm saying is I think you should have told me it was Myra's birthday.
I would have bought her something.
No, no, no.
It's okay.
Besides, I got her what she wanted.
Oh, that dream vacation? Yeah, right.
Only in her dreams.
What, then? A pair of 20-point ice crampons and rope.
Myra wants to take up ice-climbing.
Ice-climbing? Exactly.
Did you know that 10 yards--? No, no, scratch that.
Ten meters of rope cost $150? Now, Myra will only do it once.
And then she'll be on to the next expensive hobby, and I'll be stuck with a $150 clothesline, which I might hang myself with.
Is that why you're all bent of shape? Expensive rope? Nah.
It's birthdays.
They just get to me.
It's another year closer to the end.
Myra has a birthday, and you worry about dying? It's just that sometimes it hits you, Nick.
Death means the end of Of you.
Doesn't that make you think? I try not to dwell on it too much.
But what is it, anyway? I mean, how can you experience death if there's no more of you to experience it? I don't know, I've never died before.
Would you just wish Myra a happy birthday for me, okay? We got an ID on your John Doe from last night.
Name's Dr.
Julian Welner.
Matches a missing person's report filed by his employer, a Dr.
Alex Nystrom.
He's head of the McCallum Neurological Institute.
Ooh, the McCallum Neuro, heh, heh.
Keep out.
Psycho City limits.
[SIGHS.]
Dr.
Lambert is requesting the pleasure of your company at the morgue, as in, "Tell them this is getting stranger by the minute.
" LAMBERT: Well, his toxicology test came back clean and that was my last gasp at cause of death.
If you'll pardon the expression.
The only thing I did find was advanced prostate cancer, but that didn't kill him.
So the verdict is? He shouldn't be dead.
But, uh, he is isn't he? Oh, he is.
His brain simply stopped functioning.
The only thing that can do that to you is death.
However, since I can't list death as the cause of death Well, you see my predicament.
KNIGHT: Well, we can't move on this unless there's evidence of homicide.
Well, I can tell you this much, Welner didn't die where we found his body.
His shoes were clean, no trace of soil of any sort.
I'd say he died indoors, and uh, somebody moved his body.
Sounds like a case to me.
Might be interesting to find out what kind of work he was doing at the McCallum Institute.
Yeah, right, like we speak fluent neurological.
Yeah, we could use a translator.
I thought you'd never ask.
Come on.
SCHANKE: Look at this.
Some poor schmuck's entire existence, his hopes, his dreams, his memories, his fears, his loves, his lusts.
All reduced to one gray glob plopped in formaldehyde.
Oh, man.
Is this any way to end up? What's with Dr.
Doom here? It's Myra's birthday.
Oh.
Here is Dr.
Welner's file.
Do you suspect foul play? You been watching too many mystery movies, Dr.
Nystrom.
We're just here for some background.
[NATALIE GASPS.]
Um, what kind of work was Dr.
Welner doing here? He was part of a team that was studying consciousness states.
We're a research facility, so we do a lot of experimental work here.
Putting chicken brains into monkeys? That sort of thing? Actually we have been doing inter-species brain-tissue transplants for some time now.
KNIGHT: We'd like to meet the rest of Dr.
Welner's team.
Certainly.
The lab's this way.
NYSTROM: Doctors Naomi Ross and Joel Becker.
Naomi will do.
Oh, Dr.
Linsman must be in her lab.
I can go and get her if you wish.
No, no.
Uh, we'll talk to her later.
Well, if you'll excuse me, I have quite a lot of paperwork to clear.
An administrator's job is never done as they say.
KNIGHT: Thank you.
So, uh, have you found out how Julian died? We can't say at the moment.
SCHANKE: When was the last time either one of you saw Dr.
Welner? ROSS: He was working here last night.
SCHANKE: How did he seem to you? Fine.
Did you know he had cancer? Yes, it was a terrible thing, but he was coping with it very well.
Exactly what kind of research are you doing here? Our particular team is studying consciousness states, measuring synaptic activity in the ascending reticular activating system.
Could someone say that in English? Uh, it's the part of our brains that keeps us awake.
ROSS: Exactly.
Would you like to see some of our work? I'd love to.
Excuse me.
Where would I find Dr.
Linsman? Room 201, hang a right at the end of the corridor.
[THUNDERCLAP.]
[.]
[WIND HOWLING.]
[KNOCKING.]
Dr.
Linsman? Yes.
Nick Knight, Metro Homicide.
I'd like to ask you a few questions about Dr.
Welner's death.
Uh Sure, have a seat.
Thanks.
Homicide? Does that meanyou think Julian was murdered? Oh, we just want to clear up a few details.
Did you notice anything unusual about Dr.
Welner prior to his death? Well there was the cancer, of course, but it wasn't giving him much pain.
Of course, with prostate cancer the prognosis is never very good.
He was optimistic, though attitude can make a huge difference, but And now this? Poor Julian, I can't believe he's dead.
Death is never easy to accept.
Well, I've been around it a lot.
I'll never get used to it.
You see it all the time.
How do you handle it? No better or worse than anyone else, I guess.
And death is simply a fact of life.
This is a stereotaxic apparatus.
We use it for lesion experiments.
It requires no incision, just a puncture.
Mm.
SCHANKE: Lesion experiments? Uh huh.
We use the pith needle to destroy a section of the brain to see how it affects behavior.
You don't do this on people, do you? Unfortunately, that would be considered unethical.
That is unfortunate.
Before I got into research, I used to intern at Glen Cross ER, right smack in the middle of the combat zone.
I'll never forget the first patient I lost.
It was a young woman, about 25.
Horrible car accident.
And when she arrived, she was Well she barely looked human.
But she was alive perfectly aware that her body had been terribly mangled.
[.]
At one point, her eyes became incredibly clear.
And it was as if her spirit was somewhere else.
She was looking back at me from the other side telling me not to fear death.
That the place she was in was a good one.
She looked so calm.
I believe she died well.
I hope Julian did too.
Say, what--? what--? What is this over here? Looks like something out of Star Wars or something.
It's a cortical tomography apparatus, something we've been developing in the past year.
It electronically measures adrenergic and cholinergic levels in the brain.
Uh, it measures consciousness levels.
It-- It's able to detect the minute electrical charges exchanged between whole neurons during synaptic transmission, without invasive procedures.
Of course.
But can it make coffee? I guess like most people, I don't like to believe that we die when we die.
I prefer to believe that our consciousness lives on.
And after all, people have come back.
[.]
From the dead, I mean.
I'm not sure I follow.
Well, technically, they're dead.
But if the circumstances are just right, they can be revived.
Resurrected, if you will.
And every time they come back changed.
[THUNDERCLAP.]
Transformed.
[.]
LACROIX: I can grant you a gift that only the gods can grant, Nicholas.
Give your life to me, and I will give you Your existence will be transformed in ways that mere mortals cannot even imagine.
Come to me.
Each one of those people came back changed, with a reverence for life they never had before and no fear whatsoever of death.
Is this what led you into the study of consciousness? Yes.
I believe that there's a state between life and death.
A A zone, if you will, where life and death merge.
How do you know this? I've been with people who've been there.
If there's anything else, I'll be in touch.
I'll be here.
[.]
SCHANKE: There is something very, very wrong about that place and the test-tube gods that work there.
Their stories all match.
Oh, come on, they've been rehearsed.
Maybe not that head brain boy, Nystrom, he's a classic paper-pusher.
But the others [CHUCKLING.]
Dr.
Jekyll-- I'm sorry, I'm sorry-- Becker.
Becker.
That was a classic case of LINSMAN: I believe that there's a state between life and death [THUNDERCLAP.]
where life and death merge a zone got to be guilty of something.
How about Linsman? You must choose.
[SUCKING.]
Ground Control to Major Nick.
What? Come on, Nick, try to stay within the foul lines.
How about Linsman? Is she on the level or what? Well, it depends.
What's the level? Come on, let's get down to terra firma here, guys.
Somebody moved Welner's body.
Now, I say it was one or more of those gal or guy scientists that did it.
After they whacked him.
Motive? Maybe it's the mad-scientist thing, huh? I mean, they're all buggy, it comes with the territory.
Present company excepted, of course.
While you're grasping at straws, Schanke, maybe you can shed a little light on how Welner died.
Help me out here, doc? Well, I don't know.
Maybe they're doing something they're not telling us about.
Some kind of research that got out of hand.
Well, maybe like he was a human guinea pig or something? Well, look, it's all still conjecture.
You're assuming that there's been a murder in the first place.
Nick, come on, somebody moved the body.
[SIGHS.]
Something ain't right here.
[WILD DANCE MUSIC PLAYING.]
[SNARLING.]
Nicolas.
Nicolas.
Elsewhere? What was it like for you? When Lacroix brought you over? Very Intense.
What did you feel? At first, nothing.
I was, after all, dying.
Then everything.
I felt everything.
[GASPS.]
I was in a place where life and death become one.
There was a light.
I was moving towards it, but then I heard Lacroix calling out to me.
Calling me back.
You remember that light, don't you, Nicolas? Did you feel at that moment that you had a choice? Whether to live or to die? A choice? If you call death a choice.
I, however, did not see it that way.
Neither did you.
[.]
[THUNDERCLAP.]
[WIND HOWLING.]
[SCREAMS.]
[MACHINE HUMMING.]
[MACHINE BEEPS.]
How are you feeling? Very strange.
What was the experience like this time? They're getting more disturbing.
I saw Julian.
We were [SCREAMING.]
He was grabbing at me, and I was trapped.
I [SCREAMING.]
He was trying to kill me.
[WHIMPERING.]
Oh, God.
Did we kill him? No.
[.]
BECKER: You know we had nothing to do with that.
[.]
ROSS: This is making me nervous.
We had her under too long.
It's getting dangerous.
BECKER: It'll be all right.
Need a lift? Uh I have some more work to do.
I'll see you tomorrow.
Sure, tomorrow.
[DOOR SHUTTING.]
Oh, detective.
Time for some answers, Dianna.
What are these experiences you've been undergoing? You have to hear me through on this.
I'm listening.
I suppose Dr.
Lambert told you about the cortical tomography apparatus, the device we designed that reads synaptic transmissions? She mentioned something that measures consciousness levels.
Well, it does a lot more than measure.
It controls.
It actually functions as a synaptic-field damper.
Have you ever heard the term "flatlining"? Deliberately induced brain death.
For the purposes of undergoing near-death experience.
The damper does it without harming the body.
That's what we've been doing.
Although we don't call it flatlining.
It's just a movie term.
What's the point of it? We feel that the near-death experience has significant therapeutic potential.
I first saw it at Glen Cross ER.
Three people with different terminal diseases have near-death experiences and come back changed, psychologically and physically.
Their diseases go into remission.
[.]
How can that be? We feel that in the near-death state we reach a point of reckoning with ourselves.
We are offered the choice to confront what haunts us and banish it before we die.
Now, if we're brought back to life after this reckoning, we return profoundly changed, knowing that the demons or disease that we banished in death can be banished in life.
And is this related to what killed Dr.
Welner? His cancer was terminal.
Julian wanted to go under to confront it, to banish it.
Butmaybe he never truly believed he could.
Well, I don't know how, exactly, but I think that's why he lost the battle.
He died while he was under? Yes.
We tried everything we could to revive him.
I mean-- I can only guess why he didn't come back.
Either he chose not to, or something stopped him.
While I'm slitting my own throat, I might as well tell you that we moved his body.
What else were we supposed to do? If it got out that he died because of these experiments, we'd have been shut down.
We opened the door to curing some incurable diseases.
Not to mention our understanding of the nature of death and life.
How could we stop? But, Dianna, what you did was a crime.
The real crime would be if you shut us down.
I have to know.
You've had a near-death experience, haven't you? What have you seen? I've seen that there's more to death than dying.
Some people are given a choice to confront what they are.
You must choose.
And to decide their own destinies.
You'd like to try it, wouldn't you? I want you to.
Once you see what we've seen you'll understand why we have to continue the research.
Let me show you.
I have to go.
Detective? What are you going to do? I don't know.
[.]
NYSTROM: How could your team keep this from me? Do you realize you leave me no option? Your careers are over.
[SIGHS.]
NATALIE: Oh, Nick.
We have to shut them down.
So what if a few of Dianna's emergency room patients went into remission after these experiences? That doesn't prove a thing.
A lot of diseases go into remission without the benefit of near-death experiences.
What if the experiments are valid? [SIGHS.]
Nick, when the brain senses impending death, it floods itself with signals doing anything it can to hang on to consciousness.
Now, there is evidence to suggest that what a dying person sees as a result of this brain activity is an intense light.
The light that people have reported.
Exactly.
Naturally induced hallucinations, that's all.
These people are kidding themselves.
Are you sure? People have seen a lot more than you're describing, Nat.
Come on.
You know what I believe.
Is there an afterlife? Yes.
Can you just knock and walk in, visit any time you like? I don't think so.
There's something I never told you, Nat, about the night Lacroix brought me over.
[.]
That's why I'm asking you to understand.
LACROIX: He's dying.
He has gone to the light hasn't he? As I did? [THUNDERCLAP.]
What will you do if he decides to step into the light to die as a mortal? He will return to me.
[HEART BEATING SLOWLY.]
Oh, I want him.
I hear your heart, Nicholas, growing weaker with each beat.
I have drained all but the last of your life from you.
[WIND HOWLING.]
LACROIX: It has become a part of my own.
Do not be afraid.
This is the day of your death, Nicholas, and rebirth through me.
You may come to us, Nicholas.
Who are you? What is this place? Come to us, and you will know.
Choose to return to the evil that awaits you, and you will be lost.
LACROIX: Turn away from the light, Nicholas.
It is not your salvation.
It is only for the weak, the defeated.
Come back to me, Nicholas.
He has offered me a thousand lifetimes, everything I desire and covet.
Can you do the same? Why should I go with you when I can live? You must choose.
What can you offer me? The choice.
LACROIX: Come back to me, Nicholas.
[GRUNTING.]
Welcome back.
KNIGHT: I chose to return to live as a vampire.
The seduction of it was too great.
I had to know what it was like.
I wanted it.
So, what are you saying? You think if you have a near-death experience, you'll go back to the light? And this time? Choose to step into it.
To die as a mortal.
The guide, the person I saw there, said that I had a choice.
I have to try, Nat.
And you have to let me.
NYSTROM: What you've done is contemptible! I'm going to the police about this.
You're all finished! Can't you see what we've got here? This could be an unprecedented medical breakthrough! Not to mention the chance to explore the nature of life and death! You were hired to study consciousness, not play God! You can't stop us.
This is bigger than you or me or any ethics committee.
That's where you're wrong, Dianna.
The work stops.
It's over! [.]
You can't do this! It's done.
No! [NYSTROM GRUNTS.]
PHONE RINGS.]
LINSMAN: Hello? Dianna, Nick.
Is your offer still open? Yes.
I'm so glad you-- Can you bring the equipment over to my apartment? There's less chance of being disturbed.
Yes.
Yes, all right.
[DIAL TONE HUMMING.]
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER.]
SCHANKE: A security guard found the body on his rounds.
According to these time sheets, all of the staff left within the last hour.
Joel Becker at 2:40.
We got Dianna Linsman, 3:25, Naomi Ross at 3:05.
Now, what do you bet one of these times corresponds to the actual time of death? Is Nick here? No, no, he called in.
The poor guy's caught that flu that's been going around.
LINSMAN: Are you ready? KNIGHT: What do I do? Just lie down.
Don't worry nothing can go wrong.
You'll feel a little tingly at first.
After that, it's just like falling asleep and dreaming.
It's a little more than that.
[MACHINE BEEPS.]
There.
You're ready.
I flip the switch here, and the damper field is generated.
Two minutes after that, you're under.
[BEEPING CONTINUES.]
Here we go.
[POLICE RADIO CHATTER.]
Uh, Arnie, can you complete the prelim on him for me? Yeah, okay.
Thanks.
Oh, my God.
What's the problem? We gotta find him.
Now, Schanke.
Find who? Security called my home, said there'd been an accident.
Now, what's goin--? Oh, my God.
Where is it? The synaptic-field damper-- Look, I know all about it.
Just tell me where it is.
Room 201.
[.]
[BEEPING.]
[HUMMING.]
Damn, it's not here! [BEEPING & HUMMING.]
Your brain-wave functions are nearing zero activity.
All other systems will function normally.
So he's not answering the phone? He's probably in bed.
ROSS: No, you're wrong! What does this have to do with Nick, anyway? This is my fault.
This is all my fault.
What does she mean, it's all her fault? I told him about the experiences.
Naomi-- Experiences? What is she talking about? Natalie! Okay, Bill, take these two downtown and hold them till I get there.
Natalie! Natalie.
Okay, if this has something to do with Nick, and he's in trouble, I want to know, as in now.
There is no time to explain it all here, Schanke.
Okay.
We'll take my car.
[ELEVATOR BELL RINGS.]
You're almost there.
Can you hear me? I was only trying to protect the work.
What we discovered would've changed our understanding of what we are, how we live and die.
It could have saved countless lives.
SCHANKE: Let's put an APB out on her.
[CAR ENGINE STARTS.]
[TIRES SCREECH.]
[BEEPING CONTINUES.]
Dr.
Nystrom wouldn't accept it.
He-- He closed his mind off like a frightened child.
But not you.
Somehow you sensed, like I do the greater purpose.
I need you to see for yourself.
So you can convince others to continue our work.
[HUMMING'S PITCH INCREASES.]
[.]
[BEEPING ACCELERATES.]
Why is it taking so much power? Wait a minute.
Whoa-- Nick's gonna hook himself up to this machine? Not if I have anything to do with it.
[BEEPING CONTINUES ACCELERATING.]
[WHIMPERS.]
What is that? That isn't right, that's not human.
[SNARLING.]
[CLICK AND BEEP.]
[GRUNTS.]
[RAPID BEEPING.]
No! [THUNDERCLAP.]
[WIND HOWLING.]
[.]
SCHANKE: Why didn't you tell me that, Nat? Oh, man.
I'm getting units over to his place, immediately.
No.
No, this has to stay between us.
I promised him, and you have to make that same promise.
For Nick.
[.]
[WIND HOWLING.]
Lacroix.
No.
But we have met before.
The first time you approached death, 800 years ago.
[THUNDERCLAP.]
You may come to us, Nicholas.
Yes.
I remember.
You were with me, near the light.
But you were different then, a woman.
Why? Why do I appear to you now as the one you call Lacroix? Lacroix is the source of the evil that infests you.
His evil is still the greater part of what you are.
I simply mirror the condition of your existence.
It is you who have altered my form, not I.
Who are you? I am one of many.
You have called me a guide.
Let that be sufficient.
What is this place? Am I dead? That depends on why you are here.
The last time I was here I made a choice.
The wrong choice.
And now you wish to right that wrong? I know there is great evil in my past.
But I fought it.
I stopped killing long ago.
I've always believed that there was a way to become mortal again, to confront and defeat this evil in me.
And in so doing, gain the absolution for which you have struggled so long? Yes.
Can it be done? Are you willing to face the consequences of your action? Yes.
Then behold.
[SQUISHING.]
Why the hell would Nick fool with this--? This near-death experience, anyway? I-it's It's crazy.
It is crazy, isn't it? Yes, of course it is.
And Linsman's a suspect-- I mean, why the hell would he let her within a mile of him with this damn gizmo, whatever the hell it is? I mean, he's too smart for that.
Well, he's-- He's what? He's complicated.
He's wha--? He's compli-- Oh, man.
He is playing with his life! I'm curious what happens when we die, but I don't go on reconnaissance missions to find out.
Here is the soul of the vampire in its true state, deformed by the evil it has embraced.
This is your soul, Nicholas.
[SOFTLY.]
No.
After all I've been through trying to become human.
You're lying to me! This is not what I am now! We do not sit in judgment of you.
We do not accuse.
The truth is simply the truth.
It must be confronted.
It must be accepted.
The legacy of your evil has not been purged.
Behold, the souls of the innocents that you have murdered.
They linger here.
[SCREAMING.]
They persist.
[SNARLING.]
They will not forgive you until your task is completed.
[SNARLING.]
How can I complete my task? Can you raise the victims from the dead? You know I can't.
[VOICES CRY OUT INDISTINCTLY.]
I must finish it here and now.
That is your choice.
So be it.
What is it you're not telling me? It is what you're not telling yourself, Nicholas.
Do you wish to proceed? Yes.
I didn't want to kill anyone.
I'm not a murderer.
The world needed my work.
I could have prevented so much suffering.
And death.
[TIRES SCREECHING.]
[.]
Your decision? What will happen to me, if I step through? You will be reclaimed.
As a mortal? Yes.
And my soul? Will be judged.
[BELL TOLLS.]
Then I am damned.
Linsman, get away from Nick! No! I don't know what happened.
It-- It overloaded.
I've never seen anything like it before, I don't understand! NATALIE [ECHOING.]
: Nick Our work must continue! The world would change! What did you do to him? My God.
What the hell did you do to Nick? How long has he been dead? Answer me! Come on! Less than 10 minutes.
You're too late.
I don't know what happened.
It malfunctioned.
Tell me, Nicholas, after 800 years of torment, what is the one thing you value above all else? Humanity.
And what is humanity? Merely a race of peoples? No.
A state of being.
Of grace.
And is that not the way to the forgiveness that you seek? Oh, God.
Do something, Nat! Okay.
Uh How does this thing work? SCHANKE: Come on! It It blocks neural transmission.
Okay, it blocks neural transmission, so, what we need is a hell of a jolt to jump-start his system.
I've waited centuries.
We know.
But there is much left undone for you.
Your debt to humanity has not been repaid.
I have to go back.
That's what you've been telling me, isn't it? If I die here now, my soul will be damned.
I have to atone.
I have to go back.
Uh rat poison.
What? Rat poison! Schanke, he keeps it under the sink.
Bring it over and, uh, and a spoon and a candle! What the hell do you need with rat poison? For the strychnine.
In small doses, it's a neurostimulant.
GUIDE: When you first approached the light, you came as a human.
And so you alone could choose whether to die as a mortal or return as a vampire.
But this time, you have come as a vampire.
It may be too late for you to return.
How do I get back? Tell me! GUIDE: Only the humanity that you desecrated can save you now.
Come back to me, Nick.
LAMBERT: Don't you dare leave me! [.]
Pound his chest, hard! [SCHANKE GRUNTS.]
Come on, you bastard.
[SCHANKE'S GRUNTS ECHO.]
[GAGS.]
[SNARLS.]
It's all right, Nick! It's okay.
It's okay, you're with me.
You're with me.
[.]
SCHANKE: Yeah, yeah, captain.
I'll run him over to St.
Joe's for evaluation.
Yeah, don't worry, captain.
I'll do it.
Yes.
Whoa.
You know what is gonna make great cottage reading? Linsman's psychiatric evaluation.
[SCHANKE CHUCKLES.]
Speaking of shrinkage, what were you thinking of when you let her hook you up to that machine? I mean, you didn't actually buy that near-death experience mumbo jumbo? I was just trying to be thorough.
You know, the investigation? Thorough? The investigation? [SCOFFS.]
No, I-I think you did buy it.
So, uh, what did you see on the other side of life? There's nothing to see, Schanke.
Nothing? I knew it! Death is nothing, nada, niente.
We just go out like a light, into the body bag, end of story, that's all she wrote.
Oh, man, doesn't that scare the hell out of you? At least we're here to think about it.
Well, I do not even want to think about it.
I'm history.
Hey, Nat, w-w-when you said he was, uh, dead-- I-I was really worked up, Schanke.
Nick was never dead.
I'm sorry if I scared you.
That's all right.
I'll get over it.
Just not anytime soon.
I know how he feels.
Come on, Dianna, let's go.
[.]
LAMBERT: Soyou learn anything when you were dying on me? Yeah.
I learned that I have to live with the choice I made 800 years ago.
And that forgiveness is not something you ask for, it's something that you earn.
Here.
Among the living.
[.]