Original subtitles

These stories are inspired by the actual case files

of the Office of Scientific Investigation and Research.

Case log entry. Matthew Prager reporting.

Uh, we've tracked the alleged UFO to an area where the two witnesses are...

Experiencers.

- Experiencers? - Experiencers.

That's weird. Okay. Whatever.

The two experiencers have been kept on site for interviews.

Prager out.

Anyone ever read these transcripts?

No one with a security clearance high enough has the time.

I was willing to waste it. Don't worry, we'll wrap this up quick.

What do you want to wrap the case up quick for?

Got a hot date this weekend or something?

My daughter's arriving.

Ah, so that's...

My ex has a business deal in Hong Kong and she's leaving Dana with me for three weeks,

so I kind of got to get back and meet her plane.

Who puts a 14-year-old on a plane alone?

Don't worry, she'll be fine.

Her mother booked her on a charter. You know what their safety records are like?

Don't worry, she'll be fine.

Yeah, see, we're picking up trace levels of radiation all around this whole area.

Could just be old landfill or maybe discarded x-ray equipment.

Yeah, could be.

This is an odd depression.

Kind of looks like one of those crop circles.

Ah !

You've been skipping physio again?

Why don't you take a break? I'll sub for you.

I bet you would. No thanks.

Maybe it's from the downdraft of a helicopter.

And why the burnt grass?

Perimeter's secure. Re-routed to traffic.

You got a person to call.

Dana ? She arrived ?

No, your old friend, Kelly. He managed to get on the secure line.

He wants you to call him.

Oh, Matt.

Helsinger told me not to give you the message.

Okay, thanks.

Well, this looks like an ideal spot.

Near the coast, isolated, flat, empty fields.

Ideal spot for what?

Maybe our witnesses saw the lights of a very private plane or helicopter

with a special cargo from the islands.

You hear that ?

Sure did.

Prager?

Frager!

What's this?

Nearly 85% of all OSIR cases are cleared and the event is shown to be a natural phenomenon,

a man-made effect or simply a hoax.

It is the other 15% of our cases, the files which have an inexplicable element,

a psi factor, which capture our imaginations.

As in case file 669-207.

You know, they say that three quarters of human communication is face to face.

Gesture.

Tone.

Now I flew down here because it appears our telephone conversations are being misconstrued.

You will not attempt to contact Prager again.

Or any of my team.

This interference will stop.

You're done?

No. The information that you feed them, and I know they get it from you,

is pushing investigations down certain roads.

No, sir. I only offer information to my friends.

And what they do with it is entirely up to them, not me.

What are you afraid of?

I'm afraid for you. People are worried about you.

But who are these people?

They are the gray men.

In back offices, shuffling little papers in the dangerous little piles.

And the only thing they're really worried about is their careers.

I know what I worry about. Losing my choice to smoke or drink.

Fetal tissue missing.

Corporations accessing our social security numbers.

And determining what can be published and when.

I am truly tired of your conspiracies, Kelly.

The Cold War is over.

It was a lone gunman in the book depository.

The OSIR is only a scientific body gathering information.

Sister Mary Esposito taught me that information is power.

It's funny what things say with you.

Come in, Matt?

Could he be hurt?

No sign of a struggle.

If he was injured, he couldn't have gotten very far.

I think we have to assume that his disappearance is linked to the sightings.

Ray, I want a pure, sealed research environment.

Security cordons clean.

No leaks.

No one has been in or out of here. We're the only people on site.

I think that we should shut down the investigation until we find Matt.

Not if this could be an alien abduction.

Oh, yeah. Maybe the little green men took him out for a molten.

You got something to say to me, Ray? Because if you do, you can say it to my face.

All right, enough.

Now look, we're all in this together.

All right.

As acting case manager, I'm calling a code red investigator down.

I agree.

Lindsay, try and find the experiencers and find out what they saw.

I'm not stopping the core investigation.

The search can go on at the same time.

Fine.

Satellite uplink established.

Okay.

Good, his comm link's on.

All right, we can get a fix on Prager's comm link by simple triangulation.

Navstar sends its signal down to his comm link.

We send ours out from the lab.

And where they meet...

There we are.

And there he is.

All right, I'll stay here and I'll guide you and Anton right to him.

Ray, keep each other in sight.

I got my coffee in the city.

Two fifty and it tastes like greasy water.

Yeah, and when did you get here?

I left the interstate at...

When did you get here?

Around four in the AM.

This was my first stop on my route.

It was dark.

Then bam.

Everywhere there was like lights.

You know, my whole rig was vibrating.

Like it was falling apart.

I thought it was the transmission, so I killed the ignition.

It was still vibrating.

I could feel it deep inside my ribs and my heart.

It was like this buzzing sound like bees or yellow jackets.

Then what?

Then... nothing.

Nothing?

Okay, Peter, we're just coming to a point outside the coal transfer station.

Okay, you're close. Fifteen meters to the west.

If you're facing the sun, that's behind you.

Locked up tight.

All right, look, I'll get in touch with maintenance and see if we can get it open.

There must be another entrance somewhere.

Before you do all that, whatever happened to Prager

he's not playing hide and seek.

Prager!

Prager!

Matt!

Prager!

Matt!

Five meters, keep going.

Oh, wait a second.

I see something.

What are they?

I don't know.

They're lighter than they look.

Peter. Peter, can you read me?

How are we doing?

You're right on top of them.

Is yours?

Hey, that's my log.

Is it accurate?

Of course.

You sure?

Because according to Title 49 of the Federal Motor Rates, you can't drive...

Okay, okay.

You're only supposed to drive ten hours at a stretch.

Look, you shave an hour here, you shave an hour there.

That's how the game is played.

Now, you said that you got here at four, but your log says you arrived at six.

Like I said, I...

Take a look at this.

You've added two hours here.

Now, why would you add two hours to your drive time?

Tell me what happened.

Well, let me look at that.

Why would I write six?

I got here at four.

Well, that's a coal-fueled generator.

It was shut down when the new emission standards came in.

Then why has the dust been disturbed?

Who's been here?

What's the matter, Doc?

Too much caffeine?

Where were you?

Sniffing around.

Where the hell is Prager?

Well, I don't know, guys.

I'm working off a two-dimensional image here.

Maybe he's on the floor above you.

There's nothing up here.

All right, he's on the move again.

North-west ! Move !

I'm coming out there.

When you gonna let me open up?

As soon as we find our friend.

I thought you were looking for the flying saucer.

Yeah. Yeah, we are.

Smells good.

Want some?

No, thanks.

Suit yourself.

Like I was saying,

I'm up waiting for my supplies when I see something in the sky.

Something in the sky...

Yeah.

A light.

You ever seen that light before?

It was my first time.

Must have been exciting.

I guess.

I'd be pretty excited if I had a close encounter.

It's not every day a UFO drops by for coffee and Danish to go.

You know what I mean?

Guess it depends on the coffee.

Did you hear any sound?

Yeah.

That's how come I knew it wasn't a chopper or a plane.

It sounded kind of like a buzzing.

Like bees or...

Yellow jackets.

Terrific. All we need now is a 300-foot skyhook.

Or a backhoe to dig him up.

Must be getting ship-to-shore interference on our tracking.

Uh-huh. If someone's jerking our chain.

Right. Well, we'll try something else, all right?

I'll send out a matching signal to his comm link, and we should get...

Sorry, Anton. Your frequency's similar to Prager's. Sorry.

Feedback.

Anton !

I can't detect any drugs in his system that would account for this.

His brainwave patterns are normal.

He's not in a sleep cycle.

It could be a severe concussion.

But you're not sure?

Peter, this is a field facility at best.

I've done everything I can for him here.

It's not good enough.

Peter, the medevac is on its way.

How long?

45 minutes to an hour.

What's this?

Ray found a few of those at the power plant.

Feels like aluminum.

First-guess, aircraft part.

Interesting design, though.

I'll look into it. How'd the interviews go?

Strange.

They're consistent with other witnesses of purported UFOs,

but their stories seem rehearsed.

Find out what the trucker was hauling and talk to the cook.

I covered that.

Covered again.

I'll be in the lab.

But the vibration keeps on going.

I felt it deep in my ribs.

In my heart.

Have you discussed it with anyone?

No, just you.

You haven't talked to your family?

Yeah, they wouldn't understand.

They never do.

She looks like a pretty understanding person to me.

You'd think so, wouldn't you?

But she's got nothing but herself on her mind.

If it swallowed me up tomorrow, she wouldn't blink an eye.

I had some opportunities when I got out of the service, sure.

But I threw them all away for her.

Now she's throwing me away.

Turning my son against me.

He hardly even knows I'm his father.

How long have you been divorced?

Divorced?

We're not divorced.

We've never been happier.

What the...

You have to look beneath the masks.

Just trying to make a living.

Bone and metal. Metal and bone.

And get out of here. You know what I mean?

Your play.

You know?

Yeah. I know.

See what I mean? What are they on?

Their blood tests were clean.

It's as if they're suffering from severe depression.

It gets worse than that. Is this what's happening to Matt?

Are you okay?

Anton, look out!

Oh my God !

Put as much pressure on the wound as you can.

All right, we've got to get him up to the fields for the chopper to pick him up.

Axon, can you hear this?

Damn it! What's the UTA ***?

internal report. The principal subject has awakening.

The gleaning seems to have had no physical impact.

Phase two, proceeding.

Matt?

You had us worried there, Matt.

You were out for nearly two hours.

All right, make a fist.

You're now considered a subject of this investigation.

I think you might have experienced something.

What? A bad salmon sandwich?

This can wait.

No, it cannot.

Well, leave some for me.

Here, put some pressure on that.

I'll go get Lindsay.

He didn't leave any for me.

Where the hell am I?

Addendum.

Subject seems to have no recollection of his arrival at the study site.

Kelly ?

You got a haircut since I saw you last.

And an accent.

I am not a man you think I am.

What are you talking about?

Why were you trying to call me?

I am, how do you say, an anthropologist.

This was the image in your mind at the moment of our initial exchange.

So, were you looked in Johannesburg?

We thought that you'd find interacting with his form comforting.

If you prefer, I can take another form.

Or if you prefer, I can take the form of, how do you say, your daughter.

Not Dana, no.

I found some indications of a craft landing.

I looked up.

Way up.

Wait.

Did you lose something?

My... my good luck charm.

You mean that... that piece of metal that you carry around?

Here it is.

That's not it.

This is the way it's always been. I was looking at it behind the building.

Maybe Dana would like this. A little something from her old man.

Maybe Dana would like this.

We'll get this sorted out and you can see Dana, okay?

She really hates me, I think.

But that's only natural. I mean...

After all...

I am her father.

Don't you always say that she makes you smile?

Do I?

Yes.

Yes.

Where did you obtain this?

Give that back.

What do you think this is?

It's personal.

There's nothing personal about, yes.

We will be sampling all your reactions.

Physical, neurological, all of your colours.

This experiment will reach a conclusion.

Until then, you cannot leave.

You cannot leave.

I repeat, Axon, I repeat.

The core team remains on site.

We should at the very least evacuate Prager.

Axon, as a scientist and acting case manager,

I would have thought that you would want

to logically and objectively examine all possible data.

Pursue the investigation to its logical conclusion.

Is that why you cancelled the medevac?

Because Prager was part of one of your damn experiments?

I understood that Prager was on the meds, so there was no need.

A man died, sir.

A tragic coincidence.

If we pull the team out now, we may never discover what happened to that man.

Or whether it may happen to Prager.

Stay to course.

Elsinger out.

He is not the Matt Prager we knew.

In my interviews with him, he is missing something.

All of his Prager-ness.

And yet he still can't sit still and he still cracks those morbid jokes.

You know, there's got to be some connection between him and the other experiencers.

I found this in the cook's pocket.

Oh, that looks familiar.

What have you discovered, Peter?

Well, I'll tell you one thing. It's not aluminum.

And it's magnetic, but it doesn't contain any steel, nickel or iron.

If you heat it above 150 degrees centigrade, it crumbles to ash.

Ashes to ashes.

Dust to dust.

Matt, you should be resting.

I've donated blood before.

Give me my juice and cookies, I'll be just fine.

You know, Pete, as case manager, I should be apprised of all round tables.

This is a mild sedative.

Another person who went through what you're going through became, well, self-destructive.

How it works with this.

Ask your questions.

Okay, Matt, let's continue.

Where were we?

Right.

What were you thinking about when you were in the field?

Big field, actually.

In South Africa.

There is no where for you to go.

As astral planes go,

this is pretty low rent.

This is a subjective experience.

That is how our people learn, by examining things subjectively.

Subjectively.

You mean through my eyes.

Through my eyes.

How you monitor your subjects ?

If it's subjective.

What do you expect to learn?

Why this place is so important to you.

Made my career.

Ah, yes.

What made me.

Flight 669 was blown out of the sky.

For every body...

Every body part we found, we placed a flag.

We wore handkerchiefs drenched in gasoline to fight off the stench.

181 flags.

The army was at the edge.

On the perimeter of the site they had rifles and shotguns.

Fired at the vultures and looters.

Taking clothing right off the corpses.

In most cases the clothing was all we had to go on for identification.

But I couldn't blame the looters.

Grinding poverty, you see.

The things we do to people...

You're missing a lot of details here.

Isn't it details?

The details are in your memory. We don't need them.

Oh, come on.

Where's the wreckage? Where's the bodies?

The tail section should be scattered over that rise.

The cockpit should be right here.

Come on, come on, come on! Get it right!

We certainly don't mean to disappoint you.

That subject failed.

What are you doing?

Research.

So much information was lost.

We've been trying to recapture it for some time,

taking, how do you say, infants for study

and leaving behind our own modest efforts.

Decoys, changelings.

Very recently, we've been able to duplicate adults.

Once the decoy is in place, however, we work uninterrupted.

Unfortunately, if the decoy is damaged, the original also fails.

You put children through this?

And their parents?

You know what it is to have a child to feel that moment of happiness?

We are striving to.

And you took that away from ***?

And you gave it away.

The thing about having kids is they're born and placed into your hands.

They're so small.

And the responsibility washes over you like a wave of fear.

I'm not new to that kind of responsibility.

Anything else you want to know?

I think that's good for now.

I looked into the back of your truck.

Empty.

You said you had other deliveries to make.

This is my only stop.

Someone bought out my time, said come here, wait for instructions.

Never got any.

What did you deliver?

Nothing.

I wish to haul something away.

What?

Remains.

Who told you to come here?

I have to go now.

What's happening?

There's no pulse.

The man just lost the will to live.

And Matt's next.

Mind if I sit in?

Matt, I'm sorry. I didn't mean...

Keeping involved in my work seems to help.

Please.

Your health is fine.

You're just the same as you were at your last physical,

down to the levels of acid in your stomach.

That salsa will kill me yet.

Your leg seems to be getting worse.

Wait a minute.

Didn't you hurt your right leg last month?

This will project your fingerprints right onto the screen.

Give me your hand.

Okay, I'm running a comparison.

Enhancing the thumbprint.

And... there.

The print on the left, this is from Matt's original file.

Now the whorls run clockwise.

This is what's being projected right now.

The whorls run counter-clockwise.

Two different people.

Fingerprints that close sometimes occur in identical twins.

Or... there's another possibility.

You mean... I am a clone?

There's something weird with the trucker, too.

His fingerprints from the truck show the same reverse pattern.

Somehow, after he arrived here, his fingerprints changed.

I checked the cook's body, same deal.

Let me get this straight.

That thing in there is not Matt Prager.

But it thinks it's Matt Prager?

When they created them, they just didn't build from DNA.

They duplicated memories and physical experiences.

What they did goes well beyond even our theoretical understanding of cloning.

Whoever they are.

Recommendations?

I think we should lock him up.

He may be our only shot at finding Matt.

He hasn't done anything threatening.

Tell that to the real Prager.

Memories and experiences, you said. That's what we are?

Then he is Prager.

Oh, Matt...

Well, what's the verdict?

More tests, vivisection?

Why would someone do this?

We were hoping you could tell us.

No.

Do you think you might be part of some kind of experiment?

Well, we breed a lab rat which lacks a certain gene type to behavior.

Release it into the general population, see how it fares.

Or see how much harm it can do.

What am I missing? What did they take from me?

The ability to experience joy.

I need to do something.

Please, let me help you.

Let me help you find the original, please.

Wait a minute. Why should we believe him?

Because he's feeling everything that the real Prager felt.

The original Prager.

That's a lot of crap.

I can help you.

I know I can.

Get off of me !

Keep that thing away from me.

How do you know you're not a clone?

I know who I am.

So do I.

Ray, why don't you jus radio in our status?

Yeah, good idea.

You said you could help us. How ?

We have a link between us.

The original is alive.

I think I can find him.

How ? Where is he?

You were experiencing a marked shift in colors. Explain.

For a second I was back in the lab. I was with Axon and the other.

The way you receive data, it's some sort of transmission, some sort of telepathic link.

The disks. You planted disks.

They are, how do you describe them, uh, comlinks.

This was one of your disks before the crash. A piece of the puzzle that never fit.

In a mishap with your aircraft, we lost our scout ship.

The device was damaged, but it continued to broadcast the fades of signals.

You, you set all this up just to get this back?

No, it is you who were drawn to us.

You think that we can answer some questions that you have.

After, of course, we have gleaned what we need from you.

You expect me to just stay here while you consume my emotions?

But there is so much to be done.

No.

Sample this.

What are you doing?

Details. Thinking about details.

Just calmly, objectively thinking about details of the inquest.

We are not interested.

I know.

Please cease all...

All what?

You've taken me away from everything I care about.

My work, my family.

We must learn from you.

Not anymore. Not from me.

Please.

We were the successful people.

But in time, we found that we were fading away.

We had no colors at all.

Only gray.

Please.

Show us joy.

My daughter.

But that is not the color you showed for her.

Your work. That is where your colors are brightest.

No. That's not true. I'm...

I'm... I'm working on that.

Is he up there? Some... some ship somewhere?

It's possible.

That's why the comm link was on the move.

He's up there.

You don't have to learn this way. There's got to be somewhere we can help.

The experiment is concluded.

The data corrupted.

And all that is left for us is to

dispose of the test material.

Wait.

I don't want to go.

You guys okay?

- Oh... - Yeah.

Peter?

Peter?

Matt?

What's going on?

Matt? Are you okay?

Yeah, sure. Why wouldn't I be?

Good to see you back.

Where are the others?

Others? What are you talking about?

Why... Why am I wearing this?

You're right. These ones are gone too.

You see? Mirror images.

And what about the disks?

Oh, it's compelling evidence. As is the air traffic control report.

It's too bad that your clones completely vanished.

One of my people saw something.

Oh, yeah. Axon's UFO, yes.

After 42 hours awake under stressful conditions,

complicated by his legitimate concerns for you.

He's convinced he saw something.

So is Kelly.

Well, Matthew, you must understand that Mr. Kelly is a bit of a crank.

He's strictly a bottom feeder in the intelligence community.

So what are you telling me? These last two days never happened?

Oh, they happened.

It's just that sometimes when you look up into the night sky,

you want to see something there.

Tell me what you remember.

Uh...

Consider this case cleared.

With the personal involvement of the team, it's just as well.

The data is completely corrupted.

So that's it.

Take a little time, Matthew.

How was your quality time with Elsinger?

His debriefings are always so entertaining.

I know you tried to warn me about the experiment.

Thanks.

What's going on?

What didn't you tell Elsinger?

When I saw you today, I had the strangest sense of deja vu.

Really?

Only you were in black and white, not gray.

That's very interesting.

Because the last time I saw you, you were gray and bloodless.

All tied up in your ambitions and your career.

Maybe you're looking at yourself.

Addendum to memorandum.

I trust that the data and information enclosed arrived on a timely basis.

Let me know if I can ever be of further assistance.

On any other experiments, Elsinger out.

The OSIR, of course, was never able to prove with absolute certainty

that they were indeed contacted from beyond our solar system.

And it might not matter, for the most wondrous place to explore

may not be the outer regions of space, but indeed the inner depths of the human spirit.

For Psi factor, I'm Dan Aykroyd.

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