All language subtitles for Nowhere Man - S01E07 - A Rough Whimper of Insanity

My name is Thomas
Bale, or at least it was.

Friends, a career.

And in one moment, it was taken away.

All because of a single
photograph. I have it.

They want it.

And they will do
anything to get the negative.

I'm keeping this diary as
proof that these events are real.

I know they are. They have to be. I run,

whether I'm running towards something
or away from it, I'm not always sure.

And then there are times that I
stop out of sheer exhaustion and fear,

because I need a job and money to live on.

During the last few months,

I've found that I am not the
only person who lives in fear.

Fear takes many shapes
and claims many victims.

This is the fourth time that I've been
to this house, and it is a house of fear.

I know it. I can feel it.

And I can smell it.

But it's difficult to determine if what
I feel is the fear that I carry with me,

or something inside this house,

or perhaps even the house
itself has nightmares of its own.

And because we live in darkness and hide
in the shadows, we remain mostly unknown.

I suspect that there are more of us in
the darkness than most people imagine.

Those who hide, those who
fear. I know this is where I live.

A medium pepperoni, onions, and
an extra large stromboli special.

Pull the jalapenos. All right. Come on.

Keep it moving, Pepe. Okay, man, I'm
doing it. People are starving out here.

Yeah, I know, I know.

You better put on your hat.

I can't find it.

Brace yourself.

Hat's cost $3.

You make $6.50 an hour, so maybe
next time you'll hold on to yours.

You're not out in 10
minutes. I'll call in the troops.

Peppy, we're backing up here.
Tom, we have orders going out.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Where's your hat, Tom? I don't know, maybe

in the car. Maybe?
Yeah, hats cost $3, Tom.

You make $6.50 an hour.

Maybe next time you'll hang on to yours.

There you go, man.

Fifth night in a row.

Looks like you picked up Joel's old run
in South Ardmore. The guy's a weirdo.

Wouldn't know. I've never seen him.

Yeah, that's what I mean.
Nobody has ever seen him.

The pie goes in, the money comes out.

Weirdo. He keeps to
himself. He's not hurting anybody.

You're not anybody we know about.

Right.

That's right. You find that
hat, I want that new one back.

And don't think I didn't
see you take that soda.

Come on, Pepe!

Everything okay in
there? Hello? Keats is here.

You have access to
SuperNet. User ID required.

You have access to
SuperNet. User ID required.

You have access to
SuperNet. User ID required.

You have access to SuperNet.

User ID required.

You have access to
SuperNet. User ID required.

You have access to SuperNet.

User ID required.

You have access to
SuperNet. User ID required.

Oh.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey, man. You all right?

Don't touch me. Okay.

Okay.

A little more.

There you go. Take it easy.
That's good. It's not going anywhere.

There's plenty more. Just
slow. Slow. Take it slow.

I get dehydrated. I forget to drink.

You have to drink to stay alive, right?

Sorry, I really don't like to be touched.

Okay.

All right, well, I'll
just put this right here.

You're the pizza guy, right?

Then this is for you.

No, no, no, it's on me. Forget it.

No, no, no, please take it.

Forget it.

You don't have to shout.

Here we go.

Well, so, when was the last time
somebody else was in this house?

When was the last time
you were out of this house?

Thank you for the pizza.
You can go now, please. Hey.

Hey.

You need a doctor.

No doctors.

Look, I'm fine. I just
got a little dehydrated.

I'm fine now, okay?

Okay.

You're pretty good at this stuff, huh?

What's this thing?

It's a router.

Right. I guess it comes in handy when
you've got some major routing to do.

It's a high bandwidth
connection to the network.

Oh.

Don't you know anything about computers?

Yeah, sure. I mean, they're
confusing and impersonal.

When I get near one, it doesn't work.

You don't get it at all, do you?

No.

This stuff is beautiful, man.

It's pure poetry. It's orderly.

It's logical.

It's contained.

On, off, zero, one.

The power to recreate
intelligence, maybe even better.

Click, click, on, off.

It's beautiful.

Well, I guess I'm just
more the beer babes.

Baseball type.

You think I can't do that here?

You think I can't go there?

What do you want?

Major league scores from the US?

How about from Tokyo?

Batting averages from 1960? Team
earnings, league profits, ballpark dimensions,

architect names, come
on, name it. Koufax's ERA.

What do you want? What do you want?

How about just a bag of peanuts?

You think you're joking, right?

There is a market down on Flower
in Colson. They have a fax machine,

and they deliver. What do you want?

Salted or un?

In the shell or out?

All right, all right. I get your point,
but I mean, that isn't everything, Scott.

I mean...

There's more to life than
just click, click, zero, one.

Oh, yeah. You're out there
delivering pizzas in a paper hat.

Are you having fun?

I'm flesh and blood, man. I'm out there.

I'm out there.

I haven't been computerized.

Wrong.

You think you can avoid this?

You think that just because
you're not sitting in front

of a monitor that
you're not involved in this?

You're in here. We're all in here.

Like it or not, this is one big
cyberspace gangbang, and we're all invited. No.

You won't find me in there.

What are you talking about?

Well... This isn't the dark ages.

This isn't the 70s.

You get a paycheck, you rent an
apartment, you buy something in a discount store,

you're in here. I could get your
whole life up here in one second.

Okay.

Go ahead, show me what you can find.

I'll need some information.

Name?

Thomas J. Vale, V-E-I-L.

What's your social security number?

It's 549241889. Totally amazing.

What?

You found me?

Well, I did, and I didn't.

What was that supposed to mean?

You've been deleted, man. Big time.

I've never seen anything like it. I
can't understand this. It's amazing.

What does that mean? If I've been
deleted, how could you find me?

Well, I found you
because I know what I'm doing.

You have to understand that deleted
files only look deleted to the system.

Until they're wiped out, if you know
what you're doing, you can find them.

And they haven't all been wiped?

Well, most of them have been.

What is this? Do you realize the access
required to accomplish something like this?

You couldn't do it.

The President of the
United States couldn't do it.

This is big-time,
big-brother, freaky stuff, man.

It's almost impossible.

Obviously not entirely.

But how? I mean, computers
are not centrally linked.

This would take years, and even then,
how do you get into every computer,

into every database, access secure lines,

and totally eradicate every
trace of a person's life?

Who the hell are you?

She's pretty.

And you have no idea
how she got into this?

No, I'm not sure.

I mean, part of me needs to
believe she was pressured,

and somehow she did what she did because
she was trying to protect me, but... No,

part of me just... It's hard with people.

You can't always be sure.

I mean, not like computers. Click, click.

Yeah, but computers don't light you up
with a look of recognition. You know,

they don't brighten
when you come into a room.

It's not quite the same.

That's closer.

But no cigar.

It's a phrase, man.
Close but no cigar. I know.

Yeah, I know.

I need a little light in here.

Hey, close it! It's too
bright in here! Come on!

It's better like this.

It's always twilight in
here. It's always the same.

I don't have to worry
about what the outside world

is doing right now because
right now never changes.

Hey, um... Scott, you know...

You know, before your
parents died, did you go out?

I mean, you must have
had friends from school.

Hey, I got my first
computer when I was 13,

and it's the first time I
ever remember feeling happy.

Happy or just...

Safe.

Like there's a difference.

Hey, man, it's all the same.

No, it isn't.

Safe is happy.

You were safe, and you
felt happy. Now you're not.

Scott, there's more to it than that.

I mean, it's... I don't know,
it's a feel of fall on your face.

It's...

It's the pain in your stomach
after one chili dog too many.

It's something lost,
it's something gained,

and somebody's touching
the side of your face.

And it's being afraid, and...

And loving someone.

And being loved.

That is a poem, man.

That's something you read in a book.

That's something you look
at over and over again,

wanting it to be real, and it never is.

Scott, you can't live without
other people. I mean, believe me,

I know you can't live
without human contact.

I don't live without human contact.

I just make it the way I need it to be.

What is this?

You know what virtual reality is?

No, not first-hand.

I think about it, right?

With virtual reality, I can
create any environment I want,

and it's as good as the
real thing. Sit down. Sit.

It's okay.

You'll get a feel for it. Just
move your legs like you're walking.

Do you ever feel a fall on
your face? But it's not real.

It's virtually real.

You feel it, you taste it, you believe it.

It's real.

Hi, Scott.

I've missed you.

She always says the right thing.

Oh, this is my friend, Tom.

Hi, Tom.

Well, you had no trouble talking
when you were giving me advice. Sorry.

Sorry, hi.

Didn't we make arrangements
for you to bring a friend?

If you're going to play hard to get,

then it just means I get to
keep both of them for myself.

It's a pleasure to meet you, Tom.

She's in my database now, but don't worry.

I'll save her for you.
I'm taking. Would you?

Most certainly.

You're staring at me.

I... You're... You're just looking at me.

Are you expecting someone? No.

No one, no one at all.

¶¶ ¶¶

Sky, no, don't.

About two hours after you passed out.

What are you doing?

I think I found a way to get
to whoever's doing this to you.

What I thought... No, you said...
No, no, what I said is I'm the best.

Whoever the hell they are,
they're not better at this than me.

See, I just have to
stop relying on the domain

servers and plug in some raw IP addresses.

We're getting through
some major doors now.

I guess I really
freaked you out with the VR.

Your brain must have done an
over driver. It just felt so real.

It is real.

That's what I told you. I
mean, your head believes it,

and everything else
goes along for the ride.

I think I've got something.

What?

It's a government computer
at MIT. Tricky. What's that?

They've routed you through a
weather server in Reykjavik.

One more and we got it.

It happens now.

I don't know why this is taking so long.

This isn't happening. What?

I've been tunneled into my
system. Well, turn the power off.

I can't. Not with them in
here. I've got to get them out.

Get out of here. Get out of here.

They know where we are, man.
Scott, we've got to get out of here.

This is my whole life.
This is everything I've got.

Damn it! Get out of here!

We gotta go. Come on. No!

No! No! Stop, Scott! We gotta go!

Close it!

Inside.

I can't go inside. Just
help me. Just help me.

It's brilliant. It's okay. It's okay.

Come on, are you getting on or what?

Got a schedule to keep here. Come on.

I'm tired.

It's too bright. Take me inside.

Take me inside. Please, Tom.

Scott, we can't stay here.

I can't do this, Tom.
I can't stay out here.

Why are they doing
this, Tom? I'm not sure.

Maybe we got too close.
Maybe we wandered into

something that they didn't want us to see.

Either way, we're not safe here.

Scott, Scott, you gotta
listen to me. Listen,

you know anybody who lives
around here, anybody at all?

Relatives, friends of the family, anybody!

Scott, we gotta get off the street.

Scott. Scott, think!

Think! I have no friends. I have
no friends. I have no friends.

There's got to be somebody someplace.

Only Pam. Only Pam.

Pam? Who's Pam?

My teacher.

My high school computer teacher.

Scott, this is ten years ago.

It's the only one I can think of.

Okay.

Okay, that's good. That's good.

What's her last name?

Peters. Pam Peters.

She lives on Larchmont. Okay.

Peters?

I'm going to find the phone booth.

I'm just going to leave her here for
five minutes. Don't leave. Don't leave.

I've got to find out if
I can even find her. I'm

just going to the
corner. I'll be right back.

Don't leave me. Don't leave me. Please.

Okay.

Okay. Okay. They took
everything. They took my whole life.

They took my whole life.
They took my whole life.

Yes?

Hi.

I'm Miss Peters.

He's not doing too well.

You were the only person he could
think of. Do you mind if we come in?

Oh, sure.

Yes, please, come on in.

He was always the best.

Whenever everybody else saw dead
ends, Scott saw open doorways.

He was such a bright kid.

At 18, he designed a significant piece
of software for a venture capital firm.

I heard he made a good
deal of money off of it.

Yeah, he told me he's
been living off the profits

and bonuses for the last ten years.

I had heard that he had some
problems, you know, after his parents died,

but I had no idea. Oh, a
rough whimper of insanity.

What's that?

A rough whimper of insanity. It's an
anagram, something that Scott discovered,

a rearrangement of the
phrase information superhighway.

God, in a sad way, it really seems to fit.

Well, yeah, he seems to take
more comfort in solos in front

of a computer monitor than
he does in the real world.

Yeah, well, the world's
been pretty cruel to him. God,

I just wish I had known how far it had
gone. Maybe I could have been there for him.

Well, I think in some ways you were.

Well, he's really lucky
to have a friend like you.

Actually, we just met.

He was helping me track down
some information at his house,

and then there was a problem, and
we had to get out pretty quick.

Damn it.

The permissions on this file are locked.

What are you trying to do?
I'm trying to locate a file.

So why can't you just circumvent the
permissions and access it directly?

You can't fetch it without initiating
defense. Forget it. Forget it. Scott,

we've already been there.

Wait a minute. I think maybe there's a
way to do this. Let me just be clear.

You are trying to access a highly
secured file that's surrounded by firewalls?

Okay.

Okay.

Of course.

Scott, how do you get the file?

I don't know what you're saying.

The answer's in the question.

How do you look at a file that
you can't open and you can't fetch?

You don't try. That's right.

You guys just came up with a
dictionary. What are you talking about?

We don't try to get the file. We
go to the file. Oak Park, Michigan.

We can go there.

We can look at the file. We
just can't take it with us. Go on.

Essentially, you'll be
making a one-way connection.

No one will even know
the file's been read.

All right, Tom, I'm gonna plug you in.

Where are we?

Discarded heat memory. Random data that
they used to fill the space between files.

Wow, they sure got into a lot of
trouble to dress this place up.

Somewhere around here
should be the door to your file.

This is it. What is it?

It's a painting of the
photograph I told you about.

Stand back.

No, no, no, don't worry.

They're all sequential. We just
have to find the right sort of key.

Okay, let's see.

There's eight digits.

It's not a driver's license. Okay,
it's not a social security number.

State 1-120-1985. Okay.

Maybe it's a birthday.

No, no, no. That's not a 10-year-old girl.

Where do we start?

I bet you it was the date that
the file got copied to the disk.

It's August 28th, 1995. That was the day.

The day it happened. What?

The day I lost everything.

This is 70s, 80s.

It's gotta be up there.

How are you a virtual climber?

Well, I guess we'll find out.

Nice and slow. Oh, I see.

How you doing? Harder than it looks.

I can't keep my footing.

Take it easy. Remember,
it's virtual reality.

Sam, are you okay?

It's okay. I'll get the files.

I found it. 82895.

This is it, man.

This is really it.
Scott, what does it say?

Oh, my God. What?

It's not what you thought.
Just bring it down, Scott!

Scott, what's happening?

What the hell is happening?
I think they're deleting...

You're deleting the system!
You gotta get out of here!

Get down here, come on!

I can't. Scott, there's no more time!

What happened?

What happened?

I don't know.

Something went wrong.

Oh, dear God.

Scott!

Scott!

Scott, come on.

Come on, Scott, come back to us. Come on.

All right, I need you to tell me
everything that happened in there.

We were trying to get out, and
the walls were disintegrating.

Scott said it was because
they were deleting the system.

And he could have made it. He stopped
intentionally. What the hell is going on?

I think he's still in there.

I think when the system went
down, he went down with it.

What are you talking about? It
wasn't real. We weren't really there.

Yeah, but if your mind
believes it, it's real.

This is insane.

Scott.

Scott!

Scott!

It wasn't real. It didn't happen.

It didn't happen.

It didn't happen. It wasn't real.

It didn't happen. Scott.

It was like two more
feet you could have made.

Tom, it was what he
wanted. You made a choice.

What?

What, to stay in that
room while it disintegrated?

I don't think that he thought
there was anything out here for him.

There's a chance that he
can still find his way back.

So he can come back?

Yeah, he could if he wants to.

Tom, I'm not sure that he ever will.

Those of us who live in fear keep our
secrets hidden, protected from prying eyes,

and only Scott knows what drove him
to make the decision that he made.

And only Scott knows the
answer to the question

that I've been searching so hard to find.

There are more of us in that
darkness than most people imagine.

I know this is where I live.