Will you look at that fellow over there?
I've never seen anything so disgusting in all my life.
I'll tell you something.
He's staring.
I think he's looking at us.
I think we're being picked up.
Oh, it's too awful.
Can you believe it?
They can let creatures like that in here.
I mean, really. It's...
Anne, what's the matter, huh?
Anne?
Oh! Oh, help someone, please.
Oh! please, help.
Damn it!
You're 35 years old, Mr. Vale.
Why are you such a derelict?
Such a piece of human junk?
The answer's simple.
You're a scanner,
but you don't realize it,
and that has been the source of all your agony.
But I will show you now
that it can be a source of great power.
Let them in.
Not much of a place, is it?
Still, didn't pay for it, so...
Hurry up.
Hurry up!
We can talk now.
I would like to scan all of you in this room one at a time.
I, I must remind you that the, uh, scanning experience is usually a painful one,
sometimes resulting in nosebleeds,
earaches, stomach cramps, nausea.
sometimes other symptoms of a similar nature.
There's a doctor present Dr. Gatineau.
I know that you've all been prepared for this,
but I thought I'd just remind you just the same.
Uh, there is one other thing.
No one is to leave this room once the demonstration has begun.
At this point I'd like to call for volunteers.
Anyone. It doesn't matter.
Fine.
Just, uh...
Sit right here, please.
Now, I'd, I'd like you to think of something specific.
something that will not breach the security of you organization.
And that you will not object to having disclosed to this group.
- Something, uh, personal, perhaps. - All right.
Yes, I have something.
- Do I have to close my eyes? - It doesn't matter.
All right. Yes, I have something.
All right.
Move everybody out! Now!
Call consec leader!
I want you to come with me.
I didn't do anything.
I said I want you to come with me.
Come on.
Gatineau, come with us.
Down there. Quick!
Move it!
Get down!
Give him a shot of ephemeral.
Come on!
OK.
Take it easy.
All we need is to get stopped by a cop.
Ah, it'd serve 'em right.
Why the hell did they have to send us to the old factory?
If this guy's a scanner they don't want him down at central.
They're afraid of him.
He's a scanner.
Hey, where's security 2?
- He's moving up fast on the left. - Hey, man, what's happening?
Ray, what the hell's the matter with you?
You gotta pull back behind them, man.
Come on!
Ray, I'm gonna kill you if you don't do it.
Ray!
Oh, my god.
Don't stop! Move it!
No, we got to get 'em out of there!
We've got to get in there.
They're charred, man! You can see them burning.
Let go of me!
Those people are dead!
Get up.
Let's get out of here, man! Come on!
You want to get us killed?
All right. All right. Pipe down!
Last night...
We at consec chose to reveal to the outside world
our work with those...
Telepathic curiosities known as scanners.
The result
6 corpses...
And a substantial loss in credibility for our organization.
So, this morning we have a new director of internal security,
- Mr. Braedon Keller. - Thank you. Mr. Trevellyan.
Gentlemen,
we're in the business of international security.
We deal in weaponry and private armories.
We do not trade in fantasy and pipe dreams.
Let us leave the development of dolphins and freaks as weapons of espionage to others.
Now, with all due respect
to Dr. Paul Ruth,
I recommend that we drop our scanner program immediately, sir.
Dr. Ruth, what's your response?
Mr. Keller, who composed our audience last night?
We had 25 financial and political V.I.P. s
from all over North America.
Were these V.I.P. s carefully screened?
The screening process used was very sophisticated, yes.
And yet an assassin managed to infiltrate this group.
Yes.
And killed 6 of our people.
Yes.
How did he kill them?
We have reason to believe he...
used scanning techniques.
Then do you suggest, Mr. Keller,
that this highly-skilled assassin- very deadly
who embarrassed us all in front of the community we were trying to impress,
was himself a scanner?
We believe so, yes.
That, gentlemen, is my response.
The weapons capability of these, uh, telepathic...
curiosities.
Is obvious.
If I may, doctor,
your program is based on a list of 236 known scanners,
- is it now? - It is.
Of that number,
how many are now working with us?
As of last night, none.
Well, then.
We don't even have a program to drop, do we?
It shouldn't be very painful for anyone.
Consec surveillance has gradually lost contact with all the names on our list,
and I submit that this... this is not an accident.
I think we've lost them to a program
far in advance of ours.
What?
I can't believe it.
I think you might elaborate, Dr. Ruth.
In my study of the situation I've come to the conclusion
That there is a scanner underground
Developed in North America.
It has an organization that's well-motivated,
and it has a leader.
Now, that's ridiculous, doctor.
You can't get 2 of them to sit in the same room together without going berserk.
You're making a very provocative allegation, Dr. Ruth.
Who controls this group?
If you study the descriptions in this report,
You will find that you probably met him last night.
His name is Darryl Revok,
and he was on our list.
This is total fiction. Mr. Trevellyan, I...
A moment, Mr. Keller.
What do you suggest, doctor?
Eliminate the competition.
How?
Contact a scanner who is as yet unknown to the underground,
convert him to out cause and then send him out
to infiltrate the underground.
Convert him, doctor? How?
They're all pathetic social misfits. Unstable. Unreliable.
That is because their unique gifts are not understood, Mr. Keller.
There is one point about which there is no doubt at all,
and that is that consec was attacked.
For our own peace of mind,
we have to retaliate in some way,
and I think Dr. Ruth's suggestion
is a very interesting one.
Except that...
We don't have ant scanners left to send into the field.
As a matter of fact,
I do have one,
still unaffiliated.
Very special one.
I don't suppose you speak much.
No.
It's not surprising.
With all those other voices in your head how can your hear your own voice?
How can you develop a self personality?
How do you feel?
I feel...
crystal clear.
How do you like...
clarity?
I'm not sure.
- I think I'm a bit afraid. - Why?
I feel so exposed.
I can hear myself.
You hear your own voice?
- Yes. - Good.
You called me a scanner.
What is that?
Freak of nature...
Born with a certain form of E.S.P.,
a derangement of the synapses
which we call telepathy.
Could be a disease, possibly,
or a result of radiation.
We don't really know why.
Who are you?
My name is Dr. Paul Ruth.
I'm a psychopharmacist by trade,
specializing in the phenomenon
of scanners.
The woman in the shopping mall. What were you doing to her?
I wasn't doing anything to her.
It was her.
She was...
forcing me...
To what?
To think about her.
The 50 people that were in this room they appeared to disturb you.
Why was that?
They talked too loud.
They talked, and they talked.
Really? I didn't see their lips move, did you?
No, it was the other voices.
The ones without lips.
They were drowning me.
I couldn't stop them.
The injection I gave you, the needle.
What happened to the voices?
They stopped.
The drug is called ephemeral.
It's a scan suppressant.
It does nothing when it's given to ordinary human being.
when given to a scanner,
it prevents the flow of telepathy.
It stops the voices.
It can help you.
How do you know these things?
It's my profession.
This is Mr. Keller.
Will my car be ready this evening?
Tell us what you did, please, Darryl.
I drilled a hole in my head.
- Where? - Kind of obvious, isn't it?
Right here.
Why did you do it, Darryl? Why did you drill the hole?
Too much pressure.
Had to release some pressure.
You wanted to let the pressure out?
You wanted to let something out of your head?
Maybe I'm so smart I can't contain the thoughts in my head.
You wanted to let something out of your head?
What?
People.
There are people in my head.
Not enough room for Darryl.
You mean voices?
No. Whole people.
Arms, legs, hands.
What's that you've put over the hole?
It's a door.
Put an eye on the door so they won't know it's a door and they can't get back in
'cause this is the eye you know?
Do you think that will fool them?
Sure. Sure it will.
- I mean... - I mean, sure it will, you know?
I mean, is that the only way to...
No!
What do you know?
You don't know nothing do you?
What's it like in there eh, lady?
You want to see how to get in?
OK?
Come with me, Darryl.
Get your hands off me.
Get your hands...
Get your hands off me!
That's me, isn't it?
As you were...
Without ephemeral without guidance.
Is he still like that?
Worse.
How could he be?
At the age of 22 he was extremely self-destructive.
Now, at the age of 35,
he is simply destructive.
In many ways, Cameron,
he is your enemy.
And mine.
But I don't even know him.
He...
knows you.
Somehow he was able to gather a master list
of all the scanners who were ever born.
He has sought them out one by one,
asked them to join him in an insane crusade
to destroy the society that created him.
And me?
He was looking for you but I found you first.
That's why you can help me.
I don't understand.
All the scanners
who didn't agree to join him were murdered.
These murders represent a loss to mankind
of the most spectacular human beings
that ever walked the face of this planet.
Now, you, Cameron,
and your brothers and sisters,
can bring a, a glory and a brilliance
to our society that has never been seen before.
We must stop Revok now.
Consec are not ready to give up their program.
Paul Ruth came up with a secret weapon.
What?
Someone you've been looking for, I think.
A scanner.
Calls himself Cameron Vale.
I've seen him.
and Ruth knew exactly where to find him.
He's in indoctrination right now.
Can he do anything? What kind of shape is he in?
He seems to function...
But he's nothing to worry about.
He's weak.
Very weak.
Welcome to our little psychic gymnasium.
Cameron Vale...
You'll please meet...
Yoga master Dieter Tautz.
Mr. Tautz has kindly consented
to be your psychic sparring partner.
He has publicly demonstrated on many occasions
that by the power of his will.
He can control his heart rate,
his alpha-wave rhythm,
and many other supposedly uncontrollable functions of the human body.
Are we ready?
Just about.
Proceed.
If you would be kind enough to sit facing this gentleman here.
I want you...
I want you to...
slowly release your scan.
Slowly, with focus.
I want it to touch his heart but not his brain.
You understand?
Telepathy is not mind reading.
It is the direct linking
of 2 nervous systems
separated by space.
I want you to make a link...
from your brain...
to his heart.
I want your brain
to make his heart...
beat fast.
Now, if his heart beats too quickly...
then he will take over control of his heart...
and slow it down.
Don't worry about it.
All you have to do...
is make his heart...
beat...
fast.
Fast.
Now.
Fast. Faster.
Fast.
Fast!
End your scan.
End it!
Stop!
Stop him!
End it!
You were right, Dr. Ruth.
It was easy.
This man's name is...
Benjamin Pierce.
And these photographs were taken in a prison
for the criminally insane.
Here's another one.
This is a plaster cast of him
at present on display at the acrostic art galley.
He's our only lead,
a known scanner
who may or may not be part of Revok's underground.
Why was he in prison?
He tried to kill his entire family.
His father, sister, mother...
At the age of 10.
It was in 1958.
A few years later, he was released.
What do they say here?
'Rehabilitation through art.'
The man has incredible power,
doesn't he?
Power?
Yes, he does.
I am Arno Crostic.
I'm pleased you came to my gallery.
Are you an aficionado of Benjamin Pierce?
I'm interested in buying this piece for my apartment in Paris.
Yes?
But I don't think it'll work out unless I can get to meet the artist first.
I'm afraid no.
I hope it won't prejudice you against acquiring this piece,
but I would lose Benjamin Pierce for good
if I even approached him with the idea.
You see, it's pair of our agreement.
He will not meet his public.
Maybe you could just tell me where he lives.
Then I could approach him myself,
and you wouldn't be involved.
I'm afraid I can't.
Then maybe you could just...
think about...
where he lives.
Excuse me.
I'm suddenly...
feeling ill.
Arno, what's the matter?
- Are you all right? - I will be all right.
Come on, Arno. Let me take you back to your office.
You've got to lie down. That's it. Take me arm.
Benjamin Pierce?
Why don't you leave me alone?
I need some help.
You're the only one that can give it to me.
Is that right?
Me?
Yes.
Then I think you're in big trouble, chum.
I've heard you know a man named Darry Revok.
Who are you?
I was told you were coming to pay me a visit, Mr. Vale.
How did you know that?
Well...
I have friends.
I don't want them...
but I have them.
Scanner friends?
What do you mean by that?
I am one of you.
- You're one of me. - Yes.
You know what I think?
I think you better tell me what you really want.
It's the voices in my head.
They're driving me crazy.
How do you stop them?
Your voices.
My art.
My art keeps me sane.
My art.
Sane.
I don't have anything like this.
That's why I have to find Darryl Revok.
You...
my friend...
are a liar.
Get out.
Look, I'm not leaving here
until you tell me where I can find Darryl Revok.
No?
All right.
Well, then I'll get out.
No!
Find Revok.
These are his robots...
killers.
He'll turn you into a zombie,
a robot,
a killer.
No, don't you let him.
There are others.
Other scanners.
Kim Obrist.
Good evening, sir. Can I help you?
Are there any messages for me?
Your name, sir?
Cameron Vale.
Your room number?
802.
Yes, this package is for you, sir.
My name is Cameron Vale.
I've got to talk to Kim Obrist.
Come on in.
Oh, God.
They killed Ben Pierce.
Yes.
Come on upstairs.
Just wait here a sec.
Kim, Revoc got to Ben Pierce. He's dead.
This guy's name is Cameron Vale.
I scanned him. He's for real.
He was there when it happened.
Sit down.
I know you.
You were at the gallery.
You were looking for Pierce.
I need help.
Scan together.
Scan together and our minds will begin to flow into each other
until they become one.
One nervous system.
One soul.
One experience.
Beautiful.
And frightening.
So frightening to lose yourself.
To lose your will to the group will.
To lose yourself to the group self.
...to the group self.
No!
The power.
The power we can generate
we web focus our scans together is fantastic.
Fantastic.
Terrifying.
Exhilarating.
No! Around the side! Quick!
Hurry!
Get in!
Let's go! Come on!