Previously on Tower Prep...
Where am I? And what is this place?
Tower Prep was built for students like you.
I'm sincere when I say that I want us to be friends.
Most of us are what you call "special."
We can do something really weird in a really awesome way.
- Good morning, Ian. - That voice--
- Where's it coming from? - What, Whisper?
- Whisper. - Yes, Headmaster.
I found, like, these walkways
all along the walls of the school.
- Gnomes. Hide. - There's gnomes down here?
Those questions you keep asking?
Stop asking them.
If none of you sent it, then who did?
-- Sync, corrected by elderman -- -- for www.addic7ed.com --
Third period will begin in 30 seconds.
Ian, your art class grade
has decreased .15 this week.
It would benefit you to focus today.
Man, I get so tired of Whisper being everywhere.
Smell this.
- No. - Apricot.
Okay, everyone, Whisper says it's time.
Please take your seats.
Whisper sent this to me today.
She transferred me into your class.
All right, Emerson. Why don't you take that chair?
This came from Whisper, too.
"Also give Emerson no homework and an A in your class.
Thanks, Whisper."
Whisper sure has nice penmanship,
for a computer.
Good morning, Headmaster. This is a nice surprise.
Thank you, Art. I was just doing my rounds.
I thought I'd drop in and see what was going on.
Please, continue as though I'm not even here.
As if you weren't here?
That's right, Ian.
Ian?
Why do we have to take art class?
I mean, I thought Tower Prep was a special school
that would train each of us to use our individual skills.
I'm disappointed to hear you use the word "train," Ian.
Is that what you think we're doing here, training you?
Well, no, because we're in art class.
Training is solely to execute a single task of behavior
that many people can perform.
Tower Prep is about the individual's relationship
with their skill,
how your unique skill can develop
because you flourish as a person
by learning about all aspects of life.
In fact, if I may...
I'd like to propose a homework assignment for you.
Express your skill through art--
a painting, a sculpture,
something that shows Art and I
what you know and how you feel
about your skill.
I'll return in two days
and take a look at what each of you have done.
Okay?
Thank you.
♪♪ Tower Prep 1x03 ♪ Whisper Original Air Date on November 2, 2010
Now, this would be a cool art project.
Can I just turn this in?
Yeah, maybe you'd get an A,
or maybe you'd get sentenced
to isolation at the West Campus for the rest of your time here.
Yeah, well,
maybe then the person who wrote me this note
would see my artwork and see all this, what we know--
maybe feel a little less scared, you know,
that there are others like them, fighting back.
I hate my skill.
I can copy anything exactly,
but it's hard to be original.
Maybe there's something cool I can draw around here.
Preflex-- the ability to visually perceive and react
to something just before it happens.
How do I draw that?
Well, the assignment is to express your skill through art,
what it represents to you,
not necessarily what it is.
What's the first time your skill was connected to Tower Prep?
It was actually right before I got here.
I remember Whisper was an avatar in a videogame I was playing.
She signed off, and I just knew
something was about to happen.
What if you drew the avatar Whisper was
in the videogame you were playing?
It would be interesting to see Headmaster's reaction to that...
if he admits knowing what it's all about
in the first place.
He could freak out.
Then I'm definitely doing it.
I don't get it--
the same picture side by side?
They're not.
This is Suki when she started her drawings,
and this one is when she became frustrated.
See? Her mouth tensed.
You can really see those tiny of differences in a person's expression?
See how his eyes are wider
the more pleased he is with his drawing?
Thank you, Suki.
Okay, I think we have time for one more.
He's trying to keep cool,
but I can tell that he's really upset.
I am so impressed with the ideas you've expressed.
You've really embraced the purpose of this assignment.
You have completed third period.
Please continue to your next class.
It's an act.
- What do you mean? - Are you sure?
He was mad?
Hey. He tore up Suki's drawing.
You did a great job... on the homework.
- Just got a text. Suki's on her way.
What about this tube could've set off Headmaster that bad?
I know. This thing looks like it could be older than him.
I doubt it has any personal connection,
like something out of his past.
And it's definitely not a technology used here anymore.
It's like some secret that we're not supposed to know about,
and I'm pretty sure vacuum tubes have been out since the '70s.
And that thing's been shoved away in a drawer for who knows how long.
Suki's being followed.
What?
She's in her room. Looks down for the night.
She made it back to her room.
Why is this thing so important to Headmaster
that he's having Suki followed?
I tried Whisper's search engine,
but it's hard to know what to input
when we don't know what we're searching for.
Is there any student who could tell us what this is?
There's that Winslow kid down the hall,
the one with the eidetic memory.
It's, like, a truly photographic memory.
If he's glanced at it in a book, online, even once,
he'll remember it.
I have never seen this before,
but it does remind me of Sylvania's 7AK7 of 1948,
used in the Colossus Mk 2 computer of 1950,
but it's not that.
- Uh-- - No--
Inside appears to be an organic chromosome compound,
based in silicon, an electronic device
with the same organization and structure of organic DNA,
except for the chemical reactions,
but it's-- it's not that.
MIT just began constructing prototypes a few years ago.
This tube is much older.
The serial number 1947093
suggests 1947 era.
An inorganic chromosome compound
used in an electrical process
would have been years or, like, decades ahead of its time.
Where did you say you got this?
- We told you. - No, you didn't.
Yeah, you don't remember us telling you when you first walked in?
I have eidetic memory, Forrest.
I would not forget that you told me.
Hm, guess there truly is a first time for everything, right?
One, that theory's not been proven.
Two, maybe the actual true first occurrence
in exchange between us
is your inability to manipulate another individual
through your hyper-suasion skill.
It must be so tough, being you.
Dude, it so is.
Monitors think I'm down for the night,
but the night's just getting started,
thanks to those underground passageways.
Did you find out what the vacuum tube is used for?
The only thing Winslow could tell us
was that it's an electrical vacuum-tube component
that simulates organic DNA,
most likely used in an earlier computer,
but, Suki, this thing is way ahead of its time.
And since no one can even tell
if this thing has ever been experimented with,
that means it's definitely unique to Tower Prep,
created in one of these underground labs.
We need to ask something that knows Tower Prep better than anyone.
"Something"?
If it's a computer part, let's asks a computer.
That is a vacuum tube.
What-- What was it used for?
A television? A computer?
Where did you find it?
A computer used at Tower Prep?
A long time ago.
How long, exactly?
Ian, where did you find this component?
Okay, you know what, Whisper? It's not a big deal, okay?
Headmaster told us we should use it for an art project.
Sorry, Gabriel. Your hyper-suasion skills
are ineffective on me.
Okay, you know what? For the last time
I said my name is Gabe, never Gabriel.
I don't go around calling you "Whisp."
Whisper, why would this tube make Headmaster so angry?
Whisper, please,
tell us what this tube was used for.
It is... a vacuum tube.
Fear. All artists-- the good ones--
often go off in search of a place of fear,
venturing into regions no one's ever been.
Great art shares for the artist and the viewer
a sense of, "I'm scared, too."
Which brings up what I want us to try
for our next homework assignment.
I want you to take the artwork that you've already made,
and instead of holding back,
go there.
Be scared, too.
Now, that looks fun,
not scary.
The scary part is not down there, Ian.
It's up here.
But that's also where the fun is.
Did you write the note,
the secret message to me-- "I'm scared, too"?
Many masterpieces contain secret messages--
measurements, codes amongst them.
I'm flattered you'd think me capable of such a thing.
No, Ian, I did not write a secret message to you.
I'd just come right out and say it.
It's definitely the same handwriting.
You didn't see who slipped it in your pocket?
I didn't see a thing. It does.
I thought your preflex ability allowed you to anticipate things before--
Wait a second. Was that your preflex?
No. I just know you now.
I hate to say it, but we're going to need to match the handwriting on the note
with the handwriting of every student at Tower Prep.
My ability to mimic people isn't limited to just voices.
If I see someone writing, I can imitate the way they write.
Great idea, but we're going to have to come up with a few other writing samples
until we finally find the one that matches the notes.
Maybe then whoever wrote it
will be able to tell us what they know about that tube.
♪
♪ Hello, what you are ♪
♪ You're gonna be a star ♪
Chess club.
Time for the chess club. Want to play some chess?
Chess club?
- Chess club. - No, thank you.
♪ Keep on running as fast as we can ♪
♪ As fast as we can, as fast as we can ♪
Glee club.
You look like you can sing.
- Get your sing on. - Oh, cool.
Yeah?
- Everyone else, come on. - Great.
Don't be shy.
It's a lot of fun. Glee club.
- Glee club? - No.
Glee club?
I don't think so.
♪ Keep on running as fast as we can ♪
♪ As fast as we can, as fast as we can ♪
♪ Keep on running as fast as we can ♪
Eyes on your own test, Miss Soto.
Don't miss out on a chance to be a judge in the bikini contest.
Bikini contest.
All right, guys, single-file line, please.
I know, I'm excited, too.
Single-file line!
Can't breathe. I can't breathe.
Nothing. Nobody matches.
We've had to have checked the whole student body.
No, we missed somebody. We had to have.
Or we just confirmed that the note writer's not a student at all.
- This is interesting. - A match?
No, but you know how my ability is to be able to read people?
I think I'm developing the ability
to psychologically profile just by analyzing their handwriting.
I was looking at this sample,
and the way the letter "F" is capitalized
tells me that this person is a slob.
Then I looked at the rest of the signature.
- "Frank Funaro." - Yuck.
Frank is a total pig.
The way this person writes,
they're very shy
and quiet.
Wendy Jenkins.
Hey, isn't she that girl that always sits
in the back of the class and never says anything?
She is.
This person has deep emotional problems--
cries a lot, probably a bed wetter.
Loser alert.
- Oh. - Who is it?
Don't know.
There isn't a name.
Hey, wait a second.
That's my diary,
and obviously your ability has some kinks to be worked out, okay?
It's not funny. It's personal, guys.
It's not funny. It's...
Can you do it with the notes?
Maybe it could give us some clues as to who wrote them.
This person is very...
motherly,
nurturing,
protective...
artistic.
Art said artists sometimes have messages in their work.
Maybe she was hinting that her painting contained secret messages,
explaining why she wrote the notes.
And we're going to get all those answers from this?
Yeah.
That shape right there is kind of like a "T",
and that one over there is kind of like a "P"--
"T.P." Tower Prep.
The background represents campus.
These dots are sort of forming an arrow.
Maybe Art is trying to point us in some direction.
All I see is a bunch of crazy scribbles.
Shh.
You don't think Art is trying to tell us something?
No, she is.
Check it out.
Whatever she's hiding isn't in the painting.
It's under the painting.
Look, she's been using reactive florescent paint,
which can only be seen with black light.
The abstract painting's just a cover,
hiding what she's really trying to say.
I have a black light on this.
Use it.
Now, this-- this speaks to me.
Maybe there is a hidden message in this hidden message.
Man, I hope not.
I guess the only thing she's trying to hide
is her own bad taste.
Security breach. Security breach.
- Monitors. - Security breach. Security breach.
Art studio, building four.
Security breach. Security breach.
Art studio, building four.
Bless you.
Thanks, man.
Nice try.
Headmaster's going to love this.
As Headmaster, I have a wide array of responsibilities
at this institution--
from simple administrative tasks,
like signing these work-study timecards,
to creating an educational curriculum of the highest order,
all the while ensuring the safety of every student in the school,
so you can imagine my delight
when I arrive at my office first thing in the morning
to find that I have to deal with this.
We just wanted to work on our art projects.
We couldn't wait until class started because...
We...
Love art.
We were lucky to get off with just threats of detention.
Maybe we should think about taking the advice of the last note
and cool it a while.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
I'm not quitting until we find out who's writing these notes.
The writer seems threatened. We have to help him not be.
Why are you write--
Where did he go?
He was just here.
You're scared, too?
Yep, because you're chasing me.
You wrote that in the note to me.
I didn't write you any notes.
I just caught you giving me one.
I didn't write that. I was just delivering it.
It's my work-study job.
I work in the Administration Building
and deliver memos and official documents and stuff.
These are not official documents.
Dude, I don't read this stuff. I just deliver it.
Okay, then, who gave you these to give to me?
I don't know.
I go into work, and there's an outbox filled with papers that need to go out.
I send them out. I don't bother asking who's sending what and what for.
So then why all the secrecy,
slipping me the notes, I don't even know you're there?
That's my ability.
I'm a sneaky, little--
...sneak.
This job's part of my training--
getting in and out of places,
delivering messages without anyone noticing.
So, what, you're training to be a spy or something?
Yeah, that's the first thing you learn in spy training--
tell everyone you're training to be a spy.
Haven't you figured out yet why you've been brought to Tower Prep?
So thanks to stealth boy,
we know the person who wrote the notes
works in the Administration Office.
When we were in Headmaster's office,
I saw him signing work-study timecards
for everyone who works in the Administration Office.
Wait, are you suggesting that we break into the Headmaster's office?
And get busted by Whisper, just like we did in the art room?
You know what? Let me save you some time.
West Campus is thatta way.
That's east.
If we could try performing a hard reset on Whisper,
the time it takes her to reboot would be enough
for us to grab the timecards
and get out of there without being caught.
You can do that?
When we were last exploring the underground facility,
I saw a power grid that she runs off of.
We need to temporarily power it down.
Once we find out who's been writing Ian those notes,
they can tell us why Headmaster's so angry about the tube.
How do we do that? This place is like a maze.
The whole school is on an electrical grid.
Each of these wires
sends power to various systems
throughout the school--
lights, outlets, even Whisper.
Yeah, but how do we know which wires go straight to Whisper?
Kiss.
Uh, what?
The people who run Tower Prep like to keep us in the dark,
but the blue collars who built the place
followed the rule of "KISS--"
Keep it simple, stupid.
We follow that wire,
and it will lead us directly to the grid that power's Whisper.
Let's go.
- Which way? - This way.
Sorry.
Oh-- sorry.
The wire leads through those doors.
- This one? - Uh-huh.
You know what? I'm tired anyway.
I'm just going to go back to the dorm.
Are you going to help, or are you going to make me do all this by myself?
One, two, three.
All right. One, two, three.
I can't see.
Circuit breaker's got to be around here somewhere.
Switch.
Thank God we found that.
Know it would've been harder without these lights.
Oh, God! Get off!
Get it off!
- Gabe. - Get it off!
Get--
Shh.
Are you done?
It's a computer graveyard.
I thought this building was used
for medical or psych experiments with students,
but there's all kinds of advanced technologies
that were being developed down here.
Ian, check this out.
This was built with the same kind of metal as the vacuum tube.
Hey, guys? You should come look at this.
Look familiar?
The vacuum tube we found in the observatory...
was a part from this computer.
Why does it always circle back to the tube?
Why would Headmaster care about us finding some old junky computer?
An old, old version of Whisper.
And look. The tube we found must go right here.
Maybe we can fire this thing up,
find out why it makes Headmaster so freaked out.
CJ and I will go up to the observatory and grab the tube.
Oh, you mean right now? Uh, Ian, um...
sunrise is in a few hours.
Why don't we just reboot Whisper, like we were talking about?
Our plans have to change when we find new information and opportunities.
Absolutely, but it's been here this long. It can wait.
I know, but we can't.
We'll be right back.
I knew it. We're going to run out of time.
Come on.
I didn't notice before,
but the cable we followed in here
doesn't just lead to Whisper 119.
It splits off into old Whisper 23.
What?
Sato Scientific?
Your family built this?
Gabe, if Tower Prep is a bad place,
and my family helped build it--
Suki, first of all, don't go there, okay?
Look at me. Look at me.
We're going to figure this out,
we're going to figure out what Tower Prep is,
and, I promise you, you're going to be okay.
I'm glad to see you guys made it back in one piece.
We've got the tube.
All right, Suki, plug in the tube. See what happens.
What about just rebooting Whisper 119?
I don't think we have time to do both.
No, look, guys,
Headmaster's fine with us knowing about Whisper 119,
but he completely lost it when you drew a part of Whisper 23,
and I want to know why.
Awesome.
Yeah, can you imagine how long we'd be on hold
for tech support for a 50-year-old computer?
Hello.
Uh, hello, Whisper 23.
Can you tell us about Tower Prep?
I'm lonely.
About the school.
I want to play.
We don't have time for games.
Whisper, if I play a game, will you answer my questions?
Looks innocent enough.
Whoa, what are those skulls?
I don't know, but I would recommend
staying away from them.
Ah.
Whoa, where did that come from?
You have two lives remaining.
All right, that's it. Game over.
The game is over when you escape from the maze.
She just locked us in.
Guys, I think we need to get Suki to a nurse.
I'm okay. Just don't let her fry me again.
I want to play.
Ian, you have to play.
Use your preflex.
Concentrate.
Guys, take cover.
Go.
Oh, God.
Ian, uh...
I think the next one's going to sting a little.
There's not going to be a next one.
All right, Whisper, let us out.
Candidate.
"Candidate"?
- Candidate for what? - Tower Prep.
That's how they chose candidates for the school.
You are next, Gabe.
Uh, you know what? I'm going to pass.
This isn't my ability, so thank you, though.
- I appreciate it, Whisper. - You are next, Gabe.
I'll play for him.
No!
Ian.
You have to let us go.
Scared.
Of what?
Alone.
Great, a computer that understands "alone"?
This is an artificial intelligence lab.
That explains the logo,
with the brain and the pseudo-organic structure
of the inside of the tube.
It would also explain how it can become angry.
You guys, what happens when a computer gets angry?
Must play.
Sorry, Whisper 23. We're leaving.
I take it that's a no.
In the game it was one against four, but now it's four against one.
Yeah, but the one can turn us into French fries, Ian.
I'm going for the tube.
Cover me.
I want to play.
My PDA makes more computations per second
than you can in a year.
Oh, no, you didn't.
Ian!
No! No! No, Whisper! No!
I wanted to play.
Let's do what we came here to do--
reboot Whisper 119.
I'll need Gabe to help.
Let me know when you two get into place.
You should have around 10 minutes of down time
in the Headmaster's office.
We're set.
In order to reboot Whisper 119,
we have to trip these switches simultaneously.
- Ready? I'll count to three. - Mm-hm.
Okay. Whoa-Whoa-Whoa, wait.
One, two, go? Or one, two, three, go?
Gabe. - Yeah, you're right. Just say "now."
One, two, now.
Suki, does that say what I think it says?
Ian, change of plans.
You only have two minutes.
Actually, 1:48 and counting.
Let's bail. There's no way we'll make it.
We'll make it.
We need the timecards to match the notes.
One minute.
All right, now we're cutting it close.
Yes.
Time's up.
Emerson Poencet.
That's the kid that transferred into class last week.
Emerson Poencet has a natural microscopy.
He can see at the macro level without a microscope.
The handwriting matches.
I'm not done yet.
Scared of what, too?
"Don't ask questions"?
What?
Did you write these, Emerson?
No one wrote them.
What are you talking about? Look at them.
Looks like someone tried to copy my writing, but it's not in pen.
These letters are pixilated. These notes were printed out.
Hey, Gabe.
"I'm scared," mothering, nurturing,
printed by a machine?
Hello, Whisper 119.
Did you write the note that said, "I'm scared, too"?
Headmaster--
He was upset about Sukie's drawing of a vacuum tube,
not because we knew, but because the early Whisper
was dangerous and harmful,
and he thought it was long dead.
You knew Whisper 23 was about to harm us.
You caused the power surge to protect us.
Thank you, Whisper.
A little too much identification with a sock monkey, Mr. Forrest.
Emerson, I'll get a scanner later,
but I'm sure it's wonderful.
The outstanding thing is that each and every one of you
went to a scary place,
but your work reflects a piece or understanding
for where you've been.
Good job, everyone.
See? Nothing to be afraid of.
-- Sync, corrected by elderman -- -- for www.addic7ed.com --