[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
[FATHER SIGHS]
[EXCLAIMING IN ANNOYANCE]
[UTENSILS CLATTERING]
Honey, it's family hour,
there must be something on.
DAUGHTER: Oh, wow, Candied Critters!
[FATHER EXCLAIMS]
Oh, great. It's Monsters, our favorite show.
[MONSTROUS LAUGH]
[SHUSHING]
It's starting.
[MONSTROUS LAUGH]
[FATHER CHUCKLES]
WOMAN: Okay, I'm ready.
Anytime you are.
Do you hear me? I said, I'm...
ready.
[SOMBRE INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING]
So, this is it, huh?
The famous contract, everything we agreed on.
What you get, what I get?
Yeah, well, let me tell you it better have every addenda,
every sub- clause, every codicil.
Yeah, that's right.
Every addenda, every sub-clause, every codicil.
And it just so happens, my ex-boyfriend is a lawyer.
Except he hated to be called a mere lawyer.
He insisted that he was an attorney.
No, no. That was too beneath him.
He was a litigator.
But, you already know everything about me,
my background.
So, let's have a look.
And if this isn't what we agreed on,
believe me, I'm outta here.
[BEEPING]
Okay. It's accurate.
Everything you promised.
I stay here.
Did you choose nine months for some symbolic reason?
Gestation? Birth?
Rebirth?
And in return, I get to go home.
To be independent, wealthy.
Okay.
It's done.
It's legal.
God help me.
Perfect tune. Exactly what you promised.
Maybe this won't be too bad.
I even kind of like this.
All right. So I'm in. So now what?
[ALARM BLARING]
Am I supposed to...
[ALARM BLARING]
Okay, okay. I get the idea.
[BEEPING AND WHIRRING]
So, fun and games? Is that it for the next nine months?
In exchange for never having to work again?
Never having to depend on anyone ever again.
Hey, I'm tough.
How much, you have no idea.
Nine months? No problem.
Okay. Nine months.
Sure.
Nine months.
No problem.
[SOFT GUITAR MUSIC PLAYING]
* Baby is gone
* He got up and died
* And now it's just me
* And I got nowhere to hide
* My baby is gone
* He got up and died
[LOUD STRUMMING]
I don't know if I'm supposed to say this,
I mean for all I know it isn't something you want to hear.
If you're listening...
[ALARM BLARING]
I wish, you wouldn't ring that siren. You can't imagine how painful it is.
If you're listening...
Of course you're listening.
You hear every breath I take,
every heartbeat, the alpha waves in my brain.
The sounds I make.
Do I snore?
[WHISPERING] My ex-boyfriend always told me that.
My ex-boyfriend.
He wanted conformity,
obedience, wear the right clothes,
say the right things, think the right thoughts.
"To be good corporate wife", he said, "I didn't put myself together well enough."
But I always suspected that he broke up with me
because I was too independent.
Even in my sleep I had to conform.
Couldn't ever just let my guard down.
And just be who I was.
[WHIRRING AND BEEPING]
So, tell me, do I snore?
Please,
just talk to me.
I know we agreed.
What do you say?
Just one word.
Just "Hello".
Just let me know you're out there.
Would that ruin whatever your great experiment is?
I know we agreed.
No contact.
No communication.
[WHIRRING AND BEEPING]
That's fine.
[CRYING] That's just fine. I don't need to talk to you.
I'll just do fine by myself.
Just one "Hello".
Please stop this thing.
Just say "hello" and open the hatch and let me out.
Don't, make me go in there again.
[WHISPERING] I know I agreed.
I signed your damn contract.
Though money doesn't matter to me now. Keep it.
Please.
Just say "hello" and...
and give me a break and for God's sake
and please don't make me go in there again.
[LOUDLY] I want to go out.
I want to see people. I want to hear people scream.
Anything!
I want to ride on the trains. I wanna get,
shoved and pushed. Whatever.
I just wanna be free.
[CRYING] I never understood what...
that meant before, to be free.
Is this what you're after?
Do you like to see me fall apart?
What do you learn by watching me fall apart?
What kind of scientist are you? I want to get out.
[ALARM BLARING]
I'm fine. Please, just stop this.
I'll do whatever you want. Whatever I promised.
Just please,
I'll give you my word, I'll obey the contract,
but just please stop this.
[SCREAMING] I'll do it.
[ALARM STOPS]
Thank you.
Thank you. I will. I'll do it. Thank you.
Thank you.
* My baby's gone
* He got up and died
[WHIRRING AND BEEPING NOISES]
Okay.
[WHISTLE BLOWING]
Okay. My name is Jamie Neal. My name is Jamie Neal
Okay.
All right. All right.
Four rooms.
This exercise area, three others.
An entrance bay, solar power station,
sleeping quarters.
All lead to this unit by corridors.
But I can't reach my bed. I can't get through to where I eat,
unless I pass through there.
[WHISTLE BLOWING]
And we all know,
what's in there.
Oh, yeah.
The only thing I faced in there was my surprise for the day.
Or is it today, I don't know.
[WHISTLE BLOWS AGAIN]
[BEEPS REDUCING]
Okay.
My name
is Jamie Neal.
I am 23. I have been here,
I think, 64 days,
I think.
Why didn't you at least give me any windows?
Does that spoil your great experiment just because I want to see night and day?
The sun sets on the other side of this wall.
I never knew how much I'd miss it.
After 64 days.
Or,
is it 64?
How can I know?
I make a mark when I
wake up. But, do I sleep for six hours?
or 20 hours?
Or 20 minutes?
How long, is it day without sunset?
Like the sun setting over the city.
The smog that turns the air, makes it very beautiful, you know.
All the colors.
I remember crimson,
like some kind of flower,
bleeding heart,
in blossom,
or dying.
No.
[ALARM BLARING]
Yes, fulfill my contract.
Obey my master, go through my paces.
What's it gonna be this time?
Steam? Ice? Snakes? Electrified floors.
[ALARM SOUNDING]
Time. Yes, again.
Time.
[BEEPING]
Something new? Why? Why do you keep changing it?
[ALARM BLARING]
Does 69 days feel like 63?
Or 200? Or 6 months or 8 months?
Two hundred and eighty, or one long end of stay?
How will I know?
How will I know when my time is up?
[ALARM BLARING]
This can go on forever.
Maybe this is how. You never meant to keep your end of the bargain.
You're just toying with me.
I was just an experiment, and you're just having fun
watching the way I react.
Putting me through my paces.
You've changed it again! Why?
More games, you bastards?
Not this time.
[ALARM BLARING]
I knew it. I hear you.
My name is Jamie Neal.
I am. 23. Years old.
I live at two,
three, one, East,
eleventh street.
Brother, try and get down.
God, I need to rest.
Oh, how long damn it, how long?
[BEEPING]
No, I don't trust you.
[STATIC NOISES]
[GRIM MUSIC PLAYING]
[STATIC NOISES]
My name is Jamie Neal, I am a human being.
And no matter how much
you torture me, I will get even, I swear.
I will get even.
[ALARM BLARING]
You, didn't warn me I'd be tortured.
You didn't act in good faith. You broke your bargain.
I'm gonna break mine.
I'm Jamie, Jamie Neal. You've lied.
You never meant to let me go.
I will get even, I swear it. I will get even.
And now you expect me to eat?
I amused you and this is my reward?
I won't play your game.
I would sooner starve.
[ALARM BLARING]
No. I won't.
[ALARM BLARING]
No.
I won't. Do you hear me?
[ALARM STOPS]
Anchovies.
You know, I'm allergic to anchovies.
They make me hyperventilate.
[GASPING] What is this? Another trick? Another game?
Is-is-is this gonna go on forever?
I, no, no more. I told you.
I would get even.
You broke your bargain. I'm gonna break mine.
I'm Jamie Neal. I'm a human being.
Do you understand what that means?
How unfortunate. And today she was especially amusing.
Yes, regretful.
After all this time,
I don't understand their emotions.
But I suspect they're feeling,
what do they call it?
Grief.
Yes, an intriguing word.
The subject has proven to be most bewildering.
True. Yet we have learned something.
What?
She was incapable of tolerating confinement.
She fought against it.
Yes.
But when we scanned her mind,
we learned that her species kept small rooms
in similar confinement
in spaces they called habitats,
designed to provide a challenging and varied environment.
Apparently they're kind of hypocrites.
They enjoy having links, but don't love.
In fact they loathe being pets.
[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]