Shadowzone

We thought you would come tomorrow.

Tommy Shivers.

Hickcock.

Sorry it came to this, Captain Hickcock, but the wind is so hard down in the valley,

that many birds gather there.

Something must be up, right?

Come all the way out here to clean up the mess here.

No.

It is standard procedure with research-related deaths.

Yes, but between the two of us, I'm glad you're here.

Why then?

I think old Van Fleet

and his research geeks have been here too long.

But that's my opinion.

This way, Captain.

Damn, I hate when it's windy like this.

It holds together.

The top.

Yes.

It was full speed here in the 50s.

My father was a maintenance engineer then.

There were probably 2,000 of them here

who worked with the plutonium cannon.

After they closed in 1962, it just went downhill.

It's too big for me to maintain alone.

Can I imagine.

Damn, shit.

Welcome to Projekt Shadowzone, Captain Hickcock.

Take his bag.

I am dr. Erhardt,

dr. Van Fleet's assistant.

Are you hungry, Captain?

I hope the food tastes good.

That's good.

I am sorry that Dr. Van Fleet and the others are not here with us,

they work late tonight.

When we're done here, I would like to meet them.

I also want to see the body.

Of course.

tell me

How long do you expect the survey to take?

How so?

Is there a problem?

We...

I mean, Dr. Van Fleet is in the middle

in a very delicate phase,

and he would like to start the tests again.

It depends.

On what?

What I come up with.

Cutter.

What do you have for dessert?

Cutter!

Bon appetit.

My God!

It's the dessert, you lazy bullshitter.

Two weeks.

For two weeks I have asked you to seal the air vents in the kitchen,

so that the rats don't get in!

I said I will!

You're not the only one who needs maintenance here!

You have 24 hours.

Otherwise what?

After that,

should you be careful with what you eat.

I apologize for mrs. Cutter.

She used to run a brothel out in Nye County,

so it must have made her a little crazy.

Wacky.

She's a fucking psychopath.

What has happened here?

Everything beyond here collapsed in earthquakes.

How long have you worked with Dr. Van Fleet?

For five years, before that I was my husband's assistant.

Yes.

He died.

- I'm sorry. - Don't be.

I am not that.

Sorry for all the noise. They have not received their food.

They become loud when they are hungry.

Captain Hickcock, this is Dr. Kidwell.

Hello.

Nice to meet you.

Captain Hickcock is the NASA explorer we've been waiting for…

Put off.

...we were waiting for.

Good.

Bingo, calm down.

He wants to see the body.

Do you use animals in your tests?

In preliminary stages before we test on humans.

Now they are just costly pets.

One of my weaknesses.

I always get attached to my lab animals.

I can understand why.

The body?

How is it?

I didn't expect...

Who authorized the autopsy?

He signed a contract.

All our test subjects do.

Who was he?

Just one man who answered our ad.

I think he was a security guard at a casino in Las Vegas.

Any family?

A sister who lives east, we haven't caught her yet.

The tests are not completely finished,

but I think it was a stroke caused by a bleed in the brain.

For goodness' sake!

I'm sorry.

Bingo.

- What caused the bleeding? - Could be several reasons.

Bleeding in the brain is a condition that can happen at any time.

This one took place in the motor cortex.

Can it be related to the project?

We are on our way.

There is absolutely nothing to indicate that it has anything to do with the project.

At least not primarily.

It is usually a genetic breakdown,

not a systematic result.

It was Dr. Van Fleet. He is waiting for us.

Wiley, meet Captain Hickcock.

Welcome to Hell, Captain.

What? I wasn't talking to you!

Our guest is here!

Okay, sleeping beauty is exiting REM sleep to the first level.

Okay, I'll tell her.

Airhead,

he wants to see you down in Never Never Land.

Come with me.

Put these on.

We use ultraviolet light to prevent fungus

and bacteria from growing in the lab.

And don't touch anything in there, Captain.

Jonathan Van Fleet.

You must be Hickcock, yes?

That's right.

I apologize for not meeting you,

but this event,

have, so to speak,

dropped a rock into the machinery.

Gravel.

It's the same thing.

Yes, then I'll leave you two.

Yes, go now. We are doing well.

Try to get your bearings, Captain.

It's late and he needs his rest.

He promises.

Leave us alone now.

A somewhat dominant creature, eh?

She's a little stiff.

Best assistant I ever had.

Works like a dog.

I think she needs a real…

You know?

She's beautiful, isn't she?

My sleeping beauty,

her name is Jenna, Jenna Sou.

Sou means long-lived in Chinese.

She came to us a couple of days ago,

as a replacement for poor mr. Hawkins.

You like her, right?

Come on, Hickcock.

And this is James.

He has been with us for six months now.

They look dead.

In a way, they are.

It was the Greek poet Hesiod,

who characterized sleep as the brother of death.

But what you see here is an extended deep sleep.

The result of cutting off the connection to the cerebral cortex

from the brainstem.

Do you cut the brain stem?

Calm down, Captain.

Not as you imagine.

It is done electronically,

and is completely harmless.

Can anything wake them up?

Not as long as the connection is interrupted.

Fantastic.

It's an old concept.

Already in the 40s, neurologists were experimenting

by physically cutting off the cerebral cortex of cats.

It has taken all these years to come up with a method,

which does not leave the subject brain dead.

Could this have caused the subject's death?

Impossible.

How can you know that?

The test results indicate

no damage to brain or nerve tissue.

The man simply had a brain hemorrhage.

Such things happen thousands of times every day.

Can we continue this tomorrow, Captain.

It's late and I'm tired.

Sure.

Doctor, I could

get to see the data analysis from the test the night the subject died?

Go ahead.

I'll have Wiley bring you out for you.

Sleep well, Captain.