Prince of Darkness

I found Father Carlton this morning.

He was taken to the hospital, but he never regained consciousness.

Why was he here?

He had an appointment with His Eminence this afternoon.

Let's talk about our beliefs

and what we can learn about them.

We believe nature is solid

and time a constant.

Matter has substance and time a direction.

There is truth in flesh, huh,

and the solid ground.

The wind may be invisible, but it's real.

Smoke, fire, water, light... they're different.

Not as to stone nor steel, but they're tangible.

And we assume time has an arrow,

because it is as a clock.

One second is one second for everyone.

Cause precedes effect.

Fruit rots, water flows downstream.

We're born, we age, we die.

The reverse never happens.

None of this is true. Say goodbye to classical reality,

because our logic collapses on the subatomic level

into ghosts and shadows.

From Job's friends insisting

that the good are rewarded and the wicked punished,

to the scientists of the 1930s

proving to their horror a theorem that not everything can be proved,

we've sought to impose order on the universe.

But we have discovered something very surprising.

While order does exist in the universe,

it is not at all what we had in mind.

Professor Birack, in relativity,

geometry breaks down on the cosmic scale and in quantum physics,

logic breaks down on the sub-microscopic scale...

- What's this? - I don't know.

Birack did that whole series of debates on the BBC a few years ago.

Oh, with the English priest. Right.

Maybe they're planning another one.

He died before his appointment with the Cardinal,

but he left a diary.

You... you must help us.

Please.

The discovery of this supernova

has immense significance to the scientific community.

Particles collected date from pre-Cambrian times,

before man walked on Earth.

Light from the explosion was hurled through space

at 186,000 miles per second,

and is just now reaching us across the vast expanse of the universe.

He was the guardian priest.

Apparently, he lived here for over 30 years.

Once a week, he would venture out for food.

And every day,

he opened this door.

Built in the 1500s...

by arrangement with the Spanish government.

- Who knew about this? - Only the members of this forgotten sect.

The Brotherhood of Sleep.

There was a vow of silence.

Even their very existence was kept from the Holy See.

The Vatican didn't know?

The guardian priest would keep the secret

and before he died would pass it on to another.

The sect had enormous power and authority.

Their actions were never questioned.

- Latin. - Some of it's in Latin.

Some in Coptic...

Greek, numbers.

It's not easy to decipher.

The original text has been distorted over the years.

- Distorted? - Rewritten.

Writing upon writing,

sometimes two or three times,

and improperly erased.

You can still see the old writing...

underneath.

What is it?

A secret that can no longer be kept.

- Do you feel it? - Yes. Something.

It was never here before.

- It started a month ago. - What started?

A change in the Earth...

and the sky.

His power.

- I don't get it. - What don't you get?

- The whole thing. It doesn't make sense. - It violates common sense.

That's the whole point. That's what Einstein couldn't accept.

I can't accept it either.

Do you know anything about spontaneous human combustion?

Walter, come on. That's Schrodinger's cat.

- I know, I know. - So what's the point?

The point is, until the cat is observed by someone,

he's not in any definite state, either alive or dead.

He's in a wave superposition state, both dead and alive at the same time.

- Huh? - Okay.

Only when we open the box and observe the cat

does he materialise into reality, either dead or alive.

- But it doesn't make sense. - That is the entire, complete point.

It doesn't make any common sense.

Our common sense breaks down on a subatomic level.

Why do I want a PhD in this?

Particle beam weapons, research grants.

A millionaire when I'm 40. Now I remember.

- You're really gonna like this. - Class cancelled?

"Will the following students please see Professor Birack."

- Shit, there I am. - Me too.

No, all of us. And we heard Birack wants us to cancel our plans for the weekend.

- What? - That's not all.

A couple of biochemistry's finest are coming with us.

- And someone to translate Latin. - Coming with us where?

This is just not gonna happen! I have serious plans for the weekend.

Four o'clock, Walter, Birack's office. Oh, I gotta ditch Pagels again.

- He's not gonna like it. - Well, sleep with him. Get an "A".

- So what about your plans? - I was gonna study, actually.

Me too. I'm Brian Marsh, by the way,

since we're spending the weekend together.

I know. Catherine Danforth.

I know.

So where did you transfer from?

Kneale. Theoretical physics.

I came here to study with Birack. You're applied physics, right?

So why are you taking Birack for theory?

I wanna know what the math means.

Birack's ruthless. He wants philosophers, not scientists.

Well, I've read his books. He's a brilliant man.

Just when I think I've got it, visualised it, it just all goes away.

I start seeing old-fashioned classical reality again.

I want the clock put back. I wanna put it all into a little box.

But whenever I try, it just, uh, slithers out.

Some things aren't changed by quantum physics though.

- Such as? - Well, for instance,

every theoretical physicist I know wonders why it is

that no one who looks like you

ever seems to settle down in our end of the building.

That's not true and that's an extremely sexist thing to say.

Confirmed sexist and proud of it.

Hey. I was just joking.

What happened?

You talk numbers, you get romantic.

You talk people, you clam up.

Just a little miscue, that's all.

It's not your fault.

I'm sorry. I'll see you later.

Hey, wait.

This conversation isn't what I had in mind. Can we start over?

Okay.

Okay.

I was hoping that you would need some help with your theory,

and that maybe we could discuss it

over... over dinner or something.

Well, I suppose something could be arranged.

There are other things that I need help with... over dinner.

I have volunteered our services to the Archdiocese.

Now, each of you is a competent physicist,

even though you don't have a degree to prove it.

Participating in this examination

will greatly improve your classroom averages, I might add.

Plan to take your meals there.

We'll bring cots to sleep on.

- There are other departments joining us. - Excuse me, sir.

Is there some reason why you're not telling us what we're gonna be doing?

In time.

It's your disbelief that powers him.

Your stubborn faith in...

in common sense...

that allows his deception.

He lives in the smallest parts of it...

in the atoms.

Smaller.

Invisible.

He lives in all of it...

in the sum of its parts.

We must translate this book.

You must prove it scientifically.

Convince the outside world.

The outside world doesn't want to hear this kind of bullshit.

Just keep it locked away.

You've already managed that for 2,000 years.

No prison can hold him now.

- Hi. - HI.

It's getting cold out here. I thought this was supposed to be California.

- Did you have a class tonight, or...? - Library.

Oh.

Actually, I was hoping you'd have a cup of coffee with me again.

This is starting to become a habit.

Okay.

Okay.

Good morning.

Thank you.

- We didn't get much sleep. - Mm-hm.

Who needs sleep?

We do. Today's Friday.

Can I tell you something?

- Oh, please, don't. - I want to.

Tell me next time...

if there is one.

Or the time after that, or...

two years from now.

Who was he?