X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes (X: The Man with the X-Ray Eyes)

Now, look right.

Left.

They're both fine.

Retina's clear, muscles are perfect.

How is my vision, Doctor?

Excellent, Doctor, as we previously tested.

Let's sit over here.

Why are you really here, James?

As I told you, to get my eyes examined.

Let's have another look.

You had the same examination three months ago.

What makes you think your eyes have changed in three months?

Nothing. Nothing yet.

Then this has something to do with your research.

You're planning to experiment upon yourself, aren't you?

All right.

You're a fine doctor. You know what you're doing.

But you only have one pair of eyes.

And with them I want to see.

You see fine.

Sam, what's the range of human vision?

- Distance? - No, wavelength.

Between 4,000 angstrom units and 7,800 angstrom units.

You know that.

Less than one-tenth of the actual wave spectrum.

What could we really see if we had access to the other 90%?

Sam, we are virtually blind. All of us.

You tell me that my eyes are perfect. Well, they're not.

I'm blind to all but a tenth of the universe.

My dear friend, only the gods see everything.

My dear doctor, I'm closing in on the gods.

Go ahead, Doctor, make a diagnosis.

Foreign object.

Bullet, it looks like, in the chest cavity.

All right. How about this one?

Lesion in the heart area, maybe in the lungs.

Might be carcinoma.

Or a clot. Or just a fog on the plate.

Could be any number of things.

But what is it, really? Just a shadow play.

A pattern to be used for intelligent guesswork.

A slight help towards saving the life of the man who made those shadows.

Immense help, Dr. Xavier.

When you have nothing better, anything is an immense help.

That's light.

Waves of energy that excite the eye.

And the nerve cells transmit this energy to the brain.

And with the brain, we see.

But there are other forms of energy with different wavelengths.

Dr. Xavier, I've read your report.

Yes, but do you understand it?

Have you any idea what I'm trying to accomplish here?

Dr. Fairfax, I'm developing a way to sensitize the human eye

so that it sees radiation,

up to and including the gamma rays and the meson wind.

Yes, I understand.

I understood your objective when I first read your report.

Then why are you here?

Because the report in question was dated nine months ago.

Because since that time, you have drawn over $27,000 of the foundation's money

and we haven't had a word from you.

- Well, there have been problems. - Then report them.

To whom, a group of businessmen who can't tell one quantum jump from another?

No, to me.

The foundation found your research worthy of support.

They also appointed me as liaison to these special projects.

Listen, Doctor,

I've given up my own research to help the foundation

and I won't be talked to as if I were a child in kindergarten.

I knew of your reputation, but I hadn't heard about your temper.

- Now, Doctor... - You want a progress report?

I'll give you something better. A demonstration.

Come with me.

Doctor Morgan...

You can be of some help.

Put these on.

Now, these are hormones, enzymes.

Their megalostructures have been slightly altered.

Prepare that one in number two, the second cage down.

He won't bite you.

It's all right.

Now, this compound, when used in the eye, increases receptivity.

The sensitivity is enormously increased.

- Well, you've tried it? - No.

Well, you're blunt, Doctor.

The monkey's been conditioned, standard pleasure-pain technique.

Come on.

Come on.

All right, bring him here.

Put him there.

Now, when he sees the white,

he'll pull the corresponding switch and the light will go on.

When he sees the blue, he'll do the same thing and the blue light will go on.

And the same thing with the red.

Now, watch.

Nothing up the sleeves.

White, the one he normally sees.

But he can't see the blue. It's covered by the white screen.

But he does see it.

And the red. He sees the red.

Well, they're both covered.

But don't you understand yet? He sees through them, as if they were glass.

What did he see?

What did he see?

Thanks, Doctor.

Can't find a thing. The tissues are fine.

The autopsy?

Heart failure, nothing else. I'd call it shock.

Because of what it saw?

No, because it couldn't comprehend or adjust to what it saw or saw through.

That's all.

No pathology, no degeneration, tissues perfectly healthy.

Dr. Fairfax...

I think after tonight's work, you can call me Diane.

Thank you. I'd like to buy you a cup of coffee.

That's the best experiment I've heard all night.

You're on, Doctor.

Do you take it black?

- Yes. - Good.

Now, you're a pretty good worker.

Why did you give up research and take to moneylending?

I don't lend it, I give it away.

A million dollars before breakfast every morning.

How do your eggs taste then?

Flat.

You didn't answer my question.

I did, in a way.

When the foundation picked me for the job, I didn't want it, and then I did.

Why?

Because it needed somebody who cared,

somebody who would support some of the...

Well, more untraveled paths.

Like mine?

James, why do you want to see so much?

Well, why do you want to go on breathing? To stay alive.

It's much the same thing with me.

I'm curious, intensely curious.

No, I mean the purpose. How can you use your new vision?

There are thousands of ways.

You're sitting right on top of probably the most important one right here.

In this hospital, there are people I can help.

Help by seeing inside them, as if they were windows.

By seeing their sicknesses with a clarity

that would make X-rays a tool fit only for witchdoctors.

Your foundation doesn't like my work, does it?

They want you to appear before them the day after tomorrow.

I'll be there, and I'll bring them much more than a report.

No, it's too dangerous.

Then who is going to try it?

Some student? Some intern?

Yes. Or better yet, some convicted murderer.

Anyone who has less to lose than you.

And how are they going to report it?

"My eyes feel funny"? "Gee, Doc, I've got a headache"?

That monkey died.

It was a monkey, not a man.

- I tell you, no. - Yes.

I won't be a party to it.

All right. I'll proceed without you.

Sam.

Sam, I need you.

- All right. When do you want to do it? - Now.

August 14th, notes on experiment designated "X."

Experimental subject myself, James Xavier.

Assisting in experiment, Dr. Samuel Brant.

You ready, Doctor?

Ready, Doctor.

The compound fully described in a written report has been prepared.

Dr. Brant will administer one drop into each eye of the subject.

One drop. Any choice?

Yeah. One in the middle.

Tilt your head and look directly up.

Well, here it goes, James. Good luck.

How long?

Eight to 10 seconds.

All right, open your eyes.

James?

It's like a splitting of the world.

Vision is fragmented.

More light than I've ever seen.

Filled with light.

I have to close them.

Are you all right?

I'm fine.

I'm gonna try again.

Everything is normal.

Wait.

Sam, I can see through it.

Right through it.

"The exact combination of hormones and enzymes"

"is to be determined by analysis."

Good Lord, Jim.

You can!

Sam, your lab coat.

My coat?

There's a pen in your shirt pocket.

And there's a button missing under your tie.

Sam, it works.

It works!

I still have just penetrated the surface.