The Outer Limits (1995–2002): Season 4, Episode 4 - In Another Life - full transcript

(Phones ringing)
Morning.

Why is he still here?

He's been like that
for the last hour.

I told Stark to be out
of his office by noon.

I tried to give him
his severance package.

Gary insisted that
I should hold off for a bit.

Come on, Cynthia,
what's the harm

in giving the man
a little extra time?

You tell me.

How much have you accomplished

in the last hour
feeling sorry for him?



Wrap it up.

(Kristin)
I love you, Mason.

Mason?

Come in.

This is from Balmer.

It's your
severance package.

At least you won't
have to put up with

that bean counter
any more.

Yeah.

Look,

I can imagine how
you feel right now,

but you're gonna
catch on somewhere.

You're too smart
not to.

You have
plenty of time.



You have
three months' pay.

Your medical insurance
keeps going

until you get
settled again.

You know...

Your coverage does include
psychiatric services...

Like counselling, therapy--

You got something
to say to me, Gary?

Say it.

Mase...

Kristin's been gone
for over a year now.

There's nothing wrong

in getting some help
if you needed to...

any help so you can come
to terms with what happened.

I know what happened.

I was there.

There was nothing I could do
to stop it.

I'm not saying there was.

I'm not the son of a bitch
who shot her. All right?

It just happened!

Thanks for the advice!

Get the hell out of my office!

I said get out!

No!

That went well.

He's just a little upset,
that's all.

Get security
up here.

Right away,
Miss Larmor.

Hello?

Now, look--
Oh, great!

Another one that
looks like me!

What the hell are you doing?

I can't look
at these other two guys,

and you bring another one in?!

Oh, no.

No... no.

(Control Voice)
There is nothing wrong with
your television.

Do not attempt
to adjust the picture.

We are now controlling
the transmission.

We control the horizontal

and the vertical.

We can deluge you
with a thousand channels

or expand one single image
to crystal clarity

and beyond.

We can shape your vision

to anything our imagination
can conceive.

For the next hour,

we will control all that
you see and hear.

You are about to experience
the awe and mystery

which reaches from
the deepest inner mind to...

Do we have the power
to shape our lives?

Or are we predestined
to be who we are?

If our fate
is but one amongst many,

then whose life, if anyone's,
is real?

Ow.

(Warning buzzer sounding)

No.

Mason?

You understand me?

I'm dead.

I've got to be dead.

I know how strange
this must seem,

but you're not dead.

You're alive,
flesh and blood,
just like me.

Who are you?

I'm you, Mason... in a sense.

Where am I?

In another life.

I need you to answer
some questions for me.

Can you do that?

You're currently a project
manager at Eigenphase systems.

Is that correct?

Yes.

What was that?

That chair monitors
the electrical activity

in your nervous system

to determine
whether or not you're lying.

An untruthful
or unresponsive subject

is prompted
with a brief electric shock.

I said, I'd answer
your questions

You don't have to torture me.

It's not torture.

It's a... necessary precaution.

I'm sorry.

Now, again.

Are you currently a project
manager at Eigenphase systems?

No.
I was fired this morning.

That's the answer
I was hoping for.

One night when
you were 15 years old

your father
came home late from work.

He'd been drinking.
You began to argue.

He started beating you.

Did you stop him?

Did you stop him?

No.

I let him beat me,
all right?

If I hadn't he would have
hurt mom... again.

I don't need to know
your excuses,

just your choices.

You were strong enough
to handle him.

Could have forced him
into detox, dried him out,

helped him
get his life together.

That's easy for you to say.

That's what I did.

Three years ago,
you met Kristin Fields.

A year later she asked you
to marry her.

Did you?

Yes.

Did it work out?

Not exactly.

She died.

How did it happen?

(Kristin)
Thinking it's going
to beat you down.

We were, uh...

Aw, sweetheart.

We were just taking a walk.

You've earned
this job.

You should
start learning

to enjoy
your success.

I enjoy my success
every day--

The fact that I convinced you
to marry me.

Oh, and how did you
manage to do that?

Very funny.

Give me
your wallet!

Are you deaf?!
I said now!

Mason, give him
what he wants.

All right, here.

Take it all!
Just please don't hurt us!

He shot her.

Why her
and not you?

I don't know.

There's no point
in lying.

Why did he shoot her?

Here! Here, take it all!

Just please don't hurt us!

Help!

Get down!

Help!

Why did he shoot her?!

He shot her because I let him!

I could have saved her!

I could have tried!

But I was too afraid.

All right? Is that what
you wanted to hear?

I've had enough of
your damn questions!

If you won't tell me
why I'm here, fine!

Then kill me now
and get it over with!

I don't care any more!

Then I'm going
to have to make you care.

Have you ever wondered
what would have happened

if you'd made different
choices in your life?

Everybody has.

Yes, well, not everybody
can make those choices real.

Every choice we make affects
which path in life we follow.

But quantum physics dictates

that every one
of those different choices,

those alternate paths in life,
must still occur

but in an alternate reality.

You mean the choices
I never made still happened?

That's right.

I built a quantum mirror

to help me understand

the paths in life
I didn't take.

You mean you're me
the way I might have been?

The way you might have
been if you'd finished
graduate school,

worked your way up through
the ranks at Eigenphase

until you became CEO.

You expect me to believe this?

How would you explain the
other Masons in these cells?

Open it up!

I'm talking to you!

Hey!

Hey! Hey!

Open it up!

All right,
suppose what you say is true.

Why did you pick me?

See what the path
of a screw-up might be?

No, I brought you here
because I need your help.

First time I used the mirror,

I wasn't as careful
as I should have been.

The version I brought here

was more different from me
than I could have imagined.

Who the hell are you?

He was injured
when I brought him through.

He wouldn't say how.

Cleaned his wound.

Explained to him where he was.

And once he got over
his initial shock,

we began to talk,
to get to know each other.

It was fascinating,
see the living result

of choices I never made.

Everything
seemed to be going fine.

Took him to my home.

At night, I woke up

to find him with a knife
at my wife's throat.

He was in rage,
practically insane.

He said he was going
to put things back

the way
they were supposed to be.

And then he...

He slit her throat.

She died in my arms.

I brought you here
to help me stop him...

Before he kills again.

Mr. Stark.
Hey, Gary.

Got a minute?

Of course.

That's quite a scar, sir.

What happened?

Rent-a-cop shot me
in the head.

Just grazed me.

Nice car you got there.

That's very funny, sir.

What did you say
when you bought it for me?

You didn't want your head
of R & D seen driving a Geo.

Head of R & D?

Right.

Mr. Stark... is there something
I can do for you?

No.

There is something
I have to do.

Actually I already
did it once.

I'll have to do it again.

Look...
What do I call you?

Mr. Stark will do.

All right,
Mr. Stark.

Why would
this other Mason

want to kill
your wife?

I don't know.

I only know I had to do
something to stop him.

But I couldn't report it
to the police.

I would have become
a suspect myself.

The press
would have destroyed me.

I couldn't understand
the way he was thinking.

So I decided
I'd find someone who could.

I used the quantum mirror
to find a version of myself

similar to the one
who murdered my wife.

Most of the other Masons
I found were psychotics

of some form or another,

more violent and dangerous
than the first one.

Others were more rational
but equally useless to me...

And no longer necessary,
because now I've got you.

What's it doing?

It's finding
the right life.

I'm nothing
like that murderer.

How do you know I'll be able
to think like him?

I wasn't questioning you
for my entertainment.

From what little
I was able to learn

of the first Mason's
background,

your lives
were nearly identical.

I'll put all my resources
at your disposal,

anything you need to stop him.

Stop?
You mean kill.

You want
an assassin,

somebody expendable.

The man murdered my wife.

If I could find him
myself, I would.

But I can't
do it alone.

I am giving you
a chance

to do something worthwhile
with your life.

I'm giving you
a chance

to stop a killer.

Cynthia?

You married Cynthia,
not Kristin?

Yes, I met Cynthia
when I joined the company.

We built Eigenphase
into what it is today.

Kristin and I did have a brief
relationship some years ago.

She didn't understand my work.

She wasn't
interested in success.

I didn't think
she was right for me.

She was for me.

You really loved her,
didn't you?

She's still alive, Mason,

in this world.

I can find her
for you.

I'll give you
a new identity.

I'll help you two
start all over.

All you have to do
is just help me first.

(Phone ringing)

Thank you.

Gary Zeeman's dead.

Another innocent
person butchered.

I doubt
he'll be the last.

All right,
I'll help you.

He's killing
everybody close to me.

My wife,
my business partners.

I don't think that's
what he's doing.

Why?

You're looking at this
from your point of view.

Those people are
important in your life.

Not his.

You told me, he said he was
going to put things back

the way
they were supposed to be.

He means
the way things were for him.

Why kill Cynthia and Gary?

You know,
don't you?

If you hadn't brought me here,
I'd probably be dead.

I was going to shoot myself.

I guess I'd been
thinking about it for a while.

But right then,
just for a second

I thought about killing
everybody in my office.

But I couldn't
go through with it.

I knew it wasn't
anybody's fault

but my own.

I remember
grabbing the gun.

I had my finger
on the trigger.

And then all of a sudden
everything went crazy
around me.

I felt as if I was
being flooded with a
million thoughts

from a million
different people, except
all of them were me.

And for a second,

I felt as if some part of me

had actually
gone through that door...

As if I'd actually
killed them.

That's how
the quantum mirror works.

When you come through,

all the different versions
of you overlap for an instant.

You must have
somehow sensed the thoughts

of the Mason
who was most similar to you,

the one
who made the choice to kill.

When you brought
that other Mason through,

and he realized that
the people he'd just killed

in his own reality
were still alive here,

he must have decided
to kill them all over again,

to put things back

the way
they were supposed to be.

So, Cynthia was one
of the people
outside your office?

Yeah.

Then Gary must have
been there too?

Yeah.

Who else?

That jerk, Balmer.

He was working late tonight

with his assistant.

(Phone ringing)

Damn.

No answer from his office.

That's a perfect place
for the other Mason to strike.

It's our
financial systems division.

It's practically deserted
this time of night.

There's a car waiting
outside for you.

This will get you
in and out of the office.

Private entrance,
no one will see you.

Finish it.

(Punching and grunting)

Come on, Balmer.

How do you like my version
of a severance package?

Get away from him.

Ah, how nice
to see a familiar face...

Mr. St--

Well, I see Mr. Stark found
someone to clean up his mess.

Move away from him... please.

How's this?

Look,
I understand how you feel.

You know something?

I actually believe you.

But this isn't the world
you left.

These aren't
the people you knew.

You don't have to do this
all over again.

I'm not.

First time it was an impulse,
over in a second.

This time I decided I'm going
to let myself enjoy it.

I intend to savor each moment.

(Gunshot)

It's clear.

Sweep the place.

Make sure that there's
nothing linking this to me.

And don't touch the bodies.

Someone will find them
in the morning.

What happened?

I... I had
a chance.

I couldn't do it.

I couldn't
pull the trigger.

Why the hell not?

I... I don't know.

Damn you.

Damn you!

Send me back.

Can't just walk away.

The hell I can't.

Maybe I never
took responsibility

for my own life,

but I'll be damned
if I'm gonna take
responsibility for yours.

You brought that maniac
into your world,

you, not me.

Your world, not mine.

It's your problem
and you deal with it.

Send me back.

All right, I will.

If you insist.

Something you might
want to know before you go.

The quantum mirror doorway
does work both ways,

but only at
the point of choice.

If you go back,
you return to your world

at the precise point of choice
you were at when you left.

A point you said you were
about to kill yourself.

Think about it,
Mason.

Did you pull
that trigger?

Are you willing to find out
if you didn't?

I can make your life here
a good one,

but only if you help me
catch that psychopath first.

Without me,
you'll be stuck here

in a world where you don't
even have your own identity,

where no one cares about you,

not even Kristin.

If you don't
help me,

I'll make sure
you never find her again.

Just get away from me.

Leave me alone!

It's all right.
He just needs
a little space.

But not too much.
Keep an eye on him.

Maybe we can go
somewhere else.
It's fine, Mason.

I like it here.

(Chuckles) Besides, we have
the whole place to ourselves.

We can still
go to a movie,
if you want.

(Sighs) Would you stop
second guessing yourself.

A lot of times your first
instinct's right, you know.

Well...

you can't
always be sure.

So what?

How many times have you tried
to make the right choices,

then a whole bunch
of things happen

that you never saw coming
in the first place?

Every day
for the last 20 years.

Very funny.

You can never
be sure of anything.

That's life.

Why did you ask me out?

Because if I had waited
for you to ask me out,

I'd probably still be waiting.

You're probably right.

Mason, you've been coming
to the same coffee shop
for a year.

I give you all
the right signals.

I do the hair thing.

(Laughing)

I do
the touching thing.

I laugh at your jokes.

My jokes aren't funny?

The point is...

Is that...

You never follow through.

You always back off.

Mason, I like you.

You're an intelligent,
decent man.

You just have to

start believing
in yourself a little.

It helps when someone else
believes in you, too.

Yes, it does.

Just ask yourself

what kind of man
you want to be,

and then try
to be that man.

I think I want to
be the kind of man...

that a woman like you
would marry.

(Laughs)

Gee.

I guess I give
a pretty good pep talk, huh?

Mm-hmm.
(Chuckles)

Hey, me.

Look...

We both work
for Stark now.

(SHOUTS) No! No!

(Grunts)
(Groans)

You leave Kristin alone!

(Grunts)
(Groans)

I'm not here for her!

(Grunts)
(Groans)

I'm through with Stark.

I'm not here to kill you.

That's nice to hear,
you stupid bastard

'cause I'm not here
to kill you either!

(Grunts)

I came here
to help you.

Why would you
want to help me?

Because you were
about to make
a big mistake.

I decided to spare you
the embarrassment.

They've been meeting here
for the last couple of days.

Doesn't look all that serious,
but you never know.

Our Kristins have
died a long time ago...

In this world, in any world,

Mason Stark doesn't
mean a thing to her.

I know how that
must make you feel.

You don't know
a thing about me.

I don't?

Would you like to know
why you didn't stop me

from killing balmer
when you had the chance?

I didn't have a chance.

Bullshit, you didn't
have a chance.

You wanted him to die
the same as I did.

The only difference
was you just didn't
have the nerve

to kill him yourself.

In my reality,
when I went out
in that office,

with one pull of the trigger
I changed everything.

In that moment,
for the first time
in my life

I stopped being a victim.

You still are.

Well, maybe I am.

But I'd rather stay
the way that I am

than become whatever
it is you are.

You still don't get it.

Do you know why Stark
built the machine
in the first place?

He did it because
he hates his life.

Despite everything he has,

that poor, arrogant,
insecure son of a bitch

still is unhappy.

He built the mirror

to find a version of himself
that was happy

and take his place.

He didn't tell you
why he picked me
first, did he?

No.

It was the image of me
on his machine.

He said
I looked happier

than any other Mason
he'd ever seen.

And I was.

Because I just killed
everyone I hated.

You might
look like Stark,

but you're never
going to be him.

The best
you can hope for

is to take
what he has.

You're going
to kill him, aren't you?

And you're going
to help me do it.
Ugh!

You don't owe Stark a thing.

He used both of us.

And if you
don't help me,

I'll kill Kristin
right now.

Maybe this time you'll
make the right choice.

(Gun clicks)

Stark, I'm back.

It's about time.
We still have work to do.

(Gunshots)

(Groans)

It just keeps
getting easier

for you,
doesn't it?

Yes.

That isn't Stark.

Mason.

(Gunshot)
(Groans)

Don't you ever get tired
of being wrong?

I always expected him
to come after me,

but I never thought
you'd help him.

(Beeping)
(Door buzzing)

How did he convice you?
Revenge?

No, he used Kristin
to threaten me,
just like you did.

Move.

I did what I had to do.
The man was a murderer.

And what are you?

STARK: The distinction
between us is clear.

You can't see
the difference,

you're even dumber
than I thought.

It's time for you
to go back

to where you came from.

You never intended
to let me stay here, did you?

No matter what happened.

You're one step removed
from a psychopath.

You seriously think
I'd let you loose
in this world?

You did it once.

You know what
the funny thing is?

Both of you tried
so hard to convince me

how much I was
like each of you,

but you two are the ones
who are really alike.

Shut up.

(Groaning)

That's right, the two of you.

You're the same!

You tried to use him.

He tried
to use me.

Neither one of you
gave a damn

about who you hurt or killed
in the process.

You got that right!

(Groans)

You want another life, Stark?

You can have mine.

This is my life!

You don't
deserve it!
Neither do you!

(Grunts)

(Indistinct)

(Screaming)

Security's on their way up,
Miss Larmor.

Good.

MANl What the hell
is that?
(Gunshot)

Oh, Mase.

Oh, God.

There was only
one shot, right?

Yeah.

Then how did he get
that scar on his head?

(Stark) Wake up.

No, no!

This isn't my world.

I said put the gun down!

(Gunshots)

(Groaning)

(Gun clatters)

(Ducks quacking)

Hello, Kristin.

Mason?

(Chuckles)

It's been years.
What are you doing here?

I was looking for you.

Yeah, right.

You're serious.

Why?

This is where
we had our first date.

You remember that?

Probably not quite
the way you do.

Well, why don't we
hear your version?

(Control Voice)
If our lives are indeed

the sum total
of the choices we've made,

then we cannot change
who we are.

But with every new choice
we're given,

we can change
who we're going to be.

(Theme music playing)