 It's an honor to welcome you to the Ingram New Works Festival. Let's have a big round of applause for your play. A few words of thanks. So thanks first to the Metropolitan National Arts Commission, also to the Tennessee Arts Commission. Those folks did indeed provide funds to help make some of this work possible, which you'll see today and for the whole festival. I need to say some media thanks to National Scene, to WPLN, and to NowPlayingNational.com for their support of this festival. And I also want to say a big thank you to National Public Television for providing the equipment that we're using for our live streaming on HowlRound. Thanks for many reasons, and that's one of them. So thanks to NTK for that. And of course, our biggest thanks to all goes to the woman without whom we wouldn't be here at all. She's someone who loves the theater. She understands what new works do to make the theater a lively thing. And she puts her money where her heart is. So let's all have a big round of applause for Martha Ingram. As long as you are online, maybe looking at some internet to play thing red, you might want to go on over to our website. We're launching a membership program for next year. So I'd love for you to look and see if you want to be a member of Tennessee Rap at various levels with different benefits. And also, you know, as long as you're there, you can click on over to the subscription page. And give us a subscription if you haven't done that already. Next year is our 30th anniversary. And we're mighty proud of that. So you might as well be celebrating all year long. We're also having a fundraising party in a week, a week from today actually. So it's your theater lover and your Tennessee Rap lover. And you're probably both of those if you're in this room right now. Maybe you'll consider joining us for that party. It's a lovely celebration of the season. It's coming to a close. All of the actors who've been a part of all the shows all year will be there. And they'll be entertainment and good food. And it's just a great way to end the year. So we hope you'll consider joining us for that. Okay. A quick overview of the Ingram New Works Project. We've got three parts. The fellowship, the lab, and the festival. The fellowship is the fellowship that we offer to a playwright of national reputation, whose work we admire and who we believe with all our hearts will continue to make valuable contributions to the American theater. And we're pleased to punch that this year the person who accepted our fellowship was the wonderful Doug Wright, who's sitting right there. He's writing play called Posterity, which will be read on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night this week. So we hope that you'll come and join us for that. And then of course, there's the lab. This is a season long lab experience that includes four playwrights. They come to the lab with nothing more than an idea and a dream. I want to say hello to Nate Epler, Andrew Kramer from Dean Pointer. This is where you come in. It's really important that you're here. We really appreciate you participating in this stage. At this point, one of the things that we've provided for our playwrights is the opportunity to hear their plays right aloud by professional actors in front of an audience. Everything that you feel and respond to and experience as an audience member is useful information to the playwright. So we thank you for being here to do that. We also have in your programs, there's a little survey form, and it would really be helpful to us if you would take a minute and respond to it. If you don't like dealing with paper design on either, you can go online and do it. And this would be especially helpful if after a day or two you're thinking about the play and you're ready to respond, go online and let us know if it's really useful. I'll have to hear from you, and it's an important part of the process. Thank you so much for playing along. I want you to know that there will also be a top back immediately following the play. So if you've got a few minutes, again, help you stick around for a second and have a little bit of a chat with us about your response to the play. There is one intermission in the play this evening, so during that time, you hope you'll go back there and spend some money on diabetes, getting some sugar. The... The concessions of benefit goes to the professional type of professional internship program, so we hope that you'll spend some money on that. And... There's no intermission. There's no intermission. No intermission. Just leave a donation for the professional internship program. There you go. I know you get sick. Actors, please check and make sure that your cell phones are in silence. Just double check, turn them off, turn them, you know, turn them all the way off. We always appreciate it if you don't do anything that includes using a lit screen, even if it's quiet, because sometimes that can also be distracting. So, I appreciate you being causing us to do that. Thank you so much for being here, truly. We really, really couldn't be doing this kind of work without you and we're really, really proud to be doing it. So, we're... Hope you're proud to be a part of it. So, sit back and enjoy Apogenesis by Jeremy Sone. Apogenesis by Jeremy Sone. The stage is dark. We hear the heavy creak of a metal hatch opening. With it, a shaft of light spills in, illuminating a metal staircase. Sebastian Reilly, a professorial type in his late fifties, enters in a tuxedo. Parker, a 30-something man that looks like he should be delivering special reports on night-night follow-ups. Sebastian flips a switch and lights flicker on. We're in a decommissioned follow-up shelter. Remnants of its 1960s origin can be seen. Bunk beds now buried in books. The pantry now stocked with scientific lab supplies. An old table converted into a desk-board station surrounded by modern-looking equipment and monitors. They are mid-conversation. You're a bloody biographer. You tell me. What does it say about a man's life's work if no one believes in it? The Centers for Disease Control didn't say you were credible. I didn't realize you weren't those meetings. My sources said you didn't present enough evidence to warrant action. The evidence is to warrant action because there's the action itself with the change. Take issue. The threat is real. There's a global-killing virus out there. I've seen it. I could stop it. The CDC thinks it's contained, but it's creeping along, growing stronger, getting set to explode. And when it does, there will be nothing they can do. They're the CDC. And I'm Sebastian Ryan. I don't know what I'm talking about. I've read your papers. Your predictions of viral evolutions are unprecedented. Incredible, something I'd say. Absolutely. Impossible to believe. That's the definition of incredible. Not credible. If I ticked you off bringing up the CDC, now I'm not sorry. No, you wouldn't. You're the one who wants to stand on my back and write a book about it. I'm not going to lie. Your recent feud with Atlanta is more than intriguing, but it's not the whole story. What about your early career theories? What about that, Sebastian Riley? The one who studied under Cesar Milstein at Cambridge? Your work in vaccine development has gone a long way to saving a lot of people. My recent theories have the potential to save even more. Which is why I'm grateful that you finally agreed to meet with me. My sources are good, but they're not the horse's mouth. I just wish we had more time. I'm leaving for Phoenix in the morning, so go to her. Yes, I heard. Phoenix. Then on to Albuquerque, Denver, Kansas City. There's a lot of autographs and handshakes, isn't it? It's another step. The right book about the right person would be another. The box still has a few ticks remaining before my evening engagement. I did curious what your sources told you. My sources were discreet. So for you to take time to talk, especially here, Sebastian Riley's secret lair. It's a lab. Your lab, two key words in that sentence. Did you come here to see if they were right? Why are you so sensitive about that? They disagreed with you. Did you forget what that feels like? You've got a couple of options on how to respond. First, prove them wrong. Until you can, it's helpful to put things in context for them. A biography. One that is authorized can do exceptional things for how you're perceived. Oh, God. Selling myself. Branding an image. To get people to believe in that which they cannot see that it is right in front of them? No. Feel a bit like God in that respect. Oh, ho, ho, ho. I know that. Are you the fairy in Tide Park or do you simply believe in him? Is that a problem? No. It's compounding, given what I do, what I study. You study life. There's a design to it. I study organism at the edge of life. Potentially destructive. Dangerous. It is chaos. Have you ever thought that the design is not in the chaos, but in your ability to combat it? Dr. Milstein, as he accepted the Nobel Prize, said that although the way ahead is full of pitfalls and difficulties, this is indeed an exhilarating prospect. He held that belief because of his religion, because of his faith. Science has little room for God. It depends on the science. Funny. I thought it depended on the God. Look, maybe we should reschedule. Oh, ho, ho, ho. I've offended you. No. If you're worried about detaining me, remember I invited you here tonight. The University Gala? Sounds like a hell of a party. If by party you mean I get doled up, paraded around with the donors so the university can relieve them of the burden of their wealth, then yes, it's a hoot. If you hate it that much, why not bail and let me pick your brain all night? The Presidium Method. The university is highest honor. Each year they select individuals to lead an impact on society. And your daughter. She's coming home from Atlanta, right, from the CDC? Yes, for the medal ceremony. She's the assistant sheep of immunology and pathogenesis research. I'm to present her, the Presidium. Having an inside woman at the CDC didn't earn you any points at those meetings? I sent her several additional reports with regard to the virus in my proposed solution. We're meeting before the gala to discuss them. Do you know what Presidium means? It's that, it means protection all depends. It goes to those university deems protectors. They want to honor the work she does at the CDC. Come on, rewarding potential when they should be rewarding action. I know why they ask me, all people, to make this introduction tonight. You are Sebastian Riley and she is pretty much Sebastian Riley Jr. She prefers Cal last we spoke. Last? People stop speaking sometimes. Parker does not always both at the same time. I thought you said she was coming to meet you. I invited her to talk but she can be stubborn just to like her mother. What did you do? I didn't do anything. Her mother died. I'm sorry. Sebastian retrieves a bottle of whiskey from a nearby shelf. Pours himself a glass. Catherine wanted to talk about it. I was ensconced in my work purposefully but the time I was home for her she had moved to Atlanta. I still often forget that Helen isn't up waiting for me. I didn't even bring her hence the whiskey. You've seen Catherine though since then? We communicate. You sent her a report. Why do you think she will back you in your fight with the CDC? She won the presidium not only for her research but for her nature to do what is right. As a scientist and a human being I've never given my daughter an award she didn't earn. I'm confident in her support. You're confident in a lot. Helen teased me relentlessly about how I'm rubbish with people and now Catherine is just like me which is not. Helen would have brought us together by force if necessary. Helen sounds like she was a smart woman. She was my equilibrium. Not a word most men use to describe their late wives. Sebastian pours a second glass of whiskey offering it to Parker. I met Helen when she was living in Paris. I was on holiday from Cambridge and I stumbled on a bookshop on the left bank. She was there giving a reading. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. I approached her afterward to chat her up. She said yes. Every single interaction between two people is brimming with potential to change the world. Something is always shared our thoughts, our words, the touch, a kiss, saliva, flecks of dead skin, hair, bacteria. It's romantic. We share a lot with each other. We share everything with her. I laid on all the moves any eager young pop could conjure. She smiled, leaned in and asked me what she had just read. Didn't have a clue. Ever determined, I grinned and told her that I was too distracted by her beauty. And that worked. Oh God, no, she laughed at my face. I told her it was a compliment. She said the real compliment had been paying attention to her words. I grew up a little bit at night in Paris. But you're not always in the ways I've heard. She never let me forget it. You need someone to balance you out in this world, Parker. Helen was my son. Parker raises his glass in salute. To Helen. Sebastian lifts his glass in return. To Equilibria. Catherine Riley, in her 30s and somewhere, appears at the hatch. What are we toasting? You. You're late. I'm here, aren't I? Who's this? I was wrong. It was Roger, wasn't it? He's a bad influence on you. Yes, you know how he's gotten me hooked on the crystal meth. She's joking, don't write that down. I gathered, I'm not. And I'm Parker, by the way. I'm working with your father. I'm doing some research on my work. We may be collaborating on a project. We all make our own personal hell. Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sure it will be a fascinating study, whatever it is. I thought, Dad, that you wanted to talk? It's good to see you two, Catherine. Drink. She remains in the doorway. There's reserved love. Right now, very reserved. If you wanted to hide from this, why did you invite me here to talk? Why would you think I'm hiding? That's what the purpose of this structure actually is to hide within. No, it's a shield and protectors, a vast difference. Where else would he invite you if not here? He has a lab, a real one, at the university. Nothing wrong with a scientist having a home lab. The samples you work with, the work you do, taking any of that from your labs on campus is irresponsible, dangerous, and I'm going to go with illegal. And this isn't your home. It's close enough. A fallout shelter. A fallout shelter, not really serving any active purpose on that front, which is good. Why are you down here? Finalizing my speech. This place has always helped me to focus. And the whiskey, does that help you focus? Only when the muse is reticent. This speech should not be that difficult for you. His speech is coming along. You're going to love those words that he's writing. That he's writing. That he's writing. Okay. I came here to speak with my father. When I need you to blunder an answer for him, I'll give you a signal. You don't need to be such a brat. I don't need to be here at all. Roger convinced me that it would be the right thing to do, the honorable, dutiful daughter thing to do. I'll have to thank him. He'll meet me at the gala, and he will have time to talk to you. Oh, shame. I came here because you said you wanted to talk about mom. You needed to talk about her. So I think, hey, that's good because he's been obsessing over his work since she died, and maybe he's finally ready to deal with it, to deal with it, to deal with me, because tonight's a big deal, and she's not here. Maybe he realizes that. Maybe he's actually reaching out finally, so the benefit of the doubt is bestowed upon you and look what you do with it. I'm sorry, I called you a brat. Are you? Were you even planning on coming tonight? Chancellor Frederick insisted. Nurt, she knows how you hate these events. Does one even know the right words to say to open the wallet? They opened their wallets to get in the door, not because you're standing up there on that stage like some academic busker. Oh, but then you're right. You're right, that's what this evening is all about. I said I would be aware. You always say that, but there's always something more pressing. This is different. Yeah, you always say that too. Did you get the Polaroop reports I sent to you about the Belgium incident? My recommendation's the CDC. You want to talk about Belgium? I invited you here in hopes we could speak as colleagues. Colleagues? Do colleagues say to one another at these events? Oh, it's a gala, I know. I know, small talk. Your tuxedo, black tie, you nailed it. You were doing the question. She complimented your tuxedo. You're not going to say anything about her dress? The dress is flattering. Surprisingly. I do like to surprise you. She's your daughter and she looks beautiful. It's not an achievement. It's a state of being. You can acknowledge it. Like a mother. Are you joining us for the gala? No. I wasn't invited to this reunion. Well, we can't all be so lucky. Mom wouldn't like that you're drinking down here. But we needed to talk about Belgium. You didn't read the reports, did you? I read the first one. I read some of the second one. I opened the third one and by then I realized you had no intention of actually addressing the issue important to you. We haven't spoken directly in months. I've been traveling. From Belgium to Kiev to Hong Kong. Oh, I even heard you were Melbourne. I was in Atlanta. Not for me. Pumpkin. I think I should go. That's what you want. We can meet after the gala then. I'm leaving for the UN summit. The summit, right. I'm taking the red eye from New York tonight. Then surely five minutes for your father won't kill you. I don't know. Will it? She wouldn't be proud of you tonight. No doubt. I miss her too. What have your superiors told you about Belgium? We're talking about the outbreak eight months ago. It's alright. Parker's working with me. A potential new strain of influence. Why are you asking me? You weren't there. I know. Because you weren't here. Clearly don't understand why I was there. Of all the necessary pursuits we study as scientists and our research in life. What is the only thing we can all agree on? Time. Do you spend down here now? You said five minutes. This is what I want to talk about. I can't see the question. I like it here. Answer mine. That's not an answer. Survival. It's all about survival. Ever since your mum died. The two of you aren't around anymore in the house. Well... You like it here better. No, I hate it actually. I'm surviving. I liked it there. Do you want me to say I'm sorry? You left as things were about to get interesting. My mother died. I'd had about all I could take of interesting. That explains why you moved to Atlanta. You did with Roger. Didn't I tell you we all make our own personal health? You have a life. I have a life. At the university. Teaching, researching, publishing. Now I have one at the CDC. Researching, discovering, thriving in Atlanta with Roger. It's good to see we're both surviving. Yes. Seems to be the only thing you both agree on. Survival is the most necessary of pursuits. To ensure the continuation of you, me, Catherine here, requires observation of the mundane of the chaos of everything. Observation or obsessing? This isn't obsessing. This would piss her off. And yes, this is you obsessing. You got all dressed up and then what came down here to fixate on overinflated theories and drag me along? I had little choice. You sided with the CDC. I am the CDC now. And for the record, I didn't side against you. The CDC didn't side against you. They rebuked my proposal. I know. They carefully considered your proposal and it was too radical. His potential new strain isn't the potential. It's happening. I hope that you of all people at the CDC would piece it together if I laid it out in front of him. I wasn't at those meetings. What did they find radical about his proposal? Tell me, what other option did the CDC have? I don't work at the CDC so I would know. What I do know is that your father made a name for himself in charting viral evolution. It wasn't his predictions about the virus that raised alarm. It was his cure. He told me he knows how to stop it, not cure it. Prevention is often the best cure. Like a vaccine. Except he probably neglected to tell you that his vaccine comes at a cost. The flu pandemic of 1918. How many people did the kill? We're talking about an isolated outbreak in Belgium, not the Spanish flu. If you want to lecture history, call up some of your students. This is about context. Many pathogens show protein markers dating back to the earliest forms of life. Viruses have walked this planet longer than we have. We need to respect them. What we're seeing now, we've seen before. Half of the men we sent over to fight a World War I was struck down by the Spanish flu before even a bullet could find them. Are you saying that this Belgium virus is related? And that they're both originated as a mutation? As an evolution of alien flu? And that they don't have the ability to cause hypocytokinemia and they're victims? Then yes. Except what we saw in Belgium next 1918 looked like a chest cover. Hypercytokinemia. You haven't studied this? Cytokine cascade. Also known as the cytokine storm. In your immune system. The cytokines in the body signal the attack on any invading pathogen. They charge in there and they go to work. They multiply in order to keep up the attack. Extending and reinforcements until the threat is contained. Exactly. Except the Spanish flu. The highly aggressive strain because of its evolution from alien flu. It sent out signals to the cytokines which switched off their ability to self-regulate. Thus they kept sending reinforcements. The attack inside the body never stops. Eventually the pathogen is destroyed but the cytokines keep going and the attack spreads to healthy organs. One after another until they begin to shut down. It's a cascade effect. That doesn't kill you. You're so weak that the secondary infections run rampant. Ironically the stronger the immune system the more devastating the effect. Yes it can be. That's why so many victims of the Spanish flu otherwise healthy adults. No wonder the government tried to cover it up at the time. We were in the middle of World War I and they wanted to keep up morale here at home. So at first they didn't report how many people in allied countries were dying. Both sides kept that information from the public. With Spain being neutral they were the only ones sending out reports of the devastation. Hence the Spanish flu. But morale aside the existence of this cytokine storm could have caused even more panic. We didn't want to frighten our own people. Unless we're the ones who took that thing over there in the first place. You think the Spanish flu was a failed attempt at biological warfare? Cytokineemia has never been weaponized. I think what Parker is inferring is that the Spanish flu started quite innocently in a few soldiers at an army training base in Kansas. It simply preferred the strong type. If this Belgium thing is exhibiting the same markers it exhibited traits frighteningly similar. Player indicators of avian flu but also other strengths. It will be far more virile further reaching and worse case 90% not infectively not severity morbidity over 6 billion people dead. Worst case Belgium was isolated Kiev Hong Kong Melbourne does that sound isolated? There were no related outbreaks in those cities. But there were outbreaks reported Kiev N1, Hong Kong H5 N1 swine flu, bird flu, Melbourne the same. These were all brush fires identified flu strains all of them. It wouldn't be the first time a new flu strain has been misidentified. Before they figured it out Spanish flu was thought to be cholera or typhoid. I think our methods of identification have improved slightly since then. Additionally, cytokine cascades have not been verified in the Belgium cases. They have been ruled out. In 1980 one soldier in Kansas infected with avian flu infected his bellies infected his regiment and a brush fire became a fire store. These outbreaks over the past year they're all connected to Belgium. If you don't believe me, pull the reports I presume you have the potential. You want me to hack into the CDC? I'm certain it's all right there with science, the patterns. Are you going to point to bird migration, ecological fluctuations? Oh, is this about the bees again? You cannot tie colony collapse to these flu outbreaks. Something is killing the bees. I'd be curious to know what. Let an entomologist figure it out. These influenza strains fit the patterns I've been predicting. If you dig deep at the CDC they're not wrong. Or maybe they fit them because you're looking for patterns in the chaos traveling about the world chasing ghosts. This is being handled. By whom? The CDC? How are they supposed to handle this? It was already beyond them, beyond the World Health Organization eight months ago in Belgium. Jesus this is why you weren't there for her. I went to Belgium because they needed my help. They could have sent anyone. They didn't need a great Sebastian Riley. Yes they did. They do. This flu is vicious. We need to push out a vaccine. This global killer virus is your white whale and I am not going down with your ship. Oh, my white whale. So there it is. What you think of me. Of my work, my research, the ravings of an old man. You're not. But you don't believe me. Botch, your very first lab kit, first microscope and still you weren't in Belgium. You didn't see firsthand what it can do. I wasn't in Belgium because I was with Mom. She was dying. She wasn't supposed to die. And you weren't supposed to go. And now you're fixated on this Belgium flu because I guess it gives you something to fight. Is that it? Is that it? Is that your way of apologizing to her, to me for leaving? Are you even sorry? I'm not apologizing. I'm trying to fix it. You don't have to. Mom isn't something you can fix anymore. You're in the battle, Mom. That is the problem. You have given yourself something to fight because you're afraid to face what happened to her. Creating theories on how to stop this oncoming storm. But did you ever stop to think that maybe people like me, people at the CDC, are working on ways to prevent this pandemic. People like you, yes, but not you specifically. Stunning away and running the test and they're picking it out. Would you whisper to me behind their backs if they did. The CDC was keen to want my help until I presented the solution that didn't let up to their standards and practices. My proposal was sound. Sebastian goes to his shelf and retrieves a metallic container about the size of a portable cooler. It's all about survival. This is a dangerous world and from studying it I found the safest path through it. He sets the container on the table. What is that? How do you vaccinate the entire planet before the virus spreads? You create vaccines and administer them. There are procedures to follow. Are you going to answer his question? With a mobility rate that high, infection would be rapid and nearly absolute. There's no way to reach everyone. You could start with urban centres, inoculate the most vulnerable, try to create herd immunity. Except herd immunity is tenuous. It leaves the population at risk. There's always risk. And why is that? Influenza strains are dangerous because they frequently mutate. They evolve. So the vaccines must evolve as well. Fight fire with fire. We need something that will spread quickly. Reach everyone. Get into the nooks and crannies of society where the healthcare providers and syringes cannot go. You engineered a vaccine. We constrained the global killer. Released and allowed to run its course. Released? The aerosolised, like the flu. An airborne vaccine spread on drugs that are saliva and fluids and careening about us through wayward sneezes and open coughs. Like a virus. I didn't think you would actually synthesise it. It was shockingly simple. Once I figured out that un-early did the make-up of the vaccine need to evolve. But the delivery system as well. Studying the virus. Watching it adapt. Each outbreak stretches its reach just a bit further. Getting closer to the tipping point when we won't be able to contain it. It's going to happen faster. We have to be faster. Direct contact followed by infection. We have to adapt. It's so obvious. Parker, we need to leave. The best delivery system we have is ourselves. Sebastian unsealed the container. Cracking open the lid. A cool mist spills over from the inside. Parker and Catherine both stepped back. In fact a small sample of the population. Ideally with the hope that they would geographically disseminate the pathogenic vaccine. Like the boys from Kansas. You're proposing we create one pandemic to stop another? Give the planet a lighter version of the Belgium flu? That's what's in there? Precisely. With a bigger history as its head. And it will within six months. I guarantee you that. We'll have nothing to consume. We will have our immunity. We will survive. And your viral vaccine? How many people? It would save billions. How many die? I know you've run the numbers. Maybe ten percent. But when you weigh that against the alternative. Five percent? That's like the population of the United States. It wouldn't be localized to the United States once it's been erasalized. So it's not yet? Yeah, what now? I told you. The delivery mechanism is us. I created cocktails, if you will. It'll be like taking your cold medicine. Cold medicine that makes us walking plague victims. You still did ill for a few days. I'll give you proper meds to get you back around on the meds. However, yes, it would be extremely contagious for the pathogenic vaccine. Ideally, you would infect every person you came in contact with and they, in turn, would do the same. Except they won't get a med supply when we infect them. I'm a little surprised the CDC didn't think this warranted action. They never thought he was crazy enough to actually attempt it. There is nothing you can say that will make me think this is a viable option. We're talking globally, Captain. Three hundred million people's lives against seven billion. Twenty million lives against seven billion. One million lives. Five hundred thousand. The number of people in the sacrificial lamb column is irrelevant if it's more than one. The entire human race is on the verge of extinction. It doesn't mean we help it along in Atlanta. Because they thought that being your daughter, I might have a conflict of interest when it came to a decision as to whether or not to pursue your recommendations. They were right. We have a conflict of interest. You said you wanted to talk about mom luring me down here with that nugget of hope, a plea for help, you said. This plea for help is what? You want me to go back to the CDC and tell them I had a heart to heart with your old dad that whatever contingency plan we're cooking up in case Belgium wasn't isolated, is doomed to fail? Is that what you want? No. What I want is for you to understand as they came to something like this lightly. I'm not a monster, Captain. I don't relish the idea of anyone dying, not at my hand. What I want is to know that I'm right. I don't know how I can give you that peace of mind. You can start by giving me your CDC access codes. Parker approaches the container to inspect it. What? I wouldn't touch that if I were you. It's not aerosolized. Why do you need my access codes? It's fine as long as we don't ingest it. Or touch it. If that's what he claims it is, if that's anything related to Belgium, it has the potential to be extremely devastating. It has the potential to be substantially more. Okay. Do all vaccines look like this? It's almost simple, innocent. It's almost beautiful. Did you know the term vaccine devised from an actual virus? Variole vacciné. A cowpox in the vernacular. Must have been astonishing. 1798, your Edward Jenner, the father of the first vaccine, proving that one virus can fight up another. In that case, smallpox. Wouldn't romanticize him? He also killed the first person he injected. Do you understand what you have done? What is it that you think I've done? Created a biological agent on American soil. Not if it's actually a cure. You understand that I'm obligated to call this in to the CDC. Oh, you would be excited. I thought perhaps you would see how I'm trying to help. All of us out of it, but mainly you. Number five, quality. Report your father. A biological agent, especially in the hands of a foreign national. I'm certain that will do wonders for your career at the CDC to have a terrorist in the family. Ask you one more time. And if you don't tell me the truth, I'm going to walk out of here and make that call. True. On my life. Why do you need access to the CDC mainframe? I need your CDC access code. So I can download your mother's file. Why? What will that prove? The Belgian flu is a bug that killed your mother. Catherine, slap, Sebastian. I can't. I can't believe that you would use her, and you would drag her into this. Are you going to hear me out? She is not a part of this. She is. She always has been. Parker, walk away. I don't think my father would appreciate an audience after I get through with him. No, he stays. We all stay. Catherine, I know this is difficult to hear. She died of the flu. A seasonal flu, surprisingly virulent. I will grant you wish she was here in California, not Belgium, half a world away from whatever pathogen took down that village. They took down the whole village? The ports were that it was quarantined. 300 people. And the outbreak was swift, extremely deadly, and had the village of Duvernis not been remote it would have spread. They were a trading post. Well, Duvernis was the base of smuggling operation, which meant they valued privacy. Blessing in the skies. The avian flu came in through smuggled eagles. The next shipment was contained at the Brussels airport in quarantine, but an infected shipment had already reached the village. There was nothing about infected eagles in the public records. And the man, patient zero, was a handler. He was already dead when I arrived. The ports are that his wife was also dead. Yes, but she reported they had no contact with the eagles. So a severe case of avian flu mutates to become infectious between humans. Well, that was a preliminary finding. However, in examining the tissue of the victims, there was an undidified strain. How many victims? The situation was contained. The few survivors were relocated and the town was sealed off. That was eight months ago. She was diagnosed. You were there for that part and you saw it. Yes, and that's why I thought it's safe to leave her with you. The only other person qualified to look after her. I'm sorry, but if Helen died in California while you were in Belgium, how would she contract this thing? Because I don't believe it started in Belgium. I need to leave. Perfect. Please. I know you think that you're doing right by her, but you're not. I came here because I thought I could help you, but you are inventing shadows and I want no part of it. Catherine moves to the exit. Maybe it's best if you stay here with Parker because it's clear that you are never going to let tonight be about me these past eight months. Since we lost mom, you've changed. You've become unstable. I don't know how to talk to you like this. How I'm supposed to stand here and listen to theories and scenarios that strain credibility. Does the fact that he's your dad by him any credit with you? Once upon a time it would have bought him everything. And now? Parker, I know you mean well, but this situation is extremely complicated. Best we should supervise. They look to see Sebastian because he has pulled a glass vial from the container. But I can't convince you to help me for your mother's sake. Perhaps I can convince you to help me for my own... Dad opens the vial. Put that down. Organisms for the edge of life. So infinitesimal. It's so powerful. Dad, please. You're scaring me. Good. Then maybe that means you'll actually believe me now. Sebastian downs the liquid from the vial. He takes a breath, caps the now empty vial, and sets it back into the container. Nobody moves for a moment. Catherine and Parker aren't sure what to do. Let's hope I don't follow too closely in Edward Jenner's footsteps. Possibly be happening. I don't want to believe that this is happening. No daughter wants to believe that her father is capable of cruelty on this scale. Cruelty and mercy dance along a fine line together, Catherine. The Chancellor put you up to this, didn't she? This is some sort of Brazilian metal initiation or better yet, my father didn't know how to talk to me to how to apologize for Belgium, so he created a scenario. So I'm certain you agreed to present my award so I'd meet with you. You asked your own daughter here so you could infect her, infect me? Not infect, Parker. I'm offering a secure. We're not sick! We could be now! Save us! Look, I'm trying to see this from your angle. His angle is him! And when the night isn't about him, he finds a way to keep the world in his... That actually means that the view doesn't... I haven't exactly been prioritized in one another's life. How exactly did you think this would play out tonight? Without a logic and reason, there's any daughter of mine would. Oh, it would be nice if I wasn't your daughter only when it suited you to have one. I'm sorry I had to resort to more drastic measures. It seemed the only effective way to connect with him. I need your help. I need? Dad, I... Do you hear yourself? How do you justify putting me in this position tonight? Of all nights! Actually, you know, any night. Why would you do that? I came here tonight because I thought perhaps my father wanted to talk to his daughter about her, about them. Perhaps some miracle had occurred and that for once, since my mother died, I might actually have a conversation with my father that wouldn't drive me insane! Because for some reason, beyond any logic... You don't seem very happy about that. You know... Part, in tonight, was that tough. You could've just said, Oh, Catherine, I don't see the bloody part of the bloody big piece. I don't talk like that. I don't tell the bloody chancellor she can bloody well piss off. She's parading me in front of the devil, prostituting me and my good name for the university's bench. She's not parading you! Can we all just take a step back? This is my university. They respect me. They respect you? This speech you've been working on, does it even reference me or my work if they could see you tinkering away in this little huggle amid the debris that is your career? I have a great sense! You are an ass sometimes! If I'm an ass, what does that make the chancellor? Oh, I don't know. I guess she's just an idiot who thought that the great Sebastian Riley might enjoy presenting his own daughter with the Presidium Medal. You're selfish. You can't stand that I am the Dr. Riley whose name they'll call tonight and you'll be the one who has to watch me take that award back to Atlanta to continue my work without you. But you didn't even start writing a fucking speech. Would you two stop it? There's a bigger picture to look at here. I'm not as mind-altering intelligent as the two of you, but I'm pretty sure what he just took is the good thing. Or maybe it's the best thing in the whole world. Either way, maybe we could address that. Sounds to me like one of you is having a hissy fit and the other doesn't know how to handle it. He ruined my night. Oh, Chancellor Frederick is going to be livid about this. I am not afraid of Bianca Frederick. She's like the queen of the university, not the person to piss off, especially on a night like this or big gala. You don't poke that bear. What does this all have to do with her? Okay, you want to address it? The vial, the vaccine, the virus, you're right. It isn't a good thing. Whatever my cunning father ingested, it's an unknown, potentially hazardous bioagent. We are not going to the gala. Catherine walks over to the hatch and closes it, sealing them inside. We are now under quarantine. Under whose authority? Up mine. We can't be quarantined. Actually, it's not that hard. We just don't leave. We don't get to. Not until we are clear. I have places to be tomorrow. And the day after that and so on. We all do. Some of us tonight. What were you thinking? Honestly, I would love to know. Anyone who takes on this field of work knows that there are choices that you won't have time to think about. Can you simply make and live, choices you simply make and live with repercussions? You had time to think. You made yourself a human trial for an untested vaccine. The CDC runs tests and does years of research before a vaccine even goes near a person. We don't have yet. Of course, we don't have to be reckless then. It could kill you, Dad. You could die. I'm fine. For now. You, over there. How are you with me? Am I being isolated? Do we have an isolation chamber? Some plastic or even a jar? I'm not contagious yet. Forgive me. If I don't believe you 100% right now. I'm sorry. But the situation is upset you. But you're the only one placing the quarantine so it's impeding on your evil. I am not upset about the quarantine. I can handle a quarantine. I'm a big girl. I'm upset because you knew I would do this. You knew I would follow procedure. You're not following every procedure? If this turns out to be as vicious as I think it might, I'm going to have the CDC up your ass so far before you can even think about questioning my procedure again. I should have called for help the moment I realized what you had done. You know, it's easy. Usually, to know. Right. For wrong. My convictions have to be made with family. So what do we do now? Do you believe in God? Do you? My mother did. She always prayed for me. For him too. I don't know how much it gets stuck, but I liked the feeling of security it gave me. Then I'll pray for you. And Dr. Riley. A kind but futile gesture. No one's unredeemable. I'm holding on to the slightest hope that I can reverse whatever he's done. You can do that? We're going to find out. He knew that I'd have to test him as well as test the unidentified agent to determine what we're dealing with. You know what you're dealing with. Presuming my father did in fact cultivate that vaccine from cultures or samples stolen from Belgium. Obtained in the field? The CDC does not hold the patent on naturally mutating viruses appearing in the wild, especially on another continent. He claims that he engineered this vaccine as a pathogen, and if it does what he says it does, if the type of flu it produces is highly communicable and potentially deadly. Then that means that he probably designed it off some nasty pieces of work. It should have trace elements and other indicators that identify it at least among strains in the avian flu families. You knew that once I couldn't identify a standard strain of flu that I would have to test them at the samples we have on file and the records on Belgium. He drank that not to keep you here but to force you to access your files remotely. I was always going to drink it. If doing so encourages young Dr. Riley to puzzle out the truth and see my side of things, that's a happy circumstance. You also realized that she could prove that you're a bioterrorist. Well then, we better get started. I told you to test every hypothesis. Run every scenario. I won't stop you. Test every vial in that container if you like. Once you have the evidence in front of you, you're confident you will know the correct course of action. I'm going to be clear about this. The only records I will be pulling will be in relation to Belgium and confirming the contents of that container. Mom's records are sealed as far as we're concerned. You do what you see is right. That's all I ask. I have a computer terminal to access the files she needs. A series of large monitors flicker to light as the system boots up. Some of these screens are for displaying records and standard computer files. Some other screens are tied into the equipment in the room and used similarly to a high-powered microscope. Katherine begins going through drawers and cupboards, pulling out gloves and a safety face shield. Parker, I need you to suit up too. She pulls on a lab coat. I'd advise at least goggles or a face shield Katherine goes through drawers and finds a syringe. What's the needle for? Him. Seasonal flu viruses attack respiratory and digestive tract cells generally. Avian flu is more vicious. It thrives, attacking our blood cells. Like a little vampire virus. It starts like a flu. I'm hitting the respiratory lining, but then it seeps from there into the bloodstream. It likes it there. It teams up with the cytokine and it goes to town. She tosses him some gloves and puts on a pair of her own. Put these on. You might want to dumble up to draw his blood. With some elaborate, it would be nice. About that. Katherine, now in full lab mode, puts the syringe by Parker and moves over to the container. She carefully picks up the vial, Sebastian empties. Parker is not going to take my blood. Don't part him on it. And you, don't let my dad intimidate you. You've got this. Actually, no, I don't. It probably helps to know how to draw blood, to draw blood. I mean, I could cut him or stab him with his needle. But that's not what you're suggesting, is it? What kind of virologist are you? I'm not. Why would you make that assumption? You're working with my father. You seem to know quite a bit about pathogens. You said he's working with you. I am. He's just not scientist. He's a writer. Katherine moves the vial over to a workstation and preps the contents of the vial for analysis. Oh, he hired you to write the speech. Should I call you Parker, the reticent muse? I will love those words. That he's writing. Oh, how did I not get that? Because it's not what I meant. I'm not entirely surprised. If mom were alive, he'd turn to her for help. She was far better with words. He's fine with words, when he wants to be. He just has no respect for the award. Why should he have any respect for the recipient? There's respect. Maybe not for the trinket, but I think it's clear that he respects you. Which part of tonight led you to this conclusion? It's a fascinating hypothesis. He left you. That's a counterpoint. No, he left you with her. When he went to Belgium, I don't think he would have left if you hadn't been there. Katherine, stop. You're suggesting that it's my fault he wasn't there for my mother when she died? No, I'm suggesting he trusted you with her. With her recovery. Oh, I see. So it's not my fault he wasn't there. It's my fault she died. All I am trying to say is that from the time I've had to observe your father, his actions from the point of your mother's death until tonight show that in his way, he respects you. He trusts you. Who do you mean observe? That's what I do for a living. I observe. I analyze. I report my findings. You sound like a scientist. He's a journalist. Are you kidding me? Justin, you thought it would be a good idea to put it on the... He's trying to tell his story. Did you put him up to this? Observer. Oh, oh. Don't give me that documentarian line of crap. You need a story to tell and you've decided to exploit my father and his theory. He's not exploiting Katherine. Parker would very much like to pen my biography. Oh, well, that makes everything okay. Tell me, when did he show up? Why is that relevant? Was it a year ago? When he was a renowned scientist leading one of the most prestigious immunology doctoral programs in the United States? No. He showed up now. After my mother died. After he chose to do this. After he decided that it was worth risking years of work and reputation that all that could be cast aside for some ill-fated attempt at being the savior of the world that I'm pretty certain will end with him being a laughing stock. How they pity him, how they don't understand how a mind as brilliant as his could rationalize the slaughtering of millions given the chance. They acknowledge the threat, though. I am not going on the record with you. Do you see a notebook or a recording device? There's not a point. Off the record is just us, the three of us. Isolated from everyone up there, all the naysayers, all the suits at the CDC. Between you and me do they believe the threat will spread beyond Belgium? No comment. All right. But you should know that no comment is like a flare gun. Where you look for evidence to prove a hypothesis, so do journalists. We hypothesize, we theorize, we observe. See, I think they believe the threat has legs. What do you think? Maybe they get the threat, but they don't yet know how to fight it. And when your father presented them with an option, they panicked. Not because it was radical or dangerous, but because it might be the actual solution and they're just panic-stricken that he might be the one who's figured it all out. Well, now you're just writing sensationalist fiction. From an observational standpoint, the way you suit it up, face shield, and all the riot gear, I'll just answer for you. Yeah, they do. And so do you. And I applaud you for that. But me? I'm being attentive. Because there's something that could kill me in this bunker. You'll forgive me if I'd like to have all the facts. If it's going to kill you in here, punk. It's out there, and I'd want it, huh? Dr. Riley, what happens if we do absolutely nothing? Or what happens if the CDC tries the old-fashioned way to stop this thing? I'm talking to either of you. Neither course of action is particularly pleasant. But the sorter of millions, as she'd coined it, is the lesser of two evils, I assure you. Evil being the operative term. And now I'm being evil. Before I was just being a bad father and a laughing stock. A quickly opinion shift when one is trying to be necessary. You are becoming self-destructive. That's what happens when you lose your equilibrium. God doesn't put evil people into the world. Evil's there, and we come along and pick it up and play with it. Sometimes too much. We know we shouldn't, but it's there, and unless there's an opposite force in your life, be it God or reason or whatever brings you balance, it'll take over. People make their own choices, Parker. They're nature that determines them. For someone who spends her life studying people, you don't understand them. I don't study people. That's what you do, apparently. I study the organisms that kill people. Then let's study them. Together. I can't unhear this conversation. I'd like to leave, but I'm under quarantine, so that seems like something you'd probably be against. Run your tests. Then what happens? You decide if we're clear to go. Catherine takes the syringe and goes back to the work station. You should probably wear those gloves and some of that protective gear anyway, until we know for sure. And sit there, and don't move. Don't touch anything. You don't want to get any of this stuff on you. She gets the sample from the vial, now prep for inspection, and places it in one of the lab machines. What's that going to do? It's like a microscope. They're made more powerful than those ones you probably had as a kid in elementary science. I'll have something to compare to the CDC reports. Can I help you pull those up? No, I'll pull them up after I deal with him. Roll up your sleeve, Dad. Why do you need to test him? I need to see how present it is in his bloodstream, how quickly it's attacking him. It'll help me predict how soon he becomes contagious. I've done the calculations. You don't trust me? You taught me to test every theory. Roll up your sleeve. That's a direct order from the CDC. You're pulling rank. We're in my lab and you're my daughter. Neither gives you a controlling stake in how I conduct my research. I know what I'm doing. Then this blood test will confirm that you are right, as usual. All right. The sign of good faith. Sebastian rolls up his sleeve and extends his arm to Catherine to begin the blood draw. You know, I could walk him through this or do it myself, even. Allow me to focus on other matters. I'm going to focus on this right now. Thank you. Like your mother was, you are tenacious, delightful, yet assertive. She always found a way to see the best in people, to see you at your very best, even if you were at your very worst. I'm not like her. St. Helen. How did... I mean, I know from the flu that she was on a retreat. I have a needle in your eye. She won't discuss it. I know what happened in any way. It was a writing weekend. She did that. She was a writer. Helen Owens. Historical fiction. Sorry, I tend to stick with the non-fictional present. She wrote with her own style. It was a poetry tool. Mom was at Yosemite, one of her favorite places. She was writing this story about falling and murder. Was... She was writing about cannibals. Yes, but the meaning was set in the image of the firefall. She was writing about a family that became trapped on Glacier Point in a blizzard in the mid-1800s. Only one thing to do in a situation like that. Glacier Point is a cliff face in Yosemite. It's got a 3,000-foot drop. High elevation. So the story was that the temperatures there, and after they become trapped by the snow and ice, every night they build a fire to keep warm. And every night they hope somebody's going to see it, but they're so high up that they're just there all alone. And eventually the food runs out. But they keep the fire going. One by one their group dies of exposure, starvation, grief. For the ones left standing, survival is the only goal, survival is more powerful and urged than we sometimes realize. Well eventually waiting for someone to die is no longer an option. So when democracy fails, the knife does the trick. When the last man runs out of everything and the blizzard shows no sign of relenting, he kicks his fire over the side of the cliff in frustration, and then he lays down on the cliff. He was found two days later. Another camp in the valley hadn't been able to see the small fire on top of the cliff. But when he kicked it, the fire spilled over and the embers rained down in a cascade to the valley below. You could see it for miles. It was a waterfall. The one thing that they thought was protecting them was their salvation. They just approached it from the wrong angle. I can see why she wrote about it. Well this was close to eight months ago. But it was it's almost absurd when you think about who her daughter is and who she's married to. That was an outpick. I read about that. The conspiracy hounds were touting it might be bird flu. That was checked. It has to be you're in the wild. But in the end it wasn't. It was it was just the flu. Seasonal flu can mutate usually that time of year. They're weaker. They're different. But weaker. This one surprised us. Maybe a dozen people who's just there to write a few chapters get away from us for a bit. My dad and I are working together has never been the most serene situation. You were at the university with her? I was up for ten years. Almost done. She gets sick. Other people get sick and we get a call. We heard about it from the CDC before we heard about it from her. She didn't think it was anything to worry us over. We're setting up quarantines on the patients infected. We wanted to bring in some specialists but nothing to worry over. We were close being here in Palo Alto so we were called in to consult. Yosemite, they said. And I knew. Not everyone dies from the flu but hers exacerbated. She felt fine. She said the day we arrived. She was fine the next day too. Tired. She said. That's when I got the call for the Belgium consul. That's when he left. Two days later her vitals were erratic. She couldn't breathe as well as she had been and then it was like someone reached in and just tipped a domino inside her. When you're putting down your body depends on itself for each part to function. And so when one piece of the system fails you the whole thing crushes. Why didn't you come back? I couldn't leave. Nine days total. She was in isolation. They wouldn't even let me see her without pursuit. Without all the riot here. Nine days. Riding, smiling, talking, doctors working to save her. Me trying desperately to help them, to help her. To reach him. Half a world away while she lay dying. Alone. Nine days. And then she was gone. I'm sorry. Catherine has the blood she needs. She goes back to the machine terminals. Sebastian bandages his arm. You didn't need to recall all of them. I'm just stating what happened. He needs to hear it too. She takes his vial of blood and pulls some to test in a second machine. Your first sample from the vial is probability. I know. She goes back to the first machine, punches some buttons and a display comes up. An extreme close up of the virus. Is that it? Isn't that just Christ on a bicycle? Is it? Because if that's how the second coming begins, then God has a strange sense of humor. All that is in this container. It's amazing. Thank you. You realize how small all that actually is. It's like dozens of tiny galaxies. It's small universes themselves swirling about each other. That's one way to look at it. You don't see it? It's dense in the middle with a cluster and then radiating out. It's like the eye of God. Certainly has the potential to bring this wrath. Then you can tell what it is. No. But something that perfect isn't natural. Nature is chaos. In that it's too exquisite to be chaos. I need to hold the CDC file. Parkour goes over to Sebastian. That's your baby, isn't it? She's beautiful. I'm glad you see that. I like to bid about the galaxies. But not by a tent. I can see it now, what you're saying. So nine days. What? Your dad, he has what? Nine days? I mean if this baby virus is built to mimic its daddy then shouldn't it operate along the same timeline? Eight to ten if left untreated. I'll be infectious in about 12 hours. I'll be contagious to anyone. I'm near enough to cough, sneeze, and touch. Saliva. Flex of dead skin. All that. Catherine goes back to machine number two. Where she's analyzing Sebastian's blood. Based on Belgium, he should develop symptoms on day three. But he'll soldier on. As so many of us do when we get cold. It won't be until day six that he might need medical attention. By then however it would be too late. Only too late. It's one of the small percentage of overly susceptible people. Your age puts you in that category. Then it's probably a good thing that I will have antivirals handy on day five to swing the odds back into my favor. So this baby virus, the vaccine, is treatable? No. There wouldn't be enough antiviral mimeds for the entire planet. It's the same problem with traditional vaccine delivery. We can't reach everyone. That and most people won't seek treatment. It won't feel as severe as say, Belgium. It'll seem almost benign. You know, innocent. It'll move slower inside you than Belgium, but still she stops. Double-check something on her monitor, clicks a few p's and transfers the image to a larger screen. What's wrong? Dad, when you built this thing what S1P receptor did you use? I altered S1P R1 to inhibit the cytokine signals. It's the most effective way? It's the most efficient way to control the incubation period of the vaccine. I think you tapped into S1P R3. Is that bad? It's a different receptor. It has a different function. Are you quite certain? You tell me based on the rate of replication increased by the PR3 gene, I don't think your 12-hour contagion window will hold. I estimate you being symptomatic in six to 12 hours. You could be contagious in three. Well, that won't work. It's not a question of working. I don't think you get eight to ten days or even five. I start antiviral much sooner. It's quicker than you predicted. What did you expect was going to happen? You're playing with pathogens that you don't yet understand and now you have made a mistake. I don't make mistakes. Sebastian, I think you did. It's going to be faster. If you're wanting the vaccine to get out there and spread through the population isn't faster better? No, no. If it moves too fast through the body it'll either weaken itself or it'll kill the host too quickly. Like the Spanish flu? Exactly. It was highly virulent but the outbreaks would burn through a population center fairly quickly. It burns hot and bright and then it fades out. I'd have to move up my flight. You're not going anywhere. I'm going to London. I was scheduled there later this week. I need to fly out tomorrow morning. We should still be effective leaving for the UN summit tonight. We might even be catching at the end of the gala. Holy shit. Why are you going to London? I've had an offer from Cambridge. An opportunity too good to waste. I'm flying out for interviews and to look at flats not certain what's left for me in Palo Alto. I wasn't aware that you had a desire to return to England. There's always a pull for anyone to return to their roots. Places that shape and mould you into the person you are really do so without leaving an impression in the play. Besides you have your life with Roger in Atlanta. Never mind all that. I've got places to be. I know, but like I said we're not going anywhere. No. I mean, I'm leaving on a book tour in the morning. All week. Phoenix, Albuquerque, Denver, Kansas City. You're scheduled to fly to New York. The UN summit. Hey, Bass. When you agreed to meet me tonight was there ever a chance of me writing your biography? Or was this all just a bait and switch to infect us and send us on an infectious disease tour? This is why you agreed to present me with the prosidium? Pumpkin, that's not why. Parker, you sought me out. This wasn't my master scheme. You presented an opportunity. I have every intention of having you write my biography. I'm just trying to give you a better story. You're making me part of the story. Delivering mechanism has to evolve. This isn't direct contact. Infect those closest and let nature run its course. This is systematic targeting. Geographic dissemination. I have to give the vaccine its best chance. London, Phoenix, New York, UN, you used tonight to pull us all together to turn us into homemade bio weapons. Break up some aerosol bombs and hit a few subway cars. Because that would draw unnecessary attention. That would draw in home and security, the CDC, every agency under the sun, the news. If I wanted that type of attention I would simply release the full blown Belgian virus and call it a day. This way is quiet. It's effective. It's bioterrorism. Is it? Pull up the Belgian virus. Pull up. Dabby. No? I'll do it. Sebastian turns on another screen. There's another virus. This one resembles the eye of God virus but it's bigger looking. More complex, more intense, more beautiful and more terrifying at the same time. No offense, Bass, but that's a virus. Not taken. Markers are there. Markers are there and? They are related. She made that phone call. Catherine, if you reach up to the CDC they will destroy that. They created a vaccine that's built too much like the disease. Vaccines are supposed to work with dead elements of viruses. They're supposed to have their protein strip to prevent mass replication. They're only meant to live and die inside us long enough to train our bodies to recognize the larger threat. They're not supposed to be the threat. So your dad's vaccine is actually a vaccine to that piece of work? It's another virus, smaller, it's a chicken pox. Didn't your dad ever give you chicken pox? When I was a kid my best friend, she got it bad. We were like five, I think. My mom said Amelia was sick but then she took me over there anyway. I didn't understand because every time either of us had been sick before they separated us like we had to play but there we were stuck together in a room for days. Mom wanted me to get it, catch it right there and fight it back No. By the time they realized Amelia had it and got me over there she wasn't contagious. Worked out for her, she had someone to keep her company in quarantine. So you never got chicken pox? I used to volunteer in college at this after school program, St. Edward's tutoring kids and playing baseball with it. And when you know it one of them got chicken pox. So I got chicken pox and it's much worse as an adult. I thought I was going to die. I couldn't help thinking and all my suffering wouldn't it have been nice to catch this years ago maybe I wouldn't have it now. Or your mom could have just gotten you the chicken pox vaccine shot a normal way of being vaccinated. I'm sure she did but those wear off and not everyone gets a booster. She meant the best for me, I know that now. I wish I could have told her that. I'm so sorry. Is it possible that your dad means the best for you two? Does this mean you trust me father? I trust in God. I trust that he will point me on the right path. Do you honestly think that that path points anywhere near my father? How is it you refer to God again? Dr. Riley? I am the furthest from spiritual you will probably understand. I follow science. In science there is empirical evidence, there are absolutes and there are concrete foundations upon which to arrest my beliefs. And yet you took a leap of faith. Rooted in logical reasoning. You didn't have all the evidence. It's the reason the CDC rejected your distribution proposal. And still you leapt. A leap of faith is a leap of faith. In science there's a chance I'm here tonight because I'm supposed to be. You think we should be okay with this? I mean you actually believe him? I believe in trusting my odds. odds are you could die. If I do nothing I'll die. If I do something I'll die. No matter what path I take Catherine Death is always waiting for me. For all of us the roads diverge here the question I have to ask is why not try and take the longer road? A whole village right? Gone in a week. How many people? More than 300. Died. Only 17 survived. And you were one of them. There's no logic to that. But I can believe that there's a reason. Parker. Catherine I know you're scared. Neither am I. Parker collects two vials from the cooler and brings one to Catherine. Go on. She won't hurt you. She holds one. This right here? It seems to me that it's the longer road. Your father saw Death coming and decided to do something about it. Not all Death, just one. And where is your God in all of this? Surely he's not going to condone death at all. No, he wouldn't Catherine. I think the only fair question is if God's children had the means to save themselves from a plague would he deny them those means? What kind of God would that be? Fine. This is not a theological debate. No, it's biological. It's science. Your father's work, his research you followed in his footsteps your whole life. Yes, I have. Then why are you so reluctant to let the CDC cook? If this works faster than it should you have meds you can give me to keep me going, right? Do you believe in him? I, for one, do. I've read his work. There's a reason I wanted to write about Sebastian Riley. I believe in him. No, it doesn't. It shouldn't. You never look at the face in the mirror and you don't see yourself. You see a belief in God or man or science. It depends on the day. You see what you need to see so that you can sleep at night but that belief wants you to see because you're playing with people's lives every day so that you know that those things you find yourself doing must be good. They have to be, right? That what you do helps people. This will help people. Belief, talking, infecting the worst parts of you and you're nothing but a sick, sick man. I'm already sick. You sound like an acolyte. Believing in a man doesn't make me an acolyte, Catherine. In this instant it makes me smart. I was starting to think that you were becoming a danger to yourself but now it's clear you are dangerous to those around you. But if people are driven by their nature, if they make their own choices then he would have always chosen this path. He wouldn't do anything. He's not a danger or some snake oil salesman and he's not a savior. I'm not an idiot. What he is though is right. This is as much about belief as it is about playing the odds. I have to look at that bottom line. It's all about survival. There is a threat globally unprecedented just itching to kill us all. You know it. The CDC knows it. And while you and your team there might come up with a vaccine, might let's say you do. What are the chances that it will get to me in time? 90% the man said not of getting your cure but of getting dead, 90% chance of being wiped off the planet. Those are not good odds. Looking at me, myself, I have to give myself my best chance. Not just me but everyone do you think the world can handle a loss like that? 90% of the population drops in a week Catherine a week. That will kill us all. The hospitals will be overrun. Martial law will take effect to try and curb the panic and the looting. Supplies will vanish from overuse and hoarding. There won't be enough places to put the sick let alone bury the dead. Where do you bury 6 billion people? The strain of that much chaos that much death so quickly will break the infrastructure the center will not hold. We will drown in ourselves. Look at what your mother's You do not get to invoke her for your argument. What it did to you, to your father, to your family that's one life I have been there. I have stood there in the hospital watching monitors and doctors and that little number that keeps the heart rate. I have watched it drop until the count reaches zero. I have stood helpless but this little vial that one, they represent a fighting chance if this would have saved your mother would you keep it locked in a bunker it will still be horrible it will knock us to our knees but we can get back up from this. Parker opens his vial then he gestures to the belgium virus not from that Catherine opens her vial too last chance to stop Parker lifts the vial in a toast then downs his vial quick as he can Catherine does not there's something larger than all of us out there you're talking about God or death you're talking about life I know it's tough to understand Catherine that's why I needed you to be here so I could show you I understand it. What troubles me is that you're okay with letting sunny people die just so that others might live you're okay with it and God is okay with it what troubles me is that you aren't accepting a percentage of risk should have limits your theory wasn't flushed out it is in proposals of nothing but the potential left on the table accelerating development on an untested vaccine the Sebastian Riley who taught me would have called this radical reckless the CDC can call it radical or hide from it but when it's in your hand it all becomes clear isn't that right Parker Parker doesn't respond he looks confused maybe he's having second thoughts Parker stumbles a bit something's wrong Sebastian studies him it's alright take a breath I think it's worse like he's starting to choke Lassery Parker you need to talk to me tell me what's going on he's having a reaction to the vaccine that doesn't make sense sense or not something is happening help me get him to a chair his skin is flush it's not supposed to cause a reaction like this Parker fully collapses breathing is impeded his throat's swelling it could be anaphylaxis nothing wrong I'm going for help you'll be dead by then third draw Catherine rushes over to search the lab to fly drawers Parker you're going to anaphylaxis we can handle this Catherine epinephrine third draw everything always works out for you doesn't it not everything never had to suffer repercussions she turns holding an epipen Parker's on the floor Sebastian next to him she freezes Catherine keeps her distanced he's dying because of you what? this is your design you made this vaccine you play God Sebastian Prados Parker who is quietly struggling for air spazins hitting him as his body tries to get oxygen Catherine please harder to watch them die in front of you isn't it this is your chance to get closer to what you want this threat to contain this vaccine to die here in this bubble this isn't about me oh he's dangerous isn't it so am I by your weapons you call me I did not put him in this position you did this to Parker you are holding the power to save a life and you would deny him that how many lives would you deny oh you stand there and feel justified that letting Parker slip away will save all those innocent people in Phoenix and Denver and Cater City there is no different than what I am trying to do one man is worth thousands and those thousands are worth millions and so far how many lives would I deny to save yours to save your mother all of them it's harder when they are right in front of you you stand there you watch him go Catherine suddenly runs to him and injects the epic head into Parker's thigh he doesn't move they watch him for any signs Sebastian gets the whiskey he doesn't bother to get a glass Parker gasps in some air he instinctively tries to write himself don't move he's not going anywhere take don't are you okay Parker we need to get you some medicine thirsty Sebastian offers the whiskey water I'm sorry I'm sorry Parker I'm not sure what happened this is why we don't do things like this in home labs this is exactly the kind of thing I was afraid of this is why the CDC should be handling this there is too much risk involved yes there is your reckless behavior has put everyone in danger you Parker me he wasn't going to die Catherine you never would have let it happen your risk to take I'm fine I'm fine I'm still here barely barely is something Parker I'm sorry people make mistakes I almost let you die that was a question you'd be dead right now but then why did you save me Catherine gets up and goes to the work station where the monitors are what are you doing I'm pulling out my mother's file so you wouldn't Parker asked me if that vaccine could have saved mom what I've used it maybe because she's your mother access to the Yosemite files from that outbreak any of them we're going to classify something so basic unless it wasn't something so basic if they misidentified it they wouldn't advertise that mistake especially if they didn't figure it out right away look up here look up Melville, Hong Kong the files we've read before go on check them Catherine does another file search no results they're not there anymore are they you're not going to file a vaccine it means something Catherine you don't redact things unless we're trying to protect ourselves from it maybe the file not being there says everything you need to say that's not good enough what are you doing I'm hacking the CDC he shouldn't have but Roger shared his access code with me look at him finally being good for something he didn't answer my question Catherine Parker in theory I said I couldn't sacrifice all those people to save however many more but there you were we were dying and I had the power to stop it thought about Roger really sick worst case with Belgium like you said we can't come back from a loss like that I thought about my mom how helpless I felt to save her and it was happening again and I remember what was in my hand for one small second I was not helpless to protect you I barely had time to think about it but you thought of it Catherine you would have always saved it's in your nature to do the right thing to make the right choice whether it's 300 million 500,000 you said it yourself the number of people in the sacrificial land column is irrelevant but it's more than one that's what makes all the difference we hear the computer beep I'm in Catherine pulls up the file her file Hong Kong Melbourne Yosemite original diagnosis and identify death the result of I am storm I'm sorry again I'm so sorry this virus has haunted me since Belgium I haven't been able to sleep for months I still wake up hearing the cries of the children in that village calling out for their dead parents children who couldn't be held by anyone who wasn't wrapped up in a containment system plastic helmets bereft of human contact gasping for anyone reaching out organs shut down and they chirped on their own blood in my head I am so sorry I wasn't able to breathe we have no idea how sorry I think about it every day I have since the day I walk into the sharpened pairs and I haven't stopped I won't stop I lost her I refuse to lose you I'm sorry that in my obsession you're that that I did anyhow I see that now pushed me away it wanted mom's death to be something that you could fight because that I didn't want that to be true is because it was easier if it was something I couldn't you could do you're not responsible don't blame yourself it was nothing we could do we let it take her we didn't know none of us I would've saved her if she were here and I knew it was coming and I had it in my hand I don't know what it's supposed to do Sebastian pulls a small note card from his pocket it was for tonight the way ahead this full of pitfalls and difficulties this is far from exhilarating the past equally popped by tragedy we are flawed as a species we let ambition blind us we forget those who stand at our sides we lose them sometimes because of the arrogance the pride we're sorry for the love we cannot give it makes demons of us all this life, this world it is frightening it is real there are more questions than answers in the end we can only look at the evidence at the data and hope that we may have to make a decision that affects life and death that we have the fortitude to make the right call that we have the strength whether it comes from science God, each other or a good whiskey to do so strength as demonstrated by Dr. Catherine Riley proudest of treatment I'd like to claim her mother Helen would remind me that it was our achievement but she was Helen's I was not a father without that woman as her mother Helen instilled in her a gift for understanding the world looking out for us and doing right it seems fitting that she received this medal tonight Presidium means protection trust me when I tell you all we're in very good Catherine hugs Sebastian she then walks back to the cooler unit on the table makes her vial and holds it she raises it in a toast I'm sure about this there's no going back Belgium wasn't isolated and wanted to see what was right in front of us the threat is real the roads diverge here death get Parker his antivirals he'll need them in a couple of days you should go home and rest before your flight to phoenix you've had a rough time yes doc Sebastian hands Parker a small box instructions on inside she downs the vial she takes a moment are we good? then you should get to your gala you get an award to accept I've got some notes to jot down about the first chapter of Sebastian's biography I'd want to leave a few details out this is going to win me a Pulitzer don't worry I'll make us all look good Parker heads up the stairs and opens the hatch door and Bass you can write my speech Parker exits Sebastian gathers two more antiviral kits for him and Catherine it's your night pumpkin I'm sorry switch off the lights exit through the hatch and close it behind them leaving the stage in darkness your head what's popping for you right now what's on your mind what's the thing that you're thinking of right this second feeling it could be an image something about character what's really at the top of your head right now I had a question for the gentleman who played Parker I thought you were like archetypal journalist I'm really entertaining and really immersive did you drop any particular movie versions or journals? that's Matt I just got that there was very no we we start yeah I could make up something that sounds really great so was there something about the character that popped for you when you say archetypal journal what's the adjective about an archetypal he amplified a lot I mean I'm not a scientist he amplified a lot of those emotions and thoughts that I would have when things got pretty scientific it was like if Ferris Bueller went to journalism school that's actually what I watched you know all your secrets back that's what somebody said the other night that it's the first thing that popped in their head was that it's real well yeah of course there's an outbreak a lot of people are now so there's certainly some of the residents there I don't know if I already used my one token for the Ferris Bueller thing the sort of arc apex for me was when it was compared that the belief in God one might say that it's viral in it the belief that carries the journalist character it spreads by the same methods that the virus does I thought when it was a belief the dialogue between you two well I was very touched with the father daughter and not communicating and not really understanding that happened with lots of positive emotions all of that and it was the one that Patrick had something about evil God doesn't put evil people in this world evil exists and we come along and pick it up and play with it oh well not that long that was a good one thank you so a lot of heads nodding with the reference to the father-daughter relationship did anybody else want to comment on that did it resonate with you in some way it meant a lot to me to see it depicted as her wanting his approval of her work as a scientist and that kind of validation because I think usually it's more something to see with the father and son to be like that respect that it was her as a professional good good thank you very much what pops for you about that do you start with questions about it did you feel intrigued by it were you lost by it the science the component we're all not finding the last time we read this we had a virologist in the audience can I tell you what happened before we started that night we were talking about we had our scripts open and we were like okay so here's all the science times are we cool everything and Jeremy said as long as there's not a virologist in the audience explained it she was explaining it to Patrick but I thought that was explained it to the audience in a way that didn't make us feel like we were going to your lecture virologist class or something but yet it's safely put it of course there are not a few errors we're all just writing about it but it put it in a little package that was easy for me to get okay that's where they're from this is what they do and it didn't overwhelm me do we have time to talk about that? I think that the brilliant thing was his intelligence level and his knowledge of what they were talking about anyway it wasn't like they had to simplify it down to science for dummies they could still talk to him and explain it to him how he would understand it so we also didn't feel like it was oh by the way this is what each of us is talking about does that make sense? I thought that was a great he was at their level enough that they could explain it and she had a few instances where she was oh but it was all done it wasn't more talked down to from the science it helped make us feel what I get that was wicked even like the SSR I don't know that is that shouldn't have been modified or something got modified like I can follow it it didn't matter you're willing to go with the flow yeah something got modified I would definitely think that this is a comfortable level of scientific literacy and some of my favorite moments happened because it wasn't that because there was no pumping of those breaks it provided a great context for a lot of the father, daughter things and a lot of the god things those to be woven through the context of science was really great for me I would not want to be lost back at all thank you you may all I'm also curious about your feeling about the sort of basic philosophical moral question that I was here about the few verses of many choose all the essential issues related to that how did you feel how did you feel about that component of the play did you have an opinion that was influenced in some way about that were you surprised about how you felt about that conversation were you surprised about where it went to the character have you thought about that well it reminded me a lot of this sort of classic question that has to do with the help framing affects people's responses right and there's this question you can ask people you say well you're at the you have control of the switch and the trains coming and if you throw the switch you're going to kill a third of the people standing by the train and then people will answer that do you throw the switch and people answer so much and then there's you frame it the opposite way you say if you throw the switch you save two thirds of the people or something like that right it's the same issue but it's just frame differently and people respond differently to that actually on average I might not have the question exactly right but I kept thinking about that in terms of how she faced the epi-pen choice she had to make it a certain way to be true to herself but when she faced the abstract question of could I be the one that delivers death to 5% of the world population I can't be the one to do that right but it's I thought that was really good how the playwright could the little meaning case in that maybe that's what he thought about that I was surprised that it was balanced back and forth the arguments on both sides of those each character had different ways of viewing it and therefore I got a lot of the argument through the discussion between I thought that was cool it may feel pulled one way or the other in particular or not even when she changed her mind and changed his mind and probably drew a bright first light to say you don't go back to that survival question to say to yourself they didn't care until she thought about Roger he didn't care until he remembered the fact that he didn't say to watch his mom die so then he thinks about all the people who he's gonna ask that he knows who he might have to say to watch die of the Belgium so then they say well I know because I'll get all these medicines and then people like love mom die because they're gonna get this virus and my other virus so then well population I don't know alright I'll take this file and maybe we'll save 85% of the population but also let's not think about the fact that the people I don't know are gonna die and that's okay because they're not in the room yet not that she thought oh I'm gonna save I don't know any people but I'm going to save like you say Roger of course they were gonna go live out with Cambridge University and the UN because they were gonna spread it to the UN and they didn't go back all over the world yeah that was a hundred percent yeah Valley I heard of an English teacher question so I apologize but like tomorrow when you're telling someone about this play and it was about like what's your gut response about that short answer actually from what you described I think it subverts a lot of these questions about you know how diseases spread that are really infectious are a lot very similar to like big data questions the human mind sucks at them like random things and things that spread like that we don't really humanize really well we play those games really badly you know but I like that a lot of the a lot of the things that drive those choices for the characters are the individual people you know it's Roger it's the mother it's the wife and it sort of subverts the sort of big data chance game of who gets infected and sort of you know replaces that with this model of people and that is we're better at that like that's a better game to play mentally than like 5% of random based off of these thousand factors so it humanizes and subverts the virus question is that an English teacher answer? you alright? alright I'm going to bring Jerry back to life now you can come up and join your actors to be with us just briefly how this play came to you what inspired you to come to this idea? okay so many things um one of my favorite books in probably the world is Stevie King's The Stand which if you haven't read it is about a bunch of people who survive a massive apocalyptic viral outbreak that decimates everybody but like you know the 300 people who live in Boulder in Las Vegas um so I was very interested in kind of going back to the beginning of where something like that begins um and taking it all the way back to the beginning and even like just before that genesis of the end of the world um because I like contagion movies and pathogen movies and all that thing then it is kind of terrifying the things that are happening like while working on this play this season reading about an unidentified strain appears in New Guinea and takes out 60% of the people it hits which actually is a variant of the Zaire Ebola virus which is now hitting New Guinea and that's very real in the last month like hundreds of people have been killed very quickly by this thing so it is very terrifying um so I wanted to explore that but I wanted to explore it very theatrically just intimately with a very small kind of microcosm of a very big thing so that's kind of where it all you know that's why I wanted to play with and play viruses on feet he's a doctor he's a doctor and I'm telling you so what do you want to know from Jeremy what can he talk to you about well I have a question uh it's not it's not in this play at all but one of the really big issues at the moment are all these parents who are deliberately not having their children vaccinated where we pretty much think that the vaccine is going to work that's sort of the opposite mirror of things of people being deniers you know that this can be yeah it's a facet of that fascination of what's the truth about it well that's the reason this will work they don't get the truth yeah yeah about what you what you saw and envisioned when you put it in a bunker I guess I started off with a kind of like submit bunker kind of scary and dark and then but as we kind of went on I was like oh well obviously this is not a 1960s bunker like it has to have when the computer screens and stuff turned on then I was like oh this gotta be really pretty high tech actually what's going on so did you imagine it that way that you would always walk in and be like boom you're in an outbreak or and like a bunker and then all of a sudden when she turned on my computer it was like boom in my head you know a million dollar budget a combination of that in my head it has like look about like remnants of the 1960s but with clearly he has augmented this space to make it his while it used to be this like place to depending on your point of view hide from something scary or to shield and protect you from it he is taking the shield and protect and he kind of turned that into I can use this place to create something that will shield and protect something that is what he's doing he's very dangerous and legal so it's not like he could be in his actual university lab so I like that it would like subtrain underground just better like he's down here incurring in his hovel as she calls it so that's why I wanted to be an underground lab and as it kind of evolved in my head I was like a bunker would be really cool I'm also equally fascinated by bunkers well no there's one so you can buy in Las Vegas whole house is underground and it just fascinates me the preparedness of living in that environment people went to check themselves and kind of spinning that into here but in a theater then I made it a more intimate little bunker it's not a sprawling state it's more of a little you know bubble they're in their bubble I was intrigued by the presidium the ward she was getting and the fact that the bunker could be viewed as a presidium and the fact that the virus could be the presidium virus and that all sort of mixed together and I thought that was a really cool the fact that the presidium ward was there a way to talk about that word and how it could be applied thank you what about your journey into deciding that Katherine would take B that scene did that always decide it? no that her decision evolved throughout the process of writing the play as I myself grappled with whether or not she would I eventually came to whether it was just me I came to this realization that either they were walking out of this bunker at the end of the play or they were all going to be dead and I that part didn't interest me it was more interesting to get her to a point where she would take that virus as I began to play with her father and her relationship and whether or not they could reconcile and I wanted that reconciliation and for me her taking that was part and parcel to that reconciliation and bringing them together so it just kind of developed as their relationship became a big part of the story I just have another question about the evolution of the play there's a turn that I'm really glad it didn't take but I was starting to wonder if it was going to go in this direction the whole thing about the computer and looking up and getting into the CDC files I had this fear that we were going down the route where the virus turns out to have been leaked out of the US labs right and that's how it showed up the California and stuff like that and of course there's theories and conspiracy theories and stuff about where viruses have come from in the past and stuff like that I think that the way it worked out is great because reality is actually much scarier than a conspiracy I mean it would be really comforting how bad things would be explained by some intentional human action instead of a lot of bad choices but did you ever think about that route because of the way people think about viruses I never really thought about going to the point where maybe it was total conspiracy if there was any conspiracy things that I played with along the evolution of this and that because I talked about this and so the lab more about a cover up and kind of building that into a bigger thing and it's kind of it's in there but it's not like full blown they're taking out they're still working on it but no the conspiracy things I mean Parker has some lines about conspiracies and he has even suggested about was Spanish flu something that we did and sent over there and whether that's conspiracy whether that was just avian flu hitting people in Kansas and it happened to spread so I played with it a little bit but not a lot much more like the idea that the viruses that have cropped up over the centuries and things that break out are trying to survive on their own and they're trying to live and so they're popping up and they're trying to live which unfortunately hurts us and so if you were ran like the simulation of you writing this play under time how many times did Parker die 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 Thank you so much for throwing that in. And by the way, I really enjoyed the intermission.