Episode 26: Slideshow
Jean Paul is in the crypt talking to Erica. "Fresh flowers
my darling, I brought them from the Main Island just for you because I remember
how much you loved them. Their sweet smell reminds me of you my sweet. There
will even be more sweet things to remember when we are back together again. As
sure as I stand here talking to you it will happen." Dan walks down the stairs into the
crypt. He stands listening to Jean Paul He shakes his head. "Jean Paul!" he says
walking up to him. "Dan are you
spying on me again?" "No, just
observing a man with an obsession that's going to kill." "Your powers of perception are your weak
points Dan. I am not going to die, Erica is going to live." Jean Paul says then
turns away to check the gauges for the cryonic chamber. "You may not have any
faith on the future of cryonics. I do."
"Someday perhaps. Freezing a body and eventually returning it from the
dead may work, but I'm an attorney and not a scientist. I can't say and since
you're not either, surely you can't predict it." "I can predict that Erica will have
every chance that science and money can offer." "I know your great devotion to
your wife. But she was equally devoted to you and the last thing she would want
is to have you drive yourself to death trying to prolong a life God has already
claimed." Dan tells Jean Paul. Jean
Paul walks back to where Dan is standing. "On this Island I am God." "You're a fool." Dan says looking
away. "Dan, any husband would be an
imperfection of a man if he did not lay his life on the line to save that of the
woman he married." Jean Paul walks back to the gauges. "Boil it down, if your
right and I'm not admitting you are, all I'm saying is I am fighting for the
woman that I love. Now I'd like to continue this conversation elsewhere so Erica
will remain undisturbed." Jean Paul walks to Erica's capsule. "I love you my
sweet." Then he leads Dan to the staircase. "Jean Paul? You've always had a knack
for rationalizing but bending facts and fantasy won't work." Dan tells Jean
Paul. Jean Paul stops on the stairs
turns and looks at Dan. Angrily he turns around and walks out of the crypt. Raxl is carrying the coffee tray when
Jean Paul walks into the room. "Your coffee Msieu, the breakfast buffet is all
set. If I'm no longer needed may be excused?" "Naturally Raxl." Jean Paul tells
her. Dan follows Jean Paul into the
room. "And I too Jean Paul. There are some papers I must look to." "Look to, or look for?" says Jean
Paul. With a smile Dan says. "And
you say I'm building intrigues. See you later." Dan walks away. Jean Paul pours himself a cup of coffee,
then walks around the Great Hall.
"With friends like Dan Forrest, I hesitate to face the enemy." Jacques
says. "You serve very well in that
capacity." Jean Paul says looking at Jacques portrait. "Except you are your own worst enemy,
which makes you mine. Because you and I are like one." "Oh no, you are the demon that spreads
evil before you!" "And after. You
never know who may be sneaking up with a doll and pin to curse me." Jean Paul turns around. "Not now. It was purely an _expression,
voodoo got you to. But your optimism about it concerns me. Lightening never
strikes twice in the same place." Thunder and lightening crash outside. "I
hope." says Jacques. "Why don't you
leave me alone? Why must you continuously harass me? Why must I be harassed by
one who doesn't even seem to be there?"
"Say, are you only talking to yourself? Careful, they put people away for
things like that." "You're enough
to drive any man out of his senses!" Jean Paul tells Jacques. "Msieu Desmond?" Raxl walks in with
flowers for the table. "What is it
Raxl." Jean Paul asks looking at the portrait then at Raxl. "To whom were you talking?" "See now she thinks the bats are
flapping in your noggin." says Jacques.
"Shut up." "Msieu all I said
was..."Raxl says to Jean Paul. "I
wasn't talking to you Raxl." "Now
you did it." Jacques says. Jean
Paul glances nervously over at Jacques’ portrait. "Not to me?" Raxl looks around then back
at Jean Paul. "See the little man
who isn't there, is." Jacques tells Jean Paul. Raxl is staring at Jean Paul. "Hold still, I'll get us out of this."
Jacques portrait goes blank. Jean
Paul is now grinning. Jacques has taken over Jean Paul. "Perhaps I should call Doctor Carr for
something to ease your nerves." Raxl says to Jacques. "Perhaps you should call Doctor Carr
down to breakfast Raxl. She must be famished." He says then turns toward Raxl.
"As I am, are things set?" "But
Msieu, not half an hour ago I told you about the buffet." "Of course, oh yes kippers and porridge
and bacon." says Jacques. "Kippers?
You haven't touched them in years."
"It's about time that I did. Go fetch them, fix them up. I'll force them
down." "Yes Master." Raxl bows then
leaves the room as Dan walks down the staircase. "Well Dan, are you going to join me in
some kippers this morning or haven't you finished fishing for the day?" Jacques
asks crossing his arms and looking up at Dan. "Just lowering the line and I'm afraid
you're going to get hooked."
Jacques laughs, then turns and picks up his coffee cup. "Never. It would
be a nasty experience being hooked."
Dan walks up to him. "So is compounding a felony." "Did you break the law Dan? Or am I on
the hot seat?" Jacques turns and looks at Dan. "It's beyond me how you can change like
day and night and disregard the welfare of others." Dan says. Raxl walks in. "Let's keep it to ourselves shall we."
Jacques lightly punches Dan in the shoulder. "Doctor Carr asked to be excused,
she's busy but she said your tranquilizers are..." Raxl says. "Busy? Doing what? Jacques asks. "I don't know Msieu. She's in the
laboratory if that will help." "Ah,
maybe she's concocting some witches brew. Perhaps we should look in on her
Dan." "Interrupt Alison and her
work and there will be the devil to pay." Dan says. "He'll get his due either way." Jacques
says smiling. "You'll get
yours." "Same thing. Oh I mean,
well what did you mean?" "Detaining
people on this Island against their will. The penalty will be the same. But
that's not all I want to talk to you about." Dan says. Jacques looks at him and nods his head,
then walks to the table to pick up his coffee cup. "There's more? Oh come, come
Raxl the kippers." Jacques looks at Raxl.
Raxl leaves the room. "Sorry
go on." he says before drinking his coffee. "Your wife has been dead approximately
ten days now. Who signed the death certificate?" "Oh my dear Dan, here we go again on the
merry-go-round. Doctor Menkin did."
"You say. But now I'm reaching for the brass ring. It's time for
everybody to get off." Dan tells him.
"The Island? Asks Jacques.
"Exactly." "I just can't let
them do it." Jacques walks by the staircase and turns facing Dan who was
following him. Jacques leans against a table. "Now the whole situation
completely explained to me by you and Alison that if word of Erica's death
became public knowledge. Which has yet has not; there would undoubtedly be an
autopsy. And you know I can't have that because then it would lead to Erica
being taken from cryonic suspension. And that would be tantamount to murder. Now
that would really be compounding a felony." Dan shakes his head. "I can't figure you
out, not when you're like this. You make me want to..." Dan paces in front of
Jacques. Stopping he folds his arms and shakes his head. "Most of the time I
can't read you or believe a word you're saying, but it's so frustrating I
could..." "Murder me?" asks
Jacques. Dan turns, "Yes, I do have
murder on my mind but not yours."
"Oh whose?" "Apart from your
professed love, did you have any other reason for freezing Erica?" Dan
asks. "How can you dare to imply
that of me!" "Because most of the
time you don't act like a man who has just suffered an agonizing loss", Jacques
strolls away from Dan. "Not everyone should wear his heart on his sleeve. Dan,
if the death certificate should have gone astray couldn’t we simply ask Alison
to sign another one." He says turning to Dan. "She's a doctor." "Msieu, be careful the dish is very hot"
Raxl says as she carries in a plate.
"Hopefully so are the kippers. We will discuss this after breakfast."
Jacques says lifting the lid with his bare hand. "Mmm they smell vile, like all
good kippers should." He puts the lid back on then walks to the dining
room. Looking at the dish. "My poor
Master." Raxl says. "I can't waste
any sympathy on him today." Dan says.
"I'm waiting to be served Raxl." Jacques calls her from the dining
room. "I too am confused with his
changes of late." Raxl tells Dan.
Dan stands with his arms crossed. He then walks into the dining room.
"Mmm these are good, they are
devilishly delicious Dan." Jacques says.
"You get marks for these Jean Paul, they are good." Dan tells him after
trying the kippers. "Mmm, I haven't
tasted anything so enjoyable for ages. But for my taste things around here
should be much hotter." Jacques says taking a
bite.
Alison is working in the lab when Jacques playfully sneaks
in and scares her. "So this is where you're hiding. You missed breakfast,” says
Jacques. "I've been so engrossed
with Doctor Menkin’s medical library that I don't think I have any room, but
food for thought." Alison smiles at him.
"It seems Dan has been doing a lot of thinking to. At least he manages to
eat." "Well perhaps I'll have
something later. I'm so fascinated with this." Alison tells him. "And you're fascinating yourself."
Jacques tells her. Alison looks away from him. "And all this. Let's see, the
affects of hypothermia of cerebral damage resulting from cardiac arrest."
Jacques reads the title from a book.
"Yes." Alison smiles and shows him another book. Coming to her feet she
walks to the filing cabinet. "What does all of this suggest to you?" Alison
asks. "That you're even more
attractive when you're flushed with excitement." Jacques says walking over to
her with his arms crossed. "Jean
Paul stop it."
Jacques walks back to the center counter and leans on it.
"Go ahead, tell me what do you find fascinating." "Well, all of these books belong to
you." she says walking over to him.
"My literary taste usually runs to something hotter, not necessarily
heavier. No the money that I provide bought the books, but the books are not
mine. Why do you ask?" "Well anyone
interested in cryonics would be interested in these. Or was it Doctor Menkin’s
idea to put Erica in a cryonics capsule?" Alison asks. "Well it certainly wasn't mine. I'm glad
someone thought of it." "Did it
come out of something that happened with her condition? Alison asks. Jacques shrugs. "I haven't the faintest
idea. I'm not a doctor, just a man in love." "And about what you told me about he
death being so sudden and unexpected."
"To me it was." says Jacques.
"If Erica’s death was brought on by ecliptic convulsions, why Doctor
Menkin’s sudden preoccupation with all this?" Alison asks touching Doctor
Menkin’s notes "Genetics, cellular reconstitution and geriatrics." Alison
asks. "Well if he were here we
could ask him." Jacques says with a smile.
"You shouldn't make a joke about a man who's dead." "Sorry." Jacques says. "I even found some notes he made in my
field on organ culture and regeneration."
"You mean the replacement of the human body?" Jacques asks. "In a very general sense. Doctor
Menkin?" "Yes." Jacques
asks. "Well I've searched this
entire place. I found a lot of projections of experiments but no details about
them. Lots of notes on failures though, but where are the experiments and the
results? I've looked everywhere but what's more important where's the file on
Erica? I know there must be one."
"Why?" Jacques asks.
"Because I'm not sure Erica’s death was sudden. Think back." Jacques walks around the counter. "Are you sure there was no forewarning?"
Alison asks. "Not to me. Would I
lie to you?" "Well you have in the
past, when you concealed my sisters death." "Some days I'm just not myself,” says
Jacques. "Will you answer one thing
truthfully?" "If I can be truthful,
of course." Jacques says. "You took
a bottle of cyanide from this lab."
"I did?" "There is a bottle
missing." Alison tells him. "Well
if you saw me take it then there must be a double of me roaming around
here." "I didn't say I saw you, I
just said there was a bottle missing. Just that it would put my mind at ease. I
was afraid." "Afraid? Of what?"
Jacques leans forward on the counter. "That I'd take my own life? No Alison,
don't be afraid. That's one thing that didn't come that easily." "Well I'm relived. Erica’s death
is more than I can bear." "It
hasn't been that easy for either of us I may say that..." Jacques says. Dan walks into the lab. "I have nothing to say at the moment."
Jacques stands and walks towards the door.
"Well, have you managed to talk her into that idea of signing the death
certificate?" Dan asks. He says
with a smile. "I haven't managed to talk her into anything. Although an idea did
pass my mind." Jacques says then leaves the room. "How do you figure him?" Dan asks. "I think he is either a very good actor
or he's another man." says Alison.
Dan crosses his arms. "Well they say each of us has a double. Jean Paul’s
goes back three hundred years. According to the legend, voodoo jinxed him." "Legends are not facts, Dan." "Neither are ghosts that are three
hundred years old." Says Dan.
Jacques smiles and walks into the Great Hall. He stops at
a table and picks up a piece of fruit. "Well Dan is not one of the believers.
Alison is a charmer, the plot thickens. Keep the home fires burning, I'll be
there later." Jacques says. "You
know you're the best wheeler and dealer this side of the Great Channel." Dan
smiles. "Ordinarily I'd chuckle
over that Dan, but right now I'm to shook. Oh well, when you think of it, it's
the only answer. The only way out." Alison says. "For Jean Paul?" "Yes, and for the rest of us. And for
Erica." Alison tells Dan.
"Erica?" "Well any other way
she would need a postmortem. And that would ruin all her chances." "Oh come on now, don't tell me you're
falling for that cryonic fable? Or is it Jean Paul who has you under his spell?"
he touches her shoulder. "Oh Dan
please. That's enough of that."
Dan drops his hand. "All right. When it comes to that death certificate
I..." Dan says as he crosses his arms.
"Doctor Menkin did sign the death certificate, Jean Paul told me. He only
asked me to sign it to alleviate your concern about it." Alison says. "All right then, as a lawyer I am going
to call for an adjournment." Dan says smiling. "Ask for the same privilege." Alison
says to him as she walks to the center counter. "And still the mystery prevails." "I can't deny that. Even in this simple
lab there is more than one mystery and I intend to find out about them." Alison
says. "In this lab?" Dan asks. "In this lab, in this house and on
Maljardin." "Well if you stay, I
stay." says Dan. "You know suddenly
I feel hungry, come on." Alison tells Dan.
"For another breakfast? No thank you, one's my capacity. I think if you
don't mind I'll stay here and poke around a bit." "There's nothing around here that will
interest you,” says Alison.
"There's a lot that interests me. Some may confuse me but what's one more
confusion?" Jacques is sitting on
the top of the back of a chair with his feet resting on the arms of the chair.
"To many cultured toils." He jumps off the chair and walks to the table to pour
a cup of coffee. "To many questions." Walking up the staircase carrying his cup
of coffee he stops and turns. "The time has come to make a definite move."
Turning he continues to Jean Paul's bedroom.
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Summaries written by Debby
Graham . The slide
presentation is the work of Ron Janick.
~Ron/Bella~
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