(suspenseful music)
- Well, that's very nice of you to say.
- Oh, you really think so? (laughs)
- Yeah. - I think it's very-
I think it's very-
(pensive music)
- How long is this gonna take?
The rest of the day?
Longer?
- If it was my life in danger, David,
I'd be glad of the assurance.
Yes. I get it.
I screwed up.
But having her face hanging there,
it's not exactly helping.
- I expect not.
Did you get a last name?
Just Holly, then.
And you brought her here to what?
Show off?
- I didn't know that she was going-
- This will go a lot quicker
if you just answer my questions straight, David.
- Well, you know exactly why I brought her to the office.
And it's not like it ended the way that I expected.
- What did she tell you?
- Her name's Holly.
She liked my tie.
- No alarm bells at that?
And you mentioned you work for Perfection?
- She asked about Perfection.
- And you said you were the head technical honcho
and that you could hook her up with a tour of the office,
show her the multimillion-pound research facilities,
and let her have a play
with the commercially-sensitive computer equipment.
Something like that?
- Something like that.
- Is that how you usually pick up women?
By offering them a free makeover?
- I'm not perfect,
but with my help,
the right girl can be.
- I am simply trying to ascertain what she got.
Why are Perfection so upset about this particular loss?
- Okay.
Well, the world is augmented.
In our brain-
- Nanobots.
I'm aware of this, David.
- Yes, nanobots.
But have you any idea what they actually do? See...
See, most people, they just take it for granted.
But look.
Prefrontal cortex, temporal lobe, optic nerve.
Visual data comes in from the eye, the retina.
But with nanobots, we can hijack that flow
before that data reaches the brain.
These screens, they're a delusion.
(chuckles) A shared hallucination.
My brain shapes an image, here a screen,
and shares it with other bots in the vicinity.
In this, with the bots in your brain.
Essentially,
the visual data that you're receiving is being...
Hacked.
Now, as you can imagine,
the applications for the cosmetics industry
are revolutionary.
The nanobots can be made to augment anything.
An improvement to your face.
Change of color.
Absolutely no physical makeup necessary.
Well, the effect is somewhat limited.
- What is that?
- That is the future.
How we lose the limits.
- That's what she took?
- That's what she stole.
It's a prototype.
It puts out a signal
that creates an utterly lifelike augmentation,
tricking the brain of anyone nearby
into believing that, effectively,
the wearer is someone else.
It's light years ahead of its time.
I mean, that little beauty allows the wearer
to become whomever they want.
You know, to anyone. To everyone.
And appear,
even feel,
utterly real.
But, of course,
there are flaws.
- Flaws?
- It borrows a bit of the user's brain
to process the illusion.
It puts a kind of strain on anyone who's wearing it.
It can be...
Unpleasant.
We haven't found anyone who can wear it
for more than quarter of an hour.
Any longer than that... (chuckles)
Their brain turns to soup.
(computer chirping) (ominous music)
This conversation is to remain
within the walls of Perfection, of course.
- So you're saying it's impossible for someone to use it?
- No, I'm saying that we haven't yet
found the subject who can.
- What are the chances Holly could handle it?
- Small.
Very small.
- She did get into the heart of Perfection
by lying about your tie.
- Well, I mean, she wouldn't understand it anyway.
What it is.
- So who else knows about this apart from me?
- Just my team.
Uh...
Dr. Vargas, Dr. Marquez, and Terry Crier.
But that's all.
- I'll need to speak with them.
- They'll be at home.
- That won't be a problem.
I must say I'm quite impressed.
The things you can do with technology.
What was her name?
- Oh. Um...
Well, I can look it up for you.
- You don't know.
(computer chirps)
What about her name?
- But it's not-
- Or hers.
- I'm sorry, I don't know.
- Why not?
(suspenseful music)
(chuckles) Well.
Suppose I haven't quite gotten used to it yet, but still,
thanks to you I understand a little better
what this thing actually is. (sniffles)
It gives you a hell of a headache.
But, you know,
if it'll help put a stop to all of this,
I'll work on getting the hang of it. (sniffles)
- Holly, please.
- I've had this thing on for three hours.
Are you impressed?
It's been fun playing with you again, but, um,
I've got three more appointments to get to, so...
- You're not thinking straight.
Listen to me.
Look at what you can do! It's...
It's incredible!
I mean, it doesn't matter what you've done.
You know, we can work that out,
but you're actually wearing it!
And using it!
- All that matters is the end result, yeah?
That's typical.
(gunshot cracks)
(Holly sighs)
Yeah, yeah, two wrongs don't make a right,
blah, blah, I get it.
Even in the beauty industry, killing is an ugly business.
But then again, I don't have to be the one to do it.
Someone else can.
(upbeat music)