(Sydney wakes up on a makeshift bed in a run-down building. She goes outside and into another run-down building where Sloane, Lauren, Jack, and Vaughn are discussing plans.)
Lauren: But at the very least we'd be able to get to Sydney's coordinates.
Sloane: Where's the... other map?
Vaughn: Okay, according to the geo-synchronous orbital position, our entrance is here and here.
(Jack turns around, sees Syd, and goes over to her.)
Jack: Sweetheart, you're okay.
(Syd nods. They approach the table where the meeting was going on.)
Vaughn: How do you feel?
Syd: Better, thanks. What's going on?
Jack: You should know Sloane was instrumental in orchestrating your escape.
Syd: I suppose I owe you a thank you.
Sloane: Sydney, as long as you're alive you'll never owe me a thing.
Syd: Not just you. Breaking me out of that facility was dangerous and selfless. Thank you. All of you.
Vaughn: At the moment we're fugitives, but we're working on a plan to frame the Covenant for your extraction.
Syd: Have you mapped the coordinates from the code that Lindsey found in Rome?
Jack: They point to a strip of desert near the San-Andreas fault less than an hour from here. If there's something waiting for us, it's most likely buried. I'm going to go check it out. In the meantime, we have a lead, something that might actually help us retrieve your lost memories.
Sloane: Sydney, my foundation gives grants to various researchers. One of these researchers has in development a non-invasive therapy for treating long-term severe amnesia.
Syd: If this therapy works, why didn't you mention it before?
Sloane: Well, Sydney, until now I didn't think that you'd be willing to accept my help.
Syd: Dad, I want to go with you.
Jack: You should rest.
Syd: I've rested enough.
Lauren: So I was an idiot. Michael tried to warn me about Lindsey, but I didn't listen. I couldn't believe what he was telling me so I did what I always do, I followed the rules.
Jack: We should go.
Jack: You said on the helicopter when Lindsey forced you to break the code, you gave him false coordinates. Where did you send them?
Syd: I don't know. I think somewhere in Simi valley.
---
(A bunch of cop cars pull up to "Circus Liquor," which is at an intersection.)
Lindsey: Yeah?
Cop on phone: Sir, we've checked the location. It's clean. It's a liquor store.
Lindsey: I want you to check it again.
Cop: I think we've been played.
Lindsey: Don't tell me we've been played, check it again!
---
(Along the San-Andreas fault. They take metal detectors out of the vehicle.)
Syd: What if whatever we're looking for isn't metal?
Jack: Then we're screwed, not an unfamiliar situation. Listen, Sydney. While I remain skeptical of Sloane's alleged rehabilitation, the man jumped in front of a b*llet to save my life.
Syd: I've been through too much with him. I don't trust that man, and I still can't believe you don't feel the same.
Jack: What I'm feeling is irrelevant. In conspiring to save you from the NSC, Sloane's also given us all the amm*nit*on we'd ever need to invalidate his pardon agreement. He's put his life in our hands. And as far as breaking you out, yours was in his.
(They find something with the metal detector.)
---
(Dixon is playing football in a park with his kids.)
Dixon: Hut.
Robin: Nice catch, Stephen.
Dixon: Hey, Robin.
(He sees federal g*ons approaching.)
Dixon: Sweetie, come here. Stephen, come here!
Reams: Special Agent Reams, FBI. You're under arrest on suspicion of conspiracy to impede a federal investigation.
Dixon: This is Lindsey, isn't it.
Reams: Your children will be looked after through the duration of your custody..
Dixon (overtalk): He ordered this?
Reams: ...unless you find a suitable family member. You're going to have to come with us.
---
(Jack and Syd find a metal box.)
Jack: Is this familiar to you?
Syd: No.
(Jack opens it. Inside is a hand with the sign of Rambaldi, it smells bad, and there are bugs crawling on it.)
---
(Back at the run-down building, which must be somewhere in the desert outside of L.A.)
Syd: I don't know if I buried it myself or if it was left for me to find.
Lauren: And that symbol?
Sloane: It symbolizes membership in the Magnific Order of Rambaldi. Whoever that person was, he made a vow to safeguard Rambaldi's prophecies.
Jack: When you get back, you'll ask Marshall to run a DNA test.
Lauren: Right.
Syd: What's your alibi?
Lauren: I'll return to Lindsey, tell him I was abducted by the Covenant, and that you're still being held hostage.
Syd: And what are we saying they want?
Sloane: How about the Rambaldi device?
Syd: You'd like that, wouldn't you?
Sloane: Sydney, I know what you're thinking. Why don't you ask yourself, if the device was so valuable to me, why did I let it go?
Syd: For your freedom. You traded it for your pardon, and here's your chance to get it back.
Jack: It is something the CIA might believe the Covenant would take in exchange for you, and once we make the exchange the device will be destroyed. No one will have it.
Sloane: I'll contact Bob Lindsey and tell him my sources have confirmed that the Covenant is responsible for your break-out. As soon as I hear from Dr. Brezel, I'll let you know. He's the neuroresearcher who works out of Yale.
Syd: What about you? (to Vaughn)
Vaughn: We're saying that your father and I were investigating your disappearance. We're setting up a paper trail... rent-a-cars, airline tickets...
Lauren: There's something else that just occurred to me. If Lindsey's to believe I was being held by the Covenant, there needs to be some evidence of my mistreatment.
Vaughn: No.
Jack: She's right. I was going to bring that up myself at the last possible moment.
Vaughn: I am not going to let you be beaten.
Lauren: I'm the only one who's NSC, the only one Lindsey will listen to. If I don't go back he's going to think I'm party to this.
Vaughn: Jack, this is insane.
Jack: Vaughn, this whole situation is a problem. We need physical evidence to help sell the idea that the Covenant was responsible.
Lauren (to Syd): You should do it. Whenever you're ready.
Vaughn: Just get it over with.
Lauren: I know how difficult this must be.
(Syd hits her in the jaw.)
Syd: That was for turning me in to Lindsey. (She offers Lauren her hand) This is for helping me break out. Now let's get this over with.
---
(Lindsey sees Dixon in jail.)
Lindsey: Where's Sydney Bristow? You covered for her once and it cost you your job. Do it again, this cell will be your home for the next ten years.
Dixon: My lawyer's name is Shelley Byrd.
Lindsey: Your only play here is to tell me where Sydney Bristow is and who broke her out. Was it her father?
Dixon: What I know here, is that sending agents to arrest me in front of my children is one of the last mistakes you'll ever make as Senior Director of the NSC. I've known men like you, men who pretend to be patriots. You are always revealed.
Lindsey: What?
Goon: Sir, it's Lauren Reed. She's here.
---
(Rotunda)
Goon: She was thrown from the van in front of the building. They just drove by and dumped her.
Lindsey: When?
Goon: Less than five minutes ago. She refused medical services. Said she needed to speak with you.
...
Lindsey: And that was the Covenant's only demand.
Lauren: Yes. Your people want Sydney Bristow, we want the Rambaldi device. That's what the man said.
Lindsey: The voice.
Lauren: Yes.
Lindsey: You don't find the timing curious? That Sydney Bristow was taken from a black-ops U.S. facility, that somehow they took you as well. That you've since been released. And meanwhile, your husband and Sydney Bristow's father are MIA searching for a Covenant cell.
Lauren: Curious, no. Logical, appropriate, lucky as hell for me, yes. I don't know why the Covenant is willing to make this exchange, or what it means, but Sydney is depending on you making this happen.
Lindsey: Since when did you and Bristow become so close? Or is that about sharing the same man?
Lauren: This is a woman's life. Protect it, or I will report everything you've done to your superiors.
Lindsey: Need I remind you that it was your husband who helped her flee the country when she was wanted by the NSC? In the wrong hands that information can be quite damaging.
Lauren: One more thing. At 6:30 this evening you are to press redial. The person who answers it will give you the details of the exchange.
(cut to Lindsey dialing later that day. The voice is heavily altered.)
Lindsey: Hello?
Voice: The Rambaldi device in exchange for Sydney Bristow. Do we have a deal?
Lindsey: Yes.
Voice: Keep this phone with you at all times. (Jack, on a plane, continues
" src="http://foreverdreaming.org/images/smilies/flash.gif"> You will be notified as to time and place.Jack: Lauren did well.
(Syd leaves.)
Jack: I never thanked you for helping to extract Sydney.
Vaughn: You don't have to thank me.
Jack: Yes, I do, especially given your history. I used to think you didn't have much of a spine.
Vaughn: And has that assessment changed at all?
Jack: No.
---
(New Haven, CT. Jack, Vaughn, Sydney. They knock. A women in only a semi-formal dress shirt answers.)
Jack: Dr. Brezel's expecting us. This is where he works?
Kaya: Wow. Say something else.
Jack: May we come in?
Kaya: (dopamine rush, then turns) Professor! (prances across the warehouse) There are some beautiful people here!
Brezel: Uh, I was thinking just now. I wasn't expecting you until Tuesday, and (to Vaughn) uh Hi. And then I realized that it is, it's Tuesday, and uh, uh, (shakes Syd's hand) you've come to me at a really awkward time. I'm not nearly finished so I can't promise you anything.
Jack: Still, your research in memory retrieval sounds quite promising.
Brezel: Oh, yeah, well that's, that's really a trip.
Kaya: Oh, can I... (whispering to Brezel) do you mind if I...
Brezel: Oh, she, she likes to hug, if you... This is Kaya. She's one of my students. Capable, but she's.. all about hugging (they hug). All about hugging. You know, I'm starving. Anyone else?
Vaughn: Okay, you have got to be kidding me.
Syd: I can't do this.
Jack: Look, we're not here because we have other options.
---
(eating)
Brezel: Facon?
Vaughn: Oh, no thanks.
Brezel: Facon?
Syd: I'm fine, thank you.
Brezel (to Jack, who's signing no): Oh, no?
Brezel: Facon. Processed soy protein shaped and colored to resemble the essence of smoked pig flesh. We live in an age of simulations. But facon is only one of the many illusions of the post-modern world. I don't know anything about you except that I'm not supposed to know anything about you.
Jack: Suffice to say that there are people under the impression that my daughter has committed a crime. Her memories are the only things that can exonerate her.
Brezel: I see, so there's pressure, pressure that the therapy should work, um, real stakes.
Syd: How does the therapy work?
Kaya: Tell them how you got the idea. But not the long version.
I began in the neurosciences. Background in philosophy. Treated head trauma patients for twelve years until one night on I-95, I became one of them, a head trauma patient. I drove into the highway median, totaled my pickup truck. So I spent the next eighteen months in various forms of traction. Now, that's not the t*rture you'd expect, not moving for a year and a half. It's liberating, uh, oddly. Well in any event, one night, month eleven of my motionlessness, something obvious occurred to me. Our dreams are both apriori and apostiori, which means that our dreams contain our memories, which means there's a shared reservoir. So, um, I began to consider ways to consciously enter the subconscious. Ways to convince the brain that it was truly experiencing the dream memory state. So I turned to the one thing that I really knew.
Kaya: dr*gs.
Brezel: Ergo I totaled my pickup truck.
Jack: What are the dr*gs?
Brezel: Oh, well, the cocktails, the um happy combo of synthetics and organics, I mean, it won't k*ll you. But depending on what they are, your dreams just might. I say we get this party started. Kaya will show you were to change.
Kaya: Come with me.
Brezel: When most people are asleep, they don't realize they're dreaming until they're awake. But you, you're going to have to become lucid in the dream state itself.
Syd: How do I do that?
Well, the dr*gs I'm going to give you will do most of the work. But I will be monitoring your neural activity, and when I know you're in REM I'll give you a verbal cue over the headphones. Tell me, what was the last thing you remember, before your missing time?
Syd: Being knocked unconscious in my apartment.
Brezel: Oh, well, I see. Well, once you're aware that you're in the dream state, your objective will be to pick up the thread of your last memory in as much detail as you can.
Syd: How?
Brezel: Well, you'll have to, you're just going to have to feel your way back. It's like, it's like using a muscle that you never used before. If you can get to that point, just stay with it because ultimately you will become aware of what happened next.
Syd: I don't really understand.
Brezel: I know, you will. Just be aware that if you encounter a new memory, it might be traumatic.
Syd: But it won't necessarily be real?
Brezel: Oh, it will be to you. Here are your headphones, I'm putting them on you now. And, good luck.
(Injects dr*gs.)
Brezel: Sydney, I'm going to count down from ten. By the time I reach one, you will be asleep. 10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...
---
(Sydney is in an ambulance, right after the fight with Freplica.)
*Vaughn: Hey.
*Syd: Vaughn.
*Vaughn: Yeah, it's me.
*EMT: Don't move, you've suffered a severe head trauma.
*Syd: What?
*EMT: Any nausea or dizziness?
*Syd: No. Where am I?
*EMT: On your way to the hospital. You have a mild concussion. You'll be okay. We'll run a CT scan to check for bleeding.
*Syd: What?
*Vaughn: Will's going to be okay.
*Syd: What? Will?
*Vaughn: He lost a lot of blood, but we got him in time. He's on his way to Cedars.
*Syd: Will's in witness protection.
*EMT: This is normal, gaps in memory leading up to the injury.
*Vaughn: Sydney, the woman you were living with was not Francie. We found a file that Will was compiling. Her name was Allison Dorin. You sh*t her.
*Syd: I know. She was the second double, the one we never found.
*Vaughn: It's coming back to you.
*Syd: Yeah.
*EMT: Miss, you need to lay down.
*Syd: Wait. Wait. The Covenant, have you ever heard of the Covenant?
*Vaughn: Yeah, they were listed on a sitreport yesterday as an emerging thr*at. Why, are they involved in this?
*Syd: Sloane, has Sloane been pardoned by the State Department?
*Vaughn: Pardoned?
*Syd: You're not wearing a wedding ring.
*Vaughn: No, I thought we'd go to Santa Barbara first and see how that went.
*Syd: You're not married.
*Vaughn: You really did hit your head, huh?
*Syd: I thought you gave up on us.
*Vaughn: Syd, when I walked into your apartment, I saw you lying there, I thought God, don't let me miss a chance to tell her how much I love her.
*Syd: I love you (they kiss).
*Vaughn turns into Sloane. Syd freaks.
*Sloane: Sydney
*Syd: Get away from me.
*Sloane: Sydney, you're dreaming. If you can hear me, then you're in a dream state. You need to use it to get back to where you were, to get to the last memory you have. Now remember, you said it was in your apartment. You were knocked out. You must try to go back to that place, you must try and find that place. Sydney, you are in control of your environment. Go now.
*The end of Syd's fight with Freplica is replayed, with another Sydney standing over the unconscious Sydney after the fight.
Brezel: She's out of REM, and she exists now in actual memory.
Vaughn: She was knocked unconscious after the fight, how can she remember anything that happened after that?
Brezel: Because unconsciously the mind can still establish trans-historical accounts of the real world.
Jack: Meaning even with her eyes closed, her other senses were alert.
Brezel: Yes. Thank you. And based on those senses, uh, her brain will construct an accurate but incomplete memory of the events that followed. Uh, the barbecue chips? Please, could you pass me those? Thank you.
(Syd has a leather top and red hair, masked figures are all around)
Syd: I see them. They're taking me away, but...
Jack: Who, Sydney?
Syd: I can't see their faces.
Vaughn: What did she say?
Brezel: Uh, someone without a face? It's not that uncommon.
*Sydney's in a van.
*Voices: She's walking up. Take her out.
*GuardianSyd: Don't.
*Now Syd's at her 7th birthday party.
*Others: Happy birthday! ... Sydney.
Brezel: Ooh. She's extrapolating.
Jack: Meaning what?
Brezel: Brain activity indicates her memory centers aren't active. She's in a tangent.
Kaya: I was in a tangent once.
Jack: How nice for you.
*Jack: Happy birthday, honey. Make a wish, Sydney.
*Sydney blows out the birthday candles, then morphs into the older Syd. The cake has "St. Aidan" written on it.
*Jack: Time to cut the cake. It's all right.
*Syd cuts, blood runs out, she sees some man, and notices she's cut off his hand.
Brezel: Sydney. Sydney. Sydney, listen to me. You have to concentrate. It's the only way you're going to get back on track.
Syd: I don't know how.
Brezel: Focus on the last detail you remember.
*Syd: There I am (looking at a van). Excuse me, I have to go.
*Syd runs to the van and opens the back. She sees herself being wheeled down a hall on a gurney. She runs after it after it disappears into a room.)
*Voice: Sydney.
*The doors of the room she was taken into are labeled "47" in huge letters. She goes through doors opposite those doors and looks over the railing of a stairwell, seeing herself being wheeled on a gurney. She follows it and again the figures take the gurney into the "47" room.
*Voice: Sydney
*Syd turns and sees Lauren. She follows her through a bunch of hanging plastic.
Brezel: This is very, very unusual. Very unusual.
Jack: What?
Brezel: Well, she's still in beta, but she's dreaming. That just doesn't happen.
*Voice: Sydney. You know better.
*Syd: You were part of this.
*They fight, Sydney gets suffocated.
Brezel: k*ll the power feed.
Jack: What the hell is happening?
Brezel: She's in v-tach. Get the epinephrine, it's on the tray. Get these off her. She's flatlining.
Jack: We need to resuscitate her now.
Brezel: Get the defibrillator paddles.
Vaughn: Two hundred joules, charging.
Brezel: Clear.
Vaughn: Three hundred joules.
Jack: Sydney, wake up.
---
(Syd wakes up after being resuscitated.)
Vaughn: Hey.
Syd: Vaughn, help me up. (they kiss)
Vaughn: Syd.
Syd: I can't help it, I just miss you, I do.
Vaughn: You know we can't do this.
Syd: Give me a break, it's a dream, we can do whatever we want. At least I can.
Jack: Your vitals are normal, you're going to be fine. I assume he's told you.
Syd: God, I...
Vaughn: It's okay.
---
(Rotunda)
Marshall: (running after Lauren) Mrs. Vaughn. Lauren! Mrs. Reed! Hey. Whoa, I had too many jelly doughnuts.
Lauren: Are those the DNA results?
Marshall: Uh, not exactly. I checked the sample against all available databanks and I wasn't really able to find a match. But I did run some other forensic tests and, well, I hope this helps.
---
Jack (on phone): Yes, I understand.
Jack: That was Lauren. No match on the DNA. We still don't know who the hand belongs to.
Syd: In my dream, it was my birthday. I was seven. When I cut the cake I looked down and I was cutting off his hand.
Jack: Whose hand? Did you see his face?
Syd: Yes, I did.
Vaughn: Who was it?
Syd: Lazarey. Why would I dream I was cutting off the hand of a man I m*rder*d?
Jack: Forensics analysis leads Marshall to believe that whoever this hand belonged to was alive as recently as four months ago.
Syd: Well then it couldn't have been Lazarey because I k*lled him last year.
Jack: Unless you didn't.
Syd: What? I was on the videotape. It was me! I slashed his throat!
Jack: Unless you didn't. It could have been a performance.
Vaughn: Lazarey was a Russian diplomat. The Russians must have typed his DNA. Lauren's worked with them. I'll call her, have her get a sample, see if it's a match.
Brezel: You know, uh, this really was, uh, something. Uh, whatever you experienced elevated your heart rate to the point of ventricular tachycardia, which sent you into cardiac arrest, which almost sent me into cardiac arrest... are you okay?
Syd: Yeah... I feel great, actually.
Jack: What other details do you remember?
Syd: After my fight with Allison, these men came into the room. I couldn't see their faces. They were wearing black. They took me to a building. I was on a gurney. They wheeled me through the door, and I lost them before I could see where they took me next. Lauren strangled me.
Vaughn: Well, that was a dream. It must have been a dream, right?
Brezel: It's unclear, you know, this is not an exact science.
Jack: At that point in your life, you had never even met Lauren.
Brezel: Uh, you know, this would probably be a representational figure, which is also ... by the way (Vaughn nods). Masked figures, shapeshifters, they first appear as one character, uh, your mother, an old classmate.
Kaya: In my case, a parrot.
Brezel: A parrot, um, but they're really just physical manifestations of someone else.
Syd: I want to go back.
Jack: Sydney, that's a mistake.
Syd: They were taking me towards a room. It was room 47. That's where I was, that's where I was being held. I have to go back and see what was happening to me in there.
Kaya: Uh, you're the greatest.
---
Brezel: Once you're under, you'll most likely begin in a dream cycle. Again, no matter where you are, try to pick up the thread of your last memory by focusing on a detail you remember, uh, something vivid.
Syd: There was hanging plastic in the building where I was taken.
Brezel: Whatever it is, you're looking for a link, portal, back to your memory state, back to the door you described.
Kaya: Good luck.
Syd: Thanks.
Brezel: Okay, here are the headphones. I'm going to put them on you. Good luck.
---
(Sloane meets Lindsey)
Sloane: When I received the call for this meeting, I assumed it would be with a low-level agent.
Lindsey: Do you have confirmation of the Covenant's demands?
Sloane: My sources have confirmed they are holding Sydney Bristow. They're asking for the Rambaldi device in exchange for her release.
Lindsey: This is an awkward conversation.
Sloane: How so?
Lindsey: Because of what I'm asking of you, to use your contacts.
Sloane: Why come to me?
Lindsey: Because you can give me untraceability. I'm looking for someone trained in wetwork. In particular, dead sh*t with a long-range r*fle. I plan on making the trade. During the exchange, I want Sydney Bristow taken out.
Sloane: Why make the trade? It's very simple, have the Covenant end her life.
Lindsey: Because I want assurance that Sydney Bristow is eliminated.
Sloane: Ah, I see. She has something on you, does she?
Lindsey: If she's hit by a sn*per, it will appear as though it's a Covenant double-cross.
Sloane: Well, with all due respect Mr. Director, what guarantee do I have that this isn't some form of entrapment?
Lindsey: Because I know what you're up to, Mr. Sloane. I can see your big picture. I know your endgame. I even have proof. (gives Sloane a letter) Once I arrange the trade, I'll call you with the details.
---
Marshall: The DNA you got from the Kremlin? I matched it.
Lauren: And the hand belongs to Lazarey?
Marshall: Yeah. I mean, it belonged to Lazarey before it was... (illustrates his hand being cut off)
Lauren: Thank you.
Marshall: Sure.
---
(Jack on phone.)
Jack: You're sure the DNA matched Lazarey.
Lauren: Yes, which means Sydney didn't k*ll him. Lindsey has nothing on her. She can come home.
Jack: Thank you.
*Sydney wakes up in a car. The Radio is playing and Dixon's driving. The car has large black fuzzy dice hanging from the rear-view mirror.
*Dixon: You still asleep?
*Syd: I think so. I've never heard of a St. Aidan. (label on the glove compartment)
*Dixon: They're hard to find. (they stop) Don't forget the case.
*Marshall and Weiss are playing cards and smoking cigars.
*Weiss: Look, you made it. I hope you're ready for an expensive lesson in the art of gambling. (Marshall and Weiss laugh.)
*Syd: I'm looking for that building. (Weiss nods)
*Weiss: Check the kitchen.
*Marshall: Kitchen.
*Syd: Thanks.
Brezel: Okay. She's in.
Vaughn: Is she alright?
Brezel: Um, she's alpha. Her serotonin levels are still increasing, and uh, see, her heart rate's up. She's on track for another vivid one.
*Sydney goes into the kitchen, and there's hanging plastic. Lauren comes toward her through the walls of draped plastic.
*Lauren: You shouldn't have come back.
*Syd: Who are you, who the hell are you?
*Lauren: I'm telling you, you don't want to be here.
*Syd: You're not Lauren. I know you're not Lauren.
*Lauren: It doesn't matter who I am. All that matters is that you leave this place.
*Syd: You get the hell out of my way.
*Lauren: I can't do that.
*They fight. Lauren morphs into another Sydney, rips through the plastic the real Sydney (in white) was trying to strangle her (in black) with.
*BlackSyd: You are so stubborn. You idiot, we want to stay away. We know the Covenant had us, we suspected it all along. Of course we're right.
*WhiteSyd: It was the Covenant.
*BlackSyd: We think it's an accident we don't remember anything?
*WhiteSyd: Then what happened to me?
*BlackSyd: Trust Lazarey.
*WhiteSyd: What does he have to do with it?
*BlackSyd: That's enough questions.
*WhiteSyd: What's in room 47?
Jack: Pull her out, now. I'm not going to risk her life again.
Brezel: No, her heart rate's alright, let's give her a chance.
*BlackSyd: Leave, idiot.
*They fight more.
*WhiteSyd sh**t BlackSyd five times, resulting in six b*llet holes (hmm...)
*Syd runs to the room labeled 47, opens the door, and stands for a moment.
*Syd: Oh my God