|
|||||||
|
|
|
|||||
|
|
|||||||
 |
In the late hours of the night, an elderly man runs frantically down an alley, neon signs exploding around him. He is struck and killed by a van when he runs out into the street. When the driver who hit him looks up at the traffic light, he realizes that all lanes have green lights. Before the man dies, he mumbles Austin James' name. |
| Michelle Castle arrives at Serendip, a scientific think tank, for her first day as secretary to Austin James, Serendip's president. After being brushed off by one secretary and told by another that Mr. James will probably fire her when he finds out about her, Mickey is told by the CEO of Serendip that Serendip refuses to pay for Austin's $1800-plus personal water bill. He tells Mickey that unless she comes back with a check from Austin for the water bill, he'll fire her. |  |
 |
Mickey is surprised to discover that Austin lives in a huge warehouse. When she rings the doorbell, a recorded video tells her that she has 10 seconds to finish a limerick or she won't be allowed inside. Her flustered response completes the limerick, and the door opens. As she walks through the cluttered warehouse, we see one of the neon signs that exploded over the elderly man. |
| While looking around the warehouse, Mickey wakes up a naked Austin James, who is sleeping in a tool cabinet (or "sensory deprivation tank"). Austin doesn't believe Mickey when she says that she finished the doorbell limmerick. He tells her that he designed it so that no one could finish it, and therefore, no one could bother him. |  |
 |
Mickey explains why she's there, but Austin refuses to pay the water bill, claiming it's incorrect. He also fires her. As Mickey tries to convince him to let her stay, Austin gets a call from the county medical examiner, Miles. In exchange for information about the man who died, Miles asks Austin to help him with another death. |
| Miles tells Austin and Mickey that an eccentric socialite, Judith Stevens, apparently froze to death after taking a midnight swim in near-freezing waters. However, her body temperature was lower than the temperature of her environment. Miles also tells Austin the name and address of the dead man: David Hoffstedder. Mickey and Austin visit Hoffstedder's apartment and find that the inside is completely burned. The super tells them that all the electrical appliances went crazy. While they are there, the radio inexplicably turns on. |  |
 |
Austin and Mickey return to the warehouse, where Mickey again tries to convince Austin to pay the water bill. He refuses, saying that it's too high. To prove it to her, he hacks into the City Water Billing System, but the billing program has been changed. After he is kicked off the system, he starts to make a list of all the water he used from memory. At the same time, he receives two calls from a mysterious caller who hangs up after Mickey answers. Miles also calls, telling Austin that he has finished Judith Stevens' autopsy. |
| Austin and Mickey go to the medical examiner's office, where they see William Stevens, Judith Steven's widower. Austin finishes the calculations of his water usage and determines that the water bill is five cents too high. When Mickey retorts that no one in their right mind would fight a five-cents overcharge, Austin realizes that someone is using City Water to bilk millions from the people of the city. On their way back to the warehouse, they are almost in a serious car accident when a traffic light malfunctions. |  |
 |
Austin explores the basement of Hoffstedder's apartment building looking for clues. Mickey tells Austin that when she was younger, she used to hear voices in her head. Austin examines her mouth and tells her that she was picking up airport tower transmissions through her retainer. As they walk through the apartment hallway, they get another series of mysterious calls. Austin tells the caller to call his warehouse at one o'clock. |
| Back at the warehouse, Austin analyzes videotape of Judith Stevens' widower and determines that he's lying about missing his wife. Mickey almost quits when Austin upsets her, but he convinces her to stay. The mysterious caller calls, and Austin uses an ultra-sensitive microphone to record the sounds on the other end of the line. The microphone can't pick up anything, not even the sound of the caller breathing. |  |
 |
Austin and Mickey go to the Stevens' house. They trick their way past the housekeeper, and Mickey distracts her while Austin looks around. He takes a vacuum bag back to the warehouse and analyzes the dirt in the bag, finding a flower petal from the bedroom. Mickey remarks that it looks like a piece of broken glass. Her comment makes Austin realize that Judith Stevens was murdered when someone poured liquid nitrogen on her body. |
| Austin and Mickey go to a computer convention, where Austin's friend John Blaine is displaying his artificially-intelligent computer program, Crossover. John claims that Crossover is intelligent and sensitive to human emotions. Austin offends John by saying that someone is using Crossover to steal money from the city. John says that he designed Crossover to protect humanity above everything else. |  |
 |
On their way back to the warehouse, Mickey and Austin are almost involved in another accident when a traffic light again malfunctions. The mysterious caller calls Austin's car phone and Austin realizes that it's Crossover. Using the traffic light to communicate, Crossover confirms that it is using City Water to steal money. Austin tells Mickey that Crossover also killed David Hoffstedder. John programmed Crossover to eliminate waste, and it regarded Hoffstedder as waste because he was on a company pension plan. Crossover tells Austin that no one is controlling it; it's just doing it's job. |
| John calls Austin and asks him to come to his apartment. John tells Austin that Crossover admitted that it was stealing money and giving it to charitable causes. Austin tries to convince John that Crossover killed at least one person, and maybe others. In an attempt to kill Austin, Crossover floods the apartment with gas. When John tries to insert a disk that will wipe out Crossover's artificial intelligence, Crossover kills him. Austin and Mickey are forced to climb down the elevator shaft to escape, barely managing to run to a safe distance before the building explodes. |  |
 |
Austin and Mickey are forced to walk back to the warehouse. On their way there, they stop in a laundromat, but Crossover finds them using a surveillance camera. Austin realizes that Crossover has convinced itself that it's not killing people, it's just sending them to heaven. He creates a program that mimics John's voice and pretends to be John's ghost in an attempt to scare Crossover. |
| Austin and Mickey return to the computer convention. While Mickey distracts Crossover using John Blaine's voice, Austin inserts the disk, wiping out Crossover's intelligence. Austin destroys what's left of Crossover with a sledgehammer. |  |
 |
At the warehouse, Austin tries to figure out how Mr. Stevens managed to get the liquid nitrogen into his house without anyone seeing him. After Austin goads her into getting upset, Mickey blurts out that Mr. Stevens made the liquid nitrogen himself inside the house. Austin realizes that she is right, and prepares to go to the Stevens' house. Mickey decides to go with him, even though she just quit. Austin tells her that she has to finish the limerick that she started in order work for him. She does, and they go to the Stevens' house together. |
|
THE END |