Higher Education Administration

Quentin
"Somebody has to take responsibility around here."

Worth
"And that somebody has to be you?"

Quentin
"Not all of us have the luxury of playing nihilist.'

Worth
"Not all of us are conceited enough to play hero."

Quentin
"This is a will to live. Everybody's got it, Worth, even you. Especially you, hiding behind that cynical front."

Worth.
"That will to live. That's the warm, cozy feeling deep inside? Thanks, Quentin, I'm a new man."

Quentin
"Oh, poor Worth. 'Nobody loves me.' If that's the chip on your shoulder, why'd you lug it all this way? Why didn't you just lie down and die?"

Quentin opens the door to the trap room.

Quentin
"Do it. Show us you have some backbone and jump into the sushi machine. Be a man."

A pause. Quentin closes the door.

Quentin
"Thought so."

Worth
"Fuck you, Quentin! I don't wanna die. I'm just being realistic. You think they'd go through all the trouble to build this thing if you could just walk out?"

Quentin
"You think they would've left us clues and let us beat it so far if there wasn't a way out?"

Worth
"You think we matter? We don't."

Quentin
"Oh, put us out of your misery so we can get on with getting out of here."

Worth
"You're not getting out of here."

Quentin
"Oh, yes we are."

Worth
"No, you're not!"

Quentin
"Yes, we are!"

Worth
"There is no way out of here!"

A long pause. Everyone looks on.

Quentin
"Gotcha."

Holloway
"How... do you know that?"

Quentin
"Answer the question, Worth."

Holloway
"Oh, God."

Quentin
"Who are you?"

Worth
"I'm the poison. I designed the outer shell."

Holloway
"What?"

Worth
"The shell, the sarcophagus."

Levin
"You built this thing?"

Worth
"Not this part. The exterior. I don't know anything about the numbers or anything else in here. I was contracted to draw plans for a hollow shell. A cube."

Levin
"A cube? Why didn't you tell us?"

Holloway
"For God's sakes, Worth, you knew what it was."

Worth
"No."

Quentin
"Worth. You're lying."

Worth
"Not at first."

Holloway
"Who's behind it?"

Worth
"I dunno."

Quentin
"Who hired you?"

Worth
"I didn't ask. I never even left my office. I talked on the phone to some people. Other guys like me. Specialists working on small details. Nobody knew what it was. Nobody cared."

Quentin
"Bullshit! You knew from square one. Look at him. He's up to his eyeballs in this thing."

Holloway
"No, Quentin. That's how they stay hidden. You keep everyone separated, so the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing. The brain never comes out in the open."

Quentin
"Whose brain?"

Holloway
"It's all the same machine, right? The Pentagon, multinational corporations, the police. If you do one little job -- you build a widget in Saskatoon, and the next thing you know, it's two miles under the desert, the essential component of a death machine! I was right! All along, my whole life, I knew it! I told you, Quentin! Nobody's ever gonna call me paranoid again! We got to get out of here and blow the lid off this thing!"

Worth
"Holloway. You don't get it."

Holloway
"Then help me, please. I need to know."

Worth
"This may be hard for you to understand, but there is no conspiracy. Nobody is in charge. It's a headless blunder operating under the illusion of a master plan. Can you grasp that? Big Brother is not watching you."

Quentin
"What kind of fucking explanation is that?"

Worth
"It's the best you're gonna get. I looked, and the only conclusion I can come to is that there is nobody up there."

Quentin
"Somebody had to say Yes to this thing."

Worth
"What thing? Only we know what it is."

Quentin
"We have no idea what it is!"

Worth
"We know more than anybody else. I mean, somebody might've known sometime before they got fired, or voted out or sold it. But if this place ever had a purpose, then it got miscommunicated, or lost in the shuffle. This is an accident. A forgotten, perpetual public works project. You think anybody wants to ask questions? All they want is a clear conscience and a fat paycheck. I mean, I leaned on my shoulder for months on this one. This was a great job!"

Quentin
"... Why put people in it?"

Worth
"Because it's here. You have to use it, or you admit it's pointless."

Quentin
"But it... It is pointless!"

Worth
"Quentin. That's my point."

Holloway
"What have we come to? It's so much worse than I thought."

Worth
"Not really. Just more pathetic."

Quentin
"You make we sick, Worth."

Worth
"I make me sick, too. We're both part of the system. I drew a box, you walk a beat. It's like you said, Quentin. Just keep your head down, keep it simple, just look at what's in front of you. Nobody wants to see the big picture. Life's too complicated. I mean, let's face it. The reason we're here is that it's out of control."

Quentin goes to lean on the wall.

Holloway
"This is how we ruin the world?"

Levin
"Well, duh! Have you been on glue all your lives? I felt guilty for ruining the world since I was, like, seven! God! If you need someone to blame, throw a rock!

Worth
"... Well, I feel better."

Holloway
"That's why you stayed with us. To confess."

Worth
"Still looking for someone to bust, Quentin?"

Quentin pushes Worth to a wall and begins beating him.