Exactly what you did.
- The first thing I did is call in sick.
- Okay, I did that.
- Then I drove to the storage facility.
- But I need to drop Lauren at school first.
Then meet me there.
We're going to need both cars.
We need to park yours down the road,
out of sight of the facility.
- Why are we doing that?
- Because we need a ride home.
- What is that...
- It'll make sense.
Okay, I'll be patient.
When I got to the storage room,
I flooded the box with argon...
and I had to tighten it up
to secure the leaks.
- There's leaks?
- There's always leaks.
At 8:30 a.m., I set the timer for 15 minutes...
I jumped in the car,
and drove to Russellfield.
Okay, I lost it.
- What?
- Why the timer?
Because the moment we start those
machines is the moment we'll end up...
- getting out of them, and-
- Right. Got it. Sorry.
I don't want to be standing around
when they do.
While I was on the road at 8:45,
the machine kicked on by itself...
and by 8:49, it was completely warmed up.
In Russellfield, I got a hotel room
and tried to isolate myself.
Wait, what do you mean "isolate"?
I closed the windows,
I unplugged everything in the room...
the telephone, TV, clock, radio, everything.
I didn't want to take the chance
of running into someone I knew...
or seeing something on the news
that might...
If we're dealing with causality,
and I don't even know for sure.
- I just...
- What?
- Took myself out of the equation.
- Err on the side of caution.
Yes.
Then what did you do all day?
- I just sat there. I had some books, but...
- What? Were you nervous?
Yeah.
It's mind-numbing, all the second-guessing.
"Evacipate."
At 3:30 p.m.,
I stopped by Williams Medical Supply.
Picked up a Class E oxygen tank and mask.
I called my mutual fund company and asked
which stock in their mid-cap fund...
had the greatest percentage gain that day.
The idea was just to get enough information
for one good trade.
Can we just download chart data
and trade on each movement?
But if we do that, I want to use the library
in Russellfield, use their computers.
So, I got to the storage room at about 3:15
and cut off the power to the box.
It cycled down to a tolerable level
at about 3:19.
The trick is to get in
after it reaches a comfortable level...
but before it shuts off completely.
There's a window there.
So, does it hurt?
Yeah, it does a little.
It's not bad if you wait for the right time.
It's like a small static shock.
- Once you're in, you're fine, though.
- What?
I know you've done it,
and I can only assume that you don't have...
cancer or male impotence.
But what is your opinion
on how safe this thing is?
I can imagine no way
in which this thing would be...
considered anywhere remotely close to safe.
All I know is I spent six hours in there
and I'm still alive.
You still want to do it?
I set the alarm on my stopwatch
for six hours.
I regulated the O2 tank,
took some Dramamine, and tried to sleep.
Did you?
- What?
- Did you sleep?
Not at first. I've never
considered myself claustrophobic...
but I started sweating and I couldn't find
the right flow rate on the tank...
and I was breathing differently than I was
when I was testing it on the outside.
Eventually, I settled down, and...
I don't know, maybe it was the Dramamine
kicking in, but I remember this moment...
in the dark
with the reverberation of the machine.
It was maybe the most content
I've ever been.
I woke up on my own without the alarm...
and waited for the machine to cool down.
Cool down from my perspective.
It got to a point where it sounded safe
to get out...
but the stopwatch still showed
a couple minutes...
so I trusted the math and waited.
That's not a static shock, Abe.
Okay, please stop it.
You got out too soon.
You have to wait for the stopwatch
so that you know the gain is low enough.
So, we're back here?
Yeah, we're here.
It's 8:50, Tuesday morning.
All right. Give me a few minutes.