Approaching Lost

Men run up to the helicopter. They ask who is on the helicopter. “Survivors of Flight 815,” Lapidus says. They approach Desmond but he begins freaking out, saying that he doesn’t know Sayid. Lapidus says that he was fine when they took off. The guy leads Desmond away, telling Sayid that he’s going to the sick bay and a doctor will look at him.

Desmond is taken into the ship. “This is a mistake,” Desmond says. “This is wrong, I’m not supposed to be here.”

Off the Island:
Desmond is in the rain and being yelled at by the captain again. He gets the rest of his squadron in trouble and begins to wonder if he is crazy. “I left,” he says. “I was on a boat and then I was back here, right where I started.” He says he recognized a photo of Penny and he runs off. He reaches down to pick up a quarter he dropped…

On the Island:
He’s touching the deck of the boat. “What am I doing here?” he asks. They lead him down. “My name is Keamy, and this is Omar,” one of the guys says. He says there last port was Fiji so they are still somewhere in the Pacific. They place Desmond in a cell of sorts. “We’re gonna go get the Doc. He’s going to ask you some questions.”

Desmond bangs on the door. “Hey,” he hears. He turns and there’s a guy lying on a bed. “It’s happening to you too, isn’t it?” he asks.

Sayid watches the freighter guys arguing with Lapidus. He comes down and Sayid asks what happened to Desmond. Lapidus says that he is trying to help him. Sayid asks for the phone, so he can call his people. Lapidus says that if he gives him his gun, he can have the fun. They trade. Sayid calls Jack.

“Something happened during the flight and now Desmond is in their sick bay,” Sayid says. Daniel looks distraught. He asks if he has recently been exposed to high levels of radiation or magnetism. He says that some people coming or going on the island can get confused. Juliet asks if it is amnesia. “No, this is not amnesia,” Daniel says.

Desmond goes to the guy at the bed. “I was just on a ferris wheel,” he says. A doctor walks in. “See, Ray, I’m not crazy,” the guy says. The doctor shoots the guy on the bed with something and he drifts off.

“And how are you feeling?” the doctor says as Desmond begins yelling. The doctor wants to check his eyes, so he can help him. As he starts to ask Desmond the last thing he can remember, Desmond finds himself back at the barracks.

Off the Island:
Desmond looks around. He grabs his quarter and makes his phone call to Penny. He tells her that he’s in trouble. “I think something has happened to me. I’m confused,” he says. She says that he ran off and joined the army. She’s rather angry.

He asks if he can come and see her but she says no. “Please, stop calling me,” she says.

On the Island:
The doctor asks if he just went somewhere. Lapidus and Sayid walk in. Lapidus hands Desmond the phone so that he can talk to Daniel. Daniel tries to explain to him. “What year do you think it is?” Daniel asks. “It’s 1996,” Desmond says. Daniel asks where he is supposed to be. “When it happens again, get on a train and go to Oxford, Queens College, physics department,” Daniel says. “I need you to find me.”

Daniel searches through his bag to find his journal. He says that it is a random effect, sometimes it splits a couple of hours, sometimes a couple of years. Jack asks if this has happened before. Daniel tells Desmond what to tell him when he meets up with him, giving him coordinates and saying to mention that he knows about Eloise. Desmond writes it on his hand.

Off the Island:
Desmond hangs up the phone. There is nothing on his hand.

Desmond walks through the University until he finds a long-haired Daniel. He mentions that he’s from the future and that Daniel can help him. Daniel thinks it is a prank. “So uninspired,” he says. Desmond tells him to set his device to specific coordinates and oscillation. “I know about Eloise,” Desmond says. Daniel leads him into a lab. He dons a vest to avoid the radiation. Desmond asks what protects his head and Daniel just sort of laughs it off! Daniel takes a mouse out of a cage. “This is Eloise,” he says. He puts her in a maze and turns on a light. “She’s not back yet,” Daniel says. Then she’s back. He releases her into the maze and she races through. “It worked!” he shouts. Desmond asks why it is so incredible. “What’s so incredible is that I created the maze this morning,” Daniel says. “I’m not going to teach her how to run it until an hour from now.”

“You sent her to the future?” Desmond asks. “Her consciousness … her mind,” Daniel says. “So how does that help me?” Desmond asks. “You? Weren’t you sent back to help me?” Daniel asks.

On the Island:
The freighter boys argue with Lapidus and Sayid. Sayid gets locked in with Desmond. “Desmond?” the guy asks. “You’re Desmond?”

He explains that he is George McKowski, the communications officer. “Before I was strapped down here, all the calls came through me.” And every so often he would get an incoming call. “We were on strict orders never to answer it. They came from your girlfriend, Penelope Witmore.”

Off the Island:
Desmond sits as Daniel writes on the board. “Off almost 75 minutes,” Daniel says. Desmond says he was gone for about five minutes. He looks over and Eloise is dead. “How?” Desmond asks. Daniel says he doesn’t know and he’ll do an autopsy later. And he doesn’t know if Desmond will die either. He says that Eloise didn’t have an anchor, something to keep her in both places. Daniel tells him that in order to stop this from happening, he needs to find something in the future that he really really cares about, that also exists back here in 1996.

“This constant, can it be a person?” Desmond asks. Daniel says yes, but he needs to make contact. Desmond starts to make a phone call…

On the Island:
Desmond looks around. “I need to call Penny,” Desmond says. He tells Sayid that he needs help. “Two days ago someone sabotaged all the equipment,” McKowski says. Sayid and Desmond help him get up so that he can assist in fixing them. Desmond hands him a tissue because his nose is bleeding.

Off the Island:
Desmond is in a stairwell. Some time later … there’s an auction regarding a journal from the first mate of the Black Rock, a ship that was lost at sea. The seller is Henso. Desmond strolls in and approaches Charles Witmore as he bids on the journal. Desmond asks for a word. “I need to get in touch with Penny,” Desmond says. Charles assumes that he wants a second chance. He gives Desmond her address.

Desmond goes to the sink and turns it off.

On the Island:
“I know, it’s getting harder.” McKowski says. It starts happening faster. It happened to his crewmate and he’s now in a body bag. He then drops on the table.

Sayid begins fixing the machinery and asks Desmond if he remembers the number. “It’s 2004,” Desmond says ashe looks at a calendar. Desmond’s nose begins bleeding. McKowski trembles and says he can’t get back. He then dies.

“What happened to him?” Sayid asks. “The same thing that’s going to happen to me,” Desmond says.

Off the Island:
Desmond wakes up, lying on the ground of the restroom. He stares in the mirror before heading over to Penny’s. He knocks on the door. She answers the door. “What are you doing here?” she asks. “I’m trying to make a clean break from you.”

Desmond asks for a moment and says that he made a mistake. “I need to tell you something, I need you to listen to me,” he says. She tells him to say what he needs to say and then go. He tells her that eight years from now I need to call you. He says he won’t call her for eight years. December 24, 2004. “I promise,” he says.

She gives him the number and he makes her promise not to change the number.

On the Island:
Desmond remembers the number. He repeats it as Sayid fixes the equipment. Desmond calls. The phone rings…

Off the Island:
Desmond walks away and turns as Penny pulls the curtains shut on her window.

On the Island:
The phone picks up. “Hello?” she says. “Desmond?” “You answered Penny!” Desmond says. “Des, where are you?” Penny asks. “I’m on a boat. I’ve been on an island. Is that really you?”

“You believe me. You still care about me.” Desmond says.

She says she’s been searching for him for three years. She knows about the island.

The phone starts to have static.

“When I spoke to your friend Charlie I knew you were still alive,” she says.

“I love you Penny, I’ve always loved you,” he says.

Penny says, “I love you too.”

The phone dies. Desmond turns to Sayid and says Thank You.

“Are you all right now?” Sayid asks.

Daniel looks through his journal. He finds a page that says “If anything goes wrong, Desmond Hume will be my constant.”