"Old Wounds"

Episode 315
(aired the week of 2/20/1999)
Case # 39-2101

Log line: The O.S.I.R. is baffled by a woman who was wounded while playing a virtual-reality war game. It turns out she was suppressing painful memories that are somehow causing her old scars to re-open.

Synopsis: Tessler Industries, a video-game giant, is testing one of its new virtual-reality war games at the OSIR Central Lab. Elsinger watches as Tessler researchers Adia Carling and Victor Granger begin to do virtual battle. Suddenly, Adia is knocked to the floor with a very real head wound. Elsinger calls for Praeger and his team to investigate.

While Hendricks bandages Adia's wound, Axon examines the special suit the woman had been wearing, one containing hundreds of electromagnetic sensors to monitor the player's movement and allow her to interact with the computer game. Axon determines that the outfit posed no threat to Adia's safety. He suggests that perhaps the game triggered some kind of latent paranormal ability in Adia.

Praeger watches as Hendricks performs a follow-up examination of Adia. As he attaches sensors to her head and wrists to monitor any unusual electromagnetic patterns or brain-wave activity, Hendricks notices a severe scar on her left arm. She becomes upset and rips the sensors off as well as the bandage on her head. After they manage to calm her, Praeger and Hendricks stare in disbelief. Adia's head wound has healed completely.

The next day, Hendricks informs Praeger that Adia's head wound wasn't new. The scar tissue that remained after the wound healed was old. The woman also has old scars on her wrists and her left forearm. Hendricks suspects that the game may somehow be re-opening these old wounds. To verify this, Praeger and Axon decide to re-create the game during which Adia was hurt.

Lindsay Donner asks Adia about the old scars. Adia tells her she had been injured in a car accident. Donner also learns that Adia was born and raised in China before attending university in Hong Kong, where she met and fell in love with Victor. Although she is still shaken from the mishap in the testing lab, Adia agrees to participate in Praeger and Axon's re-creation.

Adia is again hurt while playing the game. This time, a bullet wound appears in her shoulder. As Hendricks struggles to stop the bleeding, Adia heals herself. Hendricks again follows up with a medical examination, during which he finally wins Adia's trust. She tells him that her real name is Ning Lee.

Donner does a background check on Ning Lee and discovers that she is an illegal immigrant who was denied sanctuary as a political refugee because of a lack of proof that she would be in peril if she returned to China. She also learns that Ning Lee had been imprisoned in Hunan before escaping and making her way to Hong Kong.

Adia is leaving the OSIR Central Lab when she is intercepted by immigration officers who take her into custody. Praeger tries to stop her from being taken away and is arrested by the senior officer, Ted Harman. Both Adia and Praeger are detained at a motel, with Praeger being released following a check of his credentials. He remains on the scene, where he is joined by Elsinger.

Harman is interrogating Adia when her wrists suddenly begin to bleed. Praeger and Elsinger call for Hendricks, who arrives to take care of Adia. Hendricks suggests that perhaps Ning Lee has suppressed painful memories that are somehow causing her old scars to re-open. He wants to hypnotize her to allow her to confront these memories. Harman agrees to let the OSIR team take Adia back to their lab for the hypnosis--as long as he is permitted to observe.

The hypnosis works. Adia is taken back four years, when she was an 18-year-old student caught up in the violence of the Tiananmen Square rioting. She received a blow to the head and was shot in the shoulder before being taken into custody. As before, those old wounds re-open but, with Hendricks' prompting, she is able to heal them. Adia then relives her time in prison, where she was tortured by a guard wanting information about the riot's organizers. The guard set fire to her blouse. Back at the lab, the sleeve of Adia's blouse bursts into flames, which Hendricks quickly smothers. Adia is unharmed. She has successfully confronted her memories. After seeing Adia relive the horrors of the prison from which she escaped, Harman decides to support her claim for sanctuary.

Starring:
Matt Frewer - Case Manager Matt Praeger
Barclay Hope - Peter Axon
Nancy Anne Sakovich - Lindsay Donner
Colin Fox - Dr. Anton Hendricks
Dan Aykroyd - Host

Guest Stars:
Marie V. Cruz - Adia Carling
Scott McCord - Victor Granger
Stewart Arnott - Ted Harman

Written by: Jim Purdy and Paula Smith
Story: Jim Purdy
Directed by: Luc Chalifour