"Forever And A Day, Part 2"

Episode 322
(aired the week of 5/17/1999)
Case # 29-8321

Log line: The O.S.I.R. team members work on a secret project -- they must find and exorcise a demon - named The Chairman - whose identity has remained a mystery to the team for years. They believe The Chairman to be an evil, immortal being who controls a series of interlocking companies, including Veritec, Tessler Industries and the O.S.I.R.

Synopsis: Michael Kelly and Donner continue their discussion, with Kelly explaining the OSIR needs to exorcise its own demon - namely The Chairman - the identity of whom has remained a mystery to the team. After the two are joined by Praeger, Kelly produces a series of photos of the man he believes to be The Chairman. While the pictures were taken over the past hundred years, the image of the man hasn't changed at all. Kelly suggests that The Chairman is this evil, immortal being who controls a series of interlocking companies, including Veritec, Tessler Industries and the OSIR. Although skeptical, Praeger decides to investigate Kelly's claim.

Praeger is visited by Axon, who's been working on a secret project for Elsinger that, as Axon tells Praeger, seems to have special and very personal significance for Elsinger. In fact, Elsinger is so concerned that the work be completed quickly, he assigns Rollins to provide security for Axon as he finishes the project.

Rollins meets with Praeger and tells him the secret project involves mapping out an anonymous individual's genetic code. They are joined by another OSIR case manager, Jane Halliwell, whose team has been studying progeria, the same age-causing disease that killed Michael Byrne, the 12-year-old who had been used in Elsinger's recent psychic-healing experiment. Rollins tells Praeger that the genetic code of the subject in Axon's research is a close match to that of Michael Byrne.

Tracing the drugs that had been prescribed to young Michael, Hendricks learns that the boy had been kept at St. Beatrice's Hospital. Meanwhile, Davison compares DNA found on the bed sheets where the boy died with data provided by Axon about the individual whose genetic code he has been mapping. Davison concludes that Axon's subject and Michael were father and son.

Elsinger shuts down the OSIR central lab, sealing Hendricks inside with Axon and asking the doctor to help Axon complete the project. Donner and Praeger, meanwhile, break into the basement of St. Beatrice, where Donner hacks into the mainframe of the hospital computer. She is able to learn the identity of Michael's father. He is Francis Xavier Byrne. Returning to the OSIR field lab, they find a picture of Byrne in Veritec's annual report. He is the same man who was in Kelly's photos. He is indeed The Chairman, and he is immortal.

Back at the central lab, Hendricks gets a firsthand look at Axon's work and learns his colleague is experimenting with gene splicing, trying to come up with a cure for progeria by creating a replacement gene that could be injected into a patient suffering from the disease. If successful, Axon's new drug would not only cure progeria but would be the first step in artificially creating immortality. Elsinger attains some vials of the untested substance developed by Axon, then sneaks into Axon's office and deletes the scientist's research files from his computer.

Byrne goes to Praeger and Donner, demanding they find Elsinger and the vials. Hendricks' research reveals that while Byrne has lived an extremely long life, his metabolism is beginning to slow down. In fact, the doctor estimates that Byrne will be dead in a few months.

While the new drug is too late to save his son, Byrne believes there is a chance it will save him and, in desperation, takes Praeger hostage in order to force Elsinger to return and give him the cure. His plan works. Elsinger and the team go to St. Beatrice's, where Byrne is holding Praeger in his private office. Elsinger provides Byrne with the vial and a syringe. Thinking it will cure him, Byrne gives himself an injection and undergoes a horrific transformation, literally growing hundreds of years old in just a few seconds. He falls to the floor, dead. Axon accuses Elsinger of knowing that the injection would kill Bryne. Because the genetic deviations that made Byrne stay young while his son grew old were the opposite of each other, Axon's drug would logically be a cure for one but a poison to the other. Elsinger refuses to deny or admit to the accusation.

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:
Maurice Dean Wint - Curtis Rollins
Leigh Lewis - Jane Halliwell
Alex House - Michael Byrne
Michael Moriarty - Michael Kelly

Written by: James Nadler
Directed by: Stephen Williams