- Cole goes before a panel of psychiatrists—who are sitting in a manner very reminiscent of the Scientists—to explain that he is not crazy.
- He tells them his story to prove it. It goes a little something like this: five billion people will die from an unknown virus in 1997.
- The virus will be released by an organization called the Army of the 12 Monkeys.
- He was sent back in time to gather information to help people in the present trace the path of the virus.
- He can't save the world from its fate, as this already happened. He can help only the people of the future.
- As you can imagine, this doesn't convince the psychiatrists that he's sane.
- Cole requests to make a telephone call to the Scientists to inform them that he was sent to the wrong time.
- The telephone call goes to the most overworked mother in the history of overworked mothers. That lady doesn't need a spa day—she needs a spa month!
- Cole realizes that, because it's 1990, the phone number doesn't connect to the proper machine yet.