ACT III

Six months later, Andy is living in a grand mansion on Riverside Drive. Benson, the butler from Mississippi, has come to New York to take care of him. The Skin is on the wall of his dressing room with its outline on a white napkin so Andy can monitor its size. Benson shields Andy from visitors, but Prof Shih visits and asks for a favor. When Andy grants it automatically, the Skin contracts before his eyes. “Get out!” he yells at the professor. He is furious, but is more angry with himself than with Prof Shih. “My life! My life!” he moans. Later, Andy goes to the opera in his Silver Shadow and sees the Dealer in the foyer. The Dealer has dyed his hair and rouged his cheeks in an effort to look young. He is accompanied by Olympia, one of the courtesans from the closing dinner. He looks grotesque but is in love. Andy’s wish for him has come true. “I have you to thank. You have made me a happy man,” he tells Andy. Rose arrives and sits in the box across the opera hall from Andy. She is at the height of her popularity. She basks in the Crowd's attention. Rose’s Vanity Meter stalls when a Mystery Woman arrives in the box next to Andy, and the Crowd is drawn to the new arrival. When the opera begins, Andy watches through an opera glass that turns the stage and the singers into fractal images, in order not to see anything that might inflame his desire. But he cannot ignore the Woman next to him. Her perfume is intoxicating. Her hat grazes his cheek. He finally turns around and sees… Pauline. Pauline has grown up and looks absolutely beautiful in her evening gown. She tells Andy to meet her the next day and rushes away. Andy is smitten and asks the Skin to make Pauline love him. When the Skin does not shrink, it dawns on him: Pauline already loves him, and always did. When he arrives in Brooklyn the next morning, the boardinghouse is empty. He learns that Claudia has won the lottery and moved away. But Pauline is waiting for him on the top floor, playing a baby grand piano in his old room. They profess their love for one another and make love for the first time. Pauline moves into Andy’s mansion. For a time, they are blissfully happy, and Pauline designs their wedding invitation. But the Skin inexorably contracts, and Andy becomes ill. His love for Pauline is literally killing him. When he sends it back to the Dealer, the Dealer refuses to accept it. “It has to stay in the family,” he says. Andy tells Pauline to leave his house in order to save himself, and consults the scientists at the Academy. They are unable to help him. The doctors believe his symptoms are psychosomatic. But X-rays reveal the sensor that Rose injected into his neck after seducing him, and the doctors remove it. Andy realizes that Brett and Larry have used it to track his movements. On doctors’ orders, Andy travels to Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies, hoping to clear his lungs and become one with nature. Exactly one year later, the Trojan Horse that he inserted in the code is activated. Fiesta crashes, taking the stock market down with it. Brett and Larry arrive at the hotel where he is staying and threaten Andy. He pretends to restore Fiesta as a gesture of good will, but instead writes code to make Roxy the name of the platform again. Before leaving, Andy also attaches sensors to the shirt collars of Brett and Larry, so their incriminating conversation is broadcast to the world during the next concert. Brett and Larry are promptly arrested. Pauline writes to tell Andy that she is pregnant. But Andy has almost used up his quota of life. When he returns to New York, the Skin is no larger than an oak leaf. He falls into Pauline's arms and tells her, "My only wish is for you to be happy."