Manhattan (2014–2015): Season 1, Episode 6 - Acceptable Limits - full transcript
Frank seeks medical answers. Charlie and Helen travel to survey an off-site reactor.
Previously on Manhattan...
Behold, gentlemen,
150 micrograms
of Plutonium-239.
This sample is at Dr. Akley's disposal.
I got keys to the lab. I can let you in.
Really?
What the hell is going on in here?
You conned me into
giving you the plutonium.
I got Frank Winter
an outside line today.
He said that you took
work from other scientists
and published it as your own.
That's bullshit, Abby.
They're all whores?
You whiz kids. Always in your heads.
You deserve some fun every once in a while.
As long as you're paid up...
This chrysanthemum,
it's supposed to be white.
My honey bees are dead.
All of them.
Ripped By mstoll
Guten Morgen, Dr. Heisenberg.
She's very well-read.
You should see the stack of books
by her cot. Tolstoy, Voltaire.
What progress have you made
with plutonium alloys for shaping?
Aluminum reacts with the alpha particles,
but, um, gallium is a real possibility.
But Jeannie's favorite is Charles Dickens.
Now, I think it's because she's an orphan.
Isn't that sad?
Did you find the melting point?
It's somewhere in the range of 900 kelvin.
How did you know
that Mrs. Winter was the girl for you?
Was it a eureka
like Einstein discovering special relativity?
That took Albert a couple of years.
- Okay, but with Jeannie...
- Look, if we want more plutonium,
we have to prove that we know what we're
doing with this miniscule amount we have.
X-10 Reactor goes critical this week.
By Christmas, they're gonna be
pumping out plutonium.
So I don't need possibilities, Fritz.
I don't need ranges.
I need real data.
Thought we only got
poked and prodded once a month.
See more of you
than I do my wife these days.
Something wrong
with my last urine collection?
Fit as a bull moose, Mr. Isaacs.
Just establishing your baseline
before your big trip.
What trip?
We're not shipping you off
to Guadalcanal. This is a good thing.
Gerald, give us a moment.
Forgive the cloak and dagger,
but the Army can't have functioning
nuclear reactor on its travel bulletin.
The reactor's gone critical.
We're about to have
our very own plutonium factory.
If our colleagues don't wipe
the Confederate States
off the face of the Earth.
You leave for Tennessee tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow morning?
It's just...
Um...
- What?
- I've never flown in a plane before.
And...
Honestly, um...
I get queasy
when I'm too high up at Fenway Park.
Charlie,
for weeks you've been sitting at your desk
hoping I wouldn't notice you eyeing
the clock like a high school senior.
Look, I know you have
certain reservations about the project.
But in less than 72 hours, the world's
second nuclear reactor is going to go hot.
Now, you want to sit
in the nosebleed seats of history?
Or do you want to sit in the dugout?
So it's our second anniversary
and there is Frank cradling
this unwrapped brown box
like it is the Ark of the Covenant.
He never remembers our anniversary.
And inside the box is a rabbit.
Now, Frank tells me
it is a symbol of our marriage.
Something about a spirit of curiosity
and a keen mating instinct.
Okay.
Anyway, a week later,
this rabbit is covered in sores
and it's banging its head
against the side of the cage.
And the next thing I know,
the rabbit is dead.
Well, I hope you gave the breeder
a piece of your mind.
Breeder?
Frank stole the rabbit
from the natural sciences lab.
But he failed to notice the poor creature
was in an infectious diseases study.
Treponema cuniculi.
Oh, you gave your wife syphilis. That's nice.
Never
was very good at biology.
He has other qualities to redeem him.
The only cook in the house.
Beef bourguignon.
Salt recklessly.
Oh, shoot.
Well, isn't this romantic?
Oh, Helen.
Oh.
- You're done?
- Yeah.
Ch.
Oh, God.
- Okay.
- Oh, God.
Oh, what's this?
They're playing Casablanca at the theater.
Or we could just talk?
What do you want to talk about?
Um...
Did you do good science today?
You know what, Corporal?
I have an early morning.
Why don't you take me home?
Or no, drop me off at the PX.
You haven't told anyone about this,
have you?
That I'm dating a genius?
We're not dating.
Abby.
- Hey.
- Hello.
What are you doing?
I lied.
I told you I read your paper.
I picked it up about 10 times last year,
but I never got past the first paragraph.
Now I want to finish.
Why?
This part about bending light waves,
is that like a prism? We had one at school.
- Abby.
- Mmm.
Put it away.
What?
You ever gonna let it go?
I... I just wanted to read it.
This is about Frank Winter.
Ever since you got that call,
you haven't looked at me the same.
That's ridiculous.
I didn't go to Milton Academy
like your father.
I don't have a trust fund.
Guess that means
I cheated my way in, right?
You are the only person I know
who thinks a decent upbringing
is something to be ashamed of.
Where's my suitcase?
Why?
I have to go on a trip tomorrow.
I don't know when I'll be back.
You'll have lots of time
to catch up on your reading.
I am going to prove
that it was army pesticides
and then I'm going to take it
to the town council.
The combined IQ of the town
council is probably half of yours.
Come to the meeting with me Saturday,
won't you?
Frank refuses.
Well, if you two are done
conspiring, I think we should get back.
But there is one more
little thing before you go.
You know, the Nazis say they cause cancer.
Actually, it's a little bigger than this.
I need a contrast microscope if I'm gonna
shore up my case against the Army.
Do you think you could smuggle
one out of the lab for me?
I wish we could.
Roosevelt
couldn't get his wheelchair
out of the tech area
without the Army's say-so.
Thank you, my dear.
- Good night.
- Good night.
Make clear all areas
on grid designation six through nine.
Make clear all areas on grid designation...
Jeannie.
Um... I waited all night for you to knock.
Oh, I'm so sorry.
I've been chained to my desk.
But I have been driving the warden crazy
talking about you.
I cut it into triangles the way you like
in case you don't make it to breakfast.
You made me a PB&J?
Mmm.
It's $2.50.
For the sandwich?
For last night.
I'm sorry.
I have a 24-hour cancellation policy.
Sure, sure.
Bye.
What the... No, no, no, no, no.
You'll be traveling
under an assumed name.
Yes, sir.
The workers at Site X barely know
what they're making down there
much less what it's used for.
Let's take a look under the hood
and make sure we're not blowing
a 20-kiloton gasket.
They must have a team of experts
making sure that won't happen.
Well, let's just say the Army
is more concerned with secrecy
than they are with something
as trivial as public safety.
Nothing goes forward without
your say-so down there, Charlie.
I thought you said
I was the only man for the job.
You are.
Occasionally we have to
throw implosion a bone
to keep them from chewing
through their leashes.
- Sir.
- Have a good trip.
Thank you.
You be careful at the airport.
You know, there are thieves everywhere.
Charlie, you want to get these?
My father was knighted by King George
and yet Frank sends
a little Dutch girl to Site X.
Well, Helen's got more degrees
than a thermometer.
You are just jealous.
Close the door. We could lose it in the wind.
Looks like you've already lost it, Louis.
I was reducing the metal and there was
an unexpected reaction.
We're missing 24 micrograms.
Of plutonium?
You've misplaced a million dollars
worth of Pu-239?
The Snoop's going haywire,
but I swiped the floor clean
and the oil paper's good.
We'll find it.
Plutonium doesn’t just evaporate.
Our careers will
when Oppenheimer gets wind of this.
Okay.
Mine's not making a sound.
Nope, nor mine.
This one must be busted.
It beeps everywhere I look,
but nothing shows up under the scope.
- Here, let me see it.
- Yeah.
We need a medic.
You moving to Tennessee?
I packed less when I left for Harvard.
That word rolls so easy off your tongue.
"Can you pass the sugar?
I went to Harvard."
How many pairs of clogs do you need?
By the way, I found a problem
with your little space paper.
The word is affect, not effect.
A typo on page six.
Embarrassing.
Hello.
Tickets, please.
Yeah.
Mr. and Mrs. Donaldson.
That's us.
Right, honey pie?
Must be quite the big shot
to fly your wife to the Smoky Mountains.
Oh, actually, I've been supporting Billy
since his hunting accident.
It doesn't matter to me
that he can't hold down a job
or have children.
Double the saline bolus.
Siphon in 10-mil increments.
Hypernatremia measurements,
cue, two minutes.
Mr. Fedowitz. You're awake.
Did you vomit in the other room?
- I think I'm okay.
- But did you vomit again?
Don't worry. I got it all in the garbage.
Nurse, go retrieve the bin.
Mr. Fedowitz, you swallowed
a significant quantity of plutonium.
Priority is to retrieve
every microgram from your stomach.
A man of your expertise,
surely you know how to separate
heavy metals from organic matter.
Here you go, ma'am.
Sprinkle this baby on your windowsill
and those termites of yours
will be gone in a New Mexico minute.
This is what the Army uses as pesticide?
DDT?
Uncle Sam sprays it
on our cots, our clothes,
even our dinner plates.
And the kids love it, too.
Adiós, head lice.
Do you know what happens
to a mosquito exposed to organochlorides?
Sodium channels blow open
the sensory nerves.
The insect has a seizure and then
bleeds internally until the organs fail.
Hmm.
Good thing we're not mosquitos, right?
Right.
Or bees.
Frank is going to kill me. Or worse.
Hey, keep your head high.
It'll give his blade a clear path to your neck.
- Less painful that way.
- Maybe we don't tell him.
You know, just say that you're
still working on the alloy experiments.
That'll buy us enough time to...
Is this a lab or a wax museum?
Uh...
Just trying to win a war.
- Once more unto the breach.
- What happened?
There was a rapid vapor expansion
of the Pu-239
and I swallowed some.
Jesus, Fritz. How much?
All Of it.
All right, you two, get out.
Look, I already separated four micrograms.
I'll get the rest with dilution and recapture.
I swear on my father's grave.
I mean, actually, he was cremated, but...
What did they say at the clinic?
That they are confident
that we can get it all back.
You swallowed a radioactive isotope.
What did the doctor prescribe?
Aspirin and a case of beer.
I'm supposed to drink it
and then I collect all my urine.
How do you feel?
What? Um...
I guess I'm a little buzzed from the beer.
Why, should I be worried?
He's within the acceptable limits.
I followed the Q-9 medical directive
to the letter.
Who wrote the Q-9 directive?
That's classified.
Show me the study it's based on.
Fedowitz's urine and blood samples
have been sent via post to the project's
radiation expert for more testing.
Do you know the speed
at which plutonium emits alpha particles?
One-twentieth the speed of light.
Do you know its biological half-life?
- Well, I am sure...
- Two hundred years.
Longer than the United States
has been a country.
So why don't pick up the phone
and call the medical director for the project
and get him down here to examine...
I don't need the director.
I've been given the authority
to handle all health-related matters
on this hill.
Had you even heard the word plutonium
before you washed up on this base?
What did you do your residency in, Doctor?
- Obstetrics.
- Oh.
Yet you felt confident treating a man
who swallowed a quarter
of the world's supply
of Pu-239 with a case of beer.
Get me the War Department.
Welcome to our humble abode.
Fifty thousand acres
using 10% of the nation's electricity,
and it doesn't exist on any map.
We got three schools, two movie theaters.
We import 30,000 pounds
of mayonnaise a month.
You know how many sandwiches that is?
Mr. Ellis, how much product do you think
you'll turn out by the end of the year?
And, of course, our most precious resource,
these talented young ladies.
Most of them came straight
from high school to serve their nation.
Pretty little patriots, aren't they?
What's the evacuation protocol
in case of radiologic accident?
Expect they can find the front door.
We received the War Department's
R-23 directive a month ago.
I put it on your desk.
And I'm sure I told you to circulate
the directive to the girls, Theodore.
We've been a little busy
preparing for tomorrow's festivities.
So, are you excited
to make your mark in history?
Actually, I'm going to load
the last uranium rod.
I have no doubt you know how
to work a rod, young lady,
but instructions are that Mr. Donaldson
is to initiate the reaction.
We'll see about that.
Of course, you can hand off
the honors to your lovely wife.
Or whoever she is.
As soon as we get back home,
Mrs. Donaldson and I are filing for divorce.
Meet the X-10 Reactor.
Six hundred thousand pounds of graphite.
She's dressed and ready for her cotillion.
- All reactors should be female.
- Mmm.
This is Bill Tupper, our operations chief.
How are you?
In 12 hours, she'll start spinning
uranium straw into plutonium gold.
No, she won't.
The reactor's not going critical tomorrow.
Ah, Jews are born pessimists.
That's why I'm loading the last rod.
No one's loading anything until we tour
the whole facility, make sure it's safe.
We have 140 buildings.
You'll be here till Easter.
We have technical schematics
you could look at.
Theodore.
They diagram
every vulnerability on the site.
More comprehensive than any physical tour.
Safety's a priority, but the Army's deadlines
are gospel around here.
You're here to grease the wheels,
not gum up the works.
What I'm here to do is make sure
you don't set the atmosphere on fire.
He's overreacting. It's just a formality.
Look, I understand you've been
sent down here by some high mucky-muck.
That mucky-muck hired the guy
who hired the guy who hired your boss.
His name is Robert Oppenheimer.
Let's see those schematics.
First you
swallow our plutonium
Now you're going to piss it all away
Jeannie helped me collect
three liters of urine.
A good woman is hard to find.
Oh, by the way, could one of you guys
front me five bucks?
What, are you taking her out as a thank-you?
No, he's paying her for sex.
You are?
Thank you.
Well, no, not exactly.
We haven't really gone all the way yet.
So you're paying her
to not have sex with you?
Fritz, you do know most women
would probably do that for free?
All girls cost money.
You buy them dinner, drinks.
With Jeannie, there's none of that.
Just a flat fee.
I phoned Berkeley, Chicago, Manhattan.
They passed me
to a different doctor every time.
You don't even know the name
of your own goddamn boss.
The post office handles
the blood and urine samples.
We're only supposed to get a response
from his team if there's a problem.
- There's never been one before.
- Jesus Christ.
Compartmentalization.
They've never even shown me an org chart.
Army doesn't want anyone knowing
who's in charge.
There's an administrator in New York
who supposedly has the org chart
and the name of the ranking doctor.
- Well, who's he?
- His ID is 482.
- I've left him three messages.
- Give me his number.
This line needs to stay free for emergencies.
What exactly do you think this is?
Hi, Abby.
Hello.
Picking up Callie from school?
- Please, she'd die if she saw me here.
- Oh.
Just stealing a microscope
from the best equipped elementary school
science room in the country.
- Mum's the word.
- I didn't see anything.
Frank tells me that you're
spending your days in switchboard.
Oh, it's only part-time.
Better than no time, trust me.
It's nice to have something to distract you
while your husband's gone.
Oh, did Frank go, too?
No, I just saw Charlie
this morning at the gate.
With Helen Prins and a mountain of luggage.
Off on some top-secret mission,
I presume.
Who is Helen Prins?
Uranium-235 is highly unstable.
Store too much in one place,
you can set off a chain reaction.
Which is why we split it up
so there's never more
than 12 kilograms in any given building.
This isn't rocket science.
So how do you transport it?
Uranium enters the reactor
through this valve
at a rate of 24 milligrams per second.
What if a valve fails?
If uranium accumulates
in the pipes, you could...
All the valves are redundant,
like this conversation.
Plant's designed
so that if any one valve gets clogged,
another one comes to the rescue.
What about this one?
There's no redundancy there.
That's not a valve. That's a window.
You've got a busy day, Mr. Ellis.
If it would be helpful,
I can walk our guests through the plants.
Compartmentalization, Theodore.
I don't think Washington would like that.
But I could use some coffee.
This is where the separation takes place?
- The calutron starts here.
- Uh-huh.
When I get dismissed by a group of men,
it usually means they're afraid
of what I'm about to say.
It's Mrs. Donaldson, correct?
This isn't the Underground Railroad.
I don't need a woman
to rescue me from the white man.
I'm not here to rescue anyone.
But no one else in that room
gives a shit what you think.
Green water.
Clear vats 14 and 15 from building 90-207.
They're, what,
eight and a half feet from 206?
Who the hell drew these?
Some third-rate architect
from the Corps of Engineers?
- What are you, a draftsman?
- Draftswoman.
This rendering is off by six inches.
Add up 206, 207, and 208
and we're still under the safety limits.
Yeah, for fast neutrons.
But we're talking about green water.
Green water?
Uranium dissolved in liquid form.
The neutrons slow down
and become 100 times more effective.
- So what?
- A hundred times more fissionable.
All these buildings will go up in smoke.
You need to clear every one of them.
Four thousand vats spread over 100 acres?
- It'll take a week.
- I need a word alone.
Don't look at me.
You heard my wife.
Medical Division.
Get your boss on the phone now.
This is number G-11.
Eleven? One moment, please.
I'll get him right away.
G-11?
Didn't know they even
made ID numbers that low.
I understand you've got yourself a situation.
You need to talk to
the project radiation chief.
- Well, who is he?
- Never spoken to him myself,
but I know all the urine
and blood samples go to his lab for testing.
He sets the acceptable limits.
ID number is...
B-379.
Fine, have your girl put me through.
Marge.
Health Division.
IS this B-379?
Dr. Winter?
It doesn't make any sense.
What exactly did he say?
That you were receiving shipments
and that you set the acceptable limits.
The blood and urine samples
are sent to an outside team.
My assistant drops them
at the post office every Monday.
Have you ever actually seen them
put the samples on the truck?
This must be a misunderstanding.
I have a week's training in radiology.
Why would they put me in charge?
Who hired you?
Alek, we need to talk.
I've made it clear I don't enjoy
being disturbed during my games.
You handpicked the ranking
medical officer on the Hill.
Just as Robert and I handpicked you.
What do you want, Frank?
It's all an illusion, isn't it?
The Geiger measurements,
the urine and blood samples.
What, are you just throwing
away the collections?
Your man Fedowitz
swallowed 24 micrograms of Pu-239.
The toxic dose is 100 to 500 micrograms.
Did you just invent those numbers?
A range of 400 proves you have
no idea what you're talking about.
Radiology is not your field, Frank.
And it's not Dr. Adelman's either.
You intentionally
chose a man who knows nothing
about radiologic risks
to run our medical program.
But you know plenty about radiology,
don't you, Alek?
You spent six years with Marie Curie
at the Pasteur Institute?
Seven, actually.
That woman died blind and anemic.
Her papers had to be quarantined.
She went to her grave
denying that it was because
she had been breathing in
radioactive dust for 40 years.
If the history lesson is over...
Glen Babbit tells me
that Dr. Curie could be very forthcoming
after a few glasses of Bordeaux.
She never let you handle any radium
or polonium, did she, Alek?
Dr. Curie didn't want anyone
to lay claim to her work.
No. No, she let other students
handle ionizing elements.
But she'd already buried a husband
and she wouldn't expose
the young Hungarian physicist
who was in love with her.
Safety standards on the Hill
have been approved by the Secretary of War.
You can address your complaints
to the Pentagon.
No.
No more bureaucrats.
Town council meets tomorrow morning.
People need to know
you're running a Potemkin clinic
and it's all a lie.
Shout plutonium in a crowded theater,
it won't just be your job, Dr. Winter.
You could find yourself in military prison.
Your record is six feet even.
I'll wager you
a half bottle of my secret cologne
you cannot make it to 10.
Secret cologne?
You smell like Marmite, Crosley.
Uh... I'll take the under
for two tickets to next week's movie.
They're playing This is the Army.
Whoa!
Oh!
Jeannie loves Ronald Reagan.
Line it up.
Yay!
Line it up.
- Line it up.
- Line it up.
All right, prepared, are you?
Crosley, these are what
American lungs look like.
Oh
Unbelievable.
Watch out, Ringling Brothers.
Hold it. Hold on, hold on. Hold on, hold on.
Doc, Doc, Doc, Doc.
Hey, how about a taste
of your own medicine?
Uh... Another time.
Oh!
That's the best doc
in the 48 states right there.
Best doc.
I'm gonna need a refill
on my prescription soon, Doc.
I love that guy.
- What's his name?
- I don't know.
I thought you didn't approve.
Of you burning the house down? I don't.
I'm here for your wife.
- Where is she?
- No idea.
Well...
This is gonna be
the best piece of theater
since Oppenheimer
was in Arsenic and Old Lace.
Dr. Winter.
Dr. Barath paid me a visit.
One of Louis Fedowitz's
brother died fighting Rommel.
The other is in the Gilbert Islands,
but Louis is here on your base.
If you cut the sanctimony
for a goddamn minute,
you'll hear me say I agree with you.
Let's take a walk.
I told Army Medical our standard was
unworthy of this installation a month ago.
We're understaffed
and Dr. Adelman's in over his head.
The general shot me down.
Then come back in there with me.
Let's make a united front.
I need you to look at something first.
What is this?
Who the hell is this?
You didn't hear this from me.
Command calls him Magpie.
Could be a disgruntled bureaucrat
from Munich or Hitler's gardener.
Either way, he has credible intelligence
their atomic program
is two months ahead of ours.
How do you know the Germans
didn’t just plant him?
This is Greek to me,
but I'm sure those equations
mean something to you.
Jesus.
They're testing yields.
What?
They're testing a bomb.
They're more than two months ahead of us.
Our history aside, if you go forward,
I'll stand with you in there.
But if we sound the alarm,
it could be weeks until we get back to work.
Meantime, the krauts could get there first,
and none of this makes a bit of difference.
Hello?
You got Prince Albert in a can?
Charlie, we're not allowed
to take personal calls.
Martha checks the phone logs.
So pick an extension.
Patch me through. Take the scenic route.
Where are you?
You tell people not to answer
that question all day long.
I mean, are you working?
I'm at the hotel.
Must be nice.
Whisked away on a vacation.
Someone to fluff your pillows?
Trust me, it's not the Plaza.
You still there?
Yes.
I just, uh...
I wanted to hear your voice.
Hope you're not too lonely,
all by yourself on that business trip.
I should have brought a book.
My son bouncing off the walls?
Actually, Joey has an earache.
He was up crying all night.
- It was very sad.
- Abby, I'm sorry.
Actually, we should go.
We have a doctor's appointment.
Listen, I love you.
Me, too.
Get up.
From now on, I'm the only one
who touches the plutonium.
You obviously can't be trusted
with our limited supply.
Oh, if it isn't the happy honeymooners.
You'll be pleased to hear
we just got a clean bill of health
on the storage room in building nine.
It's a good start.
And we began loading rods an hour ago.
I can see that.
The reactor will be
fully operational within a day.
We gave you a list of 22 major hazards
to resolve before we go critical.
And the Army intends to give your list
the consideration it deserves.
- When?
- Just as soon as we're critical.
Now, if you'll excuse me. I've got
a 300-ton block of graphite to attend to.
- On whose authority?
- General Leslie Groves.
He's the mucky-muck
who hired Robert Oppenheimer.
Rest up.
Tomorrow's a big day for all of us.
Hey.
You didn't go to the town council?
There was no acetylcholinesterase activity.
So pesticides didn't kill the bees
and it wasn't the Army.
Maybe it was a virus?
A parasite?
I ruled out infectious disease.
Well, you'll figure it out.
You always do.
Do you think it can be
something from the tech area?
I know you're working with chemicals and...
What if the runoff
was dumped in Ashley Pond?
Or there was a gas in the air?
The safety and environmental protocols
were vetted by experts.
I read the reports myself.
Frank, a bee colony
doesn’t just collapse on its own.
Well, wasn't the Army.
So it was phantom toxins in the tech area?
You think this is all in my head?
Let's find you some new bees.
Ripped By mstoll
Behold, gentlemen,
150 micrograms
of Plutonium-239.
This sample is at Dr. Akley's disposal.
I got keys to the lab. I can let you in.
Really?
What the hell is going on in here?
You conned me into
giving you the plutonium.
I got Frank Winter
an outside line today.
He said that you took
work from other scientists
and published it as your own.
That's bullshit, Abby.
They're all whores?
You whiz kids. Always in your heads.
You deserve some fun every once in a while.
As long as you're paid up...
This chrysanthemum,
it's supposed to be white.
My honey bees are dead.
All of them.
Ripped By mstoll
Guten Morgen, Dr. Heisenberg.
She's very well-read.
You should see the stack of books
by her cot. Tolstoy, Voltaire.
What progress have you made
with plutonium alloys for shaping?
Aluminum reacts with the alpha particles,
but, um, gallium is a real possibility.
But Jeannie's favorite is Charles Dickens.
Now, I think it's because she's an orphan.
Isn't that sad?
Did you find the melting point?
It's somewhere in the range of 900 kelvin.
How did you know
that Mrs. Winter was the girl for you?
Was it a eureka
like Einstein discovering special relativity?
That took Albert a couple of years.
- Okay, but with Jeannie...
- Look, if we want more plutonium,
we have to prove that we know what we're
doing with this miniscule amount we have.
X-10 Reactor goes critical this week.
By Christmas, they're gonna be
pumping out plutonium.
So I don't need possibilities, Fritz.
I don't need ranges.
I need real data.
Thought we only got
poked and prodded once a month.
See more of you
than I do my wife these days.
Something wrong
with my last urine collection?
Fit as a bull moose, Mr. Isaacs.
Just establishing your baseline
before your big trip.
What trip?
We're not shipping you off
to Guadalcanal. This is a good thing.
Gerald, give us a moment.
Forgive the cloak and dagger,
but the Army can't have functioning
nuclear reactor on its travel bulletin.
The reactor's gone critical.
We're about to have
our very own plutonium factory.
If our colleagues don't wipe
the Confederate States
off the face of the Earth.
You leave for Tennessee tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow morning?
It's just...
Um...
- What?
- I've never flown in a plane before.
And...
Honestly, um...
I get queasy
when I'm too high up at Fenway Park.
Charlie,
for weeks you've been sitting at your desk
hoping I wouldn't notice you eyeing
the clock like a high school senior.
Look, I know you have
certain reservations about the project.
But in less than 72 hours, the world's
second nuclear reactor is going to go hot.
Now, you want to sit
in the nosebleed seats of history?
Or do you want to sit in the dugout?
So it's our second anniversary
and there is Frank cradling
this unwrapped brown box
like it is the Ark of the Covenant.
He never remembers our anniversary.
And inside the box is a rabbit.
Now, Frank tells me
it is a symbol of our marriage.
Something about a spirit of curiosity
and a keen mating instinct.
Okay.
Anyway, a week later,
this rabbit is covered in sores
and it's banging its head
against the side of the cage.
And the next thing I know,
the rabbit is dead.
Well, I hope you gave the breeder
a piece of your mind.
Breeder?
Frank stole the rabbit
from the natural sciences lab.
But he failed to notice the poor creature
was in an infectious diseases study.
Treponema cuniculi.
Oh, you gave your wife syphilis. That's nice.
Never
was very good at biology.
He has other qualities to redeem him.
The only cook in the house.
Beef bourguignon.
Salt recklessly.
Oh, shoot.
Well, isn't this romantic?
Oh, Helen.
Oh.
- You're done?
- Yeah.
Ch.
Oh, God.
- Okay.
- Oh, God.
Oh, what's this?
They're playing Casablanca at the theater.
Or we could just talk?
What do you want to talk about?
Um...
Did you do good science today?
You know what, Corporal?
I have an early morning.
Why don't you take me home?
Or no, drop me off at the PX.
You haven't told anyone about this,
have you?
That I'm dating a genius?
We're not dating.
Abby.
- Hey.
- Hello.
What are you doing?
I lied.
I told you I read your paper.
I picked it up about 10 times last year,
but I never got past the first paragraph.
Now I want to finish.
Why?
This part about bending light waves,
is that like a prism? We had one at school.
- Abby.
- Mmm.
Put it away.
What?
You ever gonna let it go?
I... I just wanted to read it.
This is about Frank Winter.
Ever since you got that call,
you haven't looked at me the same.
That's ridiculous.
I didn't go to Milton Academy
like your father.
I don't have a trust fund.
Guess that means
I cheated my way in, right?
You are the only person I know
who thinks a decent upbringing
is something to be ashamed of.
Where's my suitcase?
Why?
I have to go on a trip tomorrow.
I don't know when I'll be back.
You'll have lots of time
to catch up on your reading.
I am going to prove
that it was army pesticides
and then I'm going to take it
to the town council.
The combined IQ of the town
council is probably half of yours.
Come to the meeting with me Saturday,
won't you?
Frank refuses.
Well, if you two are done
conspiring, I think we should get back.
But there is one more
little thing before you go.
You know, the Nazis say they cause cancer.
Actually, it's a little bigger than this.
I need a contrast microscope if I'm gonna
shore up my case against the Army.
Do you think you could smuggle
one out of the lab for me?
I wish we could.
Roosevelt
couldn't get his wheelchair
out of the tech area
without the Army's say-so.
Thank you, my dear.
- Good night.
- Good night.
Make clear all areas
on grid designation six through nine.
Make clear all areas on grid designation...
Jeannie.
Um... I waited all night for you to knock.
Oh, I'm so sorry.
I've been chained to my desk.
But I have been driving the warden crazy
talking about you.
I cut it into triangles the way you like
in case you don't make it to breakfast.
You made me a PB&J?
Mmm.
It's $2.50.
For the sandwich?
For last night.
I'm sorry.
I have a 24-hour cancellation policy.
Sure, sure.
Bye.
What the... No, no, no, no, no.
You'll be traveling
under an assumed name.
Yes, sir.
The workers at Site X barely know
what they're making down there
much less what it's used for.
Let's take a look under the hood
and make sure we're not blowing
a 20-kiloton gasket.
They must have a team of experts
making sure that won't happen.
Well, let's just say the Army
is more concerned with secrecy
than they are with something
as trivial as public safety.
Nothing goes forward without
your say-so down there, Charlie.
I thought you said
I was the only man for the job.
You are.
Occasionally we have to
throw implosion a bone
to keep them from chewing
through their leashes.
- Sir.
- Have a good trip.
Thank you.
You be careful at the airport.
You know, there are thieves everywhere.
Charlie, you want to get these?
My father was knighted by King George
and yet Frank sends
a little Dutch girl to Site X.
Well, Helen's got more degrees
than a thermometer.
You are just jealous.
Close the door. We could lose it in the wind.
Looks like you've already lost it, Louis.
I was reducing the metal and there was
an unexpected reaction.
We're missing 24 micrograms.
Of plutonium?
You've misplaced a million dollars
worth of Pu-239?
The Snoop's going haywire,
but I swiped the floor clean
and the oil paper's good.
We'll find it.
Plutonium doesn’t just evaporate.
Our careers will
when Oppenheimer gets wind of this.
Okay.
Mine's not making a sound.
Nope, nor mine.
This one must be busted.
It beeps everywhere I look,
but nothing shows up under the scope.
- Here, let me see it.
- Yeah.
We need a medic.
You moving to Tennessee?
I packed less when I left for Harvard.
That word rolls so easy off your tongue.
"Can you pass the sugar?
I went to Harvard."
How many pairs of clogs do you need?
By the way, I found a problem
with your little space paper.
The word is affect, not effect.
A typo on page six.
Embarrassing.
Hello.
Tickets, please.
Yeah.
Mr. and Mrs. Donaldson.
That's us.
Right, honey pie?
Must be quite the big shot
to fly your wife to the Smoky Mountains.
Oh, actually, I've been supporting Billy
since his hunting accident.
It doesn't matter to me
that he can't hold down a job
or have children.
Double the saline bolus.
Siphon in 10-mil increments.
Hypernatremia measurements,
cue, two minutes.
Mr. Fedowitz. You're awake.
Did you vomit in the other room?
- I think I'm okay.
- But did you vomit again?
Don't worry. I got it all in the garbage.
Nurse, go retrieve the bin.
Mr. Fedowitz, you swallowed
a significant quantity of plutonium.
Priority is to retrieve
every microgram from your stomach.
A man of your expertise,
surely you know how to separate
heavy metals from organic matter.
Here you go, ma'am.
Sprinkle this baby on your windowsill
and those termites of yours
will be gone in a New Mexico minute.
This is what the Army uses as pesticide?
DDT?
Uncle Sam sprays it
on our cots, our clothes,
even our dinner plates.
And the kids love it, too.
Adiós, head lice.
Do you know what happens
to a mosquito exposed to organochlorides?
Sodium channels blow open
the sensory nerves.
The insect has a seizure and then
bleeds internally until the organs fail.
Hmm.
Good thing we're not mosquitos, right?
Right.
Or bees.
Frank is going to kill me. Or worse.
Hey, keep your head high.
It'll give his blade a clear path to your neck.
- Less painful that way.
- Maybe we don't tell him.
You know, just say that you're
still working on the alloy experiments.
That'll buy us enough time to...
Is this a lab or a wax museum?
Uh...
Just trying to win a war.
- Once more unto the breach.
- What happened?
There was a rapid vapor expansion
of the Pu-239
and I swallowed some.
Jesus, Fritz. How much?
All Of it.
All right, you two, get out.
Look, I already separated four micrograms.
I'll get the rest with dilution and recapture.
I swear on my father's grave.
I mean, actually, he was cremated, but...
What did they say at the clinic?
That they are confident
that we can get it all back.
You swallowed a radioactive isotope.
What did the doctor prescribe?
Aspirin and a case of beer.
I'm supposed to drink it
and then I collect all my urine.
How do you feel?
What? Um...
I guess I'm a little buzzed from the beer.
Why, should I be worried?
He's within the acceptable limits.
I followed the Q-9 medical directive
to the letter.
Who wrote the Q-9 directive?
That's classified.
Show me the study it's based on.
Fedowitz's urine and blood samples
have been sent via post to the project's
radiation expert for more testing.
Do you know the speed
at which plutonium emits alpha particles?
One-twentieth the speed of light.
Do you know its biological half-life?
- Well, I am sure...
- Two hundred years.
Longer than the United States
has been a country.
So why don't pick up the phone
and call the medical director for the project
and get him down here to examine...
I don't need the director.
I've been given the authority
to handle all health-related matters
on this hill.
Had you even heard the word plutonium
before you washed up on this base?
What did you do your residency in, Doctor?
- Obstetrics.
- Oh.
Yet you felt confident treating a man
who swallowed a quarter
of the world's supply
of Pu-239 with a case of beer.
Get me the War Department.
Welcome to our humble abode.
Fifty thousand acres
using 10% of the nation's electricity,
and it doesn't exist on any map.
We got three schools, two movie theaters.
We import 30,000 pounds
of mayonnaise a month.
You know how many sandwiches that is?
Mr. Ellis, how much product do you think
you'll turn out by the end of the year?
And, of course, our most precious resource,
these talented young ladies.
Most of them came straight
from high school to serve their nation.
Pretty little patriots, aren't they?
What's the evacuation protocol
in case of radiologic accident?
Expect they can find the front door.
We received the War Department's
R-23 directive a month ago.
I put it on your desk.
And I'm sure I told you to circulate
the directive to the girls, Theodore.
We've been a little busy
preparing for tomorrow's festivities.
So, are you excited
to make your mark in history?
Actually, I'm going to load
the last uranium rod.
I have no doubt you know how
to work a rod, young lady,
but instructions are that Mr. Donaldson
is to initiate the reaction.
We'll see about that.
Of course, you can hand off
the honors to your lovely wife.
Or whoever she is.
As soon as we get back home,
Mrs. Donaldson and I are filing for divorce.
Meet the X-10 Reactor.
Six hundred thousand pounds of graphite.
She's dressed and ready for her cotillion.
- All reactors should be female.
- Mmm.
This is Bill Tupper, our operations chief.
How are you?
In 12 hours, she'll start spinning
uranium straw into plutonium gold.
No, she won't.
The reactor's not going critical tomorrow.
Ah, Jews are born pessimists.
That's why I'm loading the last rod.
No one's loading anything until we tour
the whole facility, make sure it's safe.
We have 140 buildings.
You'll be here till Easter.
We have technical schematics
you could look at.
Theodore.
They diagram
every vulnerability on the site.
More comprehensive than any physical tour.
Safety's a priority, but the Army's deadlines
are gospel around here.
You're here to grease the wheels,
not gum up the works.
What I'm here to do is make sure
you don't set the atmosphere on fire.
He's overreacting. It's just a formality.
Look, I understand you've been
sent down here by some high mucky-muck.
That mucky-muck hired the guy
who hired the guy who hired your boss.
His name is Robert Oppenheimer.
Let's see those schematics.
First you
swallow our plutonium
Now you're going to piss it all away
Jeannie helped me collect
three liters of urine.
A good woman is hard to find.
Oh, by the way, could one of you guys
front me five bucks?
What, are you taking her out as a thank-you?
No, he's paying her for sex.
You are?
Thank you.
Well, no, not exactly.
We haven't really gone all the way yet.
So you're paying her
to not have sex with you?
Fritz, you do know most women
would probably do that for free?
All girls cost money.
You buy them dinner, drinks.
With Jeannie, there's none of that.
Just a flat fee.
I phoned Berkeley, Chicago, Manhattan.
They passed me
to a different doctor every time.
You don't even know the name
of your own goddamn boss.
The post office handles
the blood and urine samples.
We're only supposed to get a response
from his team if there's a problem.
- There's never been one before.
- Jesus Christ.
Compartmentalization.
They've never even shown me an org chart.
Army doesn't want anyone knowing
who's in charge.
There's an administrator in New York
who supposedly has the org chart
and the name of the ranking doctor.
- Well, who's he?
- His ID is 482.
- I've left him three messages.
- Give me his number.
This line needs to stay free for emergencies.
What exactly do you think this is?
Hi, Abby.
Hello.
Picking up Callie from school?
- Please, she'd die if she saw me here.
- Oh.
Just stealing a microscope
from the best equipped elementary school
science room in the country.
- Mum's the word.
- I didn't see anything.
Frank tells me that you're
spending your days in switchboard.
Oh, it's only part-time.
Better than no time, trust me.
It's nice to have something to distract you
while your husband's gone.
Oh, did Frank go, too?
No, I just saw Charlie
this morning at the gate.
With Helen Prins and a mountain of luggage.
Off on some top-secret mission,
I presume.
Who is Helen Prins?
Uranium-235 is highly unstable.
Store too much in one place,
you can set off a chain reaction.
Which is why we split it up
so there's never more
than 12 kilograms in any given building.
This isn't rocket science.
So how do you transport it?
Uranium enters the reactor
through this valve
at a rate of 24 milligrams per second.
What if a valve fails?
If uranium accumulates
in the pipes, you could...
All the valves are redundant,
like this conversation.
Plant's designed
so that if any one valve gets clogged,
another one comes to the rescue.
What about this one?
There's no redundancy there.
That's not a valve. That's a window.
You've got a busy day, Mr. Ellis.
If it would be helpful,
I can walk our guests through the plants.
Compartmentalization, Theodore.
I don't think Washington would like that.
But I could use some coffee.
This is where the separation takes place?
- The calutron starts here.
- Uh-huh.
When I get dismissed by a group of men,
it usually means they're afraid
of what I'm about to say.
It's Mrs. Donaldson, correct?
This isn't the Underground Railroad.
I don't need a woman
to rescue me from the white man.
I'm not here to rescue anyone.
But no one else in that room
gives a shit what you think.
Green water.
Clear vats 14 and 15 from building 90-207.
They're, what,
eight and a half feet from 206?
Who the hell drew these?
Some third-rate architect
from the Corps of Engineers?
- What are you, a draftsman?
- Draftswoman.
This rendering is off by six inches.
Add up 206, 207, and 208
and we're still under the safety limits.
Yeah, for fast neutrons.
But we're talking about green water.
Green water?
Uranium dissolved in liquid form.
The neutrons slow down
and become 100 times more effective.
- So what?
- A hundred times more fissionable.
All these buildings will go up in smoke.
You need to clear every one of them.
Four thousand vats spread over 100 acres?
- It'll take a week.
- I need a word alone.
Don't look at me.
You heard my wife.
Medical Division.
Get your boss on the phone now.
This is number G-11.
Eleven? One moment, please.
I'll get him right away.
G-11?
Didn't know they even
made ID numbers that low.
I understand you've got yourself a situation.
You need to talk to
the project radiation chief.
- Well, who is he?
- Never spoken to him myself,
but I know all the urine
and blood samples go to his lab for testing.
He sets the acceptable limits.
ID number is...
B-379.
Fine, have your girl put me through.
Marge.
Health Division.
IS this B-379?
Dr. Winter?
It doesn't make any sense.
What exactly did he say?
That you were receiving shipments
and that you set the acceptable limits.
The blood and urine samples
are sent to an outside team.
My assistant drops them
at the post office every Monday.
Have you ever actually seen them
put the samples on the truck?
This must be a misunderstanding.
I have a week's training in radiology.
Why would they put me in charge?
Who hired you?
Alek, we need to talk.
I've made it clear I don't enjoy
being disturbed during my games.
You handpicked the ranking
medical officer on the Hill.
Just as Robert and I handpicked you.
What do you want, Frank?
It's all an illusion, isn't it?
The Geiger measurements,
the urine and blood samples.
What, are you just throwing
away the collections?
Your man Fedowitz
swallowed 24 micrograms of Pu-239.
The toxic dose is 100 to 500 micrograms.
Did you just invent those numbers?
A range of 400 proves you have
no idea what you're talking about.
Radiology is not your field, Frank.
And it's not Dr. Adelman's either.
You intentionally
chose a man who knows nothing
about radiologic risks
to run our medical program.
But you know plenty about radiology,
don't you, Alek?
You spent six years with Marie Curie
at the Pasteur Institute?
Seven, actually.
That woman died blind and anemic.
Her papers had to be quarantined.
She went to her grave
denying that it was because
she had been breathing in
radioactive dust for 40 years.
If the history lesson is over...
Glen Babbit tells me
that Dr. Curie could be very forthcoming
after a few glasses of Bordeaux.
She never let you handle any radium
or polonium, did she, Alek?
Dr. Curie didn't want anyone
to lay claim to her work.
No. No, she let other students
handle ionizing elements.
But she'd already buried a husband
and she wouldn't expose
the young Hungarian physicist
who was in love with her.
Safety standards on the Hill
have been approved by the Secretary of War.
You can address your complaints
to the Pentagon.
No.
No more bureaucrats.
Town council meets tomorrow morning.
People need to know
you're running a Potemkin clinic
and it's all a lie.
Shout plutonium in a crowded theater,
it won't just be your job, Dr. Winter.
You could find yourself in military prison.
Your record is six feet even.
I'll wager you
a half bottle of my secret cologne
you cannot make it to 10.
Secret cologne?
You smell like Marmite, Crosley.
Uh... I'll take the under
for two tickets to next week's movie.
They're playing This is the Army.
Whoa!
Oh!
Jeannie loves Ronald Reagan.
Line it up.
Yay!
Line it up.
- Line it up.
- Line it up.
All right, prepared, are you?
Crosley, these are what
American lungs look like.
Oh
Unbelievable.
Watch out, Ringling Brothers.
Hold it. Hold on, hold on. Hold on, hold on.
Doc, Doc, Doc, Doc.
Hey, how about a taste
of your own medicine?
Uh... Another time.
Oh!
That's the best doc
in the 48 states right there.
Best doc.
I'm gonna need a refill
on my prescription soon, Doc.
I love that guy.
- What's his name?
- I don't know.
I thought you didn't approve.
Of you burning the house down? I don't.
I'm here for your wife.
- Where is she?
- No idea.
Well...
This is gonna be
the best piece of theater
since Oppenheimer
was in Arsenic and Old Lace.
Dr. Winter.
Dr. Barath paid me a visit.
One of Louis Fedowitz's
brother died fighting Rommel.
The other is in the Gilbert Islands,
but Louis is here on your base.
If you cut the sanctimony
for a goddamn minute,
you'll hear me say I agree with you.
Let's take a walk.
I told Army Medical our standard was
unworthy of this installation a month ago.
We're understaffed
and Dr. Adelman's in over his head.
The general shot me down.
Then come back in there with me.
Let's make a united front.
I need you to look at something first.
What is this?
Who the hell is this?
You didn't hear this from me.
Command calls him Magpie.
Could be a disgruntled bureaucrat
from Munich or Hitler's gardener.
Either way, he has credible intelligence
their atomic program
is two months ahead of ours.
How do you know the Germans
didn’t just plant him?
This is Greek to me,
but I'm sure those equations
mean something to you.
Jesus.
They're testing yields.
What?
They're testing a bomb.
They're more than two months ahead of us.
Our history aside, if you go forward,
I'll stand with you in there.
But if we sound the alarm,
it could be weeks until we get back to work.
Meantime, the krauts could get there first,
and none of this makes a bit of difference.
Hello?
You got Prince Albert in a can?
Charlie, we're not allowed
to take personal calls.
Martha checks the phone logs.
So pick an extension.
Patch me through. Take the scenic route.
Where are you?
You tell people not to answer
that question all day long.
I mean, are you working?
I'm at the hotel.
Must be nice.
Whisked away on a vacation.
Someone to fluff your pillows?
Trust me, it's not the Plaza.
You still there?
Yes.
I just, uh...
I wanted to hear your voice.
Hope you're not too lonely,
all by yourself on that business trip.
I should have brought a book.
My son bouncing off the walls?
Actually, Joey has an earache.
He was up crying all night.
- It was very sad.
- Abby, I'm sorry.
Actually, we should go.
We have a doctor's appointment.
Listen, I love you.
Me, too.
Get up.
From now on, I'm the only one
who touches the plutonium.
You obviously can't be trusted
with our limited supply.
Oh, if it isn't the happy honeymooners.
You'll be pleased to hear
we just got a clean bill of health
on the storage room in building nine.
It's a good start.
And we began loading rods an hour ago.
I can see that.
The reactor will be
fully operational within a day.
We gave you a list of 22 major hazards
to resolve before we go critical.
And the Army intends to give your list
the consideration it deserves.
- When?
- Just as soon as we're critical.
Now, if you'll excuse me. I've got
a 300-ton block of graphite to attend to.
- On whose authority?
- General Leslie Groves.
He's the mucky-muck
who hired Robert Oppenheimer.
Rest up.
Tomorrow's a big day for all of us.
Hey.
You didn't go to the town council?
There was no acetylcholinesterase activity.
So pesticides didn't kill the bees
and it wasn't the Army.
Maybe it was a virus?
A parasite?
I ruled out infectious disease.
Well, you'll figure it out.
You always do.
Do you think it can be
something from the tech area?
I know you're working with chemicals and...
What if the runoff
was dumped in Ashley Pond?
Or there was a gas in the air?
The safety and environmental protocols
were vetted by experts.
I read the reports myself.
Frank, a bee colony
doesn’t just collapse on its own.
Well, wasn't the Army.
So it was phantom toxins in the tech area?
You think this is all in my head?
Let's find you some new bees.
Ripped By mstoll