Manhattan (2014) s01e06 Episode Script
Acceptable Limits
Previously on Manhattan Behold, gentlemen, 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.
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 doesnât 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 didnât 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 doesnât 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.
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.
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 doesnât 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 didnât 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 doesnât 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.