The Manhattan Project Page #2

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Harry, seven-two, seven-two.

Dr. Mathewson!

So, what do you think?

- Not bad.

- Not bad?

I just cut through a steel

plate with a beam of light.

He says it's not bad.

The copper-vapor laser...

is the most powerful one

I've ever worked with.

Down here's

the main reaction chamber...

reaction column,

the vacuum assembly...

and everything back there in

the cage, that's the assay area.

Everything's run by the robot.

So, what did your old man

do for a living?

Taught architecture at Cornell.

- What's that?

- What?

That stuff.

Oh, that's lubricating oil

for the robot.

No, that green stuff

in those bottles.

Oh, that.

That's americium-241.

It's one of the things

we make here.

Come on. I'll show you

the grounds down by the lakes.

It's beautiful down there.

So where is he now,

your father?

- Saudi Arabia.

- Really? What happened?

I guess he didn't like

being married anymore.

Some guys don't know

when they're well off.

Actually,

he's a brilliant architect.

He's just kind of a sh*t in

his personal life, that's all.

So, uh, you gonna go out

with Elizabeth?

- Elizabeth?

- My mother.

Oh, right, Elizabeth.

I don't know. That's

pretty much up to her, I guess.

She's quite an unusual woman,

your mother. Don't you think?

Excuse me?

Your mother?

Yeah, right... very unusual.

Everything OK?

No more for me.

My head is spinning.

No, it's good for the head

to spin. It keeps it stable.

Paul, you haven't even

touched yours.

Oh, no, thank you.

I don't drink wine.

- Oh, why is that?

- It impairs my judgment.

- What's the matter?

- Air conditioning.

- Here, take...

- Here, take...

I left my sweater

in Dr. Mathewson's car.

Would you be a sweetheart?

So when he was six years old...

he started getting up at 2:00

every morning...

and staying up,

you know, till...

Here you go, mom.

- Ah. Is that better?

- Yes. Thanks, sweetheart.

Thank you very much for dinner.

It was very stimulating.

- Are you leaving? No dessert?

- Sorry, I have a date.

Wait, wait.

I didn't give you your present.

- Present?

- It's a brain teaser.

You have to get each of

the four balls in the corners.

A colleague of mine from M.I.T.

Invented it.

He's a games theorist,

wants to market it.

He says anyone who can

do it inside of two minutes...

I guess I'm gonna have to

come up with something harder.

Plus which...

there are only two uses

in the world for plutonium...

in weapons and in reactors,

right?

So if

they're making reactors...

why would they say

it's medical?

And if it is medical...

why are they fooling around

with plutonium?

It doesn't make any sense.

How do you know it's plutonium?

Maybe it's something else.

It's not. It's little flakes

of plutonium in a green gel.

It's called a scintillant.

Why would he just invite you

inside? It's crazy.

So, he's crazy.

Look what he does for a living.

He's hot for my mother.

He figures I'm a dumb kid.

He's hot for your mother?

Really?

You got a knife

or a screwdriver or something?

That's the drawer.

Plus which, he's got

all these security clearances.

I don't know what they are.

Los Alamos, Livermore Labs,

Oak Ridge.

Do you know

what they make at Oak Ridge?

What?

Nuclear warheads.

- So, what are you saying?

- I'm saying he lied, OK?

At the very least.

He invites me out there...

and then he lies,

like I'm some kind of a wimp.

I think you're overreacting.

- To what?

- I don't know.

Oedipal jealousy, maybe.

Oedipal jealousy?

What's that? Psychology class?

Does this look like

Oedipal jealousy?

- What is that?

- What does it look like?

A five-leaf clover.

Where did you find it?

Growing outside that lab.

You know the odds

on that kind of mutation...

happening naturally,

without chemicals...

or radiation or something?

- What?

- There are none.

I looked it up.

It's like a billion to one.

- It never happens.

- Maybe you're just very lucky.

Oh, my God.

Who knows about this?

Just us.

- We should do something.

- What?

I don't know. Tell somebody...

a newspaper, my father.

I mean, you can't

just waltz into town...

and set up a bomb factory

next to people's houses.

It's not a factory.

It's more like a laboratory.

What's the difference?

It's nuclear, right?

You have to have hearings.

You have to let the community

know about it.

- There are laws.

- It's a government lab.

They're not gonna let anybody

in there to look around.

They let you in.

A fluke. The guy was horny,

so he took a chance.

So we do nothing?

Is that it?

What do you suggest we do?

March on Washington?

My parents happen to have met

at a march on Washington.

Really? Very sixties. Were you

born at a Stones concert?

This isn't funny.

Do you know what this is like?

It's like when you read about,

I don't know...

Anne Frank or something,

and you say to yourself...

"Jesus,

why didn't they do something?"

The whole world was collapsing.

They just sat around,

life as usual...

"Maybe it will go away. "

But it never goes away.

It only gets worse.

Nobody thinks about the future.

What's the matter?

Who's Anne Frank?

A girl in my English class.

What are you looking at?

The storm...

there's a storm coming.

So?

The lab. They've got

a security system there...

TV cameras, motion detectors,

all kinds of stuff...

only the thing is,

it's all electric.

So?

Lightning. Lightning.

Don't you get it?

- No.

- We can get in there.

Gort? But he's a robot.

Without you, what could he do?

There's no limit

to what he could do.

He could destroy the earth.

If anything should happen

to me, you must go to Gort.

You must say these words... -

"Klaatu barada nikto. "

Please repeat that.

Klaatu...

barada nikto.

That's very bad for you.

Lots of stuff is bad for you.

Could you come here

for a minute?

- Hello. We're home.

- Jen?

Hi, mom. Hi, dad.

It's gonna come down.

Hello, sweetheart.

This is Paul Stephens

from my science class.

Very pleased to meet you both.

- Barnaby asleep?

- Uh-huh.

Hey, Chocolate chocolate chip.

What do you say?

I was just gonna drive

Paul home, actually.

- OK. OK. Raincheck, then.

- Sorry.

Drive carefully. They're

predicting some flooding.

There it is. German car, right?

Figures.

- Incredible.

- What?

Dr. Strangelove is in there...

hitting on my mother

and watching my tapes.

- Paul.

- What?

What if there's

more than one guard?

No.

The whole place is set up...

so it can be watched

by one person.

Look, trust me.

It's brilliant.

Besides, what can

they do to us anyway?

We're kids.

It's a prank, right?

Hello? Anybody home?

State your name and business,

please.

Where are you?

You're on a remote intercom,

ma'am.

What seems to be the problem?

This isn't Baker North, is it?

No.

This is Medatomics Company.

Where's Baker North? I've been

driving around for an hour.

The campus is on

the other side of town, ma'am.

What's wrong?

I don't know. I'm supposed

to meet my sister...

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