Previously on Manhattan...
You're building an atomic bomb.
What I would like is my share of the plutonium.
If Frank could prove that implosion was more than a fairy tale,
-I'd give him all the plutonium he wants. -Fine.
I don't feel bad for you.
I feel bad for those suckers in your group that you're taking down with you.
Get home safe.
I don't know what's gotten into him since we got here.
Half the time he's brooding and the other half...
He can't keep his hands to himself.
You got to help me, Frank. Please, I'm not a spy.
Sid Liao is not a traitor.
Forty eight hours ago, our group was on the chopping block.
Now we're back in this office.
You said you would protect Sid.
Your group is intact. You got what you asked for.
Outside parties have taken an interest in your man.
Technically, you're nowhere talking to no one.
I'm not a spy.
The plutonium will remain with Dr. Akley's group.
He's got my sidearm.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, buddy.
Show me your pass.
What did I do?
b>Ripped By mstoll
Private Dunlavey.
Ready, sir.
Get your trunks. Colonel's been waiting.
I-I didn't know I was supposed to pack.
Am I being discharged?
Swim out to the middle.
I don't swim well. It's...
It's landlocked where I'm from.
Well, then you'll be the first guy in history to drown in a desert.
Private, I need a full report of what happened at the gate.
What, here?
It was 1900 hours.
I saw that the driver had a weapon
and I didn't have time to think, sir.
Maybe I could have disarmed him or shot to wound?
You fired on a civilian, soldier. I need answers, not questions.
Sir, I was afraid for the safety of my fellow soldier.
Dunlavey,
you are hereby promoted to the rank of E3
for bravery against enemy attack.
Effective today, you'll work in my office, reporting directly to me.
I... I don't understand, sir.
Walls in this base are so thin they don't need ears.
When the rest of the Hill finds out that you pulled the trigger,
people are gonna come to you with questions.
- I expect you to tell the truth. -Yes, sir. Of course.
You ensured the safety of this base.
Sid Liao attempted to abscond with highly classified materials
which you personally recovered from under the floor mats.
Sir,
we searched Liao's car.
That's right, Private First Class.
You did.
Attention. Your attention, please.
A secure community is a productive community.
And we are a community at war.
After the events of this week,
the Army is instituting new directives of compartmentalization
to ensure the continued security of our work and of the citizens in our care.
From this day forward,
each worker will have access to the information required
to carry out his duties and nothing more.
All residents and workers, regardless of clearance level,
are now subject to random searches.
Socializing with persons outside of this community is prohibited.
Concerned citizens should report any suspicious activity to the security office.
These measures will reinforce the sense of privacy
and peace of mind this community enjoys.
Any failure to adhere to these policies
will be deemed a violation of the Federal Espionage Act.
Cooperation is appreciated.
Doesn't look like much,
but I suppose bees aren't choosy.
- Ha. - There's a
swarm over in the cottonwoods by the PX.
Can't you just spray them?
Oh, it's not a trap. It's an artificial hive. I wanna study them.
Oh.
I've been meaning to drop by and apologize. I...
About the other night.
Frank's not very good at...
Socializing?
Um, I found this
after our dinner.
Does it belong to your daughter?
It was a present from her aunt. Where on earth did you find it?
In my dresser drawer, stuck to a brassiere.
Well, Callie will be so grateful.
Wonder who they're gonna murder today.
The whole thing is horrible.
But they say the spy had a gun.
The "spy" was a 26-year-old boy from Frank's group.
Sorry.
What are we supposed to do with it?
Someone should reach out to Annie.
The Army would approve a call to Mussolini before Sid Liao's wife.
Well, the Army can approve my dick.
Sorry.
Sid loaned me his toothbrush once.
Really?
That's repulsive.
Someone stole mine.
I'm just saying, I lived two doors down from the guy.
- How did we not see this coming? - Because he wasn't a spy.
What's the difference now?
The difference is now this entire godforsaken group
is gonna have its bunks tossed every night.
- No, not the guy who sold him out. -And for the hundredth time, Meeks...
Someone reported him to the Army.
You'd sell yourself out if you thought it would help your career.
You know what? If I had overturned a spook, I wouldn't feel one ounce of guilt.
They found stolen files in his car. The MP told me.
What do you think they did with the body?
Who's covering the spectrum analysis?
That was Sid's project.
Now it's yours.
Who's been in my office?
It was just a catnap and it was two weeks ago.
The shockwave analysis, X-ray studies, tamper design, they're all gone.
Those were all Sid's assignments.
Goddamn Army.
I heard he was a commie.
Spy or not, I don't love the idea of some yahoo at the gate
playing jury and executioner.
From now on we're supposed to call plutonium "product."
And the code for uranium is "tube alloy."
I gave Martha a little tube alloy last night.
Does the Army have a code for "I can't hear myself think"?
What say I buy you a sandwich, Charles?
You've worked through lunch every day this week.
Dr. Akley asked me to calculate
the exact velocity of every neutron in Thin Man.
Diffusion alone could take a month.
You know, Reed Akley was my graduate advisor at Chicago.
Start of the semester, he handed me a problem to work on,
and after a week with no sleep, I realized it was basically Fermat's last theorem.
Completely unsolvable.
Akley was hazing me.
I've known fellows like you.
You beat the Jew quotas.
You slip in the faculty club with a blazer and a smile.
You spent your whole life fighting your way to the top of the mountain.
Take a look around.
This group in this room,
it's Everest.
Quit acting like a Sherpa.
Hey, Captain Marvel. Finally got something to write home about, huh?
What went through your head when you shot him?
- Who told you it was me? - We know what went through the Jap's head.
He was Chinese.
Buddy who was at Attu Island told me brains smell like circus peanuts.
Is that true?
I don't know.
I've never been to the circus.
God damn, Iowa.
Already popped a spy this week. You gonna pop your cherry, too?
For he's a jolly good fellow
Which nobody can deny
Corps of Engineers sent me to the security offices.
Security sent me to G2. G2 sent me back to the engineers.
Franz Kafka ought to sue the US Army for plagiarism.
Where are the files?
The Army has taken a fine-toothed comb to everything Sid Liao touched.
It could be two weeks before we get 'em back.
- It could be two months. -Goddamn test blew up in our face.
Without those files, we'll never figure out why.
Well, all the king's horses and all the king's men...
Listen, there's another way.
Akley's guys.
They ran their own shockwave studies.
Detonated everything that wasn't nailed to the ground.
We can move forward using their math.
That's a bullshit waste of time.
Akley understands the situation we're in, okay?
Just pay him a visit.
Kiss the ring if you have to.
Otherwise, that kid,
he died for nothing.
Here you go.
I'm here to see Reed Akley.
You've been guarding this post since April.
How many times have you seen me walk through it?
That was before the incident at the gate.
You need a new pass from the security office.
That could take a week.
Here.
Here's, um... Here's 10 ration stamps.
Go get him.
They do this for free?
You don't even have to tip them?
You could invite one of them in for a glass of lemonade.
I drive in circles on Pajarito Road just to get the car dirty again.
They work so hard.
You know they've been pulling double shifts at the gate?
All because of one bad apple.
More like one bad Japple. This is why God invented internment camps.
Dot, the boy was Chinese.
I stamped his badge myself in the credentials office.
Abby, did you get your work credential yet?
Oh, mother of a 3-year-old is plenty of job for me.
We all work, dear.
Eleanor Roosevelt says we mustn't stand in our husband's shadow.
If I looked like Eleanor Roosevelt, I'd stand as far in the shadows as possible.
I don't know how to do anything.
Nonsense.
Gladys is expecting a visit from the stork. You can take over her job.
You seem like a very good listener.
Would you mind looking under my hood?
Frank, what can I do for you?
You can go get your boss. I need to talk to a grown-up.
Dr. Akley doesn't take walk-ins.
I'm the best you're gonna do.
The Army confiscated half my files last night.
I'm sorry to hear that.
And I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your guy.
I don't need your sympathy. I need Akley's shockwave studies.
You insult me every time we talk.
- You throw a lousy dinner party. - Jesus Christ.
But honestly, if it wasn't for the new security rules, I'd help you, Frank.
Science depends on the free exchange of ideas.
And as much as it galls me to say it, implosion is an elegant solution.
Then go get me the shockwave study.
And lose my job? Never mind the shit I took from my group
after you conned me into giving you the plutonium.
Akley dismisses implosion because he doesn't believe it'll win this war,
that's fine.
But someone who knows it'll work but won't help because he's scared
of being teased by a bunch of sycophants?
You're worthless.
And you're a self-righteous old man on his professional deathbed.
I've made sacrifices for this project you couldn't possibly fathom.
Watch out for a man on his deathbed. He's got nothing to lose.
Akley might not know what you really are,
but I do.
Effective yielding stress, 300,000 pounds per square inch.
Detonation velocity, 6,700 meters per second.
Heat of explosion, 650 calories per gram.
What was the... What was the collapse ratio again?
Uh, I don't know, .546?
No, .564.
Damn it.
We need that shockwave study.
I cornered Akley at the gate. The son of a bitch stonewalled me.
I don't know if he's scared to break compartmentalization
or he just enjoys watching us twist in the wind.
His math was flawless.
Immutable laws of physics. It should have worked.
A lot of things should have worked, Frank.
But the law doesn't take into account human error.
So here we are.
The kid's gone.
So are his files.
We're going over Akley's head.
I just never thought we'd be a two-income family.
- Forty cents an hour? - You all right?
More like one income and some pocket change.
If Daddy found out I was getting a job, he'd keel over.
Maybe we should call and tell him.
You're a modern woman.
- Ah! Charlie. - I think it's sexy.
Anyways, they haven't hired me yet. Apparently I have to pass an exam.
You know I don't test well.
It's not that kind of test.
You know, Liza Winter failed it and she's a Ph.D.
I heard that's why she doesn't work.
I wish her husband failed it.
Attention. Due to heightened security
all residents on the Hill may be subject to random searches.
If I didn't know any better, Mrs. Isaacs, I'd think you actually want this job.
No, I don't want the job. I want them to want me for the job.
Sit back and relax. There are no wrong answers.
How many alcoholic beverages do you consume per week?
Um... A little Manischewitz at Passover.
Hm. What is the total value of your household assets?
Charlie and I have just over $900 in a savings account at Middlesex Bank.
And we own a car.
And...
There's a separate trust in my name.
The amount is around 200,000.
Did you know Sidney James Liao?
No.
Have you ever been charged with or convicted of a crime?
Yes.
Have you ever been charged with or convicted of a felony?
Yes.
I borrowed my piano teacher's Studebaker.
It was a misunderstanding and she dropped the charges.
Have you ever had relations with a man outside your marriage?
No.
Have you ever been an officer or a member of an organization
dedicated to the violent overthrow of the United States Government?
Um...
No.
The Colonel's not in.
- Well, where is he? I will go to him. - He doesn't wish to see you, Dr. Winter.
Tell him to wish in one hand and shit in the other.
See which fills up first.
Make sure he's not allowed back into this building.
Right this way, ma'am.
Badge.
Thank you, ma'am.
Straight down the hall.
You passed with flying colors.
Truth is, this job is just like Harvard. Getting in is the hardest part.
Oh, good.
Okay, suspicious words and phrases.
Updated hourly since the shootout at O.K. Corral.
- All right. - You hear any of these words,
you're gonna press this button and security will hop on the line.
You can't say "chop suey"?
- None of us speaks Chinese, so no. - Oh.
Anyway, Dr. Oppenheimer is 146. Maintenance is 138. Colonel is 99.
Where's the directory?
- Oh. - Do not answer that.
What did they ask that was so bad?
Could be, "What time is it there?" "What did you do at work today?"
Mmm-mmm. He wanted to know if she was cooking sloppy joes for dinner.
What's wrong with that?
Nothing.
They were boring me.
- I'm Abby. - Elodie.
Enchantée.
Charlie, join us at the PX?
Or are you gonna keep pondering the mysteries of your navel?
I brought leftovers, thanks.
Well, we can set up a scholarship fund
if your wife's not giving you enough lunch money.
At least then you could say that you achieved something today.
You haven't written on that board in two days.
Physics is 90% thinking, 9% writing, and 1% talking.
I never met so many one-percenters in my life.
For the last three months, while you've been making your name
writing school papers and eating Cracker Jacks at Fenway,
we've been stuck in this desert shithole working six days a week.
Now I know another tortured genius who pisses on everyone from his high horse.
He's got an office in the old groundskeeper's shed out back.
If you're not gonna join this group,
maybe you should go share your leftovers with Frank Winter, hmm?
You want me to join the group?
All right.
How long you been working on this for? A week?
I've known fellows like you, too.
Vacuous. The empty space between stars.
Two weeks?
See, there is no group.
There's Reed Akley
and there's me.
And the biggest mystery
I've been pondering since I got here,
is what the hell the rest of you've been doing for the last three months?
Oh! Oh, my lord!
- Oh! - Do you need security?
No, no, no. It's nothing like that. It's a...
It's a personal matter.
Oui.
Tuesday, Madame Cook.
She's in Ohio and her amour is on the payphone by the PX.
I've used that phone.
Oh, I hope the janitor wiped the mouthpiece.
Enjoy being a little fly on this wall learning all your neighbors' dirty laundry.
And then you tell me all the good stuff and we decide who to blackmail. Hmm?
You know, I've seen you before. I think we're neighbors.
Ah. What a small town.
Well, I guess we'll be seeing a lot more of each other.
Can I help you?
Oh, ma'am, I'm PFC Dunlavey.
Is your husband home?
Husband?
Nope, doesn't ring a bell.
Are you Mrs. Winter? We...
We have some questions for Dr. Winter. I work with Colonel Cox.
Is Dr. Winter here?
- I need to speak to him about, uh, Sid Liao. - Sid?
Brilliant mathematician.
Terrible punster.
I suppose the only bright side is that Grace is only five years old,
so in a couple of years she won't even remember him.
I didn't know that Sid had a family.
Did you ever even meet him?
Only very briefly.
And where was that?
Um...
In his final moments.
It became my responsibility to ensure the safety of the base.
You were at the gate?
He drew a weapon, ma'am. I...
I didn't have time to think.
They've got a chaplain on the Hill, but he's a Baptist.
He doesn't take confession.
I said 20 Our Fathers, but I'm not sure it's enough.
Please, take a seat.
So...
Mr. Dunlavey, where do you call home?
- Jones County, Iowa. - Iowa?
We drove through Iowa on our way out here. It's beautiful country.
- Your people are farmers? - Corn mostly.
You got hit by the Dust Bowl?
Lost half our crop.
So then you decided to enlist?
Oh, no, ma'am, we make do all right. I just...
I couldn't sit back with what's happening over there.
Right.
So what is it you want to know about Sid?
Do you think...
- Was he really... - A spy?
Honestly,
I don't know what label to put on Sid Liao.
Spy, scientist. I...
I do know
that I'm sorry he's gone.
Yes, ma'am.
Is it true you found confidential documents in his car?
I, um...
I recovered them from under the floor mat.
Dr. Winter, sir, I'm Private First Class Dunlavey.
Give us a minute.
First class since when?
They told me he was shot by a private.
I wanted to say how sorry I am for your loss.
You got nothing to apologize for.
You did what you had to do.
It'll take the four of us weeks to reconstruct Sid's work.
Guy could get through a differential equation
faster than I can get through a hamburger.
He had a shortcut. He was gonna show me.
Maybe it was sorcery. Oriental shamanism.
Don't talk about him.
Oh.
Pretty sure his wife was the last person to wash these.
What is that?
Spurs.
He bought them in Santa Fe.
Said that he wanted to be the first Chinese cowboy.
Remember that time he tried to get the Indian maids
to reenact Custer's Last Stand?
Oh, my God.
Liao was Custer.
Put it back.
That boy,
he was just looking for someone to talk to.
Think he feels better now?
It'll be a long time before any of us feels better.
You knew Sid Liao for five years, Frank.
Frank Winter.
What do you want?
We have reason to believe you're in violation of US title code 18 chapter 37.
The Federal Espionage Act.
One of the guards tipped us off. The file was in the lining of his bag.
He said he'd confess, but he'd only talk to you, sir.
Hijacking classified papers.
Seems to be an epidemic around here.
- The chemical study of magnesium sulfate. - Epsom salt.
If it falls into Hitler's hands, he'll enjoy a warm bath.
You're a hard man to find.
I figured stealing a file would get me an audience.
You paid off one of my guards to turn you in?
Excuse me, Dr. Winter. I have a prime rib that requires my attention.
I need Akley's shockwave studies. He'll hand them over if you tell him to.
A man of your intelligence,
I'm sure you can understand the concept of compartmentalization.
What's yours is yours, what's Akley's is his.
Everything in its own box. Including my best mathematician.
Wars have casualties.
And the first casualty of war is truth. Isn't that the saying?
The first casualty of this war
was a Polish hayseed with a Karabinek rifle back in September, 1939.
Four years and a few million funerals ago. Almost 40,000 of them Americans.
Your mathematician is a drop in the ocean.
You know, I've learned a lot about Sid Liao this week.
He was a Japanese agent. He was a Stalinist.
No one seems to know he was a private in the US Army.
Or that you signed his draft papers.
I'm assuming that's a truth you'd like to bury.
Get up.
There are 147 different extensions on the Hill.
I might not have your head for numbers, but I already know half of them.
You can quiz me.
What did you do at work today?
Trick question.
If somebody asked that on the phone, I'd have to cut in.
Hmm.
Hello.
Sorry.
Are you all right?
It's the dinner hour.
Can you tell the ladies of the "Welcome Wagon"
that they're not welcome?
- Dr. Akley. - Oh, please, call me Reed.
- It looks like home in here already. - Oh.
May I borrow your husband for a moment, please?
Yes, of course.
I understand we had a little detonation in the lab today.
Those boys have a lot of bluster, but you certainly did a number on them.
Nothing irreparable. I imagine you'll apologize.
You have a long road ahead, Charlie. You've only just arrived.
Is that why you gave me an unsolvable problem?
Some kind of freshman hazing ritual?
I gave you the velocity distribution problem
because I think you're the only man here who's capable of solving it.
You probably spent your whole life surrounded by people
who weren't smart enough to recognize how smart you are.
But I do. It's the reason why I brought you here.
You are a once-in-a-generation mind.
Thank you, sir.
But I know someone even smarter than you.
When I met him, he was 25 years old
and he was already reimagining quantum mechanics.
And at 30, he was a leading light in our field.
And now at 40, he could end this war once and for all.
- Oppenheimer? - Werner Heisenberg.
He's the world's most brilliant scientific mind
and he's running Hitler's bomb project.
Never forget, Charlie,
that is the man you're competing with.
Just go through it. Just get through it.
Open your briefcase.
Like your buddies opened my friend's skull?
Maybe it was you.
Okay, Meeks, come on.
Salud!
Well, here's to the Chinaman. May he rest in pieces.
Shut up, Crosley.
I dare you to say it again.
All 10 stone of you? Meeks, I'm trembling.
Excuse me. I'm so sorry.
Look, Crosley's a top-shelf horse's ass, but we have no idea who sold Sid out.
I'll get the next round.
Two more for me and the spy killer.
Dismissed.
This is what happened the last time I did you a favor.
I won't make that same mistake twice.
Do you know where the surviving members of your group are right now?
They're drowning their sorrows at the post exchange.
I have MPs parked outside.
You think the truth is on your side?
Let's bring them down here
and you can tell them exactly how Sid Liao came to be lying in this box.
I don't wanna see you in my office again. I don't wanna hear your name.
We're finished, understood?
Easy, virgin.
You're safer penetrating occupied France.
- You killed him. - I'm sorry?
Private Weaver over there.
What was that last score? A hundred balls to less than 20?
Just luck, I guess.
From what I hear, we're the ones who are lucky
you were at East Gate the other night.
My roommate works nights.
How about you walk a girl home?
It's really noisy in here. I don't live too far.
Maybe someone else wants to play, Private.
You know, I had a friend who would have run the table on you.
He was a geometry genius.
Get lost.
Just wanna know if the private here ever got a chance
to play Sid Liao at straight pool.
What do you want from me?
Easy, easy!
It's all right. It's all right. Come on, now, let's go have a beer.
Frank, are you all right?
It was six years.
Sid walked into my office in Berkeley six years ago.
He was a college senior with a bad haircut.
When they told me I could handpick my team,
he was my first call.
You didn't put him in that car.
Whatever we're doing here,
please tell me it's worth it.
If it works
we won't just end this war,
we'll end all war.
Forever.
Do you really believe that?
We've never met
and I doubt we ever will.
I'm prohibited from disclosing who I am,
where I am,
or in what capacity I knew your husband.
But I did know him.
I wish I could tell you some good came from his passing.
But it brought only pain.
There's more to be said.
I'm not at liberty to say it.
Not even permitted to write your husband's name.
A man's name.
The very last thing a person holds on to.
Even after he leaves this world.
Tell his daughter he was dedicated.
He did his job.
And he did it Well.
He was a good man.
In that, I hope you find some measure of comfort.
Shit.
I myself find solace knowing that,
nameless, though I may be,
we can at least connect in this small way.
Know you are in our thoughts and prayers.
Yours sincerely,
Number G-22.
You did it.
b>Ripped By mstoll