Previously on Manhattan...
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.
I just saw Charlie this morning at the gate.
With Helen Prins and a mountain of luggage.
Who is Helen Prins?
Hope you're not too lonely,
all by yourself on that business trip.
I should have brought a book.
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.
It's Private Dunlavey, right?
Don't pretend you know anything about me
just because you put a bullet through my dad's mathematician.
You know, I've seen you before. I think we're neighbors.
Ah. What a small town.
- Music. - That's right, music.
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.
I'm surprised they bothered to call.
You look terrible, by the way.
'Cause you kept me up all night.
- You know you talk in your sleep? - That's ridiculous. What did I say?
I have no idea. You were speaking Flemish or whatever.
Dutch?
I banged on the wall. Apparently, you can sleep through anything.
Why send us 2,000 miles if they're just gonna ignore everything we tell them?
The US Army is a fickle mistress.
Excuse me. Excuse me.
Mr. and Mrs. Donaldson.
The reactor's just shy of criticality.
Twelve hundred and forty seven channels loaded.
One more, and the curtain comes up.
I wouldn't take a bow just yet.
You'll be the one taking a bow.
For whatever reason, you're still Uncle Sam's favorite nephew.
Honor of initiating criticality is yours.
- We're not interested. - Suit yourself.
No, wait.
Gentlemen, after nearly a year at sea braving perilous waters,
we pioneers, we fearless navigators have arrived at the New World.
Mrs. Donaldson.
What?
Somebody's got to sail into the history books.
It might as well be a woman for once.
Better hope the natives are friendly.
Ripped By mstoll
If I die of embarrassment today,
do you promise not to bury me in this uniform?
You look fine.
If you're gonna force me to go, the least you can do is be honest.
You look like a leprechaun.
But you're our leprechaun.
It's all wrinkled.
- Why didn't Paloma iron it? - 'Cause Paloma doesn't work for you.
And even if she did, she hasn't shown up for two days.
Well, so much for my hygiene badge.
She's never even been late before.
I'm gonna go check on her.
What did you say?
I already have a day pass to Santa Fe.
I'll pop by and make sure that Paloma is all right.
You can't even communicate with those people.
Not that you would have noticed,
but I've actually picked up quite a lot of Español in the past six months.
You know, there are some days
when Paloma's just about the only person I have to talk to.
- I'll drive you. - What?
You shouldn't go by yourself. You could blow a tire out there.
- Shouldn't you be at work? - Ah, just take an hour.
Glen can hold down the fort.
Writing in your diary?
Just taking notes for my report to Dr. Akley.
You know what your problem is, Charlie?
I'm stuck in Tennessee with the wrong wife?
You've got no sense of adventure.
You need to enjoy life's unpredictability.
I'll take predictable over reckless every time.
You and Mrs. Isaacs must have a lot of fun in the bedroom.
Do you know where they built the first nuclear pile?
Of course. Chicago.
Under the bleachers of the football stadium.
They were afraid they'd take out half of Illinois.
Do you know what happened?
They changed the world and toasted with martinis.
Gentlemen, we have reached the shore, criticality!
Are you gonna stand around licking your wounds,
or should we get a celebratory drink?
-It's 9:00 a.m. Predictable.
Anyway, it's a dry town.
Why do you think my suitcase was so heavy?
You packed a bottle of booze?
Four.
In case we have to bribe somebody.
That's not good.
Tell me again how it happened in Chicago.
- This is a level-one alert. - Shit.
Proceed to your designated safety areas.
You're in early.
Past lunchtime in London.
And probably raining, but I see you're not wearing a slicker.
I've been first in every day this week actually.
Not that it does me any good.
Trying to make myself indispensable, and who does Frank send to Site X?
- The girl with the pearl earring. -Did you ever stop and think
he didn't send you because you've made yourself indispensable?
Did Frank say that?
Glen, well, is it true?
The opposite of a fact is a falsehood,
but the opposite of one profound truth may well be another profound truth.
What does that mean?
I don't know. I haven't had my coffee yet.
Hello.
I'm sorry. I knocked. Nobody answered.
I'll buy it, whatever you're selling.
I work at the switchboard.
That's a criminal waste of beauty.
Face like that, you belong on the prow of a ship.
Um...
Is this building 12? I have a telephone message for Helen Prins.
She's not here by any chance, is she?
No, no, afraid the canary has flown the coop.
- Chesterfield? - I don't smoke.
Do you know when Mrs. Prins might be in?
- Or is it Miss Prins? - Doctor, actually.
You Americans hand out advanced degrees like mash notes.
No, I wouldn't wait around for Helen too long.
She's parlayed her looks into a subsidized vacation
while the rest of us here toil in the dust.
So she's pretty, then?
Yeah, I suppose so, in an irritating sort of way.
I hope it's not urgent.
- What? - Your message.
Ch.
I could pass it on for you if you like if you recite it very slowly.
This evening perhaps over a stiff drink?
Hey, what do we know about the gamma emissions from...
Glen Babbit, may I introduce to you the lovely and talented...
Mrs. Isaacs.
You shouldn't be in here.
Excuse me.
We removed the control rods to reinitiate the reaction.
But you still don't know what triggered the shutdown?
We'll sort it out when we get all the data.
- When will that be? - Soon enough.
Anyway, we'll be up and running in two shakes of a lamb's tail.
What's that?
Sir, the temperature is rising in the core.
- How fast? - Five degrees a second.
Turn on the spigots. Let's give it a cold shower.
Fuel slugs liquefy at 1,132 centigrade.
We could melt down in less than five minutes.
Fail-safe countermeasures prevent any core melt accident.
We told you there were risks. Nothing about a nuclear reactor is fail-safe.
This is just a minor hiccup.
You've got to get all these people out of here.
Son, I understand you got a PhD and a healthy sense of your own importance,
but this isn't a college lecture hall. This is a factory.
So why don't you step off the floor and let the experts do their job?
You coming?
Hello?
- Hello, Paloma? - She's not here. Let's go.
Hello?
Liza, what are you doing?
Isn't it Odd?
Paloma spends every day inside our home.
I've never even seen hers.
We shouldn't be here.
Actually, you know what this place reminds me of?
Do you remember that little cabin you used to take me to?
Before Callie.
Near Mt. Shasta.
You know, this is your kind of place.
Wood fires, starry skies,
outhouse.
I'll be in the car.
Paloma...
Oh, God. I'm sorry.
There's been a death.
- What's your evacuation plan? - We got a population of 50,000.
I'm not gonna cause pandemonium over a technical glitch.
You know, we've been here a year managing this reactor just fine without you people.
It wasn't critical yet.
Something must have built up in the reactor.
What are the byproducts of the fission reaction?
- That's not my domain. - Is it yours?
Byproducts are someone else's job.
- Fine, whose? - Whose?
Sinclair.
- Who is Sinclair? - His assistant.
- Theodore's last name is Sinclair? - So?
Dr. Theodore Sinclair?
You've got a nuclear physicist carrying your water?
Dr. Sinclair, we had no idea you were a physicist.
You're in good company.
- Now, if you'll excuse me. - What? Where are you going?
Chicago, Anchorage, far away from here.
- We need your help. - You geniuses came to save us, right?
You don't need a secretary to tell you your business.
A secretary who was nominated for the Forbes prize.
If I recall, I lost to you.
You can't leave. The core temperature is nearly at 1,000 degrees.
Why do you think I'm leaving?
So that's it? You're jumping ship?
The last time I tried to help you, Ellis barred me from the reactor room.
If they're determined to sink, they can do it without me.
I have no idea why you stayed here working for that hayseed,
but my guess is you're proud of that reactor.
You're probably the only reason it's running.
- It's not. - Well, it could if you'd help.
You're gonna let a year of your life melt down?
Let me guess.
Something's recapturing neutrons faster than we can supply them.
And poisoning the reaction.
I warned them about this.
You're looking for an isotope with a large neutron capture cross section.
At least 2.2 times 10 to the 6th barns.
There's iodine-135.
- Six percent of fission byproduct. - And highly unstable.
It could be breaking down into something else.
Xenon?
135 would have an enormous neutron absorption cross section.
I've studied the xenon isotopes. 135 doesn't exist.
Neither did a continuous nuclear reactor until today.
Sometimes the most crucial elements in a reaction are pretty much invisible.
Sometimes they're barely allowed in the building.
Oh, Paloma.
I'm very sorry for your loss.
Did you know her brother was in the Pacific?
Did you know she had a brother?
She said that they can't even give him a proper burial
because the military didn't send the body back.
They never do.
But it means something different to them.
Their whole religion is based in this land where their people are buried.
She has a crucifix on her wall. I think she's a Catholic.
Yes, so are we technically. Frank, all I'm trying to say is
this whole godforsaken place is important to them.
Is everything all right?
I'll ask him.
She wants to know if you have your security pass.
It means nothing, the fact that he didn't tell you.
I'm sure it slipped his brain.
I asked Charlie explicitly. He said he was alone.
Well, maybe the Blackshirts wouldn't permit him to tell you.
Is this everything you brought?
There's no way I'm going to Rose Akley's potluck.
I can't face those vultures.
Oh.
Self-pity is bad for your complexion.
They live for gossip. They probably knew already
that Charlie was off gallivanting with Hester Prins before I did.
She's a physicist. She probably doesn't even own a mirror.
Supposedly, she's very fetching.
And you.
You are ravissante.
If your husband prefers hamburger to filet,
he deserves an empty stomach.
We're gonna enjoy a night to ourselves. Hmm?
And my husband won't even notice I'm out.
Really? I've never heard a couple more satisfied with one another.
Am I playing to the back of your house?
Ah.
Well, at least my comédie de vaudeville is convincing.
You're acting?
Hmm.
Only get to the top of that hill climbing alone.
Oh.
Maybe you can help me.
I don't...
The button.
Ugh.
Nope.
- No. - I told you it wouldn't fit.
It's fit for no one but a grandmother. Toss it in the bin.
You'll borrow something of mine.
Rose Akley won't stand for anything too risqué.
Oh, we're not going to the potluck.
The pussy is away,
let us play.
And leave your wedding ring.
Mmm-hmm.
You still haven't told me what you need with a truck full of day laborers.
I'm afraid that's above your security clearance, Private.
You have an hour on the clock.
Sixty minutes, and then I'm rounding them up.
Attention, please. All vehicles entering the motor pool
must hold updated vehicle passes for security purposes.
You want me to add more fuel to a reactor that's already hot?
Taking fuel out is what caused the temperature to rise.
So you believe that this'll get rid of the neutron problem?
Your secretary believes it, and I believe your secretary.
- How long will it take? - A hundred slugs?
My guys will be loading till morning.
Enjoy the honeymoon suite.
I think their sacred land is just over that hill.
Excuse me. So the shrine is over there?
But you'll have to wait here.
We won't be long.
They wanted me to stay with you.
You don't have the authority to witness the releasing rite.
Thank you for your help.
Every soldier deserves a proper funeral.
Do you know Robert Frost, Professor?
My wife reads it.
"Before I built a wall I'd ask to know What I was walling in or walling out
"And to whom I was like to give offense"
They say good fences make good neighbors.
Maybe I just never met the right fence.
They don't listen to negro music at the Brooklyn Country Club?
Brookline. I don't think we belong here.
You're not a possession. You don't belong one place or another. Hmm?
Pardon me.
Isn't it fun?
Oh.
Couple beers for you ladies?
Oh, have you got anything harder?
- Still's cooking a little 80 proof. - Ooh.
Probably scare you some up if you save me a dance.
Sorry, it's very loud in here.
She's Anne. I'm Diane.
We're WACs. Just transferred to the Hill.
This could be my last drink.
Relax. Theodore was right about the xenon-135.
The temperature is coming down.
All these people, two neutrons away from kingdom come,
-and they don't even know it. -You're being melodramatic, you know that?
The workers will cool down the pile, and we'll try again.
We could go AWOL. Go home.
We can't fly back to the Hill until the reactor is online.
I wasn't talking about the Hill.
So, I know you're not from Missouri.
Your family Still in Holland?
My mother, she's buried there.
My father fled to London. Hates the food. End of story.
Yours?
Mom's in St. Louis.
Dad's in Jefferson City.
Inmate 7297 at the state penitentiary last time I checked.
Why am I telling you that?
My wife doesn't even know.
What are the odds that we charbroil the state of Tennessee tonight?
We're just cogs in a machine.
But say you're Oppenheimer.
You have power to redraw the map of civilization forever
or put a match to it.
I found out I was pregnant last year.
Classics professor at Princeton. Wanted to marry me.
Two weeks later, Frank asks if I wanna become
the only female physicist at Los Alamos.
Classics wouldn't come,
so I laid down on a metal table in a duplex in Teaneck.
That must have been a complicated choice.
When the war is over, you'll get tenure wherever you want.
Even Theodore. He'll be fine.
Academia chooses a black man over a woman every time.
I'll fight to get an adjunct job at Podunk Junior College.
But I don't give a shit.
Because for however long the war lasts,
I get to do what I love.
If I were Oppie,
I'd wait for a year from now, become the world's most famous scientist.
I'd pose for Life magazine,
and then I'd run for office.
To President Prins.
It's unlucky to toast with water.
We'll have to go to my room.
Oh, getting a little close.
Here you go.
Cooked up special just for you. 90 proof.
Ah, that's about 80 proof too much for me.
Oh, thought you were an Army girl.
Stop.
So, I say...
I tell Frank it'll never work with a hollow sphere, never.
He says to me, "Well, if the Wrong brothers can fly a plane..."
The Wright brothers.
- What? - The Wright brothers.
You said the Wrong brothers.
I was wrong about the Wright?
Never in a million years would I have thought
that something with a density of 19.5 grams a cubic centimeter would compress.
I mean, you can't blow in a can of beer without spattering some beer, right?
Speaking of which,
what's a girl got to do to get a drink around here?
Oops.
Late night selling cookies?
We had rehearsal for this stupid campout tomorrow.
We have to serenade the soldiers.
Well, you have a very nice singing voice.
I look like Shirley Temple.
I'm not a child.
Please don't make me do this anymore.
I'm afraid your mother's calling the plays on this one.
It's your fault we're here in the first place.
Hey.
What are we looking at?
- I don't know. - Oh. Yes, you do.
Taurus.
You remember how Taurus looked from New Jersey?
You could barely even see Electra.
Look. Look how bright that is.
This isn't our home, Callie.
This whole neighborhood,
it's just cheap plaster and wood.
In a couple years, we will be back in Princeton.
And this, this'll all be Indian land.
Like it never happened.
We just gotta get through it.
Any way we can.
We should use this yard more.
What?
I got you. I got you.
Oh.
It's okay. It's all right. Come on.
- It's all right. - No.
Abby.
- We're just fine here. We're fine. - Abby, come on.
- Don't worry about it. - We're going home.
- No, I want to dance. - Hey.
What did you give her?
I'm having...
Hate to interrupt you and the missus.
We filled every channel, overpowered the xenon.
Temperature's constant now. Army says go.
You're still not gonna make any changes to safety before you light her up?
Are you drunk?
Not nearly enough for this.
Go ahead.
I'm having fun.
Too much... Too much fun for one night.
I just want to dance, El. Why won't you dance with me?
- Dance? - Mmm-hmm.
Okay.
Primary cooling system team leader reports status green.
Air valves 10 to 24 report all green.
Status normal.
All primary pumps report green. Standing by.
I thought you weren't supposed to be in here.
They told me I could come back
if I stick to my own business and respect my superiors.
I assume you're responsible?
The least we could do.
Your friend asked why I stay here.
This is as close as I can get
to wherever you people are building what we both know you're building.
I wish I could talk about it.
I can't get this past the censors.
But you can deliver it to Frank Winter.
I know his neutron reaction work. He should see mine.
If he found a way to get a woman there, he can find a way to get me.
No offense.
A rising tide lifts all boats.
Attention, all plant personnel are required to pass through the safety zone
prior to entering or leaving the facility.
Mrs. Abby?
I'm gonna make a sandwich for Joey. Are you hungry?
- What time is it? - It's 12:00.
- Uh, I'm feeling a bit under the weather. - Okay.
Oh.
Are you intentionally hitting every bump?
What's that noise?
What the hell?
- What are you doing? - It's not me.
Something's wrong with the car.
Damn it.
Brand-new car. Hasn't even needed an oil change.
Christ, fuel line is full of water.
Son of a bitch at the station must have diluted the gas.
Oh, even a Cadillac won't run if the fuel's no good.
Reactor fuel.
Nuclear cars? Wouldn't file a patent just yet.
We've been designing a bomb
based on plutonium two geniuses cranked out with a cyclotron.
- So? - So a reactor is different.
Iodine, xenon, who knows what else. Chemical by-products. Water in the gas.
What if reactor plutonium isn't pure?
Frank always assumes the worst. Implosion model could run on crude oil.
He's got my brothers And my sisters
In his hands he's got my brothers And my sisters
In his hands He's got the whole world in his hands
He's got the sun and the rain
In his hands He's got the moon and the stars
In his hands He's got the wind and the clouds
In his hands He's got the oceans and the seas
In his hands He's got you and he's got me
In his hands He's got the whole world in his hands
I saw you hanging around our house.
I'm on night patrol. We're supposed to keep the neighborhood safe.
Is there a lot of suspicious activity around my bedroom window?
Are you a peeping tom or something?
You flashed me.
Well, now it's your turn.
What?
Show me what's under your shirt,
or I'll scream.
Paloma, I...
Everything okay?
Well, she quit.
She said that after yesterday,
she wasn't comfortable working for us anymore.
What did you say?
I told her vaya con Dios and gave her 20 bucks.
What was I supposed to say?
Well, I'm sure we can get a replacement.
We never needed a maid in Princeton.
He wanted to kidnap the princess.
So Zeus disguised himself as a giant white bull, Taurus,
and he carried her on his back across the ocean to Crete
where he raped her basically,
and she never saw her family again.
How do you know so much?
We had a telescope in Princeton.
Where is that?
It's where I'm from,
where I'm going back to.
Not too soon, I hope.
- Thanks for the ride. - Sure.
So, what happens now?
We go back to being sworn enemies?
Hair of the dog?
I got two bottles of whiskey burning a hole in my suitcase.
No. Thank you.
- See you around. - Yeah.
Well, well, well.
I would give you a hero's welcome,
but as you can see, I have my hands full with this pile of work you left behind.
Is Frank here?
Hardly. No. No, it's just me.
Well, as long as we're both stranded here in the desert,
how about a drop to drink?
Or we could skip the drink.
Hi.
How was wherever you were?
Not home.
I love you, Abby.
Oh, wow.
I have to go back to the office.
Now?
What's wrong?
I don't know yet.
Ripped By mstoll