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Chain Reaction (1996)
We're running out of time.
We have polluted and peopled this planet to the brink of extinction. We are destroying our world at a suicidal pace. We need a pollution revolution. And it's not going to be easy because the world is addicted to petroleum. We have limited resources and we go to war to protect them. We need a new technology and this technology can't be sold. It must be given away to everyone. We are in sight of a dream. There is a solution. The answer is all around us... right here. Water. H2O. Two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen. There is enough energy in this glass of water to power the city of Chicago for weeks. It's the hydrogen we're after. This is what happens when we burn it. It's perfectly clean. You can burn it when you want to, in a car, in a turbine, or in your own basement power supply next to your water heater. But what if we could release this energy efficiently? We will transform the world. Maybe we start to put an end to war. Of course, we have to make it work first. Morning! Hey, James, how are you doing? Hey, Eddie, cold enough for you? It's never too cold. Hey, Lu! You want me to set up? Yeah, right away. Hello, Mr Shannon. Mr Shannon, the big man, how are you? Alistair. - Did you have a good trip? - Very good. - Hi, can I get you some coffee? - I'm fine, thank you. I turn on the laser here. We should focus it in the centre of the bubble. - How's it going? - You didn't get my fax? I did. I didn't understand the figures. We need to control the bubble. The regulator isn't working. Eddie, did you computer-model your work last night? No, I was too busy building it. We sustained fusion for 4.6 milliseconds. Stable? It's stable... for 4.6 milliseconds. Let me show you. Come, come. The power input and output is fine at this stage. The output drops to nothing at stage three, so what happened? Paul! All right, I gotta go. Cross your fingers, everyone. Good luck. Mr Chen. Initiate laser. Initiate laser. Hydrogen separation in progress. Initiate hydrogen burn. Two million kelvin and rising. Shut it down! It's unstable. Shut it down. We learned something important. We found another way that didn't work. We need to keep our minds open and try again. Alistair. - It's working. - Is it stable? Yeah, it's stable. - Completely stable. - My God! - We go tomorrow. - Tomorrow, Alistair. Lily, talk to me. Temperature, gas flow, acoustic drive steadied. - The regulator has stabilised the reaction. - Lucasz. My spectrometer shows stable hydrogen production. We're getting more out than we put in. I think you'd better sell your utility stocks. - Whoa, Mr Chidi! - Unbelievable! You're going to be famous. Thanks for everything. We want more money! Thanks for your trust. I got it, I got it! Here comes crazy Eddie! Congratulations. I am quite impressed. - Congratulations. - Thank you. I never agreed to keep anything from anyone. Mandela will get this information, China will find out... Go anywhere, but don't move an inch. I can't tell you what could happen... This is no time to be serious. Everybody's waiting. Come on, Alistair! OK, everybody. Holy shit, we did it! Holy shit, we did it! One love One heart Let's get together and... Your battery's dead. There's ice all over the dashboard. - How do I get home? - I'll get you home. We'll take my bike. Oh, yes, please! Where do you live? I live in England. No, sorry, I live on Kimbark and 54th. - Kimbark and 54th? - Mm-hm. We can't. You'll freeze to death. Erm... Let's take a taxi. - Taxi, huh? - Uh-huh. We've got a better chance of getting picked up by a UFO. Mr Chen, upload everything. I want it on the Internet tonight. We'll wake up a lot of people. Damn right. Really wake them up. Barkley... We don't have the computer model ready. We have the frequency. We'll send it to you in one hour. Yeah, yeah, in one hour. Where are you going? Chen? - Here we are. - This is Alistair's house. Isn't he sweet? He lets me live on the third floor. Mmm. This... way. Is this... is this what drunk is? You've never been drunk? I've never been this. Lily's too serious. She's no fun. I think you're fun. Good night, Lily. Wow! Alistair! Alistair! Chen! Chen! Chen! Get ready. Shannon. - Paul? Alistair's dead. - Eddie? I found him on the lab floor. - He was murdered. - What? Just what caused the explosion last night is still unclear. University officials say this mill site had been converted for the experimental production of hydrogen fuel. They say that's not supposed to be dangerous. One question law enforcement officials are trying to determine is whether foul play was involved. As we indicate, that's unconfirmed. But an FBI agent has said, and it was reported by a Bureau spokesperson, that no nuclear device went off. There was no atomic explosion. As far as you know, are all your people accounted for? Miss Sinclair? Is this all the group? Alistair didn't come home last night. Lu Chen is nowhere to be found. I phoned him and he's not anywhere. I started CPR. I checked for breath, there was no breath. I checked and there was no pulse. I continued with the CPR. Have the locals move the perimeter back about 1,000 ft. You got it. Find me a friendly Federal judge. I want wiretap orders, search warrants on everyone that worked here. Inspector Ford, you've taken charge of this investigation. Why is the FBI involved? Eight city blocks disappeared. The President talked to my boss at 3am. He wants answers. Tell me about Eddie. Does he drink, do drugs? No. He's just a machinist, an undergraduate working to get his degree. That's the undisclosed cost of our cheap fossil fuel. Who'd be interested in this? Cheap, clean, abundant energy? Who wouldn't? When you left the party, who was there? Eddie. So, Eddie, tell us again why you came back? I'd come back for my bike. You say you'd returned from taking Miss Sinclair home. Yeah. Her car wouldn't start, so I took her home on the bus. What is your relationship with Miss Sinclair? Er... We work together. I'm a machinist, she's a physicist. I was hired by Dr Chen. And who is Dr Chen? He was Dr Barkley's project manager. Why did he hire you? Because I'm a physicist. Gentlemen, what have we got here? Sergeant? I think we have Mr Chen in the wind. Nick, what did you find? It looks like he packed with a shovel. He was in a hurry. Dr Barkley expressed interest in a specialist in sonoluminescence. He knew about Dr Chen. So through some friends in the State Department, I got him here and onto the team. You have friends in the State Department? We have influential members of the board. Really? Who's on the board of your foundation? Ford. Various scientists... Yeah. ...and industrialists. Your Dr Chen is missing. Any idea where he might be? He may be dead. We have no comment. Eddie Kasalivich! You said they killed him. Who killed him, Eddie? You were there before the explosion. What happened? What are you looking for? We're just examining the articles on his desk. - How are you entitled to do that? - Annette! They have a search warrant, but no respect for a man's life. I want a full inventory. These are very important, sensitive scientific papers. - We'll give you copies. - Signed, please! For two decades, Doctor Barkley... I have to speak to the university's legal counsel. Please give Lily any help you can. I can't stay here tonight. Among the missing is Dr Lu Chen, who the authorities are looking for. He may be considered a suspect... - This is insane. - They're going to think he did it. Oh, no. - What is it? - It's from Dr Lu Chen. He wants me to bring the rest of the information, all the data and meet him at the rendezvous in Shanghai. I'm being framed. What are you talking about? - This isn't from Chen. - How do you know? - He doesn't write like this. - Then who sent it? I don't know who sent it. Where's Chen? You don't think he did it? Let's er... Let's get outta here, OK? Can I help you? I sure hope so. We're looking for Mr Paul Shannon. He's on the phone right now. Excuse me, you can't go in there! You can't go in! There's a lot to explain. I'll call you back. What now, Agent Ford? We've received Eddie Kasalivich's file. He left college for disciplinary reasons. He blew the hell out of the lab. - This is a coincidence! - You knew he was kicked out of school? He resigned. - Under some pressure? - There was some pressure, yes. - He blows up a building... - Minor structural damage. It was an interesting experiment. It might have worked. Didn't you think this information was important? I don't see the relevance. - You don't see a small connection? - No, Agent Ford, I don't. The CIA tells me Chen might be involved in espionage. Kasalivich's past makes me nervous. And Miss Sinclair is receiving faxes inviting her to mainland China. Really? Really. What's wrong? That's my place. Let's get outta here. - It's a real shithole. - How much does this guy make? Not much, he's a student machinist. - Sheen, why are you outside? - Stay warm, buddy! Got a loft for your mother. Very artistic. - Who's upstairs? - Everybody. Half the city. - Do you want to check that cabinet? - I got it. Jesus, you could put together almost anything here. I want all this. All right! We need a total lab workup. It's er... a neutron cappuccino machine. Yeah, don't touch it. Hey, Nick! What's this? It's a transmitter. It's a burst transmitter. What does it do? It sends massive amounts of information by satellite probably to China. Nick! Doyle! Calls flooded into the University Of Chicago from all over the world, enquiring about the professor. Concern came from the Royal Academy in London, from Paris, Moscow and all parts of the compass. But at the same time, critics say Barkley was a Utopian dreamer. They point out that the research he was involved with was far more dangerous than he realised. Paul. Shannon! What's going on? Tell me about the money, Eddie. What money? The $250,000 the FBI found in your loft. I don't know what you're talking about. What about the burst transmitter? Think hard. Jesus... I suppose you're not in communication with Dr Chen in China? It wasn't Chen. - Do you have an attorney? - No. I've got a good one. He'll negotiate your surrender. Come on. We'll call him. - Surrender? - They'll want to talk to you. - I'm not going. - What do you mean? - We didn't do anything. - The FBI will figure that out. We're being set up. I'm not going to the cops until I know more. Run, and you'll have every gun-carrying idiot in the US after you. Look, talk to this lawyer. We'll go somewhere safe - and wait until you work it out. - Where? Maggie's. We'll go to Maggie's. OK. Have you got any money? - $40. - All right. Here. When you get there, stay put. Don't use the phone. I'll call you. Why is this happening, Paul? It's gonna be all right, Eddie. I promise you. Wait here five minutes, then leave. What do we know about this Shannon? Georgetown Law, Kennedy School of Government. Worked for several aerospace giants. Three years in Washington under Reagan... - Oh, yeah? Doing what? - DARPA. Defence Advanced Research Project Administration. Jesus! Who the hell is this guy? He's notjust someone that runs a foundation. There's a train at 8.40 at the Union Station to Williams Bay. - That's where Maggie lives. - You can trust her? We lived and worked together. This is the Channel 32 special report. We go live to the Federal Office Building in Chicago. As you know, it's been a very long and a very trying day for us all. Material witness warrants have been issued in Illinois for Professor Lu Chen, Dr Lily Sinclair, and Edward Kasalivich. Oh, my God! If anyone knows their whereabouts, please contact the Chicago FBI office. What are we going to do? We can't leave here together. Get a cab outside. Buy two tickets. Williams Bay. I'll meet you on the track. Be safe. You too. His body was found... Hey, Mike, did you see that guy? Union Station, please. Hey! Hey, you! Come here. Hey! Officer! Hey, buddy! Hey, you! I got him! I got him! It makes no sense. If Kasalivich is just a pawn, why has he got a burst transmitter? What? He's gotta be transmitting to someone. - Unbelievable. - What? CPD's chasing Kasalivich down Michigan Avenue. Stay where you are! He's gonna fall! Get me a boat under there! What the hell's he doing? He's going over! Hey! We got guys downstairs? - What did I tell you? He just went over. - Stairs, over here. Listen. How do we get him down? Officer, if I move that bridge, he's gonna fall. - Can he get out lower down? - Leads down to the gear room. - Bring the bridge down. - He'll get crushed. Ten-four. Bring it down slow. - Bring the bridge down now! - Get over there! Hey! What's happening? Why did it stop? Right, I want this cleared. Let's go! Do a search! Move it, move it! Go! Go! Right now! You! Back this thing outta here. Come on! So where the hell is he? Amtrak northbound, no.343, now leaving on track 19 for Fox Lake, Wallburgh, Williams Bay, Jamesfield and Madison. - God! I didn't think I was gonna make it. - Watch your step. Don't worry, he'll be here. You were right. What took you so long? The bridge was up. All aboard! - Here you go. - Thanks. Thank you. Are you sure she's going to be up this late? Yeah, she's usually up all night. - She's kinda wild. - Oh. - I worked up here one summer. - Oh! Maggie. Maggie! Oh, my. Tell me you didn't do it, Eddie! I didn't do it. Oh, it's good to see you, man. You must be the other terrorist. - I guess I am. - Maggie, this is Lily. Hi, Lily. - Have a nice trip, Mr Shannon. - Thank you, Bobby. How did you get me into this hearing? I don't have this kind of clearance. I know a guy that knows a guy. - Who? - It's a guy. Who's the guy? Doyle, it's national security. I can't tell you. Security concerns must be given greater importance in industrial research. We don't know the cause of the explosion. And we don't know the source of the espionage, if indeed there was espionage. But we do know that we are at risk. Every idea that offers a competitive advantage to Americans is subject to theft. And that, gentlemen, could be catastrophic. Mr Shannon, over the past ten years, this committee has approved hundreds of millions of dollars for your research projects without having one good, goddamn idea about where the hell all the money was going. He's talking about our tax dollars up there. We were under the impression, Senator, that you passed legislation to ensure that you wouldn't know. Or perhaps, more accurately, that you didn't want to know. I'm aware of the law, Mr Shannon, thank you. I wrote it. But I don't remember, when I drafted it, that I anticipated a large portion of the south side of Chicago blown up. What assurances can you give me and this committee that this event will never happen again? None, Senator. The incident in Chicago was tragic, to be sure. But sometimes that is the price we must pay to ensure our competitive edge in the future. We didn't intend to pay for our space exploration programme with the lives of ten American astronauts. But we did. Nevertheless, we must not waver in our commitment to scientific research and development. As you gentlemen know, there are many threats to our way of life. And not all of them wear uniforms and carry guns. Mr Shannon, I want to thank you for your appearance today before this committee. You have spoken like a true patriot of whom this country can be very proud. Thank you, sir. - I think I'm getting through. - What about Lucasz? He never got over not getting his credentials. No-one on the team could have done this. Whoever is doing this knows an awful lot about us. If I hadn't have shown up, they would have thought it was an accident. And nobody would know what's really going on. Oh, my God. - Welcome back, boss. We missed you. - What about me? Surveillance is up on Shannon's estate. Cue it up, Jimmy. Where are the files on the Moore Foundation? Gentlemen, Shannon's moving. There will be an orientation meeting in the main auditorium, on level one... - Is everyone here? - Yes. - Is it running? - Not yet. Good afternoon, gentlemen. FBI. I'm Agent Williams, this is Agent Lim. So, what kind of facility is this? I'm sorry, sir, we're not allowed to discuss this. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Bear with me, and we'll soon get started. Thank you. I don't care if he's got an appointment with Mother Teresa. We have been waiting for him for 35 minutes. You're late. This is another one of your messes, Lyman. It's not the Peace Corps, Paul. - Anyway, you said you had it under control. - I did! This thing's still not working. You've got to call off the Bureau. Do you understand? I'm not sure I can do that. There's an awful lot of explaining to do. Where's the young man? Kasalivich? He's someplace safe. I'm bringing him in today. Paul! If someone's going down for this, it is not gonna be I. Paul Shannon, please. Maggie McDermott. We're old friends. Washington. Area code's Wisconsin. Checking the prefix. Punch it up. Maggie McDermott. She was put through from the Chicago office. Maggie? Shannon, it's Eddie. It's scrambled. - It's him, on a payphone in Williams Bay. - I'll get the locals. - What are you doing? - It's OK, it's a payphone. That fax... I know about that. Wait at Maggie's. I'll send someone for you. Lily tracked it to Beijing. It routed through a Chinese company, but it came from the US Technological Business Council. We've gotta go. - Heard of it? - They'll be there in an hour. Now, Eddie! - I gotta go. We'll come to you. - No, don't. Eddie. Eddie! - Thanks. - Good luck. Officer. Hey, hey! Andy! You know that guy on the news? I saw him run up there. Really, Maggie? You should have brought him in when you had the chance. Get to the observatory, right away! Lily! Lily! - Eddie, it's unbelievable. - We've gotta go. Listen, listen. This council lobbies for defence contractors... - We've gotta go now. The cops are here. - What! Come on! How did they find us? Hey! Hold it right there. Hey! Hold it! Hey! Stop! Hold it! Stop! Hold it right there. Get your hands up. Get 'em up! Walk back slowly towards me. Come on, do it! Keep coming. Good, hold it right there. This is Nemitz, on the roof of the observatory. I've got 'em. Aagh! Go! Go, go, go, go! Come on! On the roof! Get a medical team up here right away. Suspect is armed! Get in the boat! - Eddie, what are you doing? - Get in! Eddie, what are you doing? The best I can. Get the boat! He's on the ice! - Are you OK? - Yes! He's out of our sight. 12 o'clock. Lily, the bag! Give me the bag. Go, go! There's nobody in there! We need a pollution revolution. I don't care. Search all of Wisconsin if you have to. They lost him? We've been to C-Systems. We can't get any information. It used to be a government-run facility. Now county records say it doesn't even exist. Maybe you weren't really there. Maybe we're not really here. Eddie, I can't... feel my legs. Come on. Come on. We've got fire, we've got fire. Why would a policeman shoot another policeman? Maybe they weren't police. Why didn't they shoot at us? I don't know. What a dump, huh? - Mr Shannon. - What? Two FBI agents want to see you. This is more important than his afternoon tea. My apologies for interrupting your tea, Mr Shannon. - What's Kasalivich doing in Wisconsin? - Running away from you. We understand he phoned you. I counselled Eddie to turn himself in to the authorities. He and Miss Sinclair shot a Wisconsin state trooper. I doubt that very seriously. Well... the state trooper's very dead. Mr Shannon, these are copies of the Moore Foundation IRS files. Do you know what's in them? Meagre tax records, I imagine. We are a non-profit organisation. The funding for your foundation comes from a wide variety of sources. Defence contractors, telecommunication companies, aerospace. It's gratifying to know our work is appreciated. The bulk of funding seems to come from one Cayman Islands account. I don't do the fundraising. Oh, yeah. And the account is classified. Who pays your salary, Mr Shannon? The foundation pays my salary. Classified accounts, encrypted phone calls... A man could be forgiven for thinking that your foundation is a front for the CIA. In that case, there may be national security issues here that are larger than us all. Obstructing an FBI investigation is a federal crime. - I know the law, Mr... - Doyle. National security does not include murdering people. Domestically, at least. Tell your friends at Langley that domestic is our back yard. They're not allowed to play here. You can keep the returns. Nice house. And for dinner tonight, we have a choice of sardines... ...or sardines. Gosh, I think I'll have... sardines. Sardines. Beautiful choice. So, is this how you seduce all the girls? Only physicists with hypothermia who are accused of being a terrorist. Thank you. There's a garage. I'm going to see what's in there. I won't be long, OK? Your pit bull has killed a Wisconsin state trooper. Well, now. Would you rather the Bureau got the girl and Kasalivich? First, he was a suspect. Worst case scenario... they arrest him. Now he's a cop-killer. Worst case scenario, they kill him. For God's sake, what possessed you to frame him in the first place? Two words. Convenience... and expedience. He saw too much, he was talking. The poor boy was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I need this poor boy! This poor boy is the only one who knows the frequencies! Do you understand the concept, Lyman? Poor impulse control? Barkley, Chen, the regulator. That was supposed to be it! That was all of it! I am sick to death of cleaning up your messes. No, Paul, no. Yours. Not mine. You lost it, Paul. Lost control, perspective. You made it personal with these people. Well, we'll find them. We'll find them, and when we do and we've got this thing working, then, my friend, then this young man will be a liability. That'll be my problem. - Our problem. - No, Lyman. When the time comes, I'll handle it. You'd better. So what does he want us to do? We find him and give him an injection. Lily. Lily! Come on. Leesburg, Virginia. C-Systems. Who are they? Not cops. Cops carry badges, credit cards, pictures of their families. If it's crowded, don't go in. OK. - Hi! - Hello. Can I help you? I'd like to send some flowers and a note to a friend in Virginia. It's a little strange, Mr Shannon, but these just arrived. I'm not quite sure where they're from. Here's a note. May I see that? Thank you. Hold it right there, buddy. FBI. Step outside the van, please. Why don't you bring your invoice sheet out with you? Do you know if the order originated at this shop? I don't think so. I think it was a wire from Georgetown. - Mind if I take one of these? - No, sure. Have a nice day. So officially this investigation is now code-named Steel Bomb. We'll input the data into Rapid Start. Look what I brought back from the flower shop. I think this is Kasalivich. Spawn versus Neanderthal man, 4pm today. What is this, a wrestling match? Bad movie, video game? Spawn, it's a comic-book character. - The guy who comes back from the dead? - Yeah, like Kasalivich. Maybe Shannon is the Neanderthal man? Very well may be. Hello, Eddie. Glad you got the flowers. Very clever. Are you all right? No, not really. I guess I can understand that. We were at Maggie's. Caught. We were about to be arrested. Somebody shot the cop. Later, two guys tried to kill us. I've got my car outside. Follow me. We'll go someplace we can talk. I found this... in one of the guy's wallets. They weren't cops. What do you know about C-Systems, Paul? This is not the time or the place, Eddie. We're being watched. Eddie, the world isn't as simple as we'd like it to be. It just doesn't work that way. Shannon, who are you? I'm your friend, Eddie. I may be your only friend. Is it you, Paul? Are you responsible for all this? Time to go, Eddie. You've got ajob to complete. The experiment needs verifying. Do your work... This will all be over. Eddie, we're beyond that now. Let's just get this done. Come back to work with me. You'll have your life back, I promise you. You don't control our lives. You'll have to trust me, Eddie. Just like Alistair? Eddie! Eddie! A trip that normally takes over five hours. But today, you'll experience the events of that flight in just seven minutes. The crew is preparing for takeoff. Your pilot for today's flight is Captain Dave Larsen. Stay here. Our co-pilot is First Officer... Get in. She's in the hatch. Look out! The crew are going through their final pre-flight checks... Eddie! Eddie! Come on, don't do anything foolish. Get Ford. DC police reported a disturbance at the Science Museum by the Neanderthal man exhibit. CQ 493... CQ 493. Here you are, darling. Drink this. You're dehydrated. Wash it out of your system. Mr Collier and I have a few colleagues we'd like you to meet. Dr Holloway, Dr Hamada, and Dr Orbit. They are very interested to discuss your work with you. And, of course, Dr Lu Chen. Lu. Lily. We would like you and Dr Chen to continue the work you were doing with Dr Barkley. - You can't be serious! - Oh, yes. We've been impressed with your work for a long time. Do you drug and kidnap everyone whose work you admire? No. Dr Barkley, we left behind. Slay the dreamer, eh, Mr Shannon? You end up sleeping on the street. I can't believe you'd do that. Can you spare some change? A quarter, what's a quarter? Can't you see me? Can I share your grate? You make me sick! We can't go in! We got kicked out! What are all youse looking at? Let go! CQ 493. This is Eddie. I think. He does. But he really does. What are you watching? "Honeymooner" reruns? Kasalivich and Barkley. Look at this. Does he look like he's about to kill this guy and blow the place up? The whole thing stinks. We've got the ballistics report back on that trooper killed in Wisconsin. Teflon sniper round went through the cop's Kevlar vest. I don't buy it. He's smart enough to blow up the lab but stupid enough to leave $250,000 where we'd find it? Are you saying some cowboy's gone off the reservation? $100. The kid didn't do it. You've got a nationwide manhunt for an innocent man. Make sure nobody shoots him. Next shift's going down now, OK? Yeah, right. Help me out on this, will you? I've had problems with the conveyor belt. No, I'll have Jim Zinsky work on that. OK? All right. If you've got any problems, call me on channel four. How is our young charge? Did she say anything? We'll soon find out, won't we? The young lady does appear to be cooperating. Good. - Gentlemen, you're just in time. - Let's get on with it. Miss Sinclair, Mr Chen, please, have a seat. Attention, all personnel. Critical path experiment will commence in ten minutes. Critical path experiment will commence in ten minutes. Level five. Activate the H2 compressor. On... on automatic. Here we go. Lucasz, what are you reading? - Two million kelvin. - Activate the laser. Four million kelvin. You don't have it. It's unstable. Shut it down! Shut it down! Dammit! What ajoke. It won't work without the right frequencies. What did he say? He said that's what he's been trying to tell you for days. Look. Let's try it again in the morning, OK? - See you back here at 8.15 tomorrow? - I have a feeling, Dr Sinclair, the solution will present itself. I doubt it. It had better or your usefulness will soon be outlived. Take them back to their room. I wish you wouldn't threaten to kill my scientists to their faces. It might make my job easier. Lucasz, Hamada, seal the lab! I want to see those printouts first thing in the morning. - It's working? - Yes. - How? - Lucasz claims he figured it out. Lucasz? That's his story. When I got here, the output was going right through the roof! Son of a bitch! It really does work. Ha! Dr Shannon, take a look at that. We've got it. What did you do? Nothing. I couldn't sleep last night, sir. I heard this voice saying, go and check different frequencies because we were trying on 15 and 20 megahertz. So I went down to the lab and ran the experiment and it all worked out. So... here we are, sir. Did you document the regulator frequencies? Not yet. I'd like those on a disk... Now, sir. None too shabby, hey, Mr Shannon? - Doctor. - Thank you. Where are you going, Paul? I'm going to check this against the Chicago data. I'll try to meet you at the silo. - Wait as long as you can. - Yes, sir. Hello, Eddie! I figured it was you. Nice place you have here, Shannon. Ten-megajoule lasers. Particle reactors. Congress de-funded most of the stuff here years ago. They made a mistake. Is this part of the Moore Foundation? In a manner of speaking. Power and money. Is that what this was all about? I'm afraid it's more complicated than that. He was a 60-year-old scientist who did nothing but good and they put a bag over his head. It was a mistake. I didn't want anything to happen to Alistair. But a decision had to be made. So... Who made the decision? - You? - That's my job. That's what I'm paid to do. I'm paid to do dirty work. Work people don't want to know about. People want to live in split-level homes. They want microwave dinners and colour TV. Is that what you think? Alistair was a dreamer. Clean air, free energy. Noble concepts but we live on a planet that is addicted to petroleum. What happens if you dump free energy onto the market? World stock markets would plummet. Our own economy would collapse. Recession, unemployment, war. The world is speeding up too fast now, Eddie. We can barely hold on as it is. You're right, it's not working. So we've got to try something else. Not bury the technology, but let it out. You let it out, but you let it out at a pace the world can absorb. It can absorb it now. There's our boy. Mr Kasalivich! How kind of you to join us. Give us a moment, Lyman. Eddie and I are having a conversation. Please! Don't let me stop you! Who runs this place, Shannon? You? - Or the guy with the guns? - Well, we are a cooperative of sorts. Run at the behest of the United States government. But without their knowledge, right? My, my, but your friend is sharp, Paul. All right, Eddie. What do you want? There are the specs for the regulator. You can pull the frequencies off the computer. Now let us go. I get it to work. You give us our lives back. That was the deal, wasn't it? Yeah. Yeah, that was the deal. I'm afraid, young man, your position is non-negotiable. I see. I want to tell you this story how I got inspired. - I had this dream... - No! Hold on. I will continue. What's happening? What did you just do? I just told the FBI I was willing to surrender. Oh, and er... I think your experiment just got a mind of its own. Check the breakers. Everybody, back to your stations! What the hell's going on, Doyle? It started a few minutes ago... hundreds of pages. Technical drawings, experiment specs, budgets, personnel records, minutes, mostly marked top secret. - Where's it coming from? - C-Systems. It's like they dumped their mainframe into our computers. Here's a special love note just for you. Jesus Christ, Kasalivich. He's in a bunker in Leesburg with his bomb-making buddies and wants us to arrest him. - Lake Geneva Radical Bomb Network? - Sound like bullshit? It sounds like you owe me $100. Make sure that fax doesn't run out of paper. - Hamada! - Still off-line! - Pressure? - 500 psi and rising. What the hell's going on? We've lost control of the system, Lyman. We can't shut it down. Turn it off. It's self-sustaining. It can't be shut down. Al! How long before we run out of storage capacity? I don't know. It's accelerating. - 20 minutes before it blows? - Maybe less. - Is he right? - I'm afraid he is. Well done, Eddie. Well done. You wouldn't blow it up if you weren't sure you'd get out alive. Sure I would. Lyman, I think it's time we got the hell out of here. - No! - Chen! - Lily! - Chen! For God's sake, Lyman! Chen! Chen! Wait! - Jesus Christ! - What is wrong with you? - Turn it off! - That was totally unnecessary. If you haven't got the stomach for this, stay out of the way. I'm going to turn down the power. - No! - Don't touch that! Don't! Hydrogen containment failure. Potential personnel hazard. - The compressor's just shut down. - Turn it back on! - You can't. - The computers are down. Get out! Get out! Everybody! - Fix it. - I can't now. - Fix it! - I can't! I wouldn't do that, Lyman. It will ignite the hydrogen. It's over, Lyman. It's over. I guess it's time to go. Go! Go! Give me the disk. You two, stay! No, Lyman! Let them go! What possible difference can it make now? - They stay! - When does it end, Lyman? Never. Well, it's not your decision. The decision is mine, and I say they're coming. You can stay with them... if you like. We must go now. Well, are you coming? Warning. Warning. Air contaminants at critical level. Come on, Paul! We've got things to do! I'm sorry, Eddie. - Shannon! - Shannon! Please! Warning! Air contaminants at critical level. Evacuate immediately. Warning. Air contaminants at critical level. Evacuate immediately. All containment doors are now closed. The tanks. OK, here's the elevator. There's room for everybody. I'm looking for two men. Paul Shannon and Lyman Collier. Hang onto them. Follow the blue evacuation route arrows to the elevators. Move in an orderly fashion quickly and quietly... Our friends from the FBI will be here presently. Anita, we're on our way. You two go to the north elevator. I'll take it from here. Come on! Come on, Lily. Eddie, which way? By the way, Paul, do you have that disk? The one with the magic frequency? Thank you so much. You know, Paul, maybe it's time to call it a day. Maybe you're getting too old for this. What do you think, huh? But then again what would we do? What would we do? I didn't tell you, Lyman, but your retirement had already been arranged. Containment systems off. Access restored to all areas. Containment systems off. Hey, hold on, hold on! Take it up, take it up! They got a 20 on Kasalivich? They found the stolen truck at the construction site nearby. Hold on. Eddie, look. Get up. Come on, Reed. We've gotta go! I thought you said the hole was clear! Get back in the seat, Ernie. Eddie. Lily, get in the basket! Get out of here. Go! Eddie, come on! Eddie! Hold on, hold on, Eddie. Come on, Eddie. Aagh! Come on, Eddie. Come on! Pull it up, pull it up. Holy... did you see that? Whoa! Come on, get him out of there. Eddie Kasalivich. Agent Ford. You got the message. Yeah, we levelled a forest printing it. What's it mean, Eddie? - Plans for clean, cheap energy. - Anybody else get this? Hopefully, a few thousand top scientists. - I knew I liked this kid. - Yeah, right, Leon. Come on. You've got some questions to answer in Washington for about six weeks. - That's OK. - We've got a lot to talk about as long as everyone stops shooting at us. Doyle, spilt 'em up. I'll meet you at the office. Ford! Doctor Sinclair and I ride together. All right, come on, both of you. Anita, take a memo. To the Director of Central Intelligence. C-Systems... no longer a viable entity. Will be in contact. That's it. |
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