"( Horn honking )" "I'mAlexMack." "Iwasjustanaveragekid untilanaccident changed my life." "Andsincethen..." "Nothing'sbeenthesame." "( Zapping )" "MybestfriendRay  thinks it's cool." "MysisterAnnie thinks I'm a science project." "Ican'tletanyoneelse know ." "Notevenmy parents." "IknowtheChemicalPlant wants to find me andturnme into some experiment." "Butyouknowsomething?" "Iguess I'm not so average anymore." "I'm a loser." "Yeah, me, too." "Why are you a loser?" "My art teacher, Ms. Tate says when we paint, we should paint with our hearts." "She says we should open up our hearts and find our inspirations within." "And you don't have an inspired heart?" "To be honest with you, Alex" "I have art class right before lunch." "And I'm less interested in my heart and more concerned about my stomach." "Ever wonder why they're called "starving artists"?" "What about you?" "Biology." "We have to dissect a frog on Monday." "You got to pin down their arms and cut right up." "What?" "I don't need details when my mouth is full of tuna salad." "Sorry." "So, you got to dissect a frog?" "Not just any frog, Ray." "We're going to dissect Willy." "The frog we've had in the terrarium all year?" "How do you know?" "He's the only one in there." "I'd say he's a pretty likely candidate." "I can't believe they'd do that to good old Willy." "I know, it's not fair." "But science marches forth." "And if the sacrifice of one small frog will aid in the education of future scientists..." "Ray, I'm not a future scientist." "I hate science." "Well, maybe so." "There's nothing you could do about it anyway." "( Frog croaks )" "Is this part of your new plan?" "Yes, it is, Miss Atron." "This is the PVP 9000 security droid." "And what did this cost me?" "Actually, it should pay for itself in just a few hours." "This little droid will effectively replace our entire night security staff." "This little thing?" "This little thing is a marvel of miniaturization." "There is more computing power in here than NASA had when it launched the first space shuttle." "This little thing is capable of high-speed pursuit." "It can chase an intruder and make an arrest using a high-powered taser beam." "It can make an arrest?" "Absolutely." "It uses a high-voltage bolt of electricity to momentarily incapacitate the intruder." "( Zapping )" "A normal human being would have found that quite uncomfortable." "So, I can fire the entire night security staff?" "Yes, well, all..." "Except for me." "I have to stay here and supervise the droid." "Oh, of course." "So what does this robot have in common with our GC-161 kid?" "That is the coup de grace of my little plan." "It's based on a little trick" "I picked up when I was a Navy seal." "It preys on the conscience." "Go on." "All it takes to initiate the plan is one quick phone call." "Local?" "Local." "I leak the story to the school that we have taken a contaminated kid into custody and we're going to perform some rather unpleasant experiments." "Now, if the real contaminated kid has a conscience he will not be able to let an innocent take the heat." "I guarantee you that it will bring that kid out of hiding and right into our hands." "Hmm." "Well, what makes this better than all the other high-tech toys that you've tried so far?" "It's quicker, it's more intuitive it's more powerful than any normal security guard and not even a genetically altered intruder can escape the PVP 9000 security droid." "It sounds too simple." "Miss Atron, the best plans always are." "Okay, Vince, but I just have one thing to say." "This better work." "It will work." "( Beeping )" "It will work." "( Beeping )" "Zero to bravo four, ready for instructions." "So, uh, tiger?" "The Plant finally caught the kid that was contaminated by that accident." "I understand they're going to do some pretty nasty experiments." "Uh, tissue samples, electrodes brain waves, blood tests." "You've got to be quarantined in a hyperbaric chamber for nine months." "Have you ever been in a hyperbaric chamber?" "It's no fun." "Pressure constantly on your skull." "Ears popping all the time." "( No audio )" "Still bummed about the frog?" "Yes, I'm still bummed about the frog." "Alex, if it wasn't for people dissecting frogs and things there wouldn't be medicine or science." "Since when did you become a defender of amphibian killing?" "It's not actually killing." "The frog's already dead before you start to cut it up." "Oh, that makes me feel much better about ripping open its chest and tearing out its intestines." "You do paint an ugly picture." "I mean, do we have to dissect Willy?" "They let us bond with a little frog all semester and now we have to take a scalpel to him?" "They are playing with your emotions" "I agree with you." "So you're not going to bring him back to school?" "Bring who back?" "( Frog croaks )" "Never mind." "Louis:" "Guys, did you hear?" "The Plant captured that contaminated kid." "Alex:" "There's no contaminated kid, that's just a rumor." "Louis:" "Alex, I know that the kid is Beth Gaskin who told you this?" "Amy Sullivan who heard it from Tate Webb who heard it from Donnie Oxendine who heard it from Dede Boyce who heard it from Chester the janitor all very reliable sources." "Louis, you're too gullible." "Beth was kind of weird to begin with." "She's amazingly smart, maybe even smarter than me." "And she was conspicuously absent today." "She was sneezing yesterday." "Maybe it's a cold." "That's what they want you to think but I went by her place." "No one's there." "The Plant probably paid them to leave." "Louis, that's ridiculous." "I don't think so." "My sources say Beth is locked up in the lab's hyperbaric quarantine chamber." "Electrodes are attached to her brain and they're taking tissue samples." "Tissue samples?" "It could take six months to complete the testing." "( Frog croaks )" "Did I just hear a frog in your backpack?" "Louis, some day you're going to get yourself into trouble with these wild stories." "I'm going home to make some calls." "I've got a lot more people to tell." "Wait." "Wait." "Ray, what if he's right?" "What if Beth is in there getting electroded and tissue sampled all because of me." "I could never live with that much guilt." "It wouldn't be your fault." "Maybe I have to turn myself in." "If I don't confess, it will be my fault." "Wait, wait, wait." "Yesterday, I was over on Palm Street and I saw a Chemical Plant truck." "I think that's in Beth's neighborhood." "See?" "I can ask my dad about it, he'll know what's going on." "Yeah." "Bye." "( Door opens and closes )" "Alex, how was your day at school?" "Just a regular, normal day." "Did anything unusual happen today at work?" "Unusual?" "Well, let's see." "I got locked in the office supply closet again but Roy small came along and fixed the lock so it won't happen again." "So nothing really unusual happened?" "Well, no, I guess not." "Nothing really unusual." "Dad, remember about a year ago when the Plant spilled that chemical on some kid?" "That was just a rumor, Alex." "There was no chemical spill." "Danielle Atron herself assured me of that." "Let's pretend that it did happen and they found the kid that it got spilled on." "It would never happen, Alex." "Just pretend." "Okay, it wouldn't be much fun for the kid" "I can tell you that." "What would happen?" "Well, okay, for the sake of argument if there was such a contaminated kid he or she would probably be quarantined." "Quarantined?" "Isolation in the Plant's main lab." "They have a hyperbaric quarantine chamber where they would do extensive research." "Would they use electrodes?" "They might." "Would they take tissue samples?" "That's a distinct possibility, yeah." "George, I think we might give Alex some nightmares." "It's just science, Mom." "Science always gives me nightmares." "So, Alex, if this GC-161- contaminated kid existed hopefully he would be smart enough to come forward." "But like I said, it's only a rumor." "Hi, sweetie." "Hi, Mom." "Something smells good in the kitchen." "It's cabbage." "Alex, why the sudden interest in chemical reactions?" "Oh, I'm just curious." "I'm an inquisitive kid with a need to know or maybe it's just a phase." "I hope not." "( Door closes )" "Louis Driscoll told you that the Plant has some kid that they think is contaminated and you instantly believed him?" "Dad said the same stuff." "Dad doesn't know everything." "It's probably a rumor." "I don't think so." "I wouldn't put anything past the Plant but even if they have some kid it's got nothing to do with you." "What if it takes six months to find out" "Beth is the wrong kid?" "Six months in a hyperactive canteen chamber with electrons and tissue samples and stuff?" "You can't believe every crazy story you hear." "The facts point to one thing and Ray and I are going in the Plant tonight to get Beth." "You got poor Ray in on this, too?" "He doesn't know it yet." "But he's my best friend, I'm sure he'll help me." "Alex, if you go snooping around the Plant they'll catch you." "Might even be a trap." "Okay, never mind." "I won't do it." "Forget it." "Just like that?" "You're going to listen to reason?" "Yes, Annie, I'm going to listen to reason." "I'll forget the whole idea." "( Frog croaks )" "Alex, do you have a frog in your backpack?" "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do have a frog in my backpack." "( Door closes )" "Maybe Annie was right." "Maybe there is no kid and this is a trap." "Raymond, sometimes you have to forget science and logic and follow your heart." "If Beth is in there, I have to get her out." "I'd feel terrible if we didn't break her out." "Al... be careful in there." "Will do." "Mr. Mack:" "Barbara..." "Just because I can calculate genetic code in my head doesn't mean I can program the V.C.R." "Annie..." "I don't do V.C.R.S." "It's too complicated." "The salesman promised it was easy." "He said a child could do it." "Where's Alex?" "She went out a while ago." "She left?" "Yeah, with Raymond." "She went to go see a friend of hers." "I think her name was Beth." "I think I've solved the problem." "Oh, great." "What do we need to do?" "We need to go out to the theater and see a movie." "Oh!" "Uh-oh." "( Liquid bubbling )" "( Door clanks, hissing )" "Beth, you in here?" "( Hissing, door slams )" "Mechanical voice:" "Search mode activated." "( Liquid bubbling )" "Search mode in progress." "Search mode in progress." "Search mode in progress." "Activate all alarms." "Intruder alert." "Switching to pursuit and arrest mode." "Bingo!" "( Alarm honking )" "( Phone autodialing, ringing )" "Hello, Danielle?" "Vince here." "I believe I remember telling you how efficient this plan was?" "At this very moment, I have a suspect in custody." "Well, thanks to the PVP 9000 security droid." "I have the absolute, utmost confidence that the droid has subdued the intruder." "No, there is absolutely no possibility of escape." "Halt, intruder." "You are under arrest." "You are under arrest." "Search mode in progress." "Halt, intruder." "This is your final chance to submit." "No false moves." "( Zapping )" "Halt, intruder, you are under arrest." "( Zapping )" "( Zapping and exploding )" "Hey, you, get back here!" "Uh, Miss Atron, can I call you back?" "Thanks." "( Sharp, irritating noise in headphones )" "( Yelling and moaning )" "( Turns off noise )" "You called me in here at this hour to look at your broken robot?" "Miss Atron, this type of mishap is normal in the prototype stage of any innovative technology." "I assure you..." "I assure you that your job is in serious jeopardy." "The security computer recorded one intruder." "That was our kid, Vince and once again, we have no photographic record." "Once again, no arrest was made, because you assured me that I could do without my entire security force." "I, um, I know that..." "I let you fire them." "The best security force in the country and I let you fire them because I trusted you and your little friend." "Yes, Miss Atron." "I admit that letting the staff go might have been a bit hasty." "But once we fix the security droid..." "I'm not paying for you to have your toy fixed, Vince." "Get on that phone of yours and call up each and every one of those men you fired and you apologize." "Apologize?" "Yes." "A deep, Sincere apology from the bottom of your heart." "I just hope you can beg them to come back for the same salary." "Miss Atron, I might have been a little too abrupt with those men." "I don't even think they're going to want to speak to me." "I don't care." "Those men are more important to me than you are." "This has been one disaster after the other." "I am extremely disappointed in your work." "What are you saying, Miss Atron?" "I'll let you know when I figure it out." "Yes, Miss Atron." "I'll try and..." "Thanks, Ray." "Sorry I wasted our time." "I should have known not to trust a rumor out of the mouth of Louis Driscoll." "It's cool, Al." "We did the right thing." "Night, Ray." "See you tomorrow." "Hi, Annie." "Hey." "Hey, what are you doing here?" "Waiting for you." "Where have you been?" "Got to admit something, Annie." "Despite what you said, I went into the Plant." "They didn't have any kid." "I told you." "Anyway, Louis called." "Said to forget about the Beth Gaskin thing." "She went out of town with her family." "Well, I'm glad I investigated it." "And I even got in and out all by myself." "With Ray's help, of course." "( Frog croaking )" "Um, I think you have something that belongs to me." "I found it upstairs." "Is this is a frog from school?" "Yes, Annie, it's a frog from school and I'm letting it go." "I don't care if it isn't scientific or if it's not going to change anything." "This is one lucky frog." "That's good enough for now." "You wouldn't understand." "Actually... when I was your age" "I liberated a whole bowl of planarians from the science lab." "I dumped them in the river and I just watched them swim away." "Planarians?" "Flatworms." "They looked at me with these big, sad eyes and I just had to do it." "So, I guess you understand." "Of course I understand, Alex." "I have a heart, too." "I'm glad you can see things my way once in a while." "I'm glad I can, too." "Later, Willy." "( Frog croaks )" "Go on, go in the back." "( Chuckles )" "Come on." "Captioned by Grant Brown"