"Hey, Dad?" "Yes?" "Can we do this again?" "Man, what a game." "Too bad Mom didn't come." "She really missed a good one." "Call her." "Rub it in, maybe she'll come next time." "Do we have to land in Newark?" "Can we land on Long Island?" "Please?" "What for?" "Because." "Then we can do my favorite thing..." "Fly over the best city in the whole world." "You've got to ask the man." "Okay." "You've got to ask him nicely." "Okay?" "Bill?" "Yeah, sport?" "Dad says he wants to fly over Manhattan, land on Long Island." "That'll be closer to home, anyway." "He does, does he?" "Okay, well, we'll have to see if I can get you some clearance." "1214 requesting clearance to land at MacArthur." "Over." "Okay, buddy, we're climbing back up to cruising altitude." "Diverting." "Whoa!" "Buddy..." "Hey, what was that?" "Whoa, what the hell?" "I've got her." "Check wind vectors." "Can't be." "We've got a 100-mile-an-hour crosswind." "We can't buck that." "Coming off AP, turning to run with it." "Bill, what's going on?" "Miller Alpha-Victor 1214, Air Traffic Control." "Why are you turning right?" "Respond." "Air Traffic Control, Miller 1214." "We're getting a very high crosswind at 345." "Cannot maintain vector young-five." "Request right turn." "Right turn approved." "Wind speed's all over the dial." "Holding north- The instruments are a blur..." "No..." "Damn it!" "We're crosswinded again, wind due east!" "Can't hold 180." "Turning right!" "Bill?" "We're getting some unexpected turbulence, sir!" "I'd make sure you're both strapped in back there." "Okay, let's snug this belt down, buddy." "Approved." "Climb and maintain 2-0-thousand." "Copy that." "Trying to climb out of it." "I've never seen anything like this." "His track has taken him all the way around, 360." "New York, I'm right back where I started from!" "Returning to original course." "How many times am I going to have to ride this merry-go-round?" "Miller 1214, stand by one." "New York, I'm now at 20,000, no change in conditions." "New York?" "Do you copy?" "We're thinking the next shift in wind vector, you might want to try and punch through." "The decision's yours." "Understood." "Decision is mine" "Sir, it's going to get a little more turbulent while we try and fly our way out of this." "Okay." "Hey, babe." "Somebody wants to talk to you." "Mom, I'm..." "I'm scared." "It's getting really rough." "Okay." "I'll be a big boy." "Tell your mom you love her." "I love you, Mom." "I'll see you in a couple of hours, babe." "I love you, too." "Hold it..." "Hold..." "Ken, get your feet on the pedals and push!" "Hold it!" "It's freezing up!" "Hold it!" "There's nothing to hold on to!" "Pull up." "Pull up." "Pull up." "Pull up." "Pull up." "Pull up." "Name your poison, friends!" "We've got blueberry, we've got buttermilk  and we've got whole wheat!" "Secret family recipes, passed down through the generations." "I'll have whole wheat, please." "Are you new to company 12?" "Yes, sir." "Just cleared probation four months ago." "How was that probie time?" "Well, they made me work for it, that's for sure." "Didn't you guys get called out to the plane crash?" "No, 18 caught that, and not a pretty one, they say." "Nobody seems to know what happened up there." "No, I know." "Hey, is Lonnie still cooking his awful chili on Friday nights?" "Yes, sir, it is pretty awful." "How do you know about that?" "My husband used to run the 12th." "Thats before City Hall turned his pretty head." "This is my wife, Cassie, Dr. Cassandra Lawrence." "Her niece, Lori." "Hi." "Hi." "I'm, uh..." "Brian Flynn." "Nice to meet you." "Lori's here from Iowa, looking at colleges." "Oh." "New York's a great college town." "I did my Master's here." "Oh, yeah?" "Well, I'm considering my options, but, with my major, I don't know." "Lori, why don't you take a break?" "We can handle this mob from here, eh?" "Yeah?" "Yeah, sure, go on." "Okay." "Thanks." "It's amazing how they grow up, huh?" "What'll it be?" "We've got blueberry." "We've got buttermilk." "Hey, Norman!" "Look at you, you big boy!" "He scares me, how fast he's growing." "His father says he's getting calls from pro-wrestling scouts." "Aw, look at the bright side." "Sports scholarship." "Right?" "So, how's life in the working world, Cass?" "What do you do, Cassie?" "She's a weather person--expert." "She's a partner in Advanced Meteorology Associates." "We're under contract from the city to provide a daily forecast." "Can I hold him?" "Sure!" "Basically, if the Pope comes to town we tell the Mayor if His Holiness needs an umbrella." "Hey, I'm surprised you can tell this mayor anything." "How does Jim get along with him?" "You don't get along with Mayor Johnny Leonardo." "You get out of his way." "I think he has a crush on you." "Mom can tell." "He only drools on women he likes." "Yeah, sounds like most of the men I know." "Hi!" "You look pretty good with a baby in your arms." "Yeah?" "Mm." "Aunt Cassie?" "Hi." "Um, Brian asked if I wanted to go see the Statue of Liberty with him." "Really?" "I worked on the grounds crew out there for two summers, Dr. Lawrence." "So I can show her things the average tourist would never see." "Okay." "So, when?" "Right now." "Please?" "It's one of the places I really want to see." "All right." "Back what time?" "Um, midnight?" "10:30." "11:00?" "All right, 11:00." "Have a good time." "Thanks." "Bye, guys." "Okay, were they that hot when we were in school?" "As I recall, they were." "Wow..." "Can you believe this?" "What are those things?" "I don't know, but they're really strong for their size." "It's almost like..." "Get back!" "Everyone, into the woods!" "Everybody, take cover!" "Move!" "Move!" "Everyone move!" "Go!" "Just make sure everybody knows." "Okay." "No, I really can't comment." "I saw it, but I don't know what it was, and I don't want to start a lot of speculation." "Okay, thanks, Mark." "The News?" "Yeah." "What the hell were those things?" "I've never seen anything like it before." "Well, the Mayor will want to know." "I know." "I'll call you as soon as I have some kind of analysis." "Did the guy take any useful pictures?" "Oh... this must be his little girl." "Look at her." "That's tough." "And that must be his wife." "Did you know them?" "No." "They look familiar to me." "Come on, keep scrolling." "I thought we were looking for something that could help us?" "I am." "I see." "Linda Itzicupo has a new baby." "Did you see him?" "No." "I got to hold him." "It felt really nice." "Oh, Jim." "Can't I even talk about babies?" "What do you mean?" "You talk about them all the time." "That's not fair." "I'm sorry." "Keep going." "There." "Wow." "Baby tornadoes, skinny tornadoes." "What is all this?" "Like I said, I have no idea." "If you don't know..." "Oh." "This is me." "All right." "Okay." "I'll call you." "Okay." "I love you." "I love you, too." "The Mayor was saddened today by the death of his longtime advisor and supporter, Ken Hartsell." "Hartsell and his young son were killed in this morning's plane crash." "Meanwhile, in Central Park, weather has been making news as tiny white whirlwinds touched down." "They seemed quite harmless at first but a couple minutes later, they suddenly grew up and turned mean." "One man was killed as he was lifted off his feet." "You guys were in the park." "Did you see this?" "We saw it up close." "City Hall wants an assessment ASAP." "This belongs to the guy who died." "Once you download the images, we can try to find his family." "Is it true that the, uh, temperature inside the vortexes was sub-freezing?" "That's the result of the basic stick-your-hand-in test." "How can they just appear like that, out of nowhere?" "They can't." "They have to be part of a bigger system." "See?" "I've never seen anything like this." "You know what?" "I have." "You have?" "Where?" "I can't remember exactly." "Something in the graduate program." "Something about..." "Herbert, I'm going to be in the library." "Okay?" "I don't want any interruptions." "Unless..." "Unless what?" "Unless little white tornadoes start surrounding the building." "She's kidding." "Violently shifting winds aloft..." "No, no...it crashed outside of my jurisdiction." "That's what they were, tiny little tornadoes." "About five feet tall, white, cold to the touch." "No, I am perfectly sober." "Okay." "Okay, I'll catch you later." "Coast Guard on three." "Commander." "Hey." "Right." "Oh, you heard about that, huh?" "No, we still don't know what caused it." "So call my wife and crack the whip." "Man, I can tell you've never been married." "Hey, Phil, I've got to go." "I've got to go!" "Talk soon." "The Mayor spent part of the morning offering his support and condolences to the widowed wife of his longtime friend and supporter, Ken Hartsell." "We caught up with him afterwards to find out his thoughts  on the strange weather phenomenon." "Mr. Mayor?" "Airplanes falling out of the sky, miniature tornadoes in Central Park... is global warming coming to New York?" "Global warming is a pet theory that got off the leash." "Why does he say things like that?" "Because he can." "I understand who you are, Ms. Lawrence but I am not sure that I can release that information to you." "What do you mean?" "Weather conditions aloft are not confidential data." "You're not asking me that." "You're asking me if the private jet crash this morning was due in any way to close-order multidirectional wind-shifts." "And that's a State secret?" "Until Traffic Safety Board figures it out, yes." "There has been a plane crash here, Ms. Lawrence." "Yes, and maybe I can help them figure it out." "Mr. Brackett, this is not idle curiosity on my part." "I've been tasked by the City of New York to provide an explanation of certain abnormal weather phenomena." "This is an official request." "Hey, come on." "It's the same air over all our heads." "Actually, it's not." "We have had some reports of violent shifting winds aloft." "We took the clear-air turbulence radar off-line for a few seconds this morning." "And pointed it straight up." "Straight up, no horizon?" "30 miles." "Edge of space." "I'm going to send you the image of what we saw." "We're pretty certain that this is what brought down the Hartsell flight," "But nobody here has any idea what it is." "Unfortunately, I do." "Thanks, Otis." "I owe you one." "Thank you." "Wow, that was amazing." "The actual guts of the Lady." "Thank you!" "Brian, what are those?" "I don't know." "Let's go see." "Wow, that's cold." "The skin of the statue is made out of pure copper sheeting over a framework of steel." "With the exception of the flame, which is made out of pure gold leaf." "The flame stands 151 feet and one inch above the pedestal." "Which is itself about 154 feet above the earth." "The Statue of Liberty's classical appearance is " "What are you doing?" "Come on, run!" "No!" "Where?" "We're on an island." "Come on, right here!" "Go down!" "What?" "Go down!" "The devastation is widespread." "There are going to be fatalities out of this." "I don't see how there can't be." "And one of our greatest losses is the disfiguring of one of our nation's most enduring symbols." "Lori?" "Lori!" "Are you there?" "Answer me." "Lori, are you hurt?" "My head." "Where are you?" "I can't see anything." "Just a sec!" "No...ow." "You're okay." "You're going to be fine." "What..." "We made it into this manhole just in time." "Something fell..." "I think it was the arm." "Whose arm?" "The statue." "Here." "Let me see." "What do you see?" "Down here..." "look." "We're under the arm, all right, 200 tons of it." "Help!" "Help!" "Somebody!" "Down here!" "Help!" "Please!" "Help!" "Please!" "Somebody!" "Help!" "Please!" "In here!" "Please?" "Hello!" "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey." "I think there's a way out, if we back out." "Come on." "Ow!" "My leg!" "It's stuck!" "It's stuck." "Okay, okay, okay." "If I lift, will you pull up?" "Yeah, yeah." "Ow!" "Okay, it's out." "Okay." "Okay." "You're going to be okay." "Okay." "You'll be okay." "Okay." "Okay?" "Follow me." "Cass." "Jim." "They'll be all right, I'm sure of it." "I just feel so..." "That's my sister's little girl out there." "She may even be hurt." "I know." "I know." "I told her that you were doing everything possible." "I am." "She wasn't in the first triage." "The best responders in the city are out there." "They will not leave until they find them." "Find them how?" "Don't go there." "I can't help it." "What does this say?" "About me?" "It says nothing about you." "It says I'm not ready to have a child." "That's what it says." "Okay, who's going to tell me why my favorite statue is missing an arm?" "What?" "Sir, Jim and Cassie's niece is amongst the missing on Liberty Island." "Aw, Jim, Cassie, I'm so sorry, I didn't know." "That's okay, sir." "It's been a hard day on all of us." "I'll brief you, John." "I can't promise you're going to like what I have to say." "This is the jetstream a fast-moving current of air that circles the globe at 36,000 feet." "Now, as some of you know, a river of water on the Earth's surface often meanders  leaving loops." "Well, the same thing happens with the jetstream." "Usually, these loops dissipate pretty quickly." "But things have changed." "Blame it on global warming." "Sure." "Why not?" "It appears that the air around the earth has separated into a high atmosphere and a low atmosphere each with its own phenomena and patterns." "Some hours ago, a detached loop above New York became an independent feature of the atmosphere, a high-altitude vortex." "Jupiter has the Red Spot..." "and now we have this." "Okay, okay." "This is crazy." "Now, what's causing this, and why is it over my city?" "Sorry, sir, I don't know that yet." "Well, then, how do we get this "loop" moving again?" "Probably, sir, the goal would be to break it up, as opposed to just pass it along to the next guy." "Look, I don't care what you do..." "I just don't want this thing breathing down my neck." "Okay?" "Not in an election year." "What can we expect?" "It could happen any time." "Out of the clear, blue sky." "And the tricky part is, the first phase of it is so damn cute and cuddly." "But once that higher-altitude air works its way down, we're looking at a clear-air Force 2 or higher tornado, made up of freezing stratospheric air." "Three minutes of real terror." "It will be loud, deadly, unexpected, and impossible to predict." "In fact, beyond what we've already seen, we have no idea what could happen." "You okay?" "Yeah." "Watch your leg." "I got you." "I got you." "Are you okay?" "My phone..." "What?" "It's dead!" "There's no power!" "I charged it this morning." "Me too." "The storm must have shorted them or drained them or something." "I guess we see where this leads." "I hate this." "It's so creepy in here." "I know, it's awful." "There has to be a way out." "I hated working in these tunnels." "I always tried to get out of the job." "As a result... you don't really know where we're going?" "Yeah." "Great." "Anything yet, Steve?" "Okay, keep me posted." "Is this the latest report?" "Where is that?" "Yeah, we have it right here." "What's this?" "Down here, in midtown?" "Okay." "We're not sure." "Reports are contradictory." "I need to go there." "No." "What do you mean, no?" "This is no time to be up on the streets, chasing mini-tornadoes." "Jim, I need to see one of these things develop, start to finish." "You need to stay here and help me predict." "There is no way to predict these things, not until we can understand them better." "That's why I have to go." "Cass..." "I'll call you." "Jim." "What the hell are we going to do?" "We still have no idea how much more this thing not until we can understand them better." "We need to be proactive." "Meaning what?" "A first-stage alert." "A first-stage alert?" "You call a first stage when a hurricane is coming." "This is a hurricane, John, and it's six miles away." "I called the Air Force, I got straight to the top." "They said this thing's going to blow itself out in 12 hours." "What do you think they're going to say to a Mayor?" "Sorry, your city is doomed?" "Jim, I pay you to save lives, not make political judgments." "Okay, I'm putting on my life-saving hat now." "We need a first-stage alert." "No!" "What?" "Excuse me?" "Excuse me." "Are you okay?" "I'm working for the City." "Can you tell me what happened here?" "They're frozen, they're all frozen." "There." "911?" "Yes, I need to report an emergency." "59th Street, near the subway station." "Casualties on the ground." "No, I don't know what caused it." "But the damage seems to go right across the plaza." "Lawrence..." "Dr. Cassie Lawrence." "The latest and most deadly of these "clear air" tornado disasters." "Now, the culprit, we are told, is the Red Spot-- a huge vortex of upper-atmosphere air that is sending down very strong and deadly whirlpools." "Because of global warming, the earth now has two atmospheres." "The question that I want to know is the question that's on everyone's mind." "What is going on here?" "What is happening to our city?" "What was it?" "What did you see?" "Like a... a tornado." "Wind whipping... cold, so cold..." "So bright..." "I hid, like a rat." "What was bright?" "The wind." "So bright..." "Our highest priority, sir." "We're pulling in people from everywhere on this." "Well, these are unique occurrences, Mr. Mayor." "Now, you need to trust that we're going to tap every resource here." "That's right, sir." "Our best people are on it." "Thank you." "Great." "That was the weather guy from NASA." "Dr. Quinn." "That's right." "He says they're studying the problem." "Well, they can study the problem all they want." "This thing is just growing stronger." "We may be looking at a permanent or semi-permanent feature  of a profoundly altered weather system." "All right, well, how do we bust it up?" "Bust it up?" "John, I don't think you understand." "This is a world-sized phenomenon." "Well, this is a world-sized city!" "Well, then, why don't we start with something easy, like reversing the tides?" "My friends, look." "I'm only yelling because I don't know what else to do." "Okay?" "It's an old politician's habit." "Please, come on, put this egghead and this fireplug together and come up with something." "All right?" "Something." "What about..." "Yeah, I thought about that, but that would take years to set up." "Unless the Chinese...or..." "I wonder?" "Do you think?" "Could be." "Come on!" "Come on!" "Enough with the mental telepathy." "Tell me." "You are talking about..." "You know who." "Oh, that's insane." "He's insane." "And this whole thing is what, a stroll down Mental Health Lane?" "See, the problem is, the upper weather system is not connected to the lower." "If we can get the moister bottom clouds to expand upward, it could break it up." "Like sticking your hand in a whirlpool." "Even my arm isn't that long." "Cloud-seeding." "Cloud-seeding?" "Why don't you just beat a drum and sacrifice a lamb?" "I admit, it hasn't been done in a long time, but if it's planned right, it could work." "Planned by whom?" "John, I bet not even you knew that New Jersey has its own Cape Canaveral." "Its owner is the only private citizen..." "NASA ever legally enjoined from sending objects into orbit." "Get the hell out of here!" "Lars?" "Dr. Liggenhorn, you remember us?" "Jim and Cassie Lawrence." "Who?" "We signed a petition for you a few years back." "Yeah." "Fireman and the weather girl." "That's right." "Yeah, I remember." "Dr. Liggenhorn, we may have a job for you." "Well... come on in." "You can drop the "doctor" bit." "The only title I ever felt comfortable with was "Sergeant."" "You were in Vietnam, right, Sergeant?" "Four long years." "54th Weather Recon Squadron." "That was my first assignment." "You know what my first mission was?" "I made mud." ""Make mud, not war," that was our slogan." "One winter, in the Mekong Delta." "I made so much freaking rain that nothing could move, not even Charlie." "Mud...is the secret to world peace." "Because it's hard to wage an illegal and unjust war when you're up to your ass in ooze." "Up to me, I'd make Baghdad a swamp." "When was the last time you fired a rocket from this place?" "You mean the Garden State Spaceport?" "Yes, sorry, the Spaceport." "No, it's been years." "Between those poaching bastards at NASA and the yuppies and NIMBY..." "I'm pretty much boxed in here-- ceased, desisted and enjoined to death." "What's the big deal?" "I'm just trying to run a little launch facility." "Come on, I'll show you." "How'd you like to get into space again?" "Yeah." "You got a magic wand?" "Kind of." "We need your help." "Can you make this injunction bullshit go away?" "I'll try... me and Mayor of New York, Johnny Leonardo." "Right, Jim?" "Absolutely." "You have my word on it." "Leonardo, huh?" "Well, at least he's got guts." "What's the deal?" "How many rockets you got?" "Well..." "I got a few." "All right, seed at each of these points." "I'll get as close as I can." "Make that very close." "I don't care much about co-ordinates but altitude is critical-- not below 60,000 feet." "And what will I be seeding?" "Co2?" "Silver Iodide?" "Yeah, I don't know yet." "I've got to get back to my lab and run some models." "The sooner, the better." "Take the first right after the tunnel." "These models I have to run are going to take a while." "Jim?" "What?" "I want to go back to the Midtown site." "Why?" "Something that woman said." "And then I want to go back to Liberty Island." "Oh, Cassie..." "My sister is..." "I know." "I know." "Look, there's a door up there." "Help!" "Help!" "You check that area over there." "There's got to be a sign something." "What are we supposed to be looking for?" "It's like digging for clams..." "you have to know what you're looking" "Right here!" "Here we go." "Yeah, this is it." "Hey, guys!" "Over here." "Somebody!" "Help!" "Help!" "Oh, God..." "It's bleeding all over." "What do we do?" "Does that hurt?" "No!" "It's okay, it's okay." "We just fix the problem..." "No!" "Gosh, it's bleeding." "Okay..." "I guess calming people down is one of the skills they teach firemen." "One of the skills." "We're going to keep moving." "We're going to find another way out." "Please..." "I know you think you can't, but you can." "Okay?" "Okay." "Okay." "Come on." "Ow...okay." "Oh..." "Okay...okay." "Okay, great." "Easy... easy." "Hang on a sec." "Let me see if I can just... grab hold of it." "There it is." "That's a beautiful specimen." "More like a beautiful warning." "Hey." "Who's that?" "What's up, guys?" "Hey." "Hi." "Come here." "Come on." "Come here, guys." "Oh, shh..." "Hi." "Hi." "Sit." "Sit." "Stay." "Hi." "Oh, my God!" "I pulled these examples off the internet." "So lightning is dangerous." "So?" "Even dumb golfers know that." "The effects that you see here are caused by an average thunder cell." "Now, the Red Spot, that's what the press is calling it has about a hundred times this potential." "Yeah, but there haven't been any lightning strikes since this thing started." "That's not so, John." "I dug this out of the grass." "It's a fulgarite... soil fused from the heat of an electrical discharge." "There was lightning inside those cold-air tornadoes." "Lightning inside a tornado?" "I've never heard of such a thing." "Neither have I... not on this planet." "I thought lightning could only be so powerful?" "Well, that's true, there are limits to its voltage." "However, I am talking about a hundred times more hits." "A hundred times?" "Plus, there are all kinds of high-altitude lightning phenomena  that we know very little about." "There're blue jets, red sprites, ball lightning." "Right, okay, what's the plan?" "I mean, when is this crazy man going to launch his arsenal?" "Can we trust him?" "I've sent my people up to Garden State to help him." "Sunset provides the ideal conditions, so I've started a countdown clock." "Okay, that's good." "Now, I have to get back to my lab to start some seeding models." "I'll take you." "No way, Jim, I need you here." "Sir, I need to get out of this basement and up on the streets for a while." "I need to know what's going on up there, stuff the surveillance cameras don't see." "All right." "Lucy, grab a camera and some com gear." "Cassie..." "No rockets get launched without my authorization." "Yes, sir." "All right, let's get to work here." "We're worried about lightning strikes, but we're going to one of the tallest buildings in the city?" "Times Square Booker building has a highly-sophisticated lightning-arresting system." "Plus, my lab is double-insulated on top of that." "How's your sister holding up?" "She's not." "And you?" "Not so good." "As you may be able to see from the view behind me, we're now on Liberty Island." "Sadly, we're moving from the rescue to the recovery phase... a phase that this city never wanted to see but unfortunately, is becoming all too much of a reality now." "You'll never get anything done if you keep watching that." "Yeah." "You're right." "I've rigged three land lines direct to City Hall." "Good." "Cassie?" "What?" "Is this going to happen all over the world now?" "Possibly..." "likely." "It's going to change everything." "We'll look back on today and..." "And wonder why we worried about our petty lives?" "No." "We'll wonder why we squandered the good things that we had." "Sunlight." "Help!" "Hello!" "Help!" "Is anybody there?" "So close." "Why don't they hear us?" "Why doesn't someone come?" "Let me see your cell again." "Battery's dead." "Sometimes they have a little rebound in them." "See?" "Mine's got a little power now." "Well, what?" "So we just call for help?" "It can't be that easy." "Nah, it isn't." "We won't have enough power to call out." "It'll have to be a text message." "A short one." "Okay..." "Okay." "Um..." "Okay. "Under... arm." "We are trapped." "Please help."" "Perfect." "Okay." "All right." "I can't reach any further." "Then do it." "Okay." "Oh, please..." "Okay..." "Okay." "Oh, no..." "What?" "I sent the message with your phone." "Mine had the strongest signal." "Yeah, but I sent it to my Aunt Cassie." "She doesn't know your number." "It's okay." "How goes it?" "These models are huge." "It's taking forever to run them." "Hey, what do you make of this?" ""Under arm." Who's the caller?" "I don't know the number." "Dr. Lawrence?" "It's called "Saint Elmo's Fire." It's harmless by itself." "But it is an indicator of a high static charge in the atmosphere." "This building is going to get lashed." "It's okay, we're safe in here, we're engineered for this." "But we need to warn the rest of the building." "Somebody, get the super on the phone." "Tell him to evacuate everyone." "If he gives you any trouble, get Jim to pull rank." "Jim?" "Cassie!" "I called that text message number." "I got Brian Flynn's voicemail." "The message came from his phone!" "Brian Flynn." "Oh, my God!" "Lori?" "What, do you think..." ""Under arm?"" "My god, they're under the arm of the statue." "Hey!" "Hey!" "We're in here!" "Oh, my God." "Hello..." "Hey." "Hey." "I'll see you at the hospital?" "Yeah, later." "Later?" "Yeah." "I'm not hurt." "I've got to rejoin my company." "What?" "Brian..." "You'll be okay." "Brian..." "Can the building take it?" "I really don't know." "This kind of lightning?" "I just don't know." "Come on, spit it out, you piece of..." "Okay..." "Well...that answers that." "Cassie Lawrence for Mayor Leonardo." "One moment please." "I'll transfer you to the Mayor." "Yeah, put her through." "John, is that you?" "Cassie?" "I can barely hear you." "Okay, listen, I've figured it out." "We're going to load the rockets with dry ice --CO2." "Target altitude 65000." "You got it?" "Did you say dry ice?" "Yeah, dry ice, and nothing but dry ice, and no less than 65,000 feet." "John?" "John, do you hear me?" "Look, I'm going to have to get back to you, Cassie." "I've got NASA here." "NASA?" "What the hell do they want?" "Well, we're going to fire off some rockets." "John, NASA doesn't own the atmosphere." "Okay?" "They're a bunch of bureaucrats." "You'll get absolutely..." "Hello?" "Hello!" "Cassie?" "Damn it." "C-Cassie, I..." "She's pretty certain we're going to have to fire up the, uh, cloud-seeding..." "CO2, 65,000 feet." "Correct, you do, but not CO2, and not 65,000 feet... where it will do nothing." "Silver iodide is our decision." "That's what we'll do." "No, wait." "Cassie Lawrence and this Liggenhorn guy." "We know Lars Liggenhorn." "He's a nut job with a huge file." "No reputable firm will hire him." "And we suspect that he's hoarding contraband materials." "Undoubtedly, he talked your Dr. Lawrence into this scheme..." "If you think that, you don't know Cassie Lawrence." "All right, then, maybe she believes it, but she's wrong." "We've tried CO2 before, with diminished results." "Mr. Mayor, we only have one chance to make this work." "Now, our flights are loaded and ready to fly." "To do what?" "Silver iodide at 35,000." "No." "As a matter of fact, sir, I don't need permission to make this work." "The skies are national property... and this is a matter of national security." "I'm here to inform and to get your blessing." "My blessing?" "My brother is the priest in the family." "No, what you want from me is the illusion." "The illusion?" "Of civilian control." "Let's go, man." "The sun is setting." "There's no signal." "Oh!" "Damn it!" "Damn it." "What?" "What is it?" "I lost the connection to the Mayor." "He's got NASA there doing a federal swarm over him." "Oh!" "If he doesn't stick to this plan, then the whole thing won't work." "In fact, it may even make it worse." "I think all the phones all over the building are dead." "Yeah." "Well, then I've got to get down the street." "I've got to go." "Go." "Excuse me, please." "Sorry." "Excuse me." "Come on, come on, let's keep moving!" "Back!" "Back up!" "Dr. Lawrence?" "No, I'm her husband, James Lawrence." "I'm Tony Lefferts, with maintenance." "These folks can't get down the central stairs." "It's blocked, it's full of electricity." "Electricity?" "Uh, come on, come on in." "Come in." "Make yourselves comfortable." "There's coffee, there's water." "Come in." "Your place is double-grounded, right?" "That's right." "We should be safe in here." "Thank God." "How far down before the blockage?" "10 floors." "Jim... uh..." "I don't think we should get too comfortable in here." "I thought you said this place was grounded?" "I thought it was." "Whatever that thing is, it's found a way inside." "Step back!" "Step back slowly." "Get back, get back, get back, get back, get back..." "Jesus." "Back up!" "Back up!" "Everybody, back up!" "Get out!" "Get out!" "Everybody, out!" "Go, go!" "Wait!" "My building..." "Where to?" "East stairwell." "Come on!" "How far down does this rail go before there's a break?" "Another 10 floors down, there's a smoke door." "It's possible the current will find another route at that point." "And we can walk down the rest of the way..." "if we can make it down there without frying." "I've got an idea!" "We use all of them." "Pass them out, guys." "Take off any metal...purses, briefcases." "Mission Control, target optimum reached." "Permission to engage." "What you are witnessing right now is something that we have never seen in this city." "In fact, I guarantee you, you'll have never seen this anywhere on Earth." "Hit after hit after hit..." "Wow." "There is nothing that fire and rescue can do for them here." "Now, most people have been evacuated but the fate of the handful who remain is still unknown." "Now, my question is, where is the Mayor?" "Hey!" "I'll tell you one place he is not, is hiding in the basement." "Would you get my car ready?" "Care for a tour of New York, Doctor?" "Something's changed." "It's pulsing on and off now." "Pass me another one." "We're going to walk down?" "Look, it's coming through the steps!" "But it won't if we insulate ourselves from the building." "All metal out of your pockets?" "Good." "Like I said, the rubber will insulate us from the water and the charged metal." "Don't touch anything but each other." "If any one of us touches the stairs or the walls a ground circuit will be created and we may all die." "Okay?" "Clear?" "Pass me more." "Easy does it." "It's okay, it's okay, it's okay." "It's okay." "It's okay." "I'll go first." "No." "My building." "My city." "Here!" "We need another one." "Lucy!" "Lucy!" "No!" "Stay back!" "She's still alive!" "No!" "No, stay back!" "No!" "Keep moving." "Keep moving!" "Don't touch anything." "Control, this is 77." "I have reached the target." "Over." "Right." "Yeah." "Right." "Good." "Good." "Good news." "Mr. Mayor, seeding-- 100% success." "Oh, that's excellent." "We should see results pretty quickly." "Jim!" "John..." "Aw, Jim, what's it like inside that spark plug?" "We lost some people, John." "Oh, no." "What happened on Liberty Island?" "They found your kids." "Cassie's niece has been taken to the hospital, but she's okay." "Thank God." "Where is she?" "Cassie?" "I don't know." "I didn't see her come out." "What do you mean?" "Did she call you back?" "When?" "No." "No, no, no!" "She came down ahead of us." "At least 10 minutes ahead of us!" "Cassie!" "Cassie!" "Cassie Lawrence!" "Jim." "Give me your tank!" "Jim, no!" "Not alone!" "No, Jim!" "Not alone!" "Don't go in alone!" "Please, go in with him." "Go in after him!" "Cassie!" "Cass!" "Cassie!" "Cass!" "Cassie!" "Cass..." "Cass?" "Cassie..." "Jim..." "Breathe... breathe." "You're going to be okay." "That's it." "Did we make mud?" "Come on, I got you." "I got you." "Cassie!" "Cassie, thank God, you made it." "Saved her own life, clever girl." "How did the launch go?" "We did launch, right?" "We didn't launch." "We did." "I'm Dr. Quinn." "You listened to NASA?" "Our computers showed that a different seeding pattern would be more advantageous." "Tell me, Dr. Quinn, what did your computers say?" "No, wait, let me guess." "Silver iodide at 32,000 feet." "Right?" "35." "Yeah, cause that's the standard pattern, right?" "That's what you always do." "One size fits all with government work, right?" "Except, this time, this is a problem that one size is not going to fit." "This is something that we have never seen before." "Oh, my God." "When did the sun set?" "Just a few minutes ago." "What's the matter?" "Everything." "They used the wrong seed and they put it too low to make it work." "In fact, it's just going to make things worse." "That's preposterous." "No, it's not!" "I want you to listen to me very carefully." "Planets with disengaged atmospheres are lightning machines." "We're not talking about dusting some thundercloud over Kansas to make a little shower here." "Silver iodide at that altitude will create an incredible amount of static electricity." "When the upper atmosphere contracts, that rate will increase." "The Red Spot will become the biggest engine for the creation of static electricity that the world has even seen." "And it will discharge itself straight through the streets of New York." "What happened here..." "will be a match in a forest fire." "I don't believe that." "You're an alarmist." "Hey, hey, hey!" "She's been right about everything up to this point!" "You ignore her now, you're just plain stupid." "Don't you call me names, Jim, or you will lose your job." "Well, at least you kept your job." "Because I need my job." "Because, with one word, that man can keep me out of the Emergency Center," "And, tonight, that's where I need to be when the sky falls." "I'm sorry." "You're right, I'm sorry." "Yeah, I might be right, but we're still screwed." "No, we're not." "Jim." "If we can launch our rockets from Garden State, like the way we planned... we might be able to counteract the problem." "Come on..." "You can forget that." "We lost all land and cell phones 40 minutes ago." "This is just what I was afraid of." "We need to get a line to Garden's spaceport." "I might be able to help you out with that inside." "Come on." "This... is the old Cold War phone." "Built to withstand you-know-what." "The antenna." "It's radio." "Here are the frequencies." "Okay." "I'll keep trying." "I'll go play mayor." "I hope I'm doing the right thing." "Camera ready?" "Please stand by!" "In a moment, we're going to be going off to City Hall." "And checking with our Deputy Mayor, James Lawrence." "Who'll be delivering a very important community broadcast." "Good evening." "This is Deputy Mayor James Lawrence speaking to you from the Emergency Command Center at City Hall." "Scientists have predicted an unusually heavy number of lightning strikes in the city tonight... due to the disturbance in the upper atmosphere which has plagued the city for the last 24 hours." "The Mayor's office has now declared a state of emergency." "I am, therefore, issuing a first-stage alert." "All citizens are required to stay indoors and keep tuned to emergency frequencies for further updates." "All public events are canceled." "What the hell?" "also, due to the nature of these electrical discharges, we're advising New Yorkers not to use any appliances connected to the power grid." "Use only battery-powered appliances." "Where the hell is it?" "I don't know, man." "It hasn't rung in 10 frickin' years." "And consider some kind of ear protection from loud and persistent thunder." "Let us hope this night passes with good luck for us all." "Godspeed." "There you go." "Uh, hello?" "Herbert!" "I've been trying to get a hold of you!" "Listen carefully." "This is what I need you to do." "No." "No!" "Use of fireboats is not authorized." "I repeat, not authorized!" "We don't know what grounding effect that'll create." "Who's this over here?" "Tell him to get a move on, for God's sake!" "The city is frying." "Did you get 'em?" "I got them, they're going to try." "God knows..." "The storm is now passing 54th Street." "Seems to be locked into Fifth Avenue." "What about the library and the Garden?" "Library's still only one-half evacuated." "Light a fire under those people, for God's sake don't they know what's coming?" "Redeploy companies 5 and 12..." "TV service is out over most of the city." "Fire crews report Fifth and Central Park South, heavy damage." "Hey, look at this..." "Damn." "Turn company 12 around." "Pete, we're redeployed to the Village!" "Got it." "A second electrical discharge storm has appeared in Greenwich Village, moving south." "Fire units are responding." "I repeat, stay in your homes." "Stay away from electrical outlets." "Use only battery-operated appliances." "Okay." "Okay, great." "All right, get that thing on, let's go!" "These electric tornadoes I don't know what else to call them continue to cut a scar through the center of the city." "Now, with the only light coming from the storm itself" "We can't even begin to assess the damage." "These fire crews have never fought anything like this before" "Hey!" "Hey, news!" "Look out!" "Come on!" "Move, move, move!" "Brian!" "Uh, we...we...we need to take a break." "There's been some kind of a" "Tim, we need to go back to the station now." "Cut the transmission." "Brian!" "Hang in there, buddy." "Help is on the way." "Company 12 is down." "That's Bleecker and West Broadway." "Water and hose carried the charge?" "Make sure the other crews know that." "Now." "Right now!" "Any word on the location of the Mayor yet?" "You're Mayor now, Jim." "What?" "Can you confirm that?" "Is it my imagination or is this storm headed east?" "Affirmative." "The storm and the Village are trending east." "Brooklyn, too?" "All three are moving east!" "This is a good thing, right?" "It means that it's working." "It means that the vortex is breaking down, the prevailing winds are returning." "It worked." "Damn it, it worked after all!" "Good work, everyone!" "Good work!" "My wife, Dr. Cassandra Lawrence!" "Whoo!" "You did it." "You did it." "Aunt Cassie!" "Hi, baby!" "I don't think I've ever been happier to see you." "Hey, Lori..." "Has my mom calmed down yet?" "Did you tell her I'm checking right out of this hospital to come home?" "Yeah, we told her." "I'm going to have a very fashionable scar on my leg." "It was awful." "I thought I was going to die." "It's all over now, honey." "Do you mind if I turn this up?" "No, go ahead." "I've been glued to it all afternoon." "Three giant scars on the city this morning." "Unknown billions in damage and loss of life including that of Mayor Johnny Leonardo, whose body was found early this morning." "And in another division of City service, rookie fireman Brian Flynn also lost his life." "He lost it saving the lives of my film crew and myself..." "Oh, God, no." "Damn it all." "I am so sorry, Lori." "In this one rescued person's not-very-objective opinion, as long as this city has people like Brian Flynn and Johnny Leonardo, it can take whatever the world has to dish out." "And, finally, as acting Mayor James Lawrence predicted, the storms and the Red Spot have moved east and dissipated." "I'm glad that night's over." "I'm not sure I want to see what's out there." "24 hours ago..." "We were flipping pancakes." "Wow." "You know what I'm going to remember about this night?" "Tell me." "Two things..." "The moment that John told me that you were still in the building." "And the moment that we found you." "Utter, sickening fear...and utter joy." "It takes something like this to figure out what matters the most." "So, Mr. Mayor, did I tell you how magnificent you are in a crisis?" "So, Dr. Lawrence..." "Have I told you, when it comes to problem-solving there's not a scientist in the city who holds a candle to you?" "No, Jim, I mean it." "Mean what?" "What are you trying to say, Cassie?" "Well, I think that you have a talent for this public servant hero stuff." "Plus, incumbents always win." "Well, maybe as a second job." "Second job?" "Why, what would be bigger?" "Governor?" "Father." "Oh, God, I love this city."