" Who are you talking about?" " He's in a coma, David!" " Who?" " Justin, Ricci." "You, you signed that boy's death sentence." "His chances of recovering from blast crisis is zero, David." "Do you refuse the chance, no matter how small, how remote, to save a child's life?" "Say nothing, nothing happens." "These people, Carlos, they're HIV-positive and they never get AIDS." "You can save me." "How are you going to smuggle the stem cells into the States?" "You're going to hide them in a tub of butter brickle ice cream?" "We send them the way we send all NorBAC samples." "What the fuck is going on here Carlos?" "Lloyd was my first lover." "Mick, maybe this wasn't a great idea." "I" "It is." "It is!" "It's an amazing idea." "It this whole whale-watching thing just some ploy to get me in a motel room with you?" "Yeah, that's why I caused the blackout too." "You don't understand, this is a government operated lab I'm in now." "And the paperwork." "Thank you Robert." "Thank you Miss Richmond." "Look, I think I see a whale!" "Seriously!" "Look, look!" "Mick, do you see it?" "Mick?" "Mick?" "Mick?" "Mick?" "1x08" " Blackout" "Solar storms, Bob?" "Sure, on account of the weather, the... in space I mean, the electrical activity brought on by solar storms." "It's attracted to our power grids, so..." "And how is it going to cause an explosion in underground cables, resulting in a blackout?" "Well..." "I'm not..." "Can I help you gentlemen?" "I don't know, what you got in mind?" "Gideon Voss, Homeland Security." "Okay, Voss is here, over." " We're with NorBAC." " Can I see your I.D.?" " In the car." " Where's your car?" "In Toronto." "Where's Toronto?" "I can confirm that this is Chief Scientist David Sandstrom, from the North American Biotechnology Advisory Committee." "So what are you digging around here for?" "The explosion was by the river." "Yeah." "What would we do without you!" "Figured you boys didn't know your ass from a hole in the ground." "This way." "Watch your step." "They're still finding pieces of that security guard." "CIA thinks it's terrorism." "No, really?" "Thought you'd said there was no evidence of an explosive device." "FBI says it's an industrial accident at a substation and ATF says it's a natural occurrence." " Guess you're the tiebreaker." " Oh, that's why we're here!" "You do this by telepathy?" " What you got there, Bob?" " Burnt wire, I guess." "Genius, boy!" "Actually, Bob, you are a genius, aren't you?" " What's your I.Q. again?" " 162." "Wow!" "What about you Gid?" "You boys deal with issues of great importance, don't you?" "Like finding the blood of Christ on a 2000-year-old nail?" "Tell you what Gid, you don't mention the nail, I won't mention Waco." "First of all, that was ATF." "Secondly, it's Inspector Voss." "Whatever!" "You want to keep taking shots or do you want to answer a few questions." "You said 3 labs were here, did anyone find anything?" "Nothing." "What about explosive residue?" "No." "CIA thinks the terrorists used solid nitrogen, rocket fuel, N5+N5-, leaves no residue." " Everything leaves some residue." " What about the folks who run the plant?" "Not a clue." "No gas leak, no short circuits." " How old is the cable?" " Brand spanking." "So there's no chance the wire could be degraded, sparking explosion." "I hope you're going to think of a better one than that." "Have they been doing any digging around here?" "A couple weeks ago, about 50 yards in that direction." "Electric crew was doing some repairs on a secondary line." "All right Bob, we're going to need soil samples... from everywhere." "We have to find something everyone else missed." "Shouldn't be too hard." "Yeah?" "Oh, hey Lil'!" "How the great whale hunt going?" "You see any huntybacks yet?" "Lilith?" "Dad..." "Lilith, what's wrong?" "Dad... he died." "Where are you?" "I'll be right there." "* The past is never past *" "* Just razor dew in a glass *" "* Of hours and sand in the old man's hand *" "* The past is never past *" "* Take me over *" "* Take me over and again *" "* Take me over *" "* Take me over and again *" ""Millions remain without power from Northern Ontario to Virginia."" "Lily, you look a little tired, you sure you don't want me to get you a glass of milk?" "Hey, I thought we'd order in tonight." "You know that little Korean place you like?" ""Lines are lighting up as we take your calls." ""We want your stories, anecdotes--"" "Yeah, it's the same on every station." "Jeez." "I got to lie down." "I'm not really that inconvenienced." "Ugh, I've no alarm clock, no hair dryer, no microwave." "Couldn't recharge my cell phone." "Those aren't really inconveniences, Mayko." "Oh no?" "Well, what is an inconvenience, Bob?" "Well, I suppose if you were in an iron lung or needed electro-defibrillation." "You know who's really happy about this blackout?" "Who?" "That guy on death row who was supposed to get the chair this morning." "That's not funny." "Oh-oh, blackout, remember?" "So, underground wires seemingly spontaneously combust." "The paranoid amongst us assume that it's terrorism." "My guess is they haven't got a clue and have asked us to figure out the what, the how, the why that it all happened." "Why do they think it's terrorism?" "I don't know, because that's what you do these days." "But, didn't you say there's no explosive residue?" "Bob." "Modern Science had a piece on the Belgian military trying to use bacteria to eat TNT and other explosives." "Maybe we should be looking for bacteria." "Okay, Bob's got the assignments, he'll delegate." "Anything else?" "Yes, a Miranda virus update:" "the Garcinia kola works on Ebola but has no effect on Camelpox Ebola chimera." " Why not?" " I don't know." "If it didn't seem like I was making a bad joke," "I would say that we're in the dark here." " What are you using as a host?" " Mice." "See, you'd need something like a camel." "How about a yak?" " Yak's not a camel." " Well, he said like a camel." " It's not like a camel either." " Problem is, there's nothing like a camel." " Except a vicuna." " A wh-who-na?" "A vicuna." "It's like a guanaco, only smaller and it chews its cud." " Oh." " I think." "Let's get to work." "Hey, how's your friend doing?" "Good." "He seems to be responding to treatment." "Thanks for asking." "I just got a call." "CIA got intercepts of a plan to create a blackout and use the chaos to move terrorists from Canada to the U.S." "Right, blame Canada!" "They'd like a preliminary answer by tomorrow." "We get a day and a half, when the combined forces of Homeland Security, ATF, FBI and CIA are still scratching their dopey little heads." "That's why you get the big bucks." " Jill?" " Hmm?" "Would you mind?" "What's up?" "Oh, hello little bacteria." "Okay, so we've got filamentous objects, bacteria." "Every wire's crawling with them." "So is every inch of our body, Bob." " Maybe one is a dynamite-eating one." " Maybe." "There's breeding underground, but there's no oxygen, so there's a good chance they're anaerobic." "Yeah, but not all underground bacteria are anaerobic." "We'll probably have to grow some with air and some without, to be sure." "And then we'll have to test every known explosive and try and figure out what kind they eat." "Except, if the soil is anaerobic, then, where's the oxygen that fuels the explosion?" "Oh, Bob?" "Didn't Voss say there was some digging near where the explosion occurred?" "Who?" "Oh!" "Yeah, he did." "There's your oxygen source." "Kaboom !" "Boom!" "Fuck!" "Litith!" "Lilith?" "You wake up, come on, wake up!" "How many did you take?" "Pills!" "How many pills did you take?" "One." "Don't bullshit me!" "How many?" "Maybe two." "The bottle was half-full, Lilith!" "Dad, I only took two." " Don't fucking lie to me!" " I'm not lying!" "The bottle spilled." "Spilled?" "It spilled when I took the bottle." "I shouldn't be took the pills." "I'm so tired." "Pills." "So tired and I wanted to sleep." "Okay, okay." "And I fell asleep because I keep seeing these fucking..." "Come here." "Come here." "Come here..." "Hey, Sarah, it's me." "She's fine, sort of." "Hmm, a friend of hers died and she's..." "No, no, no, no, natural causes." "But..." "You can't, she's sleeping right now." "And I..." "Would you just calm down for one... second please and let me finish?" "Thank you." "I..." "I'm no good at this." "I can't..." "I don't..." "She really needs you out here right now, okay?" "And I could really use your help." "Thank you." " Hey." " Hey." "You wanted to see me?" "Yeah, yeah, come in." "Close the door, would you?" "I need you to do something for me." "Okay." "I need you to..." "I need you to..." "A few mornings ago, in the shower, I felt..." "My appointment with my doctor was cancelled." "The blackout." "And I was thinking, you're a doctor." " Caroline, if you felt something" " Maybe something!" " Whatever!" "You need to have a mammogram." " Maybe it's nothing." "Can't you just" "No, you still need a mammogram." "My mother had breast cancer at 41." "And at 41, she died." "I'm sorry to hear that." "Anything?" "60 plates and they haven't eaten a thing." "I'm growing the boys on every known anaerobic medium, given them a buffet of every explosive known to man." "Boys?" "The Bacteria Street Boys." "That's cute, Bob." "I can't get them to eat any of the explosive residue." "Listen, I'm going to pack it in for tonight." "Sorry." "Too much caffeine." "No, no, I'm sorry." "Get some sleep." "Sarah, no, don't put me on..." "Yeah?" " Should I come back?" " Yes." "No, what is it?" "Come in." "I'm on hold with my ex." "I need an update on the blackout investigation." " I'm working on it." " If it is terrorism..." " Don't jump to conclusions." " Then give me something." "Yeah, hello, hi!" "Yes... no." "Sure, call me back." "I'll just sit here all day, waiting." "If the Americans want to blame the blackout on a bunch of faceless Arabs, they can do it without my complicity." "Oh, who's jumping to conclusions now?" "So you're assuming faceless terrorists" " had nothing to do with it?" " No." "A tape aired on Al-Jazeera this morning." "Al Gamahad is taking credit for the blackout and threatening more across the continent." "Well, taking credit and deserving it are two different things." "You work in enough offices, you find that out." "Good morning." "Good morning, Bob." "Any luck?" "With?" "The Bacteria Street Boys." "Oh!" "No, nothing." "The landfill, which is unmarked, is located 2 miles upstream." " Beneath the subdivision?" " Correct." "Ah, life in the 'burbs!" "So your theory could be right, then?" "Combined with the oxygen source?" "So maybe the bacteria are eating pollution, not explosives and produce, say, methane, which gets blown up." "None of this explains why we can't grow it." "No, but this might." "Bob, do you remember a smell like rotten eggs when we were in Buffalo?" "Bob?" "Huh?" "Eggs?" "No, I brought gravlax." " What?" " For lunch." "Good, Bob!" "Thanks for paying attention." "Says here a worker at the plant, responding to the explosion noted a smell like "rotten eggs", so." "We could be dealing with a bacterium here, that is sucking in hydrogen sulphate and farting out sulphide." "Which would explode." "Now, all we have to do is figure out what the hell that bacterium is." " Question:" "How do we find out?" " Answer:" "Fluorescent DNA probes." " Which are?" " Smart bombs." "We tell them what to hunt for, they not only find them, they light them up." "And we program these probes to look for what, Bob?" " Sulphate reducers." " Good Bob, you are paying attention." "Let's do it!" "David." "The Times wants an interview." " London?" " Nope." "Fuck!" " Hello?" " Hey, did you eat yet?" "I'm not hungry." "Did you hear that?" "It set off the David Sandstrom lie detector." "Dad, don't do Carney." "Come on, truth is I'm desperate to have lunch with you." "Why?" "Because I'm feeling spontaneous and if I don't act on my whims now, when will I?" "Is this David Sandstrom, my father?" "You know, that guy who never leaves his lab unless it's for a drink?" "Okay, that's... that's way beyond your years." "Come on, Lil!" "Have lunch with me!" "Food?" "Won't say a word, we'll just sit there like an old married couple," " happy in our silence." " The Lazy Flamingo then?" "My God, that's canny!" "Will you be out of your PJs by 1?" "I'll try." "You didn't tell her." "I didn't want her to think we were worried." "David." "Hey, kiddo!" "How are you?" " What are you doing here?" " It's so good to see you!" "How come you're in Toronto?" "My God, you look so grown-up!" "Sorry, I have to..." "Morris, did he sign?" "No, look, skip the details and tell me:" "Did he sign?" " That's not acceptable." " Dad, what's going on?" "It won't work, Morris!" "Well, then you can tell him we're going to release his Greatest Hits package with his ugliest picture." "I'm sorry, are we interrupting your business?" "If it's not important, I won't take it." "Oh really?" "Lilith, call your mom, see if she takes it." " Off." " Thank you." "Everything okay?" "Yeah." "How about you?" " Good." " Good, yeah?" " Yeah, yeah." " Great!" "Dad?" "Never better." "Great." "Everything's just so great..." "Your father told me about your friend Nick." "It's Mick." "Why don't we order?" "Guys, what do I feel like?" "Hi." " This is cozy." " Yeah." "Ah, that's something!" "That's really something." " It's beautiful, isn't it?" " Oh yeah!" "It's kinda... beautiful, yeah, like you said." "This reminds me of watching a movie." "Because of the lights and everything." "Yeah, I know, I know, I get it." "Yeah, I guess all we need now is popcorn." "Yeah, ha, ha." "Popcorn!" "Do I..." "Did you..." "D" "Do you ever go?" "Go where?" "Movies." "Because I like to go... so you know, maybe we could go... you know?" "Sometime?" "Ah..." "Huh." "Well, it looks like we found our sulphate reducers all right." " I'll just write it up." " Bob?" "Please." "Look, you are such a special guy." "It's just..." "I don't date guys that I work with." "So, if David asked you out, would you... would the same rule apply to David, too?" "Yes." "Okay." "I'm sorry, Bob." "Lilith, you came out here to... to get a fresh start, right?" "Isn't that what you wrote in your e-mail?" "Okay, you're 15 now," "I don't know why a 15-year-old kid needs a fresh start, but I let you go." "Knowing quite frankly that this day would come and here it is." "Right." "And you think this is the answer?" "Just go back to all those stupid teachers and all those stupid friends?" "None of it matters." " What matters Lil?" " I saw him die, mom!" " I held him." " I'm sorry." "And then they came and they took him." " Now he's gone." " I know it's hard." "It really hurts, mom." "Sure it does, but it will get better." "You'll see." "You'll come home and you won't be alone all the time, and things will be better," "I promise." "There!" "It's okay." "It's okay." "Hey, Bob." "How's it going with that probe?" "Yes, good." "I was just writing it up." "I'm standing right here Bob, just tell me." "Yeah, well, it worked like you said." "Just zeroed in, just lit right up, like a fireworks display, a Chinese one." "Good, okay." "So what you're telling me is that we've narrowed the search?" "Huge narrowing." "So I thought that we should isolate things further cell sorter." "Good!" " David?" " Hmm?" " I need to talk to you." " Okay." "It's..." "I got a call today from Camico Cosmetics." "Miss Richmond, over there asked" "We'll talk about this later, Bob." "David!" "Ann Katzman, from the Times." "Oh!" "Hey, thanks for coming!" "Why don't we do this in your office?" "Oh, hey Carlos, I need you to run PCR on fatty-acid mass spec on the MSG." "Ah... you want the geno-type or gina-type?" " Both!" " Right on it, boss!" "Thank you!" "So, you want it in science, or you want it in English?" "You know what, this isn't my usual beat, so, English, maybe." "What did they do?" "Take you off Fashion or Arts and Leisure?" "I usually cover international economics and labour trends." "Okay." "So, Dr. Sandstrom, how accurate is NorBAC's claim that these blackouts are due to a hydrogen sulphite build-up from bacteria in the soil around the substation?" "Wow!" "Completely premature." "That comes from Congresswoman Schuyler." "Yeah, well, Congress-person-woman Schuyler is the Chair of the entire NorBAC organization, so what does she know?" "Well, there are other intelligence agencies that say we are dealing with an act of bio-terrorism." "If you want to know what caused the explosion, you came too soon." "Something I don't have a personal problem with." "Is there anything you don't want to tell me?" "Fire away." "Are we dealing with an act of bio-terrorism?" "Hmm, see?" "That's the same question, only kind of different." "Miss Katzman, I think you'd better redirect your line of questioning." "Thank you, Your Honour." "Could we be dealing with an act of bio-terrorism?" "Finding a used condom in your cream of oyster soup could be an act of terrorism." "Any fucking thing could be an act of terrorism, but until we find all the evidence, we can't say that." "But you're looking at it as a possibility?" "Of course, we are." "We wouldn't be doing our jobs if we didn't look at all the angles, especially in the light of all these intercepts flying all over the" "Wait!" "What intercepts?" "She didn't tell you about the intercepts?" "All this Goddamned CIA chatter bullshit?" "That's it!" "Interview's over." "Why?" "That's where this whole terrorism thing started in the first place." " Do you have any science questions?" " Wait!" "Are you telling" "It's over!" "NorBAC Director abruptly ends interview." "Hey!" "Thought you gave that up." "I did!" "This is to help me get through us." "Nice!" "You always come home so late?" " You don't remember?" " Oh, I remember you not coming home." "You know, I'm surprised you didn't ship her back Purolator the moment she got here." "Well, at least it's better then micromanaging her every move, her every thought..." " You don't manage her at all!" " Here we go!" "Will you 2 just both fucking stop it?" "Seriously, it's like I'm not even here, and you're using me to tear each other apart." "Actually, you know what?" "You guys go ahead, okay?" "But leave me out of it." "Look, I just lost my friend." "My best friend!" "All you care about is putting each other down." "Lilith!" "You know, the first night of the blackout was kind of cool." "All that darkness and silence." "Sky full of stars." "Ah, this city boy needs some lights, you know?" "Noise." "And I never did know my Ursa Major from my Ursa Minor, so." "I'm sorry I didn't ask you more about Mick." "It's okay, dad." "No, it's not." "I'm pretty fucking hopeless when it comes to this stuff and I just..." "I didn't know what to say and now I'm looking at you take all this on yourself and I don't know why." "Because it wasn't your fault, you know." "You did more for Mick than... anyone." "He met you and, you know, maybe for the first time in his life, somebody, you," "made him feel like he belonged." "You know?" "Yeah." "Maybe that's..." "Maybe that's how he made you feel too." "It doesn't mean much." "It means he didn't die alone." "I'd say that's pretty huge." "Oh!" "Okay, okay!" "Okay." "Listen." "You have got to turn all this into a good memory... but you're not going to be able to do that here." "You need to be in a place that you know, with people that you know." "And with a mom that you know." "Even if she is fucking nuts!" " Dad." " I'm sorry." "You know that I love you, right?" "I love you too, dad." "Okay." "Come on you should be happy." "Power's back up just about everywhere." "Did you read her piece in the Times?" "I never read my reviews." "I had a 4-star General on the phone screaming at me about intelligence leaks." "Do I really have blue eyes?" "Look, I'm getting it from all sides." "People need to know if this was an accident, terrorists" "I'm not the one who told you to feed it to the bear." "It's your theory!" "And bullshit until proven." "I told that to Katzman!" "She wrote what she wanted." "There are soldiers stationed at substations, factories afraid to start up in case they lose power." "Do you know what that's costing?" " Shit!" " Oh, way to go!" "I'm glad we could get together, Robert." "I'm sorry, it's taken me a while." " Busy?" " Yes, very." "Robert, do you know how talented you are?" "No, I'm not..." "In my many years in the cosmetics industry," "I've never known anyone with your gift for scents." "Thank you." "I told my market researchers your idea for a line of ancient perfumes." "They loved it." "They're all very anxious to meet you." "I don't know what to say." "Yes, Robert, just say yes." "Come work for me, Robert." "You have so much to accomplish." "Just think of it." "Your own line of perfumes." "Caroline, the mammogram came back." "And?" "Inconclusive." "The radiologist saw something." "The technology is so good these days, you get a lot of false positives." "You just need to go for a biopsy." "Could it be a cyst?" "Well, that's what the biopsy will tell us." "I don't think you have anything to worry about." "Lulu will call you to book an appointment as soon as her computer's up." "I gotta run." "My grandson's daycare is closing early because of the blackout." "Okay, thank you." "Caroline?" "There's been another explosion." "Chicago." "This is the result of the probe we ran in the wiring for the Buffalo substation." "This is from samples we received today, Chicago." "Same wire." "There are a number of wire manufacturers, but these 2 are both from Pacific North." "Okay, so we've explosions at 2 different substations, same wire, can't be a coincidence." "What's around these wires that they like so much?" "We're going to Chicago, Bob." "No, I can't," "I have fluorescence-glowing bacteria growing..." "I have a meeting." " Oh." "Okay, I'll take Jill." " You will?" "Yes, why not?" "Safe trip." "Thanks." "Oh, Chicago!" "I got an idea." "Why don't we get a little wire, and find ourselves a hotel and relax?" "Which hotel?" "The one where we met was pretty nice." "Get a couple bottles of champagne, maybe go a little crazy?" "That's an even better idea!" "How about we get a little wire and then make our 7 o'clock flight back to Toronto?" " Doesn't sound like as much fun." " No, it doesn't!" "Yo, something here boss." "Well, see what I see?" " Bunch of burnt wires." " Yeah." "Lucky our wires didn't get scorched." "Open wide, say ah..." "Hello mama!" "Rotten eggs!" "Take this and bottle some of it." "Thank you." "Ha!" "Rotten eggs and garlic!" "David, I think you just found the star of the Bacteria Street Boys." "What?" "Yeah, it's David." "Oh, really?" "Okay, thanks." "David!" "It's eaten away at some of the insulation, here." "Cool." "Except that no bacteria eats plastic." "It gets even weirder." "Turns out the plastic around these wires is the same insulation used on 50% of the wires in the country." "All right boys and girls," "I give you the star of the Bacteria Street Boys." "Red viscous material, stinks, definitely biological, found on the underground cables in Chicago, just slathered all over, eating it." "So, we need a complete set of tests on this." "Bob, I want you to grow it." "Bob!" "Don't just stand there, let's get going!" "Mayko, you sequence." "Jill, taxonomy, I want to know what this is related to." "Carlos, you and I are going upstairs." "Hey." "Mick." "Not that you can hear me, obviously." "Not that I you know, want you to hear me," "because I have nothing intelligent to say." "Except that I miss you." "We're dealing with a completely new species." "Okay, now we're getting somewhere." "David, something else." "This thing seems to have evolved to breathe off metals." "What do you think?" "Begin looking at a completely new species." "Okay, where did it come from?" "Do you think that someone actually introduced these bacteria into the soil to blow things up?" "Because I can't grow it." "Maybe something..." "Listen!" "Okay, maybe something made this bacteria by..." "What the fuck are we missing?" "Okay." "We've got a new bacterium that manages somehow to destroy hydroelectric cables by eating through the insulation so the wires can spark an explosion." "Sounds stupid just saying it!" "If it can eat plastic and insulation, then every biology book in the world will have to be rewritten." "Except that we can't grow it in the lab, so..." "We can't grow it in the lab." "But why can't we grow it in a lab?" "You say it's got genes that can only be found in bacteria that breathe metal, right?" "Hmm-hmm, so it needs metals to live." "Ever try feeding it metals?" "Bob?" "Well, I..." "Metals?" "From the wire." "Of course!" "How did the metals get into the soil if they're surrounded by insulation and plastic?" "It must have leeched through somehow." "Hang on a second..." "God damn it, that's exactly how it happened!" "Okay, this metal in the wire is loaded with current, right?" "So it heats up and that allows it to somehow leech through a stress point or a crack in the insulation, into the soil, where our bacteria sucks it right in." "That's it!" "It breathe the metal, then change it genetically." "So that the new species could eat the plastic." "Simple." "Not that simple." "Okay, come on." "Composition of the wire?" "What?" "The wire, I need the formula." "Wes, where is the..?" "There's a report from the wiring manufacturer." "It mentioned the name of a metal in wiring," "I remember because it was so unusual." "I marked it, circled it here." "Buffalo." "Chicago." "The same manufacturer, the same metal." "Well, what do you know!" "Tellurium!" " Tellurium." " What?" "It's a metal." "The power companies were using it for a while," " but it got too expensive." " You think that's it?" "Could be." "I want you to call around, find a metal supplier." "David, it's midnight." "Sorry." "Tellurium delirium." "Call first thing in the morning." "Everybody go home!" "Here it is!" "Pure tellurium." "Okay, right over here." "Symbol TE, atomic number 52, silvery white, brittle, P-type semi-conductor believed to be the source of odour and garlic." "Sort of like that red goo smell." "Okay, Bob, let's see if our little bug likes to breathe tellurium and eat plastic." "We'll have to grow it plus and minus each of the components." "Michael?" "Which components?" "Plastic and tellurium." " See we are going to prove" " Or disprove." "...or disprove that the red goo grows only when everything's added to the stew and not when any single ingredient is left out." "And the way we do that is we try everything." "Plastic, insulation, tellurium in any combination." "How long before we have something?" " Couple of days." " One way or the other." "Yeah, I got a hunch, tough." "Somehow the tellurium got into the soil, right, a crack in the insulation, a bad splice, it doesn't matter." "It got there, and was exposed to one of 100,000 different kinds of bacteria living in that." "And into one of those microscopic bugs, the tellurium started a mutation process." "And suddenly it became the amazing plastic-eating red goo that took out the entire northeast of the continent." "Put that back on." "So, you're telling me these events, both of these blackouts were naturally occurring?" " That's what we're saying?" " No terrorist involvement?" "None!" "You know, unless the terrorists somehow conspired to have the tellurium added to the wires, knowing, smart little bugs that they are," " that someday, it would leech through" " David..." "How much of this tellurium is out there?" "That's something you better find out." "So much for terrorists." "I'd have your CIA boys take another look at those intercepts." "You know, a written apology to me would be nice, for treating me like" "I can assure you that your work will be shown to the proper authorities." "Thank you." "Who's going to foot the bill for the retrofit?" "Taxpayers, most likely." "And if the government spends it properly, they should be able to make it look as if it's a cheap solution." "Wait a minute!" "What about the bacterium?" "It eats plastic!" "Yes, well, we should look into that." "Think of all the plastic in all those garbage dumps." "Now, you tweak this thing and learn how to control it, it'll be worth a mint." "Developed in a government-sponsored lab?" "I wouldn't buy the Rolls just yet, Dave." "Nice work." "* Some of us need protection from a sad kind of weapon *" "* All of the imperfections we perceive can start to *" "* Threaten us to believe that we can't be loved *" "* When all we need is to be home *" "* Hope for angels is a heart that's open *" "* So far angels can't be scared away *" "* Hope for angels can be chaos and rejection *" "* I'm alone for angels *" "* Some of us have addictions *" "* Offer aid into afflictions *" "* Why do we covet pain as our crystal path of predictions?" "*" "* We better believe we can be loved *" "* When all we need is to... *" "Are you there?" "Yeah." " I'm back 2 school 2morrow..." " "...kinda nervous."" "You'll be okay." "(Not so sure about the school.)" "Get this, I think I want to be a scientist when (if!" ") I grow up." ""Gtg ttyl?"" "You're such a loser!" "I'll see you later." "I've been offered a senior position in another lab." "Oh." " You okay?" "You seem a little tense." " I'm fine!" "I think I see where Jill went wrong." "You're Louise Raposa?" "Two sets of doctors said our illness had nothing to do with Iraq." "One hired by Powell support, one by the Pentagon." " Welcome to Canada." " Thank you." "So we spent a week loading out these bombed out buildings, even the dirt under them into these big biohazard barrels." "And what was in the buildings?" "Iraqi military supplies." "They wouldn't tell us more." "Now 10 of us are fucking dying." "They weren't exposed to anything." "They were using state of the art Hazmat gear." "So the question is:" "Why would you give these to a bunch of non-military, glorified garbage collectors?" "We complain when people aren't properly suited, now we're suspicious when they are?" "Severe anti-coagulation syndrome." " What causes it?" " We don't know." "All right, why don't you two pack a bag?" "Subtitles: kubilai  Lama Transcript:" "Raceman"