The Andromeda Strain

Capt. Morton:
[code phrase] There's a fire, sir.

[last lines]

Senator from Vermont:
This cloud-seeding business, Stone... you absolutely sure it worked? You better be.

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
All reports continue to indicate that the experiment was successful, Senator.

Senator from Vermont:
Then we can feel confident your so-called "biological crisis" is over?

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
As far as Andromeda is concerned, yes. We have the organism at Wildfire, and we continue to study it. We know now beyond a doubt that other forms of life exist in the universe.

Senator from Vermont:
Thanks to Scoop?

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
Yes.

[pause]

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
However, with this new knowledge, there is no guarantee that another so-called "biological crisis" won't occur again.

Senator from Vermont:
Hmm. What do we do about that?

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
Precisely, Senator. What do we do?

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
According to this, there'll be a super-colony of Andromeda over the entire southwest in...

Dr. Charles Dutton:
Jeremy! These are biological *warfare* maps!

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
Why, yes... so they are... uh... but... simulations, Charlie. Defensive... it's just a scenario.

Dr. Ruth Leavitt:
That's not the POINT, for God's sake! Wildfire was built for germ warfare! Wildfire AND Scoop! And you knew, Stone! YOU KNEW IT!

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
That's not true, Ruth! I learned about Scoop the same time you did!

Dr. Charles Dutton:
They already have Andromeda programmed! The purpose of Scoop was to find new biological weapons in outer space, and then use Wildfire to develop them!

Dr. Ruth Leavitt:
It STINKS, Stone!

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
You're blowing your tops! We have no proof...

Dr. Charles Dutton:
The MAP!

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
DON'T BE AN ASS! That map only shows what Andromeda *could* do in the hands of an enemy!

Dr. Charles Dutton:
Enemy? We did it to OURSELVES!

Dr. Mark Hall:
Most of them died instantly, but a few had time to go quietly nuts.

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
When the bomb goes off, there'll be a thousand mutations! Andromeda will spread everywhere! They'll never be rid of it!

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
Stick to established procedures.

Dr. Ruth Leavitt:
Establishment gonna fall down and go boom.

Dr. Rudolph Karp:
Fools! They refuse to believe life exists in meteorites. I showed them at the astrophysics conference what I just showed you. But no! Even with a microscope they are blind! But what do I have to do? Hit them over the head?

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
[handing out suppositories] Umm... stop by your rooms and insert these before taking the elevator.

Dr. Ruth Leavitt:
I have risked drowning in that foul bath! I have been par-boiled, irradiated and xenon-flashed, and now you suggest I...

[pushing suppository upward in the air]

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
I HAVE to! We haven't done a thing about the G.I. tract yet. On level five we must be as nearly germ-free as possible.

Dr. Ruth Leavitt:
[eyeing suppository sheepishly] Anyone care to join me for a "smoke"?

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
Hall? Take a look at this.

[gestures to dead man with peaceful facial expression]

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
Are you sure that isn't coronary?

Dr. Mark Hall:
No. Coronary's painful. They should grimace.

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
If it was fast, they wouldn't have time.

Dr. Mark Hall:
Fast? These people were cut down in mid-stride!

[arriving at the virus site via helicopter]

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
If anything happens to us, you have your orders.

Dempsey:
Yes sir. Proceed directly to Wildfire, and then, uh...

[makes slashing motion across neck]

Dempsey:
...zzZZTT!

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
[to Hall] If we're eliminated, the aircraft and pilot'll have to be sterilized.

Dempsey:
Uh, wait a minute. That's not what they told me... just "incinerated."

Jackson:
Hell of a way to run a hospital.

[Jackson grabs the nurse's thigh while being examined]

Karen Anson:
Feeling "better" aren't you, Mr. Jackson?

Jackson:
ee-YEP! [pause] You always have to wear that "iron suit"?

Karen Anson:
[imitating Jackson] ee-YEP!

Dr. Mark Hall:
Tell us what happened, Mr. Jackson.

Jackson:
I don't wanna think about it.

Dr. Mark Hall:
You know what people will say: "Piedmont was bad. That's why it was punished." First the town went crazy and then was destroyed...

Jackson:
YOU'RE crazy! Folks at Piedmont was good, decent, normal folks.

Dr. Mark Hall:
The man we found all dressed up in his doughboy's uniform, you call that normal?

Jackson:
Pete Arnold, who worked at the store. It was the disease!

Dr. Mark Hall:
How do you know?

Jackson:
'Cause the only thing wrong with him before that night was sugar.

Dr. Mark Hall:
Diabetes? Did he take insulin?

Jackson:
Couple of times a day! Hated the needle. I tried to talk him into usin' squeeze.

Computer Screen:
601 [error code displayed when a "memory overload" occurs]

Dr. Mark Hall:
Do you know the baby's name?

Jackson:
Give us a butt, first.

Dr. Mark Hall:
Smoking isn't allowed here.

Jackson:
Then, go fish.

Allison Stone:
You tell the senator it's his daughter.

Senator (Allison's father):
Allison?

Allison Stone:
Dad, there's something very peculiar has... has just happened, even for Jeremy. A few minutes ago...

[call is interrupted by beeping]

Allison Stone:
Dad, are you there? What's going on?

Women's voice on phone:
This communication is being monitored. The connection has been broken for reasons of national security. You will be briefed at the appropriate time. Thank you for your cooperation, Mrs. Stone.

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
Where have you been?

Dr. Mark Hall:
Leavitt had a seizure.

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
What?

Dr. Mark Hall:
Epilepsy. The red light flashing at three-per-second brought on a fit. Why the hell didn't she tell us about it?

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
Probably no top lab would have her if they knew. Insurance, prejudice, all that crap.

Dr. Mark Hall:
From the Middle Ages.

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
Where's the next substation, Hall?

Dr. Mark Hall:
Left of elevator on Level 2.

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
Right. Across the corridor from Body Analysis, our next port of call.

Dr. Ruth Leavitt:
Not for my alabaster body! I mean it, Stone, you can take your Body Analyzer and you can st...

[door closes]

Dr. Mark Hall:
[Removing the pants of a dead doctor] Have a look at his buttocks.

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
That's not funny.

Dr. Mark Hall:
Not meant to be. Normally, blood in a dead person goes to the lowest points. There should be marks of lividity, right? Do you see any purplish marks on his butt?

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
No.

[Dr. Hall takes a scalpel]

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
Careful you don't puncture your suit.

[Dr. Hall cuts the wrist of the corpse; red "sand" pours out]

Dr. Mark Hall:
Clotted blood! Powdered!

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
I'll be... damned.

Dr. Mark Hall:
No wonder they didn't bleed. It's clotted throughout the entire system - five quarts of blood turned to powder!

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
In theory, I suppose a single organism could do it.

Dr. Mark Hall:
But, in fact, there isn't an organism on Earth...

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
You mean there didn't used to be.

Dr. Mark Hall:
[reading suicide note] "The day of judgment is at hand. Have mercy on my soul, and to hell with all the others. Amen."

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
Senile...

Dr. Mark Hall:
This took time. Regardless of what made her do it, it took time. There's a chance someone's still alive.

[Dutton has just finished drawing a picture on the blackboard of a scientist examining a specimen under a microscope. A speech balloon from the slide says "Take us to your leader". His students all laugh]

Dr. Charles Dutton:
I'm glad you're amused gentlemen, but it might just turn out to be true. During this symposium, we'll discuss the possibility that intelligent life on a distant planet may be no larger than a flea.

[more laughter]

Dr. Charles Dutton:
Perhaps no larger than... a bacterium.

[silence]

[Hall and Stone are sealed off in a section of the lab with an unfinished sub-station for locking out the self-destruct device, which has been activated and is counting down]

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
The defense system is perfect, Mark. It'll even bury our mistakes!

Dr. Mark Hall:
Why did you pick me?

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
You're an MD, a talented surgeon who knows blood chemistries... and you're single. The Odd Man Hypothesis.

Dr. Mark Hall:
What the hell is that?

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
Didn't you read the Wildfire material I've been sending you?

Dr. Mark Hall:
[smirks] Very little. I never went in much for science fiction.

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
[glares at Hall] Nor do I.

Answering Service Supervisor:
[Dr. Hall has been overheard "flirting" with the recorded female voice that's been coming over the PA system] This is the Answering Service Supervisor. We wish you would adopt a more serious attitude, Dr. Hall.

Dr. Mark Hall:
Sorry... Her voice is quite luscious.

Answering Service Supervisor:
Well, the voice belongs to Miss Gladys Stevens, who is 63 years old. She lives in Omaha and makes her living taping messages for voice-reminder systems.

Dr. Mark Hall:
[slightly sarcastic] Much obliged.

Sgt. Crane:
Dr. Stone, sir, I have one thing to do. Just one. Everything else is fully automatic, computerized and self-regulating. I, uh, I listen for a little bell, in here. Ding-a-ling! That means a message coming in is for the Wildfire team.

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
Precisely! An M.C.N. communication. I'm expecting one.

Sgt. Crane:
Yes, sir. Top priority. Ding-a-ling! I push a button and all five level control centers are notified the same time you are. The bell hasn't rung, sir.

Jackson:
You the nurse?

Karen Anson:
Uh-huh.

Jackson:
Shoot! Can't see your legs.

Mic-T:
A.A. analysis results are ready, Dr. Dutton.

Dr. Charles Dutton:
Something's wrong. It's not registering.

Mic-T:
Yes, it is, sir. It's just registering double-zero, double-zero.

Grimes:
[smugly, speaking of the President of the United States] The boss'll be pleased to know that he made the right decision on 7-12 in the first place.

Dr. Ruth Leavitt:
[harsh with sarcasm] Congratulate him on his scientific insight.

Pilot:
[from recording] Albuquerque Center, Albuquerque Center, this is Air Force 561

Control:
Go ahead, 561.

Pilot:
My air hose is coming apart like it's dissolving!

Control:
561, can you...

Pilot:
Everything made of rubber... is coming apart!

Pilot:
[gasp] I... I feel funny.

Dr. Mark Hall:
I'll have the answer when I know why a sixty-nine-year-old sterno drinker with an ulcer is like a normal six-month-old baby.

Jackson:
Hey, Doc! Ya ain't leavin' us here, are ya?

Dr. Charles Dutton:
The whole thing. What a world we're making... I can see why the kids are dropping out; we should've.

Dr. Ruth Leavitt:
It's an emergency, Dutton. We got tagged, period. 'Til I saw those photos from Vanderburg, I...

Dr. Charles Dutton:
They brought it on themselves.

Dr. Ruth Leavitt:
Who? The people in Piedmont?

Dr. Mark Hall:
[referring to Dr. Dutton] Poor devil! Look at how he's breathing. He's scared to death.

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
We'll increase his oxygen. It'll slow down his breathing.

Dr. Mark Hall:
[beat] No, we want him to breathe fast! In Piedmont the old man survived drinking Sterno... Sterno, acidosis! Acidosis, rapid breathing! [begins working a control panel]

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
What the hell are you doing?

Dr. Mark Hall:
I'm turning off the oxygen.

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
But the baby! He's normal!

Dr. Mark Hall:
He's crying. He's not leaving it in his lungs long enough to do anything.

Dr. Jeremy Stone:
[incredulous] Rapid breathing? It just can't be that simple!

Dr. Mark Hall:
It isn't.

Dr. Mark Hall:
Air doesn't matter! Blood does. That's the answer.

Dr. Charles Dutton:
Experiment with your own lives, damn it!

Assistant to Cabinet Secretary:
Dr. Leavitt, I told you *there's a fire*!

Dr. Ruth Leavitt:
My experiment's at the critical stage, I can't just leave now. [to Bess] I want that plate as soon as it's developed.

Bess, Dr. Leavitt's assistant:
Yes, ma'am.

Assistant to Cabinet Secretary:
[insistent] My orders come from Dr. Robertson, the president's science advisor.

Dr. Ruth Leavitt:
There's a phone, pick it up. Call Robbie. Tell him I've burnt my draft card.