Original subtitles

Please have your tickets ready

for admittance to the examination hall.

This line is for doctoral candidates only.

Todtman, Seth.

What are you doing here?

Taking my final exam.

But you failed out of the program, Seth. You know that.

Define program.

Define fail.

Let's go somewhere and talk.

I thought we used to be friends.

Friends!

Friends don't steal friends' insight

-and genius. -[phone dialing]

Friends don't call friends paranoid

in front of kangaroo courts.

Is she calling security?

Good. Because I wanted to show them something

ever since they threw me off campus.

[Dean Irwin] Seth, Seth, come on, it's over.

[Seth] No.

It's not going to be over until I say it's over.

Nobody wanted to listen to me.

-But now... -[beeps]

...you're going to.

-[gunshot] -[all screaming]

Settle down! Settle down!

Every way in and out of this building

has a trash can.

And every trash can is wired with an explosive device

which I have just armed.

You won't get away with this, Seth.

Really?

-Define cold fusion. -What?

I said define cold fusion.

Cold fusion is, um, is the release

of thermal nuclear energies

by devices that operate at ordinary

room temperatures and pressures.

But such devices are totally impossible.

We've proven that.

Really? I made this one all by myself.

I did it on my kitchen table.

The people who said it was impossible were wrong.

The people who said I wasn't worthy

to be a graduate student were wrong.

The people who tried to discredit me were wrong.

And today,

I get to prove that.

Look out the window!

Look out the window!

[switch clicks]

[glass shattering]

[recorded voice] I am a bomb.

In five seconds, I will detonate and kill

every living thing within 100 yards.

-[whimpering] -Five,

four, three,

two, one.

[car alarm blaring]

Stop right there!

The building is wired.

And if my heart stops,

or I press this button right here,

the device in here will explode

with a release of energy one million times greater

than the device that just detonated out there.

What do you want?

[Seth] It's very simple.

-I want the five people on this list. -[siren wailing]

I want to see them brought here by the government

and shot dead one at a time.

Five lives or five million lives.

It's your choice.

You've got three hours.

Have a nice day.

[students gasp]

[beeping]

[Control Voice] There is nothing wrong with your television.

Do not attempt to adjust the picture.

We are now controlling the transmission.

We control the horizontal and the vertical.

We can deluge you with a thousand channels

or expand one single image to crystal clarity

and beyond.

We can shape your vision

to anything our imagination can conceive.

For the next hour,

we will control all that you see and hear.

You are about to experience the awe and mystery

which reaches from the deepest inner mind

to The Outer Limits.

[Control Voice] They say a little knowledge

is a dangerous thing.

But what of the man who possesses too much knowledge?

Where's your art project, Kate? Do you have your paintings?

Who's driving me?

-Your mother is. -Your father is.

He's joking, Kate. I'm late for work.

And I'm not? I got a new patient at nine o'clock.

And I have to file a grant proposal by noon.

Yeah, but your grant proposal won't know that you're late.

But my client sure will

if this whole west-side feeding program goes up in smoke.

Come on.

No! You deal with one patient,

and that's world shaking?

But I deal with feeding a couple of hundred young women,

and that's what? Secretarial work?

It's your turn.

You should have had Kate ready 20 minutes ago.

You were standing here, too.

Sharon, I'll lose rapport

with this new patient if I'm late the first time.

But you're not worried about losing rapport with me?

[exhales]

Okay, fine, I'll take her.

Come on, sweetie, you're coming with me.

Come on, sweetheart, give me kisses.

-Bye, Daddy. -[grunts]

You really ought to do a little therapy on yourself

before you start inflicting advice on other people.

I really think you're overreacting.

Second time this week.

It can't be!

Sharon! Sharon!

Well... Where's the calendar?

It can't be twice this week.

-Mmm. -[car door closes]

Oh, God.

[phone ringing]

Sharon, look, I owe you an apology.

[man] Sir, this is an alpha call.

Please state your identity.

What? Oh, uh...

Martin. James Martin, PhD.

Sir, my authentication code

is bravo-zulu-221.

What is your counter authentication code?

Uh, yeah, delta-tango-983.

Sir, this is an alert

from the Office of Intelligence, Department of Energy.

The secretary has declared

a nuclear emergency search-team mobilization.

You got to be kidding. On a Friday morning?

Sir, this is not a drill.

I say again, this is not a drill.

Transportation, your location,

-ETA, two minutes. -What?

-[dial tone] -Hello? Hello?

[phone beeps]

[man] Move! Move!

[siren blaring]

[General] What do we have?

[man] No life-threatening radioactivity from the blast site,

though we are getting some readings.

In touch with this kid?

We've opened a direct line to him, but he won't talk to us.

Here's the list of the people he wants brought in.

[man speaking indistinctly on PA]

This is Dr. Martin, our team negotiator.

Has he said anything aside from giving you this list?

He says he's invented a cold fusion bomb, whatever the hell that is.

[Hal] That's a good one.

Gentlemen, I'll tell you exactly what this kid did.

He's built a perfectly ordinary explosive device,

contaminated it with radioactive waste to fake a nuclear blast.

That mean you won't be assuming jurisdiction?

No, no, we're still gonna consider this a nuclear incident.

You pull your men back

and caution them about spreading any wild stories.

Panic could do more harm to this city than that lunatic out there.

We all know what we're up against, okay?

You bet.

Well...

Let's see what he's got to say.

[phone ringing]

Who's this?

This is James Martin.

I'm the DOE-Nes Team negotiator.

You sound like a shrink, Martin. I don't need a shrink.

I just need someone trained in nuclear technology

so they can understand what I'm gonna say.

Well, then I'm your guy. I have a joint degree in physics and psychology.

What's the matter?

You kept looking for answers and couldn't find any?

Actually I trained to study

electrical fields of the brain.

I started doing therapy for clients

who couldn't talk to anyone

who didn't have top secret security clearance.

So they made me head shrink of the Department of Energy.

Kind of a limited audience, as you can imagine.

[Seth] Okay. Just try to understand this.

I have a cold fusion device

wired into a dead man's switch and a timer.

The yield of this device is 50 megatons.

If it detonates,

it'll destroy the entire city.

Now tell me one thing and one thing only.

What's that?

Define how you can possibly believe me.

Listen, I take this threat very seriously.

Well, then you need to have your head examined.

Because no one has ever come close to building such a device.

What are they really saying, Martin?

That I faked the blast?

I don't want to offend you, but the truth is,

if you really created cold fusion, why are you doing this?

Why not just claim your Nobel Prize and become fabulously rich?

No. No one's even gonna give me the prize

of the Cracker Jack box.

Your team of killers will just lock me up in Area 51,

and torture me till I've told them what I know.

Mr. Todtman, I swear no one is going to hurt you.

This is exactly what I expected, Martin.

So I'm gonna give you more proof.

No, wait.

If I've offended you, I apologize.

You thought I was gonna detonate another blast.

Well, don't get your panties in a bunch.

Just keep your eye on the front door.

I'm sending you a sample.

Hit the timer and stand back undercover

at least five miles.

But you better make it snappy

because my countdown timer is spinning like a top.

Put it down!

Put it down slowly!

That's it.

-Don't shoot, please. He gave it to me! -[man] Come on! Come on!

Guys, come on! Clear the site!

[crackling]

Martin, this thing isn't even big enough

to pack a conventional wallop.

It's exactly the sort of paranoid fantasy you'd expect

from some failed engineering student.

I'm not so sure.

Right. So, the kid takes a bunch of hostages, fakes a nuclear blast.

You don't think he's crazy?

All I'm saying is he's lucid enough to do technical work.

He sure as hell produced a big explosion.

Which failed to generate any significant radiation.

Yeah, but isn't that the eerie part?

The thing about cold fusion is, if it really works,

it hardly releases any radiation at all.

Except we all know, Martin,

that cold fusion isn't possible.

[Martin] Look, all I know

is the first atomic bomb was built more than 50 years ago.

Plenty of time for new developments, don't you think?

Helicopter it out to the test site.

We need to start work on the hostage rescue plan.

-[Hal] We're opening the outer casing now. -No, no, Hal, listen.

-I don't think he was lying. -Martin, don't worry.

We're gonna show you what a lunatic he is, in Hi8.

And if he isn't, hey,

I'm gonna file a patent on this myself and retire.

[exhales]

Okay.

He had it rigged.

-The clock's counting down. -[timer beeps]

We're pulling back to the blast shelter.

Tell them to incinerate it before it blows.

No, we need the documentation.

Those tunnels can contain a 10-kiloton blast,

assuming it's not a stick of TNT.

What if it really is a cold fusion bomb?

[Hal] Okay, bomb room is sealed.

Safety protocol is in place.

Ten seconds.

Five, four,

three, two,

one, and...

[chuckles] Big nothing, huh?

Told you, Martin. Guy's a whacko.

Nothing on the video except--

What the...

Hal? Hal?

Team two! Team two, respond!

[man] Sir?

Three satellites detected a sub-surface detonation

at base one. It was in the megaton range.

He did it.

He really does have cold fusion.

I want to see everyone on his list.

[Wylie] Why are you doing this?

What have I done? Will somebody tell me what the hell is going on here?

[man] Sit him down.

Stay there, sir.

You're going to get more hostages for him?

Are you speaking as my negotiator

or a do-good therapist?

It will only inflate his ego and terrorize them needlessly.

Needlessly?

Do you comprehend our options here?

He may have a 50-megaton device.

What is the only assured method

of disabling something like that?

You incinerate it instantly before it can activate.

The only way you can do that is by using a tactical nuclear weapon

which will kill everyone

within several 100 yards, including us.

Not you, Jim. You can call in from anywhere.

But some of us have got to stay here.

So you tell me what will happen

if we kill the people on this list?

Will he walk out of there,

or will he pull the trigger anyway?

I'm still not prepared to answer that question.

It will take ten days to evacuate everybody in this city.

Ten days. What do I do?

Will killing the people on this list satisfy him?

Will it save the city?

Get him on the line.

Answer my question.

I can't, Will.

He went into counseling after he started fighting with his teachers.

But none of his therapists

saw this sort of psychotic anger in him.

I've got to see him face to face.

It's my only shot at understanding him in time.

So wire me and get him on the phone.

Kay, I'll deliver these to the agency.

Mmm-hmm.

But I need 20 more copies for the principal donors.

Okay.

-[car lock chirps] -See you later.

[news anchor on radio] The Department of Energy is denying reports

that there is any connection between

today's terrorist bombing at the School of Engineering

and the rumors that minutes ago

a major explosion occurred in the department's

super-secret research labs at Willowbridge.

In apparent confirmation,

independent sources have confirmed that no significant radiation

was released in the explosion of the university.

And the reports of a nuclear accident

might have occurred there were wrong.

-In other news today-- -[phone dialing]

[woman] Federal operator 652.

I'm sorry but the number you have called is temporarily out of service.

Please wait. Connect me to the security office.

Ma'am please, I don't know what you're referring to.

You and I both know I'm calling the DOE Laboratories at Willowbridge.

If something's happened, you've got to tell me.

-I'm a family member. -Ma'am, I'm sorry,

but I have no information.

Family members are urged

to make no rash assumptions

or public statements at this time.

You will be contacted

when personnel become available.

[dial tone]

Oh, my God.

[dialing]

Parkway Elementary.

This is Mrs. Martin.

I've got to pick Kate up right away.

[phone ringing]

[Martin] We need to talk.

You sound depressed, Martin.

Maybe you should talk to yourself.

I sure don't think you're gonna be much help to me.

I had friends on the team that tested your device.

It, uh, couldn't have malfunctioned.

They didn't follow my instructions, did they? They tried to study it.

[Martin] And they paid for it with their lives.

So why don't we just call it even, okay?

I mean, everyone, everyone knows

what an extraordinary discovery you've made.

So why don't you let me inside to make a deal?

I can hear your pain, Martin.

But you've got to think logically.

My rigging the device was an act of mercy.

It prevented anyone else

from learning how to build a cold fusion bomb.

The world is still safe.

[Martin] I can't follow your logic.

I need to talk to you.

I'm really worried about you, Martin.

Haven't you noticed your lips are moving? We are talking.

In person.

Trigger's still wired to my heart.

Sneak in a gun or even a wave of righteous anger,

it won't work.

Five hundred people died in that explosion.

You owe me a chance to see you.

Okay.

For a price.

Kill the first person on my list.

You know I can't do that.

[Seth] You could if you respected me.

I've got other ways to kill him, you know.

I could just detonate this bomb right now.

The blast wave would reach him halfway to Mars.

I swear to God, he isn't even here.

Too bad!

In the movies, they're always here.

But you want to talk anyway?

No, God, please. No.

[yelps]

[Seth] Then kill her!

What the hell?

Give her an extra hole in her head.

Help me! [sobbing]

Use the distraction to filter in the demolition team.

Get them directly under the building to contain the blast.

Copy that. Okay, let's do it.

Saddle up, guys, let's move that nuke into the tunnel.

[woman sobs]

[Martin] You really want a human sacrifice?

You're right. I am a lousy negotiator.

So shoot me instead

and talk to my successor when he flies in, okay?

Deal?

You really want to be put out of your misery?

Come through the front door.

I'll let you past the sensors.

But anyone else tries to get near the building, I'll blow this device.

[sobs]

[beeping]

[sensor beeping]

[beeping stops]

Your life...

or hers?

Get it over with.

-[gunshot] -[woman screams]

What made you think I wouldn't shoot you?

I didn't.

I just didn't want anyone else to die.

Okay, you've defined your qualifications.

You've got guts.

Let's talk.

-Jackson's on, sir. -Jackson, where are we?

Sir, we've made entry into the tunnel with the nuclear mine.

There could be traps anywhere.

-It could take us hours. -We don't have hours.

If he told the police the truth,

we have less than 60 minutes.

Yes, sir, I understand.

Check ahead, best cam,

but we have to be under the lecture hall in 50 minutes.

Aren't you too smart for this?

Is that your best line?

Are you sure you got your degree from a regular college,

or was it one of those night school things where life experience counts?

You're right. I didn't express myself well.

I haven't all day.

What I meant to say is I don't understand why,

when you're so smart,

why you've chosen to cause so much pain.

Define your logic.

I read in your case files that you lived

in a number of foster homes after your mother died.

A lot of people must have caused you a lot of pain.

Yeah. Then help me feel better.

Kill them for me.

When a child is traumatized, they still have choices.

Some grow up and fight back.

They become protectors

and try to save other people

from the same pain that they've been through.

You meet them as social activists, teachers--

And badly dressed therapists?

Are you a loner, Martin?

Don't have a wife to pick out your clothes for you?

Not that I mean to criticize.

Some of the very best people at this school

said I dressed like a geek.

You know, the textbooks claim that humor at a time like this

usually means you're screaming inside.

That's funny. I thought they said the lack of it meant that I was stupid or a madman.

But fine, be boring.

What about your next type of victim?

Well, they're the type who identify with the abusers,

and they become pain-givers themselves

which is inherently illogical,

because that's just another form of surrender to the abusers.

It's saying you can't beat them, so you're joining them.

[scoffs]

Oh, come on, Martin.

Are you trying to tie me up in logical knots

like I was some sort of war game computer you could crash

with a game of Tic-Tac-Toe?

No, I don't have to be that smart.

Just you do, and you are.

You can understand the choices.

The mystery to me is why have you become a victimizer anyway?

Because I want justice.

Do you know what those people on my list did to me?

[Martin] No, I don't.

[Seth] Then I'll define it for you.

Mr. Walker was my last foster father.

He used to experiment on me,

see what sorts of things he could beat me with

without leaving a mark on me.

He drove his wife to suicide last year,

if that's what it was.

[Martin] Then screw him.

Then there's Mr. Owens,

my social worker.

He called me a liar when I asked him for help.

It took me till this year to figure out why.

He was taking kickbacks from the Walkers out of my foster care fees.

Let's put them in jail.

[Seth] Then we have Ms. Carstairs.

She knew I couldn't deal with people very well.

But she forced me to work the front desk at the library anyway.

When I begged her for a transfer to the stacks, she fired me.

I told her I wouldn't eat, literally not have food in my mouth.

But she barred me from any work-study job

at the school all the same.

Pretty cruel.

Though I'm not sure it merits the death penalty.

And finally there's Claus Wylie,

winner of this year's Hastings Award.

He stole my ideas and accused me of plagiarizing him

when I submitted my own paper to the committee.

All unforgivable things to do to someone

who's trying to make their way in the world all alone, I agree.

Thank you. Then give me their lives!

Or what?

You'll kill everyone in the city?

[scoffs]

Where is the justice in that?

Because they're dead anyway.

I mean, look,

haven't you ever wondered why

there isn't any intelligent life in the universe?

Excuse me?

Oh, come on, Martin.

All those years listening to the stars and not a peep out of them.

No I Love Lucy

with two-headed green guys playing both Lucy and Ricky?

No radio signals at all.

-You know why? -No, I don't.

Because they get to this point right here,

where you and I are today,

and they discover the energy weapon that any child can build.

And then they destroy themselves.

No, I can't accept that. And I don't believe you can either.

Ah, you will.

Before this day's over, you will.

I just want justice done for me

while there's still time.

-[beeping] -Wait. Don't move.

Motion sensor. Pull back slowly.

-[alarm blaring] -[automated voice] Warning, warning.

Please step back from the car.

Everybody, move! Get down! Get down!

[screaming]

Base. My team is down. My team is down.

The nuclear device is still intact.

Get him help down there.

[signal beeping]

They tried to come up the utility tunnel.

Wouldn't you?

-Are you wearing a wire? -Yes.

Tell them what I've done.

He just opened a safety guard

on what looks like an override detonator,

something that he can hit

and set off his bomb immediately.

Jim, the slightest move to use it,

you've got to tell us.

Lieutenant Jackson,

wait for detonation on my command.

Yes, sir.

I'm on the trigger.

[Seth] They didn't respect me.

And they didn't listen to me.

It has nothing to do with respect. It's their job.

Yeah, well, now they got a new job.

Shoot the first person on my list,

shoot Professor Wylie, or I won't wait for that timer.

I'll blow this thing right now.

Kill Professor Wylie, or the whole city blows.

Is Jackson close enough?

Will he vaporize the cold fusion device

or detonate it?

Tell me, you're the disposal expert.

Good God, General, I've been through simulations before,

but not anything like this.

Then what do I do? Shoot a man in cold blood?

You can't do this.

It's against everything this country stands for.

And I didn't do anything wrong.

He's crazy. Don't you get it?

Shoot him!

General, it's the necessity defense, justifiable homicide.

If the lifeboat's going to sink,

you can throw people overboard.

If the dam's going to break,

you can open the floodgates, even if it drowns people downstream.

The law isn't that clear.

If Jackson's 100 meters out,

that nuclear mine may not work.

-And I'm not just saying that because it's our lives. -[Seth] You owe me this!

You owe me this!

Professor Wylie.

[whimpers]

Our nuclear mine blows or his cold fusion device ignites,

it's the same result, you'll die, we'll all die.

Look, you brought me here against my will.

I don't have to die, except you brought me here!

I'm sorry.

No, you can't do this!

[Seth] ...three,

two...

[whimpering]

No!

[sobbing] No!

Shoot him!

Shoot him and leave him there,

or the whole city dies!

-Don't do it! -[Seth] His life is worthless!

-No! Will! Stop! -Shoot him!

[gunshot]

[crows cawing]

[Martin] What are you feeling?

That you are never smart enough to take me on.

We're done talking.

For years...

you sat alone in your bedroom at night dreaming about revenge.

Only now, instead of exhilaration,

all you're feeling is emptiness.

What makes you so sure you can read my mind?

You know what they say about shrinks.

The only difference between us

and our patients is that we have

a certificate that says that we're sane.

[chuckles]

Look who's developing a sense of humor.

Maybe it's because I was beaten up enough in my childhood

that I'm sympathizing with where you're coming from.

You have no clue how I feel.

I know enough to tell you this.

That man dying and your turning another good man

into a murderer doesn't make you

feel any better than killing five more,

or five million isn't gonna make you feel any better either.

Do you know, um, how the first thought

of an atomic bomb came into the world?

No.

It was, um, 1939.

A group of graduate students working with Robert Oppenheimer

sketched a design on their classroom blackboard.

Not long after that, another junior guy was thinking

about this little research report from Paris

while he was riding along in his commuter train in Berlin.

You see, the French guys had noticed that when they split certain atoms,

they got an extra release of neutrons.

-[snaps fingers] -And there, amid the screech

of steel wheels against steel rails,

the light flickering across his face,

that guy realized that you could not only base

a bomb on that sort of chain reaction,

but you could also breed your own uranium to do it.

Do you, uh...

Do you know what I'm saying?

That all those people weren't necessarily special,

and that it wasn't even based on their own experiments.

Exactly.

When a science is ready,

people can't help but make the next discovery.

[Martin exhales]

The world is going to end very soon, Dr. Martin.

The concepts are so simple.

[chuckles] Even a child can make a cold fusion bomb.

You want to talk about children, Seth?

Look, um...

This is a real child.

She only weighs 61 pounds.

You could balance the weight of her life in your hands.

She's never hurt you or anyone that I know of.

But you're going to kill her

if you set off your bomb.

Liar.

You got your family out of the city hours ago.

No, they don't know.

It is a procedure.

Once the team's assembled, they took my phone away.

What's her number?

What?

Give me an outside line now.

I can't negotiate with liars!

Call his wife now.

[ringing]

Hello?

-Who's this? -Sharon Martin.

Are you calling about Jim?

He's okay.

[sighs]

Thank God.

But he wants you to do something, Sharon.

I want you to do something. Is your daughter there?

Yes.

Then take her, Sharon.

Take that pretty little child of yours

and drive the fastest way out of town.

Who is this?

Just do it, Sharon. You've got 30 minutes.

That's my act of mercy to you.

Tell her.

Sharon, it's me.

I'm okay.

You're at the university, aren't you?

That was the bomber, wasn't it?

Is it Daddy?

It's okay, Sharon. I'll be all right,

I swear to you.

Right now, no matter what, I want you to get Kate in the car

and I want you to cross the Hamilton foothills.

Put them between you and the city.

And never look back.

Promise me, Sharon.

Just come home in one piece, okay, Jim?

And I'll take Kate to school for the rest of my life.

You bet.

Now go, go.

Okay.

I gave you a life, two lives. Now you owe me one.

What?

Kill the next person on my list.

Kill Mr. Walker.

You can't want it to end this way.

Why won't you give me what I want?

You can't possibly want this.

The only reason someone in your position lets me inside

is because you want me to help stop you.

Oh, you really have lost it.

You define this.

If you really wanted those people dead,

you would never have come in here

and drawn a crack team of commandos around you

to try and stop you!

I have the power to destroy the city, even the world.

I want respect for that!

You could've gotten that by blowing up any old thing

and written a letter to the press!

Think about the logic, Seth.

Reason it through.

[alarm beeping]

They're coming up the tunnel again.

It's their job.

They'll never get here in time.

Now that my hostages are assembled,

let's line 'em up, and let's do this.

Or the blood of this city will be on your hands.

[soldier] Tunnel's jammed.

I'm not gonna get it cleared in time.

Jim, you gotta get him to stop that timer.

I am prepared to take another life.

What did they tell you?

Nothing useful.

What did they just tell you?

They offered me another life, didn't they?

Only if you'll stop the timer.

Tell them I want Walker.

Tell them yourself.

Give me Walker!

I want to see him down here on his knees

begging for mercy!

Give me Walker!

I want to see him beg.

God knows he ought to know how to.

He saw me do it often enough.

I want to see him down here on his knees!

Hit the bomb with the laser beam.

You can line it up in the mirror.

What?

Fire into the mirror.

You can fuse the detonator controller.

Get us the biggest laser they have.

Yes, sir.

God, no.

No!

God, no!

[gun cocks]

Seth!

It's me!

I'm practically your dad!

Louder!

I can't hear you!

[Martin] This isn't the way.

It's the only way.

You know how long he terrorized me?

I want him dead!

No! [sobs]

That's it, isn't it?

You have been telling me more about yourself than you realize.

I just haven't been smart enough to see it.

What?

All of this is about fear.

What am I thinking? It's always about fear.

Not anymore.

I hold the power.

No, I'm not talking about the fear

that those people out there caused you.

I'm talking about the fundamental fear that is

reaching down into the center of your soul right now.

That's the answer to the mystery that I've been trying to solve.

Your discovery has so deeply terrified you

that you'd rather die than acknowledge that fear.

Aren't I right, Seth? Look inside yourself.

Isn't that what you're really feeling?

Come on, move it, move it. Let's get this thing powered.

Jim, keep him away from the window.

We need time.

You're just trying to distract me.

No, no, no. I'm just trying to reflect your truth back to you.

That's why you created this psycho-drama.

You don't want the world to end.

This is all about fear.

Let that bastard out there, begging for his life,

let him suffer a little more with his own terror.

Stop the timer and talk to me.

[soldier] Laser's powered up, sir.

[General] Hit it.

Okay.

I'll admit this is intriguing.

Define what you mean.

But you better talk fast,

because our time for chit-chat is almost up.

I can't define it for you, Seth. It just is.

Just look inside yourself. Tell me what you feel.

What if I do feel fear?

What if I wished I never saw how to build that thing?

What difference does it make?

It's built.

And someone else will build another one very soon.

If you help us,

we can seize control of the materials needed to build it.

We can steer the path of education

away from the discovery.

The materials are everywhere.

When science is ready to make a discovery, nothing can stop it.

Almost simultaneously the ideas will occur to lots of people.

Don't let him turn.

Step up the power.

Maybe, maybe not.

But hope is as intrinsic to the human condition

as our thirst for life.

I want you to live. I don't care if that's logical or not.

At least we can put the genie back in the bottle.

They'll forget about the deaths today if you make that deal.

And the very effort of trying

will help cure your fears, Seth.

Come on.

Admit to yourself what you're feeling.

I, uh...

Maybe I do feel fear.

We got it!

Martin, get that son of a bitch near the window,

then we'll put him down.

Let's discuss this a little more.

Let me reset the timer.

Seth, no, no.

What the hell?

Put him down.

[gun cocks]

What have you done?

Martin's in the way, sir.

[Martin] I didn't want anyone else to die.

You were buying time.

General, he could still manually

activate the detonator.

[General] Move aside, Jim.

Move aside.

They'll shoot me right through you if they have to.

Step away from the window, Seth,

and you and I will both live.

We're gonna fire whether you move or not.

No, you step away, or I'll restart it.

[General] On my command.

Ready...

Why can't I convince you?

Aim...

Because we're all dead anyway.

Fire.

[yells]

[gunshot]

Seth.

[all clamoring]

[Dean Irwin] Don't move! Don't move!

Stop! Stop them!

The door's still armed.

It's over.

The second switch turns off the sensors.

[switch clicks]

All right, go, go, go!

[all clamoring]

Help me save the next guy like you.

How did you learn about cold fusion?

What was the breakthrough concept?

It's so simple once they ask the right question.

Only they're expecting the wrong answer.

[groans]

Seth.

Seth... Seth.

[student laughs]

[student mumbles]

Tom?

Is something wrong?

Everything's great.

But you're going to fail.

I don't think so.

I don't think so at all.

Tom, where are you going?

I got some work to do.

Don't worry.

I'll see you.

I'll see you real soon.

[Control Voice] If knowledge is power,

and power corrupts,

how will humankind ever survive?