The Andromeda Strain

What the hell?

What in the hell was that?

Mancheck, why did you drop the bomb?

Well, there must have been some kind of malfunction!

General michaelson, are your troops all right?

A little shook up, sir, but I think we'll be okay.

I'm sending patrols out

To the outlying posts within minutes.

Mr. President, seismic stations

Are picking this up all over the world.

We need to decide how we're going to respond.

Tell 'em the truth.

Tell 'em we lost a plane for some...

yet unknown mechanical reasons.

Agnogenic systems failure, sir.

Somehow the tactical payload went off.

Schedule a news conference.

There'll be no way to claim that the questions this raises

Are motivated by political partisanship.

And I want to know what happened out there.

You know as well as I do

That nuclear arms have numerous fail-Safe systems.

That bomb did not go off accidentally! We canceled the drop. You heard it.

You're lying! Knock it off, stone.

Can I see the pilot's last transmission? Okay.

It's - It's almost disintegrating!

It's just falling apart!

The missile is rearmed!

Aah!

Now what would destroy plastic resin compounds like that?

Certain chemical agents under certain conditions

Can destabilize the chemical structure of polymers.

So could certain microorganisms.

It's mutating. Yeah, but the plane

Had to by flying at least several thousand feet.

It's always been an airborne pathogen,

Albeit of a very short life span.

Maybe this is a new, hardier version.

But it was miles away.

But there was a fire, remember?

And maybe this variant,

Either as a separate mutation or residing in a living host-

Insect, bird-

Rose on that column of smoke and made contact with the jet.

No, no. That is-That is too difficult to believe.

Does anyone have a better theory?

Does anyone even have a different theory?

Recon reports eight casualties

At a forward observation post,

But these were not caused by the blast.

These attacks may very well be connected

To the attacks on our headquarters.

Speaking off the record, it would be a lot easier

For me to do my job if I knew what we were up against.

It's some kind of virulent biological infection.

As far as we know,

It may be a prelude to a much larger attack.

Get me wildfire.

The event in the diner we can explain

As a lapse in quarantine.

Your smoke theory might explain how it reached that jet,

But this dead army unit

Was 50 miles away from piedmont.

It must have adapted and found transportation

In a host. Like influenza, jumping back and forth

Between animal and human populations.

How do I quarantine that?

You have to scorch the perimeter,

And drive everything living inside the area.

The rate of mutation is likely to increase post-Blast.

We have to be prepared for anything.

The entire area is under satellite surveillance.

If something new happens out there-Anything-We'll see it.

What do you need, stone?

Tell me what you need to kill this thing,

And I'll get it.

I'm not stonewalling anyone, l assure you.

I simply think it is better that you wait

For the president himself to answer all of your questions...

from Mancheck-

Andromeda's mutation rate is increasing.

There's a very real chance that we won't be able to contain it.

Get "Air force one" ready. I don't think-

You heard me.

And now, ladies and gentlemen,

The president of the united states.

Sorry to keep you waiting.

Two hours ago, one of our air force jets

Suffered a fatal systems failure,

And crashed in a remote part of utah.

In the process, a tactical nuclear device

Was accidentally detonated.

Mr. President. Yes.

Was this blast near those utah national guardsmen,

And are the surrounding cities in any immediate danger?

Yes, the guardsmen were there in the area

On a training exercise related to border security.

The area was already under strict quarantine,

So they were no way endangered by the blast.

Yes, Katherine. What about radioactive fallout,

And why were those guardsmen deployed there to begin with?

Yes, we're taking steps to contain it.

I would like to assure the american public

That they're safety in no way has been compromised by this.

Bad time, charlie.

Chuck, listen. I got a reporter-Jack Nash-

Disappeared while covering

The deployment of the utah national guard.

So what am I, missing persons?

Come on, charlie, contact the local authorities.

I did. They've given me the runaround,

And I happen to know that that deployment order

Came out of your office. Says who?

Nash was present for that terrorist attack

On guard headquarters.

What attack? I have no idea what you're talking about.

Really? Take a look.

Okay. Come on, Chuck.

I haven't heard from Nash since he sent me those photos.

Now you want me to just run with this

And ask my questions on camera

About a satellite going down, and that a bio-Defense team

Sent in by general Mancheck to collect it are all dead?

Okay, look. I, uh...

I'm gonna check into this, Charlie,

And I will get back to you.

Are you all right? No.

And this bomb blast has got everyone freaking.

Aunt alice is a mess.

You know, people are saying it's-

It's just an attack by terrorists

And the government's lying about it. It's-lt's not.

How would you know that? I just-l just know, is all.

Yeah, right. The great know-lt-All, that's you.

I gotta go. Lance.

Lance..

The president is taking a serious pounding over this.

He's announced that he is traveling to utah

To personally oversee the situation.

So I understand.

And henderson at nnt

Is all up in arms over Nash, who apparently showed up

At that national guard headquarters in the desert.

I prefer not to be embarrassed by information like that.

Nash is in confinement now. I'm on my way there. Good.

I need to know how much information Nash has

And who he's shared it with.

I also need to feel confident that he is going to shut up.

Do you think you can handle that?

How's Mancheck holding up?

I would say he's under a lot of stress right now.

We're going to take casualties on this,

And Mancheck may have to be one,

But that doesn't necessarily apply to his staff,

Especially those who show boldness and initiative

As we tie up these loose ends.

You can rely on me.

What do you know about wormholes?

What do I look like, a physicist? Try your best.

All I know is that speculation centers around two basic types-

Lorentzian and euclidean.

Both are, in theory, potentially traversable.

That's all you know?

So a method of travel

From one part of the universe to the other.

Yeah, and through time.

It's like a worm eating its way through an apple

Instead of around it.

Don't tell me you actually believe Mancheck's story.

It's too fantastic to be a lie.

Attagirl.

The north koreans have announced

They're abandoning the seoul agreement

And reopening their nuclear program

Because of our recent unauthorized

And illegal nuclear testing. Well, contact pyongyang.

Send him satellite photos of the crash sequence

Along with our assurance as a compliance, okay, pat?

What? We've also had word from the U. N.

That the general assembly is going to pass a measure

That will ban all vent mining

Unless and until member countries are satisfied

With a revenue sharing system.

There's also a rumor at the U. N.

That the blast in utah was staged... oh.

As a deliberate distraction

From the vent mining controversy. Oh...

Other than that, mrs. Lincoln,

How did you like the play?

Computer, dr. Stone examining the tenth series of exposures

Of potential inhibiting agents to Andromeda.

None of the major classes of antifungals or antimicrobials

Have the least effect.

Run all known bacteriophages.

Commencing exposure

Of Andromeda to multiple strains of bacteria.

All tests are negative.

Damn it.

Everything dies.

What kills you?