Prime Target

Amira!

Come, my love.

Mama, you said I could have ice cream!

You've already had lots of sweets. You won't sleep.

I will sleep. I promise, mama.

You're welcome, brother.

- Thank you. - Goodbye.

- Hello, Amira, welcome. - Hi, Hakeem. I hope you're well?

Here is my favourite customer.

There you go, my dear. Enjoy it.

- Oh, no, Hakeem, I've got no cash. - Don't worry about it. It's on me.

- No, Hakeem, I want to pay. - Really, there's no need!

Please, Hakeem, no.

Amira, I'll be back soon. Be good for Hakeem, okay?

- Hi, Baidaa. - Hello.

Come with Amira to the shop.

Yes, we'll come in a bit.

Amira.

Amira!

Amira.

Amira!

Mama!

Amira, come!

Amira, come here, my love.

Go to your mum.

Be careful, go slowly.

Come to mama.

Little by little, come to mama.

Amira, come!

Reach for mama!

Don't be afraid.

Amira, darling!

Come to mama!

Mama.

- Come to mama! - Mama!

Mama!

...to the finish. Ready? Now!

Yeah, press through the legs.

Yeah. Nice, Cambridge.

Stay horizontal on the front, now.

Place and press.

Good.

Backstops. Ready.

Go!

Wind down.

Easy there.

Time is 5:59.

Hell yeah! So what do you think, Ed?

- Best eight you've rowed in? - Could be.

A little more precision in the bows, maybe.

- Yeah. - Where are we going later?

The Wrestlers or the Tap?

It's just not my thing.

I like cider. Cider's good.

Door was open.

Hi, Fee.

Carbs.

I can't. I've only got ten minutes.

But you asked me to make it for you.

Straight off the river into a lecture, you said.

- No time to cook. - You-- I didn't ask.

You said I needed feeding.

Don't split hairs.

And you do.

Look at you, wasting away.

I need to get ready.

You're always in a hurry.

Well, time is complex in my world, Fiona.

So, will you be giving up maths for Lycra?

I do hope so.

What are you doing later?

Mallinder's weekly lecture

on the variational principles of being vain and boring.

I meant tonight.

Yeah, I know what you meant.

I gotta work tonight.

Of course, all mathematicians do their best work before they're 29.

Yeah, there's just some stuff I need to figure out for my work.

And the nights are quieter.

You know, there's no distractions.

I don't mean with you--

It's just a few drinks in the college bar. So...

Well, yeah. It's your birthday.

How old?

Twenty-three.

Prime number.

Yeah.

I gotta go.

- Sorry. - Yeah, it's fine.

Right, you've all seen the headlines.

800 years since this university was founded.

And for years we've been top of the league table, but not any longer.

Ouch.

Pass it round. Read your shame.

We are top of the class no longer.

Oxford, Stanford, MIT are all making serious advances in academic research.

Smug bastards.

So, the master has asked me to speak to you--

our talented postgraduates--

to remind you that it was in this city

that Sir Isaac Newton started a revolution in mathematics.

Darwin came here and first expounded his vision of natural selection.

Crick and Watson found the building blocks of life.

And Oppenheimer found a way to blow it all to shit.

Is there something you'd like to share, Mr. Brooks?

We are, by nature, explorers,

compelled to walk beyond the horizon.

To seek what's on the other side of the black hole.

There are answers to all nature's mysteries.

And if we have a purpose, it is to find them.

And you are the visionaries.

Go make your dent in the universe.

This is your time.

Thank you.

Hello.

Hi.

204.

It's the number of the bus I passed on my way here.

Interesting number, 204.

Square it, and it is the sum of three consecutive cubes.

I brought your favorite ginger cake.

- Thank you. - You're welcome, Professor.

How is Robert Mallinder?

Worries more about league tables than anything else.

Well, it's important.

Reputation means funding.

He's brilliant.

And worthy of you, Ed.

- I want to ask if we can still work-- - No.

- If you'll make an exception... - Don't.

...there's something I want to concentrate on for my research.

And I know they'll never let me, but--

- but with you-- No one would even know... - Edward.

- I can't! - Professor. No one would even know--

Give him a chance.

I'm asking it of you.

We both know, even on your worst day, you're better than any of the others.

What's wrong with it?

Well, just someone with your reputation, integral analysis seems a bit easy.

204.

Ed.

It's a fascinating number.

Look--

What, you don't find it fascinating?

You don't have to do this.

There's a pattern concealed inside of it.

See if you can spot it.

- Ed. - Take as long as you need.

We're here to talk about your research.

And you hated it. So we've moved on.

Come on, 204. How can you resist?

Everyone tells me you're brilliant.

I know you're brilliant.

I have a three-page letter from Ray Osborne telling me so.

But this is a supervision, it's not a prizefight.

How is he, by the way?

Well, he has Alzheimer's, so...

He taught me here as well, you know?

So I have some idea about how close you two would've been.

This is Dr. Nathoo, please leave a message.

Charan, you won't believe what I'm seeing.

A thousand years ago,

the most valuable commodity in the world wasn't gold, or diamonds, or oil.

It was knowledge.

Spices, silk, raw minerals,

these were nothing compared to the priceless value of information.

Eighth and ninth century.

Fourth caliphate.

Great advances were being made in medicine, mathematics, physics.

If you entered a city such as Baghdad in possession of scrolls or documents,

then you were the bearer of great treasure.

Well, what happened?

I got an e-mail from a colleague in Iraq.

There was a gas explosion on the street.

I don't know all the details, but they found an underground chamber,

ninth century, looks almost untouched.

I've been asked to fly out there

by personal invitation of the Baghdad Department of Culture and Antiquities.

They want me to consult.

Have you had a look at the images?

- Yeah. - Yeah?

They're amazing.

I think this could be a name.

Harun al-Rashid.

The caliph.

It's Bayt al-Hikmah.

It has to be.

The greatest library ever created.

Finally, after all your research.

No, I just think he considers me, you know, middlebrow.

Are you being a tad melodramatic?

No, I mean it.

You know, I don't think he thinks I'm capable.

After 30 years of writing books and--

Some of them still in print, if you look hard enough.

I'm just saying it would be nice if he took the trouble to read my work.

Love, he likes maths, not antiquities.

Very funny.

I know I'm being a little defensive.

Narcissistic.