PLASTIC MAN

                         O'BRIEN

          Oh no, no, no!  You've got to be

          able to fix me!  Please, Susan, tell

          me you can make me normal again!

                         SUSAN

          Once the subject was polymerized we

          were unable to reassemble the

          original organic structure.

His legs go wobbly.

                         O'BRIEN

          Oh God, please!  This can't be

          happening!  I can't be plastic!  A

          plastic man?!

                         SUSAN

          Daniel!

                         O'BRIEN

          I'm a plastic man!  A plastic man!

She slaps him; his chin flaps back and forth before

snapping into place.

                         SUSAN

          We don't have time for hysterics.

                         O'BRIEN

          We don't?

                         SUSAN

          What has happened to you is nothing

          compared to what is going to happen

          to Calumet City if we don't hurry.

INT.  KITCHEN

She hands him a glass of water and drops several pills

into his open palm.

                         O'BRIEN

          What are these?

                         SUSAN

          Mostly caffeine diuretics.  Help you

          go to the bathroom.

                         O'BRIEN

          Why?

                         SUSAN

          The nanobot is still inside you.

          It's programmed to exit through the

          urinary tract.  We need it as soon

          as possible, so swallow those.

He stares at the gleaming plastic capsules.

                         O'BRIEN

          Pills... you know how I feel about

          pills.

                         SUSAN

          If you don't want to do it this way,

          I can remove it surgically.

He gobbles them down.

                         O'BRIEN

          Why do we need it?

                         SUSAN

          The nanobot is the only thing that

          can stabilize the waste.

                         O'BRIEN

          What waste?

INT.  ARGON LABS - DAY

A BLAST of icy smoke COUGHS from the NOZZLE of a LIQUID

NITROGEN PACK.

Two men in their heavy insulated space suits work over the

broken chamber where O'Brien was polymerized dousing the

assembler waste with their liquid nitrogen hoses.

The lab has become a winter wonderland.

The lights have quit and the room is lit only by the green

and yellow fluoro-glow sticks worn on the helmets of the

workers.

The assembler waste, covered in frost, bubbles and churns

lava-like and the two men FIRE another burst of FROZEN

GAS.

FRANK TATER crosses to the door, his boots CRUNCHING ON

the ICY FLOOR.

INT.  HALL

Dr. Nigel Nebbleman, also wearing an insulated suit, waits

for him.

                         NEBBLEMAN

          Well, Frank?

Frank lifts his helmet.

                         FRANK

          I've never seen anything like it.

          We can't get a handle on it.

INT.  BASEMENT LAB

It is in this poorly-lit basement that Dr. Bright does

most of her work.

                         SUSAN

          To put is simply, the nanobot inside

          you is a microscopic machine encoded

          with information like a strand of

          messenger R.N.A. that is programmed

          to synthesize your molecules with

          the polyisoprenes of the assembler

          fluid, rebuilding your entire

          organic system on a molecular level.

                         O'BRIEN

          That was 'simple'?

She sighs.

                         SUSAN

          The nanobot combined your molecules

          with the plastic molecules in the

          white assembler fluid, so that on a

          molecular level you now have more in

          common with a Good Year tire than a

          human being.

                         O'BRIEN

          Got it.

                         SUSAN

          The problem is the by-product

          created by the process.

                         O'BRIEN

          The waste.

As they talk, we MOVE ALONG a stainless steel table where

Susan is conducting a series of tests with the waste.

These tests reveal the stages of molecular deterioration

caused by the waste.

                         SUSAN

          Only part of the molecule from the

          assembler fluid bonds to your

          molecules.  The part left over is a

          highly charged unstable molecule we

          call a replicator.

She puts on a pair of protective gloves and grabs one of

the test cylinders.

                         SUSAN

          The effect these replicators have on

          any matter, organic or inorganic, is

          similar to the molecular

          deterioration caused by nuclear

          radiation.

The PRESSURIZED SEAL SIGHS open and she pours the contents

out.

                         SUSAN

          I've been measuring the levels of

          deterioration.  As with radiation,

          the more exposure, the more damage

          it does.

A white egg rolls into her gloved palm.

                         SUSAN

          I dropped a single replicator in

          with this egg two days ago.

She hurls the egg at the ground and quite naturally at

this point, it bounces back.

He catches it.  It squishes between his fingers like a

racquetball.  He pulls at it.  It stretches like Silly-

Putty.

                         O'BRIEN

          It's polymerized like me?

She takes the egg back.

                         SUSAN

          The replicators start off like

          assemblers, but the replicators

          never stabilize.

                         O'BRIEN

          What happens?

She opens another cylinder and pours it out.  And oval-

shaped wad of gray SLUDGE SPLATS onto the lid.

                         O'BRIEN

          That was an egg?

                         SUSAN

          Three days ago it was.

                         O'BRIEN

          What do these replicators do to

          people?

                         SUSAN

          With enough exposure, the same thing

          they do to everything else.

He swallows hard, watching the egg-wad cling like snot

from the lid, as she reseals the cylinder.

EXT.  MAIN GATE - DAY

Spencer Lamm is on the scene which continues to escalate.

                         SPENCER

          Here in Calumet City, a bomb has

          just dropped.  Through anonymous

          sources, we have learned that Argon

          Labs may have been the victim of an

          attack by a radical environmentalist

          group.  No such group has yet to

          claim responsibility but we are

          expecting confirmation of these

          rumors at a press conference

          scheduled this afternoon.

INT.  LAB

Susan puts the cylinder of slime back into a large freezer

unit filled with similar cylinders.

                         O'BRIEN

          So right now there's little

          replicators spreading throughout

          Argon's lab?

                         SUSAN

          That's right.

                         O'BRIEN

          Isn't it already too late then?

She shakes her head, opening a final cylinder.

                         SUSAN

          There is a forty-eight hour period

          during which the waste can be

          stabilized.

The contents slide into her hand.

                         SUSAN

          The nanobot will start a chain

          reaction and transform the

          replicators through a double

          hydrogen bond, creating an ionic

          solid instead of a polymer.

The egg seems fossilized, half way to becoming the wad of

slime.  She hands it to O'Brien.  It is as fragile as a

glass spider web.

                         O'BRIEN

          Yet another miracle of modern

          science.

She ignores the sarcasm laced in that comment.

                         SUSAN

          I think while we're waiting, we had

          better run some basic diagnostics on

          you.

                         O'BRIEN

          You're the doctor.

EXT.  SUSAN BRIGHT'S BROWNSTONE - DAY

Across the street a dark Lincoln ominously glides to a

stop.

INT.  SIM'S LINCOLN

Sim settles back, watching the building for any sign of

O'Brien.

                         SIM

          Now we wait.

Both he and Doby are licking ice cream cones.  For a

moment it is the only sound in the car.

                         SIM

          Darn good cone.

INT.  BASEMENT

O'Brien is sitting on a table, his shirt off, while Susan

listens to his lungs with a stethoscope.

                         SUSAN

          Breathe deep.

The AIR RUSHES out.

                         SUSAN

          Lungs sound fine.  You didn't have

          any pre-existing physical

          conditions, did you?  Allergies?

          Infections?

                         O'BRIEN

          No, why?

She removes the stethoscope and grabs the light scope.

                         SUSAN

          My theory is that during the

          polymerization the nanobot should

          correct any malformed or defective

          molecules.  Open.

His mouth stretches impossibly wide for an amazing view of

the glands at the back of his throat.

Looks fine.

                         SUSAN

          That theory is the reason Argon has

          been pushing me to test the second

          nanobot.  He believes it's the only

          thing that will save him.

She picks up a hypodermic needle.

                         SUSAN

          I'd like to run a few sample blood

          tests to get an idea of how stable

          your condition is.

O'Brien is beginning to bounce a bit, the caffeine pumping

through his veins.

                         O'BRIEN

          Okay.  Sure.  You're the doc.

Tearing open a needle package, she inserts it into the

plastic hypo.

                         SUSAN

          Hold still.

She fights to poke the needle through his resilient skin.

When the sliver of metal pops through, tiny Superball

bubbles of blood bounce into the cartridge like ping-pong

balls in a bingo machine.

                         SUSAN

          Amazing.

She fills another cartridge when he begins to chatter, his

rubbery teeth vibrating against each other.

                         SUSAN

          Is something wrong?

                         O'BRIEN

          No, no, I just feel wired!

His whole body begins to twitch and ripple.

                         SUSAN

          It's probably the caffeine.

Suddenly he realizes he has to go to the bathroom.

                         O'BRIEN

          Whoa!  Whoa!  I gotta go!  Right

          now!

She slips the needle out and he bolts off the table.

                         SUSAN

          Wait!

She grabs a glass beaker as his hand shoots back and snags

it.

INT.  BATHROOM

He bursts in, fumbles with the beaker and his zipper, then

lets it rip.

                         O'BRIEN

          Ahhh...

His eyes close as we hear him filling the beaker.  It is a

STRANGE SOUND; more like a solid than a liquid.

The sound bothers him and he looks down.  What he sees

terrifies him.

INT.  BASEMENT LAB

Susan is looking into a microscope at the blood samples

when he comes tearing down the stairs.

                         O'BRIEN

          Susan!

                         SUSAN

          What?  What's wrong?

He throws the beaker onto the table as if it were

contagious.

                         O'BRIEN

          Look at this!

                         SUSAN

          What about it!

He sticks a stirring rod into it and pulls it out.  The

contents are extremely viscous, like rubber cement.  A

wispy strand dangles from the end of the stick.

                         O'BRIEN

          Just look at it!

                         SUSAN

          The polymerization probably

          synthesized into a kind of methyl-

          cyanoacrylate.  So what's wrong?

He looks as if he is about to cry.

                         O'BRIEN

          That's not biodegradable.

She can't stop herself from laughing.

                         O'BRIEN

          Oh yeah, real funny.  Yuk-yuk.

          Let's laugh at everything a man

          believes in.

                         SUSAN

          I'm sorry, Daniel, but you have to

          admit it's pretty ironic that you of

          all people would be the first man

          ever polymerized.  It's got to mean

          something.

                         O'BRIEN

          Means?  Oh no.  We won't know what it

          means until the end of the story and

          maybe then it won't seem quite as

          funny to you, Doctor Frankenstein!

The smile disappears.

                         SUSAN

          What's that supposed to mean?

                         O'BRIEN

          Just giving credit where credit is

          due.

                         SUSAN

          You have no one to blame but

          yourself.

                         O'BRIEN

          Blame the victim.

                         SUSAN

          Victim my ass!  You stole my

          security key and used it to break

          into my lab to do who knows what

          kind of damage!  Maybe this is the

          end of the story and you finally got

          what you deserved!

                         O'BRIEN

          This is what I deserve for trying to

          protect the world from a madman and

          his mercenary physicists?

                         SUSAN

          You're not protecting the world,

          you're obstructing progress!

                         O'BRIEN

          I don't consider uncontrollable

          toxic waste progress!

                         SUSAN

          And I'm sure you thought Columbus

          was going to sail off the edge of

          the world!

                         O'BRIEN

          But lo and behold he found another

          world that progress could

          annihilate!

                         SUSAN

          Come on, I don't see you living in a

          cave!

                         O'BRIEN

          And I don't see you sunbathing at

          Chernobyl!

She stops first, smiling, caught by an odd sense of deja

vu.  He smiles, feeling the same thing.

                         SUSAN

          Just like old times.

                         O'BRIEN

          Yeah.  Old times.

There is an awkward silence.

                         O'BRIEN

          I want you to know that I really

          appreciate you helping me.

                         SUSAN

          I'm glad you came to me for help.

They aren't sure what to do.

                         O'BRIEN

          I feel very emotional right now.  A

          bit out of control.

                         SUSAN

          Probably the caffeine.

                         O'BRIEN

          Do you have something to bring me

          down?

                         SUSAN

          No problem.

INT.  ARGON'S OFFICE

JOHN JOPLIN, high-ranking EPA official, listens as Dr.

Nebbleman tries to explain what has happened.

Argon and Poppy are also in the office.

                         NEBBLEMAN

          The nanobot is a molecular machine.

          It uses the assembler fluid to

          polymerize a whole system of carbon-

          based molecules as in, say, a human

          body.

His eyes shift nervously to Argon who nods encouragingly.

                         NEBBLEMAN

          Once it's complete, the waste from

          the assembler fluid is left

          destabilized with groups of highly

          charged attractors capable of

          bonding to any carbon molecule

          exposed for a long enough period.