Good night
Yo, Denise.
- Hey. - Hey.
I got tickets
to the M.I.A. show next Thursday at the Hippodrome.
It's going to be sick.
My wife hates that kind of music,
so I thought maybe you and I...
Listen, Charlie, I think
I'm going to take off.
It looks like it's
going to get pretty bad out there.
Well...
what do you say I walk you out?
Why not?
Wow, that storm came in fast.
Come on.
Let me take you to your car.
Oh, my gosh.
Careful here, careful, careful.
Oh, get your keys. Okay.
Got my keys... okay.
Okay.
There you go.
Thank you, Charlie.
No problem... you have a good night, Denise.
You, too.
All right, bye-bye.
Charlie!
Oh, my God!
Oh, my God.
Charlie, are you okay?
I think so.
Denise!
Agent Lee.
You made it here before us.
I'm impressed.
Well, I am your recon guy.
What brings us to Massachusetts, Felix?
You're not going to believe what we got here, Doc.
Lightning did this.
Both of them?
Well,
it's unusual, but it happens.
It is a bit more than unusual.
All of them...
killed by lightning?
Yep.
But...
that isn't possible, is it?
Well, statistically speaking,
the chances of getting struck by lightning
in Massachusetts are 28,000 to one.
Since 1974, there have been
37 deaths by lightning in this state.
30 of those deaths happened last night
between 6:38 and 6:49.
30 deaths by lightning in a ten-minute thunderstorm?
And if that isn't enough bad news,
local weather reports call for another storm
to hit within the next 48 hours.
Better find out what's causing this
before we run out of morgues.
Mr. Han, what can you tell us about the bodies of the victims?
Besides the sheer number of them,
nothing more than what you'd expect.
Surface burns, blistering, cardiac arrest,
then death.
What a way to go.
Well, death by lightning
is electrocution, and electrocution's...
just a very hot heart attack.
Did you contact the National Weather Service, find out
- if there was anything unusual about this particular storm? - Yeah.
The number of lightning strikes was actually
just about average for New England this time of year.
Well, if there's nothing unusual about the storm,
there must be something unusual about the victims.
All 30 of them?
No, I said 30 people died.
At least 15 more came into Springfield General yesterday
after surviving a strike.
45 lightning victims.
Dr. Hood, you ever come across anything like this?
No, I have not.
Mr. Han,
what makes one person survive a lightning strike
and another person get killed?
Any number of factors.
Uh, strength of the strike,
fat-to-muscle ratio
and cardiological health of the victim,
what they're standing on,
what kind of shoes they're wearing.
We should compare those factors
between the victims and the survivors,
see what kind of differences we find.
Let's get a full workup
on everyone who survived a strike.
Okay, Hood.
I know you're not supposed to be out in the open
during a thunderstorm,
but other than that...
When you were a kid,
you ever rub your hand on a carpet
and make static electricity?
Yeah, I used to try and shock my dad
whenever he was around.
Charming.
Well, um, lightning works pretty much the same way.
Negatively-charged air
rubs against positively-charged air
and creates an electrical spark.
Which then becomes lightning?
And like any other electricity,
all it's looking for is the path of least resistance
between where the current starts and where it ends.
And the path of least resistance would be...?
Tall metal structures.
I mean, that's why so many, um, towers
and tall buildings have lightning rods,
'cause they get struck all the time.
But if you're short and not made of metal...
- Chances are, lightning won't hit you. - Then, why
would our victims be the path of least resistance?
Well, that's what we got to find out.
Mr. Comment, Mr. Hanson and Ms. Liz are here...
Come in.
Liz; Thomas.
Sit.
We'd hoped it wouldn't come to this,
but, uh... well, you've read the papers.
There's just no money out there anymore.
So, uh...
we're making cuts.
And, uh,
thanks to a generous Department of Defense grant
from the War Fighter Enhancement program, we can keep
moving with the, uh, handheld X-ray device
the gadget boys are working on, but, uh,
everything else could end up on the chopping block.
So, what you're saying
is that military applications get priority,
while alternative energy
gets put on the back burner again.
Liz, he's just
trying to keep the lights on.
Yes, and I'm just trying to revolutionize the way
people exist on this planet.
No one doubts your passion, Liz.
But the fact remains
that we have two microbattery projects here at Wilcox
and only enough funding for one.
And we all know
that as it stands, Dr. Lowenthal's project
is making better progress.
But I realize that good science takes time,
so, Liz,
you have until the end of the quarter to catch up.
And, uh, at that point,
whoever's battery is further along
gets to stay,
and the other project will have to go.
I won a Eureka Grant.
I'm a Rhodes Scholar.
And I've published
more papers than everyone else
- in my department combined. - I know that.
Liz, this is nothing personal, but...
But you're willing to cut me loose
if I don't produce.
Fine.
I'll have my battery up and running,
and outperforming Thomas' within the month.
You can count on it.
Nothing personal.
Your husband's really lucky to have survived
such a massive jolt of electricity, Mrs. Wease.
They did everything they could for him at the hospital.
Now, it's just a matter of resting up
till he's himself again.
Right, Charlie?
Well, it's going to take him a good while to recover.
Do you know if he can hear us?
They said he should be able to.
But he doesn't act like it.
Charlie?
Baby, can you hear me?
Can you tell me, was he wearing
headphones when he was struck?
Uh, yeah.
He was... wearing this.
Hmm. The hospital
gave it back to me with his clothes, I don't know why.
People wear MP3 players all the time now.
Do you think it makes them more susceptible to getting hit?
I don't know if, um,
such a small conductor would really make much difference.
But it's worth checking if the other victims
were wearing headphones, yeah.
I'll have Agent Lee work up a list of anything conductive
the victims might've been wearing.
Okay.
Medical devices, jewelry, electronics...
Yeah, good thinking.
So Mrs. Wease, you okay?
I probably don't know half
the songs that were on this thing.
I don't know what he was reading
or what shows he was watching.
We used to fight and then make up, but we,
we stopped like it didn't matter.
Like we'd grown indifferent to each other.
I didn't even speak to him yesterday.
I'm so sorry.
Well, sometimes, um...
when you nearly lose someone,
it's like you get a chance
to press the reset button, you know?
If you're lucky, you get to realize, uh,
it's all still there.
You just needed to recognize it, you know?
Hey.
Thomas.
Did you come down here to gloat?
Of course not.
Some of us are going to go over to Denise Hall's memorial.
Nothing big.
Just a little get-together for the employees.
A get-together?
Yeah.
You know, a chance to pay our respects,
share some memories.
I thought you might want to come.
I never met the woman.
And apparently,
- I have too much work to do. - Oh, come on, Liz.
I'm sorry about Coleman...
Don't be, Tom.
I'm a scientist. I understand logic.
They don't have enough money for both of us, so,
let the best research win.
You know, for an organic chemist
with post-doc work in molecular engineering,
you're surprisingly sentimental.
Sample number 317.
Another dud.
This case has got me thinking back.
I know kids are scared of lightning,
but not me.
Why does that not surprise me?
My dad was a field agent in Phoenix,
and I used to climb up on top of the roof of our house
and watch the lightning storms across the desert.
I never saw lightning as a bad thing..
until now.
Did I tell you I nearly drowned once?
Hood, still don't know if you have a middle name.
I don't.
It was, um... It was when I was in high school.
I was doing a term paper.
It seemed very important at the time,
and, uh,
well, I was having a lot of trouble with it,
so, uh, to clear my head, I went out for a swim.
Guess I was so, uh, caught up with
what I was thinking, what I was going to write,
you know, that, uh,
when I looked up, I was in the middle of nowhere,
and the beach was way, way out there.
And you drowned?
I just remember, I looked around at the sea
and how enormous it seemed,
and there I was,
this little... speck.
And, um,
it was pretty scary, but I realized
maybe my term paper wasn't so important after all.
Getting back on the beach and saving my life was.
Nothing beats the power of nature
for putting our self-importance in check.
We've got to find out what's causing this.
This new girl's wicked hot.
See what I mean?
# Black and white's not cut and dry #
# No matter where you roam #
# Out of mind, not of sight... #
Hey, sweetheart, you got a little time for me?
# I live in the flames #
# I'm back in the game, rewriting my name #
# I'm facin' the pain #
# Facin' the pain #
# 'Cause I, I'll make you my job #
# Put my head in your jaws #
# My life in your claws #
# Baby, I'm yours #
# Baby, I'm yours... #
# Black and white's not cut and dry #
For another 20 bucks, I can go topless.
I'd love to, but I don't have any more cash.
That's okay. You might not see them,
but you can still feel them.
Baby, you're electric.
- Dr. Hood, Agent Young. - Felix.
- Hey. - Hey.
- Thanks. - Yeah.
Meet Richard Burke... "Dickie" to his friends.
There was no storm last night.
Where would the lightning have come from?
- Was he was in the car when he died? - Yup.
Well, it couldn't have been lightning then.
I mean, aside from a little gas mileage,
it's essentially, it's a Faraday cage anyway.
A what?
A Faraday cage... it's a metal box, and the
current can flow around it, but inside,
the electrical field remains zero,
and you can take a direct hit, you'll be fine.
Check this out, Doc.
Oh, the current came through the ignition, huh?
Yeah; battery's completely drained.
So it discharged into him when he turned the key.
But a car battery only has, what, 12 volts of electricity?
That's not enough to kill someone.
No, especially not if you take a look
what a poor conductor
of electricity the human body is.
I checked and rechecked all the data
on the 45 lightning strike victims.
Any patterns?
No similarities
in age, race, gender, height,
or personal effects.
No apparent difference between who lived and died.
It's all over the map.
I need to talk with the coroner.
No, Dr. Hood,
I'm sorry to say all our tests continue
to reveal nothing out of the ordinary...
Dr. Hood, can you hear me?
Lot of static on the line.
Okay. Will you hold on for a second?
Um, one thing we haven't tried yet.
Are you in the autopsy room now?
Yes.
You, uh, with one of the victims?
Yes.
Do me a favor.
Will you get closer to the body, please?
Don't worry. I'll stay on the line.
All right.
Now what?
Closer.
- Like this? - Yeah, just like that.
Thank you, Mr. Han.
Can you cut me a slice of the skin, please?
We'll be over in a minute.
In what authorities believe to be a freak accident,
the battery in Richard Burke's 20-year-old truck discharged
when he turned the key, killing him instantly.
With Burke's death marking the 31st electrocution
in the Springfield area in less than two days,
state police are scrambling to find a link
between Tuesday's lightning victims and this new case.
As of right now, however,
the two incidents appear to be unrelated,
and law enforcement is not instructing residents
to take any special precautions for the storm system
due to hit the Pioneer Valley later this week.
Up next, some good news
in the forecast for Celtics fans,
and later on in the hour,
we'll talk to an Amherst graduate
whose passion for sustainable agriculture
could turn into a multimillion dollar empire
right here in Springfield.
All that and more...
Ow!
Damn it!
Charlie, I've got breakfast for you,
and coffee.
Oh, my God!
Charlie.
That's the section of epidermis from Denise Hall.
Electrocuted by lightning.
This is the section of epidermis
from Dickie Burke, electrocuted
by a car battery on a cloudless night.
We got to test these samples
for resistance to electricity... if it's low,
then that would explain
why these victims seem to be attracting electricity.
Well, we're just a county morgue.
We don't have the kind of equipment to do that here.
It's okay. You got a flashlight?
Thank you.
Got a piece of paper I could use?
I'm sure you know that, uh,
skin is about as conductive
to electricity as a piece of paper,
which is...
not very...
Something about our victims was messing
with the electromagnetic field on our cell phones.
Let's take a look.
Now, this...
this skin is conducting electricity
the same way as wire or a piece of metal would.
I'd be willing to bet that
the other victims would be the same.
The question is "why?"
So there's metal in the skin?
Well, if your skin had
a very high metal content,
you'd be pulling currents toward you 24/7.
That doesn't sound very safe.
- No, it's not. - Okay, but how do you
get a bunch of metal in the skin?
The only way to answer that question
is to look much closer at this sample.
Liz?
Hey, I know you've been working around the clock.
I brought you some chocolate.
With this electron microscope,
we should be able to get a much closer look
at the skin sample than with an everyday light microscope.
How much closer?
Oh, a thousand or two times, give or take.
- Wow. - What is it?
Well, it's some kind of nanofilament.
- Oh... - Um, sorry.
No, it's um...
essentially, uh, nanofilaments
are just very fine metal wires.
They look like they're embedded symbiotically
in Denise Hall's flesh.
That's not all.
Look.
- It's growing. - Hood,
are you saying these wires are alive?
It's alive, all right.
So what is it exactly?
A virus.
Engineered, by the look of it,
but a virus, nonetheless.
I'm guessing you can't cure it with two aspirin
- and a bowl of chicken soup. - No, I'd say not. I mean...
by the look of it, his thing builds wires in your skin.
Look what it's doing here.
See, it's pulling metal from surrounding tissue
and turns it into material for its wires.
I'm telling you, if you could harness this virus
and make it lay down micro-wires on command,
the market would be limitless.
I mean medical devices, security sensors,
micro-batteries
You could use this technology to make an airplane...
... that hardly uses any fuel.
You could make a car with a battery...
... the size of a baby's thumbnail.
I mean, this virus is a scientific revolution.
But is it going to spread?
Because if it is, we have...
... an epidemic of electrocutions on our hands.
Well, it's not in the mucous membranes,
... so it's not going to be airborne like a cold,
... but I'd say it could be passed skin-to-skin, yeah.
So it'll take a lot longer to spread...
... than an airborne virus would?
I suppose that's something.
Well, on the other hand, a lot of viruses...
... are very difficult to kill.
Want some more cheery news?
The storm that's rolling in...
National Weather Service says...
... it's going to be a big one.
Rachel Young.
Okay, Felix. How long have we got?
Five, maybe six hours.
It's Charlie Wease.
They just brought him in upstairs.
He's in critical condition.
I'm Jacob Hood. I work for the FBI.
I'm Dr. Heisey with the Emergency Room.
Meaning I have to treat this man, now.
Doctor, Charlie Wease and anyone else who survived...
... a lightning strike in the past two days...
... has got a virus that's sapping...
... the metal content from their bodies.
That's why his hair's turning white.
It's an extreme copper deficiency.
You need to infuse...
... Mr. Wease and all the other patients...
... immediately with copper...
How about I examine the patient myself, Dr. Hood? Thank you.
Okay, but do it quickly before his system shuts down entirely, please.
Anyone dealing with lightning victims,
... don't touch their skin directly; it is contagious.
- Hood? - Yeah?
Felix did some digging... There's three...
... companies in the area working with nanotechnology.
Okay, so we need to take blood samples from employees...
... from all of them, test for the virus.
But we don't want a panic on our hands.
Employees freaking out, leaving...
- ... before they get tested. - No.
I'll have the Megahut create a backstop,
- ... get you some lab techs from the Bureau. - Okay.
Give the CEOs just as much info as they need.
And use corporate drug testing as your cover.
Hmm, okay.
Uh, Doc, this thing is contagious?
That's right.
So use rubber gloves.
Rubber gloves?!
Use a whole rubber suit if I can find one.
Might be difficult.
We will be collecting blood and hair samples...
... from all employees.
These samples will then be tested...
... for evidence of substance abuse.
- You got a problem with that? - No. Sorry.
Yeah. Moving on.
These tests are mandatory for your continued employment...
... here at Wilcox Labs.
If everyone cooperates,
... we will move quickly.
Thank you, people.
Ow!
Hey, baby.
The doctor said if I read to you,
... you might come out of this sooner.
But I don't know what you'd want to read any more.
Remember when we read to each other on Sunday afternoons?
That was nice, wasn't it?
We should do that again, Charlie.
Help! I need some help in here!
Help!
Damn it.
Excuse me, Doctor?
- Why is that man not on life support? - Every time...
... we hook him up, the machines blow out... We can't afford...
- ... to lose anymore. - Can he survive without it?
Not for long. You were right...
... about the metal deficiencies, though.
His body was out of almost every metal in the human body,
- ... except calcium. - So you infused him, right?
We infused him...
... with a metal solution, just like you suggested,
... but it didn't seem to do anything...
... for his deficiencies or any...
- ... of the other victims. They just keep getting worse. - All the metals...
... just seem to be getting drained out of them.
We have to find his wife right away.
I'll alert hospital security.
Hey, Doctor, your hospital got a Burns Unit?
- Best outside of Boston. - Your security, do they...
- ... carry metal detectors? - I think so.
- What are you getting at? - Okay, well, we found...
... a network of microscopic wires in the victim's skin.
I think that's what's making Charlie Wease sick.
What I want you to do,
... is I want you to find those wires using the metal detectors.
I want you to remove them by exfoliating away...
... the epidermis down to the dermal layer; his wife's, too.
Where she is, you need to find her. This thing travels...
... skin-to-skin, so she probably has it.
It may even be her skin that shorted...
- ... the life support. - You want me to give...
... my patients second-degree burns,
... nearly destroy their skin,
- and leave them with a long and painful recovery? - If you want to save their lives, yeah.
Rebecca Wease is being treated as we speak.
And Felix has 28 positives for the metal virus.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is Ground Zero.
Well, uh, I've had to make some cuts recently,
but, uh, our highest profile project is an X-ray gun
that helps our troops see through walls in combat.
What about the Hot Wheels?
Oh, that's to remind me
of my favorite project of all.
Do you know how a, um, pull-back motor works?
You pull it back two inches,
and it can power itself across a room.
It's genius, but, uh...
if you tried to fit
that mechanism in a full-size car,
the gear train would have to stretch a block.
- It would never work. - You know what would work?
A teeny-weeny, little battery.
But, uh, something so small,
you could only make it with a nanotech virus.
Am I right?
Someday, a battery small enough
to fit inside this toy will be able to power an 18-wheeler,
with no smog,
no petrochemicals and no noise.
It's amazing.
If I'm lucky enough,
it'll be my company that figures out how to do it.
My virus.
If the economy doesn't put us out of business first.
Well, I'm sorry to tell you, but you
may be out of business before then.
Your nanotech virus is killing people.
That's impossible.
Our virus doesn't use a human host.
Wait a minute.
Is that what your people with the needles
downstairs are all about?
I told my employees
they were being drug-tested.
Half my physicists probably
think they're going to be fired tomorrow morning.
We took measures to avoid a panic.
I'm sorry, Mr. Coleman,
but the tests are coming back positive...
for antibodies from your virus.
See, what's happening is
people are dying,
because nanofilaments
in their skin are turning
them into human conductors.
There's a new storm coming,
and that could mean new victims.
So what can you tell us?
Um, it's a long shot,
but I can only think of one person
who would sabotage her own work just to spite me.
Is that everyone?
Uh, everyone except for, um...
Dr. Elizabeth Hansen.
Lab 18-B.
Thank you.
- Agent Lee? - Yes.
I've got a really weird result here.
You have the sample to back this up?
Thank you.
Liz?
My God, are you all right?
I think so. I got a shock from the microwave.
Liz, the FBI thinks
you sabotaged the project.
They say that, uh,
the virus escaped,
and now it's hurting people,
maybe even you.
Dr. Hood?
Hey, Doc, none of our tech guys know exactly what this is,
but I think you should have a look at it.
Can we use your lab?
Do you have an image of the virus you're
working with? Something from the very
- beginning of the project? - Yes.
That's the original virus.
Well...
... this is the virus taken
from 28 of your colleagues that tested positive.
And...
this...
is the virus taken from
one of your colleagues that tested negative.
- Oh, my God. - What is it?
It's mutating.
Going through
three stages, from benign to deadly.
Virus mutate naturally.
That's why last year's flu vaccine
will be worthless by next winter.
So these two viruses are mutations of your base virus?
Yes, but it shouldn't have
mutated into a human virus so quickly.
So how did virus A become viruses B and C?
Radiation.
You'd need a few hits,
but it's the only thing that would explain
the rapid cellular change.
And whoever exposed
the base virus to radiation
got infected with an early mutation of it,
and that's probably what protected them
when the strain turned deadly.
- It's like a vaccine. - Yeah.
So whoever this version of the virus came from
is our patient Zero.
That's right.
Thomas Lowenthal.
I don't believe it.
You said you make X-ray guns here, right?
They have to produce some
kind of radiation, don't they?
Hansen and Lowenthal both have labs
at the basement level of this building.
If the mutated virus originated down here,
how did it get all the way to Charlie Wease
- or 30 other people for that matter? - You know what?
When I was setting up the blood tests,
the HR rep told me that employees
had a mandatory retreat about three weeks ago.
Hansen, Lowenthal
and Charlie Wease were there, along
- with 50 other people. - Two days of trust falls
and rope courses would be enough
to spread the virus to anyone in the company.
But not all the victims
had contact with Wilcox employees.
What about Dickie Burke?
The guy from the strip club, right?
The Clam Digger is the closest strip club to Wilcox Labs.
You know guys that work here hit that place all the time.
- Yeah. - Felix?
Call the club, shut it down.
- And call the CDC. - I'm on.
But don't call it an epidemic.
God knows how many people
have been infected with this thing.
Let's hope they don't want to go out in this storm.
... with sections
of both the turnpike and the I-91
reporting intermittent flooding
as a result of heavy rainfall.
As the storm intensifies,
concerns over fatal lightning strikes in the area continue,
and law enforcement officers are advising
Hampden County residents to remain inside
for the duration of the storm, if at all possible.
We would like to remind our viewers that lightning
can travel into the home via telephone wires,
electrical outlets...
Hey, what's going on?
County's turning off nonessential power.
Just came over the radio.
Folks are supposed to go home and stay there.
They say why?
Something to do with the weather, the lightning.
Listen, first Charlie and Denise,
then those drug tests, now this.
It's like the end of days.
Let's get going.
FBI! Stop!
Stop! Dr. Lowenthal!
Rachel!
Watch, stay back!
Thanks.
Don't mention it.
I've got your back.
Guys?
Guys, we really should get in.
Thought he didn't have the virus.
He didn't.
He had bad luck.
Agent Young, Dr.Hood.
Hi, Dr.Hansen.
How are the other patients?
Well, the treatment's working.
The virus appears to only colonize
the outer layers of the skin,
and the county's authorized
mandatory testing and vaccinations
that should stop it from spreading.
How's Thomas?
Dr.Lowenthal didn't make it.
We found the prototype X-ray gun on him.
And the intermediate virus
was still present in his lab work.
He was sabotaging you, Dr.Hansen.
Are they having a memorial for him at the lab?
Monday.
I'd like to go to that.
Pay my respects.
Share some memories.
Really?
I know I don't, um...
seem like the most personable employee at Wilcox.
In fact, I can be kind of a bitch.
Ah, I'm sure you're not that bad.
I am.
But the microbattery project is my passion in this life and...
... even though Dr.Lowenthal was a two-faced bastard, I own him a great deal.
He provided me with excellent competition.
Agent Lee.
Agent Young, Dr.Hood.
we all tested negative for the virus.
Nice work on this case, Felix.
And I'm glad to hear your skin isn't infested
- with a deadly nanofilament. - Thank you.
Kind of creepy to think about, isn't it?
Little metal wires, alive, in your skin.
I'd be careful there, if I were you.
You never know if those little metal wires are hanging out
on your jacket, your shirt, your tie...
What is that hanging from your hair, by the way, Rachel?
Wise ass.