- A college student's physics project is really a functional atomic bomb.
- Apartment manager Al Seldiz comes in to tell the detectives that one of his tenants may be involved in terrorist activities, though he says the tenant says it is a school project. However, Seldiz has a rather pungent odor because he's been working with backed-up toilets. Harris comes in and says that he has a tip on a new apartment, though both Barney and Wojo doubt that he can get it. Barney has both Wojo and Nick go with Seldiz to check out the tenant, though both are reluctant. Harris calls about the apartment but gets nowhere. An Evelyn Krueger comes in saying that her husband Harry wants to wants to undergo cryonics, to freeze himself for 100 years after he dies. She claims her husband is crazy. Dietrich says they can't do this until he dies. Evelyn says her husband does not want to live anymore. She gives Barney the card from the company her husband went to and has Dietrich check it out, while Harris takes Evelyn's statement. Nick brings up the 'science project' from the kid's apartment with Sgt. Kavanaugh from the bomb squad. Nick says that the apartment looked like Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory. Kavanaugh says he thinks it's some sort of stereo. Wojo brings up the tenant, James Thayer. When Kavanaugh says he thinks it's a ham radio, Thayer says it's a bomb but it lacks fissionable material. Barney says that it must be a model but Thayer says it's a smaller version. He says that it's part of his masters' thesis. Wojo wonders how he can make an atomic bomb when whole countries can't. Kavanaugh insists it's not a bomb, but when Dietrich comes in with an address for the cryonics lab, he wonders aloud where the atomic bomb came from. Later, FBI agent William McKuen comes in with Dr. Reinhold Bauer of the US Energy Commission. He says it is crude, but should work. McKuen says they have a sticky situation and has to call the Bureau. Wojo says it's spooky and Kavanaugh says that they are in trouble if someone else does what Thayer did. Dietrich waxes about the possibility of atomic bombs wiping out the population of the planet and leaving no chance for rebuilding civilization. Harry Kreuger comes in with Mr. Swanson from the Metropolitan New York Cryonic Society but is reluctant to come into the squad room. Evelyn says she was thinking of him but he says he's embarrassed. McKuen says his superiors will take the situation under advisement. Barney is frustrated but McKuen is just as frustrated, saying they don't want to make a decision. Dr. Bauer asks Thayer how he arrived at minimum critical mass and he says he guessed. Barney has Wojo interview Swanson about his work. A call comes in and McKuen is upset that it isn't for him. Thayer tells Dr. Bauer he built the bomb to show it could be done, but he disagrees with the principle. Bauer says that what people do with the science is up to them, but Thayer says they owe it to society to view progress with caution. Bauer laments that Thayer is passing up the chance to use his mind for science. Harry tries to convince Evelyn to come with him in the cryonics, but she says she wants to spend what time they have left together. Bauer and Swanson get into an argument about their respective scientific endeavors. Swanson's company is found to be registered with the state as a non-profit company. McKuen confiscates the bomb as a national security asset. Thayer gets upset, but says he's made his point. He says that he got a C in physics, and 'think what the kids with B's and A's could do.' Swanson tells Harry to call him when he's made his decision, even if he dies. McKuen and Bauer leave, saying that men from the FBI will pick up the bomb. Evelyn tells Barney that Harry decided not to go through with the procedure. Harry says he may have 5 or 10 years left and he wants to make the most of them. When Dietrich talks about missing plutonium, Barney gets upset.
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