defences.
White corpuscles, antibodies.
You see, once you begin to grow,
you become a menace to the body
and you'll trigger them off.
And there may be other, unknown, factors.
We can't be certain of anything.
Any further questions? Anybody?
- Just one, General.
- What's that?
Where do I get a cab backto town?
Dr Michaels,
proceed to the sterilisation section.
Yes, sir.
Will you follow me?
How much can a man give to his country?
Your attention, please.
Make the final preparations.
Heart.
How's it look, Henry?
Holding steady. 32 per minute.
Respiration.
Jack, what's the report?
Respiration is down to six a minute.
I wouldn't take him down any further.
Hypothermia.
Any problems, Dr Sawyer?
No, sir.
We're holding him at 28 degrees Centigrade.
- How do we stand?
- Ready.
They're now entering
the sterilisation corridor, sir.
Please board and check
all your equipment immediately.
Here's the particle, sir.
- Everything aboard?
- All squared away.
Dr Michaels.
- Yes?
- Here's your chart table right here.
All the maps and charts
are in sequence from left to right.
- And here's your checklist.
- Dr Duval and I will checkthe charts.
Fine. Mr Grant?
- This is your wireless station here.
- Good.
- Ocular motor nerve.
- I see.
- Need any help, skipper?
- Oh, yeah. We'll save some time.
Open this, would you? Set it down there.
- Where? On the deck here?
- Yeah, right there.
- That's radioactive material.
- It's atomic fuel.
- Is it all right to open it?
- Perfectly safe.
There's a microscopic
radioactive particle inside.
Nothing big enough
to be seen with the naked eye.
If it's no military secret, how can a sub
run on a microscopic particle?
They can't reduce nuclear fuel.
But once the reactor's been miniaturised,
a microscopic particle should put out
enough energy to activate it.
That's cutting it close for a perfect fit.
Well, it should work, theoretically.
If it doesn't, the whole mission's off.
You see, this craft is nuclear powered.
All except for your wireless.
All in all, quite a canoe.
Designed for piscatorial research:
spawning habits of deep-sea fish.
That reminds me,
I'd better spawn a radio message.
Test message from the Proteus, sir.
"Miss Peterson has smiled."
Well, that's an auspicious sign.
Confirm receiving.
Captain?
How will you be able to follow my charts
from up there?
There's no power on now,
but once there is...
May I have this chart, please?
You just place the chart here and it
will come through on that repeater.
- Repeater?
- Yeah, the devi...
Come on, I'll show you.
- There, that's it.
- Oh, yes.
It all seems quite simple to operate.
Actually, it is, although the controls
are highly sophisticated.
Look here.
There's a button and a switch for everything.
Bet you're pretty handy around the house.
Can you cook?
We're pushing oxygen today.
I'll have some laughing gas.
You're not looking forward to it?
It's not exactly a pleasure cruise.
I think it's very exciting.
We're going to see things
no one has ever seen before.
Not just something under a microscope.
- Think about it.
- That's the trouble, I am.
- Being shrunk!
- You may learn to like it.
Excuse me.
For a nice young lady, you play
with the damnedest toys, Miss Peterson.
That'll teach you where to keep your hand.
Now I know.
That could be quite a lethal weapon.
It could kill, not cure.
Not in the hands of a great surgeon
like Dr Duval.
The beam from this laser can be regulated
to one millionth of a millimetre.
You've been Dr Duval's assistant
for some time.
- He must have snatched you out of a cradle!
- I've been with him since I got out of school.
He brought me into the CMDF
over five years ago.
- That's a long time with one man.
- Not working with someone like Dr Duval.
He's...
Well...
- Prepare for miniaturisation.
- Positions, please.
- I still have something to check.
- Right. Mr Grant?
There are two seats under the chart