Krypton, Maybe?

I called up Darren Truett to tell him the news. "I may have solved our director problem. Trent Tonhoe is going to look at the script."

"Who the hell is Trent Tonhoe?"

Meanwhile, set construction at the abandoned wire mill is moving along nicely, particularly the laboratory of Dr. Fong. The gaffer's girlfriend works in the physics lab at the college, so we can borrow pretty much anything we need. "How many beakers should we have?" asks Darren. "Fifty? A hundred?" Well, you know how laboratories are—they're lousy with those things. I tell him two hundred just to be on the safe side. Later the same day he found something else we might be able to use.

"What about a gas chromatograph? The college has one just sitting in storage doing nothing. They'll never miss it."

"I guess. What does it look like?"

"Well, just a metal box, really. A metal box with some buttons. I don't think it's a newer model."

"Will people know it's a gas chromatograph? I mean, will they know it's an expensive science thing and not a toaster oven?"

"We could put a sign on it."

"What, a sign that says 'gas chromatograph'?"

"Sure. Why not?"

"Why would a scientist label his own equipment? I mean, in your office do you have a big sign on the fax machine that says 'fax machine'?"

"I guess that's true...how about 'gas chromatograph #2'? It'd be like they're doing so much science they need two of them. They could have a backup gas chromatograph in case the good one is out being fixed."

That sounded reasonable. "Can we get some cool-sounding gas to go with it? Like xenon or something?"

"I'll ask Mitsy."

"Anything but oxygen. That just sounds cheap."

"We'll talk with Mitsy."

This is the kind of stuff that needs to be hammered out when you're making a movie.