James Olson: Dr. Mark Hall

The Andromeda Strain

Dr. Mark Hall

[finding a man dead by self-inflicted drowning in a bathtub]
Dr. Jeremy Stone: I wouldn't believe you could commit suicide that way.
Dr. Mark Hall: Most of them died instantly, but a few had time to go quietly nuts.

Dr. Mark Hall: I'll have the answer when I know why a sixty-nine-year-old sterno drinker with an ulcer is like a normal six-month-old baby.

Dr. Mark Hall: [reading suicide note] "The day of judgment is at hand. Have mercy on my soul, and to hell with all the others. Amen."
Dr. Jeremy Stone: Senile...
Dr. Mark Hall: This took time. Regardless of what made her do it, it took time. There's a chance someone's still alive.

Dr. Mark Hall: Tell us what happened, Mr. Jackson.
Jackson: I don't wanna think about it.
Dr. Mark Hall: You know what people will say: "Piedmont was bad. That's why it was punished." First the town went crazy and then was destroyed...
Jackson: YOU'RE crazy! Folks at Piedmont was good, decent, normal folks.
Dr. Mark Hall: The man we found all dressed up in his doughboy's uniform, you call that normal?
Jackson: Pete Arnold, who worked at the store. It was the disease!
Dr. Mark Hall: How do you know?
Jackson: 'Cause the only thing wrong with him before that night was sugar.
Dr. Mark Hall: Diabetes? Did he take insulin?
Jackson: Couple of times a day! Hated the needle. I tried to talk him into usin' squeeze.

Dr. Mark Hall: [Removing the pants of a dead doctor] Have a look at his buttocks.
Dr. Jeremy Stone: That's not funny.
Dr. Mark Hall: Not meant to be. Normally, blood in a dead person goes to the lowest points. There should be marks of lividity, right? Do you see any purplish marks on his butt?
Dr. Jeremy Stone: No.
[Dr. Hall takes a scalpel]
Dr. Jeremy Stone: Careful you don't puncture your suit.
[Dr. Hall cuts the wrist of the corpse; red "sand" pours out]
Dr. Mark Hall: Clotted blood! Powdered!
Dr. Jeremy Stone: I'll be... damned.
Dr. Mark Hall: No wonder they didn't bleed. It's clotted throughout the entire system - five quarts of blood turned to powder!
Dr. Jeremy Stone: In theory, I suppose a single organism could do it.
Dr. Mark Hall: But, in fact, there isn't an organism on Earth...
Dr. Jeremy Stone: You mean there didn't used to be.

Answering Service Supervisor: [Dr. Hall has been overheard "flirting" with the recorded female voice that's been coming over the PA system] This is the Answering Service Supervisor. We wish you would adopt a more serious attitude, Dr. Hall.
Dr. Mark Hall: Sorry... Her voice is quite luscious.
Answering Service Supervisor: Well, the voice belongs to Miss Gladys Stevens, who is 63 years old. She lives in Omaha and makes her living taping messages for voice-reminder systems.
Dr. Mark Hall: [slightly sarcastic] Much obliged.

Dr. Mark Hall: Dutton, I think rapid breathing helps. Don't let the bug in your lungs long enough to penetrate blood vessels. I want to turn off the pure oxygen and you start breathing room air as fast as you can!
Dr. Charles Dutton: NO! No, I-I was running a test in here! The air is thick with Andromeda! Experiment with your own lives, damn it!

Dr. Charles Dutton: No excretions. No waste of any kind.
Dr. Jeremy Stone: You'd expect that, Andromeda's perfect for existence in outer space. Consumes everything, wastes nothing...
[Leavitt, Stone, and Dutton exchange anxious glances]
Dr. Jeremy Stone: Good lord!
Dr. Mark Hall: What?
Dr. Jeremy Stone: Stone to Delta-Five. Put me through to Dr. Robertson Immediately!
Dr. Mark Hall: WHAT?
Dr. Ruth Leavitt: God, I hope we're not too late.
Dr. Mark Hall: Tell me!
Dr. Ruth Leavitt: It functions like an atomic reactor!
Dr. Jeremy Stone: An atomic blast could provide it with enough energy to grow into a gigantic supercolony.
Dr. Charles Dutton: In one day!

Dr. Jeremy Stone: Where have you been?
Dr. Mark Hall: Leavitt had a seizure.
Dr. Jeremy Stone: What?
Dr. Mark Hall: Epilepsy. The red light flashing at three-per-second brought on a fit. Why the hell didn't she tell us about it?
Dr. Jeremy Stone: Probably no top lab would have her if they knew. Insurance, prejudice, all that crap.
Dr. Mark Hall: From the Middle Ages.

Dr. Jeremy Stone: Where's the next substation, Hall?
Dr. Mark Hall: Left of elevator on Level 2.
Dr. Jeremy Stone: Right. Across the corridor from Body Analysis, our next port of call.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt: Not for my alabaster body! I mean it, Stone, you can take your Body Analyzer and you can st...
[door closes]

Dr. Jeremy Stone: Hall? Take a look at this.
[gestures to dead man with peaceful facial expression but grabbing his own chest]
Dr. Jeremy Stone: Are you sure that isn't coronary?
Dr. Mark Hall: No. A coronary's painful. They should grimace.
Dr. Jeremy Stone: If it was fast, they wouldn't have time.
Dr. Mark Hall: Fast? These people were cut down in mid-stride!

Dr. Mark Hall: Why did you pick me?
Dr. Jeremy Stone: You're an MD, a talented surgeon who knows blood chemistries... and you're single. The Odd Man Hypothesis.
Dr. Mark Hall: What the hell is that?
Dr. Jeremy Stone: Didn't you read the Wildfire material I've been sending you?
Dr. Mark Hall: [smirks] Very little. I never went in much for science fiction.
Dr. Jeremy Stone: [glares at Hall] Nor do I.

Dr. Mark Hall: [referring to Dr. Dutton] Poor devil! Look at how he's breathing. He's scared to death.
Dr. Jeremy Stone: We'll increase his oxygen. It'll slow down his breathing.
Dr. Mark Hall: [beat] No, we want him to breathe fast! In Piedmont the old man survived drinking Sterno... Sterno, acidosis! Acidosis, rapid breathing!
[begins working a control panel]
Dr. Jeremy Stone: What the hell are you doing?
Dr. Mark Hall: I'm turning off the oxygen.
Dr. Jeremy Stone: But the baby! He's normal!
Dr. Mark Hall: He's crying. He's not leaving it in his lungs long enough to do anything.
Dr. Jeremy Stone: [incredulous] Rapid breathing? It just can't be that simple!
Dr. Mark Hall: It isn't.

[finding the Scoop satellite in a doctor's office, crudely pried open]
Dr. Jeremy Stone: There it is...
[pause]
Dr. Jeremy Stone: why the damn fool opened it!
Dr. Mark Hall: [sarcastically] Yeah, every country doctor should run his office like the Lunar Lab.

Dr. Mark Hall: That body analyzer! I'd like to be there when the AMA gets wind of it.
Dr. Jeremy Stone: So far it's only been used to treat astronauts in space.
Dr. Ruth Leavitt: You doctors better start making house calls again.

[Hall, wearing an isolation suit, is attacked by Jackson, wielding a meat cleaver]
Jackson: YOU!
[Hall trips and falls backward to avoid Jackson's weapon]
Jackson: YOU... YOU DID IT!
Dr. Mark Hall: [getting to his feet] Give me that knife.
Jackson: [stepping back] You're not... human... everybody's dead!
Dr. Mark Hall: What happened?
[Jackson doubles over in pain]
Dr. Mark Hall: What is it?
[Jackson collapses to the ground in severe pain, unable to speak]
Dr. Mark Hall: WHAT HAPPENED?