Sam returns to his office, where Dr. Millgate's smoking a cigar. Sam, alarmed, informs him that he's not allowed to smoke in the White House. Millgate: "You're kidding. And the search for civilization continues." Good luck with that, Smokey. As Sam leads Millgate outside, Sam says he needs the good doctor to tell him everything he knows about the superconducting supercollider. Millgate wants to know how much time Sam's got. Sam: "About ten minutes." Millgate: "If you pay close attention and stay very, very quiet, I can teach you how to spell it."

Sam and Millgate are outside now; Sam says: "Listen, this is what I do: I get things fast." Millgate: "Since when?" Maybe you should drop the arrogant know-it-all act with the only person who's interested in helping you. I'm just saying. Sam: "What is it?" Millgate: "It's a machine that reveals the origins of matter." Sam says nothing. Millgate: "I'm assuming from the look on your face, a thousand dollars on the table, you couldn't tell me what matter is." Sam: "You know what? I had four years, there's a lot of knowledge out there, I may have missed some things." Millgate: "By smashing protons together at very high speeds and at very high temperatures, we can recreate the Big Bang in a laboratory setting..." Cool. Will it be like that Hallowe'en episode of The Simpsons where Lisa created life? Subatomic particles, that's science fair pay dirt. Millgate continues, "...creating the kinds of particles that only existed in the first trillionth of a second after the universe was created." Sam: "Okay, terrific! I understood that. What kind of practical applications does it have?" This is starting to sound like numerous conversations I've had with Frink. Millgate: "None at all." He walks away a bit. Sam: "You're not in any way a helpful person." Well, he's a teacher, what do you expect? Millgate: "Don't have to be; I have tenure." Snerk. He adds, "There are no practical applications, Sam! Anybody says different is lying!" Sam says he needs to be able to paint Enlow as being against something, anything: "Children, baseball, fresh air, campaign finance...what does it mean to be against the supercollider?" Millgate doesn't know where to start. Sam presses him. Millgate asks Sam what his motivation is. Sam is confused; Millgate called Sam. Millgate says, "Well, you did me the favour, now you're still going." Sam admits he has a history with this particular Senator. Millgate replies, "Oh, well, that's really a stupid-ass reason, Sam." Sam: "I like to win." Millgate: "So this guy ate your Froot-Loops™...." Sam asks why Millgate cares. Millgate doesn't. Sam asks what his motivation is. Millgate: "I'm a particle physicist." Sam: "Not suddenly. Why now?" As he walks up to Sam again, Millgate explains the budget resolution has to be passed by April 15, which means the authorizing bill has to go out mid-March. "Now, you can shoehorn a road or a bridge at the last minute, but not twelve billion for a supercollider. Also, I have non-Hodgkins lymphoma." Sam is stunned into silence. Millgate walks away again, puffing on his cigar. ["WEAK. We're never going to see this character again, probably -- why should we give a rat's ass if he has cancer? And why can't his motivation be that he's a fan of pure science? What, is cancer what Sorkin settled on after he thought introducing a cuddly puppy somehow would be too maudlin? Weak." -- Wing Chun]