"X-FILES" FIGHT THE FUTURE by Chris Carter 6/30/97 FADE IN: EXT. SNOWSCAPE A BLINDING WHITE SCREEN, under which we hear an ominous low end Dolby THX Big Screen rumble. We're not in 19" television land anymore, Toto. As the rumble builds, TWO BLACK FIGURES appear on what now has resolved into a distant horizon. From their movements we can shortly see that the figures are men. Moving along a windswept ice sheet in an otherwise featureless land. A LEGEND appears: NORTH TEXAS, 35,000 B.C. CLOSER ON THE TWO MEN Continuing toward us, we can now see that they are dressed in crude garments made of animal skins. If we squint we can see their hair is long, their jutting foreheads significant of primitive Homo Sapiens. They continue toward us, the wind beating against them, CAMERA IS CRANING DOWN to the snow that lies before them. To LARGE THREE-TOED TRACKS. FOLLOWING THE PRIMITIVES As they track the three-toed prints to a rocky crevice in the hard-pack ice. The prints stop here, and so do the men. Dropping down into the crevice in pursuit of their quarry. CUT TO: INT. ICE CAVE Dark in here, except where the sunlight penetrates the thick, glassy ice walls. The silhouettes of the Primitives stark against the glistening cavern. The sound of flint being struck, then A TORCH CATCHES FIRE, illuminating their faces. And: A CREATURE Deeper in the cave. Fleeing the light and the men. We get only a brief glimpse of it in the torch light, seeing that it moves upright on two legs and has gray, dinosaur-like skin. And large black eyes. But it moves quickly enough away that any other identifying feature is lost in the deeper shadows. THE PRIMITIVES Removing crude weapons made of sharpened bone from under their thick fur garments, and scrabbling into the constricting cavern, giving chase. Following them as they moves with animal-like agility through the tightening space. Predatory hunters. Their torchlight catching: THE CREATURE As it disappears into a tight opening in a smaller crevice leading off the main one. The Primitives entering frame after a moment, only a few steps behind. The LEAD PRIMITIVE dropping to the cave floor, pulling himself into this same tight fissure in pursuit. Splitting off from his partner who exits frame still on the run. INT. SMALLER ICE CAVE - HIGH ANGLE DOWN The fiery torch comes through first, held by the lead man. Throwing dancing shadows on the walls of what appears to be a box cavern. CLOSE ON LEAD PRIMITIVE Rising quickly to his feet. Not seeing what the torch illuminates just behind him: The face of a dead Primitive Man, his body frozen into the ice. He does finally notice this, turning to see it, when he's ATTACKED VICIOUSLY FROM BEHIND. The torch falls to the floor so that the fight is difficult to see, but it is loud and cruel. The creature squealing wildly as the grunts of the Primitive now turn to the sounds of painful struggle. Until: THE SECOND PRIMITIVE MAN Suddenly appears, driving his bone weapon into the body of the Creature. Again and again, until the Creature is driven away into the shadows. The Second Man grabs the torch now, not to see if his hunting mate has survived, but in pursuit of the Creature. In the light we see that he and his weapon are covered with spatters of OILY BLACK BLOOD. As is the First Primitive whose body lies heaving on the floor. The Second Primitive stepping over his hunting mate, stalking the Creature into the shadows, where it has collapsed. The torch finally landing, for the first time, on its face. When the torchlight hits its face, the Creature attacks. But the Primitive prevails. He drops his torch and dispatches the already wounded Creature with strong hard stabs of his weapon, one of which penetrates the Creature's eye. LOW ANGLE ON THE DEAD CREATURE The torch, which lies on the ground, illuminates the dead creature's face. Its wounds are flowing with the oily black blood, which, oddly now, BEGINS TO POOL. As if it has intelligence, sentience. Pooling and traveling into a fissure in the cave floor. And disappearing. ANGLE ON THE SECOND PRIMITIVE Watching this, unknowing. His chest heaving from the fight, as the spots of Oily Black Blood which have spattered onto him begin to crawl. Crawling toward his eyes and mouth. Causing him to let out grunts of fear. Which are the sounds we hear as the CAMERA SLOWLY CRANES UP past the struggling Primitive to the roof of the cave, where the dancing shadows of the torch FADE AWAY with the sounds of struggle. Moving into darkness and silence. But only for a moment. Until: SUNSHINE BREAKS THROUGH THE ROOF OF THE CAVE - PRESENT DAY Along with the spade of a shovel. And then -- the earthen cave ceiling gives way and A BOY wearing Nikes and an old t- shirt falls through it. Falling PAST CAMERA. We hear a YELL, then a THUD, and a CLATTERING of the shovel that's fallen in with him. Then a pained GASPING. Then SEVERAL HEADS appear in the opening. These are BOYS of ten to eleven, staring down into the cave. Hot sunlight blazing in. We have traveled far, far forward in time. 2ND BOY Hey, Stevie. You okay? INT. CAVE - PRESENT DAY THEIR POV OF STEVIE On the floor below covered with dirt, in his nose and mouth. Spitting out. (All these boys have Texas in their voices.) STEVIE I got... I got... I got... (straining) ...the wind knocked out of me. This draws no sympathy from above, only LAUGHTER. THE BOYS UP ABOVE Staring excitedly. 3RD BOY Looks like a cave or something. 2ND BOY What's down there, Stevie? Anything? OVER THE BOYS ABOVE Stevie has gotten up, moving out of the patch of sunlight. Disappearing from view for a moment. Then reappearing, still spitting out dirt. But holding: STEVIE Human skull. One side partially missing from the cranium. But it brings WHOOPS of delight from the boys above. 3RD BOY Toss it up here, dude. STEVIE No way, buttwipe. I found it. It's mine. ANGLE UP ON STEVIE The other boys looking down at him. Stevie looking at the skull. Strangely, the light shines through it. It is milky, opaque, as if it's bone that's turned somehow glassy in places. Then: STEVIE Anyways, there's bones all over the place down here. Stevie looks down at his feet. CAMERA FOLLOWING HIS LOOK DOWN to where there are indeed more human bones. And something else. He takes a couple of steps in place, standing in a familiar BLACK, OILY substance -- which is climbing up his tennis shoe from the rock floor, over the edge of the shoe and down into the shoe itself. Then the SKULL drops in the frame, clattering on the hard floor of the cave. CAMERA SLOWLY RISING UP FROM STEVIE'S SHOES Following SUBCUTANEOUS WORMS which have begun locomoting aggressively up his legs. As his whole body is WRACKED by a shivering seizure of some kind. CAMERA RISES, following the path of the worms as they move up the legs of his shorts. Some appearing on his bare arms, but the great majority continuing up to Stevie's neck, toward his face. Stevie stands paralyzed. Letting out guttural sounds not dissimilar to when the wind was knocked out of him. 3RD BOY (O.S.) Hey, Stevie.... But Stevie cannot answer him. CAMERA CONTINUING UP to the boys above. Looking down at their friend. Their eyes go wide. 2ND BOY You okay? But what they see next answers that question for them. THEIR POV OF STEVIE His face suddenly alive with the subcutaneous worms. Moving toward his eyes which begin filling with BLACK OIL. Looking much now like ALIEN EYES. CLOSE ON THE BOYS ABOVE Freaked by what they see. And doing what any kid would do now. 3RD BOY Hey, man. Let's get outta here. And they do. Bolting from the hole in the top of the cave. CAMERA PUSHING UP THROUGH THIS HOLE to REVEAL we are: EXT. SMALL DIRT FIELD - NORTHERN TEXAS - DAY In a dirt hole that was being dug by the three kids. RISING UP out of the hole to REVEAL the parched dirt patch where THREE KIDS are running away from us, as fast as their feet will take them. Toward A NEW HOUSING TRACT (five floorplans to choose from, including the model home.) Disappearing into the neighborhood. A LEGEND appears: NORTH TEXAS, 1998. CAMERA CONTINUES RISING ABOVE THE ROOFTOPS to see the surrounding expanse of empty Texas flatland. And in the distance, the DALLAS SKYLINE. As CAMERA SETTLES, there are a few moments of nothing but the sound of the wind gently whistling across the landscape. In which we bury a short TIME CUT. EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - NORTHERN TEXAS - DAY Then we HEAR it, before we see it: FIRE ENGINES pulling into the neighborhood, sirens WAILING. CAMERA DROPPING AGAIN as the lead engine pulls up. FIREMEN are hopping off, moving to the hole the boys dug. LOW ANGLE UP FROM BELOW GROUND LEVEL, IN THE DUGOUT HOLE TWO firemen carrying a ladder clamber down PAST CAMERA, THREE OTHERS appearing on their heels. The other two firemen clamber down, too. THE CAPTAIN at the edge of the hole watching them. Holding a radio. FIRE CAPTAIN This is Captain Miles Cooles... we've got a rescue situation in progress... INT. CAVE - CONTINUOUS As the LEAD FIREMAN steps down the ladder into the cave. He scans the darkness, illuminated only by the shaft of light permitted by the hole above. As the 2ND FIREMAN drops down next to him. The both stand motionless now, as if sensing something. THEIR POV Stevie's feet are just visible on the floor of the cave, a short distance away. RESUME FIREMEN - LOW ANGLE They start cautiously toward Stevie. CAMERA FINDING their feet. Tracking through the same OILY, BLACK SUBSTANCE we saw bleeding from the creature thirty five thousand years ago. As they move into the shadows, we HOLD ON THE SUBSTANCE... and see it MOVE. It's alive. TIME CUT TO: EXT. DIRT FIELD - SHORT TIME LATER CAMERA RISES out of the dirt hole, finds A GROUP OF NEIGHBORS: Concerned PARENTS, KIDS, including Stevie's friends. They're held at a distance by the remaining firemen. Everyone turning their concerned gazes skyward. Looking at: A MED-EVAC CHOPPER Coming off the sun-setting horizon. Moving toward us at high speed. The WHOP, WHOP of its blade soon shaking the neighborhood as it banks in and around and hovers just over the dirt field. Landing gently on the parched hard scrabble. The side door flies open and FIVE HAZ-MAT RESCUE PARAMEDICS jump out carrying a bubble litter. CAMERA PANS THEM to the dirt hole past THE FIRE CAPTAIN. The Haz-Mat Paramedics moving down into the hole. The Fire Captain watches this, then stares toward -- DR. BEN BRONSCHWEIG (in shirtsleeves, tie), exiting the chopper, following up the rear. The Captain meeting him in route. BRONSCHWEIG (over the chopper) Keep those people back. Get them out of here. FIRE CAPTAIN (to his men) Move them all back. (dogging Bronschweig) I sent four men down after the boy. They're not responding. Dr. Bronschweig's focus is elsewhere, though. He's making a bee line to the earthen hole where young Stevie is being pulled out and lifted into an enclosed QUARANTINE BUBBLE LITTER by the rescue squad. Bronschweig watches with great concern. Getting a good look now at Stevie's paralyzed body as it passes him. ANGLE ON CHOPPER As Stevie's body is loaded aboard, the side door is slid shut. The engine throttles up and the chopper takes flight again, almost as quickly as it arrived. The prop wash blowing: DR. BRONSCHWEIG And the gathering crowd. Bronschweig watches the chopper bank away, then turns his look to: THE NEIGHBORHOOD Where A SERIES OF UNMARKED CARGO VANS, TRUCKS are rolling in. A fleet of vehicles, driven by what looks like MILITARY PERSONNEL. Most conspicuously TWO WHITE UNMARKED TANKER TRUCKS. (There are NO MARKINGS on these vehicles.) RESUME BRONSCHWEIG As the Fire Captain moves around to face him off. FIRE CAPTAIN What about my men? DR. BRONSCHWEIG (brusquely) We're doing all we can. And he moves off toward the approaching trucks where the MILITARY PERSONNEL are pulling out tents, tent poles, scientific equipment. Leaving the Captain to wonder what the hell's going on. Watching the first of many REFRIGERATION UNITS being unloaded. The personnel carrying it paying him no mind as they blow past him. Moving RIGHT TO CAMERA and plunging us into BLACK. HOLD. Then OVER BLACK, a familiar sound again. The sound of a chopper auguring in. As we FADE UP, revealing we are: EXT. TOP OF A SKYSCRAPER - DAY The chopper is banking over the side of the building, preparing to touch down on the rooftop where FIFTEEN FBI AGENTS in dark ID windbreakers are standing. A LEGEND appears: FEDERAL BUILDING, DALLAS, TEXAS. ONE WEEK LATER. The chopper touches down and, again, the side door is thrown open. But now only one man exits: SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE (S.A.C.) DARIUS MICHAUD. Michaud moves with the measured pace of authority, approaching the waiting FBI Agents. One of whom steps up. FBI AGENT We've evacuated the building and been through it bottom to top. No trace of an explosive device or anything resembling one. S.A.C. MICHAUD Have you taken the dogs through? FBI AGENT Yes, sir. S.A.C. MICHAUD Well, take them through again. This is given as a non-negotiable order, to the somewhat weary FBI man. Who turns back to his charges, Michaud does not register this attitude, though. Something else has caught his attention. Causing him to walk to the edge of the building. CAMERA FOLLOWING HIM, seeing what he sees now. On an adjacent skyscraper is what appears to be AN FBI AGENT in an ID windbreaker exiting onto the roof. CAMERA CONTINUING AROUND into A CLOSE UP PROFILE of S.A.C Michaud. Staring at this, his jaw set. He doesn't like what he sees. And what he sees is: EXT. ROOFTOP OPPOSING SKYSCRAPER - DAY - CONTINUOUS Special Agent Dana Scully is coming out the door leading onto the roof. The door slams shut behind her. She, too, is dressed in an FBI windbreaker. She's dialing her cell phone as she moves around the rooftop looking for something. Dialing the number of: SCULLY Mulder -- it's me -- MULDER (FILTER) Where are you, Scully? SCULLY I'm on the roof. MULDER Did you find something? SCULLY (impatiently) No. I haven't. MULDER What's wrong, Scully? SCULLY I've just climbed twelve floors. I'm hot and thirsty and I'm wondering, to be honest, what I'm doing here. MULDER You're looking for a bomb. SCULLY I know that. But the threat was called in for the Federal Building across the street. MULDER I think they have that covered. WE ARE TRACKING WITH SCULLY. SCULLY (impatience) Mulder... when a terrorist bomb threat is called in, the logical purpose of providing this information is to allow us to find the bomb. The rational object of terrorism is to promote terror. If you'd study model behavioral pattern in virtually every case where a threat has turned up an explosive device. If we don't act in accordance with that data -- if you ignore it as we have done -- the chances are great that if here actually is a bomb we might not find it. Lives could be lost -- Scully, engrossed in her own argument, realizes she's been the only one speaking for the last short while. She stops walking. SCULLY Mulder...? MULDER What happened to playing a hunch? Scully almost JUMPS out of her own skin. The voice has come not over the phone, but from two feet away where: ANGLE TO INCLUDE AGENT MULDER Standing in the shadow of a large air conditioning unit. Cracking a trademark sunflower seed between his teeth. Clicking his cell phone off. Moving out. SCULLY Jesus, Mulder... MULDER The element of surprise, Scully. Random acts of unpredictability. If we fail to anticipate the unforeseen or expect the unexpected in a universe of infinite possibilities, we find ourselves at the mercy of anyone or anything that cannot be programmed, categorized or easily referenced... Mulder has moved to the edge of the building where he sails his sunflower seeds into the air. Dusting his hands off as if lost in a wistful through for just a moment. MULDER What are we doing up here? It's hotter than hell. And he's on the move. Scully moving to catch up. NEW ANGLE Mulder is moving toward the stairs, Scully catching him. Mulder allowing her to lead him up the steps. SCULLY I know you're bored in this assignment, but unconventional thinking is only going to get you into trouble now. MULDER How's that? SCULLY You've got to quit looking for what isn't there. They've closed the X- Files. There's procedure to be followed here. Protocol. MULDER What do you say we call in a bomb threat for Houston. I think it's free beer night at the Astrodome. Scully gives him a look. It's no use. She reaches the door first, grabs the knob but... it won't open. Turning to Mulder. SCULLY Now what? MULDER (suddenly nervous) It's locked? She wiggles the knob again. SCULLY So much for anticipating the unforeseen... Scully squints into the sun, staring at Mulder. But he's quick on the draw, and realizes what she's up to. He grabs for the door and... it opens. Looking to Scully whose hard look of mock-scolding has become a smirking smile. SCULLY Had you. MULDER No you didn't. SCULLY Oh yeah. Had you big time. And that's how it continues as they re-enter the stairwell, the door slamming shut behind them. CUT TO: INT. BUILDING LOBBY - DAY As an elevator DINGS and the doors open. Scully and Mulder exit into the lobby where people move in and out. Heads turn due to their FBI jackets. (Included atmosphere: a GROUP OF KIDS on a field trip, being led into an elevator by THEIR TEACHER.) SCULLY I saw your face, Mulder. There was a moment of panic. MULDER Panic? Have you ever seen me panic, Scully? SCULLY I just did. You're buying. Mulder fishes for change, but more out of sportsmanship. MULDER Alright... what'll it be: Coke, Pepsi? A saline IV? SCULLY Something sweet. Scully flashes a thin victory smile, as Mulder heads off. INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE VENDING MACHINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS Mulder moving to a door with a small shingle above it which says SNACKS/BEVERAGES. As he approaches, sorting through the change he's fished up, the door opens and A MAN IN A VENDOR'S UNIFORM appears. He makes casual and ever-so-brief eye contact with Mulder as he brushes past him. Mulder making no note of this as he moves to catch the door before it closes. CUT TO: INT. SNACK AREA AND SODA VENDING MACHINE ROOM - DAY Mulder takes a few steps down into the windowless room. Moving past the snack machines to a LIGHTED soda machine. Finding the correct change and plunking it in. Hitting a button, but... nothing comes out. MULDER Oh, come on. He beats his fist a couple of times on the front of the machine. Nothing. He finds more change. Plunking it in. Hits the button. Nothing. He stares at the machine a minute, then BEATS IT HARD with his fist. Nothing. Moving around to the back of the machine, looking for: ANGLE ACROSS BACK OF MACHINE Mulder's face peering in on the slim space between the machine and the wall. Reaching down and lifting the PLUG on the end of the electrical cord. It isn't plugged in. Realizing now why the machine hasn't spit out his sodas. RESUME FRONT ANGLE ON MACHINE As Mulder appears, stepping very lightly in front of the machine that he was just pounding away on. Looking at it, then moving quickly to the door he entered through. Grasping the knob, but finding it... LOCKED. He jiggles the knob, pulls on it. But there's no two ways about it, he's locked in. CUT TO: INT. BUILDING LOBBY - DAY Scully stands looking at her watch. Wondering where Mulder is. When her CELL PHONE starts ringing. She answers it. SCULLY Scully... MULDER Scully, I found the bomb. SCULLY (thinks he's joking) Where are you, Mulder? MULDER I'm in the vending room. Scully is on the move, but she doesn't believe him for a second. INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE VENDING MACHINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS Scully appears, heard A POUNDING. Following this noise to the door Mulder is obviously on the other side of. Tries the door. SCULLY Is that you pounding? INT. SNACK AND SODA VENDING MACHINE ROOM - DAY Mulder holds his phone to his ear, using his other hand to pound. MULDER Scully, get somebody to open this door. SCULLY (FILTER) Nice try, Mulder. CAMERA FOLLOWING MULDER as he steps back, revealing now that he's gotten the hinged front of the coke machine open. But we can't yet see what's inside. MULDER Scully -- listen to me. It's in the coke machine. You've got about fourteen minutes to get this building evacuated. INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE VENDING MACHINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS Scully is shaking her head. Tries the door again. SCULLY C'mon. Open the door. His response to this is MORE HARD POUNDING. SCULLY Mulder? Tell me this is a joke. MULDER Thirteen fifty nine, thirteen fifty eight, thirteen fifty seven... As he is doing this, Scully is bending to see: THE KEYHOLE It's been freshly soldered over. INT. SNACK AND SODA VENDING MACHINE ROOM - DAY Mulder stands pacing in front of: AN ELABORATELY ENGINEERED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE Wired with circuit boards, electric belts and generally looking like it would take an expert a good long time to figure out where to even start. A lot longer than the 13:58 that reads on the digital read-out. MULDER ...thirteen fifty six... SCULLY Hang on. I'm gonna get you out of there. The line goes dead. And off Mulder's deepening anxiety, we: CUT TO: INT. BUILDING LOBBY - DAY Scully enters like General Patton, taking charge. Barking at the security guards who sit behind their security console. SCULLY I need this building evacuated and cleared out in ten minutes! I need you to get on the phone and tell the fire department to block off the city center in one mile radius around the building -- SECURITY GUARD In ten minutes...?! SCULLY DON'T THINK! JUST PICK UP THE PHONE AND MAKE IT HAPPEN! And she's moving, dialing her cell phone now. SCULLY (into phone) This is Special Agent Dana Scully. I need to speak to S.A.C. Michaud. He's got the wrong building -- CUT TO: EXT. BUILDING - DAY UNMARKED FBI VANS, CARS are pulling up out front. Agents in windbreakers are exiting, moving at a run to the building. Among them S.A.C. Darius Michaud. Moving TO: ANGLE ON SCULLY Exiting the building. Behind her, WORKERS are beginning to stream out of the building, as well as the young FIELD TRIPPERS. Michaud meeting up with Scully mid-plaza. As the windbreaker Agents move past them, entering the building. S.A.C. MICHAUD Where is it? MOVING WITH THEM now, back toward the building. As FIRE TRUCKS are pulling up out in the street out front. Suddenly this has the distinct feel of a situation veering out of control. SCULLY Mulder found it in a vending machine. He's locked in with it. CUT TO: INT. SNACK AND VENDING MACHINE ROOM - DAY THE DIGITAL READ OUT hits 7:00. Pull back to REVEAL MULDER staring at it. If he wasn't sweating enough on the roof, he's certainly sweating now. When his cell phone RINGS. Answering it. MULDER Scully? SCULLY Mulder. Move away from the door. We're coming through it. No sooner is this said than the CAMERA WHIPS OFF MULDER to the door, where A GAS PLASMA TORCH FLAME is sizzling along the hinges. CUT TO: INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE VENDING MACHINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS Where Michaud himself, wearing a Kevlar vest now, is wielding the torch. Expertly cutting the metal while Scully and TWO AGENTS and TWO DALLAS BOMB SQUAD men look on. In the b.g. BUILDING EMPLOYEES are streaming out. Michaud finishes and shuts off the torch. Yelling: S.A.C. MICHAUD Go. The other Agents kick the metal door in sending it crashing to the floor. Mulder stands on the other side. Watching Michaud pick up a heft tool kit, stepping over the downed door. Scully right behind him. Along with the Agents, Bomb techs. ANGLE OVER MULDER AND THE SODA MACHINE/BOMB As Michaud steps in next to him, sizing up the time on the ticking digital readout: 4:07. And just exactly what kind of defusing work he's got cut out for him. MULDER Tell me this is just soda pop in those canisters. S.A.C. MICHAUD No. It's what it looks like. A big I.E.D. -- ten gallons of astrolite. (studying the bomb) Okay, get everybody out of here and clear the building. MULDER Somebody's got to stay with you -- S.A.C. MICHAUD I gave you an order. Now get the hell out of here and evacuate the area. SCULLY Can you defuse it? Setting his tool kit down, opening it. As the other Agents heed his word, exiting the room. S.A.C. MICHAUD I think so. MULDER You've got about four minutes to find out if you're wrong. Michaud turns on him with unexpected intensity. S.A.C. MICHAUD Did you hear what I said? SCULLY Let's go, Mulder. Scully starts out. Mulder stares at Michaud for a moment, but Michaud's focus is on the bomb now. He won't meet Mulder's look. Finally Mulder moves off, following Scully. CAMERA HOLDS ON MICHAUD, just staring at the bomb. Just staring. CUT TO: EXT. PLAZA OUTSIDE BOMB BUILDING - DAY - CONTINUOUS The last of the building occupants are being hauled off in CITY BUSES which have moved in curbside. As these buses pull away, so do the fire trucks that have positioned themselves out front. And the police squad cars. As Mulder and Scully exit the front door. Moving quickly, until Mulder hits mid- plaza and slows. Scully not realizing this for a few steps, then turning. SCULLY What are you doing? (off his non-response) Mulder -- One last windbreakered Agent is exiting. Moving past them to the last cop car other than the car waiting for Mulder and Scully. LAST AGENT OUT All clear. Mulder has stopped and is looking back to the building now as Scully hustles back the few steps separating them. MULDER Something's wrong. ANGLE OVER THEM TO THE WAITING CAR As the Last Agent Out's car zooms away. Leaving only their car and the man driving it: a WINDBREAKERED AGENT. WINDBREAKERED AGENT What's he doing? The plaza is desolate now, void of life. MULDER Something's not right... SCULLY -- Mulder! Get in the car! Scully is pulling him now. Pulling him toward the car and the obviously impatient Windbreakered Agent. SCULLY There's no time! CUT TO: INT. SNACK AND SODA VENDING MACHINE ROOM - DAY CLOSE ON BOMB. The seconds ticking off now, as it passes the :30 mark. CAMERA PULLING BACK, ADJUSTING to Michaud. His tool chest is closed up, and he is sitting on it improbably. Still staring at the bomb, then pulling his head down in what appears to be resignation. As the seconds tick away. CUT BACK TO: EXT. PLAZA OUTSIDE BOMB BUILDING - DAY - CONTINUOUS Mulder has relented now, against his better instincts. Moving with Scully to the car, faster as they go. The Windbreaker Agent standing in the open door of the driver's side. Getting in behind the wheel... CUT BACK TO: INT. VENDING MACHINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS S.A.C. MICHAUD Sitting motionless in front of the bomb as the seconds tick down. 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1- -- HARD CUT BACK TO: EXT. PLAZA OUTSIDE BOMB BUILDING - DAY - CONTINUOUS Mulder and Scully getting in the car. TRACKING BACKWARDS with them now as the Agent driving pulls away, getting only thirty, maybe forty yards when: the BOMB DETONATES and the building EXPLODES. And this is no fatwa symbolic little terror strike. This is Oklahoma City. Or do we say, Independence Day. REVERSE ANGLE ON CAR As all the windows blow out and the car is lifted up, slamming into the corner of a parked car. The air so quickly full of debris that it would seem the whole city has been destroyed. RESUME BUILDING As the debris starts to clear somewhat, much of it still floating to the ground, though. We see the fires raging on every floor. That most of the front of the building has been torn away and we can see right into many floors. RESUME ANGLE ON CAR Where it sits half cocked against a parked car. The air is full of debris, particulated matter. The rear door of the squad car opens now and Mulder gets out, covered with glass. Moving to the front passenger door, opening it for Scully. MULDER (with darkest irony) Next time you're buying. EXT. AERIAL SHOT OF WASHINGTON D.C. - DAY HIGH ABOVE the U.S. capital, the entire beltway. With a LEGEND, to establish. LOWER AND TIGHTER NOW On the J. Edgar Hoover Building, FBI Headquarters. Descending low on the three-sided monolith and its large interior courtyard. As another LEGEND appears, under: WOMAN'S VOICE (V.O.) In light of Waco, and Ruby Ridge... CUT TO: INT. FBI OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL REVIEW - DAY A formal hearing. Several ASSISTANT DIRECTORS sit at a head table, going over documents. NAME PLACECARDS in front of them. PANNING the group, the sound of papers shuffling, the occasional clearing of a throat creating a stale air of importance, under: WOMAN'S VOICE (V.O.) ...there is a heightened need at the Attorney General's office to place responsibility as early as possible. CAMERA LANDING ON ASSISTANT DIRECTOR JANA CASSIDY A no-nonsense 40 year-old lawyer cum FBI Agent. CASSIDY ...for the catastrophic destruction of public property and the loss of life due to terrorist activities... Next to Cassidy is Assistant Director WALTER SKINNER, Mulder and Scully's former superior on the X-Files. Looking ruefully at: AGENT SCULLY At a small table, the chair next to her conspicuously empty. CASSIDY Many details are still unclear; some agents' reports have not been filed, or have come in sketchy, without a satisfactory accounting of the events that led to the destruction in Dallas. But we're under some pressure to give an accurate picture of what happened to the Attorney General, so she can issue a public statement. The door to the room opens behind Scully now, and Mulder enters, his manner that of a man who knows he's late to a function. RESUME A.D. CASSIDY She looks up at Mulder and Scully with a stern glare. CASSIDY We now know that five people died in the explosion. Special Agent in Charge Darius Michaud who was trying to defuse the bomb that had been hidden in a vending machine. Three firemen from Dallas, and a young boy. OVER MULDER AND SCULLY Mulder pulls out his chair to sit down, but remains standing. They trade a look. This is new news to them. MULDER Excuse me -- the firemen and the boy -- they were in the building? CASSIDY Agent Mulder, since you weren't able to be on time for this hearing, I'm going to ask you to step outside so that we can get Agent Scully's version of the facts. So that she won't have to be paid the same disrespect. MULDER We were told the building was clear. CASSIDY You'll get your turn, Agent Mulder. Please step out. Mulder trades looks with: A.D. SKINNER Who stares at him evenly, but not unsympathetically. He's been here with Mulder on many occasions. Seen Mulder run up against the Bureau and its stiff conventions. Always in the middle. MULDER It does say there in your paperwork that we were the ones who found the bomb... CASSIDY Thank you, Agent Mulder. We'll call you in shortly. RESUME MULDER, SCULLY As Mulder slides his chair in. Scully watching him exit. CUT TO: INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE OPR HEARING ROOM - DAY Mulder sits by himself in a chair, head down. When the door to the hearing room opens. Mulder rising as A.D. Skinner exits. SKINNER Sit down, they're still talking to Agent Scully. MULDER About what? SKINNER -- They're asking her for a narrative. They want to know why she was in the wrong building. MULDER She was with me. Skinner studies Mulder, shaking his head. SKINNER You don't see what's going on here, do you? (off Mulder's look) There's four hundred million dollars in damage to the city of Dallas. Lives have been lost. No suspects have been named. So the story being shaped is this could have been prevented. That the FBI didn't do its job. MULDER And they want to blame us? SKINNER Agent Mulder -- we both know that if you and Agent Scully hadn't taken the initiative to search the adjacent building, you could have multiplied the fatalities by a hundred -- MULDER (grasping the irony) But it's not the lives we saved. It's the lives we didn't. SKINNER (reciting the dictum) -- if it looks bad, it's bad for the FBI -- MULDER -- if they want someone to blame, they can blame me. Agent Scully doesn't deserve this. SKINNER She's in there right now saying the same thing about you. MULDER I breached protocol. I broke contact with the S.A.C. I ignored a primary tactical rule and left him alone with the device. SKINNER Agent Scully says it was she who ordered you out of the building. That you wanted to go back. Mulder doesn't get to respond, because the door opens again and Agent Scully exits. She looks like she's been through it. SCULLY (to Skinner) They're asking for you, Sir. Skinner gives one last look to Mulder, then re-enters. Leaving Mulder and Scully alone. Scully wearing a pained look. MULDER Whatever you told them in there, you don't have to protect me. SCULLY All I told them was the truth. MULDER They're trying to divide us on this, Scully. We can't let them. SCULLY They have divided us, Mulder. They're splitting us up. MULDER (beat) What? What are you talking about? SCULLY I meet with the OPR day after tomorrow for remediation and reassignment... MULDER Why? SCULLY I think you must have an idea. They cited a history of problems relating back to 1993. MULDER They were the ones that put us together. SCULLY Because they wanted me to invalidate your work, your investigations into the paranormal. But I think this goes deeper than that. MULDER This isn't about you, Scully. They're doing this to me. SCULLY They're not doing this, Mulder. (off his look) I left behind a career in medicine because I thought I might make a difference at the FBI. When they recruited me they told me women made up nine percent of the bureau. I felt this was not an impediment, but an opportunity to distinguish myself. But it hasn't turned out that way. And now, if I were to be transferred to Omaha, or Wichita or some field office where I'm sure I could rise, it just doesn't hold the interest for me it once did. Not after what I've seen and done. MULDER You're... quitting? SCULLY There's really no reason left for me to stay anymore. (off his look) Maybe you should ask yourself if your heart's still in it, too. The door opens to the hearing room again now. A.D. Skinner steps part way out, gesturing to him. SKINNER Agent Mulder. You're up. SCULLY (regretfully) I'm sorry. Good luck. Mulder rises. Scully studying his poorly disguised hurt. Before he turns and goes into the room. Scully watching the door close behind him. Her feelings poorly disguised, too. CUT TO: INT. DOWNSCALE D.C. BAR - NIGHT CLOSE ON A SHOOTER OF TEQUILA being poured. CAMERA ADJUSTING to reveal the ATTRACTIVE BARMAID tipping the bottle. Pushing it across the bar to where TWO EMPTY SHOOTERS sit, making the exchange. BARMAID I'd say this about exceeds your minimum daily requirement. The person she's talking to us: MULDER He sits by himself on a stool, staring down at the bar. Staring at the shooter which he spins with his fingers. BARMAID Gotta train for this kind of heavy lifting. Mulder tosses back the shooter anyway. She watches him as she retrieves the small shot glass, intrigued by his dark silence. BARMAID Poopy day? MULDER Yup. BARMAID A woman? (Mulder shakes his head no) Work. Mulder nods, pointing to the tequila bottle again. The Barmaid agrees to pour another one, reluctantly. ANGLE OVER TO A MAN AT THE END OF THE BAR Staring at Mulder intently. He's older than Mulder, dressed in an old Brooke Brothers light summer suit. Mulder notices him, feels his gaze, but doesn't give it thought. RESUME BARMAID, MULDER BARMAID What do you do? MULDER What do I do. (off her curious look) I'm a key figure in an ongoing government charade. An annoyance to my superiors. A joke among my peers. "Spooky," they call me. Spooky Mulder. Whose sister was abducted by aliens when he was a kid. Who now chases little green men with a badge and a gun, shouting to the heavens and anyone who'll listen that the fix is in. That our government's hip to the truth and a part of the conspiracy. That the sky is falling and when it hits it's gonna be the shitstorm of all time. She stares at him for a moment, startled by his drunken screed. She pulls back the shooter she's just poured Mulder. BARMAID I think that about does it, Spooky. MULDER Does what? BARMAID Why don't you go home to the old lady -- MULDER Sorry. Don't have one. Mulder slides off his stool, noticing: MULDER'S POV The Watchful Man is gone. RESUME MULDER He feints toward the door, then reverses direction. Heads to the back of the place. INT. REAR OF DOWNSCALE BAR - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS Mulder appears, moving to the bathroom door. Only to find an OUT OF ORDER sign on it. He moves to the woman's room, but it's locked. Gathering what's left of his wits, Mulder does what any red-blooded man would do in this situation. He goes to the back door of the bar and exits into the alley. EXT. ALLEY BEHIND BAR - NIGHT Mulder has found a place against a wall, between two dumpsters. Jerking around in surprise at the sound of a VOICE. WATCHFUL MAN'S VOICE That official FBI business? MULDER (startled) What? ANGLE TO INCLUDE THE MAN FROM THE BAR He's not far from Mulder. His name is KURTZWEIL. KURTZWEIL Bet the Bureau's accusing you of the same thing in Dallas. Mulder's weirded out as the stranger moves to him un- threateningly. MULDER How's that? KURTZWEIL Standing around holding your yank while bombs are exploding. Kurtzweil enjoys a little laugh over this. MULDER Do I know you? KURTZWEIL No. I've been watching your career for a good while. Back when you were just a promising young agent -- before that. Mulder stares at this man as he finishes, zipping up. MULDER You follow me out here for a reason? KURTZWEIL Yeah, I did. Kurtzweil unzips his own pants now. There is a moment; one of those awkward moments where Mulder's not sure what's about to happen. But Kurtzweil's just relieving himself, too. Shuffling up to the wall, Mulder takes this as an opportunity to head back toward the bar. But Kurtzweil hails him again. KURTZWEIL My name's Kurtzweil. Dr. Alvin Kurtzweil. MULDER I know the name. Why? KURTZWEIL Old friend of your father's. Kurtzweil continues peeing. Knows this got Mulder's attention. KURTZWEIL Back at the Department of State. We were what you might call fellow travelers, but his disenchantment outlasted mine. (beat) I never believed in the Project. Mulder stares at Kurtzweil now. He's being toyed with. He turns, opens the door into the bar. As Kurtzweil gets a little louder. KURTZWEIL Oh, come on. Don't pretend you don't know about the Project. Your father died for it. Your sister was taken because of it. Kurtzweil finishes nature's call. Zips up. Heads after Mulder. CUT TO: INT. DOWNSCALE D.C. BAR - NIGHT Mulder is coming from the back. Kurtzweil moving to catch up. And he does, at the coat stand. The place has pretty much cleared out, except for the Barmaid and some help. MULDER How'd you find me? KURTZWEIL Heard you come here now and again. Figured you'd be needing a little drinky tonight. MULDER You a reporter? KURTZWEIL I'm a doctor, but I think I mentioned that. OB-GYN. MULDER Who sent you? KURTZWEIL I came on my own. After reading about the bombing in Dallas. MULDER Well, if you've got something to tell me, you've got as long as it takes me to hail a cab... Mulder starts out the door, but Kurtzweil grabs his arm. KURTZWEIL They're going to pin Dallas on you, Agent Mulder. But there was nothing you could've done. Nothing anyone could've done to prevent that bomb from going off. Because the truth is something you'd never have guessed; never have predicted. Mulder pulls away from Kurtzweil, but Kurtzweil dogs him to: EXT. STREET OUTSIDE DOWNSCALE BAR - NIGHT The street is empty, the hour is late. Mulder moves to the curb. MULDER And what's that? KURTZWEIL S.A.C. Darius Michaud never tried or intended to defuse the bomb. MULDER (rhetorical disbelief) He just let it explode. KURTZWEIL What's the question nobody's asking? Why that building? Why not the Federal Building? MULDER The Federal Building was too well guarded. KURTZWEIL No. They put the bomb in the building across the street because it DID have federal offices. The Federal Emergency Management Agency had a provisional medical quarantine office there. Which is where the bodies were found. But that's the thing... Mulder's got his hand up for a taxi coming. It's pulling over as Mulder steps from the curb, stepping away from Kurtzweil. KURTZWEIL ...the thing you didn't know. That you'd never think to check. Mulder's got the taxi door open, turning to Kurtzweil. KURTZWEIL Those people were already dead. MULDER Before the bomb went off? KURTZWEIL That's what I'm saying. Mulder stares at Kurtzweil for a moment. MULDER Michaud was a twenty-two year veteran of the bureau -- KURTZWEIL Michaud was a patriot. The men he's loyal to know their way around Dallas. They blew that building to hide something. Maybe something even they couldn't predict. MULDER You're saying they destroyed an entire building to hide the bodies of three firemen...? KURTZWEIL And one little boy. Mulder gets in the cab, closes the door. Rolls down the window. MULDER I think you're full of shit. KURTZWEIL Do you? Kurtzweil raps the top of the roof and steps away from the car. As the taxi takes off. WE STAY WITH KURTZWEIL, watching Mulder's cab speed away. (NOTE: This should also be covered from inside the cab with Mulder, to play the scene out on him.) CUT TO: INT. AGENT SCULLY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT Scully is in bed, lying awake. Staring at the ceiling. When she reacts to a POUNDING AT HER DOOR. CUT TO: INT. SCULLY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT CLOSE ON THE FRONT DOOR. Scully peeks in the peephole. Then she removes the safety chain, opening the door. MULDER (strangely intense) I wake you? SCULLY No. MULDER Why not? It's three AM. Scully gets a whiff of his breath. As he moves past her into the apartment. Radiating a kind of manic intensity. SCULLY Are you drunk, Mulder? MULDER I was until about an hour ago. SCULLY Is that before or after you got the idea to come here? Mulder looks at her curiously. MULDER What are you implying, Scully? SCULLY (frowning) I thought you may have gotten drunk and decided to come here to talk me out of quitting. MULDER Is that what you'd like me to do? Scully hesitates. Long enough to indicate her own wavering heart. SCULLY Go home, Mulder. It's late. MULDER Get dressed, Scully. SCULLY Mulder -- what are you doing? MULDER Just get dressed. I'll explain on the way. CUT TO: EXT. TEXAS FLATLAND - NIGHT The moon is rising over the horizon, across the curvilinear distance of endless scrub and sagebrush. When FLYING OBJECTS cross between it and us, their forms unidentifiable in the rising heat waves off the earth. But they are moving towards us, SILHOUETTES in the background of the moon. They move silently, their size INCREASING as they move closer. And then we hear them, moments before they arrive at our position, UNMARKED HELICOPTERS just overhead. Hugging the ground as they blast across the dark Texas night. INT. UNMARKED BLACK HELICOPTERS - NIGHT Flying at dangerously low altitude over the almost featureless night landscape. Heading for something that we see ahead in the distance. What looks like a LARGE GLOWING DOME surrounded by the lights of a residential area we've already seen, on the edge of suburban Dallas sprawl. CUT TO: EXT. SMALL DIRT FIELD - CENTRAL TEXAS - NIGHT The field where the kids had been digging has been transformed into some kind of worksite. A LARGE WHITE DOMED TENT has been erected over almost the entire patch of ground, surrounded by the CARGO TRUCKS that we saw earlier, and more unmarked vans and trucks. There are men in black fatigues moving about, and scientists in haz- mat suits. As the UNMARKED BLACK HELICOPTERS bank overhead. Coming in for a landing in the glow cast from the tents. CAMERA MOVING TOWARD one of the helicopters as it lightly touches down and its black door swings open. A man stepping out, and as CAMERA PUSHES UP INTO HIS FACE we recognize him as The Cigarette Smoking Man. The figure that we've come to know as an assassin and a model of modern self-interest and amorality. One of the central protagonists in the conspiracy to keep the truth from the American people about the existence of extraterrestrial life. Something known only as: "The Project." He walks out from under the whirring prop, just far enough to get a flame from his lighter, to get a cigarette lit. As we: CUT TO: INT. LARGE WHITE TENT - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS A SCIENTIST in a haz-mat suit is moving through the maze of clear plastic tubing that divides work areas within the tent. Areas where scientists are working at tables doing what appears to be some kind of high-tech archeological work. It is a hive of activity within, as the Scientist leads us past the REFRIGERATION UNITS to the earthen hole where Dr. Bronschweig (we've met him earlier, coming out of a med-evac chopper that landed when the tent city was erected) appears out of the earthen hole, which is reason for all this excitement. Climbing out A CLEAR HATCH which has been fashioned to cover the hole. Seeing: THE CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Now suited up himself. Bronschweig approaches him. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN You've got something to show me. DR. BRONSCHWEIG (nervous excitement) Yes. CUT TO: INT. ICE CAVE - CONTINUOUS What we originally established as icy, and what later became the unfrozen Texas field where the boys discovered the human skull, has been turned to its previously icy state. Thanks to two large vents that Dr. Bronschweig is pointing at: DR. BRONSCHWEIG We brought the atmosphere back down to freezing in order to control the development, which is nothing like we've ever seen. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Brought on by what? DR. BRONSCHWEIG Heat, I think. The coincident invasion of a host, the fireman, and an environment that raised his basic body temperature above ninety eight point six. They step over to a section of the cave which has been draped with more plastic, the lights from inside this are giving off a cool blue light (passing by TWO PORTABLE DRILLING RIGS which have been erected, their pumps moving up and down like rocking horses.) Bronschweig pushes away the plastic, revealing A MAN lying on a gurney draped in plastic. He is hooked up to various and sundry machines which are monitoring his life signs. His skin has turned almost translucent, the veins and capillaries now clearly visible, as is his pulse. His heartbeat sending life-sustaining blood and energy through his body. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN This man's still alive. DR. BRONSCHWEIG Technically and biologically, though he'll never recover. The CSM is shaking his head in nervous, uneasy wonder. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN How can this be? DR. BRONSCHWEIG The developing organism is using his life energy, digesting bone and tissue. We've just slowed the process. Bronschweig redirects a light so that it shines hard into the man's face and; then we see it. Movement. CLOSE ON MAN'S FACE Though the man's eyes still blink occasionally, we can actually see through his tissue and the bones in his skull to see something IS LIVING INSIDE HIM. ANGLE UP ON CSM AND BRONSCHWEIG The Cigarette Smoking Man's mind is working intently on all the possibilities, and consequences. DR. BRONSCHWEIG Do you want me to destroy this one, too? Before it gestates? CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN No. No... we need to try our vaccine on it. DR. BRONSCHWEIG And if it's unsuccessful? CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Incinerate it. Like the others. DR. BRONSCHWEIG This man's family will want to see the body laid to rest. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Tell them he was trying to save the young boy's life, and that he died heroically like the other firemen. DR. BRONSCHWEIG Of what? CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN They seemed to buy our story about the Hanta virus. You'll make sure the families are taken care of financially, along with a sizeable donation to the community. (beat) Maybe a small roadside memorial. He watches the CSM exit, then back to the prostrate fireman. CLOSE ON PROSTRATE FIREMAN There is more movement within his body. Within his chest and neck, as if the creature gestating inside is continuing to stretch and grow. So that now we can see one of its BLACK EYES staring from through the clear flesh of the fireman. An eye which BLINKS at us. As we: CUT TO: INT. BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - NIGHT Mulder and Scully appear at the end of a long hall. Moving TOWARD CAMERA where a YOUNG NAVAL GUARD sits in f.g. As a LEGEND appears, to establish. Mulder and Scully moving the long distance to the Guard's station. Where the Guard looks up at them with military scrutiny. YOUNG NAVAL GUARD ID and floor you're visiting. They both show their FBI IDs. MULDER We're going to the morgue. YOUNG NAVAL GUARD That area is currently off limits to anyone other than authorized medical personnel. MULDER On whose orders? YOUNG NAVAL GUARD General McAddie's. Mulder doesn't miss a beat. MULDER General McAddie is who requested our coming here. We were awakened at three AM and told to get down here immediately. YOUNG NAVAL GUARD I don't know anything about that. MULDER Well, call General McAddie. YOUNG NAVAL GUARD I don't have his number. MULDER They can patch you in through the switchboard. The Guard is nervous about this, checking his watch. He picks up the phone, going through a large directory. MULDER Hey! We don't have time to dick around here watching you demonstrate your ignorance in the chain of command. The order came direct from General McAddie. Call him. We'll conduct our business while you confirm authorization. Mulder is already directing Scully past the Naval Guard who tentatively picks up the phone again. YOUNG NAVAL GUARD (to their backs) Why don't you go on ahead head and I'll confirm authorization. MULDER Thank you. LEADING Mulder and Scully, moving. They've pulled off a con. MULDER Why is a morgue suddenly off limits on orders of a general? CUT TO: INT. BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - MORGUE FREEZER - NIGHT TRACKING TABLE HEIGHT across gurneys where white sheet-wrapped bodies lie. CAMERA LANDING ON Scully. Standing next to Mulder who is undoing the peculiar ropey stitching on the sheet used to secure the bodies. SCULLY This is one of the firemen who died in Dallas? MULDER According to this tag. SCULLY And you're looking for? I can tell you that without even looking at him. (off Mulder's look) Conclusive organ failure due to proximal exposure to source and flying debris. Scully pulls out an autopsy report that was laid on the gurney under the body of the sheet-wrapped corpse. SCULLY This body has already been autopsied, Mulder. You can tell from the way it's been wrapped and dressed. Undeterred, Mulder works to get the sheet off. The first thing we notice is that he's still in his fireman's uniform. His face looks familiar to us, not because we know him, but because of the translucency of skin we saw in the other fireman. (We will also notice he's missing an arm, a leg and large part of his torso.) MULDER Does this fit the description you just read me, Scully? Scully comes around, reacting to what she sees. SCULLY Oh my God. This man's tissue... Scully is quickly removing a pair of latex gloves, stretching them on to palpate the man's tissue. MULDER It's like jelly. SCULLY There's some kind of cellular breakdown. It's completely edematous. She palpates the spongy skin on the man's face, neck. Unbuttoning the uniform now, seeing: SCULLY And there's been no autopsy performed. There's no Y incision here; no internal exam. MULDER You're telling me the cause of death on the report is false. That this man didn't die from an explosion, or from flying debris. SCULLY I don't know what killed this man. I'm not sure if anybody else could claim to either. Off Mulder's reaction to this: CUT TO: INT. MORGUE - PATHOLOGY LAB - NIGHT - MINUTES LATER The gurney with the fireman is pushed through a pair of swinging doors into the darkened lab. Scully flips the lights on, looking around at the giant facility. SCULLY (pushing him) You knew this man didn't die at the bomb site before we got here. MULDER I'd been told as much. SCULLY You're saying the bombing was a cover- up. Of what? MULDER I don't know. But I have a hunch what you're going to find here isn't anything that can be categorized or easily referenced. SCULLY Mulder, this is going to take some time, and somebody's going to figure out soon enough we're not even supposed to be here. (beat) I'm in serious violation of medical ethics. MULDER We're being blamed for these deaths. Scully, I want to know what this man died of. Don't you? Scully stares at Mulder, then back down at the body. How can she refuse, given the finality and the personal appeal of the request? After a moment's hesitation, she turns to the body, and to the tray table of tools nearby. Resigned, if not resolved. CUT TO: EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. - NIGHT A LEGEND appears: WASHINGTON D.C., DUPONT CIRCLE. 4:00 AM. The street is fairly empty, save for a garbage truck picking up the stacks of green garbage bags laid out on the sidewalks. Then A TAXI turns off a main street, MOVING TOWARDS US. INT. WASHINGTON D.C. STREET - TAXI - NIGHT OVER MULDER to the street: Where the taxi is moving forward toward a spot where two ARLINGTON PD cruisers are pulled up to the curb. Mulder checks the address he has written down. MULDER (to the Cabbie) I think this is it up here. EXT. SIDE STREET - NIGHT The taxi pulls over and Mulder exits, starting up the steps of a walk up where the door is open. INT. KURTZWEIL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT There are UNIFORMED OFFICERS inside, and a DETECTIVE. Mulder steps into an office. FOUR PAIRS of eyes give him the once over. The Detective stepping over to him. MULDER Is this Dr. Kurtzweil's residence? DETECTIVE (suspiciously) You got some kind of business with him? MULDER I'm looking for him. DETECTIVE Looking for him for what? Mulder pulls out his ID, flashes it at the Detective. DETECTIVE (to his partners) Feds are looking for him, too. (turns to Mulder) Real nice business he's got, huh? MULDER What's that? DETECTIVE Selling naked pictures of little kids over his computer. Mulder nods, though this is news to him. He steps in a little further, noticing a shelf lined with books. Their spines all have the author's name written large: DR. ALVIN KURTZWEIL. Mulder picks up one of these books, with the title: THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE GLOBAL DOMINATION CONSPIRACY. DETECTIVE You looking for him for some other reason? MULDER Yeah, I had an appointment for a pelvic examination. They stare at Mulder like he's a sicko. He smiles and they break into RAUCOUS LAUGHTER. DETECTIVE You want a call if we turn up Kurtzweil? MULDER No. Don't bother. Mulder puts the book back among the others on the shelf. AND EXITS. ONTO: RESUME EXT. KURTZWEIL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT Mulder starting up the street when he notices: MULDER'S POV Kurtzweil has stepped from between two apartments. He's staring at Mulder, nodding furtively to him. Then stepping back. RESUME MULDER Slows, then speeds up. EXT. SPACE BETWEEN TWO APARTMENTS - NIGHT Mulder appears at the end of the narrow walkway, finding Kurtzweil tucked a few yards in. KURTZWEIL See this bullshit...? Somebody knows I'm talking to you. MULDER Not according to the men in blue. KURTZWEIL What is it? Kiddie porn again? Sexual battery of a patient? I've had my license taken away in three states. MULDER They want to discredit you -- for what? KURTZWEIL For what? Because I'm a dangerous man. Because I know too much about the truth. MULDER You mean that apocalyptic trash you write? I knew your name was familiar. I just didn't know why. KURTZWEIL You know my work? MULDER (pointedly) Dr. Kurtzweil, I'm not interested in bigoted ideas about race or genocide. I don't believe in the Elders of Zion, the Knights Templar, the Bilderburg Group or in a oneworld Jew run government -- KURTZWEIL I don't either, but it sure sells books. He says it with an ironic smile. Causing Mulder to turn and start off. But Kurtzweil hurries to grab him, to prevent this. KURTZWEIL I was right about Dallas. Wasn't I, Agent Mulder? MULDER How? KURTZWEIL I picked up the historical document of the venality and hypocrisy of the American government. The daily newspaper. MULDER You said the firemen and the boy were found in the temporary offices of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Why? KURTZWEIL According to the newspaper, FEMA had been called out to manage an outbreak of the Hanta virus. Are you familiar with the Hanta virus, Agent Mulder? MULDER It was a deadly virus spread by field mice in the Southwest U.S. several years ago. KURTZWEIL And are you familiar with FEMA? What the Federal Emergency Management Agency's real power is? FEMA allows the White House to suspend constitutional government upon declaration of a national emergency. To create a non-elected government. Think about that. (beat) What is an agency with such broad sweeping power doing managing a small viral outbreak in suburban Texas? MULDER Are you saying it wasn't such a small outbreak? Kurtzweil is getting intense now. KURTZWEIL I'm saying it wasn't the Hanta virus. They are both given a start when a POLICE CRUISER rolls by on the street, giving a burp of its siren. It rolls past as the two men tuck in tighter. MULDER What was it? KURTZWEIL When we were young men in the military, your father and I were recruited for a project. They told us it was biological warfare. A virus. There were rumors about its origins. MULDER What killed those men? KURTZWEIL What killed them I won't even write about. I tell you, they'd do more than just harass me. They have the future to protect. MULDER I'll know soon enough. KURTZWEIL (worked up) What killed those men can't be identified in simple medical terms. My god, we can't even wrap our minds around something as obvious as HIV. We have no context for what killed those men, or any appreciation of the scale in which it will be unleashed in the future. Of how it will be transmitted; of the environmental factors involved. MULDER A plague? KURTZWEIL The plague to end all plagues, Agent Mulder. A silent weapon for a quiet war. The systematic release of an indiscriminate organism for which the men who will bring it on still have no cure. They've been working on this for fifty years. While the rest of the world was fighting gooks and commies these men have been secretly negotiating a planned Armageddon. MULDER Negotiating with whom? KURTZWEIL I think you know. The timetable has been set. It will happen on a holiday, when people are away from their homes. When our elected officials are at their resorts or out of the country. The President will declare a state of emergency, at which time all federal agencies, all government will come under the power of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA, Agent Mulder. The secret government. MULDER And they tell me I'm paranoid. KURTZWEIL Something's gone wrong -- something unanticipated. Go back to Dallas and dig. Or you're only going to find out like the rest of the country, Agent Mulder. When it's too late. Kurtzweil turns, starts off. Mulder stares after him. Then: MULDER How can I reach you? KURTZWEIL You can't. Mulder moves to catch up to Kurtzweil, pulling out his cell phone. Kurtzweil stops, turns. Truly and intensely paranoid. Mulder makes him take the cell phone. MULDER No calling Hawaii. Mulder turns and moves back out onto the street. CUT TO: INT. MORGUE - PATHOLOGY LAB - NIGHT Agent Scully wears a surgical mask, latex gloves. Working on the body of the fireman... when she reacts to a NOISE. Doors opening, closing somewhere o.s. CAMERA MEDIUM WHIPS to a door where she and Mulder entered the morgue. Where... the Young Naval Guard and TWO MPs push through and enter. They stand looking at: THEIR POV Where Scully stood moments ago, there is now just an unattended gurney. A sheet over the fireman's body. Scully is gone. RESUME YOUNG NAVAL GUARD, MPS Tense. Listening, watchful. Moving into the room. CUT TO: INT. BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - MORGUE FREEZER - NIGHT Scully enters the space where she and Mulder found the fireman's body. Trying to quietly click the door shut. Standing now near the door, tense, listening. When the CHIRPING of her cell phone breaks the tense silence. She pats frantically at her coat, trying to get it answered before it rings again. Unsuccessfully. Finally getting a hold of it and hitting the send button. Scully sits breathing heavy, nervous breaths -- waiting for the Young Naval Guard to come running in. MULDER'S VOICE (FILTER) Scully...? She puts the phone slowly up to her face. SCULLY (low whisper) Yeah. INTERCUT WITH: INT. PHONE BOOTH - WASHINGTON D.C. - MORNING Mulder's at the pay phone. MULDER Why are you whispering? SCULLY I can't really talk right now. MULDER What did you find? SCULLY Evidence of a massive infection. MULDER What kind of infection? SCULLY I don't know. MULDER Scully -- listen to me. I'm going home, then I'm booking a flight to Dallas. I'm getting you a ticket, too. SCULLY Mulder -- MULDER I need you there with me. I need your expertise on this. The bomb we found was meant to destroy those bodies and whatever they were infected by. SCULLY I've got a hearing tomorrow -- MULDER -- I'll have you back for it, Scully. Maybe with evidence that could blow that meeting away. SCULLY Mulder -- I can't -- I'm already way past the point of common sense here -- Scully hears VOICES in the hall outside the freezer. CUT TO: MULDER MULDER Scully...? Hello...? But the line OFF, goes dead. Mulder hangs up the phone, frustrated. Exits the booth in a hurry. CUT TO: INT. BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - MORGUE FREEZER - NIGHT The door opens and the Young Naval Guard steps inside, followed by the MPs. Moving into the room. LOW ANGLE - TRACKING with the Naval Guard's feet as they pass by the rolling carts on which bodies are laid. TRACKING to find SCULLY, where she hides under one of the carts. Huddled and cold. The Guard's feet stop near here. He stands motionless for a moment, then moves off. HOLD her until the door slams shut. INT. FBI OFFICE - DALLAS - MORNING - MULDER enters a forensics lab with a FIELD AGENT. A LEGEND reads: FBI FIELD OFFICE, DALLAS: 11:20 AM. FIELD AGENT You're looking for what amounts to a needle in a haystack. I'm afraid the explosion was so devastating there hasn't been a whole lot we've been able to put together just yet. They are walking amid BOXES of evidence. STACKS of debris. There are FORENSIC TECHS sorting through this material. It looks like the most tedious and painstaking job in the world. MULDER I'm looking for anything out of the ordinary. Maybe something from the FEMA offices where the bodies were found. FIELD AGENT We weren't expecting to find those remains, of course. They went right off to Washington. MULDER Was there anything in those offices that didn't go to D.C.? FIELD AGENT Some bone fragments came up in the sift this morning. We thought there'd been another fatality, but we found out FEMA had recovered them from an archeological site out of town. MULDER Have you examined them? FIELD AGENT No. Just fossils, far as I know. Mulder is nodding, when both men look off at something that's caught their attention o.s. MULDER I'd like this person to take a look, if you don't mind. THEIR POV - AGENT SCULLY Standing in the doorway to the lab. She looks at Mulder as if she's come in spite of her misgivings. Moving toward them now. FIELD AGENT Let me just see if I can lay my hands on what you're looking for. The Field Agent nods to Scully as he passes, exiting deeper into the room. Leaving Mulder and Scully by themselves momentarily. MULDER You said you weren't coming? SCULLY I wasn't planning on it. Particularly after spending a half hour in cold storage this morning. But I got a better look at the blood and tissue samples I took from the firemen. MULDER What did you find? SCULLY (voice lowering pointedly) Something I couldn't show to anyone else. Not without more information. And not without causing the kind of attention I'd just as soon avoid right now. (off Mulder's look) The virus those men were infected with contains a protein coat I've never seen before. What it did to them it did extremely fast. And unlike the AIDS virus or any other aggressive strain, it survives very nicely outside the body. MULDER How was it contracted? SCULLY That I don't know. But if it's through simple contact of blood to blood, and if it doesn't respond to conventional treatments, it could be a serious health threat. Mulder's reaction is postponed, or at least subdued by the reappearance of the field agent. FIELD AGENT Like I said, these are fossils, and they weren't near the blast center, so they aren't going to tell you much. SCULLY May I? He offers Scully the small glass vials in which the bone fragments have been separated. She takes them, looking at them on her way over to the microscope. Tapping out a tiny fragment onto the viewing bed. She puts her eyes down to the stereoscope eyepieces, then almost immediately looks up at Mulder who translates this look almost instantly. MULDER You said you knew the location of the archeological site where these were found. FIELD AGENT Show you right on a map. Off Mulder and Scully's traded looks: CUT TO: EXT. SMALL PUBLIC PARK - WEST TEXAS - DAY The domed white tent is still in place, the fleet of trucks and equipment surrounding it unmanned. Several large sound- dampened generators still hum away, but the work being done here would be a mystery to anyone who didn't have access to the tent. CUT TO: INT. DOMED TENT - DAY An electric Bobcat-like bulldozer maneuvers a very high tech- looking CLEAR CONTAINER to the edge of the earthen hole. The container has monitors and gauges on it, oxygen tanks and what looks like a circulation refrigeration unit. A self- contained life support system. The inside of the container is covered with a thin layer of frost. When the small bulldozer gets the container over near the hole, several technicians lift it down off the shovel, hand carrying it toward the hole opening. As Dr. Bronschweig APPEARS, moving to a ladder that leads down into the hole. He's dressed in a haz-mat suit, with the hood off. DR. BRONSCHWEIG I need to have those settings checked and re-set. I need a steady minus two Celsius through the transfer of the body, after I administer the vaccine. The men nod to Bronschweig, begin checking the settings as Bronschweig puts his hood on, starts down into the hole, through the clear hatch. INT. SMALLER ICE CAVE - DAY The refrigeration vents are still pumping in arctic air when Dr. Bronschweig appears descending a fixed ladder. It is dark in here, save for the ice blue glow of light coming from the plastic draped area where we saw the fireman acting as an incubator/host for some kind of organism growing inside him. Bronschweig steps over to this area, moves aside the plastic drapery to enter. ANGLE INSIDE, PLASTIC LINED AREA Where the body of the fireman is still inside the quarantine bubble litter in f.g. Bronschweig takes out of his pocket a SYRINGE and an AMPULE. Turning now to the body. Stepping to it. Moving a work light, as he had done for the Cigarette Smoking Man, so that it shines on the face of the fireman. But when he does this, Bronschweig nearly JUMPS, his breath stolen away. Reacting to: ANGLE ON FIREMAN'S BODY The chest and torso have imploded. It has been turned into a muddy mass of blood-stained jelly; bone and tissue melted into an oozing mass which has sunken due to the fact that the creature which was inside is now gone. CAMERA WHIPS from Bronschweig to the wall. To the temperature gauge which reads about 6 degrees Celsius. WHIPPING BACK to Bronschweig who is now panicked. INTERCUT WITH: INT. DOMED TENT - DAY ANGLE DOWN ON EARTHEN HOLE, where the Technicians Bronschweig was speaking to minutes ago react to Bronschweig's MUFFLED VOICE. He's down below them in the cave, looking up. Pulling his haz-mat hood off. Yelling up to them. DR. BRONSCHWEIG It's gone! TECHNICIAN It's what? OVER THE TECHNICIANS TO BRONSCHWEIG DOWN BELOW DR. BRONSCHWEIG It's left the body. I think it's gestated -- Bronschweig is starting up the ladder when something stops him. RESUME INT. ICE CAVE CREATURE'S POV OF BRONSCHWEIG He stands frozen on the ladder, squinting into the darkness. DR. BRONSCHWEIG Wait -- I see it -- BRONSCHWEIG'S POV In the shadows there is movement, the creature edging into the light cast from the draped area. We see it is fully formed -- a replica of the Creature we saw at the opening of our story. Though it does not make any kind of aggressive move. As if, newborn, it is tentative. RESUME BRONSCHWEIG - CREATURE'S POV He remains standing on a rung of the ladder for a moment, then takes a gentle step back down to the ground. DR. BRONSCHWEIG (nervous wonder) Oh my god. Oh my god. TECHNICIAN You see it? DR. BRONSCHWEIG Yes. It's... amazing. You want to get down here -- (sotto to himself) Jesus Lord... so much for little green men. Dr. Bronschweig moves shakily to put the syringe in the ampule again... when, suddenly, the Creature STRIKES. CAMERA RUSHING FORWARD TO BRONSCHWEIG. MATCH CUT TO: OVERHEAD ANGLE - OVER THE TECHNICIANS As the Creature slams into Bronschweig, knocking him out of the line of sight from the top of the earthen hole. There are SCREAMS OF PAIN from Bronschweig, then they abate. RESUME INT. ICE CAVE Bronschweig can be heard, but not clearly seen. He is in the shadows himself now. Trying to pick himself up, and when he manages to do this, teetering back into the light we see that he is bloodied. He is hurt, injured. Making his way back toward the patch of light that comes from the hole above. Hoping to see that help is on its way, while keeping a watchful, wary and worried eye on the shadows, for another attack by the Creature. DR. BRONSCHWEIG Hey -- I need help. But the Technicians looking down on him offer him nothing of the sort. All they do is quickly close the clear hatch that seals Bronschweig inside the cave. DR. BRONSCHWEIG Hey! But he gets no answer, climbing the ladder shakily. A moment later the first Bobcat shovel-full of dirt falls onto the clear hatch and partially obscures the light. They are burying Bronschweig alive. INT. DOMED TENT - DAY ANGLE DOWN ON BRONSCHWEIG through the glass hatch. His SCREAMS continue. ADJUSTING to the small bulldozer which is quickly hauling the mound of excavated earth into the hole from which it came. While, all around, there is a hive of activity. Men running everywhere. CUT TO: RESUME INT. ICE CAVE Bronschweig reacts in silent horror now, only to turn in further horror when he feels the impending attack of: THE CREATURE Right behind and just below him. Its grotesque features in momentary high resolution, BEFORE IT ATTACKS CAMERA. Over and over, savaging Bronschweig in a violent fury. Its hideous teeth tearing at his flesh -- AT CAMERA -- driving him off the ladder where the attack continues in momentary glimpses of teeth, of bloody flesh, and of OILY BLACK BLOOD being spattered about. At the height of the violence we hear Bronschweig SCREAM. Matching the wound of this, as we: CUT TO: EXT. ESTATE SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE LONDON - EARLY EVENING A CHILD'S SCREAM OF JOY. ENGLISH CHILDREN are playing tag or some kind of children's game in the well-manicured garden of a man who the CAMERA FINDS IN F.G. -- the man we have come to know as THE WELL-MANICURED MAN. He is also a member of the syndicate running "The Project", though his venality is cloaked in civility and statesmanship. Right now he's watching the children from the back steps of his mansion, charmed by their game. When he is called by someone o.s. VALET'S VOICE Sir -- you have a call. The Well-Manicured Man turns to see: HIS VALET Holds the door. After a moment the W.M.M. enters past the Valet. As the screams of the children continue to rise and fall. CUT TO: INT. SUBURBAN LONDON ESTATE - A BEAUTIFUL STUDY - EVENING The Well-Manicured Man enters, picks up a blinking line. Through a window he can still see the children playing. WELL-MANICURED MAN Yes. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN (FILTER) We have a situation. The members are assembling. WELL-MANICURED MAN Is it an emergency? INTERCUT WITH TIGHT CSM AT INT. KENSINGTON BUILDING (NEXT LOC.) CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Yes. A meeting is set. Tonight in London, to determine a course. WELL-MANICURED MAN Who called this meeting? CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Strughold. He's just gotten on a plane in Tunis. This pronouncement has the power of ending any further questions. An immediate sense of gravity of the situation. The W.M.M. hangs up, moves to the window where he sees some of the HELP is running from the house. The children have all gathered around a BOY who seems to have hurt himself. He's lifted and being carried by the man who's called the W.M.M. into the house. Off the Well-Manicured Man's concern, we: CUT TO: EXT. LONDON STREET - NIGHT A discreet Town Car pulls up out front an understated building in a better West End neighborhood. A driver exits coming around for the Well-Manicured Man who is already exiting, moving to the building. As a LEGEND appears: KENSINGTON, LONDON: 8:01 PM. CUT TO: INT. KENSINGTON BUILDING - NIGHT The Well-Manicured Man is admitted by a Valet. The interior has the well-heeled look of money, or a finely appointed residence that no one lives in. The Valet takes the W.M.M.'s coat. WELL-MANICURED MAN Has Strughold arrived? VALET They're in the library. He leads the W.M.M. down a hall, to: INT. LARGE STATELY LIBRARY - NIGHT A GROUP OF MEN are standing, looking at something on a TV monitor. A surveillance video. They turn when the W.M.M. enters. CAMERA FAVORING A SMALL LEAN MAN with close-cropped hair. He is at once elegant and imposing with eyes that hold you with laser-like acuity. He is CONRAD STRUGHOLD. The others are of various ethnicities, tailored and dignified. This might be a collection of U.N. delegates. Indeed some are. Their business here, however, doesn't represent anyone's interests but their own. As tipped by the attendance of a GROUP ELDER from the U.S. who we've come to know. But, more importantly, by the Cigarette Smoking Man who holds the VCR remote. He pauses the picture. STRUGHOLD We began to worry. Some of us have traveled so far, and you are the last to arrive. WELL-MANICURED MAN I'm sorry. My grandson fell and broke his leg. The non-response to this has the same effect as a reprimand. But the W.M.M. will not apologize or kowtow. STRUGHOLD While we've been made to wait, we've watched surveillance tapes which have raised more concerns. The Well-Manicured Man glances to the TV, sees the frame paused. HIS POV OF TV MONITOR Where Mulder and Scully's faces are seen in a hallway that we recognize as the Bethesda Naval Hospital. RESUME WELL-MANICURED MAN WELL-MANICURED MAN More concerns than that? STRUGHOLD We've been forced to reassess our role in Colonization by new facts of biology which have presented themselves. GROUP ELDER (speaking up) The virus has mutated. WELL-MANICURED MAN On its own? CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN Its effect on the host has changed. The virus no longer just invades the brain as a controlling organism. It's developed a way to modify the host body. WELL-MANICURED MAN Into what? STRUGHOLD A new extraterrestrial biological entity. It takes a moment to sink in. The weight of this fact. WELL-MANICURED MAN My god... STRUGHOLD The geometry of mass infection presents certain conceptual re- evaluations for us. About our place in their Colonization. WELL-MANICURED MAN This isn't Colonization, it's spontaneous repopulation. All our work... if it's true, then they've been using us all along. We've been laboring under a lie! 2ND ELDER It could be an isolated case. WELL-MANICURED MAN How can we know?! STRUGHOLD We're going to tell them what we've found. What we've learned. Turn over a body infected with the gestating organism. WELL-MANICURED MAN In hope of what? Learning that it's true?! That we are nothing more than digestives for the creation of a new race of alien lifeforms?! STRUGHOLD Let me remind you who is the new race. And who is the old. (beat) What could be gained by