'The Beginning' Story Code '#6X01' by Chris Carter

SCENE 1 - DESERT

(Shot of bright sunlight over the desert. Two men in shirts and ties run back to a white van with DNA double helix ROUSH TECHNOLOGIES logo on the side. They get in the van joining about six other men. CARPOOL MAN, not the driver, but probably the bossy one who everyone hates, waves them on)

CARPOOL MAN:
Hurry up! Uh, next time, maybe take a leak before we leave work. Okay, Dipwads?

MAN WHO PEED 1:
(Giving him the finger - off-screen) Can you read sign language, Guy?

CARPOOL MAN:
Is that your IQ or the number of Dipwads your mother had?


SCENE 2 - PHOENIX ARIZONA ,5:46 PM

(The van continues on. Later another man sitting beside CARPOOL MAN, SANDY, is shivering uncontrollably)

CARPOOL MAN:
Not you, too, Sandy? Sorry, man. You got to hold it till you get home.

(SANDY is non-responsive, sweating and shaking. Van pulls up in front of a suburban house. SANDY, still shivering gets out of the van)

CARPOOL MAN:
See you tomorrow, Sandy.

(Van drives off. SANDY goes inside his house and goes immediately to the thermostat which reads 60 degrees. He raises the temperature to the highest setting, then goes into the living room and sits on the couch. He appears to be freezing cold. He begins gasping in pain, then raises his hand up to look at it. The skin and tissue is almost completely transparent. He begins convulsing weakly)


SCENE 3 - 7:04 AM

(Next morning, paper boy is delivering as the van arrives at SANDY's house. They blow the horn. When there is no response, CARPOOL MAN knocks on SANDY's door. No answer. There are lots of pictures of SANDY, but all as a scientist. No family looking pictures. CARPOOL MAN enters the unlocked house and reacts to the sweltering heat)

CARPOOL MAN:
Hey, Sandy, chop chop.

(Sees thermostat. [In CLOSED CAPTIONING he says: It's an oven in here. ])

CARPOOL MAN:
Hey, Sandman? Hey … Hot Dog, come on.

(Sees SANDY sitting on the couch and claps his hands to get his attention)

CARPOOL MAN:
Carpe Diem.

(CARPOOL MAN comes closer to the body and stares down at the gaping bloody hole in the middle of SANDY's chest. He backs up in fear, then hears a sound from the hall. A figure looks out at him. CUT TO: Guys in van waiting. Back inside the house CARPOOL MAN screams as the figure leaps out at him)

CARPOOL MAN:
Help!

(He tries to get to the door, but covered in blood as he now is, he slips and is unable to turn the doorknob. The unseen figure jerks him back out of camera range and he continues to scream)


OPENING TITLES


SCENE 4 - OFFICE

(Mulder, sitting in a small dark office using an electronic magnifier and his computer, is laboriously piecing together fragments of burned paper. Vaguely, we see the words, ‘FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION’. Fade to: Mulder addressing the OPR committee in conference room. Several A.D.s are present)

MULDER:
Using a process that restores moisture to the documents and by a reassembling of fragments I should be able to recover a large percentage of the case material that was destroyed in my office fire several months ago... And while this process will be tedious and ongoing what I've already recovered will allow Agent Scully and I to begin work on the X-Files immediately.

(MULDER turns as SCULLY enters the room. She looks uncomfortable as she sits beside MULDER. A.D. MASLIN, dark-haired no nonsense woman looks at the file in front of her)

A.D. MASLIN:
Agent Mulder... Agent Mulder, I'm reading here a very pie-in-the-sky report about global domination plans by vicious, long-clawed spacelings? Is there going to be data to back this vague, omnibus account?

MULDER:
Yes.

A.D. #1:
I see your renowned arrogance has been left quite intact. You're asking us to accept this report of a spaceship buried under polar ice and your death-defying escape from it?

MULDER:
The ice had become superheated by the ship as it rose beneath us, causing the ice to collapse.

A.D. #1:
This entire story is essentially unintelligible and, therefore, encourages unintelligible analysis.

MULDER:
Well, I was hoping that you'd look more closely at the reports of mine and Agent Scully's medical conditions.

A.D. #2:
These spacelings, Agent Mulder... They weren't something I saw in Men in Black? ER looks at him) The response must be equal to the threat.

FIRST ELDER:
Can you dispose of this problem?

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN:
Yes.


SCENE 6 - X-FILES OFFICE

(Mulder is working again on piecing together the burned files in his new office. SKINNER enters)

SKINNER:
You're wasting your time.

MULDER:
You need evidence to justify our reassignment. I've just got to bring it back from the ashes.

SKINNER:
Nothing you might restore is going to help you, Agent Mulder. It's over and done. Your reassignment on the X-Files has been denied.

MULDER:
(Angry) How can it be denied? We're the only reason the X-Files were reopened in the first place. There's no other reason to reopen them.

SKINNER:
I'm not arguing...

MULDER:
Well, then, who is?

SKINNER:
When will you accept that no amount of pressure or reason will bring to heel a conspiracy whose members walk these halls with absolute impunity?

MULDER:
Was there a vote?

(SKINNER pauses)

SKINNER:
Unanimous against.

(SKINNER looks at MULDER apologetically. Sound of motor winding down as Mulder turns off the computer. He gathers up a box full of files in individual plastic bags and heads for the door. SKINNER still stands in the way. )

MULDER:
(Coldly) Excuse me.

SKINNER:
(Reluctantly stepping aside) I'm no help to you outside the majority, Agent Mulder.

MULDER:
Inside or out, I don't see that there's a damn thing you can do for me.

SKINNER:
You can break their backs, Agent Mulder, with the proof about this virus. Proof that what you say it does is true.

MULDER:
I don't have that proof just yet.

SKINNER:
Maybe I can give it to you. There's a file folder. It's on the desk in your old office.

(Short time later. Mulder enters his old office. It has been cleaned. Large house plant by the door. There is nothing on the walls, just a plain desk with a manila folder sitting on it. Mulder sets his box of files on the edge of the desk and opens the folder. Inside is the same picture of SANDY from the teaser, chest gaping open. Unseen by Mulder, AGENT SPENDER enters the office)

SPENDER:
Is that something for me? Agent Mulder?

MULDER:
(Setting the file down) Yeah, if you're doing my filing.

SPENDER:
Your filing?

MULDER:
What are you doing in my office, Agent Spender?

SPENDER:
I think there's been a miscommunication. I think someone failed to inform you.

MULDER:
If you're about to tell me that you were sent down here to work on the X-Files I think the failure is simple judgment. I don't care what patronage got you this job. I put my life in here. I'm not going to let some brown-nose just slide in and take it all away from me.

SPENDER:
I don't believe in your work, in the paranormal mumbo jumbo. So, don't presume I'm the one taking your place.

MULDER:
No? Who is?

(SPENDER doesn't answer. DIANA FOWLEY enters the office behind SPENDER)

FOWLEY:
Fox.

MULDER:
(Giving a weak thumbs-up) Diana, back on your feet. (Picks up his box of files and heads out the door) I guess that's the only way you could stab me in the back.

(FOWLEY and SPENDER look at one another, then head toward the back of the office to work. We see that the new file MULDER was looking at is now missing from the desk)


SCENE 7 - RESEARCH FACILITY

(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN walks down a hall and looks into an operating room. In the glow of the red ‘No Smoking’ sign, he lights a cigarette and enters the room. Inside, a group of doctors are working on a patient's head. The doctors look up in surprise at CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN, but no one challenges him)

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN:
I need the patient bandaged and dressed. We'll be taking a trip.

DOCTOR:
You want him what?

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN:
I'm sure I don't need to repeat myself. Please get the boy ready.

DOCTOR:
But doing that now could kill him.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN:
Let me put it to you simply: it's him or it's us.

(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN exits. Pan down to show that the patient is GIBSON PRAISE, very much awake and silently unhappy as the doctors work on him. His head, crisscrossed with open incisions, is in a restraint, his hair is completely shaved off allowing the doctors access to his brain)


SCENE 8 - PHOENIX, ARIZONA,4:58 PM

(MULDER and SCULLY enter SANDY's house. The bodies have been removed, but it is still intact as a crime scene. MULDER walks straight in. SCULLY waits by the door)

SCULLY:
Mulder, I just want to remind you that by not informing local PD we are in technical violation of state laws prohibiting contamination of a crime scene. (She realises MULDER is not listening. Under her breath) Why do I bother?

(She closes door and notes the bloody and now scratched and broken doorknob area)

MULDER:
(From the hall) Scully, come here and take a look at this. Ever seen anything like this?

(On the wall in the hall near the door are deep groove marks running vertically about three feet)

SCULLY:
What are they?

MULDER:
According to the investigator's notes in the file they're from an attack by a Native American man on a scientist.

SCULLY:
With what kind of weapon?

MULDER:
It says in the file he used his bare hands.

(SCULLY looks the floor which has more deep scoring marks)

SCULLY:
His bare hands? Mulder, this is hardwood.

MULDER:
Uh-huh.

SCULLY:
This kind of gouging didn't happen with anybody's bare hands. Not without the use of some kind of an implement. What is that?

(From one of the grooves in the wall MULDER removes a small dark object and holds it up for inspection)

MULDER:
Aw. Somebody broke a nail.

SCULLY:
Is it animal?

MULDER:
It ain't RuPaul. (Reading) The body of the other victim was found here on the sofa his viscera torn from his torso. But the M.E.’s report says that the times of death were hours apart which means that this victim was dead hours before the second attack.

SCULLY:
So the attacker never left.

MULDER:
There wasn't an attack. I think it was celebrating its birthday. The first victim must have gotten infected with the virus somehow. Right here on the sofa was where the creature was born.

SCULLY:
(Warning him) Mulder...

MULDER:
That would account for the violence done to the man's torso. The virus producing an extraterrestrial biological entity that ripped away his chest as it birthed itself right here. Look.

(He shows her the picture in the file)

SCULLY:
Mulder, given the scenario that you just described, the rate of gestation would have been less than a day. It would have been about twelve hours, in fact. Okay, forgive the scientific argument just for a moment but you're saying this was done by something newborn?

MULDER:
That's exactly what I'm saying.

[In CLOSED CAPTIONING only:

SCULLY:
Mulder, there isn't anything in the animal kingdom capable of this ferocity. ]

(Outside the house, a car pulls up. MULDER and SCULLY don't see it. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN and GIBSON whose head is now bandaged, blood seeping through, sit in the back seat)

GIBSON:
It was here... But it's gone now.

DRIVER THUG GUY:
I should take a look.

GIBSON:
(Emphatically, nervous, perhaps protecting MULDER and SCULLY inside) It's not here. Why don't you believe me when you're so afraid of me?

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN:
I'm not afraid of you.

GIBSON:
You think I can destroy you for what I know, because of what I am. You're thinking you could've destroyed me, too and if I don't find this creature, you will.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN:
(To DRIVER THUG GUY) He'll find it.

(DRIVER THUG GUY drives away. Back inside the house. MULDER and SCULLY are almost out of the door)

MULDER:
I don't see there's any argument here. You admit yourself that the crime report is a lie.

SCULLY:
Mulder, that doesn't mean that I can just accept your theory.

(They exit the house just as the car leaves)

MULDER:
What does it take? For this thing to come up and bite you on the ass? I saw these creatures. I saw them burst to life. You would've seen them, too but you were infected with that virus. You were passed out over my shoulder.

SCULLY:
Mulder, I know what you did. I know what happened to me but without ignoring the science, I can't... Listen, Mulder … (Close up of her hand grasping his) You told me that my science kept you honest. That it made you question your assumptions. That by it, I'd made you a whole person. If I change now... It wouldn't be right... or honest.

MULDER:
I'm talking about extraterrestrial life alive on this planet in our lifetime. Forces that dwarf and precede all human history. I'm sorry, Scully, but this time your science is wrong. (Walks away from her)


SCENE 9 - ROLLING HILLS NUCLEAR POWER PLANT,60 MILES EAST OF PHOENIX

(Inside the plant, an engineer, HOMER, is sitting in front of the systems monitors. He is asleep. ‘Put On A Happy Face’ is playing on a cheap radio. Another engineer enters and startles HOMER)

ENGINEER #1:
Wake up, Homer.

HOMER:
I was awake. I was just thinking.

ENGINEER #1:
Yeah, that would be a first. You're ten minutes late on your systems check.

HOMER:
If there was a problem, we would have heard about it. Like Arizona's going to go without air conditioning for ten minutes.

ENGINEER #1:
Hey, Homer, got something here in the bleed cooling system. See that? Five degrees off. Might be... Might be in the core reactor.

HOMER:
No, no, no. It's got to be a monitoring glitch.

ENGINEER #1:
Phone could start ringing any minute. You might want to check it out.

HOMER:
All right.

(HOMER turns off radio then singing to himself goes into the plant to investigate. He hears a sound behind some creepy red-lit pipes and sees a claw-like hand moving around one of the pipes. He gingerly reaches out with a wrench to touch it, but suddenly the hand reaches out and grabs HOMER's hand. HOMER begins screaming as the camera pans back down the hall)


SCENE 10 - EXT. POWER PLANT

(Later. Lots of police cars and crime scene tape. MULDER and SCULLY pull up in a lovely red sedan, SCULLY driving. They get out of the car and head for the building. They are confronted by SPENDER who is wearing an FBI jacket)

SPENDER:
Authorized officers and personnel only. This is a closed area.

MULDER:
What happened here?

SPENDER:
You'll have to leave, Agent Mulder..

SCULLY:
We received a call that a man was killed here.

SPENDER:
A call from whom? Assistant Director Skinner?

MULDER:
Let us through.

SPENDER:
You're unauthorised to be here. You've ignored your superiors and come here without cause or permission. I'm going to get you censured for this and demand a review of AD Skinner's actions.

(MULDER sees FOWLEY nearby, also in FBI gear)

MULDER:
Diana, let us in here.

FOWLEY:
I can't. This facility has been sealed off by the NRC.

MULDER:
A man was murdered.

FOWLEY:
A workman was killed in an accident in a reactor where there was a systems failure.

MULDER:
Then why are you here?

FOWLEY:
We were called because of a possible connection to two previous deaths. From a case file that was stolen from our office.

MULDER:
There is a connection.

SCULLY:
(Taking his arm) Let's get out of here, Mulder.

MULDER:
I hope you know what you're doing, Diana. I hope you know whose errand you're running.

FOWLEY:
I think I do.

(MULDER lets SCULLY lead him back to their car)

SCULLY:
You weren't getting anywhere, Mulder. It was only making it worse.

MULDER:
It's here, Scully, and they know it.

SCULLY:
How do they know? Mulder, how do you know?

(MULDER glances in the back seat and turns back to SCULLY)

MULDER:
Give me the keys and get in the car.

(SCULLY hands him the keys and as MULDER runs around to the driver's side she slips into the backseat where GIBSON is lying down. She gently takes his bloody bandaged head into her lap)

SCULLY:
Oh, my God. Gibson. Sorry, sweetie. Gibson? Gibson? Gibson, sweetheart? Oh, God.

(GIBSON does not respond)


SCENE 11 - CAMELBACK VIEW MOTEL, 7:52 PM

(Later that evening in SCULLY's hotel room. SCULLY sits beside GIBSON who is lying on the bed propped up with pillows. She gently cuts away the bandage. Just as she removes the final wrappings, MULDER enters and joins them on the bed. They look at the stitches covering GIBSON's head. The wounds are red and inflamed)

GIBSON:
(Knowing what they are thinking) Frankenstein? Really?

SCULLY:
(Looking down) No. No, you've been worked on by some good doctors. They did a fine job with your stitches.

GIBSON:
You think they were butchers.

MULDER:
They were butchers.

SCULLY:
They should have changed your bandages, Gibson. You've got some swelling and some infection and you've got a fever. Why did they do this to you?

GIBSON:
'Cause I can read people's minds.

MULDER:
How did you get in our car?

GIBSON:
When they weren't looking, I snuck away. It's easy when you know what they're thinking.

MULDER:
Why are you here?

GIBSON:
They were using me 'cause I can communicate with it.

SCULLY:
Communicate with what?

GIBSON:
You already know. You just don't want to believe it.

(MULDER and SCULLY glance at each other, then go into a corner of the room and speak quietly)

MULDER:
The kid could find this thing.

SCULLY:
Mulder, this kid belongs in a hospital.

MULDER:
We could get his fever down.

SCULLY:
Mulder, you can't just take him on some snipe hunt. He's in no condition. He belongs in a bed under constant medical care. Listen to me. What I'm saying is in your best interest, okay? We have to take every precaution. We have to make every effort to ensure that nothing happens to this boy because whatever he is, whatever gives him the ability to do what he does, he's your scientific evidence. It's just like we said. He could be the key to everything in the X-Files.

MULDER:
We don't have the X-Files.

SCULLY:
No, but what if he could corroborate everything that you're saying? This boy could be our last, best chance.

(They look over at GIBSON who watches them)

(Later, MULDER carries GIBSON out of the room to the car. SCULLY is already in the driver's seat. Just as MULDER places the boy in the back seat, a car drives up, tires squealing. The bright headlights hide the driver)

FOWLEY:
(From the car) Agent Mulder. Fox, I'm going to get out of the car. I'm alone, all right?

(MULDER closes the passenger door and goes over to FOWLEY's car. FOWLEY gets out of the car. SCULLY watches, but can't hear)

MULDER:
(Not wanting to deal with her) Diana, what are you doing here?

FOWLEY:
I couldn't say anything to you earlier. I was given this assignment, Fox, okay? They offered it to me. I took the chance...

MULDER:
I'm listening.

FOWLEY:
...to make sure someone served your interests. Someone who believes in the work. Hey, you and I found the X-Files together. Don't forget that.

MULDER:
Who sent you?

FOWLEY:
I'm here on my own.

MULDER:
Why? To convince me of your noble intentions?

FOWLEY:
Listen to me. That thing is somewhere inside the Number Four reactor building. Now, we can let them find it and destroy it or go find it ourselves. You need proof, Fox. You're so close. Why can't you see that?

(MULDER goes back to SCULLY and opens passenger door)

SCULLY:
Mulder, what's going on?

MULDER:
You take Gibson.

SCULLY:
Where are you going?

MULDER:
To find this thing.

(MULDER closes the door and goes back to FOWLEY's car)


SCENE 12 - FOWLEY’S CAR

FOWLEY:
Agent Spender and I got a call. We were on a plane within an hour in constant contact.

MULDER:
With who?

FOWLEY:
The nuclear regulatory people. NRC was first on the scene. They found the victim but by the time we got there it had been removed. We never saw the body.

MULDER:
Who removed it?

FOWLEY:
I don't know. Couldn't get a straight answer. Then the NRC sealed off the Number Four reactor due to a problem with the heat transfer systems. I believe that was legitimate.

MULDER:
Maybe that's why it's there. It wants heat. It needs heat. This thing gestated abnormally fast. What if heat activates it? It could spur on the virus and the rapid development of the entity. But it's still seeking heat. Why?

FOWLEY:
What if it's still developing? You're not under the impression what we're looking for makes sense in any conventional way?

(Not what MULDER is used to hearing)

MULDER:
No.


SCENE 13 - PHOENIX SAMARITAN MEDICAL CENTER

(Inside the hospital, GIBSON is being wheeled on a gurney. SCULLY walks right beside him)

SCULLY:
You're going to be fine, Gibson. You're going to be okay.

ORDERLY:
Let's get a bed ready.

GIBSON:
(To SCULLY) You're going to run more tests.

SCULLY:
We're going to get you well.

GIBSON:
You say that, but you're going to run more tests just like the other doctors.

SCULLY:
(Guilty and sorry) We have to run some more tests, Gibson.

GIBSON:
You want to make me well but you're just thinking about yourself and what you can learn from me.

(They wheel him away from her to a bed and lift him onto it)

SCULLY:
You're a very special boy, Gibson. You know that yourself.

GIBSON:
(Resigned, accusingly) I'm a very special lab rat.

(ORDERLY pulls the curtain between GIBSON and SCULLY)


SCENE 14 - 11:42 PM

(Inside the nuclear plant, MULDER and FOWLEY are running, searching near where HOMER was attacked)

FOWLEY:
According to what little we could gather the victim's body was found near here.

MULDER:
It's hot in here.

FOWLEY:
We're right above the core reactor. This is part of the heat transfer cooling system.

(MULDER steps in a gooey puddle. They kneel down and he dips his fingers in it)

FOWLEY:
Looks organic.

MULDER:
Maybe somebody's got the flu.

(They follow the trail of slime deeper into the pipes. MULDER sees HOMER's dropped wrench and sees scratch marks on the pipes. He reaches in just like HOMER did, then gasps and jerks his hand back quickly. Wet squishy sound)

FOWLEY:
What? What is it?

MULDER:
There's something in there.

(MULDER reaches back in and drags out perhaps a ten-pound blob of tissue. It drops to the floor and he kneels down to look at it closely. MULDER's cell phone ringing scares them both and he jumps back up)

(SCULLY, phone in hand, is looking at GIBSON's chart in the hospital)

MULDER:
(On phone) Yeah.

SCULLY:
(On phone) Mulder, I found something. I found something you're not going to believe.

MULDER:
(On phone) Ditto.

SCULLY:
(On phone) We did blood tests on Gibson and, Mulder, there's evidence of the virus in his system.

MULDER:
(On phone) The same virus you were exposed to?

SCULLY:
(On phone) I'm almost positive.

MULDER:
(On phone) What does that mean, Scully?

SCULLY:
(On phone) I don't know … I don't know, but I think we're on to something. We're on to something huge-- a link.

MULDER:
(On phone) I'll call that bet and raise you.

SCULLY:
(On phone) What?

MULDER:
(On phone) Never mind. Just take care of Gibson.

(CUT TO: GIBSON's curtained off bed. He looks up as the curtain is pulled back by DRIVER THUG GUY)


SCENE 15 - HOSPITAL

(SCULLY goes back into see GIBSON, but the bed is empty. She turns to the large staff milling about)

SCULLY:
There was a little boy in that room and he's gone. Does anybody know what happened to that little boy? His name is Gibson Praise. He was just in that room. Does anybody know what the hell is going on?!

PHOENIX DOCTOR:
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's just calm down.

SCULLY:
That little boy that I brought in is missing.

PHOENIX DOCTOR:
He can't be missing. He should still be in his bed.

SCULLY:
He's not here!

(Cut to: Ambulance headed toward the power plant. DRIVER THUG GUY driving, GIBSON lying in the back)


SCENE 16 - PLANT

(Inside the plant. MULDER and FOWLEY are still sneaking around. They see DRIVER THUG GUY and GIBSON walking above them, also searching. MULDER and FOWLEY circle around to follow the other two. GIBSON and DRIVER THUG GUY enter a room above the central core. There are lots of pipes rising out of the superheated water of the tank)

GIBSON:
It's here.

DRIVER THUG:
Where?

GIBSON:
Somewhere.

(They descend some stairs to a lower level of the room. MULDER sees them through a door window at this level and begins pounding on the locked door and yelling)

MULDER:
Open the door, you son of a bitch! Open the door! Open it! Open it! Open the door, you...

FOWLEY:
Fox! I'm going to go see if there's some other way in.

(FOWLEY runs off. MULDER keeps pounding on the door)

MULDER:
Open it! Open the door!

(Inside the room, GIBSON and DRIVER THUG GUY see the creature)

GIBSON:
I told you it was here.

(Creature leaps out and attacks DRIVER THUG GUY and begins slamming his head against the door window spreading blood and .. other things ... all over the glass. MULDER tries to see GIBSON through the now bloody glass. He sees GIBSON and the creature looking at each other)

MULDER:
Gibson! Gibson! Gibson!

(Alarm begins clanging. Led by FOWLEY a group of armed men come running up to MULDER)

GUARD:
There he is!

(FOWLEY pulls out her gun and holds it on MULDER. MULDER looks at her, then turns back to the bloody door)

MULDER:
Gibson! Gibson! Gibson! Gibson!

(No sign of GIBSON. Just the body of the dead DRIVER THUG GUY)


SCENE 17 - OPR CONFERENCE ROOM

(MULDER and SCULLY sit front and centre. FOWLEY sits at the back of the room. SKINNER's chair is empty)

A.D. MASLIN:
As I said and as I am forced to reiterate, Agent Mulder, the FBI is not here for vendettas or for the grinding of personal axes. Now, this holds not just for you but for everyone at the Bureau. You force us to put a point on this. To make some hard changes. You and Agent Scully will cease all material association with the X-Files. Refusal to do so will end in immediate dismissal. A probationary period will be set. You will now report to Assistant Director Kersh.

(Focus on AD KERSH, a very stern-looking older African-American man. SCULLY looks over at MULDER. MULDER says nothing)


SCENE 18 - X-FILES OFFICE

SPENDER:
You're not supposed to come here. It's what was agreed to. It's the deal you made.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN:
I had to congratulate you. Commend how you handled things. How you handled Mulder.

SPENDER:
I did what I was asked.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN:
You did well, son. He's on very thin ice now, you know?

SPENDER:
Mulder will be back. As long as he lives, he won't give up.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN:
Well, there's solutions, of course. Simple but extreme solutions. I've used these methods. They have their place. But not here.

SPENDER:
You've killed men?

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN:
You can kill a man but you can't kill what he stands for... Not unless you first break his spirit. That's a beautiful thing to see.


SCENE 19 - OFFICE

(MULDER is in his new office again working on the burned files. The door opens. He turns quickly to see who it is, then relaxes and goes back to work)

MULDER:
It would help if you'd shut the door. It would make it harder for them to see that I'm totally disregarding everything I was told.

SCULLY:
(Closing the door) Everything WE were told, Mulder.

MULDER:
They can't take away the X-Files, Scully. They tried.

SCULLY:
You know, Agent Fowley's report to OPR painted the facts in an interesting way. I hope you haven't been betrayed.

MULDER:
(Not looking at her) Agent Fowley's report was a means to an end. Trying to protect the work. Protect the X-Files.

SCULLY:
Mulder, Agent Fowley's report states that the man you saw attacked was bludgeoned by an unknown subject. She makes no mention of a little boy who as it happens, is nowhere to be found. It would seem that her report protects everything but you.

MULDER:
Agent Fowley took me to that plant at great risk to herself where I saw something that you refuse to believe in. Saw it again, Scully. And though it may not say it in her report, Diana saw it, too. And no matter what you think she's certainly not going to go around saying that just because science can't prove it isn't true.

SCULLY:
I don't doubt what you saw, Mulder. I don't doubt you. I'm willing to believe, but not in a lie and not in the opposite of what I can prove. It comes down to a matter of trust. (He looks up at her) I guess it always has.

MULDER:
You asking me to make a choice?

SCULLY:
I'm asking you to trust my judgment. To trust me.

(She hands a folder out to him)

MULDER:
I can't accept that. Not if it refutes what I know to be true.

SCULLY:
Mulder, these are test results. DNA from the claw nail we found matching exactly the DNA from the virus you believe is extraterrestrial.

(MULDER takes the folder and looks at the contents)

MULDER:
That's the connection.

SCULLY:
Which matches exactly DNA that was found in Gibson Praise.

MULDER:
Wait a minute. I don't understand. You're saying that Gibson Praise is infected with the virus?

SCULLY:
No. It's a part of his DNA. In fact, it's a part of all of our DNA. It's called a genetic remnant. It's inactive junk DNA. Except in Gibson it's turned on.

MULDER:
So if that were true, that would mean that Gibson is in some part extraterrestrial.

SCULLY:
It would mean that all of us are.


SCENE 20 - POWER PLANT

(Back at the power plant camera pans into the room where we last saw GIBSON. He is still there, peeping out from behind some pipes. Then we go down into the superheated water inside the reactor. At the very bottom is the creature. As we watch, the skin on its four fingered arms and on its very animalistic alien head sloughs off. Our last view is of a five fingered much more human looking creature. Very small with a large head and large eyes. It looks very much like the figures that Scully saw at the beginning of Season Three inside the Strughold mine…)

[THE END]



David Duchovny (Special Agent Fox Mulder), Gillian Anderson (Special Agent Dana Scully), William B. Davis (Smoking Man), Chris Owens (Agent Jeffrey Spender), Jackens Pickens Jr. (Alvin Kersh), Mitch Pileggi (A.D Skinner), Mimi Rogers (Diana Fowley) , Wayne Alexander (Ass.Director Arnold), Alan Henry Brown (Second Carpool Man), Scott Eberlein (Black-haired man), Jeff Gulka (Gibson Praise), Wendie Malick (Ass.Director Maslin), Benito Martinez (Orderly), Ralph Meyering Jr. (Surgeon), Rick Millikan (Sandy), George Murdock (Second Elder), Christopher Neiman (First Carpool Man), Kim Robillard (Homer), Arthur Taxier (Ass.Director Bart), Don S Williams (First Elder), Wayne Thomas Yorke (First Workman)

Directed by Kim Manners

TX:
US TX - 8th November 1998

Notes:
*Featuring Special Agent Fox 'Spooky' Mulder, Special Agent Dana Scully and A.D. Walter Skinner

*Kersh, Mulder and Scully's new boss - named after Doctor Kersh and Anton Kersh, two characters from ‘Vampire Circus’, one of Chris Carter's favourite movies

* ‘Homer’, sleeping at the helm of the nuclear power plant - a reference to Homer Simpson at work

*Sandy, the ill-fated Roush employee - played by casting director Rick Millikan

*A.D. Maslin - named after the ‘New York Times’ film critic Jane Maslin, who reviewed the ‘X-Files’ movie

*A.D. Bart - named after ‘Variety’ critic Peter Bart, who also reviewed the ‘X-Files’ movie