Episode Summary

The trust that Mulder and Scully is sorely tested when Mulder begins acting strangely. His aberrant behaviour is compounded when the Lone Gunmen direct him to a hacker who managed to break into some very closely guarded files. So, the Smoking Man quickly takes action while Scully investigates Mulder's abnormalcy.

Part one of three

Episode Details

Cast

Guest Cast

Quotes

[Kenneth Soona unexpectedly gains access to the Defence Department computer system]

Kenneth Soona: You bitch! Beautiful!


Mulder: What are you doing here?

Byers: Can we talk inside?

Mulder: I'm not feeling well. I didn't sleep last night. Really not in the mood for the Three Stooges.

Frohike: I don't think we've been followed.

Mulder: Oh. Who would follow you?

Byers: A Multinational Black Ops unit. Code named Garnet.

Langly: Trained killers. School of the America's alumni.

Mulder: You boys been defacing library books again?

Frohike: They don't want us. They want him. [He hands Mulder a piece of paper]

Mulder: Kenneth Soona.

Langly: We think that's his real name.

Byers: You've heard us refer to him as The Thinker.

Mulder: What did he do?

Byers: Hacked into the Defence Department computer system.

Mulder: Why?

Byers: The Thinker is an anarchist... and a snoop. Whatever he got into has made him a very wanted man. Customs and Immigration are on full alert. Every port of egress is closed.

Mulder: What are you coming to me for?

Byers: In his last communiqué The Thinker named a meeting place and a three hours time window. He asked specifically for you.

Langly: The only problem is, he may already be dead.


[One of Mulder's neighbours has just shot her husband]

Frohike: Weirdness...


Kenneth Soona: I... I don't want you to know my real name. I... I just don't think it's that important that you know.

Mulder: Sounds like a line I used in a bar once.

Kenneth Soona: Look, I'm sorry about the wait, but I've kind of got this Ninja party shaving my butt.

Mulder: Why? What've you got?

Kenneth Soona: Well if I'm correct I got the original defence department's UFO intelligence files. Everything from the 1940s and up.

Mulder: Everything?

Kenneth Soona: Everything. Roswell, MJ-12 and beyond.

Mulder: You've read them?

Kenneth Soona: Not entirely. I downloaded all I could and then I split. I mean, I knew that these guys would be after me.

Mulder: What makes you think they know who you are?

Kenneth Soona: I didn't take any precautions. I mean... I didn't even expect to get inside.

Mulder: You know they always denied that these files even existed. What do you want from me?

Kenneth Soona: I want the truth. And I want you to promise that those rat bastards answer to the people.


Scully: Mulder, Skinner's looking for you.

Mulder: Come in and lock the door.

Scully: Why? What's going on?

Mulder: Are you familiar with the ten commandments, Scully?

Scully: You want me to recite them?

Mulder: Just number four, the one about obeying the Sabbath. The part where god made heaven and earth but didn't bother to tell anybody about his side projects?

Scully: What are you talking about?

Mulder: The biggest lie of all.

Scully: What is this?

Mulder: The holy grail. The original Defence Department files. Hard evidence that the government has known about the existence of extraterrestrials for almost 50 years.

Scully: Where did you get this?

Mulder: Your friendly neighbourhood anarchist. [The files are encrypted] I don't believe this. This is just gibberish. Damn it. I'm so sick of this crap, BS and double talk. I can't believe this.

Scully: Mulder, this may not be gibberish.

Mulder: It's a joke, Scully, it's a bad joke.

Scully: I think it's just encrypted and I think I recognise it. It looks like Navajo. It was used in World War II. My father told me it was the only code the Japanese couldn't break, I... I remember the long strings of consonants.

Mulder: Well, can you find out?

Scully: Well, only a handful of people could decipher it.

Mulder: Then find one of them.

Scully: Mulder, are you okay?

Mulder: Yeah, I just haven't been sleeping.


Mulder: Sir?

Skinner: Agent Mulder, I need to speak with you.

Mulder: About?

Skinner: In my office.

Mulder: Why? Is this another jerk-off assignment where I end up doing the government's dirty work?

Skinner: I think it's about a rumour that you may be in receipt of some sensitive files.

Mulder: I don't know anything about that.

Skinner: Agent Mulder listen. [Mulder turns away and Skinner grabs his shoulder] I'm talking to you — [Mulder hits Skinner and they scuffle in the hall. Several agents rush to break it up, but Skinner easily manages to get Mulder in a headlock]

Skinner: Are we finished, Agent Mulder? Are we done? We're done.


Scully: You wanted to see me, Sir?

Skinner: Yes Agent Scully, please have a seat.

First Senior Agent: Agent Scully, you heard about the incident here, in the hallway yesterday.

Scully: Yes, sir.

First Senior Agent: Do you have any explanation as to Agent Mulder's bizarre behaviour?

Scully: No, sir. Agent Mulder told that me he was having trouble sleeping.

Second Senior Agent: Do you think Agent Mulder confides in you, Agent Scully?

Scully: Of course, he's my partner.

Third Senior Agent: Your partner. Weren't you originally assigned to Agent Mulder to debunk his work?

Scully: Yes, sir. A year and a half ago. I've been writing regular reports stating the validity of Agent Mulder's work on the X-Files.

Third Senior Agent: Would you lie to protect him?

Scully: Am I being accused of lying?

Second Senior Agent: Agent Mulder has been notified of a disciplinary hearing. If there's something we learn at that meeting that you haven't stated here today, you could be subject to the same summary action.

Scully: What action is that?

Skinner: Dismissal without chance of reinstatement.

Scully: Is that all, sir?

Skinner: Yes, Agent Scully, thank you.


Smoking Man: Hello, Bill.

William Mulder: What are you doing here?

Smoking Man: I've come on some pressing business.

William Mulder: We had agreed that you would never...

Smoking Man: That was a long time ago, Bill. There have been some unforeseen events.


William Mulder: No one was supposed to know.

Smoking Man: Who could have predicted the future, Bill? That the computers that you and I only dreamed of would some day be home appliances capable of the most technical espionage.

William Mulder: The files should have been destroyed.

Smoking Man: They should have, but they weren't. Regret is an inevitable consequence of life.

William Mulder: How do you know my son has them?

Smoking Man: The man who stole them has come forward.

William Mulder: Oh, god.

Smoking Man: As always, we maintain plausible denial. The files are only as real as their possible authentication.

William Mulder: My name is in those files.

Smoking Man: The files have been encrypted of course. We have a certain luxury of time. We endeavour to prevent that fact from ever coming to light.

William Mulder: You wouldn't... harm him?

Smoking Man: I've protected him this long haven't I? Your son has been provident in the alliances that he's created. The last thing we need is a martyr for a crusade.

William Mulder: But if he should... learn of my involvement?

Smoking Man: You're your own man Bill. You always have been. But I strongly encourage you in that event... to deny everything. [He gets up to leave] It's good to see you again, Bill. You look well.


Scully: I couldn't find you at work. I was worried about you.

Mulder: I came home. Must be running a fever. Maybe it's the threat of being burned at the stake.

Scully: They called me in today.

Mulder: What did you tell them?

Scully: That nothing was wrong.

Mulder: Well, you told them the truth then.

Scully: Mulder, you opened the door for them, they're just looking for a good reason now.

Mulder: Okay, I'll say I'm sorry.

Scully: Mulder, these files. Who knows you have them?

Mulder: Why?

Scully: Because I had to lie today. And I put my job in jeopardy in order to do so. If they find out about those files...

Mulder: How would they find out?

Scully: Maybe they already know. The question is, is it worth it? Is this cassette worth risking everything?

Mulder: I'll tell you when I find out what's on it. Now just tell me who I can talk to about breaking that code.

Scully: I'm meeting with someone in an hour. I might know something later tonight... I just need some kind of assurance that they're not going to let us hang ourselves with this. That I'm doing the right thing.

Mulder: I'll try to find out. [He tapes an X to the window]

Scully: I need to know one more thing Mulder. Why did you attack Skinner?

Mulder: I've thought about that Scully. I honestly can't say.


Mulder: [answering phone] Mulder.

William Mulder: Fox, this is your father, I need to see you right away.

Mulder: Where are you?

William Mulder: I'm at home. How soon can you be here? Fox, it's very important.


William Mulder: It's... It's so clear now. Simple. It was so complicated then. The choices that needed to be made.

Mulder: What choices? Dad?

William Mulder: You're a smart boy, Fox. You're smarter than I ever was.

Mulder: About what?

William Mulder: Your politics are yours, you have never thrown in. The minute you do that, their doctrines become yours and you can be held responsible.

Mulder: You're talking about your work in the state department.

William Mulder: You're going to learn of things... Fox, you're going to hear the words... and they'll come to make sense to you.

Mulder: What words?

William Mulder: The merchandise. Look I, I've been taking some medication. You'll have to excuse me for a moment. [He goes into the bathroom and opens a cabinet, as the door closes, Krycek is seen behind him. Mulder hears a gunshot and runs into the bathroom]

Mulder: Dad? Dad. Dad [Tyres squeal as a car pulls away outside] Oh, Dad.

William Mulder: Forgive me...


Scully: [answering mobile phone] Hello.

Mulder: My father's dead, Scully.

Scully: Where are you?

Mulder: They shot him... and he's dead.

Scully: Mulder, where are you? Just tell me where you are.

Mulder: I'm on the Vineyard.

Scully: Who shot him, Mulder?

Mulder: I don't know.

Scully: Mulder, were you arguing?

Mulder: I didn't do it, Scully, he was trying to tell me something.

Scully: Mulder, listen to me...

Mulder: You've got to believe me, Scully.

Scully: Mulder, I believe you, just listen to me, you've got to get out of there, you have to leave immediately.

Mulder: I can't leave the crime scene, it'll look like I'm running, make me look guilty.

Scully: Mulder, they're going to suspect you anyway, you've got no ID on the shooter, you, your behaviour has been irrational recently. Mulder, can't you see that everything is pointing directly at you?

Mulder: He was shot with somebody else's weapon.

Scully: Damn it, Mulder, you're an FBI agent, you have access to weapons other than your own.

Mulder: All right. Meet me back at my apartment.

Scully: No. No you can't come home. Someone shot through your window tonight, they almost killed me. They may be trying to kill you.


Scully: [answering mobile phone] Scully.

Mulder: You took my gun. You think I did it don't you?

Scully: I took you gun to run it for ballistics to try and clear you Mulder.

Mulder: Why didn't you ask me?

Scully: You had a temperature of 102 last night, I didn't want to wake you.

Mulder: What, were you afraid I was going to shoot you too?

Scully: Mulder, I'm being called into Skinner's office this afternoon, they're going to want answers and I'd like to have some good ones to give them.

Mulder: So you can clear your conscience and your name? You've been making reports on me since the beginning, Scully, taking your little notes!

Scully: Mulder, you're sick, you're not thinking straight. I'm on your side, you know that.

Mulder: Look, you have my files and you have my gun, don't ask me for my trust.


Albert Hosteen: He's awake.

Scully: Mulder, Mulder it's me. Here drink some of that, you haven't had any water in over 36 hours. Your shoulder's going to be fine. The round went through nice and clean.

Mulder: You shot me!

Scully: Yes, I did. You didn't give me much choice. You were about to kill Krycek.

Mulder: Why'd you shoot me? He's the one.

Scully: If he is, then his weapon is probably the same one that killed your father.

Mulder: What are you talking about?

Scully: If you killed Krycek with that weapon, there would have been no way to prove that you didn't kill your father. I'm sorry about your father, Mulder. I haven't been able to tell you.

Mulder: How'd you know it was Krycek?

Scully: I didn't. I went back to your apartment to pull the slug from the wall, but I noticed an unmarked van delivering soft water and I found this in one of the tanks servicing your building.

Mulder: What is it?

Scully: It's a dialysis filter. It's a device used in the transmission of substances to solution, considering the level of psychosis you were experiencing, it was possibly LSD, amphetamines or some kind of exotic dopamine agonist.

Mulder: Oh my god. There was a murder in my building.

Scully: Well it wasn't an exercise in subtlety. Mulder, these men are quite possibly the same ones who killed your father and who systematically tried to destroy you by turning everyone you could trust against you. I don't think I have to tell you why.

Mulder: I'd gotten too close to the truth. Where are we?

Scully: We're in Farmington, New Mexico.

Mulder: New Mexico?

Scully: We've just driven two days across country, I had to put you out to let the side effects of the psychosis abate. This is Albert Hosteen, he's been translating your files.

Albert Hosteen: You're lucky she's a good shot.

Mulder: Or a bad one.

Scully: Albert was a Navajo code talker during World War II. He helped encode the original government documents.

Mulder: How'd you find him?

Scully: Through a woman in Washington. But he claims that he knew you were coming.

Albert Hosteen: Last week we had an omen.

Scully: Most of these files are written in jargon, but apparently there was an international conspiracy of silence dating back to the 1940s. Albert says that evidence of these secrets are buried on a Navajo reservation not far from here. He says that he'll take you as soon as you are able.

Mulder: What about you?

Scully: I'm afraid you're on your own with this. I didn't show up for a meeting with Skinner day before yesterday and I don't know what the repercussions will be.

Mulder: You've taken a big risk.

Scully: I was certain they would have killed you, Mulder.

Mulder: Thank you. Thank you for taking care of me.

Scully: There's something else. My name is in those files. It appears in the latest entries with Duane Barry's.

Mulder: In what context?

Scully: It's not clear, but it's something to do with a test. I want you to find out Mulder... I need you to.


Mulder: You said you knew I was coming.

Albert Hosteen: In the desert, things find a way to survive. Secrets are like this too. They push their way up through the sands of deception so men can know them. Here, this is my house.

Mulder: But why me?

Albert Hosteen: You are prepared to accept the truth aren't you? To sacrifice yourself to it?

Mulder: I don't understand.

Albert Hosteen: There was a tribe of Indians who lived here more than 600 years ago. Their name was Anasazi, it means the ancient aliens. No evidence of their fate exists. Historians say they disappeared without a trace. They say that because they will not sacrifice themselves to the truth.

Mulder: And what is the truth?

Albert Hosteen: Nothing disappears without a trace.

Mulder: You think they were abducted?

Albert Hosteen: By visitors who come here still.

Mulder: What's buried out there?

Albert Hosteen: Lies. You will see for yourself.


Mulder: [answering mobile phone] Mulder.

Smoking Man: You're a hard man to reach.

Mulder: Not hard enough apparently.

Smoking Man: Where are you?

Mulder: I'm at the Betty Ford Centre, where are you?

Smoking Man: I need to talk to you, Mr Mulder. In person. There are things to explain.

Mulder: I'll save the government the plane fare. I just need to know which government that is.

Smoking Man: Your father may have told you things, Mr Mulder. I should warn you against taking those things at face value.

Mulder: And which things are those?

Smoking Man: He was never an opponent to the project. In fact he authorised it, that's what he couldn't live with.

Mulder: No, he couldn't live with it because you had him killed.

Smoking Man: We weren't involved in that.

Mulder: Listen to me you black-lunged son of a bitch, I'm going to expose you and your project. Your time is over.

Smoking Man: Expose anything and you only expose your father.


Scully: [answering mobile phone] Scully.

Mulder: Yeah, it's me.

Scully: Where are you?

Mulder: Nowhere I ever expected.

Scully: What do you mean?

Mulder: I'm in a boxcar buried inside a quarry. There are bodies everywhere.

Scully: Bodies?

Mulder: Stacked floor to ceiling.

Scully: What happened to them?

Mulder: I don't know.

Scully: Mulder, in these files I found references to experiments that were conducted here in the US by Axis Power scientists who were given amnesty after the war.

Mulder: What kind of experiments?

Scully: Some kind of tests, on humans. But they're referred to as merchandise.

Mulder: But these aren't human, Scully. From the look of it I'd say they were alien.

Scully: Are you sure?

Mulder: I'm pretty damn sure. Wait a sec... This one... has a smallpox vaccination scar.

Scully: Mulder...

Mulder: Oh, my god, Scully, what have they done?


Smoking Man: What's your name, boy?

Stealth Soldier: He's not here.

Smoking Man: Where's Mulder? He's here.

Stealth Soldier: No sir. If he was, he's vanished without a trace.

Smoking Man: Nothing vanishes without a trace. Burn it.

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