Episode Summary
Agents Mulder and Scully investigate the strange death of a computer genius, only to become targets of an unlikely killer capable of the worst kind of torture.
Episode Details
- Writers: William Gibson and Tom Maddox
- Director: Rob Bowman
- Original Broadcast: AU: 06.05.1998 US: 15.02.1998
Cast
- Scully Gillian Anderson
- Mulder David Duchovny
Guest Cast
- Burn Unit Surgeon Lindsay Bourne
- Frohike Tom Braidwood
- Second Paramedic Ted Cole
- Bunny Rob Daprocida
- First Paramedic Steven Griffith
- Langly Dean Haglund
- Byers Bruce Harwood
- Donald Gelman Patrick Keating
- Esther Nairn Kristin Lehman
- Nurse Nancy Kate Luyben
- Harley Tony Sampson
- US Marshall Gerald Boyce Jerry Schram
- US Marshall Charles Figgis Dan Weber
- Jackson Peter Williams
Quotes
Mulder: Charles Figgis, ten year veteran of the US Marshall Service, multiple gunshot wounds, high speed Teflon rounds. His partner, Gerald Boyce, was DOA at Mercy General. Tried to catch a 9mm slug in his teeth.
Scully: Looks like they crashed the wrong party.
Scully: What would they be doing here?
[Drug dealers at the diner]
Mulder: Maybe it was for the pie.
Scully: So why was Gelman in there?
Mulder: I think somebody obviously wanted him dead.
Scully: You think this was a hit on him?
Mulder: Eight unconnected dealers, all at the same place, at the same time, all tipped off by phone, looking for somebody, last call goes to the Marshalls, they arrive, place explodes — Gelmen dies. It's genius.
Scully: Mulder, did you take a look at him? That man was dying, his body is a bag of bones.
Mulder: When you talk about Donald Gelman, you want to kill the brain, not the body.
[Mulder opens Donald Gelman's computer]
Scully: Mulder! That's evidence!
Mulder: Gee, I hope so.
[Mulder removes the CD from the computer and drops in into the car's player. It plays Twilight Time
and strobes all of the vehicle's lights]
Byers: Jobs and Woscniak at Apple, Gates and Allan writing Basic, the Home Brew computer club's first meetings — Gelman was there.
Frohike: Now they're power brokers and billionaires. Back then they were just... inspired nerds.
Frohike: This is a one-off. I've never seen anything like it. Gelman built this?
Mulder: That may be what got him killed.
[They all look at Mulder wide-eyed in shock]
Langly: Heavy casualty.
Frohike: A brother goes down.
[Driving through rows of shipping crates in a dock unloading area]
Mulder: Frohike says this place is really proud of its accurate tracking.
Scully: If not in their computer security...
Mulder: Yeah.
[Loud music is coming from inside Esther Nairn's container]
Mulder: Sounds like somebody's home.
Scully: No more screwing around. We need a name. Your real name.
Esther Nairn: Invisigoth. You want my address? It's T-O-A-S-T.
[A satellite beam destroyed the container she was living in]
Scully: What was your role in all this? Were you the bass player?
Scully: You believe this load of crap?
Mulder: You saw what happened back there, Scully. You saw that container blow.
Scully: She could have rigged an explosive charge. There are no weapons platforms. There is no such Department of Defence satellite.
Mulder: What about Star Wars? Brilliant Pebbles?
Scully: They were never built. We don't even have that kind of technology. I mean, even if an Artificial Intelligence was targeting us with an armed satellite, why isn't it doing it right now?
Esther Nairn: Because it doesn't know where we are. If I so much as make a phone call right now, it would nuke us right where we're standing.
Scully: How?
Esther Nairn: It recognises my voice, monitors all communication. I haven't used a phone in a month.
Mulder: Then how did it know to target the container?
Esther Nairn: All I can think is that some idiot got on Donald's computer and tried to contact me over the Net.
Esther Nairn: Are these the brain donors that nearly got us incinerated?
[The Lone Gunmen]
Mulder: Don't let their looks fool you.
Scully: Your name is Esther Nairn?
Frohike: She is so hot!
Esther Nairn: Are you going to take off these cuffs or do I have to do this with my tongue?
Mulder: You don't want to take a vote.
Esther Nairn: Give me the kill switch?
Scully: Aren't you worried it's going to track you... Esther? Hunt you down with another particle beam?
Esther Nairn: Not unless somebody else makes another bone-headed Internet connection...
[The Lone Gunmen look abashed]
Scully: Why didn't it just zap him too?
Esther Nairn: Its creator? No, it needed to impress Donald. Particle beam would have been overkill.
Scully: Unlike a dozen crack dealers?
Esther Nairn: No, you see, that's its sense of humour!
Mulder: Oh, all right, but if you load the kill switch, what's to stop it from playing another funny joke on us?
Scully: Why don't you just call him...?
[Everyone in the room turns to stare at Scully] Oh... right. Death from above.
[The Lone Gunmen need to track down a T3 connection that the AI is using, but the government keeps the records a secret]
Esther Nairn: Gee. You guys know anyone that works for the government?
[Everyone in the room turns to stare at Mulder]
[Esther Nairn appears out of nowhere and levels Scully's own gun at her]
Esther Nairn: Buenos diaz, muchacha.
Mulder: [on mobile phone] Scully?
Scully: Yep.
Mulder: Yeah, I found something down in Fairfax County. A derelict chicken farm with a T3 connection.
[Mulder is caught in the AI's virtual reality world of a 1940s hospital]
Mulder: Call my doctor. You have to call my doctor. Call Doctor Scully.
[Mulder and Scully debate whether Esther Nairn is dead or in the AI's world, while the Lone Gunmen get a strange message on their computer]
BITE ME