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

Cast

Guest Cast

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

Links