The X-Files - 2.

2.16 Colony

(A mist surrounds the sky. Mulder talks over the scene.)

MULDER: I have lived with a fragile faith built on the ether of vague memories from an experience that I can neither prove nor explain. When I was twelve, my sister was taken from me, taken from our home by a force that I came to believe was extraterrestrial.

(A light shines down from the mist.)

This belief sustained me, fueling a quest for truths that were as elusive as the memory itself. To believe as passionately as I did was not without sacrifice, but I always accepted the risks... to my career, my reputation, my relationships... to life itself...

(A whirring sound grows louder as the light grows brighter. The light is coming from a helicopter. A man waves the helicopter down towards the landing pad as an army ambulance pulls up, sirens blaring. The back doors open up and men file out.)

MAN: Let's move out!

(The men scream to each other and a few take Mulder out of the helicopter. He is in some kind of bodybag on a metal stretcher. They run in with a nurse who is carrying an IV.)

NURSE: We need a frostbite bay, stat!

(They run into the ER.)

DOCTOR: All right, let's get ready, please!

(The medical officials put an oxygen mask on him and cut off his clothes. Beeping and talking can be heard.)

Basal temp's eighty-six degrees.

NURSE: Right eye dilated.

(She pulls up the other eyelid and shines a flashlight into his other eye.)

Left eye dilated.

DOCTOR: All right, people, let's get him into that tub or we're going to lose him.

(The nurse looks back at his pulse.)

On three... one, two, three...

(The doctor and some other people lift Mulder up. Scully runs in through the outside doors and is stopped by a security guard.)

SECURITY GUARD #1: Hold it...

SCULLY: An Agent Mulder was brought here tonight?

SECURITY GUARD #1: This is an authorized area, military personnel only.

SCULLY: I'm a federal agent!

(She tries to push past them but they stop her.)

SECURITY GUARD #2: Ma'am!

SECURITY GUARD #1: Hold on, you're not going anywhere until we can see some I.D.

SCULLY: There's no time for this.

(She shows her badge to both of them.)

A man is dying.

(Mulder is put him into a frostbite tank. The warm water covers most of his body. He talks over the scene.)

MULDER: What happened to me out on the ice has justified every belief. If I should die now, it would be with the certainty that my faith has been righteous. And if, through death, larger mysteries are revealed, I will have already learned the answer to the question that has driven me here... that there is intelligent life in the universe other than our own... that they are here among us... and that they have begun to colonize.

(Scully bursts into the emergency room. The people are talking in the background. Scully looks at Mulder and holds up her badge.)

SCULLY: I'm Dana Scully, I'm Agent Mulder's partner. What are his vitals?

(The doctor walks over to her.)

DOCTOR: He's suffering from extreme hypothermia.

SCULLY: No... you've got to get him out of the tub.

DOCTOR: He's dying, he's lost all his body heat.

SCULLY: You've got to listen to me! If you keep him in there, you're going to kill him! The cold is the only thing that's keeping him alive.

(Mulder flatlines.)

NURSE: His heart stopped!

DOCTOR: Give me one amp of epinephrine in a cannula!

<-RESEARCH VESSEL ALTA; BEAUFORT SEA, ARCTIC CIRCLE; TWO WEEKS EARLIER->

(The vessel moves along past icebergs jutting out of the water. A man climbs down from the upper look-out deck and opens up the door. The captain walks out.)

OFFICER: You got to see this captain, we got a UFO or something buzzing us.

(The captain puts on his hat and goes to the ladder.)

Right up here.

(The captain climbs up the ladder to the deck. The man follows. Two men are standing with binoculars. A circular light is hovering in the distance.)

It's been just hovering up there for about twenty minutes.

CAPTAIN: Could be a helicopter.

OFFICER: Not the way it flew over us.

(The man to their left stops looking through the binoculars.)

MAN: It's coming at us again.

(The light grows larger and races by the side of the ship.)

OFFICER: It's going to crash...

(They watch as the light crashes into a distant iceberg, exploding in a fireball.)

CAPTAIN: Reverse engines!

DECKHAND: Reverse!

CAPTAIN: We're going after it.

<-WOMAN'S CARE FAMILY SERVICES AND CLINIC; SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA->

(A doctor, Landon Prince walks down the hallway towards the lounge.)

WOMAN: Thank you very much.

NURSE: You're welcome.

(He walks into the lounge and pours himself a cup of coffee. Doctors and nurses are sitting around. The TV can be heard.)

ANCHORMAN: ...has been covering this story and files this report.

REPORTER: Two days ago, the crew of an ice cutter working the arctic circle thought they had seen a UFO when a strange aircraft plunged into the Beaufort Sea. But a short time later, they recovered what is now believed to be a Russian fighter pilot from the icy water where he miraculously survived the extreme arctic temperatures.

(Prince is paying attention now. On the TV, the crewmembers of the ship hoist the man up onto the boat with a pulley.)

The man was airlifted to a military hospital in Alaska where he was listed in stable condition. But while authorities have been trying to determine just who the pilot is, we've learned that he's apparently walked out of the hospital...

(The camera shows a clear shot of the pilot's face. Prince's expression becomes ghostly.)

...and is now listed as missing. Reporting from our field...

(Prince runs out of the lounge and down the hallway. He goes through the swinging doors and is grabbed by the pilot on TV, the Alien Bounty Hunter. The assassin slams the doctor up against the wall by the neck.)

ALIEN BOUNTY HUNTER: Where is he?

LANDON PRINCE: I don't know!

(The Bounty Hunter pushes him down onto the ground and kneels over him. He pulls his head back and takes out a small metallic tube, called a gimlet. A long, sharp point shoots out of the front of the tube and the Bounty Hunter poises to strike down with it. The doctor struggles against his attacker, but to no avail. The assassin shoves the point into the back of the doctor's neck, which leaks a green fluid and bubbles. The Bounty Hunter then gets up and rips off the cover to the electric box, which sparks and catches fire. The room burning behind him, he walks out nonchalantly as the alarm rings and the hallway fills with smoke.)

<-X-FILES OFFICE; FBI HEADQUARTERS; WASHINGTON, D.C.->

(Mulder is leaning over his desk when Scully comes in and takes off her coat.)

MULDER: I have been looking for you.

SCULLY: I was just down the street. Someone fired more shots at the White House last night.

MULDER: You got to wonder about a country where even the President has to worry about drive-by shootings.

(He walks over to his computer and sits down. She stands next to him.)

SCULLY: What are you working on?

MULDER: I found these in my e-mail this morning... three obituaries.

SCULLY: Sent by whom?

MULDER: Nobody I know but obviously somebody who knows me.

(He clicks on a few keys and the text box expands on the monitor.)

SCULLY: Why?

MULDER: The deceased are Doctor Landon Prince of Scranton, Pennsylvania...

(He expands another box.)

Doctor Dale Gayhart of New York City...

(He brings up the third obituary.)

...and Doctor Harvey Buchanon of Tea Neck, New Jersey. All worked in abortion clinics. They died in separate arson fires.

SCULLY: Sounds like the work of militant right-to-lifers.

MULDER: Sounds like it.

SCULLY: Why would somebody send them to you?

MULDER: It's taken me all morning to figure that out.

SCULLY: What did you find?

(Mulder walks over to his desk and hands Scully a picture of Prince.)

MULDER: This is the latest victim, Doctor Landon Prince. And these are the other two victims... Doctors Gayhart...

(He hands her another picture. The man is identical to Prince in every respect.)

...and Buchanon.

(She is given a third picture of another identical man.)

SCULLY: Triplets?

MULDER: Nope. I can't find any blood connection between them. In fact, I can't find any records on them at all. It's as if before they died, they never existed.

SCULLY: What?

<-SCRANTON, PENNSYLVANIA->

(Mulder and Scully are standing with the federal marshall, who is looking over a folder.)

FEDERAL MARSHALL: Doctor Prince performs legal, clinical abortions which seems to be having its own share of occupational hazards these days.

MULDER: You don't know anything else about him?

FEDERAL MARSHALL: Nah, he went about his work quietly. None of his family's come forward.

SCULLY: What about the man you arrested, this, uh, preacher?

FEDERAL MARSHALL: Reverend Calvin Sistrunk. He's got a motive, he's threatened these abortion docs before. He was carrying this when we arrested him.

(He hands Mulder a clip from a newspaper with an advertisement that has a picture of Prince and reads "Do you know this man? Call (212) 555-2884.")

We're hoping for an indictment.

MULDER: As soon as you locate Doctor Prince's remains.

FEDERAL MARSHALL: Yes... but that fact hasn't been released.

MULDER: Well, there have been two identical fire deaths. Neither body has been found.

FEDERAL MARSHALL: We're quite certain he was in the building. His car was in the parking lot. We found his keys in the stairwell where the fire was started. He's been missing since the incident. Could be we'll just be finding teeth and bone.

(The door opens behind Scully and an officer leads in Reverend Sistrunk.)

CALVIN SISTRUNK: Good afternoon.

(He sits down.)

FEDERAL MARSHALL: Reverend Sistrunk... these are Agents Scully and Mulder. They want to ask you...

CALVIN SISTRUNK: ...if Doctor Prince burns in hell's fire for his murder of the unborn? If his damnation is God's will?

MULDER: Is that what you think, Reverend?

CALVIN SISTRUNK: I guess it's a question of opinion.

MULDER: Well, it's my opinion that whoever killed Doctor Prince will also be linked to two other murders. How do you feel about that?

CALVIN SISTRUNK: There are those who endorse the killing of the heathen sinner in God's name, but I, sir, am not one of them.

MULDER: Have you been to New York or New Jersey in the past two weeks?

CALVIN SISTRUNK: No, sir.

(Mulder shows him the advertisement.)

MULDER: This clipping, where'd you get it?

CALVIN SISTRUNK: From the newspaper. Obviously, there are more of God's soldiers seeking this man for judgement.

MULDER: Which newspaper?

CALVIN SISTRUNK: The local paper, up in Binghamton.

<-GLOBE AND MAIL; BINGHAMTON, N.Y.->

(The woman at the desk is looking at the advertisement.)

WOMAN: Oh, yeah. I remember this one. The man who placed this paid cash.

SCULLY: Would you recognize his face?

WOMAN: I might.

(Scully shows her a mugshot of Sistrunk.)

No. That's not him.

MULDER: Do you have a record of his name or address?

WOMAN: No, we don't. He wouldn't sign anything. In fact, he called and asked to place that ad a second week, so we did but he never came back to pay.

MULDER: Thank you.

WOMAN: Sure.

(The agents walk away.)

SCULLY: I've got a bad feeling about this case, Mulder.

MULDER: What do you mean?

SCULLY: Well, nothing about it makes sense. We've got three deaths of identical victims, no bodies, a virtual non-suspect...

MULDER: Sounds just like an X-File.

SCULLY: You don't even know who sent you that information. I mean, we've been set up before.

(Mulder looks at a map. He goes over to it, Scully following.)

MULDER: If somebody really wanted to set us up, would they give us this little to go on? There's something bigger here, Scully. I'd be willing to bet there are more of these guys out there.

SCULLY: More victims?

MULDER: Unless we get to them first. The deaths follow a pattern... New Jersey, New York, Scranton...

(He puts his finger on the map and moves it to the next city as he says the name.)

...and then an ad is placed here in Binghamton looking for a man exactly like the others. The killer's moving in a northernly direction.

(He looks over at the woman.)

Uh, eh, uh... excuse me? Excuse me.

(She looks at him and they walk over to her.)

The, uh, number in the ad, is th... would that be a voice mail?

WOMAN: Yes, it is.

MULDER: How, how would you access that?

WOMAN: Well, you'd start by paying the bill.

(Mulder looks at Scully and takes out his wallet. He gives Scully the ad, who walks over to the phone. Mulder gives the woman his credit card.)

Dial the number, then press twelve-thirty six.

(Scully does so. The woman walks to the back. Mulder paces a little.)

SCULLY: There's twenty four messages responding to the ad. The first caller has seen the man in the photo in Syracuse.

(Scully takes a pen and pad out.)

MULDER: That's north.

<-FBI FIELD OFFICE; SYRACUSE, N.Y.->

(Agent Barrett Weiss picks up the phone.)

BARRETT WEISS: Special Agent Weiss.

MULDER: Yeah, this is Agent Mulder. I need to enlist your help.

BARRETT WEISS: Shoot.

(He takes out a pen and starts to write down what Mulder says. Cut to Mulder and Scully, who are walking out of the post office.)

MULDER: I'm heading your way with Agent Scully. We have reason to believe a man in your area may be in danger. His name is Doctor Aaron Baker, he's living somewhere in Syracuse. We need you to find him and sit on him...

(They get to their car. Cut back to Syracuse.)

...until we get there.

BARRETT WEISS: You got it. I'll call you back with an address as soon as I track him down.

<-737 26TH STREET; SYRACUSE, N.Y.->

(Weiss pulls up to the house, looks at his paper, then goes to the front door. He is about to knock when he hears talking.)

AARON BAKER: There were years, years when our people did get along, where we could share in the entire planet.

(Weiss looks through the window.)

But you seem to be...you seem to be unwilling to share.

(A man puts his hand on Baker's shoulder.)

I don't understand, I don't understand! You did not fail...

(Weiss starts back down the stairs. The Bounty Hunter throws Baker against the wall, holding him by the throat.)

ALIEN BOUNTY HUNTER: Your plans will not succeed.

(Weiss walks around to the back door. The Bounty Hunter slams Baker's face into the wall and flicks open his gimlet. As Weiss continues to sneak around the house, Baker falls to the floor, dead. Weiss slams open the door and points his gun at the Bounty Hunter, much to the assassin's surprise.)

BARRETT WEISS: Federal agent, drop your weapon! I said drop it!

(He hears a bubbling and looks down to see Baker's body turn into a green liquid, bubbling and oozing. The "body" starts to deteriorate. Weiss is reasonably confused.)

What the hell...

(The assassin raises his hand to throw the gimlet but Weiss shoots him three times in the chest. The assassin does not move, merely leaks the same green liquid that Baker and Prince had. Weiss stares at him in awe until he starts gagging and choking. He screams, holding his head. Mulder and Scully pull up to the house. They walk up the porch and knock on the door. Agent Weiss comes up behind them.)

Agent Mulder?

MULDER: Yes, Agent Weiss?

(Weiss takes out his badge.)

BARRETT WEISS: Yes, sir.

MULDER: Did you find Doctor Baker?

BARRETT WEISS: No, I'm afraid not. No one's home. There's two weeks worth of mail in the mailbox.

MULDER: Uh, we may already be too late but we should take a look around anyway.

BARRETT WEISS: Not much to see.

(Mulder and Scully walk around the house. Weiss puts his badge away and walks back to his car. Opening the trunk, he looks at the real Barrett Weiss, dead, naked except for his underwear, bound and gagged. His eyes, nose and mouth are inflammed. "Weiss" looks around, then his facial features and body mass change to that of the Alien Bounty Hunter's. The Bounty Hunter throws the keys down on the dead agent, then closes the trunk and walks away.)

<-FBI HEADQUARTERS; WASHINGTON, D.C.->

(Skinner, sitting at his desk, pushes a button on the phone and the secretary is heard on the other end.)

SECRETARY: Agent Mulder has arrived.

SKINNER: Send him right in.

(Mulder walks in.)

Agent Mulder, please have a seat.

MULDER: Sorry I'm late, I just flew in.

SKINNER: From?

MULDER: Syracuse.

(He sits down.)

SKINNER: Where you were doing what?

MULDER: Agent Scully and I were following up a lead on a case.

SKINNER: Did anyone authorize this investigation, Agent Mulder?

MULDER: No, sir.

SKINNER: Do you have paperwork on this case?

MULDER: No, sir. I'd assumed we had an understanding with respect to the X-Files.

SKINNER: I'm sure it doesn't surprise you, Agent Mulder, that the people I have to answer to aren't quite so understanding. Particularly when one of their field agents is found dead.

MULDER: What?

(Skinner stands.)

SKINNER: Special Agent Barrett Weiss.

(He tosses a photograph at Mulder of Weiss' body.)

Out of the Syracuse office. His body was found stuffed in the trunk of a car in front of a house that you sent him to.

(Mulder looks at the photograph in disbelief.)

MULDER: It's impossible... I spoke to Agent Weiss, I saw him at the house.

(Skinner pounds his fists on the desk and gets in Mulder's face.)

SKINNER: Save it, Agent Mulder, save it for your report because until this matter is cleared up, your butt and mine are in a sling and your investigation, official or otherwise, is terminated.

MULDER: Sir...

SKINNER: Don't underestimate the seriousness of this matter, Agent Mulder. A man is dead.

(Mulder stares down towards the floor as Skinner sits down.)

I want a full accounting on my desk in the morning.

(Mulder nods and walks out.)

<-X-FILES OFFICE; FBI HEADQUARTERS; WASHINGTON, D.C.->

(Mulder walks into the office to the phone's ringing. He throws his jacket across the room and picks up the phone, sitting down.)

MULDER: Mulder.

SCULLY: Mulder, it's me.

MULDER: Where are you?

(Cut to Scully, who is sitting at her desk in front of her computer, her glasses on.)

SCULLY: I'm at home.

MULDER: Agent Weiss is dead, Scully.

SCULLY: What?

MULDER: Somebody killed him and Skinner hit the roof. We're being grounded until he gets a full accounting.

(Cut back to Mulder.)

I just wish I knew what the hell was going on.

(Cut to Scully, who looks at the computer screen.)

SCULLY: Have you checked your e-mail this morning, Mulder?

MULDER: No, why?

SCULLY: Because I received something unsettling and I wondered if you'd gotten it too.

(Cut to Mulder, who starts typing on his computer.)

MULDER: What is it?

SCULLY: It's a digitally scanned photograph. There's another one, Mulder.

(A picture slowly comes up of another identical doctor.)

His name is Doctor James Dickens.

(Cut to Scully.)

And Mulder?

MULDER: Yeah?

SCULLY: He's right here in Washington.

(The e-mail message on her computer next to the picture reads:

"Mail 485723 Date: -- Image enclosed To: D_Scully@FBI.gov From: 82974@anon.server.ca

Dr. James Dickens, Washington D.C."

Cut to Mulder.)

MULDER: Stay where you are, Scully, I'll be right there to pick you up.

(He hangs up.)

<-SCULLY'S HOUSE; WASHINGTON, D.C.->

(Mulder pulls up and sees someone standing on the porch. They pass each other on the walkway and the man looks back.)

AMBROSE CHAPEL: Agent Mulder?

(Mulder looks back.)

My name is Ambrose Chapel.

(He walks up to Mulder, showing his badge.)

I work with the Central Intelligence Agency. I need to talk to you about the case you're working on.

(Mulder looks at his badge.)

MULDER: What case is that?

AMBROSE CHAPEL: The murder of certain identical victims. I have a story to tell, Agent Mulder. Believe me, you want to hear it.

(Inside, Scully and Chapel are sitting across from each other. Mulder is standing away from them.)

We've known of their existence for a decade. We had no idea they were in the country until last year.

SCULLY: Who are they?

AMBROSE CHAPEL: We're working on vague intelligence reports but it appears early in the Cold War, Soviet scientists stumbled onto genetic anomaly in sets of identical twins. They were able to isolate the specific DNA material that gave the twins their facial features, hair color, texture... and they were able to reproduce it.

(Mulder is behind Scully now, having walked around during Chapel's rant.)

SCULLY: Are you saying these men are clones?

AMBROSE CHAPEL: By all outward appearances.

(Scully and Mulder look at each other.)

MULDER: How did they get here?

AMBROSE CHAPEL: The program went by the codename "Gregor"... the name given to every clone. We believe the original Gregor came here sometime in the mid-70's on a German passport. Using that same document, they were able to bring a small cadre of clones into the country. Several of which have obtained strategic positions in the medical establishment.

MULDER: For what purpose?

AMBROSE CHAPEL: In the event of war, they would mobilize simultaneously at different facilities across the U.S. to contaminate blood supplies, sabotage pharmaceutical factories... essentially destroy the country's immune system.

(He takes a sip of water.)

SCULLY: If you've known about this for a year, why hasn't anything been done?

AMBROSE CHAPEL: Well, this is where the story gets perhaps even more incredible. In a secret agreement, someone is allowing the Gregors to be systematically eliminated by a man who I believe is a Russian spy killer in exchange for the absolute suppression of the program's existence and to obtain the science that created it.

MULDER: What's your business in this?

AMBROSE CHAPEL: I believe we share similar sentiments on our government's policies of denial which is why they've been trying to contact you.

SCULLY: Who?

AMBROSE CHAPEL: The Gregors. You've obviously got a reputation as someone who might protect them and bring these misdeeds to light.

(Mulder looks at Scully.)

MULDER: What makes you think we've been contacted?

AMBROSE CHAPEL: Your inquiries into their deaths...

(Chapel pulls out a piece of paper and Mulder picks it up.)

And your response to the ad I placed.

(On the paper is a copy of the same advertisement as in the newspaper. Mulder sits down.)

We're talking state-sanctioned murder. If we can find them first, maybe the truth can be known.

(Mulder and Scully look at each other.)

MULDER: We know where one of these man may be.

(Chapel smiles and nods slightly.)

<-GERMANTOWN, MARYLAND->

(A van is running outside. Dickens takes his briefcase off of a machine and looks at four large green vats. He pushes a few buttons and walks out. The name on the door is "3243 Edmonton." He gets in the van and looks at a young woman in the driver's seat.)

JAMES DICKENS: Okay, let's go.

(They drive off.)

<-DICKENS' APARTMENT->

(The van pulls up the apartment complex. They walk in and Dickens puts down his briefcase. Outside, Mulder, Scully and Chapel get out of a car. Dickens is hanging up his labcoat as someone knocks on the door.)

JAMES DICKENS: Who is it?

SCULLY: Agents Scully and Mulder, we're with the F.B.I.

(The woman grabs her coat and walks out of the room. Dickens opens the door and sees the two agents.)

MULDER: Doctor Dickens?

JAMES DICKENS: Yes?

MULDER: I believe you've been trying to contact us.

JAMES DICKENS: Uh...

(Chapel steps into view and glares at the doctor.)

SCULLY: May we come in, Doctor Dickens?

JAMES DICKENS: Um...

(He starts to back away from the door, staring at Chapel in fright.)

MULDER: It's okay, sir, there's nothing to be afraid of!

(Dickens turns and runs across the room. Mulder chases him. He jumps out the window and lands on the ground from about four stories up. The three look out the window at Dickens' body.)

SCULLY: I'll call the paramedics...

(She runs off. Dickens stirs.)

MULDER: He's moving... he's getting up!

(Dickens stands up, adjusts his glasses, and starts running. Mulder and Chapel walk away from the window.)

SCULLY: I'll call you back.

(She hangs up and goes to the window to see Dickens running down the street, followed by Chapel and Mulder. Mulder runs directly after him, but Chapel stops and turns right. Scully runs out the door as the woman watches her from behind the curtains. Dickens runs out into the street and Mulder follows. An oncoming car honks and crashes into Mulder, sending him flying up into the windshield, which cracks. Mulder rolls down off the hood and lands in the street, groaning and grabbing his side. Scully runs up to him and kneels down. He sits up.)

You okay?

(Mulder whispers as he talks.)

MULDER: Okay. I just got the wind knocked out of me. Don't lose him! Go!

SCULLY: Okay...

(She runs off as the driver gets out of the car and goes to Mulder.)

MAN: Are you all right?

(Dickens runs down an alley and looks at the fence in front of him. He looks back to see Chapel standing at the entranceway. Chapel slowly stalks towards him. Dickens looks around and sees a fire escape. He climbs up onto the dumpster and pulls down the ladder, a look of terror on his face. Chapel reaches up and grabs Dickens foot. Dickens gasps and is pulled down, but Chapel's face is no longer there, replaced by the Alien Bounty Hunter's. Scully runs down the alley and looks around, seeing no one. She takes out her gun and walks slowly down the alley. A man groans and she looks towards the dumpster, where Chapel stands up from behind it. She sighs in relief and lowers her gun.)

AMBROSE CHAPEL: He's gone.

SCULLY: Where?

AMBROSE CHAPEL: He blindsided me. Went up the fire escape before I could grab him. I'm going to go see if I can find a way up on the roof.

(He walks away. Scully watches him, warily, then looks around, walking to behind the dumpster. She steps in something and looks down to see a puddle of green liquid. She tries to wipe it off her foot and walks away. The puddle, clearly in the shape of a fallen body, starts to bubble and fizz as it turns into gas.)

<-X-FILES OFFICE; FBI HEADQUARTERS; WASHINGTON, D.C.->

(Mulder is walking to his desk as Scully walks in.)

SCULLY: How are you feeling?

MULDER: Like I should've used the crosswalk. A lot better than my phone.

(He sits down and waves his decimated cellular phone. She takes off her coat and puts down her briefcase.)

SCULLY: Maybe we should've dropped this case when you were told.

MULDER: Scully, if what our friend from the C.I.A. says is true, this could blow the lid off one of the biggest national security conspiracies ever.

SCULLY: Our friend from the C.I.A. is about as unbelievable as his story... as is everything about this case. I mean, whatever happened to "trust no one," Mulder?

MULDER: Oh, I changed it to "trust everyone." I didn't tell you?

(He stands and pulls out a folder from a stack.)

I ran a full background check on this guy. Ambrose Chapel is a seventeen-year veteran, special intelligence clearance. He's the real thing, Scully.

(He hands her the folder. She opens it and looks at it. There is a picture clipped onto the file.)

SCULLY: Why would a man with his experience need our help... and how could he let a man that he's been looking so hard for slip away so easily? You know, that doctor wasn't running away from us, Mulder, he was running away from Agent Chapel.

MULDER: I think you're being overly paranoid about him, Scully.

SCULLY: Paranoid. Have you stopped to consider that maybe it was Agent Chapel who killed that field agent in Syracuse?

(Mulder walks to his desk.)

MULDER: Is that what you want me to put on my report to Skinner? Because I would be more than happy to have you explain that to him.

SCULLY: Damn it, Mulder, that is not my job.

(She throws down the folder.)

You'll pursue a case at the expense of everything, to the point of insanity, and expect me to follow you. There has to be somewhere to draw the line.

MULDER: Three identical men are dead. A fourth identical man is alive and on the lam. If the pursuit of this case seems like insanity to you, feel free to step away from it.

SCULLY: An F.B.I. agent died because of our pursuit of this case.

MULDER: Those are the risks we take. You either accept them or you don't. We all draw our own lines.

(He sits down. Scully stares at him, then looks away.)

SCULLY: I have to show you something.

(She reaches into her briefcase and pulls out a shoe with a part of the sole melted off.)

I got these a week ago.

(She hands the shoe to Mulder and sits down on his desk.)

I stepped in something last night that ate clean through the sole. Now, maybe I'm being paranoid, but it was in the exact spot where this man Chapel said the doctor escaped.

(Mulder is pushing a pencil through the hole.)

MULDER: Why don't you send it to our lab guys for analysis?

(He hands the shoe back.)

And while you're at it, why don't you arrange for an autopsy bay?

SCULLY: An autopsy bay?

MULDER: In putting together my report for Skinner, I came across something I think you'll appreciate. Whoever killed that field agent in Syracuse was so clever, no clear cause of death can be established.

(Scully looks at him in disbelief.)

<-AUTOPSY BAY; FBI HEADQUARTERS; WASHINGTON, D.C.->

(Agent Weiss is layed out on an examining table with a sheet over him. Scully is reading off of a clipboard. Mulder is standing off to the side.)

SCULLY: There's no penetrating knife or gunshot wounds. No ligature marks or abrasions from strangulation. The toxicologocial is clean... and the blood work... well, the blood work is strange.

(Mulder looks over her shoulder at the file.)

MULDER: Strange how?

SCULLY: Well, there's evidence of polycythemia, excessive production of red blood cells.

(Mulder walks around to the other side of Weiss.)

MULDER: How excessive?

SCULLY: Extremely. The doctor who made this report has it in here that the blood was curdled like jelly. As if something caused the blood to thicken or clot prior to death.

MULDER: Due to what?

SCULLY: Possibly a coagulating agent introduced into the body, but it would've shown up on the toxicological.

(Mulder walks back over.)

MULDER: Didn't Agent Chapel say something about these doctors being able to contaminate the blood supply? Couldn't one of those contaminants have been used to kill this man?

SCULLY: I don't know, Mulder, I... there was a doctor's bag I took as evidence from the apartment.

(A man walks in.)

MAN: Agent Mulder?

MULDER: Yeah?

MAN: Assistant Director Skinner's been looking for you.

MULDER: All right, I'll be right there.

(The man walks out.)

Check the bag. See if you can find anything that'll connect.

SCULLY: Well, Skinner's going to want to know why you didn't file your report. What're you going to say?

MULDER: Just the truth. I got hit by a car.

(He smiles and walks out.)

<-ASSISTANT DIRECTOR WALTER SKINNER'S OFFICE; FBI HEADQUARTERS; WASHINGTON, D.C.->

(Skinner is writing at his desk when Mulder walks in, carrying a folder.)

MULDER: I'm sorry this is so late. I had trouble with the, uh, data from the, uh, autopsy...

(Skinner walks over to him.)

SKINNER: That's not why I called you in here, Agent Mulder. Uh... your father's been trying to reach you. There's been a family emergency.

(Mulder looks at him, surprised.)

MULDER: Thank you.

(He walks out.)

<-X-FILES OFFICE; FBI HEADQUARTERS; WASHINGTON, D.C.->

(Mulder is on the phone, it is ringing. A woman picks up.)

MRS. MULDER: Hello?

MULDER: Mom?

MRS. MULDER: Fox. Is that you?

MULDER: Yeah, I, I didn't expect you to answer. Wha, what are you doing at Dad's? Is he all right?

MRS. MULDER: Yes. Let me put him on.

WILLIAM MULDER: Hello?

MULDER: Dad?

(He sits down.)

I got a message there was a family emergency.

WILLIAM MULDER: Yes, I received a very strange phone call this afternoon. I called your mother. We think it's important that you come up here as soon as possible.

MULDER: Can you tell me what this is about?

WILLIAM MULDER: I'll know more when you get here.

(He hangs up. Mulder, confused, hangs up as Scully walks in, carrying the briefcase.)

SCULLY: I didn't find anything much to go on but we've got an address.

(Mulder gets up.)

MULDER: Check it out, I'll call you as soon as I can.

SCULLY: Where you going?

MULDER: Home.

(Mulder grabs his coat and leaves. Scully looks at the tag on the briefcase which reads:

"Name: Dr. James Dickens Address: 3243 Edmonton Street. City: Germantown.")

<-3243 EDMONTON STREET->

(Scully pulls up in front of the building, which looks to be one in a series of warehouses. She opens the door slowly and walks in, her gun in hand. She steps in something and looks down to see a lot more of the same green liquid on the floor. She keeps walking through it nonetheless and sees the giant room with the four large vats of the green liquid. One is pushed over with a resounding crash by Agent Chapel, better known as the Alien Bounty Hunter. The room is in complete shambles. The small bags with tubes attached that were in the vats litter the floor. Chapel looks down at one and steps on it, watching the green liquid pour out and smiling to himself. He hears footsteps and turns to see Scully's shadow moving back down the hall. Following the shadow, he sees the outer door close. He walks out just as Scully speeds away.)

<-SCULLY'S HOUSE; WASHINGTON, D.C.->

(Scully paces back and forth, the phone to her ear. Mulder's machine picks up.)

MULDER ON MACHINE: Hello, this is Fox Mulder. Leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

(It beeps.)

SCULLY: Mulder, it's me. I need to talk to you immediately. I've got some new information on this case.

(She walks over to the window and looks through the blinds. She sees a gray car parked outside.)

Mulder, I think I'm in danger. I'm in my apartment and I think I've been followed.

(She hangs up.)

<-MARTHA'S VINEYARD; WEST TISBURY, MASSACHUSETTS->

(Mulder gets out of his car and runs up the walkway to the front porch. His father sits in a chair off to the side.)

WILLIAM MULDER: Your mother needs some time.

(Fox looks at him as he lights a cigarette.)

MULDER: You said it was an emergency.

(William stands and walks over to him. Fox goes to hug him but William extends his hand. Fox shakes it, disappointed.)

WILLIAM MULDER: She wanted you to come. It's a difficult time. I appreciate your coming on such short notice.

MULDER: What is it, Dad?

(William takes a puff of his cigarette.)

WILLIAM MULDER: The certainty... becomes a comfort that allows you to move on.

(Fox looks through the window and sees his mother, crying, talking to someone.)

We bury our memories so deep after all that has been destroyed... never expecting...

MULDER: Who is Mom talking to?

(William takes another drag off his cigarette.)

WILLIAM MULDER: Your sister.

(Mulder looks in the window, then back at his father in disbelief. He runs into the house. The door slams shut behind him as he walks into the living room. His mother and the woman stand up. Samantha walks up to Mulder, and it is the same woman that we saw with Dickens.)

SAMANTHA MULDER: Fox.

(She nods. Mulder just stares blankly at her. At sunrise, Fox's mother is in bed and Fox closes the shades.)

MRS. MULDER: After all those sleepless nights, now I can hardly keep my eyes open.

(He fluffs her pillow. He lays her down and tucks her in.)

MULDER: You're exhausted. We all are. It's after 5:30.

MRS. MULDER: Oh, I just need a couple of hours.

(He turns off the lamp and kisses her forehead.)

MULDER: Try and get some sleep.

(He walks over and closes the other shades. She sits up.)

MRS. MULDER: Fox...

MULDER: Yeah, Mom?

MRS. MULDER: It is really her...

(She stares at him, waiting for a response.)

Isn't it?

MULDER: I... I don't see who else it could be.

(They stare at each other.)

Now go to sleep.

(Mulder walks out on the front porch and closes his eyes. The birds chirp and he looks to his right. Samantha is sitting in the chair, draped in a blanket. She smiles brightly.)

SAMANTHA MULDER: Is it too late for a game of Stratego?

(Fox laughs.)

MULDER: It's twenty-two years too late.

(He walks towards her.)

SAMANTHA MULDER: I don't think Dad can think of anything to say. He just... sat here.

MULDER: So much has happened. Where do you begin?

(She stands and looks out into the yard.)

SAMANTHA MULDER: I must have been nine or ten when I was returned. I had no memory. I was placed with a family who raised me as a daughter.

MULDER: Who were they?

SAMANTHA MULDER: I knew they weren't my parents but I didn't remember Mom or Dad..or you.

MULDER: But you came to remember... us.

SAMANTHA MULDER: I started having trouble several years ago. It was diagnosed as free-floating anxiety. Nothing worked for me. I hit rock bottom... until I underwent regression hypno-therapy. And it all started coming back...

(She starts to cry.)

The abductions, the tests...

(They hug and Mulder looks about to cry as well.)

I'm in danger, Fox.

MULDER: What do you mean?

SAMANTHA MULDER: You've been contacted. You know there's a man hunting my father and the other doctors.

MULDER: Your f... your father.

SAMANTHA MULDER: My adoptive parents. They're only visitors here... what people would call "aliens." A bounty hunter's been sent to kill them. You've met this man. His lies to you have caused others like my father to die. He won't stop until he's killed them all and anyone who tries to stop him. He'll come for me soon.

<-SCULLY'S APARTMENT; WASHINGTON, D.C.->

(Scully walks out of her bathroom, running suit on, takes her fanny-pack, and leaves. She closes the door and the phone rings a few seconds later. The machine picks up.)

SCULLY ON MACHINE: Hi, this is Dana Scully.

<-MULDER'S APARTMENT; WASHINGTON, D.C.->

(Mulder is on the other end.)

SCULLY ON MACHINE: Please, leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

(The machine beeps.)

MULDER: Hey, Scully, it's Mulder, pick up the phone. Okay, if you're screening, pick up the phone, I need to talk to you.

(He sighs.)

All right, do not under any circumstances trust the C.I.A. agent. Your life may be in danger, now call me.

(He hangs up. Samantha sits, watching him.)

SAMANTHA MULDER: She may not be able to recognize him.

(She stands.)

He has the ability to disguise himself.

MULDER: Disguise himself how?

SAMANTHA MULDER: As anyone.

MULDER: As anyone? You got to be kidding.

SAMANTHA MULDER: No. You can't recognize him, but I can.

<-BUS STOP->

(Scully runs up to a bus stop as the bus pulls up. She gets in, deposits her change, and looks around. Not seeing Chapel, she pulls off her hood and sits down in the back of the bus. She looks at all the men and pulls her cellular out of her fanny-pack. She dials a number.)

MULDER ON MACHINE: Hello, this is Fox Mulder. Leave a message, please.

(It beeps.)

SCULLY: Mulder, it's me. I just left my aparment and I don't think I've been followed. I'm going to be staying at the Vacation Village Motor Lodge off the I-90 in Germantown. Now, by the time you reach me, I should have some very important information for you regarding this case.

(She hangs up. A few seats down, watching her, is the Alien Bounty Hunter.)

<-3243 EDMONTON STREET->

(Scully sneaks over to the building she was in before and takes out a small gun with a long metal stick in the front. She puts the stick into the keylock and pulls the trigger. The door unlocks. She slowly opens the door to the room and sees the lab is still in shambles. She splashes through the liquid on the floor and bends down at one point, looking at one of the small bags with the tubes attached. Picking up the tube, she sees a small alien-shaped figure in the bag. She stares at it. After a few seconds, it moves. She stands up, looking at it in awe as a man, looking exactly the same as the other clones before, looks at her through the barrels off to the side. She hears him moving around and looks at him. He starts running. She puts down the bag and gives chase.)

SCULLY: Wait.

(She takes out her gun and he stops at a wall.)

Stop! Federal Agent! Put your hands against the wall. Do it!

GREGOR CLONE #1: You won't shoot me.

SCULLY: Put you hands against the wall... now.

(He turns around.)

GREGOR CLONE #1: You cannot harm us.

SCULLY: Sir...

(The wall turns out to be a sliding door, which he moves to reveal a stairway and a few hallways.)

GREGOR CLONE #1: It's all right.

(Two more clones walk down the stairs and another comes in from the right.)

We are the last remaining. Unless you protect us, we are already dead.

(She stares in amazement. Later, there are police cars swarming outside. Scully is walking with another agent.)

SCULLY: These men are to be held in maximum security protective custody. No visitors, no press, no anybody... okay?

FBI AGENT: Yeah. Can I ask? Who are these guys?

SCULLY: I'll let you know when I figure it out myself.

(She walks away. He gets into one of the cars. There is a Gregor in different back seats to each car. Scully walks over to the first one, who looks back at her as they drive off. From the rooftops, the Alien Bounty Hunter watches Scully.)

<-MULDER'S APARTMENT; WASHINGTON, D.C.->

(Mulder plays back his machine. Samantha stands off to the side.)

SCULLY ON MACHINE: ...I should have some very important information for you regarding this case.

(It beeps. He dials a number. It rings.)

MAN: Vacation Village.

MULDER: Yeah, I need to speak to Dana Scully, please.

(Cut to the Vacation Village Motorlodge in Germantown.)

MAN: Just a moment.

(He scans down the guest list. Cut back to Mulder's apartment.)

I'm sorry, there's no one registered by that name.

MULDER: All right, I need her to call Fox Mulder as soon as she checks in, okay? Fox Mulder.

MAN: Fox Mulder.

MULDER: Yes.

(Cut to the Vacation Village Motorlodge.)

MAN: Will do.

(He hangs up and picks up a pencil and pad. The pencil tip breaks off.)

Now who's this message for?

(Scully walks in.)

SCULLY: I'd like a single for one night, please.

MAN: Uh... see what I got.

(Scully walks into her room and chainlocks the door. She goes into bathroom and starts running a shower. She grabs a towel and closes the door. The cellular phone inside her fanny-pack rings.)

<-FEDERAL STOCKADE; TILESTON, VIRGINIA; 7:05 PM->

(A guard walks down the hallway past the jail cells. A Gregor is seated in each one. He opens the door at the end and looks at another one. The federal marshall walks in.)

FBI AGENT: Whose post is this?

GUARD #1: Mine, sir, we're on changeover.

FBI AGENT: I'm going to talk to the prisoners.

(They walk over to the door.)

Oh, you want to get me a coffee... sugar and milk, no cream.

(The guard hands him the keys.)

GUARD #1: Do you want me to keep an eye open?

FBI AGENT: No, just get me the coffee.

GUARD #1: Yes, sir.

(The marshall unlocks the door and walks in. The guard locks the door behind him. The marshall walks over to the first clone's cell. He is sitting a pensive state but slowly looks up at the marshall. The marshall turns his hand around to reveal the Bounty Hunter's gimlet. It flicks open. The marshall is obviously the Bounty Hunter in disguise.)

<-VACATION VILLAGE MOTORLODGE; GERMANTOWN, MARYLAND->

(The time is 11:21. Scully is asleep. There is a knock on the door and she wakes up. Turning on the lamp, she gets out of bed.)

SCULLY: Who is it?

MULDER: Scully, it's me.

(She pulls back the curtain slightly and looks out the window. She walks over and opens the door.)

I got your message.

SCULLY: Where've you been?

(Her cellular phone rings.)

Hang on...

(She walks away from Mulder and picks it up.)

Scully.

MULDER: (on phone) Scully, it's me, where are you?

(Scully's body becomes tense.)

Scully? Are you there?

(She slowly turns to see Mulder closing the door.)

Scully?

(Her breathing becomes heavy as she stares at the Mulder standing in front of her.)

"TO BE CONTINUED"