The X-Files - 2.

2.23 Soft Light

US Airdate: May 5, 1995

< HOTEL GEORGE MASON, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA >

(A man [Newirth] slips the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the doorknob of his hotel room and prepares to retire for the night. As he reclines in bed to read the paper and have a drink, a second man [Banton] gets off the elevator and nervously walks to the door across the hall. He knocks.)

BANTON: Morris! (knocks again) Morris, I need to talk to you!

(Newirth hears the commotion in the hall. The light on the nightstand dims momentarily. In the hall, Banton knocks again.)

BANTON: Morris, I need to talk to you! Gail Anne is dead. It's my fault. Morris!

(While Banton knocks again, Newirth man gets up from the bed, walks to the door and looks out the peephole while placing his right hand against the door.)

BANTON: Morris, I need to talk to you. Morris, please. Answer the door, damn it!

(Banton steps back from the door. As he does, his shadow from the hall light moves toward Newirth's door and then appears just inside the room. As it touches Newirth's feet, there is a blue flash and Newirth seems to disintegrate, leaving a scorched mark on the carpet that glows blue for a moment. Banton sees the blue glow underneath the door.)

BANTON: Oh no! No. (he quickly unscrews the hall light bulb) My God, no! (he runs away down the hall) No, no, God no, no, no, no!

ACT I

< same location >

(Scully and Mulder get off the elevator at the end of the hall.)

SCULLY: Two apparent abductions in less than a month, and then this one last night. According to my contact, the Richmond PD has hit a brick wall so I told her we'd come down and have a look.

MULDER: Who's your contact?

SCULLY: Her name is Kelly Ryan. She was one of my students when I was teaching at the academy. She's just been bumped up to detective, and she's a little nervous about her supervisor finding out the FBI are involved.

(They enter Newirth's room.)

SCULLY: Kelly?

RYAN: Agent Scully.

SCULLY: Hi.

RYAN: Hi.

SCULLY: This is Agent Mulder.

RYAN: (to Mulder) Hi. Thank you for coming.

MULDER: Hello.

RYAN: (to Mulder) Heard a lot about you.

MULDER: (to Scully) We'll talk later.

(Scully gives him a sheepish grin.)

RYAN: The missing man is Patrick Newirth, age 52. He's a top executive with Morley Tobacco, up from Raleigh-Durham for a meeting. He arrived on an evening train.

MULDER: How do you know he's missing?

RYAN: He set a wakeup call for 6 AM this morning. When the operator tried to place it, there was no answer.

MULDER: (sniffing the drink on the nightstand) Hmm, scotch. It looks like he barely touched it.

RYAN: Needless to say, he missed his meeting. Uh, they waited three hours before sending hotel security up. The door was locked, security chain fastened, and when they broke in, no Patrick Newirth.

MULDER: Windows?

RYAN: Locked from the inside. We're six stories up, no fire escape. No way in or out of this room.

(Scully walks across the room and crouches next to the heat register.)

RYAN: Agent Scully, what are you looking at?

SCULLY: Uh, the heat register.

RYAN: (with a look of disbelief) You don't think anyone could have squeezed in there?

MULDER: You never know. You guys turn up any forensics evidence at all?

RYAN: Uh, just this.

(She removes a cardboard cover from the scorched mark on the carpet.)

MULDER: Scully, look at this.

SCULLY: What is it?

RYAN: We don't know. The hotel claims it wasn't here before Mr. Newirth checked in. And there were similar burn marks at each of the previous crime scenes.

SCULLY: Was Patrick Newirth a smoker?

RYAN: No, according to his wife, he loathed cigarettes.

SCULLY: Well, that's strange for someone who works for a tobacco company.

MULDER: Did you run a test on it?

RYAN: Yes, sir. It's mostly carbon with some potassium and trace minerals.

SCULLY: Could be the residue from burnt human flesh.

(Mulder is noticing that the charred pattern has a section off the right side with the outline of several fingers.)

MULDER: Does this look like an arm to anybody?

RYAN: An arm?

SCULLY: What are you thinking, Mulder?

MULDER: This burn mark, it's right where I'd be if I were standing here answering the door, right?

RYAN: Yes.

MULDER: And I wouldn't be looking out the peephole unless there was something to look at, right?

RYAN: That makes sense.

(Mulder goes into the hall and taps the light on the far wall. The bulb comes on.)

MULDER: Detective Ryan, can you have this bulb dusted for prints?

RYAN: Of course.

MULDER: And can you run those against Mr. Newirth's. Do you have Mr. Newirth's prints?

RYAN: We got them from his toiletries and check-in slip.

MULDER: OK, can you check those against all hotel employees and registered guests?

RYAN: Anything else?

MULDER: Yeah, do you have the name of the last missing person?

RYAN: Uh, that would be Margaret Wysnecki.

MULDER: Thanks, that should do it. Is this your first case, Detective?

RYAN: Yes sir.

MULDER: Any idea why they gave it to you?

RYAN: No one else wanted it. Because of the lack of evidence, this is still officially a missing persons case, not likely to end up on the front page of the daily paper.

MULDER: Well, don't be so sure about that.

RYAN: Can I ask what you think may have happened?

MULDER: At first blush? Spontaneous human combustion.

(Mulder walks away as Ryan stares in surprise and disbelief. Scully gives her a supportive pat on the arm.)

SCULLY: You're doing just fine.

(Scully catches up to Mulder as he pushes the elevator button.)

SCULLY: Having a little fun?

MULDER: What are you talking about?

SCULLY: Spontaneous human combustion?

MULDER: I have over a dozen case files of human bodies reduced to ash without any attendant burning or melting. Rapid oxidation without heat.

SCULLY: Let's just forget for the moment that there's no scientific theory to support it.

MULDER: (flippantly) OK.

(They get on the elevator.)

< Wysnecki Residence, Richmond, Virginia >

(It is dark, and Mulder and Scully drive up and walk up the sidewalk. Mulder notices that the yard lights on all the other houses in the neighborhood are lit, but not the one at the Wysnecki house.)

MULDER: Hey, Scully, can you spare a prophylactic?

(She gives him a latex glove and he opens the fixture and turns the bulb. It comes on.)

MULDER: What are the odds of that, huh?

SCULLY: Darkness covers a multitude of sins.

MULDER: Check this out. My newest tool in the fight against crime - $49.95 at your local hardware store.

(He produces a red flashlight from his pocket and shines a red light on the fixture, which shows the outline of some fingerprints.)

SCULLY: Neat trick. For your birthday, I'll buy you a utility belt.

(They enter the house and find another scorch mark on the carpet in the front hall.)

SCULLY: Look at this, Mulder.

MULDER: What do we know about the victim?

SCULLY: Margaret Wysnecki, age 66. Widowed, retired from Laramie Tobacco where she worked production line for 36 years. Tobacco? Patrick Newirth worked for Morley Tobacco, didn't he?

MULDER: Yeah, but half of Richmond earns their paycheck making cancer sticks. It's just a coincidence.

SCULLY: Yeah, you're probably right. The first missing person, Gail Anne Lambert, was an engineer for Polarity Magnetics.

(They enter the kitchen.)

They didn't find any prints in here or anywhere else in the house. What makes you think the prints on the bulb mean anything?

MULDER: I don't know.

(He opens the trash can and pulls out an Amtrak ticket stub.)

MULDER: Ah, look at this, Scully. Someone forgot to empty the trash. M. Wysnecki, round trip to Hampton Roads, Virginia, return train dated March 17.

SCULLY: That's the same day she disappeared.

MULDER: Patrick Newirth came into town by train, didn't he?

SCULLY: And Gail Anne Lambert ... uh, no it doesn't say anything here that puts her anywhere near the Richmond Train Station.

MULDER: Maybe that was a detail that was overlooked.

SCULLY: Well, even so, what's the significance?

MULDER: Maybe these people aren't just disappearing, maybe they're being hunted. And the hunter is working the train station.

SCULLY: And whatever happened to spontaneous human combustion?

MULDER: Maybe it's not so spontaneous. Get on the phone to your young detective and tell her to get a detail down to the train station.

(Scully gets out her cell phone.)

< Richmond Train Station >

(Banton is sitting on a bench in the station, staring at the floor. He rises, still looking at his feet, and slowly walks outside. It is dark and as he passes under a light in an alley, it dims. A police car turns into the alley and approaches him.)

FIRST OFFICER: (to radio) 66, this is 64. Suspicious male, loitering in the alley behind the train station. I'm going to check him out.

VOICE ON RADIO: Roger that, 64, I'm on my way.

(The first officer gets out of his car.)

FIRST OFFICER: Sir, could I speak with you?

(Banton starts running away, down the alley.)

FIRST OFFICER: Hold on, I only want to ask you a couple of questions.

(A second police car enters the alley from the other direction and Banton stops.)

FIRST OFFICER: All right, stop right there! Don't move, just hold it! Put your hands in the air, sir!

(The second officer gets out of his car and approaches Banton, who is standing in a lit area.)

BANTON: (to second officer) Stay away from me.

(Banton ducks across the alley into the shadows. The officers aim their guns at him.)

FIRST OFFICER: What do you think you're doing? All right, come on out of there! I just want to talk to you!

BANTON: Stay away from me! I don't want to hurt you!

SECOND OFFICER: Move it!

FIRST OFFICER: Hands where we can see them!

(Banton raises his hands and slowly comes out of the shadow into the light. He looks up at the light nervously.)

BANTON: Please, I'm warning you. I'm a dangerous man.

SECOND OFFICER: Keep moving, pal, out where we can see you. (Banton moves farther out) All right, I want you to lie face down on the ground.

BANTON: (to second officer) Don't come any closer.

SECOND OFFICER: Get down on the ground, sir. Now.

(As the second officer comes closer, he approaches Banton's shadow. Banton steps back.)

BANTON: Please, you don't understand.

(Banton continues to step backward, and now his shadow from another light touches the feet of the first officer, who is standing behind him. The first officer disintegrates with a blue flash.)

BANTON: Oh, God, no!

SECOND OFFICER: Barney!

(The second officer continues to approach Banton.)

BANTON: Don't, no! Stay away.

(The second officer walks into Banton's shadow and he also disintegrates.)

BANTON: (running wildly away, down the alley) Oh, God! No, no, God, not again! No, no, no, no ...

ACT II

< same alley, next morning >

(The area is roped off and there are several police cars. Mulder and Scully drive up. Ryan walks over to meet them.)

SCULLY: What happened here, Kelly?

RYAN: I sent two patrolmen down here last night, like you told me. They lost radio contact with them just after midnight. All they found this morning was two more scorch marks on the pavement.

MULDER: Nothing else?

RYAN: Nope. Suddenly this looks like it could be a cop killer case, and I'm indirectly responsible.

SCULLY: Well, you were just doing your job.

RYAN: (agitated) Yeah, well they want to know on what suspicions I sent these men down here. And if I tell them I involved the FBI, they're going to snap.

MULDER: The prints you pulled from that light bulb ...

RYAN: I ran it against all the hotel staff and guests, then through the national databases. No match. Some first case, huh?

SCULLY: You just make sure you hang onto this case. I'm sure something will turn up.

(Mulder and Scully walk back and get in the car.)

SCULLY: These ideas of yours, Mulder, you care to share them?

MULDER: Not yet.

SCULLY: You don't have a clue, do you?

MULDER: He was here, Scully, I was right about that.

SCULLY: All right, where does this leave us?

MULDER: Maybe with enough to identify the killer.

SCULLY: How?

MULDER: He was here last night. He was also probably here on March 17 and March 31.

SCULLY: Those are the dates that Margaret Wysnecki and Patrick Newirth disappeared.

MULDER: That leaves us with 3 days of train station videotapes to cross-reference and hopefully find out who this guy is.

SCULLY: That's assuming we're looking for a guy.

MULDER: Either way, the security camera's our only witness.

< Train station security office >

(Mulder and Scully are reviewing videotapes with a security guard.)

SCULLY: It could be any one of these people, Mulder ... or none of them. I've gone through the entire week and I'm still not sure how you expect to find him.

SECURITY GUARD: That's it for March 22 on the arrival deck.

MULDER: Let's go back to the terminal tape.

SCULLY: Again?

MULDER: He's got to be on at least one of these tapes.

SCULLY: Chances are, he's not walking around carrying a sign with an arrow on it.

SECURITY GUARD: There you go.

(Mulder notices Banton sitting on a bench.)

MULDER: See, this guy. Right here. He's always here. What's he doing?

SCULLY: Looking at the floor.

MULDER: Why's he doing that?

SCULLY: Probably the same reason he spends his whole afternoon in the train station.

MULDER: Can you freeze this and blow it up 200 percent?

SECURITY GUARD: Sure.

(There's a light spot on his jacket.)

MULDER: OK, can you reframe and blow it up some more? He's got something on his jacket right there.

SECURITY GUARD: I'll see if I can pull it up.

(Mulder reads the name from the blurry image.)

MULDER: Polarity Magnetics.

SCULLY: That's where the first victim worked.

< Polarity Magnetics >

(Mulder and Scully walk up stairs and knock on the door. There are no obvious signs of activity.)

SCULLY: Looks like it's been closed up.

(Davey answers the door.)

DAVEY: Yes?

SCULLY: We're agents Mulder and Scully with the FBI. We're looking for a man who may have worked here.

(Scully shows him a printout of Banton from the train station tape.)

DAVEY: When was this taken?

MULDER: March 22. Do you know him?

DAVEY: Sure, I know him. Dr. Chester Banton. He was my business partner.

SCULLY: You mean he's not any more?

DAVEY: I don't know, I would assume not. This is the first I've seen of him in five weeks. I wondered if he wasn't going to turn up dead.

MULDER: How's that?

DAVEY: Chester was involved in a terrible accident here.

(Davey, Mulder and Scully are walking through a corridor within the building.)

DAVEY: Polarity Magnetics does - or did - primarily two types of research. Mostly, we were designing mag-lev applications ... uh, people movers, bullet trains ... but for Chester, that was just the way to pay the bills for the really theoretical stuff he was interested in.

MULDER: Which was what?

DAVEY: Researching dark matter, quantum particles, neutrinos, gluons, mesons, quarks ...

SCULLY: Subatomic particles.

DAVEY: The mysteries of the universe. Theoretically, the very building blocks of reality.

SCULLY: Except no one knows if they truly exist.

DAVEY: Chester was sure they did, so sure he bet his life on it.

(Davey keys into a laboratory filled with electronic equipment.)

This is where it happened. Chester was working to isolate a new particle. He'd been working on it for a year.

SCULLY: This is a particle accelerator.

DAVEY: One-fifth the power of the Texas supercollider in a space the size of a Wal-Mart.

MULDER: Powered by what?

DAVEY: Couple of billion megawatts. Virginia Power loved us.

SCULLY: Exactly what happened here?

DAVEY: Well, the work involved bombardment of beta particles with an alpha target. Negative against positive. Chester had everything set and had started the countdown when he realized he'd make a mistake. There was something that needed re-adjusting in the target room. Except you can't stop the countdown once you've begun. There was time to safely make the change, but I'd left the room for a minute when Chester decided to go in. I didn't realize until it was too late that the door had locked behind him.

(Davey punches a code into a keypad and the door to the target chamber opens. Inside they find more equipment and the darkened outline of a man on the wall.)

MULDER: Look at this!

DAVEY: As far as I can tell, it burned Chester's shadow right into the wall.

SCULLY: How did he survive?

DAVEY: All I can figure is - the quanta liberated off the target have virtually no mass, that they slid right through his body.

MULDER: Like getting an X-ray.

DAVEY: A two billion megawatt X-ray. When I looked at the monitor and saw what was happening, that Chester was trapped in here, I panicked. I cut the power but it was too late. I remember looking and seeing Chester. He was perfectly calm. Almost like he wanted it to happen, like he was finally going to experience the dark matter he had theorized in some kind of physical way. As if the truth might come into him. (Davey gets emotional) Excuse me.

MULDER: What do you think, Scully?

SCULLY: Well, this looks like the same kind of material that they found at each of the other crime scenes. Maybe what we're dealing with is some kind of spontaneous human combustion.

MULDER: I'm less convinced of that now.

SCULLY: What do you think it is?

(Davey is back in the outside room eavesdropping on Mulder and Scully from a video and audio monitor.)

MULDER: I don't know. Whatever it is, it's connected to the person of Dr. Chester Ray Banton, maybe even part of him.

SCULLY: Well, whatever it is, we have to find him.

MULDER: I know of one place to start looking.

< Richmond train station >

(Mulder sits on the bench in the same location where Banton was seen. Scully approaches.)

SCULLY: There's no sign of him, Mulder. Maybe he's moved on. What are you looking at?

MULDER: On the videotape, Dr. Banton kept staring at the floor. I've been trying to figure out what he might have been looking at.

SCULLY: Well, maybe the exposure affected his mind. Nonsensical repetitive behavior is a common trait of mental illness.

MULDER: You trying to tell me something?

SCULLY: I called Detective Ryan. She's having the prints on the lightbulbs checked against Banton's.

MULDER: Did you tell her about Dr. Banton's accident?

SCULLY: No, I only told her that he was a possible suspect, and that it was a bit too early to get her hopes up, and that right now we have more questions than we do answers.

MULDER: Like?

SCULLY: Like a motive, like a murder weapon, like ...

(Mulder has been standing next to the bench observing the overhead lighting and the lack of shadows around his feet.)

MULDER: What if, Dr. Banton ... look here, there are hardly any shadows cast.

SCULLY: What do you mean?

MULDER: The lighting in here is diffused. It's soft light. What if that was what Banton was looking for?

(Banton comes around a corner toward them.)

SCULLY: Looking for his shadow?

(Mulder spots him.)

MULDER: Dr. Banton!

(Banton runs outside. Mulder and Scully pursue him and corner him in a lighted area on the loading platform. They aim their guns at him.)

MULDER: Stop right there! Dr. Banton!

BANTON: Please, just leave me alone.

MULDER: We're federal agents, Dr. Banton.

BANTON: You don't understand. You're making a big mistake. Stay away from me.

(Banton looks down at his shadow and sees that Mulder is approaching it.)

Wait! It'll kill you, it doesn't care who you are.

(Mulder looks down and sees that he is close to the shadow. He then looks behind him and sees that Scully is approaching a shadow of Banton cast by another light. He shoots out both lights with his gun, leaving all three in the dark.)

BANTON: Thank God!

ACT III

< Yaloff Psychiatric Hospital, Piedmont, Virginia >

(Banton is in a softly lit room. Mulder and Scully, with a doctor, slide open the observation window in the door.)

MULDER: I thought the orders were to keep this patient in the dark.

DOCTOR: He insisted on soft light. It's the only way he'd let us open the door.

(Mulder and Scully enter, while the doctor locks the three of them in the room.)

BANTON: How can you even begin to understand what it's like?

MULDER: We're trying to understand.

BANTON: Living in a train station, day and night. Living like a bum, afraid to fall asleep because of what might happen.

SCULLY: The accident in the lab ... the quanta bombardment ... you believe that altered you physically?

BANTON: You could say that.

MULDER: Can you tell us how?

BANTON: Even if I could, you wouldn't understand.

SCULLY: But it has something to do with dark matter.

BANTON: It has everything to do with dark matter. My shadow isn't mine. It's ... it's like a black hole. It splits molecules into component atoms, it unzips electrons from their orbits, reduces matter into pure energy.

SCULLY: That's how you killed Gail Anne Lambert?

BANTON: It wasn't me. Gail Anne was my colleague. She ... the night after the accident, I went to see her. I was just standing in the doorway. I was looking right at her ... and then she was gone.

MULDER: You have no control over it?

BANTON: If I could control it, do you think I would let it go around killing people? All I can do is study it, try and divine its true nature before they do.

MULDER: They?

BANTON: The government. (whispers to Mulder) They're after me. And when they find me, they're going to do the brain suck. They've just been dying to do it.

MULDER: The brain suck? For the purpose of ...

BANTON: For the purpose of stealing what has taken me years to accomplish. And don't think they wouldn't kill to get it.

MULDER: But if they killed you, then wouldn't your shadow just ...

BANTON: Disappear? Who knows? That's why you have to get me out of here. If I die, there could be nothing left to tether this thing.

RYAN: (opening the door) Excuse me. I'm going to have to ask you discontinue your interrogation of the suspect.

(Mulder and Scully step out into the hall with Ryan and another detective.)

RYAN: This is Detective Barron. He's the primary on this case.

BARRON: Yeah, I was just wondering what your involvement is here?

MULDER: We caught the guy.

BARRON: I appreciate that. But no one seems to be able to recall inviting the FBI in on this case.

SCULLY: Agent Mulder and I are here strictly in an unofficial capacity.

BARRON: Then who brought you in?

SCULLY: We were curious about the unexplained nature of the case.

BARRON: Well, Banton's prints place him at two of the crime scenes, and transit authority tapes show him in the immediate vicinity of two of the most recent victims. So I say this case is looking pretty much explained.

MULDER: Really? Have you talked to Dr. Banton?

BARRON: I hope you're not trying to interrogate me, Agent Mulder. Because I'm not the suspect.

MULDER: I don't think you know anything about this case, which is why you stuck it with Detective Ryan. And I think you should allow her to decide how to proceed.

BARRON: Detective Ryan is handling this case. She's done well, and I see no reason not to continue to let her prosecute it once the prisoner has been transferred.

MULDER: Transferred? Where?

RYAN: To the city jail in preparation for his arraignment.

MULDER: I don't think you fully appreciate this man's condition or the danger that he poses.

BARRON: I don't think you have the authority to tell me, or anyone else in my unit, how to do our job.

RYAN: I think we can handle it from here, Agent Mulder. We'll call you if there's anything more you can do.

SCULLY: Come on, Mulder, let's go.

(Scully and Barron walk away in opposite directions. Mulder catches Ryan by the arm before she can leave.)

MULDER: (to Ryan) Soft light. He needs soft light.

(Mulder catches up with Scully.)

MULDER: Hope you know what you're doing, Scully.

SCULLY: What do you mean?

MULDER: Putting Detective Ryan's ambition ahead of all good sense in this case.

SCULLY: Ambition? She's a woman trying to survive the boys' club, Mulder. Believe me, I know how she feels.

MULDER: The difference is you never put yourself ahead of your work, and that's what happening here.

SCULLY: Look. The fact is, we have no jurisdiction here. We were called in as a favor.

MULDER: And as a favor, we just handed over the A-bomb over to the Boy Scouts.

SCULLY: I'm sure all the necessary precautions will be taken.

MULDER: And I'm sure that Robert Oppenheimer got similar reassurances from his government, the same government that Dr. Banton is afraid of.

SCULLY: You don't believe all this paranoia about brain sucking, do you?

MULDER: That man is scared, and it's not just of his own shadow.

SCULLY: Mulder, as brilliant as Dr. Banton may be, he is also clearly delusional. He demonstrated just about every textbook indicator back there.

MULDER: We've both seen the physical evidence, Scully.

SCULLY: Look, I don't know how to explain it, but that's not our job. I don't know what else we should do.

MULDER: I think I do.

< Richmond train station >

(Mulder is looking through the station and sees Mr. X. X walks away and Mulder follows. They meet in a deserted stairwell.)

X: All you've given me is a name - Chester A. Banton.

MULDER: Dr. Chester A. Banton. Do you know him?

X: No. Should I?

MULDER: He's being held by the Richmond Police in connection with several bizarre murders. He's a physicist, researching quarks, gluons, dark matter. He believes the government is out to get him.

X: It's tax season. So do most Americans.

MULDER: He believes his life is in danger.

X: Is he a dangerous man?

MULDER: Yes.

X: Where is he being held?

MULDER: At the Yaloff Psychiatric Hospital, but not for long.

X: I'm afraid I can't help you.

MULDER: Why?

X: The last time I helped you, I bloodied my fist and regrettably exposed my identity to associates of yours.

MULDER: Yes, I know, and you can trust them as you trust me. I promise.

X: Dead men can't keep promises. The next time the blood and regret could be yours. I'm not at your beck and call, Agent Mulder. I have nothing to gain and everything to lose by helping you. Promise you won't contact me again unless absolutely necessary.

(X heads down the stairs. Mulder waits until he is out of hearing range.)

MULDER: (softly) Promise.

< Yaloff Psychiatric Hospital >

(As a nurse works at the nursing station, the lights dim briefly, then go out. The nurse picks up the phone.)

NURSE: Frank, are your lights on down there? Ours just went ...

(Mr. X suddenly presses the switchhook on the phone, startling the nurse.)

X: Hi. We're here to transfer Chester A. Banton.

NURSE: I have orders he's not being transferred until tomorrow.

X: Due to the power outage, there's been a change in plans.

(X heads down the hall.)

NURSE: No one's supposed to go in there.

(X is joined by two other men in the hallway. X unlocks the door to Banton's room and the two men go in with a stretcher. The nurse catches up to X in the hall.)

X: Here. Quickly.

NURSE: Who are you?

BANTON: No. Don't do this. Please, please, no, no, don't, leave me alone.

(The two men gag and bind Banton and lift him to his feet. Suddenly the emergency lighting comes on, which consists of a single bulb in Banton's room. There is a blue flash as the two men disintegrate. X looks into the room to see Banton and two scorched spots on the floor. Banton walks out of the room, with X giving way to avoid his shadow. As they stare at each other in the hall, X draws his gun and aims at Banton but then lowers it. Banton runs away down the hall.)

ACT IV

< Next day at the psychiatric hospital >

(Mulder walks down the hall, passing Ryan who is coming out of Banton's room. He enters the room to find Scully.)

SCULLY: Mulder.

MULDER: What'd you find out, Scully?

SCULLY: Richmond PD had two officers outside watching the entrance. They didn't see anybody come in.

MULDER: According to the floor nurse, there were three men.

SCULLY: Three? The power was disconnected at a substation two blocks from here. Somebody posing as the city engineer.

MULDER: Somebody who would have access to plans for Virginia Power so they could take it off the grid without affecting surrounding facilities.

SCULLY: Somebody from the government coming for Dr. Banton?

MULDER: Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you, Scully, but my guess is he was unsuccessful and Dr. Banton is on the loose.

SCULLY: That's what Detective Ryan thinks.

MULDER: I saw her leave.

SCULLY: She was in charge of Dr. Banton's transfer and arraignment this morning. She's in some pretty hot water.

MULDER: Well, maybe that was an appointment he was never meant to keep. Let's go.

SCULLY: Where? Mulder, wait. Where are we going?

MULDER: You heard what Dr. Banton said last night.

SCULLY: I heard him say a lot of things.

MULDER: Put yourself in his head, Scully. I think the only reason he hasn't tried to kill himself is because he's afraid his death will release the dark matter.

SCULLY: Wait a second. That's still just a theory, and it's a pretty wild one at that.

MULDER: Whether or not Dr. Banton is actually telling the truth, he believes he is.

SCULLY: And apparently so does whoever it is that tried to take him last night.

MULDER: All that he's been trying to do since the accident is try to control this thing. Now if he's escaped, he's going to go to the one place where he thinks he can do that, and we've got to get there first.

< Polarity Magnetics >

(Davey enters a darkened laboratory and reaches for the light switch, but Banton grabs his hand.)

BANTON: Don't turn on the light, Chris, unless you want to die.

DAVEY: Chester, what the hell is going on? The FBI has been looking for you. Where've you been?

BANTON: There's no time to explain, just come with me.

(They step out and start down a corridor.)

DAVEY: What's this about, Chester, you're acting crazy. Talk to me.

BANTON: We've found the dark matter, Chris, it's real, we found it.

DAVEY: What are you talking about?

BANTON: Don't you understand? I'm it. It's ... it's in me.

DAVEY: The accident?

BANTON: They're coming for me, Chris. We have to destroy this thing before they get here.

DAVEY: No, you can't go back in there, Chester.

(Ryan appears in the corridor in front of them, weapon raised.)

RYAN: Police! I'm placing you under arrest, Dr. Banton.

BANTON: A lot of people will die if you do this.

RYAN: Step against the wall, sir.

BANTON: I'm begging you. I don't want to hurt you.

RYAN: I said step against the wall, now.

(As Davey watches, Banton looks up and sees a light over his head. He checks his shadow, then walks toward Ryan.)

BANTON: I'm sorry.

(His shadow touches Ryan and she disintegrates, leaving a scorch mark.)

BANTON: Let's go, we don't have much time.

(Davey stares wide-eyed at the scorch mark, then follows Banton to the particle accelerator lab. Banton operates the keypad to opens the target room door, then steps inside.)

DAVEY: Chester!

BANTON: No matter what they say to you later, you're doing the right thing.

(He closes the door and looks at Davey through a peephole in the door.)

BANTON: Lock it up, Chris.

(Davey operates the keypad to seal the door.)

BANTON: All right, let's get the accelerator on line.

DAVEY: I'm afraid not, Chester.

BANTON: You can do it, Chris.

DAVEY: I can, but I'm not.

BANTON: No, Chris. Tell me you're not working for them.

DAVEY: Wish I could, Chester.

BANTON: You son of a bitch!

DAVEY: Careful, we don't want you to hurt yourself.

BANTON: I'll die before I let them use me.

DAVEY: You're lightning in a bottle, Chester. We're not about to let you die.

(Davey goes to the telephone and dials a number, watching Banton on the video monitor.)

BANTON: Chris, don't do this. Listen to me. This is wrong. You're making a terrible mistake.

DAVEY: (to phone) I've got him. He's not going anywhere until you pick him up.

(A gunshot is heard, and Davey falls across the desk.)

BANTON: Chris? Chris? Chris? What's happening? Chris? Chris?

(Banton is looking through the peephole and suddenly X's face appears on the other side.)

(Mulder and Scully arrive and walk up the stairs toward Polarity Magnetics. They pass a window overlooking the parking lot.)

SCULLY: We're not the first ones here, Mulder, that's Detective Ryan's car.

MULDER: I was afraid of this.

(They come upon the scorch mark in the corridor.)

SCULLY: Mulder.

MULDER: (looking at the mark) Oh, damn it!

(As Scully kneels over the mark, they hear an electrical humming noise.)

SCULLY: What's that noise?

MULDER: The accelerator.

(They hurry to the accelerator room. The accelerator is operating but there is no one in the outside area. Mulder goes to the target room door but there is a blinding light from within. Scully goes to the control desk.)

SCULLY: Mulder.

(On the video monitor, they see a figure slumped back in a chair in the target room. As they watch, the figure and chair disintegrate, leaving a shadow on the wall. The accelerator shuts off. Mulder goes to the door and looks in, but he cannot open the door.)

MULDER: Scully, look at this.

(Scully looks through the door and sees the new shadow.)

SCULLY: He must have killed her and then killed himself.

MULDER: He couldn't have. This chamber's been sealed from the outside. (he slaps the door)

SCULLY: By who?

< a dark, unknown location >

(Mulder and X meet in a dark corridor.)

X: Agent Mulder. I thought you had agreed not to contact me again about this.

MULDER: You lied to me.

X: About?

MULDER: About Chester Ray Banton. You knew who he was, and you used me to lead you to him.

X: You were the one who contacted me, Agent Mulder.

MULDER: I won't be your stalking horse, or the government's.

X: You seem to be mistaken about the amount of control you exercise over this arrangment.

MULDER: (angrily) You killed Dr. Banton!

X: Have you lost your mind?

MULDER: A nurse at the hospital identified you! A young detective is dead because of you! Who do you answer to?

X: Despite my loyalty to my predecessor, I've never made you any promises.

MULDER: All right, promise me something right now. Promise me this will be our last meeting. We're finished.

(Mulder walks away.)

X: You're choosing a dangerous time to go it alone, Agent Mulder. Mulder! (Mulder stops and looks back at him) I didn't kill him.

(X exits in the opposite direction.)

< a cemetary >

FATHER: Mourners are invited to pay their respects to the family at the Ryan home.

(Scully is among the mourners. She crouches over the burial marker, which reads "KELLY RYAN 1965-1995". After a moment, she rises and walks back to Mulder.)

MULDER: How you doing?

SCULLY: I'm not sure how to feel about this, Mulder. She was my student, and she came to me for help.

MULDER: I know it must be hard.

SCULLY: This shouldn't have happened. This never should have happened.

MULDER: I'm sorry I'm late, I got hung up at the Richmond PD.

SCULLY: Doing what?

MULDER: A missing person report was filed this morning by a Dr. Morris West. He's a physicist affiliated with Polarity Magnetics.

SCULLY: I'm not sure I follow you.

MULDER: The missing person was Dr. Christopher Davey. He hasn't been seen or heard from since Banton disappeared.

SCULLY: Do they have any leads or know where he might be?

MULDER: No. None.

SCULLY: But you do.

MULDER: I've been wondering, what if it wasn't Banton we saw in the particle accelerator?

SCULLY: Well, if Banton's not dead, then where is he?

< a government facility >

(X walks down a corridor, joining a government scientist in the hallway. A bright light is flashing from within the room.)

GOVERNMENT SCIENTIST: Dr. Davey would have been helpful to us. We'll be studying this man for a long time.

(Inside, Banton is seated with sensors attached to his head. The flashing light is casting a shadow on a photoelectric panel. A single tear falls down Banton's cheek.)

The End