The X-Files - 2.

6.03 Triangle

Russian title: Treugolnik

CarriK: This entire episode was filmed in continuous takes reminiscent of Hitchcock's "Rope". Almost all of the action takes place within the time of the show. IMHO very different, very well done. The sweeping movement of the camera, even some 360 degree turns, sucks you into the episode. I was on the edge of my chair for 57 minutes.

TEASER

<SARGASSO SEA 64 WEST by SOUTHWEST>

(Day. Underwater shot of a shipwrecked motorboat. Slow pan under wreckage ending with view of a round white life preserver, piece of the hull with the boat's name: Lady Garland, then of a man, MULDER, floating face down in the still water.)

Opening Credits. Mulder … whooo. Scully rocks. Tagline: DIE WAHRHEIT IST IRGENDWO DA DRAUBEN (The Truth is Out There Somewhere)

SCENE 1

(Night, or at least dark. Raining. Deck of large luxury liner. Several BRITISH SAILORS are lifting a man out of the water.)

SAILOR 1: Oi! Easy! Easy! Steady up! Hold on, mates. He's almost up. That's it. Give it a big pull! That's it. Don't drop him now. Come on! Pull him over! Put your backs into it! Come on!

( The rescued man, MULDER coughs. )

SAILOR 2: There he goes. Lots of life in him. Give it up, Matey. Good for ya. That's what you get for your trouble.

SAILOR 1: Maybe he's just taking a long swim.

SAILOR 2: Yeah. Or a short flight. You an airman, Mate? Oi?

(Hits MULDER.)

SAILOR 1: No, he's not dressed like an airman.

SAILOR 2: What kind of uniform is that, then? Sprechen sie deutsche, jah?

(MULDER groans as someone else hits him.)

SAILOR 1: I say he's a rat and we throw him overboard like a rat.

SAILOR 2: Right. Let's give him the heave-ho!

(The SAILORS pick him up again and lead him to the edge of the deck.)

MULDER: (weakly) Hey …

SAILOR 1: How's about another dip in the Atlantic, huh, dirty Jerry?

SAILOR 2: Even the sharks won't eat him.

SAILOR 1: Oi! What you got to say for yourself, Jerry, before we throw you back in?

MULDER: My name's not Jerry.

SAILOR 1: What's that? Eh?

MULDER: My name's Mulder. Fox Mulder.

SAILOR 2: That a name? Mulder?

MULDER: I got ID in my pocket.

SAILOR 1: (pulling out and reading MULDER's badge) "Fox Mulder, Federal Bureau of Investigation." Sorry, mate, never heard of it!

(They begin dragging MULDER below decks.)

MULDER: (surprised) Never heard of it?

SAILOR 2: Tell you what we do with foxes. (laugh) Care to know?

MULDER: You never heard of the FBI?

SAILOR 2: Why don't you shut up, Jerry, before we change our minds here.

MULDER: Where are you taking me?

SAILOR 1: Where'd you pick up that accent?

SAILOR 2: Probably in the Fuhrer's Secret Service. Come on.

MULDER: What are you talking about?

SAILOR 2: I say we cut him open and see what color he bleeds. Dirty Jerry. Deutschland Uber Alles.

(SAILOR 2 spits at MULDER. They are now inside the nice living quarters of the ship.)

MULDER: (confused) "Deutschland Uber Alles"? Wait a second.

SAILOR 2: Oi, how's about you shove a cork in it, mate. All right?

(SAILOR knocks at a cabin door with an ornate brass plaque. The British captain of the ship, CAPTAIN HARBURG opens the door. )

CAPTAIN HARBURG: Eh? What's this about?

SAILOR 2: ( whispering ) Found him in the water, sir. Don't know nothing about him. I think he's a German.

CAPTAIN HARBURG: Bring the prisoner in my room.

(They pull MULDER into the CAPTAIN's cabin and hold him while the CAPTAIN punches him twice.)

CAPTAIN HARBURG: Friend or foe?

MULDER: What?

CAPTAIN HARBURG: To what flag do you pledge allegiance?

MULDER: I think there's been a mistake. I think the mistake is mine.

(MULDER grunts as the CAPTAIN punches him again.)

CAPTAIN HARBURG: Speak the truth, man.

MULDER: This is the Queen Anne, isn't it?

CAPTAIN HARBURG: Aye.

(CAPTAIN starts to hit him again. MULDER stops his hand nonaggressively.)

MULDER: Hey, just about enough of that. I came looking for this ship.

(SAILOR 1 holds up a knife to MULDER's throat.)

SAILOR 1: Say the word, Captain, I'll make him the first of the rest.

MULDER: Hold on a second. I think I can explain what's going on.

SAILOR 2: It's a ruse, Captain.

MULDER: What's our current position?

CAPTAIN HARBURG: Cut the spy up.

(SAILORS begin to drag MULDER back out of the room.)

MULDER: I'll tell you. I'll tell you. We're two degrees above the 30th parallel. Sargasso Sea. Just above the Tropic of Cancer. 64 degrees West by Southwest. Off the Plantagenet bank 60 miles South-southwest off Bermuda. How would I know that if I'd been in the water?

CAPTAIN HARBURG: Aye, that's a damn good question, lad. I'm waiting for a damn good answer.

MULDER: Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me that you haven't been able to get accurate compass readings. That navigation's been a real bitch. It's because you've been caught in something called "The Devil's Triangle." I can show you on the chart here. (crosses to wall chart) It goes from Bermuda down to Puerto Rico and back up to Florida. The Queen Anne is stuck here on the Eastern edge of it. You've been caught in some kind of time warp. In some kind of limbo dimension and now you've popped out the other side into 1998.

SAILOR 1: 1998?!

SAILOR 2: This man is mad.

SAILOR 3: Let him tell it to the fishes.

CAPTAIN HARBURG: I'm done fooling about, man. There's a war on. And in it or no, I don't plan to lose me mind nor me ship to the likes of a jackal like you.

MULDER: (laughing) You can relax. There's no war going on. The world is at peace. There's a little trouble over at our White House but that'll blow over, so to speak.

CAPTAIN MARBURG: Peace? It's September 3rd, 1939, man! Hitler has entered Poland. And we've just been boarded by a bunch of his goose-stepping hooligans so don't speak to me of peace, lad. Tell Mother England.

MULDER: (showing them the date on his watch like they would believe him) No, no. It's not September 3rd. It's November 16th. Look.

(There is a knock at the door. FIRST MATE enters.)

FIRST MATE: Excuse me, captain.

CAPTAIN MARBURG: Aye.

FIRST MATE: Sir, the Germans, sir. They've taken control of the bridge. Steering a course for their homeland.

CAPTAIN MARBURG: Not on the watch of captain Yip Harburg, they're not. Lock the prisoner up in here.

MULDER: It's okay. The war's over. Let them take you to Germany. They make nice cars.

(The SAILORS and CAPTAIN MARBURG ignore him, leave and lock the door behind them.)

MULDER: (to himself, grinning, thrilled) This is unbelievable.

(MULDER crosses to the radio and begins turning dials and speaking into the microphone.)

MULDER: (into radio) Mayday, mayday. This is Special Agent Fox Mulder with the FBI. I'm on the SS Queen Anne. (tries another channel) Ship in distress. Mayday, mayday.

(Still turning the dial, MULDER picks up a radio broadcast.)

RADIO: The British ambassador in Berlin handed the German government a final note stating that unless we heard from them that they are prepared at once to withdraw their troops from Poland a state of war would exist between us. No such undertaking has been received. Consequently, as of today, September 3, 1939 this country is at war with Germany.

(MULDER sits listening, staring straight ahead in shock.)

MULDER: Oh, sh….

(MULDER turns away from the radio at the sound of a key turning in the lock.)

GERMAN SOLDIER: Hello? (something German) Hello? Hello?

(GERMAN SOLDIER enters the now dark room. We can't see his face. He is looking around the room.)

RADIO: Closing of places of entertainment: All cinemas, theatres and other places of entertainment are to be closed immediately until further notice. The evacuation of British children is going on smoothly and efficiently. The ministry of health says that great progress...

(As the GERMAN SOLDIER passes the radio, MULDER jumps out at him. They hit the radio switching the channel to the Andrews Sisters singing "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon" and proceed to quietly beat each other up. MULDER wins and gets a look at the unconscious GERMAN SOLDIER. It is a 1939 version of AGENT SPENDER.)

MULDER: What the hell is going on? Spender?

(MULDER begins to strip 1939 SPENDER as the camera pans around and out into the hall. Now dressed in the 1939 SPENDER's German uniform, MULDER begins walking down the hall. At the other end of the hall, some NAZI SOLDIERS spot him. And speak friendly German to his back. MULDER doesn't answer or turn around. The NAZI SOLDIERS are no longer friendly.)

NAZI 1: Halt! Mach Schnell! Der rechts! Der rechts! Der rechts! ---*Stop! Hurry up! The right, the right, the right... [Esther: I am not sure about "Der rechts..." It does not make sense.]*---

(MULDER begins running. The NAZIs begin chasing MULDER through the halls of the ship. Twice, MULDER eludes them by slipping into a side hallway. Finally, MULDER going through a narrow hallway ends up in the ship's ballroom where the well dressed ship's passengers are dancing to the tunes of ELMIRA GULCH and the LOLLIPOP GUILD. MULDER wanders dazedly through the dancers up toward the orchestra which is playing "Jeepers Creepers." )

SINGER: IT'S GOT TO BE SUNNY TO ME WHEN YOUR EYES LOOK INTO MINE JEEPERS CREEPERS, WHERE'D YOU GET THOSE PEEPERS? GOSH, OH, GET UP, HOW'D THEY GET SO LIT UP?

MULDER: (quietly to himself looking up at the pretty blonde singer) Hi.

(TD NOTE: She's a double for Kersh's secretary, a woman we won't meet until later in the show.)

SINGER: JEEPERS CREEPERS, WHERE'D YOU GET THOSE PEEPERS?

(One of the couples is dancing near MULDER. They accidentally bump into MULDER.)

WOMAN: (accusingly) Excuse me.

(MULDER looks away from the singer and sees that the WOMAN is identical to SCULLY. She is dressed in a long burgundy dress. She is dancing with a BALD-HEADED MAN. MULDER, surprised, grabs her arm.)

MULDER: Scully?

1939 SCULLY: I suggest you get your Nazi paws off me before you get one in the kisser.

MULDER: (lifting the bill of his cap so she can see him) Scully, it's me, Mulder.

1939 SCULLY: Oh, you speak English, do you? Well, how'd you like to see the stars on the American flag? (holds her fist in front of his face)

MULDER: (offended, not understanding why she doesn't recognize him) I'm not a Nazi.

1939 SCULLY: Oh, sure. You just look like one, right?

(Turns back to keep dancing.)

MULDER: I had to steal this uniform. (putting his hands on her back) Scully?

(Suddenly, the SINGER stops the music and points down at MULDER.)

SINGER: Hier ist der mann, den sie vollen! --- *Here is the man you want!*----

( The NAZIS near the door converge on MULDER. )

NAZI 1: (firing a gun into the air) Halt! Hande hoch! Hande hoch! ---*Stop! Hands up! Hands up!*---

(MULDER looks blankly at 1939 SCULLY for help.)

1939 SCULLY: (translating) He said, "Put your hands up."

(MULDER puts his hands up. The NAZIs grab him.)

MULDER: (to 1939 SCULLY) You see, I told you.

(NAZI punches MULDER. The music resumes as the NAZIs drag MULDER back out of the ballroom. 1939 SCULLY goes back to dancing.)

SINGER: JEEPERS CREEPERS …

MULDER: You're all big men now but wait until you get into Russia. Hope you fellas like the cold.

SINGER: ...WHERE'D YOU GET THOSE EYES? HUSH, OH, GET UP, HOW'D THEY GET SO LIT UP?

(The NAZIS drag MULDER through the ship, through the rain, and up to the deck. They begin beating him. Mulder fights back, taking one of them down. They restrain him.)

NAZI 1: Auf schnell! ( shouts angrily in German ) ---*Get up fast!*---

MULDER: Same to you, Adolf!

NAZI 1: Los! Mach schon. ---*Go! Get on with it!*---

(They drag MULDER off. The NAZI that MULDER attacked gets up and follows. They end up at the helm. CAPTAIN MARBURG stands defiantly in front of the wheel. He is surrounded by NAZIS. We can't see the NAZI OFFICER's face yet.)

NAZI OFFICER: Bringen sie dieses schiff auf fahrtrichtung Deutschland oder wir schaffen sie vom steuer weg. Verstanden? ---*Turn this ship in the direction of Germany or we will remove you from the wheel, understood?*---

CAPTAIN MARBURG: I'll not give up this ship!

NAZI OFFICER: Zeig ihm was ich meine. ---*Show him what I mean.*---

CAPTAIN MARBURG: You can put me down, man, but I'll not let go of this wheel so 'till we meet in hell... (spits)

NAZI OFFICER: Ershiess ihn. ---*Shoot him.*---

FIRST MATE: No!

(Camera pans around until CAPTAIN MARBURG is hidden behind the NAZI OFFICER. NAZI 2 shoots the CAPTAIN in the head. CAPTAIN falls dead. NAZI OFFICER turns. He is a 1939 version of CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN. He lights a cigarette and looks at MULDER.)

MULDER: You...

1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Wer ist dieser mann? ---*Who is this man?"*---

NAZI 2: Er hat einen meiner leute zusammengeschlagen und seine uniform gestohlen. Er ist spion. ---*He beat up one of my people and stole his uniform. He is a spy.*---

1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Wo sind die waffen versteckt? ---*Where are the weapons?*---

MULDER: No sprechen.

1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Die waffen haben sie an bord, nicht? ---*You have the weapons on board, no?*---

MULDER: I don't speak Nazi.

1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Erschiess ihn auch. ---*Shoot him also.*---

(NAZI 2 levels the gun at MULDER's head.)

MULDER: (slight panic) Wait a minute. Why are you shooting me? Why are you killing me? What have I done? I don't understand what you're asking me.

(Another NAZI, who looks just like SKINNER enters the helm.)

1939 SKINNER NAZI: Halt! Nicht schiessen. Dieser mann ist Amerikaner. Es heisst sie vollen mehr leute an dem krieg beteiligen. (hands MULDER's badge to 1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN.) ---*Stop! Don't shoot! This man is American. They say more people want to take part in the war...*---

1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Bring ihn nach unten. Bring alle nach unten. ---*Bring him under. Bring them all under.*---

(MULDER's captors drag him back out of the helm.)

MULDER: (off screen) Skinner? Where are they taking me? Help me, Skinner!

(Commercial 1.)

SCENE 2

<FBI HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON, DC>

(SCULLY is sitting at her DESK!?!?!?!? in the FBI bullpen. The LONE GUNMEN approach her. [CarriK: This entire scene never stops - every moment is filled with intense urgency, camera and actors in constant motion. Wow. Don't even think this transcription comes close to describing it.] )

(TD NOTE: What she said, I was holding my breath!)

SCULLY: What are you guys doing here?

FROHIKE: Mulder's in trouble.

LANGLY: Big trouble.

SCULLY: What do you mean?

BYERS: Let's take a walk.

SCULLY: Okay, where are we going?

(They walk a few paces away from her desk.)

FROHIKE: The walls have ears.

SCULLY: (impatient) I have ears. Will you tell me what's going on?

BYERS: Mulder's disappeared.

SCULLY: Disappeared from where?

LANGLY: From the national reconnaissance office's lacrosse mid-latitude imaging radar satellite.

(LANGLY hands her a photo.)

SCULLY: I don't understand. What am I looking at?

FOWLEY: A whole lot of nothing.

BYERS: We pulled that down 45 minutes ago off the NRO satellite, which early this morning sent a picture of a ship which inexplicably appeared in the middle of the Atlantic.

LANGLY: The SS Queen Anne which by all accounts vanished without a trace over sixty years ago.

SCULLY: The Queen Anne? The British luxury liner?

FROHIKE: That's correct.

SCULLY: It was torpedoed by a German U-boat.

LANGLY: That's one story.

SCULLY: There's another?

BYERS: Though her exact position was kept secret for fear spies might give her up to the Axis. It's been reasonably determined that the Queen Anne was just south of the Plantagenet bank when she went missing.

FROHIKE: Less than sixty feet of water yet she's never been found.

SCULLY: So you're saying the Queen Anne just disappeared.

LANGLY: Into the Bermuda triangle.

FROHIKE: And reappeared this morning at 6:49 a.m. Eastern Standard Time.

SCULLY: That's impossible.

BYERS: Satellite doesn't lie.

SCULLY: There's nothing on here.

BYERS: We gave the original images to Mulder so he could use them as navigational aids.

LANGLY: He was in a hurry.

SCULLY: To get where?

FROHIKE: Out to the Queen Anne before anyone else got there first.

SCULLY: He's gone out here?

BYERS: He went to Bermuda and chartered a powerboat out of Hamilton Harbor. We tracked him on the satellite for an hour and a half.

LANGLY: Until a storm blew in and obscured all transmissions.

FROHIKE: That's what you're holding.

SCULLY: What's happened to him?

BYERS: We can't know that. Not without alternative tracking data. Which is why we're here.

LANGLY: Without good data, all we can do is wait and hope for the best.

FROHIKE: Yeah, but expect the worst.

SCULLY: Well, we have to get help.

(SCULLY goes back to her desk and doesn't stop moving for the rest of the scene.)

BYERS: Without a position he's a needle in a haystack.

SCULLY: What do you need?

BYERS: Navy AWACS SLAR or SAR 100 K swath imaging. You're going to have to find somebody at the Pentagon to get it.

SCULLY: (writing down the information) Wait for me downstairs.

(SCULLY takes her note and leaves the GUNMEN. She walks purposefully down the hall and into SKINNER's SECRETARY's office.)

SCULLY: (to SKINNER's SECRETARY) I need to speak with him.

SKINNER'S SECRETARY: Could you please take a seat?

SCULLY: Is he in?

SKINNER'S SECRETARY: Yes, he's on his phone.

SCULLY: Sorry, this can't wait.

(SCULLY walks into SKINNER's office. He is on the phone.)

SCULLY: Sir?

SKINNER: (on phone) Could you hold on a minute? (to SCULLY) What is it, Agent Scully?

SCULLY: I just received some very disturbing information, sir. I need your help.

SKINNER: (on phone) I'll call you back in five. (puts down phone and turns to SCULLY) You can't come rushing in here.

(They speak quietly and urgently.)

SCULLY: Sir, I couldn't waste time explaining myself to your assistant.

SKINNER: Tell me what is so urgent.

SCULLY: It's about Agent Mulder. He's done something incredibly rash.

SKINNER: I can't.

SCULLY: He may be lost at sea.

SKINNER: I can't, Agent Scully.

SCULLY: You can't what?

SKINNER: I can't help you. There's nothing I can do.

SCULLY: This isn't for me; it's for Agent Mulder.

SKINNER: My hands are tied. I'm not your direct superior any longer.

SCULLY: Don't you want to know what this is about?

(They walk back toward door.)

SKINNER: No, I don't. I don't even what to hear it.

SCULLY: (pleading) Sir, this is about a man's life.

SKINNER: (louder) I'm not allowed to have contact with you-- any contact with either you or Mulder.

SKINNER'S SECRETARY: She walked right past me, sir.

(SCULLY closes the door between the offices.)

SKINNER: You're out of line, Scully.

SCULLY: No, sir, you're out of line. I'm sorry, but I'm coming to you for help and I've got nowhere else to go. I would hope that after everything that we have been through that you would at least have the courtesy and the decency and not to mention the respect to listen to what I have to say. Now, all I need is information. (SKINNER takes SCULLY's note and glances over it.) You don't have to do anything else. Look, sir, if you know anybody at the Office of Naval Intelligence it would be of great help.

SKINNER: (after a pause, hands back the note) I could lose my job, my pension, I could even be subject to legal action.

(SCULLY sighs in exasperation and starts to open the door, but SKINNER slams it back shut and keeps his hand on it.)

SKINNER: Use your head, Scully. It'll save your ass.

SCULLY: Save your own ass, sir. You'll save your head along with it.

(SCULLY crosses to the double doors that lead directly out of SKINNER's office, looks back a moment, then goes out into the hall. She goes down the hall to a very cool version of the X-Files theme and gets on a crowded elevator and roughly hits a button. She waits impatiently as the car rises, slapping the paper in her hands sharply, getting a very odd look from another female passenger, then quickly exits, accidentally hitting a fellow passenger with the note as she does.)

WOMAN IN THE ELEVATOR: Ouch!

SCULLY: (turning quickly) Sorry.

(SCULLY enter AD KERSH's SECRETARY's office. It is empty. SCULLY turns and is almost back out of the office when the SECRETARY comes out of KERSH's office. She looks JUST like the singer on the ship in 1939.)

KERSH'S SECRETARY: Yes, sir, I'll get those files and make that call and buzz you when I have him on the line.

SCULLY: I need a word with AD Kersh.

KERSH'S SECRETARY: I'm sorry, he's not available.

(SCULLY sees AD KERSH in his office.)

SCULLY: Assistant Director Kersh, may I please have a moment of your time?

AD KERSH: A moment for what?

SCULLY: Uh, may I, sir? (enters the office) Thank you. Sir, I need you to get me some information. (holds up notepaper) I am not a liberty to say why but I can tell you it is of the utmost importance…

(SCULLY turns and sees CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN standing in KERSH's office.)

AD KERSH: Yes?

SCULLY: . I, uh... Sorry. I shouldn't have come unannounced.

AD KERSH: (oh so smoothly) May I see what you were going to show me, Agent Scully?

SCULLY: Uh... It's nothing, really.

AD KERSH: (taking the notepaper from her) Good.

(With nothing else to say, SCULLY leaves the office, expressing with just her back complete disgust with herself for being so foolish. She raises her hands briefly and turns around in the hall thinking. She has a sudden idea.)

SCULLY: What am I thinking? What am I thinking?

(She pulls out her cell phone, hits speed dial, and heads back for the elevator running into someone on the way.)

SCULLY: Sorry.

(She catches the elevator just before the doors close. She is alone in the car.)

SCULLY: (whispering, willing someone to answer the phone, hitting button for the basement) Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. Answer the phone, Mulder. Answer the phone, answer the phone, answer the phone.

RECORDED VOICE: The cellular customer you are trying to reach is not responding or is …

SCULLY: (hanging up) Damn.

(SCULLY exits the elevator and enters the X-Files office.)

SCULLY: (direct) I want you to do me a favor. It's not negotiable. Either you do it or I kill you. You understand?

(SPENDER is alone in the office. He gets up and crosses to her.)

SPENDER: You okay, Agent Scully?

SCULLY: No, I'm not. I'm a gun ready to go off so don't test me, Spender. Don't even think about trying to weasel me.

SPENDER: What is it that you need?

SCULLY: (writing it down for him) Navy AWACS SLAR 100 K swath. South-southeast of Bermuda. I am looking for a boat, maybe a ship. 1939 luxury liner.

SPENDER: 1939?

SCULLY: Don't ask too many questions. I don't care what you do or who you do or who you have to grease, I need that information and I need it now. Are we clear on that?

SPENDER: Crystal.

SCULLY: And, Agent Spender... If you're not back in a hurry I am going to hunt you down, and so help me God... (she clenches her hand in a fist)

SPENDER: Right.

(He leaves the office.)

SCULLY: (under her breath) Oh, God.

(Phone on SPENDER's desk rings. SCULLY stares at it, then picks it up.)

SCULLY: (on phone) Hello?

Cigarette-Smoking Man: (voice) Agent Fowley?

SCULLY: (on phone, pause, slightly lowers voice) Yes.

Cigarette-Smoking Man: (voice) I was looking for Agent Spender.

SCULLY: (on phone) I'm sorry, he's not here right now. Is there something I can help you with?

Cigarette-Smoking Man: (voice) Yeah, Agent Scully just handed the Assistant Director a piece of paper with an intelligence system scribbled on it.. (pause).

SCULLY: Yes? Yes, sir?

Cigarette-Smoking Man: (voice, pause) Who is this?

(SCULLY hangs up slowly. Begins to leave. Phone rings again behind her. SCULLY runs into KERSH'S SECRETARY.)

KERSH'S SECRETARY: Oh, Agent Scully.

SCULLY: I was just, uh...

KERSH'S SECRETARY: I was sent to come get you.

SCULLY: Yeah, I was waiting for Agent Spender, he was, uh... I'm supposed to pick up a delivery from him.

KERSH'S SECRETARY: Agent Spender is with Assistant Director Kersh.

SCULLY: (furious) That rat bastard!

(SCULLY runs to elevator.)

SCULLY: (to herself) Stupid!

(Her cell phone rings. )

SCULLY: (on phone) Scully. (she can barely hear the other person) Mulder? (hopefully) Is that you? No, I can't... I'm on an elevator. Hold on, I'll be off in a s... Hold on.

(Doors open. SCULLY steps out, sees KERSH, SPENDER, and CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN standing in the hall talking. She ducks back in the elevator.)

SCULLY: (on phone) Hello? No... I can't understand. I can't...

(Doors open revealing SKINNER also holding a cell phone to his ear.)

SKINNER: Was that you?

SCULLY: Is it you?

SKINNER: (joining her in the elevator) I've been trying to reach you. I got the information you needed.

(SCULLY takes the paper, grabs him and kisses him on the lips firmly.)

SCULLY: How?

SKINNER: Don't even ask.

SCULLY: (grateful) Sir, what you've done...

SKINNER: Is save Mulder's ass. I know.

SCULLY: Yes.

(Doors open. Other agents are in the hall.)

SKINNER: (sternly) And if you ever ask me to break policy or protocol I will have you written up, wrapped up and tossed out of the FBI for good. Am I understood, Agent Scully?

SCULLY: Yes.

(She whips around and runs back into the elevator.)

SCULLY: (excited) Yes.

(She realizes there is another Agent in the car with her. She tries to be calm but reads the info from SKINNER excitedly. The other Agent looks at her strangely. When the doors open, she darts out into the garage. Sound of VW bus approaching. She gets in the back with FROHIKE who slams the door.)

BYERS: Did you get it?

SCULLY: (holding up paper triumphantly) Yeah.

(VW Bus drives away. Man -SPENDER?- runs after them, but they get away.)

(Commercial 2.)

SCENE 3

(1939. MULDER and the SAILORS are being led by the NAZIS down into the hold of the ship.)

SAILOR 2: Oi... American, right? Saved your life, mate. Krauts don't want no reason to bring you Yanks into the war.

MULDER: I got two words for you, buddy-- Pearl Harbor.

SAILOR 2: What?

MULDER: After Poland, Hitler's on his way to Denmark, Holland and France with a few stops in between. The French all but roll over on us, the Italians seize their opportunity and the Japanese come through the back door. It's a long, bloody story. It fortunately has a happy ending.

SAILOR 2: We win?

MULDER: Yeah, you come out on the side of history with no small amount of help from us. Not much to apologize over the next 50 years except for maybe the Spice Girls.

NAZI 1: (a lot of German ending with) Mach schon! Los! --*Go on already! Go!*

(Opens door into the engine room. They enter and the NAZI locks the door behind them.)

SAILOR 1: Well... According to our host this'll be our new accommodations, lads.

MULDER: You speak German. What was that shouting about up there?

SAILOR 1: They got it in mind that we left America carrying arms to England.

MULDER: Are we?

SAILOR 1: Listen, she's drawing 16 feet at 81,000 tons. We're making 21 knots at full power. If we got munitions aboard this ship, mate, they don't weigh but a few stone.

MULDER: But the Captain knew something. He wouldn't give up the wheel.

SAILOR 1: The Nazis boarded us after they intercepted a radio communication... Some kind of code word they keep asking about-- Thor's Hammer. You know what that is, mate?

(CREWMAN 1, Jamaican, approaches them.)

CREWMAN 1: Who go there? I said, "who goes there?"

CREWMAN 2: Show your faces or we'll bloody beat them to a stub.

SAILOR: Put your irons down, boys. It's your own crew, for God's sake.

CREWMAN 2: What're you doing down here?

SAILOR: We're having a cup of tea. What's it look like, you stupid swabbo?

CREWMAN 2: Then who's steering the boat?

SAILOR 3: Oh, just some blokes who answer to the name of Heil Hitler.

SAILOR 2: You ever been to Germany, swabbo? They'll have a special affection for the likes of you.

SAILOR 4: Yeah, right.

MULDER: Hey, this ship can't go to Germany.

SAILOR 2: Make up your mind, mate.

MULDER: I got news for you-- you're not carrying munitions. It's something far more deadly.

SAILOR 1: Thor's Hammer?

MULDER: Thor's Hammer isn't a weapon. It's a man, a man who will help build a weapon-- a bomb that'll win the war for whoever has it.

SAILOR 1: And you're telling me he's aboard this ship?

MULDER: I saw him in the ballroom.

(SAILOR 1 grins and crosses to the door. He bangs on it and the NAZI opens it.)

SAILOR 1: Sein name ist Thor's Hammer. Er hat einen plan, eine bombe zu bauen. Auf wiedersehen... Mates. ---*His name is Thor's Hammer. He has a plan to build a bomb. Goodbye, mates.*

(SAILOR 1 goes out and the NAZI slams the door back.)

CREWMAN 2: (in MULDER's face) What's wrong with you?! Don't you know there are spies everywhere?! Trust no one, mon!

SAILOR 2: Look, we've got to stop this ship-- now! All right, lads, let's go!

(The SAILORS and MULDER go deeper into the engine area of the hold. More CREWMEN.)

SAILOR 2: Hey, hey, who's in charge of this engine room? Oh, you. Oi, you! I'm talking to you. Shut her down, man. We got to scuttle her now!

CREWMAN 3: Put some piss into her, boys.

(He's Kersh's double.)

SAILOR 2: Hey, you heard him-- kill the engines! There's no other way, swabbo.

CREWMAN 3: (showing the chains they have put on the engine) You can't get to Germany if you can't steer. Me overriding her. We steering a course for home.

SAILOR 2: Have you looked at your compass? You can't get to England going the wrong bloody direction.

CREWMAN 3: We're not going to England. We're going to Jamaica.

CREWMEN: Yeah!

SAILOR 3: Listen, you steer her home, you bloody ruffo-- to her home where she belongs!

MULDER: Listen to me! Listen to me! You can't take this ship to England. You'll never make it.

CREWMEN AND SAILORS: What are you talking about? I'm in charge of the wheel!

CREWMAN 3: There's only one place she's going, Yank. Jamaica!

CREWMWN: Yeah!

MULDER: You can't take the ship to Jamaica, either. The Germans will hunt you down no matter what course you steer.

CREWMEN: No! No! Hear it out. Hear it out. Hear it out.

CREWMAN 3: And who you be, boy?

MULDER: My name's Mulder.

SAILOR 2: He wants to go back to bloody America.

MULDER: No, I want you to take this ship and turn it back around the way you came.

CREWMEN AND SAILORS: No! No!

SAILOR 2: Bloody hell, we're halfway home!

MULDER: You've got to turn the ship around.

CREWMAN 3: And what's in that direction?

MULDER: The future.

SAILOR 2: What?

MULDER: Actually, the past.

SAILOR 3: Hmm? Oh, well, I'm convinced.

MULDER: Well, I can explain it to you.

NAZI 1: (entering) Du! Der Amerikaner. Du kommst mit uns, rauf hier. Ja, mit kommen. ----*You! The American. You come with us, up here. Yes, come with?*----

MULDER: (to the SAILORS and CREWMEN) Turn the ship around or Hitler rises, Germany wins and your children will never know what freedom is!

(NAZIS drag MULDER back out and down the halls.)

NAZI 1: (to the GUESTS) Halt! Halt! Stehen bleiben! Stehen bleiben oder ich schiesse! Stehen bleiben! ----*Stop! Stop! Stand still! Stand still or I shoot! Stand still!*----

(They reach the ballroom. Music has stopped. Passengers are all gathered. 1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN and 1939 SPENDER stand together. NAZIS bring MULDER to them.)

NAZI: Achtung! ---*Attention!*---

1939 SPENDER: (to MULDER) Aufstehen. Mach schnell! Get up! Er sagte... ---*Get up! Hurry! Get up! He said?*---

1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Wir haben einen mann an bord, einen wissenschaftler der weiss wie man eine bombe macht die den krieg gewinnin wird. Frag ihn, wer dieser mann ist.

1939 SPENDER: (translating) There's a scientist on board who can make a bomb. Who is this man?

MULDER: (quietly) I don't know.

1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: (to NAZI 2) Waffe bereit. ----*Weapon ready.*---

(NAZI 2 cocks his gun. Passengers gasp.)

1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: (to 1939 SPENDER) Sag ihm, wir werden einen passagier umbringen fuer jede falsche antwort. ---*Tell him, we will kill one passenger for every wrong answer.*---

1939 SPENDER: (to MULDER) You will answer the question or we will begin killing passengers. Which one is the scientist?

MULDER: (quietly) I don't know.

1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Schiess ihn. ---*Shoot him.*---

( NAZI walks down the row of passengers, including 1939 SCULLY. He selects a white haired older man and executes him. Paaengers gasp and some cry.)

1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Frag ihn, wie viele personen er sterben lasst. ---*Ask him how many people he will let die?*---

1939 SPENDER: How many lives are you willing to sacrifice?

MULDER: None.

1939 SPENDER: Then you have the answer. Er weigert sich ihn zu nennen. ---*He hesitates to name him.---

1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Schiess nochmal. ---*Shoot again.*---

(There is another gunshot and gasping off screen. )

1939 SCULLY: Stop! This man has no answers. (walks up and gets right in 1939 SPENDER's face) You're killing innocent people to learn that he knows nothing!

1939 SPENDER: Shut up. Shut up and move away.

1939 SCULLY: Listen to me, you little weasel...

1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Wir haben unseren naechsten passagier, eine dame. Richte die waffe auf sie. Schiess sie... Wenn er die frage nicht beantwortet. ---*We have our next passenger, a lady. Aim the weapon at her. Kill her, if he does not answer the question.*---

(1939 SPENDER aims gun at 1939 SCULLY's head.)

1939 SPENDER: (to MULDER) Answer the question.

(Pause. MULDER, standing beside 1939 SCULLY reaches out and pushes the gun out of the way and steps between 1939 SPENDER and 1939 SCULLY.)

MULDER: I'll answer the question.

1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Beantworte die frage. ---*Answer the question.*---

(MULDER points down to the first man killed.)

MULDER: That man is the scientist.

(1939 SCULLY crosses over to MULDER. 1939 SPENDER points the gun at her again.)

(Commercial 3.)

SCENE 4

(1998. Twilight. Small boat near the Queen Anne. Lights are on.)

FROHIKE: Hey, Scully, you're not going to believe this. Get up here.

SCULLY: (coming up from the cabin) What?

FROHIKE: The sky just cleared and there it was.

SCULLY: Is it the Queen Anne?

BYERS: That's her.

SCULLY: I don't believe it.

FROHIKE: Seeing is believing.

SCULLY: They've got power.

BYERS: Maybe Mulder's already on board.

SCULLY: Let's hope he is.

(CUT TO: Ballroom 1939.)

1939 SPENDER: (still holding gun on MULDER and 1939 SCULLY) You're lying.

1939 SCULLY: He's telling the truth.

1939 SPENDER: Shut up! Who is the scientist?

MULDER: (pointing down) I told you, this man is the scientist.

1939 SPENDER: Officer! (or something German - another NAZI gets the dead man's ID and hands it to 1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN.)

1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Frag ihn, wie der mann heisst?

1939 SPENDER: (translating) What is the man's name?

MULDER: John Brown. Ask me again, and I'll knock you down.

1939 SPENDER: What's his name?!

MULDER: Puddintame. Ask me again and I'll tell you the same.

(BALD-HEADED MAN approaches.)

SCIENTIST: Wait. Don't shoot. I'm the scientist.

1939 SCULLY: This man's a liar. I'm the scientist.

SCIENTIST: Please-- tell them the truth before someone else has to die.

1939 SCULLY: I don't know this man.

SCIENTIST: Please don't listen to her. She's traveling with me to protect me. She works for the OSS.

(They take the SCIENTIST away.)

MULDER: (whispering sarcastically to 1939 SCULLY) That's great.

1939 SCULLY: I don't see you did any better.

(1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN looks at them for a long moment.)

1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: (to NAZI 2) Toete sie zuerst. Toete sie alle. ---*Kill them first. Kill them all.*---

MULDER: What'd he say?

(NAZIS push 1939 SCULLY then MULDER to their knees. MULDER briefly rests his hand on her shoulder. 1939 CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN and 1939 SPENDER leave.)

MULDER: Uh...I think I know what he said.

1939 SCULLY: You learn fast.

(MULDER and 1939 SCULLY kneel together, heads slightly bowed. Armed NAZI stands behind them. All is too quiet.)

1939 SCULLY: What's happening?

MULDER: The engines shut down.

(Suddenly, all the CREWMEN and SAILORS come running into the ballroom and engage the NAZI SOLDIERS in a bottle smashing, table throwing free-for-all to swing-time sound score.)

(CUT TO: Still with same swing music underscoring, SCULLY and the LONE GUNMEN search the deserted halls of the ship with flashlights. SCULLY separates from the GUNMEN.)

(CUT TO: 1939 ballroom.)

MULDER: Hey!

1939 SCULLY: Hey, what?

MULDER: Come with me.

1939 SCULLY: Why should I?

MULDER: 'Cause you're the only one who can save this ship. Come on.

(MULDER and 1939 SCULLY begin crawling out of the ballroom avoiding the fight around them.)

(CUT TO: SCULLY walking through hall. LONE GUNMEN join her.)

(CUT TO: MULDER and 1939 SCULLY running out of ballroom and into hall. From behind them they hear:)

MULDER: (taking her hand) Come on.

NAZI: Stehen bleiben! Stehen bleiben... Oder ich erscheisse sie. Hande hoche... Hintr irhen kopfe. Machen sies! ---*Stand still! Stand still. Or I will shoot you. Hands up...behind your heads. Do it!*---

(They stop. 1939 SCULLY sighs and puts her hands behind her head. MULDER follows suit.)

1939 SCULLY: (to MULDER) Now what, Einstein?

NAZI: Machen sies! ---*Do it!*----

(There is a gunshot. They both jump then turn to see the NAZI dead on the floor behind them. From the side hall, 1939 SKINNER appears. )

1939 SKINNER: God bless America. Now get your asses out of here.

(MULDER and 1939 SCULLY run down a hall. Camera frame splits the screen into two halves of the same hall. MULDER and 1939 SCULLY start back down the hall. From the other side we hear SCULLY.)

SCULLY: Byers? Langly? Frohike?

(The SCULLYs cross frames seamlessly, then pause and look back as if at each other. SCULLY continues on. MULDER grabs 1939 SCULLY's hand and urges her on the other direction.)

MULDER: Come on... Come on!

(They run off.)

SCULLY: (finding the GUNMEN) There you guys are.

(Another spilt screen as SCULLY and the GUNMEN enter the ballroom. Lots of yelling, screaming in 1939, but SCULLY and the GUNMEN walk through a deserted, but messy room, as if post fight.)

(CUT TO: MULDER and 1939 SCULLY come out on the deck of the ship. Still night.)

1939 SCULLY: What are you doing?!

MULDER: I'm going to tell you how to save this ship.

1939 SCULLY: Out here?

MULDER: I can't stay. I got to get back to history.

1939 SCULLY: What?

MULDER: (holding her arms) And you got to rescue it. Wait. Listen to me. This ship's been caught in something called the devil's triangle. It's some kind of time warp-- a rift in space.

1939 SCULLY: Are you crazy?

MULDER: You know Einstein, right? He predicts the theoretical possibility. He also predicts an atomic weapon that will destroy the world.

1939 SCULLY: Yeah? So what?

MULDER: If you don't go back and convince the crew of this ship to turn this ship around and head back into the devil's triangle everything Einstein predicted will become true-- except for the outcome of history.

1939 SCULLY: So, if I don't turn this ship around...?

MULDER: In all likelihood, I won't exist.

1939 SCULLY: (disbelieving) Oh...

MULDER: And neither will you.

1939 SCULLY: Okay...

MULDER: So, in case we never meet again...

(MULDER grabs her and kisses her long and hard. She kisses back. He releases her. She looks at him for a moment, then pulls back her right fist and punches him. MULDER rubs his jaw while 1939 SCULLY reacts silently to the pain in her own hand that slugging him caused her.)

MULDER: I was expecting a left.

(MULDER runs away from her and climbs over the rail of the ship.)

1939 SCULLY: Hey!

(MULDER jumps and falls to the water. Frame spilts. 1939 SCULLY runs to the rail and throws a round white life preserver over the side.)

(CUT TO: Twilight. Body being lifted out of the water into a small boat with four people.)

SCENE 5

(MULDER is lying on his side in a hospital bed, unconscious. SCULLY leans over him.)

SCULLY: Mulder? Mulder, it's me. Hmm?

MULDER: (waking) Where am I? (tries to sit up)

SCULLY: You're in a hospital.

MULDER: Ooooo.

SCULLY: Lie still.

MULDER: I feel... Like hell.

SCULLY: I don't blame you. You've been through the wringer, I'd say.

MULDER: What happened to me?

SCULLY: You did something incredibly stupid.

MULDER: What did I do?

SCULLY: You went looking for a ship, Mulder. In the Bermuda Triangle.

MULDER: Say that again?

(GUNMEN enter the room.)

FROHIKE: Gilligan awakes.

MULDER: You were there.

SCULLY: Hmm?

MULDER: You were there, Scully.

(SKINNER enters.)

LANGLY: (to the others) He's delirious.

MULDER: (referring to SKINNER) And he was there, too.

SKINNER: (dropping a bouquet of flowers on the nightstand) Right-- Me and my dog Toto.

MULDER: No, you were there with the Nazis.

SCULLY: Mulder, will you settle down? It's an order.

SKINNER: Not that he takes orders...

(MULDER rests the back of his hand against SCULLY's waist which is against his bed rail. He is happy, yet very drugged.)

MULDER: You saved the world, Scully.

SCULLY: Yeah... You're right. I did.

FROHIKE: What kind of drugs is he on?

LANGLY: I want some.

MULDER: No, no, no.... The Queen Anne-- I found it. You were there with Thor's Hammer. I told you you had to turn the ship around and then I jumped overboard.

SCULLY: Yeah, I bet you did. The boat that you were on was busted into a million pieces. And as for the Queen Anne it was nothing more than a ghost ship.

MULDER: No, no, no. You and I were on that ship, Scully. In 1939.

SKINNER: Get some rest, Mulder, 'cause when you get out of here I'm going to kick your butt but good.

(SKINNER and the GUNMEN leave the room.)

MULDER: I would've never seen you again. But you believed me.

SCULLY: In your dreams. (as if talking to a child) Mulder, I want you to close your eyes and I want you to think to yourself "there's no place like home."

MULDER: Mmm. ( chuckles )

(SCULLY starts to leave. He calls her back.)

MULDER: Hey, Scully. (leans up on his elbow)

(SCULLY comes back and leans close to his face.)

SCULLY: Yes?

(Long pause. They look deeply at one another.)

MULDER: I love you.

SCULLY: Oh, brother... (turns away and leaves the room)

(MULDER, perhaps a little hurt, watches her go. He starts to lie down, but as soon as his face touches the pillow he pulls back up in slight pain and rubs his jaw where 1939 SCULLY hit him. He gazes after her and smiles. Screen shifts over to credits.)

US Airdate: November 22, 1998

writer: Chris Carter director: Chris Carter

STARRING: David Duchovny as Special Agent Fox Mulder Gillian Anderson as Special Agent Dana Scully and ??? Mitch Pileggi as Assistant Director Walter Skinner

Guest Cast: William B. Davis as Cancer Man (and ???) Tom Braidwood as Frohike (and ???) Dean Haglund as Langly (and ???) Bruce Harwood as Byers (and ???) Chris Owens as Agent Jeffrey Spender Arlene Pileggi as Skinner's Assistant Laura Leigh Hughes as Kersh's Assistant Madison Mason as Captain Harburg Trevor Goddard as the 1st British Crewman G.W. Stevens as the 2nd British Crewman Greg Ellis as the 3rd British Crewman Nick Meaney as the 4th British Crewman Robert Thomas Beck as 1st Mate James Pickens, Jr. as A.D. Kersh Robert Arce as Bald-Headed Man Wolfgang Gerhard as 1st Nazi Guido Foehrweisser as 2nd Nazi Kai Wulff as 3rd Nazi Issac C. Singleton Jr. as 1st Roughneck