X-Files

Fight the Future

CHRIS CARTER
6/30/97

     FADE IN:

     EXT. SNOWSCAPE

     A BLINDING WHITE SCREEN, under which we hear an ominous
     low end Dolby THX Big Screen rumble. We're not in 19"
     television land anymore, Toto. As the rumble builds, TWO
     BLACK FIGURES appear on what now has resolved into a
     distant horizon. From their movements we can shortly see
     that the figures are men. Moving along a windswept ice
     sheet in an otherwise featureless land.

     A LEGEND appears: NORTH TEXAS, 35,000 B.C.

     CLOSER ON THE TWO MEN

     Continuing toward us, we can now see that they are
     dressed in crude garments made of animal skins. If we
     squint we can see their hair is long, their jutting
     foreheads significant of primitive Homo Sapiens. They
     continue toward us, the wind beating against them,
     CAMERA IS CRANING DOWN to the snow that lies before
     them. To LARGE THREE-TOED TRACKS.

     FOLLOWING THE PRIMITIVES

     As they track the three-toed prints to a rocky crevice in
     the hard-pack ice. The prints stop here, and so do the
     men. Dropping down into the crevice in pursuit of their
     quarry.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. ICE CAVE

     Dark in here, except where the sunlight penetrates the
     thick, glassy ice walls. The silhouettes of the
     Primitives stark against the glistening cavern. The
     sound of flint being struck, then A TORCH CATCHES FIRE,
     illuminating their faces. And:

     A CREATURE

     Deeper in the cave. Fleeing the light and the men. We
     get only a brief glimpse of it in the torch light,
     seeing that it moves upright on two legs and has gray,
     dinosaur-like skin. And large black eyes. But it moves
     quickly enough away that any other identifying feature
     is lost in the deeper shadows.

     THE PRIMITIVES

     Removing crude weapons made of sharpened bone from under
     their thick fur garments, and scrabbling into the
     constricting cavern, giving chase.

     Following them as they moves with animal-like agility
     through the tightening space. Predatory hunters. Their
     torchlight catching:

     THE CREATURE

     As it disappears into a tight opening in a smaller
     crevice leading off the main one. The Primitives
     entering frame after a moment, only a few steps behind.
     The LEAD PRIMITIVE dropping to the cave floor,
     pulling himself into this same tight fissure in pursuit.
     Splitting off from his partner who exits frame still on
     the run.

     INT. SMALLER ICE CAVE - HIGH ANGLE DOWN

     The fiery torch comes through first, held by the lead
     man. Throwing dancing shadows on the walls of what
     appears to be a box cavern.

     CLOSE ON LEAD PRIMITIVE

     Rising quickly to his feet. Not seeing what the torch
     illuminates just behind him: The face of a dead
     Primitive Man, his body frozen into the ice. He does
     finally notice this, turning to see it, when he's
     ATTACKED VICIOUSLY FROM BEHIND.

     The torch falls to the floor so that the fight is
     difficult to see, but it is loud and cruel. The creature
     squealing wildly as the grunts of the Primitive now turn
     to the sounds of painful struggle. Until:

     THE SECOND PRIMITIVE MAN

     Suddenly appears, driving his bone weapon into the body
     of the Creature. Again and again, until the Creature is
     driven away into the shadows.

     The Second Man grabs the torch now, not to see if his
     hunting mate has survived, but in pursuit of the
     Creature. In the light we see that he and his weapon are
     covered with spatters of OILY BLACK BLOOD. As is the
     First Primitive whose body lies heaving on the floor.

     The Second Primitive stepping over his hunting mate,
     stalking the Creature into the shadows, where it has
     collapsed. The torch finally landing, for the first
     time, on its face.

     When the torchlight hits its face, the Creature attacks.
     But the Primitive prevails. He drops his torch and
     dispatches the already wounded Creature with strong
     hard stabs of his weapon, one of which penetrates the
     Creature's eye.

     LOW ANGLE ON THE DEAD CREATURE

     The torch, which lies on the ground, illuminates the
     dead creature's face. Its wounds are flowing with the
     oily black blood, which, oddly now, BEGINS TO POOL. As
     if it has intelligence, sentience. Pooling and traveling
     into a fissure in the cave floor. And disappearing.

     ANGLE ON THE SECOND PRIMITIVE

     Watching this, unknowing. His chest heaving from the
     fight, as the spots of Oily Black Blood which have
     spattered onto him begin to crawl. Crawling toward his
     eyes and mouth. Causing him to let out grunts of fear.

     Which are the sounds we hear as the CAMERA SLOWLY CRANES
     UP past the struggling Primitive to the roof of the
     cave, where the dancing shadows of the torch FADE AWAY
     with the sounds of struggle. Moving into darkness and
     silence. But only for a moment. Until:

     SUNSHINE BREAKS THROUGH THE ROOF OF THE CAVE - PRESENT
     DAY

     Along with the spade of a shovel. And then -- the
     earthen cave ceiling gives way and A BOY wearing Nikes
     and an old t-shirt falls through it. Falling PAST
     CAMERA. We hear a YELL, then a THUD, and a CLATTERING of
     the shovel that's fallen in with him. Then a pained
     GASPING.

     Then SEVERAL HEADS appear in the opening. These are BOYS
     of ten to eleven, staring down into the cave. Hot
     sunlight blazing in. We have traveled far, far forward
     in time.

                            2ND BOY
               Hey, Stevie. You okay?

     INT. CAVE - PRESENT DAY

     THEIR POV OF STEVIE

     On the floor below covered with dirt, in his nose and
     mouth. Spitting out. (All these boys have Texas in their
     voices.)

                            STEVIE
               I got...I got....I got....
                      (straining)
               ....the wind knocked out of me.

     This draws no sympathy from above, only LAUGHTER.

     THE BOYS UP ABOVE

     Staring excitedly.

                            3RD BOY
               Looks like a cave or something.

                            2ND BOY
               What's down there, Stevie? Anything?

     OVER THE BOYS ABOVE

     Stevie has gotten up, moving out of the patch of
     sunlight. Disappearing from view for a moment. Then
     reappearing, still spitting out dirt. But holding:

                            STEVIE
               Human skull.

     One side partially missing from the cranium. But it
     brings WHOOPS of delight from the boys above.

                            3RD BOY
               Toss it up here, dude.

                            STEVIE
               No way, buttwipe. I found it. It's
               mine.

     ANGLE UP ON STEVIE

     The other boys looking down at him. Stevie looking at
     the skull. Strangely, the light shines through it. It is
     milky, opaque, as if it's bone that's turned somehow
     glassy in places. Then:

                            STEVIE
               Anyways, there's bones all over the
               place down here.

     Stevie looks down at his feet. CAMERA FOLLOWING HIS LOOK
     DOWN to where there are indeed more human bones. And
     something else. He takes a couple of steps in place,
     standing in a familiar BLACK, OILY substance -- which is
     climbing up his tennis shoe from the rock floor, over
     the edge of the shoe and down into the shoe itself. Then
     the SKULL drops in the frame, clattering on the hard
     floor of the cave.

     CAMERA SLOWLY RISING UP FROM STEVIE'S SHOES

     Following SUBCUTANEOUS WORMS which have begun locomoting
     aggressively up his legs. As his whole body is WRACKED
     by a shivering seizure of some kind.

     CAMERA RISES, following the path of the worms as they
     move up the legs of his shorts. Some appearing on his
     bare arms, but the great majority continuing up to
     Stevie's neck, toward his face. Stevie stands paralyzed.
     Letting out guttural sounds not dissimilar to when the
     wind was knocked out of him.

                            3RD BOY (O.S.)
               Hey, Stevie....

     But Stevie cannot answer him. CAMERA CONTINUING UP to
     the boys above. Looking down at their friend. Their eyes
     go wide.

                            2ND BOY
               You okay?

     But what they see next answers that question for them.

     THEIR POV OF STEVIE

     His face suddenly alive with the subcutaneous worms.
     Moving toward his eyes which begin filling with BLACK
     OIL. Looking much now like ALIEN EYES.

     CLOSE ON THE BOYS ABOVE

     Freaked by what they see. And doing what any kid would
     do now.

                            3RD BOY
               Hey, man. Let's get outta here.

     And they do. Bolting from the hole in the top of the
     cave. CAMERA PUSHING UP THROUGH THIS HOLE to REVEAL we
     are:

     EXT. SMALL DIRT FIELD - NORTHERN TEXAS - DAY

     In a dirt hole that was being dug by the three kids.
     RISING UP out of the hole to REVEAL the parched dirt
     patch where THREE KIDS are running away from us, as fast
     as their feet will take them. Toward A NEW HOUSING TRACT
     (five floorplans to choose from, including the model
     home.) Disappearing into the neighborhood. A LEGEND
     appears: NORTH TEXAS, 1998.

     CAMERA CONTINUES RISING ABOVE THE ROOFTOPS to see the
     surrounding expanse of empty Texas flatland. And in the
     distance, the DALLAS SKYLINE.

     As CAMERA SETTLES, there are a few moments of nothing
     but the sound of the wind gently whistling across the
     landscape. In which we bury a short TIME CUT.

     EXT. NEIGHBORHOOD - NORTHERN TEXAS - DAY

     Then we HEAR it, before we see it: FIRE ENGINES pulling
     into the neighborhood, sirens WAILING. CAMERA DROPPING
     AGAIN as the lead engine pulls up. FIREMEN are hopping
     off, moving to the hole the boys dug.

     LOW ANGLE UP FROM BELOW GROUND LEVEL, IN THE DUGOUT
     HOLE

     TWO firemen carrying a ladder clamber down PAST CAMERA,
     THREE OTHERS appearing on their heels. The other two
     firemen clamber down, too. THE CAPTAIN at the edge of
     the hole watching them. Holding a radio.

                            FIRE CAPTAIN
               This is Captain Miles Cooles...we've
               got a rescue situation in progress...

     INT. CAVE - CONTINUOUS

     As the LEAD FIREMAN steps down the ladder into the cave.
     He scans the darkness, illuminated only by the shaft of
     light permitted by the hole above. As the 2ND FIREMAN
     drops down next to him. The both stand motionless now,
     as if sensing something.

     THEIR POV

     Stevie's feet are just visible on the floor of the cave,
     a short distance away.

     RESUME FIREMEN - LOW ANGLE

     They start cautiously toward Stevie. CAMERA FINDING
     their feet. Tracking through the same OILY, BLACK
     SUBSTANCE we saw bleeding from the creature thirty five
     thousand years ago. As they move into the shadows, we
     HOLD ON THE SUBSTANCE....and see it MOVE. It's alive.

                                             TIME CUT TO:

     EXT. DIRT FIELD - SHORT TIME LATER

     CAMERA RISES out of the dirt hole, finds A GROUP OF
     NEIGHBORS:

     Concerned PARENTS, KIDS, including Stevie's friends.
     They're held at a distance by the remaining firemen.
     Everyone turning their concerned gazes skyward. Looking
     at:

     A MED-EVAC CHOPPER

     Coming off the sun-setting horizon. Moving toward us at
     high speed. The WHOP, WHOP of its blade soon shaking the
     neighborhood as it banks in and around and hovers just
     over the dirt field. Landing gently on the parched hard
     scrabble.

     The side door flies open and FIVE HAZ-MAT RESCUE
     PARAMEDICS jump out carrying a bubble litter. CAMERA
     PANS THEM to the dirt hole past THE FIRE CAPTAIN. The
     Haz-Mat Paramedics moving down into the hole. The Fire
     Captain watches this, then stares toward --

     DR. BEN BRONSCHWEIG (in shirtsleeves, tie), exiting the
     chopper, following up the rear. The Captain meeting him
     in route.

                            BRONSCHWEIG
                      (over the chopper)
               Keep those people back. Get them out
               of here.

                            FIRE CAPTAIN
                      (to his men)
               Move them all back.
                      (dogging Bronschweig)
               I sent four men down after the boy.
               They're not responding.

     Dr. Bronschweig's focus is elsewhere, though. He's
     making a bee line to the earthen hole where young Stevie
     is being pulled out and lifted into an enclosed
     QUARANTINE BUBBLE LITTER by the rescue squad.
     Bronschweig watches with great concern. Getting a good
     look now at Stevie's paralyzed body as it passes him.

     ANGLE ON CHOPPER

     As Stevie's body is loaded aboard, the side door is slid
     shut. The engine throttles up and the chopper takes
     flight again, almost as quickly as it arrived. The prop
     wash blowing:

     DR. BRONSCHWEIG

     And the gathering crowd. Bronschweig watches the chopper
     bank away, then turns his look to:

     THE NEIGHBORHOOD

     Where A SERIES OF UNMARKED CARGO VANS, TRUCKS are
     rolling in. A fleet of vehicles, driven by what looks
     like MILITARY PERSONNEL. Most conspicuously TWO WHITE
     UNMARKED TANKER TRUCKS. (There are NO MARKINGS on these
     vehicles.)

     RESUME BRONSCHWEIG

     As the Fire Captain moves around to face him off.

                            FIRE CAPTAIN
               What about my men?

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
                      (brusquely)
               We're doing all we can.

     And he moves off toward the approaching trucks where the
     MILITARY PERSONNEL are pulling out tents, tent poles,
     scientific equipment. Leaving the Captain to wonder what
     the hell's going on. Watching the first of many
     REFRIGERATION UNITS being unloaded. The personnel
     carrying it paying him no mind as they blow past him.
     Moving RIGHT TO CAMERA and plunging us into BLACK.

     HOLD. Then OVER BLACK, a familiar sound again. The
     sound of a chopper auguring in. As we FADE UP, revealing
     we are:

     EXT. TOP OF A SKYSCRAPER - DAY

     The chopper is banking over the side of the building,
     preparing to touch down on the rooftop where FIFTEEN FBI
     AGENTS in dark ID windbreakers are standing. A LEGEND
     appears: FEDERAL BUILDING, DALLAS, TEXAS. ONE WEEK
     LATER.

     The chopper touches down and, again, the side door is
     thrown open. But now only one man exits: SPECIAL AGENT
     IN CHARGE (S.A.C.) DARIUS MICHAUD.

     Michaud moves with the measured pace of authority,
     approaching the waiting FBI Agents. One of whom steps
     up.

                            FBI AGENT
               We've evacuated the building and been
               through it bottom to top. No trace of
               an explosive device or anything
               resembling one.

                            S.A.C. MICHAUD
               Have you taken the dogs through?

                            FBI AGENT
               Yes, sir.

                            S.A.C. MICHAUD
               Well, take them through again.

     This is given as a non-negotiable order, to the somewhat
     weary FBI man. Who turns back to his charges, Michaud
     does not register this attitude, though. Something else
     has caught his attention. Causing him to walk to the
     edge of the building. CAMERA FOLLOWING HIM, seeing what
     he sees now.

     On an adjacent skyscraper is what appears to be AN FBI
     AGENT in an ID windbreaker exiting onto the roof. CAMERA
     CONTINUING AROUND into A CLOSE UP PROFILE of S.A.C
     Michaud. Staring at this, his jaw set. He doesn't like
     what he sees. And what he sees is:

     EXT. ROOFTOP OPPOSING SKYSCRAPER - DAY - CONTINUOUS

     Special Agent Dana Scully is coming out the door leading
     onto the roof. The door slams shut behind her. She, too,
     is dressed in an FBI windbreaker. She's dialing her
     cell phone as she moves around the rooftop looking for
     something. Dialing the number of:

                            SCULLY
               Mulder -- it's me --

                            MULDER (FILTER)
               Where are you, Scully?

                            SCULLY
               I'm on the roof.

                            MULDER (FILTER)
               Did you find something?

                            SCULLY
                      (impatiently)
               No. I haven't.

                            MULDER (FILTER)
               What's wrong, Scully?

                            SCULLY
               I've just climbed twelve floors. I'm
               hot and thirsty and I'm wondering, to
               be honest, what I'm doing here.

                            MULDER (FILTER)
               You're looking for a bomb.

                            SCULLY
               I know that. But the threat was called
               in for the Federal Building across the
               street.

                            MULDER (FILTER)
               I think they have that covered.

     WE ARE TRACKING WITH SCULLY.

                            SCULLY
                      (impatience)
               Mulder... when a terrorist bomb threat
               is called in, the logical purpose of
               providing this information is to allow
               us to find the bomb. The rational
               object of terrorism is to promote
               terror. If you'd study model
               behavioral pattern in virtually every
               case where a threat has turned up an
               explosive device. If we don't act in
               accordance with that data -- if you
               ignore it as we have done -- the
               chances are great that if here
               actually is a bomb we might not find
               it. Lives could be lost --

     Scully, engrossed in her own argument, realizes she's
     been the only one speaking for the last short while. She
     stops walking.

                            SCULLY
               Mulder...?

                            MULDER
               What happened to playing a hunch?

     Scully almost JUMPS out of her own skin. The voice has
     come not over the phone, but from two feet away where:

     ANGLE TO INCLUDE AGENT MULDER

     Standing in the shadow of a large air conditioning unit.
     Cracking a trademark sunflower seed between his teeth.
     Clicking his cell phone off. Moving out.

                            SCULLY
               Jesus, Mulder...

                            MULDER
               The element of surprise, Scully.
               Random acts of unpredictability. If we
               fail to anticipate the unforeseen or
               expect the unexpected in a universe of
               infinite possibilities, we find
               ourselves at the mercy of anyone or
               anything that cannot be programmed,
               categorized or easily referenced...

     Mulder has moved to the edge of the building where he
     sails his sunflower seeds into the air. Dusting his
     hands off as if lost in a wistful through for just a
     moment.

                            MULDER
               What are we doing up here? It's hotter
               than hell.

     And he's on the move. Scully moving to catch up.

     NEW ANGLE

     Mulder is moving toward the stairs, Scully catching him.
     Mulder allowing her to lead him up the steps.

                            SCULLY
               I know you're bored in this
               assignment, but unconventional
               thinking is only going to get you into
               trouble now.

                            MULDER
               How's that?

                            SCULLY
               You've got to quit looking for what
               isn't there. They've closed the
               X-Files. There's procedure to be
               followed here. Protocol.

                            MULDER
               What do you say we call in a bomb
               threat for Houston. I think it's free
               beer night at the Astrodome.

     Scully gives him a look. It's no use. She reaches the
     door first, grabs the knob but... it won't open. Turning
     to Mulder.

                            SCULLY
               Now what?

                            MULDER
                      (suddenly nervous)
               It's locked?

     She wiggles the knob again.

                            SCULLY
               So much for anticipating the
               unforeseen...

     Scully squints into the sun, staring at Mulder. But he's
     quick on the draw, and realizes what she's up to. He
     grabs for the door and... it opens. Looking to Scully
     whose hard look of mock-scolding has become a smirking
     smile.

                            SCULLY
               Had you.

                            MULDER
               No you didn't.

                            SCULLY
               Oh yeah. Had you big time.

     And that's how it continues as they re-enter the
     stairwell, the door slamming shut behind them.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. BUILDING LOBBY - DAY

     As an elevator DINGS and the doors open. Scully and
     Mulder exit into the lobby where people move in and out.
     Heads turn due to their FBI jackets. (Included
     atmosphere: a GROUP OF KIDS on a field trip, being led
     into an elevator by THEIR TEACHER.)

                            SCULLY
               I saw your face, Mulder. There was a
               moment of panic.

                            MULDER
               Panic? Have you ever seen me panic,
               Scully?

                            SCULLY
               I just did. You're buying.

     Mulder fishes for change, but more out of
     sportsmanship.

                            MULDER
               Alright... what'll it be: Coke, Pepsi?
               A saline IV?

                            SCULLY
               Something sweet.

     Scully flashes a thin victory smile, as Mulder heads
     off.

     INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE VENDING MACHINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS

     Mulder moving to a door with a small shingle above it
     which says SNACKS/BEVERAGES. As he approaches, sorting
     through the change he's fished up, the door opens and A
     MAN IN A VENDOR'S UNIFORM appears. He makes casual and
     ever-so-brief eye contact with Mulder as he brushes past
     him. Mulder making no note of this as he moves to catch
     the door before it closes.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. SNACK AREA AND SODA VENDING MACHINE ROOM - DAY

     Mulder takes a few steps down into the windowless room.
     Moving past the snack machines to a LIGHTED soda
     machine.

     Finding the correct change and plunking it in. Hitting a
     button, but... nothing comes out.

                            MULDER
               Oh, come on.

     He beats his fist a couple of times on the front of the
     machine.

     Nothing. He finds more change. Plunking it in. Hits the
     button. Nothing. He stares at the machine a minute, then
     BEATS IT HARD with his fist. Nothing.

     Moving around to the back of the machine, looking for:

     ANGLE ACROSS BACK OF MACHINE

     Mulder's face peering in on the slim space between the
     machine and the wall. Reaching down and lifting the PLUG
     on the end of the electrical cord. It isn't plugged in.
     Realizing now why the machine hasn't spit out his
     sodas.

     RESUME FRONT ANGLE ON MACHINE

     As Mulder appears, stepping very lightly in front of the
     machine that he was just pounding away on. Looking at
     it, then moving quickly to the door he entered through.
     Grasping the knob, but finding it... LOCKED. He jiggles
     the knob, pulls on it. But there's no two ways about it,
     he's locked in.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. BUILDING LOBBY - DAY

     Scully stands looking at her watch. Wondering where
     Mulder is. When her CELL PHONE starts ringing. She
     answers it.

                            SCULLY
               Scully...

                            MULDER (FILTER)
               Scully, I found the bomb.

                            SCULLY
                      (thinks he's joking)
               Where are you, Mulder?

                            MULDER (FILTER)
               I'm in the vending room.

     Scully is on the move, but she doesn't believe him for a
     second.

     INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE VENDING MACHINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS

     Scully appears, heard A POUNDING. Following this noise
     to the door Mulder is obviously on the other side of.
     Tries the door.

                            SCULLY
               Is that you pounding?

     INT. SNACK AND SODA VENDING MACHINE ROOM - DAY

     Mulder holds his phone to his ear, using his other hand
     to pound.

                            MULDER
               Scully, get somebody to open this
               door.

                            SCULLY (FILTER)
               Nice try, Mulder.

     CAMERA FOLLOWING MULDER as he steps back, revealing now
     that he's gotten the hinged front of the coke machine
     open. But we can't yet see what's inside.

                            MULDER
               Scully -- listen to me. It's in the
               coke machine. You've got about
               fourteen minutes to get this building
               evacuated.

     INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE VENDING MACHINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS

     Scully is shaking her head. Tries the door again.

                            SCULLY
               C'mon. Open the door.

     His response to this is MORE HARD POUNDING.

                            SCULLY
               Mulder? Tell me this is a joke.

                            MULDER (FILTER)
               Thirteen fifty nine, thirteen fifty
               eight, thirteen fifty seven...

     As he is doing this, Scully is bending to see:

     THE KEYHOLE

     It's been freshly soldered over.

     INT. SNACK AND SODA VENDING MACHINE ROOM - DAY

     Mulder stands pacing in front of:

     AN ELABORATELY ENGINEERED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE

     Wired with circuit boards, electric belts and generally
     looking like it would take an expert a good long time to
     figure out where to even start. A lot longer than the
     13:58 that reads on the digital read-out.

                            MULDER
               ...thirteen fifty six...

                            SCULLY (FILTER)
               Hang on. I'm gonna get you out of
               there.

     The line goes dead. And off Mulder's deepening anxiety,
     we:

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. BUILDING LOBBY - DAY

     Scully enters like General Patton, taking charge.
     Barking at the security guards who sit behind their
     security console.

                            SCULLY
               I need this building evacuated and
               cleared out in ten minutes! I need you
               to get on the phone and tell the fire
               department to block off the city
               center in one mile radius around the
               building --

                            SECURITY GUARD
               In ten minutes.....?!

                            SCULLY
               DON'T THINK! JUST PICK UP THE PHONE
               AND MAKE IT HAPPEN!

     And she's moving, dialing her cell phone now.

                            SCULLY
                      (into phone)
               This is Special Agent Dana Scully. I
               need to speak to S.A.C. Michaud. He's
               got the wrong building --

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. BUILDING - DAY

     UNMARKED FBI VANS, CARS are pulling up out front.
     Agents in windbreakers are exiting, moving at a run to
     the building. Among them S.A.C. Darius Michaud. Moving
     to:

     ANGLE ON SCULLY

     Exiting the building. Behind her, WORKERS are beginning
     to stream out of the building, as well as the young
     FIELD TRIPPERS. Michaud meeting up with Scully
     mid-plaza. As the windbreaker Agents move past them,
     entering the building.

                            S.A.C. MICHAUD
               Where is it?

     MOVING WITH THEM now, back toward the building. As FIRE
     TRUCKS are pulling up out in the street out front.
     Suddenly this has the distinct feel of a situation
     veering out of control.

                            SCULLY
               Mulder found it in a vending machine.
               He's locked in with it.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. SNACK AND VENDING MACHINE ROOM - DAY

     THE DIGITAL READ OUT hits 7:00. Pull back to REVEAL
     MULDER staring at it. If he wasn't sweating enough on
     the roof, he's certainly sweating now. When his cell
     phone RINGS. Answering it.

                            MULDER
               Scully?

                            SCULLY (FILTER)
               Mulder. Move away from the door. We're
               coming through it.

     No sooner is this said than the CAMERA WHIPS OFF MULDER
     to the door, where A GAS PLASMA TORCH FLAME is sizzling
     along the hinges.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE VENDING MACHINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS

     Where Michaud himself, wearing a Kevlar vest now, is
     wielding the torch. Expertly cutting the metal while
     Scully and TWO AGENTS and TWO DALLAS BOMB SQUAD men look
     on. In the b.g. BUILDING EMPLOYEES are streaming out.
     Michaud finishes and shuts off the torch. Yelling:

                            S.A.C. MICHAUD
               Go.

     The other Agents kick the metal door in sending it
     crashing to the floor. Mulder stands on the other side.
     Watching Michaud pick up a heft tool kit, stepping over
     the downed door.

     Scully right behind him. Along with the Agents, Bomb
     techs.

     ANGLE OVER MULDER AND THE SODA MACHINE/BOMB

     As Michaud steps in next to him, sizing up the time on
     the ticking digital readout: 4:07. And just exactly what
     kind of defusing work he's got cut out for him.

                            MULDER
               Tell me this is just soda pop in those
               canisters.

                            S.A.C. MICHAUD
               No. It's what it looks like. A big
               I.E.D. - ten gallons of astrolite.
                      (studying the bomb)
               Okay, get everybody out of here and
               clear the building.

                            MULDER
               Somebody's got to stay with you --

                            S.A.C. MICHAUD
               I gave you an order. Now get the hell
               out of here and evacuate the area.

                            SCULLY
               Can you defuse it?

     Setting his tool kit down, opening it. As the other
     Agents heed his word, exiting the room.

                            S.A.C. MICHAUD
               I think so.

                            MULDER
               You've got about four minutes to find
               out if you're wrong.

     Michaud turns on him with unexpected intensity.

                            S.A.C. MICHAUD
               Did you hear what I said?

                            SCULLY
               Let's go, Mulder.

     Scully starts out. Mulder stares at Michaud for a
     moment, but Michaud's focus is on the bomb now. He won't
     meet Mulder's look. Finally Mulder moves off, following
     Scully.

     CAMERA HOLDS ON MICHAUD, just staring at the bomb. Just
     staring.

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. PLAZA OUTSIDE BOMB BUILDING - DAY - CONTINUOUS

     The last of the building occupants are being hauled off
     in CITY BUSES which have moved in curbside. As these
     buses pull away, so do the fire trucks that have
     positioned themselves out front. And the police squad
     cars. As Mulder and Scully exit the front door. Moving
     quickly, until Mulder hits mid-plaza and slows. Scully
     not realizing this for a few steps, then turning.

                            SCULLY
               What are you doing?
                      (off his non-response)
               Mulder --

     One last windbreakered Agent is exiting. Moving past
     them to the last cop car other than the car waiting for
     Mulder and Scully.

                            LAST AGENT OUT
               All clear.

     Mulder has stopped and is looking back to the building
     now as Scully hustles back the few steps separating
     them.

                            MULDER
               Something's wrong.

     ANGLE OVER THEM TO THE WAITING CAR

     As the Last Agent Out's car zooms away. Leaving only
     their car and the man driving it: a WINDBREAKERED
     AGENT.

                            WINDBREAKERED AGENT
               What's he doing?

     The plaza is desolate now, void of life.

                            MULDER
               Something's not right...

                            SCULLY
               -- Mulder! Get in the car!

     Scully is pulling him now. Pulling him toward the car
     and the obviously impatient Windbreakered Agent.

                            SCULLY
               There's no time!

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. SNACK AND SODA VENDING MACHINE ROOM - DAY

     CLOSE ON BOMB. The seconds ticking off now, as it passes
     the :30 mark. CAMERA PULLING BACK, ADJUSTING to Michaud.
     His tool chest is closed up, and he is sitting on it
     improbably. Still staring at the bomb, then pulling his
     head down in what appears to be resignation. As the
     seconds tick away.

                                             CUT BACK TO:

     EXT. PLAZA OUTSIDE BOMB BUILDING - DAY - CONTINUOUS

     Mulder has relented now, against his better instincts.
     Moving with Scully to the car, faster as they go. The
     Windbreaker Agent standing in the open door of the
     driver's side. Getting in behind the wheel...

                                             CUT BACK TO:

     INT. VENDING MACHINE ROOM - CONTINUOUS

     S.A.C. MICHAUD

     Sitting motionless in front of the bomb as the seconds
     tick down. 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1- --

                                             HARD CUT BACK
                                             TO:

     EXT. PLAZA OUTSIDE BOMB BUILDING - DAY - CONTINUOUS

     Mulder and Scully getting in the car. TRACKING BACKWARDS
     with them now as the Agent driving pulls away, getting
     only thirty, maybe forty yards when: the BOMB DETONATES
     and the building EXPLODES. And this is no fatwa symbolic
     little terror strike. This is Oklahoma City. Or do we
     say, Independence Day.

     REVERSE ANGLE ON CAR

     As all the windows blow out and the car is lifted up,
     slamming into the corner of a parked car. The air so
     quickly full of debris that it would seem the whole city
     has been destroyed.

     RESUME BUILDING

     As the debris starts to clear somewhat, much of it still
     floating to the ground, though. We see the fires raging
     on every floor. That most of the front of the building
     has been torn away and we can see right into many
     floors.

     RESUME ANGLE ON CAR

     Where it sits half cocked against a parked car. The air
     is full of debris, particulated matter. The rear door of
     the squad car opens now and Mulder gets out, covered with
     glass. Moving to the front passenger door, opening it
     for Scully.

                            MULDER
                      (with darkest irony)
               Next time you're buying.

     EXT. AERIAL SHOT OF WASHINGTON D.C. - DAY

     HIGH ABOVE the U.S. capital, the entire beltway. With a
     LEGEND, to establish.

     LOWER AND TIGHTER NOW

     On the J. Edgar Hoover Building, FBI Headquarters.
     Descending low on the three-sided monolith and its large
     interior courtyard. As another LEGEND appears, under:

                            WOMAN'S VOICE (V.O.)
               In light of Waco, and Ruby Ridge...

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. FBI OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL REVIEW - DAY

     A formal hearing. Several ASSISTANT DIRECTORS sit at a
     head table, going over documents. NAME PLACECARDS in
     front of them.

     PANNING the group, the sound of papers shuffling, the
     occasional clearing of a throat creating a stale air of
     importance, under:

                            WOMAN'S VOICE (V.O.)
               ...there is a heightened need at the
               Attorney General's office to place
               responsibility as early as possible.

     CAMERA LANDING ON ASSISTANT DIRECTOR JANA CASSIDY

     A no-nonsense 40 year-old lawyer cum FBI Agent.

                            CASSIDY
               ...for the catastrophic destruction of
               public property and the loss of life
               due to terrorist activities...

     Next to Cassidy is Assistant Director WALTER SKINNER,
     Mulder and Scully's former superior on the X-Files.
     Looking ruefully at:

     AGENT SCULLY

     At a small table, the chair next to her conspicuously
     empty.

                            CASSIDY
               Many details are still unclear; some
               agents' reports have not been filed,
               or have come in sketchy, without a
               satisfactory accounting of the events
               that led to the destruction in Dallas.
               But we're under some pressure to give
               an accurate picture of what happened
               to the Attorney General, so she can
               issue a public statement.

     The door to the room opens behind Scully now, and Mulder
     enters, his manner that of a man who knows he's late to
     a function.

     RESUME A.D. CASSIDY

     She looks up at Mulder and Scully with a stern glare.

                            CASSIDY
               We now know that five people died in
               the explosion. Special Agent in Charge
               Darius Michaud who was trying to
               defuse the bomb that had been hidden
               in a vending machine. Three firemen
               from Dallas, and a young boy.

     OVER MULDER AND SCULLY

     Mulder pulls out his chair to sit down, but remains
     standing. They trade a look. This is new news to them.

                            MULDER
               Excuse me -- the firemen and the boy
               -- they were in the building?

                            CASSIDY
               Agent Mulder, since you weren't able
               to be on time for this hearing, I'm
               going to ask you to step outside so
               that we can get Agent Scully's version
               of the facts. So that she won't have
               to be paid the same disrespect.

                            MULDER
               We were told the building was clear.

                            CASSIDY
               You'll get your turn, Agent Mulder.
               Please step out.

     Mulder trades looks with:

     A.D. SKINNER

     Who stares at him evenly, but not unsympathetically.
     He's been here with Mulder on many occasions. Seen
     Mulder run up against the Bureau and its stiff
     conventions. Always in the middle.

                            MULDER
               It does say there in your paperwork
               that we were the ones who found the
               bomb...

                            CASSIDY
               Thank you, Agent Mulder. We'll call
               you in shortly.

     RESUME MULDER, SCULLY

     As Mulder slides his chair in. Scully watching him
     exit.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE OPR HEARING ROOM - DAY

     Mulder sits by himself in a chair, head down. When the
     door to the hearing room opens. Mulder rising as A.D.
     Skinner exits.

                            SKINNER
               Sit down, they're still talking to
               Agent Scully.

                            MULDER
               About what?

                            SKINNER
               -- They're asking her for a narrative.
               They want to know why she was in the
               wrong building.

                            MULDER
               She was with me.

     Skinner studies Mulder, shaking his head.

                            SKINNER
               You don't see what's going on here, do
               you?
                      (off Mulder's look)
               There's four hundred million dollars
               in damage to the city of Dallas. Lives
               have been lost. No suspects have been
               named. So the story being shaped is
               this could have been prevented. That
               the FBI didn't do its job.

                            MULDER
               And they want to blame us?

                            SKINNER
               Agent Mulder -- we both know that if
               you and Agent Scully hadn't taken the
               initiative to search the adjacent
               building, you could have multiplied
               the fatalities by a hundred --

                            MULDER
                      (grasping the irony)
               But it's not the lives we saved. It's
               the lives we didn't.

                            SKINNER
                      (reciting the dictum)
               -- if it looks bad, it's bad for the
               FBI --

                            MULDER
               -- if they want someone to blame,
               they can blame me. Agent Scully
               doesn't deserve this.

                            SKINNER
               She's in there right now saying the
               same thing about you.

                            MULDER
               I breached protocol. I broke contact
               with the S.A.C. I ignored a primary
               tactical rule and left him alone with
               the device.

                            SKINNER
               Agent Scully says it was she who
               ordered you out of the building. That
               you wanted to go back.

     Mulder doesn't get to respond, because the door opens
     again and Agent Scully exits. She looks like she's been
     through it.

                            SCULLY
                      (to Skinner)
               They're asking for you, Sir.

     Skinner gives one last look to Mulder, then re-enters.
     Leaving Mulder and Scully alone. Scully wearing a pained
     look.

                            MULDER
               Whatever you told them in there, you
               don't have to protect me.

                            SCULLY
               All I told them was the truth.

                            MULDER
               They're trying to divide us on this,
               Scully. We can't let them.

                            SCULLY
               They have divided us, Mulder. They're
               splitting us up.

                            MULDER
                      (beat)
               What? What are you talking about?

                            SCULLY
               I meet with the OPR day after tomorrow
               for remediation and reassignment...

                            MULDER
               Why?

                            SCULLY
               I think you must have an idea. They
               cited a history of problems relating
               back to 1993.

                            MULDER
               They were the ones that put us
               together.

                            SCULLY
               Because they wanted me to invalidate
               your work, your investigations into
               the paranormal. But I think this goes
               deeper than that.

                            MULDER
               This isn't about you, Scully. They're
               doing this to me.

                            SCULLY
               They're not doing this, Mulder.
                      (off his look)
               I left behind a career in medicine
               because I thought I might make a
               difference at the FBI. When they
               recruited me they told me women made
               up nine percent of the bureau. I felt
               this was not an impediment, but an
               opportunity to distinguish myself. But
               it hasn't turned out that way. And
               now, if I were to be transferred to
               Omaha, or Wichita or some field office
               where I'm sure I could rise, it just
               doesn't hold the interest for me it
               once did. Not after what I've seen and
               done.

                            MULDER
               You're... quitting?

                            SCULLY
               There's really no reason left for me
               to stay anymore.
                      (off his look)
               Maybe you should ask yourself if your
               heart's still in it, too.

     The door opens to the hearing room again now. A.D.
     Skinner steps part way out, gesturing to him.

                            SKINNER
               Agent Mulder. You're up.

                            SCULLY
                      (regretfully)
               I'm sorry. Good luck.

     Mulder rises. Scully studying his poorly disguised hurt.
     Before he turns and goes into the room.

     Scully watching the door close behind him. Her feelings
     poorly disguised, too.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. DOWNSCALE D.C. BAR - NIGHT

     CLOSE ON A SHOOTER OF TEQUILA being poured. CAMERA
     ADJUSTING to reveal the ATTRACTIVE BARMAID tipping the
     bottle. Pushing it across the bar to where TWO EMPTY
     SHOOTERS sit, making the exchange.

                            BARMAID
               I'd say this about exceeds your
               minimum daily requirement.

     The person she's talking to us:

     MULDER

     He sits by himself on a stool, staring down at the bar.
     Staring at the shooter which he spins with his fingers.

                            BARMAID
               Gotta train for this kind of heavy
               lifting.

     Mulder tosses back the shooter anyway. She watches him
     as she retrieves the small shot glass, intrigued by his
     dark silence.

                            BARMAID
               Poopy day?

                            MULDER
               Yup.

                            BARMAID
               A woman?
                      (Mulder shakes his head no)
               Work.

     Mulder nods, pointing to the tequila bottle again. The
     Barmaid agrees to pour another one, reluctantly.

     ANGLE OVER TO A MAN AT THE END OF THE BAR

     Staring at Mulder intently. He's older than Mulder,
     dressed in an old Brooke Brothers light summer suit.
     Mulder notices him, feels his gaze, but doesn't give it
     thought.

     RESUME BARMAID, MULDER

                            BARMAID
               What do you do?

                            MULDER
               What do I do.
                      (off her curious look)
               I'm a key figure in an ongoing
               government charade. An annoyance to my
               superiors. A joke among my peers.
               "Spooky," they call me. Spooky Mulder.
               Whose sister was abducted by aliens
               when he was a kid. Who now chases
               little green men with a badge and a
               gun, shouting to the heavens and
               anyone who'll listen that the fix is
               in. That our government's hip to the
               truth and a part of the conspiracy.
               That the sky is falling and when it
               hits it's gonna be the shitstorm of
               all time.

     She stares at him for a moment, startled by his drunken
     screed. She pulls back the shooter she's just poured
     Mulder.

                            BARMAID
               I think that about does it, Spooky.

                            MULDER
               Does what?

                            BARMAID
               Why don't you go home to the old lady
               --

                            MULDER
               Sorry. Don't have one.

     Mulder slides off his stool, noticing:

     MULDER'S POV

     The Watchful Man is gone.

     RESUME MULDER

     He feints toward the door, then reverses direction.
     Heads to the back of the place.

     INT. REAR OF DOWNSCALE BAR - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS

     Mulder appears, moving to the bathroom door. Only to
     find an OUT OF ORDER sign on it. He moves to the woman's
     room, but it's locked. Gathering what's left of his
     wits, Mulder does what any red-blooded man would do in
     this situation. He goes to the back door of the bar and
     exits into the alley.

     EXT. ALLEY BEHIND BAR - NIGHT

     Mulder has found a place against a wall, between two
     dumpsters. Jerking around in surprise at the sound of a
     VOICE.

                            WATCHFUL MAN'S VOICE
               That official FBI business?

                            MULDER
                      (startled)
               What?

     ANGLE TO INCLUDE THE MAN FROM THE BAR

     He's not far from Mulder. His name is KURTZWEIL.

                            KURTZWEIL
               Bet the Bureau's accusing you of the
               same thing in Dallas.

     Mulder's weirded out as the stranger moves to him un-
     threateningly.

                            MULDER
               How's that?

                            KURTZWEIL
               Standing around holding your yank
               while bombs are exploding.

     Kurtzweil enjoys a little laugh over this.

                            MULDER
               Do I know you?

                            KURTZWEIL
               No. I've been watching your career for
               a good while. Back when you were just
               a promising young agent -- before
               that.

     Mulder stares at this man as he finishes, zipping up.

                            MULDER
               You follow me out here for a reason?

                            KURTZWEIL
               Yeah, I did.

     Kurtzweil unzips his own pants now. There is a moment;
     one of those awkward moments where Mulder's not sure
     what's about to happen. But Kurtzweil's just relieving
     himself, too. Shuffling up to the wall, Mulder takes
     this as an opportunity to head back toward the bar. But
     Kurtzweil hails him again.

                            KURTZWEIL
               My name's Kurtzweil. Dr. Alvin
               Kurtzweil.

                            MULDER
               I know the name. Why?

                            KURTZWEIL
               Old friend of your father's.

     Kurtzweil continues peeing. Knows this got Mulder's
     attention.

                            KURTZWEIL
               Back at the Department of State. We
               were what you might call fellow
               travelers, but his disenchantment
               outlasted mine.
                      (beat)
               I never believed in the Project.

     Mulder stares at Kurtzweil now. He's being toyed with.
     He turns, opens the door into the bar. As Kurtzweil gets
     a little louder.

                            KURTZWEIL
               Oh, come on. Don't pretend you don't
               know about the Project. Your father
               died for it. Your sister was taken
               because of it.

     Kurtzweil finishes nature's call. Zips up. Heads after
     Mulder.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. DOWNSCALE D.C. BAR - NIGHT

     Mulder is coming from the back. Kurtzweil moving to
     catch up. And he does, at the coat stand. The place has
     pretty much cleared out, except for the Barmaid and some
     help.

                            MULDER
               How'd you find me?

                            KURTZWEIL
               Heard you come here now and again.
               Figured you'd be needing a little
               drinky tonight.

                            MULDER
               You a reporter?

                            KURTZWEIL
               I'm a doctor, but I think I mentioned
               that. OB-GYN.

                            MULDER
               Who sent you?

                            KURTZWEIL
               I came on my own. After reading about
               the bombing in Dallas.

                            MULDER
               Well, if you've got something to tell
               me, you've got as long as it takes me
               to hail a cab...

     Mulder starts out the door, but Kurtzweil grabs his
     arm.

                            KURTZWEIL
               They're going to pin Dallas on you,
               Agent Mulder. But there was nothing
               you could've done. Nothing anyone
               could've done to prevent that bomb
               from going off. Because the truth is
               something you'd never have guessed;
               never have predicted.

     Mulder pulls away from Kurtzweil, but Kurtzweil dogs him
     to:

     EXT. STREET OUTSIDE DOWNSCALE BAR - NIGHT

     The street is empty, the hour is late. Mulder moves to
     the curb.

                            MULDER
               And what's that?

                            KURTZWEIL
               S.A.C. Darius Michaud never tried or
               intended to defuse the bomb.

                            MULDER
                      (rhetorical disbelief)
               He just let it explode.

                            KURTZWEIL
               What's the question nobody's asking?
               Why that building? Why not the Federal
               Building?

                            MULDER
               The Federal Building was too well
               guarded.

                            KURTZWEIL
               No. They put the bomb in the building
               across the street because it DID have
               federal offices. The Federal Emergency
               Management Agency had a provisional
               medical quarantine office there. Which
               is where the bodies were found. But
               that's the thing...

     Mulder's got his hand up for a taxi coming. It's pulling
     over as Mulder steps from the curb, stepping away from
     Kurtzweil.

                            KURTZWEIL
               ...the thing you didn't know. That
               you'd never think to check.

     Mulder's got the taxi door open, turning to Kurtzweil.

                            KURTZWEIL
               Those people were already dead.

                            MULDER
               Before the bomb went off?

                            KURTZWEIL
               That's what I'm saying.

     Mulder stares at Kurtzweil for a moment.

                            MULDER
               Michaud was a twenty-two year veteran
               of the bureau --

                            KURTZWEIL
               Michaud was a patriot. The men he's
               loyal to know their way around Dallas.
               They blew that building to hide
               something. Maybe something even they
               couldn't predict.

                            MULDER
               You're saying they destroyed an entire
               building to hide the bodies of three
               firemen...?

                            KURTZWEIL
               And one little boy.

     Mulder gets in the cab, closes the door. Rolls down the
     window.

                            MULDER
               I think you're full of shit.

                            KURTZWEIL
               Do you?

     Kurtzweil raps the top of the roof and steps away from
     the car. As the taxi takes off. WE STAY WITH KURTZWEIL,
     watching Mulder's cab speed away. (NOTE: This should
     also be covered from inside the cab with Mulder, to play
     the scene out on him.)

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. AGENT SCULLY'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

     Scully is in bed, lying awake. Staring at the ceiling.
     When she reacts to a POUNDING AT HER DOOR.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. SCULLY'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

     CLOSE ON THE FRONT DOOR. Scully peeks in the peephole.
     Then she removes the safety chain, opening the door.

                            MULDER
                      (strangely intense)
               I wake you?

                            SCULLY
               No.

                            MULDER
               Why not? It's three AM.

     Scully gets a whiff of his breath. As he moves past her
     into the apartment. Radiating a kind of manic
     intensity.

                            SCULLY
               Are you drunk, Mulder?

                            MULDER
               I was until about an hour ago.

                            SCULLY
               Is that before or after you got the
               idea to come here?

     Mulder looks at her curiously.

                            MULDER
               What are you implying, Scully?

                            SCULLY
                      (frowning)
               I thought you may have gotten drunk
               and decided to come here to talk me
               out of quitting.

                            MULDER
               Is that what you'd like me to do?

     Scully hesitates. Long enough to indicate her own
     wavering heart.

                            SCULLY
               Go home, Mulder. It's late.

                            MULDER
               Get dressed, Scully.

                            SCULLY
               Mulder -- what are you doing?

                            MULDER
               Just get dressed. I'll explain on the
               way.

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. TEXAS FLATLAND - NIGHT

     The moon is rising over the horizon, across the
     curvilinear distance of endless scrub and sagebrush.
     When FLYING OBJECTS cross between it and us, their forms
     unidentifiable in the rising heat waves off the earth.
     But they are moving towards us, SILHOUETTES in the
     background of the moon.

     They move silently, their size INCREASING as they move
     closer. And then we hear them, moments before they
     arrive at our position, UNMARKED HELICOPTERS just
     overhead. Hugging the ground as they blast across the
     dark Texas night.

     INT. UNMARKED BLACK HELICOPTERS - NIGHT

     Flying at dangerously low altitude over the almost
     featureless night landscape. Heading for something that
     we see ahead in the distance. What looks like a LARGE
     GLOWING DOME surrounded by the lights of a residential
     area we've already seen, on the edge of suburban Dallas
     sprawl.

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. SMALL DIRT FIELD - CENTRAL TEXAS - NIGHT

     The field where the kids had been digging has been
     transformed into some kind of worksite.

     A LARGE WHITE DOMED TENT has been erected over almost
     the entire patch of ground, surrounded by the CARGO
     TRUCKS that we saw earlier, and more unmarked vans and
     trucks. There are men in black fatigues moving about,
     and scientists in haz-mat suits.

     As the UNMARKED BLACK HELICOPTERS bank overhead. Coming
     in for a landing in the glow cast from the tents. CAMERA
     MOVING TOWARD one of the helicopters as it lightly
     touches down and its black door swings open. A man
     stepping out, and as CAMERA PUSHES UP INTO HIS FACE we
     recognize him as The Cigarette Smoking Man.

     The figure that we've come to know as an assassin and a
     model of modern self-interest and amorality. One of the
     central protagonists in the conspiracy to keep the truth
     from the American people about the existence of
     extraterrestrial life.

     Something known only as: "The Project."

     He walks out from under the whirring prop, just far
     enough to get a flame from his lighter, to get a
     cigarette lit. As we:

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. LARGE WHITE TENT - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS

     A SCIENTIST in a haz-mat suit is moving through the maze
     of clear plastic tubing that divides work areas within
     the tent. Areas where scientists are working at tables
     doing what appears to be some kind of high-tech
     archeological work. It is a hive of activity within, as
     the Scientist leads us past the REFRIGERATION UNITS to
     the earthen hole where Dr. Bronschweig (we've met him
     earlier, coming out of a med-evac chopper that landed
     when the tent city was erected) appears out of the
     earthen hole, which is reason for all this excitement.
     Climbing out A CLEAR HATCH which has been fashioned to
     cover the hole. Seeing:

     THE CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN

     Now suited up himself. Bronschweig approaches him.

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               You've got something to show me.

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
                      (nervous excitement)
               Yes.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. ICE CAVE - CONTINUOUS

     What we originally established as icy, and what later
     became the unfrozen Texas field where the boys
     discovered the human skull, has been turned to its
     previously icy state. Thanks to two large vents that Dr.
     Bronschweig is pointing at:

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
               We brought the atmosphere back down to
               freezing in order to control the
               development, which is nothing like
               we've ever seen.

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               Brought on by what?

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
               Heat, I think. The coincident invasion
               of a host, the fireman, and an
               environment that raised his basic body
               temperature above ninety eight point
               six.

     They step over to a section of the cave which has been
     draped with more plastic, the lights from inside this
     are giving off a cool blue light (passing by TWO
     PORTABLE DRILLING RIGS which have been erected, their
     pumps moving up and down like rocking horses.)
     Bronschweig pushes away the plastic, revealing A MAN
     lying on a gurney draped in plastic. he is hooked up to
     various and sundry machines which are monitoring his
     life signs.

     His skin has turned almost translucent, the veins and
     capillaries now clearly visible, as is his pulse. His
     heartbeat sending life-sustaining blood and energy
     through his body.

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               This man's still alive.

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
               Technically and biologically, though
               he'll never recover.

     The CSM is shaking his head in nervous, uneasy wonder.

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               How can this be?

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
               The developing organism is using his
               life energy, digesting bone and
               tissue. We've just slowed the
               process.

     Bronschweig redirects a light so that it shines hard
     into the man's face and; then we see it. Movement.

     CLOSE ON MAN'S FACE

     Though the man's eyes still blink occasionally, we can
     actually see through his tissue and the bones in his
     skull to see something IS LIVING INSIDE HIM.

     ANGLE UP ON CSM AND BRONSCHWEIG

     The Cigarette Smoking Man's mind is working intently on
     all the possibilities, and consequences.

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
               Do you want me to destroy this one,
               too? Before it gestates?

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               No. No...we need to try our vaccine on
               it.

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
               And if it's unsuccessful?

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               Incinerate it. Like the others.

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
               This man's family will want to see the
               body laid to rest.

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               Tell them he was trying to save the
               young boy's life, and that he died
               heroically like the other firemen.

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
               Of what?

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               They seemed to buy our story about the
               Hanta virus. You'll make sure the
               families are taken care of
               financially, along with a sizeable
               donation to the community.
                      (beat)
               Maybe a small roadside memorial.

     He watches the CSM exit, then back to the prostrate
     fireman.

     CLOSE ON PROSTRATE FIREMAN

     There is more movement within his body. Within his chest
     and neck, as if the creature gestating inside is
     continuing to stretch and grow. So that now we can see
     one of its BLACK EYES staring from through the clear
     flesh of the fireman. An eye which BLINKS at us. As we:

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - NIGHT

     Mulder and Scully appear at the end of a long hall.
     Moving TOWARD CAMERA where a YOUNG NAVAL GUARD sits in
     f.g. As a LEGEND appears, to establish.

     Mulder and Scully moving the long distance to the
     Guard's station. Where the Guard looks up at them with
     military scrutiny.

                            YOUNG NAVAL GUARD
               ID and floor you're visiting.

     They both show their FBI IDs.

                            MULDER
               We're going to the morgue.

                            YOUNG NAVAL GUARD
               That area is currently off limits to
               anyone other than authorized medical
               personnel.

                            MULDER
               On whose orders?

                            YOUNG NAVAL GUARD
               General McAddie's.

     Mulder doesn't miss a beat.

                            MULDER
               General McAddie is who requested our
               coming here. We were awakened at three
               AM and told to get down here
               immediately.

                            YOUNG NAVAL GUARD
               I don't know anything about that.

                            MULDER
               Well, call General McAddie.

                            YOUNG NAVAL GUARD
               I don't have his number.

                            MULDER
               They can patch you in through the
               switchboard.

     The Guard is nervous about this, checking his watch. He
     picks up the phone, going through a large directory.

                            MULDER
               Hey! We don't have time to dick around
               here watching you demonstrate your
               ignorance in the chain of command. The
               order came direct from General
               McAddie. Call him. We'll conduct our
               business while you confirm
               authorization.

     Mulder is already directing Scully past the Naval Guard
     who tentatively picks up the phone again.

                            YOUNG NAVAL GUARD
                      (to their backs)
               Why don't you go on ahead head and
               I'll confirm authorization.

                            MULDER
               Thank you.

     LEADING Mulder and Scully, moving they've pulled off a
     con.

                            MULDER
               Why is a morgue suddenly off limits on
               orders of a general?

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - MORGUE FREEZER - NIGHT

     TRACKING TABLE HEIGHT across gurneys where white
     sheet-wrapped bodies lie. CAMERA LANDING ON Scully.
     Standing next to Mulder who is undoing the peculiar
     ropey stitching on the sheet used to secure the bodies.

                            SCULLY
               This is one of the firemen who died in
               Dallas?

                            MULDER
               According to this tag.

                            SCULLY
               And you're looking for?

                            SCULLY
               I can tell you that without even
               looking at him.
                      (off Mulder's look)
               Conclusive organ failure due to
               proximal exposure to source and flying
               debris.

     Scully pulls out an autopsy report that was laid on the
     gurney under the body of the sheet-wrapped corpse.

                            SCULLY
               This body has already been autopsied,
               Mulder. You can tell from the way it's
               been wrapped and dressed.

     Undeterred, Mulder works to get the sheet off. The first
     thing we notice is that he's still in his fireman's
     uniform. His face looks familiar to us, not because we
     know him, but because of the translucency of skin we saw
     in the other fireman. (We will also notice he's
     missing an arm, a leg and large part of his torso.)

                            MULDER
               Does this fit the description you just
               read me, Scully?

     Scully comes around, reacting to what she sees.

                            SCULLY
               Oh my God. This man's tissue...

     Scully is quickly removing a pair of latex gloves,
     stretching them on to palpate the man's tissue.

                            MULDER
               It's like jelly.

                            SCULLY
               There's some kind of cellular
               breakdown. It's completely edematous.

     She palpates the spongy skin on the man's face, neck.
     Unbuttoning the uniform now, seeing:

                            SCULLY
               And there's been no autopsy performed.
               There's no Y incision here; no
               internal exam.

                            MULDER
               You're telling me the cause of death
               on the report is false. That this man
               didn't die from an explosion, or from
               flying debris.

                            SCULLY
               I don't know what killed this man. I'm
               not sure if anybody else could claim
               to either.

     Off Mulder's reaction to this:

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. MORGUE - PATHOLOGY LAB - NIGHT - MINUTES LATER

     The gurney with the fireman is pushed through a pair of
     swinging doors into the darkened lab. Scully flips the
     lights on, looking around at the giant facility.

                            SCULLY
                      (pushing him)
               You knew this man didn't die at the
               bomb site before we got here.

                            MULDER
               I'd been told as much.

                            SCULLY
               You're saying the bombing was a
               cover-up. Of what?

                            MULDER
               I don't know. But I have a hunch what
               you're going to find here isn't
               anything that can be categorized or
               easily referenced.

                            SCULLY
               Mulder, this is going to take some
               time, and somebody's going to figure
               out soon enough we're not even
               supposed to be here.
                      (beat)
               I'm in serious violation of medical
               ethics.

                            MULDER
               We're being blamed for these deaths.
               Scully, I want to know what this man
               died of. Don't you?

     Scully stares at Mulder, then back down at the body. How
     can she refuse, given the finality and the personal
     appeal of the request? After a moment's hesitation, she
     turns to the body, and to the tray table of tools
     nearby. Resigned, if not resolved.

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. - NIGHT

     A LEGEND appears: WASHINGTON D.C., DUPONT CIRCLE. 4:00
     AM. The street is fairly empty, save for a garbage truck
     picking up the stacks of green garbage bags laid out on
     the sidewalks. Then A TAXI turns off a main street,
     MOVING TOWARDS US.

     INT. WASHINGTON D.C. STREET - TAXI - NIGHT

     OVER MULDER to the street: Where the taxi is moving
     forward toward a spot where two ARLINGTON PD cruisers
     are pulled up to the curb. Mulder checks the address he
     has written down.

                            MULDER
                      (to the Cabbie)
               I think this is it up here.

     EXT. SIDE STREET - NIGHT

     The taxi pulls over and Mulder exits, starting up the
     steps of a walk up where the door is open.

     INT. KURTZWEIL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

     There are UNIFORMED OFFICERS inside, and a DETECTIVE.
     Mulder steps into an office. FOUR PAIRS of eyes give him
     the once over. The Detective stepping over to him.

                            MULDER
               Is this Dr. Kurtzweil's residence?

                            DETECTIVE
                      (suspiciously)
               You got some kind of business with
               him?

                            MULDER
               I'm looking for him.

                            DETECTIVE
               Looking for him for what?

     Mulder pulls out his ID, flashes it at the Detective.

                            DETECTIVE
                      (to his partners)
               Feds are looking for him, too.
                      (turns to Mulder)
               Real nice business he's got, huh?

                            MULDER
               What's that?

                            DETECTIVE
               Selling naked pictures of little kids
               over his computer.

     Mulder nods, though this is news to him. He steps in a
     little further, noticing a shelf lined with books. Their
     spines all have the author's name written large: DR.
     ALVIN KURTZWEIL.

     Mulder picks up one of these books, with the title: THE
     FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE GLOBAL DOMINATION CONSPIRACY.

                            DETECTIVE
               You looking for him for some other
               reason?

                            MULDER
               Yeah, I had an appointment for a
               pelvic examination.

     They stare at Mulder like he's a sicko. He smiles and
     they break into RAUCOUS LAUGHTER.

                            DETECTIVE
               You want a call if we turn up
               Kurtzweil?

                            MULDER
               No. Don't bother.

     Mulder puts the book back among the others on the shelf.
     And exits. Onto:

     RESUME EXT. KURTZWEIL'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

     Mulder starting up the street when he notices:

     MULDER'S POV

     Kurtzweil has stepped from between two apartments. He's
     staring at Mulder, nodding furtively to him. Then
     stepping back.

     RESUME MULDER

     Slows, then speeds up.

     EXT. SPACE BETWEEN TWO APARTMENTS - NIGHT

     Mulder appears at the end of the narrow walkway, finding
     Kurtzweil tucked a few yards in.

                            KURTZWEIL
               See this bullshit...? Somebody knows
               I'm talking to you.

                            MULDER
               Not according to the men in blue.

                            KURTZWEIL
               What is it? Kiddie porn again? Sexual
               battery of a patient? I've had my
               license taken away in three states.

                            MULDER
               They want to discredit you -- for
               what?

                            KURTZWEIL
               For what? Because I'm a dangerous man.
               Because I know too much about the
               truth.

                            MULDER
               You mean that apocalyptic trash you
               write? I knew your name was familiar.
               I just didn't know why.

                            KURTZWEIL
               You know my work?

                            MULDER
                      (pointedly)
               Dr. Kurtzweil, I'm not interested in
               bigoted ideas about race or genocide.
               I don't believe in the Elders of Zion,
               the Knights Templar, the Bilderburg
               Group or in a oneworld Jew run
               government --

                            KURTZWEIL
               I don't either, but it sure sells
               books.

     He says it with an ironic smile. Causing Mulder to turn
     and start off. But Kurtzweil hurries to grab him, to
     prevent this.

                            KURTZWEIL
               I was right about Dallas. Wasn't I,
               Agent Mulder?

                            MULDER
               How?

                            KURTZWEIL
               I picked up the historical document of
               the venality and hypocrisy of the
               American government. The daily
               newspaper.

                            MULDER
               You said the firemen and the boy were
               found in the temporary offices of the
               Federal Emergency Management Agency.
               Why?

                            KURTZWEIL
               According to the newspaper, FEMA had
               been called out to manage an outbreak
               of the Hanta virus. Are you familiar
               with the Hanta virus, Agent Mulder?

                            MULDER
               It was a deadly virus spread by field
               mice in the Southwest U.S. several
               years ago.

                            KURTZWEIL
               And are you familiar with FEMA? What
               the Federal Emergency Management
               Agency's real power is? FEMA allows
               the White House to suspend
               constitutional government upon
               declaration of a national emergency.
               To create a non-elected government.
               Think about that.
                      (beat)
               What is an agency with such broad
               sweeping power doing managing a small
               viral outbreak in suburban Texas?

                            MULDER
               Are you saying it wasn't such a small
               outbreak?

     Kurtzweil is getting intense now.

                            KURTZWEIL
               I'm saying it wasn't the Hanta virus.

     They are both given a start when a POLICE CRUISER rolls
     by on the street, giving a burp of its siren. It rolls
     past as the two men tuck in tighter.

                            MULDER
               What was it?

                            KURTZWEIL
               When we were young men in the
               military, your father and I were
               recruited for a project. They told us
               it was biological warfare. A virus.
               There were rumors about its origins.

                            MULDER
               What killed those men?

                            KURTZWEIL
               What killed them I won't even write
               about. I tell you, they'd do more than
               just harass me. They have the future
               to protect.

                            MULDER
               I'll know soon enough.

                            KURTZWEIL
                      (worked up)
               What killed those men can't be
               identified in simple medical terms. My
               god, we can't even wrap our minds
               around something as obvious as HIV.
               We have no context for what killed
               those men, or any appreciation of the
               scale in which it will be unleashed in
               the future. Of how it will be
               transmitted; of the environmental
               factors involved.

                            MULDER
               A plague?

                            KURTZWEIL
               The plague to end all plagues, Agent
               Mulder. A silent weapon for a quiet
               war. The systematic release of an
               indiscriminate organism for which the
               men who will bring it on still have no
               cure. They've been working on this for
               fifty years. While the rest of the
               world was fighting gooks and commies
               these men have been secretly
               negotiating a planned Armageddon.

                            MULDER
               Negotiating with whom?

                            KURTZWEIL
               I think you know. The timetable has
               been set. It will happen on a holiday,
               when people are away from their homes.
               When our elected officials are at
               their resorts or out of the country.
               The President will declare a state of
               emergency, at which time all federal
               agencies, all government will come
               under the power of the Federal
               Emergency Management Agency. FEMA,
               Agent Mulder. The secret government.

                            MULDER
               And they tell me I'm paranoid.

                            KURTZWEIL
               Something's gone wrong -- something
               unanticipated. Go back to Dallas and
               dig. Or you're only going to find out
               like the rest of the country, Agent
               Mulder. When it's too late.

     Kurtzweil turns, starts off. Mulder stares after him.
     Then:

                            MULDER
               How can I reach you?

                            KURTZWEIL
               You can't.

     Mulder moves to catch up to Kurtzweil, pulling out his
     cell phone. Kurtzweil stops, turns. Truly and intensely
     paranoid. Mulder makes him take the cell phone.

                            MULDER
               No calling Hawaii.

     Mulder turns and moves back out onto the street.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. MORGUE - PATHOLOGY LAB - NIGHT

     Agent Scully wears a surgical mask, latex gloves.
     Working on the body of the fireman...when she reacts to
     a NOISE. Doors opening, closing somewhere o.s. CAMERA
     MEDIUM WHIPS to a door where she and Mulder entered the
     morgue. Where...the Young Naval Guard and TWO MPs push
     through and enter. They stand looking at:

     THEIR POV

     Where Scully stood moments ago, there is now just an
     unattended gurney. A sheet over the fireman's body.
     Scully is gone.

     RESUME YOUNG NAVAL GUARD, MPs

     Tense. Listening, watchful. Moving into the room.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - MORGUE FREEZER - NIGHT

     Scully enters the space where she and Mulder found the
     fireman's body. Trying to quietly click the door shut.
     Standing now near the door, tense, listening. When the
     CHIRPING of her cell phone breaks the tense silence. She
     pats frantically at her coat, trying to get it answered
     before it rings again. Unsuccessfully. Finally getting
     a hold of it and hitting the send button. Scully sits
     breathing heavy, nervous breaths -- waiting for the
     Young Naval Guard to come running in.

                            MULDER'S VOICE (FILTER)
               Scully...?

     She puts the phone slowly up to her face.

                            SCULLY
                      (low whisper)
               Yeah.

     INTERCUT WITH:

     INT. PHONE BOOTH - WASHINGTON D.C. - MORNING

     Mulder's at the pay phone.

                            MULDER
               Why are you whispering?

                            SCULLY
               I can't really talk right now.

                            MULDER
               What did you find?

                            SCULLY
               Evidence of a massive infection.

                            MULDER
               What kind of infection?

                            SCULLY
               I don't know.

                            MULDER
               Scully -- listen to me. I'm going
               home, then I'm booking a flight to
               Dallas. I'm getting you a ticket,
               too.

                            SCULLY
               Mulder --

                            MULDER
               I need you there with me. I need your
               expertise on this. The bomb we found
               was meant to destroy those bodies and
               whatever they were infected by.

                            SCULLY
               I've got a hearing tomorrow --

                            MULDER
               -- I'll have you back for it, Scully.
               Maybe with evidence that could blow
               that meeting away.

                            SCULLY
               Mulder -- I can't -- I'm already way
               past the point of common sense here
               --

     Scully hears VOICES in the hall outside the freezer.

                                             CUT TO:

     MULDER

                            MULDER
               Scully...? Hello...?

     But the line OFF, goes dead. Mulder  hangs up the
     phone, frustrated. Exits the booth in a hurry.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL - MORGUE FREEZER - NIGHT

     The door opens and the Young Naval Guard steps inside,
     followed by the MPs. Moving into the room.

     LOW ANGLE - TRACKING

     with the Naval Guard's feet as they pass by the rolling
     carts on which bodies are laid. TRACKING to find SCULLY,
     where she hides under one of the carts. Huddled and
     cold.

     The Guard's feet stop near here. He stands motionless
     for a moment, then moves off. HOLD her until the door
     slams shut.

     INT. FBI OFFICE - DALLAS - MORNING - MULDER

     enters a forensics lab with a FIELD AGENT. A LEGEND
     reads: FBI FIELD OFFICE, DALLAS : 11:20 AM.

                            FIELD AGENT
               You're looking for what amounts to a
               needle in a haystack. I'm afraid the
               explosion was so devastating there
               hasn't been a whole lot we've been
               able to put together just yet.

     They are walking amid BOXES of evidence. STACKS of
     debris. There are FORENSIC TECHS sorting through this
     material. It looks like the most tedious and painstaking
     job in the world.

                            MULDER
               I'm looking for anything out of the
               ordinary. Maybe something from the
               FEMA offices where the bodies were
               found.

                            FIELD AGENT
               We weren't expecting to find those
               remains, of course. They went right
               off to Washington.

                            MULDER
               Was there anything in those offices
               that didn't go to D.C.?

                            FIELD AGENT
               Some bone fragments came up in the
               sift this morning. We thought there'd
               been another fatality, but we found
               out FEMA had recovered them from an
               archeological site out of town.

                            MULDER
               Have you examined them?

                            FIELD AGENT
               No. Just fossils, far as I know.

     Mulder is nodding, when both men look off at something
     that's caught their attention o.s.

                            MULDER
               I'd like this person to take a look,
               if you don't mind.

     THEIR POV - AGENT SCULLY

     Standing in the doorway to the lab. She looks at Mulder
     as if she's come in spite of her misgivings. Moving
     toward them now.

                            FIELD AGENT
               Let me just see if I can lay my hands
               on what you're looking for.

     The Field Agent nods to Scully as he passes, exiting
     deeper into the room. Leaving Mulder and Scully by
     themselves momentarily.

                            MULDER
               You said you weren't coming?

                            SCULLY
               I wasn't planning on it. Particularly
               after spending a half hour in cold
               storage this morning. But I got a
               better look at the blood and tissue
               samples I took from the firemen.

                            MULDER
               What did you find?

                            SCULLY
                      (voice lowering pointedly)
               Something I couldn't show to anyone
               else. Not without more information.
               And not without causing the kind of
               attention I'd just as soon avoid right
               now.
                      (off Mulder's look)
               The virus those men were infected with
               contains a protein coat I've never
               seen before. What it did to them it
               did extremely fast. And unlike the
               AIDS virus or any other aggressive
               strain, it survives very nicely
               outside the body.

                            MULDER
               How was it contracted?

                            SCULLY
               That I don't know. But if it's through
               simple contact of blood to blood, and
               if it doesn't respond to conventional
               treatments, it could be a serious
               health threat.

     Mulder's reaction is postponed, or at least subdued by
     the reappearance of the field agent.

                            FIELD AGENT
               Like I said, these are fossils, and
               they weren't near the blast center, so
               they aren't going to tell you much.

                            SCULLY
               May I?

     He offers Scully the small glass vials in which the bone
     fragments have been separated. She takes them, looking
     at them on her way over to the microscope. Tapping out a
     tiny fragment onto the viewing bed. She puts her eyes
     down to the stereoscope eyepieces, then almost
     immediately looks up at Mulder who translates this look
     almost instantly.

                            MULDER
               You said you knew the location of the
               archeological site where these were
               found.

                            FIELD AGENT
               Show you right on a map.

     Off Mulder and Scully's traded looks:

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. SMALL PUBLIC PARK - WEST TEXAS - DAY

     The domed white tent is still in place, the fleet of
     trucks and equipment surrounding it unmanned. Several
     large sound-dampened generators still hum away, but the
     work being done here would be a mystery to anyone who
     didn't have access to the tent.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. DOMED TENT - DAY

     An electric Bobcat-like bulldozer maneuvers a very high
     tech-looking CLEAR CONTAINER to the edge of the earthen
     hole. The container has monitors and gauges on it,
     oxygen tanks and what looks like a circulation
     refrigeration unit. A self-contained life support
     system. The inside of the container is covered with a
     thin layer of frost.

     When the small bulldozer gets the container over near
     the hole, several technicians lift it down off the
     shovel, hand carrying it toward the hole opening. As Dr.
     Bronschweig APPEARS, moving to a ladder that leads down
     into the hole. He's dressed in a haz-mat suit, with the
     hood off.

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
               I need to have those settings checked
               and re-set. I need a steady minus two
               Celsius through the transfer of the
               body, after I administer the vaccine.

     The men nod to Bronschweig, begin checking the settings
     as Bronschweig puts his hood on, starts down into the
     hole, through the clear hatch.

     INT. SMALLER ICE CAVE - DAY

     The refrigeration vents are still pumping in arctic air
     when Dr. Bronschweig appears descending a fixed ladder.
     It is dark in here, save for the ice blue glow of light
     coming from the plastic draped area where we saw the
     fireman acting as an incubator/host for some kind of
     organism growing inside him.

     Bronschweig steps over to this area, moves aside the
     plastic drapery to enter.

     ANGLE INSIDE, PLASTIC LINED AREA

     Where the body of the fireman is still inside the
     quarantine bubble litter in f.g. Bronschweig takes out of
     his pocket a SYRINGE and an AMPULE. Turning now to the
     body. Stepping to it. Moving a work light, as he had
     done for the Cigarette Smoking Man, so that it shines on
     the face of the fireman. But when he does this,
     Bronschweig nearly JUMPS, his breath stolen away.
     Reacting to:

     ANGLE ON FIREMAN'S BODY

     The chest and torso have imploded. It has been turned
     into a muddy mass of blood-stained jelly; bone and
     tissue melted into an oozing mass which has sunken due
     to the fact that the creature which was inside is now
     gone.

     CAMERA WHIPS from Bronschweig to the wall. To the
     temperature gauge which reads about 6 degrees Celsius.
     WHIPPING BACK to Bronschweig who is now panicked.

                                             INTERCUT WITH:

     INT. DOMED TENT - DAY

     ANGLE DOWN ON EARTHEN HOLE, where the Technicians
     Bronschweig was speaking to minutes ago react to
     Bronschweig's MUFFLED VOICE. He's down below them in the
     cave, looking up.

     Pulling his haz-mat hood off. Yelling up to them.

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
               It's gone!

                            TECHNICIAN
               It's what?

     OVER THE TECHNICIANS TO BRONSCHWEIG DOWN BELOW

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
               It's left the body. I think it's
               gestated --

     Bronschweig is starting up the ladder when something
     stops him.

     RESUME INT. ICE CAVE

     CREATURE'S POV OF BRONSCHWEIG

     He stands frozen on the ladder, squinting into the
     darkness.

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
               Wait -- I see it --

     BRONSCHWEIG'S POV

     In the shadows there is movement, the creature edging
     into the light cast from the draped area. We see it is
     fully formed -- a replica of the Creature we saw at the
     opening of our story. Though it does not make any kind
     of aggressive move. As if, newborn, it is tentative.

     RESUME BRONSCHWEIG - CREATURE'S POV

     He remains standing on a rung of the ladder for a
     moment, then takes a gentle step back down to the
     ground.

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
                      (nervous wonder)
               Oh my god. Oh my god.

                            TECHNICIAN
               You see it?

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
               Yes. It's...amazing. You want to get
               down here --
                      (sotto to himself)
               Jesus Lord...so much for little green
               men.

     Dr. Bronschweig moves shakily to put the syringe in the
     ampule again...when, suddenly, the Creature STRIKES.
     CAMERA RUSHING FORWARD TO BRONSCHWEIG.

                                             MATCH CUT TO:

     OVERHEAD ANGLE - OVER THE TECHNICIANS

     As the Creature slams into Bronschweig, knocking him out
     of the line of sight from the top of the earthen hole.

     There are SCREAMS OF PAIN from Bronschweig, then they
     abate.

     RESUME INT. ICE CAVE

     Bronschweig can be heard, but not clearly seen. He is in
     the shadows himself now.

     Trying to pick himself up, and when he manages to do
     this, teetering back into the light we see that he is
     bloodied. He is hurt, injured. Making his way back
     toward the patch of light that comes from the hole
     above. Hoping to see that help is on its way, while
     keeping a watchful, wary and worried eye on the shadows,
     for another attack by the Creature.

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
               Hey -- I need help.

     But the Technicians looking down on him offer him
     nothing of the sort. All they do is quickly close the
     clear hatch that seals Bronschweig inside the cave.

                            DR. BRONSCHWEIG
               Hey!

     But he gets no answer, climbing the ladder shakily. A
     moment later the first Bobcat shovel-full of dirt falls
     onto the clear hatch and partially obscures the light.
     They are burying Bronschweig alive.

     INT. DOMED TENT - DAY

     ANGLE DOWN ON BRONSCHWEIG through the glass hatch. His
     SCREAMS continue. ADJUSTING to the small bulldozer which
     is quickly hauling the mound of excavated earth into the
     hole from which it came. While, all around, there is a
     hive of activity. Men running everywhere.

                                             CUT TO:

     RESUME INT. ICE CAVE

     Bronschweig reacts in silent horror now, only to turn in
     further horror when he feels the impending attack of:

     THE CREATURE

     Right behind and just below him. Its grotesque features
     in momentary high resolution, BEFORE IT ATTACKS CAMERA.
     Over and over, savaging Bronschweig in a violent fury.
     Its hideous teeth tearing at his flesh - AT CAMERA -
     driving him off the ladder where the attack continues in
     momentary glimpses of teeth, of bloody flesh, and of
     OILY BLACK BLOOD being spattered about. At the
     height of the violence we hear Bronschweig SCREAM.
     Matching the wound of this, as we:

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. ESTATE SOMEWHERE OUTSIDE LONDON - EARLY EVENING

     A CHILD'S SCREAM OF JOY. ENGLISH CHILDREN are playing
     tag or some kind of children's game in the
     well-manicured garden of a man who the CAMERA FINDS IN
     F.G. -- the man we have come to know as THE
     WELL-MANICURED MAN. He is also a member of the syndicate
     running "The Project", though his venality is cloaked in
     civility and statesmanship. Right now he's watching the
     children from the back steps of his mansion, charmed by
     their game. When he is called by someone o.s.

                            VALET'S VOICE
               Sir -- you have a call.

     The Well-Manicured Man turns to see:

     HIS VALET

     Holds the door. After a moment the W.M.M. enters past
     the Valet. As the screams of the children continue to
     rise and fall.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. SUBURBAN LONDON ESTATE - A BEAUTIFUL STUDY -
     EVENING

     The Well-Manicured Man enters, picks up a blinking line.
     Through a window he can still see the children playing.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Yes.

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
                            (FILTER)
               We have a situation. The members are
               assembling.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Is it an emergency?

     INTERCUT WITH TIGHT CSM AT INT. KENSINGTON BUILDING
     (NEXT LOC.)

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               Yes. A meeting is set. Tonight in
               London, to determine a course.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Who called this meeting?

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               Strughold. He's just gotten on a plane
               in Tunis.

     This pronouncement has the power of ending any further
     questions. An immediate sense of gravity of the
     situation. The W.M.M. hangs up, moves to the window
     where he sees some of the HELP is running from the
     house. The children have all gathered around a BOY who
     seems to have hurt himself. He's lifted and being
     carried by the man who's called the W.M.M. into the
     house.

     Off the Well-Manicured Man's concern, we:

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. LONDON STREET - NIGHT

     A discreet Town Car pulls up out front an understated
     building in a better West End neighborhood. A driver
     exits coming around for the Well-Manicured Man who is
     already exiting, moving to the building. As a LEGEND
     appears: KENSINGTON, LONDON: 8:01 PM.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. KENSINGTON BUILDING - NIGHT

     The Well-Manicured Man is admitted by a Valet. The
     interior has the well-heeled look of money, or a finely
     appointed residence that no one lives in. The Valet
     takes the W.M.M.'s coat.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Has Strughold arrived?

                            VALET
               They're in the library.

     He leads the W.M.M. down a hall, to:

     INT. LARGE STATELY LIBRARY - NIGHT

     A GROUP OF MEN are standing, looking at something on a
     TV monitor. A surveillance video. They turn when the
     W.M.M. enters. CAMERA FAVORING A SMALL LEAN MAN with
     close-cropped hair.

     He is at once elegant and imposing with eyes that hold
     you with laser-like acuity. He is CONRAD STRUGHOLD.

     The others are of various ethnicities, tailored and
     dignified. This might be a collection of U.N. delegates.
     Indeed some are.

     Their business here, however, doesn't represent anyone's
     interests but their own. As tipped by the attendance of
     a GROUP ELDER from the U.S. who we've come to know.

     But, more importantly, by the Cigarette Smoking Man who
     holds the VCR remote. He pauses the picture.

                            STRUGHOLD
               We began to worry. Some of us have
               traveled so far, and you are the last
               to arrive.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               I'm sorry. My grandson fell and broke
               his leg.

     The non-response to this has the same effect as a
     reprimand. But the W.M.M. will not apologize of kowtow.

                            STRUGHOLD
               While we've been made to wait, we've
               watched surveillance tapes which have
               raised more concerns.

     The Well-Manicured Man glances to the TV, sees the
     frame paused.

     HIS POV OF TV MONITOR

     Where Mulder and Scully's faces are seen in a hallway
     that we recognize as the Bethesda Naval Hospital.

     RESUME WELL-MANICURED MAN

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               More concerns than that?

                            STRUGHOLD
               We've been forced to reassess our role
               in Colonization by new facts of
               biology which have presented
               themselves.

                            GROUP ELDER
                      (speaking up)
               The virus has mutated.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               On its own?

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               Its effect on the host has changed.
               The virus no longer just invades the
               brain as a controlling organism. It's
               developed a way to modify the host
               body.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Into what?

                            STRUGHOLD
               A new extraterrestrial biological
               entity.

     It takes a moment to sink in. The weight of this fact.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               My god...

                            STRUGHOLD
               The geometry of mass infection
               presents certain conceptual
               re-evaluations for us. About our place
               in their Colonization.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               This isn't Colonization, it's
               spontaneous repopulation. All our
               work... if it's true, then they've
               been using us all along. We've been
               laboring under a lie!

                            2ND ELDER
               It could be an isolated case.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               How can we know?!

                            STRUGHOLD
               We're going to tell them what we've
               found. What we've learned. Turn over a
               body infected with the gestating
               organism.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               In hope of what? Learning that it's
               true?! That we are nothing more than
               digestives for the creation of a new
               race of alien lifeforms?!

                            STRUGHOLD
               Let me remind you who is the new race.
               And who is the old.
                      (beat)
               What could be gained by withholding
               anything from them; By pretending to
               ignorance? Our knowledge may forestall
               their plans to step up the timetable.
               To start Colonization early.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               And if it doesn't? By cooperating now
               we're but beggars to our demise! Our
               ignorance was in cooperating with the
               Colonists at all.

                            STRUGHOLD
               Cooperation is our only chance of
               saving ourselves.

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               They still need us to carry out their
               preparations.

                            STRUGHOLD
               We'll continue to use them as they do
               us. If only to play for more time, to
               continue work on our vaccine.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Our vaccine may have no effect!

                            STRUGHOLD
               Well, without a cure for the virus,
               we're nothing more than digestives
               anyway.

     All eyes go to the Well-Manicured Man. He is respected,
     if not the odd man out in this room. But he is all
     restrained anger now.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               My lateness may have well been
               absence. A course has already been
               taken.

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               There are complications.

     He turns back to the TV monitor where Mulder and Scully
     remain frozen on the screen.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Do they know?

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               Mulder was in Dallas when we were
               trying to dispose of evidence. He's
               gone back there again. Someone has
               tipped him.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Who?

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               Kurtzweil, we think.

                            STRUGHOLD
               We've allowed this man his freedom.
               His books have actually helped us to
               facilitate plausible denial. Has he
               outlived his usefulness to us?

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               No one believes Kurtzweil or his
               books. He's a toiler. A crank.

                            STRUGHOLD
               And Mulder?

                            ELDER
               Our new situation makes us vulnerable.
               If he learns information as we do, he
               could jeopardize the Project's
               secrecy.

                            2ND ELDER
               Control of information means control
               of Mulder.

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               I can control Mulder. I've always
               controlled Mulder.

                            STRUGHOLD
               This may take another approach.

     He says this, casting his look toward the Well-Manicured
     Man. A look of cold malevolence. The W.M.M.'s reaction
     is disdain.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               You can't kill Mulder. He's got too
               much light on him.

                            STRUGHOLD
               You need not kill a man to destroy
               him.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
                      (personalizing the
                      inference)
               No, you need only take away what is
               most precious to him.

                                             HARD CUT TO:

     EXT. SMALL PUBLIC PARK - CENTRAL TEXAS - DAY

     AGENT SCULLY

     She stands against a backdrop of Texas flatland,
     squinting into the sun. Shaking her head.

                            SCULLY
               I don't know, Mulder...

     We are:

     WIDE ANGLE REVERSE, TO INCLUDE MULDER, standing in the
     middle of a park, replete with jungle gyms, playground
     equipment. All brand spanking new. They are standing
     right where there had once been a hard scrabble, parched
     and barren little field. Where the earthen hole had been
     dug by the young boys. And what had later been the site
     of so much activity by the group of scientists. But
     where there's now a park, thick green grass covering the
     parch of ground, including the spot where the hole had
     been.

                            SCULLY
               He didn't mention a park.

                            MULDER
               This is where he marked on the map,
               Scully. Where he says those fossils
               were unearthed.

                            SCULLY
               I don't see any evidence of an
               archeological or any other kind of
               digsite. Not even a sewer or a storm
               drain.

     Mulder scans the area, confounded. Shaking his head as
     they walk.

                            MULDER
               You're sure the fossils you looked at
               showed the same signs of deterioration
               you saw in the fireman's body in the
               morgue?

                            SCULLY
                      (nodding)
               The bone was porous, as if the virus
               of the causative microbe were
               digesting it.

                            MULDER
               And you've never seen anything like
               that?

                            SCULLY
               No.  It didn't show up on any of the
               immunohistochemical tests --

     Mulder is listening to all this while looking down at
     his feet:

                            MULDER
               This looks like new grass to you?

                            SCULLY
               It looks pretty green for this
               climate.

     Mulder stops, kneels, touches the thick green carpet of
     turf. He digs around, lifting up a corner of a new
     square.

                            MULDER
               Ground's dry about an inch down.
               Somebody just laid this down. Very
               recently, I'd say.

                            SCULLY
                      (looking off)
               All the equipment is brand new.

                            MULDER
               No irrigation system. Somebody's
               covering their tracks.

     They both turn, looking at something that's caught their
     attention on the street where their rental car is
     parked. Three kids, all of whom we recognize from
     earlier. Stevie's "friends".

     Tooling down the street on new BMX bikes. Reacting to
     Mulder's loud WHISTLE. This stops them, staring at
     Mulder blankly across the distance.

                            MULDER
               Hey!

     They don't answer. Just keep staring, squinting into the
     sun. Mulder and Scully start walking toward them.

                            SCULLY
               Do you live around here?

                            2ND BOY
               Yeah.

     As the Agents approach.

                            MULDER
               You see anybody digging here?

     The kids don't answer quickly.

                            2ND BOY
               Not supposed to talk about it.

                            SCULLY
               You're not supposed to talk about it?
               Who told you that?

                            3RD BOY
               Nobody.

                            MULDER
               Nobody. Same nobody who put this park
               in? That new equipment...
                      (off the boys guilty looks)
               They buy you these bikes?

     The kids shift uncomfortably.

                            SCULLY
               I think you better tell us.

                            2ND BOY
               We don't even know you.

                            SCULLY
               Well, we're FBI agents.

                            2ND BOY
               You're not FBI agents.

                            MULDER
               How do you know?

                            2ND BOY
               Cause FBI agents wear like suits and
               goofy ties. And dresses like my mom
               wears to church. Like on that one
               show.

     Mulder and Scully pull their badges. The kids' mouths
     drop.

                            MULDER
               Maybe you've been watching too much
               TV.

                            3RD BOY
               They all left twenty minutes ago.

                            4TH BOY
               Going that way.

     The kids all pointing in the same direction.

     EXT. CENTRAL TEXAS HIGHWAY - LATE DAY

     As Mulder and Scully's rental car RACES by at high
     speed.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. MULDER AND SCULLY'S RENTAL CAR - DAY - CONTINUOUS

     Mulder at the wheel, foot to the floor. Scully's got a
     map out. The mood is urgent, tense.

                            MULDER
               Unmarked tanker trucks... what are
               archaeologists hauling out in tanker
               trucks?

                            SCULLY
               I don't know, Mulder.

                            MULDER
               And where are they going with it?

                            SCULLY
               That's the first question to answer,
               if we're going to find them.

                                             CUT BACK TO:

     EXT. CENTRAL HIGHWAY - LATE DAY

     Mulder slows down to a stop. They've come to a three-way
     intersection in the middle of absolutely nowhere that
     offers them three choices. The car sits idling for
     several beats.

     RESUME INT. RENTAL CAR

     Mulder's got his hand on his face rubbing his eyes.

                            MULDER
               What are my choices?

                            SCULLY
               About a hundred miles of nothing in
               each direction.

                            MULDER
               Where would they be going?

                            SCULLY
               We've got two choices. One of them is
               wrong.

     They are both looking in different directions. The car
     idling.

                            MULDER
               You think they went left?

                            SCULLY
               I don't know why I think they went
               right.

     A few moments of silence. Then Mulder steps on the gas
     and goes straight. Heading out onto the only unpaved
     road. Accelerating away.

     Scully looks at him, wondering. As they bump along at
     speed. Mulder won't look at her for a few moments. Then,
     turning to her:

                            MULDER
               Five years together -- how many times
               have I been wrong.

                                             DISSOLVE TO:

     EXT. TEXAS HIGHWAY - NIGHT

     HEADLIGHTS appear in the distance on a long, dusty
     stretch of road. GROWING as they approach, then coming
     to a stop in a cloud of dust as they move into f.g.

     Where a LINE OF FENCEPOSTS, BARBWIRE blocks their path.

     As the car brakes, the passenger door opens and Scully
     exits. A hot Texas wind blows. A dog is BARKING
     somewhere. Scully walks into the headlight wash, looking
     at a sign on the fence.

     After a moment, the driver's door opens and Mulder
     exits.

                            MULDER
               Hey, I was right about the bomb,
               wasn't I?

                            SCULLY
               This is great. This is fitting.

     REVERSE ON SCENE

     On the fence sign, painted in crude letters, are the
     words: SOME HAVE TRIED, SOME HAVE DIED. TURN BACK -- NO
     TRESPASSING.

                            MULDER
               What?

                            SCULLY
               I've got to be in Washington D.C. in
               eleven hours for a hearing -- the
               outcome of which might possibly affect
               one of the biggest decisions of my
               life. And here I am standing out in
               the middle of nowhere Texas, chasing
               phantom tanker trucks.

                            MULDER
               We're not chasing trucks, we're
               chasing evidence --

                            SCULLY
               -- of what exactly?!

                            MULDER
               That bomb in Dallas was allowed to go
               off, to hide something: bodies
               infected with a virus you detected
               yourself.

                            SCULLY
               They haul gas in tanker trucks, they
               haul oil in tanker trucks -- they
               don't haul viruses in tanker trucks.

                            MULDER
               Yeah, well they may this one.

                            SCULLY
               What do you mean by haul?
                      (off his reaction)
               What are you not telling me here?

                            MULDER
               This virus -- it...
                      (afraid to say)

                            SCULLY
               Mulder --

                            MULDER
               It may be extraterrestrial.

                            SCULLY
               I don't believe this. I don't fucking
               believe this.
                      (reaching her limit of
                      impatience)
               Y'know, I've been here... I've been
               here one too many times with you,
               Mulder.

                            MULDER
               Been where?

                            SCULLY
               Pounding down some dirt road in the
               middle of the night. Chasing some
               elusive truth on a dim hope, only to
               find myself standing right where I am
               right now: at another dead end --

     As she says this A BELL starts to sound. A flashing
     light hits Mulder and Scully. They both turn to see:

     HIGH ANGLE OVER A RAILROAD CROSSING SIGN

     Sitting all by its lonely self. No swinging arms or
     gate. Just one little sign between Mulder and Scully and
     their car.

     CAMERA PANNING to the light of a locomotive speeding
     toward us.

     WIDE ANGLE OVER TRACKS TO MULDER AND SCULLY

     They move toward their car, but the train is coming
     fast. Mulder and Scully stop and wait, watching the
     train. As the engine breaks frame, eclipsing Mulder and
     Scully from view. And as it passes by we see TWO VERY
     FAMILIAR WHITE TANKERS loaded piggyback atop flat bed
     cars.

     The train, which is not much longer than this, passes.
     And Mulder and Scully make a mad dash for their car. The
     lights come on and Mulder swings the vehicle into a hard
     accelerating turn, taking the spoke of the intersection
     that parallels the tracks. As the car hauls ass after
     the train, we:

                                             DISSOLVE TO:

     EXT. OPPOSITE END OF MOUNTAIN PASS - NIGHT

     The rails come up a grade where they appear out of a
     long bending turn. Exiting the mountain pass near the
     summit of the mountain. And now HEADLIGHTS appear,
     bouncing toward us. It's Mulder and Scully's rental
     chugging up the grade.

     And now pulling to a stop as it REACHES CAMERA. Then the
     car doors open and Mulder and Scully exit. Putting
     jackets against the cold desert night. Running over the
     gravel on the rail bed into sharp f.g.

                            SCULLY
               What do you think it is?

                            MULDER
               I have no idea.

     They start out toward it anyway, whatever it is. But the
     image that we see next might cause us to ask the same
     question.

     REVERSE ANGLE -- MULDER AND SCULLY'S FORMER POV

     The Agents are moving off the tracks now, picking their
     way toward the horizon where, at the edge of the great
     plateau that lays out before them, there are TWO GIANT
     GLOWING WHITE DOMES.

     It is otherwise pitch dark out, almost giving the
     impression that the domes are floating.

     It would give the distinct impression of
     otherworldliness, if we hadn't seen a similar, smaller
     glowing dome over the dirt field where the boys found
     the skull. And if we could not see the lights of the
     TRAIN rolling to a stop near the mysterious domes.

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. GREAT PLATEAU - NIGHT - HIGH WIDE ANGLE

     SLOWLY CRANING DOWN as Mulder and Scully move through
     the low scrub of the high desert. Moving towards us as
     CAMERA CONTINUES ITS SLOW CRANE DOWN, REVEALING in f.g.
     the tops of CORN STALKS (yes, corn stalks.) What is the
     perimeter edge of:

     REVERSE CRANE DOWN (TO MATCH)

     Acres and acres of corn fields, laying out before us in
     the dark night. Running all the way to the WHITE DOMED
     TENTS in the b.g.

     Mulder and Scully enter the perimeter edge, disappearing
     into:

     EXT. ACRES OF CORN - NIGHT

     TRACKING WITH Mulder and Scully as they move through the
     field.

                            SCULLY
               This is weird, Mulder.

                            MULDER
               Very weird.

                            SCULLY
               Any thoughts on why anybody'd be
               growing corn in the middle of the
               desert?

                            MULDER
               Not unless those are giant Jiffy Pop
               containers out there.

     CONTINUE TRACKING as they move through the tall uniform
     rows.

     ANGLE BEHIND THE AGENTS

     Shooting down the long straight rows. CRANING UP to
     REVEAL DOMES once again. Like space ships that have
     landed.

                                             CUT TO:

     OPPOSITE PERIMETER OF THE FIELD OF CORN

     The Agents exit the edge of the crop field. They have
     come upon the glowing tents now. Tall and pillowy
     against the dark sky.

     There is no evidence of anyone about. No sound, no
     signs.

     Mulder and Scully stand at the edge of the field for a
     moment. Then move cautiously across an open area to one
     of the domes.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. WHITE DOME TENT - NIGHT

     Mulder pulls open the steel door leading in. It opens
     with a SUCKING SOUND which suggests the interior is
     pressurized. And as he and Scully step in -- they both
     JUMP when LARGE FANS just overhead hit them both with
     hard blasts of air.

     Stepping quickly out of the downward blasting air, into
     the still silence of the space beyond.

                            SCULLY
               Cool in here. Temperature's being
               regulated.

                            MULDER
               For the purpose of what?

     HIGH OVERHEAD ANGLE

     Our view is down through the crosswires and cables that
     create the tension support. The effect is a combination
     of simplicity and perfect function. Stark and high tech.
     The flooring is gray and flat, featureless. But we don't
     yet see from this angle exactly what the white domed
     tent houses.

     Though the air is still and there is no movement of any
     kind, there is a sound that permeates the interior. A
     STEADY HUM. Almost electrical hum, but different.

     Mulder and Scully move together toward the middle of the
     space.

     WIDE ON TENT - MULDER AND SCULLY'S POV

     Laid out in a grid, low to the ground, are what look
     like BOXES. Fixed in place like roof vents, except these
     are on the floor, no more than three feet tall, and
     about the same measure square.

     NEW ANGLE - TRACKING WITH MULDER AND SCULLY

     As they continue to move cautiously, walking out into
     the grid of box-shaped objects. Coming to the center of
     the capacious, arena-sized space. Standing over one of
     the mysterious boxes, which we now see have LOUVERED
     TOPS. The louvers, however, are shut so that whatever is
     inside the boxes cannot be seen.

                            SCULLY
               I think we're on top of something. I
               think these are some kind of venting.

     Mulder lays his head and ear to the top of the box.

                            MULDER
               You hear that?

                            SCULLY
               I hear the humming. Like electricity.
               High voltage maybe.

                            MULDER
               Maybe. Maybe not.

     Scully looks skyward.

                            SCULLY
               What do you think those are for?

     Mulder takes his ear off the box, looking up now, too.

     THEIR POV

     At the top of the dome are two LARGE corresponding
     LOUVER VENTS.

     RESUME MULDER AND SCULLY

     Looking up at these vents.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. WHITE DOME TENT - NIGHT

     HIGH WIDE ANGLE OVER MULDER AND SCULLY, staring up JUST
     PAST CAMERA at the louvered vents at top center of the
     tent. When A LOUD METALLIC NOISE makes them jump.

     AGENTS POV THE LOUVERED VENTS ABOVE THEM

     One of the vents is opening automatically, its large
     metal louvers straining from their flat closed position
     into an up-and-down open position. When this is
     complete, the SECOND LOUVER does the same.

     The straining sound of galvanized metal-on-metal.

     LOW ANGLE ON MULDER AND SCULLY

     As Mulder turns his look from the ceiling back down to
     the mysterious box they're standing next to. Something
     occurs to him. Something frightening.

                            MULDER
               Scully....?

                            SCULLY
               Yeah...?

                            MULDER
               Run.

     Mulder grabs her hand, pulling her along. Though she
     doesn't know why. Or what's about to happen. TRACKING
     FAST WITH THEM as Mulder leads her back toward the door
     they entered, which is a good hundred yards away.

                            SCULLY
                      (yelling, on the run)
               What are you doing?

                            MULDER
                      (yelling back)
               Come on!

     When the LOUVERED VENTS on all the low grid-arranged
     boxes OPEN IN DOMINO-LIKE SUCCESSION -- out of them
     pouring THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF BEES, rapidly filling
     the atmosphere of the domed space.

     As if the insects are being shot out of non-stop
     cannons.

     HIGH ANGLE

     THICK STREAMS of bees head RIGHT AT CAMERA, flying for
     the open louvers at the top of the dome. As Mulder and
     Scully run for it down below.

     TRACKING WITH MULDER AND SCULLY

     Scully's hand slipping from Mulder's as she pulls her
     jacket up over her head. Mulder doing the same now,
     ducking his head inside his own jacket. The Agents are
     slowed by the bees but still make their zigzag way
     toward the door -- bees clinging to their clothes. But
     motion seems to be the key.

     As Mulder RUNS TOWARD CAMERA -- where the downward blast
     of air knocks all the bees off him. In the b.g., we see
     that Scully has fallen behind. Still running, but losing
     her way in the process, losing her bearings as the
     thickening swarm of bees descends.

     CLOSE ON SCULLY

     When Mulder enters frame, jacket pulled over his head
     again. Taking Scully by the back of her coat and
     swinging her toward the direction of the door.
     Whipsnapping her the rest of the distance to the
     doorfans. Following right behind her as the fans
     BLASTING them and the Agents continue right out the
     doors. To:

     EXT. WHITE DOMED TENT - NIGHT

     Scully and Mulder comes blasting out themselves now, but
     they haven't even had time to catch their breaths when
     they react to MOVEMENT. Something coming at them in the
     night.

     THEIR POV'S - STRAIGHT DOWN THE ROWS OF DOMED TENTS

     Where BRIGHT BEAMS BLAST ON, moving fast toward them.
     The RUSHING WHIR of the turbine engines of the unmarked
     choppers. The bright beams skimming across the ground
     toward Mulder and Scully, traveling right along the
     edges of ends of the white domed tents. Threatening to
     spot the Agents, unless they -- RUN.

     And they do -- bolting just as the beams and the
     helicopters blast over the spot they held just moments
     before. Running to:

     EXT. ACRES OF CORN - NIGHT - MULDER AND SCULLY - VARIOUS
     HANDHELD

     Running flat out now, knocking away the stalks and
     leaves that block their way.

     Following and leading shots.

     POVs and Tracking shots.

     And chasing angles, as the Agents run through the only
     cover they've got. As:

     ANGLE JUST OVER THE TOP OF CROPS

     The unmarked helicopters swoop right overhead, their
     BRIGHT SPOTLIGHTS searching and cutting through the
     cornrows. As the Agents zig and zag just out of the
     discovering beams. As the choppers zoom right over their
     heads.

     REVERSE ON CHOPPERS

     Traversing the field, then doing sharp banking turns and
     swooping back over the field now in low drifting hovers.
     The wash from the blades knocking the corn stalks down
     so as to reveal anything hidden within.

     The bright spots making sure that nothing might escape
     detection.

     LOW ANGLE - CAMERA SEARCHING AND FINDING SCULLY

     as she runs up INTO FRAME. She's lost sight of:

                            SCULLY
               Mulder?!

     ANGLE ELSEWHERE ON MULDER

     As he too runs to a stop. Hearing his name.

                            MULDER
               Scully?!

     RESUME SCULLY

     Reacting to the sound of her name, but there's no time
     to find her bearings on Mulder. Not before she has to
     take flight again. As one of the choppers appears
     overhead, hovering into view. Knocking the corn down in
     a path moving straight toward her.

     CAMERA LEADING HER as she runs from the oncoming craft.
     PASSING CAMERA to the left, as the chopper passes CAMERA
     RIGHT.

                                             CUT TO:

     TRACKING FAST WITH MULDER

     Beating his way through the corn like Bomba through the
     jungle.

     Matching this action, as Mulder runs toward us. When one
     of the unmarked helicopters BREAKS INTO FRAME in an
     intersecting path, its BEAM passing right over Mulder
     and ILLUMINATING HIM. But while it doesn't slow Mulder
     down, the helicopter maneuvers into a hard banking turn,
     sweeping over the far end of the corn field and heading
     RIGHT BACK AT MULDER - AT US.

                                             CUT TO:

     NEW LOW ANGLE ON EDGE OF CORN FIELD

     Where Mulder bursts out of the perimeter, turning on a
     quick dime and running an out pattern, just before the
     chopper BURSTS into frame overhead, its search beam
     narrowly missing Mulder.

     NEW ANGLE ON MULDER

     Running the corner of the field, looking frantically
     down each corn row until he comes to a stop. No sign
     of:

                            MULDER
               Scully?!

     Mulder reacting to the sound of her response:

                            SCULLY
                      (distant o.s.)
               Mulder!

     NEW ANGLE ON SCULLY

     She's exiting the field behind him. Running toward him,
     and when she gets to him they both break into a run
     across the desert. CAMERA FOLLOWING THEM as they sprint
     away.

     FOLLOWING THEM until they both start to slow. Slowing to
     a stop in the darkness. Turning to see:

     THEIR POV

     The helicopters have disappeared.

     RESUME MULDER AND SCULLY

     Reacting to this.

                            SCULLY
               Where'd they go?

                            MULDER
               I don't know.

     Then they both turn again and continue running. As fast
     as their feet will take them. Back towards the bluff
     where their car is parked.

     EXT. BLUFF OVERLOOKING CORN FIELDS - NIGHT

     Where Mulder and Scully's car is parked. Stillness,
     until Mulder and Scully's heads appear as they climb up
     from the direction of the corn fields. They get in their
     car and start it quickly. Mulder turns the ignition, but
     the car doesn't start immediately. He turns it over and
     over but it won't kick.

     As he does this, unbeknownst to the agents ONE OF THE
     BLACK HELICOPTERS rises up from below the bluff,
     appearing in their rear windshield. Hovering just behind
     the car like a giant bumblebee. Just as...

     ...Mulder gets the car started, throwing the
     transmission in gear and spinning the tires. As they
     head off back in the direction they came, without their
     lights on. As they do this, the black chopper continues
     to hover for a moment, then BANKS OFF AND AWAY. Into the
     night.

     Mulder and Scully speed off in the opposite direction.
     As we:

                                             DISSOLVE TO:

     INT. FBI OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL REVIEW - DAY

     CLOSE ON A FILE

     Being leafed through by a woman's hands. CAMERA TILTING
     UP to Special Agent Cassidy, the woman we met earlier
     running the OPR hearing. She takes a quick glance at her
     watch, looking up when:

     THE DOOR TO THE ROOM

     opens. A beat, then Skinner enters with a wearied look.

                            SKINNER
               She's coming in.

     Skinner ducks his head back out to look at:

                                             INTERCUT WITH:

     INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE OPR HEARING ROOM - DAY

     Where Scully stands looking into the glass of a display
     case, trying to put her hair and clothes and person
     together. She's still in the same clothes we saw her in.
     Seeing Skinner now moving toward him.

     RESUME OPR HEARING ROOM

     Scully enters past Skinner. Though she has straightened
     them, and her hair, there is no mistaking that she's
     been to the dust bowl and back to get here. Her manner
     is chastened.

     Scully tries to keep her eyes on the table where she'll
     be sitting. Venturing only a brief, polite look to:

     ANGLE TO INCLUDE CASSIDY AND THE OTHER PANEL MEMBERS

     They reshuffle their papers, pulling up their chairs.
     Ready to get down to business now.

                            CASSIDY
               Special Agent Scully --

                            SCULLY
               I apologize for making you wait --
               I've brought some new evidence with me
               --

                            CASSIDY
               Evidence of what?

     CLOSE PROFILE ON SCULLY

     Reaching into her satchel, pulling out an evidence bag.
     Whatever she's reaching for she's reluctant to present
     with confidence.

                            SCULLY
               These are fossilized bone fragments
               I've been able to study, gathered from
               the bomb site in Dallas...

     As Scully speaks we see A BEE crawl out from under the
     collar of her suit jacket, crawling toward the back of
     her neck. Crawling slowly, as if stretching its legs
     from its long journey. CAMERA DOLLYING around Scully as
     the bee does, moving into an OVER to:

                            CASSIDY
               You've been back to Dallas?

                            SCULLY
               Yes.

                            CASSIDY
               Are you going to let us in on what
               exactly you're trying to prove --

                            SCULLY
               That the bombing in Dallas may have
               been to destroy the bodies of those
               firemen, so their deaths and the
               reason for them wouldn't have to be
               explained --

                            CASSIDY
                      (challenging)
               -- those are very serious allegations,
               Agent Scully --

                            SCULLY
               Yes. I know.

     There is a hush of murmured responses to this, the panel
     members speaking to one another. Assistant Director
     Skinner shifts uneasily in his chair. He's been here
     before with Agents Mulder and Scully. He's sensing
     something outrageous.

                            CASSIDY
               And you have conclusive evidence of
               this? Something to tie this claim of
               yours to the crime --

                            SCULLY
                      (grudgingly)
               Nothing completely conclusive --

     We have returned to the OVER ANGLE on Scully, where we
     see the BEE just below her jacket collar on the back of
     her neck.

     It CRAWLS back under her collar, DISAPPEARING from
     sight.

                            SCULLY
               I hope to. We're working to develop
               this evidence --

                            CASSIDY
               Working with?

                            SCULLY
               Agent Mulder.

     Off Cassidy's knowing nod, a general shifting in chairs,
     we:

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. DOWNSCALE D.C. BAR - LATE DAY

     Mulder pushes through the front, scanning the room for:

     ANGLE ON KURTZWEIL

     Sitting at a booth at the dark rear of the
     establishment. Mulder enters frame, sitting down across
     from him. Kurtzweil is jumpy, but he sees from Mulder's
     expression that something's up.

                            KURTZWEIL
               You found something?

                            MULDER
               Yes. On the Texas border. Some kind of
               experiment. Something they excavated
               was brought there in tanker trucks.

                            KURTZWEIL
               What?

                            MULDER
               I'm not sure. A virus --

                            KURTZWEIL
               -- You saw this experiment?

                            MULDER
               What did it look like?

                            MULDER
               There were bees. And corn crops.

     Kurtzweil smiles at Mulder, laughs with nervous
     excitement. Mulder doesn't quite realize it yet, but
     this is news to him.

                            MULDER
               What are they?

     Kurtzweil slides from his seat, rising.

                            KURTZWEIL
               What do you think?

                            MULDER
               A transportation system. Transgenic
               crops. The pollen genetically altered
               to carry a virus.

                            KURTZWEIL
               That would be my guess.

                            MULDER
               Your guess?

     But Kurtzweil doesn't respond to this. He's moving
     toward the back of the bar. Mulder slides out, pursuing
     him.

     ANGLE ON BARMAID

     The few PATRONS sitting at the bar, all turning in
     reaction to this sudden flurry of activity.

     INT. REAR OF DOWNSCALE BAR - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS

     Near the bathrooms. Mulder catches up to Kurtzweil.

                            MULDER
               What do you mean, your guess?

     Kurtzweil doesn't stop. So Mulder must physically stop
     him.

                            MULDER
               You told me you had answers.

                            KURTZWEIL
               Yeah, well I don't have them all.

                            MULDER
               You've been using me --

                            KURTZWEIL
               I've been using you?!

                            MULDER
               You didn't know my father --

                            KURTZWEIL
               I told you -- he and I were old
               friends --

                            MULDER
               You're a liar. You lied to me to
               gather information for you. For your
               goddamn books. Didn't you?

     Mulder is getting heated, rough with Kurtzweil. When,
     unexpectedly A MAN suddenly exits the bathroom. REACTING
     to this scene. Kurtzweil uses the moment to break from
     Mulder. Slipping out the back door. Mulder takes a beat,
     then goes after him.

     Pushing out the back door into the blinding brightness.

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. ALLEY BEHIND BAR - DAY

     Mulder busts out the back door, chasing Kurtzweil.

                            MULDER
               Kurtzweil!

     Kurtzweil turns to him. With restrained ferocity.

                            KURTZWEIL
               You'd be shit out of luck if not for
               me. You saw what you saw because I led
               you to it. I'm putting my ass on the
               line for you.

                            MULDER
               Your ass? I just got chased across
               Texas by two black helicopters.

                            KURTZWEIL
               And why do you think it is you're
               standing here talking to me? These
               people don't make mistakes, Agent
               Mulder.

     And with that he turns now, striding off. Leaving Mulder
     to deal with the excellent logic of this. When suddenly
     Mulder reacts to A NOISE. Somewhere above him.

     MULDER'S POV

     Up on a fire escape, A MAN is moving. Mulder can only
     see his feet and legs from this angle, but it is clear
     he has been watching Mulder. Upon being spotted, the
     figure slides away and disappears.

     ANGLE FROM INSIDE FIRE ESCAPE BUILDING

     We get a glimpse of the man who was watching him. A face
     we recognize as that of the man who brushed past Mulder
     coming out of the vending room, not long before the
     building in Dallas blew. He is moving quickly now,
     disappearing into the shadows. CAMERA TILTING DOWN to
     find:

     MULDER. He stands staring up, but only for a moment
     until he turns and hurries off in the opposite direction
     Kurtzweil disappeared in.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. MULDER'S APARTMENT - MAGIC HOUR

     ANGLE OVER MULDER'S DESK at the far end of the living
     room. The sound of keys in the door, then Mulder enters
     his apartment in a hurry. Moving to the desk and going
     at this pace through the drawers. Looking for... A
     PICTURE ALBUM.

     Which he takes now, leafing through it. Flipping the
     pages, looking for:

     ANGLE OVER MULDER

     Finding old pictures of young Fox Mulder with his
     SISTER, Samantha. With his father and mother. The
     plastic-covered page is peeled back and one of these
     photos is removed. It is an old family snapshot. A
     picnic possibly.

     Mulder stares at the picture.

     INSERT PHOTO - In the b.g. of the picnic, his head
     turned to camera, is a young KURTZWEIL.

     Mulder studies the photo intensely, when there's a KNOCK
     at his door. Mulder turning to see:

     SCULLY

     In his haste, Mulder had neglected to lock his door.
     Scully is pushing it open. She's still in the same
     clothes. She looks beat. Her eyes meeting Mulder's. A
     gaze that says bad news.

                            MULDER
               What? What's wrong?

                            SCULLY
               Salt Lake City, Utah. Transfer
               effective immediately.

     Mulder is shaking his head. Not wanting to hear this.

                            SCULLY
               I already gave Skinner my letter of
               resignation.

                            MULDER
               You can't quit, Scully.

                            SCULLY
               I can, Mulder. I debated whether or
               not to even tell you in person,
               because I knew --

                            MULDER
               We're close to something here -- we're
               on the verge --

                            SCULLY
               You're on the verge, Mulder -- please
               don't do this to me --

                            MULDER
               After what you saw last night -- after
               all you've seen -- you can't just walk
               away --

                            SCULLY
               I have. I did. It's done.

                            MULDER
               Just like that --

                            SCULLY
               I'm contacting the state board Monday
               to file medical reinstatement papers
               --

                            MULDER
               I need you on this, Scully --

                            SCULLY
               You don't Mulder -- you've never
               needed me. I've only held you back.
                      (beat)
               I've got to go.

     And with that she exits his apartment, the argument too
     painful, and her ability to be persuaded too clear to
     herself.

     INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE MULDER'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

     WIDE ANGLE FROM END OF HALL where we see Scully,
     leaving Mulder's apartment. Moving at a hurried clip to
     the elevator -- TOWARD CAMERA. As if anticipating her
     own impulse to turn around and go back. As she moves
     into f.g. Mulder exits his apt. door.

                            MULDER
               You're wrong --

     He hurries to catch her. As she turns on him.

                            SCULLY
               Why was I assigned to you? To debunk
               your work. To reign you in. To shut
               you down.

                            MULDER
               You saved me, Scully.
                      (off her look)
               As different and frustrating as it's
               been sometimes, your goddamn strict
               rationalism and science have saved me
               a thousand times; have kept me honest
               and made me whole. I owe you so much,
               Scully, and you owe me nothing.
                      (beat)
               I don't want to do this without you. I
               don't know if I can. If I quit now,
               they win.

     She is silent, moved. In spite of all her desire not to
     be. She moves to Mulder, holds him. They break slightly
     and she looks up at Mulder with deep respect, admiration
     and... kisses him on the forehead. When...

     ...suddenly a physical intimacy we've never seen. A
     heat and passion that can't be denied. The opportunity
     for the inevitable has presented itself.

     The moment of truth has arrived. Mulder is staring at
     Scully as she's looking back at him. His head moves
     slightly toward hers -- as one of his hands moves up to
     her neck, drawing her to him. Where there is hesitation
     on her part, there is also desire. When:

                            SCULLY
               OUCH!!!

     Scully pulls away from Mulder, RUBBING at her neck where
     his hand had been.

                            MULDER
               What? What happened?

                            SCULLY
               I think... something stung me.

     Scully's hand comes out with THE SQUIRMING BEE, which
     she holds in her hand while Mulder moves around her,
     checking her neck.

                            MULDER
               It must...

     But he doesn't finish his sentence before he has to
     catch Scully from falling. Her head bobs and she has to
     catch it.

                            MULDER
               Scully...

                            SCULLY
               Something's wrong...
                      (fighting for clarity)
               I'm having -- lancinating pain -- my
               chest. My... motor functions are being
               affected. I'm...

     Mulder lays her down on the floor during this. Scully
     continues to speak, though her eyes are not focusing.
     She is limp in Mulder's arms.

                            SCULLY
               ...my pulse feels thready and I've
               got a funny taste in the back of my
               throat.

                            MULDER
               I think you're in anaphylactic shock
               --

                            SCULLY
               No -- it's --

     Her voice is getting thin now, too.

                            MULDER
               Scully --

                            SCULLY
               I've got no allergy. Something...
               this... Mulder... I think... I think
               you should call an ambulance.

     And Mulder is on his feet in a flash, running for:

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. MULDER'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS

     CLOSE OVER PHONE as Mulder races into the apartment,
     dashing TOWARD CAMERA, picking up the receiver, dialing.
     HOLDING ON THE PHONE during this action. TILTING UP
     for:

                            MULDER
               This is Special Agent Fox Mulder. I
               have an emergency -- I have an agent
               down --

     INT. HALLWAY OUTSIDE MULDER'S APARTMENT - NIGHT

     SCULLY - HANDHELD

     Picked up and one-two-three loaded on a gurney by TWO
     PARAMEDICS.

                            1ST PARAMEDIC
               Can you hear me? Can you say your
               name?

     Scully is trying, but the words won't come out.

                            1ST PARAMEDIC
               She's got constriction in the throat
               and larynx -- are you breathing okay?

     He lays his head down to her mouth.

                            1ST PARAMEDIC
               Passages are open. Let's get her in
               the van --

     NEIGHBORS are in the hall now, along with Mulder. Who is
     moving beside the Paramedics as they hustle the gurney
     down the hall.

                            1ST PARAMEDIC
               Coming through people -- here we go.
               Coming through --

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. MULDER'S APARTMENT - NIGHT - CONTINUED HAND HELD

     The Paramedics bang out the front door, stutter-stepping
     the gurney down to the walk, to their EMT VAN which sits
     at the curb with the LIGHT BAR FLASHING. Mulder
     following close by.

                            MULDER
               She said she had a taste in the back
               of her throat -- there was no
               pre-existing allergy to bee-stings --
               the bee that stung her may have been
               carrying a virus --

                            2ND PARAMEDIC
               A virus?

                            1ST PARAMEDIC
               Get on the radio, tell them we have a
               cytogenic reaction, we need an advise
               and administer --

     They get her to the back of the vehicle, guiding the
     gurney in with experienced hands. Scully's eyes are on
     Mulder as she's slid into the brightly lit interior.

     The 1st Paramedic blocks Mulder somewhat as he steps
     toward the van, anticipating that he's going with them
     to the hospital. But the doors are closing on him before
     he gets an opportunity.

     FOLLOWING MULDER around to the driver's side of the van
     now, moving to the driver's window where THE DRIVER can
     be seen in the rear view mirror, his eyes watching
     Mulder.

     ON MULDER

     A moment of vague recognition -- a catch in his step.

     RESUME

     As Mulder's momentum carries him to the driver's window
     where se see again the man from the vending room, who
     was also surveilling Mulder. And he has a HANDGUN
     pointed at Mulder, which he FIRES THROUGH THE WINDOW.
     The glass shattering.

     RESUME MULDER

     Throwing himself away backward, but the bullet catches
     him in the head. Blood and glass spraying onto the side
     of the van. He goes down to the ground -- as the
     paramedic van accelerates fast away.

     LOW ANGLE REVERSE ON MULDER

     Lying in the street, his head bleeding profusely. While
     in the b.g., A SECOND AMBULANCE IS SPEEDING TO THE
     SCENE. As it skids to a stop and TWO NEW PARAMEDICS jump
     out, we:

                                             DISSOLVE TO:

     EXT. WASHINGTON NATIONAL AIRPORT - NIGHT

     A MEDIUM SIZED PRIVATE JET is taxiing down an alley off
     the main runway where a 747 is speeding toward takeoff.
     The private jet turning TOWARD CAMERA and nosing into
     f.g.

     NEW ANGLE ON TARMAC

     Where MEN IN FAMILIAR BLACK FATIGUES are unloading
     something from an unmarked cube truck that is also
     familiar: the very high tech-looking CLEAR CONTAINER,
     with its monitors and gauges, its oxygen tanks and
     refrigeration unit. A self-contained life support
     system. The inside of the container is covered with a
     thin layer of frost, through which we can see AGENT
     SCULLY.

     She lies as if in a state of paralysis, but a blink of
     her eyes is enough to tell us that she is... alive.

     TRACKING WITH THE MEN moving the container. As they
     hustle it to the waiting jet. As The Cigarette Smoking
     Man is descending the steps of the plane onto the
     tarmac. Watching as the container is moved to the cargo
     hold and loaded inside.

     The hold is closed and the jet engines wind back up. As
     the Cigarette Smoking Man reboards the aircraft and it
     taxis away.

     FADE SLOWLY TO BLACK

     INT. HOSPITAL - NIGHT

     Voices fade in slowly, inaudible at first. For regular
     viewers of the show, they will recognize the voices of
     the Lone Gunmen.

     Three nerdish paranoiacs who publish a magazine which
     charts and cataloged conspiracies past and present,
     among other government malfeasance. They are Langly,
     Byers and Frohike.

                            BYERS
               I think he's coming out --

                            LANGLY
               He's coming to.

                            FROHIKE
               Hey, Mulder...

     FADE UP, as if our eyes are blinking open. We are in
     Mulder's POV, and the face right above us is Frohike's.

                            FROHIKE
               Mulder...?

     Behind Frohike, looking down at Mulder, are Byers and
     Langly.

     REVERSE ON MULDER

     Staring at the diminutive Frohike, the long-haired
     Langly and the courtly Byers with dawning recognition.

                            MULDER
               Oh god...

                            LANGLY
               What's wrong?

                            MULDER
                      (to Byers, then Langly)
               Tin Man. Scarecrow.
                      (to Frohike)
               Toto.

     Mulder sits up now, rubbing his face, feeling the
     BANDAGE he's got on his head.

                            MULDER
               What am I doing here?

                            BYERS
               You were shot in the head. The bullet
               broke the flesh on your right brow and
               glanced off your temporal plate.

                            MULDER
                      (woozy)
               Penetration but not perforation.

                            LANGLY
               Three centimetres to the left and we'd
               be playing the harp.

     Mulder is still shaking out the cobwebs.

                            BYERS
               They gave you a craniotomy to relieve
               the pressure from a subdural hematoma.
               But you've been unconscious since they
               brought you in.

                            MULDER
               When was that?

                            FROHIKE
               Two days ago. Your guy Skinner's been
               here with you around the clock.

                            LANGLY
               We got the news and made a trip to
               your apartment. Found a bug in your
               phone line.

                            FROHIKE
               And one in your hall.

     Byers holds up the first small device. Frohike holds up
     a vial containing A BEE. Mulder realizing:

                            MULDER
               Scully had a violent reaction to a bee
               sting --

                            BYERS
               You called 911. Except the call was
               intercepted.

                            MULDER
                      (sitting up)
               They took her --

     Mulder pushes the covers off. Swinging his legs to the
     ground. As A.D. Skinner enters the room. Surprised to
     see Mulder up.

                            SKINNER
               Agent Mulder --

                            MULDER
               Where's Scully?!

     As he says this he loses his balance slightly, has to
     hold onto one of the Gunmen. Struggling with his
     faculties.

                            SKINNER
               She's missing. We've been unable to
               locate her or the vehicle they took
               her in.

                            MULDER
               Whoever they are -- this goes right
               back to Dallas -- it goes right back
               to the bombing --

                            SKINNER
               I know.
                      (off Mulder's reaction to
                      this)
               Agent Scully reported your suspicions
               to OPR. On the basis of her report, I
               sent techs over to S.A.C. Michaud's
               apartment. They picked up PSTN
               residues on his personal effects
               consistent with the construction of
               the vending machine device in Dallas.

                            MULDER
                      (reeling)
               How deep does this go?

                            SKINNER
               I don't know.

     Mulder sees A MAN IN A SUIT passes by the small window
     in the door, casting a furtive glance in, then moving
     off. He turns his look back to Skinner.

                            MULDER
               Are we being watched?

                            SKINNER
               I'm not taking any chances.

     Mulder nods. Pulling now at the bandage on his head.
     Peeling it away and revealing the wound beneath.

                            MULDER
               I need your clothes, Byers.

                            BYERS
               Me?

                            SKINNER
               What are you doing?

                            MULDER
               I've got to find Scully.

                            FROHIKE
               Do you know where she is?

                            MULDER
               No. But I know someone who might have
               an answer. Who better.

     Mulder is undoing his hospital gown now, his white buns
     gracing the screen for the first time in history. As he
     ducks into the bathroom. As the men left standing in the
     room all look to Byers, reluctantly removing his duds.
     Off this:

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. HOSPITAL HALLWAY - NIGHT

     ANGLE OVER MAN IN A SUIT standing with his back to
     Mulder's room, reading a section of a newspaper (the
     rest of the paper sitting on a chair, as if the man's
     possibly set up here.) As the door to Mulder's room
     opens in the b.g. and Frohike appears.

     Frohike keeps his eyes on the Man as Langly appears now,
     followed by...Byers? We can't see clearly as the other
     two block our POV and the third man out doesn't show us
     his face. The threesome starts down the hall, their
     footsteps drawing the attention of the Man in a Suit.

     ANGLE OVER MULDER AND THE OTHER GUNMEN

     As they head TOWARD CAMERA. Walking at a pace. In the
     b.g. the Man in the Suit is drifting toward Mulder's
     hospital room.

     ANGLE ON MAN IN SUIT

     Suspicious. He moves to the door, looks in the little
     glass window. Seeing...Byers, the sheets pulled up to
     his nose to hide his beard and mustache. Skinner
     standing next to him, talking on the phone.

     The Man in the Suit looking down to the end of the hall
     again.

     RESUME ANGLE OVER MULDER AND THE GUNMEN

     As Mulder and his two flankers MOVE RIGHT TO CAMERA.
     Mulder is taking a cell phone being handed to him by
     Frohike. Dialing on the move.

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. ALLEY BEHIND DOWNSCALE D.C. BAR - NIGHT

     A FIGURE appears at the end of the alley, moving toward
     us. It could be Mulder from this distance, but as the
     figure comes closer we recognize him as Kurtzweil.
     Moving into the f.g., checking behind him, ahead of him.
     Jumpy.

     He takes a cautious beat, then moves to the door leading
     into the bar (established), reaching for the knob.
     Opening it, finding the Well-Manicured Man standing
     there.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Dr. Kurtzweil, isn't it? Dr. Alvin
               Kurtzweil?

                            KURTZWEIL
               Jesus Christ.

     Kurtzweil is shaken by the sight of this man.
     Backpedaling a bit, looking around and behind him for an
     ambush.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               You're surprised. Certainly you've
               been expecting some response to your
               indiscretion.

     The W.M.M. steps out of the doorway, following
     Kurtzweil.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               I'm quite sure whatever you told Agent
               Mulder, you have your good reason.
               It's a weakness in men our age; the
               urge to confess.
                      (stopping his walk)
               I forgive you that.

     Kurtzweil is thrown by the words, and the delivery.
     Stopping his backward progress. Studying this upright
     and civil man.

                            KURTZWEIL
               What are you doing here? What do you
               want from me?

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               You must try to understand, what I'm
               here to do is only to protect my
               children. You and I have but short
               lives left. I can only hope the same
               isn't true for them.

     On this note, Kurtzweil turns and hoofs it back in the
     direction from which he came. TRACKING BACK WITH HIM
     until HEADLIGHTS hit his face.

     REVERSE ANGLE

     A TOWN CAR has pulled into the alley behind him.
     Accelerating fast down the narrow corridor. Effectively
     trapping Kurtzweil in. As he squints into its
     headlights, then turns back with fear in his eyes to the
     W.M.M.

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. STREET OUTSIDE DOWNSCALE BAR - NIGHT

     Where a figure is coming down the street toward us.

     Running, it's Mulder, going balls out. Running to the
     entrance of the bar and yanking open the door.

     INT. DOWNSCALE D.C. BAR - NIGHT

     Moderately crowded as Mulder enters, stopping to catch
     his breath. Moving to the back of the bar. Looking for:

     THE BOOTH WHERE HE MET KURTZWEIL EARLIER

     It's empty.

     RESUME MULDER

     Moving through the bar -- real panic in his expression.
     He heads to the back.

     INT. REAR OF DOWNSCALE BAR - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS

     Mulder passing the bathrooms, moving to the door where
     we saw the Well-Manicured Man standing just a short bit
     ago. But there is no one back here now. Mulder moves to
     the back door, the one leading to the alley, pushing it
     open and finding:

     The Well-Manicured Man stands with HIS DRIVER closing
     the trunk on the idling Town Car (which has been turned
     around.) The W.M.M. turns to see:

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Mr. Mulder.

                            MULDER
               What happened to Kurtzweil?

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               He's come and gone.

     The W.M.M. moves to Mulder, who doesn't trust him for a
     second. Mulder is still breathing hard, sizing up this
     scene.

                            MULDER
               Where's Scully?

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               I have answers for you.

                            MULDER
               Is she alive?

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Yes.

     Mulder stares at the W.M.M. - measuring him.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               I'm quite prepared to tell you
               everything, though there isn't much
               you haven't guessed.

                            MULDER
               About the conspiracy?

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               I think of it as an agreement. A word
               your father liked to use.

                            MULDER
               I want to know where Scully is.

     The Well-Manicured Man suddenly reaches into his jacket
     pocket, without warning or explanation. Mulder tensing
     slightly. He removes a thin felt envelope.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               The location of Agent Scully. And the
               means to save her life.
                      (off Mulder's look)
               Please...

     He gestures toward the car where the Driver stands with
     the back door open. Mulder hesitates, then steps from
     the doorway. Moving past the W.M.M., sliding in. The
     W.M.M. gets in after him, closes the door. The car pulls
     away.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. LIMOUSINE - NIGHT - CONTINUOUS

     WE SEE MULDER in the back seat, reflected in the
     rear-view mirror. Where we also see the eyes of the
     DRIVER watching him. Mulder is handed the felt envelope
     by the W.M.M.

                            MULDER
               What is it?

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               A weak vaccine against the virus Agent
               Scully has been infected with. It must
               be administered with ninety six
               hours.

                            MULDER
                      (beat)
               You're lying.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               No. Though I have no way to prove
               otherwise. The virus is
               extraterrestrial. We know very little
               about it, except that it is the
               original inhabitant of this planet.

                            MULDER
                      (dubious, to say the least)
               A virus?

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               A simple, unstoppable lifeform. What
               is a virus but a colonizing force that
               cannot be defeated? Living in a cave,
               underground, until it mutates. And
               attacks.

                            MULDER
               This is what you've been conspiring to
               conceal? A disease?

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               No! For God sake you've got it all
               backwards.

     This outburst comes suddenly, unexpectedly.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Aids, the ebola virus -- on the
               evolutionary scale they are newborns.
               This virus walked the planet long
               before the dinosaurs.

                            MULDER
               What do you mean, walked?

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Your aliens, Agent Mulder, your little
               green men, first landed here millions
               of years ago. Those that didn't leave
               have been laying dormant underground
               since the last Ice Age. In the form of
               an evolved pathogen. Waiting to be
               reconstituted when the alien race from
               which it came returns to colonize the
               planet. Using us as hosts. Against
               this we have no defense. Nothing but a
               weak vaccine.
                      (beat)
               Do you see why it was kept secret? Why
               even the best men -- men like your
               father -- could not let the truth be
               known?

     The force and conviction of his delivery leave Mulder
     shaken.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Until Dallas, we believed the virus
               was simply a controlling organism.
               That mass infection would make us a
               slave race.

                            MULDER
               That's why you bombed the building.
               The infected firemen, the boy --

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Imagine our surprise when they began
               to gestate. My group has been working
               cooperatively with the alien
               colonists, facilitating their
               programs. To give us access to the
               virus. In false hope we might be able
               to secretly find a cure. So that we
               might save ourselves, as the last of
               the species.
                      (beat)
               Your father wisely refused to believe
               this, choosing hope over selfishness.
               Hope is the only future he had: his
               children,
                      (beat, then self-revealing)
               The only future any of us have.

     This draws a look back in the mirror from the Driver.

                            MULDER
               But... he sacrificed his own daughter.
               My sister, Samantha.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               The only true survivors of the viral
               holocaust will be those immune to it:
               those vaccinated against it and
               human/alien hybrids. Your father
               arranged for your sister's abduction.
               He allowed her to be taken to an alien
               hybrid program, so that she would
               survive. As a clone.
                      (beat)
               He had different hopes for you. That
               you would uncover the truth about the
               Project. That you would stop it. That
               you would fight the future.

     Mulder sits stunned by this. As if somehow his destiny
     has been validated, if not pre-ordained. Or maybe just
     justified.

                            MULDER
               Why are you telling me this?

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               I thought it only fair you should
               know, given how hard you've worked.

                            MULDER
               What happened to Kurtzweil?

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               As your father knew, things need to be
               sacrificed to the future.

                            MULDER
               Where is he?

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Dr. Kurtzweil is in the trunk.

     Mulder stares at the W.M.M., at his cold-blooded
     expression.

                            MULDER
               Let me out. Stop the car.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
                      (motioning)
               Driver.

     Mulder reaching to this as the limo pulls to a stop.
     Trying the door, but the door is locked. When he turns
     back to the W.M.M. he has produced a handgun, which is
     now pointing at Mulder. Laid casually across a folded
     arm. Mulder reacts on seeing it.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               The men I work with will stop at
               nothing to clear the way for what they
               believe is their stake in the
               inevitable future. I was ordered to
               kill Kurtzweil. A necessary action to
               protect my grandchildren's lives.
                      (beat)
               I might just as easily kill you.

     Mulder is recoiling as he says this. Then, without
     hesitation in one quick move, he SHOOTS the Driver in
     the head.

     The blood spattering on the front windshield -- and on
     Mulder who has barely had a chance to react.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Trust no one, Mr. Mulder.

     Mulder looks at The Well-Manicured Man, expecting to be
     next. And for a moment, we do too. But the W.M.M. simply
     opens the door and steps out of the car. Holding the
     door open for Mulder who is still frozen by the actions
     that went just before.

     EXT. DESOLATE D.C. STREET - NIGHT

     Mulder steps out of the car, holding the felt envelope.
     The Well-Manicured Man stands with a sober, intense
     look.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
                      (with quiet force)
               You have precious little time. What
               I've given you the alien colonists
               have no idea exists. You hold in your
               hand the power to end the project.

                            MULDER
               How?

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               The vaccine you hold is the only
               defense against the virus. Its
               introduction into an alien environment
               may have the power to destroy the
               delicate plans we've so assiduously
               protected for the last fifty years.
                      (beat)
               Or it may not.

                            MULDER
               What alien environment?

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Find Agent Scully. Save her. Only her
               science can save the future.

                            MULDER
               What about you?

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               My life is over.
                      (beat)
               Go.

     Mulder stands speechless for a moment. Until the W.M.M.
     points the weapon he's still holding at him.

                            WELL-MANICURED MAN
               Go now!

     And Mulder does. Moving away from the car, looking back
     over his shoulder. As the Well-Manicured Man gets back
     into the limousine, closes the door. A moment later...
     THE CAR EXPLODES INTO FLAMES, knocking Mulder to the
     ground.

     ANGLE ON MULDER

     The felt envelope has been jarred from his grasp. Its
     contents loosed from inside: a piece of paper with
     COORDINATES on it and an AMPULE and SYRINGE.

     Mulder gets up, looks back. Then he picks up the
     envelope and its contents -- and begins to run. Running
     as fast as he can go. Until, far down the block, he
     disappears.

     As the SCREEN DISSOLVES TO WHITENESS -- under which we
     hear an ominous low end Dolby THX Big Screen rumble. The
     same sound that opened our story.

     Then there is movement, as the curvilinear line of a
     horizon becomes visible, bi-secting the screen between
     the white of the earth and the white of the sky. We
     are:

     EXT. POLE OF INACCESSIBILITY - ANTARCTICA

     Across the expanse of whiteness, a DARK IMAGE appears on
     the long flat horizon. Moving toward us. As a LEGEND
     appears, to establish.

     CLOSER ON A SNOW TRACTOR

     Crawling across the harsh frozen land like a domed
     insect.

     INT. SNOW TRACTOR

     Agent Mulder sits behind the controls of the enclosed
     cabin, several days growth on his face. Dressed in
     thick, bundled outerwear. He maneuvers the vehicle to a
     stop. Reaching for a handheld GPS monitor to check his
     position. Catching his breath for a moment -- all
     movement is exertion in this climate. Mulder stares hard
     out the front window, the wipers beating time, but there
     is nothing out there but whiteness. He wipes the fog
     from a side window with his gloved hand, seeing nothing
     but more whiteness. Checking the GPS device again, then
     reaching for the door latch.

     RESUME WIDE EXTERIOR

     Agent Mulder exits the vehicle, hopping down onto the
     snowscape crust. Setting out on foot with the GPS device
     held before him. In this forbidding environment he might
     as well be taking a space walk -- without the security
     of a lifeline. Which is the impression we get as his
     tiny figure trudges across the ice, increasing the
     distance between himself and the snow tractor.

     MOVING WITH MULDER

     Up a gentle grade, the snow tractor now behind him.
     Moving into tight f.g. where he stops, seeing something
     now which allows him to pocket the GPS device. Dropping
     instinctively to his knees, so as to avoid being seen
     by:

     MULDER'S POV

     In the distance is an ICE STATION. A row of
     interconnecting WHITE DOME TENTS, whose design is now
     familiar to us. There are what look like snow tractors
     and other snow vehicles parked alongside the
     structures.

     RESUME MULDER

     Pulling a compact pair of binoculars from one of his
     deep jacket pockets. Training them on:

     THE ICE STATION - BINO MATTE

     PANNING across the domes and vehicles, where there is no
     sign of personnel -- until MULDER PANS off the building,
     finding in his field glasses AN APPROACHING SNOW
     TRACTOR. Moving across the landscape toward the ice
     station. When it pulls to a stop, A MAN exits out of one
     of the domes: THE CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN. Moving to the
     vehicle and getting in.

     The vehicle reverses now, transporting the CSM back
     away from the ice station.

     CLOSE ON MULDER

     Taking the field glasses away from his eyes. The
     excitement he feels expressed now in his breathing,
     which has become harder and shallower. Mulder rises,
     beginning to move the still great distance between
     himself and the ice station.

                                             CUT TO:

     WIDE ON SCREEN

     Mulder moving slowly across the white horizon toward the
     domed tents.

     LOW ANGLE ON MULDER'S FEET

     Moving cautiously, and with effort on the snowscape
     crust. CAMERA RISING up to Mulder's face, determined and
     watchful.

     FOLLOWING MULDER

     The ice station still several hundred yards in the
     distance, when MULDER SUDDENLY FALLS OUT OF FRAME,
     disappearing into a hole in the snowscape crust that
     just moments earlier had been stable footing.

                                             HARD CUT TO:

     INT. SNOW ICE BUBBLE - CONTINUOUS

     Where Mulder's body falls through a ceiling of snowscape
     crust, landing on his back with a THUD on a hard
     surface. It takes him a moment to catch his breath,
     somewhat reminiscent of Stevie at the beginning of the
     picture. Wincing through the pain. Until he turns over,
     regaining his wits, and his bearings.

     NEW ANGLE

     Mulder has fallen on a hard, narrow metallic structure.
     Its dull black color a stark contrast to the white ice
     it's encased in. The bubble has been created by air
     coming out of vents in the structure, carving out
     corresponding patterns in the ceiling; softening the ice
     and snow above.

     CLOSER ON MULDER

     rising to his knees, the AIR from one of these vents
     blowing onto his face. Pulling off the hood of his
     jacket, looking deep into the vent which is open,
     ungrated.

     And big enough for a man to crawl into. Which, after
     considering the hole he's fallen through high above him,
     is really Mulder's only choice.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. RIBBED CORRIDOR DUCT - CONTINUOUS

     Mulder pulls himself forward through the ribbed corridor
     duct with his elbows, moving lizard-like into the
     constricted darkness.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. UPPER RIBBED CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS

     Above a frozen ice lith, Mulder's head appears,
     squeezing his shoulders and body out of a venting. With
     effort, Mulder slides out of the small space, using some
     architecture above as a handhold. Pulling his legs free
     and dropping onto the floor.

     MULDER'S POV

     It is dark in here, the features of the corridor
     ill-defined.

     RESUME MULDER - WIDER

     Mulder pulls a flashlight from a pocket in his parka,
     snicks it on. Its beam reflecting off tall frozen liths
     of ice regularly spaced on both sides of the corridor.

     NEW ANGLE ON MULDER

     Training the light down the corridor, which curves away
     in both directions. Then pointing it at something right
     in front of his nose: something that gives him a start.

     Reaching up with his hand to brush away frost from the
     lith. Finding A MAN FROZEN IN ICE. Naked, his eyes
     staring into some long-forgotten distance. His hair is
     dark, his flat features familiar to us. He is the
     prehistoric hunter from the opening scenes of the movie.
     His flesh has the opaque, see-through quality that we've
     seen before. Inside of which, frozen along with the man,
     is an EMBRYONIC CREATURE.

     REVERSE ON MULDER

     Reacting to this sight, then moving off down the
     corridor, his pace quickened.

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. POLE OF INACCESSIBILITY - ANTARCTICA

     LOW ANGLE on the great white expanse. Across which a
     snow tractor is moving. PANNING with the vehicle to...

     Mulder's snow tractor, where the first tractor stops,
     its headlights trained on Mulder's ride.

     A beat, then the discovering machine moves out again,
     following the tracks that Mulder has left, which brings
     it STRAIGHT TOWARD CAMERA. As it passes us, we can see
     the DRIVER and the Cigarette Smoking Man sitting in the
     cabin. As we:

                                             CUT BACK TO:

     INT. UPPER RIBBED CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS

     MULDER comes to the end of the dim ice corridor where
     soft light is penetrating through several low, arched
     openings.

     Mulder has to drop down to his knees to see into the
     openings.

     ANGLE FROM OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE BALCONY PASSAGEWAY

     Where Mulder is seen looking TOWARD CAMERA. The Balcony
     passageway is short. Mulder drops to his stomach again,
     pulling himself through, toward us. When he reaches the
     opposite end, Mulder pokes his head out, looking up in
     wonder at:

     INT. CENTRAL THEATER - BALCONY - CONTINUOUS - WIDE ON
     A STADIUM-SIZED DOME -- (CGI SET EXTENSION)

     Imagine a domed sports arena -- this is the scope and
     scale of the space that Mulder has penetrated. We see
     him as only a small speck on a balcony midway between
     floor and ceiling. Pulling himself out of the balcony
     passageway, which is like countless other passageways.
     Which are actually ventilation ports.

     ANGLE OVER MULDER

     Pulling himself to his feet. Beholding the space before
     him. Looking down to the center floor where a large
     central theater gives off a light different from
     elsewhere in the dome. An icy, bright glow. Leading down
     to the central theater far below are several LARGE
     TUBULAR SPOKES. (One of which leads up right next to
     Mulder's position.)

     ANGLE ON MULDER

     Reacting to this. Then something captures his
     attention.

     MULDER'S POV

     There on the floor, far down below, is THE BUBBLE LITTER
     Scully was transported in. (NOTE* Scully's clothes are
     still in the bubble litter.) Standing out as a rather
     human artifact against the otherwise dull gray bulwarks
     and architecture surrounding it.

     INT. CENTRAL THEATER - BALCONY - CONTINUOUS - WIDE ON
     MULDER

     looks beside him where the joint that connects two
     sections of one of the long tube spokes is designed with
     an allowance -- a separation that might allow a man to
     slip through the joint into the tube. Which is what
     Mulder does here.

                                             CUT TO:

     INT. TUBULAR SPOKE - CONTINUOUS

     WIDE ANGLE FROM INSIDE TUBE TERMINUS

     Mulder squeezing through into the tube, looking down
     past what looks like a chair lift-like track, on which
     the chairs are actually empty cryopod mechanisms; the
     same structures Mulder saw in the ribbed corridor in
     which bodies were encased in ice. Except these cryopods
     are empty.

     Mulder begins to creep down TOWARD CAMERA, picking his
     way around the empty cryopods.

     REVERSE ANGLE ON MULDER

     Creeping away from us. Heading toward:

     INT. LOWER CRYOPOD CORRIDOR

     Where Mulder pops out at the lower tube terminus. Which
     leads into this bulwarked corridor at the base of the
     large stadium structure. Where:

     REVERSE ON THIS CORRIDOR

     Where Mulder is walking past frozen CRYOPODS hanging on
     a track. Each icy pod containing a HUMAN BODY frozen
     within. Partially visible behind clear blue ice. But
     these are modern men, and women. Their expressions a
     confused horror, as if they have been somehow frozen
     alive. They are slowly tracking.

     Walking along the slowly moving carousel of frozen
     humanity. Stopping, turning, almost as if having
     sensed:

     NEW ANGLE OVER OPPOSITE CRYOPOD

     PUSHING IN ON MULDER'S FACE. Recording the horror and
     fear he's experiencing, on seeing:

     CAMERA RISING UP A FROSTY WALL OF BLUE ICE

     Where a woman's body is encased, its naked features
     hidden behind the opacity of the newly frozen blue
     crust. But whose face is unmistakable as that of Agent
     Scully's. Frozen in a similar expression of far-away
     horror, her eyes cast slightly heavenward.

     MULDER

     hurries to get his jacket unzipped. Removing the FELT
     ENVELOPE, removing the syringe body, the needle and the
     AMPULE.

     Hastily putting the syringe together, getting the needle
     poked into the soft rubber cap of the ampule. Bleeding
     the syringe now, the substance inside squirting out of
     the end of the needle onto the floor of the ship.

     And the moment it does, the whole floor SIZZLES like
     water being dropped onto a hot skillet. Spreading out
     from Mulder in every direction. A VIOLENT CHEMICAL
     REACTION, as predicted by the man who gave him this
     substance. A moment later the entire structure Mulder is
     in SHUNTS. Shuddering violently and setting up a low-end
     RUMBLE. Causing Mulder to accidentally drop the
     syringe.

     LOW CLOSE ANGLE

     on the floor, where the syringe hits and bounces, but
     does not break or leak. Mulder scrambling into frame to
     re-collect it. Seeing the floor where the liquid from
     the syringe hit -- where it has been ETCHED AWAY by the
     substance.

     EXT. HULL OF SPACESHIP/ICY BUBBLE - CONTINUOUS

     Where Mulder crawled into the duct. Condensed air is
     streaming out of all the ducts now. The ice and snow
     above beginning to melt from the force and heat of the
     blasting all.

                                             CUT BACK TO:

     EXT. ICE STATION - CONTINUOUS

     We can hear low end rumble and vibration. TWO DOZEN MEN
     are streaming out of the dome tents. Moving to their
     carious snow tractors and starting the vehicles.

     A small exodus, the tractors pulling out of camp in a
     rush. Heading off in various directions.

     CAMERA FINDING THE CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN moving to his
     tractor, with THE MAN WHO SHOT MULDER. Taking the last
     drag of his cigarette before throwing it into the snow.
     He stares down at it a moment, as if caught in the grip
     of some emotion conflicting with duty.

     The Man who shot Mulder inside the tractor now, throwing
     open the door for the CSM.

                            MAN WHO SHOT MULDER
               C'mon. It's all going to hell.

     He climbs up onto the vehicle, gets in and closes the
     door. And the vehicle pulls away as we:

                                             CUT BACK TO:

     INT. LOWER RIBBED CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS - AGENT MULDER

     Back on his feet, SMASHING now at the crust of brittle
     blue-ice that encases Scully. BASHING, SMASHING and then
     finally breaking through the hard outer later, its inner
     slushy contents spilling out of the puncture that
     exposes Scully's face and shoulder. Watery aqua-tinted
     liquid drains from her mouth and nose. But Scully is not
     conscious, and there is no indication she is even alive,
     her face frozen in a blank, almost beatific expression.

     OVER MULDER TO SCULLY

     As he plunges the needle into Scully's arm at the front
     of her shoulder. To which there is an immediate reaction
     -- as if given a shot of adrenalin. Her eyes blinking
     away the cold moisture.

                            MULDER
               Scully --

     Scully's lips move goldfish-like as she tries to suck in
     air, an almost fearful expression overcoming her like a
     swimmer who's been held under too long. But no words are
     coming out yet.

                            MULDER
               Breathe -- can you breathe?!

     Scully is straining to do just that -- when liquid
     suddenly SPEWS from Scully's mouth. And she begins to
     cough and gag -- taking big gulps of air as her eyes
     focus on Mulder as if on a phantom, or a miracle.

     Finally faint words ushering forth, whispering breaths
     that Mulder cannot discern.

                            MULDER
               What?

     CLOSE ON MULDER AND SCULLY

     As he leans into her, putting his ear up to her mouth.
     As the softest sound comes out in Scully's frosty
     breath.

                            SCULLY
               Cold...

                            MULDER
               Hang on. I'm going to get you out of
               here.

     As she continues to suck air.

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. HULL OF SPACESHIP/ICE BUBBLE - CONTINUOUS

     The hot air blasting from the ducts is causing the ice
     pack above to melt and collapse.

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. ICE STATION - CONTINUOUS - WIDE

     As the ice tractors head away in all directions from the
     domed structures. A misty fog now emanating from the
     seams of the domes. Heat and condensation.

                                             CUT BACK TO:

     INT. UPPER RIBBED CORRIDORS - CONTINUOUS

     Filling with misty condensation, too. The small beams of
     light that lighted Mulder's way earlier are now small
     shafts piercing the gathering interior cloud.
     Illuminating:

     THE PREHISTORIC MAN

     Frozen in his icy pod, the hard semi-translucent surface
     of which is now etched with small streams of water
     running to the floor. Everything is melting and in
     motion.

     Including the CREATURE which is vaguely visible inside
     the frozen man. It TURNS slightly inside the body, like
     an animal in utero. Its eyes now looking at us,
     blinking. As it presses against its own fleshy
     container, the body of its human host.

                                             CUT BACK TO:

     INT. LOWER RIBBED CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS

     It, too, is filling with misty condensation.

     VARIOUS SHOTS

     Of the ice encasing the human forms sweating and
     melting.

     CAMERA ADJUSTING UP TO REVEAL Mulder pulling Scully
     along in a fireman's carry. She is dressed now in
     Mulder's snow parka and the outer nylon pants he was
     wearing. Scully's legs are weak beneath her. Her body
     limp, but not lifeless. Mulder laboring to get her up
     the INTERIOR of the steep curving cylinder spoke, as the
     air fills with mist.

     INT. LONG TUBE TERMINUS

     NEW ANGLE ON MULDER AND SCULLY - LOOKING DOWN THE TUBE

     Moving toward along the now-halted cryopod carrier
     hanging from the transport track. Mulder struggling
     against his own fading energy, pulling Scully up
     toward:

     ANGLE ON BALCONY/CATWALK

     Mulder pushing Scully up, though she seems to have at
     least some limited ability to do this on her own. The
     DEEP, LOW RUMBLE we heard in the open frames of the
     movie reaching full volume now. The whole environment
     vibrating as Mulder boosts Scully up on the catwalk.
     Climbing up over the prostrate body. Picking her up from
     the floor, pulling her back into the fireman's carry.

     INT. LOWER RIBBED CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS

     Where the bodies are all beginning to melt.

     VARIOUS SHOTS of rivulets of water forming on the
     icy liths that encase the bodies. The water from them
     seeping onto the circular central floor. The condensing
     mist thick and swirling.

     CLOSE ON PODS

     Where the body it houses seems to move. Though AS CAMERA
     PUSHES IN we see that it is the creature inside this
     body moving, as if the heat and the defrosting are
     bringing the embryos to life.

     INT. UPPER RIBBED CORRIDOR - CONTINUOUS - ANGLE DOWN
     CORRIDOR

     Scully's head pokes through now, as she's pushed through
     the opening that Mulder used earlier to get into the
     vaulted arena. Pushed in fits and starts until she's all
     the way through. Mulder now straining and squeezing to
     do the same on his own.

     The corridor is filled with heavy condensed mist now as
     Mulder finally slips out of the low passageway, trying
     to get his bearing now as he huddles low over Scully.
     Turning his attention to her as she COUGHS HOARSELY --
     in some kind of acute spasm of pain -- but alive.

                            MULDER
               We've got to keep moving.

                            SCULLY
                      (weakly)
               Where are we?

                            MULDER
               You got me. But I think I know what
               they did with Jimmy Hoffa.

     Scully is struggling now as Mulder tries to pull her to
     her feet again. In real physical pain.

                            SCULLY
               I can't...

     Scully can't finish speaking, her voice becoming a
     hoarse cough.

                            SCULLY
                      (barely a whisper)
               I can't go any farther.

                            MULDER
               Yes you can. You're going to make it,
               Scully.

     Mulder hauling Scully up off the floor AWAY FROM CAMERA
     now.

     NEW ANGLE ON RIBBED CORRIDOR

     CAMERA MOVING THROUGH SPACE in the empty corridor,
     moving at a speed equal to Mulder and Scully's as they
     round the semi-circular ribbed corridor to meet us.
     Coming out of the mist, Scully back in the fireman's
     carry. Approaching the place where Mulder slipped down
     into the corridor.

     Mulder stopping and seeing:

     THE BODY IN THE MELTING ICE LITH

     As it too moves, the embryonic creature inside it
     turning slightly, as if coming awake.

     REVERSE ON MULDER

     Reacting to this -- and then to Scully who suddenly
     starts GASPING FOR BREATH.

     Falling now from Mulder's grasps as her legs buckle and
     she goes down.

     LOW ANGLE ON SCULLY

     Her face is going red, straining for air. Her eyes
     rolling, seeking relief. As Mulder drops down beside
     her.

                            MULDER
               Shit --

     But she is unable to answer. Mulder hastening to unzip
     her/his jacket. To get to her neck and find a pulse.

                            MULDER
               Scully --

     Mulder cannot find a pulse. Scully straining harder now
     as Mulder reaches his fingers into her mouth, clearing
     her passageway. Moving on top of her now, and pumping
     forcefully on her chest -- trying to get air into her.
     One - two - three.

     And putting his mouth down to hers (FINALLY!), breathing
     his life into her. Pulling away from her to see that he
     is unsuccessful at this -- that Scully is continuing to
     strain. Pumping her chest again --

                            MULDER
               You're not dying on me now -- godammit
               godammit godammit --

     As he pumps her chest. Placing his mouth over hers again
     and BREATH - BREATH -- BREATH.

     Lifting his mouth from hers, feeling for a pulse again,
     putting his eat down to her mouth, praying he'll feel
     the breeze of a breath. Nothing. While:

     ANGLE OVER HIM TO THE CREATURE IN THE ICY POD

     As it moves again, MORE VIOLENTLY NOW. As the ice around
     it continues to melt and fissure.

     RESUME MULDER

     His hands going to a pocket on the inside of the jacket
     Scully is wearing -- his jacket -- finding again the
     syringe that he used on Scully. It is still partially
     full of vaccine. Mulder finding this, getting ready to
     use it when --

     -- Scully's body suddenly comes back to life beneath
     him. Labored breaths which turn into a coughing spasm.
     Mulder breaths relievedly for a moment, watching Scully
     coughing, coming back to life. Her eyes trying to focus
     on him, finding him. Seeing his labored relief. The
     panic melting away.

                            SCULLY
                      (weakly, pained whisper)
               Mulder...

     She wants to tell him something. He leans down next to
     her.

                            SCULLY
                      (continued weak)
               Had you big time.

     Mulder has but a moment to savor this weary victory
     though when he REACTS to something, that causes him to
     WHIP HIS HEAD AROUND.

     MULDER'S POV DOWN RIBBED CORRIDOR

     Through the condensed mist he can see CREATURES
     BEGINNING TO HATCH, sprouting from the melted
     ice-encased bodies they have gestated in. Their THREE
     FINGERED HANDS beating at the soft ice. Their powerful
     feet kicking at it, too.

     RESUME MULDER

     Looking the other way down the corridor, seeing --

     MORE CREATURES

     The slushy material that makes up the inner core
     spilling out with them as the creatures KICK out of
     their tombs.

     RESUME MULDER

     Lifting Scully up with all his strength he has left in
     him. He's got to get her overhead now, back up the
     venting that he slipped down from. She is weak and of
     little help.

     Mulder gets her propped up on his strength so that he
     can use the power of his legs to boost her toward the
     opening. Which puts him face to face with THE EMBRYONIC
     CREATURE. Its eye looking directly at him, blinking,
     before it goes into another FITFUL SPASM inside its host
     body.

     ANGLE DOWN FROM VENT

     Where Scully is boosted up TOWARD CAMERA. Her hands
     reaching feebly for something to grab onto. Finding a
     handhold.

                            MULDER
               Keep breathing, Scully.

     She utters something guttural, unintelligible as the
     next thrust up from Mulder gets her head and shoulders
     into the opening of the vent.

     RESUME MULDER

     Beneath her, pushing with all his might. His hands under
     her shoes now, forcing her up into the vent like a
     rolled carpet into the rafters.

     RESUME SCULLY

     Struggling with her arms and elbows, barely conscious,
     but somehow able to manage herself forward.

     RESUME MULDER

     Pushing Scully up the last little way. Then reaching up
     to find a handhold for himself. Grabbing hold and
     lifting himself as one of his feet kicks at the ice --
     where the creature he was just face to face with BURSTS
     from its icy pod. One hand, then the other shooting out
     of the ice where they have broken through the host.
     Ripping open the front of the body, including the man's
     face. Making a slimy, gaping tear in what was formerly
     flesh.

     Its hands grabbing at Mulder as he thrashes to free
     himself from it getting a grip.

     As Mulder struggles to pull himself up, fighting off the
     creature which he cannot see beneath him.

     RESUME CREATURE

     As it emerges from the ice, still grasping and TEARING
     at Mulder's legs with its claws. But as it BURSTS
     COMPLETELY from its place, Mulder is able to pull
     himself up and into the vent in one athletic movement.

     ANGLE FROM INSIDE THE VENT - SCULLY

     lies motionless in the ducting, her body forced forward
     by Mulder's in this last surging move.

     TIGHT ANGLE ON MULDER

     Drawing his legs up quickly inside. Not wasting a moment
     shoving Scully's butt forward in front of him.

                            MULDER
               Scully -- you breathing?

     RESUME SCULLY

     Letting out another low, guttural sound -- which STRAINS
     out of her with each push forward.

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. SNOW/ICE BUBBLE - CONTINUOUS

     Scully's head and arms push up through the vent where
     Mulder first entered. The ice and snow surrounding it,
     which had created the bubble structure, have melted and
     fallen. So that above Scully's larger hole has opened up
     to the surface. The air is full of condensation,
     swirling around them.

     ANGLE FROM ABOVE - THROUGH THE HOLE IN THE ICE

     Where, through the swirling steam we see Mulder push
     Scully clear of the vent. Climbing free himself now.
     When the surface they are upon SHUDDERS AND QUAKES. As
     if it has come unloosed, destabilized.

     And with this comes A MIGHTY FORCE OF STEAM from the
     vent Mulder and Scully just crawled from. Blasting up
     past them with terrible HISSING FORCE. Causing Mulder to
     throw Scully away from its superheated energy.

     Pulling her up the now climbable embankment created by
     the melting snow; pulling her toward the surface of the
     ice sheet.

                                             CUT TO:

     EXT. POLE OF INACCESSIBILITY - ANTARCTICA - WIDE

     Where a wide radius of steam rises from similar and
     regularly spaced holes in the ice sheet, defining a
     circular structure beneath. The White Domed Tents of the
     ice station are in the center of this, dwarfed by the
     enormity of the melting radius.

     RESUME MULDER AND SCULLY

     Mulder pulling her up the softened and collapsed snow.
     The hot steam blasting up with hideous force behind
     them. The sound DEAFENING.

     NEW ANGLE OVER MULDER AND SCULLY

     Pulling her to the surface of the ice sheet where behind
     them in the distance the ICE STATION can be seen through
     the atmosphere of condensed air. When suddenly the ice
     beneath it gives way and the ice station falls away,
     caving in to the center of the radius. Which is what
     begins to happen to the rest of the ice sheet that
     spreads out to where Mulder and Scully are standing.
     Causing Mulder to realize:

                            MULDER
                      (over the din)
               We've got to run!

     She is weak, but is able to find her footing. Dragged
     behind Mulder as the ice behind them begins to break
     away, falling down into an ever-expanding center and
     sending up magnificent geysers of steam created by the
     superheated surface below.

     WIDE ON SCENE

     Mulder and Scully running AT CAMERA just ahead of the
     collapsing center. The mass of ice around them beginning
     to break up. Steam vents erupting instantaneously
     everywhere.

                                             CUT TO:

     HIGH ANGLE ON SCENE

     A black dome is becoming visible through the giant
     circle of steam, in the ever-widening center hole that
     Mulder and Scully are running from. Which is chasing
     them to the edge of the radius.

                                             CUT TO:

     ANGLE FOLLOWING MULDER AND SCULLY

     As Mulder struggles to pull Scully fast enough to
     outrace the icy debris that is tumbling away just behind
     them. Large chunks falling and bouncing off the
     superheated surface below, blown back up like water
     being dropped onto a hot skillet.

                                             CUT TO:

     EXTREMELY HIGH AND WIDE

     The Agents mere specks fleeing the circle of churning
     ice and steam. As it cascades away in three hundred and
     sixty degrees. From here the deafening sound if absorbed
     into the vastness, tricking us of the reality of the
     massive movement of frozen material down below.

                                             CUT TO:

     ANGLE LEADING MULDER AND SCULLY

     As Scully loses her footing, falling to the ground.
     Mulder dragging her back up to her feet, though,
     maintaining forward momentum. While behind them the
     thundering force of the superheated melting snow and ice
     is moving in on them.

     And then suddenly -- MULDER AND SCULLY are gone!

     The radial edge of the falling snow continuing only a
     few feet beyond where they disappeared. The violent
     upheaval of snow abating but slightly. Beat, beat...

     THEN THE AGENTS APPEAR AGAIN. Thrust upward by a RISING
     BLACK PRECIPICE which catapults them off its leading
     edge. As they fall the distance to the sheet of ice
     below.

                                             CUT TO:

     LOW ANGLE ON ICE SHEET

     Where the Agents hit hard on the ice sheet. The rain of
     ice chunks pounding all around them. As the monolithic
     wall of the craft continues to rise.

     Mulder trying to get to Scully in this hail of debris
     which he shields his face from.

     WIDE ON LEADING EDGE

     Rising faster now out of the earth as it begins to
     increasingly shed and break free of the frozen weight it
     carried. Until the bottom of the edge of the wall
     appears, lifting clear of the ice sheet and the crater
     that held it.

                                             CUT TO:

     EXTREME HIGH WIDE ANGLE ON SPACE SHIP

     Where now we see the scope and shape of the ship, which
     is breathtaking. The domed center sloping off to a
     gentle gradient, which is the surface that Mulder and
     Scully were running on. The ship is now slowly rotating
     as it moves upward in a gently rising hover.

     Mulder and Scully are on the ice sheet below.

     RESUME MULDER AND SCULLY

     Scully face down on the ice. Mulder lifting his head
     when THE HEAVY SHADOW of the ship comes over them.
     Looking up from this position to see:

     THE SPACE SHIP

     Moving slowly, laterally just overhead. Thunderously
     rumbling. The dark detail of its underside visible in
     this angle. As it continues to rise, the shadow passing
     over Mulder and Scully.

                                             CUT TO:

     NEW ANGLE OVER MULDER AND SCULLY

     Scully is still face down on the ice, as Mulder watches
     the ship's shadow cast over Mulder's SnowCat which is
     still parked in the distance. Moving up and off.

     The ship continues up into the Antarctic sky where it
     rises toward the sky where it begins to get WHITEHOT.
     Transforming itself into pure energy. It is visible for
     several moments during transformation. Then it
     disappears completely. As it does the RUMBLE, which
     dopplers across the white, barren landscape. Then it is
     gone.

     MULDER

     Watches this then lays his head down on Scully's back.
     He is spent, at the brink of complete exhaustion. His
     whole body heaving. But now starting to shiver, and to
     lose consciousness.

     Scully's body is motionless beneath him, for a moment we
     might believe that this is the way it might end. Out
     here on the ice with Mulder and Scully freezing to
     death. A chill wind blows off the Antarctic plain, the
     same LOW RUMBLE, the only taint of silence in vastness
     of this literal end of the world.

     Then Scully coughs -- the same hoarse cough. She's
     alive. Struggling to consciousness. Her head lifting
     slightly, TURNING TO CAMERA. Her eyes blink open and she
     coughs again. Feeling Mulder's weight on top of her,
     unaware of his condition or even where she is.

                            SCULLY
                      (weakly)
               Mulder...

     There is no answer. Scully struggling to pull herself
     out from under the weight of his body. Rolling over so
     that her face is opposite Mulder's now. Seeing that he
     has lost consciousness. Finding the strength to roll him
     over, so that she can cradle him and warm him.

     HIGH WIDE ANGLE ON THIS SCENE

     With the Snowcat a short distance away, Mulder and
     Scully in each others arms. The way it should end.

     FADE TO BLACK

     Silence. Longer than we would like. Long enough to make
     us nervous, then certain, then angry. Then...we FADE UP
     a prelap of the sound of a CRACKLING FIRE.

     FADING UP ON:

     EXT. ACRES OF CORN - MAGIC HOUR

     TRACKING LOW WITH MEN IN FATIGUES, moving along the
     perimeter of the corn field as they set fire to the corn
     stalks with small handheld butane burners. While other
     Men in Fatigues are moving between the rows dousing the
     furrows with accelerant.

                                             DISSOLVE TO:

     INT. FBI FIELD OFFICE - DALLAS - NIGHT

     The large room filled with the evidence and debris from
     the bombing. It is dark. Until A FLASHLIGHT BEAM pricks
     the blackness, moving toward us into f.g. Carried by the
     man we now recognize as The Man Who Shot Mulder. He
     moves with directness, purpose. Finding what he's
     looking for amid the cataloged material, he finds on a
     work bench. Next to the microscope Scully had used. It
     is the BONE FRAGMENTS, held in an evidence container.

     He pockets them and exits as quiet and directly as he
     entered.

                                             DISSOLVE TO:

     EXT. ACRES OF CORN - WIDE - CGI PLATE

     The sky aglow with orange flames as the crops burn to
     the ground. We hold on this shot, PRELAPPING the sound
     of:

                            JANA CASSIDY'S VOICE
               ... in light of the report I've got
               before me; in light of the narrative
               I'm now hearing...

     INT. FBI OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL REVIEW - DAY

     Jana Cassidy sits at the head of the desk, just as when
     we first met her.

     She is flanked by the other members of the review board,
     including A.D. Skinner who sits at the end of the
     table.

     Cassidy flips through a file she's referred to before
     she continues. Looking up with consternation as she
     resumes.

                            CASSIDY
               ... my official report is incomplete
               pending these new facts I'm being
               asked to reconcile. Agent Scully...

     AGENT SCULLY

     Sitting where she last sat, at the small table. The seat
     next to her conspicuously empty. Her face bears the
     signs of slight frostbite, somewhat healed. Her
     expression is even, her attitude composed, but her eyes
     are filled of dark, restrained defiance.

                            CASSIDY
               ...while there is direct evidence now
               that a federal agent may have been
               involved in the bombing... the other
               events you've laid down here seem too
               incredible on their own, and quite
               frankly implausible in their
               connection.

     PANNING THE OTHER BOARD MEMBERS - curious, bemused like
     Cassidy. Skinner shifts uncomfortably.

                            SCULLY
               What is it you find incredible?

                            CASSIDY
               Well...where would you like me to
               start? Antarctica is a long way from
               Dallas, Agent Scully. I can't very
               well submit a report to the Attorney
               General that alleges the links you've
               made here. Bees and corn crops do not
               quite fall under the rubric of
               domestic terrorism.

                            SCULLY
               No, they don't.

                            CASSIDY
               Most of what I find in here is lacking
               a coherent picture of an organization
               with an attributable motive. I realize
               you're very lucky to be alive Agent
               Scully. The ordeal you've endured has
               clearly affected you -- though the
               holes in your account leave this panel
               with little choice but to delete these
               references from our final report to
               the Justice Department. Until which
               time hard evidence becomes available
               that would give us cause to pursue
               such an investigation.

     Scully has her hand in her coat pocket now. Moving
     around the table and approaching Cassidy. Removing
     something which she puts on the desk in front of her. A
     small vial.

                            SCULLY
               I don't believe the FBI currently has
               an investigation unit qualified to
               pursue the evidence in hand.

     Cassidy picks up the vial, studying the contents of this
     vial: the dead bee that stung Scully. Studying it as
     Scully turns and moves to the door, without permission,
     no further adieu.

     ANGLE TO INCLUDE A.D. SKINNER

     Watching Scully exit.

                            CASSIDY (O.S.)
               Mr. Skinner....?

     CAMERA PIVOTING TO INCLUDE CASSIDY. Looking at him.

                           CASSIDY
               Please ask Agent Scully to come back
               to this hearing. We're not quite
               finished.

     As Skinner rises, unsure of the intent behind this
     directive, we:

                                             DISSOLVE TO:

     EXT. WASHINGTON D.C. - DAY

     We are JUST ABOVE THE TREETOPS. The Capitol Dome is in
     the far distance. CAMERA CRANING DOWN to find Mulder
     sitting by himself on a park bench. We are WIDE. There
     is no one else around.

     Until the Cigarette Smoking Man appears. Walking through
     the otherwise deserted park. Joining Mulder on the park
     bench.

     CLOSER ON MULDER, THE CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN

     They do not speak for several moments. A quite tension
     as the CSM lights up a trademark smoke. Inhaling,
     exhaling. Then:

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
               Congratulations on your survival. Your
               life is worthless now, I hope you know
               that.

                            MULDER
               And yours?

                            CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN
                      (derisive)
               You think you've stopped it. What I've
               worked for fifty years to create. You
               haven't stopped it. You can't stop
               it.
                      (takes a drag)
               You're just one man.

                            MULDER
               You're wrong.

     WIDE ANGLE

     Mulder rises from the bench heading TOWARD CAMERA. The
     CSM rising, watching him.

     As Mulder continues toward us. ADJUST TO REVEAL Agent
     Scully in the f.g. Mulder moving to her as the CSM
     watches from the distance. Their eyes meet, an unspoken
     restored bond exchanged in this moment. Before Mulder
     takes Scully by the arm, leads her off. Leaving the CSM
     standing alone in the distance. As we:

                                             DISSOLVE TO:

     EXT. CORN FIELDS/WHITE DOMES - TUNISIA - DAY

     TRACKING LOW WITH A PAIR OF FEET

     The wearer of them sporting peasant sandals. We realize
     shortly that while the feet are moving across sandy
     ground, that the foliage in the near b.g. is corn. And
     that the person we are tracking with is passing row
     after row of stalks.

     CAMERA RISING AS IT TRACKS

     REVEALING A TUNISIAN MAN dressed in peasant clothes. He
     is carrying a piece of paper. Moving with hasty purpose.
     Stopping at the end of one of the long rows of corn
     where CONRAD STRUGHOLD is coming toward him. Making his
     way between rows of stalks. The Peasant waits patiently
     as Strughold approaches, handing him the piece of
     paper.

     Strughold reads it, his otherwise steely countenance
     reflecting a disturbance seen only in the slight
     narrowing of his eyes.

     He looks up at the Peasant and says something to him in
     Tunisian Arabic. Said as command, which causes the
     Peasant to nod dutifully and move off as he came.

     Strughold stands for a moment, then crumples the paper
     slightly and drops it. Moving off down the same corn row
     in which he approached.

     CAMERA DROPPING TO THE GROUND where we find the paper on
     which we see a flat section that is not so crumpled we
     cannot read the words: X-FILES RE-OPENED. STOP. PLEASE
     ADVISE. STOP.

     CAMERA RISING NOW. Rising up past the stalks. Where we
     can still see Strughold walking. RISING UP AND UP to
     reveal ACRES AND ACRES OF CORN. Many times more than we
     had seen previously. Stretched out across the Tunisian
     Desert, ending only where THREE WHITE DOMES stand on the
     distant horizon.

     Off this image we FADE OUT.

                             THE END