(The classic fanfare from Alfred Newman plays as the 20th CENTURY FOX

logo is shown all over the the big screen. Fade to black - Silence.

(DW NOTE: Enough time to 'Take your greatest fear and multiply it by X:)

NOW, Mark Snow's thrilling new movie-version of The X-Files theme song

begins to play. Seas of blackoil fill the screen then text in white letters runs in.)

TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX

presents

(A wave of blackoil pushes it away.)

a TEN THIRTEEN production

(Another wave cleans the screen.)

THE (X) FILES

(The screen fades to white.)

NORTH TEXAS, 35,000 BC

(We open in a snow storm. Two heavily bundled humans are running

through the snow, following strange looking tracks which lead into a

cave. They enter and, once inside, we see sparks fly as they whack

a couple of rocks together and light torches with the fire. Like all good

horror movie duos, they split up to continue their search. Soon after,

one of them hears a strange shriek-type noise in the distance, but

ignores it and moves on. He then encounters an ice wall, which holds

a frozen human. Suddenly, the tracker is attacked by a creature we

can't quite see, due to fast camera cuts. The creature and human

roll around in combat, the creature slashing the man until he kills him.

The man's friend appears and stabs the creature with something

(looks like a stake, maybe his comrade's torch?) and the creature

disappears into the darkness of the cave. The man looks down at his

friend's lifeless form, then starts to look around for the creature. They

find each other, a battle ensues, the man stabs the creature several

times and finally kills it. From out of its wounds seeps a black oil which

takes on a life of its own as it changes direction and begins to flow

towards the man. It enters his body, crawling under his skin from his

feet on up to his eyes. The man starts to moan and cry out in pain

as the camera pans upwards leaving us in darkness.)

NORTH TEXAS, PRESENT DAY

(The darkness is now the view from underneath a boy, Stevie, as he

falls through the earth, landing in an underground cavern. His three

friends look down upon him.)

KID 1: Hey, Stevie, you ok?

(DW NOTE: Kid 1 is called Jeremy, and Jason is the name of Kid 2)

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

KID 2: Looks like a cave or something.

(Stevie looks around and then wanders deeper into the cavern.)

KID 1: Stevie? What's going on?

(Stevie reappears with something in his hands, which he holds up for

the others to see.)

STEVIE: It's a human skull!

KID 2: Toss it up here, dude!

STEVIE: No way butt-wipe, this is mine. Anyway, there's bones all

over the place, man.

(Stevie admires the skull, then he looks down and sees a puddle of

black oil under his right shoe.)

STEVIE: What the...?

(Suddenly, he drops the skull and grabs his stomach, looking ill.

The black oil begins to crawl up his body and onto his face,

creeping underneath his skin.)

KID 1: Stevie?

KID 2: Hey, Stevie, you okay?

(As he looks up, we see his eyes cloud over with the oil.)

KID 2: Hey man, let's get out of here.

(The boys run away from the hole. The camera pans back to show

that the scene is happening in a suburban area outside a large town.

Fade to later the same day as fire trucks, marked as "Blackwood

County Fire Dept.", pull up to the scene.)

FIRE CHIEF: (looking down hole) Give me a fourteen footer!

(A ladder slams down onto the bottom of the hole.)

FIRE CHIEF: (on his radio) Captain Miles Cooles, got a rescue

situation in progress. I'll be the whole town HC. Rope's in the hole,

(to his men) let's go, two down.

(Two men climb down into the hole and crouch by Stevie, who is

lying down in the dirt in the cavern.)

FIRE CHIEF: (talking to radio) What ya got, TC? Talk to me. (static on

radio) Do ya see the boy? Talk to me. (static) Come back, TC, do ya

see the kid? (static) Jerry, check TC's radio. (he whacks the radio)

TC? (static) Glen, South, in the hole.

(A black helicopter flies in and lands at the scene as some of the

firemen watch and wonder. Four men in biohazard suits exit and

carry a person-sized container towards the hole. The fire chief

starts to walk towards the helicopter as a man, Bronschweig,

exits the chopper.)

BRONSCHWEIG (to the fire chief, indicating the crowd that has

gathered to watch the proceedings) Get those people out of here!

(The chief and one of his men yell at the crowd to "Get back!" and

they slowly move out of the way. Both the chief and Bronschweig

start to walk towards the hole.)

FIRE CHIEF: I sent four men down there for the boy. Report is, his

eyes have turned black. Now we've lost communication with my men.

(The men in suits carry the container, which now has the boy in it,

to the helicopter, Bronschweig looks at the boy then follows the men

to the helicopter, standing and watching them load him on.)

FIRE CHIEF: What about my men?

(Bronschweig turns and looks at him as the copter starts to take off.)

FIRE CHIEF: What about my men??

(Several tanker trucks and semi-trucks pull up to the scene.)

FIRE CHIEF: What the hell is this?

(Bronschweig watches, and then walks behind one of the trucks where

no one else can hear. He dials a number on his cell phone.)

BRONSCHWEIG (in phone) It's Bronschweig. Sir, the impossible

scenerio that we never planned for? Well, we better come up with a plan.

FEDERAL BUILDING, DALLAS, TEXAS

ONE WEEK LATER

(The scene opens with FBI agents on the federal building's roof.

A helicopter lands and out comes Darius Michaud.)

FBI GUY: We've evacuated the building and been through it bottom to

top. There's no trace of an explosive device or anything resembling one.

MICHAUD: Have you sent the dogs through yet?

FBI GUY: Yes, sir.

MICHAUD: Well, send 'em through again.

(He begins to walk away, towards the edge of the roof, facing another

building across the street.)

FBI GUY: (to other FBI agents) All right guys, let's do it again.

(Michaud looks at a building across the street where a lone person is

walking on the roof. (DW NOTE: It is nice looking Dana!) Cut to the

other building where we see Scully talking on her cell phone.)

SCULLY: Mulder, it's me.

MULDER: Where are you, Scully?

SCULLY: I'm on the roof.

MULDER: Did you find anything?

SCULLY: (irritated voice) No I haven't.

MULDER: What's wrong?

SCULLY: Well, I just climbed up 12 floors, I'm hot, I'm thirsty and to

be honest, I'm wondering what I'm doing up here.

MULDER: You're looking for a bomb.

SCULLY: Yes, I know that, but the threat was called in to the federal

building across the street.

MULDER: I think they have that covered.

SCULLY: Mulder, when a terrorist bomb threat is called in, the rational

purpose of providing that information is to allow us to find the bomb.

The rational object of terrorism is to promote terror. If you'd study the

statistics, you'd find the model behavioral pattern for virtually every

case where a threat has turned up an explosive device; and if we don't

act in accordance with that data, if you ignore it as we have done,

the chances are great that if there actually is a bomb, we might not find it.

Lives could be lost .... Mulder. Mulder?

(he appears behind her)

MULDER: Boom.

SCULLY: (startled) Jesus, Mulder!

MULDER: Whatever happened to playing a hunch, Scully? The element

of surprise, random acts of unpredictabilty? If we fail to anticipate the

unforeseen or expect the unexpected in a universe of infinite possibilites,

we may find ourselves at the mercy of anyone or anything that cannot be

programmed, categorized or easily referenced. (he pops a sunflower seed

into his mouth) What are we doing up here, Scully? It's hotter than hell.

SCULLY: I know you're bored in this assignment, Mulder, but

unconventional thinking is only gonna get you in trouble now.

MULDER: What makes you think I'm bored?

SCULLY: You've gotta quit looking for what isn't there. They've closed

the X-files. There's procedure to be followed now ... protocol.

MULDER: Maybe we should call in a bomb threat to Houston.

I think it's free beer night at the Astrodome.

(Scully attempts to open the door)

SCULLY: Aww, now what?

MULDER: It's locked?

SCULLY So much for anticipating the unforeseen. (Mulder tries to open

the door and it opens easily, Scully smiles.) ... I had you.

MULDER: No, you didn't.

SCULLY: Oh, yeah. I had you big time.

MULDER: You had nothing. Come on, I saw you jiggle the handle.

(They exit the stairwell, next to the elevator at the bottom floor,

a group of children is being led into the elevator.)

BOY: (whispering amazed) F.B.I.

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

MULDER: You've never seen me panic. When I panic, I make this face.

(Mulder's face registers no emotion.)

SCULLY: That was the face.

MULDER: You didn't see that face.

SCULLY: I saw that face. (she smiles) You're buyin'.

MULDER: What? Coke, Pepsi, saline IV?

SCULLY: Something sweet.

(Mulder heads down to a room containing the vending machines,

passing a man on his way out. He puts money in the machine,

pushes a button, then another, then all of them, nothing comes out.

He whacks the side of it, then shakes the machine, angry at losing

his money. He happens to look beside it and notices that the machine

is unplugged. (TD NOTE: Obviously, the bomb was set in some way

as to keep the machine lit so as not to arouse suspicion) He tries

to open the door, it's locked. He calls Scully on her cell phone

(555-0113). Cut to the lobby, where Scully is standing, waiting for

her drink.)

SCULLY: (answering her phone) Scully.

MULDER: Scully, I found the bomb.

SCULLY: (smiling) You're funny. Where are you, Mulder?

MULDER: I'm in the vending room.

(Mulder pounds on the door)

SCULLY: Is that you pounding?

MULDER: Yeah, you gotta get somebody to open that door.

(Scully tries the doorknob, but it doesn't turn)

SCULLY: Nice try, Mulder.

MULDER: Look, Scully, it's in the soda machine, you've got about

fourteen minutes to evacuate this building.

(Cut back to Scully outside of the vending room, she looks down at her

watch.)

SCULLY: Come on, Mulder ... (slight laugh)

(The camera pans to show that the machine is now open and filled

with explosives. A timer is ticking down.)

MULDER: Thirteen fifty-six, thirteen fifty-four, thirteen fifty-two,

thirteen fifty. You see a pattern emerging here, Scully?

(Scully looks down and realizes that the key hole has been welded shut.)

SCULLY: Hold on, Mulder, I'm gonna get you out of there.

(We see Mulder standing in front of the machine, "panic" written all

over his face. Cut to Scully as she rushes back to the lobby and

gives orders to the security guard.)

SCULLY: I need this building evacuated and cleared out in 10 minutes!

I want you to call the fire department and have them block off the city

center in a one mile radius around the building!

GUARD: Ten minutes?

SCULLY: (she points at him with her phone) Don't think! Just pick up

that phone and make it happen! (on her cell phone) This is Special

Agent Dana Scully, I need to speak to SAC Michaud, he's got the

wrong building!

(Numerous police cars and firetrucks pull up to the building.

Michaud exits a car and begins to hastily walk towards the building.

Scully comes out to meet him.)

MICHAUD: Where is it?

SCULLY: He found it in the vending room. He's locked in with it.

(Cut to Mulder sitting in a chair in front of the vending machine,

staring at the bomb, still making his panic face. His phone rings,

startling him. He lets out the breath he was holding and answers it.)

MULDER: Scully, you know that face I just showed you?

I'm making it again.

SCULLY: Mulder, move away from the door, we're coming through it.

(Scully and the bomb team cut through the door with a torch.

The door is kicked open and everyone piles into the room.)

MULDER: (to Michaud, as he points at the bomb) Tell me that's

just soda pop in those canisters.

MICHAUD: (looking at bomb) It's just what it looks like. A big I.E.D.

(pauses) Ten gallons of astrolight. Okay, get everybody out of here,

clear the area.

FBI GUY: Come on, let's go.

(Everyone leaves except Michaud, Mulder and Scully)

MULDER: Somebody's got to stay with you.

MICHAUD: (irritated) I just gave you a direct order.

Now get the hell out of here and evacuate the building!

SCULLY: Can you defuse it?

MICHAUD: Yes I can.

MULDER: We got less than four minutes to find out if you're right.

MICHAUD: Did you hear what I said? (Mulder nods) Get out.

SCULLY: Come on, Mulder.

(She starts to leave, Mulder hesitates, looking at Michaud, then turns

to follow her out. Cut to outside the building as people pour out onto

the street. Cut back to Michaud sitting passively in the chair in front

of the bomb. Cut to Mulder and Scully running out of the building.

Mulder slows down and looks back.)

SCULLY: Mulder, what are you doing?

MULDER: Something's wrong.

SCULLY: Mulder ...

(Scully grabs Mulder by his arm.)

MULDER: Something's not right.

SCULLY: Mulder, get in the car, there's no time!

POLICEMAN BY CAR: Go on, get in the car!

(They get into the waiting police car. Shot of inside the building with

Michaud sitting waiting for the bomb to go off, his face in his hands.

Cut to the cop car as it drives off, Mulder turning in his seat to look at

the building. The bomb explodes, sending Michaud flying backwards.

The building is destroyed, cars are sent flying, Mulder and Scully's

police car's windows explode as the car rocks from the blast, mucho

Big Screen Destruction. Mulder and Scully slowly get out of the car

and look at the damage.)

MULDER: Next time, you're buying.

FBI HEADQUARTERS

WASHINGTON, DC

OFFICE OF PROFESSIONAL REVIEW

(Scully is sitting in the office before a review board. Assistant Director

Jana Cassidy is speaking to her. Assistant Director Walter Skinner is

seated on the panel as well.)

CASSIDY: In light of Waco and Ruby Ridge, there is a heightened

need at the Attorney General's office to place responsibility as early

as possible for the catastrophic destruction of public property and

loss of life due to terrorist activities. Many details are still unclear,

but we're under some pressure from the Attorney General to give an

accurate picture of what happened so that she can issue a public

statement. We know now that five people died, in the explosion.

Special ...

(Mulder enters the room, late, and Cassidy pauses, looking up at him,

as do Scully and Skinner.)

CASSIDY: .. Special Agent In Charge Darius Michaud, who was trying

to defuse the bomb, three firemen from Dallas and a young boy.

I'd like to begin this interview ...

MULDER: Excuse me, excuse me, the firemen and the young boy,

they were found in the building?

CASSIDY: Agent Mulder, since you weren't able to be on time for this

hearing, I'd like you to step outside so that we can hear Agent Scully's

version of the facts so that she will not be paid the same disrespect.

MULDER: We'd been told the building was clear.

CASSIDY: You'll get your turn, Agent Mulder, please step outside.

(Mulder looks at Scully, then leaves the room. He is now seated on a

bench in the hallway, eating sunflower seeds, husks and all. Skinner

leaves the hearing room and joins him in the hallway. Mulder stands up.)

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

MULDER: About what? (he sits back down)

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: You don't see what's going on here, do you? There's

forty-five million dollars worth of damage to the city of Dallas. Lives

have been lost. No suspects have been named. So the story that's

being shaped ... is that this could have been prevented.

MULDER: They want to blame us?

(Skinner sits down next to him.)

SKINNER: Agent Mulder, you and I both know that if it looks bad,

it's bad for the FBI. Blame has to be assigned somewhere

(Mulder looks down at the ground, then looks up at Skinner.)

MULDER: If they want somebody 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 SAC.

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 in.

MULDER: No.

(Both men stand as Scully leaves the hearing room and walks over

to them.)

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

SKINNER: Thank you. (he leaves)

MULDER: Whatever you told them in there, Scully, you don't have to

protect me.

SCULLY: All I told them was the truth.

MULDER: They're trying to divide us on this and we can't let them.

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

MULDER: What? What are you talking about?

SCULLY: I have a meeting with OPR day after tomorrow for remediation

and reassignment.

MULDER: But they're the ones who put us together.

SCULLY: Because they wanted me to invalidate your investigations

into the paranormal. But I think this goes deeper than that now.

MULDER: This is not about you, Scully. They're doing this to me.

SCULLY: They're not doing this. (pause as she collects her thoughts)

Mulder, I left behind a career in medicine because I thought that I could

make a difference at the FBI. But it hasn't turned out that way. And now

if they were to transfer me to Omaha or Cleveland, or some field office,

it just doesn't hold the interest for me that it once did. Not after what

I've seen and done.

MULDER: (realizing what she's saying) You're quitting.

SCULLY: Maybe you should ask yourself if your heart's still in it, too.

(Skinner comes back out for Mulder)

SKINNER: Agent Mulder, you're up.

SCULLY: (to Mulder) I'm sorry.

(Mulder begins to walk back to the boardroom)

SCULLY: Mulder. (she hands Mulder his jacket, which he left on the

bench) Good luck.

(Mulder enters the hearing room. Scully pauses for a moment,

then turns and leaves the building.)

CASEY'S BAR, SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON, DC

(DW NOTE: In the background you can hear the song "Crystal Ship" by X)

BARTENDER: (filling a glass) I'd say this just about exceeds your

minimum daily requirement.

(Mulder empties the glass and as he sets it down he knocks over some

of the numerous other glasses on the bar.)

BARTENDER: Whoa, you've gotta train for that kind of heavy lifting.

Poopy day?

(Mulder points his two index fingers at her, then points one finger on the

bar as a sign that he wants another. She clears away all the empty

glasses and places one on the bar to be filled. While he waits, Mulder

looks over his shoulder and notices a man at the bar watching him.)

BARTENDER: So, whaddya do?

MULDER: What do I do?

BARTENDER: Mmm hmm.

(Mulder takes a sip from his new drink, puts it down and begins his tale.)

MULDER: I'm the key figure in an on-going government charade,

the plot to conceal the truth about the existence of extraterrestrials.

(The bartender looks up at the last word, stops wiping down the bar,

he now has her full attention.) It's a global conspiracy, actually,

with key players in the highest levels of power, that reaches down

into the lives of every man, woman, and child on this planet.

(he laughs) So, of course, no one believes me. I'm an annoyance

to my superiors, a joke to my peers. They call me Spooky. Spooky

Mulder, whose sister was abducted by aliens when he was just a

kid and who now chases after little green men with a badge and a

gun, shouting to the heavens or to anyone who will listen that the

fix is in, that the sky is falling and when it hits it's gonna be the

shit-storm of all time.

BARTENDER: Well. I would say that about does it, Spooky.

(takes the drink away from Mulder)

MULDER: Does what?

BARTENDER: Well, looks like eighty-six is your lucky number.

(Mulder takes some money out of his wallet)

MULDER: You know, one is the loneliest number.

(Mulder looks over his shoulder again and sees the man is no longer

at the bar. He then gets up, wavers a bit, walks to the men's room and

finds it out of order. He knocks on the women's door and it's occupied.

He goes out the exit into the alley and relieves himself just above a

poster for the movie "Independence Day". (DW NOTE: ;-) here's what

Chris Carter commented on that dig at ID4: "I didn't imagine, it would

be anything other than a wink - an almost sudden you know -- it got a

big laugh in the screening I saw it at -- and I wrote a note to Dean

and Roland telling them that I hope they didn't feel 'this is it' at

their expense.") The man from the bar, Dr. Kurtzweil, walks outside.)

KURTZWEIL: That official FBI business?

MULDER: What?

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

Standing around holding your yank while bombs are exploding.

MULDER: (annoyed) Do I know you?

KURTZWEIL: No, but I've been watching your career for a good while,

back when you were just a promising young agent. Before that.

(Mulder continues his business, then turns his head towards Kurtzweil,

annoyed that he's still standing there.)

MULDER: You come out here for a reason?

KURTZWEIL: Yeah, I did.

(Kurtzweil unzips his pants, steps up to the wall and begins to relieve

himself. Mulder starts to walk inside.)

KURTZWEIL: My name is Kurtzweil, Doctor Alvin Kurtzweil.

MULDER: Am I supposed to know that name?

KURTZWEIL: An old friend of your father's.

(Mulder turns back around to look at Kurtzweil)

KURTZWEIL: Back at the Department of State we were what you

might call fellow travellers, but his disenchantment outlasted mine.

MULDER: All right.

(Mulder goes back into the bar, Kurtzweil quickly zips up and follows

him inside. Mulder walks to the coat rack where his jacket is hanging

and starts to put it on.)

MULDER: How'd ya find me?

KURTZWEIL: I heard you come in here now and again, figured you'd be

needing a little drinkie tonight.

MULDER: You a reporter?

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

MULDER: You've got something to tell me, you've got as much time as

it takes for me to hail a cab.

(Mulder and Kurtzweil are outside now, Mulder is raising his hand to

hail a cab.)

KURTZWEIL: There's something you don't know about the bombing in

Dallas.

MULDER: What's that?

KURTZWEIL: SAC Darius Michaud never tried, or intended, to defuse

that bomb.

MULDER: (skeptical voice) He just let it explode in his face, huh?

KURTZWEIL: What's the question no one's asking? (Mulder puts up

his arm to hail a cab.) 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 where found. But that's the thing ... the thing you

didn't know. The thing you'd never think to check. (pause)

Those people were already dead. (Mulder looks at him.)

MULDER: Before the bomb went off?

KURTZWEIL: That's what I'm saying.

MULDER: Darius Michaud was a twenty-two-year veteran of the Bureau.

KURTZWEIL: Michaud was a patriot. The people he was loyal to know

their way around Dallas. They blew that building to hide something,

maybe even something they couldn't predict.

(A Yellow Cab pulls up)

MULDER: You're telling me they blew up that entire building just to hide

the bodies of those firemen.

KURTZWEIL: (nods) And one little boy.

MULDER: I think you're full of shit.

KURTZWEIL: (laughs) Do you?

(Mulder enters the cab and closes the door, looking at Kurtzweil as he

stands on the curb.)

MULDER: Arlington, please. (the cab pulls away, Kurtzweil still standing

on the curb watching him leave. As the cab drives off, Mulder seems to

be contemplating their conversation, then he comes to a decision.)

Actually, you know, let's go to Georgetown. Let's go to Georgetown...

SCULLY'S APARTMENT, GEORGETOWN

(In the darkness of her bedroom, Scully lies awake in bed, staring at

the ceiling. She hears knocking on her door. She gets up and answers

it, finding Mulder on the other side.)

MULDER: Awww, I woke you ... ( he walks in) Did I wake you?

SCULLY: No.

MULDER: Why not? It's three in the morning...

SCULLY: Are you drunk, Mulder?

MULDER: I ... I ... I was until about 20 minutes ago, yeah.

SCULLY: Was that before or after you decided to come here?

MULDER: What exactly are you implying?

SCULLY: Go home, Mulder.

MULDER: No, get dressed, Scully.

SCULLY: It's late.

MULDER: Get dressed.

SCULLY: What are you doing?

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

NORTH TEXAS (BLACKWOOD)

(Two black helicopters fly across the moon. The area below them is a

"hive" of activity (TD NOTE: Sorry, couldn't help myself) as tanker

trucks and tractors criss-cross the landscape, punctuated by large

white tented domes. The copters land and a figure emerges from one,

his clothes flapping in the copters' blades' backwash. He walks a short

distance from the copter, stands and places a cigarette in his mouth.

From behind his head, we watch him light his ciggie as he stares at

two large white tents. Finally, the camera reveals his identity ....

it's the Cigarette Smoking Man (hereby known as CSM, although

I prefer to call him Cancer Man). Cue the audience's boos or cheers

depending on your allegiance. He starts to walk toward the tents.

Cut to inside one of the tents, many men, computers, readouts,

equipment, a cylinder being wheeled by, then we see a hole in the

ground, reinforced by steel as a man in a white bio-hazard suit

climbs out. Another man helps him remove his head gear, revealing

that it is Bronschweig. He looks over and sees CSM smoking his

cigarette. CSM steps over some equipment and walks to Bronschweig.)

CSM: You've got something to show me?

(Scene cuts to inside the hole, CSM now in a bio-hazard suit, climbing

down the ladder, Bronschweig already at the bottom.)

BRONSCHWEIG: We brought the atmosphere back down to freezing in

order to control the development, which is like nothing we've ever seen.

CSM: Brought on by what?

BRONSCHWEIG: Heat, I think. (they begin to walk down a staircase

towards another area in the hole.) The coincident invasion of a host,

the fireman, in an environment that raised his body temperature above

ninety-eight point six.

(They open the door of the other area where more men in biohazard suits

are working, the air inside giving off a steam associated with extreme cold.

Bronschweig pulls back a curtain, showing a man covered in goo, barely

breathing. CSM looks shocked.)

CSM: This man is still alive.

BRONSCHWEIG: Technically and biologically. But he'll never recover.

(The camera pans down the man's body. We can see something moving

inside his chest.)

CSM: How can this be?

BRONSCHWEIG: The developing organism is using his life energy ...

digesting bone and tissue ... we've just slowed the process. (CSM

keeps looking at the body in shock, his mouth agape.) Do you want

us to destroy this one, too? Before it gestates?

CSM: No, no. We need to try our vaccine on it.

BRONSCHWEIG: And if it's unsuccessful?

CSM: Burn it, like the others.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MARYLAND

(Nightime, an overhead camera shot shows cars driving along a road.

Cut to inside The Bethesda Naval Hospital as Mulder and Scully walk

down a hallway and reach a security desk.)

CLERK: ID and floor you're visiting, please.

MULDER: We're going down to the morgue.

CLERK: That area is currently off limits to anyone other than authorized

medical personel.

MULDER: On whose orders?

CLERK: General McAddie.

(Mulder signs the sign-in book, not sure what name he uses!)

MULDER: General McAddie is who requested our coming down here.

We were awakened at three AM and told to get down here immediately.

CLERK: I don't know anything about that.

MULDER: Well, call General McAddie. (he starts to walk away.)

CLERK: I don't have the number. (Mulder stops.)

MULDER: Well, then call the switchboard, they'll patch you through.

(Clerk starts to fumble through some papers.)

MULDER: Jesus, you don't know the switchboard number?

CLERK: I'm calling my C.O.

(He picks up the phone on his desk, Mulder puts his hand on the

receiver's button, cutting him off.)

MULDER: Listen, son, we don't have time to dick around while you

demonstrate your ignorance of the chain of command. The order came

directly from General McAddie, you call him. We'll conduct our

business while you confirm authorization.

(Mulder and Scully walk off, leaving the clerk standing with his phone

in his hand. Knowing when he's beaten, the clerk believes Mulder.)

CLERK: Why don't you head on down and I'll confirm authorization.

MULDER: Thank you. (quietly to Scully) Why is a morgue suddenly off

limits on the orders of a general?

(They arrive in a room full of bodies on gurneys, wrapped up with sheets

and tied with ropes. Mulder stops at one of them and looks at its toe tag.)

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

MULDER: According to the toe tag. (he starts to untie it.)

SCULLY: And you're looking for ...?

MULDER: Cause of death.

SCULLY: I can tell you that without even looking at him. (she picks

up a paper near the body's head and reads aloud.) "Concussive organ

failure due to proximal exposure to source and flying debris." Mulder,

this man's already been autopsied, you can tell by the way he's been

wrapped and dressed.

(Mulder pulls back the covering sheet. It sticks to a gooey substance

which covers the body.)

MULDER: Does this fit the description you just read me?

(Scully walks around to join Mulder on the other side of the gurney,

looks down and is shocked at the sight.)

SCULLY: Oh my God. This man's tissue, Mulder ...

MULDER: It's like jelly.

SCULLY: There's been some kind of cellular breakdown. (she snaps

on a pair of latex gloves, slides and pushes her fingers gently along

the body.) It's completely edematous. There's been no autopsy

performed here, no Y-incision, no internal exam.

MULDER: You抮e telling me the cause of death on that report is false?

That this man didn抰 die from an explosion or from flying debris?

SCULLY: Mulder, I can抰 tell you what killed this man.

I抦 not sure anybody else could claim to either.

(Mulder and Scully wheel the body into the lab.)

SCULLY: Mulder, you knew before we got here this man didn't die at

the bomb site.

MULDER: I've been told as much.

SCULLY: You're saying this is a coverup? Of what?

MULDER: I don抰 know, but I have a hunch that what you're gonna find

won't be categorized or easily referenced.

(Mulder walks over by the door.)

SCULLY: Mulder, this is gonna take some time. Somebody's going

to figure out sooner or later, that we're not even supposed to be here.

MULDER: We are being blamed for this man抯 death, I'd like to know

what he died of, wouldn't you?

(Mulder leaves the autopsy room.)

DUPONT CIRCLE

WASHINGTON, D.C.

4:50AM

(Scene cuts to a street, a garbage truck loading up as a taxicab

drives past. Inside the cab is Mulder.)

MULDER: (to cab driver): Think that's it up here.

(He's pointing to an apartment building swarming with cops.

Cut to Mulder entering an apartment, cops are all over the place.

He looks around, flips through a couple of magazines on a table

marked as "National Gynecology & Obstetrics" and "Obstetrics

& Gynecology". A detective passes by and looks at Mulder.)

DETECTIVE: Excuse me. Can I help you?

MULDER: Is this Dr. Kurtzweil's residence?

DETECTIVE: You have some kind of business with him?

MULDER: Yeah, I'm looking for him.

DETECTIVE: You're looking for him for what?

(Mulder pulls out his FBI badge and shows it to him.)

DETECTIVE: (over his shoulder to another detective) The feds are

looking for him too. (to Mulder) Real nice business he's got, huh?

(Mulder is looking through a bookshelf.)

MULDER: What抯 that?

DETECTIVE: Selling naked pictures of little kids on his computer.

(Mulder stops and looks at him, obviously surprised by this

development. He looks down at two books in his hand.)

You looking for him for some other reason?

(The first book in Mulder's hand is called, "The Four Horsemen Of

The Global Domination Conspiracy", the other, 揅ountdown to the

Apocalypse? both written by Kurtzweil.)

MULDER: Yeah .. (pause) I had an appointment for a pelvic examination.

(He looks up at the detective, gives him a goofy grin and the detective

laughs.)

DETECTIVE: You want a call if we turn up this Kurtzweil?

MULDER: (gives the detective a tap on the arm.) No, don't bother.

(Mulder leaves the apartment, then exits the building. He stands

outside looking around, sees Kurtzweil standing at the entrance

to the alley. He motions to Mulder to come closer. Mulder enters

the alley.)

KURTZWEIL: See this crap? Someone knows I'm talking to you.

MULDER: (sarcastically): Not according to the men in blue.

KURTZWEIL: Well, what is it this time? Kiddy porn again?

Sexual battery of a patient?

MULDER: They want to discredit you, for what?

KURTZWEIL: Because I'm a dangerous man.

Because I know too much about the truth.

MULDER: Oh, that end-of-the-world apocalyptic garbage you write?

KURTZWEIL: You know my work? (he smiles hopefully, but Mulder

gives him a slight snort and smile, then turns and starts to walk away.)

I was right about Dallas, wasn't I?

MULDER: (he stops and turns around.) How? How were you right?

KURTZWEIL: Are you familiar with the Hanta virus, Agent Mulder?

MULDER: Yeah, it was a deadly virus spread by field mice in the

southwestern United States several years ago.

KURTZWEIL: According to the newspaper, FEMA was called out to

manage an outbreak of the Hanta virus. Are you familiar with what

the Federal Emergency Management Agency抯 real power is? FEMA

allows the White House to suspend constitutional government upon

declaration of a national emergency. Think about that! What is an

agency with such broad-sweeping power doing managing a small

viral outbreak in suburban Texas?

MULDER: You抮e saying it wasn抰 such a small outbreak.

KURTZWEIL: No, I抦 saying it wasn抰 the Hanta virus.

MULDER: Well, what was it?

(Another police car pulls up to the front of the building.

Mulder and Kurtzweil walk farther into the alleyway.)

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.

MULDER: What killed those men?

KURTZWEIL: What killed them I won't even write about! We have no

context for what killed those men, or any appreciation of the scale

at which it will be unleashed in the future.

MULDER: A plague?

KURTZWEIL: The plague to end all plagues, Agent Mulder. A silent

weapon for a quiet war. The systematic release of an indiscriminant

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 have been 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.

The president will declare a state of emergency, at which time all

government, all federal agencies, will come under the power of the

Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA, the secret

government.

MULDER: And they call me paranoid.

KURTZWEIL: Go back to Dallas, Agent Mulder, and dig. Or we're

gonna find out along with the rest of the country, when it's too late.

(Back at the morgue, Scully is conducting the autopsy. She cuts out

a piece of the ribcage and holds it up to look at it. It's clear. All of a

sudden, she hears footsteps and sees a soldier and two policemen

silhouetted in the frosted window of the autopsy room. The soldier

opens the door, looks around, but finds no Scully. The scene cuts

to inside the refrigeration room where the bodies are being kept,

Scully's slowly closing the door behind her. She removes her mask

and gloves. Her cell phone rings, echoing off the walls, making it

sound twice as loud as usual. She grabs it quickly and punches

the button to answer, cutting off the noise.)

MULDER: (over phone) Hey, Scully, it's me...

SCULLY: (whispering): Yeah?

MULDER: Why are you whispering?

SCULLY: (whispering): Mulder, 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: All right, listen to me. I'm going home and then I'm booking

myself on a flight to Dallas. I'm going to get you a ticket too.

SCULLY: Mulder ....

MULDER: I need you there with me. I need your expertise.

SCULLY: Mulder, I have a hearing tomorrow...

MULDER: I can get you back in time for that hearing, maybe with

evidence that will blow it away.

SCULLY: Mulder, I can't! I'm way past the point of common sense here.

MULDER: This has nothing to do with common sense. Scully?

Are you there? Scully? (she has hung up on him. He slams the

phone down in anger, opens the door to the phone booth and the

scene cuts to the soldier opening the door to the refrigerated room

where Scully is. He walks in, the sound of his boots echoing off the

walls, and the camera pans down to show us Scully's hiding place:

on the floor under one of the gurneys. A substance drips down from

above, ewwwww.)

DALLAS, TEXAS

11:21 AM

FBI FIELD OFFICE

(The scene cuts to an airplane landing. Next we see Mulder walking

down a hallway with the Field Agent.)

FIELD AGENT: I'm afraid what you're looking for amounts to a needle in

a haystack. This explosion was so devastating there hasn't been much

that we've been able to put together just yet.

(They've now entered the lab area, specimens lie on the tables and men

in lab coats are working on them.)

MULDER: Well, I'm looking for anything out of the ordinary really. Maybe

something from the FEMA offices where those bodies where found?

FIELD AGENT: Well, we weren't expecting to find those remains,

of course, and we sent 'em off to Washington.

MULDER: Well, anything from those offices that you haven't send off

to D.C. yet?

FIELD AGENT: Some bone fragments turned up in the sift this morning.

We thought we had another fatality but we found out FEMA recovered

them from an archeological site out of town.

MULDER: Have you examined them?

FIELD AGENT: No, they're just fossils, as far as we know.

(Scully enters and stands by the doorway, Mulder sees her.

He points at her and says to the field agent .... )

MULDER: I'd like you to let this person take a look at them,

if you don't mind.

(The field agent turns around, sees Scully and turns back to Mulder)

FIELD AGENT: (sighs) Just let me see if I can lay my hands on what

you're looking for. (he walks off)

(While the field agent is collecting the samples, Scully walks over to

where Mulder is standing and they talk quietly.)

MULDER: I thought you said you weren't coming.

SCULLY: I wasn't planning on it. Particularly not after spending a half

an hour in cold storage this morning. But I got a better look at the

blood and tissue samples I took from the fireman.

MULDER: And what did you find?

SCULLY: Something I couldn't show to anybody else. Not without

causing the kind of attention I'd just as soon avoid right now.

(She looks over Mulder's shoulder at the field agent, seeing if he's on

his way back before continuing.)

SCULLY: But, what those men were infected with contains a protein code

that I've never seen before. What it did to them, it did extremely fast.

MULDER: How was it contracted?

SCULLY: That I don't know. But, unless it can respond to conventional

treatment, it could be a serious health threat.

(The field agent returns with the fossils.)

FIELD AGENT: Like I said, these are just fossils, but they weren't near

the blast center so they're not going to tell you much.

MULDER: (handing Scully a vial containing some bone fragments)

Right, right, why don't you check this out.

(Scully looks through the microscope, ominous music swells in the

background and she looks up at Mulder, her eyes wide. Mulder turns

to the field agent.)

MULDER: You said you knew the location where these were found?

FIELD AGENT: Show you right on the map.

(He walks off towards the map, we presume, as Scully and Mulder

look at each other. Mulder's lip curls slightly in a yeah-sure-it-was

an-archeological-dig sneer.)

NORTH TEXAS (BLACKWOOD)

(The camera pans up with a child as he climbs a slide and stands at

the top, looking over a fence. The music swells again as we see the

other side of the fence. Three large white domes stand in what appears

to be endless desert. Next we see under one of the domes as someone

removes a silvery tube from a hole (oxygen pump, I believe) as a

person-sized container is swung over the hole via a winch. Bronschweig

appears in a bio-hazard suit and looks at some gauges at the top

of the container. He speaks to the men moving the container.)

BRONSCHWEIG: I want all of these settings checked and recalibrated.

I want a steady, negative two degrees celcius throughout the transfer

of the body after I've administered the vaccine.

(Bronschweig's hood is pulled up. Next we see him with his head fully

covered by a see-through helmet at the bottom of the ladder leading

into the hole. He walks down the stairs he led Cancer Man down, picks

up the vaccine and turns to face the fireman's body. The chest area is

empty, the alien entity once encased there is gone! Bronschweig's eyes

swell to twice normal size and the music alerts us to his horror. He looks

anxiously around the room for the alien, then whips off his headgear to

get a better view. Finding nothing, he races towards the ladder and yells

up to the men at the top.)

BRONSCHWEIG: It's gone!

ONE OF THE MEN AT THE TOP: What?!

(Bronschweig begins climbing the ladder.)

BRONSCHWEIG: It's left the body, I think it's gestated!

(He stops climbing as he hears a noise and looks off to the side.)

ONE OF THE MEN AT THE TOP: What's the matter?

BRONSCHWEIG: Wait ... I can see it. (he climbs back down and

stands at the bottom. We can see a figure glistening in the darkness.)

Oh ... Jesus .... Lord ....

ONE OF THE MEN AT THE TOP: Ya, ya see it?!

BRONSCHWEIG: So much for little green men. (he begins to fumble

with a pouch on his hip, taking out the needle and a small bottle with

the green liquid vaccine.) I need you down here!

(The two men at the top of the ladder look at each other, one nods

and the other races away from the hole, we assume he's going for a

bio-hazard suit. Down in the hole, Bronschweig fills the needle with

the vaccine and stands looking for the alien, but he keeps hearing

noises and is not sure where they're coming from. He twists his head

from side to side, trying to narrow it down. Suddenly we see a clear

view of the alien, behind him, straight out of a '50's B-movie, looking

like a guy in a cheap suit, missing only the zipper up its back. Personal

opinion, natch. Its claws appear from out of its hand, somewhat like a cat.

Bronschweig sees him, he hears the alien's blood-curdling and hair-raising

screech and in a flash the alien is all over him like a cheap suit, slicing

his face with his claws. Bronschweig manages to stab the alien with the

needle, it screams again and then Bronschweig drags himself back to

the ladder and holds onto to it for dear life. A group of the men have now

gathered at the top of the hole, one in a bio-hazard suit.)

BRONSCHWEIG: Help! I need help!

(Suddenly the top part of the ladder is pulled aside, the cover is placed

on and Bronschweig, who has begun climbing his end of the ladder,

looks up.)

BRONSCHWEIG: What are you doing?!

(The hole starts to be covered with dirt.)

BRONSCHWEIG: What are you doing?! Ohhh ....

(From the darkness, the alien grabs him and pulls him down.

We hear a scream ....)

SOMERSET, ENGLAND

(The scream was the playful yell of a small child playing in a lovely

British garden with his friends. They run around for a moment or two

then a woman, possibly the nanny, claps her hands as they run off.

The camera pans to a man seated on the terrace of what appears to

be a huge mansion, watching with a smile. It's the Well-Manicured Man

(WMM). He sips his tea and gives a small chuckle at the goings-on.

A servant appears from out of the mansion.)

SERVANT: Sir, you have a call.

(WMM looks disappointed. He walks inside and picks up a phone.)

WMM: Yes?

CSM (voice on the phone): We have a situation. The members are

assembling.

WMM: Is it an emergency?

CSM: Yes. A meeting has been set, tonight in London to determine

a course.

WMM: Who called this meeting?

CSM: Strughold. He just got on a plane in Tunis.

(From the garden comes a child's yell, not a playful one and WMM

turns towards the window to look. He hangs up the phone and runs

over to the window. One of the children is lying down and holding his

leg. Concern on his face, WMM begins to quickly go outside to see

what has happened.)

LONDON, ENGLAND

(We see the outside of a building, Albert's Hall in the background,

I believe. A black car pulls up in front and WMM gets out. A servant

holds the car door open for him.)

WMM: Has Strughold arrived?

SERVANT Yes, they're waiting in the library, sir.

(They enter the building and walk into a room where a group of men,

usually known as The Consortium but now called The Syndicate

since the movie's release, are gathered. In front of them, a monitor

is showing a frozen image of Mulder and Scully as they entered the

morgue. Strughold stands up.)

STRUGHOLD: We began to worry. Some of us have travelled so far

and you are the last to arrive.

WMM: I'm sorry. My grandson fell and broke his leg.

(Pregnant pause while nobody answers "Gee, sorry to hear that.")

STRUGHOLD: While we have been made to wait, we watched

surveilance tapes which have raised more concerns.

WMM: More concerns on what?

STRUGHOLD: We have been forced to reassess our role in Colonization

by new effects in biology which have .... presented themselves.

FIRST ELDER: The virus has mutated.

WMM: Into what?

STRUGHOLD: A new extraterrestrial biological entity.

WMM: My God!

STRUGHOLD: The geometry of mass infection presents certain

conceptual reevaluations for us about our place in the Colonization.

(WMM begins to walk towards Strughold, barely containing his anger

and amazement at their foolishness. Well, just a guess there!)

WMM: This isn't Colonization, this is spontaneous repopulation!

All our work! .... If it's true, they've been using us all along! We've

been labouring under a lie!

SECOND ELDER: It could be an isolated case.

WMM: How can we know?!

STRUGHOLD: We're going to tell them what we've found, what we've

learned by turning over a body infected with the gestating organism.

WMM: In hope of what? Learning that it's true? That we are nothing

but digestives for the creation of a new race of alien life-forms?!

By cooperating now, we are but beggers to our own demise.

STRUGHOLD: Cooperation is the only chance of saving ourselves.

CSM: 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.

WMM: (shakes his head) My lateness might just as well have been