(The desert heat blankets the rough surface. Albert Hosteen talks over it.)

ALBERT HOSTEEN: To the Navajo, the earth and its creatures have great influence over our existence.

(A family of bears walks up a hill as a storm gathers.)

The stories passed from generation to generation help us to understand the reason for our tears of sadness and our tears of joy.

(Various scenes of desert.)

Animals like the bear, the spider and the coyote are powerful symbols to our people. When the F.B.I. man Mulder was cured by the holy people, we were reminded of the story of the Gila monster, who symbolizes the healing powers of the medicine man.

(A storm grows as thunder cracks.)

In this myth, the Gila monster restores a man by taking all his parts and putting them back together. His blood is gathered by ants, his eyes and ears by sun, his mind by Talking God and Pollen Boy. Then lightning and thunder bring the man back to life.

(Lightning blasts into the clouds from the ground, the air crackling with energy. Lightning rockets through the clouds, thunder echoing.)

At the end of the ceremony, when the F.B.I. man had been healed, we heard the news from other Native Americans in the northern plains that a great event had taken place.

(A truck drives up a dirt road to a barn. Men get out and run into the barn.)

Like the Navajo, these people have their own stories and myths. One of these stories tells of the white buffalo woman who came down from the heavens and taught the Indians how to lead virtuous lives and how to pray to the creator. She told the people she would return one day, then she turned into a white buffalo and ascended into the clouds, never to be seen again.

(Inside, people are taking care of a small white buffalo calf.)

But on this day, when the holy people had given the F.B.I. man a miracle, a white buffalo was born and every Native American knew, whether he believed the story or not, that this was a powerful omen and that great changes were coming.

(Skinner is sitting on his hands on the couch. Scully sits across from him in a chair, gun aimed directly at her boss. The masking taped "X" is on the window, as well as the bullethole under the center of it.)

SKINNER: I've got the digital tape.

SCULLY: You're lying.

SKINNER: I've got it in my pocket. I took it out of Mulder's desk.

(Scully hears footsteps approaching and turns to see a shadow covering the light shining under the door. Skinner looks back at her and pulls out his gun. She looks back at him quickly and they both have their guns fixed on one another. Neither member of the stand-off is willing to flinch. They stand up. Skinner is very angry, Scully looks more frightened than anything else.)

Drop your weapon! Put it down, Scully!

SCULLY: No way.

SKINNER: I said put it down!

SCULLY: I said no! You're setting me up!

SKINNER: I'm trying to help you.

SCULLY: Then put your weapon down and sit down.

SKINNER: Not a chance.

SCULLY: You said you weren't here to kill me, Skinner, now prove it.

SKINNER: I didn't come here to have a gun shoved in my face either.

SCULLY: Damn it, Skinner!

(Mulder kicks down the door to his own apartment and aims his gun at Skinner. Skinner is shocked, Scully is even moreso. Skinner points his gun at Mulder.)

MULDER: Drop your weapon! I said...

SKINNER: Back off!

MULDER: I said put it down!

SKINNER: What the hell is this? What are you pulling here?

MULDER: You okay, Scully?

SCULLY: Yeah.

MULDER: Get his gun.

(She reaches out for his gun.)

Give her the gun. Give it to her!

SKINNER: All right.

(Faced with no other choice, he hands her the gun. Mulder lowers his weapon.)

MULDER: Now, I want an explanation.

(Scully keeps her gun trained on Skinner.)

SCULLY: I was warned that somebody would kill me... someone I trusted.

SKINNER: I'm going to reach into my coat pocket and end this charade... all right?

(Mulder nods. Skinner pulls out the DAT tape.)

I assume you both know what this is? Now, I want an explanation.

MULDER: Your cigarette-smoking friend killed my father for that tape, and then he killed me.

SKINNER: What are you talking about?

MULDER: I was a dead man. Now, I'm back.

SKINNER: What is on this tape?

MULDER: Defense department files that weren't supposed to exist. The truth about our government's involvement in a global conspiracy of silence about the existence of extraterrestrial life.

(Scully reaches out for the tape.)

SCULLY: Give me the tape.

SKINNER: Uh-uh, this tape stays with me.

(Mulder cocks his gun and aims it.)

MULDER: Give her the tape.

SKINNER: If what you say is true, the information on this tape is valuable enough to kill for. Then it's the only leverage we've got to bring these men to justice. It's not going to do us any good if it falls back into their hands!

MULDER: Then you better make sure it doesn't.

(He uncocks his gun and lowers it.)

Come on, Scully, let's go.

SCULLY: Where?

MULDER: There are truths out there that aren't on that tape.

(He walks out. She glares at Skinner, then puts his gun on the desk and walks out. Skinner looks at the tape and puts it in his pocket. Down the hall, Mulder presses the down button for the elevator and looks at Scully, who walks up to him. She stares at him for a second, then looks down, smiling.)

SCULLY: Mulder, I am...

MULDER: Scully, whatever you're going to say...

SCULLY: I went to your father's funeral. I told your mother that you were going to be okay.

MULDER: How did you know?

(The elevator dings.)

SCULLY: I just knew.

(The door opens and Scully walks past him into the elevator. He follows and presses a button. The door closes.)

(Margaret Scully runs in and goes to the nearest doctor. People are talking and moving.)

MAN: If you'd wait there, sir...

MARGARET SCULLY: Uh, my daughter was brought here. I'm trying to find her.

DOCTOR: Okay, all right, what's her name?

MARGARET SCULLY: Scully. Dana Scully.

(He stops and looks back at her.)

DOCTOR: Melissa Scully?

MARGARET SCULLY: No, no... that's her sister.

DOCTOR: Well, we just had a Melissa Scully in surgery with a cranial gunshot wound.

(Margaret shakes her head slightly. She runs into her hospital room and sees her lying on the bed, her face taped up and hooked up to a respirator. Margaret's whole body tenses up. A nurse is checking over her charts. Margaret goes over to Melissa and takes her hand, crying.)

MARGARET SCULLY: Missy? It's Mom.

DOCTOR: We took drastic precautionary measures due to the nature of the head wound. We've induced coma to try and relieve the trauma on the brain.

MARGARET SCULLY: Is she going to be okay?

DOCTOR: We've done everything we can right now. We'll being monitoring her around the clock.

(He looks at her as she tries to stop crying.)

Nurse, why don't we get Mrs. Scully a comfortable chair?

(Langly, Scully, Byers and Mulder are all looking at the consotorium photograph under a magnifying glass. From left to right, the men lined up are the Cigarette-Smoking Man, William Mulder, Victor Klemper, the 1st Elder, Deep Throat, the 3rd Elder, the 2nd Elder and the Well-Manicured Man.)

MULDER: That's my father on the left there.

BYERS: This was taken when?

MULDER: About 1973.

BYERS: Amazing. Langly, take a look.

(Byers walks around Mulder as Langly walks over to the magnifying glass.)

SCULLY: Do you recognize any of these men?

BYERS: Are you familiar with a post-World War II project known as Operation Paper Clip?

MULDER: Our deal with the devil. The U.S. government provided safe haven for certain Nazi war criminals in exchange for their scientific knowledge.

(Langly points out Klemper.)

LANGLY: I know who this man is. Victor Klemper.

(Mulder looks through the magnifying glass.)

BYERS: The man standing next to your father is one of those criminals, though not the most famous of the bunch. Wernher von Braun, designer of the V-2 rockets that leveled London, may be the most notorious, but Victor Klemper certainly takes the prize for the most... evil Nazi to escape the Nuremburg trials.

SCULLY: What did he do?

LANGLY: He experimented on the Jews... drowned them, suffocated them, put them in pressure chambers. All in the name of science.

BYERS: Together with Von Braun, Klemper helped us win the space race. Using his scientific data on the effects of high-altitude flying, we were able to put astronauts on the moon before the Soviets.

LANGLY: One giant step for mankind.

SCULLY: What would he be doing in a photo with your father?

MULDER: I don't know. Do you recognize anybody else in the photograph?

(Langly shakes his head.)

BYERS: No. Operation Paper Clip was supposed to have been scrapped in the 1950s but if this is 1973...

SCULLY: Whatever happened to Klemper?

LANGLY: He's still here, living very well at the expense of the American taxpayer.

(The door opens and they turn to see Frohike, who stands in the doorway and looks at Mulder.)

FROHIKE: Unbelieveable! We thought you were history.

(They hug.)

MULDER: You're going to have to wait a little longer for my video collection, Frohike.

LANGLY: Where were you? We were looking all over.

FROHIKE: Down at D.C. general, I was scanning the police frequency when I heard the report of a shooting.

(He takes off his hat and looks at Scully.)

Agent Scully...

SCULLY: What, what is it?

FROHIKE: Your sister's in critical condition.

(She looks at Mulder then walks out.)

MULDER: Scully...

(He follows her down the stairs.)

Scully, wait. Scully! Scully, wait! Scully!

(He grabs her shoulder and turns her around.)

SCULLY: I have to go there, Mulder.

MULDER: You can't go.

SCULLY: That bullet was meant for me.

MULDER: If they're trying to kill you, that's the first place they're going to look.

SCULLY: Those bastards...

MULDER: We're going to call someone I think can help. It's the only thing you can do for her right now is try to crucify them.

(Cars honk outside. Inside, there is another meeting. The five main members are seated except for the 2nd Elder.)

1ST ELDER: This is a serious mistake. An innocent woman has been shot.

2ND ELDER: Can this be traced?

3RD ELDER: This is your man.

(He looks at the Cigarette-Smoking Man, who is smoking.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: There was a mistake. It will be rectified.

WELL-MANICURED MAN: By whom? By whom will this be rectified? Your ridiculously ineffectual assassins?

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: These men are professionals.

WELL-MANICURED MAN: This is not a profession for men who make mistakes. My God, you presume to make us believe you can simply fix it with enough bullets?

(The Cigarette-Smoking Man stirs uncomfortably in his chair.)

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: No.

WELL-MANICURED MAN: This woman... Scully... I know she believes her partner is still alive.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: Mulder's dead. I took care of it myself.

WELL-MANICURED MAN: And the computer tape containing the stolen files you tell us was recovered... you can show it to us?

(The 2nd Elder leans against the mantle, smoking a cigar.)

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: I wasn't aware that my honesty was in question or doubt.

1ST ELDER: You have the tape?

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: Of course I have it.

2ND ELDER: I think I'd like to see it.

3RD ELDER: So would I.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: I have vouchsafed it for reasons of security.

(He puts out his cigarette and stands.)

I'll have it here for you tomorrow... by which time this whole matter will have been cleared up.

(He walks out as the rest of the consotorium watches him go.

(Victor Klemper is working on his flowers. His greenhouse is full of beautiful and lavish flowers, all in bloom. The door opens and Mulder and Scully walk in and over to him.)

MULDER: Victor Klemper?

VICTOR KLEMPER: Yes?

MULDER: My name is Fox Mulder, this is Dana Scully.

VICTOR KLEMPER: Your name is Mulder?

MULDER: Yes. I think you knew my father.

VICTOR KLEMPER: What's this about?

MULDER: When you came to this country, you did some work for our government.

VICTOR KLEMPER: I'm an old man now. History bores me.

SCULLY: Because it escaped you or because you escaped it?

VICTOR KLEMPER: Freud, Salk, Crick, Watson... these will be the names they celebrate at the end of the millenium. Great scientists. And Klemper? He will be remembered only as a butcher.

SCULLY: History may be the only justice you'll ever know.

VICTOR KLEMPER: Do you know my work? Do you know what we accomplished?

SCULLY: As a Nazi or for the blood money we paid you?

VICTOR KLEMPER: We were young men caught in a fervor but our experiments changed the world.

SCULLY: For a lot of innocent Jews.

VICTOR KLEMPER: Progress demands sacrifice, and I... I have confronted my demons. And soon I will die too.

MULDER: Like my father. They killed him and I believe you know why.

VICTOR KLEMPER: I believe they would kill anyone if it is in the best interest of the work.

MULDER: Well, what is this "work" that my father was involved in?

VICTOR KLEMPER: I have no answer for you.

MULDER: Well, you knew him! Was he a murderer too?

(He hands Klemper the photograph.)

VICTOR KLEMPER: There are some things you don't have to know.

MULDER: No, I need to know! I need to know the truth! Isn't that what you want? For the truth to be known?

VICTOR KLEMPER: Do you know the formula of Napier's constant?

SCULLY: Yes, why?

VICTOR KLEMPER: The photo was taken at the Strughold Mining Company in West Virginia and that is all I will tell you. The rest you can find out yourself.

MULDER: Let's go, Scully.

(He starts off. She glares at him for a long time, deep contempt in her eyes. He smiles and she feels a little remorse. The agents walk out.)

(An aide picks up the phone as it rings.)

AIDE: Hello?

(Klemper says something illegible.)

AIDE: Yes, one moment.

(He hands the phone to the Well-Manicured Man.)

It's for you, sir.

WELL-MANICURED MAN: Yes?

VICTOR KLEMPER: It's Klemper.

WELL-MANICURED MAN: Victor...

(Cut to Klemper, who is still in his greenhouse.)

VICTOR KLEMPER: How are you, old friend? It's been far too many years.

(Cut back to New York.)

WELL-MANICURED MAN: What is it, Victor?

(Cut to the greenhouse.)

VICTOR KLEMPER: Oh, I was just paid a visit by the son of one of our old colleagues.

(Cut to the Well-Manicured Man, who is shocked.)

WELL-MANICURED MAN: What did you tell him, Victor?

VICTOR KLEMPER: I told him that you were the most venal man I've ever met.

(Cut to Klemper.)

Beyond that, I told him nothing.

(Cut to the Well-Manicured Man, who hears a click. He turns off the phone, his face aghast.)

WELL-MANICURED MAN: Mulder is alive.

(The room grows quiet.)

1ST ELDER: Then I think it's time we call our friends who will handle this matter more satisfactorily.

(He puts his cup of coffee down on the mantle and walks away.)

(Margaret watches her daughter lie on the bed with cold eyes full of sorrow. A man walks by outside, looking into the room as he goes. She turns and looks at him. A nurse walks in.)

NURSE: Are you expecting any visitors?

MARGARET SCULLY: Oh, is it Dana? Is Dana here?

NURSE: No, it's a man. He says he was asked to come here.

(Albert Hosteen walks in behind her.)

ALBERT HOSTEEN: My name is Albert Hosteen. I was asked to come here and help with your daughter.

MARGARET SCULLY: There must be some mistake.

ALBERT HOSTEEN: Is your daughter the F.B.I. woman?

MARGARET SCULLY: Dana?

ALBERT HOSTEEN: Yes. She's very sorry she can't come here to comfort you.

MARGARET SCULLY: You know where she is? Is she okay?

ALBERT HOSTEEN: Yes, I believe so.

(He puts his bag down and walks over to Melissa. Taking her hand, Margaret watches him.)

She is weak.

MARGARET SCULLY: She's getting better. She has the best doctors, they're watching her around the clock.

ALBERT HOSTEEN: If it's all right, I would like to pray over her here.

(Margaret nods slightly.)

(Mulder and Scully drive up a dirt road and come to the Strughold Mining Facility. They look at the huge complex built into the mountain. They open the old door and walk inside. Birds fly out of the rafters. The door slams behind them as they take in all of the massive complex. They start up the stairs.)

SCULLY: What do you think your father would have been doing here?

MULDER: I don't know. He never came home wearing a miner's cap.

SCULLY: Mulder, take a look at this.

(Mulder runs down a catwalk to a floor containing large black high-tech doors. Scully quickly follows.)

What do you think?

MULDER: I'd like to try door number one, Monty.

(He pushes a few numbers into a red keypad on the first keypad. Scully goes to the second door and tries it.)

I'm trying two-seven-eight-two-eight, it's not working.

(Fan and mathematician Rob Wade notes that the scriptwriters made an error here, omitting a digit. Napier's Constant, also known as e, is an irrational number beginning 2.71828...)

SCULLY: It's not working here either.

(He runs down to the fifth door and tries it, she goes to the fourth.)

MULDER: Sure that's the right number?

SCULLY: Positive. Napier's constant is the basis of all natural logarithms.

MULDER: I think with a crowbar and a small nuclear device, I might be able to get through one of these things.

(She pushes the access code and the red lights on the keypad turn to green. The door unlatches.)

SCULLY: Mulder...

(He runs over.)

No, wait, hang on a second. Whatever we find in here... I don't think you've had time to process everything that you've been through.

MULDER: I'm okay, Scully...

SCULLY: You weren't even able to go to your father's funeral and if something in here were to cast doubt on the kind of man he was... I, I just know how it would affect me.

(Mulder nods and Scully turns the handle.)

(The Cigarette-Smoking Man turns the door handle to Skinner's office and walks in. Skinner, sitting at his desk, looks up at him.)

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: You called me.

SKINNER: Yes, I did.

(He gets up and walks over.)

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: About?

SKINNER: I may have located the digital tape that you're looking for.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: You may have located it?

SKINNER: Yes, although there's a great chance it may fall into the hands of people who want to use it for purposes not your own.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: You want to work a deal? Is that what this is? Let me tell you something. I don't work deals.

SKINNER: I just thought you should know of certain potentialities.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: Do you have the tape?

SKINNER: As I said, I may have located it.

(The Cigarette-Smoking Man literally screams in Skinner's face.)

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: Do you have the damn tape?!

SKINNER: I'll know more when we next meet.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: I do not negotiate. Do you understand?

SKINNER: Yes, sir.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: I don't think you do. I don't think you understand at all.

SKINNER: No, I'm quite aware of your policies in those regards.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: Then I hope your next course of action will be more... cautious and informed.

(He takes a drag from his cigarette and walks out.)

(Mulder and Scully walk down a long cavern, shining their flashlights as they go.)

SCULLY: Mulder, look at this.

(On the walls, she can make out various file cabinets.)

It looks like their storing records.

MULDER: Of what?

(Scully pulls open a drawer and looks at the various folders.)

SCULLY: Of medical files, by the look of it. Got names... alphabetized.

(Mulder goes to a switch in the wall and flips it. The hallway lights up, revealing thousands upon thousands of file cabinets lined up, ceiling to floor.)

MULDER: Lots of files.

SCULLY: Lots and lots of files.

(He runs back over to her.)

MULDER: What's in these files?

SCULLY: Standard medical forms. These are birth certificates, small pox vaccination certificate and then there's this.

(She points to a small container in a bag that is marked "Sterile, do not tamper." He looks at it.)

MULDER: What is this?

SCULLY: It's an old tissue collection cassette, the new ones are plastic.

MULDER: Do all these files contain the same materials?

SCULLY: Yes, exactly.

(She puts the file back.)

MULDER: What year was this person born?

SCULLY: 1955. All of these files are 1955.

MULDER: What year were you born?

SCULLY: 1964, why?

MULDER: Let's go find 1964.

(They run down the hallway and find 1964. Mulder pulls the drawer open.)

SCULLY: You're looking for a file on me?

(He finds it and pulls it out.)

MULDER: "Dana Katherine Scully."

SCULLY: What?

(Scully runs her fingers down the bag with the tissue collection box. The vaccination sheet on her reads:

"SMALL POX VACC.
No. 29510 Int.
Scully, Dana Katherine
3170 W. 53 Road
Indianapolis, Maryland")

That's a recent tissue sample. What the hell is going on here, Mulder?

MULDER: I don't know, Scully.

(He puts it back and runs down the hallway to another drawer. He pulls it open and pulls out another file.)

SCULLY: That's your sister's file.

MULDER: Yeah.

(He scans down the page.)

SCULLY: What are you looking for?

MULDER: I don't know.

(He looks at the file name, which reads:

"SUBJECT NAME: MULDER, Samantha Ann
BIRTH DATE: 11/21/65 ID 378671")

Take a look at this, Scully.

(He pulls it back to reveal another sticker which reads:

"SUBJECT NAME: MULDER, Fox William
BIRTH DATE: 10/13/61 ID 292544")

This file was originally mine.

SCULLY: I don't understand.

(The lights turn off and a loud rumbling emanates from outside. Mulder turns on his flashlight.)

MULDER: Wait here, Scully.

SCULLY: Mulder, where are you going?

(Mulder starts off, running quickly past the file cabinets. He opens the door to the main room and a bright light shines through the bottom windows.)

Mulder?

(She continues to search the area. A hissing sound comes from behind her.)

Mulder!

(Suddenly, a number of small of alien-shaped organisms run past Scully. The flashlight swings around wildly, the light catching small parts of the alien hybrids. Scully drops her flashlight. She picks it up and starts after them. The light through the windows in front of Mulder rises up to the higher windows as he stands in awe. It keeps gaining height until it is directly in front of Mulder. He runs up the stairs and outside to see a large unidentified flying object moving over him. The light is intense, almost blinding, but Mulder's eyes do not move from the spaceship. It disappears over a ridge. Scully continues down the hallway until she comes to a mining cart rail. At the end of the tunnel, the bright light from the UFO shines through. She sees a small hybrid-shaped silhouette standing at the end of the tunnel. The silhouette grows larger and taller as the light grows stronger. The silhouette is incredibly defined and looks human before the light disappears. A number of black fleet sedans pull up and Mulder spins around to look at them. He quickly runs back inside as men file out of the cars, cocking shotguns.)

MAN #1: Come on, let's go!

(The men runs inside as Mulder runs down stairs. They see each other at the same time and Mulder begins running down the catwalk.)

MAN #2: There!

(Sparks fly off of the metal bars behind Mulder as they fire at him. The bullets richochet off as Mulder runs down more stairs and keeps going. The men stop firing as Mulder is gone from their field of vision. A few run off in that direction.)

MAN #3: Find the woman too.

(Mulder speeds across the catwalk and down more stairs. A man fires at him and he crouches on the steps to avoid the fire. He then jumps over the railing and falls to the ground. Grunting, he obtains cover by hiding behind a box. He makes a break for the door and runs inside as gunfire rattles off behind him. He slams the door shut and the red keypad flashes back on. The men run over and one of them enters the access code. The lights turn green and they fling open the door. Mulder shines his flashlight down the dark tunnel. His voice echoes.)

MULDER: Scully!

SCULLY: Mulder!

(He follows the sound of her voice.)

MULDER: Scully!

(The hit squad are gaining on him but begin to get lost in the system of tunnels.)

SCULLY: Mulder, I'm down here!

(She shines her flashlight around wildly and Mulder heads towards it. They meet each other halfway.)

MULDER: You okay, Scully?

SCULLY: I heard gunshots.

MULDER: I've been looking for you.

SCULLY: What happened to you?

MULDER: They got a small army outside. I think they got us trapped.

SCULLY: I think there's a way out, down here.

(They run in the direction Scully was coming from. Running past more filing cabinets, they find a back door and Mulder slams the door behind them as they run off.)

(Morning. Skinner pulls up to a local diner and walks in, putting his keys in his pocket. The room is bright and relatively quiet. He sits down at a table against the wall where Mulder and Scully are seated. The two agents have food in front of them.)

SKINNER: This place isn't even on the map. How'd you get here?

MULDER: You'd be surprised what's not on the map in this country and what our government will do to keep it that way.

SKINNER: How's that?

MULDER: Last night, we were chased by some kind of hit squad driving what looked an awful lot like C.I.A. fleet sedans.

(Skinner stays silent for a few seconds.)

SKINNER: Well, I may be able to negotiate a deal that would guarantee your safety.

SCULLY: What kind of deal?

SKINNER: I'll turn over the digital tape in return for your reinstatement...

MULDER: No, sir. I need that tape. I need those files.

SKINNER: I'm talking about a way to save your lives.

MULDER: And I'm talking about an elaborate conspiracy against the American public. Do you know what we found last night?

SKINNER: What?

SCULLY: An extremely elaborate filing system of medical records.

MULDER: Locked inside a mountain vault.

SKINNER: For the purpose of?

MULDER: I don't know. But the answer's got to be on that tape, in those files.

SKINNER: Is that answer worth your lives?

MULDER: It's obviously worth killing us for.

SKINNER: In your wildest dreams, what do you possibly hope to find, Agent Mulder?

MULDER: Why they killed my father... and what happened to my sister... and what they did to Agent Scully.

SCULLY: I think we should let him make the deal, Mulder.

(He looks at her in shock.)

Look... those answers mean nothing if we're going to be hunted down like animals. We are operating so far outside of the law right now, we've given up on the very notion of justice. We've turned ourselves into outsiders. We have lost our access and our protection.

MULDER: What makes you think there's any such thing as justice, Scully?

SCULLY: Then what good are those answers to anybody but you, Mulder?

MULDER: What we found last night...

SCULLY: Look, I want exactly what you want. But I need to see my sister.

(They stare at each other for a few seconds until Scully looks away. Mulder looks at Skinner.)

MULDER: I suppose you already tried to make a backup of the tape.

SKINNER: Whoever downloaded those files put a copy protector on them. I couldn't get a hard copy to print either.

MULDER: What makes you think they'll even honor this deal?

SKINNER: Because, if they don't... I'll go state's evidence and testify... or they'll have to kill me too.

(Mulder looks back at Scully and stares at her for a second.)

MULDER: It's up to you, Scully.

(He gets up and leaves. A short time later, Scully and Skinner walk out. Mulder is standing near the doorway and Scully goes to him. Skinner gets in his car.)

SCULLY: I told Skinner to make the deal. But not to hand over the tape until you agree to it.

MULDER: I'm sorry about your sister, Scully.

SCULLY: I just need to know if she's going to be okay.

(The car engine starts. Scully gets in the back seat and Mulder gets in the front. They drive off.)

(Melissa lays in her hospital bed, machines beeping. Albert talks over the scene as Margaret sleeps in an adjacent chair.)

ALBERT HOSTEEN: For two days, I had prayed for the F.B.I. woman's sister. Her doctor said she was getting better and her mother, who would not leave her bedside, was able to sleep.

(Albert walks in and takes Melissa's hand.)

But word had come from my brothers in the north that did not give me hope.

(Cut to the ranch where the white buffalo was born. The white buffalo is sleeping under a bench. Some men walk over, one carrying a bottle, and the calf stands.)

The white buffalo calf had survived, but after a day, it would no longer drink its mother's milk.

(The calf refuses to drink from the bottle, despite the man's efforts. The man says something in Navajo. In the back, men are tending to the mother buffalo, who is on the ground.)

On the third day, the mother buffalo laid down in her stall and would not get up. They said the men could do nothing for her. That night, she died.

(Cut back to the hospital, where Albert is sitting and holding Melissa's hand. He continues to talk over the scene.)

My father taught me when I was a boy that this is how life is. That for something to live, another thing must often be sacrificed. This was my fear now for the young woman.

(Skinner walks in and looks at Hosteen, then at Margaret Scully, who is sleeping while sitting in a seat with sheets draped over her lap.)

SKINNER: I'm here to see Melissa Scully.

(Margaret stirs and looks at him. Albert stands and Skinner takes out his badge.)

My name is Walter Skinner. I'm an assistant director at the F.B.I.

(Margaret folds up the magazine that was on her lap. Skinner walks over, staring at Albert for a little while, then looking at Margaret.)

I'm very sorry about your daughter. Dana asked me to come here to deliver a message.

MARGARET SCULLY: You've been in contact with her?

SKINNER: Yes.

(She stands.)

MARGARET SCULLY: Well, I want to know where she is and if she's okay.

SKINNER: She's okay, but she's in a very serious situation which prevents her from being here.

MARGARET SCULLY: What kind of situation?

SKINNER: One that we hope to reverse so that Dana can come back to work.

(The strange man from before walks by the room again, glancing in. They all turn and look at him.)

ALBERT HOSTEEN: That man you just saw, he's been very curious about this room.

(Skinner walks out into the hallway and watches the man go. He walks back over to Albert.)

SKINNER: Who are you?

ALBERT HOSTEEN: My name is Albert Hosteen. I was asked to come here.

SKINNER: All right, Albert. Do not leave this room. Do you understand?

ALBERT HOSTEEN: Yes.

(Skinner looks at Margaret then walks out. He walks quickly down the hallway and hears a door open to his left. He goes in and finds himself in a stairwell. He runs up the stairs and checks the next door. The door opens in his face, knocking him backwards. The strange man comes in and points a gun at him, but Skinner grabs his wrist and turns it quickly, then elbows him twice in the face. A second man runs up behind Skinner and starts choking him with a wire. He pulls him back to the wall as Krycek jumps down the stairs and punches Skinner with a hard right cross. He does it again, then punches him in the gut. Skinner groans with each blow. Krycek seems to be thoroughly enjoying it. He reaches into Skinner's coat pocket and takes out the digital tape. He puts it in his pocket and then reaches back, preparing to hit him one last time. He smashes Skinner across the face and Skinner slumps down to the ground. Krycek tries to shake the feeling back into his hand and Skinner's attackers all split off in different directions. Skinner lays on the floor, unconscious.)

(Krycek and his band of cohorts drive down the road and pull up to the Greenwich Inn. The Hispanic Man gets out of the driver's seat and walks into the store. The second man is sitting in the back seat.)

2ND MAN: I could use a beer. Do you want anything?

KRYCEK: No.

2ND MAN: You sure?

KRYCEK: Yeah.

(The second man gets out and walks to the store, looking back over his shoulder at the car briefly. Krycek watches him and grows tense. He looks AT THE CAR CLOCK AS IT BLINKS 12:00. His face goes blank in realization and he runs out of the car as fast as he can. The car literally shoots a fireball into the air as it explodes, knocking Krycek off his feet from twenty yards. He looks back briefly and keeps running as the car continues to burn. Krycek's ex-cohorts watch him run, knowing that they failed their mission.)

(Mulder and Scully run into the greenhouse, searching around. Thunder rumbles outside.)

MULDER: Mister Klemper? Mister Klemper?

(He looks down another aisle and goes back to the one he came through. The Well-Manicured Man walks towards them.)

WELL-MANICURED MAN: Hello again, young lady.

SCULLY: Where's Victor Klemper?

WELL-MANICURED MAN: Oh, poor Klemper. They found him yesterday, here among his flowers. Apparently, his heart had given out.

MULDER: You killed him, didn't you?

(The Well-Manicured Man offers no response. Mulder holds up the photograph.)

You're one of the men in this photo. You knew my father.

WELL-MANICURED MAN: Yes. Since we were young men.

MULDER: You were involved in this project. You know why the medical data was being collected.

WELL-MANICURED MAN: Yes, I do, indeed. In 1947, a spacecraft was reportedly recovered in New Mexico. No doubt you know of this and of the reported recovery of a body at the site. These incidents not only coincided with the end of World War II, but an ignominious project which brought Nazi scientists and war criminals to this country to exploit their knowledge.

SCULLY: Operation Paper Clip.

WELL-MANICURED MAN: Yes, you know of it already. And you must also know the work of Doctor Joseph Mengele, the Nazi angel of death.

SCULLY: Mengele thought that he could produce a super-race through genetic engineering.

WELL-MANICURED MAN: As did many of his colleagues at the Institute of Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene.

SCULLY: Like Victor Klemper?

WELL-MANICURED MAN: Poor Victor. He loved his orchids. Did you know that he was able to create some of the most beautiful hybrids?

MULDER: Klemper was trying to create an alien-human hybrid. That's what I saw in the boxcar. He was using human test subjects.

SCULLY: Mulder, wait.

MULDER: My father was involved in this?

SCULLY: The technology wasn't there, Mulder. DNA wasn't even identified until 1944. This is all a lie.

WELL-MANICURED MAN: When your father realized what the medical data was being used for, he objected strenuously.

MULDER: He collected those files?

WELL-MANICURED MAN: With the threat of nuclear holocaust in the 1950s, the government instructed men like your father to gather genetic data on the general populous for the purpose of post-apocalyptic identification.

MULDER: The vaccination records. They took tissue from everyone who received a small pox inoculation.

WELL-MANICURED MAN: Hundreds of millions of Americans.

MULDER: So that Victor Klemper had access to a DNA database of nearly everyone who was born since 1950.

SCULLY: Mulder, this man is telling you everything that you want to hear but it's a fabrication, it is pure science fiction. There were no experiments with aliens.

WELL-MANICURED MAN: Why would I lie to you?

SCULLY: Like you said before, to protect yourself and the continuation of the Nazi agenda... human tests.

MULDER: Why was your file there, Scully?

(She looks back at him in shock that Mulder is going against her on this issue.)

SCULLY: I don't know.

MULDER: There were current records on file.

SCULLY: Yes, but records of what, Mulder?

MULDER: Of abductions! Of abductees.

(She glares at him and storms off.)

They took my sister. Why?

WELL-MANICURED MAN: They took her as insurance because your father threatened to expose the project.

MULDER: Why her? Why not me?

WELL-MANICURED MAN: It's not for me to say but your life in danger now too. You also threaten to expose the project. You have become your father.

MULDER: Why are you telling me this?

WELL-MANICURED MAN: It's what you want to know... isn't it?

(He starts off.)

MULDER: Is there more?

(The Well-Manicured Man looks back at him.)

WELL-MANICURED MAN: More than you'll ever know.

(He walks off.)

(The phone rings and the aide picks it up.)

AIDE: Yes?

KRYCEK: Can I talk to him?

AIDE: Yes, he's just arrived. One moment, please.

(He extends the phone to the Cigarette-Smoking Man.)

You have a call, sir.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: Thank you.

(The Cigarette-Smoking Man takes the phone. Cut to Krycek, who is standing at a payphone.)

Hello?

KRYCEK: I'm alive.

(Cut back to the Cigarette-Smoking Man, who tries to hide his shock in front of his peers and superiors. Cut back to Krycek.)

Isn't that a surprise?

(Cut back to the Cigarette-Smoking Man, who smiles, pretending to be holding a conversation with good news.)

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: Yes, good, good, good. Uh, where are you?

(Cut to Krycek, who is very angry.)

KRYCEK: Somewhere that you will never find me, you double-crossing son of a bitch.

(Cut to the Cigarette-Smoking Man. All eyes are upon him in the room.)

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: Are you sure?

(Cut to Krycek.)

KRYCEK: I'm sure of this... if I so much as feel your presence, I'm going to make you a very, very famous man. You understand?

(Cut to the Cigarette-Smoking Man, who smiles and nods as if everything is fine.)

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: Yes, thank you. I'm going to report that to the group.

(Cut to Krycek, who slams down the receiver. Cut back to the Cigarette-Smoking Man, who hangs up slowly and hands the phone back to the aide.)

I've just received confirmation that the digital tape containing the stolen files was destroyed in the carbomb explosion, which killed Agent Scully's would-be assassin.

1ST ELDER: What about Mulder and Scully?

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: I have a meeting with the F.B.I., they, uh... they want to make a deal.

1ST ELDER: For what?

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: For nothing. There'll be no deal. There's no deal to make.

(He walks out.)

(Mulder turns on Mrs. Mulder's bedside lamp and sits down on her bed.)

MRS. MULDER: Fox?

MULDER: Yeah.

MRS. MULDER: What time is it?

MULDER: It's after two.

MRS. MULDER: What, did you drive up here? Why didn't you call?

MULDER: I needed to see you in person. I need to ask you something. I need to ask you about something that happened a long time ago.

MRS. MULDER: Oh, Fox...

(She sits up.)

I don't remember anything, I told you before.

MULDER: Mom, listen to me. When Samantha... before she was gone, did Dad ever ask you if you had a favorite? Did he ever ask you that?

MRS. MULDER: Fox, please...

MULDER: Mom, did he ever ask you to make a choice?

MRS. MULDER: Don't do this...

(She starts to get up but he puts his hands on her cheeks.)

MULDER: Mom, listen to me! I need to know! Did he make you make a choice?

(She starts to cry.)

MRS. MULDER: No. I couldn't choose. It was your father's choice and I hated him for it. Even in his grave, I hate him still.

(They hug and she cries into his shoulder.)

(The Cigarette-Smoking Man walks into Skinner's office. He closes the file he was reading and looks up at Cigarette-Smoking Man, who puts a cigarette in his mouth and lights it.)

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: Now, you wanted to see me?

(Skinner puts the file down and stands up.)

SKINNER: I have the tape you've been looking for.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: Really?

SKINNER: I'm prepared to hand it over or destroy it in exchange for Mulder and Scully's safety and for their reinstatement here.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: What did I tell you, Mister Skinner? I don't negotiate. Especially not with punks like you who think they can bluff me.

SKINNER: Bluff you?

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: You haven't got any tape. You haven't got any deal. You can't play poker if you don't have any cards, Mister Skinner. You ever wonder what it would be like to, uh... die in a plane crash? Of botulism? Even a heart attack's not uncommon for a man your age. You think I'm bluffing?

(He takes a drag and turns to walk away.)

SKINNER: I'm not finished yet.

(The Cigarette-Smoking Man turns back. Skinner walks to the back door and opens it, revealing Albert Hosteen, sitting down.)

Albert?

(Albert walks in as the Cigarette-Smoking Man looks on in shock.)

ALBERT HOSTEEN: Yat a valgala.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: What is this?

(Skinner walks up to the Cigarette-Smoking Man in front of Hosteen.)

SKINNER: This is where you pucker up and kiss my ass.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: Now, listen, you...

SKINNER: Now, you listen to me, you son of a bitch! This man's name is Albert Hosteen. You should remember that. Because if Agents Mulder and Scully come down with so much as a case of the flu, Albert is prepared to recite, chapter and verse, file for file, everything on your precious tape.

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: It's a nice try, Skinner.

SKINNER: I'm sure you're thinking Albert is an old man and there are plenty of ways you might kill him too. Which is why, in the ancient oral tradition of his people, he's told twenty other men the information on those files. So unless you kill every Navajo living in four states... that information is available with a simple phone call. Welcome to the wonderful world of high technology.

(The Cigarette-Smoking Man stares at Skinner in disbelief.)

CIGARETTE-SMOKING MAN: You're bluffing.

SKINNER: Am I?

(The Cigarette-Smoking Man turns and walks out. Skinner looks at Albert, who nods in pride.)

(Mulder walks in to Melissa Scully's hospital room to find Scully sitting in a chair looking at an empty hospital bed. She looks back at him.)

SCULLY: It happened three hours ago. She went into surgery and, uh... the damage to her brain was worse than they had hoped.

(She kneels down next to her.)

Her blood pressure started to rise and, uh... she slipped away. She died for me and I tried to tell her I was sorry but I don't think she'll ever really know.

(Tears well up in her eyes and her voice weakens towards the end.)

MULDER: Oh, she knows. Melissa knows.

(Scully takes a deep breath.)

SCULLY: You were right. There is no justice.

MULDER: I don't think this is about justice, Scully.

SCULLY: Then what is it about?

MULDER: I think it's about something we have no personal choice in. I think it's about fate.

(They sit in silence for a little while.)

Skinner told me that he talked to you, that you were insistent about coming back to work. Now, if Melissa's death is...

SCULLY: I need something to put my back up against.

MULDER: I feel the same way. We've both lost so much... but I believe that what we're looking for is in the X-Files. I'm more certain than ever that the truth is in there.

SCULLY: I've heard the truth, Mulder. Now what I want are the answers.

(He kneels up next to her and puts his arm around her. She leans her head against his chest as they look at the empty bed.)

[THE END]