(An older model station wagon is driving along a rainy, rural road. CAMERON MCPECK is driving. His wife, IRENE and son, JASON are in the back seat. IRENE MCPECK holds JASON tightly. JASON is about 10 and looks sick.)

CAMERON MCPECK: Almost home now, Jason. What do we say?

IRENE MCPECK AND JASON MCPECK: (together) Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.

CAMERON MCPECK: Keep your chin up, son. We'll get through this just fine.

(The car pulls up in front of a house. Lots of cars around. A crowd of people holding signs saying "Your faith is not an excuse to ...", "Save Jason", "Murder is illegal" and "You're not God". They are all yelling, protesting. SHERIFF's DEPUTIES hold them back from the car.)

REPORTER: (banging on the car window) How do you feel, Jason?

DEPUTIES: Back up, now... ...Boys, come on! Everybody back. Clear the car. Get back. Alan, you're in charge!

DEPUTY: Okay, folks, come on out. You're safe now, don't worry. Just step out and stay in front of me. We'll get you in your house.

CAMERON MCPECK: Come on, son.

(The DEPUTY escorts the family into a house.)

DEPUTY: Just stay in front of me.

(Later. Night. The rain is still coming down. JASON MCPECK's parents are putting him to bed. IRENE MCPECK sets a glass of water beside a small bell on the nightstand.)

IRENE MCPECK: There you go, sweetheart. If you need anything during the night... If you don't feel well you just ring that bell, okay?

JASON MCPECK: Okay, Mom.

IRENE MCPECK: Good night, Jason.

(She kisses his forehead. CAMERON MCPECK sits down beside his son.)

CAMERON MCPECK: I know you're afraid. Maybe you think those people outside are right-- that we should take you to the hospital and let the doctors treat you. We could do that... and they might take away your cancer... and your body might feel better... but not your soul. It's God himself who gave you this illness, Jason, for reasons that are His. If you're to be well in body and spirit it's God who must come to deliver you.

(He kisses his son's head.)

FADE TO:

2:14 AM

(Later that night. The storm seems worse. The fire is blazing away in the fireplace in JASON's room. JASON, alone, wakes up and looks out the window to see the wind blowing fiercely. A bright white light shines in the window. JASON MCPECK, awed, stands up and holds his arms out Christ-like as four very human-looking figures approach the window.)

(Scully's apartment. 8:53 AM. SCULLY puts on her jacket, ready to go to work. She opens her front door and is surprised to see a newspaper lying there. She picks it up and unrolls it. The Goochland Guardian. A note has been taped onto the front page story, Miracle Ends Controversy. "You are the God who performs miracles. You display your power among the peoples. Psalm 77:14" The top of the newspaper reads, "If It's News It's News To Us". SCULLY looks down the hall to see if anyone else has a copy, closes the paper and then her front door.)

(X-Files office. MULDER, feet propped up on his desk, is reading a printed out email. SCULLY enters. Is that a picture of Samantha on his desk?)

MULDER: Good morning. Here's a story to warm the cockles of your heart, Scully. An 11-year-old boy, diagnosed with lymphatic cancer, cured with a miracle.

SCULLY: Jason McPeck, Goochland, Virginia.

MULDER: (speechless) Ah.

SCULLY: Yeah. His parents refused treatment on religious grounds. His faith forbids medical aid and so Jason's cure was delivered by angels.

(MULDER nods.)

SCULLY: Well, spontaneous remission, Mulder, isn't completely unheard of. So-called miracle recoveries attributable to no clear cause or reason.

MULDER: It's not the miracle I'm suspicious of. It's the messenger. (hands her the sheet of paper) That came as an anonymous e-mail to me from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

SCULLY: DARPA.

MULDER: Someone at DARPA. (pause) How'd you hear about it?

(Long pause. SCULLY clears her throat and hands MULDER the newspaper.)

MULDER: You subscribe to the Goochland Guardian?

SCULLY: No.

MULDER: (watching her) So this just appeared miraculously on your doorstep this morning?

SCULLY: As far as I can tell, I was the only one to whom it was delivered.

MULDER: Someone wants us on this case.

SCULLY: It's not a case, Mulder.

MULDER: Not yet. I'm going to go back over to DARPA. You see what else you can find out about that boy.

(MULDER gets up and starts heading out the door. He turns back and smiles.)

MULDER: I've just got to know whether it was Roma Downey or Della Reese.

(SCULLY picks up the newspaper and follows him out of the office.)

(SCULLY arrives at the MCPECK's house. She is driving a red car. Sound of children laughing. She goes up to the front door and knocks. IRENE MCPECK answers. Her husband joins her.)

IRENE MCPECK: Yes?

SCULLY: (showing her badge) Hi, I'm Dana Scully with the, uh, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Are you Mrs. McPeck?

IRENE MCPECK: What can we do for you?

SCULLY: I'm here about your son.

CAMERON MCPECK: Are we under investigation?

SCULLY: Ah, no. I was just hoping to better understand what happened to him. May I ask is he okay?

IRENE MCPECK: Jason, we've got somebody to see you.

(JASON MCPECK runs up to them from the yard. He is out of breath.)

IRENE MCPECK: Tell her how you're feeling.

JASON MCPECK: I feel good. Just a little out of breath.

CAMERON MCPECK: You're looking at God's work. Jason's life owes to his Grace and exalts his name in the highest. Praise the Lord.

IRENE MCPECK: Praise the Lord.

JASON MCPECK: Praise the Lord.

SCULLY: And you say that you saw angels?

JASON MCPECK: Yes.

SCULLY: May I ask what they looked like?

JASON MCPECK: They looked like men. They came from the sky in a ball of light.

SCULLY: And what did they say?

JASON MCPECK: They said not to be afraid. Then one of them pinched me kind of hard and then I was better right away.

SCULLY: He pinched you? Where?

JASON MCPECK: Right here.

(JASON MCPECK points to the back of his neck. SCULLY stares at him, then walks around him to look at it. There is a fresh scar at the base of the neck.)

(Later, SCULLY returns to her car. The CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN is sitting in the passenger seat of her car. He has just used the cigarette lighter to light his cigarette. SCULLY is furious. She opens the door.)

SCULLY: What the hell are you doing?

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: God's work, what else?

SCULLY: Get out of my car!

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I'd hoped for more accommodation toward the man that saved that young boy's life... and yours.

SCULLY: You got your light. Now get out.

(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN gets out of the car, then leans in the window to talk to SCULLY who is now in the driver's seat.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: You're not at all curious? About the chip that's been put in that boy's neck? You, a medical doctor who has the same technology in your body? Has witnessed this wondrous "miracle" first-hand? I've taken considerable trouble to prove my intentions. The newspaper at your door. The e-mail to Mulder.

(SCULLY looks at him.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: The elaborate demonstration of curing this boy's cancer. You see, I'm dying myself.

(SCULLY is listening.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: A dying man who wants to make right; to share his secrets; to bequeath this cure to millions of others just like that boy.

SCULLY: So you want to give it to us.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: To you, Agent Scully. I've tired of Mulder's mule-headedness-- his foolish ideas of overthrowing the system.

SCULLY: You think I'm fooled by this?

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I've made you my offer. Agent Mulder hears a breath of this rest assured, I'll rescind it... take it to my grave.

(SCULLY starts the car. She notices a business card lying on the passenger seat. She glances up at CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN, then drives away.)

(X-Files Office. The ceiling still contains several of Mulder's pencils. ALONE, SCULLY IS LOOKING AT THE CARD. ONLY A PHONE NUMBER: 202-555-1030. She picks up the phone, dials, lets it ring twice, then hangs up quickly. She looks at the card again. She thinks. She picks up the phone and dials.)

SCULLY: (on phone) Yes, I need a trace on a D.C. area phone number. I need an address.

VOICE ON PHONE: Thank you.

(Large unmarked brick building. SCULLY is shown on video monitor entering the building. The DESK GUARD watches her on the video, then turns as she enters. Another GUARD comes out of a door and confronts her "politely" yet aggressively. SCULLY steps back slightly. She is nervous.)

GUARD: May I help you?

SCULLY: I'm sorry, I, uh, made a mistake.

(She turns and walks back to the door. The DESK GUARD presses a button that locks the front door. SCULLY pauses, trying to be cool.)

GUARD: May I see some identification?

SCULLY: Look, is this necessary? I just walked through the wrong door.

GUARD: Your identification, please.

(Reluctantly, SCULLY hands over her badge. The GUARD takes it and checks a list on the DESK GUARD's desk.)

SCULLY: Look...

(The GUARD turns and holds out a clip on badge marked "VISITOR" to her.)

GUARD: Third floor.

(SCULLY goes up to the third floor and walks down the hall. Several men are milling about. The building is well occupied. The BLACK-HAIRED MAN assassin-guy from the movie watches her. She comes to a door with the CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN's name on it - C.G.B. Spender. She enters. It is a very dark masculine office. Lots of leather. Two chairs in front of the desk have an ashtray in front of them. The CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN is sitting at his desk in the inner room.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Agent Scully... please, sit.

(She doesn't sit.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I'm glad you came.

SCULLY: You obviously knew that I would.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Well, I know you're a doctor and... a woman of compassion.

SCULLY: (no time for flattery) Please.

(He lights a cigarette.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: (thoughtfully) In the end... a man finally looks at the sum of his life to see what he'll leave behind. Most of what I worked to build is in ruins and now that the... darkness descends, I... find I have no real legacy.

SCULLY: (sighs) What are you dying of?

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Cerebral inflammation-- a consequence of brain surgery I had in the fall. The doctors give me just a few months.

SCULLY: So, you want to use me to clear the slate... to make you a respectable person. It won't work.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: How many people in the world are dying of cancer? And here we are wasting time with the past.

SCULLY: I'm here. Where is it ... this miracle cure of yours?

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: We'll need to take a trip. It'll require a few days.

SCULLY: I'll get back to you.

(She starts to leave. His words stop her.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: (rising) I have access, Agent Scully. I have these miraculous chips but the genetic research that makes them work is closely guarded. There are men in this building who would kill me if they knew what I'd offered you. They'd kill you, too, in the blink of an eye. I've destroyed a lot of things in my life including the people most precious to me. All I want is a chance to do something in service to man before I go.

(SCULLY considers.)

(MULDER's apartment. MULDER enters. His basketball is sitting on the coffee table. He goes to his answering machine and presses the button.)

MACHINE VOICE: CALL RECEIVED 8:01 P.M..

SCULLY: (on machine) Mulder, it's me. I wanted to let you know that I'll be out of town for a day or two. It's a family emergency. I'll... I'll call you when I can.

(MULDER immediately picks up the phone and dials.)

CUT TO:

(Phone ringing in SCULLY's apartment. SCULLY, holding a suitcase, looks at the machine. It is a struggle not to answer it. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN is standing in the background.)

SCULLY: (recorded voice) This is Dana Scully. I'm not in right now. Please leave a message after the beep.

MULDER: (on phone) Hey, Scully, it's me. Pick up if you're there. Scully? Are you there? All right, I just got, I got your message and I hope everything's okay. I'll try on your cell right now.

CUT TO:

(MULDER hangs up and stares at the phone.)

CUT TO:

(SCULLY stares at the phone, then, with her back to CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN, opens her blouse and checks the microphone that she has hidden in her white bra.)

She leaves the apartment with CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN. She doesn't make eye contact with him.)

(Night. SCULLY and CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN are in her car. She is driving. SCULLY subtly checks her wire. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN takes out a cigarette and puts it in his mouth.)

SCULLY: (critically) You're going to smoke?

(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN sighs, rolls down the electric window, tosses the cigarette out and rolls the window back up.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: It's time I quit.

SCULLY: Just like that.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: No sacrifice is purely altruistic. We give expecting to receive.

SCULLY: What exactly is it you expect to receive?

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Your trust. You question my sincerity. You think I'm heartless. Would it soften your opinion of me if I confessed that I've always had a particular affection for you?

(SCULLY glances at him warily.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I assure you my intentions are honorable. I have affection for Mulder, too. My affection for you is special. I held your life in my hands. Your cancer was terminal. I had a cure. Can you imagine what that's like-- to have the power to extinguish a life or to save it and let it flourish? Now, to give you that power, so you can do the same.

(SCULLY is uncomfortable.)

(SCULLY's apartment building. MULDER follows the LANDLORD as he goes to unlock SCULLY's door.)

LANDLORD: Yeah, she said it was a family matter. Dropped off the key... asked me to water the plants-- no biggie. Hey, great girl-- independent as they come, you know but a great girl.

MULDER: Yeah, yeah.

LANDLORD: Tenants like having an FBI agent in the building. Gives them a sense of security.

MULDER: Do you know how many people have died in there?

LANDLORD: Oh, we don't really talk about that.

MULDER: You said she was, uh, carrying a suitcase. Did you notice anything else, anything abnormal?

LANDLORD: No. No, actually it wasn't her carrying the suitcase. It was her driver.

MULDER: Her driver?

LANDLORD: Yeah, older guy... tall. I've seen him here before. Smokes like a chimney.

(MULDER stares at the LANDLORD, then turns and leaves the hall just as the LANDLORD gets SCULLY's door open.)

LANDLORD: Hey, don't you want...

(MULDER is gone.)

(Day. SCULLY is still driving. She looks tired.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: You've been at the wheel too long. Would you like me to drive?

SCULLY: I might if you let me know where we're going.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Knowing that, you'd feel comfortable? You'd trust me?

(She gives him a look.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: How long did it take Mulder to win your trust?

SCULLY: I've always trusted Mulder.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: (chuckling) You're not being honest with yourself. Think back. There was a time when you feared for your future, for your career when you were first partnered with this man. I told you, I've studied you for years... and if you would permit me, I'd like to make an observation.

(She looks at him challengingly.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: You're drawn to powerful men but you fear their power. You keep your guard up, a wall around your heart. How else do you explain that fearless devotion to a man obsessed, and, yet, a life alone? You'd die for Mulder but you won't allow yourself to love him.

(SCULLY is uncomfortable.)

SCULLY: Wow. I'm learning a whole other side to you. You're not just a cold-blooded killer, you're a pop psychologist as well.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I've been a destroyer all my life. Before I die, I'd like to prove that I'm capable of something more.

(They see a small road off the main one.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Turn here, on the left.

SCULLY: Where are we going?

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: To show you what I'm capable of.

(She turns off. They are followed by a car driven by the BLACK-HAIRED MAN.)

(They arrive at a small house in the woods. A woman, MARJORIE BUTTERS, looks about 60, is tending the plants around her house.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Her name's Marjorie Butters. She's got quite a green thumb. Plays a mean game of Scrabble if you're interested.

SCULLY: And what's her relationship to you?

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Well, how should I put it? You could say that I'm her angel. Marjorie's 118 years old.

(They get out of the car and go to greet MARJORIE BUTTERS.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Marjorie!

MARJORIE BUTTERS: Hey!

(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN and MARJORIE BUTTERS laugh as he embraces her. SCULLY watches.)

MARJORIE BUTTERS: I'm glad to see you.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I thought I'd surprise you.

MARJORIE BUTTERS: I look an absolute wreck. I've been trying to get in some bulbs before spring.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Marjorie, uh, this is Dana Scully. She's a very good friend of mine.

SCULLY: Nice to meet you.

MARJORIE BUTTERS: My pleasure. Well, come inside. I baked some fresh bread this morning and there are tomatoes in the garden.

(As she walks in the house, SCULLY notices the scar at the base of MARJORIE BUTTERS's neck. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN speaks softly to SCULLY.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: To have this power... to visit this woman and see her joy... must be why you became a doctor.

(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN follows into the house.)

(SKINNER's office. A knock at the door. SKINNER, on the phone, waves MULDER in. MULDER is in turtleneck and black leather jacket.)

SKINNER: (on phone) I'll expect your call. Thanks.

(He hangs up.)

SKINNER: She requisitioned a fleet sedan when she left the bureau yesterday. I don't know why and there have been no fuel charges.

MULDER: Her mother doesn't know anything about a family emergency.

SKINNER: Look, I know you're worried about the company that she's in but from what you've told me it's not like she's sneaking out. The truth is, she's gone to a lot of trouble to allay your fears.

MULDER: I know she can take care of herself. It's just not like her to lie to me.

(The phone rings.)

SKINNER: That's my private line.

(He answers it.)

SKINNER: (on phone) Skinner.

SCULLY: (on phone) Sir?

SKINNER: (on phone) Agent Scully, where are you?

(MULDER indicates that he wants the phone.)

SCULLY: (on phone) I'm on the road. Um, I'm sorry to call you on this line.

SKINNER: (on phone) No, it's all right. It's just we've been worried about you.

SCULLY: (on phone) Everything's okay. I just wanted you to express that to Mulder.

SKINNER: (on phone) Well, he's standing right here. Why don't you do that yourself?

(MULDER reaches for the phone again. He REALLY wants to talk to SCULLY.)

SCULLY: (on phone) No, sir. That's all right. Can you tell him that I'll call him later? Just, just tell him that I'm fine.

(Hearing a dial tone, SKINNER hangs up.)

SKINNER: She says she's fine.

MULDER: She's in trouble.

(MULDER turns quickly and walks out the door.)

(SCULLY and CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN pull into a gas station.)

SCULLY: I'm going to the restroom.

(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN gets ready to pump the gas as he watches her enter the restroom.)

(As soon as she enters the restroom, SCULLY unfastens her blouse and begins speaking to her breasts. We see that she is still wearing a microphone and tape recorder between her breasts. She speaks into the microphone quietly as she checks the stalls to make sure she is alone.)

SCULLY: Mulder, I'm trusting you'll be able to make sense of what's on this tape. I had no other way of contacting you. Please try to understand that I weighed the risks. I couldn't divulge these plans without risking them and I promise you that I weighed everything. Our current location is northbound on the upstate expressway. We are driving my FBI fleet sedan. I will promise I will get these tapes to you as fast as I can.

(She takes the tape out of the machine and addresses an envelope to FOX MULDER. As she exits the restroom, she is startled as she runs into an ATTENDANT.)

ATTENDANT: Whoa! Excuse me.

(She puts the letter in a post box, then joins the CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN in the car. He is now in the driver's seat. She gets in the passenger side. He offers her a roll of candy.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Lifesaver?

(She gives a tight smile and shakes her head.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: May as well get comfortable. We've got a good drive ahead.

(He starts the engine. As they drive away, we see the BLACK-HAIRED MAN holding SCULLY's letter to MULDER which he has retrieved from the post box.)

(Motel near a lake. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN parks the car. SCULLY is asleep. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN puts on a pair of black leather gloves, then looks over at SCULLY. He tenderly brushes a lock of hair out of her eyes and looks at her wistfully.)

(MULDER's apartment. Someone is pounding on the door. MULDER, in gray t-shirt goes to open it, checking the peephole first. It is the LONE GUNMEN. They are "in disguise." Very funny. FROHIKE has a thick brown wig and a suit, LANGLY is wearing a strange little round hat, BYERS is NOT wearing a suit!)

MULDER: It's the masters of disguise.

(They enter the apartment.)

LANGLY: Can we laugh it up in your apartment?

FROHIKE: We got heat on our tail.

BYERS: Did what you asked. We pulled up what we could on Scully.

LANGLY: We started with her credit cards to see if she purchased any airline tickets.

FROHIKE: And ended up hacking into some Defense Department node...

LANGLY: Where they demanded we immediately identify ourselves or face prosecution for espionage or crimes against the government.

MULDER: Well, what does this have to do with finding Scully?

BYERS: When we went into her computer we found a series of deleted transmissions.

FROHIKE: E-mail that had been erased from her subdirectories but not her hard drive. A series of communications.

LANGLY: From someone named Cobra.

MULDER: Who the hell is Cobra? Scully would have told me about him.

LANGLY: Well, it looks like she's gone to great lengths to keep this from you.

MULDER: I don't believe that. She knows that I'd find her, no matter what.

BYERS: Mulder, we can't find her. There's nowhere to start looking.

MULDER: I don't believe that, either. Give me that.

(MULDER takes the laptop from the GUNMEN and opens it up.)

(SCULLY wakes up in a motel/cabin room. She is wearing silk pajamas, but clearly has no recollection of getting there. She gets up and looks in the closet, disoriented. She checks, but she is still wearing her bra and wire.)

(In another room in the cabin, CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN is pouring coffee from a silver urn. SCULLY enters, fully dressed, carrying her suitcase and pissed off.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: How do you take your coffee?

SCULLY: Unadulterated, thank you.

(She takes the coffee, then empties it out the window.)

SCULLY: You drugged me.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: (chuckling) I did nothing of the sort.

SCULLY: How the hell did I get out of my clothes and into bed?

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I carried you. You'd been up for over 30 hours. You were delirious. I only wanted to make you comfortable.

(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN takes a sip of his coffee.)

SCULLY: Where are we?

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Milford, Pennsylvania.

SCULLY: Well, that wasn't part of the deal. I don't know what you're up to.

(She leaves the cabin. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN follows her. Very Richard III.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Keys are in the ignition. You're free to go, of course. The choice is still yours.

(BLACK-HAIRED MAN is watching from the bushes. SCULLY heads back into the cabin.)

(SKINNER's office. MULDER enters abruptly.)

MULDER: Sir, I need your attention.

SKINNER: Is my assistant...?

MULDER: No. She's away from her desk. I wouldn't just bust in here but, as I said, it's a breaking situation.

(The LONE GUNMEN enter the office and set up the laptop.)

SKINNER: What the hell's going on here?

MULDER: That's my question exactly. I believe you've all met.

LANGLY: Is this place secure?

SKINNER: Is it secure?

FROHIKE: Don't get testy, G-man.

MULDER: Are you aware of a federal fugitive, code name Cobra? For the past six months Cobra's been e-mailing Scully from the Department of Defense where he works on a shadow project for advanced research.

BYERS: A shadow project is right.

LANGLY: Where this dude works even the shadows have shadows.

SKINNER: Is that what I'm looking at here?

MULDER: No. What they're pulling up is Scully's correspondence back to Cobra.

SKINNER: She has a relationship?

MULDER: No. Somebody posing as Scully who hacked into her computer and has been capturing all her e-mail. Passing themselves off as Scully in order to win Cobra's trust. The last five exchanges hint at a meeting where they're going to exchange information on the project Cobra's working on.

SKINNER: A meeting where?

FROHIKE: Don't know. They just ended.

SKINNER: Who's been in her computer?

MULDER: Smoking man. Or someone working for him. You got to get to him now.

SKINNER: You of all people should know that you just don't get to him.

MULDER: Well, if you don't get to him it may be the last time we see Scully alive.

(SKINNER is concerned.)

(Cabin. SCULLY is checking her wire. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN knocks at SCULLY's door.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: We'll be getting final instructions from our contact tonight. He's invited us to dinner. I took the liberty of getting you something to wear.

(He holds out a very revealing, yet classy black dress. SCULLY accepts it.)

SCULLY: It's, uh... It's beautiful.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I'm glad you like it. I look forward to tonight.

(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN leaves the room closing the door behind him. SCULLY looks at the dress.)

(Later. SCULLY, now wearing the dress, and CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN walk in and are seated at a table in an elegant restaurant. The situation is awkward, to say the least.)

SCULLY: So, your contact's going to join us?

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I presume so.

SCULLY: You extol our great trust but you still haven't told me who he is.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: He is to human genetic science as Oppenheimer and Fermi were to the advent of nuclear warfare.

SCULLY: I'm still not clear what my importance is to this exchange.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: This man-- call him Cobra-- he needs assurances that the science he's going to hand over won't fall into the wrong hands. I've told him of you.

(The waiter pours the wine after getting the CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN's approval.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: He's expecting to meet you here. (he raises his glass in a toast.) Well, to the future.

(SCULLY raises her glass politely and takes a sip of the red wine.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: (intensely) I must tell you something else. Something that's so unbelievable, so incredible... that to know it is to look at the entire world anew.

SCULLY: What?

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: What we are being given... it's not the cure for cancer. It's the holiest of grails, Dana. It's the cure for all human disease.

SCULLY: How?

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: It's from that final frontier. It's largely extraterrestrial.

SCULLY: Then you would be cured.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: That which makes miracles can also make GREAT EVIL. THERE ARE THOSE WHO WOULD USE THIS POWER FOR THEIR OWN PURPOSES: To choose who will live and who will die. Theoretically, I can be cured. Everything I've told you about wanting to make right? I'm a lonely man, Dana.

(SCULLY stares at him.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Would you excuse me?

(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN gets up and leaves the table. SCULLY processes what he has said. The camera shows a man seated at a table behind her, watching her, he is not the BLACK-HAIRED MAN. He gestures for the waiter, perhaps for his check.)

(Outside, CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN puts a cigarette to his lips and reaches into his pocket for a lighter. As the BLACK-HAIRED MAN joins him, he tosses the cigarette to the ground unlit.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Cobra hasn't shown.

BLACK-HAIRED MAN: What do you want to do?

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Wait. What else can we do?

BLACK-HAIRED MAN: What trust you've won... Scully won't stick around forever. What's wrong?

(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN is troubled.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Just do your damn job.

(Inside at the table, the waiter removes what appears to be an uneated strawberry shortcake or cheesecake from in front of SCULLY and she looks at a piece of paper that was under the plate. "Calico Cove, first light of day." She looks around to see who the message may be from but the man that was sitting behind her has left.)

(Early next morning. SCULLY and CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN arrive at a motor boat tied to a dock. She gets in the boat. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN unties the mooring.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Calico Inlet's 15 minutes out. South end.

SCULLY: What do I do when I get there?

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I don't know. Just wait. Be careful.

(SCULLY gives him a look, then drives the motorboat around the lake. She must have really good hairspray, because the hair doesn't move. Another motorboat approaches her. The driver, COBRA, is a good-looking man in his 40s, the same man from the restaurant. He speaks intensely and admiringly.)

SCIENTIST/COBRA: Finally we meet. You're just as you described yourself. Certainly more so last night at dinner.

(Someone on the shore has trained a gunsight on the two of them.)

SCIENTIST/COBRA: I only wish we could continue to correspond but it must end after this. I hope one day we can take some time when I'm not a marked man. This is it. The science I promised you.

(He hands her a mini diskette.)

SCULLY: Well, wait. Where did you get this? Where did it come from, this science?

SCIENTIST/COBRA: Where did it come from?

SCULLY: Who developed it?

SCIENTIST/COBRA: (unsure of who she is) Scully?

SCULLY: Yes, I'm Scully but I don't believe that we've spoken before or corresponded.

(COBRA falls into the water as a gunshot echoes around them. The gunman trains the sight on SCULLY as she ducks down and tries to check COBRA's dead body. He shoots and misses. She tries to start the boat. Just as he is about to fire the second shot at her, another shot echoes around them. CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN has killed the shooter, the BLACK-HAIRED MAN. He places the black leather gloves next to the BLACK-HAIRED MAN's body. SCULLY gets the engine started and steers the boat back to the dock where she is met by the CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN. She is not pleased.)

SCULLY: They shot him. They killed him and they shot at me.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Did you get it?

SCULLY: (accusingly) You told me that no one else knew about this.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: I wouldn't have sent you if I thought there'd be any danger.

SCULLY: (sighs) Oh, man.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Dana...

SCULLY: (disgusted) Yes, I got it.

(She slaps the disk into his hand and turns away. Looks like he reaches into his pocket.)

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: Forgive me. Here... take it. This is for you.

(He hands the disk back to her. She leaves quickly.)

SCULLY: I've got to go.

CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN: (looking after her, wistfully) Go.

(MULDER's apartment. The LONE GUNMEN are around the computer checking the disk. SCULLY sits on the couch. MULDER stands in the doorway pouting, not making eye contact with SCULLY. This hurts her. The GUNMEN look at each other.)

FROHIKE: There's nothing on this.

LANGLY: It's empty.

BYERS: Completely.

SCULLY: (insistent, desperate) No, it can't be. It can't be. It's got to be on there.

(Nothing. SCULLY looks over at MULDER who finally meets her eyes sympathetically.)

(The unmarked brick building. MULDER and SCULLY have entered and gone up to the third floor. The building is now deserted, no people, no furniture, nothing. SCULLY leads MULDER to where CGB Spender's office was. It is empty. She is very upset.)

SCULLY: He was here! These were his offices. What the hell is this?

MULDER: He used you.

SCULLY: Mulder, he laid it all out for me. I recorded it. I mailed you the tape.

(MULDER nods.)

SCULLY: This old woman, Marjorie Butters, I met her. I saw her pictures, her birth certificate...

MULDER: You saw what you needed to see in order to make you believe.

SCULLY: Well, then what about this boy? This boy with cancer? You can't deny that. That's undeniable proof.

MULDER: Even if we could convince his parents to let us march him out how long before that chip in his neck mysteriously disappears? This was the perfectly executed con, Scully. The only thing I can't figure out is why you're still alive.

SCULLY: Mulder, I looked into his eyes. I swear what he told me was true.

CUT TO:

(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN smoking and drinking a glass of wine before a roaring fire.)

MULDER: (voice) He did it all for himself-- to get the science on that disk. His sincerity was a mask, Scully. The man's motives never changed.

SCULLY: (voice) You think he used me to save himself-- at the expense of the human race.

MULDER: (voice) No, he knows what that science is worth, how powerful it is. He'd let nothing stand in his way.

(The disk is lying on the table beside CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN.)

SCULLY: (voice) You may be right... but for a moment, I saw something else in him. A longing for something more than power. Maybe for something he could never have.

(CIGARETTE SMOKING MAN stands outside on the dock. He looks at the disk, then sighs and tosses it into the water. He takes a cigarette out and lights it.)

[THE END]