(Sound of a rhythmic heartbeat. Lighting is very dim, fading in and out of black. We see glimpses of a figure moving slowly in a viscous greenish-yellow fluid. The heartbeat speeds up slightly as the light brightens. Either the fluid drains or the figure rises. It is MULDER. His eyes fly open and he gasps as an organic cord is pulled from his throat [just like the one he pulled out of SCULLY in the movie.] Quick cut from MULDER's shocked expression to SCULLY gasping as she wakes up abruptly in the hospital. She catches her breath and lies back down on the bed, her hand resting protectively on her abdomen.)

SCENES FROM 7X22 REQUIEM:

CHRIS CARTER: Last season on the X-Files.

(The weasely auditor, SPECIAL AGENT CHESTY SHORT, conducting the interviews of MULDER and SCULLY.)

SPECIAL AGENT CHESTY SHORT: Gas, expenses-- by FBI standards these numbers are out of control.

SCULLY: I believe I was taken by men who subjected me to medical tests which left me barren.

MULDER: They're taking abductees. You're an abductee.

(RAY shaking in the alien force field.)

(ALIEN BOUNTY HUNTER looking around the HOESE's house.)

(SCULLY is talking to SKINNER and the GUNMEN.)

SCULLY: There was something out there in that field. It knocked me back because it didn't want me.

(MULDER sticks his hand into the force field. It shakes.)

FROHIKE: You'd never know it's a UFO.

BYERS: If you didn't know what you were looking at.

(SKINNER in the field sheilding his eyes from the UFO light.)

(SKINNER at SCULLY's bedside in the hospital.)

SKINNER: I don't know what else I can say-- I lost him.

SCULLY: (crying) We will find him.

(MULDER in the light watching as the ALIEN BOUNTY HUNTER joins him and the abductees.)

SCULLY: I'm having a hard time believing it.

(SCULLY is on the verge of both happiness and despair.)

SCULLY: I'm pregnant.

(SCULLY is looking at herself in her bathroom mirror. Music is minor and haunting, like Lorena McKennitt singing with an Indian influence. SCULLY contemplates her image. Her hair is still damp, her face shows no emotion and yet every emotion. Slowly, she buttons her black blouse from the bottom up. She is wearing her cross that as we ALL saw in Requiem, should be on Mulder wherever he is. Grrr. In slow motion, music underscoring, we see SCULLY walking through the halls of the FBI. She is in all black, 2-inch heels. She passes through the basement hallway into MULDER's office. Slow motion effect and music stop as she sees the four male agents in the office going through the desk and file cabinets. SCULLY is furious.)

SCULLY: What is this?! Excuse me. Can somebody please tell me what's going on here?

(One of the Agents, listed as AGENT TDB, whatever that is, responds.)

AGENT TDB: We're collecting material.

SCULLY: For?

AGENT TDB: For anything that might be pertinent to the manhunt.

SCULLY: What manhunt? Manhunt for who?

AGENT TDB: You're kidding, right?

SCULLY: Look, there's nothing. If you're looking for Mulder, you're wasting your time. Are you listening to me?

AGENT TDB: I'm not the man to talk to.

SCULLY: Well, then whose stupid idea is this?

(CUT TO: SCULLY entering SKINNER's office. SKINNER is on the phone. He is not happy with the conversation.)

SKINNER: (on phone) Yeah, well, somebody might have had the courtesy to tell me. (slams the phone down)

SCULLY: There are agents tearing apart Mulder's office who say they're part of an FBI manhunt.

SKINNER: I know. I heard. Believe me, this is not my idea. I just found out about it myself.

SCULLY: They're not going to find Mulder this way. You know that and I know that.

SKINNER: I told you last night, I will find him. I'm going to do that. Okay? Now, I want you just to cool out. I don't want you doing anything to upset your pregnancy.

SCULLY: Look, I don't understand. You are the Assistant Director. Who is going over your head on this?

SKINNER: (sarcastically) Our brand-new deputy director.

(His phone rings. The caller ID display indicates that it is A. KERSH EXT 562. SCULLY stares in disbelief at SKINNER.)

(Later SCULLY and SKINNER enter KERSH's old office. He is packing up items from his desk drawers.)

KERSH: A.D. Skinner, Agent Scully. Thanks for getting right over. I don't want to lose any time. We have one of our own missing and the only acceptable outcome is that we find him safe and alive. I'm sure the two of you agree.

SKINNER: That goes without saying, sir.

("Sir" was not an easy word for SKINNER to say.)

KERSH: Good. This comes at a stressful time, with my new appointment. But I'm thankful for your cooperation in the hunt for Mulder.

SCULLY: Our cooperation? With due respect, there aren't two people better qualified to be directing this action, sir.

KERSH: Right now, you and A.D. Skinner are the two primary witnesses to Mulder's disappearance. I want your statement taken asap.

SCULLY: You make us out to be suspects, sir.

(KERSH stares at her.)

SKINNER: Taken by who?

KERSH: My task force leader on this, Special Agent John Doggett. He's waiting to hear from you now.

(Emphasis on the word "now". SKINNER and SCULLY start to leave. KERSH takes off his glasses and faces them.)

KERSH: One more thing. Anything leaves this building about aliens or alien abductions or any other nonsense that might cast the Bureau in a ridiculous light-- hey, you can forget about looking for Agent Mulder. You'll both be looking for new jobs.

(KERSH puts his glasses back on and returns to his papers.)

KERSH: That's all.

(The door to the office closes and SCULLY and SKINNER leave and begin walking down the hall.)

SCULLY: I don't believe this.

SKINNER: This isn't about finding Mulder-- this is about Kersh covering the FBI's ass.

SCULLY: Why do I get the feeling they'd be happy if we never found him at all?

(They stop at a door and speak quietly.)

SKINNER: Look... I saw what I saw. I have to make a statement in there. I'm not going to tell them it didn't happen.

SCULLY: Well, you heard Kersh. They don't want the truth. You give them the truth, and they'll hang you with it.

SKINNER: They can hang me with a lie, too. I'm not going to sell Mulder out.

SCULLY: What good are you to Mulder if you give them the power to ruin your career?

(SKINNER has no answer.)

SCULLY: We will find him.

(They enter the Bullpen. The ALL BUSINESS AGENT, aka AGENT GENE CRANE, comes over to them.)

AGENT GENE CRANE: Assistant Director, you can come on back with me. Agent Scully, I'll ask you to please wait on the wall until we call you.

(He leads a reluctant SKINNER to a desk in the middle of the room. SCULLY sits wearily in one of the red chairs lining the wall. A MAN is already sitting two seats away. He is about 40. Ruggedly good-looking in a manly-man sort of way. This is a man's man. A guy's guy. This is not a man who would watch "Steel Magnolias" without a fight, no matter how much Shiner Bock beer was on hand. He is wearing an FBI badge, but it is twisted on his lapel, we can't see his name or photo. He looks at SCULLY as she sits, then gets up and crosses to a water cooler. SCULLY, her mind on other things, glances at him, but remains focused on SKINNER. A moment later he hands her a paper cup.)

THE MAN: Water?

(She looks up at him in surprise.)

THE MAN: It could be a wait.

SCULLY: Thank you.

(SCULLY accepts the cup and takes a sip as THE MAN sits down again, and begins reading his file.)

THE MAN: (casually) Weren't you his partner? Mulder?

SCULLY: (not expecting the question) Yes.

THE MAN: I guess nobody's beyond suspicion on this thing.

SCULLY: Why are they talking to you?

THE MAN: (casually) Me? I knew Mulder back a bit. They're developing a working profile-- character background.

SCULLY: I'd say they have all the character profile they need on him.

DOGGETT: Certainly his reputation. I doubt we agents ever really truly know each other even our partners. Not at the end of the day. Their real lives, their friends, girlfriends, deeply personal things, issues.

SCULLY: I think I know Mulder as much as anybody.

THE MAN: Yeah, probably so. I always took the rumors with a grain of salt.

SCULLY: What rumors are those?

THE MAN: Well, you know.

(SCULLY doesn't know.)

THE MAN: Well, that, from the beginning he never felt a real trust with you, that you were ambitious.

SCULLY: Where'd that come from?

THE MAN: (short laugh) There are women here at the Bureau that he would confide in. I don't know if you knew that or not.

SCULLY: No. When was this?

THE MAN: I don't know, it's just talk. So, what do you think happened? To Mulder? What's your theory?

(SCULLY does not like this man. At all.)

SCULLY: What's my theory? My theory is you don't know Mulder at all. You never did.

(She reaches out and flips his badge over.)

SCULLY: "John Doggett." Kersh's task force leader. You might have just introduced yourself.

DOGGETT: Well, I was getting around to it.

(SCULLY stands and tosses the water in DOGGETT's face.)

SCULLY: Nice to meet you, Agent Doggett.

(She drops the cup. DOGGETT sits wetly stone-faced as she leaves the room, closing the door firmly behind her. Other AGENTS in the Bullpen who have been watching with interest, lower their eyes and go back to work.)

(Scully's apartment. Later that evening. Hauntingly sad music is playing again. It is raining. A steady stream of water pours down the windows obscuring the view outside. SCULLY is sitting at her computer. She is running a check on DOGGETT's FBI file. His records show that he was born in Atlanta, Georgia; present assignment is as Special Agent Criminal Investigations. Camera zooms in to show:

Military History

1977-1983 - US Marine Corps
24th Marine Amphibious, 2nd Marine
Seargeant E-5

9/1/82-10/30/83 - Multinational Peacekeeping Force,
Lebanon Development

Work History

1987-1995 - New York Police Department
Detective, Fugitive Division, Warrant

1995 - Graduate, FBI Nationa; Academy, Quantico

1995 - Present - FBI, Special Agent, Criminal Investigations

While reading, SCULLY suddenly looks physically uncomfortable. She takes off her glasses and runs to the bathroom. As she throws up in the toilet, the camera focuses on the dripping faucet in the sink. After what CarriK suspects is the shortest and most delicately handled "morning sickness" bout in the history of women, SCULLY crosses to the sink, wets the washcloth which looks like it has already been used at least once this day, and wipes her face and lips. She looks at herself in the mirror.)

(Sound of a phone dialing. SCULLY is now back near her computer, phone in hand. An answering machine picks up.)

MRS SCULLY (voice on machine) Hi, this is Margaret Scully. Please leave a message.

(Beep.)

SCULLY: (on phone) Mom, it's Dana. I, uh... I'm sorry I haven't called you in a while. I've been busy with work and, um, with something ... else that I should probably tell you about in person. I mean, I don't even know if you're in town or if you're checking your messages. (her voice cracks, she is about to cry) But, um... but I really need to see you and talk to you. There's a lot of stuff that's going on with me right now and, um... and I just really need to talk.

(She is about to say more, but hears a click on the line.)

SCULLY: Mom?

(Another click. SCULLY hangs up and notices a figure outside through her window. A tall dark-haired man dressed in black is standing on the sidewalk outside her building. Angrily, she dials another number.)

(In the FBI Bullpen, DOGGETT answers the phone.)

DOGGETT: (on phone) John Doggett.

SCULLY: (on phone) You stay out of my business!

DOGGETT: (on phone) What? Who is this?

SCULLY: (on phone) You better have a court order!

DOGGETT: (on phone) For what? Who is this?

SCULLY: (on phone) How many phones are you tapping? How many agents are you doing surveillance on?

DOGGETT: (on phone) Is this Agent Scully?

SCULLY: (on phone) Thank you. You just answered all my questions.

(SCULLY hangs up the phone, then turns toward the door as she hears a creaking floorboard. She sees the shadow of someone standing outside her door. The shadow moves away. SCULLY gets her gun off of the table and leaves her apartment without closing the door. The hallway is empty. She goes down the stairs to the floor below her. A man is on the fire escape next to an open window. SCULLY aims her gun.)

SCULLY: Stop there! Right there! Now come on through the window nice and easy.

(MR COEBEN, 50ish, short and pudgy, climbs carefully back through the window. He is drenched. We last saw him in Orison when he let MULDER into SCULLY's apartment.)

MR COEBEN: Okay, I'm coming. It's me, your landlord. I started fixing the antennae on the roof, and...

SCULLY: I'm sorry, Mr. Coeben. I'm sorry. There was a man. There was someone in the building. Did you see anyone?

MR COEBEN: Yeah, yeah, you know him, he works with you. Tall guy-- brown hair.

SCULLY: (almost speechless) Who? You... You don't mean Mulder?

MR COEBEN: Yeah, Mulder.

(SCULLY runs back to her apartment.)

SCULLY: Mulder? Are you in here?

(She looks into the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom. No one else is there. She turns back to her desk and gasps. He computer is missing. She picks up the detached power and phone cords in disbelief.)

(Under the Haunting Music, SCULLY enters MULDER's apartment. His computer is also missing - a round dust-free space on the desk where the monitor used to be, a serial port cable lying forlornly. As SCULLY passes the bedroom door, she notices one of MULDER's blue dress shirts lying on the unmade bed. She picks it up and lies down on the bed, cradling the shirt in her arms. Her eyes drift closed and we cut to ...)

(MULDER in a really bad place. He is naked on some sort of metal table. His arms and legs are secured by means of metal rods that have been driven through his wrists and ankles. His head is held stationary with both a brace and six metal clips attached to his cheeks, three on each side, which stretch his skin in what looks to me a most uncomfortable manner. He is awake, a bright light above him seen through a sort of watery lens. A high-pitched whirring sound begins, and a mechanized double-pronged probe pushes itself into his nose. It probably blocks his nasal passages, because he opens his mouth. Another probe, this one with a spinning drill bit at the tip, appears. As it enters MULDER's mouth, a bright light attached to it flicks on. MULDER screams as the drill enters his soft palate.)

(Late night. SKINNER and the GUNMEN are outside at a bank of large satellite dishes. The GUNMEN are showing SKINNER printouts.)

FROHIKE: It took some serious voodoo

LANGLY: Major satellite hacking.

BYERS: But we got your data.

SKINNER: What am I looking at?

BYERS: You're seeing real-time images right off the JPL Topex Poseidon.

FROHIKE: We're wired right into the dish.

BYERS: We're not able to find raw data with UFO activity on it.

FROHIKE: But Langly was able to hack into the data storage here and pull up something just as tasty.

BYERS: You're looking at UFO activity in the Pacific Northwest just prior to Mulder's abduction.

LANGLY: All these markers correspond with reported alien abductions. It's a regular shopping spree.

SKINNER: So Mulder's abduction...

FROHIKE: Was a UFO whistle stop on the way to the next pickup.

SKINNER: Where? Where's the UFO activity after Mulder's abduction?

BYERS: Like we said, we can't tell. Not from the data we're pulling down.

SKINNER: Look, if we can figure out where that ship was going, where it was gonna be, we've got a chance to find Mulder.

(KERSH's office. Two other agents [movers?] are with him. DOGGETT enters.)

DOGGETT: Got a minute?

KERSH: Yeah, sure.

(The other two men leave the room. KERSH holds up a picture of a military aircraft. A young him is the pilot.)

KERSH: You fly, Agent Doggett?

DOGGETT: Flying is for birds and baseballs. USMC, sir.

KERSH: In Vietnam we used to fly night sorties ten feet above the treetops. Before night vision, before fly-by-wire. 600 miles an hour and all we had was an idiot gauge and our wits. Guys used to say they only knew their altitude by the smell of the V.C. rice pots.

DOGGETT: You've come a long way, sir.

KERSH: Using all the same instincts. What can I do for you, Agent?

(KERSH goes to his desk)

DOGGETT: This task force-- the search for Mulder, I'm running it, right?

KERSH: You're the man in charge.

DOGGETT: No one else is involved? Someone out there acting under orders from another office?

KERSH: I think I'd know, Agent. What prompts the question?

(DOGGETT looks directly at KERSH.)

DOGGETT: My idiot gauge. My wits.

(DOGGETT begins to leave the office.)

KERSH: You got a chance to shine here, John. Stand in the spotlight. Show them all you're an ace.

(DOGGETT leaves.)

(Next morning. MULDER's apartment. SCULLY is still asleep in MULDER's bed. She is still holding the shirt, but has rolled over to the other side of the bed. She hears footsteps and wakes up with serious bedhead. She looks around the room, then turns over and sits up facing the door. She is startled to see DOGGETT in the bedroom doorway.)

SCULLY: What are you doing here?

DOGGETT: (suggestively) I could ask you the same.

SCULLY: I came by to feed Mulder's fish.

DOGGETT: And then you got tired and decided to take a nap.

SCULLY: (angry) You've got a way about you, Agent Doggett. That might have worked with the NYPD but you're talking to a fellow FBI agent now and I'd appreciate some respect.

DOGGETT: Respect like you showed me over the phone? Give a little, get a little, Agent Scully.

SCULLY: Who ambushed me with the phony chitchat about Mulder and then put a wiretap on my phone?

DOGGETT: That's B.S.

SCULLY: And now you're following me.

DOGGETT: I just came by to feed the fish.

(SCULLY enters the living room and crosses to the fish tank.)

SCULLY: What do you want to get on me, Agent Doggett? What is it you hope to find?

DOGGETT: I'm just trying to find Mulder.

SCULLY: You wouldn't know where to look.

(SCULLY is looking on the shelves for the fish food.)

DOGGETT: It's in the desk, middle drawer.

(Without looking at DOGGETT, SCULLY opens the drawer, gets the food and feeds the fish.)

DOGGETT: I know the answer, Agent Scully.

SCULLY: I don't even know the question.

DOGGETT: What happened to Mulder? I know what you're gonna say or not because you think I'm the big bad wolf. Do you really believe it?

SCULLY: You think by talking in circles, I'm just going to get dizzy and-and blurt it out-- this so-called answer?

DOGGETT: That he was abducted by aliens?

SCULLY: (defiantly) You said it. I didn't.

DOGGETT: I guess I just find it hard to swallow that a scientist, a serious person, could buy that. Ever see an alien, Agent Scully?

SCULLY: You want me to go on record? I will go on record to say this; that I have seen things that I cannot explain. I have observed phenomena that I cannot deny. And that as a scientist and a serious person it is a badge of honor not to dismiss these things because someone thinks they're B.S.

DOGGETT: So you think he was abducted?

(SCULLY looks away.)

DOGGETT: I'm just trying to find him.

SCULLY: Then what are you doing here?

DOGGETT: (showing her a folder) Trying to figure these out. I found them in his desk there. Car rental receipts on Agent Mulder's Visa. (The receipts are from Lariat Rental Car) Four consecutive weekends in May. Same mileage each trip -- 370 miles, 375 miles... where was he going?

SCULLY: I don't know.

DOGGETT: Like I said, maybe you really didn't know your partner.

(SCULLY looks like she might say more, but DOGGETT's cell phone rings. He answers it.)

DOGGETT: (on phone) John Doggett. (pause) Agent Mulder at the FBI?

(He and SCULLY look at each other.)

(SKINNER walks down the crowded halls of the FBI and enters the Bullpen. All the Task Force is there, plus KERSH, DOGGETT and SCULLY.)

AGENT GENE CRANE: Assistant Director, follow me.

SKINNER: (wanting to talk to SCULLY) What's going on? What is this?

AGENT GENE CRANE: Mr. Skinner, right this way, please. You can talk with Agent Scully after we're done. (SKINNER looks at SCULLY hopelessly and follows him) Have a seat. (DOGGETT is standing next to SKINNER's chair, he stares down at him) Assistant Director, someone came into this office after hours and removed some material. Files. We don't know exactly what just yet.

(Camera moves to KERSH observing as SKINNER looks at him and at DOGGETT then back to CRANE.)

SKINNER: Who?

AGENT GENE CRANE: The office here is secured by a pass-card lock and whoever came in last night used the pass-card belonging to Agent Mulder.

SKINNER: You think Agent Mulder took the files?

AGENT GENE CRANE: We're wondering about Agent Mulder's state of mind. In your statement, (he flips through some papers) you said prior to his disappearance Agent Mulder had felt threatened by the FBI.

SKINNER: (knowing a trap is being laid) No, no. No, that's not what I said. I said he felt the X-Files were threatened by budget cutting.

AGENT GENE CRANE: Is there anything you're not telling us about Agent Mulder or his attitude? (no answer) Do you think he'd ever retaliate against the FBI?

SKINNER: (shaking his head) Agent Mulder was only after the truth.

KERSH: As are we, Assistant Director.

AGENT GENE CRANE: Agent Scully tells us she was home last night. We see from your phone log, you were here until at least after 10:00.

(SKINNER glares at him as CRANE hands over the phone log, a slight smile of disbelief on his lips. He reads the document and hands it back.)

SKINNER: You think I came in here last night using Agent Mulder's pass-card?

AGENT GENE CRANE: You were the last person to see Mulder. You and Agent Scully.

(Another AGENT whispers in DOGGETT's ear. Two TECHNICIANS wheel in a large object in a crate and begin opening it.)

SCULLY: (to DOGGETT) Skinner is telling the truth.

DOGGETT: I believe him. That still doesn't tell us who used Mulder's card to get in there.

SCULLY: You think it was Mulder?

DOGGETT: I showed you those car rental receipts. Well, now I find Agent Mulder's Visa was used two days ago in Raleigh, North Carolina.

SCULLY: Two days ago? By who? For what?

DOGGETT: Flowers. Automatic debit to a mortuary there.

SCULLY: (realizing, with relief) Mulder's mother is buried in Raleigh. That's the reason he was going every weekend.

DOGGETT: It's one reason. (He looks at the crate.)

(The crate is now open revealing a large tombstone with the heading "MULDER." under the heading:

William Mulder 1936-1995
Tena Mulder 1941-2000
Samantha Mulder 1964-1977

At the very bottom is a freshly carved "FOX MULDER, 1961-2000." SCULLY stares at the stone in shock.)

(FBI Bullpen. Haunting music. SCULLY is still staring at the tombstone, her hand covering her mouth. DOGGETT is on the phone standing by a desk a few feet away watching her. SKINNER enters and crosses to SCULLY. They speak quietly.)

SCULLY: I don't know what to think.

SKINNER: I don't believe it, Dana. It just doesn't make any sense to me.

(DOGGETT crosses to SCULLY and SKINNER.)

DOGGETT: All right. I got some light on this. Maybe you can help me out here, Agent Scully.

SCULLY: What is it?

DOGGETT: (handing her a file) Agent Mulder's medical records-- recent stuff, over the last year. Did you know about a medical condition? Either of you?

SKINNER: No.

DOGGETT: A year ago, Agent Mulder was hospitalized. Ring a bell? Something to do with his brain?

SCULLY: (reading the file) His temporal lobe.

DOGGETT: An undiagnosable condition, it says. Irregular brain activity.

SKINNER: All right, but he recovered. There was a full recovery.

DOGGETT: Was there?

SKINNER: (to SCULLY) You know Mulder; he would've told us if there was anything.

DOGGETT: Would he? Would he tell you about this? About his headstone?

SCULLY: (softly) Mulder was dying.

SKINNER: What?

SCULLY: It's all right here. For a year, he was going to doctors. There's a clear record of his decline.

DOGGETT: How well did you really know him? How far would Mulder go?

SCULLY: How far would he go for what?

DOGGETT: The truth-- his truth. Whatever it was he was trying to prove, how bad did he need to prove it?

SCULLY: It was his whole life.

SKINNER: What are you trying to say?

DOGGETT: That Agent Mulder found himself in a place none of us want to go. Life-threatened, work-threatened, and all for naught. Nothing proven. The effort in vain. No mark left. Unless he rolled the dice, took one big last chance to make it.

SCULLY: (hard to accept) You think that Mulder was here? That he broke in to steal those files?

DOGGETT: Broke into your apartment; stole your computer. Took his own computer. Gathering it up.

SKINNER: To what? To prove it?

DOGGETT: Or cover it up. Create doubt. (confidently) I get Mulder, I get him. I understand obsession, believe me. But the question is: how far would he go? I mean, so far as to stage his own disappearance?

SKINNER: (defiantly, to SCULLY) I know what I saw. I not going to sit here and listen to this. I watched it happen.

(SKINNER gets up and stands in front of DOGGETT)

(Flashback to the forest scene in Requiem, 7X22. SKINNER sees the bright light overhead and MULDER disappearing.)

SKINNER: Agent Mulder?!

(Present time. SKINNER looks shocked as he realizes what he just revealed to DOGGETT. DOGGETT is staring at him. SCULLY rests her hand subtly on SKINNER's jacket. SCULLY stands up and leans into DOGGETT, a pleading note in her voice.)

SCULLY: Please don't report that.

(SKINNER looks at her.)

DOGGETT: Don't know what good it would do me. Doesn't help me find Mulder.

(DOGGETT leaves. SCULLY places her hand on SKINNER's shoulder.)

SKINNER: No, it's not good enough.

(SKINNER turns away and leaves. SCULLY watches as DOGGETT picks up a phone and she turns to follow SKINNER.)

(The office of the LONE GUNMEN. They are showing SCULLY marked maps.)

SKINNER: These are records of microburst activity. What we read is UFO activity since Mulder's abduction.

SCULLY: I think this is a waste of time.

SKINNER: No, it's not. Just look at them.

SCULLY: I'm looking, and what I'm seeing is activity all over the southwestern states.

SKINNER: That's right.

SCULLY: Mulder disappeared in the Pacific Northwest.

SKINNER: And if Mulder is on that ship, this is where he is now.

SCULLY: (disbelief) Here? In the Arizona desert?

SKINNER: This is what we have.

SCULLY: Okay. Say this is true ... then how do we even begin to start finding him?

(Long pause.)

LANGLY: Maybe with whoever it is they're looking to abduct next.

FROHIKE: Hey, we're only trying to help.

BYERS: We're only trying to find Mulder.

(SCULLY has stepped away, but now turns back to them, a look of surprise on her face.)

SCULLY: That's it. It just came to me.

SKINNER: What?

SCULLY: What you saw, why they took Mulder, why they're in Arizona now-- it all makes sense.

(Under SCULLY's lines, we see DOGGETT at his desk. An envelope containing a file is slipped under the door. DOGGETT retrieves the envelope and opens it.)

SCULLY: Why do people refuse to believe in aliens and UFOs after all these years of sightings and eyewitness accounts? Why?

FROHIKE: Because there's no real proof.

SCULLY: Because, maybe, if there are aliens they're simply going around and they're... and they're removing all of the evidence before it becomes proof. This isn't Mulder who's going around and collecting this stuff. It's them.

SKINNER: Then why Arizona?

(DOGGETT opens the file numbered 1013-113.)

SCULLY: Because they are looking to find that which is not in my computer or Mulder's computer or in the files that were removed from the FBI. They are looking to find the whereabouts of good, hard proof. That in this case exists in a person, in a boy named Gibson Praise.

(In DOGGETT's file is a picture of young GIBSON PRAISE, last seen at the beginning of Season 6.)

(FBI conference room. The scene begins in slow-motion as DOGGETT looks through a file and runs his hand through his hair. He gets up and the slo-mo stops. DOGGETT is handing out photocopies of GIBSON's picture to about 12 agents.)

DOGGETT: This photograph's a few years old but take a good look because the objective in this case has been reframed. Subject's name is Gibson Andrew Praise. A child prodigy, pint-sized chess champion who Mulder and Scully first investigated in 1997 after a failed attempt on the boy's life. His files were the ones we now believe were stolen from this office. In his investigation Agent Mulder came to believe the boy was experiencing abnormal brain activity. Unexplained activity. In his field notes here he says Gibson Praise could, and I quote "read people's thoughts."

(The other AGENTS chuckle.)

DOGGETT: Agent Mulder went so far in one report to claim that the boy may have alien physiology.

(More chuckling.)

DOGGETT: Agent Mulder may be looking for the boy who was last seen in Arizona. So maybe to find Mulder we first have to look for Gibson Praise.

(DOGGETT points his finger at someone out of the screen range. We see AGENT GENE CRANE stand up and turn around to speak to the other AGENTS.)

AGENT GENE CRANE: Let's go, people! Let's move!

(The AGENTS begin to leave. AGENT GENE CRANE comes over to DOGGETT with the picture.)

AGENT GENE CRANE: How do you want this handled?

DOGGETT: I want you to put that on every TV station, post office, and fax machine in Arizona and the southwest. I want to make that face famous.

(Things have gotten worse for MULDER. He is still on the evil table. It looks like a man, possibly smoking, is watching from an overhead window. The light pops on again. The nose and mouth probes are gone. He looks really nervous. Another mechanized arm lowers toward him. It looks like an appendage for a BattleBot. A circular blade at the end begins spinning. MULDER screams as it cuts deeply into his chest and belly. Quick cut to ...)

(SCULLY gasps and jerks awake and reacts as if something is hurting her midsection. She gets her breathing under control. SKINNER, driving the SUV along a desert road looks at her with concern.)

SKINNER: You better? I need some navigation.

SCULLY: (gets herself together and looks at the map) How to start looking for a 12-year-old kid in the middle of the Arizona desert. Well, there aren't a whole lot of choices.

SKINNER: We got a turnoff coming up in five miles. I take it or keep going straight?

SCULLY: Gibson Praise was last seen here at a power plant about 60 miles outside of Phoenix. But all the satellite data shows activity here about 100 miles to the north.

SKINNER: What's out there?

SCULLY: Well, according to this map... a whole lot of nothing.

(Overhead view of the car. The shadow of a helicopter passes beside them.)

(DOGGETT is a passenger in the helicopter. He receives a call from another agent on the ground.)

AGENT GENE CRANE: This is Special Agent Crane calling for task force leader.

DOGGETT: Yeah, this is John Doggett.

AGENT GENE CRANE: Just confirmed a location on this kid. He's at a school for the deaf in a place called Flemingtown. Little dot on the map about 90 miles from where I am now. I just talked to the school principal there.

DOGGETT: Is the kid in school now?

AGENT GENE CRANE: Yeah, he lives at the school.

DOGGETT: All right, have the principal take him out of class and put him someplace where he can keep an eye on him until we arrive.

AGENT GENE CRANE: Got it. Gonna take me an hour, an hour and 15 to get there.

DOGGETT: All right, well, I'm going to see if I can cut some time off that.

(He indicates a new direction to his pilot.)

(SKINNER and SCULLY have stopped at a gas station. Gas prices $1.89, $1.99, $1.49. SKINNER enters the station. SCULLY looks out into the desert. She intently studies a transparent mirage-like disturbance near a cliff. SKINNER gets back into the car.)

SKINNER: It's a school 20 minutes from here.

(As SKINNER pulls back onto the road, SCULLY's attention remains focused on the area near the cliff.)

(In a school building, a TEACHER is signing to students. The PRINCIPAL is on the phone.)

PRINCIPAL: (on phone) Yes, sir, in his science class. Is it important enough to take him away from his studies? I'll go and get him right now.

(The helicopter lands at Flemington School for the Deaf. Inside, the PRINCIPAL leads GIBSON PRAISE out of the classroom. As he walks out the door, GIBSON PRAISE looks back at a girl in the room, THEA SPRECHER. They look at each other for a moment, then GIBSON PRAISE follows the PRINCIPAL. Outside, DOGGETT gets out of the helicopter and enters the school. SKINNER and SCULLY's SUV is approaching.)

(We see GIBSON PRAISE looking out the window as DOGGETT arrives. He's pulled away by an unseen hand. DOGGETT rushes into the school and flashes his badge at the PRINCIPAL.)

DOGGETT: Where's the boy?

PRINCIPAL: You're just going to have to slow down and explain a few things to us before we let you...

(He cuts him off and starts heading for an open doorway.)

DOGGETT: Is he down there?

PRINCIPAL: He's in my office.

(DOGGETT runs down the hall. SCULLY and SKINNER enter.)

SCULLY: Hi. Um ... we're looking for a boy named Gibson Praise.

PRINCIPAL: Now who are you?

(DOGGET comes running back up the hall.)

DOGGETT: Kid went out the window. (notices SCULLY and SKINNER) What are you doing here?

SCULLY: What are you doing here?

DOGGETT: Trying to find Mulder.

(DOGGET runs outside as the rest of his task force arrives by car.)

DOGGETT: Kid's on the move. Spread out!

AGENT GENE CRANE: The kid's on the loose! You have the photo! Move!

(The AGENTS all move.)

(Behind the building, GIBSON PRAISE is walking quickly and nervously. A scar on his head is obvious. He rounds the corner of a building and stops. He looks up in fear at a tall man wearing a grey t-shirt. We can't see the man's face.)

(Very short time later. Alone behind the building, DOGGETT notices small foot prints. He follows them to the corner of the building, then sees them accompanied by a larger pair of footprints heading off into the desert. He follows.)

(Pan across desert mountain range.)

(At the edge of a cliff we hear and see GIBSON PRAISE being led by a tall man in a gray t-shirt.)

GIBSON PRAISE: Let me go! Let me go!

(DOGGETT catches up to them and holds his gun on the man.)

DOGGETT: Let the boy go! Let him go, Mulder!

(The man is MULDER, but his face is blank and expressionless.)

[TO BE CONTINUED ...]

In Memoriam
JIM ENGH
1961-2000

(SPECIAL NOTE: Jim Engh was a valued member of the production crew; he sadly died after being electrocuted while filming for this episode on a scaffold tower. Six other crew members were hurt in the accident. It sounds like they were filming the scene where Scully finds her landlord on the fire escape.)