Forever Dreaming
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9x19 & 9x20 - The Truth Pt. 1 & 2
https://foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=174&t=10882		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  bunniefuu [ 04/06/14 10:17 ]
Post subject:  9x19 & 9x20 - The Truth Pt. 1 & 2
SCENE 1

MOUNT WEATHER COMPLEX

BLUEMONT, VIRGINIA

(Day. A white helicopter (#45) flies overhead, above the mountain top readying to land. There is a military-secure facility in the mountain side guarded by a lot of armed military personnel.)

(A military man opens the helicopter door and several people get out. First two men, a woman, two more men ... and MULDER. He walks out and surveys the place.)

(They all get into a square green transport bus. Military men close the door. The bus drives into a long, dark tunnel inside the mountain nearby.)

(The busy stops. Three men approach the bus. The people unload from the bus, they meet the men, MULDER exits and goes right. He glances behind him to see whether anyone sees him. He's in the clear. He takes off, running down another tunnel.)

(A blue door opens. MULDER steps through the passageway and onto the top of metal stairs that leads into an open tunnel. There are dozens of government workers and military personnel below. It is unclear exactly what is going on. MULDER makes his way down the stairs.)

(MULDER walks quickly through the catwalk. At first, trying to look casual, MULDER settles for just getting to his destination and trots.)

(A card key pops out of an electronic lock. The door opens. MULDER makes his way through another tunnel. It's apparent that he definitely knows where he's going.)

(A large blue door opens. MULDER shuts it quietly and heads to the main computer terminal in the room. MULDER takes a seat and looks up at the screen in front of him. Encrypted nonsense fills the screen from top to bottom. With a series of keystrokes, the screen clears. MULDER definitely knows what he's doing.)

(The following appears on screen:

END GAME

ACCESS CODE>

(MULDER types in the correct access code. The screen clears and fills with another coded screen that quickly decodes in front of his eyes. The screen reads:

CONFIDENTIAL

DECEMBER 22, 2012

"THE DATE SET FOR MOBILIZATION OF ALIEN FORCES CULMINATES IN THE COMPLETE ...

.. OF CIVILIAN AND MILITARY ...

.. WAS FIRST RECORDED BY ...

.. DANIEL M. MILLER UPON ...

.. -IGENCE IN ROSWELL, N.M., I- ...

.. -ONTACT WITH ALIEN FORCES ...

.. MILITARY OFFICIALS ARE INSTRUCTED

.. FOLLOW EMERGENCY PROTOC- ...

.. -RUCTIONS. IT IS ANTICIPATED...

.. -MENT WILL BE DESTROYED ...

.. RESULTING IN THE TRANS- ...

.. THE FEDERAL EMERGENCY ...

(As the screen decodes before him, MULDER reads the secret that the government hides from all humanity. The Truth that no one must discover.)

(MULDER'S reading is interrupted by the sound of the lock mechanism of the door to the room. The door opens and in walks KNOWLE ROHRER. ROHRER moves to the abandoned terminal that MULDER was recently seated at. The de-coded message still on screen.)

(ROHRER knows that someone's been there.)

(From behind ROHRER, MULDER approaches. MULDER hits ROHRER squarely in the head with something. ROHRER simply turns around and grabs MULDER by the neck. He picks MULDER up as if he weighed nothing at all, and throws him through the glass used as the computer screen. MULDER falls onto the floor below. ROHRER makes his way to MULDER.)

(MULDER quickly gets off of the floor and heads out the partially open door. Running for his life, MULDER tries to put as much space as he can between himself and ROHRER. ROHRER is in pursuit.)

(MULDER runs down the tunnel toward the door that will take him back into the main tunnel. He stops running when he sees a man blocking the doorway. The familiar shape of a man who simply stands there. MULDER looks back at KNOWLE ROHRER closing in on him and heads toward the door and the man standing in the doorway.)

(It's KRYCEK.)

(MULDER runs past him and KRYCEK closes the door behind him shutting ROHRER out on the other side. ROHRER immediately begins to batten the door in with his shoulder.)

(MULDER stops and looks at KRYCEK The thumping sounds of ROHRER trying to get through the thick, secure door continue.)

MULDER: No! You're dead.

(KRYCEK looks at MULDER.)

KRYCEK: Go.

(MULDER doesn't move. KRYCEK turns to look at the door. The thumping sounds continue. He looks at MULDER.)

KRYCEK: There's others.

(The Klaxon alarm blares. MULDER turns around to see armed military men running on the catwalks heading toward him. MULDER turns around and KRYCEK'S gone.)

(MULDER'S a bit confused at the apparition, then starts running from the military as they slowly close in on him. MULDER runs on the catwalk only to be stopped by KNOWLE ROHRER in front running toward him. He must have found another way around the sealed door. Behind him, another armed military man blocks that route. MULDER climbs up the stairs. ROHRER closes in on him.)

(MULDER crosses the catwalk headed toward the stairs for the next level. ROHRER reaches MULDER and pulls him down from behind and pins him to the catwalk railing. ROHRER has MULDER'S neck in a vice-like grip while pushing him downward over the railing. Government / military personnel gather on the ground below to watch the commotion.)

(MULDER struggles to maintain his balance and to find a way to fight ROHRER. His foot braces against a canister bolted to the catwalk floor. Using the leverage, MULDER flips both himself and a surprised ROHRER over the catwalk railing. ROHRER, unprepared, falls into the electrical wires running across the tunnel.

(MULDER remains above hanging from the catwalk railing.)

(While ROHRER fries down below and government workers scramble to aid him, MULDER pulls himself up over the railing onto the catwalk and into the arms of the other armed military men advancing on him.)

(There's no escape for MULDER.)

[Fade to black]

OPENING CREDITS

SCENE 2

(Unknown Brig. The door opens and two MILITARY GUARDS walk in.)

MILITARY GUARD: What are you thinking?

MULDER: Where am I?

MILITARY GUARD: Wrong answer!

(THE MILITARY GUARD violently hits wall above MULDER.)

MILITARY GUARD: What are you thinking?

MULDER: I'm thinking about getting the hell out of here.

MILITARY GUARD: Wrong... answer!

(THE MILITARY GUARD hits MULDER in the abdomen. MULDER groans in pain. THE MILITARY GUARD walks out. At the door he turns around with a final directive.)

MILITARY GUARD: N sleeping!

(The door closes leaving MULDER in darkness.)

CUT TO:

(The metal door opens and the same MILITARY GUARD walks in. He stops in front of MULDER.)

MILITARY GUARD: What are you thinking?

MULDER: About my son ... about his mother.

MILITARY GUARD: Wrong answer!

(The MILITARY GUARD swings and hits the space very close to MULDER'S face, barely missing him. MULDER has to duck to the side to avoid getting hit.)

MILITARY GUARD: Now, what are you thinking?

MULDER: What do you want from me?!

MILITARY GUARD: Wrong... answer!

(The MILITARY GUARD swings and tries to hit MULDER'S head directly, but MULDER'S prepared for him. MULDER grabs the stick, but THE MILITARY GUARD is too strong for MULDER. MULDER starts to gasp as THE MILITARY GUARD presses the baton against his neck. MULDER struggles and gasps.)

MILITARY GUARD: I want answers, you hear me? I want answers!

(The two are in that locked position. MULDER continues to gasp. Finally the MILITARY GUARD lets go. He stands and walks out. The metal door clangs shut leaving MULDER in darkness once again.)

CUT TO:

(The door opens and THE MILITARY GUARD walks in. MULDER is lying naked on the cold floor. MULDER tries to cover his eyes from the sudden bright light.)

MILITARY GUARD: No sleeping!

(THE MILITARY GUARD knocks MULDER'S hands away from his eyes with his booted foot.)

MILITARY GUARD: Did you hear me?

MULDER: Yes.

MILITARY GUARD: What are you thinking?

MULDER: What should I be thinking?

MILITARY GUARD: You're a guilty man. You entered a government facility illegally in search of non-existent information! You failed in every respect!

MULDER: Yes.

MILITARY GUARD: Say it!

(THE MILITARY GUARD pulls his hand back as if to beat MULDER. He waits for MULDER'S response.)

MULDER: I'm a guilty man. I failed in every respect. I deserve the harshest punishment for my crime.

(THE MILITARY GUARD walks out. The door closes.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 3

(Outside MULDER'S cell. The door buzzes open. SCULLY and SKINNER walk in through a door. They show their FBI IDs to the GUARD on the inside who opens the metal gate for them.)

SCULLY: How long has he been here?

SKINNER: I'm trying to get someone to say

(They rapidly make their way down a hallway.)

SCULLY: Who called you?

SKINNER: Kersh's office.

SCULLY: Who called them?

SKINNER: I don't know; I just know that Mulder's being held here indefinitely.

SCULLY: What for?

SKINNER: For the murder of a military man.

CUT TO:

(The guard inside MULDER'S holding cell opens the door to let SCULLY and SKINNER in. The guard remains in the cell. MULDER is standing by the window. He's dressed in prison orange and is quiet. MULDER doesn't turn around to acknowledge their presence. He turns when SCULLY calls him.)

SCULLY: Mulder.

MULDER: Dana.

(SCULLY walks to him, eager to finally see him and touch him. She wraps her arms around him ... holding him as if she will never let him go. They embrace.)

SCULLY: Oh, my God.

(SCULLY presses a tender kiss to MULDER'S cheek. She's still holding on to MULDER. When she finally pulls away, MULDER has a strange stoic expression on his face. It may be that SCULLY is just too happy to see MULDER to be fully in tuned with him at that moment. And yet ... )

MULDER: You okay?

SCULLY: Am I okay? Mulder, I haven't seen you in such a long time.

(SCULLY smiles and reaches out and touches MULDER'S face. Her hand lingers.)

SCULLY: I was so worried.

MULDER: Well, it's okay, I'm all right. They're treating me really well in here.

(SCULLY'S caress travels from his face to his chest. She finally gets the sense that something's dreadfully not right.)

SCULLY: What's happened to you?

MULDER: Nothing. I'm squared away.

(MULDER looks up to SKINNER.)

MULDER: Oh, hey, Walter. It's good to see you, man.

SKINNER: Have they told you what the charges are, Mulder? What you're doing here?

MULDER: Oh, yeah, yeah. We're clear on that.

SCULLY: You're clear on what?

MULDER: My crimes.

(SCULLY'S silent for a moment, her eyes searching MULDER'S face. Something is going on and MULDER'S play-acting. She knows this, but before she can say anything ... )

SCULLY: Mulder ...

MULDER: (interrupting) I murdered a man, Dana. I went looking for something that didn't exist, and I ... I made a terrible mistake. I should be punished severely.

SKINNER: Whatever you were doing you have the right to a lawyer ... to an inquiry and process of law.

MULDER: I don't think you heard me.

GUARD: All right - time's up.

(SCULLY'S eyes continue to search MULDER'S face.)

SCULLY: (quietly) We're going to get you out of here.

MULDER: And why is that? I'm a guilty man.

GUARD: Time's up. Let's go.

MULDER: Uh ... excuse me.

(MULDER leaves SCULLY where she is, turns his back on her and moves back to his position in front of the window. He doesn't look back. SCULLY is left with a hurt and a worried look on her face. She stands there for more than a moment staring at MULDER'S back)

(SKINNER turns to leave the room. SCULLY follows him out. As she approaches the doorway, she turns around once more to see MULDER'S back to her. He hasn't moved and he doesn't look at her.)

(Without a word, SCULLY leaves with SKINNER.)

(THE GUARD holding the door open for SCULLY and SKINNER keeps a watchful eye on MULDER.)

(MULDER assumes a thoughtful position standing, his hand is partially covering his mouth as he plays with his lower lip.)

MULDER: (whispering) I don't understand. Why are you helping me?

(Standing directly in front of MULDER is KRYCEK.)

KRYCEK: Because you can't do this alone.

GUARD: [Come on,] Let's go.

(THE GUARD grabs MULDER'S shoulders. MULDER is startled. When he looks back, KRYCEK is gone.)

(THE GUARD removes MULDER from the cell.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 4

(Day. AD Skinner's Office. SKINNER is on the phone in his office trying to get more information about MULDER'S situation. SCULLY is there filling in DOGGETT and REYES.)

MULDER: You saw him? Mulder?

REYES: They've accused him of murder?

SCULLY: And they have him believing that he did it.

DOGGETT: Murdered who?

SCULLY: Knowle Rohrer.

DOGGETT: Knowle Rohrer? It can't be. I watched Knowle Rohrer die.

REYES: He can't die. Knowle Rohrer's a super soldier.

(SKINNER hangs up the phone.)

SKINNER: Mulder side-stepped security at a facility known as Mount Weather -- a place where they say our so-called "shadow government" is installed.

REYES: What about this murder charge?

SKINNER: Thirty government workers are ready to testify they witnessed Mulder push a military officer to his death.

DOGGETT: Killing the man who can't be killed?

(DOGGETT'S words ring ominously in the room. SCULLY remains quiet for a moment. She looks at DOGGETT and she makes a decision. Without a word, she walks past DOGGETT on her way out of the office.)

DOGGETT: Where are you going?

(SCULLY turns around.)

SCULLY: To beg mercy with the man upstairs.

(DOGGETT, REYES and SKINNER are speechless. The door closes behind her.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 5

USMC BASE BRIG

QUANTICO, VIRGINIA

(Day. Office of General Mark A. Suveg. KERSH knocks on the closed door.)

GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: Come in.

(KERSH enters and approaches the man sitting behind the desk.)

GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: Deputy Director Kersh. I've just been going over my notes on this whole business. Please, have a seat.

KERSH: Thank you.

GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: We both got a problem with this man of yours, Agent Mulder.

KERSH: Mulder's been a running problem for the FBI. But nothing this serious.

GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: I would think ...

KERSH: (interrupting) I've been asked by a female agent ... Mulder's closest associate to beg mercy of the military court to give Mulder every consideration based on his good character.

GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: You've reviewed the charges, yes?

KERSH: Yes. There's a charge of murder.

GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: This would look bad for the Marines if it didn't look worse for the FBI. What does Mulder intend to plea?

(KERSH shrugs his shoulders and shakes his head. He doesn't know.)

GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: You wanted a chance to clear up this mess, Mr. Kersh and I'm going to give it to you. Give it to the FBI.

KERSH: How?

GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: A fair hearing for your agent by his own agency. Your prosecutor, your judges. Held in my court.

KERSH: That can't be legal. Why do this?

GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: I want a verdict. A guilty verdict. This man Mulder has made a lot of enemies. He's a crusader. And a lot of people do not like the crusade.

(KERSH shakes his head, no.)

KERSH: I can't do that.

GENERAL MARK A. SUVEG: Oh, you'll do it, Deputy Director. You and I both know there are forces inside the government now that a man would be foolish to disobey.

(KERSH knows a threat when he hears one.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 6

(Mulder's holding cell. THE GUARD opens the cell door for SCULLY and SKINNER. This is a different cell. A darker cell. There's a small window at the very top of it. MULDER is standing in front of that window stretching upward and facing the light. He has his back to the door.)

(THE GUARD closes the door. He remains outside.)

SCULLY: Mulder.

(MULDER turns around slowly. He moves away from the light and a little closer to SCULLY and SKINNER. He has a strange look on his face.)

SCULLY: Mulder!

(MULDER sniffs the air around him. He fixes his stare only at SCULLY and says ...)

MULDER: I smelled you coming, Clarice.

(SCULLY and SKINNER look a little stunned. SCULLY throws an uncertain glance to SKINNER. MULDER releases a chuckle and a smile. SCULLY takes a deep breath at being once again exposed to MULDER'S exquisite sense of humour.)

SCULLY: Oh, my ...

(SCULLY doesn't seem too amused. She also hasn't moved closer to MULDER. She remains where she is since she came into the cell, quite a length away from MULDER with SKINNER between them.)

SCULLY: Damn it, Mulder. It's not funny to see you putting on that act.

MULDER: No, that is funny.

(MULDER fixes SCULLY with a look and begins to walk toward her.)

MULDER: What's not funny is what they do to you in here if you don't put on that act.

(MULDER finally sounds like his old self.)

(MULDER reaches for SCULLY, cups the back of her head with both hands, and draws her to him. MULDER kisses SCULLY leisurely taking his time, his thumbs gently caressing her cheek. SCULLY reaches up and touches MULDER. This is the reunion they both need. MULDER wraps his arms around SCULLY, drawing her nearer to him without breaking the kiss. They embrace each other in their passion. For one moment now and after, they simply hold each other.)

(SKINNER standing close to them, averts his eyes allowing them what little privacy he can.

(MULDER and SCULLY pull away from each other. MULDER humorously turns to SKINNER.)

MULDER: Come here, you big, bald, beautiful man.

SKINNER: The only thing you're going to be kissing, Mulder, is your sweet ass good-bye, with the trouble your in.

MULDER: Uh-huh, I kind of gathered that right around the 50th brainwashing session.

(MULDER inches a little closer to SCULLY, he's holding her hand and lifts it to his lips.)

SCULLY: Mulder, why are they doing this to you?

MULDER: They think that they're preparing me for my trial. For my testimony.

SKINNER: Your testimony's not going to matter. Not with the case they're building.

MULDER: Not building. Rigging.

SKINNER: Yeah, I don't think you understand the seriousness of the charges. This isn't some routine wrist slapping. You're on trial for your life.

MULDER: My trial's a forgone conclusion. What they really want is for me to admit my guilt and help them out. What's really on trial here is the truth.

SCULLY: Mulder, they're saying you killed a man.

MULDER: Have they produced a body?

(Neither SCULLY nor SKINNER answer. SCULLY looks over at SKINNER.)

MULDER: You can't produce a body because you can't kill a man who won't die.

SKINNER: Well, body or not, they've got 30 witnesses from that government facility ready to testify against you.

SCULLY: Mulder, we'll get you the best lawyer.

(MULDER lets out a smile and a laugh.)

MULDER: Would you defend a man who believes in aliens against the FBI and the military? It's never going to happen. Skinner can defend me.

SKINNER: I can't represent you.

MULDER: You know all the facts, the details the whole government conspiracy. (MULDER looks at SKINNER.) More than that, I trust you.

(SKINNER is stunned silent by the weight of MULDER'S complete faith in him ... of MULDER'S willingness to put his life in SKINNER'S hands.)

SCULLY: Mulder ...

MULDER: They can't try me without exposing themselves. I know what I'm doing.

(The three are silent for a moment. The cell door opens. DOGGETT and REYES enter.)

MULDER: Whooo, now it's a party.

(DOGGETT stops in the cell and looks at MULDER. The two men look at each other.)

DOGGETT: Agent Mulder.

SCULLY: What's the matter?

REYES: We've been working off what little we have but the military just got back to us.

DOGGETT: You ready for this? I know this is impossible, but they're saying they got Knowle Rohrer's body.

(They all know this is a lie. They're in for a tough battle ahead.)

[Fade to black]

SCENE 7

7:12 AM

(MULDER is lying on his cell floor. He's dressed in orange. The soft sounds of footsteps approaching from the side. A gentle, familiar hand touches his shoulder waking him.)

SCULLY: Mulder, it's me.

MULDER: Is it time to go?

SCULLY: No. That's why I'm here.

(MULDER gets up and yawns.)

SCULLY: Mulder, I need you to talk to me. Confide in me ... or we'll lose.

MULDER: We can't win, Scully. We can only hope to go down fighting.

SCULLY: You're scaring me. Mulder, I'm so scared that I've just got you back and now I'm going to lose you again.

MULDER: I know what I'm doing.

SCULLY: Well ... whatever you're doing ... you have no idea how much has already been lost ... What I've had to do ...

MULDER: I do know. Skinner told me.

(SCULLY begins to cry.)

SCULLY: Our son, Mulder ... I gave him up.

(MULDER gathers SCULLY into his arms trying to comfort her, drawing comfort from her.)

SCULLY: Our son. I'm so afraid you could never forgive me.

MULDER: I know you had no choice. I just missed both of you so much.

SCULLY: God, where have you been? Where have you been hiding?

MULDER: In New Mexico.

(MULDER buries his face in SCULLY'S shoulder.)

SCULLY: Doing what?

MULDER: Looking for The Truth.

(MULDER laughs at how absurd that sentence sounds. SCULLY chuckles, too. She presses her lips to him.)

SCULLY: You found something, didn't you? Huh?

(SCULLY pulls away from him to look into his eyes.)

SCULLY: What did you find?

MULDER: I can't tell you.

SCULLY: You found something in that facility? That's what you were doing, right? Mulder, what did you find out there?

MULDER: Scully, I can't tell you.

SCULLY: That doesn't make sense.

MULDER: (sadly) You've got to trust me, Scully. I know things. It's better you don't.

CUT TO:

SCENE 8

(Empty courtroom. A door opens into the empty room where the faux court proceedings will occur. SKINNER walks in carrying a briefcase. He stands in the center of the room for a moment, then turns to set up his table)

(Off to the side a man walks into the room calling him. This is SPECIAL AGENT KALLENBRUNNER.)

KALLENBRUNNER: Assistant Director Skinner.

KALLENBRUNNER: Special Agent Kallenbrunner. I'll be handling the prosecution. I'm out of the L.A. Field office.

SKINNER: How did you get this assignment?

KALLENBRUNNER: I was a Federal Prosecutor in D.C. Before joining the FBI. And you?

SKINNER: That's a good question.

(KALLENBRUNNER takes a seat at the table opposite SKINNER.)

(The side door opens and the five man "jury panel" walks in. They are led by the TOOTHPICK MAN, followed by an unknown man, DD KERSH, and two other men we don't recognize. A total of five men sit on the panel. The are all carrying folders. Once all the men walk in, the side door is closed by a guard. The jury sits. Only KERSH remains standing.)

KERSH: Let's bring in the defendant. This proceeding is called to order.

(The back door opens and MULDER walks in accompanied by a guard. He's still dressed in his orange prison garb. He isn't restrained.)

KERSH: Mr. Kallenbrunner you may proceed.

KALLENBRUNNER: I have no witnesses to call. I will submit to the court, however the sworn testimony of 30 men and women who saw the crime.

KERSH: Assistant Director.

SKINNER: I move to dismiss these proceedings on the grounds it violates the accused's rights to a fair trail. I'm not a lawyer. You're not a judge. This is not a court of law.

KERSH: This is a military court of law. You may want to familiarize yourself with title ten of the U.S. Code. But I suggest you call a witness.

SKINNER: Then I move to delay this trial. My central witness, Marita Covarrubias works for the united nations and I can't locate her. And I've received no help from the U.S. Government locating her.

KERSH: I have to deny that request. Do you another witness, Mr. Skinner?

SKINNER: I'll call a witness but I would like to do so under protest.

KERSH: Both the panel's judgments and rulings are sovereign, Mr. Skinner. There is no record.

SKINNER: Excuse me? This isn't a secret tribunal. As you've so kindly informed me, it's a court of law.

KERSH: Military court of law, Mr. Skinner

MULDER: (to SKINNER) It's okay. Try your case.

CUT TO:

(Later on in the courtroom. SCULLY is sitting alone in front of the "jury".)

SKINNER: Please state your name for the court.

SCULLY: My name is Dana Katherine Scully. I was assigned nine years ago to the X-Files to spy on Agent Mulder whose methods the FBI distrusted.

SKINNER: Assigned not just as an agent, but as a medical doctor. A scientist. And as a serious scientist you came to believe in Agent Mulder's theories.

[Clip Sequence shown while SCULLY'S speaking:

* from The Erlenmeyer Flask (1X23): Scully pulling the E.B.E. foetus from the cryogenic container.

* from The Erlenmeyer Flask (1X23): Deep Throat getting shot and dying.]

SCULLY: I came to believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life and in a conspiracy inside the government to keep their existence a secret.

SKINNER: The proof was overwhelming. It was even scientifically undeniable.

SCULLY: I believe as do many respected scientists that life came to earth millions of years ago from a meteor or a rock from Mars.

[Clip shown of a meteor falling to earth.]

SKINNER: So, what you're saying is, life-- human life-- is extraterrestrial by definition.

KALLENBRUNNER: Objection. What does this nonsense have to do with Mulder murdering a man in cold blood?

SKINNER: Agent Scully will prove that a government conspiracy exists to deny the existence of extra-terrestrials.

KERSH: You are not here proving government conspiracies Mr. Skinner. You are here to defend Fox Mulder.

SKINNER: And I'm trying to do that.

KERSH: It's your case, Mr. Skinner.

SKINNER: So, a meteor crashed to earth but along with the biological building blocks on it there was something else -- an alien virus.

[Clip Sequence shown while SCULLY'S speaking:

* from FTF: Caveman being infected by the oil.

* from FTF: E.B.E. from virus gestating in a human.]

SCULLY: I believe there was a virus which thrived here prehistorically. I believe that virus infected early man and transformed his physiology.

SKINNER: Changed him into something else.

SCULLY: Into an alien life-form himself.

SKINNER: And what happened to these aliens?

SCULLY: They died in the last ice age, 35,000 years ago.

SKINNER: And the virus?

SCULLY: It lay dormant underground until it surfaced once again during our current geologic period.

SKINNER: And the government knows of this?

[Clip Sequence shown while SCULLY'S speaking:

* (new) Newspaper clipping from the "Daily Record"

MAIN HEADLINE: "AAF Captures Flying Saucer on Ranch in Roswell Region"

SMALLER HEADLINE 1: Security Council Paves Way to Talks to Arms Reductions

SMALLER HEADLINE 2: No details of Flying Disk Are Revealed

* Photograph of flying disk

* MEMO that says the following:

CONFIDENTIAL 141445? APR 76 STAFF

CFTE DCD / (blanked out)

TO: PRIORITY DCD/HEADQUARTERS.

ATTN: (blanked out)

FROM: DCD / (blanked out)

SUBJECT: CASE (blanked out) - UFO RESEARCH

REF (1): DCD/HEADQUAFRTERS 14556

REF (2): FORM 6JF DATED 9 APRIL 1976, UFO STUDY

1. SOURCE'S FULL NAME IS (blanked out)

HE IS EMPLOYED AS (blanked out) ]

SCULLY: The government learned of this virus in 1947 when a UFO crashed in Roswell, New Mexico.

SKINNER: A UFO crash revealed a virus?

[Clip Sequence shown while SCULLY'S speaking:

* from Terma (4X10): The oil blaze after the bomb explodes. Mulder barely making it out of harm's way.

* from FTF: the black oil moving on the ground.

* from Piper Maru (3X15): Krycek infected with the black oil.

* from Vienen (8X16): the rig workers infected with the black oil.]

SCULLY: The virus thrived underground in petroleum deposits. In black oil. It has sentience. It can think. It has the ability to communicate and it communicated with the UFOs.

SKINNER: And the government knows this, too.

(SCULLY turns to look at MULDER.)

[Clip Sequence shown while SCULLY'S speaking:

* from Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man (4X07): CSM & Deep Throat standing next to each other looking at something hooked up to life support through a window.

* from Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man (4X07): Man in gas mask pushing open a door.

* from Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man (4X07): E.B.E. hooked up to life support.]

SCULLY: In Roswell, they captured aliens from the spacecraft wreckage. They salvaged various alien technology from them and from their data banks they learned of the alien plan to "re-colonize" the earth.

KERSH: Is this all leading anywhere?

MULDER: Yeah. The destruction of mankind.

KERSH: I'll warn you once, Agent Mulder.

(MULDER turns to look at SCULLY. He has slight goofy smile on his face.)

SKINNER: And what did the government do with this ... information of an alien takeover?

SCULLY: They kept it a dark secret. If it had gotten out there would have been wild panic.

KERSH: Mr. Skinner, are we finished?

SKINNER: No. There's the matter of Agent Scully's own abduction in 1994.

KERSH: Abduction by whom?

[Clip Sequence shown while SCULLY'S speaking:

* Light moving fast across the sky (fade to white)

* from One Breath (2X08): Scully on an examining table

* from One Breath (2X08): Scully's eyes open (close-up)

* from One Breath (2X08): Machine attached to Scully's naval filling it with something. Scully's abdomen filling up. rising and expanding.

* from Memento Mori (4X15).: Mulder discovering Tanks filled with green coloured liquid and with bodies within them.

* from Memento Mori (4X15): Mulder standing next to Kurt Crawford clearing the glass on the tank with his hand to see clearer the fully grown clone within.]

SCULLY: By the military working with the government conspirators to develop a breed of human-alien hybrids that the aliens would use as a slave race.

SKINNER: Thank you, Agent Scully. Your witness, Mr. Kallenbrunner.

(KALLENBRUNNER stands.)

KALLENBRUNNER: All these ET'S running around ... it's hard to keep these aliens straight without a scorecard. I myself have never seen an alien. Could we call one as a witness?

SCULLY: You're being facetious.

KALLENBRUNNER: No, I'm not. I'd like to see some proof.

SCULLY: There are the mars rocks ...

KALLENBRUNNER: No. I need something good. Something amazing. Something really cool.

SCULLY: I don't know what you mean.

KALLENBRUNNER: Well, what I mean is, you have no proof to back up one word you just told us. (Scully is silent.) Agent Scully, isn't it true that you and Mulder were lovers, and you got pregnant and had his love child?

SKINNER: Objection!

KALLENBRUNNER: Thank you. Next witness.

(SCULLY turns to look at MULDER. MULDER ever so slightly shakes his head, no .. and mouths that its okay. SCULLY slowly gets up and leaves the witness chair.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 9

(Later in the courtroom during the proceedings. The door opens. JEFFREY SPENDER appears and walks resolutely to the witness chair. JEFFREY SPENDER is scarred and made up just as he was in WILLIAM (9X17). KALLENBRUNNER looks shocked at what he sees. KERSH, recognizing SPENDER, looks down and a bit ashamed. JEFFREY SPENDER takes his seat.)

(This must be MULDER'S first glimpse at JEFFREY SPENDER since ONE SON (6X12). He looks a little stunned. JEFFREY SPENDER turns to look at MULDER. MULDER nods his head. SPENDER nods back.)

SKINNER: Can you state your full name?

JEFFREY SPENDER: Jeffrey Frank Spender.

SKINNER: Mr. Spender, I know you didn't hear Mr. Kallenbrunner, but he'd like to make a mockery of the X-Files. You worked on the X-Files yourself.

JEFFREY SPENDER: Yes, until three years ago.

SKINNER: When you were shot in the X-Files office. Shot by your father.

[Clip Sequence shown while SKINNER'S speaking:

* from One Son (6X12): CSM pointing a gun face level at Jeffrey Spender, and gun firing (fade to white)]

SKINNER: Can I ask you to please tell the court exactly who your father was?

JEFFREY SPENDER: He led the government conspiracy to exploit the existence of aliens.

KALLENBRUNNER: Objection. There's no government conspiracy that I've seen established here.

KERSH: I agree with Mr. Kallenbrunner. I don't see where this is going.

SKINNER: If I can prove this conspiracy, it will justify Mulder's actions and you will have no choice but to acquit.

KERSH: (taunting) I hope this isn't the entire basis of your defence, Mr. Skinner.

(It is. SKINNER looks hesitant. He glances over at MULDER. MULDER doesn't look worried. SKINNER sighs and turns back to JEFFREY SPENDER to continue.)

SKINNER: You have a relationship to Agent Mulder don't you, Mr. Spender?

[Clip Sequence shown while SPENDER'S speaking:

* from Talitha Cumi (3X24): CSM talking with Mrs. Mulder at Quonochautaug, Rhode Island.

JEFFREY SPENDER: He's my half brother. His mother had an affair with my father.

SKINNER:: And he never knew that. Not until he met you at the FBI.

[Clip Sequence shown while SPENDER'S speaking:

* from Anasazi (2X25): CSM smoking and Bill Mulder having a drink on a round table on a porch. They're talking. Close up of Bill Mulder.

* from Anasazi (2X25): Mulder on cell phone talking to Scully while in the train car after just discovering the mountain of skeletal remains hidden away .. buried.

* from Anasazi (2X25): Bill Mulder in bathroom rummaging through the medicine cabinet for some pills. He closes the cabinet door and reflected in the mirror standing in the tub behind him is Alex Krycek.

* from Anasazi (2X25): Mulder opens the bathroom door to find his father on the floor shot.]

JEFFREY SPENDER: He didn't know both his father and mine were in the alien conspiracy. His father was a reluctant member. When Agent Mulder began to know the truth about this connection, my father had his father killed by an assassin named Alex Krycek.

SKINNER: He killed him to silence him?

[Clip Sequence shown while SPENDER'S speaking:

* from Paper Clip (3X02): Mulder in the Strughold mines looking for a particular filing cabinet. He opens a drawer and pulls out Samantha's file:

(Subject Name: MULDER, Samantha Ann; Birth Date: 11/21/65; I.D. 378671). Scully is standing next to Mulder. Mulder pulls off the file label to reveal his own name on the file underneath (Subject Name: MULDER, Fox William; Birth Date: 10/13/61; I.D. 292544)]

JEFFREY SPENDER: Mulder's father lived his life in shame. Not for the conspiracy but for a terrible decision he made.

SKINNER: Involving Agent Mulder's sister.

[Clip Sequence shown while SPENDER'S speaking:

* from One Son (6X12): Members of the conspiracy, CSM, Bill Mulder, etc. at the El Rico air base. A young Cassandra Spender and other women and children walking at the air base.]

JEFFREY SPENDER: The aliens distrusted their human collaborators. Members of the conspiracy were made to surrender family members as human collateral.

SKINNER: So, Mulder's father gave up Mulder's sister. His own eight-year-old daughter.

[Clip Sequence shown while SPENDER'S speaking:

* A bright white light shines through a doorway with a thin unknown figure (presumably alien)

* A young Fox Mulder in his basketball jersey turning his head toward the bright light.

* A young Samantha Mulder being levitated out the window by a bright orange/red ray of light

* A close up of a young adult Fox Mulder at the FBI.

* From 3 (2X07): plastic wrap covering the X-File filing cabinets being taken off.]

JEFFREY SPENDER: Mulder witnessed his sister being abducted by aliens. It haunted him to no end. It's why he pursued the X-Files.

SKINNER: What became of her? Samantha?

[Clip Sequence shown while SPENDER'S speaking:

* from Closure (7X11): Mulder and Harold Piller.

* from Closure (7X11): A close up of an old sidewalk cement block with two child's-sized handprints with the name "Samantha" printed between them.]

JEFFREY SPENDER: She was returned. She was sent to California where we were raised together. She was taken many more times and suffered horrible tests.

(MULDER has an incredibly sad look on his face as he thinks about Samantha.)

SKINNER: Mulder spent years looking for her ... several times thinking that he'd found her but he was tricked.

[Clip Sequence shown while Spender's speaking:

* from End Game (2X17): Samantha Mulder Clone in scrubs. Close up of Mulder. Two other Samantha Mulder Clones. One in a white lab coat and the other dressed in a brown coat and pants.]

JEFFREY SPENDER: Samantha was part of a cloning experiment done by the conspiracy. She herself died in 1987.

[Clip Sequence:

* from Closure (7X11): The apparition of a teenaged Samantha Mulder running toward Mulder, reaching him and wrapping her arms around him.]

SKINNER: By your own father's hand essentially.

JEFFREY SPENDER: When I went to work for the FBI, I didn't know of my father's crimes. When I stood up to him, he shot me.

[Clip Sequence shown while SPENDER'S speaking:

* flashback from William (9X17): A hypodermic injection into his neck. A naked Jeff Spender in a testing chair in a sterile morgue with an examining light above and three men in lab coats in the room with him. A mouth clamp. Head thrashing from side to side. Head thrashing from side to side. One man in a black mask and a lab coat. A hypodermic injection into the neck. A hand struggling against the restraints. A window.]

JEFFREY SPENDER: When I didn't die he subjected me to the same horrible tests.

SKINNER: Your witness.

(The room is silent. SKINNER walks back to his seat and sits down.)

KALLENBRUNNER: Mr. Spender, I'm sorry for your suffering. I'm sure none of us can really imagine what it's like. Your father must be brought to justice.

[Clip Sequence shown while SPENDER'S speaking:

* from Requiem (7X22): Krycek pushing a wheelchair-bound CSM down a flight of stairs while Marita watches from the side. CSM and his wheelchair falling down the flight of chairs. CSM on the floor unmoving.]

JEFFREY SPENDER: I believe my father is dead.

KALLENBRUNNER: Mr. Spender, you're here to speak for the character of Agent Mulder. In reports you filed while an FBI agent I see here you describe Mulder as "arrogant," "difficult," "a control freak widely disliked by his peers."

JEFFREY SPENDER: Those reports were written before I knew the truth.

[Clip Sequence shown while SPENDER'S speaking:

* from The End (5X20): Mulder attacking Spender while holding an empty pack of Morleys in his hands.]

KALLENBRUNNER: This report calls him "unstable prone to violent outbursts." I have the report right here if your memory needs refreshing.

(JEFFREY SPENDER slowly turns to look at MR. KALLENBRUNNER.)

KALLENBRUNNER: Thank you, Mr. Spender.

(JEFFREY SPENDER has a sad look of regret on his face.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 10

WEED HOPE, NEW MEXICO

(Day. A long-haired man on a moped makes his way up the hills on old unpaved ground and across long distances to an old secluded trailer. He parks and enters the trailer. He's looking for someone. That someone sits in the next room. The person gets up when the young man walks into the trailer.)

GIBSON PRAISE: You found out about Mulder. You found out he's in trouble. I'll get ready now.

[Fade to black]

SCENE 11

(Mulder's holding cell. SCULLY walks down the hallway. THE GUARD opens the door for her. She walks through and continues without stopping.)

(The door opens to MULDER'S cell and SCULLY walks in. MULDER is sitting on the floor against the wall. He's in his orange prison garb and white shoes. SCULLY stops in front of him. The door closes behind her. SCULLY remains standing. MULDER'S still sitting and looking up at SCULLY.)

MULDER: I know what you want and I can't give it to you.

SCULLY: Make them a deal, Mulder. Guilty on a lesser charge. Maybe they'll go for it and they'll let you walk out of here.

MULDER: I'd rather die, Scully.

SCULLY: How can you say that? How can you say that, Mulder, to me?

MULDER: Because this is greater than you or me. This is about everything we worked for for nine years. The truth that we both sacrificed so much to uncover and to expose.

(SCULLY moves to get down on her knees in front of MULDER. They're now eye level with each other.)

SCULLY: Well, then, expose it, Mulder! Take the stand. Whatever it is that you're withholding take the stand and hit them full force.

MULDER: I can't.

SCULLY: Why?

MULDER: I just can't.

SCULLY: You say this is greater than us, and maybe it is, but this is us fighting this fight, Mulder, not you. It's you and me. That's what I'm fighting for, Mulder. You and me.

(MULDER shakes his head. He can't say anything. He wants to, but he can't. Not without betraying what he's trying to keep her from finding out.)

(SCULLY gets up and leaves.)

(MULDER remains behind in the cell with his silence. Suddenly a voice speaks out.)

X: Get up.

MULDER: Who's that? Who's there?

(Out from the dark shadows in front of him, Mr. X steps out.)

MULDER: What are you doing here?

X: That's what I'm here to ask you.

MULDER: I'm putting the truth on trial.

X: What truth? Who's truth? You think these men will even hear it?

MULDER: They're afraid to hear it.

X: They're not afraid. They have too much power to be afraid. You're going to learn that, just like I did. You'll die learning it.

MULDER: I'm not afraid of that.

X: There's a truth even you're afraid to speak now because you know it's futile.

MULDER: No. Because I refuse to accept it.

X: Then you're going to need help.

MULDER: How can you possibly help me?

(X reaches into his inside jacket pocket and pulls out a slip of paper and hands it to MULDER. MULDER opens it up and reads the handwriting on it:

MARITA COVARRUBIAS

756 N. MAPLE

ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND.

(When MULDER looks up, X is gone.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 12

(Night. Doggett's residence. Doggett is sitting on his couch. He's on the phone.)

DOGGETT: They said this is where I could find the body, at Fort Marlene.

(Pause as DOGGETT listens to the response.)

DOGGETT: Right. (pause again) The deceased's name is Knowle Rohrer, former marine last employed by the D.O.D.

(REYES is standing by the kitchen counter listening in on DOGGETT'S side of the conversation.)

DOGGETT (o.s.) : No, I don't want a call back. I want to talk to your superior .. (phone disconnects).

(REYES notices a shadow pass by DOGGETT'S kitchen window.)

(DOGGETT looks at the telephone in his hand.)

DOGGETT: Son of a bitch hung up on me!

REYES: Shhh!

(DOGGETT gets up, but stops at REYES' warning. A warning he takes very seriously.)

REYES: There's somebody in your yard.

(DOGGETT reaches for his holster on the coffee table. He unholsters his gun and walks toward REYES.)

DOGGETT: Where is he?

(REYES pulls out her gun.)

REYES: He was at the back door.

(They both go to the back door, DOGGETT turning out the lights in the rooms as they pass it. DOGGETT peers out the kitchen window and spots the shadow as it passes by the window once more.)

DOGGETT: I got him. He's coming around.

(DOGGETT and REYES both position themselves in front of the front door. Their guns out and prepared for the worst. The doorknob rattles. DOGGETT looks at REYES, who nods that she's ready. DOGGETT reaches over and opens the front door.)

DOGGETT: Stay where you are! Federal agent! Hands in the air!

(The shadowed figure of the long-haired INDIAN BOY raises his hands in the air. DOGGETT pulls him into the house and pushes him flat against the wall. He does a quick search for any weapons. When he doesn't find any, DOGGETT turns the young man around to face him, his gun aimed directly at him. REYES stands on the side, her gun never leaving the young man.)

DOGGETT: Who are you? What are you doing skulking around my house?

INDIAN BOY: I didn't want to be seen. I don't want to endanger him.

DOGGETT: Who are you talking about?

INDIAN BOY: Someone who wants to help Mulder.

(DOGGETT and REYES look at each other surprised.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 13

(Day. Back in the Military courtroom. MULDER sits in his seat next to SKINNER. A woman approaches the witness chair. She sits. It's MARITA COVARRUBIAS.)

SKINNER: State your full name for the court.

MARITA: Marita Covarrubias.

SKINNER: And your former government title?

MARITA: Special Representative to the Secretary General of the U.N.

SKINNER: The United Nations.

[Clip Sequence shown:

* from Patient X (5X13): Military personnel file out of United Nations Peacekeeping covered vehicles. In one of the vehicles, Marita exits. She closes the vehicle door.

SKINNER: A position giving you unrestricted access to countries and leaders around the world. Isn't that right?

MARITA: Yes.

(MARITA answers the questions truthfully. She looks professional as always. She seems softer and a little more vulnerable, not her self-assured self of the old days. MARITA doesn't look at MULDER.)

SKINNER: How did you use this power?

MARITA: Basically, to further the interests of a secretive group of men who called themselves The Syndicate.

SKINNER: What were their interests?

MARITA: Developing an alien virus vaccine before the Russians developed one.

SKINNER: And how'd they go about that?

[Clip Sequence shown:

* from Tunguska (4X09): Rows of men, bare-chested in prison work pants held down on a table strapped in place under chicken wire.]

MARITA: By testing innocent civilians all over the world. Test subjects were tracked through a DNA identifiers in their small pox vaccination scars.

SKINNER: Without subject's knowledge?

[Clip Sequence shown:

* from Terma (4X10): Knife being heated red hot over an open flame. The young man holding the red-hot knife approaching the men holding down ALEX KRYCEK. KRYCEK is struggling to get free. The men hold him down while the young man begins to crudely amputate his arm. KRYCEK screams in pain.

* from Terma (4X10): KRYCEK at PESKOW'S residence in St. Petersburg, Russia, dipping a tea strainer using his fake left hand.]

MARITA: Mostly. Some developed suspicions. I saw Russians who cut off their arms to prevent being tracked.

SKINNER: As they did to an American man that you worked quite intimately with.

MARITA: Yes. Alex Krycek.

SKINNER: Did you believe in the syndicate? In their international conspiracy?

MARITA: No. I was paid for my access.

SKINNER: In fact, you came to hate them.

MARITA: Yes. It's why I helped Agent Mulder when he approached me.

SKINNER: But you were found out. And the syndicate punished you for this.

(For a brief second, MARITA falters. Her composure waivers at the memory of her experiences of being a test subject.)

[Clip Sequence shown:

* from TR&TB (5X14): The syndicate looking down from a glass observation room in the ceiling. MARITA is on an examining table. She's intubated and has other wires monitoring her vital signs hooked up to her. A latexed gloved hand opening MARITA'S eye to expose evidence of exposure to the black oil that swirls in her eyes.

* from One Son (6X12): MARITA ravaged by being a multiple test subject.]

MARITA: They turned me into a ...

MARITA: ... a test subject.

SKINNER: Testing what?

[Clip Sequence shown while MARITA speaks:

* from Colony (2X16): AGT. BARRETT WEISS morphing into the ABH.

* from Requiem (7X22): DETECTIVE MILES morphing into the ABH.

* from Without (8X02): An ABH observing MULDER on the testing chair.]

MARITA: They were pretending to work with the aliens to infect the entire population with an alien virus, but the conspirators were trying to save themselves by secretly and selfishly developing a vaccine. The conspirators believed all life in the universe had been infected with the virus including a race of shape-shifting alien bounty hunters who policed the conspiracy for the aliens. But they were wrong and it led to the destruction of the conspiracy.

SKINNER: And who destroyed it?

[Clip Sequence shown while MARITA speaks:

* from Patient X (5X13): group of rebels and their burn sticks and people running from them. Close up of a Rebel with his eyes and mouth sewn shut.]

MARITA: A group of renegade aliens who had avoided infection with the virus through self-disfigurement.

SKINNER: And the conspirators themselves -- what happened to them?

[Clip Sequence shown while MARITA speaks:

* from One Son (6X12): At El Rico, the syndicate and their family members surrounded by the faceless rebels.]

MARITA: They're all dead now. Killed by these same faceless aliens.

SKINNER: Then what are you afraid of now?

(MULDER watches SKINNER. MARITA remains silent.)

SKINNER: Why resist testifying here today?

(MULDER watches MARITA closely.)

SKINNER: Because the conspiracy continues just in another form by other men.

KALLENBRUNNER: Objection. Mr. Skinner can't ask questions and give the answers.

KERSH: Sustained.

SKINNER: Fox Mulder's on trial for murder here. The man he's accused of killing is one of these new conspirators. An alien replacement for a human being. What they're calling a super soldier. You can prove this, can't you?

(MARITA remains silent. Her face has a hint of fear in it.)

SKINNER: You know who these men are, don't you? Ms. Covarrubias?

(Still MARITA doesn't say anything.)

(MULDER watches the proceedings. A hand rests on his shoulder. MULDER turns to see who it is. It's KRYCEK.)

KRYCEK: (softly) They'll kill her.

SKINNER: Ms. Covarrubias, I asked you a question. I need an answer.

(MULDER intervenes before it's too late.)

MULDER: No.

(SKINNER turns to MULDER in surprise. For the first time since she entered the court room, MARITA looks at MULDER. MULDER looks at MARITA who has a look of relief on her face. KALLENBRUNNER looks a bit surprised at this development. SKINNER moves closer to MULDER.)

MULDER: It's okay. Let her go.

SKINNER: What the hell are you doing, Mulder? She's the last best witness that we have.

MULDER: Doesn't matter.

(MARITA still looks a bit frightened of being made to talk. SKINNER turns to MARITA.)

SKINNER: Thank you, Ms. Covarrubias. I got nothing else.

(SKINNER sits back in his chair. MARITA looks fearfully at MULDER. She nods her head slightly in thanks. MULDER nods his thanks to her for the effort.)

(MARITA leaves.)

(The back door opens, MARITA exits and DOGGETT walks in.)

DOGGETT: Assistant Director.

(SKINNER meets with DOGGETT at the back of the room. MULDER, KALLENBRUNNER and The panel wait patiently while the two men confer. When they're done, SKINNER turns to the panel and makes an announcement.)

SKINNER: I have an unscheduled witness that I'd like to call here today.

(DOGGETT appears in the doorway with GIBSON PRAISE. MULDER immediately gets up in protest.)

MULDER: No, not him.

SKINNER: Mulder, sit down.

MULDER (to SKINNER): You don't understand. I'm trying to protect that boy.

SKINNER: Well, now he's here to protect you.

KERSH: Mr. Kallenbrunner? Do you have any objections to this witness?

KALLENBRUNNER: Not like Mr. Mulder here does.

(GIBSON PRAISE moves to sit in the witness chair. MULDER crosses his arms on the table and rests his chin on them. He keeps watch on GIBSON PRAISE.)

SKINNER: Can you tell us your name?

GIBSON PRAISE: Gibson Andrew Praise.

SKINNER: Do you know this man? (indicates MULDER)

GIBSON PRAISE: Yes. He's my friend. I hid him in the desert for the last year.

[Clip Sequence shown while SKINNER speaks:

* from The End (5X20): A young GIBSON PRAISE at the chess tournament. Close up of GIBSON moving the brown rook.

* from The Beginning (6X01): GIBSON PRAISE being operated on. His head is in a brace and his skull is open and his brain tissue exposed.]

SKINNER: Mulder met you as a chess protégé. You're life was endangered because of your highly unusual brain activity.

KERSH: Cut to the chase, Mr. Skinner.

SKINNER: Gibson Praise can read people's minds. Mulder and Scully proved this scientifically. There's a certain "junk DNA" which all humans share but has no apparent function. Gibson's "junk DNA" is functional. DNA which is believed to be alien.

KALLENBRUNNER: You're trying to tell us this boy can read minds?

GIBSON: Yes.

MULDER: He's reading your mind right now.

(GIBSON PRAISE turns to look at KALLENBRUNNER.)

KALLENBRUNNER: (facetiously) And the minds of the judges, too?

GIBSON PRAISE: Yes.

(GIBSON PRAISE turns to look at each of the judges. He stops at the last judge.)

GIBSON PRAISE: Even his.

(GIBSON PRAISE lifts his arm and points a damning finger at TOOTHPICK MAN. MULDER'S interest is piqued. He lifts his head to look at TOOTHPICK MAN. KERSH turns his head to look at TOOTHPICK MAN. TOOTHPICK MAN gives a wry grin at all the attention.)

KALLENBRUNNER: And what makes him so special?

(MULDER turns to watch GIBSON PRAISE.)

GIBSON PRAISE: He's not human.

MULDER: He's one of them.

(TOOTHPICK MAN stops smiling. MULDER stands and starts to approach the TOOTHPICK MAN who rises with the commotion.)

MULDER: One of them! I want that man examined!

(SKINNER intercepts MULDER. KERSH stands to reign in order in the "court".)

KERSH: Mr. Skinner control him!

MULDER: You're afraid!

(GUARDS from the back move to restrain MULDER and remove him from the room.)

SKINNER: Mulder!

(THE GUARDS escort MULDER out of the room.

MULDER (yelling): You're afraid of what I know! You're afraid of the truth!

(KALLENBRUNNER is standing watching the GUARDS as they remove MULDER. GIBSON PRAISE turns around to look at TOOTHPICK MAN who is no longer smiling but looking grimly at GIBSON PRAISE. GIBSON PRAISE looks scared.)

[Fade to black]

SCENE 14

(Two GUARDS escort MULDER down the hallway and into another holding cell. SKINNER, DOGGETT and REYES are there. It's a larger cell with lots of light from the windows. MULDER doesn't look happy at all.)

MULDER: Where's Gibson?

REYES: He's with Scully ... in good hands.

(MULDER begins to shake his head in disappointment.)

DOGGETT: We spent the night talking to him. Gibson knows you're concerned. We're protecting him now.

MULDER: He shouldn't have done what he did -- exposing himself like that.

SKINNER: Well, the boy was trying to protect you and it looks like it may have worked.

REYES: He says three judges are wavering. They're leaning in your favour.

(MULDER smiles at their naivete.)

MULDER: It's going to take a little more than that the way things are going. We were never going to win.

SKINNER: Take the stand, Mulder. Testify.

MULDER: No.

DOGGETT: Then we'll testify, me and Monica.

MULDER: No.

REYES: Both of us have seen too much ...

MULDER: Listen to me, they'll destroy you. They'll put you out on the street.

DOGGETT: What's left for us on the X-Files?

REYES: We came to this job to give it our best. It's the way we're going to leave.

MULDER: It's not about how good you are. They control the game. They own it.

DOGGETT: Then let's shove it up their ass.

CUT TO:

SCENE 15

(Back in the courtroom.)

KERSH: Mr. Skinner?

SKINNER: I'd like to call John Doggett.

(DOGGETT enters the room and makes his way to the witness chair.)

SKINNER: Agent Doggett ... you've been on the X-Files for two years. And with all that you've seen how do you feel about this term "paranormal"?

DOGGETT: Well, the way I look at it, calling something paranormal is just a way of avoiding a real explanation.

SKINNER: You're a sceptic. But I see here in your own case reports some very detailed descriptions of things that a sceptic would never believe in ... these so called "Super-Soldiers."

DOGGETT: Well, that's a whole different deal.

SKINNER: In what way?

[Clip Sequence shown while DOGGETT speaks:

* from NIHT2 (9X02): DOGGETT shooing at KNOWLE ROHRER. KNOWLE ROHRER getting hit at point blank range and continuing to advance.

* from NIHT1 (9X01): SHANNON McMAHON in the car underwater.

* from Essence (8X20): BILLY MILES falling off the roof of the building and into the garbage truck. MULDER and SKINNER leaning over the side of the roof to see BILLY MILES being squashed into something the size of a box.

* from Existence (8X21): The replicating metal.]

DOGGETT: 'Cause I've seen it with my own eyes; shot ... drowned ... even ground up in a garbage truck. And they just come right back to life.

(At DOGGETT'S words, KERSH looks down and sneaks a glance at the TOOTHPICK MAN who just continues to sit there staring at DOGGETT.)

SKINNER: What are they?

DOGGETT: Well, the best I can figure they're some kind of secret military project-ordinary men made invincible.

KALLENBRUNNER: Objection. What does this science fiction have to do with anything?

SKINNER: Agent Doggett is going to tell you that the man that Mulder is accused of killing is a super soldier. A man that Agent Doggett served with in the marines. Name of Knowle Rohrer.

KALLENBRUNNER: Objection. Agent Doggett was not present at the murder nor has he seen or examined the victim.

DOGGETT: That's because I've been getting the bum's rush from the government.

KERSH: Objection sustained.

(DOGGETT turns to look at KERSH, a little more than surprised. Perhaps realizing for the first time that KERSH may not be on the side of justice after all.)

SKINNER: Well, then, let me ask you, Agent Doggett if a super soldier is invincible, how could Mulder have killed this man?

DOGGETT: He couldn't.

(A look of respect crosses MULDER'S face at DOGGETT'S testimony.)

[Clip Sequence shown while DOGGETT speaks:

* from William (9X17): SHADOWMAN falling to his knees at the quarry where his face begins to turn black with oxidation from the metal within him. SCULLY holding her gun on SHADOWMAN and not moving. A look of surprise on her face at what's happening in front of her. SHADOWMAN flying past SCULLY and smashing into the quarry walls.]

DOGGETT: The way I understand it they only way to kill a super soldier is with some rare metal. Agent Scully says it's a form of magnetite from some meteor that fell to earth.

SKINNER: And Mulder's not accused of doing that, is he?

DOGGETT: No, sir.

SKINNER: Your witness.

(KALLENBRUNNER stands up.)

KALLENBRUNNER: Agent Doggett ... in going over your files I must say ... it's an honor to speak to a man whose record is distinguished by such duty to his country. Now, I'm not going to doubt a man of your integrity, Agent Doggett, even if he tells me a story I find too incredible to believe.

DOGGETT: Thank you.

KALLENBRUNNER: Just as you must not doubt the integrity of Fox Mulder on whose behalf you're here to testify.

DOGGETT: Correct.

KALLENBRUNNER: Even if Mulder believes these so-called super soldiers are aliens?

(MULDER realizes where KALLENBRUNNER'S going with this questioning. DOGGETT turns to look at KALLENBRUNNER. He remains silent.)

KALLENBRUNNER: He believes they're aliens, you know. You said you were a sceptic.

DOGGETT: That's right.

KALLENBRUNNER: So an alien conspiracy which Mulder has built his defence on must be entirely unbelievable to you, too.

(KERSH look at DOGGETT. DOGGETT is unable to answer the question against his own beliefs. MULDER understands the situation DOGGETT'S in. DOGGETT turns to look at MULDER. He will not lie. KALLENBRUNNER sits back down.)

CUT TO:

(Later in the courtroom.)

REYES: My name is Monica Reyes. I've been with the FBI since 1990.

SKINNER: Before coming onto the X-Files, Agent Reyes, you worked in the New Orleans field office investigating cases of satanic ritual abuse.

REYES: I did.

SKINNER: Did you ever prosecute any of these satanic cases?

REYES: No.

KALLENBRUNNER: For god's sake, Mr. Skinner, we're trying a man for murder not taking a trip down memory lane.

SKINNER: (angry) I'm showing the court that Agent Reyes is level-headed and objective on strange and extraordinary cases. That her belief in aliens comes from firsthand experience. And she can offer you hard proof that there is an alien conspiracy!

REYES: I was called on last year to protect Agent Scully who was pregnant and whose life was in danger because of her pregnancy.

KALLENBRUNNER: What does this have to do with aliens?

[Clip Sequence shown while REYES speaks:

* from Existence (8X21): Car arriving at night.

* from Existence (8X21): Door to the place Scully gives birth. It's dark inside and they're using a flashlight to see by.

* from Existence (8X21):BM pushes MR and flies her away from him. MR hits the side of the building wall and falls to the ground.

* from Existence (8X21):MR is on the ground and grabs a pitchfork near her. BILLY MILES gets shot by a shotgun and falls backwards.

* from Existence (8X21):BILLY MILES and others enter the place where SCULLY labours and watch her give birth.]

REYES: I drove Agent Scully to a secluded location in Georgia where it was believed she could deliver safely. But we soon discovered we weren't alone. I was attacked and had to defend myself against an assailant, who was shot at point-blank range. Who should have died, but didn't. This assailant was then joined by others like him who surrounded Agent Scully and me, and witnessed her as she gave birth to her son.

(MULDER listens to this story as REYES tells it, not unaffected at what SCULLY went through last year.)

KALLENBRUNNER: Witnessed her? What do you mean?

(REYES turns to look at KALLENBRUNNER.)

[Clip Sequence shown while REYES speaks:

* from Existence (8X21): SCULLY looking down at WILLIAM in MULDER'S arms.]

REYES: We were confused as well. But we came to understand that her son was a kind of miracle child. Its birth was all important to these people; these so- called Super-Soldiers, who I believe are humans replaced by aliens.

KALLENBRUNNER: Why would Scully's child be important to aliens, Agent Reyes?

[Clip Sequence shown while REYES speaks:

* from TrustNo1 (9X08): Patti hugging Scully asking for forgiveness after the death of her husband. She then leaves SCULLY. REYES is standing on the side.

* from NIHT2 (9X02): On the Valor Victor deep in the on-board lab, SCULLY searches through the names looking for either her own and/or her son's.]

REYES: We came to learn that Scully was one of a number of random women who had miraculous childbirths and these women all had been abducted as part of a government program to secretly manipulate their biology operating offshore on a navy ship using these women as surrogates.

KALLENBRUNNER: Surrogates?

REYES: For alien babies.

KALLENBRUNNER: To create a slave race.

REYES: Yes.

KALLENBRUNNER: A program conducted by the Navy, on a ship which is where?

[Clip Sequence shown while REYES speaks:

* from NIHT2 (9X02): The Valor Victor explodes. SCULLY, REYES and DOGGETT narrowly escaping the bomb's detonation.]

REYES: The ship housing this program was exploded on the Baltimore dock.

KALLENBRUNNER: So, in other words, we have no true evidence past your good word.

(SKINNER looks down at the same tactic being used by KALLENBRUNNER over and over again for each witness he brings up. With no proof they have no case. REYES, on the other hand, grows more determined and more defiant to make the truth known.)

KALLENBRUNNER: You claim Scully gave birth to one of these alien babies. How can you be sure of this, Agent Reyes?

[Clip Sequence shown while REYES speaks:

* from Provenance (9X10): SCULLY opens the drawer and the metal piece of ship taken from AGENT COMER flies through the air, out of the room and directly toward WILLIAM who is lying in his crib. The piece of metal breaks through the wooden frame and stop in front of WILLIAM. SCULLY and REYES run into the room to see the metal piece leisurely floating and slowly turning above the baby.]

REYES: I saw her child do things that could be explained no other way. I saw him display amazing powers. He'd move objects with his mind.

KALLENBRUNNER: Really? Do you think we could arrange a demonstration for the court? That we could see that ourselves?

REYES: No. The child was given up for adoption to an anonymous family.

(MULDER once again isn't unaffected by this.)

KALLENBRUNNER: She gave up the miracle child? The proof of everything that she and Mulder claim that they've risked their lives for over the last nine years - she just sent it off to some strangers?

REYES: Yes, to protect him!

KALLENBRUNNER: Thank you, Agent Reyes. That's all.

(KALLENBRUNNER sits down, thereby dismissing her. REYES, however, will not be dismissed so easily. She looks at KALLENBRUNNER, stands and calls the hand of the faux court proceedings that makes a mockery of justice, fairness and decency.)

(REYES moves in toward KALLENBRUNNER. He simply looks up at her.)

REYES: You don't care about that child or what Scully had to sacrifice. You're only too happy she had to give it up so there's no proof.

KERSH: Agent Reyes.

(REYES swings around and pins KERSH with a look, slowly advancing toward him, anger and contempt dripping from every word she says.)

REYES: You don't care what these people have sacrificed over the last nine years - what's been lost to their cause. You make a mockery of it, gladdened it proves your point.

KERSH: Agent Reyes, that's enough!

REYES: What is the point of all of this? To destroy a man who seeks the truth or to destroy the truth so no man can seek it? Either way, you lose.

(Her contempt for the man who sits before her evident. Just before she leaves, REYES turns to look at MULDER, who sits up straighter in his chair, a look of respect on his face for the woman who just told the FBI, the Military and the Toothpick Man to go to hell.)

(The door closes shut behind her.)

(SKINNER looks over at KERSH, who now looks uncomfortable.)

[Fade to black]

SCENE 16

GEORGETOWN

WASHINGTON, D.C.

(Night. DOGGETT drives hurriedly to get to SCULLY'S apartment. He parks the car and gets out. REYES is there. They're both in a hurry to get to SCULLY.)

(SCULLY opens the door. DOGGETT and REYES enter.)

DOGGETT: Are you ready for this? We may have found Knowle Rohrer.

SCULLY: You found him?

REYES: His body.

SCULLY: What are you talking about? There can't be a body; he can't die. Knowle Rohrer is a super soldier.

REYES: Exactly. But they're saying it's him -- the man Mulder killed.

SCULLY: Who's saying it's him?

DOGGETT: I got some guy on the phone at Fort Marlene who didn't know that he was supposed to give me the run-around. I got him to send the victim's corpse to Quantico.

SCULLY: It's there now?

REYES: We got a car out front.

GIBSON PRAISE (o.s.): Agent Scully?

(SCULLY looks worriedly at GIBSON PRAISE, not wanting to leave him alone and unprotected for a moment and yet knowing the importance of examining the body herself.)

REYES: (gently) Agent Doggett can stay with him.

CUT TO:

SCENE 17

FBI ACADEMY

QUANTICO, VIRGINIA

(SCULLY and REYES enter the examining room. SCULLY pulls on a lab coat. The body is there, covered. SCULLY pulls the sheet back to expose a badly burned body.)

REYES: Oh, my god. This is Knowle Rohrer?

(SCULLY grabs and examines the paperwork that accompanies the body.)

SCULLY: That's what it says here.

REYES: Well, how could anyone tell if it wasn't?

SCULLY: I need you to get me Knowle Rohrer's medical records.

REYES: They'd have to come from the military. I don't know if I can.

SCULLY: You've got to, Monica; whatever it takes. I need those records for Skinner. I need them for Mulder.

(REYES looks at SCULLY. Without a word more, she turns and walks away to get KNOWLE ROHRER'S medical records. SCULLY turns and puts on a fresh pair of latex gloves. She's going to get to work.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 18

(In the courtroom, SKINNER is busy looking through his notes. MULDER is sitting next to him. KERSH looks bored.)

KERSH: Mr. Skinner. Please call your next witness.

(SKINNER stands up. The back door opens and SCULLY walks in holding a thin report.)

SCULLY: Assistant Director ...

(SKINNER nods to approach him. SCULLY gives the thin report to SKINNER who immediately begins to read through it. She leans in toward MULDER, a look of assurance on her face.)

SCULLY (to MULDER): I found it.

MULDER: What?

SCULLY: What's going to get you off.

SKINNER: I want to move to dismiss again based on new evidence I just received that there is no victim. That the body of Knowle Rohrer is not Knowle Rohrer, but that of a man who died of a broken neck and whose body was burned post-mortem.

KERSH: Motion denied.

SCULLY: You can't deny it.

KERSH: You're out of order and in contempt of court, Agent Scully.

SCULLY: You're in contempt. I have evidence proving that Agent Mulder is innocent.

KERSH: You have no authorization to examine the body, Agent Scully. Have her removed from the courtroom.

(MULDER stands.)

MULDER: If she's got evidence, you got to listen.

(MULDER turns to watch as the GUARDS escort SCULLY out of the courtroom.)

KERSH: Order! Remove the defendant from the courtroom. This trial is adjourned.

(KALLENBRUNNER looks aghast at what's happening in front of him. SKINNER watches in confusion as the GUARDS escort MULDER out of the room.)

FADE IN TO:

(Later. The courtroom is now empty.)

FADE OUT:

FADE IN TO:

(Later still in the courtroom. KALLENBRUNNER, SKINNER are MULDER sitting in their seats. All men are deep in their own thoughts waiting for a verdict.)

(The side door opens and the panel enters.)

KERSH: Gentlemen ... we have a verdict. If you'd rise.

(SKINNER stands. MULDER remains seated.)

KERSH: Acting fairly and impartially, this panel finds the defendant ... guilty of first degree murder under aggravated circumstances. Is there anything you'd like to say on your behalf, Mr. Mulder ... before we decide your sentence?

MULDER: (softly) Yes.

(All parties sit down. MULDER stands and looks only at KERSH.)

MULDER: I'd like to congratulate you on succeeding where so many before you have failed. A bullet between the eyes would have been preferable to this charade. But I've learned to pretend over the past nine years - to pretend that my victories mattered only to realize that no one was keeping score. To realize that liars do not fear the truth if there are enough liars. That the devil is just one man with a plan but evil, true evil, is a collaboration of men which is what we have here today. If I am a guilty man, my crime is in daring to believe that the truth will out and that no one lie can live forever. I believe it still. Much as you try to bury it, the truth is out there. Greater than your lies, the truth wants to be known. You will know it. It'll come to you, as it's come to me faster than the speed of light.

(MULDER glances up and sees KRYCEK and X standing behind the panel.)

MULDER: You may believe yourselves rid of your headache now and maybe you are .. but you're only done it by cutting off your own heads.

(KRYCEK and X are gone. MULDER finishes his words. With a reassuring hand on SKINNER'S shoulder, MULDER leaves the room.)

(SKINNER glances up again at KERSH.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 19

(Scully's apartment. SCULLY is sitting alone and quiet on her couch. Everyone else is in the kitchen. DOGGETT is having a mug of something to drink; REYES and GIBSON PRAISE are sitting at the dining room table.)

(The phone rings. SCULLY doesn't move to pick it up. DOGGETT puts down his cup and goes into the living room to answer the phone. He walks past SCULLY and straight out of screen's view.)

DOGGETT (o.s.): (quietly) Yeah. (pause as he listens) I'll tell her.

(DOGGETT hangs up the phone. He's very quiet.)

SCULLY: Who was it?

DOGGETT (o.s.): Skinner.

SCULLY: Agent Doggett?

(DOGGETT'S not looking at SCULLY. It doesn't seem as if he's moved since he hung the phone up. He slowly turns to look at SCULLY. His face betraying the bad news and his sorrow.)

DOGGETT: Death by lethal injection.

(The single thread of hope that held SCULLY together finally snaps. SCULLY begins to crumble and heart breaking sobs escape her uncontrollably. She covers her face with both her hands and continues to cry.)

[Fade to black]

SCENE 20

USMC BASE BRIG

11:21 PM

(Night. A car approaches the gate. The POST GUARD leaves the booth to check the driver's ID.)

POST GUARD: Evening. ID, please.

(An ID appears. The POST GUARD checks it and the camera pulls back to reveal the driver. It's KNOWLE ROHRER.)

POST GUARD: Master Sergeant Rohrer? Go on ahead.

(The gate opens and ROHRER drives in.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 21

(Mulder's cell. The door opens. Light shines on MULDER, who is lying on the hard floor.)

DOGGETT: Get up.

(The light continues to shine on MULDER. He can't see who it is ... whether they're friend or foe.)

MULDER: Who's there?

DOGGETT: I'm here with Skinner. Get up.

SKINNER: Move it, Mulder.

(At the sound of SKINNER'S familiar voice, MULDER perks up.)

MULDER: What are you doing?

(DOGGETT helps MULDER up..)

DOGGETT: We're getting you out of here. Come on.

(DOGGETT and MULDER exit the cell. SKINNER closes the door behind them.)

CUT TO:

(The three men make their way down the hallways as quickly as they can. The doors that are locked shut, SKINNER unlocks with his very own trusty key.)

CUT TO:

(The door opens to MULDER'S empty cell. KNOWLE ROHRER walks in just moments too late. No one is there. )

ROHRER: Guard!

(Two guards appear in the doorway.)

ROHRER: Where is he?

(The guard shakes his head. He doesn't know.)

ROHRER: Seal the building.

(ROHRER pauses by the doorway next to the GUARD.)

ROHRER: Seal the base.

(ROHRER heads down the hallway hoping to catch up with the escapee.)

GUARD (to communication device): We have an escaped prisoner.

CUT TO:

(The alarms begin blaring. The men are not yet out of the building. They come across a closed gate. SKINNER takes out a key and unlocks the gate getting them to the main room. They just need to get past the NIGHT DUTY OFFICER at the desk.)

(SKINNER goes first and checks it out. )

(The NIGHT DUTY OFFICER is called away. The three men get past the gate without detection. On the far side of the room is another closed gate that's locked. SKINNER takes out the key, unlocks the door and MULDER walks through it straight into KERSH.)

(The three men freeze uncertain of their fate.)

KERSH: You're never going to make it this way.

(KERSH looks at the men.)

KERSH: Come on.

(KERSH turns around and leads everyone to an alternate route out of the building. While armed military personnel are heading in one direction, KERSH leads MULDER, SKINNER and DOGGETT in another direction and to safety.)

(At the top of the stairs, REYES stands by the cut hole in the wire fence. She holds it open so the men can get out. She has a vehicle waiting for them.)

(They drive a while down the road that takes MULDER to SCULLY who is waiting next to another vehicle with GIBSON PRAISE.)

(As soon as the vehicle stops, MULDER gets out and makes his way to SCULLY. He puts on a jacket. The others join them.)

SCULLY: Mulder?

KERSH: You've got to move out.

SCULLY: What's he doing?

KERSH: What I should have done from the start.

(KERSH continues to give them instructions.)

KERSH: You want to go north to Canada. Get to an airport. If you're not off the continent in 24 hours you may never get out, you understand?

(MULDER looks at those who have risked so much to help him: KERSH, SKINNER, DOGGETT and REYES.)

MULDER: None of you will be safe now.

DOGGETT: You let us worry about that.

REYES: Good luck.

(SCULLY moves toward the vehicle provided by REYES. With a parting gesture of gratitude to GIBSON PRAISE, MULDER follows SCULLY. They both get into the car leaving their trusted friends behind.)

(GIBSON PRAISE silently remains standing by the car. He shakes his head as he realizes where MULDER is truly headed.)

CUT TO:

(MULDER drives SCULLY on the road past a sign that says "INTERSTATE 95" (South bound).)

CUT TO:

(Inside the car, SCULLY notices the sign.)

SCULLY: Mulder, Kersh told us to head north. You just got on a road going south.

MULDER: That's right.

SCULLY: Where are you going?

MULDER: To see a man about The Truth.

(SCULLY looks a bit confused and just a tad worried.)

FADE INTO:

SCENE 22

7:12 AM

(A distance shot of the Washington Monument in the early golden glow of morning.)

CUT TO:

(Inside the FBI Building basement. The elevator bell rings, DOGGETT, REYES and GIBSON PRAISE exit.)

GIBSON PRAISE: You can't hide me forever.

REYES: We can destroy your files - make it next to impossible to find you.

GIBSON PRIASE: You don't know these people.

(With all sincerity and just a tad naivete, DOGGETT looks into GIBSON PRAISE'S eyes and tells him with all sincerity:)

DOGGETT: I'm going to protect you, Gibson.

(GIBSON PRAISE shakes his head slightly as if he's heard it all before. REYES opens the door to their office and stops in shock.)

REYES: John ...

DOGGETT: What the hell is this? What the hell is going on?

(The entire office has been stripped bare of all the file cabinets, desks and other valuable things. Various items such as MULDER'S basketball and the I WANT TO BELIEVE poster litter the floor. DOGGETT walks into the office, grabs the poster and begins rolling it up.)

DOGGETT: They can't do this. Who authorized this?

REYES: I'm going to find out.

SKINNER (on phone): Skinner.

REYES: They've packed up The X-Files.

(SKINNER'S in his office.)

SKINNER: I know. It's out of control. I'm trying to get to the bottom of it. I'm trying to get to Kersh.

CUT TO:

(DOGGETT, REYES and GIBSON PRAISE make their way through the hallways toward KERSH'S office. SKINNER is already there knocking on the door. He turns and sees them.)

SKINNER: All I can think is it's punishment for taking Mulder's side. Unless they found out that we helped him escape.

DOGGETT: Then they know about the Deputy Director's involvement, too.

(The office door opens. It's TOOTHPICK MAN.)

SKINNER: I need to see the Deputy Director.

TOOTHPICK MAN: And he needs to see you.

(DOGGETT and REYES don't like the sound of it. They look at each other. Both worried. SKINNER turns around to look at them. Without a word, he enters the office. GIBSON PRAISE looks at the TOOTHPICK MAN. The TOOTHPICK MAN looks at GIBSON PRAISE, then quickly shuts the door to the office.)

GIBSON PRAISE: He knows.

(DOGGETT and REYES look at GIBSON PRAISE.)

DOGGETT (looking at the closed door that SKINNER just walked through): Then we're all in danger here.

(DOGGETT heads toward the closed office door ready to get SKINNER and KERSH out. GIBSON PRAISE stops DOGGETT from entering KERSH'S office.)

GIBSON PRAISE: No. He knows about Mulder and Scully -- where they're going.

REYES: You mean the border?

GIBSON PRAISE: No, that's not where they went and they know that. They're going to find them and kill them.

DOGGETT: Where are they, Gibson? Mulder and Scully -- where'd they go?

(GIBSON PRAISE looks scared for his friends.)

[Fade to black]

SCENE 23

TEXAS-NEW MEXICO BORDER

5:07 AM

(The SUV driven by MULDER makes it was down the road. It pulls off to the side.)

(MULDER cuts the engine, leans toward SCULLY who is sleeping and gently kisses her cheek. He gets out of the car.)

(MULDER unzips his pants and relieves himself, when ...)

FROHIKE: Hey, hot shot! You might have the common courtesy of doing your business there downwind.

MULDER: Oh, boy.

LANGLY: Why don't you just finish draining the little lizard and then we'll talk?

BYERS: We're very worried about you.

FROHIKE: It's craziness, man. Turn around.

LANGLEY: Just hang a big U-ie and never look back.

MULDER: I can't.

BYERS: Why risk perfect happiness, Mulder? Why risk your lives?

MULDER: Because I need to know the truth.

BYERS: You already know the truth.

(MULDER thinks about that one for a moment. When he responds, its with complete honesty at what he's really doing there.)

MULDER: I need to know if I can change it.

LANGLY: Change it?

FROHIKE: For crying out loud. All you're going to do is get yourself killed.

(From behind him, SCULLY got out of the car to look for MULDER.)

SCULLY: Mulder! What are you doing?

MULDER: I'll be right with you, Scully.

(They both get back into the car.)

CUT TO:

(Day. The road they're driving on will soon end at a hidden pueblo carved into the side of a mountain.)

(MULDER stops the car. They both get out. SCULLY looks around.)

SCULLY: What are they?

MULDER: Pueblos. Anasazi Indian. Abandoned 2,000 years ago. Nobody knows why.

SCULLY: Yeah, Mulder, but what are we doing here?

(MULDER points high to the window of a ruin along the way. There's smoking coming out from the window. Someone is there.)

(MULDER heads off in that direction. SCULLY follows. They both begin to climb up to meet the Keeper of the Truth.)

CUT TO:

(Inside on of the pueblos. An old Indian woman tends to the fire. MULDER and SCULLY enter the area where she lives.)

MULDER: Hello. My name is Fox Mulder. Do you understand me?

(The old woman looks at MULDER. Without a word, she rises from her chair and pushes the cloth curtain back and disappears behind it.

(SCULLY moves up from behind MULDER and passes him bringing her closer to the curtain. She turns around to look at MULDER.)

SCULLY: Mulder, what is it?

MULDER: I was sent a message and a key to the government facility at Mount Weather. The Indians said it was from a wise man who lived in the ruins: A Keeper of the Truth.

CUT TO:

(REYES and DOGGETT are traveling by helicopter above, doing a visual search for MULDER and SCULLY based upon the information given to them by GIBSON PRAISE.)

REYES: Do you see anything at all?

(DOGGETT shakes his head and continues to scan the grounds below.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 24

(Cave entrance. MULDER and SCULLY make their way through the narrow passageway at the mouth of the cave. They're led there by the old Indian Woman. At the end where it opens up into a living space, an old white-haired man sits there waiting for them.)

(MULDER enters first followed by SCULLY.)

CSM: What's the matter, Agent Mulder?

(CSM / C.G.B. SPENDER takes a drag of the cigarette through the hole in his trachea.)

CSM: You come to see the wise man but you look as if you've seen a ghost.

MULDER: You're no wise man. You're a dead man. Just like Krycek and X.

CSM: You see a dead man, Agent Scully?

SCULLY: I hoped and prayed you were dead you chain-smoking, son of a bitch.

(MULDER looks more than a little shocked to see CSM still alive.)

CSM: You waste your time. Ask Mulder. He knows the futility of hopes and prayers. He knows the truth now.

(SCULLY looks confused at what CSM'S saying. CSM zeroes in on this immediately and begins to exploit it as he's done so many times before.)

CSM: You have told her the truth haven't you, Fox? I helped you find it.

MULDER: You didn't help me. You sent me to that government facility knowing exactly what I'd find.

CSM: And now you refuse to speak it. Not to Scully, not to anyone. You've even refused to testify what you learned ... even though it would have saved your life. You damned me for my secrets ... but you're afraid to speak the truth.

(CSM takes another drag from his cigarette.)

MULDER: You call me afraid? Look at you sitting here alone in the dark like a fossil.

(CSM exhales a puff of smoke around him.)

CSM: It's the final refuge. The last place to hide from those who are insidiously taking power now.

SCULLY: Who?

CSM: The aliens. They fear this place ... its geology. Magnetite. Like that which brought down the original UFO in Roswell. Indian wise men realized this over 2,000 years ago. They hid here and watched their own culture die. The Original Shadow Government.

CUT TO:

SCENE 25

(Outside the pueblos. The helicopter (#N218SS) carrying DOGGETT and REYES land outside the Anasazi Pueblos. They've found MULDER and SCULLY'S SUV. They both get out of the helicopter and it takes off leaving them there.)

(REYES sees an ominous-looking black SUV make its way toward them. There's a lone driver in it.)

REYES: Agent Doggett!

DOGGETT: Who the hell's that?

(It's KNOWLE ROHRER. DOGGETT and REYES both look worried as the dead man lives once again.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 26

(Back inside the pueblo, CSM takes a drag from his cigarette.)

CSM: It leaves me to tell you what Mulder's afraid to, Agent Scully.

MULDER: Come on, let's go.

(SCULLY doesn't budge,)

CSM: It's a scary story. You want to come sit on my lap?

SCULLY: You don't scare me.

CSM: My story's scared every president since Truman in '47.

MULDER: You don't have to hear this.

SCULLY: No, I want to hear it, Mulder.

CSM: Ten centuries ago the Mayans were so afraid that their calendar stopped on the exact date that my story begins. December 22, the year 2012. The date of the final alien invasion. Mulder can confirm the date. He saw it at Mount Weather ... ...where our own "Secret Government" will be hiding when it all comes down.

(SCULLY looks at MULDER. He doesn't take his eyes off of CSM. CSM has a wild glint in his eye - almost a crazed look.)

MULDER: Yeah, you smile ... feeling drunk with power. The power to do nothing.

CSM: My power comes from telling you. Seeing your powerlessness hearing it. They wanted to kill you, Fox. I protected you all these years ... waiting for this moment ... to see you broken. Afraid.

(MULDER lifts his head and schools his features to reveal nothing.)

CSM: Now you can die.

CUT TO:

SCENE 27

(Two heavily armed black ops helicopters are flying low along the roadway head to the Anasazi Pueblos.)

CUT BACK TO:

SCENE 28

(Outside the pueblos, KNOWLE ROHRER advances on DOGGETT and REYES who continue to back up slowly. Soon they won't have any room to back up anymore. DOGGETT reaches for his gun. REYES reaches for hers. They both hold it on ROHRER knowing full well that it'll be useless.)

DOGGETT: Run, Monica. Get out of here.

REYES : No.

(DOGGETT glances at REYES, accepting her decision to stand next to him.)

DOGGETT (to ROHRER): Knowle Rohrer. That's far enough.

(ROHRER continues to advance. An arrogant smugness about him.)

ROHRER: Shoot me, Agent Doggett, if you think it'll make a difference this time.

(DOGGETT fires. The bullet harmlessly hits ROHRER in the chest. He continues to stand there with the smugness about him.)

(DOGGETT and REYES both continue to back up as KNOWLE ROHRER continues to advance toward them.)

(They've run out of room behind them. ROHRER, on the other hand, has also stopped advancing. In fact, he seems to be struggling to move forward. A confused look on his face.)

(DOGGETT lowers his weapon. Something is happening to ROHRER. He's starting to spasm, He lifts his arms, unable to control their shaking. Black metallic oxidation appears on the skin under his arms and rapidly spreads.)

(DOGGETT and REYES watch as the metal within ROHRER becomes the metal without. ROHRER looks afraid. When the metal completely covers his exterior, ROHRER is sucked into the rocks. DOGGETT pushes REYES out of ROHRER'S path.)

(ROHRER smashes into the rock. REYES looks completely shocked at what she just witnessed.)

MULDER: Agent Doggett!

(Both MULDER and SCULLY appear outside the second level doorway.)

DOGGETT: Mulder, get out of there!

REYES: They know where you are!

CUT TO:

(The two black helicopters continue their path to the ruins. We see they are both very heavily armed.)

CUT BACK TO:

(DOGGETT and REYES climb into MULDER and SCULLY'S vehicle and drive it closer to MULDER and SCULLY as they make their way down the ruins.)

(MULDER runs alongside their vehicle as they approach. DOGGETT stops the car.)

MULDER: Get out of here!

DOGGETT: Get in the car.

MULDER: No!

(DOGGETT looks a little confused. They don't have much time. MULDER tells them again to leave.)

MULDER: (insistent) Go! Go!

(MULDER and SCULLY both run to the other vehicle at the site. The vehicle left behind by KNOWLE ROHRER. DOGGETT takes off.)

CUT TO:

(The helicopters are rapidly approaching the site. They're still not in view of the ruins.)

CUT BACK TO:

(MULDER and SCULLY get in the abandoned vehicle and take off in a different direction from DOGGETT and REYES. They disappear from their view around the hill.)

CUT TO:

(The helicopters round the mountain side. MULDER and SCULLY barely escape detection. The helicopters position themselves across the ruins.)

CUT TO:

(The old Indian Woman inside the pueblo panics as her pots and pans rattle at the disturbance. The helicopters hover just outside her window.)

(They fire missile after missile aimed at the ruins, destroying them whole sections at a time in fiery explosions.)

(The old Indian Woman screams.)

CUT TO:

(CSM sits inside his final "refuge", a cigarette in his hand.)

(The pueblos explode with each missile fired. The ancient stones crumble to the ground. Fire burns what little there is to burn.)

(The black helicopters swing around and hover just outside the old Indian Woman's windows. A dreamcatcher hangs from the window with the black helicopter in its sites.)

(Another missile is fired and another portion of the ruins destroyed.)

(Inside, CSM takes a last drag from his cigarette. He throws the remainder on the ground.)

(Outside, in perfect positions, the black helicopter hovers. A final missile is fired finding its intended target. The corridor and the cave fill with fire consuming the once-powerful man within.)

(The pueblos explode. Missiles upon missiles are fired until the entire mountainside is decimated. Their mission complete, the helicopters turn around and fly off into the horizon.)

CUT TO:

SCENE 29

ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO

(Night. Outside a motel room, it's raining. Thunder rumbles. )

(Inside, MULDER is sitting on the floor, leaning back against the bed and his head resting back.)

SCULLY (o.s.): What are you thinking?

(MULDER is silent. Thoughtful.)

SCULLY: Mulder?

MULDER: I'm thinking ... I'm a guilty man. I've failed in every respect. I deserve the harshest punishment for my crimes.

SCULLY: (softly) You don't believe that.

(Mulder sighs.)

MULDER: I believe that I sat in a motel room like this with you when we first met and I tried to convince you of the truth. And in that respect, I succeeded, but ... in every other way ...

(MULDER turns to look at SCULLY)

MULDER: ... I've failed.

SCULLY: You don't believe that, either.

MULDER: Mmmm.

MULDER: I've been chasing after monsters with a butterfly net. You heard the man - the date's set. I can't change that.

SCULLY: You wouldn't tell me. Not because you were afraid or broken ... but because you didn't want to accept defeat.

MULDER: Well, I was afraid of what knowing would do to you.

(MULDER turns to look at SCULLY and confesses one of his greatest fears.)

MULDER: I was afraid that it would crush your spirit.

SCULLY: Why would I accept defeat? Why would I accept it, if you won't? Mulder, you say that you've failed but you only fail if you give up. And I know you -- you can't give up. It's what I saw in you when we first met. It's what made me follow you ... why I'd do it all over again.

MULDER: And look what it's gotten you.

SCULLY: And what has it gotten you? Not your sister. Nothing that you've set out for. But you won't give up, even now.

(SCULLY reaches out and takes hold of MULDER'S hand in a firm grip.)

SCULLY: You've always said that you want to believe. But believe in what Mulder? If this is the truth that you've been looking for then what is left to believe in?

MULDER: I want to believe that the dead are not lost to us. That they speak to us as part of something greater than us - greater than any alien force. And if you and I are powerless now, I want to believe that if we listen to what's speaking, it can give us the power to save ourselves.

SCULLY: Then we believe the same thing.

(SCULLY watches MULDER intently . MULDER looks like he Believes. SCULLY smiles at MULDER. MULDER reaches over and lightly picks up SCULLY'S cross. He reaches up and caresses her lips.)

(MULDER gets off of the floor and settles himself in bed next to SCULLY. He wraps himself around her, so that they are now holding each other closely.)

MULDER: (whispers) Maybe there's hope.

[Fade to black]

[THE *END*]
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