The X-Files of 2002 - The Trial

"You and I both know there are forces inside the government now that a man would be foolish to disobey."

"Lee Oswald must have felt like Joseph K. in Kafka's The Trial. 

He's never given reasons for his arrest. 

He doesn't know the unseen forces ranging against him. 

At police headquarters, he was booked for murdering Tippet. 

No legal counsel was provided. No record made of the questioning. 

When the sun rises the next morning he is booked for murdering the President. 

The whole country, fueled by the media, assumes he is guilty."

The X-Files of mid-2002 is extremely creepy and uncomfortable.

Mulder gets disappeared, put in an Orange jumpsuit in indefinite military detention at a Black Site, tortured and mind-controlled until he admits his crimes.

And that was basically, almost, how it ends.

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.

http://septemberclues.info/vicsims/9-11-9%20the%20Vicsim%20Report.pdf

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.