THE OLD STORYTELLER, THE SAMURAI AND AWARENESS

Teaching story: THE OLD STORYTELLER, 

THE SAMURAI AND AWARENESS. Akizur

JOSE CHUNG: 

What is your opinion of hypnosis?

SCULLY: 

I know that it has its therapeutic value, 

but it has never been proven to enhance memory. 

In fact, it actually worsens it since, since, 

since people in that state 

are prone to confabulation.

JOSE CHUNG: 

When I was doing research for my book 

"The Caligarian Candidate..."

SCULLY: 

...one of the greatest thrillers ever written.

JOSE CHUNG: 

Oh...(He chuckles.) Thank you. 

I was, uh... interested 

in how the C.I.A., 

when conducting their

 MK-Ultra 

mind-control experiments 

back in the '50s, 

had NO IDEA 

how hypnosis worked

SCULLY: 

Hmm.

JOSE CHUNG: 

Or -- what it was.

SCULLY: 

No one still knows.

JOSE CHUNG: 

Still, as A Storyteller, I'm fascinated

how a person's sense of consciousness can be... 

so transformed by nothing more magical 

than listening to words. 

Mere words.

(Cut to the interrogation room. Doctor Fingers sits across from Chrissy very closely. In the background, Chrissy's parents are sitting down in the back like before. Manners is standing, then Mulder is more to the front. Scully is still leaning on the door in the back. His voice is very soothing and slow. She is sitting in a recliner, eyes closed.)

FINGERS: 

You are feeling very sleepy, very relaxed. 

As your body calmly drifts deeper and deeper 

into a state of peaceful relaxation, 

you will respond only to the sound of my voice.

(She opens her eyes as the room starts to become shaky in her vision. She gasps as everyone is replaced by aliens, down to one still holding Manners' cup of coffee. As the "Fingers" alien talks, the mouth does not move.)

Chrissy? Can you recall 

where you are?

(Chrissy is hooked onto a glass table with white lines all over it up against the wall. She and Fingers talk over the scene.)

CHRISSY GIORGIO: 

I'm in a room... on a spaceship... 

surrounded by aliens.

FINGERS: 

What do the aliens look like?

CHRISSY GIORGIO: 

They're small... but their heads 

and their eyes are big. They're gray.

FINGERS: 

Are you alone?

(She looks to her left and sees Harold on a similar table, one hooked to the floor.)

CHRISSY GIORGIO: 

No, Harold's on another table... 

but he seems really out of it... 

like he's not really there.

(In reality, the table has donuts and coffee on it.)

FINGERS: 

What are the aliens doing now?

CHRISSY GIORGIO: 

They're sort of arguing. 

I sort of hear them but 

I can't understand what they're saying.

(The aliens bicker illegibly. The "Scully" alien walks over to the "Mulder" alien. 

She and Fingers still talk over the scene.)

Except The Leader. 

I can understand him.

FINGERS: 

When The Leader Speaks to You, 

does his mouth move?

CHRISSY GIORGIO: No.

(She starts to cry.)

But I hear him in my head.

FINGERS: 

What is he saying?

CHRISSY GIORGIO: 

He's telling me this is for the good of my planet, but...

FINGERS:

 But what?

CHRISSY GIORGIO: 

I don't like what he's doing. 

It's like he's inside my mind, like... 

like he's stealing my memories.

(Mulder looks at Scully. Later, Chrissy is being led out of the room.)

MULDER: 

The description of the aliens, the physical exam, the mindscan, 

the presence of another human being that appears switched off, 

it's all characteristic of a typical abduction.

SCULLY: 

That's my problem with it, Mulder. It's all a little too typical. 

Abduction lore has become so prevalent in Our Society 

that you can ask someone to imagine what it would be like 

to be abducted and they'd concoct an identical scenario.

MULDER: 

Yeah, if it were only one person, Scully, 

but we have two individuals here, 

each verifying the other's story.

(Manners walks over to them.)

MANNERS: 

Well, thanks a lot! 

You really bleeped up this case.

(Cut to present day.)

SCULLY: 

Well, of course, he didn't actually 

say "bleeped." He said...

JOSE CHUNG: 

I'm, uh, familiar with, uh, 

Detective Manners' colorful phraseology.

(Cut back to the interrogation room.)

MULDER: 

You still going to hold the boy?

MANNERS: 

Oh, you bet your blankety-blank bleep I am.

MULDER: 

But the victim seems to confirm his alibi.

MANNERS: 

The hell she did! Those kids' stories couldn't be more bleeping different.

(He walks away. Scully rubs her forehead.)