From Outer Space

 

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... l

ike 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

SCENE 12

JOSE CHUNG'S OFFICE

(Chung is typing on the typewriter. He hears murmuring outside and sees a silhouette in his window. He takes out his gun and slowly makes his way to the door. He opens it to see Mulder and another man starting off.)

JOSE CHUNG: 

Agent Mulder?

(He motions for him to come in. 

Mulder looks at the other man.)

MULDER: 

Thanks.

(Mulder walks in and Chung closes the door. 

They stand opposite each other at the desk.)

JOSE CHUNG: 

What can I do for you, Agent Mulder?

MULDER: 

Don't write this book.

(Chung sits. Mulder walks over to the left and 

stands next to a small dresser with books.)

You'll perform a disservice through a field of inquiry 

that has always struggled for respectability. 

You're a gifted writer, but no amount of talent could 

describe the events that occurred in any realistic vein 

because they deal with alternative realities 

that we've yet to comprehend. And when presented 

in the wrong way, in the wrong context, 

the incidents and the people involved in them 

can appear foolish, if not downright psychotic.

(He walks back to the right, in front of Chung's desk.)

I also know that your publishing house is owned by Warden White, Incorporated... a subsidiary of MacDougall-Kesler, which makes me suspect a covert agenda for your book on the part of the military-industrial-entertainment complex.

JOSE CHUNG: 

Agent Mulder, this book will be written. 

But it can only benefit if you can 

explain something to me.

MULDER: What's that?

JOSE CHUNG: 

What really happened to 

those kids on that night?

(Mulder looks down.)

MULDER: 

How the hell should I know?

(Chung stands in anger.)

JOSE CHUNG: 

Agent Mulder, 

I appreciate this little visit 

but I have deadlines to face.

(Mulder stares at him for a second, then walks out as Chung sits back down. Chung starts to type again, but stops and looks at the door. He talks over the scene.)

Evidence of extraterrestrial existence remains as elusive as ever...

(Cut to Blaine, pointing his flashlight to the sky as he is lifted up on the electric company crane. Chung continues to talk.)

...but the skies will continue to be searched by the likes of Blaine Faulkner, hoping to someday find not only proof of alien life, but also contentment on a new world. Until then, he must be content with his new job.

(Blaine screams as sparks fly off of the electric pole. Cut to El Cajon, California. A group of people sit on the floor, gathered around Roky, who is standing in front of a strange diagram of the earth with a triangle in the middle, much like an Egyptian pyramid. The triangle has an eye in each corner and clouds in the middle. Roky is wearing a crystal necklace. Chung continues to talk from his book.)

Others search for answers from within. Roky relocated to El Cajon, California, preaching to the lost and desperate.

ROKY CRIKENSON: And so, at each death, the soul descends further into the inner earth, attaining ever greater levels of purification, reaching... enlightenment at the core. Assuming, of course, that your soul is able to avoid... the lava men.

(He holds his crystal. Cut to the X-Files office, where she is reading Jose Chung's new book, "From Outer Space." Chung talks over.)

JOSE CHUNG: 

Seeking the truth about aliens means 

a perfunctory nine-to-five job to some. 

For although Agent Diana Lesky 

is noble spirit and pure of heart, 

she remains, nevertheless, 

a federal employee.

(Scully glares at the book. Cut to Mulder's apartment. Mulder lies in his bed, shirt off, watching television. He changes the channel. Chung continues his monologue.)

As for her partner, Reynard Muldrake... 

that ticking timebomb of insanity... 

his quest into the unknown has so warped his psyche, 

one shudders to think how he receives any pleasures from life.

(Mulder watches the television intently, a shaky video camera 

footage of Bigfoot walking through the woods far away. 

Cut to Chrissy Giorgio, typing at her computer.)

The Writer:

Chrissy Giorgio has come to believe her alien visitation 

was a message to improve her own world, and she has 

devoted herself to this goal wholeheartedly.

(There is another rattling on The Window. 

She goes to it and opens it to reveal 

Harold standing outside.)

CHRISSY GIORGIO: 

Oh, it's you. What do you want?

HAROLD LAMB: 

I just wanted to tell you

 I still Love You.

CHRISSY GIORGIO: 

Love. Is that all You-

Men think about?

(She closes Her Window. 

Harold's eyes tear up. 

Chung keeps talking.)

The Writer: 

Then there are those who care 

not about extraterrestrials, 

searching for Meaning in 

other Human Beings. 

Rare or lucky are 

those who find it.

(Harold starts off.)

For although we may not 

be alone in the universe, 

in our own separate ways, 

on this planet, 

We are, all... alone.

[THE END]

D.T.

Are You Watching Channel-8?

Number 8-persons belong to a still more fatalistic law of vibration and appear to be “children of fate” more than any other class.                                         

They can be just as noble in character, as devoted and self-sacrificing as the best of their fellow mortals, but they seldom get the reward that they are entitled to. If they rise in life to any high position it is generally one of grave responsibility, anxiety, and care. Such persons can become rich, but wealth seldom brings them happiness, and for love they are generally called on to pay too high a price.    

My advice to them is : If they find the 4’s and 8’s continually coming into their lives and associated with sorrow, disappointment, ill-fate and ill-luck, they should determinately avoid such numbers and all their series. 

They should, in such a case, so alter their name number, following the examples I have given in previous chapters, to produce one of the more fortunate series, such as 1, 3, 5, or 6, and carry out their plans on dates that make these numbers. 

If they will do this they will completely alter their ill-luck and Control as it were the curious fate that appears to follow them.                              

If, however, they prefer, as many do, to carry out the full force and meaning of their number 8, without caring what the worldly result may be, in that case they should do exactly as I have said for the other numbers and do everything important on dates and numbers that make the 8, such as the 8th, 17th, 26th, also the 4th, 13th, 22nd and 31st.                                               

If they do this they will be equally successful, but in leading peculiarly fatalistic lives, being, if I may use the expression, “marked” people in whatever path of life they may make their own.

The Chris Carter Effect

The Chris Carter Effect :

"If the fans conclude that the writing team will never resolve its plots, then they will probably stop following the work."

Contrast - Fan-Disliked Explanation.

It's said that no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the viewing public, but sometimes a show comes along that promises stories so complex and subtle that they'll make War and Peace look like "Frog and Toad Are Friends". If it's done right, then this is catnip to a certain sector of the viewing public, who will often give such a show a surprisingly long time to set up its plot arcs before getting antsy for a resolution. 

The Catch for The Creator is that, the longer an arc runs and the more complicated it gets, the more awesome its payoff must be for it to feel satisfying to the fans. It's much easier for a writer to keep kicking the can — piling mysteries on top of mysteries — rather than finish storylines. This trope was invoked in the British TV serial The Singing Detective, in which mystery novelist Philip Marlowe asserts that fiction, like Life, should be "all clues and no solutions."

That said, most audiences are savvy enough to recognise a framing device when they see one. Plots resting on a single Driving Question (Where is The Sunflower Samurai? Who is Mrs. Mosby? Who Killed Laura Palmer? Who Shot J.R.? Will Dr. Becket Ever Leap Home? Where is The Peace Conference? Who's on First? Who is The One-Armed Man? Will They or Won't They?) are allowed some leeway; otherwise, the production team would be out of work and The Story would end. The Chris Carter Effect happens when a work is wholly focused on twists or not building up to a satisfactory resolution, but on the other hand, the plotting sometimes becomes so bloated that there can no longer be a satisfactory resolution (see Ending Aversion). Another contributing effect could be the unsatisfactory resolution of long-running side-plots. At this point, even the most ardent fans will start to feel jerked around, or at the very least channel flip to something else.

Sometimes, the lack of a resolution is not the writers' fault: the network might have pulled the plug early or compromised the original vision by having it focus on more merchandisable elements or to keep adding to or expanding on the author's intended story.

See also Kudzu Plot and Commitment Anxiety. Specifically, the combination of a Kudzu Plot with Webcomic Time can have a similar effect on The Audience, even when a finale is in the works, if the piece stretches out long enough that the fans lose track of the original premise of the series. Arc Fatigue is this trope on a smaller scale, in which just a single story arc goes on for too long without any resolution rather than the entire series. Can be connected to Franchise Original Sin in that the Myth Arc is successful at first before devolving over time into less-successful territory.

If fans doubt that such a show will even survive to finish its story and don't bother tuning in, that's The Firefly Effect. Compare Writing by the Seat of Your Pants, which does not focus on how the audience reacts to it.

Named for Chris Carter, creator of The X-Files,  which some believe to be the godfather of this trope.

It has nothing to do with the former Minnesota Vikings wide receiver, Cris Carter. Note the missing "H" in his name. It also has nothing to do with Beatles DJ and former Dramarama member Chris Carter.

Contrast Fan-Disliked Explanation.

SISTER MOON : I Want to Believe

 “Luther Lee Boggs, 

Clyde Bruckman, 

Gerald Schnauz.. 

I went through those cases 

and that work was 

extremely impressive.”

  

(Cameo) Vanessa Morley: 

When Fox Mulder and Dana Scully first walk back into the F.B.I. offices 

right before they walk into the bullpen, 

a female agent walks by that catches Mulder's attention 

and he watches her walk away. 

The woman is the actress who throughout The X Files (1993) 

played the young Samantha Mulder, 

and is the same Samantha 

in the photo Mulder has taped to the back of his home office door.

 “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.”

— Fox Mulder, 2002,

Post-9/11.

  

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.

Right up until this very instant —

He did not CARE :

He HATES Fox Mulder, 

and everything that he represents.

But now.....

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. 

Mulder isn’t an FBI Agent anymore —

He’s been Out of The Bureau since shortly after he returned from The Dead.

The Military Doesn’t Care.

The Bush Administration Doesn’t Care.

Blame must be assigned.

And for that to happen, 

The FBI must get out of The Way, 

go along with The Lie and Keep Silent.

9/11.

Your Prosecutor, Your Judges. 

Held in my court.

KERSH: 

That can't be legal. 

KERSH:

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.

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 is SPEAKING --

 

It can 

Give Us The Power 

to Save Ourselves.

SCULLY :

 Then,

We Believe in The Same Thing.

She reaches down  to the gifted Gold that hangs on a chain around her neck, the same Golden totem that has hung there, 

in plain sight for 9 whole seasons of Network Television without attracting ANY real notice or curious interest —  or not any from Mulder, at least — 

and she gently turns her Cross ever-so slightly, 45-degrees or so from the perpendicular —

It is an X. 

The Unknown and Unquantifiable, Endless-Nameless Mystery

“A lot of people like to 

characterise Grant, as — 

A Space Case.

 

And a NUTTER.

 

 But what a lot of people don’t realise, 

in large-part because They're not listening,

is that he is extremely 

practial and pragmantic.

 

When he talks about his alien abduction, 

when he talks about Magick, it's all about --

 

The Practical Method 

to make Something Happen.

 

In his completely insane and unreasonable way,

he is actually completely reasonable -- 

and pragmatic about these things."

 

-- Warren Ellis.

 

YOUNG GUARDIAN SAAL : 

Ha!

 

It’s good that you were kind to Them.

 

But you turned down Their Offer?

 

 HAL JORDAN,

THE Green Lantern,

Sir Harold of The Emerald Lamp,

Aladdin, a Widow’s Son, The Son of a Tailor,

The New Taylor :

“My Ring’s running on Grail Energy

and I have plans to hitch a ride on some passing comet,

see where The Road takes me.

 

Maybe catch up on some

Unfinished Business.

 

Guardian Saal —

Where Are We Going?

 

….and Why Do I Hear Voices?"

 

 YOUNG GUARDIAN SAAL : 

Only The Voices of Your Fellow Green Lanterns.

Those Who Were Inspired by You.

Those Who Wish to Honour You.

 

Those Who Dream of One Day Surpassing You!”

The Accolytes :

....um?

 

SCENE 5 

SOMERSET, WESTERN VIRGINIA 

5:02 A.M.

The FBI vehicles drive down a snow-laden track. 

Joe is dozing next to Mulder in the back. 

The vehicle goes over a bump and he wakes up.

FATHER JOE: 

Are we getting warm?

WHITNEY: 

You tell us.

Whitney is in the front passenger seat, Drummy is driving.

FATHER JOE: 

I don't know. 

I have a clue where we are.

MULDER: 

That's all right. 

Everybody works differently.

FATHER JOE: 

Who are you - The Good Cop?

MULDER: 

I'm the non-Cop.

He holds out Monica Bannan's FBI photo ID card.

FATHER JOE: 

I don't know this girl. 

This Agent Bannan of yours. 

I haven't a clue of the connection.

MULDER: 

There's always something, 

however small.

FATHER JOE: 

And who made you 

The Expert?

MULDER: 

I once investigated a series of cases involving unexplained phenomena for the FBI.

FATHER JOE: 

So you believe in these sort of things?

MULDER: 

Let's just say 

I want to Believe.

DRUMMY: 

And His Sister was abducted.

By E.T.

FATHER JOE: 

...Is that True...?

MULDER: 

It was a long time ago.

FATHER JOE: 

.....she's dead, isn't she?

Your Sister?

Mulder doesn't answer. 

He takes Monica Bannan's ID and looks at it. 

Whitney glances at him. 

Then Joe leans forward.

FATHER JOE: 

This is where she was taken - Your Agent. 

This is where she was attacked.

MULDER: 

I want him to see the crime scene.

They pull into a driveway and get out of the cars. 

Joe walks towards the garage 

then stops.

FATHER JOE: 

No, this isn't right. 

You've brought me to the wrong house.

Joe walks back down the drive.

MULDER: 

Pulled that right out of his ass.

Drummy walks after Father Joe who has now 

walked onto the road. 

He approaches the house opposite, 

where there is yellow crime scene tape 

around the garage. 

He goes into the garage and looks around. 

Whitney indicates to Drummy to follow him.

WHITNEY: 

There were news crews out here 

covering the scene, 

pictures of the neighborhood — 

He could've recognized it all from TV....

Mulder and Whitney go round the outside of the house.

MULDER: 

Yeah, but, why?

WHITNEY: 

Why?

MULDER: 

Why do it? Why go to such 

great lengths to create such an 

elaborate fiction.

WHITNEY: 

Expiation. Forgiveness of His Sins. 

He's written dozens of letters 

to The Vatican pleading 

re-engagement with 

The Church.

MULDER: 

A rather odd way to impress 

The Holy See.

WHITNEY: 

The Voice of God Speaking 

through A Man - 

I think that's been 

A Winner a few times.

At the back of the house, 

Father Joe is walking towards The Woods, 

Drummy watching him.

MULDER: 

So you think he's Guilty too, huh?

WHITNEY: 

We HAVE to consider him 

A Suspect —

MULDER: 

But you found no connection 

to The Crime.

WHITNEY: 

Don't think My Guys have stopped looking, 

and they think they're going to find Monica.

MULDER: 

But you don't, 

or I wouldn't be here.

WHITNEY: 

Yeah, I'm not the most popular girl 

at the FBI right now for 

calling you in, 

Believe Me.

MULDER: 

I wasn't exactly Miss Popularity 

at the FBI myself.

WHITNEY: 

But you've dealt with 

psychics before. 

Luther Lee Boggs, 

Clyde Bruckman, 

Gerald Schnauz - 

I went through 

those cases and 

that work was 

extremely impressive.

MULDER: 

Yeah, well. 

I'm only half The Yeam.

WHITNEY: 

But it's YOUR insights 

I NEED.

They see Father Joe sink to his knees in The Snow. 

They rush over to him.

FATHER JOE: 

She ran away. 

She tried to escape. 

There were two men. 

Well, she couldn't. 

He pushed her down, 

it was here, 

it was right here, 

and then they put in the back.

WHITNEY: 

Where?!

FATHER JOE: 

In the car - no - it was a truck, 

a truck with something on it.

WHITNEY: 

We have to find her!

FATHER JOE: 

She's in pain, 

great, great pain.

WHITNEY: 

Tell me where!

FATHER JOE: 

I don't know. 

I can't see.

WHITNEY: 

We need to find her!

FATHER JOE: 

I can't see.

Drummy doesn't believe this.

DRUMMY: 

Because he's pulling it out of his ass.

If he were, 

he would be lying better — 

providing more positive and actionable information 

(even if it isn’t True),

and he would never be saying 

“I Don’t Know.”

It isn’t bullshit, therefore.

If he were faking it, 

he would want to seem 

as useful and insight 

as possible — he isn’t.

This is largely unhelpful :

Except for the fact that 

she is in Great Pain.

But that does not help 

in finding her...

He walks off. 

Mulder and Whitney look down at Joe who is weeping. 

They blood spots on The Snow.

MULDER: 

Father Joe?

Father Joe lifts up his head. 

The blood is coming from his eyes.

At the hospital, Scully goes into the children's ward and up to Christian who is lying in bed.

SCULLY: 

Hi, Christian. 

You're looking very bright-eyed this morning.

CHRISTIAN: 

I was thinking.

SCULLY: 

Yeah? What were you thinking?

CHRISTIAN: 

How I'm going to get out of here.

SCULLY: 

Well, you know, 

I'm thinking exactly the same thing.

CHRISTIAN: 

Can I get out of here soon?

SCULLY: 

What's wrong? 

Has something scared you?

CHRISTIAN: 

The Way The Man 

is looking at me.

SCULLY: 

What man?

Christian indicates a man standing in the corridor.

SCULLY: 

Don't be afraid.

Scully walks down the corridor to The Man, Father Ybarra, 

who is looking through a folder.

SCULLY: 

I was just looking for those.

FATHER YBARRA: 

I wanted to go over them myself 

and the results of the 

new tests that you ordered.

SCULLY: 

That isn't really your purview, Father. 

It's his primary physician's.

FATHER YBARRA: 

It is in my purview, to make sure 

that all my physicians are making 

The Right Choices for their patients 

and for The Hospital.

SCULLY: 

Can I have the test results, please?

He hands them to her.

FATHER YBARRA: 

We are here to Heal The Sick, 

not prolong the ordeal 

of The Dying. 

There are other, 

better facilities for The Boy.

 

DRUMMY: 

Dana Scully? 

Dr. Scully, 

I'm looking for Fox Mulder.

SCULLY: 

Excuse me.

Scully walks over to him.

DRUMMY: 

Special Agent Drummy 

with the FBI.

SCULLY: 

I can guess who you're with.

DRUMMY: 

The FBI urgently needs to speak with Fox Mulder.

SCULLY: 

I don't work with Fox Mulder any longer. 

I don't work with the FBI.

DRUMMY: 

Well, if you could contact him, 

it might just Save The Life 

of an FBI Agent.

Later, Scully drives down a country road and turns into a lane blocked by a metal gate. 

She opens this and continues driving up the long track to a house. 

She enters the house, into a cluttered living room. 

She undoes her coat, then goes into another room which has press cuttings all over the walls. 

Mulder is sat at a desk with his back to her.

MULDER: 

What's up, Doc?

SCULLY: 

You've become awfully trusting Mulder, 

for a man wanted by the FBI.

MULDER: 

Eyes in the back of my head, Scully. 

"Auf einer Wellenlänge",

 as The Germans say. 

It's a precognitive state often confused with simple human intuition, 

in which the brain perceives 

The Deep Logic underlying transitory Human Existence, 

unaided by The Conscious Mind, 

materializing much as you did just now. 

Though if you'd actually materialized, 

you'd be rapidly de-materializing. 

But Who Believes 

that crap anymore?

Mulder has been cutting out another newspaper article. 

Then he stands and faces her, smiling.

He's dressed in casual clothes, and has a beard.

SCULLY: 

Well, they do at the FBI apparently. 

I had a visitor today, Mulder. 

The FBI want your help finding a missing agent.

Mulder pins the newspaper article, "Princeton closes ESP lab after 40 years of paranormal study" on the board next to his I Want To Believe poster.

MULDER: 

Well, I hope you told them go screw themselves.

SCULLY: 

They say all is forgiven. 

That they'll drop all charges against you if you come in 

and help them solve this case.

MULDER: 

The FBI will forgive me. 

They put me on trial on bogus charges 

and tried to discredit a decade of my work, 

they should be asking me for my forgiveness, Scully.

SCULLY: 

I think they are. 

Desperately.

MULDER:

How can I possibly help these people?

Mulder sits down.

SCULLY: 

Someone's come forward with some promising evidence.

A psychic, he claims.

MULDER: 

It's A Trick, Scully, 

to smoke me out.

SCULLY: 

Mulder, if the FBI wanted to get you,

I have no doubt that they could. 

I think they've just been happy 

to have you out of their hair.

MULDER: 

Oh good, because I am just as happy, 

having them out of mine.

SCULLY: 

A Young Agent's Life is at stake. 

Mulder, I know 

I don't have to say this, 

but it could have been you once, or me. 

You know, The Truth is, 

I worry about you, 

and the effects of long-term isolation.

Mulder chuckles.

MULDER: 

I'm fine, here — 

Happy as a clam.

Mulder eats a sunflower seed. 

Scully looks up at the ceiling which has many pencils embedded in it.

SCULLY: 

I'll Tell Them Your Answer.

She leaves the room. 

Mulder looks at the closed door 

on which there are many press cuttings, 

plus a photograph of young Samantha — 

Looking at him.

MULDER: 

Shit.

He opens the door.

MULDER: 

Okay, I'll go. 

Under one condition.

Scully sighs. 

A helicopter. 

Mulder holds open the door for Scully. 

After they are both seated inside, 

the helicopter takes off.

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'S GHOST : 

Hey, hot shot! 

You might have the common courtesy 

of doing Your Business there downwind.

MULDER: 

Oh, boy.

LANGLY'S GHOST: 

Why don't you just finish draining 

the little lizard 

and then we'll talk?

BYER'S GHOST: 

We're very worried about you.

FROHIKE'S GHOST: 

It's craziness, man. Turn around.

LANGLEY'S GHOST:

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

MULDER: 

I can't.

BYER'S GHOST: 

Why risk Perfect Happiness, Mulder? 

Why risk your lives?

MULDER: 

Because I need to 

Know The Truth.

BYER'S GHOST: 

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'S GHOST: 

Change it?

FROHIKE'S GHOST: 

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.