THE X-FILES: "Piper Maru" (3.15) Written by Frank Spotnitz and Chris Carter, directed by Rob Bowman First aired: 2/09/96 Dramatis Personae: Fox Mulder -- David Duchovny Dana Scully -- Gillian Anderson Agent Alex Krycek -- Nicholas Lea Assistant Director Skinner -- Mitch Pileggi Jeraldine Kallenchuk -- Jo Bates Hispanic Man -- Lenno Britos Johansen -- Robert Clothier (View of a large ship floating all alone on the big ocean.) Pacific Ocean Latitude 42 degrees North Longitude 171 degrees East (Daylight. Sailors bustle about, preparing a dive suit, speaking to each other in French.) FIRST SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)Ready for the dome. Let's go, Let's go. SECOND SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles) Are the oxygen tanks ready? FIRST SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles) How is the oxygen pressure? Close up of a bearded man inside the dive suit. GAUTIER: Check, set. SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)Is the oxygen at 20.8? GAUTIER: (in French, with subtitles)Oxygen 20.8, check set. SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)Are you ready for the dome? GAUTIER: (in French, with subtitles)Yes. SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)Close it, tighten it up. They finish sealing up Gauthier inside the suit and prepare a large crane, which hoists Gautier and lowers him into the water. (Shot of Gauthier, in the suit, underwater.) SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)Cable detached. He's solo. (We see Gauthier move off on his own underneath the water. Shot of the interior of the ship.) SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)Water temp is 2 degrees. Surge is negligible. Two hundred and seventy meters. GAUTIER: (over the radio, in French, with subtitles) I should be close to the bottom. SAILOR: We're picking up some radiation. A strong reading, Gauthier. GAUTHIER: (in French, with subtitles)Maybe this thing's right down below me. SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)After three months, to find the needle in the haystack now.. (We see Gauthier approach a hulking wreck of something beneath the water.) GAUTHIER: (in French, with subtitles)Are you seeing this up there? SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)We see something. What is it, Gauthier? (Gauthier draws closer to the wreckage and plays his flashlight over the side of the wreckage of an airplane. He sees call numbers painted on the side, JTTO 111470.) GAUTIER: (in French, with subtitles)I think it's one of the squadron. (Back on the ship, the sailors rejoice.) (Gauthier continues to play his flashlight over the wreckage, and sees the words "Drop Dead Red" painted on the side. He begins to hear a pounding noise.) GAUTHIER: (in French, with subtitles)Do you hear that? SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)We hear it. What is it? GAUTHIER: (in French, with subtitles)I don't know. (We hear static.) SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)We're losing him! Try a different frequency! (The sailors on board the ship stare at their monitors, which now show nothing but static.) SAILOR: Gauthier. Gauthier. Gauthier. (in French, with subtitles)We've lost contact. Gauthier! (Once again we see Gauthier, floating around the wreckage. He hears the sound again, and this time is it clearly discernible as someone pounding.) (Gauthier leans forward, and suddenly before his eyes pops up a man in the cockpit of the plane. Gauthier recoils, aghast. The man in the plane pounds his fists against the window as Gauthier watches.) (Close up of the man in the plane. His eyes cloud over suddenly with a black film. Gauthier stares disbelievingly.) (Cut to a view of the ship. It is now dark. We see Gauthier begin to emerge from the water. SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)Wait a minute! There he is! SECOND SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)All hands activate the winch. (The sailors pull Gauthier from the water and begin to take the suit off him.) SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)Quickly - open the mask and get him out! (While one of the sailors uses a tool to take off the mask, another runs his hand over the outside of the suit, bringing it away covered with some oily substance. We see that the entire suit is coated with this icky stuff. The first sailor succeeds in removing the mask and asks) SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)Are you all right, Gauthier? GAUTHIER: (in French, with subtitles)Yes. I think so. SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)What happened down there? GAUTHIER: (in French, with subtitles)I don't know. I became disoriented. SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)We lost all contact. SECOND SAILOR: (in French, with subtitles)Are you sure you're okay? GAUTHIER: (in French, with subtitles)Yes. Yes. Just help me out of the suit. (Close up of Gauthier's face. He blinks, and when his eyes open, they are covered with the same black film as the plane pilot's.) (View of the outside of FBI building.) FBI Headquarters Washington, D.C. Cut to interior view, Scully walks out of an elevator, reading a folder. She is wearing a long, black trench coat and a red/maroon suit.) (A door of the hallway opens behind her, it's Skinner) SKINNER: Agent Scully. Can I see you for a few minutes? (They go into his office) SKINNER: Kimberly, would you excuse us please? KIMBERLY: (Skinner's assistant): Certainly sir. (Kimberly stands up and walks out the office) (Skinner and Scully face each other, standing) SKINNER: A memo came across my desk last night. I debated whether or not to call you at home but I decided to.. SCULLY: And it concerns me? SKINNER: Yes. And your sister. It's been 5 months and there have been no leads or new evidence on her murder investigation by the DC police team or the Bureau. I've been told the case is to remain inactive until further notice. SCULLY: I see SKINNER: I don't think there's anything to be read into this. I think it's a case of manpower and workload. I want you to know that I am going to appeal this decision and I am gonna go back over all the evidence again myself and make sure that nothing has been overlooked. Scully walks towards the door, and turns back) SCULLY: You know, it's strange. Men can blow up buildings, and they can be nowhere near the crime scene but we can piece together the evidence and convict them beyond a doubt. Our labs here can recreate out of the most microscopic detail the motivation and circumstance to almost any murder, right down to a killer's attitude towards his mother and that he was a bed wetter. But in a case of a woman, my sister, who was gunned down in cold blood in a well-lit apartment building by a shooter who left the weapon at the crime scene, we can't even put together enough to keep anybody interested. SKINNER: I don't think this has anything to do with interest SCULLY: If I may say so sir, it has everything to do with interest. Just not yours, and not mine. (Scully turns back, opens the door and walks out the office) (Cut to Mulder's office. We see him at his desk, one foot propped up onto the edge of the desk, tapping a pencil against his forehead. Someone knocks.) MULDER: Yeah? (Scully enters) SCULLY: Sorry I'm late. (She walks towards his desk, removing her coat.) MULDER: Anything up? SCULLY: No. It's nothing. What did you want to talk to me about? MULDER: Something interesting came into my attention last night. A French salvage ship, the Piper Maru, limped into port in San Diego yesterday, all the way from the north Pacific. (Mulder rises and walks across the room to a table and an easel, covered with photographs, maps, and charts.) SCULLY: Why is that of interest? MULDER: Using the national weather service satellite system, I was able to track its course. This was its original position. (He points to a spot on one of the charts.) SCULLY: Longitude uh.. 171 east, latitude 42 north. (Mulder turns to face her and they talk, both standing.) MULDER: Yeah, that's where the boat we know as The Talapus pulled up what you believe was a Russian sub, but what I believe was the remains of a UFO. SCULLY: Mulder.. (She puts a hand to her forehead wearily.) MULDER: Look Scully I don't know what it is but something is still down there and now the French are looking for it too. SCULLY: So what? MULDER: So why all the attention paid to this site? what information are they acting on? SCULLY: Why don't you just ask them? MULDER: I would but the entire crew is being treated for radiation burns. SCULLY: From exposure to what? MULDER: The French government is keeping that information classified for some reason. SCULLY: Could it have anything to do with their resumption in nuclear tests? MULDER: I checked. It's thousands of miles away from any test sites (Scully smiles and laughs.) MULDER: What? SCULLY: I'm just constantly amazed by you.. (She looks around at the cluttered office. Mulder sighs and sits down.) SCULLY: You're working down here in the basement sifting through files and transmissions that any other agent would just throw away in the garbage. MULDER: Well, that's why I'm in the basement, Scully. SCULLY: You're in the basement because they're afraid of you, of your relentlessness and because they know that they could drop you in the middle of the desert, and tell you the truth is out there, and you would ask them for a shovel. MULDER: Is that what you think of me? SCULLY: Well, maybe not a shovel. Maybe a backhoe. MULDER: Well that's good because there's some garbage in San Diego I want you to help me dig through. (He grins at her and hands her a plane ticket. Scully takes the ticket and fans herself with it, wearing a rather unreadable expression.) (Cut to an exterior of an official looking building.) San Diego Naval Hospital (Cut to an interior scene. We see men, covered with terrible burns, lying in hospital beds. A doctor stands, writing on a chart. Mulder and Scully walk into the room and approach the doctor.) MULDER: Dr Seizer? DOCTOR: (Walking towards them.) Yes? MULDER: Special agent Mulder. This is agent Scully. DOCTOR: You're here about these French sailors with the radiation exposure? MULDER: Yeah. How are they doing? DOCTOR: Not real good. (Scully looks over the patients) DOCTOR: It's been difficult to determine a proper course of treatment, because there's an air of secrecy around what happened. The source of their exposure is still undetermined. SCULLY: These symptoms, would you characterize then as acute or somatic? (Doctor Seizer stares at Scully, confused.) SCULLY: I'm a medical doctor DOCTOR: They're somatic, although I don't think we've seen the worst of it. The effects are degrading rapidly, spontaneous internal bleeding in the mouths and intestinal tracts. (Mulder looks around), blood in the urine. All these men are suffering severe delirium, the pre-advanced stages of coma. SCULLY: What kind of exposure are we talking about here? DOCTOR: 200, maybe 400 Roentgens, with a high rate of absorption. SCULLY: (disbelievingly) That's verging on the levels of victims of Hiroshima suffered. DOCTOR: Whatever these men came in contact with, it was man-made, levels like this just don't appear in nature. MULDER: Not on this planet SCULLY: Did you get the chance to talk to any of them? DOCTOR: No, they were in pretty bad shape by the time they got to me, except for one man, and this was strange because he's the only one who seems to be completely unaffected. I held him for the 1st day, but I detected none of the symptoms of the others. His leukocytes and erythrocytes were high. Actually, he was in very good health. MULDER: How could that be? with that level of radiation, how could one man not be exposed? DOCTOR: Doesn't make any sense, but it's lucky for these men because he was the one who piloted the boat in. And none of these men could've done that in their condition. MULDER: Could it be possible for us to talk to him? DOCTOR: You could if he was still here, but he discharged himself this morning. (Scully gives Mulder a look, and he nods slightly.) DOCTOR: He's a Frenchman, has a San Francisco address, his name is Gauthier. (Cut to an exterior of a lovely Victorian rowhouse.) Pacific Heights San Francisco, CA (We see Gauthier enter house #64. He looks around, pausing for a moment to look at a picture of himself and a woman taken in front of the Eiffel Tower. The phone rings, but he ignores it and continues to look around.) (Cut to exterior of an armed sailor walking the perimeter of a shipyard. Ships are visible in the background.) US Naval Station San Diego, CA (Onboard the Piper Maru, people in yellow isolation suits take off their masks and get off the ship) A MAN'S VOICE: OK, let's wrap it up and get in the trucks. (We see Mulder and Scully arriving n their car. Cut to interior of the car.) SCULLY: (with her cell phone): I'm getting no answer at this man Gauthier's home number MULDER: Try the INS or the French Consulate, see what you can pull up on him. SCULLY, ON THE PHONE: Yes, can I have the number for the French Consulate please? (A man in blue approaches and leans down to talk to them through the car window. Mulder holds up his FBI ID.) MULDER: Agents Mulder and Scully, FBI. MORGAN: I'm Wayne Morgan. I'm with the uh Navy's investigative services unit. MULDER: Have you turned anything up? MORGAN: No, nothing, but I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to be looking for. MULDER: The crew of this ship is being treated for radiation. MORGAN: Yeah, we got all that, we had hazmat team poring over the boat, didn't find a trace. SCULLY: Nothing? MORGAN: We have divers in the water going over the hull, put probes down the bilge. Couldn't detect the slightest level. MULDER: So it's ok for us to go on board? MORGAN: Sure, you'll probably get more radiation off your cell phone. (Scully pulls a face and clicks off her cell phone with a little "beep.") (Cut to the interior of the Piper Maru. All the lights are out. Mulder, alone, looks around with his flashlight. He takes a look at a dive suit and sees that there is some sort of oil all over it. He examines the suit thoroughly, wiping some of the goo off, rubbing it between his fingers and sniffing it. He notices the suit is equipped with a video camera.) (Scully, on her side, looks at a dive chart with Zeus Faber written at the bottom of it with a marker.) (The lights come on.) MORGAN, TO SCULLY: Generator's back, that better? SCULLY: Yeah, thanks. Is this the way you found this room? MORGAN: Nothing's been touched, not since she's been tied up here anyway. (Mulder enters) MORGAN: It's a mess huh? MULDER: Feels like home. SCULLY: It feels like somebody was looking for something, any idea what? MULDER: No, I'm looking for the VCR. SCULLY: What for? MULDER: The dive suit has a video camera. (Mulder finds the VCR, sits down, switches on a monitor, and browses through the tape.) MORGAN: What the hell is that? MULDER: Looks like the fuselage of a plane. SCULLY: It's a North American P-51 Mustang. (The two men look at her in surprise.) MORGAN: Yeah it sure is. MULDER: I just got very turned on. (Scully gives him a look, and says) SCULLY: It's the shape of the canopy. I used to watch my father and brothers put together World War II model planes as a kid. (Mulder passes drawing "Drop Dead Red") MULDER: Would it have been carrying anything radioactive? (Mulder stops on call numbers JTT0 11470) SCULLY: No, it was just a fighter. MULDER: Then what was it those men exposed to? SCULLY: I don't know, but I might know somebody I can ask. (Cut to the Gauthier home. Gauthier's looking all over his files and documents in the drawers of his desk. He finds a letter, opens it and reads it) WOMAN'S VOICE: You're home! (IT'S HIS WIFE) I was so worried about you. Why didn't you call me? (she comes and hugs the man but he has no reaction) WIFE: There were these men from the consulate, they said there've been an accident... (Her eyes search his face as he continues to stare at her unemotionally.) WIFE: Why aren't you answering me? (she gets scared when she finally takes in the mess that Gauthier has made of the room, and begins to back away from him.) WIFE: Why aren't you answering me? (She turns and runs, and tries to flee out the door but Gauthier catches her and shoves her against the wall. She stares at him in terror as the black film covers his eyes.) (Cut to the woman coming out the door of the house. A close-up of her face shows the black cloud now in her eyes.) (Cut to an exterior shot. We see a sailor walking past a car marked 'Base Security', and then Scully drives up to a check point in a blue car.) Miramar Naval Air Station SCULLY: Hi, I'm here to see Commander Johansen. CHECKPOINT GUY: Name please? SCULLY: Special agent Dana Scully, FBI (she shows her ID) GUY: You have an appointment? SCULLY: No, uh.. he used to be a friend of my father's. I'm out here from Washington and I wanted to surprise him. GUY: Let me give you directions. SCULLY: I know my way, thanks. (As Scully is driving, she sees kids playing, in particular 2 little girls playing hopscotch. She has a flash of memory of herself and her sister, Melissa, playing the game together as children. Her eyes fill with tears, and she smiles slightly.) (Cut to a view of the Gauthier house in San Francisco.) (Mulder knocks on the door.) MULDER: Mr Gauthier? Mr Gauthier, open the door, it's the FBI. (Mulder tries the doorknob, then opens door, which is unlocked, and enters) MULDER: Mr Gauthier? (he looks at the picture of Gauthier and his wife on the wall, and then looks around, still calling Gauthier's name. He notices the mess on the floor of Gauthier's study and enters the room. On the desk he finds a letter in French with the reference JTT0 111470) MULDER, TO HIMSELF: salvage.. (He looks around for the envelope the letter came in, because the sender's address was torn from the top of the letter. He finds the envelope on the floor. The return address is J. Kallenchuk Salvage Brokers, 3702 Medlock Street, San Francisco, CA 94101. We can also see the 1st name of Gauthier: Bernard, and part of his address: number 3215, his zip code being either 94161 or 94164) (Mulder puts the envelope in this coat and then, at a sound coming from the kitchen, draws his gun) (Mulder finds Gauthier lying on the kitchen floor. Mulder feels for the pulse in Guthier's neck, pulling his fingers away covered with the same oil that had covered the dive suit. Gauthier is coated in it.) MULDER: Mr Gauthier? I want you to lie still. I'm with the FBI. What happened? Did you fall? GAUTHIER: I don't know. MULDER: How did you get here? GAUTHIER: I can't remember. I was on the boat. MULDER: The Piper Maru? That's the last thing you remember? GAUTHIER: Yes, I was on the dive. MULDER: Do you know where you are now? GAUTHIER: I'm at home. MULDER: Yeah. GAUTHIER: Where's my wife? MULDER: Nobody else's home, but somebody has been going over your papers. (Gauthier tries to rise, and slips on the oil.) GAUTHIER: Where's Joan? MULDER: She's not here, look.. you need to be careful, you have some kind of oil all over you. GAUTHIER: What's going on here? MULDER: I want you to remain calm, ok? I'd like to ask you a few questions about a letter. About a J. Kallenchuk Salvage Brokers. (Gauthier suddenly calms down and becomes wary.) GAUTHIER: I don't recognize that name. MULDER: Well, somebody did. And I think you know why. GAUTHIER: I would like to speak with the French Consul General. I have nothing more to say. (Cut to an exterior shot of base housing. Cut to interior shot of an elderly woman.) WOMAN (TO SCULLY): He'll be right out. (An elderly man enters the room from somewhere within the house.) MAN: Yes? SCULLY: Commander Johansen? JOHANSEN: Yes. SCULLY: I'm Dana Scully. (Johansen approaches and they shake hands.) SCULLY: I used to live 3 doors down. My father was Captain William Scully. I went to school with your son.. JOHANSEN: I'm sorry.. my memory isn't quite what it used to be. Richard doesn't live here anymore. SCULLY: Actually sir, I came to see you. JOHANSEN: Oh. SCULLY: I work for the FBI now and there's a question I'm hoping you can answer. JOHANSEN: Um.. well, would you come in. Do sit down. SCULLY: Thank you. JOHANSEN: Would you like something to drink? SCULLY: No thank you. (They sit.) SCULLY: I know that you were an officer in the Pacific during World War II I wanted to ask you about a plane that's been discovered. JOHANSEN: Discovered? SCULLY: Yes, a P-51 Mustang at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean (Scully looks at her notes..) with the uh..call numbers JTT0 111470. JOHANSEN: Well those are not the call numbers of a P-51. SCULLY: There was an illustration on the fuselage with the words "Drop Dead Red". JOHANSEN: I'm .. sorry. SCULLY: Would the words Zeus Faber mean anything to you? JOHANSEN: No.. but as I said, sometimes my memory is not so sharp. SCULLY: Well, would you know anybody I might be able to talk to? Somebody who might be able to give me that information? JOHANSEN: I wish I could help you. SCULLY: I wish you could too. There's a number of French sailors who may die from radiation exposure. If we knew more about the plane, we might be able to understand why. Anyway.. it was very good to see you again sir. (They stand up and shake hands) JOHANSEN: Oh say hello to your father for me. SCULLY: I wish I could, he's passed away. JOHANSEN: I'm very sorry. (Scully nods and walks to the front door.) SCULLY: I have to say this place brings back memories for me. I remember all the kids used to play a game called beckons wanted, right out there.. (she gestures out the front door.) Well.. if you talk to your son, will you tell him I stopped by? (Johansen nods and smiles lamely.) SCULLY: Thank you. (She leaves, and Johansen watches her out the front door.) (Cut to an exterior, a shot of a bridge. Cut to an interior, and a woman, dressed in a white blouse and red skirt inside an office.) 3702 Medlock Street San Francisco, CA (The woman opens a file cabinet and looks into files. There is a knock on the door.) WOMAN: Who is it? (Shot of the outside of the office. Mulder is standing at the door, which has the words "Kallenchuk Salvage Brokers" written on it.) MULDER: My name is Mulder, I'm with the FBI. (The woman closes all the file drawers and locks them, puts the files she's holding into a briefcase, closes and locks it, then sits down at a desk. We see her suit jacket hanging on the back of her chair.) WOMAN: It's open. (Mulder enters) WOMAN: Can I help you? MULDER: I'm looking for Mr Kallenchuk. WOMAN: I'm sorry, Mr Kallenchuk is out of town. Perhaps I can help you with something? MULDER: Maybe you can tell me where I could find him? WOMAN: Sure, the Far East. (Cut to the woman placing her hand on the stock of a shotgun taped to the underside of the desk. She cocks the gun and points it at Mulder's legs, where he cannot see what she is doing.) MULDER: Well, I've got a letter here typed on his stationary. Maybe you typed it for him? WOMAN: Sorry. I don't type. (Mulder nods and puts the letter back into his coat.)What did you say your name was again? MULDER: Mulder. WOMAN: Mr Mulder I'd be happy to relay any messages you have for him, but I really have no way of contacting Mr Kallenchuk just now. MULDER: OK, well, why don't you have him call me as soon as he can. (Mulder hands her his card) WOMAN: Sure, the FBI. MULDER: Yes, what did you say your name was? WOMAN: Geraldine. MULDER: Thank you Geraldine (Mulder leaves) (Cut to exterior of Mulder, in his car in the parking lot of Kallenchuk Salvage Brokers. Three cars arrive, with French MIBs in them. They burst in the front door while Geraldine makes her escape out the back and drives away. Mulder follows her.) (Cut to Scully driving her car towards the check point. She's about to leave the base but she's stopped by the Checkpoint Guy and others.) CHECKPOINT GUY: Agent Scully, would you step out of the car please? SCULLY: Why? GUY: Just turn off the engine and step off the car please. SCULLY: What's this about? GUY: You're being detained. (Another car arrives with Johansen in it, he gets out of it and gestures to the guard, then gets into Scully's car) JOHANSEN: Pull over there. (Scully acts as she's told) SCULLY: What's going on? JOHANSEN: I can't give your regards to my son, Miss Scully, he was killed in a training accident during the Gulf War. (Scully gives him a sympathetic look.) SCULLY: I'm sorry...there's something else, isn't there? JOHANSEN: We bury our dead alive, don't we? SCULLY: I don't know if I understand. JOHANSEN: We hear them everyday, they talk to us, they haunt us, they beg us for meaning. Conscience... it's just the voices of the dead.. trying to save us from our own damnation. SCULLY: You know something about that plane don't you? JOHANSEN: I know because, I was sent to find it.. as an officer in a submarine, called the Zeus Faber. (Cut to an interior at the San Francisco International Airport. Geraldine is picking up a flight ticket at a desk under a sign : Hong Kong, flight 621. As Mulder keeps an eye on her, his cell phone rings) MULDER: Mulder. (Cut to Scully, still sitting in her car, but now alone.) SCULLY: Mulder, it's me, where are you? MULDER: San Francisco airport, where are you? SCULLY: Miramar Airbase. I think I've just found out what those men were exposed to, what the Piper Maru was out there looking for. MULDER: What? SCULLY: That P-51 Mustang was part of an escort for a B-29 carrying an atomic bomb, just like the one we dropped on Hiroshima. Only this one never reached its target. MULDER: Says who? SCULLY: Says one of the men originally sent to find it, on a submarine called the Zeus Faber. MULDER: That was the name we saw written on that dive chart right? SCULLY: It all makes sense Mulder, why would they build a nuclear weapon when they can salvage one? MULDER: Why if they knew about it, why wait 50 years to try to recover it? And why was the only person not exposed the diver sent down to find it? SCULLY: I don't know. MULDER: Why don't you try to find out? SCULLY: What about you? MULDER: I gotta go to Hong Kong. SCULLY: Hong Kong?!?! MULDER: Yeah, look, uh..(he begins walking towards the gate.) I'm gonna miss my flight, so uh... I gotta call you back, ok? (He disconnects, and we see that Joan, Gauthier's wife, has been sitting on a bench near him the whole time. She gets up and follows Mulder out to the gate.) (Cut to an exterior scene of a restaurant at number 3205.) Washington DC (cut to an interior inside the restaurant. It is empty except for Skinner who is drinking coffee and reading the menu. Three MIBs enter) WAITRESS: Hi. (#1 sits in front of Skinner, #2 sits besides him, and #3 stands still. #1 pretends to look at the menu.) #1: Anything good here? Anything not on the menu? SKINNER: You'll have to ask the waitress. (The 3 MIBs stare at Skinner) SKINNER: You gentleman have a problem? #1: When something is not on the menu Mr Skinner, there's usually a reason, wouldn't you say? SKINNER: I'm sorry I didn't came here for conversation. #2: A hierarchy exists in the FBI, isn't that right? A man has status, like yourself, you're assistant director, those under him obey his orders, right? SKINNER: Who are you guys? #1: We work for the intelligence community. SKINNER: Remind me no to move there (Skinner stands up, and grabs his coat. #1 and #2 stand up also) #1: You take your orders like those below you, Mr Skinner. A case is made inactive, the death of an FBI agent's sister, maybe that's because those above you have done the hard work of arriving at that decision. SKINNER: Thanks for the enlightenment, I'm gonna go now (Skinner walks away) #1: It helps to know these things when a man looks forward to his career, to his plans for the future. (Skinner leaves) (Cut to an interior back at Johansen's quarters at the base. A close-up of a black and white picture with sailors on it, Johansen is showing the picture to Scully. They are both standing.) JOHANSEN: We all joined thinking we'd come home heroes. That's me (points at his face on the picture)The rest of the men of the picture...a month later they were all dead. The madness we planned to unleash on the Japanese...we ended up setting it loose on ourselves. SCULLY: Radiation killed all those men? JOHANSEN: The men you say had burns on their bodies.. that's how it began with us. Awful burns. (Cut to a black and white flashback. We see a submarine, and hear Johansen's voice-over. As he speaks, we see medics attending to men covered with the same sorts of burns as the French sailors. The captain comes in and looks at the sick men.) JOHANSEN: We'd found the sunken squadron, when a Japanese destroyer moved into the area.. but rather than attempt to return home, Captain Sanford ordered us to go to silent running. After 3 days the burns started to appear. Baker got them first, then Vorce and Innocenti. No one had seen burns like these before. But a lot of us began to suspect they had something to do with the planes that we'd been sent to recover. The men were all frightened of dying. As the X.O. I urged the captain to return to port but against all reason and good sense, he refused to leave the area. (on the sub) MEDIC: Captain Sanford, I'm not an MD but I know a lost cause when I see one, these men are all dying and there's nothing that I can do to stop it. SANFORD: Just do your damn job. MEDIC: Sir I'm trying, but if we stay down here any longer, none of us are going home. (Behind the captain and the Medic, we see one of the sick men turn his head to watch the proceedings.) (The medic approaches young Johansen, looking through the periscope) MEDIC: Johansen, you've gotta get us to the surface. (Johansen swings the medic around and they whisper, trying not to be overheard by the crew.) JOHANSEN: we are under the captain's orders. MEDIC: He's losing his mind. JOHANSEN: The Japanese are shadowing us. That destroyer is doing wide circles above our position. MEDIC: You have to take control of this sub sir, you have to make a decision. (a frantic voice comes from the background) MAN: We're all gonna die! (Johansen and the medic rush to see what's happening. In the sick bay, the man we saw watching the captain and the medic is holding a gun, waving it around, pointing it at everyone. Most of the men back away, but the captain watches him fixedly) MAN: All of us, we're dying, can't you all see that? MAN, TO THE CAPTAIN: You've gotta get us outta here. (The captain grabs the man's hand, and the gun fires, but then the captain knocks the sick man to the floor and manages to get the gun away from him. Johansen and the medic arrive and look through the hatch. The captain looks up at Johansen, standing in the doorway.) JOHANSEN: (voice over): The silence had been shattered by the gunshot, the only command that could save us from the Japanese destroyer now was the command to return home, an order I knew the captain would never issue.. (Johansen slams the hatch and locks it, sealing the captain up with all the sick men. The captain rushes forward and struggles with the hatch while others of the men help the gunman to his feet.) SANFORD: Johansen! open this door! open this door! Johansen! JOHANSEN: (voice over): I knew mutiny was our only chance for survival But I also knew, by sealing that door, I was sealing the fate of the men I locked behind it. (Sanford turns from the hatch, and the men see the black film across his eyes. The sick sailors recoil in fear.) (back to present day) JOHANSEN: By luck, or the grace of God, we made it to Pearl Harbor. SCULLY: What happened to Sanford and the sick crew men? JOHANSEN: When they opened that door, those who were not dead were dying. Of 144 men on that boat, only 7 of us survived. Whatever killed them, I was allowed to live, to raise a family, to grow old. None of us never got an explanation why. (Johansen looks away from Scully, regrets and pain plain on his face.) (Cut to a street scene, cars and lots of people.) Hong Kong (Cut to the interior of a restaurant. Geraldine is eating Chinese food with chopsticks. Mulder comes out of nowhere and sits down at her table) MULDER: Is this seat taken Miss Kallenchuk? Geraldine Kallenchuk, isn't it? GERALDINE: Jerry, with a J. MULDER: I noticed you flew 1st class, must be good money selling classified government secrets. JERRY: It's a bull market, hon, and I'm miss popular. That's my deal. MULDER: How much for the location of that P-51 Mustang you sold the French government? JERRY: Why should I tell you? MULDER: Actually I'd rather know who sold you the secrets. JERRY: I'm a middle man Mr Mulder, pardon my gender type. I take a cut, a thin slice off the top. It would be bad business to divulge my sources. MULDER: Why did you run off to Hong Kong? JERRY: To meet the buyer. MULDER: To sell him what? JERRY: Pardon your gender type. MULDER: Oh your buyer's a woman. JERRY: Actually you know, it's none of your damn business. MULDER: Actually you know it is my damn business because whatever you're selling is killing half a dozen sailors in a California Hospital which is why I'm gonna arrest you. JERRY: Arrest me? With what? Your chopsticks? This is Honk Kong Mr Mulder, they don't allow handguns here, they took yours away.. at the airport. (Mulder cuffs the woman to himself) JERRY: Hey! Hey! You can't do that! MULDER: I just did it, now let's make a deal. (Mulder stands up and drags Jerry along with him by the handcuffs as she struggles angrily. Together they leave the restaurant.) (Cut to an interior, a long dark hallway) JERRY: You are violating my civil rights. MULDER: You gave up your civil rights when you committed treason. JERRY: You can't force me to do anything. (They stop before a closed door. J. Kallenchuk Salvage Broker is written on the door in English, with Chinese characters below) MULDER: Open it (Jerry gives him a look and does nothing. Mulder kicks the door open) MULDER: Pardon my gender type, but after you (he pushes Geraldine in) Where are the lights? MAN'S VOICE: Right here. The man steps out of the shadows, and we see that it is KRYCEK, sweaty and twitchy, unshaven, with dark circles beneath his eyes. He is wearing a black leather jacket. He points the gun at Mulder.) MULDER: Krycek. I thought guns were against the law here. KRYCEK: Yeah, well, you know what they say. When guns are outlawed... MULDER: Why don't you take that gun and shoot yourself in your head like you shot my father? JERRY: Great.. High Noon in Hong Kong. (Krycek grimaces at her, pulling his lips back and baring his teeth in a snarl) KRYCEK: Oh, why don't you just SHUT UP! (He grabs Jerry and shoves her out the door and slams it in her face. She's still cuffed to Mulder, and the chain of the handcuff is caught between the door) JERRY: My God. MULDER: That's no way to treat your business partner, especially since she's been moving those secrets you've been selling so well. (We hear gunshots and a thud. Cut to the other side of the door. Jerry is lying on the floor, having been shot down by the French MIBs, who are advancing towards the Kallenchuk suite.) (Back inside the suite, Krycek is on his way to the window. He shoves (something) out of the way, and jumps onto the window ledge. He pauses and turns to look back at Mulder.) KRYCEK: Looks like she's your partner now. (Krycek jerks up the blinds and goes out the window. We see that he is wearing, in addition to the leather jacket, black Levi's' and what looks like a brown leather belt.) (As the MIB's approach down the hall, Mulder looks for his handcuff key but drops it) MULDER: Damn. (He gropes around on the floor for the key) (On the other side of the door, the MIBs burst in, but Mulder is gone, the handcuff that had been around his wrist lying on the floor. MAN'S VOICE: Au fond a gauche. ALlez on s'depeche, on s'depeche. (One of the MIB's goes to the window and sees Mulder running down the street.) MAN'S VOICE: il est parti. Allez on s'depeche vite, allez les gars on y va (Cut to the hallway, and Joan approaching. The MIBs run back out into the corridor and run right into Joan. She stops and begins to glow. All the men scream and begin to fall to the floor. The glowing recedes, and Joan walks away. The men lie on the floor, burned.) (Cut to an interior, the same restaurant we saw before in DC. Skinner walks in, carrying a newspaper.) SKINNER: Is the coffee hot? WAITRESS: Yeah. (Skinner sits) (a guy passes him by and goes to the counter) SKINNER: How's the blue plate? WAITRESS: Looks good (she pours coffee for him) SKINNER: I'll have one medium rare please (she takes his order) HISPANIC MAN: you got a pay phone that's out of order, nobody complains? I'm complaining. WAITRESS: I'm sorry sir, I'm sure it's been called in (Skinner looks up) HISPANIC MAN: You're sure? meanwhile, I'm going to miss the phone call. That's gonna cost me time and money.. who's gonna call that in? WAITRESS: I'm sorry, sir, I don't know what else to say. (Skinner, irritated, stops reading) HISPANIC MAN: Say you're gonna pay me.. the 1.75 the phone ate. (Skinner stands up and goes to the counter) WAITRESS: No, you'll have to deal with the phone company sir. (Skinner is right behind the man) HISPANIC MAN: You deal with 'em, I want my money. SKINNER: Is there a problem here? (HM turns) HISPANIC MAN: Yeah there is a big problem. (HM draws his gun and shoots it, Skinner collapses, he waitress screams) (the man spits at Skinner) HISPANIC MAN: Chupa dura ("suck hard"), amigo (He leaves) (The waitress runs from behind the counter to Skinner's side, where he writhes on the floor in pain.) WAITRESS: Oh my god. I'll call 911. (Cut to Scully's apt. She walks through the door into the darkened apt. The phone rings.) SCULLY: Scully WOMAN'S VOICE: Agent Scully, this is Kim Cook from the director's office. SCULLY: Yes. KIM: We've just got some bad news, AD Skinner has just been shot. SCULLY: When? KIM: About an hour ago, he's been taken to Northeast Georgetown. SCULLY: I'm on my way. (She puts down the phone and leaves.) (Cut to an interior at an airport.) Hong Kong airport (We see a man's feet and legs walking up to the reservation desks. The camera moves up his body and we see that it is Krycek, wearing the same black leather jacket, black jeans, and black gloves as before. He walks up to the reservation desk to a sign which reads "Flight 1121 to Washington." He stops and looks back over his shoulder, and then walks towards the pay phone banks. We see that he is also wearing a gray sweater/sweatshirt under the jacket. Mulder is standing at the pay phones with his back to Krycek, pretending to be on the phone. When Krycek draws even with Mulder, Mulder whirls around, punches him in the face) MULDER: That's for your partner. (Mulder whirls Krycek around and slams him against the phones, and head butts him.) MULDER: This is for me. (Mulder shoves Krycek against the phone banks and presses his body tightly against Krycek's, holding him in place. He reaches around Krycek, pulling Krycek's gun out of the waistband of his jeans at the small of his back, and shoves it into Krycek's gut.) MULDER: And this is for my father. (Krycek brings his left leg up, and wraps it around Mulder's thigh. Krycek throws his head back, reaches behind himself and grabs onto the phone next to him.) KRYCEK: No! I didn't kill your father. (Krycek has blood on his face.) MULDER: Now you tell me. KRYCEK: It wasn't me. MULDER: Oh yeah? then who was it? KRYCEK: I don't know, don't know. MULDER: Either way Krycek you're a liar. KRYCEK: Come on, finish it Mulder, c'mon finish it, do it to me! (Mulder shoves Krycek away from him but still has him at gun point) MULDER: I want that digital tape. (Krycek stands at the phone banks, with his hands braced against the shelves beneath the phones. He stars at Mulder, with blood running from his nose.) KRYCEK: I don't have it. MULDER: Like hell you don't, it contains the secrets you were selling as well as everything else our government knows about the existence of extra terrestrial life. KRYCEK: How could I sell anything? The tape's encrypted. MULDER: Obviously, you found a way. KRYCEK: I don't have it...I'll give it to you if you let me go. (He raises his eyebrows at Mulder.) MULDER: Where is it? KRYCEK: DC... in a locker. He holds up his hands in a defensive gesture, and then points at his jacket. Mulder nods assent, and he reaches into a pocket of his jacket and takes out a key. Mulder reaches for it, but he pulls the key back.) KRYCEK: No. (Mulder grabs for the key, but Krycek keeps it away.) KRYCEK: If you let me go, I'll tell you. MULDER: You put that tape in my hands and we'll talk about it. (Krycek holds the key fisted in his right hand, staring at Mulder. Blood streams from his right nostril down to the corner of his mouth.) MULDER: Why don't you go to the bathrooms and clean yourself off? If you're not out of there in 3 minutes, I'm coming in there to kill you. (Krycek gives Mulder a taunting look, and, eyes never leaving Mulder's face, starts towards the men's room. Mulder tucks Krycek's gun into his trousers and follows. He escorts Krycek to the bathrooms. Once there, he reaches for Krycek, pulling the jacket off Krycek's right shoulder. While Mulder looks inside the men's room to make sure there is no exit, Krycek shrugs back into his jacket and looks around. Despite the fact that Mulder takes his eyes off Krycek and sticks his head fully inside the restroom entrance, and Krycek is standing at least six feet away, Krycek does not take the opportunity to run, but rather waits patiently. Mulder gestures for Krycek to go in, and Krycek enters the restroom area. He wipes the blood from his nose with the fingers of his right hand and looks at them, then pushes his way into the men's room.) (Outside in the airport, Mulder wipes the fingers of his left hand across his forehead and looks at it, apparently checking to see if he has any of Krycek's blood on him from the head butt to Krycek's nose. Meanwhile, Joan walks by Mulder and goes in the bathrooms) (Inside the men's room, Krycek is standing at the sinks. He washes the blood off his face and dries it with a paper towel, then goes to the urinal. Outside, we see Joan approach the door to the men's room. She goes inside. Krycek, standing at the urinal, looks down and sees women's shoes at the urinal next to him. He looks up and sees Joan standing next to him. He laughs, but she grabs him by the scuff of the neck and slams his face against the wall. His feet dangle off the floor.) (Outside the bathrooms, we see Mulder waiting for Krycek. Krycek comes out of the men's room and walks past Mulder.) MULDER: Feel better? KRYCEK: Like a new man. (He walks towards the camera, and we see the black haze cover his eyes, as he walks right into the camera and the screen goes dark.) To Be Continued in "Apocrypha"