The X-Files s02e08 Episode Script

Once when she was a girl, a very little girl, Dana was in the woods.
It was autumn.
She had always been a tomboy, unlike her sister, Melissa.
For her birthday, Dana's brothers had given her a BB gun and were showing her how to use it.
The father had told them only to shoot at cans.
But in a patch of grass, Bill Jr.
Found a garter snake.
And the boys began shooting.
Wanting to fit in with her brothers, Dana also shot at the snake.
It squirmed wildly, desperately fighting for life, but as the boys continued to shoot, the snake began to bleed.
When she realized what she had done, Dana began to cry with irrevocable guilt.
Through her tears she was saying that something was missing from the snake.
She had taken something that was not hers to take.
And although deathly afraid of snakes, Dana held the animal as if sheer human will could keep it alive.
The snake, its blood on her hands, died.
There was nothing she could do to bring it back.
It's too soon, Mrs.
Scully.
We can't give up.
That day in the woods, I felt for my daughter.
But at this moment, I know how my daughter felt.
We should stop.
Sir.
Sir, you can't go in there! Well, what would you recommend? - Who brought her here? How did she get here? - Sir, will you please - How did she get here? - Ms.
Scully was in this condition when I arrived for the evening.
- If you step outside, perhaps Dr.
Daly may - Is that Daly? Are you Dr.
Daly? What the hell is going on? How did she get here? - Would you settle down? - Was it paramedics? F.
B.
I.
? Military? - I can't answer that.
I was just assigned to her.
- Answer me right now! - What? You're telling me she just appeared? - Sir - Who did this to her? I want to see her admission forms! - Sir! Who did this to her? And I want to see what tests have been done! Listen, if you are with them, if you're hiding anything, I swear I will do anything! Whatever it takes, I'll find out what they did to her! Presently we have Dana listed in critical condition.
Comatose.
There is complete unawareness of self or environment.
There is no evidence of language comprehension.
No evidence of voluntary responses to external stimuli.
My apologies, but, uh, no one here can determine how Dana arrived at the hospital, administered or how she was attended to in such a critical condition.
Um, because of the absence of Dana's recent medical history, I'm at a loss for prognosis.
I can't determine, with certainty, how long she's been in this state.
You haven't told us why she's like this.
We just don't know, Mrs.
Scully.
There are no indications of acute injuries, traumatic or non-traumatic.
I can't find any signs of degenerative or metabolic disorders.
We have conducted every test possible.
I'd like her examined for trace evidence.
Uh, she's been bathed and cleaned since her admittance.
Also, there is, uh, a situation which I don't know if you're aware of.
The F.
B.
I.
Has notified us of the terms of Dana's living will.
What is it? What did she say? Well, Dana is a doctor.
Her criteria for terminating life support is quite specific.
She states that, um, if her Glascow Outcome Scale lists her She doesn't want to live in this condition.
You've signed the will as her witness.
I've been told not to call you Fox.
- By who? - Dana.
Just now.
Dana talked to you just now? If she talked, the E.
E.
G.
Would have moved.
Her soul is here.
Hi, Mom.
I'm glad you could come, Melissa.
You're Scully's sister? Dana's choosing whether whether to remain or move on.
You can feel her.
Here.
She's not here.
Your anger, your fear's blocking any positive emotion she needs to feel.
I need to do more than just wave my hands in the air.
Male, nonsmoker.
May I help you? Dana Scully, please.
Frohike? Mr.
Fenley to radiology.
Mr.
Fenley to radiology.
Hey, Mulder.
This is weird.
- Good work sneakin' out these charts.
- Tucked 'em in my pants.
There's plenty of room down there.
You look down, Mulder.
Tell ya what.
You're welcome to come over Saturday night.
We're hoppin' on the Internet to nitpick the scientific inaccuracies of Earth 2.
I'm doin' my laundry.
The chart shows abnormal protein chains in the blood.
The amino acid sequence is in a combination that I've never seen before.
I downloaded Scully's medical data to the newest lone gunman.
He goes by the name "The Thinker.
" This guy's a hacking genius.
- What? - The Thinker reports the protein chains are the by-products of branched DNA.
- Branched DNA? - The cutting edge of genetic engineering.
Uh, the biological equivalent of a silicon microchip.
This is way beyond cutting edge.
This is technology - What's it used for? - Could be a tracking system.
The developmental stages of a biological marker.
You mean a high-tech identity card? Or something as insidious as grafting a human to something inhuman.
Good theories, gentlemen, but all for naught.
This branch DNA is inactive.
It's waste product.
Whoever was experimenting on Scully is finished.
Now it's nothing more than a biological poison.
Will she live? Um, her immune system has been decimated, and, uh, I doubt even a healthy human body has the ability to fight this.
Mulder, there's nothing you can do.
Dana? Dana, honey? I know you can hear me.
This is Nurse Owens.
I'm here to take care of you, sweetheart.
Watch over you, help you find the way home.
I know you're far away from home tonight and that where you are is peaceful.
It'd be nice to stay, but Dana, you must leave here only when it's time.
I'll be here when you need me, dear.
Excuse me, sir.
I have to take some blood.
- Code blue! Crash cart! - Crash cart coming in! Let's get an airway in! B.
P.
, 80 over 60.
Dropping.
All right.
Let's shock her.
Give me the paddles.
- Two hundred joules.
Clear? What do we got? - Clear.
- Got a catheter in.
- Dropping 80 over - Let's go again.
260.
Clear? - Clear.
Hey! I didn't expect you here till after visiting hours.
- There was a man.
He took Scully's blood.
He - Forget him! - Get that gun out of my face! - This high-capacity compact Sig-Sauer 40-caliber weapon is pointed at your head to stress my insistence that your search for who put your partner on that respirator desist immediately! You ignore my call for help and then you expect me to do what you say? You go to hell! You got him killed! You got her killed.
That's not going to happen to me.
You're my tool.
You understand? I come to you when I need you.
Right now you're heading in a direction that can lead them right here.
What the hell are you talking about? You're not supposed to know.
That's the point.
I owe her more than just sitting around doing nothing.
She was a good solider, Mulder, but there is nothing you can do to bring her back.
- She's not dead.
- Listen to you.
Listen.
You're a damn schoolboy, Mulder.
You have no idea, no idea! Okay, then tell me.
Tell me! I used to be you.
I was where you are now, but you're not me, Mulder.
I don't think you have the heart.
Walk away.
Grieve for Scully and then never look back.
You will be able to live with yourself, Mulder, on the day you die.
Federal agent! Federal agent.
You know I'm armed.
Don't turn around.
Put your gun very slowly on the ground.
Put your hands behind your head.
Interlock your fingers.
Turn right towards the machine and put your head on it.
Face me.
Who wants this? Who wants it? All right.
Let's go.
This way.
Stay there.
Wait! You want to see what it takes to find the truth, Agent Mulder? You want to know the things I know? I'll attend to this.
Discontinuing the respirator does not necessarily mean pulling the plug and ending her life.
Karen Ann Quinlan lived for nine years after cessation of mechanical ventilation.
I do believe, however, that this is not the case with your daughter, Mrs.
Scully.
My guess is that she's been in this state since her disappearance, and she will not improve.
- Is she below the criteria established in her will? - Yeah.
It's possible branched DNA can be treated with designer antibiotics.
Agent Mulder, I don't know where you've developed this bizarre diagnosis, but I do believe you're in no position to continue here.
You've never provided an answer as to why she's here or what's wrong with her.
- We need to study her.
- She's not a piece of evidence.
She's here because of unnatural circumstances.
She's dying.
That's perfectly natural.
We hide people in these rooms because we don't want to look at death.
We have machines prolong a life that should end.
That's a much more unnatural circumstance than any cause of her death.
That is very politically correct.
That's very human.
I love her.
And this is right.
Dana has made our decision.
Fox? You and Dana had a friendship built on respect.
Now in the last year, I have lost my husband, and God knows, I don't want to lose my baby girl.
But like you, I have always respected her.
Fox, this is a moment for the family, but you can join us, if you want.
Read it.
It's all there.
If you're having trouble sitting on Mulder, Assistant Director Skinner, - I'm sure you know we'd have no trouble.
- Uh-uh.
Yeah, come in.
Sit down.
I called you up here because of rumors about an incident at the hospital last night.
Is this about the tooth that was found in the cafeteria Jell-O? - The rumor has it that you were involved in the laundry room? - No, sir.
- A man was executed, Agent Mulder.
- I was with Scully.
- Traces of her blood were found at the scene.
- May I see the police report? There is no police report of this incident, and there is no body.
Since I am unfamiliar with any such incidents, sir, no.
How would I know that? - Knock it off! - How does it feel? Constant denial of everything, questions answered with a question.
I want to know what happened, damn it! Him.
That's what happened.
Cancer Man.
He's responsible for what happened to Scully! - How do you know that? - It's a rumor.
Who is he? - It's not your - Oh, you can have it all! You can have my badge.
You can have the X-Files.
Just tell me where he is.
And then what? He sleeps with the fishes? We're not the Mafia, Mulder.
I know it's easy to forget, but we work for the Department ofJustice.
That's what I want.
Agent Scully was a fine officer.
More than that, I liked her.
I respected her.
We all know the field we play in and we all know what can happen in the course of a game.
If you were unprepared for all the potentials, then you shouldn't step on the field.
What if I I knew the potential consequences, but I I never told her? Then you're as much to blame for her condition as the Cancer Man.
Hello, Starbuck.
It's Ahab.
People would say to me, "Life is short.
Kids, they grow up fast.
Before you know it, it's over.
" I never listened.
To me, life went at a proper pace.
There were many rewards until the moment that I knew, I understood that I would never see you again.
My little girl.
Then my life felt as if it had been the length of one breath, one heartbeat.
I never knew how much I loved my daughter until I could never tell her.
At that moment, I would have traded every medal, every commendation, every promotion for just one more second with you.
We'll be together again, Starbuck.
But not now.
Soon.
Dana? I know death is at arms reach tonight.
But Dana, your time is not over.
You know, Fox Sorry.
Mulder.
You could spend the rest of your life finding every person who's responsible, and it's still not gonna bring her back.
Whoever did this to her has an equal horror coming to them.
- Including myself? - Pardon me.
Sir, do you have change for the cigarette machine? No.
Sorry, I don't.
What do you mean, yourself? There's a pack already here.
Morleys.
Not my brand.
Cigarette break? How 'bout a smoke? Sit down! - How'd you find me? - Shut up! Tonight I ask the questions, and you're gonna answer me, you son of a bitch! Don't try and threaten me, Mulder.
I've watched presidents die.
Why her? Why her and not me? Answer me! I like you.
I like her too.
That's why she was returned to you.
You should be the one to die.
Why? Look at me.
No wife.
No family.
Some power.
I'm in the game because I believe what I'm doing is right.
Right? Who are you to decide what's right? Who are you? If people were to know of the things that I know, it would all fall apart.
I told Skinner you shot the man in the hospital, but I didn't really believe it.
And here you are with a gun to my head.
I have more respect for you, Mulder.
You're becoming a player.
You can kill me now, but you'll never know the truth.
And that's why I'll win.
Don't worry.
This'll be our secret.
We wouldn't want others to start rumors.
When I started out, this room was where they kept the copier.
At least back then it wasn't just wasted space.
It's unacceptable.
Look, I know you feel responsible for Agent Scully, but I will not accept resignation and defeat as self-punishment.
All the forensics, the field investigations, the eyewitness accounts, to still know nothing.
To lose myself and Scully.
I hate what I've become.
When I was 18, I, uh, I went to Vietnam.
I wasn't drafted, Mulder.
I enlisted in the Marine Corps the day of my 18th birthday.
I did it on a blind faith.
I did it because I believed that it was the right thing to do.
I don't know.
Maybe I still do.
Three months into my tour, a ten-year-old North Vietnamese boy walked into camp covered with grenades.
And I, uh, I blew his head off from a distance of ten yards.
I lost my faith.
Not in my country or in myself, but in everything.
There was just no point to anything anymore.
One night on patrol, we were, uh, caught.
And everyone everyone fell.
Everyone.
I looked down at my body from outside of it.
I didn't recognize it at first.
I watched the V.
C.
Strip my uniform, take my weapon.
And I remained in this thick jungle.
Peaceful.
Unafraid.
Watching my dead friends.
Watching myself.
In the morning, the corpsmen arrived and put me in a body bag until I guess they found a pulse.
I don't know.
I woke in a Saigon hospital two weeks later.
I'm afraid to look any further beyond that experience.
You? You are not.
Your resignation is unacceptable.
You.
You gave me Cancer Man's location.
You put your life in danger.
Agent Mulder, every life, every day is in danger.
That's just life.
Your plane ticket.
- But we barely know each other.
- I can't tell you why she was taken.
It's too close to me.
I'm giving you the men who took her.
- How? - They believe you'll be out of town.
They believe you have information about Scully being kept in your desk in your apartment.
At 8:17 tonight, they'll search your apartment.
They will be armed.
You will be waiting.
- Waiting? - To defend yourself with terminal intensity.
It's the only way, Mulder.
The law will not punish these people.
After tonight, we cannot make contact for several weeks.
Mulder.
Sorry.
I came by.
You weren't answering.
Your machine wasn't on.
Can I come in? For a second? - Why is it so dark in here? - 'Cause the lights aren't on.
Okay.
I just came from the hospital.
Dr.
Daly says she's weakening.
It could be any time, so I figured you'd want to come down and see her.
- Well, I can't.
- Well, I'd think that you would.
Yeah, I would.
I can't.
Not right now.
Listen.
I don't have to be psychic to see that you're in a very dark place, much darker than where my sister is.
Willingly walking deeper into darkness cannot help her at all.
- Only the light will - Oh, enough with the harmonic convergence crap.
You're not saying anything to me.
Why don't you just drop your cynicism and your paranoia and your defeat? You know, just because it's positive and good doesn't make it silly or trite.
Why Why is it so much easier for you to run around trying to get even than just expressing to her how you feel? I expect more from you.
Dana expects more.
Even if it doesn't bring her back, at least she'll know, and so will you.
I.
C.
U.
Yes, that was two units.
Thank you.
I feel, Scully, that you believe you're not ready to go.
And you've always had the strength of your beliefs.
I don't know if my being here will help bring you back.
But I'm here.
I'm afraid in this case Let me check the chart.
Call Dr.
Daly.
Now.
Hello, this is Fox Mulder.
Leave a message please.
I'm here.
- Hello, Fox.
- Not Fox.
Mulder.
How ya feelin'? I really don't remember anything after Duane Barry.
Doesn't Doesn't matter.
I brought you a present.
The Super Stars of the Super Bowls.
I knew there was a reason to live.
Now you want to get some rest.
L I just came by to see how you're doing and say hi.
Mulder? I had the strength of your beliefs.
I was holding this for you.
Can I see Nurse Owens? I've got something I'd like her to have.
Nurse who? Owens.
Short with straight, light brown hair.
She watched over me in intensive care, and I'd like to thank her.
Dana, I've worked here for ten years, and there's no Nurse Owens at this hospital.