The X-Files s02e23 Episode Script
Soft Light
Morris.
Morris, I need to talk to you.
Morris, it's me.
Are you there? Morris? Morris, if you're in there, open the damn door.
Morris! Morris.
Morris, I need to talk to you.
Gail Anne is dead.
It's my fault.
Morris! Morris, I need to talk to you.
Come to the door, Morris, please.
Answer the door, damn it! Oh, no.
Oh, no.
Oh, God, no.
No, no.
God, no.
Please, no! No, no, no! Please, no! Please! Two apparent abductions in less than a month, and then this one last night.
According to my contact, the Richmond P.
D.
's hit a brick wall.
- So I told them we'd come down and have a look.
- Who's your contact? Her name is Kelly Ryan.
She was one of my students when I was teaching at the academy.
She's just been bumped up to detective, and she's a little nervous about her supervisor finding out the FBI are involved.
- Kelly? - Agent Scully.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- This is Agent Mulder.
- Hi.
Thank you for coming.
- You're welcome.
- I've heard a lot about you.
We'll talk later.
The missing man is Patrick Newirth, age 52.
He's a top executive with Morly Tobacco up from Raleigh-Durham for a meeting.
- He arrived on an evening train.
- How do you know he's missing? He set a wake-up call for 6:00 A.
M.
This morning.
When the operator tried to place it, there was no answer.
Mmm, Scotch.
It looks like he barely touched it.
Needless to say, he missed his meeting.
They waited three hours before sending hotel security up.
The door was locked, security chain fastened.
And when they broke in, no Patrick Newirth.
- Windows? - Locked from the inside.
We're six stories up.
No fire escape.
No way in or out of this room.
Agent Scully, what are you looking at? Uh, the heat register.
- You don't think anyone could have squeezed in there? - You never know.
You guys turn up any forensics evidence at all? Just this.
Hey, Scully, look at this.
- What is it? - We don't know.
The hotel claims it wasn't here before Mr.
Newirth checked in.
And there were similar burn marks at each of the previous crime scenes.
Was Patrick Newirth a smoker? No.
According to his wife, he loathed cigarettes.
That's strange for a man who worked for a tobacco company.
- Did you run a test on it? - Yes, sir.
It's mostly carbon with some potassium and trace minerals.
It could be the residue from burnt human flesh.
Does this look like an arm to anybody? - An arm? - What are you thinking, Mulder? This burn mark.
It's right where I'd be if I was standing here answering the door, right? - Yes.
- And I wouldn't be looking out the peephole unless there was something to look at, right? That makes sense.
Detective Ryan, could you have this bulb dusted for prints? - Of course.
- And can you run those against Mr.
Newirth's? Do you have Mr.
Newirth's prints? We got them from his toiletries and check-in slip.
Okay.
Can you check all those against all hotel employees and registered guests? Anything else? Yeah.
Do you have the name of the last missing person? Uh that would be Margaret Wysnecki.
Thanks.
This should do it.
Is this your first case, Detective? - Yes, sir.
- Any idea why they gave it to you? No one else wanted it.
Because of the lack of evidence, this is still officially a missing persons case, not likely to end up on the front page of the daily paper.
I wouldn't be so sure about that.
Can I ask what you think may have happened? At first blush? Spontaneous human combustion.
You're doing just fine.
- Having a little fun? - What are you talking about? - Spontaneous human combustion? - I have over a dozen case files of human bodies reduced to ash without any attendant burning or melting.
Rapid oxidation without heat.
Let's just forget for the moment that there's no scientific theory to support it.
Okay.
Hey, Scully, can you spare a prophylactic? What are the odds of that, huh? Darkness covers a multitude of sins.
Check this out.
My newest tool in the fight against crime.
$49.
95 at your local hardware store.
Neat trick.
For your birthday I'll buy you a utility belt.
- Look at this, Mulder.
- Hmm.
- What do we know about the victim? - Margaret Wysnecki.
Age 66.
Widowed.
Retired from Laramie Tobacco where she worked the production line for 36 years.
Tobacco? Patrick Newirth worked for Morly Tobacco, didn't he? Yeah, but half of Richmond earns their paycheck making cancer sticks.
- May be just a coincidence.
- Yeah, you're probably right.
The first missing person, Gail Anne Lambert, was an engineer for Polarity Magnetics, Inc.
They didn't find any prints in here or anywhere else in the house.
What makes you think the prints on the bulb mean anything? I don't know.
Oh, look at this, Scully.
Someone forgot to empty the trash.
"M.
Wysnecki.
" Round-trip to Hampton Roads, Virginia.
Return train dated March 17.
- That's the day she disappeared.
- Patrick Newirth came into town by train, didn't he? And Gail Anne Lambert.
Uh, no.
It doesn't say anything here that puts her anywhere near the Richmond train station.
- Maybe that was a detail that was overlooked.
- So what's the significance? Maybe these people aren't just disappearing.
Maybe they're being hunted, and the hunter's working the train station.
And whatever happened to spontaneous human combustion? Maybe it's not so spontaneous.
Get on the phone to your young detective and tell her to get a detail down to the train station.
In an alley near the train station.
I'm gonna check him out.
Roger that, 64.
I'm on my way.
Sir, could I speak with you? - Hold on.
I only wanna ask you a couple of questions! All right.
Stop right there.
Don't move.
Just hold it.
Put your hands in the air, sir.
Stay away from me.
What do you think you're doing? All right.
Come on out of there.
We just want to talk to you.
Stay away from me! I don't want to hurt you.
- Move it! - Hands where we can see them.
Please.
I'm warning you.
I'm a dangerous man.
Keep moving, pal, out where we can see you.
All right.
I want you to lie face down on the ground.
Don't come any closer.
Get down on the ground, sir.
Now! Please, you don't understand.
- Oh, God, no! - Barney! Don't! No! Stay away! Oh, God.
No.
No.
Help! God, not again! No! God! No! No! No! No! What happened here, Kelly? I sent two patrolmen down here last night like you told me.
They lost radio contact with them just after midnight.
All they found this morning was two more scorch marks on the pavement.
- Nothing else? - No.
Suddenly this looks like it could be a cop killer case, and I'm indirectly responsible.
- Well, you were just doing your job.
- Yeah? They want to know on what suspicions I sent these men down here.
If I tell them I'm involved with the FBI, they're gonna snap.
- The prints you pulled from that lightbulb.
- I ran it against all the hotel staff and guests, then through the national databases.
No match.
Some first case, huh? You just make sure you hang on to this case.
I'm sure something will turn up.
- These ideas of yours, Mulder.
You care to share them? - Not yet.
- You don't have a clue, do you? - He was here, Scully.
I was right about that.
All right.
Where does this leave us? Maybe with enough to identify the killer.
- How? - He was here last night.
He was also probably here on March 17 and March 31.
Those were the days Margaret Wysnecki and Patrick Newirth disappeared.
That leaves three train station videotapes to cross-reference and hopefully find this guy.
That's assuming we're looking for a guy.
Either way, the security camera's our only witness.
It could be any one of these people, Mulder.
Or none of them.
We've gone through the entire week, and I'm still not sure how you expect to find him.
That's it for March 22 on the arrival deck.
Okay.
Let's go back to the terminal tape.
Again? He's gotta be on at least one of these tapes.
Chances are he's not walking around carrying a sign with an arrow on it.
There you go.
See, this guy.
Right here.
He's always here.
What's he doing? Looking at the floor.
Why's he doing that? Probably the same reason he spends his whole afternoon in the train station.
Can you freeze this and blow it up 200º/º? Sure.
Okay.
Can you reframe and blow it up some more? See, he's got something in his jacket right there.
I'll see if I can pull it up.
Polarity Magnetics.
That's where the first victim worked.
Looks like it's been closed up.
- Yes? - We're Agents Mulder and Scully with the FBI.
We're looking for a man who may have worked here.
When was this taken? March 22.
Do you know him? Sure I know him.
Dr.
Chester Banton.
He was my business partner.
You mean he's not anymore? I don't know.
I would assume not.
This is the first I've seen him in five weeks.
I wondered if he wasn't gonna turn up dead.
How's that? Chester was involved in a terrible accident here.
Polarity Magnetics does, or did, primarily two kinds of research.
Mostly we were designing mag-lev applications people movers, bullet trains but for Chester that was just a way to pay the bills for the really theoretical stuff he was interested in.
- Which was what? - Researching dark matter quantum particles, neutrinos, gluons, mesons, quarks.
- Subatomic particles.
- The mysteries of the universe.
Theoretically, the very building blocks of reality.
Except no one knows if they truly exist.
Chester was sure they did.
So sure, he bet his life on it.
This is where it happened.
Chester was working to isolate a new particle.
- He'd been working on it for a year.
- This is a particle accelerator.
One fifth the power of the Texas Supercollider in a space the size of a Wal-Mart.
Powered by what? A couple billion megawatts.
Virginia Power loved us.
Exactly what happened here? Well, the work involved the bombardment of beta particles with an alpha target negative against positive.
Chester had everything set and had started the countdown when he realized he had made a mistake.
There was something that needed adjusting in the target room.
Except you can't stop the countdown once you've begun.
There was time to safely make the change, but I'd left the room for a minute when Chester decided to go in.
I didn't realize until it was too late that the door had locked behind him.
Look at this.
As far as I can tell, it burned Chester's shadow right into the wall.
How did he survive? All I can figure is, the quanta liberated off the target have virtually no mass that they slid right through his body.
- Like getting an X-ray.
- A two-billion-megawatt X-ray.
When I looked at the monitor and saw what was happening that Chester was trapped in here I panicked.
I cut the power, but it was too late.
I remember looking and seeing Chester.
He was perfectly calm, almost like he wanted it to happen like he was finally going to experience the dark matter he had theorized in some kind of physical way as if the truth might come into him.
Excuse me.
What do you think, Scully? Well, this looks like the same kind of material that they found at each of the other crime scenes.
Maybe what we're dealing with is some kind of spontaneous human combustion.
I'm less convinced of that now.
- What do you think it is? - I don't know.
Whatever it is, it's connected to the person of Dr.
Chester Ray Banton.
Maybe even part of him.
Well, whatever it is, we have to find it.
I know of only one place to start looking.
There's no sign of him, Mulder.
Maybe he's moved on.
- What are you looking at? - On the videotape, Dr.
Banton kept staring at the floor.
I'm trying to figure out what he might have been looking at.
Well, maybe the exposure affected his mind.
Nonsensical repetitive behavior is a common trait of mental illness.
You trying to tell me something? I called Detective Ryan.
She's having the prints on the lightbulbs checked against Banton's.
Did you tell her about Dr.
Banton's accident? No.
I only told her that he was a possible suspect and that it was a bit too early to get her hopes up and that right now we have more questions than we do answers.
- Like? - Like a motive, like a murder weapon, like What if Dr.
Banton Look here.
- There are hardly any shadows cast.
- What do you mean? The lighting in here is diffused soft light.
- I wonder if that's what Dr.
Banton was looking for.
- Looking for his shadow? Dr.
Banton.
Stop right there! Dr.
Banton! Please, just leave me alone.
We're federal agents, Dr.
Banton.
You don't understand.
You're making a big mistake.
Stay away from me.
Wait! It'll kill you.
It doesn't care who you are.
Oh, thank God.
I thought the orders were to keep this patient in the dark.
He insisted on soft light.
It's the only way he'd let us open the door.
How can you even begin to understand what it's like? - We're trying to understand.
- Living in a train station day and night.
Living like a bum.
Afraid to fall asleep because of what might happen.
The accident in the lab the quanta bombardment.
You believe that altered you physically? You could, you could say that.
Can you tell us how? Even if I could, you wouldn't understand.
But it has something to do with dark matter.
It has everything to do with dark matter.
My shadow isn't mine.
It's, it's like a black hole.
It splits molecules into component atoms.
It unzips electrons from their orbits, reduces matter into pure energy.
That's how you killed Gail Anne Lambert? It wasn't me.
Gail Anne was my colleague.
She The night after the accident, I went to see her.
I was just standing in the doorway.
I was looking right at her.
And then she was gone.
You have no control over it? If I could control it, do you think I would let it go around killing people? All I can do is study it.
Try and divine its, its true nature before they do.
"They"? The government.
They're after me.
And when they find me, they're going to do the brain suck they've just been dying to do.
"Brain suck"? For the purpose of? For the purpose of stealing what has taken me years to accomplish.
And don't think they wouldn't kill to get it.
- But if they, they killed you, then wouldn't your shadow just - Disappear? Who knows? That's why you have to get me out of here.
If I die, there could be nothing left to tether this thing.
Excuse me.
I'm gonna have to ask you to discontinue your interrogation of the suspect.
This is Detective Barron.
He's the primary on this case.
Yeah, I was just wondering what your involvement is here.
- We caught the guy.
- I appreciate that, but no one seems to be able to recall inviting the FBI in on this case.
Agent Mulder and I are here strictly in an unofficial capacity.
And who brought you in? We were curious about the unexplained nature of the case.
Well, Banton's prints place him at two of the crime scenes, and Transit Authority tapes show him in the immediate vicinity of two of the most recent victims.
- So I say this case is looking pretty much explained.
- Really? Have you talked to Dr.
Banton? I hope you're not trying to interrogate me, Agent Mulder, because I'm not the suspect.
I don't think you know anything about this case, which is why you stuck it with Detective Ryan, and I think you should allow her to decide how to proceed.
Detective Ryan is handling this case.
She's done well, and I see no reason not to let her prosecute it once the prisoner has been transferred.
Transferred? Where? To the city jail in preparation for his arraignment.
I don't think you appreciate this man's condition or the danger he poses.
I don't think you have the authority to tell me or anyone else in my unit how to do our job.
I think we can handle it from here, Agent Mulder.
We'll call you if there's anything more you can do.
Come on, Mulder.
Let's go.
Soft light.
He needs soft light.
- I hope you know what you're doing.
- What do you mean? Putting Detective Ryan's ambition ahead of all good sense in this case.
Ambition? She's a woman trying to survive the boy's club, Mulder.
- Believe me, I know how she feels.
- The difference is you never put yourself ahead of your work, and that's what's happening here.
Look.
The fact is we have no jurisdiction here.
- We were called in as a favor.
- And as a favor, we just handed over the A-bomb to the Boy Scouts.
I'm sure all the necessary precautions will be taken.
I'm sure that Robert Oppenheimer got similar reassurances from his government the same government that Dr.
Banton is afraid of.
- You don't believe all this paranoia about brain sucking.
- That man is scared, and it's not just of his own shadow.
Mulder, as brilliant as Dr.
Banton may be, he is also clearly delusional.
He demonstrated just about every textbook indicator back there.
We've both seen the physical evidence, Scully.
Look.
I don't know how to explain it, but that's not our job.
I don't know what else we should do.
I think I do.
All you've given me is a name Chester Ray Banton.
- Dr.
Chester Ray Banton.
Do you know him? - No.
Should I? He's being held by the Richmond Police in connection with several bizarre murders.
He's a physicist researching quarks, gluons dark matter.
He believes the government is out to get him.
It's tax season.
So do most Americans.
He believes his life is in danger.
- Is he a dangerous man? - Yes.
Where is he being held? At the Yaloff Psychiatric Hospital, but not for long.
- I'm afraid I can't help you.
- Why? The last time I helped you, I bloodied my fists and regrettably exposed my identity to associates of yours.
Yes, I know, and you can trust them as you trust me.
I promise.
Dead men can't keep promises.
The next time, the blood and regret could be yours.
I'm not at your beck and call, Agent Mulder.
I have nothing to gain and everything to lose by helping you.
Promise you won't contact me again unless absolutely necessary.
Promise.
Frank, are your lights on down there? Ours just went Hi.
We're here to transfer Chester Ray Banton.
I have orders he's not being transferred until tomorrow.
Due to the power outage, there's been a change of plans.
No one's supposed to go in there! Here.
Quickly.
Who are you? No.
Don't do this.
Please.
Please, no! No, don't! Leave me alone! Please! - Mulder.
- What did you find out, Scully? Richmond P.
D.
Had two officers outside watching the entrance.
- They didn't see anybody come in.
- According to the floor nurse, there were three men.
Three? The power was disconnected at a substation two blocks from here.
Somebody posing as a city engineer.
Somebody who would have access to plans for Virginia Power so they could take it off the grid without affecting surrounding facilities.
Somebody from the government coming for Dr.
Banton? Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you, Scully, but my guess is he was unsuccessful and Dr.
Banton's on the loose.
- That's what Detective Ryan thinks.
- I just saw her leave.
She was in charge of Dr.
Banton's transfer and arraignment this morning.
She's in some pretty hot water.
Maybe that was an appointment he was never meant to keep.
- Let's go.
- Where? Mulder, wait.
- Where are we going? - You heard what Dr.
Banton said last night.
- I heard him say a lot of things.
- Put yourself in his head, Scully.
I think the only reason he hasn't tried to kill himself is because he's afraid his death will release the dark matter.
Wait a second.
That's still just a theory, and it's a pretty wild one at that.
Whether or not Dr.
Banton is actually telling the truth, he believes he is.
And apparently so does whoever it is who tried to take him last night.
All that he's been trying to do since the accident is try to control this thing.
If he escapes, he's gonna go where he thinks he can do that, and we gotta get there first.
Don't turn on the light, Chris.
Not unless you want to die.
Chester, what the hell is going on? The FBI have been looking for you.
Where have you been? There's no time to explain.
Just come with me.
What's this about, Chester? You're acting crazy.
Talk to me.
- We found the dark matter, Chris.
It's real.
We found it.
- What are you talking about? Don't you understand? I'm it! It's, it's in me.
- The accident? - They're coming for me, Chris.
We have to destroy this thing before they get here.
- No.
You can't go back in there, Chester.
Police! I'm placing you under arrest, Dr.
Banton.
A lot of people will die if you do this.
Step against the wall, sir! I'm begging you.
I don't want to hurt you.
I said step against the wall, now! I'm sorry.
Let's go.
We don't have much time.
Chester! No matter what they say to you later, you're doing the right thing.
Lock it up, Chris.
- All right.
Let's get the accelerator on line.
I'm afraid not, Chester.
You can do it, Chris.
I can, but I'm not.
No.
Chris, tell me you're not working for them.
- Wish I could, Chester.
- You son of a bitch! Careful.
We don't want you to hurt yourself.
I'll die before I let them use me! You're lightning in a bottle, Chester.
We're not about to let you die.
Chris, don't do this.
Listen to me! This is wrong.
You're making a terrible mistake.
- Yes? Is he there? - I've got him.
He's not going anywhere until you pick him up.
Hello? Dr.
Davey? - Chris! Chris.
Chris! What's happening? Chris! Chris.
We're not the first ones here, Mulder.
That's Detective Ryan's car.
I was afraid of this.
Mulder.
Damn it.
What's that noise? It's the accelerator.
Mulder! Scully, look at this.
He must have killed her and then killed himself.
- No, he couldn't have.
- What? This chamber's been sealed from the outside.
By who? Agent Mulder.
- I thought you had agreed not to contact me again about this.
- You lied to me.
- About? - About Chester Ray Banton.
You knew who he was, and you used me to lead you to him.
You were the one who contacted me, Agent Mulder.
I won't be your stalking horse, or the government's.
You seem to be mistaken about the amount of control you exercise over this arrangement.
You killed Dr.
Banton! - Have you lost your mind? - A nurse at the hospital identified you.
Ayoung detective is dead because of you.
Who do you answer to? Despite my loyalty to my predecessor, I've never made you any promises.
All right.
Promise me something right now.
Promise me this will be our last meeting.
We're finished.
You're choosing a dangerous time to go it alone, Agent Mulder.
Mulder.
I didn't kill him.
The mourners are invited to pay their respects to the family at the Ryan home.
How you doing? I'm not sure how to feel about this, Mulder.
She was my student, and she came to me for help.
I know it must be hard.
This shouldn't have happened.
This never should have happened.
I'm sorry I'm late.
I got hung up at the Richmond P.
D.
- Doing what? - A missing person report was filed this morning by a Dr.
Morris West.
He's a physicist affiliated with Polarity Magnetics.
- I'm not sure I follow you.
- The missing person was Dr.
Christopher Davey.
He hasn't been seen or heard from since Banton disappeared.
Do they have any leads or know where he might be? - No.
None.
- But you do.
I've been wondering.
What if it wasn't Banton we saw in the particle accelerator? Well, if Banton's not dead, then where is he? Dr.
Davey would have been helpful to us.
We'll be studying this man for a long time.
Morris, I need to talk to you.
Morris, it's me.
Are you there? Morris? Morris, if you're in there, open the damn door.
Morris! Morris.
Morris, I need to talk to you.
Gail Anne is dead.
It's my fault.
Morris! Morris, I need to talk to you.
Come to the door, Morris, please.
Answer the door, damn it! Oh, no.
Oh, no.
Oh, God, no.
No, no.
God, no.
Please, no! No, no, no! Please, no! Please! Two apparent abductions in less than a month, and then this one last night.
According to my contact, the Richmond P.
D.
's hit a brick wall.
- So I told them we'd come down and have a look.
- Who's your contact? Her name is Kelly Ryan.
She was one of my students when I was teaching at the academy.
She's just been bumped up to detective, and she's a little nervous about her supervisor finding out the FBI are involved.
- Kelly? - Agent Scully.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- This is Agent Mulder.
- Hi.
Thank you for coming.
- You're welcome.
- I've heard a lot about you.
We'll talk later.
The missing man is Patrick Newirth, age 52.
He's a top executive with Morly Tobacco up from Raleigh-Durham for a meeting.
- He arrived on an evening train.
- How do you know he's missing? He set a wake-up call for 6:00 A.
M.
This morning.
When the operator tried to place it, there was no answer.
Mmm, Scotch.
It looks like he barely touched it.
Needless to say, he missed his meeting.
They waited three hours before sending hotel security up.
The door was locked, security chain fastened.
And when they broke in, no Patrick Newirth.
- Windows? - Locked from the inside.
We're six stories up.
No fire escape.
No way in or out of this room.
Agent Scully, what are you looking at? Uh, the heat register.
- You don't think anyone could have squeezed in there? - You never know.
You guys turn up any forensics evidence at all? Just this.
Hey, Scully, look at this.
- What is it? - We don't know.
The hotel claims it wasn't here before Mr.
Newirth checked in.
And there were similar burn marks at each of the previous crime scenes.
Was Patrick Newirth a smoker? No.
According to his wife, he loathed cigarettes.
That's strange for a man who worked for a tobacco company.
- Did you run a test on it? - Yes, sir.
It's mostly carbon with some potassium and trace minerals.
It could be the residue from burnt human flesh.
Does this look like an arm to anybody? - An arm? - What are you thinking, Mulder? This burn mark.
It's right where I'd be if I was standing here answering the door, right? - Yes.
- And I wouldn't be looking out the peephole unless there was something to look at, right? That makes sense.
Detective Ryan, could you have this bulb dusted for prints? - Of course.
- And can you run those against Mr.
Newirth's? Do you have Mr.
Newirth's prints? We got them from his toiletries and check-in slip.
Okay.
Can you check all those against all hotel employees and registered guests? Anything else? Yeah.
Do you have the name of the last missing person? Uh that would be Margaret Wysnecki.
Thanks.
This should do it.
Is this your first case, Detective? - Yes, sir.
- Any idea why they gave it to you? No one else wanted it.
Because of the lack of evidence, this is still officially a missing persons case, not likely to end up on the front page of the daily paper.
I wouldn't be so sure about that.
Can I ask what you think may have happened? At first blush? Spontaneous human combustion.
You're doing just fine.
- Having a little fun? - What are you talking about? - Spontaneous human combustion? - I have over a dozen case files of human bodies reduced to ash without any attendant burning or melting.
Rapid oxidation without heat.
Let's just forget for the moment that there's no scientific theory to support it.
Okay.
Hey, Scully, can you spare a prophylactic? What are the odds of that, huh? Darkness covers a multitude of sins.
Check this out.
My newest tool in the fight against crime.
$49.
95 at your local hardware store.
Neat trick.
For your birthday I'll buy you a utility belt.
- Look at this, Mulder.
- Hmm.
- What do we know about the victim? - Margaret Wysnecki.
Age 66.
Widowed.
Retired from Laramie Tobacco where she worked the production line for 36 years.
Tobacco? Patrick Newirth worked for Morly Tobacco, didn't he? Yeah, but half of Richmond earns their paycheck making cancer sticks.
- May be just a coincidence.
- Yeah, you're probably right.
The first missing person, Gail Anne Lambert, was an engineer for Polarity Magnetics, Inc.
They didn't find any prints in here or anywhere else in the house.
What makes you think the prints on the bulb mean anything? I don't know.
Oh, look at this, Scully.
Someone forgot to empty the trash.
"M.
Wysnecki.
" Round-trip to Hampton Roads, Virginia.
Return train dated March 17.
- That's the day she disappeared.
- Patrick Newirth came into town by train, didn't he? And Gail Anne Lambert.
Uh, no.
It doesn't say anything here that puts her anywhere near the Richmond train station.
- Maybe that was a detail that was overlooked.
- So what's the significance? Maybe these people aren't just disappearing.
Maybe they're being hunted, and the hunter's working the train station.
And whatever happened to spontaneous human combustion? Maybe it's not so spontaneous.
Get on the phone to your young detective and tell her to get a detail down to the train station.
In an alley near the train station.
I'm gonna check him out.
Roger that, 64.
I'm on my way.
Sir, could I speak with you? - Hold on.
I only wanna ask you a couple of questions! All right.
Stop right there.
Don't move.
Just hold it.
Put your hands in the air, sir.
Stay away from me.
What do you think you're doing? All right.
Come on out of there.
We just want to talk to you.
Stay away from me! I don't want to hurt you.
- Move it! - Hands where we can see them.
Please.
I'm warning you.
I'm a dangerous man.
Keep moving, pal, out where we can see you.
All right.
I want you to lie face down on the ground.
Don't come any closer.
Get down on the ground, sir.
Now! Please, you don't understand.
- Oh, God, no! - Barney! Don't! No! Stay away! Oh, God.
No.
No.
Help! God, not again! No! God! No! No! No! No! What happened here, Kelly? I sent two patrolmen down here last night like you told me.
They lost radio contact with them just after midnight.
All they found this morning was two more scorch marks on the pavement.
- Nothing else? - No.
Suddenly this looks like it could be a cop killer case, and I'm indirectly responsible.
- Well, you were just doing your job.
- Yeah? They want to know on what suspicions I sent these men down here.
If I tell them I'm involved with the FBI, they're gonna snap.
- The prints you pulled from that lightbulb.
- I ran it against all the hotel staff and guests, then through the national databases.
No match.
Some first case, huh? You just make sure you hang on to this case.
I'm sure something will turn up.
- These ideas of yours, Mulder.
You care to share them? - Not yet.
- You don't have a clue, do you? - He was here, Scully.
I was right about that.
All right.
Where does this leave us? Maybe with enough to identify the killer.
- How? - He was here last night.
He was also probably here on March 17 and March 31.
Those were the days Margaret Wysnecki and Patrick Newirth disappeared.
That leaves three train station videotapes to cross-reference and hopefully find this guy.
That's assuming we're looking for a guy.
Either way, the security camera's our only witness.
It could be any one of these people, Mulder.
Or none of them.
We've gone through the entire week, and I'm still not sure how you expect to find him.
That's it for March 22 on the arrival deck.
Okay.
Let's go back to the terminal tape.
Again? He's gotta be on at least one of these tapes.
Chances are he's not walking around carrying a sign with an arrow on it.
There you go.
See, this guy.
Right here.
He's always here.
What's he doing? Looking at the floor.
Why's he doing that? Probably the same reason he spends his whole afternoon in the train station.
Can you freeze this and blow it up 200º/º? Sure.
Okay.
Can you reframe and blow it up some more? See, he's got something in his jacket right there.
I'll see if I can pull it up.
Polarity Magnetics.
That's where the first victim worked.
Looks like it's been closed up.
- Yes? - We're Agents Mulder and Scully with the FBI.
We're looking for a man who may have worked here.
When was this taken? March 22.
Do you know him? Sure I know him.
Dr.
Chester Banton.
He was my business partner.
You mean he's not anymore? I don't know.
I would assume not.
This is the first I've seen him in five weeks.
I wondered if he wasn't gonna turn up dead.
How's that? Chester was involved in a terrible accident here.
Polarity Magnetics does, or did, primarily two kinds of research.
Mostly we were designing mag-lev applications people movers, bullet trains but for Chester that was just a way to pay the bills for the really theoretical stuff he was interested in.
- Which was what? - Researching dark matter quantum particles, neutrinos, gluons, mesons, quarks.
- Subatomic particles.
- The mysteries of the universe.
Theoretically, the very building blocks of reality.
Except no one knows if they truly exist.
Chester was sure they did.
So sure, he bet his life on it.
This is where it happened.
Chester was working to isolate a new particle.
- He'd been working on it for a year.
- This is a particle accelerator.
One fifth the power of the Texas Supercollider in a space the size of a Wal-Mart.
Powered by what? A couple billion megawatts.
Virginia Power loved us.
Exactly what happened here? Well, the work involved the bombardment of beta particles with an alpha target negative against positive.
Chester had everything set and had started the countdown when he realized he had made a mistake.
There was something that needed adjusting in the target room.
Except you can't stop the countdown once you've begun.
There was time to safely make the change, but I'd left the room for a minute when Chester decided to go in.
I didn't realize until it was too late that the door had locked behind him.
Look at this.
As far as I can tell, it burned Chester's shadow right into the wall.
How did he survive? All I can figure is, the quanta liberated off the target have virtually no mass that they slid right through his body.
- Like getting an X-ray.
- A two-billion-megawatt X-ray.
When I looked at the monitor and saw what was happening that Chester was trapped in here I panicked.
I cut the power, but it was too late.
I remember looking and seeing Chester.
He was perfectly calm, almost like he wanted it to happen like he was finally going to experience the dark matter he had theorized in some kind of physical way as if the truth might come into him.
Excuse me.
What do you think, Scully? Well, this looks like the same kind of material that they found at each of the other crime scenes.
Maybe what we're dealing with is some kind of spontaneous human combustion.
I'm less convinced of that now.
- What do you think it is? - I don't know.
Whatever it is, it's connected to the person of Dr.
Chester Ray Banton.
Maybe even part of him.
Well, whatever it is, we have to find it.
I know of only one place to start looking.
There's no sign of him, Mulder.
Maybe he's moved on.
- What are you looking at? - On the videotape, Dr.
Banton kept staring at the floor.
I'm trying to figure out what he might have been looking at.
Well, maybe the exposure affected his mind.
Nonsensical repetitive behavior is a common trait of mental illness.
You trying to tell me something? I called Detective Ryan.
She's having the prints on the lightbulbs checked against Banton's.
Did you tell her about Dr.
Banton's accident? No.
I only told her that he was a possible suspect and that it was a bit too early to get her hopes up and that right now we have more questions than we do answers.
- Like? - Like a motive, like a murder weapon, like What if Dr.
Banton Look here.
- There are hardly any shadows cast.
- What do you mean? The lighting in here is diffused soft light.
- I wonder if that's what Dr.
Banton was looking for.
- Looking for his shadow? Dr.
Banton.
Stop right there! Dr.
Banton! Please, just leave me alone.
We're federal agents, Dr.
Banton.
You don't understand.
You're making a big mistake.
Stay away from me.
Wait! It'll kill you.
It doesn't care who you are.
Oh, thank God.
I thought the orders were to keep this patient in the dark.
He insisted on soft light.
It's the only way he'd let us open the door.
How can you even begin to understand what it's like? - We're trying to understand.
- Living in a train station day and night.
Living like a bum.
Afraid to fall asleep because of what might happen.
The accident in the lab the quanta bombardment.
You believe that altered you physically? You could, you could say that.
Can you tell us how? Even if I could, you wouldn't understand.
But it has something to do with dark matter.
It has everything to do with dark matter.
My shadow isn't mine.
It's, it's like a black hole.
It splits molecules into component atoms.
It unzips electrons from their orbits, reduces matter into pure energy.
That's how you killed Gail Anne Lambert? It wasn't me.
Gail Anne was my colleague.
She The night after the accident, I went to see her.
I was just standing in the doorway.
I was looking right at her.
And then she was gone.
You have no control over it? If I could control it, do you think I would let it go around killing people? All I can do is study it.
Try and divine its, its true nature before they do.
"They"? The government.
They're after me.
And when they find me, they're going to do the brain suck they've just been dying to do.
"Brain suck"? For the purpose of? For the purpose of stealing what has taken me years to accomplish.
And don't think they wouldn't kill to get it.
- But if they, they killed you, then wouldn't your shadow just - Disappear? Who knows? That's why you have to get me out of here.
If I die, there could be nothing left to tether this thing.
Excuse me.
I'm gonna have to ask you to discontinue your interrogation of the suspect.
This is Detective Barron.
He's the primary on this case.
Yeah, I was just wondering what your involvement is here.
- We caught the guy.
- I appreciate that, but no one seems to be able to recall inviting the FBI in on this case.
Agent Mulder and I are here strictly in an unofficial capacity.
And who brought you in? We were curious about the unexplained nature of the case.
Well, Banton's prints place him at two of the crime scenes, and Transit Authority tapes show him in the immediate vicinity of two of the most recent victims.
- So I say this case is looking pretty much explained.
- Really? Have you talked to Dr.
Banton? I hope you're not trying to interrogate me, Agent Mulder, because I'm not the suspect.
I don't think you know anything about this case, which is why you stuck it with Detective Ryan, and I think you should allow her to decide how to proceed.
Detective Ryan is handling this case.
She's done well, and I see no reason not to let her prosecute it once the prisoner has been transferred.
Transferred? Where? To the city jail in preparation for his arraignment.
I don't think you appreciate this man's condition or the danger he poses.
I don't think you have the authority to tell me or anyone else in my unit how to do our job.
I think we can handle it from here, Agent Mulder.
We'll call you if there's anything more you can do.
Come on, Mulder.
Let's go.
Soft light.
He needs soft light.
- I hope you know what you're doing.
- What do you mean? Putting Detective Ryan's ambition ahead of all good sense in this case.
Ambition? She's a woman trying to survive the boy's club, Mulder.
- Believe me, I know how she feels.
- The difference is you never put yourself ahead of your work, and that's what's happening here.
Look.
The fact is we have no jurisdiction here.
- We were called in as a favor.
- And as a favor, we just handed over the A-bomb to the Boy Scouts.
I'm sure all the necessary precautions will be taken.
I'm sure that Robert Oppenheimer got similar reassurances from his government the same government that Dr.
Banton is afraid of.
- You don't believe all this paranoia about brain sucking.
- That man is scared, and it's not just of his own shadow.
Mulder, as brilliant as Dr.
Banton may be, he is also clearly delusional.
He demonstrated just about every textbook indicator back there.
We've both seen the physical evidence, Scully.
Look.
I don't know how to explain it, but that's not our job.
I don't know what else we should do.
I think I do.
All you've given me is a name Chester Ray Banton.
- Dr.
Chester Ray Banton.
Do you know him? - No.
Should I? He's being held by the Richmond Police in connection with several bizarre murders.
He's a physicist researching quarks, gluons dark matter.
He believes the government is out to get him.
It's tax season.
So do most Americans.
He believes his life is in danger.
- Is he a dangerous man? - Yes.
Where is he being held? At the Yaloff Psychiatric Hospital, but not for long.
- I'm afraid I can't help you.
- Why? The last time I helped you, I bloodied my fists and regrettably exposed my identity to associates of yours.
Yes, I know, and you can trust them as you trust me.
I promise.
Dead men can't keep promises.
The next time, the blood and regret could be yours.
I'm not at your beck and call, Agent Mulder.
I have nothing to gain and everything to lose by helping you.
Promise you won't contact me again unless absolutely necessary.
Promise.
Frank, are your lights on down there? Ours just went Hi.
We're here to transfer Chester Ray Banton.
I have orders he's not being transferred until tomorrow.
Due to the power outage, there's been a change of plans.
No one's supposed to go in there! Here.
Quickly.
Who are you? No.
Don't do this.
Please.
Please, no! No, don't! Leave me alone! Please! - Mulder.
- What did you find out, Scully? Richmond P.
D.
Had two officers outside watching the entrance.
- They didn't see anybody come in.
- According to the floor nurse, there were three men.
Three? The power was disconnected at a substation two blocks from here.
Somebody posing as a city engineer.
Somebody who would have access to plans for Virginia Power so they could take it off the grid without affecting surrounding facilities.
Somebody from the government coming for Dr.
Banton? Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you, Scully, but my guess is he was unsuccessful and Dr.
Banton's on the loose.
- That's what Detective Ryan thinks.
- I just saw her leave.
She was in charge of Dr.
Banton's transfer and arraignment this morning.
She's in some pretty hot water.
Maybe that was an appointment he was never meant to keep.
- Let's go.
- Where? Mulder, wait.
- Where are we going? - You heard what Dr.
Banton said last night.
- I heard him say a lot of things.
- Put yourself in his head, Scully.
I think the only reason he hasn't tried to kill himself is because he's afraid his death will release the dark matter.
Wait a second.
That's still just a theory, and it's a pretty wild one at that.
Whether or not Dr.
Banton is actually telling the truth, he believes he is.
And apparently so does whoever it is who tried to take him last night.
All that he's been trying to do since the accident is try to control this thing.
If he escapes, he's gonna go where he thinks he can do that, and we gotta get there first.
Don't turn on the light, Chris.
Not unless you want to die.
Chester, what the hell is going on? The FBI have been looking for you.
Where have you been? There's no time to explain.
Just come with me.
What's this about, Chester? You're acting crazy.
Talk to me.
- We found the dark matter, Chris.
It's real.
We found it.
- What are you talking about? Don't you understand? I'm it! It's, it's in me.
- The accident? - They're coming for me, Chris.
We have to destroy this thing before they get here.
- No.
You can't go back in there, Chester.
Police! I'm placing you under arrest, Dr.
Banton.
A lot of people will die if you do this.
Step against the wall, sir! I'm begging you.
I don't want to hurt you.
I said step against the wall, now! I'm sorry.
Let's go.
We don't have much time.
Chester! No matter what they say to you later, you're doing the right thing.
Lock it up, Chris.
- All right.
Let's get the accelerator on line.
I'm afraid not, Chester.
You can do it, Chris.
I can, but I'm not.
No.
Chris, tell me you're not working for them.
- Wish I could, Chester.
- You son of a bitch! Careful.
We don't want you to hurt yourself.
I'll die before I let them use me! You're lightning in a bottle, Chester.
We're not about to let you die.
Chris, don't do this.
Listen to me! This is wrong.
You're making a terrible mistake.
- Yes? Is he there? - I've got him.
He's not going anywhere until you pick him up.
Hello? Dr.
Davey? - Chris! Chris.
Chris! What's happening? Chris! Chris.
We're not the first ones here, Mulder.
That's Detective Ryan's car.
I was afraid of this.
Mulder.
Damn it.
What's that noise? It's the accelerator.
Mulder! Scully, look at this.
He must have killed her and then killed himself.
- No, he couldn't have.
- What? This chamber's been sealed from the outside.
By who? Agent Mulder.
- I thought you had agreed not to contact me again about this.
- You lied to me.
- About? - About Chester Ray Banton.
You knew who he was, and you used me to lead you to him.
You were the one who contacted me, Agent Mulder.
I won't be your stalking horse, or the government's.
You seem to be mistaken about the amount of control you exercise over this arrangement.
You killed Dr.
Banton! - Have you lost your mind? - A nurse at the hospital identified you.
Ayoung detective is dead because of you.
Who do you answer to? Despite my loyalty to my predecessor, I've never made you any promises.
All right.
Promise me something right now.
Promise me this will be our last meeting.
We're finished.
You're choosing a dangerous time to go it alone, Agent Mulder.
Mulder.
I didn't kill him.
The mourners are invited to pay their respects to the family at the Ryan home.
How you doing? I'm not sure how to feel about this, Mulder.
She was my student, and she came to me for help.
I know it must be hard.
This shouldn't have happened.
This never should have happened.
I'm sorry I'm late.
I got hung up at the Richmond P.
D.
- Doing what? - A missing person report was filed this morning by a Dr.
Morris West.
He's a physicist affiliated with Polarity Magnetics.
- I'm not sure I follow you.
- The missing person was Dr.
Christopher Davey.
He hasn't been seen or heard from since Banton disappeared.
Do they have any leads or know where he might be? - No.
None.
- But you do.
I've been wondering.
What if it wasn't Banton we saw in the particle accelerator? Well, if Banton's not dead, then where is he? Dr.
Davey would have been helpful to us.
We'll be studying this man for a long time.