The X-Files s03e22 Episode Script
Quagmire
When I began my field research here, these frogs were thriving.
Since then, the adult population has dropped to fewer than 200.
If you don't take protective measures, in a few years rhinus venisefula will be extinct here.
Frog populations are declining all over the globe, Dr.
Faraday.
No one knows why.
We can't possibly place them all on the Endangered Species list.
We'd find a way if it were cute, furry little mammals we were talking about.
Regardless, your study remains inconclusive- speculative at best.
You've provided no concrete evidence the frog depopulation is the exclusive result of human encroachment.
A frog holocaust is currently being executed, Dr.
Bailey, and man is the executioner.
You're a biologist, Faraday.
You've never heard of "survival of the fittest"? Well, dont forget that rule also applies to mankind.
You can't turn your back on nature or nature will turn her back on you! Aw, damn it.
Freakin' beeper.
No! No! No! Nature's calling.
We should pull over soon.
Did you really have to bring that thing? You wake me up on a Saturday morning, tell me to be ready in five minutes, my mother is out of town, all the dog-sitters are booked, and you know how I feel about kennels.
So, unless you want to lose your security deposit on the car, I suggest you pull over.
All right, well, I think I'm lost anyway.
I gotta stop and ask for directions.
I know I'm lost as to why youre so interested in this missing-persons case.
Dr.
Bailey works for the U.
S.
Forestry Service.
Makes his disappearance a federal case.
It's not jurisdiction that I'm questioning, Mulder.
Dr.
Bailey's not the first person to go missing from Huevelmans Lake recently.
Two weeks ago, a Boy Scout troop was out here fossil hunting.
Their troop leader wandered off to relieve himself.
He hasn't been seen or heard from since.
So you think that there's a serial killer at large? The operative word being "Large.
" - What are you leaving out? - What makes you think I'm leaving anything out? Multiple missing-persons cases are not that uncommon, Mulder.
Why this one warrants us flying halfway across the country and driving for two hours is a total mystery.
Oh, tell me you're not serious.
According to the sheriffs report, you were the last person to see Dr.
Bailey alive.
- That's what they tell me.
- I understand you argued over an endangered species petition.
Bailey was the worst kind of hypocrite.
The closest he came to communing with nature was subscribing to National Geographic.
- You sound bitter, Dr.
Faraday.
- Of course I'm bitter.
The man wrote off three years of carefully collected data in a two-hour inspection which doesn't mean I plotted his demise.
Well, that is what youre suggesting, isn't it? Well, aside from having a motive, you don't seem too upset by any of this.
You expect me to cry for one man when entire species are perched on the brink of extinction? Dr.
Faraday, you know the wildlife in and around this lake as well as anybody, dont you? - I'd say that's accurate.
- Any indigenous species capable of attacking a human being? Yes.
- Another human being.
- Aside from that.
Is there a creature that comes to mind- Has anyone ever told you two you have a great problem coming to the point? Okay, then.
In your work, have you come across any evidence that lends support to the existence of this creature they call " Big Blue"? See, this is what always happens.
This is how it starts.
- What? - The defection, sleight of hand.
See, whenever an issue requires any real thought, any serious mental effort, - people turn to U.
F.
O.
's and sea serpents and Sasquatch.
Afternoon talk shows and tabloid TV- they've reduced our attention span to the length of a sound bite so that soon our ability to think will be as extinct as the rhinus venisefula frog.
I'll take that rambling diatribe to mean you don't believe in the existence of such a creature.
I'm not even gonna grace that statement with a reply.
A prehistoric animal living in a lake is not without precedent.
Last August they pulled a bull shark from Lake Onota in Massachusetts.
An anomaly which proves nothing.
It only serves as fodder for pseudo scientists with nothing better to do than chase fairy tales.
Excuse me.
- Lake creatures have been reported for centuries in dozens of countries, from the monsters in Loch Ness and Shale to the Ogo Pogo on Lake Okanaga.
And Lake Champlain, Lagafan, Iceland- - Sounds like you know a little something about the subject.
- I did as a kid.
But then I grew up and became a scientist.
Well, some very grown-up crypto zoologists believe that it could be an evolutionary throwback, possibly prehistoric.
- An aquatic dinosaur.
- A plesiosaur, actually.
Though, admittedly, there's not a lot of hard evidence to back that up.
You know why? Because those creatures don't exist, Mulder.
They're folktales born out of some collective fear of the unknown.
How many folktales do you know that could eat a Boy Scout leader and a biologist? Check this out, Scully.
Looks like an insect casing or carapace- something from a beetle.
- How can I help you folks? - We're looking for the Lake View Cabins, Flicker Road.
Oh, you passed the turnoff a few miles back.
It's pretty tough to find.
A map might help.
Uh, they're 2.
50 each, plus Uncle Sam.
Fine.
If you don't mind my sayin', you folks don't look like you're here for the trout.
No, we're with the F.
B.
I.
We're investigating a pair of missing-persons reports.
Oh, yeah.
Yep, that's big news around here.
Everybody's been talkin' about it.
- What are they saying? - Same thing they've been saying for years.
I'm not one for spreading rumors.
I've heard the stories since I was a kid.
- About Big Blue.
What kind of stories? - Well, I was ten years old, fishin' with my daddy.
I heard a big commotion, clear across the lake- a wailing sound the likes of which I had never heard before, haven't heard since.
My daddy told me later it was a cow who'd escaped from the Rockdale ranch and was drinkin' by the lake when old Blue came up and snatched her right off the bank.
- That's quite a story.
- Thats just one.
Those stories must sell a lot of T-shirts.
Well, a man's gotta survive.
What about you- you believe those stories? Well, I believe every man's gotta look at the evidence, decide for himself.
But if you wanna ask a real expert you should probably talk to Ansel here.
He's out there practically every day.
It was his daddy's cow that got eaten.
Can you get these developed by tomorrow, Ted? - Gimme another five rolls.
Put 'em on my tab.
These folks are with the F.
B.
I.
, Ansel.
They're looking into that unsolved mystery of how those people disappeared.
" Unsolved mystery.
" Since when's it a mystery? So you think Big Blue's responsible for whats been happening? - Dont you? - Have you ever actually seen it? Not directly, no.
But I aim to.
One day, I'll be in the right place at the right time, and I will snap a shot of that monster.
There we go.
All right.
Son of a gun! Now, if you hit Striker's Cove, you've gone too far.
Call the sheriff.
We got a floater.
It's Scott Moosley, the Boy Scout troop leader.
Well, his fy's undone.
Are you insinuating something? No, most drowning victims are found with high levels of alcohol in their blood and their fies unzipped.
While urinating over the sides of boats, docks or whatever, they fall in and drown.
Still doesn't explain why half of him is missing.
Looks to me like something took a big bite.
- Maybe not so big.
- What do you mean? Fish eat decomposing matter.
Any body that's suspended in this environment for a time is going to become a food source- we eat fish, and fish eat us.
Are fish also known for eating half and saving half for later? Oh, God, no! No! No! Help me! Like I said, I recognize his hat.
How could you not? So, there's Ted Bertram's four-by parked about a mile up that way, here's his hat, and here's these tracks.
Know what I'm sayin'? - I mean, look at the size of these tracks.
Mulder, this is Sheriff Lance Head.
W- Watch out for the tracks.
Careful.
Watch out where youre walking.
Queequeg.
How you doin'? Ansel, why dont you go check the woods? - Today's the day, Sheriff.
I'm gonna get him.
- Yeah.
- Any sign of Ted Bertram? - No, and I'm not jumpin' to any conclusions either.
Speakin' of which, what's this I hear about you wantin' to close the lake? just until we figure out what's going on here.
Well, sir, I think I can tell you what's going on.
Same thing goes on every year.
Fishermen get drunk, they drown.
Folks get run over by a powerboat.
Hell, on a lake this size, you're gonna have eight, nine deaths in a season.
- Thats just a statistical fact.
- But youve got two or three in as many weeks.
I'd say youre a little outside of your bell curve, Sheriff.
Agent Mulder? Mulder.
This lake has 48 miles of shoreline.
I got four deputies full time.
Now, to close down a lake this size- hell, you'd have to call out the National Guard for something like that.
- You'd need irrefutable proof.
- What about these tracks? But, Mulder, a creature as large as the one youre looking for would have left considerably deeper impressions.
Queequeg! Queequeg, come back here! Queequeg! Mulder, Sheriff, come take a look at this.
What you got? - There's your lake monster, Mulder.
- That's what it looks like.
- It's all a hoax.
- I'll be damned.
Sure seems like it.
Yeah, but what happened to the hoaxer? I saw it on the Discovery Channel.
They got like this whole, you know, cult built up around these tree toads.
The skin's got these hallucinogenic properties.
Lets you see all these visions.
It's really spiritual.
Yeah? I don't know.
It's supposed to take the doors of perception and swing them so wide open, you know? Plus you get to see all these cool streaks and trails and crap.
Well? Are you sure that's even a toad? Dude, what's wrong with you? You made me drop my toad.
Chill out, man.
I'll get you another one.
How long till we get down to Lauderdale? Dude! Oh, no.
Dude? Whoa.
How 'bout you? Neither one of you remember anything? Great.
If this is a hoax, it's quite an elaborate one.
I got zip outta Free Bird and Moon Unit.
No telling what they've been smoking.
- What's it lookin' like? - It's hard to tell without an autopsy, but it looks like propeller damage from a motorboat.
- Designated boating area.
- But 20 feet from shore and twice in one day? Mulder, look at it out there.
It's like rush hour.
- I think youre ignoring the obvious.
- What about Ted Bertram? For all we know, he stepped in something and bled into those funny shoes of his.
He's probably so embarrassed right now that he doesn't even want to show his face.
Oh, is that the psychological approach to crime-solving- he's too embarrassed? Regardless of what I believe, there's no hard evidence that it's what you believe.
~See your true colors shinin' through~ ~See your true colors~ ~ That's why I love you~ * So don't be afraid * *To show your true * ~Blue colors~ Okay, Big Blue.
You're mine.
Today's the day.
~ Colors~ *That's why I love you * Crap! Jesus! Yeah, right over there.
- This roll's been exposed.
Can you get that developed? - Yes, sir.
Thanks.
That's three in one day, Sheriff.
All this driving from crime scene to crime scene is giving me highway hypnosis.
- Close down the lake.
- I done told you once.
It ain't that simple.
I just ain't got the manpower.
Furthermore, I'm not at all convinced we're dealing with an aquatic menace.
He's right, Mulder.
Those two sets of remains we've found so far are inconclusive.
We really need to find this body.
My thoughts exactly, ma'am.
If youll just give us a couple more minutes- - Whoa! - Sheriff! Sheriff! You all right, Sheriff? Are you okay, Sheriff? Uh, somethin'- somethin' brushed up against me out there- somethin' big.
- Close the lake.
Close it down! - Right, Sheriff.
- Yeah.
I want you to call the state police and the wildlife fish and game.
You tell 'em we got an emergency situation.
- Looks like Ansel took these during the attack.
I agree with you.
I just wish he gave us something more.
Well, look at this.
Could this be a tooth? Yeah, it could be a lot of things, Mulder.
Fifteen years of fruitless hunting and the only thing the guy comes up with is a blurry picture of the monster's tooth? Well, there are thousands of pictures here, Scully.
There's gotta be some visual evidence somewhere.
Here, go through these.
Mulder, these are just a bunch of poorly-composed tourist shots.
There's- - That could be something.
- A tooth? I'm taking Queequeg for a walk.
Want me to come with you? I'll be fine.
- Good night, Mulder.
- All right.
I'll see you in the morning.
Come on, Queequeg.
- Queequeg, we're not gonna go into the woods.
Come on, do your business.
I thought you had to go.
Queequeg.
What is it? Queequeg! Where are you going? Queequeg! Queequeg, come back here! Queequeg! Queequeg.
Queequeg! But- Quee- Queequ- Queequ- I'm sorry about Queequeg.
You know, I think I've learned something from these photos.
- Mulder- - They're not pictures of the lake monster, theyre pictures of the lake - locations where the creature's been sighted over the years.
Look at this.
Five years ago, all the sightings occurred in the center of the lake, but progressively the sightings have moved closer and closer to shore until this year, they're practically on the shore.
Could you repeat the last part again? I kinda faded out.
Which-Which part? After you said, "I'm sorry.
" Can you drive a boat? - It's too bad we're not out here fishing.
- We are fishing.
You really expect to find this thing, dont you, Mulder? You wanna head right h-here.
I'll take that as a "yes.
" I know the difference between expectation and hope.
Seek and ye shall find, Scully.
You know, on the old mariners' maps, the cartographers would designate uncharted territories by writing " Here be monsters.
" Oh, I got a map of New York City just like that.
What was that? It ain't no bass.
What is that? What is that, Mulder? - There be monsters, Scully.
- It looks like it's coming straight at us.
Yep, that's what it looks like.
Mayday! Mayday! Does anybody read me? This is a distress call from the Patricia Rae.
PA7A3A27.
I'm on a signal- - Mayday! Mayday! - Scully, let's get outta here! There goes our $500 deposit.
- I say we swim to shore.
- Swim? Yeah.
The shore can't be too far from here.
In which direction? Yeah.
And, you know, livin' in the city, you forget that night is actually so, uh, dark.
Living in the city you forget a lot of things.
You know, there youre always thinking about being mugged or hit by a car.
It's not until you get back to nature until you realize that everything is out to get you.
That's what my father always taught me- to respect nature, 'cause it has no respect for you.
That was him, Scully.
That was Big Blue.
So what if it was? - Mulder, what are we doing here? - What do you mean, "what are we doing here?" What are you hoping to accomplish? Scully, so many of the things we investigate are so intangible.
But this creature exists within the specific earthly confines of this lake, - and I want to find it.
- What for? You're a scientist.
Why do you ask that question? It would be a miraculous discovery.
It could revolutionize evolutionary biological thinking.
Is that really the reason why? You know when you showed me those pictures that the photographer took? You wanna know what I really saw in them? - A tooth? - No.
You.
That man is your future- Listening only to himself, hoping to catch a glimpse of the truth for who knows what reason.
Well, I did read in his journals that he was hoping to live off the copyright fees from a genuine Big Blue photo.
Well, as dumb as it sounds, at least it's a legitimate reason.
You don't think my reasons are legitimate? Mulder, sometimes I just can't figure them out.
Mulder.
I'm still tempted to fire.
Hey, Scully, do you think you could ever cannibalize someone.
I mean, if you really had to.
Well, as much as the very idea is abhorrent to me, I suppose under certain conditions a living entity is practically conditioned to perform whatever extreme measures are necessary to ensure its survival.
I suppose I'm no different.
You've lost some weight recently, havent you? Yeah.
Actually, I have.
Thanks for- But it is amazing what some animals will do to guarantee the continuation of a species, isn't it? I mean, a creature of this size must have adapted its behavior over the years to minimize its chances of being seen by its only predator- us.
Its coming closer to shore for its prey must be an act of desperation on its part.
Poor Queequeg.
Why did you name the dog "Queequeg"? It was the name of the harpoonist in Moby Dick.
My father used to read to me from Moby Dick when I was a little girl.
I called him 'Ahab, "and he called me "Starbuck.
" So I named my dog Queequeg.
That's funny.
I just realized something.
- It's a bizarre name for a dog, huh? - No.
How much you're like Ahab.
Youre so consumed by your personal vengeance against life, whether it be its inherent cruelties or its mysteries, that everything takes on a warped significance to fit your megalomaniacal cosmology.
Scully, are you coming on to me? Its just- The truth or a white whale- what difference does it make? Both obsessions are impossible to capture, and trying to do so will only leave you dead along with everyone else you bring with you.
You know, Mulder, you are Ahab.
You know, it's interesting you should say that, because I've always wanted a peg leg.
It's a boyhood thing I never grew out of.
No, I'm not being flippant.
I mean, I've given this a lot of thought.
If you have a peg leg or hooks for hands, you know, maybe it's enough to simply carry on living- you know, bravely facing life with your disability.
It's heroic just to survive.
But without these things, you're actually expected to make something of your life- achieve something, earn a raise, wear a necktie.
So-So-So, if anything, I'm actually the antithesis of Ahab, because if I did have a peg leg I'd quite possibly be more happy and more content and not feel the need to chase after these creatures of the unknown.
- And that's not flippant? - No.
Flippant is my favorite line from Moby Dick: " Hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple dumpling.
" Yeah.
- What was that? - I don't know, but it ain't no duck.
I thought I heard voices.
What are you two doing out here? - Dr.
Faraday? - Hope I'm not interrupting anything.
No.
No.
We, uh- we had a little trouble with our boat.
- Actually, it sank.
- How'd that happen? It was my fault.
We would have been out here all night if you hadn't answered our distress call.
Oh, I didn't.
I was walking by.
I heard you talking.
- Walking by? - Yeah.
Yeah, the shore is just a stone's throw from here.
Come on.
I'll take you back.
It was just out of fuel.
I think the sheriff will be along in a couple minutes.
I'd drive you myself, but I've got work to do.
What exactly is it that youre doing out here, Dr.
Faraday? It's well after midnight.
Well, night is rhinus venisefula's most active period, and this is its primary breeding ground, or at least it used to be.
Thousands of eggs used to cling to these reeds- beautiful jelly clusters.
Now one must turn over many a leaf in order to find potential offspring.
- What's in the sack? - Adult frogs.
I've been breeding them in captivity and releasing them into the wild.
This is Strikers Cove? - Mm-hmm.
- The frogs- - I beg your pardon? - The unexplained depletion of frogs originates from this cove.
- It's the food chain.
- What about it? The food chain.
If you alter one life-form in an ecosystem, the rest is necessarily affected, either by an increase or decrease.
So, if an aquatic dinosaur's diet consisted primarily of frogs, then if those frogs became scarce, it would have to turn to an alternative food source.
- Humans.
- Agent Mulder, you are taking my legitimate research and basic biological principle and stretching them both way out of proportion in an effort to give some kind of validity to an entirely ludicrous theory.
There is no prehistoric lake monster.
This creature lives here in this cove.
That explains the disappearance of these frogs, for which you have no explanation, Doctor, ludicrous or not, - as well as the recent human attacks.
- That's crazy! If something was living in these waters, you don't think I would've seen it? Ive been conducting research here for three years.
I'm talking about a prehistoric animal that's gone unnoticed for virtually thousands of years.
If it knows how to do anything, it knows how to hide.
They say the Loch Ness Monster doesn't live in the water, it lives in the surrounding cliffs.
Maybe Big Blue has an inland habitat, somewhere in the rocks or in this dense forest here.
I have no time for these absurdities.
If youll excuse me, I have some amphibians to release.
Well, Captain, what now? Agent Scully! Agent Mulder! There's been another death, and this time it does appear to be some kind of animal attack - bit a fisherman's arm clean off.
- Where did this happen? - Other side of the lake, couple hours ago.
My department has the cooperation of the state police, plus the full use of all the Wildlife Fish and Game Department vessels.
I got a full-scale water search already underway.
No, we need those men here, searching this cove and these woods.
But I got 30 boats on the water already.
If were gonna kill this thing- We gotta sweep this cove.
It's here at Striker's Cove.
The boats are searching the area of the latest attack, and I'm not gonna move them.
Now, if you wanna waste your time conducting a search of these woods, you go right ahead- I got me a lake monster to catch.
Sheriff, Agent Mulder and I would appreciate it if you could spare us two or three of your men to assist us here.
All right.
I'll send 'em on back.
Thanks.
- What was that? - Dr.
Faraday.
- What happened? - My leg- something grabbed my leg.
- Did you see it? - No.
It came from behind me.
Before I knew it, it had me - shaking me back and forth.
- Then it just let go.
- Give me your belt.
- I didn't want to believe you.
- I think you nicked an artery.
We've gotta get him to a hospital.
He's losing blood.
- Where'd it go? - I didn't see it.
I didn't see it.
I think I heard- It went through those reeds.
- Mulder, help is coming.
- You take care of him, Scully.
Mulder! Alligator.
Millikan County E.
M.
T.
unit- All right, then.
Go ahead.
How's Dr.
Faraday? He'll be fine.
- How are you? - I'm fine.
Well, you slew the big white whale, Ahab.
- Yeah, but I still don't have that peg leg.
- How can you be disappointed? That alligator would have gone through the local population if you hadn't killed it.
I know.
I guess I just wanted Big Blue to be real.
I guess I see hope in such a possibility.
Well, there's still hope.
That's why these myths and stories have endured.
People want to believe.
Since then, the adult population has dropped to fewer than 200.
If you don't take protective measures, in a few years rhinus venisefula will be extinct here.
Frog populations are declining all over the globe, Dr.
Faraday.
No one knows why.
We can't possibly place them all on the Endangered Species list.
We'd find a way if it were cute, furry little mammals we were talking about.
Regardless, your study remains inconclusive- speculative at best.
You've provided no concrete evidence the frog depopulation is the exclusive result of human encroachment.
A frog holocaust is currently being executed, Dr.
Bailey, and man is the executioner.
You're a biologist, Faraday.
You've never heard of "survival of the fittest"? Well, dont forget that rule also applies to mankind.
You can't turn your back on nature or nature will turn her back on you! Aw, damn it.
Freakin' beeper.
No! No! No! Nature's calling.
We should pull over soon.
Did you really have to bring that thing? You wake me up on a Saturday morning, tell me to be ready in five minutes, my mother is out of town, all the dog-sitters are booked, and you know how I feel about kennels.
So, unless you want to lose your security deposit on the car, I suggest you pull over.
All right, well, I think I'm lost anyway.
I gotta stop and ask for directions.
I know I'm lost as to why youre so interested in this missing-persons case.
Dr.
Bailey works for the U.
S.
Forestry Service.
Makes his disappearance a federal case.
It's not jurisdiction that I'm questioning, Mulder.
Dr.
Bailey's not the first person to go missing from Huevelmans Lake recently.
Two weeks ago, a Boy Scout troop was out here fossil hunting.
Their troop leader wandered off to relieve himself.
He hasn't been seen or heard from since.
So you think that there's a serial killer at large? The operative word being "Large.
" - What are you leaving out? - What makes you think I'm leaving anything out? Multiple missing-persons cases are not that uncommon, Mulder.
Why this one warrants us flying halfway across the country and driving for two hours is a total mystery.
Oh, tell me you're not serious.
According to the sheriffs report, you were the last person to see Dr.
Bailey alive.
- That's what they tell me.
- I understand you argued over an endangered species petition.
Bailey was the worst kind of hypocrite.
The closest he came to communing with nature was subscribing to National Geographic.
- You sound bitter, Dr.
Faraday.
- Of course I'm bitter.
The man wrote off three years of carefully collected data in a two-hour inspection which doesn't mean I plotted his demise.
Well, that is what youre suggesting, isn't it? Well, aside from having a motive, you don't seem too upset by any of this.
You expect me to cry for one man when entire species are perched on the brink of extinction? Dr.
Faraday, you know the wildlife in and around this lake as well as anybody, dont you? - I'd say that's accurate.
- Any indigenous species capable of attacking a human being? Yes.
- Another human being.
- Aside from that.
Is there a creature that comes to mind- Has anyone ever told you two you have a great problem coming to the point? Okay, then.
In your work, have you come across any evidence that lends support to the existence of this creature they call " Big Blue"? See, this is what always happens.
This is how it starts.
- What? - The defection, sleight of hand.
See, whenever an issue requires any real thought, any serious mental effort, - people turn to U.
F.
O.
's and sea serpents and Sasquatch.
Afternoon talk shows and tabloid TV- they've reduced our attention span to the length of a sound bite so that soon our ability to think will be as extinct as the rhinus venisefula frog.
I'll take that rambling diatribe to mean you don't believe in the existence of such a creature.
I'm not even gonna grace that statement with a reply.
A prehistoric animal living in a lake is not without precedent.
Last August they pulled a bull shark from Lake Onota in Massachusetts.
An anomaly which proves nothing.
It only serves as fodder for pseudo scientists with nothing better to do than chase fairy tales.
Excuse me.
- Lake creatures have been reported for centuries in dozens of countries, from the monsters in Loch Ness and Shale to the Ogo Pogo on Lake Okanaga.
And Lake Champlain, Lagafan, Iceland- - Sounds like you know a little something about the subject.
- I did as a kid.
But then I grew up and became a scientist.
Well, some very grown-up crypto zoologists believe that it could be an evolutionary throwback, possibly prehistoric.
- An aquatic dinosaur.
- A plesiosaur, actually.
Though, admittedly, there's not a lot of hard evidence to back that up.
You know why? Because those creatures don't exist, Mulder.
They're folktales born out of some collective fear of the unknown.
How many folktales do you know that could eat a Boy Scout leader and a biologist? Check this out, Scully.
Looks like an insect casing or carapace- something from a beetle.
- How can I help you folks? - We're looking for the Lake View Cabins, Flicker Road.
Oh, you passed the turnoff a few miles back.
It's pretty tough to find.
A map might help.
Uh, they're 2.
50 each, plus Uncle Sam.
Fine.
If you don't mind my sayin', you folks don't look like you're here for the trout.
No, we're with the F.
B.
I.
We're investigating a pair of missing-persons reports.
Oh, yeah.
Yep, that's big news around here.
Everybody's been talkin' about it.
- What are they saying? - Same thing they've been saying for years.
I'm not one for spreading rumors.
I've heard the stories since I was a kid.
- About Big Blue.
What kind of stories? - Well, I was ten years old, fishin' with my daddy.
I heard a big commotion, clear across the lake- a wailing sound the likes of which I had never heard before, haven't heard since.
My daddy told me later it was a cow who'd escaped from the Rockdale ranch and was drinkin' by the lake when old Blue came up and snatched her right off the bank.
- That's quite a story.
- Thats just one.
Those stories must sell a lot of T-shirts.
Well, a man's gotta survive.
What about you- you believe those stories? Well, I believe every man's gotta look at the evidence, decide for himself.
But if you wanna ask a real expert you should probably talk to Ansel here.
He's out there practically every day.
It was his daddy's cow that got eaten.
Can you get these developed by tomorrow, Ted? - Gimme another five rolls.
Put 'em on my tab.
These folks are with the F.
B.
I.
, Ansel.
They're looking into that unsolved mystery of how those people disappeared.
" Unsolved mystery.
" Since when's it a mystery? So you think Big Blue's responsible for whats been happening? - Dont you? - Have you ever actually seen it? Not directly, no.
But I aim to.
One day, I'll be in the right place at the right time, and I will snap a shot of that monster.
There we go.
All right.
Son of a gun! Now, if you hit Striker's Cove, you've gone too far.
Call the sheriff.
We got a floater.
It's Scott Moosley, the Boy Scout troop leader.
Well, his fy's undone.
Are you insinuating something? No, most drowning victims are found with high levels of alcohol in their blood and their fies unzipped.
While urinating over the sides of boats, docks or whatever, they fall in and drown.
Still doesn't explain why half of him is missing.
Looks to me like something took a big bite.
- Maybe not so big.
- What do you mean? Fish eat decomposing matter.
Any body that's suspended in this environment for a time is going to become a food source- we eat fish, and fish eat us.
Are fish also known for eating half and saving half for later? Oh, God, no! No! No! Help me! Like I said, I recognize his hat.
How could you not? So, there's Ted Bertram's four-by parked about a mile up that way, here's his hat, and here's these tracks.
Know what I'm sayin'? - I mean, look at the size of these tracks.
Mulder, this is Sheriff Lance Head.
W- Watch out for the tracks.
Careful.
Watch out where youre walking.
Queequeg.
How you doin'? Ansel, why dont you go check the woods? - Today's the day, Sheriff.
I'm gonna get him.
- Yeah.
- Any sign of Ted Bertram? - No, and I'm not jumpin' to any conclusions either.
Speakin' of which, what's this I hear about you wantin' to close the lake? just until we figure out what's going on here.
Well, sir, I think I can tell you what's going on.
Same thing goes on every year.
Fishermen get drunk, they drown.
Folks get run over by a powerboat.
Hell, on a lake this size, you're gonna have eight, nine deaths in a season.
- Thats just a statistical fact.
- But youve got two or three in as many weeks.
I'd say youre a little outside of your bell curve, Sheriff.
Agent Mulder? Mulder.
This lake has 48 miles of shoreline.
I got four deputies full time.
Now, to close down a lake this size- hell, you'd have to call out the National Guard for something like that.
- You'd need irrefutable proof.
- What about these tracks? But, Mulder, a creature as large as the one youre looking for would have left considerably deeper impressions.
Queequeg! Queequeg, come back here! Queequeg! Mulder, Sheriff, come take a look at this.
What you got? - There's your lake monster, Mulder.
- That's what it looks like.
- It's all a hoax.
- I'll be damned.
Sure seems like it.
Yeah, but what happened to the hoaxer? I saw it on the Discovery Channel.
They got like this whole, you know, cult built up around these tree toads.
The skin's got these hallucinogenic properties.
Lets you see all these visions.
It's really spiritual.
Yeah? I don't know.
It's supposed to take the doors of perception and swing them so wide open, you know? Plus you get to see all these cool streaks and trails and crap.
Well? Are you sure that's even a toad? Dude, what's wrong with you? You made me drop my toad.
Chill out, man.
I'll get you another one.
How long till we get down to Lauderdale? Dude! Oh, no.
Dude? Whoa.
How 'bout you? Neither one of you remember anything? Great.
If this is a hoax, it's quite an elaborate one.
I got zip outta Free Bird and Moon Unit.
No telling what they've been smoking.
- What's it lookin' like? - It's hard to tell without an autopsy, but it looks like propeller damage from a motorboat.
- Designated boating area.
- But 20 feet from shore and twice in one day? Mulder, look at it out there.
It's like rush hour.
- I think youre ignoring the obvious.
- What about Ted Bertram? For all we know, he stepped in something and bled into those funny shoes of his.
He's probably so embarrassed right now that he doesn't even want to show his face.
Oh, is that the psychological approach to crime-solving- he's too embarrassed? Regardless of what I believe, there's no hard evidence that it's what you believe.
~See your true colors shinin' through~ ~See your true colors~ ~ That's why I love you~ * So don't be afraid * *To show your true * ~Blue colors~ Okay, Big Blue.
You're mine.
Today's the day.
~ Colors~ *That's why I love you * Crap! Jesus! Yeah, right over there.
- This roll's been exposed.
Can you get that developed? - Yes, sir.
Thanks.
That's three in one day, Sheriff.
All this driving from crime scene to crime scene is giving me highway hypnosis.
- Close down the lake.
- I done told you once.
It ain't that simple.
I just ain't got the manpower.
Furthermore, I'm not at all convinced we're dealing with an aquatic menace.
He's right, Mulder.
Those two sets of remains we've found so far are inconclusive.
We really need to find this body.
My thoughts exactly, ma'am.
If youll just give us a couple more minutes- - Whoa! - Sheriff! Sheriff! You all right, Sheriff? Are you okay, Sheriff? Uh, somethin'- somethin' brushed up against me out there- somethin' big.
- Close the lake.
Close it down! - Right, Sheriff.
- Yeah.
I want you to call the state police and the wildlife fish and game.
You tell 'em we got an emergency situation.
- Looks like Ansel took these during the attack.
I agree with you.
I just wish he gave us something more.
Well, look at this.
Could this be a tooth? Yeah, it could be a lot of things, Mulder.
Fifteen years of fruitless hunting and the only thing the guy comes up with is a blurry picture of the monster's tooth? Well, there are thousands of pictures here, Scully.
There's gotta be some visual evidence somewhere.
Here, go through these.
Mulder, these are just a bunch of poorly-composed tourist shots.
There's- - That could be something.
- A tooth? I'm taking Queequeg for a walk.
Want me to come with you? I'll be fine.
- Good night, Mulder.
- All right.
I'll see you in the morning.
Come on, Queequeg.
- Queequeg, we're not gonna go into the woods.
Come on, do your business.
I thought you had to go.
Queequeg.
What is it? Queequeg! Where are you going? Queequeg! Queequeg, come back here! Queequeg! Queequeg.
Queequeg! But- Quee- Queequ- Queequ- I'm sorry about Queequeg.
You know, I think I've learned something from these photos.
- Mulder- - They're not pictures of the lake monster, theyre pictures of the lake - locations where the creature's been sighted over the years.
Look at this.
Five years ago, all the sightings occurred in the center of the lake, but progressively the sightings have moved closer and closer to shore until this year, they're practically on the shore.
Could you repeat the last part again? I kinda faded out.
Which-Which part? After you said, "I'm sorry.
" Can you drive a boat? - It's too bad we're not out here fishing.
- We are fishing.
You really expect to find this thing, dont you, Mulder? You wanna head right h-here.
I'll take that as a "yes.
" I know the difference between expectation and hope.
Seek and ye shall find, Scully.
You know, on the old mariners' maps, the cartographers would designate uncharted territories by writing " Here be monsters.
" Oh, I got a map of New York City just like that.
What was that? It ain't no bass.
What is that? What is that, Mulder? - There be monsters, Scully.
- It looks like it's coming straight at us.
Yep, that's what it looks like.
Mayday! Mayday! Does anybody read me? This is a distress call from the Patricia Rae.
PA7A3A27.
I'm on a signal- - Mayday! Mayday! - Scully, let's get outta here! There goes our $500 deposit.
- I say we swim to shore.
- Swim? Yeah.
The shore can't be too far from here.
In which direction? Yeah.
And, you know, livin' in the city, you forget that night is actually so, uh, dark.
Living in the city you forget a lot of things.
You know, there youre always thinking about being mugged or hit by a car.
It's not until you get back to nature until you realize that everything is out to get you.
That's what my father always taught me- to respect nature, 'cause it has no respect for you.
That was him, Scully.
That was Big Blue.
So what if it was? - Mulder, what are we doing here? - What do you mean, "what are we doing here?" What are you hoping to accomplish? Scully, so many of the things we investigate are so intangible.
But this creature exists within the specific earthly confines of this lake, - and I want to find it.
- What for? You're a scientist.
Why do you ask that question? It would be a miraculous discovery.
It could revolutionize evolutionary biological thinking.
Is that really the reason why? You know when you showed me those pictures that the photographer took? You wanna know what I really saw in them? - A tooth? - No.
You.
That man is your future- Listening only to himself, hoping to catch a glimpse of the truth for who knows what reason.
Well, I did read in his journals that he was hoping to live off the copyright fees from a genuine Big Blue photo.
Well, as dumb as it sounds, at least it's a legitimate reason.
You don't think my reasons are legitimate? Mulder, sometimes I just can't figure them out.
Mulder.
I'm still tempted to fire.
Hey, Scully, do you think you could ever cannibalize someone.
I mean, if you really had to.
Well, as much as the very idea is abhorrent to me, I suppose under certain conditions a living entity is practically conditioned to perform whatever extreme measures are necessary to ensure its survival.
I suppose I'm no different.
You've lost some weight recently, havent you? Yeah.
Actually, I have.
Thanks for- But it is amazing what some animals will do to guarantee the continuation of a species, isn't it? I mean, a creature of this size must have adapted its behavior over the years to minimize its chances of being seen by its only predator- us.
Its coming closer to shore for its prey must be an act of desperation on its part.
Poor Queequeg.
Why did you name the dog "Queequeg"? It was the name of the harpoonist in Moby Dick.
My father used to read to me from Moby Dick when I was a little girl.
I called him 'Ahab, "and he called me "Starbuck.
" So I named my dog Queequeg.
That's funny.
I just realized something.
- It's a bizarre name for a dog, huh? - No.
How much you're like Ahab.
Youre so consumed by your personal vengeance against life, whether it be its inherent cruelties or its mysteries, that everything takes on a warped significance to fit your megalomaniacal cosmology.
Scully, are you coming on to me? Its just- The truth or a white whale- what difference does it make? Both obsessions are impossible to capture, and trying to do so will only leave you dead along with everyone else you bring with you.
You know, Mulder, you are Ahab.
You know, it's interesting you should say that, because I've always wanted a peg leg.
It's a boyhood thing I never grew out of.
No, I'm not being flippant.
I mean, I've given this a lot of thought.
If you have a peg leg or hooks for hands, you know, maybe it's enough to simply carry on living- you know, bravely facing life with your disability.
It's heroic just to survive.
But without these things, you're actually expected to make something of your life- achieve something, earn a raise, wear a necktie.
So-So-So, if anything, I'm actually the antithesis of Ahab, because if I did have a peg leg I'd quite possibly be more happy and more content and not feel the need to chase after these creatures of the unknown.
- And that's not flippant? - No.
Flippant is my favorite line from Moby Dick: " Hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple dumpling.
" Yeah.
- What was that? - I don't know, but it ain't no duck.
I thought I heard voices.
What are you two doing out here? - Dr.
Faraday? - Hope I'm not interrupting anything.
No.
No.
We, uh- we had a little trouble with our boat.
- Actually, it sank.
- How'd that happen? It was my fault.
We would have been out here all night if you hadn't answered our distress call.
Oh, I didn't.
I was walking by.
I heard you talking.
- Walking by? - Yeah.
Yeah, the shore is just a stone's throw from here.
Come on.
I'll take you back.
It was just out of fuel.
I think the sheriff will be along in a couple minutes.
I'd drive you myself, but I've got work to do.
What exactly is it that youre doing out here, Dr.
Faraday? It's well after midnight.
Well, night is rhinus venisefula's most active period, and this is its primary breeding ground, or at least it used to be.
Thousands of eggs used to cling to these reeds- beautiful jelly clusters.
Now one must turn over many a leaf in order to find potential offspring.
- What's in the sack? - Adult frogs.
I've been breeding them in captivity and releasing them into the wild.
This is Strikers Cove? - Mm-hmm.
- The frogs- - I beg your pardon? - The unexplained depletion of frogs originates from this cove.
- It's the food chain.
- What about it? The food chain.
If you alter one life-form in an ecosystem, the rest is necessarily affected, either by an increase or decrease.
So, if an aquatic dinosaur's diet consisted primarily of frogs, then if those frogs became scarce, it would have to turn to an alternative food source.
- Humans.
- Agent Mulder, you are taking my legitimate research and basic biological principle and stretching them both way out of proportion in an effort to give some kind of validity to an entirely ludicrous theory.
There is no prehistoric lake monster.
This creature lives here in this cove.
That explains the disappearance of these frogs, for which you have no explanation, Doctor, ludicrous or not, - as well as the recent human attacks.
- That's crazy! If something was living in these waters, you don't think I would've seen it? Ive been conducting research here for three years.
I'm talking about a prehistoric animal that's gone unnoticed for virtually thousands of years.
If it knows how to do anything, it knows how to hide.
They say the Loch Ness Monster doesn't live in the water, it lives in the surrounding cliffs.
Maybe Big Blue has an inland habitat, somewhere in the rocks or in this dense forest here.
I have no time for these absurdities.
If youll excuse me, I have some amphibians to release.
Well, Captain, what now? Agent Scully! Agent Mulder! There's been another death, and this time it does appear to be some kind of animal attack - bit a fisherman's arm clean off.
- Where did this happen? - Other side of the lake, couple hours ago.
My department has the cooperation of the state police, plus the full use of all the Wildlife Fish and Game Department vessels.
I got a full-scale water search already underway.
No, we need those men here, searching this cove and these woods.
But I got 30 boats on the water already.
If were gonna kill this thing- We gotta sweep this cove.
It's here at Striker's Cove.
The boats are searching the area of the latest attack, and I'm not gonna move them.
Now, if you wanna waste your time conducting a search of these woods, you go right ahead- I got me a lake monster to catch.
Sheriff, Agent Mulder and I would appreciate it if you could spare us two or three of your men to assist us here.
All right.
I'll send 'em on back.
Thanks.
- What was that? - Dr.
Faraday.
- What happened? - My leg- something grabbed my leg.
- Did you see it? - No.
It came from behind me.
Before I knew it, it had me - shaking me back and forth.
- Then it just let go.
- Give me your belt.
- I didn't want to believe you.
- I think you nicked an artery.
We've gotta get him to a hospital.
He's losing blood.
- Where'd it go? - I didn't see it.
I didn't see it.
I think I heard- It went through those reeds.
- Mulder, help is coming.
- You take care of him, Scully.
Mulder! Alligator.
Millikan County E.
M.
T.
unit- All right, then.
Go ahead.
How's Dr.
Faraday? He'll be fine.
- How are you? - I'm fine.
Well, you slew the big white whale, Ahab.
- Yeah, but I still don't have that peg leg.
- How can you be disappointed? That alligator would have gone through the local population if you hadn't killed it.
I know.
I guess I just wanted Big Blue to be real.
I guess I see hope in such a possibility.
Well, there's still hope.
That's why these myths and stories have endured.
People want to believe.