The X-Files s04e19 Episode Script
Synchrony
You know what hes capable of.
please.
McFarland turned this into a witch-hunt.
Who's gonna burn at the stake? Well, you shouldve thought of that before you published the results.
No, you should've come to me before you went to McFarland.
- I did, Jason, more than once.
But- - That's bull! You didn't want to hear anything I had to say.
You never did.
- You deliberately went behind my back.
- I did exactly- What? - Please.
I need to talk to you.
- Excuse us please.
- That street is dangerous.
- Right.
Thank you.
We'll be fine.
- Look.
I'm not gonna lie about this.
- I'm not asking you to lie.
- What are you asking me to do? - I've traveled a long way.
What? You want some money? Is that it? Here's a dollar.
It's all I have.
- No.
No.
Listen to me.
- Hey! Hey! Hey! - I'm trying to save your life.
- Hey, take it easy! Let go! What's the problem here? This old guy is harassing me! - No, hes just a little bit agitated.
- No, he's going to die at exactly 11:46.
- The bus! The b- - We're all gonna die, Pop.
- Come on.
Let's go sleep it off.
- No! - J-Jason! - You'll feel better in the morning.
- Don't let him cross the street! - All right.
His papers.
He won't see the bus! - At 11:;46! - All right.
In the car.
Stop him! No! - Jason! - How did he know my name? How the hell should I know? Stop him! Stop him! Youve got to stop him! You don't have much time! He's going to die! Stop him now! - Stop him now! - Lucas! Wait! Look, man, give me a chance! We have got nothing left to talk about.
Lucas! Damn it! Lucas! Lucas! Lucas! No! What'd you do to him? You pushed him.
You pushed him right in front of me.
You killed him! What the hell did you do? His name was Lucas Menand, a postdoctoral fellow at M.
I.
T.
He's a bright and promising researcher.
A life dedicated to science cut short by an unfortunate bus accident.
"Cause of death was massive head trauma, pronounced on site.
" But according to the bus driver it was no accident? He claims that Menand was pushed by a suspect identified as Jason Nichols, an Associate professor of Biology as well as Menand's academic advisor.
Says here in the police report they'd been seen arguing earlier that evening, but Jason Nichols has refused to tell police about what.
Hmm.
Sounds like a motive, doesn't it? Between that and the bus driver's statement, why am I looking at this? Would you like to hear his alibi? If I wanted to kill him, do you think this is how I'd do it? Then what were you doing, Mr.
Nichols? Trying to save him! From getting hit by the bus.
I told you! There was a man, some old guy, who said it would happen.
He warned Lucas about the bus.
He knew the exact time and place.
He tried telling us.
He knew my name.
That's his alibi? That some old man warned him his colleague was gonna die? Well, he goes on to tell a pretty convincing narrative and to give a rather detailed description of the old man.
What was he wearing? A long black robe and carrying a scythe? - Not when campus security picked him up.
- He was arrested? Minutes before the accident, according to Jason Nichols.
Packed into a security vehicle, tryin' to warn Nichols even as he was being hauled away.
- Has anybody talked to him? - No.
Has anybody talked to the campus security officer? - Can't.
He's dead.
- Why not? Of what? Haven't been able to make determination as to cause or time of death.
There's been some internal disagreement over how to proceed.
- You mean with the autopsy? - Yes.
But mostly whether to cut or to saw.
You see why we didn't put him in refrigeration.
Have you ever seen a body in such an advanced hypothermic state? Hypothermic? Mulder, this man's an icicle.
Did you see this? His ear? It looks like something's been inserted in it.
Something has.
I took his temperature.
I don't know if the reading was accurate, but the thermometer said his body temp was 15 degrees Fahrenheit.
Where was he found? On campus inside his patrol car.
parked just off Adams with one wheel on the curb.
police also found an empty gin bottle under the drivers seat.
Apparently he had a history.
He'd been cited for drinking on duty.
You'd assume he passed out and froze to death except the low temperature for last night was 28.
And now his body temperature is eight degrees.
You mean, he's actually getting colder.
Like I said, we're a little betwixt in-between on how to go for ward here.
We'd be happy to take your lead on it.
I think were gonna need some time ourselves.
So, what's your medical opinion, Scully? My guess would be that he's been exposed to some kind of chemical refrigerant like liquid nitrogen, possible even ingested it.
Well, you see what happens when you drink and drive? I don't know what else to say, Mulder, except that what this doesn't do is add any credence to the suspect's alibi that the old man was on the scene.
Maybe we should ask Jason Nichols if he can explain this.
- What if he can't? - Hope he keeps until Thanksgiving.
- eight years of work.
- This is serious, Jason.
This couldn't be more serious.
They're talking about charging you with second-degree murder.
I'll call you as soon as I speak to the lawyer.
- Are you from the F.
B.
I.
? - Yeah.
Special Agent Mulder.
- Is that your girl friend? - Yeah.
Thanks for seeing me.
I know your attorney advised you against it.
I appreciate it.
I just want to talk to somebody who's going to listen to me.
Somebody whos going to tell me they can find that old man.
- There are people lookin' for him.
- Who? The campus police? You know that the man who allegedly detained the man you describe is dead.
So, are they going to try and blame me for that one too? Well, not unless, uh, you're capable of killing a man by flash-freezing him.
- What? - The security officer in the morgue has a body temperature a little south of Frosty the Snowman.
- You think that's funny? - Do I think whats funny? Coming in here and trying to screw with my head! Does this have something to do with you and Lucas Menand? Look, he's the one that had been threatening me, okay? - He threatened your life? - My reputation.
Howd he do that? By saying he would go public that I falsified data on my research paper.
- Had you? - No.
My theory was sound.
If my interpretation of certain data was a little lax, it's because I've been under pressure to produce results.
My N.
S.
A.
grant is up for renewal.
And Lucas knew how damaging his allegations would be! Was Lucas Menand up for the same grant? What research would this grant have funded? Cryobiology.
I study the effects of freezing temperatures on biological systems.
Excuse me.
- Mulder.
- Has Nichols said anything? No.
I'm right in the middle of it.
I think we may be filing a second murder charge against him.
- Security officer? - I found Nichols' print on his uniform.
And forensics also matched his with the prints they lifted off the interior of the patrol car.
I think the old man in this story is gonna be Jason Nichols serving 25-to-life in a federal prison.
Yes.
Yes.
I understand.
Thank you.
I'm sorry, sir.
There's nothing more we can do.
My name is Yonechi.
Yes, sir, you've told me.
But I'm not finding a reservation under that name.
But this is where I am supposed to stay.
I'm sorry, sir.
I don't know what else to tell you.
- Dr.
Yonechi? - Yes? Uh, there's been a misunderstanding.
I- Im afraid my assistant made a reservation at the wrong hotel, so I came here myself to make sure you, uh, you got a room.
It's a good room with a view of the river.
You are not, uh, Dr.
Nichols.
He apologizes.
He was not able to be here to meet you himself so he asked me to come in his place.
Excuse me, but who are you? A great admirer of your work.
- Here we go, sir.
- Thank you.
- After you, sir.
- No.
Go ahead.
If you need anything, just give us a call.
Here you are, sir.
Have a good evening, sir.
Are you sick? No, no.
I'm- I'm fine.
Thank you.
- May I get you some, uh, water? - If its no trouble.
Please.
Come in.
The, uh, mix-up with the reservation, it was actually my fault.
- Your fault? - But I owe you so much.
- For what? - Your contribution to my work.
Vitrification.
You were the one who solved the problem.
- Me? - Mmm.
No.
Not yet.
No one has solved vitrification.
Oh, yes, Yonni.
You found a way to substitute water with a sugar- trehalose.
Your paper.
It changed everything.
I am sorry, Yonni, but this is the only way.
I just spoke with the bellman who brought up the luggage.
- What did he say? - The iceman cometh.
Dr.
Yonechi was accompanied by a man in his seventies.
It's a description confirmed by the desk clerk.
They're working with a composite artist on a sketch right now.
- Sounds like Nichols has an accomplice.
- Sounds like that.
More than that, Mulder.
It makes sense.
Science is a high-stakes game.
Nichols is trying to eliminate his competitors.
- He's succeeding.
- Yeah, but what if hes being set up? He's a cryobiologist.
He freezes things for a living.
How many can do that? Just about anybody whos up for that grant money could.
Right.
I want to show you something.
This is what's called a nuclear magnetic resonance spectra.
Dr.
Yonechi had a spot of blood on the heel of his hand.
A pinprick.
Might have been caused by a small gauge hypodermic needle.
Now I found the same thing on the security officer.
This is the analysis.
- What is it? - No one at the lab would even guess.
But we think it's some kind of unidentifiable chemical compound.
- A lethal injection? - You'll have to ask Jason Nichols.
No.
There's somebody I want to talk to first.
Lisa lanelli? Sorry.
I didn't mean to startle you.
No, I was working.
Sometimes you just get lost in it.
You may remember me from this afternoon.
I spoke with Jason.
- From the F.
B.
I.
- I'm Agent Scully.
- May I show you something? - Mm-hmm.
Where did you get this? You recognize it? Lisa, you can tell us now, or we can subpoena your testimony in court.
Either way, we'll find out what you know about it.
It's a kind of catalyst.
- A catalyst for what? - A self-sustaining endothermic reaction.
It's a rapid freezing agent.
Something Jasons been engineering for years.
See, when a cell freezes, its moisture forms into ice crystals, which literally grind up the cell from the inside out.
But extreme rapid freezing causes a smoother, glass-like structure to form, so the cell can survive being thawed, at least according to Jasons theory.
This compound, has Jason actually tested it yet? He hasn't tested it yet because it doesn't exist, except in the computer.
So far the work's been limited to generating virtual chemicals, like this.
In fact, what we're looking there is a version of the catalyst you brought me.
Is it possible he could have synthesized the compound without you knowing it? Not even remotely.
Technology to engineer something like that is still five, ten years away.
- Not anymore, apparently.
- What are you talking about? Traces of the compound were detected in a man who was found dead last night.
Frozen solid.
Then there must be some kind of mistake.
And a, uh, Dr.
Yonechi was also found frozen to death.
- What? - In his heated hotel room.
- When was this? - Just over two hours ago.
Why? Because he may not be dead.
What's his temp? His core temperature's up to 97.
Okay.
Let's take him out.
And then what? We've got to try to resuscitate him.
Let's go.
All right.
On my count.
One.
Two.
Three.
- This isn't gonna work.
- Why not? His body temperature was eight degrees.
The lowest reported body temperature ever survived by a human being was 70.
Well, if hes already dead, then he's got nothin' to lose.
Okay.
We're hooked up here.
All right, Dr.
lanelli, we're gonna start with 300 joules and an amp of epi.
Entracardial epi ready.
Charging.
- Clear? - Clear.
- Still no pulse.
- Go to360.
- Clear.
- Clear.
No response.
Give him another amp of entracardial epi and atropine, one milligram.
Tryagainat360.
- Clear.
- Clear.
He's got a rhythm.
Dr.
Yonechi? You're in a prototype frostbite bay in Cambridge, Mass.
You've been unconscious for almost 12 hours.
Dr.
Yonechi? My name is Lisa lanelli.
Don't try and talk right now.
We've inserted a tube to help you breathe.
Try not to fight the machine.
Let it breathe for you.
Something's wrong.
Scully, look at his temperature.
Oh, my God.
He's on fire.
- Hes having febrile seizures.
- This can't be right.
Hes burning up.
Hold him down.
Hold him down! We were trying to resuscitate him- Okay.
He seemed to be all right though.
Lisa, what happened? I mean, what- what could've happened to create such a violent cellular reaction? I don't know.
All I can think is the compound used to freeze him must have been unstable.
So raising his body temperature may have catalyzed an opposite reaction, heating him internally? Mm-hmm.
I question now if we should have removed him from the tub.
I think we might have saved him.
I think the real question is how somebody could have had access to a compound that doesn't exist.
I'm sorry.
I need to talk to Jason.
Excuse me.
Watch it! Who are you? I said who are you? What do you want? Why are you following me? Unless I'm mistaken, you're the one following me.
- I saw you outside.
- You're confusing me with someone else.
You're the man Jason saw, arent you? You killed Lucas Menand and Dr.
Yonechi.
- And I can kill you.
- Let go of me! I came here to kill you.
Who are you? You say he followed you off the bus? Yes.
I noticed him just before my stop.
- And you were on your way to see Jason? - Yes.
I confronted him inside the library.
He followed me in there.
And then he grabbed me and hurt my arm.
What did he say? That he could kill me.
That that's why he was following me.
He threatened me with some kind of medical instrument.
But he just let you go? Lisa, if youre leaving anything out, if youre hedging the truth, you could be held accountable if Jason committed a crime.
It wasnt Jason.
It was me.
I falsified the data to get the grant.
Jason's covering for me.
- He's in jail because of me.
- That's what he can't tell anyone? But there are people who could've figured it out.
Lucas Menand, Dr.
Yonechi.
These people are now dead.
No, it's not what you think.
- You know this old man, dont you? - I don't.
I swear to you.
But Jason does.
This man is doing what Jason can't- protecting your secret.
He swore to me he would never confess it to a soul.
If hed lie for you, what makes you think he wouldn't lie to you? Scully? It doesn't make sense.
Why threaten her if shes protecting his secret? Because it's not just her secret.
Its Jasons secret too.
And the old man is protecting Jason.
With a medical instrument? I suppose it is an unlikely choice as a murder weapon.
Well, what if it's not a murder weapon? I'm just speculating.
But what if it was designed for some other purpose? Agent Mulder? Weve been canvassing the area.
Hotel manager from a couple blocks away thinks he's made your guy.
It's on McKinney Street.
Hotel's called the Lighthouse.
Tell the unit to keep watch until we get there.
Make sure she gets home safe.
Federal agents, sir.
Open the door.
Are you sure this is the room? The hotel manager says he's been living here for five days.
I'm not sure if "Living" is the word I'd use on this place.
Yonechi's flight information was taken down on this pad.
Hey, look at this.
When was this taken? What's the occasion? A celebration.
But of what? Of something that never happened.
What? Mulder, this is a photograph.
It is a documented moment in time.
In a future that somebody's trying like hell to prevent from happening.
- What? - Think about it, Scully.
If Lucas Menand never gets hit by that bus, his complaint gets heard before the grant committee.
Jason Nichols loses his funding.
He never gets to collaborate on his research with Dr.
Yonechi.
This photograph never gets taken because this celebration never happens.
And if your sister is your aunt and your mother marries your uncle, you'd be your own grandpa.
The old man couldn't save Lucas Menand, so he had to kill Dr.
Yonechi.
Okay.
So this photo that was never taken, when was it never taken? At least five years in the future, when they first synthesized the freezing compound successfully.
Let's take the stairs.
Mulder, the compound already exists.
We have physical evidence.
Only because the old man brought it back with him.
- Back from where? - From when may be the real question.
You're seriously suggesting that this old man is back from the future? Unless you have a better explanation for how he knew exactly when and how Lucas Menand was gonna be killed; why Jason Nichols' fingerprints were inside that patrol car; and how he knew Lisa lanelli's secret.
- What youre saying is the old man is- - Jason Nichols.
Although, common sense may rule out the possibility of time travel, the laws of quantum physics certainly do not.
In case you forgot, that's from your graduate thesis.
You were a lot more open-minded when you were a youngster.
I know what I wrote, Mulder.
I also know that the laws of physics would permit the theoretical possibility of time travel, but the limits of human endurance would prevent such a trip from ever happening.
- One way to prove that possibility.
- How? Show this photo to Lisa lanelli and ask her if it was ever taken.
Jason? I don't understand.
How is this possible? Because you made it possible.
It was you.
How? I need to know.
Thirty years ago, ten years from now, you'll be at a conference in Zurich.
You'll meet a man named McGuane whos just discovered the first evidence of tachyons- subatomic particles that can travel faster than the speed of light and go back in time, but only for a few seconds and only at a temperature of absolute zero.
But from that and from your correspondence with McGuane, you'll have an idea, a revelation.
What revelation? One so remarkable it would change the course of history.
Then why did you- You said you came back to kill me.
But I couldn't do it.
You're cold.
Jason? Yes.
Sign here.
Jason? - What are you doing here? - I've arranged for your bail.
- I assumed it was Lisa.
- No.
Something's happened to her.
What are you talking about? I think it's something you should see for yourself.
She's at the medical research facility.
- Was it the old man? - Yes.
Why havent you found him yet? Who the hell is he? Look, Jason, I-I don't expect you to get your mind around this right now.
What? The man we're looking for, the old man, he's you.
That photo is indicative of a pattern.
You may be his next target.
It puts a whole new spin on being your own worst enemy.
Except that I've never met Dr.
Yonechi and neither has Lisa.
So this must have been altered somehow.
Not according to the photo specialist that I had examine it.
As far as she could tell, it's the real McCoy.
Then maybe you should get a second opinion because I'm not buying your story.
- Jason, it's your story.
- It's science fiction.
So is your rapid freezing agent, until two days ago.
So, why don't you just consider the evidence as a scientist.
How could the old man come to possess a compound that you admit doesn't exist? Whoever he is, why would he be trying to prevent my compound from being developed? - I'm not sure of that yet.
- But you have a theory.
I think it has something to do with the practical application of your compound, though I don't know what that is yet.
Involving time travel? Physicists like Stephen Hawking have hypothesized the existence of worm holes and closed time loops, actual portals through which matter can travel backward through time.
Although phenomena like extreme heat and gravity would render the trip lethal for any organism.
So, you're saying the properties of my compound will make it possible? Eventually, yes.
That's what I'm saying.
But why stop time travel? That's what I'm hoping the old man can tell us.
Agent Mulder, if any of this is true, then what happened to Lisa is really my fault.
- We're going up to the Cryo Lab.
- Mm-hmm.
Hey, wait a sec.
- Are you Dr.
Jason Nichols? - That's right.
Then, something's wrong.
It says you're already in the building.
Listen to me, Jason.
I need you to get to Scully and tell her that he's here.
She's in the frostbite bay with Lisa.
Can you do that? All right.
- Clear.
- Clear.
Let's give her another amp of epinephrine and we'll go again at 360.
Charging.
Epi given.
- Clear.
- Everybody clear.
Increase the DMSO.
- We have a rhythm.
Now what? - pulse.
Get her back in the tub.
- Now.
- Let's disconnect and get her back in.
- Here we go.
- Lets go.
All right.
Here we are.
- Easy.
- How highs the reading now? - Is there a problem? - Anybody been here in the last hour? Well, there was a maintenance guy who fixed the fan, but other than that, its just been me.
No, I'm lookin' for an older man, a man in his mid-seventies maybe? I haven't seen anybody like that.
Why? Does this have something to do with Dr.
Nichols? - Do you work with him? - I'm one of his research assistants.
- You have access to his files? - Yeah.
I'd like to pull up some information about his rapid freezing compound.
- Mulder.
- We've resuscitated her, Mulder.
Her body temperature's still high, but it seems to have stabilized.
- Well, did Jason help? - He's not here.
All right.
He should've been there five minutes ago, Scully.
- Where are you? - Oh, this is crazy.
- Mulder? - Uh, let me get back to you, Scully.
What? It's Dr.
Nichols' files.
They're totally whacked.
- What do you mean "whacked"? - His data.
It's gone.
It's like somebody's completely erased it from the mainframe.
I knew I'd find you here.
I figured this is where I'd go to stop myself.
I don't have much time.
Please.
Let me finish.
Let you finish destroying my work? It's my work too.
- I want her back.
- I know.
Then tell me how to go back so I can save her.
Please.
I don't expect you to understand.
- Understand what? - What she created, what you- we helped to create.
A world without history, without hope, where anyone can know everything that will ever happen.
I've seen that world.
- Tell me how to go back.
- I can't.
You will! - Tell me! - No! - Jason! Try to understand! - Jason! Tell me how to go back so I can save her! Jason! She's alive! Lisas alive! Don't hurt him! If you hurt him, we'll never know the truth! Open the door.
She's okay.
- It's better that we never were.
- No! Lisa? It's Dana Scully.
Can you hear me? Youre going to be fine.
We knew to keep you submerged in order to maintain your body temperature.
After what happened to Dr.
Yonechi, your theory about the compound's instability, well, you proved it yourself.
He said- He said he was Jason.
The old man? Look, there's been some incongruous evidence I've had difficulty explaining myself.
It was him Agent Scully.
He was Jason.
Lisa, Jasons dead.
There was a fire in the mainframe room.
I'm sorry.
I'll see you at the hospital.
- Did they find the second corpse? - No.
And I'm not holding out much hope that they will either.
- We should put an A.
P.
B.
on the old man.
- We won't find him.
I know what I saw, Scully, and I know what I believe happened.
- Even if it can never be proven? - Never? Never is a very long time.
You said that yourself.
Although multidimensionality suggests infinite outcomes and an infinite number of universes, each universe can produce only one outcome.
I was 23 when I wrote that.
But I take that you were suggesting that the future can't be altered, which means the elder Nichols' attempts to stop his own research will fail, and that eventually his compound and time travel will be discovered.
please.
McFarland turned this into a witch-hunt.
Who's gonna burn at the stake? Well, you shouldve thought of that before you published the results.
No, you should've come to me before you went to McFarland.
- I did, Jason, more than once.
But- - That's bull! You didn't want to hear anything I had to say.
You never did.
- You deliberately went behind my back.
- I did exactly- What? - Please.
I need to talk to you.
- Excuse us please.
- That street is dangerous.
- Right.
Thank you.
We'll be fine.
- Look.
I'm not gonna lie about this.
- I'm not asking you to lie.
- What are you asking me to do? - I've traveled a long way.
What? You want some money? Is that it? Here's a dollar.
It's all I have.
- No.
No.
Listen to me.
- Hey! Hey! Hey! - I'm trying to save your life.
- Hey, take it easy! Let go! What's the problem here? This old guy is harassing me! - No, hes just a little bit agitated.
- No, he's going to die at exactly 11:46.
- The bus! The b- - We're all gonna die, Pop.
- Come on.
Let's go sleep it off.
- No! - J-Jason! - You'll feel better in the morning.
- Don't let him cross the street! - All right.
His papers.
He won't see the bus! - At 11:;46! - All right.
In the car.
Stop him! No! - Jason! - How did he know my name? How the hell should I know? Stop him! Stop him! Youve got to stop him! You don't have much time! He's going to die! Stop him now! - Stop him now! - Lucas! Wait! Look, man, give me a chance! We have got nothing left to talk about.
Lucas! Damn it! Lucas! Lucas! Lucas! No! What'd you do to him? You pushed him.
You pushed him right in front of me.
You killed him! What the hell did you do? His name was Lucas Menand, a postdoctoral fellow at M.
I.
T.
He's a bright and promising researcher.
A life dedicated to science cut short by an unfortunate bus accident.
"Cause of death was massive head trauma, pronounced on site.
" But according to the bus driver it was no accident? He claims that Menand was pushed by a suspect identified as Jason Nichols, an Associate professor of Biology as well as Menand's academic advisor.
Says here in the police report they'd been seen arguing earlier that evening, but Jason Nichols has refused to tell police about what.
Hmm.
Sounds like a motive, doesn't it? Between that and the bus driver's statement, why am I looking at this? Would you like to hear his alibi? If I wanted to kill him, do you think this is how I'd do it? Then what were you doing, Mr.
Nichols? Trying to save him! From getting hit by the bus.
I told you! There was a man, some old guy, who said it would happen.
He warned Lucas about the bus.
He knew the exact time and place.
He tried telling us.
He knew my name.
That's his alibi? That some old man warned him his colleague was gonna die? Well, he goes on to tell a pretty convincing narrative and to give a rather detailed description of the old man.
What was he wearing? A long black robe and carrying a scythe? - Not when campus security picked him up.
- He was arrested? Minutes before the accident, according to Jason Nichols.
Packed into a security vehicle, tryin' to warn Nichols even as he was being hauled away.
- Has anybody talked to him? - No.
Has anybody talked to the campus security officer? - Can't.
He's dead.
- Why not? Of what? Haven't been able to make determination as to cause or time of death.
There's been some internal disagreement over how to proceed.
- You mean with the autopsy? - Yes.
But mostly whether to cut or to saw.
You see why we didn't put him in refrigeration.
Have you ever seen a body in such an advanced hypothermic state? Hypothermic? Mulder, this man's an icicle.
Did you see this? His ear? It looks like something's been inserted in it.
Something has.
I took his temperature.
I don't know if the reading was accurate, but the thermometer said his body temp was 15 degrees Fahrenheit.
Where was he found? On campus inside his patrol car.
parked just off Adams with one wheel on the curb.
police also found an empty gin bottle under the drivers seat.
Apparently he had a history.
He'd been cited for drinking on duty.
You'd assume he passed out and froze to death except the low temperature for last night was 28.
And now his body temperature is eight degrees.
You mean, he's actually getting colder.
Like I said, we're a little betwixt in-between on how to go for ward here.
We'd be happy to take your lead on it.
I think were gonna need some time ourselves.
So, what's your medical opinion, Scully? My guess would be that he's been exposed to some kind of chemical refrigerant like liquid nitrogen, possible even ingested it.
Well, you see what happens when you drink and drive? I don't know what else to say, Mulder, except that what this doesn't do is add any credence to the suspect's alibi that the old man was on the scene.
Maybe we should ask Jason Nichols if he can explain this.
- What if he can't? - Hope he keeps until Thanksgiving.
- eight years of work.
- This is serious, Jason.
This couldn't be more serious.
They're talking about charging you with second-degree murder.
I'll call you as soon as I speak to the lawyer.
- Are you from the F.
B.
I.
? - Yeah.
Special Agent Mulder.
- Is that your girl friend? - Yeah.
Thanks for seeing me.
I know your attorney advised you against it.
I appreciate it.
I just want to talk to somebody who's going to listen to me.
Somebody whos going to tell me they can find that old man.
- There are people lookin' for him.
- Who? The campus police? You know that the man who allegedly detained the man you describe is dead.
So, are they going to try and blame me for that one too? Well, not unless, uh, you're capable of killing a man by flash-freezing him.
- What? - The security officer in the morgue has a body temperature a little south of Frosty the Snowman.
- You think that's funny? - Do I think whats funny? Coming in here and trying to screw with my head! Does this have something to do with you and Lucas Menand? Look, he's the one that had been threatening me, okay? - He threatened your life? - My reputation.
Howd he do that? By saying he would go public that I falsified data on my research paper.
- Had you? - No.
My theory was sound.
If my interpretation of certain data was a little lax, it's because I've been under pressure to produce results.
My N.
S.
A.
grant is up for renewal.
And Lucas knew how damaging his allegations would be! Was Lucas Menand up for the same grant? What research would this grant have funded? Cryobiology.
I study the effects of freezing temperatures on biological systems.
Excuse me.
- Mulder.
- Has Nichols said anything? No.
I'm right in the middle of it.
I think we may be filing a second murder charge against him.
- Security officer? - I found Nichols' print on his uniform.
And forensics also matched his with the prints they lifted off the interior of the patrol car.
I think the old man in this story is gonna be Jason Nichols serving 25-to-life in a federal prison.
Yes.
Yes.
I understand.
Thank you.
I'm sorry, sir.
There's nothing more we can do.
My name is Yonechi.
Yes, sir, you've told me.
But I'm not finding a reservation under that name.
But this is where I am supposed to stay.
I'm sorry, sir.
I don't know what else to tell you.
- Dr.
Yonechi? - Yes? Uh, there's been a misunderstanding.
I- Im afraid my assistant made a reservation at the wrong hotel, so I came here myself to make sure you, uh, you got a room.
It's a good room with a view of the river.
You are not, uh, Dr.
Nichols.
He apologizes.
He was not able to be here to meet you himself so he asked me to come in his place.
Excuse me, but who are you? A great admirer of your work.
- Here we go, sir.
- Thank you.
- After you, sir.
- No.
Go ahead.
If you need anything, just give us a call.
Here you are, sir.
Have a good evening, sir.
Are you sick? No, no.
I'm- I'm fine.
Thank you.
- May I get you some, uh, water? - If its no trouble.
Please.
Come in.
The, uh, mix-up with the reservation, it was actually my fault.
- Your fault? - But I owe you so much.
- For what? - Your contribution to my work.
Vitrification.
You were the one who solved the problem.
- Me? - Mmm.
No.
Not yet.
No one has solved vitrification.
Oh, yes, Yonni.
You found a way to substitute water with a sugar- trehalose.
Your paper.
It changed everything.
I am sorry, Yonni, but this is the only way.
I just spoke with the bellman who brought up the luggage.
- What did he say? - The iceman cometh.
Dr.
Yonechi was accompanied by a man in his seventies.
It's a description confirmed by the desk clerk.
They're working with a composite artist on a sketch right now.
- Sounds like Nichols has an accomplice.
- Sounds like that.
More than that, Mulder.
It makes sense.
Science is a high-stakes game.
Nichols is trying to eliminate his competitors.
- He's succeeding.
- Yeah, but what if hes being set up? He's a cryobiologist.
He freezes things for a living.
How many can do that? Just about anybody whos up for that grant money could.
Right.
I want to show you something.
This is what's called a nuclear magnetic resonance spectra.
Dr.
Yonechi had a spot of blood on the heel of his hand.
A pinprick.
Might have been caused by a small gauge hypodermic needle.
Now I found the same thing on the security officer.
This is the analysis.
- What is it? - No one at the lab would even guess.
But we think it's some kind of unidentifiable chemical compound.
- A lethal injection? - You'll have to ask Jason Nichols.
No.
There's somebody I want to talk to first.
Lisa lanelli? Sorry.
I didn't mean to startle you.
No, I was working.
Sometimes you just get lost in it.
You may remember me from this afternoon.
I spoke with Jason.
- From the F.
B.
I.
- I'm Agent Scully.
- May I show you something? - Mm-hmm.
Where did you get this? You recognize it? Lisa, you can tell us now, or we can subpoena your testimony in court.
Either way, we'll find out what you know about it.
It's a kind of catalyst.
- A catalyst for what? - A self-sustaining endothermic reaction.
It's a rapid freezing agent.
Something Jasons been engineering for years.
See, when a cell freezes, its moisture forms into ice crystals, which literally grind up the cell from the inside out.
But extreme rapid freezing causes a smoother, glass-like structure to form, so the cell can survive being thawed, at least according to Jasons theory.
This compound, has Jason actually tested it yet? He hasn't tested it yet because it doesn't exist, except in the computer.
So far the work's been limited to generating virtual chemicals, like this.
In fact, what we're looking there is a version of the catalyst you brought me.
Is it possible he could have synthesized the compound without you knowing it? Not even remotely.
Technology to engineer something like that is still five, ten years away.
- Not anymore, apparently.
- What are you talking about? Traces of the compound were detected in a man who was found dead last night.
Frozen solid.
Then there must be some kind of mistake.
And a, uh, Dr.
Yonechi was also found frozen to death.
- What? - In his heated hotel room.
- When was this? - Just over two hours ago.
Why? Because he may not be dead.
What's his temp? His core temperature's up to 97.
Okay.
Let's take him out.
And then what? We've got to try to resuscitate him.
Let's go.
All right.
On my count.
One.
Two.
Three.
- This isn't gonna work.
- Why not? His body temperature was eight degrees.
The lowest reported body temperature ever survived by a human being was 70.
Well, if hes already dead, then he's got nothin' to lose.
Okay.
We're hooked up here.
All right, Dr.
lanelli, we're gonna start with 300 joules and an amp of epi.
Entracardial epi ready.
Charging.
- Clear? - Clear.
- Still no pulse.
- Go to360.
- Clear.
- Clear.
No response.
Give him another amp of entracardial epi and atropine, one milligram.
Tryagainat360.
- Clear.
- Clear.
He's got a rhythm.
Dr.
Yonechi? You're in a prototype frostbite bay in Cambridge, Mass.
You've been unconscious for almost 12 hours.
Dr.
Yonechi? My name is Lisa lanelli.
Don't try and talk right now.
We've inserted a tube to help you breathe.
Try not to fight the machine.
Let it breathe for you.
Something's wrong.
Scully, look at his temperature.
Oh, my God.
He's on fire.
- Hes having febrile seizures.
- This can't be right.
Hes burning up.
Hold him down.
Hold him down! We were trying to resuscitate him- Okay.
He seemed to be all right though.
Lisa, what happened? I mean, what- what could've happened to create such a violent cellular reaction? I don't know.
All I can think is the compound used to freeze him must have been unstable.
So raising his body temperature may have catalyzed an opposite reaction, heating him internally? Mm-hmm.
I question now if we should have removed him from the tub.
I think we might have saved him.
I think the real question is how somebody could have had access to a compound that doesn't exist.
I'm sorry.
I need to talk to Jason.
Excuse me.
Watch it! Who are you? I said who are you? What do you want? Why are you following me? Unless I'm mistaken, you're the one following me.
- I saw you outside.
- You're confusing me with someone else.
You're the man Jason saw, arent you? You killed Lucas Menand and Dr.
Yonechi.
- And I can kill you.
- Let go of me! I came here to kill you.
Who are you? You say he followed you off the bus? Yes.
I noticed him just before my stop.
- And you were on your way to see Jason? - Yes.
I confronted him inside the library.
He followed me in there.
And then he grabbed me and hurt my arm.
What did he say? That he could kill me.
That that's why he was following me.
He threatened me with some kind of medical instrument.
But he just let you go? Lisa, if youre leaving anything out, if youre hedging the truth, you could be held accountable if Jason committed a crime.
It wasnt Jason.
It was me.
I falsified the data to get the grant.
Jason's covering for me.
- He's in jail because of me.
- That's what he can't tell anyone? But there are people who could've figured it out.
Lucas Menand, Dr.
Yonechi.
These people are now dead.
No, it's not what you think.
- You know this old man, dont you? - I don't.
I swear to you.
But Jason does.
This man is doing what Jason can't- protecting your secret.
He swore to me he would never confess it to a soul.
If hed lie for you, what makes you think he wouldn't lie to you? Scully? It doesn't make sense.
Why threaten her if shes protecting his secret? Because it's not just her secret.
Its Jasons secret too.
And the old man is protecting Jason.
With a medical instrument? I suppose it is an unlikely choice as a murder weapon.
Well, what if it's not a murder weapon? I'm just speculating.
But what if it was designed for some other purpose? Agent Mulder? Weve been canvassing the area.
Hotel manager from a couple blocks away thinks he's made your guy.
It's on McKinney Street.
Hotel's called the Lighthouse.
Tell the unit to keep watch until we get there.
Make sure she gets home safe.
Federal agents, sir.
Open the door.
Are you sure this is the room? The hotel manager says he's been living here for five days.
I'm not sure if "Living" is the word I'd use on this place.
Yonechi's flight information was taken down on this pad.
Hey, look at this.
When was this taken? What's the occasion? A celebration.
But of what? Of something that never happened.
What? Mulder, this is a photograph.
It is a documented moment in time.
In a future that somebody's trying like hell to prevent from happening.
- What? - Think about it, Scully.
If Lucas Menand never gets hit by that bus, his complaint gets heard before the grant committee.
Jason Nichols loses his funding.
He never gets to collaborate on his research with Dr.
Yonechi.
This photograph never gets taken because this celebration never happens.
And if your sister is your aunt and your mother marries your uncle, you'd be your own grandpa.
The old man couldn't save Lucas Menand, so he had to kill Dr.
Yonechi.
Okay.
So this photo that was never taken, when was it never taken? At least five years in the future, when they first synthesized the freezing compound successfully.
Let's take the stairs.
Mulder, the compound already exists.
We have physical evidence.
Only because the old man brought it back with him.
- Back from where? - From when may be the real question.
You're seriously suggesting that this old man is back from the future? Unless you have a better explanation for how he knew exactly when and how Lucas Menand was gonna be killed; why Jason Nichols' fingerprints were inside that patrol car; and how he knew Lisa lanelli's secret.
- What youre saying is the old man is- - Jason Nichols.
Although, common sense may rule out the possibility of time travel, the laws of quantum physics certainly do not.
In case you forgot, that's from your graduate thesis.
You were a lot more open-minded when you were a youngster.
I know what I wrote, Mulder.
I also know that the laws of physics would permit the theoretical possibility of time travel, but the limits of human endurance would prevent such a trip from ever happening.
- One way to prove that possibility.
- How? Show this photo to Lisa lanelli and ask her if it was ever taken.
Jason? I don't understand.
How is this possible? Because you made it possible.
It was you.
How? I need to know.
Thirty years ago, ten years from now, you'll be at a conference in Zurich.
You'll meet a man named McGuane whos just discovered the first evidence of tachyons- subatomic particles that can travel faster than the speed of light and go back in time, but only for a few seconds and only at a temperature of absolute zero.
But from that and from your correspondence with McGuane, you'll have an idea, a revelation.
What revelation? One so remarkable it would change the course of history.
Then why did you- You said you came back to kill me.
But I couldn't do it.
You're cold.
Jason? Yes.
Sign here.
Jason? - What are you doing here? - I've arranged for your bail.
- I assumed it was Lisa.
- No.
Something's happened to her.
What are you talking about? I think it's something you should see for yourself.
She's at the medical research facility.
- Was it the old man? - Yes.
Why havent you found him yet? Who the hell is he? Look, Jason, I-I don't expect you to get your mind around this right now.
What? The man we're looking for, the old man, he's you.
That photo is indicative of a pattern.
You may be his next target.
It puts a whole new spin on being your own worst enemy.
Except that I've never met Dr.
Yonechi and neither has Lisa.
So this must have been altered somehow.
Not according to the photo specialist that I had examine it.
As far as she could tell, it's the real McCoy.
Then maybe you should get a second opinion because I'm not buying your story.
- Jason, it's your story.
- It's science fiction.
So is your rapid freezing agent, until two days ago.
So, why don't you just consider the evidence as a scientist.
How could the old man come to possess a compound that you admit doesn't exist? Whoever he is, why would he be trying to prevent my compound from being developed? - I'm not sure of that yet.
- But you have a theory.
I think it has something to do with the practical application of your compound, though I don't know what that is yet.
Involving time travel? Physicists like Stephen Hawking have hypothesized the existence of worm holes and closed time loops, actual portals through which matter can travel backward through time.
Although phenomena like extreme heat and gravity would render the trip lethal for any organism.
So, you're saying the properties of my compound will make it possible? Eventually, yes.
That's what I'm saying.
But why stop time travel? That's what I'm hoping the old man can tell us.
Agent Mulder, if any of this is true, then what happened to Lisa is really my fault.
- We're going up to the Cryo Lab.
- Mm-hmm.
Hey, wait a sec.
- Are you Dr.
Jason Nichols? - That's right.
Then, something's wrong.
It says you're already in the building.
Listen to me, Jason.
I need you to get to Scully and tell her that he's here.
She's in the frostbite bay with Lisa.
Can you do that? All right.
- Clear.
- Clear.
Let's give her another amp of epinephrine and we'll go again at 360.
Charging.
Epi given.
- Clear.
- Everybody clear.
Increase the DMSO.
- We have a rhythm.
Now what? - pulse.
Get her back in the tub.
- Now.
- Let's disconnect and get her back in.
- Here we go.
- Lets go.
All right.
Here we are.
- Easy.
- How highs the reading now? - Is there a problem? - Anybody been here in the last hour? Well, there was a maintenance guy who fixed the fan, but other than that, its just been me.
No, I'm lookin' for an older man, a man in his mid-seventies maybe? I haven't seen anybody like that.
Why? Does this have something to do with Dr.
Nichols? - Do you work with him? - I'm one of his research assistants.
- You have access to his files? - Yeah.
I'd like to pull up some information about his rapid freezing compound.
- Mulder.
- We've resuscitated her, Mulder.
Her body temperature's still high, but it seems to have stabilized.
- Well, did Jason help? - He's not here.
All right.
He should've been there five minutes ago, Scully.
- Where are you? - Oh, this is crazy.
- Mulder? - Uh, let me get back to you, Scully.
What? It's Dr.
Nichols' files.
They're totally whacked.
- What do you mean "whacked"? - His data.
It's gone.
It's like somebody's completely erased it from the mainframe.
I knew I'd find you here.
I figured this is where I'd go to stop myself.
I don't have much time.
Please.
Let me finish.
Let you finish destroying my work? It's my work too.
- I want her back.
- I know.
Then tell me how to go back so I can save her.
Please.
I don't expect you to understand.
- Understand what? - What she created, what you- we helped to create.
A world without history, without hope, where anyone can know everything that will ever happen.
I've seen that world.
- Tell me how to go back.
- I can't.
You will! - Tell me! - No! - Jason! Try to understand! - Jason! Tell me how to go back so I can save her! Jason! She's alive! Lisas alive! Don't hurt him! If you hurt him, we'll never know the truth! Open the door.
She's okay.
- It's better that we never were.
- No! Lisa? It's Dana Scully.
Can you hear me? Youre going to be fine.
We knew to keep you submerged in order to maintain your body temperature.
After what happened to Dr.
Yonechi, your theory about the compound's instability, well, you proved it yourself.
He said- He said he was Jason.
The old man? Look, there's been some incongruous evidence I've had difficulty explaining myself.
It was him Agent Scully.
He was Jason.
Lisa, Jasons dead.
There was a fire in the mainframe room.
I'm sorry.
I'll see you at the hospital.
- Did they find the second corpse? - No.
And I'm not holding out much hope that they will either.
- We should put an A.
P.
B.
on the old man.
- We won't find him.
I know what I saw, Scully, and I know what I believe happened.
- Even if it can never be proven? - Never? Never is a very long time.
You said that yourself.
Although multidimensionality suggests infinite outcomes and an infinite number of universes, each universe can produce only one outcome.
I was 23 when I wrote that.
But I take that you were suggesting that the future can't be altered, which means the elder Nichols' attempts to stop his own research will fail, and that eventually his compound and time travel will be discovered.