WRITTEN BY
Chris Carter
DIRECTED BY
Kim Manners
AIRED ON
May 13, 2001
RUNTIME
44 minutes
STARRING
VIEWS
444
LAST UPDATE
2024-09-22 00:57:51
PAGE VERSION
Version 6
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SUMMARY
The episode delves into the escalating conflict surrounding the search for Mulder and Scully's son, William, who is revealed to possess unique genetic qualities desired by both human conspirators and alien entities. As Scully grapples with the implications of her son's heritage and his potential role in a larger conspiracy, Mulder's pursuit of the truth leads him into dangerous territory. The episode unravels a complex web of deception and intrigue, with the agents navigating through layers of government manipulation and alien infiltration while attempting to protect their family and uncover the true agenda behind William's existence. "The Essence" sets the stage for a thrilling continuation as the agents confront existential threats and moral dilemmas that threaten to reshape their lives and the fate of humanity in The X-Files' intricate mythos.
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MYTHOLOGY
Scully's pregnancy reaches its climax as she prepares to give birth.
The alien Super Soldiers, a new breed of human-alien hybrids, are introduced as the next phase in the colonization plan.
Mulder and Doggett uncover more about the Super Soldiers' role in the impending colonization.
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Written by
Pike on 2017-10-01
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TRANSCRIPT
SCENE 1
(Images of a warm red uterus, an ovum surrounded by eager sperm.)
MULDER: (voiceover) We call it the miracle of life. Conception: A union of perfect opposites-- essence transforming into existence-- an act without which mankind would not exist and humanity cease to exist.
(Image of an ova in a cold blue environment. A medical probe pierces it, allowing a chosen sperm to enter.)
MULDER: (voiceover) Or is this just nostalgia now? An act of biology commandeered by modern science and technology? Godlike, we extract, implant, inseminate... and we clone.
(The zygote splits and replicates its chromosomes.)
MULDER: (voiceover) But has our ingenuity rendered the miracle into a simple trick? In the artifice of replicating life can we become the creator? Then what of the soul? Can it, too, be replicated? Does it live in this matter we call DNA? Or is its placement the opposite of artifice, capable only by God.
(We see a foetus in the warm red environment, its heart beating in an ultrasound view.)
MULDER: (voiceover) How did this child come to be? What set its heart beating? Is it the product of a union? Or the work of a divine hand? An answered prayer? A true miracle? Or is it a wonder of technology-- the intervention of other hands? What do I tell this child about to be born? What do I tell Scully?
(The foetal hand suddenly slaps against the screen.)
MULDER: (voiceover) And what do I tell myself?
(The foetus is happily nesting in its warm fluid-filled environment, connected to its mother by the umbilical cord.)
[OPENING CREDITS] [OPENING CREDITS] [OPENING CREDITS] [OPENING CREDITS] [OPENING CREDITS]
SCENE 2
CHRIS CARTER: Previously on the X-Files:
(From Three Words 8X18. We see the CD marked "Fight the Future." DOGGETT talking to KNOWLE ROHRER. The bumps on KNOWLE ROHRER's neck.)
KNOWLE ROHRER: The invasion has begun.
DOGGETT: What invasion?
KNOWLE ROHRER: They're already here. (From DeadAlive 8X15. BILLY MILES lying in his hospital bed, his skin bloated and disgusting.)
SCULLY: Billy Miles shed his skin and literally became a new person.
(BILLY MILES sloughs his skin in the shower, then turns to face them in the hospital hallway.)
SCULLY: And I don't mean the same person. (From Per Manum 8X08. SCULLY meeting DUFFY HASKELL in the X-Files office.)
DOGGETT: This is Duffy Haskell.
DUFFY HASKELL: My wife was a multiple abductee. Dr. Lev stole the alien baby out of her womb. (Mucous being sucked out of the cute newborn baby alien's nose.) (SCULLY is talking to her first obstetrician, DR. PARENTI.)
DR. PARENTI: I looked at this ultrasound you sent me. It looks fine to me, as does your own ultrasound. It's normal to be worried. (DR. PARENTI about to conduct an autopsy on the alien baby.) DUFFY HASKELL: (on phone) They called me back into the FBI to poke holes in my story.
DR. LEV: (on phone) As we knew they would. (SCULLY in the hospital caressing her stomach.) (From DeadAlive 8X15. KRYCEK and SKINNER in MULDER's hospital room.)
KRYCEK: Make sure Scully doesn't come to term.
SKINNER: You're out of your mind.
KRYCEK: She can't have that baby. (From Per Manum 8X08. DOGGETT reassuring SCULLY in her hospital room.)
DOGGETT: You're okay, Agent Scully. You're fine. Your baby's fine. (MULDER and SCULLY standing forehead to forehead in her apartment. Very intimate.)
MULDER: Never give up on a miracle.
SCENE 3
(SCULLY's apartment. MARGARET SCULLY is decorating the living room with balloons ? pink and blue.)
MARGARET SCULLY: You know, it would be a whole lot easier for everyone if you would just tell us the sex, Dana.
(No answer.)
MARGARET SCULLY: Did you hear me?
(SCULLY comes out of another room carrying a cup of tea.)
SCULLY: Yes, I heard you, Mom-- for about the thousandth time, you can wait. Didn't you have to wait with us?
MARGARET SCULLY: Well, I know it's a boy. I can just tell by the way you're carrying. It's a boy.
SCULLY: Well, see, you obviously don't need me to tell you because you already know.
MARGARET SCULLY: (hopefully) Then it's a boy?
(SCULLY doesn't answer and rinses her tea cup, frustrating her mother further.)
MARGARET SCULLY: Oh, it's the least you could tell your mother considering everything else you're keeping a secret.
[CarriK: Translation - Everything else you're keeping a secret, like ? THE FATHER?!]
(The doorbell rings. SCULLY looks at her watch.)
SCULLY: We told people noon, right?
MARGARET SCULLY: Mm-hmm.
(SCULLY opens the door. A woman, about 40, red hair is holding two bouquets of flowers, one pink one blue.)
WOMAN: Hi. Your mom said to cover all the bases. I'm Lizzy Gill.
(MARGARET SCULLY comes over and takes a bouquet.)
MARGARET SCULLY: Hi, Lizzy. Let me give you a hand with that. I asked Lizzy to help out today.
SCULLY: (friendly, but uncomfortable) Oh. Hi.
LIZZY GILL: These are going to need some water. Congratulations, by the way.
(LIZZY walks confidently into the apartment.)
SCULLY: (quietly) Mom... what do we need help with?
MARGARET SCULLY: I don't know. It's just, well you shouldn't have to worry. You have to let people do for you. She's a very highly recommended baby nurse, by the way.
SCULLY: Oh, Mom.
(Later, the baby shower is underway. SCULLY opens a large box containing two dolls, one in pink, the other in blue and holds them up for all to see. She does not look like she is having the most wonderful time of her life.)
SCULLY: This has got to be a conspiracy.
(The assembled women, including SKINNER's ASSISTANT, all aww and coo.)
WOMAN: Aw... Maybe it'll be twins.
SCULLY: Thank you, but I would settle for one very healthy boy.
WOMEN: Oh?
SCULLY: Or girl.
WOMEN: Aww!
OLDER WOMAN: So many secrets, Margaret.
MARGARET SCULLY: What do you expect? My daughter works for the FBI.
(The WOMEN laugh. MARGARET SCULLY accidentally knocks over a wine glass with the empty box.)
WOMAN: Oh! Oh, dear!
(LIZZY is right there with a towel.)
LIZZY: I got it. Here. Moving in... the white tornado.
MARGARET SCULLY: Thank you, Lizzy.
LIZZY: No problem.
(MARGARET SCULLY looks intently at SCULLY.)
MARGARET SCULLY: Just think about it.
(SCULLY nods.) (LIZZY carries the sodden towel into the bathroom and drops it onto the hamper. After a glance at the laughing party in the living room, she quietly and deliberately closes the hall door and opens SCULLY's medicine cabinet and removes a prescription bottle. She checks the label, then dumps the contents of the bottle into the toilet and flushes it. She takes a folded paper out of her pocket and drops an equal amount of replacement capsules into the bottle and returns it to the cabinet.)
SCENE 4
ZEUS GENETICS
GERMANTOWN, MARYLAND
(Night. DR. LEV is working alone in the lab filled with jars of deformed foetuses. BILLY MILES enters, his face calm and intent.)
DR. LEV: Excuse me? Can I help you?
BILLY MILES: Dr. Lev, isn't it?
DR. LEV: I'm sorry. I don't know who you are or how you got in here but we don't allow visitors.
(BILLY MILES looks around at the contents of the jars.)
BILLY MILES: I won't be visiting long. I've just come to verify it's true.
DR. LEV: Verify that what's true?
BILLY MILES: That your work's been fruitful. I can see that it has by the abomination you're holding in your hands.
(DR. LEV is holding a barely alive alien baby. It is pitifully gasping for air.)
DR. LEV: You'll have to leave now.
BILLY MILES: Your work here is done.
(BILLY MILES swings his fist. Blood spatters on the jars and we hear DR. LEV's dead body falls to the ground. BILLY MILES tosses the clear liquid contents of a flask onto the body and the floor. He lights a match, ignites the fluid, and leaves the room as it is engulfed in flames.)
SCENE 5
(DOGGETT house. Next morning. DOGGETT is watching NASCAR on the FOX network and cleaning his gun. This should send his AutumnT Manly Man Meter through the roof. [CarriK: I'm from Charlotte, NC, but I have never been nor have any desire to go near our Motor Speedway. Several NASCAR fans have pointed out that on the east coast, Doggett should have had to wait until at least 1:00 PM on Saturday to watch the game. All the fans have to have time to recover from the Friday night Pabst Blue Ribbon beer binges.] All that aside, DOGGETT looks Manly. The cars on the TV are driving around in circles.)
MIKE THE NASCAR ANNOUNCER: Dale Jarrett right in the pack battling hard against Ricky Craven for seventh place. Jeff?
JEFF THE NASCAR ANNOUNCER: Yeah, Mike, I was down in the 88 car pit when Dale Jarrett came in. His car was just a little bit on the tight side still. Steve Allen, the gas man, took one round out of the left rear. They said if they can get the car to free up a little bit more...
(There is a knock at the door. DOGGETT sets down his gun and goes to open the door. It is MULDER, dressed casually.)
JEFF THE NASCAR ANNOUNCER: ? he'll be a force to contend with before the end of the day. Now, Phil Davis has...
DOGGETT: (smiling) The last person I'd expect to see knocking on my door on a Saturday morning-- Agent Mulder.
MULDER: You can drop the "Agent," Agent Doggett. It's just plain old Fox Mulder now.
(DOGGETT is a little uncomfortable.)
DOGGETT: Right. You want to come in, Fox? I was just watching a race.
MULDER: That's what I was doing. Slightly different race though.
MIKE THE NASCAR ANNOUNCER: ... from sixth place on back.
JEFF THE NASCAR ANNOUNCER: Boy, that 32 car is really...
(MULDER picks up the remote and switches the channel to a news report. NEWS 10. Footage is of a burning building from the night before.)
NEWSCASTER: ... exclusive footage of a medical research clinic in Germantown, Maryland, which burned down last night in what firefighters characterize as an accelerated blaze. Accelerated because of the white-hot intensity of the fire, which officials are now calling a definite case of arson.
MULDER: Zeus Genetics. That ring a bell?
DOGGETT: Yeah. That's where Scully believed they were doing tests on women-- putting alien babies in them or something like that-- against their will. Wasn't ever completely explained.
MULDER: Looks like somebody's attempt to make sure it never will be.
DOGGETT: I'd say that's more than an attempt. Looks like there's going to be nothing left.
MULDER: I think that's the idea-- to cover up the kind of research that was going on there. That's why I came to talk to you.
DOGGETT: What do you want from me?
MULDER: How about a ride?
SCENE 6
FBI EVIDENCE ANALYSIS CENTER
(Agents are looking through the debris of the fire. AGENT CRANE, one of those who helped search for MULDER at the beginning of Season 8, pulls a badly charred piece of equipment from a plastic bag and looks at it in disgust. DOGGETT comes up beside him.)
DOGGETT: Hey, Gene.
AGENT CRANE: Not the way I want to be spending my Saturday afternoon, John. I had to leave my kid's ball game.
(DOGGETT is a little surprised at AGENT CRANE's hostile tone.)
DOGGETT: Sorry about that. I didn't say you had to come do it yourself.
AGENT CRANE: Fire Marshall thought I was kidding when I told him I wanted to sift all this. Seeing it, I thought I was kidding, too.
(AGENT CRANE sees MULDER on a cell phone in the doorway across the room.)
AGENT CRANE: He put you onto this, didn't he? What the hell are you doing, John? You don't have to answer to him. He's out of the Bureau.
DOGGETT: Well, he thinks there's something here.
AGENT CRANE: I'm certain there is. Just not anything the FBI needs to be looking for.
(MULDER hangs up and calls to DOGGETT.)
MULDER: Agent Doggett?
(DOGGETT reluctantly walks over to him.)
MULDER: Hey, I hope you don't mind me dropping your name with the local PD. They just told me that they contacted everyone at Zeus Genetics except for one man-- a Dr. Lev-- a founder, and head of clinical research.
DOGGETT: And what? You think we're going to find his body here in the ashes?
MULDER: That would probably stand to reason.
DOGGETT: What is it exactly we're looking for being I'm starting to piss a lot of people off, Mr. Mulder?
MULDER: Pissing people off comes with the territory, Agent Doggett. It's part of working on the X-Files.
DOGGETT: Well, at the risk of pissing you off I think I've wasted about enough of my weekend.
(DOGGETT starts to leave.)
MULDER: Hey, I told you Dr. Lev was a founder of the clinic. Would you like to know who his cofounder was? Dr. Parenti. Agent Scully's obstetrician through the first two-thirds of her pregnancy.
DOGGETT: And you think he burned down this clinic?
MULDER: I don't know, but if I'm the Agent assigned to the X-Files, I sure as hell would want to ask him. (pause) Worst it could do is piss him off.
SCENE 7
PARENTI MEDICAL GROUP
11:47 AM
(Medical office building. MULDER finishes picking the lock to an outer reception area and opens the door. DOGGETT is right behind him.)
MULDER: Knock, knock.
DOGGETT: Right. We get caught in here what are you going to say then?
(MULDER smiles and hands the lock pick kit back to DOGGETT.)
MULDER: I'll just say I'm with you, Agent Doggett. It's Saturday anyway, right? We're just having a look around.
(They enter the office and split up to look around. DOGGETT enters the room with the foetuses in jars.)
DOGGETT: Hey, Mulder.
(MULDER, in another room, hears DOGGETT. He goes out into the hall to find him, but DR. PARENTI opens another door and stops MULDER.)
DR. PARENTI: Who are you?
MULDER: Me?
DR. PARENTI: (very agitated) Yes, you, sir. What do you think you're doing in this office?
MULDER: I'm with an FBI agent who would like to ask you the exact same question. Dr. Parenti, isn't it?
(MULDER notices a WOMAN in the room behind DR. PARENTI. She is on a gynaecological examination table, her feet in the stirrups. She sits up a little, concerned at the noise in the hallway. DR. PARENTI closes the door to shield her from MULDER's inquisitive view.)
DR. PARENTI: I'm in the middle of a very delicate medical procedure. Whatever you want, you don't just come barging in here. I don't care who you are.
(DOGGETT calls to them from the open door of the foetus room.)
DOGGETT: This medical procedure... it have anything to do with this?
(DR. PARENTI goes into the foetus room.)
DR. PARENTI: (very nervous) Please...
DOGGETT: Why don't you tell us what we're looking at here, Dr. Parenti?
DR. PARENTI: You people have no right to be here. I want you to leave.
MULDER: What is this? Some kind of showroom?
DR. PARENTI: Do you know what I've been through in the past 24 hours? Close friend and colleague is missing. Much of my life's work has been destroyed.
DOGGETT: How about you explain what you are doing? What these things are.
DR. PARENTI: They are what we are all working so hard to prevent-- children with non-survivable birth defects.
MULDER: Does that work include experimentation with alien embryos? Work that you would destroy to cover up such allegations?
DR. PARENTI: Where do you get these ideas?
MULDER: From a friend of mine-- a former patient of yours-- Dana Scully.
DR. PARENTI: If I'm such a Dr. Frankenstein how is it that Ms. Scully is carrying a perfectly healthy child? In her own medical opinion.
MULDER: Is she?
(MULDER and DR. PARENTI stare at each other.)
DOGGETT: I'd say this man's suitably pissed off. Why don't we let him get back to work. Let's go, Mulder.
DR. PARENTI: Thank you.
(MULDER allows DOGGETT to lead him out of the office.)
SCENE 8
(SCULLY is in her bathroom. She takes a pill from the prescription bottle. Just as she is about to swallow it, LIZZY GILL opens the bathroom door, startling her.)
LIZZY GILL: Dana?
SCULLY: Mmm, hmm-mm...
(SCULLY finally swallows with a glass of water.)
LIZZY GILL: Oh, sorry.
SCULLY: Horse pills.
LIZZY GILL: I'm about to leave. Your dinner's in the oven. And I just wanted to say that I hope this is working out. I know it's important to your Mom.
SCULLY: It is. And, uh... I appreciate your help. I didn't quite realize, uh... how much I needed it.
LIZZY GILL: Well, I'll see you.
(SCULLY returns the bottle to the cabinet and takes another sip of water as LIZZY GILL shoulders her purse and leaves with a smile.)
(Outside the building, LIZZY GILL gets into a car driven by DUFFY HASKELL, the man from Per Manum.)
DUFFY HASKELL: How's it going? You look unsure.
LIZZY GILL: No. I think she trusts me.
DUFFY HASKELL: Good. We're almost at the end.
(LIZZY looks a little nervous.)
SCENE 9
FBI ANALYSIS CENTER
8:22 PM
(A TECHNICIAN is carefully dropping an acid solution onto a piece of burned evidence from the Zeus Genetics fire. MULDER enters.)
MULDER: You found something, didn't you?
(DOGGETT and AGENT CRANE are looking over a file. AGENT CRANE is less than pleased to see MULDER.)
AGENT CRANE: You still answering to him?
DOGGETT: We found teeth and a porcelain bridge. We're waiting on Dr. Lev's dental records to make positive ID.
MULDER: Anything else?
DOGGETT: Unidentifiable biological material fused with laboratory grade silica.
(MULDER looks up from the file that DOGGETT just handed him.)
DOGGETT: I know what you're thinking. But there's lots here that's unidentifiable. Doesn't mean it's alien.
MULDER: Let's ask Dr. Parenti ? if it's okay with Agent Crane.
(AGENT CRANE chooses not to listen to them. MULDER leaves. DOGGETT follows. Good dogg.)
SCENE 10
(DR. PARENTI's office. DR. PARENTI is alone in his lab. He carefully places a jar containing a dead foetus into a cardboard box. He hears a noise in the front office.)
DR. PARENTI: Hello? Hello?
(BILLY MILES enters the lab. His face is cold, expressionless. DR. PARENTI is defiantly nervous.)
BILLY MILES: Packing, Dr. Parenti?
DR. PARENTI: I'm sorry. This office is closed.
BILLY MILES: (nodding slowly) Yes, it is.
(Outside, DOGGETT's truck pulls up, and he and MULDER get out and head toward the building.)
SCENE 11
PARENTI MEDICAL GROUP
8:57 PM
(MULDER sharply jerks up on one of the exterior doors. It opens and he and DOGGETT enter the building. They find DR. PARENTI's office door open.)
MULDER: The man loves his work.
DOGGETT: Dr. Parenti?
MULDER: Agent Doggett. Look at this.
(MULDER shows DOGGETT that the door handle is completely broken. It spins 360 degrees without any resistance.)
(MULDER and DOGGETT again split up to look through the offices. DOGGETT slowly enters a hall, his gun ready.)
DOGGETT: Dr. Parenti.
(He cautiously enters DR. PARENTI's office and lab.)
DOGGETT: Dr. Parenti.
(He sees something on one of the wire shelves.)
DOGGETT: What the hell is that?
(Slowly he walks to the jar. DR. PARENTI's severed head is inside the jar.)
(MULDER is looking around a different room. He hears DOGGETT call him.)
DOGGETT: (voice) Hey, Mulder.
(Suddenly, the door beside MULDER opens, and he find himself facing BILLY MILES.)
(DOGGETT is looking for MULDER.)
DOGGETT: Mulder, better come see this.
(DOGGETT looks around the main office. There is no answer.)
DOGGETT: Mulder?
(Without warning, MULDER is thrown bodily through one of the plate glass walls by BILLY MILES. DOGGETT holds his gun on BILLY MILES.)
DOGGETT: Right there! Don't move! Stop! Stop there!
(BILLY MILES ignores DOGGETT and crosses to where MULDER is lying motionless on the floor.)
DOGGETT: Stop there or I'll shoot!
(As BILLY MILES bends down to look at MULDER, DOGGETT sees the bumps on the back of BILLY MILES' neck. BILLY MILES looks up at DOGGETT and begins advancing on him. DOGGETT fires twice, hitting BILLY MILES twice on the center- left part of his chest. The wounds bleed red. BILLY MILES' body reacts to the bullets' impact, but, undaunted, he keeps coming. DOGGETT ducks back into DR. PARENTI's office and slams the door. He stands against the inner wall, breathing heavily, gun ready. After a moment, of silence, he opens the door again. BILLY MILES is gone. MULDER is unconscious.)
SCENE 12
(Later. SCULLY's apartment. MULDER is sitting at SCULLY's kitchen table as she finishes closing up the gash on his right temple with some suture-tape-things.)
SCULLY: Hold still, Mulder. This should just about do it.
(MULDER winces in pain and swats her hand away.)
MULDER: Ahh! Scully.
SCULLY: Sorry.
MULDER: (smiling up at her) I see why you gave up a career in medicine for the FBI, Scully. You've got manos de piedra.
(He laughs as she playfully swats his nose with a hydrogen peroxide-soaked cotton ball. She begins gently wiping the wound with the cotton ball.)
SCULLY: Sorry.
MULDER: Imagine if he'd really connected.
SCULLY: Who?
MULDER: Billy Miles.
SCULLY: Billy Miles? He did this?
(SCULLY picks up a towel and crosses to the freezer. DOGGETT is also in the kitchen.)
MULDER: Ask Agent Doggett. He saw him.
DOGGETT: If you ask me, the kid was whacked out on something. Whatever it was, he's feeling no pain.
MULDER: Ask me, the kid isn't a kid.
DOGGETT: Oh, don't tell me he's an alien.
(SCULLY hands MULDER a small baggie of ice and the towel. MULDER takes the ice, but manfully ignores the towel. SCULLY tosses it on the table. MULDER winces as he touches the cold bag to his wound.)
MULDER: He is a type of alien. A human replacement. One who looks human. Look at his strength. The way he took those slugs.
DOGGETT: I've seen plenty of guys whacked out on chemicals, keep on coming.
MULDER: Well, then, you're ignoring who Billy Miles is. You, of all people, Agent Doggett who's supposedly running the X-Files.
DOGGETT: You're ignoring the fact that he bled red blood. Now, every single X-File I read-- and I read them all, Mulder-- what you call "aliens" bleed green, right?
(MULDER gives up on the ice and sets it down. He crosses to SCULLY's cabinet and gets a glass and fills it with water.)
MULDER: Well, Billy Miles is a whole new deal. He's an alien abductee who was returned after hideous procedures were performed on him. And who miraculously returns to so-called perfect health when his body completely sheds its skin.
(MULDER drinks the water as SCULLY sits down. She looks tired.)
DOGGETT: Same thing happened to you.
MULDER: Same thing would've happened to me if I'd been left alone.
(He looks at SCULLY.)
MULDER: If Scully hadn't treated me.
SCULLY: What I want to know is what Billy Miles was doing at that medical office.
MULDER: Same as when he torched Zeus Genetics and destroyed their experiments with alien biology and the doctors performing them.
SCULLY: And what were you doing there, ? (she gives him "the look") ?Mulder?
MULDER: Looking for answers.
SCULLY: To what?
MULDER: One of those doctors was your doctor.
SCULLY: Mulder...
MULDER: Listen, Scully, I'm sorry, but I just need to know that this baby of yours is going to be all right.
SCULLY: My baby is fine, Mulder. I've had it checked over and over again with my new doctor that I trust implicitly.
(The door to the apartment opens and LIZZY GILL enters carrying some dry cleaning. She is surprised to see MULDER and DOGGETT.)
LIZZY GILL: Oh, I'm sorry, Dana. I didn't...
SCULLY: Come on in, Lizzy. It's all right. We just need some space to talk.
LIZZY GILL: It's okay. I've got plenty to do. Excuse me.
(LIZZY GILL cheerfully heads back into the bedroom/bathroom area of the apartment. MULDER looks questioningly at SCULLY.)
SCULLY: It's okay. She's just helping me out here at my mother's insistence.
(MULDER crosses to SCULLY and looks at her intently. He speaks gently and honestly.)
MULDER: That's... that's all I'm trying to do. Just make sure nothing happens to you; that this baby you're carrying is born without any surprises.
(SCULLY looks from DOGGETT to MULDER, then sighs.)
(LIZZY GILL is watching from the bedroom. She slowly closes the door and picks up the phone.)
LIZZY GILL: (on phone) Hi. It's me. We've got trouble.
(DUFFY HASKELL is in a very large warehouse room with lots of medical equipment.)
DUFFY HASKELL: (on phone) Where are you?
LIZZY GILL: (on phone) I'm at her apartment. She's with her two partners. They're asking all the right questions.
DUFFY HASKELL: (on phone) Lizzy, listen to me. She trusts you. You've got to play to that. You have to keep a cool head.
(DUFFY HASKELL turns to see BILLY MILES standing right behind him.)
DUFFY HASKELL: Who are you?
(With one swipe of his arm, BILLY MILES knocks DUFFY HASKELL's head from his shoulders. The head and the phone and the body fall to the ground. BILLY MILES stares emotionlessly at the remains.)
SCENE 13
DOWNTOWN WASHINGTON, DC
5:18 PM
(DOGGETT arrives at the warehouse and parks his silver Chevrolet truck nest to the police cars. He enters the building and crosses to SKINNER who is speaking to two MEDICAL EXAMINERS.)
DOGGETT: Assistant Director.
(SKINNER dismisses the MEDICAL EXAMINERS.)
SKINNER: Heads have been rolling, Agent Doggett, all in your direction. PD got the call. Passer-by saw the door of the building wide open. Name of the victim flagged a previous FBI investigation.
(SKINNER kneels down and unzips the body bag exposing DUFFY HASKELL's head severed from the body.)
DOGGETT: Duffy Haskell.
SKINNER: Yeah. Came to see you and Scully on a case involving pregnant women carrying alien babies. Coroner says that the way his neck is severed defies logic and use of any conventional-type weapon.
(SKINNER zips the bag and they begin walking through the lab.)
DOGGETT: What is this place?
SKINNER: An illegal medical facility for the purpose of human cloning. It goes on from here. In fact, it occupies the entire warehouse.
DOGGETT: You read about these things but you don't imagine they exist.
SKINNER: Yeah, just like aliens.
DOGGETT: Come on, what are you saying? That that's what was going on here? That they're making alien babies?
SKINNER: No, nobody's saying that, Agent Doggett. At least not yet. But what I do have to tell you is not going to put your mind any more at ease. We found prenatal records here. A Dr. Lev and a Dr. Parenti working with this Duffy Haskell monitoring Scully's pregnancy.
(MULDER enters the warehouse and watches SKINNER and DOGGETT from the doorway.)
DOGGETT: This Dr. Parenti, it's true he's one of Scully's doctors but from everything I know, Scully's checked out fine.
SKINNER: You seem to be missing the point.
MULDER: And what point would that be? [Closed Captioning: You fellas are starting the party without me?]
(SKINNER glances at DOGGETT, then crosses to MULDER.)
MULDER: What?
SKINNER: Talk to you a minute?
(MULDER follows SKINNER outside.)
MULDER: You said there'd been a murder.
SKINNER: Yeah, we'll get there. Some business we need to clear up. Personal business. About Scully's baby, about who the father is.
MULDER: (smiles) Ahh... Yeah, I hear there's a pool running down at the FBI, placing bets.
SKINNER: I've had my suspicions. That is, until I found out that you had questions. Questions about Scully's pregnancy itself.
MULDER: You want to know who the father is, that's Scully's business. But if you're asking me how a woman who was diagnosed as barren and unable to conceive is about to give birth in a couple days, that's an answer I can't honestly give.
SKINNER: Well, I need answers. In light of what we found in there and in light of Scully's due date I need good, hard answers. Fast.
(SKINNER pulls out his cell phone. MULDER is uncomfortable.)
MULDER: Sir, just... Let me.
(MULDER takes SKINNER's phone and dials.)
(Inside SCULLY's apartment, the phone rings. SCULLY is in the shower. We can see her very pregnant silhouette through the glass shower door. She is washing her hair.)
SCULLY: Lizzy, are you going to get that?
(There is no answer. The phone continues ringing.)
SCULLY: Lizzy?
(SCULLY gets out of the shower and come to answer the phone, a blue robe over her wet body. She is a little breathless.)
SCULLY: (on phone) Hello?
MULDER: (on phone) Hey, Scully, it's me. Are you all right?
SCULLY: (on phone) Yeah. I just ran from the shower.
(SCULLY looks up at a sound. Her bedroom/bathroom door is closed slowly and silently.)
MULDER: (on phone) I need to see you. I've got Skinner with me. It's not something that can really wait.
SCULLY: (on phone) What?
MULDER: (on phone) It's about your pregnancy. Skinner's got some questions based on some new information.
SCULLY: (on phone) What...? Mulder, what are you talking about?
MULDER: (on phone) Evidence of interference by someone.
(SCULLY hangs up the phone and quickly walks back to the bathroom and opens the door. LIZZIE GILL is in the process of switching out the prescription pills again.)
SCULLY: What are you doing? What do you think you're doing with these?
(SCULLY grabs the bottle from her. Some of the pills fall into the sink basin. LIZZIE GILL looks guilty and frightened.)
SCULLY: (furious) Who are you? Who are you?!
SCENE 14
WASHINGTON MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
(Night. Hospital emergency examining room. SCULLY is getting dressed again. Her doctor, a blond woman, 40's, DR. SPEAKE, enters with a smile.)
DR. SPEAKE: I want you to know you can stop worrying, Dana. Your baby is fine.
(MULDER and MRS. SCULLY get to the open door of the room and listen. MRS. SCULLY has her arms crossed in front of her, then hands pressed to her mouth.)
DR. SPEAKE: Everything is absolutely as it should be, 100%. The pills you were worried about were just vitamin supplements. Nothing harmful. Nothing you'd be afraid to give any expectant mother. I know it doesn't make sense but it's a relief, I'm sure.
(DR. SPEAKE leaves the room as MARGARET SCULLY enters. MULDER waits in the open doorway.)
MARGARET SCULLY: I am so sorry, Dana. I brought Lizzie into your home. This is all my fault.
(SCULLY is not looking at her mother. MARGARET SCULLY hugs her.)
MARGARET SCULLY: I'm so sorry. You know I'd never let anything happen to you. I'd never knowingly let anybody hurt you.
SCULLY: I know, Mom.
MARGARET SCULLY: I'm so worried about you. You keep everything so bottled up.
(SCULLY nods and looks at her mother, then over at MULDER who is watching her. They are interrupted by SKINNER coming down the hall.)
SKINNER: Mulder! How is she?
(In the room, MARGARET SCULLY helps SCULLY put on her coat.)
MULDER: She's fine, according to her doctor. Apparently, it was a false alarm. Whatever this woman was up to...
SKINNER: Well, we won't be able to hold the woman based on those findings. But Agent Doggett's been talking to her. I think you ought to hear what she has to say.
(MULDER glances into the room, then reluctantly follows SKINNER. SCULLY watches them leave.)
SCENE 15
(SKINNER's office. LIZZIE GILL is at the table with DOGGETT, SKINNER, and MULDER.)
LIZZIE GILL: I knew people would kill for what I know but ? not like this.
DOGGETT: Not going to let that happen. Just what you told me and Agent Crane.
LIZZIE GILL: For the past ten years I've been working as a research scientist trying to produce human clones-- long before the media circus with sheep and cows. The work was painstaking, largely unsuccessful but there was a lot of interest and a lot of money.
MULDER: Money from who?
LIZZIE GILL: Orders came from government men. But they're all dead now.
MULDER: But the work continued.
LIZZIE GILL: We were surprisingly successful with a clone from a human egg and alien DNA. DNA that the government had since 1947.
SKINNER: What do you mean by success?
LIZZIE GILL: Alien babies. Birthed by human mothers desperate to conceive. They didn't live more than a couple of days, but tissue and stem cells is what we were after for other experiments.
(MULDER briefly rubs his temples.)
MULDER: What other experiments?
LIZZIE GILL: I don't know anything about that. But I know it was something good.
MULDER: What did you do to Scully?
LIZZIE GILL: We were trying to protect her.
MULDER: (leaning forward) What did you do to her?!
LIZZIE GILL: No, you don't understand.
MULDER: (yelling) Tell me what's wrong with her! Tell me what's wrong with her baby!
(LIZZIE GILL looks to DOGGETT.)
DOGGETT: Listen to her. What she's saying.
LIZZIE GILL: There's nothing wrong with her. That's what I'm trying to tell you. The child she is carrying is very special. One could only hope to create that in a lab. A perfect human child but with no human frailties.
(MULDER stares at her a moment, then angrily walks out of the room. SKINNER indicates that DOGGETT should go after him. DOGGETT follows MULDER out of the room into the hallway.)
DOGGETT: Mulder!
(MULDER ignores DOGGETT. AGENT CRANE comes out of another office and stops DOGGETT.)
AGENT CRANE: Agent Doggett! I got something, John. This guy Billy Miles called in from a Dr. Parenti's office. He wants to give himself up.
(DOGGETT looks down the hall and sees MULDER getting into the elevator and the doors close. He sighs and looks at the message.)
DOGGETT: All right, let's get over there.
SCENE 16
(SCULLY's apartment. She is getting comfortable on her couch with a book. There is a knock at the door.)
SCULLY: Yes?
MULDER: (from the hall) It's me.
(SCULLY gets up and opens the door. MULDER enters, full of nervous energy.)
SCULLY: What's wrong?
MULDER: You here alone?
SCULLY: Yes. My Mom just went to the...
(MULDER puts his hand on her shoulder and begins steering her toward the bedroom.)
MULDER: Whatever you can't get elsewhere, just throw it together.
(SCULLY stops him.)
SCULLY: Mulder, to go where? No, just stop! Can you tell me what's wrong? Is it something to do with my baby?
MULDER: No, your, your baby is fine. It's you who's in danger now, Scully.
SCULLY: From who? Mulder, from what?
MULDER: I don't know, I'm not sure. I'm not sure about anything. I just know I got to get you out of here.
SCULLY: Look, Mulder, look, I can't take this! I can't live like this?as, as the object of some unending X-File.
MULDER: This isn't about the X-Files, Scully. It is only about you. Now, you are going to have this baby and I'm going to do everything I can to protect it. I just can't do that here.
(MULDER and SCULLY look at each other. She takes a moment to consider his words, and then crosses to her bedroom.)
SCENE 17
(Parenti Medical Group office. An FBI SWAT team including DOGGETT and AGENT CRANE bust into the office and begin searching the lab. Of course no one turns on a light.)
DOGGETT: Billy Miles! Billy... Billy Miles.
(He finds nothing.)
AGENT CRANE: Agent Doggett. Anything?
(No BILLY MILES. The office is empty.)
SCENE 18
(SCULLY's bedroom. MULDER is watching her pack a small dufflebag. His cell phone rings.)
MULDER: (on phone) Mulder.
DOGGETT: (on phone) It's John Doggett. I'm at Dr. Parenti's office. Billy Miles called us looking to turn himself in, only he ain't here.
MULDER: (on phone) Agent Doggett...
DOGGETT: (on phone) I know. Something's wrong. Something doesn't make any sense.
(The lights in the apartment building go out. MULDER looks at SCULLY.)
MULDER: Leave the suitcase.
(SCULLY picks up her coat and puts it on as she and MULDER leave the apartment. At the same time, they glance behind them. Just as they turn a corner in the hall, BILLY MILES comes down the hall from the other direction and enters SCULLY's apartment.)
(Outside, MULDER helps SCULLY waddle down the back stairs toward the street. She gets out her car keys and MULDER takes them from her as they cross the street to reach her car.)
MULDER: Get in, go around.
(MULDER opens the drivers side, gets in, then reaches over to unlock SCULLY's door. She gets in and puts on her seatbelt as he starts the engine. The car is blocked in. MULDER bumps the cars in front of and behind them, but can't get enough room to pull out. BILLY MILES comes out of the front of the building and begins walking quickly toward them. SCULLY nervously locks her door.)
SCULLY: Mulder, lock your door.
MULDER: I don't think that matters much, Scully.
(MULDER locks the door anyway. BILLY MILES keeps heading toward them. He doesn't look both ways before crossing the street. Suddenly, BILLY MILES is knocked to the ground and run over by a speeding car. MULDER and SCULLY stare in surprise. The car backs up beside MULDER's door and the tinted window slides down. The driver is everyone's favourite rat, KRYCEK! Now MULDER and SCULLY are really surprised.)
KRYCEK: We haven't got much time. Get in.
(SCULLY looks back into the street. Speedbump!BILLY MILES is slowly getting up. Blood is pouring from his face.
SCULLY: Mulder?
KRYCEK: Let's go!
(MULDER and SCULLY get out of the car quickly. MULDER opens the back of KRYCEK's car for her, then gets into the passenger seat. Tires squealing, KRYCEK reverses back down the street, then turns onto the main road. BILLY MILES watches them go.)
SCENE 19
(SKINNER's office. SCULLY is sitting on a couch looking rather depressed, her hand covering her eyes. SKINNER and MULDER are standing next to KRYCEK's chair, DOGGETT standing next to the desk near them.)
KRYCEK: You should all know exactly what it is you're up against... what Agent Scully's up against.
DOGGETT: You realize you're all listening to someone who tried to kill me. He left you for dead.
[CarriK: Welcome to the X-Files, Doggett. Better stop taking these murder attempts personally.]
MULDER: Tell us about Billy Miles.
KRYCEK: There are others just like him. You can call them what you want. They're human replacements, alien replicants. They're virtually unstoppable.
SKINNER: What do they want?
KRYCEK: They want to knock out any and all attempts by us to survive the final days- - when they come back to retake the planet.
DOGGETT: So, what, they're wandering around among us ? looking for trouble? Some kind of alien lawmen?
KRYCEK: You saw what they did to those doctors. They're fearless. And they answer to no one except their own biological imperative ? to survive.
(MULDER looks over at SCULLY. Pause.)
MULDER: What about Scully? What do they want with her?
SCULLY: They want my baby.
(SCULLY is exhausted. She looks at KRYCEK.)
SCULLY: Why?
KRYCEK: They didn't even know about it. I don't know exactly how they could have found out just how... how important it is... how special.
SCULLY: My baby is normal.
KRYCEK: Your baby was a miracle. Born of a barren mother's barren womb.
MULDER: Are you saying that they're afraid of it?
KRYCEK: They're afraid of its implications. That it could somehow be greater than them. Something... more human than human.
SCULLY: (whisper) I don't believe this.
SKINNER: You wanted to destroy her child.
KRYCEK: I wanted to destroy the truth before they learn the truth.
MULDER: That there's a God... a higher power.
DOGGETT: I don't believe this crap; I don't believe you're all sitting around here listening to it even when you know this man's a liar. Worse than that.
KRYCEK: You can believe what you want but I don't think you can take the chance that I'm wrong.
(Long pause. MULDER believes. DOGGETT does not.)
KRYCEK: There is no hospital that's safe enough. She may never even make it out of this building.
DOGGETT: Why don't you just shut up?
MULDER: Agent Doggett. Get on the phone. If we're going to get Scully out of here we're going to need some help.
SCENE 20
(Hours later. REYES is in the back seat of a taxi. The CABBIE adjusts his rearview mirror so we can see her.)
REYES: (on phone) Agent Doggett? Agent Doggett, can you hear me? I'm in the cab on my way from the airport.
(DOGGETT is walking through a hall in the FBI building.)
DOGGETT: (on phone) I'll meet you down in the parking garage. I have a car there waiting for you.
REYES: (on phone) Where are we going?
DOGGETT: (on phone) I'll tell you when you get here.
(DOGGETT gets to the elevator and hangs up. He sees SCULLY, flanked by MULDER and SKINNER and followed by KRYCEK approaching.)
KRYCEK: If I'm so full of crap, why all the precautions?
SKINNER: Precisely because you are so full of crap, Krycek.
(SKINNER taps KRYCEK on the chest, then joins SCULLY, MULDER, and DOGGETT in the elevator.)
SKINNER: Your ass stays here.
(KRYCEK smirks at SKINNER as the doors slide shut.)
REYES: (on phone) Agent Doggett, where are you?
DOGGETT: (on phone) Coming around to you.
REYES: (to the driver) Stop the car.
(REYES gets out of the cab. DOGGETT pulls up beside the cab in a beige sedan. He gets out and quickly pays the cabbie.)
DOGGETT: Go. Get out of here.
(The cab pulls away as DOGGETT pulls out his phone.)
REYES: I'm guessing I don't have time to go to the little girls' room?
DOGGETT: (on phone) Okay, bring her down.
(About 50 yards down the deck, the cab screeches to a halt, almost hitting BILLY MILES. BILLY MILES ignores the cab and walks toward the elevators. DOGGETT and REYES begin running toward the elevators.)
DOGGETT: (on phone) Mulder, Skinner, he's in the garage!
(The elevator has reached the parking garage. MULDER and SCULLY are in the process of getting off. SKINNER is still on the phone with DOGGETT.)
DOGGETT: (on phone) Go back! Go back!
(SKINNER yells to MULDER and SCULLY.)
SKINNER: Get back in the elevator!
(MULDER and SCULLY quickly get back into the elevator. The doors close just as BILLY MILES reaches them. Undaunted, BILLY MILES heads for the stairs. DOGGETT and REYES reach the elevators. One is on an upper level, the other rising. DOGGETT notices the door to the stairs closing.)
DOGGETT: (on phone) He's on the stairs coming up.
(SKINNER, MULDER, and SCULLY get back to the fifth floor. KRYCEK is still there, waiting for them. He smiles.)
KRYCEK: Hey, look who's back.
SKINNER: He's in the building.
(MULDER stops the doors from closing.)
KRYCEK: What do you want me to do?
MULDER: You're going to protect her.
(MULDER gently pushes SCULLY out of the elevator toward KRYCEK. Both SCULLY and KRYCEK are surprised. SCULLY and MULDER look at each other as the doors close again. BILLY MILES comes out of the stairwell onto the fifth floor. He sees no one, but sees the elevator rising to the roof. He goes back into the stairwell to follow. KRYCEK leads SCULLY back out of an office they used as a quick hiding place. BILLY MILES gets to the roof and looks around. He sees SKINNER walking on the other side of the roof.)
(KRYCEK leads SCULLY out the stairwell door to the parking deck. He hands her off to DOGGETT. REYES opens the passenger door of the sedan, and SCULLY gets in and puts her seatbelt on.)
KRYCEK: Drive safely.
(SCULLY's expression indicates she could care less about KRYCEK's concern. REYES gets in the driver's side and starts the car. DOGGETT and KRYCEK watch them drive away down the deck.)
CUT TO: (On the roof, BILLY MILES sees SKINNER walking toward the edge. BILLY MILES parallels him, then crosses toward him around assorted rooftop machinery.)
CUT TO: (REYES and SCULLY get closer to the parking deck exit.)
CUT TO: (SKINNER looks nervously over the side of the building and sees a garbage truck pull up right below him. BILLY MILES is getting closer)
CUT TO: (AGENT CRANE steps in front of the car, his arms up, forcing REYES to stop right at the exit.)
CUT TO: (Just as BILLY MILES is about to do his decapitation head chop on SKINNER, MULDER runs toward them and pushes BILLY MILES over the side of the building. BILLY MILES falls six stories and lands in the back of the garbage truck. AGENT CRANE watches as BILLY MILES falls, then opens the gate for REYES and SCULLY. MULDER and SKINNER watch as the truck compacts BILLY MILES with a crunching sound. Eww. AGENT CRANE signals the driver of the truck.)
AGENT CRANE: Go!
(The truck pulls away and AGENT CRANE signals REYES.)
AGENT CRANE: Go!
(From the roof, MULDER and SKINNER watch as REYES and SCULLY drive off into the night. AGENT CRANE also watches them go. We see a very suspicious bump on the back of AGENT CRANE's neck.)
[TO BE CONTINUED ...]
2024-09-22 00:57:51 -
Pike:
Added an actor.
2024-09-22 00:50:06 -
Pike:
Added some actors.
