WRITTEN BY
Alex Gansa
&
Howard Gordon
DIRECTED BY
Daniel Sackheim
AIRED ON
October 1, 1993
RUNTIME
44 minutes
STARRING
VIEWS
648
LAST UPDATE
2024-09-21 16:32:36
PAGE VERSION
Version 10
LIKES
1
DISLIKES
0
SUMMARY
Mulder and Scully investigate the disappearance of a teenage girl, Ruby Morris, who vanishes near a campsite in Iowa, an area known for UFO sightings. Mulder, driven by the parallels to his sister Samantha's abduction, becomes emotionally invested in the case. They encounter Ruby's younger brother, Kevin, who begins to display strange behaviors and produce binary code sequences that hint at extraterrestrial contact. As they delve deeper, the agents face resistance from the local authorities and the girl's distraught mother, uncovering clues that suggest Ruby's disappearance might be linked to a broader, more sinister pattern of alien abductions. The episode highlights Mulder's personal connection to the paranormal and the emotional stakes driving his quest for the truth.
STORY
When a teenaged girl, Ruby, is mysteriously abducted from a campsite in Iowa, Mulder has a particular emotional investment in the case -- especially in light of his belief that his own sister was abducted. Ruby's brother Kevin has been behaving strangely ever since the abduction, and has taken to continuously writing down series of 1's and 0's. Mulder sends the writing to some analysts back in Washington, and the boy and his mother are promptly taken into custody. Kevin's scribblings are actually the binary transmissions of a defense satellite.
Scully thinks Ruby may have been murdered, and she believes that Mulder is allowing his personal feelings to cloud his judgment. Yet when the agents return to Ruby's home, they find Kevin arranging countless pages of binary code on the floor. When Scully looks down from a stairway, she is shocked to see that the numbers have formed a giant portrait of Ruby.
Ruby suddenly reappears in the woods and is unconscious. In the hospital, she exhibits symptoms of having been weightless for a prolonged period of time. But instead of subjecting her daughter to scrutiny, their mother takes the children and disappears.
BEHIND THE SCENES
- Shelley Owens is Chris Owens' sister, the actor playing Agent Jeffrey Spender in later episodes.
- This is the first episode where Mulder says "I want to believe."
- Howard Gordon, about the episode: "Chris was really helpful. Alex and I were struggling with the story – so much so that we even began to think we didn’t belong on the show – but Chris convinced us not to get down on ourselves and he helped us figure out a way to tell the story."
- Gordon about Carrie Snodgress: "We were definitely fans of her work, and fans of her ex-husband, Neil Young. I only got to spend a few hours with her up in Vancouver, but I thought her performance in Conduit was pitch perfect."
- According to the file that FBI Section Chief Blevins provides to Scully, Samantha Mulder (Mulder's sister) is named Samantha T. Mulder. She used to live in 2790 Vine Street in the city of Chilmarc, Mass. She was also born in Chilmarc, Mass. She was born on January 22, 1964.
- This is the first episode where Mulder asks for some help to someone named Danny.
PLAYLIST
Johann Sebastian Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Mvt. I, Allegro
PHOTOS
2 photos
QUOTES
Mulder: I can't move. So I don't. I just lie there in bed.
Dr. Heitz Werber: Can you see your sister?
Mulder: No, but I can hear her.
Dr. Heitz Werber: What is she saying?
Mulder: She's calling out my name, over and over again. She's crying out for help. But I can't help her. I can't move.
Dr. Heitz Werber: Are you scared?
Mulder: I know I should be, but I'm not.
Dr. Heitz Werber: Do you know why?
Mulder: Because of the voice.
Dr. Heitz Werber: The voice?
Mulder: The voice in my head.
Dr. Heitz Werber: What's it telling you.
Mulder: Not to be afraid. It's telling me that no harm will come to her, and that one day she'll return.
Dr. Heitz Werber: Do you believe the voice?
Mulder: I want to believe.
FILMING LOCATIONS
Scene: When Mulder and Scully are investigating near a lake.
Address: Buntzen Lake, North Shore, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Coordinates: 49.365047938863576, -122.85718904887868
TOPICS
No topics yet.
REVIEWS
Superb realistic episode!
Written by
Pike on 2015-12-25
★
★
★
★
DARLENE MORRIS
The character of Darlene Morris is excellent. Beautifully portrayed by Carrie Snodgress (who passed away on April 1st, 2004).
At first, Mrs. Morris is surprised to see the FBI being interested in her daughter's disappearance.
What then happens is very interesting. Because of Mulder's investigation, Mrs. Morris actually gets her life even more destroyed, with the appearance of the CIA.
MULTIPLE ANGLES
At first, we all think that the young woman has been abducted by aliens. But then, we start to understand that this girl wasn't so prude after all. The Sheriff is telling Mulder and Scully that she wasn't the perfect girl at all. This reminded me a bit of "Twin Peaks", when we slowly realize that Laura Palmer wasn't this innocent girl after all.
OBSESSED MULDER
For the very first time in the series, we get to see Fox Mulder obsessed about a case and having a dark side into him. When that arises, David Duchovny plays a beautiful facette from the character. This facette will be seen again in future episodes. The paroxysm will be when facing Duane Barry after he abducted Scully.
EMOTIONS
This provides an emotional connection from Mulder, which is always more interesting where characters have deep connections to the case. For instance, it is so emotional when Mulder touches the picture of the "abducted" girl as a child.
Mulder is just a man desperately trying to find out what happened to his sister. This vulnerable side of the character is what makes him a deep character and not a flat one like new characters such as Monica Reyes. Mulder is a true human being to which you can really connect as an audience.
Even though this is a series about aliens and monsters, the themes are real and the first season, with its low budget, is perfect for that.
REALISM
Once again, the episode is anchored in realism. At the beginning of the episode, FBI Chief Section Blevins explains to Scully that Mulder has filed a dedicated form (named 302). Mulder is actually filling out a request for future travel expenses. He is formally asking the Bureau to assign a case file number to a new investigation. Can you imagine that? In the later seasons, Mulder and Scully would simply jump on the next sci-fi quest without even asking. This level of realism of the first seasons is very positive.
ENDING / MUSIC
The ending of this episode is a beautifully stunning as the one from "Deep Throat", two episodes before. It is excruciatingly beautiful.
Just after Mrs. Morris refuses to have Mulder interrogating her returned daughter, he leaves frustrated. We then get to see Scully listening to Mulder's hypnosis tape, talking about his abducted sister.
Mark Snow especially composed a marvellously beautiful theme (and this is a rare thing, as he rarely composed a dedicated theme in future episodes).
This scene, with this beautiful music, beautiful writing and beautiful acting and directing, makes it one of the most emotional scenes of the series. We sense that Mulder doesn't want to openly talk about his abducted sister, as this subject is too close to him. Scully also feels that she cannot openly talk about it with him. This makes it very realistic and beautifully moving. Here are the beautiful dialogues:
Fox Mulder: I can't move. So I don't. I just lie there in bed.
Dr. Heitz Werber: Can you see your sister?
Fox Mulder: No, but I can hear her.
Dr. Heitz Werber: What is she saying?
Fox Mulder: She's calling out my name, over and over again. She's crying out for help. But I can't help her. I can't move.
Dr. Heitz Werber: Are you scared?
Fox Mulder: I know I should be, but I'm not.
Dr. Heitz Werber: Do you know why?
Fox Mulder: Because of the voice.
Dr. Heitz Werber: The voice?
Fox Mulder: The voice in my head.
Dr. Heitz Werber: What's it telling you.
Fox Mulder: Not to be afraid. It's telling me that no harm will come to her, and that one day she'll return.
Dr. Heitz Werber: Do you believe the voice?
Fox Mulder: I want to believe.
SUMMARY
I simply love Conduit and find it underrated. I give it 4 out of 5.
___________________________________________
A forgotten masterpiece
Written by
DuaneB on 2018-04-24
★
★
★
★
★
I have just seen it again. In fact he is much more cult than we think.
A density, a photograph, and a construction:
I understand why it's a shock to review the first episodes. It's like when you open a family album, you see yourself and your loved ones so young, that we remember some moments, happy and unhappy. These episodes were the opposite of those of the revival for all these reasons. The slowness that is boring is also the same captive; we can not, therefore, decently complain of one who loves the other.
The photography at the level of sublime scenery as actors is absolutely beautiful. Each plan could almost be a photo. An artist could easily make a photo exhibition based on the series; but more particularly on the first 3 seasons, and more particularly on the first, and more particularly on the first episodes including this one. I could take any example from the most sublime to the most unspecified, the photo would still be interesting, strong, sensual visual. It is said that the game of GA has improved a lot since the beginning of the sia 1 until the end (it was Kim Manners who said that), but in fact, to look at it more closely, she plays already prodigiously well, using his discreet sensuality, his subtle and infinite range of looks, playing discreet calm mimicry ...
The construction is in fact very related of course to the story but also to the photo, the plans. One would have almost an arch-Kubrick narrative construction, with a beginning, a summit, and a conclusive fallout. The beginning being the emotional abduction-alibi for Fox, the top confrontation with Darlene and the return of Ruby, and the conclusive fallout to the church. The same goes for the night photo at the lake, and the photo in the meadow, at night, with the big light of the bikers we love.
This construction was not the only fact Conduit but the series in general, at least for the best episodes. It is precisely because the revival has broken this rhythm, no longer taking the time to tell a real story, that nostalgic and other fans of the early hours adhere little to the 10th and 11th season.
The MSR:
That gave the tone since the pilot. There was in this episode a withdrawal, a kind of professional distance from Scully, because of his position as a spy, caught between two fires, one institutional and the other emotional because of Mulder's story. and his sister. This gentle balancing balance on both of these aspects simultaneously offered a true respectful colleague relationship and a dose of deep but prude affection. There was in this season, and in this episode as a grain of religiosity underlying which gave all the emotional corset of our duet. The compassion of one serving as a counterpoint to the painful passion of the other. The skepticism of one clashing with the phenomena crediting the other. We can continue like this for hours.
Situations of contrasts
Whether it is the youth of Tessa very rock face the youth of Scully very serious and "grandes écoles"
Whether it is the contrast Mulder passionate face a cautious Scully.
The little boy facing the man. The young female officer faces the protective and angry mother.
The local police department and its sheriff face Mulder
The very strict outfit of Scully parachuted into this bar of bikers. His sensuality and restraint in front of the heavy but true remarks of the guys from the bar, in the background ...
Again, when x files brought together such situations, we offered contrasts on these levels, the series held us, caught us.
The music:
Like the original series, Mark Snow accompanies us this episode of real small micro-melodies that punctuate the scenes. I think for example of the first scene at Darlene where Mulder looks at the family photos on the shelves. And this music emphasizes in half hue these little notes with nostalgic harmonies so frequent in this first season. This intense moment when Scully is watching Mulder looking at these pictures. Tell me in which episode of the revival we see that? I've never found that for 2 years. The speed of the revival having as distant echo that slowness where one could spend 5 seconds on a look, without any word. No need for words and action when inaction and heavy silence do the work. And then we can already see how good Scully, a good girl of wise and catholic families, ticks the boxes with his musical culture, recognizing Bach's Brandenburg Concerto.
But what an episode. And this scene where the elements come together like a beautiful puzzle, the drawings of the small forming-such pixels of 1 and 0- the face of his sister Ruby. The scene of the lake and the forest with the wolves ...
Too much candy. I'm nauseated.
___________________________________________
Meeting with abductees
Written by
danascully09 on 2018-05-24
★
★
★
★
★
Great episode with superb scenes of abductions or what it might be. Ruby's brother is convincing and mysterious. I love when Scully discovers the shape of Ruby in the numbers. And always the local police working against the FBI. A real investigation in woods with a lot of signs in a lot of directions. And great actors
SCRIPT
TRANSCRIPT
SCENE 1
(It is a dark night and there is a campfire going, a young boy and girl are sleeping in their sleeping bags outside a camper van, beside a lake. Inside the van sleeps the mother, and all is quiet. We see there is a bag of shells on a table, the tap is dripping and a cup of coffee sits on the table also. Suddenly the cup starts shaking, the mother wakes up as we see it's the whole van that is shaking. She falls out of her bunk and hits the floor hard, a cupboard opens and all the plates and cups shake off the shelf. A bright light is coming in through the windows, the woman is sitting on the floor backed against a wall and screaming. As suddenly as the shaking started, it stops)
DARLENE MORRIS: Kids!
KEVIN MORRIS: MOM! MOM!
DARLENE MORRIS: Kevin!
KEVIN MORRIS: MOM! (The woman crawls towards the door of the camper and as she puts her hand on the handle, she burns her hand) MOM! MOM! (The woman looks around and finds an oven glove which she puts on) MOM! MOM! MOM! (As the woman opens the door, her son, Kevin, is standing at the bottom of the steps in front of the door) MOM! Ruby's gone.
(The woman comes out of the camper and takes Kevin's hand)
DARLENE MORRIS: Ruby! RUBY! (The woman runs to both sides of the camper calling out her daughter's name) RUBY! RUBY! (The woman stops and looks straight up into the night sky) RUBY!
[OPENING CREDITS]
SCENE 2
FBI HEADQUARTERS
WASHINGTON, D.C.
(We see the outside of the building and then we see Scully in Section Chief Scott Blevins' office. He hands Scully a green file)
BLEVINS: Agent Mulder's latest 3-0-2, requesting assignment and travel expenses for the both of you.
SCULLY: Sioux City, Iowa. That's the first I've heard of it.
BLEVINS: It came up through channels, from Mulder's Asat, to the district G-14 and onto my desk.
SCULLY: I don't understand.
(Inside the file, attached to the 3-0-2, is an article cut out from a
paper with the headline `TEEN TAKEN FROM TENT BY ALIENS')
BLEVINS: In essence, Mulder is petitioning the bureau to assign a case number to a tabloid headline.
SCULLY: He must have more evidence than..
BLEVINS: Not according to his 3-0-2, he doesn't.
SCULLY: I admit, that is strange. Even for Mulder.
(Blevins gets up and takes a file out of a filing cabinet)
BLEVINS: Perhaps, it has something to do with this, take a look.
(He walks in front of the desk and gives the file to Scully)
SCULLY: An X-File.
(Scully opens the file and inside we see the following information:)
Name Samantha T. Mulder Address 2790 Vine Street City Chilmarc, Mass. Place of Birth Chilmarc, Mass. Date of Birth January 22, 1964 Nationality American
(Below is a picture of a young girl. More information reads as:)
REMARKS: Name and address of nearest relative notified in case of emergency.
Fox Mulder (brother) c/o F.B.I. Washington Bureau
(There is also a signature below)
(Scully sits down)
BLEVINS: Has he shared any of this with you? There's no need to protect him, he's the agent of record, he initiated the file himself.
SCULLY: She was his sister, she disappeared twenty-one years ago, he was, twelve and she was eight. He claims that he was in the room when it happened. He recalls a, bright light outside the window and er, and a presence in the room.
BLEVINS: In your opinion, has Agent Mulder's personal agenda clouded his professional judgement?
SCULLY: In my opinion, no.
BLEVINS: But you can see, how it might appear that way. (Blevins goes behind his desk and sits down) As you know, Agent Mulder's pre-occupation with fringe matters has been a big source of friction in the bureau, this is another case in point. I'm gonna disallow the 3- 0-2.
SCULLY: With respect sir, at least let me talk with him, and make a recommendation.
SCENE 3
X-FILES OFFICE
(Scully is pacing talking to Mulder, who is sitting at a desk)
SCULLY: It just doesn't seem, substantial enough to warrant an investigation.
MULDER: Ok Scully, so we disagree, it's not the first time and it won't be the last.
SCULLY: Well, at least if we had a legitimate source, we could..
MULDER: This is the essence of science, you ask an impertinent question and you're on your way to a pertinent answer.
SCULLY: But what makes this case anymore credible, than...(Scully lifts a copy of National Comet, from were the article attached to Mulder's 3-0-2 was taken, off Mulder's desk and reads another cover feature)...the hundred year old mother with the lizard baby?
MULDER: Because, the lizard baby, wasn't born anywhere near Lake Okobogee.
SCULLY: Oko-what?
MULDER: Bogee. (Mulders get up and talks right into Scully's face) Okobogee.
SCULLY: Is that supposed to mean something to me?
(Mulder turns off the lights)
MULDER: If you know anything about trout fishing, or UFO hotspots.
SCULLY: Define hotspot.
(Mulder turns on a slide projector and we see a UFO on a projection screen)
MULDER: Four sightings in 1967, August, including one by a national weather service plane. (Mulder clicks to a bigger picture of the UFO) This is a light blasted, digitally enhanced enlargement.
SCULLY: The pilot took that photograph?
MULDER: Try a girl scout with an instamatic. Four of the nine girls in the troupe claim to have seen something, five if you include the den mother. The Air Force said it was a weather balloon caught in a wind sheer. But there wasn't a weather balloon launched that day within seven hundred miles. (Mulder turns off the slide projector and gets a file which he gives to Scully) Now read me the names of those girl scouts from 1967.
(Mulder turns on an overhead projector and walks off out of sight)
SCULLY: Lisa Tyrell, Bonnie Winston, Dorreen McAllister, Darlene Mor...
(Mulder attached to his 3-0-2)
MULDER: It's the same Darlene Morris.
SCENE 4
SIOUX CITY, IA
(Mulder and Scully pull up to a house in a car, they get out and approach the house. Mulder knocks on the door)
SCULLY: Miss Darlene Morris? (Scully shows her id) I'm Agent Scully and this is Agent Fox Mulder, we talked with you on the phone last night.
DARLENE MORRIS: Er, please come in. (They enter the house) Well I, knew that if I screamed, loud and long enough that, someone would listen. But I never expected the FBI. Er, this is Kevin. Kevin, say "hi". (Kevin is sitting at a table in the next room) Would you like some coffee?
SCULLY: Hmmm.
(Darlene walks off to the kitchen, Scully walks towards the next room when she looks behind her at Mulder. Mulder is looking at some of the pictures on the mantel, pictures showing Ruby. Mulder touches a photo of Ruby as a young girl)
(Darlene, Scully and Mulder are sitting in the kitchen)
DARLENE MORRIS: Somedays I can't even, get myself up out of bed. And, Kevin has been acting so strange, er, I don't know what to do anymore. I, I just, want her back again.
SCULLY: Miss Morris, during the divorce, was there a custody battle?
DARLENE MORRIS: Charles had nothing to do with this.
SCULLY: How can you be so sure?
DARLENE MORRIS: Because I know what happened. It's just like it was before.
MULDER: Summer of 1967, the girl scout troupe?
DARLENE MORRIS: How did you know about that?
MULDER: Your name's on record at the center for UFO studies in Evanston, Illinois.
DARLENE MORRIS: Really?
MULDER: Yea, pilot for the national weather service made a similar sighting over the same area on the same day.
DARLENE MORRIS: They took her didn't they Mr. Mulder?
(There is a long pause)
MULDER: You, you said that erm, Kevin was there, the night it happened.
DARLENE MORRIS: He didn't see anything, he was asleep.
MULDER: Do you think I might talk to him anyway? (Darlene nods her head) Thanks.
(Mulder gets up and walks away)
DARLENE MORRIS: You know, I've told this story so many times now, oh to the newspapers and the police. And everytime I tell it, people get this, look in their eye, just like the look that you've got right now.
(Kevin is sitting in front of a TV which is untuned to any channel)
MULDER: Hey buddy! Mind if I sit down? (Kevin shrugs his shoulders) Thanks. (Mulder sits on the end of a coffee table) Your mom tells me you've been having nightmares.
KEVIN MORRIS: I guess so.
MULDER: Wanna tell me about `em?
KEVIN MORRIS: No.
MULDER: Alright. (Mulder notices Kevin is writing on a pad) Whatta you doing? (Kevin turns round to look at Mulder and then turns back to his pad and continues writing) Are you making something? (Kevin nods his head) Can I take a look at it? (Kevin lifts his pad and passes it to Mulder) Thanks.
(When Mulder looks at the pad all he sees are ones and zeroes written continously down the page)
(Kevin points towards the tv)
KEVIN MORRIS: It's coming from there.
MULDER: The TV?
(Kevin stops pointing at the tv and nods his head)
SCENE 5
SIOUX CITY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT
(A fax is being sent out on headed paper. The information on it reads:)
DATE: AUG 26
FROM: FOX MULDER
TO: DANIEL BERNSTEIN
REPORTING TO: CRYPTOGRAPHY SECTION, F.B.I. WASH. D.C.
(Mulder is talking on a phone, Scully is in the Sheriff's office talking to the Sheriff)
MULDER: I don't know what it is, maybe a binary sequence of some kind. Could be anything, could be nothing. I know you're busy, look erm, I know a friend who knows a friend who knows a friend who-oo can get you tickets to a Redskins game. You got it. Alright, you know where to find me? Thanks Danny.
(Inside the Sheriff's office, the Sheriff walks around to sit behind his desk)
SIOUX CITY SHERIFF: So, as I was telling your partner, we found no evidence of kidnap, no phone call, no ransom note, and since we didn't turn up a body....
MULDER: You assume she ran away.
SHERIFF: Well, it wouldn't be the first time Ruby Morris ran away from home.
MULDER: Well, how do you explain what her mother saw?
SHERIFF: Well I think that Darlene has a very active imagination. I've been listening to those stories since the first grade.
MULDER: So basically you ignored her statement.
SHERIFF: I included it in my report.
MULDER: But you didn't bother to check it out.
SHERIFF: We went out to the camp sight, we didn't find anything. Let me tell you something, Darlene's little girl was no prom queen. I can't count the number of times I pulled her out of parked cars, or found her puking her guts out by the side of the road, it was just a matter of time before...
MULDER: Before what?
SHERIFF: Before something bad happened to her and if Darlene needs to make up crazy stories to get past that, fine. But don't tell me to treat it as the truth, I not gonna waste my time.
(Mulder and Scully leave the building)
SCULLY: I just think it's a good idea not to antagonise local law enforcement.
MULDER: Who me? I'm Mr. Congeniality.
SCULLY: You never know, we might need his help one of these days.
MULDER: I'll send him a bunt cake.
(As Mulder walks around the driver's side of their car, he notices a piece of paper stuck under the window wiper. He takes it and opens it, it reads `I'M ACROSS THE STREET FOLLOW ME'. Mulder hands the note to Scully, who after reading it looks around to see who left the note. They see a girl across the street, and when she sees that Mulder and Scully have noticed her, she walks away. Mulder and Scully follow her into a library)
(As they enter the library, they look up each of the aisles until they find the girl standing at the end of one. As they approach, the girl moves into the next aisle and talks to Mulder and Scully through the books)
TESSA: You're looking for Ruby, right?
SCULLY: That's right. Who are you?
TESSA: Doesn't matter.
SCULLY: Are you a friend of Ruby's?
TESSA: Ruby didn't have friends, she just had people she liked to hang with.
SCULLY: And she liked to hang out with you?
TESSA: Guess we had some times.
MULDER: Like the night she disappeared?
TESSA: It was Greg, she was supposed to see him that night.
MULDER: Who's Greg?
TESSA: Her boyfriend, Greg Randall. Supposed to meet up at the lake. Had stuff to talk about.
MULDER: What kind of stuff?
TESSA: Greg got Ruby pregnant. I don't know, whatever, she got herself pregnant.
SCULLY: Do you know what they were planning to do about it?
TESSA: Gonna leave town, least that's what Ruby told me.
SCULLY: You know Greg from School?
TESSA: Greg, school, I don't think so. All he ever did since we met him was pour beer, The Pennyslvania Pub.
(A woman knocks some books off a shelf, Mulder and Scully turn to see what the noise was but when they turn back to talk to Tessa, she's gone. They look in the next aisle but she's gone)
SCENE 6
THE PENNSYLVANIA PUB
(Outside the pub is alot of parked motorbikes, inside most people are wearing leather jackets. Mulder and Scully make their way across the floor to the bar. A comment is made about Scully, refering to her as a `real' girl)
MULDER: `scuse me. Do you know where we could find Greg Randall?
PENNSYLVANIA PUB BARTENDER: Who's asking? (Mulder takes out and shows his id) What kind of trouble's he got himself into now?
MULDER: Actually, we were hoping you could tell us.
BARTENDER: Greg called in sick about three weeks ago man, I haven't seen or heard from him since.
MULDER: Any ideas where he might have gone?
BARTENDER: No, but if you find him, you tell him he's fired.
SCULLY: This is the motel we'll be staying at if you hear of anything.
(Scully gives the bartender a card with the details of where they are staying. The bartender looks at it and puts it in his waistcoat pocket. As they are about to leave, Mulder notices a tattoo on the
bartender's arm)
MULDER: Hey, that's a nice tattoo, what is that?
BARTENDER: What's it look like?
MULDER: Flying saucer. You don't really believe in that stuff do ya?
BARTENDER: I take it you don't.
MULDER: No, I think it's all just a bunch of crazy people howling at the moon.
BARTENDER: So er, you haven't been out to Lake Okobogie, have ya?
MULDER: No I haven't, why?
BARTENDER: You should ride with us sometime, you might see somethings that'll change your mind. (The bartender pulls back his hair to show his ear. It looks like the skin has been badly burned) Get a killer sunburn in the middle of the night.
SCENE 7
STAY `N SAVE MOTOR INN
5:30 A.M.
(Scully is sleeping in her room, shadows move across her body. When she wakens she sees figures standing outside her door and she hears whispers)
VOICE 1: Yeah.
VOICE 2: ..downstairs.
VOICE 3: Alright.
(Scully sits up in bed watching the figures outside her door. The door handle is turned but it is locked. Scully sees her gun on a dresser on the other side of the room and gets out of bed to get it. As she puts her hand on it, the door is busted open and a man shines a light in her face)
FOURTH MAN: Where's Mulder?
(A man, Holtzman, and the man who initially bust into Scully's room, are now in Mulder's room. Mulder is sitting on the edge of his bed)
HOLTZMAN: Where did you get the document?
MULDER: Well, if you explain to me what you're talking about, maybe I can help you out. (The fourth man hands a sheet of paper to Mulder) This is a document? Just looks like a bunch of ones and zeroes to me.
HOLTZMAN: Tell me where you got it.
MULDER: Tell me what it is.
HOLTZMAN: Keep playing games Mulder, I'll haul your ass up in front of the D6. You can explain to them, what you're doing obstructing justice.
(Mulder gives the sheet of paper to Holtzman)
MULDER: It's your call Holtzman. So unless they tell me otherwise, I'm not accountable to anybody outside my sub-committee. I don't care if it's the NSA or the Vatican Police.
(Mulder puts walks to a chair and lifts his shirt, which he puts on)
HOLTZMAN: It's a defence satellite transmission.
MULDER: You're kidding.
HOLTZMAN: Just a fragment but highly classified, we need to know where it came from.
MULDER: Well sure, I'll let you know as soon as I find out.
(A ringing noise is heard, and the fourth man lifts his cellular phone)
HOLTZMAN: That's it Mulder, you just bought yourself a oneway back to Washington.
(Mulder and Holtzman wait to find out the outcome of the call)
FOURTH MAN: We got it.
(The fourth man and Holtzman leave Mulder's room)
MULDER: Great.
(Scully enters)
SCULLY: What?
MULDER: You shouldn't have told them. They have no jurisdiction.
SCULLY: Mulder, they're NSA. (Mulder puts on his jacket) They think the boy may be a threat to national security.
MULDER: C'mon, how could an eight year old boy, who can bearly multiply, be a threat to national security? People call me paranoid.
SCULLY: Well how did Kevin obtain top secret information? And, where do you think he got it from?
(Mulder walks past Scully and out of the room)
SCENE 8
DARLENE MORRIS' HOUSE
KEVIN'S ROOM
(A group of men can be seen filling boxes with Kevin's stuff. The fourth man is flicking through Kevin's books and then dropping them on the floor when he doesn't find what he is looking for. Kevin's drawings are ripped off the wall)
(Outside the house, Mulder and Scully have arrived. They walk up to the front of the house, all the neighbours are gathered around the house to try and find out what's going on)
AGENT: Watch your step, ma'm.
(Two men are escorting Darlene and Kevin out of the house, past Mulder and Scully and to waiting cars)
DARLENE MORRIS: It'll be ok baby, don't worry. It'll be ok.
SECOND AGENT: Come with me son.
(One agent takes Darlene to one car while the other agent takes Kevin to another car)
KEVIN MORRIS: MOOOMMMM!
SECOND AGENT: Get in the car please.
(Kevin is put into the back of a car)
DARLENE MORRIS: It'll be alright baby.
AGENT: Watch your head please.
(Darlene is put into the back of the other car. Mulder approaches the car that Darlene is in and looks in the window. It is too dark to see inside, both cars drive off. Mulder and Scully enter the house)
(A set of papers containing binary codes is lifted out of a drawer by Holtzman, who flicks through them before nodding his head. Mulder enters the room and lifts up a broken piggy bank and puts in on a dresser)
MULDER: You guys do really delicate work.
HOLTZMAN: Let's get this to cryptography. (Holtzman gives the papers to the fourth man and walks past Mulder, then Scully and out of the room, followed by the other agents) I think we got what we needed, thank you.
(Mulder pulls back the curtain and looks out the window. Noticing Mulder is looking at something in particular, Scully comes over to the window)
SCULLY: What is it?
MULDER: I'm not sure.
(Mulder walks away and Scully continues to look out the window, she sees the top of the camper van is black)
(Mulder sets a pair of ladders against the van and climbs up, Scully is watching him from the window. Mulder scrapes and takes a piece of the burned roof of the camper in his fingers, and crumples it into ash. He smells it before flicking it from his hands)
SCENE 9
FBI REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS
SIOUX CITY, IA
(Mulder and Scully are talking to another agent)
LEZA ATSUMI: We scanned all seventy-seven pages through the mainframe in Washington.
SCULLY: And none of the information is actionable?
LEZA ATSUMI: Other than the satellite transmission, nothing can be construed, in anyway, as a national security risk. As far as I know, the boy's being released this afternoon.
SCULLY: So it's just a random set of ones and zeroes.
LEZA ATSUMI: On the contrary, there was nothing random about it.
SCULLY: I don't understand.
LEZA ATSUMI: All information can be rendered digitally, (Agent Leza Atsumi sits down at her computer) in a series of ones and zeroes. When we downloaded the data, we found an amazing range of...(Leza types in a command on the computer, The screen shows a binary sequence and in the center of the screen is a message reading: CMMD: DNLD.CURRENT FILE) Well see for yourself. (A part of a picture comes up) Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. (The screen reverts back to binary, Leza types in another command and up comes a rotating object) A DNA double helix. Oh, there's lots more. (Leza types in another command and up comes a soundwave bar and as a line travels across the bar, a piece of music is heard)
SCULLY: That's from the Brandenburg concertos.
LEZA ATSUMI: But they're just fragments, a few notes here, a few notes there. A line from the Koran, a Shakespearean sonnet...
MULDER: Almost like someone's switching channels, huh.
(Mulder looks at Leza and then at Scully but no one has an answer)
(An agent escorts Darlene and Kevin out of Holding Area 107, and then lets them go. Darlene walks passed Mulder and Scully, ignoring them)
MULDER: Mrs. Morris.
DARLENE MORRIS: I have nothing to say to you.
(Mulder chases after Darlene touching her arm)
MULDER: Mrs. Morris, please give me a minute to explain.
(Darlene stops and turns round, then she bends down and talks to Kevin)
DARLENE MORRIS: Would you please just wait right over there for momma, I'll be right there. (Kevin looks up at Mulder and then walks to where Darlene asked him to wait. Darlene stands up and faces Mulder and Scully again) I thought you were both supposed to be here, to help us.
SCULLY: This has been a terrible mistake. And I assure you that the government will pay for all repairs and damages.
DARLENE MORRIS: I don't want your money, I want my daughter back. And I want you to leave us alone.
MULDER: But your son, has seen something.
DARLENE MORRIS: You stay away from me, and you stay away from my child. (Darlene walks away, Kevin is staring up at the security monitors) C'mon honey, it's ok, let's, let's go now.
SCENE 10
EXIT 68. SIOUX CITY DOWNTOWN
(Mulder and Scully are driving along the road)
SCULLY: I thought we were headed back into town. (Mulder shakes his head slightly) Where are we going?
MULDER: The boy's the key Scully, I know it.
SCULLY: The key to what?
MULDER: Finding Ruby. Just think about it for a minute, this is a boy who is receiving all kinds of digitised data from a television screen.
SCULLY: Agent Atsumi said it was a statistical aberration.
(Mulder shakes his head again)
MULDER: No.
SCULLY: Ok, I admit it, it's not much of an explanation but it..
MULDER: I think that Kevin is a conduit, of some kind.
SCULLY: A conduit.
MULDER: A link, or a connection, to whoever, or whatever, took Ruby that night.
SCULLY: But how?
MULDER: If there was an abduction, it's likely that Kevin was touched in some way.
(There is a brief pause)
SCULLY: Mulder I know what you're thinking. I know why this is so important to you. (Mulder looks at Scully) I know. But there is no evidence indicating an abduction.
MULDER: That's why we're going to Lake Okobogee.
SCENE 11
LAKE OKOBOGEE, IA
CAMPSITE 53
(Scully is looking at the campfire, the sound of seagulls can be heard in the background. Scully stands up and Mulder walks by)
MULDER: According to the police photos, Ruby and Kevin were sleeping right here.
(Mulder walks towards the waterfront)
SCULLY: Just a stones throw from the forest wall.
MULDER: Meaning what?
SCULLY: Meaning anybody could've come out of the forest to grab her.
MULDER: Have you noticed the tree line? (Mulder points up to the trees, the leaves and burnt away from the tops and only the thin trunk remains) Evidence of extreme heat.
SCULLY: Or an electrical storm. (Mulder is looking through some shells on the waterfront) Besides which, there's nothing to connect it to the night of Ruby's disappearance.
(Mulder lifts up a piece of glass)
MULDER: That's true. (Mulder is cleaning the sand of the glass) Do you think a lightning strike could've caused this? (Mulder walks towards Scully with the piece of glass) Do you have any idea at what temperature sand solidifies into glass? (He gives it to Scully, who rubs the hardened sand on it) Twenty-five hundred degrees fahrenheit. Something was out here Scully, something hot enough to turn sand into glass, that, singed those trees and to blister the roof of that camper.
(Mulder walks back towards the waterfront, and Scully looks around the area. As she is about to turn towards Mulder, she hears a noise and then sees a white wolf. She quietly calls to Mulder)
SCULLY: Mulder, look.
(Mulder walks up beside Scully. After a few moments, the wolf heads off into the forest, Mulder hands some papers to Scully and then follows the wolf. Mulder runs into the forest and stops when he sees a pack of wolves crowding around a group of stones. Mulder takes out his gun and fires a shot into the air, the wolves scatter off into the forest. Mulder advances towards the stones, Scully comes running to where she heard the gunshot. She stops when she sees Mulder)
What is it?
MULDER: It's a grave. Shallow, by the smell of it.
(Mulder starts removing the stones)
SCULLY: Mulder what are you doing? (Mulder continues to move the stones) Mulder, you are disturbing a crime scene. (Mulder is still moving the stones, Scully grabs Mulder's arm) Stop.
(Mulder turns to face Scully)
MULDER: What if it's her? I need to know.
(A police officer is sectioning off the area with police tape, the county coroner is at the grave and a man documenting the scene with photographs, as well as people from the hospital morgue. There are also several police officers around the area. Mulder and Scully stand watching)
SCULLY: You ok Mulder?
MULDER: Fine.
(We see a man lying in the grave)
CORONER: Looks like a male caucasian.
(The Sheriff is standing shaking his head)
M. E. WORKER: Sir.
(The M. E. Worker hands the Sheriff the man's wallet. The Sheriff, while wearing surgical gloves, opens the wallet and takes out the man's id)
SIOUX CITY SHERIFF: Victim's name was Greg Randall.
SCULLY: Ruby's boyfriend.
SHERIFF: Ruby had alot of boyfriends.
MULDER: Before you put that away, can I take a look at it?
SHERIFF: Go right ahead.
(Mulder lifts a pair of gloves out of a case, puts them on and takes the wallet. He flicks through the wallet, there is alot of money in the back as well as a piece of paper that Mulder takes out. On the
paper is a note reading `DR. JACK FOWLER AUG. 7 - 2:30'. Mulder looks at Scully who has also seen the note)
SCENE 12
SHERIFF'S OFFICE
(An enlarged photocopy of the note comes out of a photocopier, which Mulder lifts and brings over to a desk. He switches on a desklamp and places the photocopy beside the note that Tessa left on Mulder and Scully's car. As Mulder and Scully study the pages, the Sheriif looks on. Mulder places the original note on the photocopy so that the word FOLLOW sits beside the FO of Fowler)
SCULLY: Look at that, it's her, the girl from the library.
SHERIFF: Who?
SCULLY: We didn't get her name but she claimed Greg and Ruby had run off together.
SHERIFF: Well, Doc Fowler's a buddy o mine, delivered both my kids. I could find out who had that appointment.
(Two police officers are escorting Tessa down a corridor in the police station. She is escorted into a room, a table and some chairs can be seen through the door)
SCULLY: Have a seat Tessa. (Tessa sits down and the door is shut. The letters on the door read `INTERROGATION ROOM'. Inside the room on the table, sits a tape recorder which is recording. Scully sits down opposite Tessa) We know that you lied to us the other day. We know that you had the appointment with Doctor Fowler on August 7th. We know that you're the one that's pregnant, not Ruby.
TESSA: Aah, don't know nothing do ye.
SCULLY: We can prove it Tessa, and we can prove that Greg, was the father.
TESSA: So what if he was the father.
SCULLY: This is very serious. Do you understand how serious this is? (Tessa just looks away from Scully) Now you've waived the right to an attorney, so if you lie to us here today, you could be charged with perjury.
TESSA: Promised me we'd be in L.A. by Christmas. (The Sherif is standing against the wall listening) He had a friend there, I'd never seen the ocean.
SCULLY: You said that he and Ruby were seeing each other. You said that they were planning to meet at the lake, is that true?
TESSA: Look it, I was nowhere near the lake that night, ok.
(Mulder gets up from his seat in the dark against the wall)
MULDER: Sure you were Tessa. (Mulder walks towards Tessa) You knew they were meeting, so you sat there and you waited for them. You were angry and you were jealous.
TESSA: I wasn't.
MULDER: You sat there and you waited and when they showed, you killed him first, isn't that how it went?
TESSA: No.
MULDER: You snuck up from behind him and you shot him in the back, (Mulder hits the desk with his hand) BAAMMM. (Mulder walks around the desk and stands beside Tessa) And then you killed Ruby, (Mulder hits the desk again) BAAMMM. (Mulder walks to the other side of Tessa) What was she doing right before she died Tessa? Was she pleading for her life? Was she running away?
TESSA: I didn't kill her.
(Mulder walks back to the other side of Tessa again)
MULDER: Where's she buried Tessa?
TESSA: I don't know.
MULDER: You don't know where you buried her Tessa.
(Mulder walks again to Tessa's other side)
TESSA: I didn't kill her.
MULDER: You didn't?
TESSA: SHE WASN'T EVEN THERE THAT NIGHT!
(Mulder crouches down beside Tessa)
MULDER: Well how would you know that Tessa, if you weren't there yourself.
(Mulder and Scully are walking along a corridor in the police station)
SCULLY: Mulder you're not seeing the whole picture here.
MULDER: Which is?
SCULLY: Which is that all likelihood, Ruby is dead.
MULDER: Is that your conclusion or the conclusion of the Sioux City Sheriff's Department?
SCULLY: They're searching the national park and a rescue dive team is coming in from Des Moines to drag the lake.
(Mulder stops and turns to face Scully)
MULDER: They're wasting their time.
SCULLY: Do you really think Tessa Seers is telling the truth?
MULDER: Why not, what if Ruby never did show up that night?
SCULLY: She lied to us in the library, she lied to us about her pregnancy, what makes you think she wouldn't lie to us about killing Ruby?
MULDER: Because something was out there in those woods.
SCULLY: We have a suspect in custody, we have a confession to one murder, and we have a statement which speaks to the intent to commit another. It's over Mulder. It's time to go home and turn this over to local law enforcement.
MULDER: I can't do that.
(Mulder walks off. Mulder leaves the station and Scully follows him)
SCULLY: Mulder where are you going?
MULDER: To talk to the boy.
SCULLY: Darlene won't even let you in the door.
MULDER: Well, I've gotta see him.
SCULLY: They don't wanna have anything to do with you...us. (Scully stops and call after Mulder) Mulder stop. Stop running after your sister. (Mulder stops, and then turns around to face Scully again) This won't bring her back.
MULDER: Come with me or don't come with me but until they find a body, I'm not giving up on that girl.
(Mulder walks off again and Scully stands where she is for a moment and then follows Mulder)
SCENE 13
DARLENE MORRIS' HOUSE
(Mulder knocks on the front door)
MULDER: Hello? (Mulder notices the door is unlocked, enters the house. Scully is right behind him) Mrs. Morris?
SCULLY: Kevin? (Mulder notices something on the floor and turns off the TV. On the floor are sheets of paper with binary sequences on them, they are placed in a square shape. Scully hears the kettle boiling and goes into the kitchen and takes it off the stove. She walks back into the living room and looks at the papers) Mulder. (Mulder is sitting down staring at the papers) What does it mean?
MULDER: I don't know.
SCULLY: I'm gonna check upstairs. (Scully goes upstairs and glances over the bannister, as she does she notices something about the papers) Oh my god.
MULDER: What is it?
SCULLY: Just come up here. (Mulder goes up the stairs) Look, (Mulder looks at the papers and sees that the binary sequences make a face) it's her, it's Ruby.
SCENE 14
LAKE OKOBOGEE. NATIONAL PARK
(It is night time and Mulder and Scully are driving to Lake Okobogee)
SCULLY: This is a longshot Mulder, they could be anywhere.
MULDER: You know when I was a kid, I had this ritual. I closed my eyes before I walked into my room, cause I thought that one day when I opened them my sister would be there. Just lying in bed, like nothing ever happened. You know I'm still walking into that room, everyday of my life. (Mulder notices something up ahead) Scully. (Scully looks to see what it is, it's Darlene's camper van. They pull up behind it and get out of the car. They run to the van) DARLENE!
(Mulder opens the door but there is no one inside)
SCULLY: Look, there's a trail ahead.
(Mulder and Scully follow the trail, after a moment they hear Darlene's cries as if she has fallen. Mulder and Scully run into the forest and find Darlene crawling along the trail)
MULDER: Are you ok?
DARLENE MORRIS: It's here, I saw it.
MULDER: Where's Kevin?
DARLENE MORRIS: I couldn't keep up with him.
SCULLY: Go ahead.
(Mulder runs off while Scully stays with Darlene. Mulder runs into a clearing and sees Kevin in the distance, a bright orange light appears in front of Kevin)
MULDER: KEVIN!
(Mulder stands watching Kevin as he walks towards the light, and then runs after him. Kevin stops as the light grows bigger, Mulder is still running to catch him. The light grows into multiple, smaller
lights, and we see that the lights belong to motorbikes. As Kevin realises they are bikes, he covers his eyes and Mulder picks him up and jumps to the ground with him. The bikes drive passed Mulder and Kevin on all sides. When all the bikes are passed, Mulder sits up and lifts Kevin off the ground)
You ok?
KEVIN MORRIS: She's back.
MULDER: Kevin I'm sorry but, I don't...
KEVIN MORRIS: She's here I know it.
MULDER: Kevin I don't think she is. I know how much you want it to be her, I did too.
SCULLY: MULDER!
(Hearing Scully's screams, Mulder gets up and runs with Kevin back to Scully)
MULDER: SCULLY!
(As Mulder and Kevin find Scully and Darlene, they see another girl lying on her back)
KEVIN MORRIS: RUBY!
SCULLY: She's unconcious but she's still alive.
MULDER: I'll get help.
(Mulder runs off)
SCENE 15
SIOUX CITY HOSPITAL
(Mulder and Scully are walking down a corridor, Scully has Ruby's chart)
SCULLY: Nurse says she been awake for almost an hour.
MULDER: Any ideas what caused the coma?
SCULLY: Eerrr, there's no sign of head trauma, no narcotic traces or electralight abnormalities, but her white blood cell count was skyhigh.
MULDER: By any chance was there attendant reduction in the lymphocyte population or a release of gluco-cordacoids?
(Mulder and Scully stops outside Ruby's room while Scully checks the chart)
SCULLY: Errmmm, actually both, how did you know that?
MULDER: They're symptoms of prolonged weightlessness. Shuttle astronauts have reported similar imbalances.
(Mulder looks through the window of the door and Scully knocks on it. Kevin opens the door.
We see Ruby lying in bed, awake)
SCULLY: Hi. (Mulder and Scully enter the room) Hi Ruby.
RUBY MORRIS: Who are you?
SCULLY: Ooh, we're with the FBI, I'm Special Agent Dana Scully and this is Fox Mulder.
RUBY MORRIS: My mom said you might be coming by.
SCULLY: How are you feeling?
RUBY MORRIS: Fine I guess.
MULDER: Where were you Ruby? Can you tell us?
KEVIN MORRIS: It's ok Ruby, he knows.
RUBY MORRIS: Ah, I'm not supposed to tell. They told me not to say.
MULDER: Who told you? (Ruby is afraid to say anything) Ruby, who told you?
DARLENE MORRIS: Sweetheart, you don't have to say anything.
(Darlene is standing in the doorway)
SCULLY: You're right, we should wait until Ruby gets a little stronger.
DARLENE MORRIS: Can we speak outside for a moment. (Mulder and Scully join Darlene outside Ruby's room) I think that it's best that we put all of this, behind us. I mean, hasn't Ruby been through enough already?
MULDER: I know how dis-oriented she must seem right now, but in a couple of weeks, maybe even a few days, we could..
DARLENE MORRIS: I don't want her talking to you, or anyone.
MULDER: She should be encouraged to tell her story, not to keep it inside, it's important that you let her.
DARLENE MORRIS: Important to who? I have my daughter back, I don't want anymore trouble. Besides she can hardly remember anything.
MULDER: But she will remember one day, one way or another, even if it's only in dreams. And when she does, she's gonna wanna talk about it, she's gonna need to talk about it.
DARLENE MORRIS: Like I did? Listen to me, all of my life I have been ridiculed, for speaking my mind.
MULDER: But it was the truth Darlene.
DARLENE MORRIS: The truth has caused me nothing but heartache, I don't want the same thing for her.
MULDER: It doesn't have to be that way for Ruby.
DARLENE MORRIS: As far as I'm concerned, she spent the last month on the back of a Harley Davidson.
MULDER: Is that what you're gonna tell Kevin?
DARLENE MORRIS: I'm sorry.
(Darlene walks back into Ruby's room, Kevin is standing at the door. Mulder goes to follow Darlene in but Scully puts her hand on Mulder's shoulder to stop him. Darlene brings Kevin inside and closes the door. Mulder storms up the corridor)
SCENE 16
(A tape is taken out of a tape recorder and turned over and put back in and play pressed. Scully is alone in a room, voices are heard from the tape recorder)
DR. HEITZ WERBER: But your eyes are open?
(Scully is going through the X-File on Mulder's sister)
MULDER: Yeah, they're open but it's like, nothing's happening.
DR. HEITZ WERBER: Try turning your head.
MULDER: I can't.
DR. HEITZ WERBER: Why not?
MULDER: I don't know. I can't move, so I don't...(We see a close-up of the tape being played, on it it says: F. Mulder hypnotic regression tape session number 2B: June 16) I just lie there in bed.
DR. HEITZ WERBER: Can you see your sister?
MULDER: No, but I can hear her.
DR. HEITZ WERBER: What is she saying?
(Scully lifts up a picture and looks at it)
MULDER: She's calling out my name, over and over again. (We see the picture is one of Mulder and his sister when they were kids. We see it is Mulder who is now holding the picture) She's crying out for help but I can't help her. I can't move. (We see that Mulder is sitting inside a church)
DR. HEITZ WERBER: Are you scared?
(Mulder starts crying)
MULDER: I know I should be but I'm not.
DR. HEITZ WERBER: Do you know why?
MULDER: Because of the voice.
DR. HEITZ WERBER: The voice?
MULDER: The voice in my head.
(Mulder keeps down on his knees and begins to pray)
DR. HEITZ WERBER: What's it telling you?
(The camera zooms away from Mulder as he prays)
MULDER: Not to be afraid. It's telling me no harm will come to her, and that one day she'll return.
DR. HEITZ WERBER: Do you believe the voice?
(The scene fades to black)
MULDER: I want to believe.
[THE END]
2024-09-21 16:32:36 -
Pike:
Added the runtime.
2024-09-08 13:55:45 -
Pike:
Updated a filming location.
2024-09-08 13:55:35 -
Pike:
Updated a filming location.
2024-09-08 13:55:25 -
Pike:
Updated a filming location.
2024-09-08 13:55:12 -
Pike:
Updated a filming location.
2024-08-19 21:37:00 -
Pike:
Updated a filming location.
2024-08-19 21:35:54 -
Pike:
New filming location added.
