"Humbug" - Episode 2x20 (videos,guide,stills,transcript)

Videos
Humbug - Trailer

Episode guide
(Source: http://xfiles.wearehere.net/episodes/2x20.htm )

2X20 Humbug

When Jerald Glazebrook aka 'Alligator Man' is attacked and killed in Gibsontown, Florida a retirement community for freaks and side show performers. It matches a pattern of forty-eight similar attacks spanning twenty-eight years all across the US. Someone working in circuses travelling from place to place across the US would be a primary suspect. Mulder and Scully investigate the recent attack in an attempt to catch the killer. They meet with Sheriff Hamilton who fills them in on the case. Mulder is intrigued by a drawing by local artist Hepcat Helm of the Fiji Mermaid, an exhibit P.T. Barnum billed as a 'genuine fake' as it was supposedly a fish's tail sown on to the body of a monkey. When Hepcat Helm is later killed in his studio and the only access is via a very small window, Mulder theorises that the Fiji Mermaid is not only real but responsible for the murders. As they later discover that Sheriff Hamilton himself used to be Jim-Jim, the dog-faced boy and encounter other town residence like Dr Blockhead who performs human feats of endurance and The Conundrum, a tattooed jigsaw man who eats live animals. Scully finds it difficult to find a normal suspect, in a place where nothing is normal. Her suspicions fall on trailer park porter Lanny's congealed twin Leonard, as Scully theorises that Leonard is capable of extracting himself from his brother's body. Lanny later confirms this but claims that Leonard does not mean to hurt people, he is merely searching for another brother.

Noteworthy Quote

Dr Blockhead: "It's a mystery, maybe some mysteries are never meant to be solved"

Credits

Writer:	Darin Morgan
Director:	Kim Manners

Cast:

David Duchovny	Special Agent Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	Special Agent Dana Scully

Guest Cast:

Jim Rose	Dr Blockhead
The Enigma	The Conundrum
Michael Anderson	Mr Nutt
Wayne Grace	Sheriff Hamilton
Vincent Schiavelli	Lanny
George Tipple	Hepcat Helm
Alex Diakun	Curator
John Payne	Jerald Glazebrook
Alvin Law	Reverend
Blair Slater	Older Glazebrook Child
Devin Walker	Younger Glazebrook Child
Debis Simpson	Waiter

Episode Stills



Transcript Humbug 2x20
(Source: http://www.insidethex.co.uk/transcrp/scrp220.htm )

---

SCENE 1
GIBSONTON, FL

(Two kids splash each other in the pool, laughing.)

YOUNGER GLAZEBROOK SON: Stop!

(They continue play-attacking as someone strange watches them from the trees. It's green eyes staring at them, he breathes heavily and makes his way through the trees. It's skin looks scaly. The boys do not notice it as it walks out towards the lawn quietly. The older one hears it and looks in the general direction. The younger one does the same, then splashes the older brother. This incites the older brother to splash back, and they continue playing. The strange being swims into the pool and slowly approaches them underwater. He jumps out, screaming. The boys scream back. The younger one splashes the man lightly as he picks the boy up playfully.)

Oh, Dad, cut it out.

OLDER GLAZEBROOK SON: Beautiful, Dad.

JERALD GLAZEBROOK: Quit picking on your brother. Remember he loves you!

YOUNGER GLAZEBROOK SON: No, I don't!

OLDER GLAZEBROOK SON: We're glad you're back home, Dad.

JERALD GLAZEBROOK: Ah, not as glad as I am.

OLDER GLAZEBROOK SON: Did you see a lot of weird stuff this year?

JERALD GLAZEBROOK: Yup, it was the weirdest show ever. But right now, your mother thinks you guys are getting ready for bed and if she comes out here and finds you guys still in the pool, she's going to kill me. So come on, out of the pool.

(He puts his youngest son down. The boys moan and whine. In the forest, something else is watching them.)

YOUNGER GLAZEBROOK SON: Awww...

OLDER GLAZEBROOK SON: Awwww, Dad...

JERALD GLAZEBROOK: Quit your whining. Come on or no bedtime story. Out you go, that's it.

(The thing in the trees is more of a monster than the Alligator-Skinned Man, weezing as it breathes. It winces constantly and it's face is bloodied naturally. The boys start back to the house.)

OLDER GLAZEBROOK SON: Come on, Dad, there's no school tomorrow...

(Jerald floats on his back a little, shooting water up into the air with his mouth. The thing watches and makes it's way into the pool. It approaches Jerald and he stands, looking at it.)

JERALD GLAZEBROOK: What the hell?

(It screeches and bites into Jerald's side. It repeatedly does so as Glazebrook screams with each bite. It rips through the skin and Jerald holds himself up on the ladder as blood pours out into the pool. It screams and snarls in victory.)

---

---

SCENE 2
X-FILES OFFICE; FBI HEADQUARTERS; WASHINGTON, D.C.

(Mulder hands Scully a picture of Glazebrook's face.)

SCULLY: What happened to him?

MULDER: Nothing you can ascertain from that photograph. The victim suffered from ichthyosis, a congenital skin disease characterized by the shedding of the epidermis in the form of scales.

(He hands her another picture of a large wound in the side of Glazebrook.)

This shows the entry wound of the undetermined weapon. There were no other injuries inflicted upon the body, no internal organs removed and/or cannibalized, and there's no signs of sexual molestation either.

(He stands.)

That's forty-eight attacks over the last twenty-eight years. Occurring in every state in the continental U.S. almost, the first in Oregon and the last five in Florida.

(He shows pictures of various people with the same wounds.)

The victims range from all different age groups, races, both male and female. The mutilations appear so motiveless that one would suspect some form of ritual yet they adhere to no known cult. A lone serial killer would have been expected to escalate the level of violence of his attacks over such an extended period of time. So what do you think, Scully? What are your initial thoughts?

(Scully looks at the picture of Glazebrook.)

SCULLY: Imagine going through your whole life looking like this.

---

SCENE 3

GIBSONTON, FL

(There is a picture of Glazebrook on his coffin. There are flowers all around and the mourners sit off to the side. The priest is at the podium.)

PRIEST: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death..."

(Scully and Mulder walk over. Sheriff Hamilton nods to them from across the way.)

"I will fear no evil for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies."

(Mulder walks past Scully in the row of seats and they sit down.)

"Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me..."

(He turns the page with his foot, having no arms.)

"...all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the lord forever." We are gathered here today to mourn the passing of Jerald Glazebrook.

(In the front row of seats, Glazebrook's wife rubs the back of her eldest son in comfort. She has a thick beard. Her younger son is seated next to the other son. Scully watches them.)

Beloved husband, father, friend and entertainer.

(Scully looks at a man in the front row as he takes out a flask and drinks from it. There is a smaller person attached to him, who has his head in the bigger man's side and is also dressed in a suit.

We mourn not only the passing who overcame the obstacles of his earthly incarnation but also the passing of the love that dwells in his all too-human heart. We mourn the passing of the admiration and the respect he instilled in his fellow colleagues.

(Scully looks in back of her at a row of other circus freaks, each deformed in some way. There is a fortune teller, a teenager and a little kid, both of whom have the same problem. Scully and the little boy smile at each other.)

We mourn the passing of the laughter and the enjoyment he brought each audience who saw him.

(Mulder slowly looks to his right and slowly looks up at the giant sitting next to him.)

For although Jerry was a world-renowned escape artist, there is one strongbox from which none of us can escape.

(The coffin starts to shake violently. Sheriff Hamilton tries to hold it down and looks to some other people.)

HAMILTON: Help...

MAN #1: I got it...

(Other men run up to the coffin and lift it up and away from the grave. A bump starts moving underneath the covering of the grave.)

WOMAN #1: Move it out of there...

WOMAN #2: Oh my lord!

(As the congregation moans and gasps, a man breaks through the covering, growling, carrying a railroad spike and a hammer.)

MAN #2: I don't believe it...

BLOCKHEAD: Having not known the deceased personally, I am in no position to perform a proper eulogy. I'm sure he was a nice guy, et cetera, et cetera. But as an admirer of the man's work, I am in a position to perform an impromptu tribute in his honor. Namely, ramming this spike into my chest!

(He does so with one quick blow, sparks flying off of the contact point. Blood coats the front of his sweater. The crowd gasps and cringes. Even Mulder and Scully flinch. The man, Doctor Blockhead, staggers around, screaming.)

MAN #3: You crazy, don't you have any respect at all?

BLOCKHEAD: I think I hit my left ventricle!

(Hamilton grabs his arm and Blockhead shoves him off.)

WOMAN #2: This is a funeral!

BLOCKHEAD: Get back, fascist!

(People start jumping at him left and right. In fact, the whole congregation starts after him.)

MAN #2: For crying out loud!

MAN #4: Get him out of here! Get him out of here!

WOMAN #3: You're awful!

(Mulder and Scully are left all alone, seated where they were. The rest of the seats are pretty much in disarray. They sit in silence for a second.)

MULDER: I can't wait for the wake.

---

SCENE 4
PHIL'S DINER

(Mulder, Scully and Hamilton are sitting at a table.)

MULDER: On his vicap form, Jerald Glazebrook's occupation is listed as artist.

HAMILTON: Jerry was an artist... the best escape artist since Houdini. He should have been headlining Vegas but his skin condition kept him on the sideshow circuit.

SCULLY: I guess I didn't realize that sideshows were still in existence.

HAMILTON: There are about two or three of them still around.

MULDER: I got the impression that Glazebrook wasn't the only sideshow performer residing here.

HAMILTON: The town was founded back in the 20s when some of Barnum and Bailey's troops started coming down here during the winter off-season.

SCULLY: You know, this town's history might help explain our case's history. A sideshow performer would have toured much of the country over the years. And their isolation from everyday society caused by their physical deformities could have built up pathological resentments so intense that murder might be...

HAMILTON: Now, now, hold on a second. Around here, we refer to them as "very special people." Now, some of them may be different on the outside but it's what's inside that counts. And on the inside, they're as normal as anybody.

SCULLY: Until their arrests, many serial killers are considered by their friends and family to be quite "normal." If you truly regard these people as normal, then you must also consider the possibility that they are capable of committing these crimes.

HAMILTON: It's just been my experience that many people have a harder time accepting these people's deformities than they do themselves.

(Mulder opens up the menu and looks at a picture.)

MULDER: Sheriff, what is this? This design here, it's, uh, copyrighted by Hepcat Helm.

(He points to a picture of a monkey with a mermaid's tail, then at the copyright logo.)

Is that a local artist?

(Hamilton chuckles.)

HAMILTON: A bit too local. His workplace is right behind my station house.

MULDER: Do you think that we could meet Hep... cat?

---

SCENE 5
HEPCAT HELM'S WORKSHOP

(A grotesque rubber head sits on a pike as Screamin' Jay Hawkins' song, "Frenzy", plays loudly. Hepcat Helm is sitting at his desk painting as Hamilton walks in, followed by the agents.)

HAMILTON: Hepcat! Hepcat!

(Hepcat looks at them, then turns down the music.)

HEPCAT HELM: Who are the rubes?

HAMILTON: These are F.B.I. Agents Scully and Mulder. This is Hepcat Helm. He operates a carnival funhouse.

HEPCAT HELM: Oh man, how many times have I told you not to call it that?

(He throws down the handkerchief and goes over to them and looks at Mulder.)

It's not some rinky-dink carny-ride. People go through it, they don't have fun. They get the hell scared out of them. It's not a funhouse, it's a tabernacle of terror.

(Hamilton looks over at Mulder.)

HAMILTON: It's a funhouse.

(Mulder takes out the menu and shows the picture to Hepcat.)

MULDER: Mister Helm, I wanted to ask you about this menu illustration. I recognized most of the historical portraits you've drawn here, but what's this here?

(Scully rolls her eyes at the words "historical portraits.")

HEPCAT HELM: It's the Feejee Mermaid.

(He walks back to his desk carrying the menu.)

HAMILTON: Is that what that thing is?

SCULLY: What's the Feejee Mermaid?

HEPCAT HELM: The Feejee Mermaid. It's, it's the Feejee Mermaid!

HAMILTON: It's a bit of, uh... humbug Barnum pulled in the last century.

HEPCAT HELM: Barnum billed it as a real live mermaid but when people went into see it, all they saw was a real dead monkey sewn on the tail of a fish.

(Mulder walks over to him.)

MULDER: A monkey?

HEPCAT HELM: A mummified monkey.

HAMILTON: It supposedly looked so bad, he had to exhibit it as a "genuine fake."

HEPCAT HELM: Oh, but see? That's why Barnum was a genius. You never know where the truth ends and the humbug begins. He came right out and said, "This Feejee Mermaid thing is just a bunch of B.S." That just made people want to go and see it even more. So, I mean... who knows? Maybe for box office reasons, Barnum hocked it as a hoax... when in reality...

MULDER: The Feejee Mermaid was a reality.

(Hepcat exhales loudly and shrugs. Mulder walks back over to Hamilton.)

Sheriff, we're going to need to find a place to stay tonight.

HAMILTON: There are lodgings right across the way, but, uh... what's all this about?

(Mulder takes out a picture of a long row of small footprints in the sand heading towards a rock pile.)

MULDER: These tracks were found at several of the past few crime scenes. They've defied exact identification but one expert speculated that they might be simian in nature.

HAMILTON: You don't mean to tell me you think these tracks were made by the Feejee Mermaid?

SCULLY: Do you recall what Barnum said about suckers?

(She nods slightly towards Mulder.)

---

SCENE 6
GULF BREEZE TRAILER COURT

(The proprietor, Mister Nutt, is a midget. He climbs up a small stepladder and puts it down on the desk in front of the two agents. Nutt's dog sits on the counter.)

MULDER: Tell me, have you done much circus work in your life?

NUTT: And what makes you think I've ever spectated a circus, much less been enslaved by one?

MULDER: I know that many of the citizens here are former circus hands and I just thought that maybe you would have done...

NUTT: You thought that because I am a person of short stature that the only career I could procure for myself would be one confined to the so-called "big top." You took one quick look at me and decided that you could deduce my entire life.

(Mulder shakes his head a little. The dog whimpers as Nutt starts around to the area in shelf in back of the desk.)

Never would it have occurred to you that a person of my height could have possibly obtained a degree in hotel management.

(He holds up his degree.)

MULDER: I'm sorry, I meant no offense.

(Nutt walks back up to the desk.)

NUTT: Well, then why should I take offense? Just because it's human nature to make instantaneous judgments of others based solely upon their physical appearances? Why, I've done the same thing to you, for example. I've taken in your all-American features, your dour demeanor, your unimaginative necktie design...

(Mulder looks down at his tie.)

...and concluded that you work for the government. An F.B.I. agent.

(Mulder looks at Scully, who arches her eyebrows in surprise.)

But do you see the tragedy here? I have mistakenly reduced you to a stereotype. A caricature. Instead of regarding you as a specific, unique individual.

MULDER: But I am an F.B.I. agent.

(He holds up his badge. The dog whimpers some more. Nutt smirks a little and takes out another paper.)

NUTT: Register here, please.

(He rings the bell. Mulder and Scully are led by their trailers by the bellhop, a man named Lanny. He is the man with the smaller twin that has the twin's head inside of his chest at the funeral. He is also carrying their bags.)

MULDER: Tell me, have you done much circus work in your life?

LANNY: I was on the stage for most of my life. I was a headliner.

SCULLY: Did it not bother you to have other people staring at you?

LANNY: Best work I ever had. All I had to do was stand there. Occasionally, I'd say...

(He stops and stands tall as if on stage. They watch him.)

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like you to meet my brother Leonard."

(He pauses.)

"Excuse him, he's a little shy." Big laughs, I tell you, big laughs.

(They start to walk again.)

MULDER: Why'd you give it up?

LANNY: Mister Nutt, the kindhearted manager here, convinced me that to make a living by publicly displaying my deformity lacked dignity... so now I carry other people's luggage.

(They come to a set of trailers.)

I believe these are your trailers. If they are not, then I am wrong.

(Mulder takes the suitcases from him.)

Oh, that's most considerate. Thank you very much.

(They shake hands and Lanny starts off.)

Good night. Sleep tight. Don't let the bedbugs bite.

(He turns back in a worried manner. I walks back hurriedly, unscrewing his flask.)

No, no! That, that's not what I meant. I, I didn't mean to imply we had bedbugs. I, I meant to say, "Don't let... don't let the..."

MULDER: The Feejee Mermaids bite.

(Lanny tips his flask to him.)

LANNY: Yes, that's right, the Fee, the Feejee Mermaids. Don't, that's right, that's...

(He takes a sip from his flask and starts off.)

That, that's exactly... the Feejee Mermaids bite...

SCULLY: Mulder, what is this Feejee Mermaid business?

MULDER: Every murder investigation begins with a list of possible suspects. You should try not to be so exclusive, Scully.

(He hands her her suitcase.)

SCULLY: As long as you try not to let the atmosphere of this town distort your list all out of proportion.

(They stare at each other.)

---

SCENE 7
HEPCAT HELM'S WORKSHOP

(Hepcat Helm is listening to the same song as before, playing it extremely loud. He is painting a mask for his funhouse, then he walks over to a desk under the window and wipes off his hands. He takes an instrument and goes over to another sculpture, this one made mostly of glass. Reflected in the glass, in the window behind him, is the small monster slowly crawling in through the window. Helm stands up and the monster is gone. He goes to work on another part and sees the small monster crawling towards him in another reflection, looking blurred and distorted. He turns around and looks at it.)

HEPCAT HELM: What the hell?

(It pounces, it's grotesque face flying at it. Blood splatters over the menu as it pries it's jaws into his neck. There is a gash in his head.)

---

SCENE 8
GULF BREEZE TRAILER COURT

(Mulder is going for his morning jog. He stops in the road, trying to catch his air, and hears some splashing in the lake next to the road. Looking over, he sees a half-naked man coming out of the water, wearing only a loincloth. He has a tattoo of a puzzle all over his body, some of the pieces painted blue, mostly around the head and shoulder regions. He crouches down and starts eating the fish as Mulder watches intently. The strange man looks over at Mulder and throws down the fish, then starts off towards the forest.)

---

SCENE 9
SCULLY'S TRAILER

(The time is 7:15. Scully's eyes flicker open. Birds chirp outside as she looks out the window. She closes her eyes for a second and looks back outside, still laying down. A man seemingly falls off her roof. She sits up and sees that there is actually a men bouncing on a trampoline outside her window while another two people watch. In the background, people are performing various stunts. There is a frantic pounding on the door. She loosely puts on her robe and opens the door. Lanny stands there, his robe also loosely tied on.)

LANNY: Uh, ma'am... sheriff, he, uh... wants to see you.

(Leonard is exposed out of Lanny's stomach. Scully can't help but stare at him. Lanny, meanwhile, has his eyes on her cleavage, which is partly exposed. They both slowly look at each other, then look down at their objects of interest, then tie their robes up tighter.)

There's been another murder.

---

SCENE 10
HEPCAT HELM'S WORKSHOP

(Hamilton is standing over Helm's body, writing down notes on his pad. Scully is kneeling over Helm. Mulder is looking at the window. There is a streak of blood on it.)

WOMAN ON APB WIRE: Unit Thirteen, man down...

MULDER: Hey, Scully, there's some blood on the window here we should send to the lab.

SCULLY: Why run a test on the victim's blood?

MULDER: No, not this window.

(He walks over to the adjacent window as she stands.)

This window. This seems to be the point of entry and there's a... smear of blood on the outside of the window.

(He takes off some blood from a streak on the outside of the window with his finger.)

SCULLY: Why would there be blood before the attack?

HAMILTON: Why didn't the attacker just come through the open door? For a person to crawl in and out of these windows, they'd have to be a contortionist... or just plain crazy. Or both.

---

SCENE 11
GULF BREEZE TRAILER COURT

(Doctor Blockhead is suspended over a vat of hot water in a straitjacket, grunting and groaning. He starts unbuckling the straps when Mulder and Scully walk over.)

MULDER: While they're performing the autopsy, I want to go down to the...

(Mulder and Scully watch from a short distance as he frees himself. He throws off the straitjacket, takes the key and looks at the agents.)

BLOCKHEAD: How many people do you know that can get out of a straitjacket in under three minutes?

SCULLY: Fortunately, none.

MULDER: We caught your act yesterday at the funeral. That was some trick with the railroad spike.

(Blockhead unlocks his restraints and jumps down.)

BLOCKHEAD: Doctor Blockhead does not perform "tricks."

(He walks over to a toolbox and opens it up. He takes out a hammer and a nail. There are a number of skull pins next to the nails. Mulder and Scully walk over to him.)

Doctor Blockhead performs "astounding acts of body manipulation and pain endurance."

(He puts the nail in his left nostril and begins tapping it into his head as Mulder and Scully watch on in horror and awe.)

SCULLY: You must be one of those rare individuals whose... nerve endings don't register pain.

(He puts the hammer down and pulls out a pair of pliers.)

BLOCKHEAD: You just keep telling yourself that.

MULDER: Have you ever performed this tr, uh, act on anyone else?

BLOCKHEAD: What, are you sick? I tell my audiences that if they're stupid enough to try this themselves, they'll end up with a slight lobotomy. I am a professional.

MULDER: Exactly how does one become a professional blockhead? May I?

(He takes the pliers and starts to pull the nail out from Blockhead's head.)

BLOCKHEAD: Starting in my homeland of Yemen, I studied with yogis, fakirs and swamis, learning the ancient arts of body manipulation.

(Scully and Mulder grimace all through Blockhead's speaking as he slowly pulls out the nail. Mulder looks at the bloody nail.)

But most men know nothing of these arts. For instance, did you know that through the protective Chinese practice of Tiea Bu Shan, you can train your testicles to draw up into your abdomen?

MULDER: Oh, I'm doing that as we speak.

(The Conundrum pops out of the vat, gasping for air. They all look at him in shock.)

I saw him this morning down by the river, he was eating a fish.

BLOCKHEAD: He knows between-show snacks will ruin his appetite.

(He rubs the Conundrum's bald head.)

MULDER: I could be mistaken. Maybe it was another bald-headed, jigsaw-puzzle-tattooed, naked guy I saw.

SCULLY: Is this... man also a body manipulator?

BLOCKHEAD: No. In the classical sense, the Conundrum's a geek.

MULDER: He eats live animals.

BLOCKHEAD: He eats anything... live animals, dead animals, rocks, light bulbs, corkscrews, battery cables, cranberries...

SCULLY: Human flesh?

BLOCKHEAD: Only the Conundrum can answer that question. But he doesn't answer questions, he merely... poses them.

(He takes out a jar of crickets.)

When an audience partakes in the Conundrum's human piranha act, they are left to ask themselves...

(He pours out some crickets onto the Conundrum's head, who eats them joyously.)

"Why." But... where are my manners?

(He holds out the jar to the agents.)

SCULLY: Thank you.

(She takes a cricket, puts it in her mouth, smiles and walks away. Mulder looks at her, then at the crickets, and leaves. He catches up to Scully, and watches her in disbelief. She smiles, reaches behind Mulder's ear, and "pulls out" the live cricket.)

It's an old sleight of hand my uncle once taught me. He was only an amateur magician, but he was still better than those two.

MULDER: Well, I'm going over to the lab to see if they can test the blood on the window against the blood on Doctor Blockhead's nail.

(He holds out his hand, then moves it in a clockwise direction. When he finishes the circle, he is holding out the nail. He starts off.)

Everybody's uncle is an amateur magician.

---

SCENE 12
GIBSONTON MUSEUM OF CURIOSITIES
3:14 PM

(Scully walks into the old cabin. The bell rings as the door opens. There is a sign next to a pot that says "Freaks Free; Others Please Leave Donation." Scully walks over to it, puts a bill in, and starts looking around. She looks at a picture of siamese twins. Passing various strange things in jars, she picks up another picture of the siamese twins. They are named Chang and Eng. The curator walks out behind her. His face is disfigured and is reflected in a small mirror.)

CURATOR: Welcome to my museum. May I put to rest any questions you may have conjured?

SCULLY: I was just reading about the fascinating life of Chang and Eng and wondering if their death was just as fascinating.

CURATOR: Oh, very much so. On a cold January eve in 1874, Eng awoke to find his brother had passed away during the course of the night. A few hours later, Eng himself departed from this world. Now, these facts themselves may be less than fascinating but imagine... imagine being Eng and lying there.

(He puts his disfigured hand on her shoulder.)

Knowing that essentially half your body was now dead... that the rest must inevitably follow... and being able to do about it absolutely nothing. At the autopsy, it was officially concluded that Chang died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

SCULLY: And what was the official cause of Eng's death?

CURATOR: Fright.

(He smiles and starts to walk away.)

SCULLY: Do you have any information on blockhead or geek acts?

(They walk into another room.)

CURATOR: This is a historical collection of human curiosities. Blockheads are skilled performers.

SCULLY: Like magicians?

CURATOR: Like sword swallowers who really do swallow swords. And geeks are neither skilled nor curiosities. They're merely unseemly... not even attaining the level of "gaffs."

SCULLY: "Gaffs?"

(The curator takes a picture of two siamese twins who look very different.)

CURATOR: Observe closely the dissimilarity of the facial features. Conjoined twins are always identical. These twins are phonies... gaffs.

SCULLY: Sort of like the Feejee Mermaid?

(He laughs and puts the picture down.)

CURATOR: You're investigating the Alligator Man's murder, yes? I have something I believe you might find of some interest.

(He hands her a picture of "Jim-Jim, the Dog-Faced Boy.")

SCULLY: What does this have to do with the Glazebrook murder?

CURATOR: I've recently come into possession of an authentic P.T. Barnum exhibit. Now, I don't show this display to all my customers... only those with the intellectual curiosity to appreciate it.

(He walks over to a door behind Scully.)

Barnum billed it as "the great unknown."

(He opens the door. Scully is about to enter, but he stops her.)

I must first ask of you two favors. Tell no soul what you witness in here.

SCULLY: And the second favor?

CURATOR: An additional donation of five dollars.

(She hands him five dollars and steps inside the dark room. He locks the door behind her. She walks over to the only object in the room, a trunk cast in a spotlight. She tentatively opens the trunk to find... nothing. A door swings open to her left with an "Exit" sign above it. A buzzer goes off and she looks down at the trunk, smiling slightly at having been duped.)

---

SCENE 13
SCULLY'S TRAILER

(Mulder hears a clanking and a groaning underneath the trailer. He looks under and sees a small figure moving around. He walks over to where the small figure is, unhooking his holster. He kneels down and Mister Nutt crawls out.)

MULDER: Does Agent Scully know that you're under her crawlspace?

NUTT: I was merely repairing the plumbing on this unit. I know what you're thinking, my friend, but you are grossly mistaken.

(He and Mulder stand.)

Just because I am not of so-called "average" height does not mean I must receive my thrills vicariously. Not all woman are attracted to overly tall, lanky men such as yourself. You'd be surprised how many women find my size intriguingly alluring.

MULDER: And you'd be surprised how many men do as well.

(Nutt, offended and disgusted, walks off. Mulder looks at his footprints. Scully steps out of her trailer.)

SCULLY: Oh, it's you. Is Mister Nutt finished with the plumbing?

(Inside, Mulder and Scully sit across from each other.)

MULDER: The blood from the window matched the blood from the nail but they were both O-positive. They've been sent for further analysis. I ran a background check on Doctor Blockhead. His real name is Jeffrey Swaim and he wasn't born in Yemen, he was born in Milwaukee. He does not hold a doctorate.

SCULLY: Well, I ended up running a bit of a background check myself.

MULDER: On who?

(She flips open a folder.)

SCULLY: On an orphan discovered in the wild forest of Albania in 1943. "Although physically adept at catching his own food, he could not speak a word, save for a few savage grunts. Brought to this country, he was exhibited behind a locked cage, necessitated by his feral ferocity, where he would terrify onlookers by devouring chunks of raw meat." However, for reasons I could not ascertain, he ran away from the circus and spent a vague number of years mysteriously roaming about, supporting himself through a number of non-descript jobs. Eventually, he wound up in Gibsonton, where he took up a career in law enforcement and has spent the past four terms serving as sheriff.

MULDER: You're talking about Sheriff Hamilton?

SCULLY: I'm telling you that before becoming Sheriff Hamilton, James Hamilton was Jim-Jim, the Dog-Faced Boy.

(She hands him the picture given to her by the curator.)

---

SCENE 14
SHERIFF HAMILTON'S HOUSE

(Sheriff Hamilton is digging a hole in the front yard with a shovel. Scully and Mulder are in the bushes watching him. Hamilton looks up at the full moon, then cuts something, rubs it on his hand and throws it into the hole. He recovers the hole and walks inside. Mulder and Scully wait until he is gone, then walk over to the hole and start to uncover it. Mulder is using a shovel while Scully is playing look-out. Mulder stops and they whisper to each other.)

MULDER: You know, Scully, hypertricosis does not connote lycanthropy.

SCULLY: What are you implying?

MULDER: We're being highly discriminatory here. Just because a man was once inflicted with excessive hairiness, we've no reason to suspect him of aberrant behavior.

SCULLY: It's like assuming guilt based solely on skin color, isn't it?

MULDER: Yeah.

(They look at each other, then kneel down and start digging with their hands. Mulder takes out a napkin and puts the object in it. Hamilton walks out and shines a flashlight on them.)

HAMILTON: May I ask what you're doing?

MULDER: We're exhuming... your potato.

(He holds up the napkin with the sliced potato that Hamilton buried and they unearthed.)

HAMILTON: May I ask why?

(They stand.)

SCULLY: Sheriff, it, it's, it's been documented that many serial killers possess a fascination with police work, some of them even holding positions on their local force... so surveillance of investigation team members is often utilized as a precautionary...

MULDER: We found out you used to be the Dog-Faced Boy.

(He hands Hamilton the advertisement of the Dog-Faced Boy. Hamilton looks at it and smiles.)

HAMILTON: Boy, look how skinny I was back then.

SCULLY: So that is you.

HAMILTON: Oh, sure. I spent the first half of my life as Jim-Jim. Then one morning I noticed a bald spot on top of my head and realized I was not only losing my hair but my career as well. Eventually all the hair went... on top of my head, anyways. The rest of my body is still pretty hairy, which is why I never go to the beach.

SCULLY: That doesn't quite explain the potato.

HAMILTON: I got, uh... some warts on my hand.

MULDER: That doesn't quite explain the potato.

HAMILTON: To get rid of warts, you rub a sliced potato on your hand and bury it under a full moon.

(Mulder and Scully look embarrassed.)

Investigation isn't going too well, is it?

(Mulder throws the potato back in the hole.)

---

SCENE 15
TRAILER PARK

(The Conundrum walks along, a piece of paper in his shorts. The manager's dog starts barking at him, and he runs after it. After chasing it for a while, the dog runs into his doggy-door and the Conundrum slides after it, just missing it. Mister Nutt opens the door and looks at him. The Conundrum stands, ashamed, and hands him the paper with one of Blockhead's skull pins in it. Nutt looks at it, and it is a check with the name "The Conundrum" at the top. Nutt closes the door.)

NUTT: So, tell me, Commodore... why are the weirdos the only ones that pay their rent checks in advance?

(He walks away, but the dog continues growling and barking at the door.)

I warn you, you tattooed cretin, I have a licensed firearm and I'm more than eager for an opportunity to use it!

(He goes to open the door when the mutant's hand reaches out and grabs his ankle. He screams as he falls to the ground. The thing pulls his foot through the door and starts trying to pull Nutt through as he looks on in horror. He finally kicks it away and crawls back in. The mutant shoves it's head through the door, screaming. Nutt screams as well.)

---

SCENE 16

(A man with bloody hands unlocks the door and walks in, waking Scully up. She sits up in bed, pointing her gun. Lanny puts his bloody hands on her shoulders.)

LANNY: I found him. He's dead. He's dead...

(She looks at him, confused.)

---

SCENE 17
MISTER NUTT'S TRAILER

(Hamilton points out the blood on the outside of the doggy-door to Scully)

HAMILTON: Lanny says all of the doors and windows were locked from the inside.

(Inside, Mulder is looking at Nutt's body. Lanny is also there, standing of to the side in his robe.)

MULDER: Scully, come here!

LANNY: He was like a brother to me...

(Hamilton puts his hand on Lanny's shoulder. Scully kneels down next to Mulder.)

MULDER: I don't know if a contortionist can get through that doggy-door, Scully, but look at this...

(He shows her the skull pin, which is in Nutt's hand. Lanny starts screaming and banging on the door. Hamilton grabs him and turns him around.)

HAMILTON: Lanny! Lanny! Take it easy. You're going to hurt yourself.

LANNY: So what?

HAMILTON: So you might hurt me in the process.

(Scully looks a little disappointed. Lanny hugs Hamilton, who looks at the agents.)

He gets this way sometimes. I'll have to toss him in the drunk tank.

MULDER: We'll take Jeffrey Swaim into custody.

HAMILTON: C'mon, Lanny, let's go...

(They walk out. Mulder stands up and walks to the door.)

SCULLY: You know, Mulder...

(She stands.)

For a while there, I was beginning to suspect this case involved something a bit more, um...

MULDER: Freakish?

(She shrugs a little and nods, kind of like an embarrassed "yes.")

You really shouldn't complain about banality, Scully, when your main suspect is the human blockhead.

(He smiles and starts out.)

---

SCENE 18
DOCTOR BLOCKHEAD'S TRAILER

(Doctor Blockhead has attached hundreds of hooks into his chest. All of the hooks have ropes on them. He is adjusting them, sitting on a bed of nails when there is a knock on the door.)

BLOCKHEAD: It's open!

(Scully walks in, showing her badge, followed by Mulder.)

SCULLY: Mister Swaim, federal agents, we're here to qu...

(She stops, looking at him.)

BLOCKHEAD: It's a variation of an American Indian sun dance ritual. I suspend myself by these hooks and the pain becomes so unbearable I leave my body. If people knew the true price of spirituality, there'd be more atheists.

SCULLY: Mister Swaim, we're here to take you into custody to question you about some recent murders.

BLOCKHEAD: I don't answer any questions until I talk to my lawyer.

MULDER: Who's your lawyer?

BLOCKHEAD: I represent myself.

(Scully grabs his arm.)

SCULLY: Sir, if you're going to be uncooperative, I'll have to handcuff you.

BLOCKHEAD: What gives you fascists the right to do that?

(Scully stands him up and handcuffs him.)

SCULLY: Did I not mention we're federal agents?

BLOCKHEAD: Did I not mention I'm an escape artist?

(He throws off the handcuffs, puts them on Scully, pushes her into Mulder and runs out the door. Mulder, despite trying to stop his fall, falls onto the bed of nails.)

SCULLY: Mulder, are you okay?

MULDER: It's more comfortable than a futon.

(The door swings open and Sheriff Hamilton stands there, holding Blockhead by the roped hooks.)

HAMILTON: Hey... look what I caught.

(He gives the ropes a little tug.)

BLOCKHEAD: Ouch!

---

SCENE 19
POLICE STATION

(In the drunk tank, Lanny moans and groans. He has blood on his hands still, and his eyes open when he ears a slithering sound. He looks onto the ceiling and sees something horrific.)

LANNY: What the hell?

(The thing on the ceiling squeals happily as it crawls to the window. Lanny screams.)

No! No!

(Hamilton leads Blockhead into the station by the arm. Mulder and Scully follow quickly.)

BLOCKHEAD: This has all the makings of one of those mistaken identity, miscarriage of justice things that prove so popular on Sixty Minutes.

(Hamilton sits him down. Mulder holds up a bag containing the skull pin. Hamilton sits at his desk.)

MULDER: Does this belong to you?

BLOCKHEAD: The fifth amendment of our beloved constitution says...

(He stops and everyone turns when they hear a high-pitched moaning.)

MULDER: What is that?

HAMILTON: It's Lanny in the drunk tank. He'll be all right once he sleeps it off.

(Scully is looking down the hallway at Lanny.)

SCULLY: No, I don't think he's going to sleep this one off.

(They all run over to Lanny's cell, including Blockhead, who is led by Mulder. They look at Lanny, who looks dead, blood on his hands. There is blood on the wall underneath the window.)

MULDER: There's been another attack.

HAMILTON: How could anyone have gotten in there?

SCULLY: No one got in, but some one got out.

(Lanny moans. Hamilton unlocks the door.)

MULDER: What are you talking about?

SCULLY: I'm not sure myself, Mulder, but I think we'll know more when we find Leonard.

MULDER: Leonard?

SCULLY: Lanny's brother.

(The agents walk in, followed by the others. Scully rolls Lanny over and pulls his robe away to reveal that Leonard is gone and there is a wound where he once was.)

HAMILTON: Oh, God, they extracted the twin.

SCULLY: No, the twin extracted itself.

(Mulder kneels down and looks at the wound.)

MULDER: But it's an appendage...

SCULLY: Yeah, Mulder... this wound is identical to the other victims' wounds. With one exception. He's not bleeding.

(Mulder stands.)

HAMILTON: If you're trying to tell me his twin brother can crawl out of his body and then go gallivant around town, you're as drunk as he is.

(Scully stands up.)

SCULLY: You said it yourself, Sheriff. It's what's inside that counts. I have a feeling that Lanny has an internal anomaly that allows his conjoining twin to disjoin

MULDER: But, how? H-how...

LANNY: How could I turn him in without turning myself in?

SCULLY: Lanny, why does he attack other people?

LANNY: I don't think he knows he's harming anyone. He's merely seeking... another brother.

(He moans, almost crying.)

HAMILTON: Are you in pain, Lanny?

(Lanny sits up.)

LANNY: It hurts. It hurts not to be wanted. I don't know why he hates me so. I've taken care of him for all of our lives. Maybe that is the reason why.

SCULLY: How long can he survive outside of your body?

LANNY: Long enough... to understand that you cannot change the way you were born. Don't worry. He'll come back. He always does. I'm still his only brother.

(Lanny lays back down.)

MULDER: Sheriff, we're going to need the paramedics.

(Hamilton runs off.)

Scully, you're the medical expert. If you think the twin can disengage, I believe you but how mobile could such a thing be?

(Scully looks out the window and sees a small figure crawl along the ground quickly. The gate in the back swings open.)

SCULLY: Too mobile.

(Scully looks at him and runs out. Mulder follows. Blockhead looks at Lanny.)

BLOCKHEAD: So your twin can, uh...

(He makes a "going out" motion.)

And then...

(He makes a "coming in" motion. Lanny nods.)

What an act!

(Scully and Mulder run out of the gate to the nearest building, which is large and brown. They hear a snarling growl.)

SCULLY: I'll cover the back.

(She runs off and Mulder runs up the steps. He flicks the switch next to the door and the generator turns on. Taking out his gun, he opens the door and begins walking down the dark hallway. He peeks around the corner and sees Leonard crawl backwards down the adjacent hallway away from Mulder. Mulder aims his gun, but is too late. He runs that way and turns the corner. He runs down the next hallway. Turning the corner, he finds a dead end. He pushes against it, then heads back. Scully hears another growl then some footsteps. She turns the corner and points her gun.)

Freeze!

(A rumbling starts and a suspended mannequin with a head similar to Leonard's comes flying at her on a rope from the ceiling and stops, cackling and making strange noises.)

The funhouse.

(Mulder turns another corner and finds another dead end. He hears a growl and sees Leonard crawling away again. He runs down that hallway and quickly turns the corner, slamming into a wall. He staggers into the adjacent wall, which spins around, taking Mulder with it. Scully walks into the hall of mirrors. Everywhere around her, there are Scullys. She hears another growl and turns to see Leonard on the ground. She fires at him but only ends up breaking the mirror that reflected him. She looks at the shards and sees Leonard is nowhere around. She starts walking down a hallway and bumps into a mirror. Turning left, she walks down another hallway and Mulder slides out of a shaft in front of her. She instinctively points her gun, but steps back when she sees who it is.)

MULDER: I thought I heard a shot fired.

SCULLY: I think we better go outside and catch this thing coming out.

(She steps over Mulder and walks down the hallway. The agents run out and see Leonard crawling into the woods. They run down the road and point their guns at another small figure. The figure starts barking and they lower their guns.)

It's the manager's dog.

MULDER: The trailer park.

(The dog leads them through the forest.)

---

SCENE 20
CONUNDRUM'S TRAILER

(The Conundrum steps out of his trailer, carrying a garbage bag. He puts it in the can as Leonard sneaks up behind him. He turns and screams as the mutant jumps onto him and starts biting. Mulder and Scully run into the park, hearing screaming and shrieking. They come to the Conundrum's trailer and see him lying on the ground, looking a little bloated. They kneel down next to him.)

SCULLY: Are you all right?

MULDER: Have you seen a, uh... uh...

(He tries to show how big it is, but runs off in frustration, not expecting an answer. Scully runs off as well. The Conundrum looks at his stomach and rubs it as it gurgles contentedly.

---

SCENE 21
GULF BREEZE TRAILER COURT

(In the morning, the sheriff is talking to a deputy. Scully is walking slowly towards the middle of the camp.)

HAMILTON: Uh, check out the area behind that trailer. Let me know what you find.

(The deputy walks off and Hamilton turns to Scully.)

Now, you're sure it was the twin you saw running around here. I mean, maybe it was the Fiji Mermaid and he jumped back in the river and swum his way back to Fiji.

(Hamilton walks away as Mulder walks up to her.)

MULDER: Now you know how I feel.

(Mulder keeps walking. Scully walks up to Doctor Blockhead, who is tying various pieces of junk to the roof of his car. The Conundrum gets into the front seat.)

SCULLY: You're taking off?

BLOCKHEAD: With that thing still on the loose?

SCULLY: They've been searching for it all day. It can't have sustained itself for this long.

BLOCKHEAD: It will probably try to crawl back up into it's brother.

SCULLY: No, his brother Lanny died last night. I already performed the autopsy on him this morning.

(Blockhead throws the rope over and walks around the car.)

BLOCKHEAD: So, I guess it's true, you can never go home again.

SCULLY: His body wounds were non-fatal. He died as a result of advanced cirrhosis of the liver.

(Blockhead starts tying things on this side.)

BLOCKHEAD: Oh, there's a moral to the story. Lay off the booze.

SCULLY: Well, his body possesses some anatomical discrepancies... some offshoots of the esophagus and trachea that almost seem umbilical in nature and... I've never seen anything like it.

(Blockhead finishes tying.)

BLOCKHEAD: And you never will again. Twenty-first century genetic engineering will not only eradicate the siamese twins and the alligator-skinned people, but you're going to be hard-pressed to find, uh, a slight overbite or a not-so-high cheek bone. You see, I've seen the future and the future looks just like him.

(He points at Mulder, who is standing in front of a trailer in a classic model pose. Hands on his hips, one foot up on the step, looking off into the distance.)

Imagine going through your whole life looking like that. That's why it's left up to the self-made freaks like me and the Conundrum to remind people.

SCULLY: Remind people of what?

BLOCKHEAD: Nature abhors normality. It can't go very long without creating a mutant. Do you know why?

SCULLY: No, why?

BLOCKHEAD: I don't either, it's a mystery. Maybe some mysteries are never meant to be solved.

(He gets in the driver's side as Mulder walks over. He looks at the Conundrum, who looks sick.)

MULDER: What's the matter with your friend?

BLOCKHEAD: I don't know what his problem is. Maybe it's the Florida heat.

SCULLY: Hope it's nothing serious.

CONUNDRUM: Probably something I ate.

(He smiles at the agents and the two freaks drive off. Scully and Mulder watch them go, then look at each other in realization.)

[THE END]

"Død Kalm" - Episode 2x19 (videos,guide,stills,transcript)

Videos
Død Kalm - Trailer

Episode guide
(Source: http://xfiles.wearehere.net/episodes/2x19.htm )

2X19 Dod Kalm

When the U.S.S. Ardent disappears off the Norwegian coast just below the 65th parallel, an area Mulder refers to as the second Bermuda Triangle, where nine other vessels have disappeared since 1949. Mulder arranges for Scully with her medical background to gain access to the sole survivor Lieutenant Richard Harper at the Bethsheda Naval Hospital in Maryland. Scully is surprised to find that the 28 year old Harper is a wrinkly grey haired old man. Mulder believes it has something to do with the Philadelphia Experiment during World War II, a government project to render ships invisible to radar, which Mulder claims used technology recovered from the infamous Roswell Incident. Mulder and Scully travel to Norway to investigate, but find it difficult to get anyone to take them out to the area. Only Henry Trondheim captain of the local trawler Zeal is willing to take them. They find the U.S.S. Ardent dead in the water, a rust covered old ship despite the fact that is was only commissioned in 1991. As they explore the ship the trawler Zeal is hijacked and sails away leaving them stranded on board. They encounter a local pirate whaler Olafssen, who seems unaffected by premature ageing. They realise his apparent immunity holds the key to the case. As Mulder and Scully begin to age rapidly Scully theorises that if the U.S.S. Ardent was drifting towards a meteorite on the ocean floor, the resulting electromagnetic energy could be exciting free-radicals, the elements believed to cause ageing.

Noteworthy Quote

Scully: "Something very strange is going on here Mulder"

Credits

Story by:	Howard Gordon
Teleplay by:	Howard Gordon
	Alex Gansa
Director:	Rob Bowman

Cast:

David Duchovny	Special Agent Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	Special Agent Dana Scully

Guest Cast:

John Savage	Henry Trondheim
Mar Anderson	Halverson
Dmitry Chepovetsky	Lieutenant Harper
David Cubitt	Captain Barclay
Vladamir Kulich	Olafsson
Claire Riley	Doctor Laskose
Stephen Dimopolous	Ionesco
John Mcconnach	Sailor
Bob Metcalfe	Nurse
Kelly Irving	Burke

Episode Stills



Transcript Død Kalm 2x19
(Source: http://www.insidethex.co.uk/transcrp/scrp219.htm )

---

SCENE 1
NORWEGIAN SEA, 65 DEGREES LATITUE,
8 DEGREES EAST LONGITUDE

(A lifeboat marked '925' hits the water and there are sounds of men preparing to abandon a ship. As some men climb down to the lifeboat, the captain confronts his lieutenant on deck. The captain appears to be in his mid-thirties, the lieutenant a few years younger.)

CAPTAIN BARCLAY: This is mutiny!

LT. HARPER: No, sir. It's survival.

CAPTAIN BARCLAY: They'll come for us! They're sending help!

LT. HARPER: By the time they get here, it'll be too late. It may already be too late.

CAPTAIN BARCLAY: Don't do this! (the captain raises a gun at the lieutenant) That's an order!

SAILOR: (from the lifeboat) Lieutenant Harper?

LT. HARPER: Shoot me if you want, Captain Barclay, but I'm not waiting around so I can wind up like the others.

(The lieutenant climbs over the rail and down to the lifeboat. The captain lowers his weapon.)

SAILOR: Cast off!

---

SCENE 2
18 HOURS LATER

(On board the Lisette, the captain and his first mate are playing blackjack on the bridge.)

LISETTE CAPTAIN: Hit me.

(The radar blips. They check the radar screen and see the echo of a boat straight ahead.)

LISETTE FIRST MATE: It looks like she's just drifting out there.

LISETTE CAPTAIN: Mmmm ... we're heading straight for her. (to radio) This is the Lisette, Canadian fishing vessel CV233, please identify. (no response) This is the Lisette, come in please. (still no response) (to first mate) Cut the engines and meet me up on deck.

(On deck, they search the night with a spotlight. They see a lifeboat ahead, marked '925'.)

VOICE FROM LIFEBOAT: Hello out there. Hey!

LISETTE CAPTAIN: We're throwing you a line. Grab it and we'll pull you in.

(They throw out a line, and someone in the boat catches it and anchors it to the boat. As the captain and mate pull them in, they scan the crew with the spotlight.)

LISETTE CAPTAIN: Is everybody all right? Are there any injured?

(They see a group of men, all of whom appear to be extremely old. The man in front, wearing a lieutenant's pin on his lapel, appears to be Lt. Harper.)

---

---

SCENE 3
BETHESDA NAVAL HOSPITAL, BETHESDA, MARYLAND

(Scully gets off an elevator and meets Mulder.)

MULDER: Scully. Thanks for coming.

SCULLY: What was so urgent that you couldn't tell me over the phone?

MULDER: I didn't want to waste any time. A Navy destroyer escort, the USS Ardent, has been missing in the North Atlantic for the past 42 hours.

SCULLY: Missing?

MULDER: Yeah, there's been no radio contact, no distress signals picked up. Search planes and satellites haven't picked up anything either.

SCULLY: You're saying that a ship and its entire crew just vanished?

MULDER: Well, that's what it looked like until last night. A Canadian trawler picked up 18 survivors.

SCULLY: Well, they must have reported what happened.

MULDER: Only one of those survivors is still alive. He's been taken into the ICU under heavy security.

SCULLY: What's wrong with him?

MULDER: That's what I was hoping you could tell me. (they see a soldier guarding a door at the end of the hall) They won't let me in to see him, but because of your medical background, I was able to get you a clearance code. I want your opinion on this. His name is Harper, Lt. Richard Harper.

SCULLY: Mulder, wh ...?

MULDER: Meet me back in my office when you're finished. Thank you. (he leaves)

(In the hospital room, an extremely old looking man is on a respirator and is being attended to by a nurse. Scully reads the patient's chart.)

SCULLY: Excuse me. Is this Lt. Richard Harper?

NURSE: That's what his wristband says.

SCULLY: And he's been positively identified?

NURSE: All military personnel are fingerprinted. Those records were crosschecked at the time of admittance.

SCULLY: Well, then I think there's been some kind of a mistake here. According to this report, Lt. Harper is 28 years old. (the nurse says nothing and walks away) Why hasn't a systemic workup been ordered on this patient?

(A doctor enters the room behind Scully.)

DR. LASKOS: I wasn't aware that my diagnostic decisions required your approval. I'm the physician in charge of this patient. Let me see your clearance.

(Scully hands her badge to the doctor, who looks it over.)

SCULLY: Can you tell me what's going on here? How can you explain what happened to this man?

DR. LASKOS: This clearance code is invalid. Where'd you get this? Who are you?

SCULLY: I am a medical doctor and I would like to see the autopsy reports on the remaining victims.

DR. LASKOS: I haven't got time for this. Give me my patient's chart and leave before I have you removed.

(Scully hesitates a moment, then returns the chart and exits the room.)

---

SCENE 4
MULDER'S OFFICE

(Mulder is examining some photos as Scully enters.)

SCULLY: Something very strange is going on here, Mulder.

MULDER: Did they let you in to see Lt. Harper?

SCULLY: Yeah, I saw somebody, but whether it was actually the Lieutenant ...

MULDER: What do you mean?

SCULLY: He looked about 90 years old. Off by about half a century. You don't seem too surprised.

MULDER: I want to show you something, Scully. (he takes her to map on the bulletin board with a number of locations marked by pins) This was the course of the USS Ardent when she disappeared. Now, I've been tracking the points of departure and destination for each of these X-files. On December 12, 1949, a Royal Navy battleship disappeared between Leeds and Cape Perry. The sea was calm, the weather sunny. In 1963, at the height of the Cuban missile crisis, a fleet of Soviet minesweepers left from here for Havana. All 6 vessels vanished without a trace. All in all, I've counted 9 unexplained disappearances. Each of them passed through here - the 65th parallel.

(He points to a circled area on the map in the Norwegian Sea where all the ships' courses intersect.)

SCULLY: Another Bermuda Triangle?

MULDER: It's more like a wrinkle in time, if Lt. Harper is any indication.

SCULLY: (frowning) A wrinkle in time? Wh ...

MULDER: You know anything about the Philadelphia Experiment?

SCULLY: It was a, uh, a program during World War II to render battleships invisible to radar. But then the Manhattan Project heated up, and it was discontinued and most of the scientists were relocated to Los Alamos.

MULDER: Except none of those scientists ever made it to Los Alamos.

SCULLY: Where were they sent?

MULDER: Roswell, New Mexico.

SCULLY: Are you suggesting that the Philadelphia Experiment used alien technology?

MULDER: Less than nine months after the alleged crash of a UFO in Roswell, New Mexico, the USS Eldridge did more than just hide from radar screens, it disappeared altogether from the Philadelphia Navy Yard only to reappear minutes later, hundreds of miles away, in Norfolk Virginia.

SCULLY: That's not possible, Mulder, not without defying all laws of, of time and space.

MULDER: Those physicists may have been trying to manipulate wormholes on Earth.

SCULLY: Wormholes?

MULDER: Actual portals where matter interfaces with time at a relatively decelerated or accelerated rate. I'm betting that the military never stopped the work it began 50 years ago.

SCULLY: And that's what you think happened to Lt. Harper?

MULDER: I'll find out soon enough. I'M BOOKED ON AN 8:30 flight to Norway.

SCULLY: Have you let Skinner in on this?

MULDER: I'm giving myself a 24-hour head start before I give Skinner my report. I want this one myself.

SCULLY: (looking back at the map) I'm going with you. If that really was Lt. Harper, I want to know what happened to him.

---

SCENE 5
PORT OF TILDESKAN, NORWAY

(Mulder and Scully are talking to a captain at a crowded sailors' bar. The sailor points to an area of a map and speaks Norwegian, apparently saying "no" as he walks away.)

NORWEGIAN SKIPPER/SAILOR: Nei! Nei! Det er altfor farlig [No! No! It's way too dangerous]

MULDER: 0 for 5.

SCULLY: What is it, Mulder? Why are they so afraid? My father spent the better part of his life at sea. He had a healthy respect for the ocean, but he never feared it. I see fear in these men's eyes.

(A man at a nearby table speaks up and approaches them.)

TRONDHEIM: Brooklyn couldn't have taken you up there anyway. Your ship has to be classified ice class before it can even go past the Lofoten Basin. My name is Trondheim - Henry Trondheim. The ship you want is the Zehar, a 50-ton trawler with a double hull. It's my ship.

SCULLY: You're American.

TRONDHEIM: I was born and raised in Pensacola. I ran a charter business there. I got fed up with tourists.

MULDER: How do you feel about the sea north of Beerenburg?

TRONDHEIM: This time of year, it'll be 10 hours minimum, each way.

MULDER: So you've been there?

TRONDHEIM: A few times. A few times I got some of my best hauls out of there.

SCULLY: Why is everyone else so afraid to go there?

TRONDHEIM: Well, legends. They grew up on stories.

SCULLY: What stories?

TRONDHEIM: A huge stone came out of the sky and crashed into the pack ice.

SCULLY: A meteorite?

TRONDHEIM: An evil god. They worship it by staying away. So ... exactly what is it that you're looking for up there?

MULDER: A number of things. How good are you?

TRONDHEIM: About as good as you're going to get, considering no one else will take you there.

MULDER: When can we leave?

TRONDHEIM: As soon as we shake on a price.

(Mulder nods.)

(Later, they are en route on board the Zehar. It is dark and there is a thick fog. The radar blips and Trondheim checks it, while his mate, Halverson, looks with binoculars. Scully stands beside Trondheim, while Mulder, looking queasy, emerges from the lavatory. Scully approaches him.)

SCULLY: Feeling any better?

MULDER: Uhhh ... You're lucky you inherited your father's legs.

SCULLY: What?

MULDER: His sea legs.

SCULLY: (smiling) Oh.

MULDER: (to Trondheim) It's been about 12 hours. You said it was only gonna take 10. What's going on?

TRONDHEIM: I told you before, the visibility is lousy. I've never seen it this thick.

MULDER: How much longer 'til we get there?

TRONDHEIM: Well, we're right where you want to be. I even think we've got what you're looking for. Except one minute it's right in front of us and the next minute it's not. Like something's messing with my radar ... and my navigation system. I can't explain it.

(The radar screen shows an echo fading in and out, while his instruments show his bearing fluctuating widely. Halverson sees the outline of a ship emerging in the fog, straight ahead.)

HALVERSON: Captain! Pass pε! [Look out!]

(Trondheim throws the ship into reverse but the ship ahead gets closer and closer.)

TRONDHEIM: We're gonna hit!

(They collide, and all four are thrown forward.)

TRONDHEIM: Halverson! Check the hull for damage!

(The four have now moved their gear onto the deck of the Ardent.)

TRONDHEIM: I don't get it. This is what you're looking for?

MULDER: The USS Ardent. It's a destroyer escort.

TRONDHEIM: All right ... what do you want with it, anyway? It's a ghost ship. I mean, look at all this corrosion. No one's been aboard this vessel in 20, 30 years.

(Mulder finds the ship's nameplate, which says "U.S.S. Ardent, 1991". The nameplate is heavily corroded and barely readable.)

MULDER: Scully. (she comes over and looks) Let's check the crew quarters first.

(They go below into the crews quarters. They find a number of bodies, all of which look extemely old and are heavily crusted with a white residue.)

SCULLY: Mulder. They almost look mummified.

MULDER: Like they've been dead a very long time.

SCULLY: Except for this strange residue.

(She reaches with a knife to scrape some of the white residue off a dead man's hand, but when she touches it, the hand breaks off. They hear an engine starting.)

SCULLY: What was that?

MULDER: An engine.

TRONDHEIM: My ship!

(They hurry back on deck and see the Zehar pulling away from the Ardent.)

TRONDHEIM: No! That's my ship!

MULDER: Hey!

TRONDHEIM: You're taking my ship!

MULDER: Hey!

TRONDHEIM: Hey! (very upset, he grabs Mulder by the lapel) That's my ship!

(Halverson grabs Trondheim's shoulder.)

HALVERSON: Ta det med ro! [Take it easy!]

Trondheim releases Mulder as the Zehar fades away into the fog and darkness.)

---

SCENE 6

(Mulder and Scully are on the bridge of the Ardent. Mulder is working on the radio from below while Scully tries it out.)

SCULLY: Nope.

MULDER: All right. (he makes an adjustment) Try it again.

SCULLY: No. What is it?

MULDER: It's caked with the same residue that's covering everything.

SCULLY: So we can't even send a distress signal.

(Mulder stands as Trondheim comes up from below.)

TRONDHEIM: The engine's so corroded down there you can't even ... you can't even tell what it is. I've never seen anything like it. Halverson's trying to salvage some parts, but basically what we are is dead in the water.

SCULLY: Well, the radio's dead too.

TRONDHEIM: Somebody's not telling me what's going on here. (neither Scully nor Mulder respond) Now look, that ship wasn't just my livelihood, that was my life. I have a right to some straight answers.

MULDER: What we're seeing here may be the result of some kind of military experiment.

TRONDHEIM: Military experiment?

MULDER: An artifical time band, where matter moves through time at an accelerated rate.

TRONDHEIM: Tell me in English.

MULDER: Time may be speeding up.

TRONDHEIM: Right. That's almost as crazy as Halverson's "there's a rock that comes down from the sky ...".

MULDER: The ship ... the ship was launched in 1991. I don't know how else to explain the extent of the corrosion or the decay of the bodies down below.

TRONDHEIM: (to Scully) You're not buying any of this, are you?

(Before Scully can respond, they hear a yell. The three quickly go down to investigate and they hear a door creaking. Weapons raised, Mulder and Scully move back in the ship. Scully finds Halverson, dead, lying on the deck with blood coming from a wound in his head. She kneels to check him as Mulder and Trondheim catch up.)

MULDER: What happened?

SCULLY: His skull's been fractured.

TRONDHEIM: Who was that? Halverson!

(They hear another noise from farther back in the ship. Mulder and Scully investigate, while Trondheim kneels over Halverson's body. In the ship's galley, Mulder hears a noise and approaches the door to a small compartment. When he opens it, he finds a very old looking man cowering and clutching a bottle of whiskey.)

MULDER: Who are you?

CAPTAIN BARCLAY: Captain Barclay. Commanding officer, USS Ardent.

(Later, Mulder gives Barclay a glass of water drawn from a faucet.)

MULDER: Here you go.

(Barclay drinks, shakily holding the glass with both hands.)

SCULLY: Captain Barclay, um, according to your log, shortly after the navigation system failed, several of your crew members saw something in the sea - a growing light.

CAPTAIN BARCLAY: It, it came up through the fog, in the middle of the night. Like it was on fire.

SCULLY: Do you have any idea what it might have been?

CAPTAIN BARCLAY: Power loss. Everything stopped. Everything. Even the sea. Even the wind. Then the ship, my ship, she began to bleed through the hull near the rivet seams.

HALVERSON: (laughing) He's a drunkard. He's a drunkard! And he killed Halverson. To hell with him, I don't have to listen to his lies!

CAPTAIN BARCLAY: I'm no liar. It happened, first to some of my men and then to all of them.

SCULLY: What happened?

CAPTAIN BARCLAY: Time got lost.

(Mulder and Scully exchange a glance as Barclay starts wheezing.)

SCULLY: It's OK, captain. You can take it easy. We're gonna do whatever we can to help you out.

CAPTAIN BARCLAY: What can you do? You can't do anything. I'm 35 years old.

(Mulder pulls Scully aside for a quiet, private conversation.)

MULDER: There's no way he killed Halverson.

SCULLY: Yeah, I'd have to agree with you. That blow that killed Halverson was delivered with considerable strength, and he can't even hold a glass with two hands.

MULDER: That means there's somebody else on board.

(Next morning, an emotional Trondheim prepares to bury Halverson's body at sea.)

TRONDHEIM: You were a good first mate. You left me alone, and you did your job. It's a shame this had to happen to you so young.

TRONDHEIM: God vei videre [Farewell/Goodbye, old buddy]

(After saying a few words in Norwegian, Trondheim then lets Halverson's shrouded body slip overboard. As Trondheim crosses himself, a man approaches and takes a swing at him with a pipe. He ducks under it, but the man then knocks Trondheim to the deck. As he raises the pipe for a third try, Mulder appears and draws his gun on him.)

MULDER: Put it down! Put down the pipe! Put it down!

(He complies. Trondheim gets to his feet and kicks the pipe away. He then grabs the man by the throat.)

TRONDHEIM: I could kill you for what you've done.

MULDER: Back off, Trondheim!

TRONDHEIM: He killed Halverson!

MULDER: He may be our only chance to figure out what happened. Look at him. Look at him! He hasn't aged. Back off!

(Trondheim releases him.)

TRONDHEIM: His name's Olafsson.

MULDER: You know him?

TRONDHEIM: Everybody in Gildeskal knows him. He's a pirate whaler. He's a wanted criminal. He supplies whales to the Japanese black market. Blues, belugas, sperms.

MULDER: Ask him how he got here.

(Trondheim asks Olafsson a question in Norwegian.)

TRONDHEIM: Hvordan kom du hit? [How did you get here?]

OLAFSSON: Dra til helvete [Go to hell!]

(Olafsson's terse reply prompts Trondheim to lunge at him again but Mulder stops him.)

MULDER: We'll question him later. I don't want to leave Scully alone, in case there are others.

(Olafsson, Trondheim and Mulder go back below and join Scully. Trondheim gives a terse command to Olafsson in Norwegian as he pushes him along.)

MULDER: I think we found who killed Halverson.

TRONDHEIM: He'd have killed me too, if it wasn't for Mulder.

SCULLY: The ship's log says something about four Norweigian sailors who were picked up when their vessel had sunk.

TRONDHEIM: I guarantee it was Olafsson's men, took my boat and left him stranded there. It's just like these dogs to slit each other's throats.

MULDER: Maybe we should ask the Captain some more questions.

SCULLY: Mulder, Captain Barclay is dead. I don't know how it happened, it was just in the last 15 minutes. It's just like those men below. It's more than rapid aging, Mulder. It's almost as if he's turning into a pillar of salt.

MULDER: Is that what this substance is?

SCULLY: Well, it appears to be crystalline, but beyond that ...?

MULDER: All right, we're all tired. Let's stow the captain's body and tie up Olafsson so we can all get some rest. I'll take first watch, in case he's not alone.

(Later, all are asleep except Mulder. His wristwatch timer goes off and he walks toward Scully, who is asleep with her head on a table.)

MULDER: Scully?

SCULLY: Mmmm. I just fell asleep.

MULDER: You want a few more minutes?

SCULLY: No. I'm up.

(As she lifts her head, we see that her face looks about 20 years older.)

MULDER: Scully ...

(She sees that Mulder is similarly affected.)

SCULLY: Mulder, what happened to you?

---

SCENE 7

(Trondheim is looking in a mirror. He is also showing signs of aging. Mulder and Scully are nearby.)

SCULLY: Time acceleration is an equation, Mulder, a theory.

MULDER: Then theoretically it's possible. What else could it be?

SCULLY: Well, whatever it is, it isn't a time warp. None of us has directly observed any of the phenomenon recorded in the ship's log. There is no hard evidence to indicate that this is a time warp.

MULDER: We're the evidence, Scully! Look at us! We're aging by the minute.

SCULLY: Well, if this is rapid aging phenomena, then why hasn't our hair greyed or started to fall out?

TRONDHEIM: (motioning toward Olafsson) Then what about him, huh? What about him? Why isn't he getting old?

(He directs some words at Olafsson.)

TRONDHEIM: Hvorfor blir du ikke gammel? [Why haven't you gotten older?]

MULDER: Relax, relax, Trondheim. Save your energy.

TRONDHEIM: (to Mulder) I don't have to listen to you. It's because of you that we got into this.

MULDER: Nobody twisted your arm.

TRONDHEIM: I signed on to bring you here. Not to die.

SCULLY: Mulder, what do you know about free radicals?

MULDER: Is this a quiz?

SCULLY: They are highly reactive chemicals containing extra electrons. Now, they can attack DNA proteins, they can cause our body tissue and cell membranes to oxidize.

MULDER: Grow old, you mean?

SCULLY: It's the prevailing theory on how our bodies age.

MULDER: So you think something is triggering that reaction in us?

SCULLY: This is just a theory. But what if this ship is drifting towards another massive metallic source, like a meteor. Maybe it's way down deep in the ocean or embedded into an iceberg. But the two could effectively be acting as positive and negative terminals with the ocean itself being a kind of giant battery. That level of electromagnetic energy could be exciting the free radicals and effectively oxidizing every piece of matter in its field.

(Trondheim notices several drops of red liquid falling onto the floor from above.)

MULDER: It makes sense, Scully. The organic equivalent to rust would be rapid premature senescence.

TRONDHEIM: What the hell?

(They look up and see that liquid is leaking from a flange in an overhead pipe.)

SCULLY: Captain Barclay said the ship was bleeding.

(Mulder rubs some of the liquid between his fingers.)

MULDER: It's not blood, Scully. It's rust. Trondheim, you keep an eye on Olafsson.

TRONDHEIM: Where are you going?

SCULLY: Mulder. Where are we going?

MULDER: I'm not sure yet, but we don't have much time to get there.

(Mulder and Scully walk back through the ship. Mulder is looking at the overhead pipes. All are darkly colored except for one yellow pipe.)

MULDER: See this yellow pipe? It's the only one that hasn't corroded through.

(As they follow the pipe, Trondheim and Olafsson are still in the dining order. They converse in Norwegian.)

OLAFSSON: Hei, Trondheim, komme her. Det er noe jeg vil fortelle deg. [Hey Trondheim, come here. There's something I want to tell you.]

TRONDHEIM: Det er ikke noe du kan fortelle meg som jeg er interesserte i. [There's nothing you can tell me that I want to know.]

OLAFSSON: Er du sikker? Hvor gikk de andre du, tror du? Og hvorfor tror du de etterlot deg? [Are you sure? Where do you think the other two went? And why do you think they left you behind?]

TRONDHEIM: Jeg vet hva du prψver ε gjψre, Olafsson. [I know what you're trying to do, Olafsson.]

OLAFSSON: Hvis du ikke stoler pε meg, sε stole pε de egne ψyne. Du sε hva som hendte til kapteinen. Det tar bare et par timer. Men du behψver ikke ε dψ. [If you don't trust me, trust your own eyes. You saw what happened to the captain. It only takes a few hours. But you don't have to die.]

TRONDHEIM: Vi mε alle dψ. [We all have to die.]

OLAFSSON: Ikke pε denne mεten. [Not like this.]

TRONDHEIM: (angrily) Hvorfor skulle jeg hψre pε deg? Du er en lψgner og en morder. [Why should I listen to you? You're a murderer.]

OLAFSSON: Jeg bare drepte gutten for ε overleve. Du ville gjψre det samme. Du kan fremdeles gjψre det. [I only killed the boy in order to survive. You'd have done the same. You still might.]

TRONDHEIM: OK, jeg hψrer hva du sier. Fortell meg den store hemmeligheten. [OK, I'm listening. Tell me this big secret.]

OLAFSSON: Fψrst la meg gε. [First, let me go.]

TRONDHEIM: Hvordan vet jeg at du forteller sannheten? [How do I know you're telling the truth?]

OLAFSSON: Se pε meg, Trondheim. Og sε, se pε deg selv. [Look at me, Trondheim. Then take a look at yourself.]

(Mulder and Scully have followed the pipe to where it goes down through a hatch labeled "sewage processing hold". They open the hatch, descend some stairs and open a large door. Inside they find many rats as well as clothing and other signs that the area has been recently occupied.)

MULDER: Olafsson and his men.

SCULLY: Why would they hold up here?

(Mulder notices a slow drip from a faucet in a large tank in the room.)

MULDER: This is the only drinkable water on the ship. We were both wrong, Scully. It's the water. All the other water's been contaminated.

SCULLY: Contaminated how?

MULDER: Something must have gotten into the desalination tanks where all the ship's potable water is stored. But the water in the sewage system is recycled again and again. It doesn't come from the sea.

SCULLY: Well, if you're right, then Captain Barclay's drinking binge is what kept him alive.

MULDER: (banging on the tank) The water from this tank may do the same for us.

SCULLY: It doesn't sound like there's very much left.

(In another part of the ship, Olafsson sits motionless next to blood-stained pipes, apparently killed by Trondheim. Trondheim is using his hand to drink water out of the toilet.)

---

SCENE 8

(Back in the crew dining area, Mulder holds up the rope that was binding Olafsson and confronts Trondheim. Olafsson is nowhere to be seen.)

MULDER: What happened? You were supposed to watch him.

TRONDHEIM: I feel pretty bad about it. I shouldn't have dozed off. Well, what do you want me to say? He's gone, he got away.

MULDER: (angrily) I want to know what happened?

TRONDHEIM: I can ask the same of you. You're the one that tied him up.

MULDER: There's nothing wrong with my knot! This rope's been severed!

TRONDHEIM: I don't like being interrogated. I don't owe you any explanations.

(Trondheim starts to walk past Mulder, who grabs him by the shirt. Trondheim grabs Mulder as well, and they grapple briefly.)

SCULLY: Trondheim!

(Mulder draws his gun.)

MULDER: Let go of me.

SCULLY: Look, we have a lot of work to do here. I'm gonna need blood and urine samples from both of you.

TRONDHEIM: What for?

SCULLY: We found out what caused the aging.

TRONDHEIM: What is it now? The two of you are full of theories. First it's one thing, then it's another. By the time you figure out what it is, we'll all be dead.

MULDER: It's the water, Trondheim. Something got into the de-sal tanks, but the water in the sewage system is untainted.

SCULLY: It kept Olafsson alive this long, maybe it will slow the process in us.

TRONDHEIM: This is good news, isn't it? So what happens now?

(It is now daylight outside. Scully is writing in a journal.)

SCULLY: (voice-over) It has been 18 hours, 45 minutes since the onset of symptoms. Rudimentary blood tests have revealed impossibly high concentrations of sodium choloride - salt - though the contaminated water itself is not saline. It appears to catalyze existing body fluids, causing massive and rapid cellular damage. The untainted water has slowed the degenerative progression in Trondheim and me, but Mulder has fared less well, perhaps because of the dehydration he suffered on the way here.

(Mulder places a urine sample on the table. While Scully looks somewhat older than previously, Mulder is more considerably aged and has developed a twitch in his neck.)

MULDER: I think I just lapped George Burns.

SCULLY: I'll be right back.

(Scully takes the sample to a make-shift laboratory that she has set up across the room. Trondheim edges up behind her.)

SCULLY: If you've got something to say, say it but don't hover behind me like that.

TRONDHEIM: The water isn't helping him.

SCULLY: Then maybe we should double his rations.

TRONDHEIM: What for? A lake full of water isn't going to bring him back.

SCULLY: We don't know that for sure. Not yet.

TRONDHEIM: Look at him! We've wasted too much water on him as it is.

SCULLY: Who are you to decide?

TRONDHEIM: You don't have to be a doctor to see that he isn't gonna make it. But you and me, Scully ... you and me ... we better start looking out for ourselves.

(Mulder looks over his shoulder at Scully and Trondheim, but it is not clear whether he heard them. Scully has transferred the sample to a test tube and drops a reactant into it. The sample turns red.)

(Later, Scully writes in her journal as Mulder sleeps.)

SCULLY: (voice-over) Mulder's urinalysis continues to indicate his kidneys' failure to excrete the substance I'm calling "heavy salt". Whether the untainted water taken from the sewage system is even helping him at all is unclear. What does remain clear to me is that I can't give up trying.

(Across the room, Trondheim turns off a lantern to go to sleep.)

(Later, it is dark outside and Scully is leaning her head against a pipe and dozing. She awakens to see that Trondheim is no longer there. She hears a bump and the sound of water flowing. She grabs a flashlight and heads back to investigate. She hears a rumble and sees the water being pumped from the toilet, which has a yellow pipe behind it. She goes back into the sewage processing hold and opens the door, finding Trondheim at work inside.)

SCULLY: Trondheim! What are you doing?

TRONDHEIM: Listen to this. (he bangs the water tank with a wrench) You know what that is? It's a funeral bell. There's only a few gallons left, maybe less.

SCULLY: There's enough to keep us all alive for a few more days.

TRONDHEIM: Or one of us alive long enough to be rescued.

(He walks toward her. Scully draws her gun and cocks the hammer.)

SCULLY: Don't come any closer.

TRONDHEIM: What are you gonna do? Shoot me?

SCULLY: Trondheim, listen to me. The navy knows where we are. They know these coordinates and they're gonna be here soon. So why don't we just go back up into the mess hall ...

(He continues to approach her and she gives ground.)

TRONDHEIM: Why don't you just go ahead and shoot me if you think that I'm gonna let Mulder have another drop.

(He pushes her back out of the room and closes the door, wedging the wrench in the handle and locking himself in.)

SCULLY: Trondheim! Trondheim!

(Scully frantically goes through the crew's quarters and galley looking for other sources of water. She finds a snow globe in the quarters and a can of sardines in the galley. She carefully drains the liquid from the sardines into a glass. When she comes back to the dining area, Mulder is awake and reading her journal. He continues to look worse than her.)

MULDER: You're almost out of pages. It's good you kept a record.

SCULLY: Trondheim's locked himself in the sewage hold. He's backflushed all the water and he's keeping it for himself. I looked everywhere and this is all I could find. (she places a capped jar half full of yellowish liquid on the table) It's sardine juice, half a dozen lemons and uh, the water from a snow globe. (Mulder licks his lips) It's not Evian, but ...

MULDER: You go ahead and drink it.

SCULLY: No, Mulder!

MULDER: It's the only logical choice, Scully. You're a woman. Your life expectancy is greater, and your body retains more water in fatty tissues.

SCULLY: That's more reason for you to drink it.

MULDER: You have a much greater chance of surviving until help comes.

SCULLY: Don't do this, Mulder.

MULDER: Don't be so stubborn, Scully. You know I'm right.

SCULLY: Well, there isn't much liquid to make a difference anyway.

MULDER: There might be.

(He pushes the jar across the table toward her. Scully looks at him, then the jar, then downward for a moment.)

SCULLY: No.

(There is a metallic groaning sound and the ship suddenly shudders, knocking both Mulder and Scully to the floor. The jar vibrates along table. In the sewage hold, Trondheim is also knocked to the floor. In the dining area, Mulder and Scully get back to their seats.)

SCULLY: What was that?

MULDER: The outer hull must have finally corroded through, which means we're taking on water.

SCULLY: Mulder ... the water.

(The jar is broken on the floor. They look at one another as odd noises continue to be heard from the ship.)

(In the sewage hold, several pipes burst and spray water. Suddenly a bulkhead gives way and water starts pouring in. Trondheim removes the wrench and struggles to open the door, but it won't open.)

TRONDHEIM: Uhhh! Can't open the door! Help me! Help me! Help me!

(He continues to call and bang on the door as the hold fills. Then there is silence as he has drowned.)

---

SCENE 9
14 HOURS LATER

(Mulder, trembling badly, sits to the side as Scully writes in her journal.)

MULDER: I always thought when I got older I'd maybe take a cruise somewhere. This isn't exactly what I had in mind. The service on this ship is terrible, Scully. (she smiles) It's not fair. It's not our time. We still have work to do.

(Scully puts down her pen and turns toward him.)

SCULLY: Mulder ... When they found me, after the doctors and even my family had given up, I experienced something that I never told you about. Even now it's hard to find the words. But there's one thing I'm certain of. As certain as I am of this life, we have nothing to fear when it's over.

(Mulder has slumped over to his side.)

MULDER: I'm so tired.

SCULLY: You should sleep.

(She strokes his forehead.)

(Later, Scully writes in her journal.)

SCULLY: (voice-over) Agent Fox Mulder lost consciousness at approximately 4:30 this morning, the 12th of March. There is nothing more I can do for him, or for myself. Supplies are exhausted, no food or liquid consumed for over 24 hours. The outer hull most probably flooded, though for now the inner hull is supporting the ship's mass. Among Halverson's belongings, I found a children's book of Norse legends. From what I can tell, the pictures show the end of the world - not in a sudden firestorm of damnation as the Bible teaches us, but in a slow covering blanket of snow. First the moon and the stars will be lost in a dense white fog, then the rivers and the lakes and the sea will freeze over. And finally a wolf named Skoll will open his jaws and eat the sun, sending the world into an everlasting night. I think I hear the wolf at the door.

(Scully drops her pen and her eyes close.)

(Later, a rescuer boards the vessel and searches the decks below with a flashlight. In the dining area, he finds Mulder and Scully slumped over on opposite sides of a table, as well as her journal.)

(Much later, Dr. Laskos at Bethesda Naval Hospital is shining a light into Scully's eyes to check her response and trying to awaken her. She looks considerably better.)

DR. LASKOS: Agent Scully? Agent Scully, can you hear me?

SCULLY: (groggily) Mmmm. Yeah.

DR. LASKOS: It's been 36 hours since your rescue. I've got you on dialysis with a high-flux filter. You're obviously responding well. Your electrolytes are almost back to normal and your fluid status has been corrected.

(Scully opens her eyes, swallows and raises her head slightly but then it falls back on the pillow and she closes her eyes. As her mind clears, she raises her head again.)

SCULLY: Mulder? Where is he?

(She looks to her right and sees Mulder in the next bed, still unconscious but looking much better.)

DR. LASKOS: His endocrine system was considerably more compromised than yours. Frankly, we didn't think that he'd make it - until we discovered this. (she shows Scully's journal) Based on your observations, we're giving him a course of synthetic hormones, which seems to be working.

SCULLY: Whatever caused this is still out there. I have to talk to a naval liaison. We have to salvage the ship in order to study the salt ...

DR. LASKOS: Agent Scully, the ship was taking on water. It sank less than an hour after you were rescued.

(There is a closing view of the fog-covered North Atlantic.)

[THE END]