Página PrincipalInternal Dating: May 10-13, 1998 (approximately) (Note that the first half of the episode is supposed to have taken place on the very day that it aired - May 10th)
Gary Lambert, (mid to late thirties, medium build, balding, hazel eyes) a telemarketing representative with the company is cold calling prospective clients to encourage them to agree to allow the company to come to their homes to demonstrate its product--vinyl siding.
His attempt unsuccessful, Lambert is auto-dialing another name on his list (Edith Loach) when he hears a sound which seems to startle and unease him. He pauses the auto-dialer on his computer.
Just as he is standing up to peer cautiously over the top of his cubicle, he is told by his supervisor to get back to work. "Dial and smile," the man says. A sympathetic coworker in the next cubicle pokes fun at the supervisor after he leaves, eliciting a grateful smile from Gary Lambert, though he is still looking very uneasy and distressed. Nonetheless, he has the auto-dialer complete the call to Mrs. Loach and commences with his sales pitch when she answers the phone, though it is clear he more than a little rattled. He is stammering and distracted and seems to hear the sound again--a kind of rapid clicking or chattering.
As Mrs. Loach queries him on the phone, he glances across the room and sees a vague shadowy shape moving jerkily about behind an opaque glass window. He continues with his pitch, though not very smoothly, and now looks terrified. He starts to speak faster, his respirations increase and he is sweating.
He hears the clicking sound again and then sees what appears to be a man-sized, insect-like creature moving unseen among the people in the telemarketing center. The creature is bipedal, grey and shiny with tubular mouth parts and antennae. It moves rapidly through a small group of people and disappears from sight as Gary tells his client in a stage whisper, "Mrs. Loach, listen very carefully. It's here!" We hear a low growling/purring sound reminiscent of the alien in the movie "Predator".
The credits roll: The Truth is Out There
FBI Headquarters, 9:12 am
Mulder and Scully are asked by Assistant Director Skinner to go to Chicago as soon as possible to perform a threat assessment for the Oak Brook telemarketing hub of VinylRight Corporation. The company has been the focus of an "anonymous audio-taped manifesto; one which threatened violence," he tells the two agents. He then goes on to say that several years previously, the same company had an incident in another office; "a disgruntled employee with a gun. They feel they can't be too careful."
Mulder, looking wary and truculent, asks why the Chicago FBI field office can't do the job. Skinner fixes the younger agent with a steely look and says; "Because I prefer you did."
Mulder, who may be deliberately yanking Skinner's chain, innocently asks; "Because the manifesto contains bizarre overtones? Claims of a...paranormal nature?"
Skinner, looking more uncomfortable by the second, replies, "It speaks of a monster stalking employees. Your insight into such claims should aid in assessing the threat--if any--posed by this person."
Mulder nods, a glint in his eye and deadpans, "Monsters. I'm your boy." He doesn't look very happy.
Skinner doesn't look very happy, either.
Once the partners have exited Skinner's office, Mulder gives vent to his true feelings. "I must have done something to piss him off." When Scully asks him what he means, he elaborates; "To get stuck with this jerk-off assignment, or have I finally reached that magic point in my career (raising his left hand to massage his forehead, he shows us his fingers are *still* taped together from being broken in "Pine Bluff Variant" in a truly astounding nod to continuity) where every time somebody sees Big Foot or the Virgin Mary on a tortilla, I get called out of my basement warren to offer my 'special insight' on the matter."
"You're saying 'I' a lot," Scully points out. "I heard 'we'; or do I assume that this case is just a waste of our time?"
"Not yours, anyway," is the moody reply. "There's no reason both of us should go to Chicago. I'll take care of it." He begins to walk away, not stopping when Scully calls his name. "I'm Monster Boy, right?" One gets the feeling that he didn't mean it as a question.
Scully watches him go, a confused expression on her face.
Oak Brook, Illinois, VinylRight Corporation
Mulder meets with Gregory Pincus who plays an audio cassette tape for Mulder which, he tells the agent, was forwarded to him by a local radio station. The instructions accompanying the tape demanded it be played repeatedly twenty-four hours per day. The radio station did not comply.
Contents of the taped message: "This is a warning of the utmost urgency. At VinylRight, 12340 Wabash Terrace in Oak Brook, (Mulder exhales in exasperation at this point, puffing out his cheeks) there is a monster; an evil one that preys on the people there...but they can't see it, because it hides in the light (Mulder frowns at this point). I see it; I know where to look. I can't be the only one. We all must hunt it down and kill it, because if we don't...it will take us all."
Mulder asks Mr. Pincus if he recognizes the voice on the tape. Pincus explains that he has 96 employees and that while he doesn't want to believe one of them could have sent the tape to the radio station, he doesn't know who else it could have been. He seems concerned and anxious to solve this problem and grateful for Mulder's help.
Mulder questions Pincus about the older violent incident to which Skinner had referred during his briefing of the agents. Pincus tells Mulder that in 1994 at a VinylRight plant in Kansas City, a warehouse worker threatened people with a gun. "I think it was over a woman," he says.
Mulder asks if he can borrow the tape. Pincus agrees to let him and asks Mulder if this is a hoax. Mulder suggests that Pincus err on the side of caution and hire extra security. Pincus tells Mulder the company will be conducting its own investigation, interviewing employees to make sure they are happy, etc. Mulder tells him to use his best judgment.
Upon leaving Pincus' office, Mulder calls Scully on his cell phone and asks her to check on the phrase "hiding in the light", explaining it was on the audio cassette tape. As he walks through the telemarketing area, he unhelpfully adds that he thinks the phrase or a variation of it appears in a case file "somewhere that I've got hidden away."
"Which one? There's hundreds?" asks a dismayed Scully.
"I'm not sure, but...I'd appreciate it," Mulder replies and hangs up.
Scully, repeating the phrase to herself, heads unenthusiastically towards the file cabinets.
Mulder casts a final glance around the telemarketing area as he takes his leave.
Gary Lambert is watching Pincus' office door. Over an intercom or loudspeaker, Nancy Aaronson is summoned to Pincus' office. She turns out to be Lambert's cubicle mate, the woman who poked fun at the supervisor. She is an attractive, fair-haired woman, late twenties to early thirties.
"Uh-oh," she says as she stands up, "now I did it." She grins cheekily at Lambert.
Lambert tries to warn her not to go into Pincus' office, but cannot seem to say anything but "Don't." When Nancy reasonably asks him "Don't *what?*, he doesn't seem to know how to answer.
"Gary, I love you buddy, but you're...really, really weird." Nancy shakes her head bemusedly, grins again and heads for Pincus' office.
Lambert, who now looks as if he is on the verge of tears, watches Pincus greet her as she walks into his office. For a split second, just as the door closes, Pincus appears to morph or change, becoming the creature which Lambert saw previously.
The door closes. We hear a long scream. Lambert seems to be the only person in the office who hears it. He heads for Pincus' office, only to be intercepted by the supervisor and told in no uncertain terms to "dial and smile". Lambert returns to his cubicle and scrubs his hands over his sweating face. He appears completely undone.
Another employee, Mark Backus, is summoned to Pincus' office over the intercom.
Lambert sees Nancy Aaronson heading back towards her cubicle. She is walking woodenly, her arms straight down by her sides.
"See?" she says to Lambert. "Nothin' to it." She appears zombie-like to Lambert, hair lank, eyeballs completely white, skin ghastly pale, yet when she turns to put her headset back on, she looks perfectly ordinary (not to mention *alive*). "He just wants to say 'hi' to everybody," she continues, her appearance changing again to a zombie-like appearance. "He's going alphabetically."
Terrified, Lambert gets up and leaves, ignoring the supervisor who calls his name.
FBI Field Office, Chicago, Illinois
Mulder has had the contents of the audio cassette tape dubbed over to a large reel-to-reel tape machine. He is replaying the "manifesto" and is actually utilizing his profiler skills and psychological training (!) to evaluate the message and the personality of the man who recorded it.
On a pad of lined, canary-yellow paper, under the quote-marked, double-underlined "hides in the light" phrase, he has listed:
Obsessive compulsive disorder? (this is heavily scratched out on the pad)
Formality of phrasing
desire for authority --
to be taken seriously
As the taped message continues to play, scene changes to Lambert who is opening up a metal case of some kind.
Back to Mulder who rewinds the tape. He has added "Exactness of performance indicates delib. mind..." and "tape likely recorded many times till perfect" to his list.
Back to Lambert, who is loading large-caliber bullets into a clip or magazine.
Back to Mulder, who is now adding "Paranoia" and "Exclusion" to his list.
Back to Lambert, who has inserted the loaded magazine into an automatic rifle.
Scully calls Mulder on his cell phone to tell him "hiding in the light" was a phrase spoken by one Gerald Reznick to a Lakeland, Florida police investigator on August 9, 1992. She goes on to tell her partner that Mr. Reznick, a deacon of his local church, was concerned there was "an evil presence amongst his fellow parishioners and that he alone was aware of that fact." Apparently, he went to Mass on that day with four handguns and began wounding people, saying "the afflicted ones wouldn't bleed. He committed suicide a week later in his cell," Scully concludes.
Looking thoughtful, Mulder tells his partner "Scully, at the risk of you telling me 'I told you so,' I think it's time for you to get down here and help me."
"I told you so," Scully shoots back without malice.
Mulder returns to VinylRight at 12:14 PM to find the telemarketing center completely empty of people. He sees Nancy Aaronson crouched on the floor at a wall corner and who appears to be trying to warn him about something.
An armed Gary Lambert surprises Mulder from behind before Mulder can figure out what Aaronson is trying to tell him, demanding to know who he is. Mulder raises his hands and keeps his mouth shut.
Scully shows up at VinylRight and is briefed by Agent in Charge Rice (last seen as the SWAT Team leader in "Pusher"). Rice tells her that a call was placed from VinylRight to TV News, telling them the caller wanted to broadcast "a stunning revelation". Subsequent attempts by the FBI to contact anyone inside the building have been unsuccessful. Rice does not know who or how many people are being held hostage. Of the eighteen cars in the parking lot, one is a rental registered to Agent Mulder.
The SWAT commander picks up the narrative at this point to tell Scully they were just about to call Mulder on his cell phone. Scully protests, saying they can't do that until the situation becomes more clear. The SWAT commander tells her that he feels the hostages and their captor are in the building's cafeteria, strategically bad for attacking forces due to the fact that there are no windows and only one door and that, therefore, they have no way to ascertain the situation unless they call Mulder. Scully appeals to Rice to find another way.
Inside the building, Lambert has a number of hostages in the cafeteria on their knees in a semicircle, hands clasped behind their heads. Mulder can be seen among this group. Lambert exhorts everyone to stop crying and be quiet. Three people are tied to the crash bars of the exit door. Nancy Aaronson and two unidentified men are being held apart from the rest of the hostages, facing away from them. Gregory Pincus, his right temple bloody, is sitting on the floor separated from both groups.
"Everybody needs to be afraid of him," Lambert says of Pincus. "He's the one that's out to get you. I'm protecting you."
A frightened Nancy Aaronson cries "Gary, what are you talking about?"
Lambert screams "Shut up! I'm not addressing you! I'm addressing the actual people over here, okay? I'm not talking to you (gesturing at one of the unidentified men being held apart) or you (the second unidentified man being held apart) or you!" (gesturing at Aaronson)
Mulder, speaking calmly and slowly asks "Why should we be afraid of Mr. Pincus, Gary? I'd really like to hear what you have to say." When Lambert asks Mulder who he is and what he's doing there, Mulder gives only his last name and tells Lambert he came to VinylRight to apply for a job, shooting a look at Pincus as he does so.
Lambert laughs harshly. "Oh man...did *you* come to the wrong place!"
"I get that," Mulder says. "Why should we be afraid of Mr. Pincus, Gary?"
"Because he's a monster; only you can't see that because he's clouded all your minds," Lambert replies as he moves to stand over Pincus. "But he means to take us all; one by one...harvest our souls..."
Mulder surreptitiously unbuttons his suit jacket while Lambert's attention is engaged by Pincus.
"...robots made out of meat," Lambert concludes as he runs the slide on his rifle.
"God almighty," Pincus breathes, looking terrified.
Mulder steps back into the fray. "Gary, I want to believe that you're protecting us but, uh, I'm kind of afraid of that rifle. It makes it hard for us actual people to concentrate on what you're saying."
Lambert angrily approaches Mulder. "Why are you talking to me like I'm a three-year-old? Don't act like you understand what I'm talking about, because you don't!" He turns back to Pincus. "But you will," he says chillingly.
Mulder takes advantage of this by releasing the snap on his holster. The sound draws Lambert's attention, but by the time he turns around, Mulder's got his hands back behind his head again.
Lambert then hears another sound and orders everyone to hold their breath. He sees some dust falling from an overhead ventilation duct and hears faint, scuffling sounds. Cursing, he grabs Nancy Aaronson to use as a shield and shoots at the duct, his weapon on full automatic.
Scene changes to the exterior of the building. Two SWAT team members can be seen running across the building's roof, one of them executing a beautiful belly slide down a ladder truck ladder, the other coming down in a more conventional fashion. Lambert has "made them" and they're getting out of the line of fire.
Rice and Scully argue over the merits of calling Mulder on his cell phone. Scully insists Mulder would have called if it was safe for him to do so. Rice tells her that their options are limited as he pulls out his own cell phone and begins to dial.
Inside the building, Mulder is just reaching for his gun when his cell phone starts to ring, startling both him and Lambert. Mulder tries to get to the phone first, but Lambert orders him to get his hands behind his head. When Lambert reaches for the phone--which is in Mulder's inside jacket pocket--he sees Mulder's gun. He grabs it and pistol whips Mulder, knocking him over. One of the unidentified men who Lambert had been keeping apart from the rest of the hostages leaps to his feet--possibly planning to attack Lambert because he is distracted--but Lambert shoots and kills him. People start screaming and Mulder's cell phone is still ringing.
Mulder gets back on his knees, his lower lip split and bleeding. When Lambert reaches for his cell phone again, he finds Mulder's FBI badge, to Mulder's mortal chagrin.
"FBI?" Lambert says in disbelief. "You happy now?" He throws Mulder's identification to the floor. "You want to mess with me some more?" He finally takes Mulder's (still ringing) cell phone and answers it. AIC Rice asks him for a status on events/injuries. Lambert tells Rice he just shot a zombie. "Everybody thinks I killed him, but I didn't!" he shouts.
"Who am I talking to?" Rice asks.
"The guy who's going to start killing actual people if you don't put me on the damn TV!" Lambert screams, spittle flying from his mouth.
Rice, Scully and the SWAT commander discuss options. When Rice tells Scully that Lambert is demanding his "fifteen minutes of fame", Scully suggests they give it to him.
Inside the building, Lambert instructs two of the hostages to "get it out of sight", referring to the corpse of the man he shot. "You want to know why it jumped at me like that?" he asks the group.
"It's not an 'it', Gary. It's a 'he', it's a man you just killed," Mulder says quietly. "What was his name?"
"Mark Backus," the supervisor tells him.
"Wrong!" Lambert shouts. "It stopped being Mark Backus when he (pointing at Pincus) turned it into a zombie. And then he instructed it by means of mental telepathy to attack me; so I shot it. I had no choice, but it doesn't matter, because it was already dead. It wants us all like that--insects, not people--mindless drones. It wants to take away who we are, to control us...so we'll be his eyes and ears and spy on each other and help him do his dirty work!"
Pincus interjects at this point to plead with Lambert to release the hostages. He offers to stay behind.
Lambert, unswayed, tells Pincus, "You just wait till I put you on TV. Then they'll see what you are."
Rice calls Lambert on Mulder's cell phone to tell him a cameraman is being sent in. Lambert agrees to this.
The TV News cameraman--in reality an FBI agent--enters the cafeteria. Lambert orders Pincus over to a counter, orders all the "human" hostages except Mulder to stand against the door and keeps his gun trained on Mulder, threatening to kill him if anyone tries to break down the door.
Scully and Rice can now see what's happening inside the cafeteria. Using technological sleight of hand and with the cooperation of a TV News reporter, they're going to put the whammy on Lambert and allow him to think he's broadcasting his "revelation" to the world.
The cameraman is miked. Rice instructs him to pan the room. The pan reveals one clear exterior wall. A mobile vehicular battering ram is moved into position. Lambert begins to speak to the camera after forcing Mulder to lie down on the floor.
"People of America, a monster walks among you." Lambert tells the cameraman to pan over Pincus, orders Pincus to stand. Pincus complies, looking terrified. Lambert aims the rifle at Pincus. "Now, I'll show it to you," he says.
Mulder places himself between Pincus and Lambert, telling Lambert not to do what he's planning on doing. As Lambert screams at Mulder to get out of the way, the lights go out. The tense standoff continues with Mulder continuing to exhort Lambert to put down the gun and Lambert continuing to scream at Mulder to get out of the way.
Lambert then hears the clicking/chattering sound again and screams at Mulder to look at Pincus. When Mulder turns to look, he sees not Pincus but a large, bipedal insect-like creature. As he turns back, the mobile battering ram crashes through the exterior wall and a SWAT officer shoots Lambert who falls, his blood spraying on Mulder's face and neck. Nancy Aaronson, strangely calm, stands looking down at Lambert. Mulder looks at Pincus again, then drops to his knees beside the dying Lambert.
"Now you know," are Lambert's final words.
Scully arrives, tells Mulder that AIC Rice has the situation under control, tells Mulder he looks exhausted and "let's get you out of here." Mulder blows her off and approaches Pincus.
Pincus thanks Mulder for saving his life and the lives of the other employees, expressing confusion as to the reasons why Lambert would fixate on him when Mulder asks him for his thoughts. Some interesting facts come to light when Mulder continues to question Pincus; that Pincus worked at the Kansas City facility of VinylRight when the violent incident of 1994 occurred, though he wasn't physically present on that day; also, that Pincus has relatives in Lakeland, Florida and that he'd visited there.
When a confused Scully asks Mulder what is going on, he says "I don't know" in a pained voice and walks away, obviously distraught.
Back at the FBI building in Washington, Mulder works on a map, connecting various destinations with a series of red lines. He writes the date 5-10-98 over Chicago on the map.
Scully comes in, surprised to see him there and asks why he hasn't taken the day off. Mulder ignores her question and tells her he's found the phrase or variations of the phrase "hiding in the light" in five other X-Files which apparently describe "some sort of manifestation of evil which goes unnoticed by everyone except the claimant in each case."
"Have you slept?" Scully asks pointedly.
Ignoring her, Mulder goes on. "Seven cities in all, dating back ten years. VinylRight has offices within 50 miles of four of those cities. Greg Pincus has worked for VinylRight for guess for how long? Ten years." In response to Scully's query as to what, exactly, he thinks he's on to, Mulder exhales and says, "What if Gary Lambert was right?"
Scully is dumbfounded.
"Just bear with me for a moment," is the hasty interjection. "I mean, what if such a creature existed that could camouflage itself by clouding the minds of its victims. There are antecedents for it in nature, right, in the insect world. Mantids, for instance; they're said to be able to hypnotize their prey.
Scully, with the air of someone waking up from a bad dream, firmly says, "No."
"What if it could induce a--a visual hallucination; a--a sort of temporary conversion disorder?" Mulder goes on.
Struggling to be fair, Scully responds, "Well...what you're describing would be more like some kind of a visual agnosia; an inability to recognize what's before one's eyes."
"Only Gary Lambert could see through it somehow--as could the others," Mulder says intensely. "Maybe because of some heightened adrenaline level or maybe just because he knew where to *look*, somehow."
Having had enough, Scully tells her partner, "Mulder, he was disturbed."
"Yeah, but did he see it because he was disturbed or was he disturbed because he saw it?" Mulder asks, troubled.
"He was mentally ill. This monster was a--was a sick fantasy, a--a product of his dementia," Scully concludes, obviously uncomfortable with the direction Mulder's going.
His voice low and strained, her partner says, "I saw it, too. Does that make me disturbed, demented? Does...that make me sick, too?"
"No. No...I mean this kind of thing is not uncommon," Scully struggles, shaken. At this point, Mulder shakes his head, his lips thinning and closes his eyes as if she is saying something he isn't interested in hearing. "You...you went through a terrible ordeal and sometimes people in close associations under tense conditions ca--uh...the delusions of one can be passed on to the other."
"Folie a deux?" Mulder appears frustrated. "It's not that Scully, it's not Helsinki Syndrome either; what I saw was real and there may be a way to prove it."
"How?"
"Lambert pointed out certain individuals he said had been victimized by Pincus--turned into zombies. The man he shot--Backus--was one of them. If you could autopsy the body--"
"No," Scully says adamantly. "Absolutely not."
Almost pleading and very concerned, Mulder says "Scully, if this is all in my mind as you say it is, I would be very grateful if you would prove that."
Scully stiffly tells him, "Mulder, I am not going to serve the delusions of Gary Lambert--a madman--by given credence to them."
"Then I'll prove it without you." Mulder leaves the office, ignoring Scully when she calls him back.
Gary Lambert residence, Oak Brook, Illinois
Mulder and Agent Rice go into Lambert's home, Mulder telling Rice he'll know what he's looking for when he sees it.
He finds a wall map of the United States which looks identical to the one he (Mulder) had been working on in his basement office. The map is hanging on the wall. Mulder speculates aloud that Gary Lambert had been tracking Pincus' movements for the past ten years. When Rice makes a comment about Lambert stalking Pincus, Mulder says more or less to himself that Lambert was "gathering evidence."
Through a window, Mulder sees Nancy Aaronson outside the house. At first glance, she looks normal. When Mulder looks closer, she appears to be dead and zombie-like. Mulder tears out of the house, Rice on his heels demanding to know what's going on. When the two agents get to the street, Aaronson is nowhere to be found. Mulder does not answer Rice's question.
A car drives off, Mulder and Rice pursuing it on foot for a little ways before giving up. They do not clearly see who is in the car--Aaronson in the passenger seat, Pincus driving--and Rice is looking at Mulder like he thinks the other agent's cookie jar isn't full to the top.
Back in Washington, Scully is called into Skinner's office and asked if she can "give any insight" into Agent Mulder's recent behaviour." Skinner asks her why Mulder has gone back to Chicago. Scully rather uncomfortably tells her boss of Mulder's suspicion that the Oak Brook case is connected to a number of others.
Skinner observes that Scully did not "elect to join" her partner. Giving her no time to respond, he goes on to tell her that staff in the Chicago FBI field office are categorizing Mulder's behaviour as "erratic".
Trapped, Scully tells Skinner that to the best of her knowledge, Mulder is working on a legitimate investigation and that she will join him immediately.
"Don't you have an autopsy to do?" Skinner asks.
Scully is not happy to find out that Mulder has scheduled her to autopsy the body of Mark Backus which has been shipped to the FBI laboratory at Quantico. Startled and angry and making every attempt not to show it, Scully tells Skinner, "I'll get right on it, sir."
"Is there something you want to tell me, Scully?" Skinner asks as she heads for the door.
Scully pauses on her way to the door, half turns, says "No sir," and takes her leave.
FBI Forensic Pathology Lab, Quantico
Scully instructs another pathologist to conduct only an external examination and take photographs of the body of Mark Backus, though it is apparent that this decision causes her some distress and anxiety. When the other pathologist comments that the body came a long way just to "have his picture taken," Scully's dry "knock yourself out," is an indication of her state of mind.
Scully moves away from the body to call her partner on her cell phone. In the background, the other pathologist commences his examination, turning on the recorder, giving the victim's case number (986522), name, age (45), detailing gunshot wound locations and giving time of death as between 48-72 hours earlier based on "resolved rigor and fixed lividity as well as decompositional bloating."
Scully overhears the time of death pronouncement and hangs up her call--she was receiving a no service message--and corrects the pathologist, telling him that Backus had died late the previous afternoon, confirming this when the man asks her if she is sure.
Backus' corpse really does look a little past its freshness date when Scully takes a good, hard look at it. The skin of the corpse is very mottled and bloated and some pieces of skin are hanging off or missing altogether. The face looks, well, zombie-like.
Chicago, location unknown
Gregory Pincus pulls up in front of a house, gets out of his car and walks towards the house.
Mulder drives up in time to watch Pincus go around to the side of the house. When Mulder follows the man, he sees an open second-story window. He drags a picnic table to another window so he can look inside the house.
He can see a woman watching television--a Shirley Temple movie with the volume set extremely loud. A shadow appears to flash past, then Mulder sees an insectoid figure bending over the woman. She screams. Mulder smashes the window and takes aim at the creature which disappears or runs off. Mulder does not fire his weapon at it.
Mulder breaks in through the front door of the house to execute a search for the creature he saw. The woman still appears to be watching television, though her eyes look white. We see something large scuttling across the ceiling behind Mulder. He hears a sound behind him and gives chase through the dark house, ending up at the open window he'd seen previously. When he looks out the window and up, something grey is scrabbling easily up the side of the house; bipedal, large, insectoid. It disappears over the edge of the roof.
Mulder looks like he's seen a ghost or like he wants to be sick.
The following day, the woman from the previous night is seemingly relating a strange tale to Assistant Director Skinner in the VinylRight office of Gregory Pincus. Her name is Gretchen Starns.
"I became aware of this...presence...and I could feel it creeping toward me," the woman is saying as the scene opens, camera panning slowly past her to show Pincus and Skinner. "It was terrifying. The next thing I know (angry glance at a seated Mulder) this madman's inside my house. He breaks my window, kicks in the door and the whole time he's screaming about monsters...I mean, even worse than Gary."
Mulder does not respond other than to tighten his jaw. He sits and smolders as Skinner apologizes profusely and assures the angry woman that the matter will receive his "utmost attention."
Pincus kindly gives her the rest of the week off. What a guy. Her parting shot is a remark to Skinner aimed directly at Mulder; "That man has no business carrying a gun if you ask me."
Glaring at Pincus, Mulder growls, "You got to her too, didn't you?" Ignoring Skinner's warning, he goes on; "I was too late. You changed her somehow, you *infected* her!"
Skinner cautions Mulder again, strongly enough so that the younger agent doesn't say anything more. Skinner apologizes once again to Pincus. Pincus silkily tells the Assistant Director that there is no need for apologies; Pincus is aware that Agent Mulder has been under a great deal of stress and that he still considers Mulder a hero for what he did. At this point, Mulder looks as if he would like to throw up.
Pincus offers to let things drop, expressing confidence that he can convince Gretchen Starns to do likewise; "that is provided Agent Mulder is amenable," he says hopefully.
Mulder protests that Skinner doesn't know what is going on as the Assistant Director looks almost sadly at his younger agent and says, "Oh, I think I do."
Tension begins to escalate when Mulder turns his attention back to Pincus, accusing the man of "sucking the humanity out of those people--feeding on them!"
Skinner, visibly trying to control his temper, starts haranguing Mulder, telling him that he is placing his career in jeopardy.
While Skinner's attention is on the younger agent, Mulder notices Pincus approaching Skinner from behind. He can also hear a purring/growling sound suddenly very loud in the room. Pincus transforms into a large insect-like creature with big, black shiny eyes. It appears to be threatening Skinner.
Mulder shouts at Skinner to get out of the way and lunges at Pincus/Insect Man with his gun drawn. Skinner grabs Mulder and wrestles him back over a chair, paying no heed to Mulder's frantic shouts of "Look at him!" and telling the other man to stop struggling. It's apparent that Skinner believes his subordinate is in dire need of help.
Pincus, now human and terrifyingly normal, smiles a victorious little smile.
Calumet Mercy Hospital, Chicago, Illinois
Mulder, hospitalized and in two-point restraints, receives a visit from Scully. As she takes his hand, Mulder deadpans, "Five years together, Scully; you must have seen this coming," though the remark lacks its usual spark of humour. It is obvious he is very unhappy with the restraints.
Switching gears rapidly, he asks his partner what her examination of Mark Backus revealed. Scully tells him that though the body "showed signs of decomposition beyond what we expected," that is not significant in and of itself as "time of death is notoriously hard to quantify."
Yeah. Don't let the fact that you *know* TOD get in the way or anything. Jeez...
Or, Mulder points out, her findings could be interpreted to support Gary Lambert's claims that Mark Backus was dead before Lambert shot him. Overriding Scully's almost automatic protest, Mulder goes on to tell her that he saw Pincus/Insect Man inject or bite Gretchen Starns on the back of the neck (what *is* it with these guys and the back of the neck?) when he attacked her, that Backus' body might show evidence of something similar and that she has to check for it.
Scully firmly tells her partner that the case is over and that there is no more evidence to be gathered. Concerned, she goes on to say, "There's only my hope that you'll be able to see past this delusion."
Angry and tense, Mulder shoots back, "*You*...having to be willing to see."
"I wish it were that simple," Scully whispers sadly.
"Scully, you have to believe me," Mulder says desperately. "Nobody else on this whole damned planet does or ever will. You're my one in...five billion."
Scully returns to Quantico to reexamine the body of Mark Backus, finding three small puncture wounds on the back of the man's neck after shaving away some superfluous hair with an electric clipper.
Back at the hospital, it's night time. Mulder, still restrained, receives an injection from a nurse. He tries and fails to cajole her into releasing him from the straps, and winces when the needle punctures his skin. He carefully scrutinizes a closed window as the nurse draws the privacy curtain around his bed and leaves the room, turning out the lights and abjuring Mulder "don't let the bedbugs bite," on her way out.
Tense and jumpy, Mulder closes his eyes. He hears a sound, opens his eyes and sees the shadow of an antennae-bearing insect head rising against the privacy curtain. Fighting the restraints, he begins shouting for the nurse.
When the nurse comes into the room, he tries to stay calm while he explains he saw something trying to get in through the window. He asks her to undo the straps so that he can stop it. It is obvious he is terrified.
The nurse tells him he is three floors up and that nothing can get in. Mulder tries again, nearly begging her to let him go so that he can check the window for himself. She turns on the lights and pulls back the privacy curtain so that Mulder can see the empty, closed window. Apparently not reassured, Mulder repeats his request to be freed from the restraints. The nurse hesitates and then turns to the window, unlocking it and raising it about a third of the way. Mulder freezes and demands to know what she is doing.
"You just need some fresh air," she says. As she walks toward Mulder to check his restraints, we can see a tiny trickle of blood at the back of her neck. She curtains off his bed again, tells him she "can't be running in here all night, okay?" and leaves, once again turning off the lights.
In very short order, Insect Man is not only back, but is climbing through the open window while a trapped and frantic Mulder can do nothing but hyperventilate and shout for help while watching the creature crawl across the ceiling, coming ever closer...
Back at the admitting desk, Nurse Zombie is telling a just-arrived Scully that she cannot allow Scully to see Mulder. It is after hours and Mulder is dinner--er--resting. Scully shows her badge, explains she's come a long way and that she knows Mulder will want to see her. The nurse refuses once again, citing hospital policy.
Scully is momentarily stymied. As she looks at the nurse, she suddenly sees a zombie (?) and tears off down the hall, arriving seconds later in Mulder's room, gun drawn. Mulder is still shouting for help. When Scully rips back the privacy curtain, she sees something large and dark crawling down the wall beside Mulder's bed. She shoots at it. It falls or jumps off the wall and makes for the window. She shoots at it again and it either falls or jumps through the glass. When Scully runs to the window to look down, she sees nothing. She and Mulder do not speak beyond exchanging a look after it is over.
Skinner's office. He is reading the case file while Scully sits across the desk. Mulder is not present.
"Do I infer correctly from this that you believe there's some...merit to Agent Mulder's claims?" Skinner asks.
"I believe that Agent Mulder is mentally sound and fit for duty," Scully hedges. "Aside from that belief, I can only present to you the few hard facts that I've been able to gather--that, as per Agent Mulder's assertions, a toxin has been found to have been injected into the spine of the shooting victim, Mark Backus. As of yet, we have been unable to identify it. Furthermore, Gregory Pincus has apparently disappeared without a trace, along with half a dozen other key witnesses integral to this investigation--among them, Agent Mulder's nurse at the hospital and several VinylRight employees."
"Men and women described by Agent Mulder as zombies," Skinner says neutrally.
"I personally can vouch for the fact that there was an intruder in Agent Mulder's hospital room," is Scully's dogged response.
"Describe this intruder."
Scully pauses. "It was dark," she finally says.
"You must have gotten a glimpse; what did you see?" Skinner presses. Scully does not answer or if she does, we don't hear it.
She leaves Skinner's office and runs into Mulder at the elevator. When he asks her what she told Skinner, she tells her partner, "the truth as well as I understand it."
"Which is?" Mulder asks as they board the elevator.
"Folie a deux; a madness shared by two," is the stolid reply as the elevator doors close. Scully does not look at her partner. He does not contradict her. Neither of them are looking very happy.
Camdenton, Missouri. Another telemarketing center; this time for WeatherRite replacement windows. A young dark-haired telemarketer is doing his spiel on the phone. As we saw with Gary Lambert at the beginning of the episode, this young man is nervous and looks frightened while he is talking to his client on the phone.
We hear the purring/growling sound. The young man freezes, breaks off his spiel, his gaze flicking frantically around the room.
"Mr. J. Cox? It's here!"
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