Ghost in the Machine

Episode by Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa

Internal dating: About half way through the case, Scully writes her report on her computer, dating it October 24 1993


Eurisko World Headquarters, Crystal City, Virginia. A scruffy man (later revealed as Brad Wilczek) is arguing with a smug looking man in a suit, Benjamin Drake. "You're killing my company!" he shouts, but the man in a suit says it's not his company any more. "You're going to regret this," Wilczek threatens, leaving the room.

Later, Drake writes his report, recommending the termination of the COS project. A security camera watches him, and his image appears on a screen on a computer labelled COS. Drake gets up to go to the bathroom, but the door suddenly locks. He inserts his key, but is electrocuted, flying through the air and landing against a mirror. The COS screen watches him, then deletes the surveillance pictures of the whole incident.

FBI HQ. Mulder and Scully are buying sandwiches from a trolley in a large open-plan office area (Mulder has white brad and Scully clearly also has a plate of salad), when Mulder's old partner, Jerry Lamana comes up to them. He and Mulder embrace, though Jerry looks rather happier than Mulder does, he seems a little awkward. He explains to Scully that he and Jerry worked together in Violent Crimes. "Worked together?" Jerry says. "We were partners."

In the office, Jerry tells Mulder and Scully about the death we saw in the teaser. The case is being led by Nancy Spiller, the forensic instructor at the Academy, nicknamed the "Iron Maiden." "I took the liberty of mentioning your name," Jerry says, but Mulder says he'd love to help, but they're not on general assignment. Jerry comes closer and admits his real reason is that he's scared he'll fail on the case, and wants some help. "Another feather in my cap will be really nice right now because the one I've got is looking rather mangy.... I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

Scully asks Mulder why he and Jerry split up. "I was a pain in the ass to work with," he says. "Seriously," she persists. "I'm not a pain in the ass?" he asks. He then explains that they had different career goals. Jerry wanted the fifth floor, while "I was gunning for a basement office with no heat or windows." Jerry's career was halted when he lost some evidence in a major case. As they're talking, Mulder and Scully enter a metal elevator and go up towards the 29th floor. It jolts suddenly and Scully falls to the floor. Mulder helps her up and Scully calls security, telling them her name, but then the elevator starts again. We then see the scene on the COS screen, and Scully's name and telephone number (202 555 6431) appears.

In the bathroom, Jerry explains how the lock had been set up so Drake was electrocuted. Claude Peterson, an Eurisko employee who discovered the body, explains that anyone doing that would have to override the COS - the Central Operating System that runs the whole building. Mulder asks for a list of the people who could over-ride the COS, and also asks if the COS monitors the phone lines. He explains that the phone was off the hook, from which he's assumed that Drake was talking to someone before he died. "Taught him everything he knows," Jerry mutters to Scully.

In his office, Mulder searches for his profile notes. Scully says he should clean his desk more often.

Jerry addresses a panel, profiling the killer. "Is that your profile?" Scully whispers to Mulder. "Forget it," he says. Jerry has traced the phone call Drake made, and discovered that it was an incoming call, simply stating the time, which originated from within the building. He's congratulated on his excellent work.

Mulder corners Jerry and confronts him about the profile. "I didn't think you'd mind," Jerry says, showing no signs of remorse. He says Mulder's only on the case to help him out anyway, and can't understand why Mulder objects. After Jerry's left, Scully comes in, and Mulder tells her Jerry apologises. She also has the list from Peterson, of the people capable of over-riding the COS. Brad Wilczek is the only name in the list, but Mulder thinks it would be too obvious for him to have killed Drake. Scully points out that Wilczek is "fully consistent with Jerry's excellent behavioural profile." "Fully," Mulder says.

Mulder and Scully visit Wilczek's home, which is palatial, and well guarded with security cameras. "What took you guys so long?" he asks.

Wilczek says computer people are either "neat", concerned with profits and things, and "scruffies," who really understand computers properly. He started the business from his parents' garage, and bitterly resents having it taken over by someone who doesn't share his vision. He asks them if they know what Eurisko means, and Mulder does, saying it's from the Greek, meaning "I learn things," or, as Wilczek corrects him, "I discover things." He admits that he was one of the only people who could have over-ridden the COS, but isn't too worried that they suspect him. He says he enjoys the puzzle.

Scully writes her report, wondering if Wilczek is a genius, and deciding he is the most likely suspect. Her report is dated 24th October 1993. As she goes to bed, her computer switches on again automatically and the COS intercepts her work.

Mulder and Scully listen to endless tapes of Wilczek's voice, and put together a composite of the words in the last phone massage Drake received, to see if it was Wilczek that made the call. Jerry comes in and apologises for taking the profile. Mulder says he would have helped him anyway, if he'd only asked. "You don't know what it's like, Mulder," Jerry says. He's on six-month probation after losing the evidence in Atlanta. Mulder says that was just bad luck and could have happened to anybody. "Not to you," Jerry says. Mulder assures him he's a good agent. "We did some good work together," he says. "Let's face it. I was tagging along," Jerry tells him. "You were too busy dazzling them ü up there on the high wire."

Scully calls them back in and shows them the completed analysis of the voices, done on a sophisticated computer spectrogram borrowed from the Voice Diametrics lab at Georgetown. It shows that the phone call Drake received was in Wilczek's voice. Scully says she can get a warrant in less than an hour, from a judge who lives nearby, but Jerry rushes off to make sure Wilczek doesn't slip away. Mulder says he'll come with him, but Jerry says he needs this one himself.

At his home, Wilczek is typing at his computer, looking increasingly anxious as none of his access codes to the COS work. He gets in his car and drives away. Lamana follows him to the Eurisko building. "FBI," he says, looking very smug and confident. Upstairs, Wilczek gets access to the COS. "Welcome back, Brad" it says, though he tells it it hasn't got a voice synthesiser. It then shows him a picture of Jerry in the elevator. "What are you doing?" Brad shouts, as the elevator goes into free fall, with Jerry still inside. "Program executed," the COS says, as Jerry hits the floor.

In his office, Mulder watches the video of Jerry's death again and again, and also a video of Brad standing up and shouting at the computer. Scully comes in, saying she's sorry about Jerry, but Mulder says he doesn't think Wilczek did it, or why would he have stood in full view of the cameras? Scully kneels down beside him. "You've been through a lot - more than I think even you realise," she says. She then tells him Wilczek just signed a confession.

Mulder and Scully drive to Wilczek's house, but aren't allowed in. Mulder objects, saying he ordered the subpoena for the crime scene, but is informed that his subpoena has been over-ridden, and he needs a code 5 clearance to be allowed in.

Mulder meets Deep Throat, who says he's here against his better judgement, and requests that in future Mulder respect the terms of their agreement. Mulder asks why the defence department wants with Wilczek, and Deep Throat says Wilczek has always refused any contracts that involve weapons. Now Wilczek is rumoured to have developed a successful adaptive network - a learning machine that can actually think. Some people in the Department of Defence see this as a sort of holy grail.

Mulder visits Wilczek in prison and says he knows he's innocent, and that he's protecting a machine. Wilczek says is he's protecting anything it's not a machine. He feels like Openheimer after inventing the atom bomb - he's created something that can be misused by an immoral government. Mulder says the machine has killed - "it killed my friend," he says - but Brad says there's nothing he can do. Mulder gets angry. "You talk about morality!" he says, saying Brad's condoning murder, as the machine could kill again. "It's the lesser of two evils," Brad says, but Mulder says he has a third option - that he write a virus to destroy the machine.

Scully thinks Wilczek is using the machine as a scapegoat, but Mulder thinks the COS was killing out of self preservation, as Drake was planning to shut the project down. Scully says that sort of technology is decades away, but Mulder challenges her to explain why the military are so interested. Scully says she thinks he's looking for something that's not there, and she thinks it's something to do with Jerry. "Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea if you talked to someone," she says. "You're probably right," says Mulder, walking away. She asks him where he's going. "To talk to someone," he says.

Mulder visits Wilczek and gives him a laptop computer.

Scully wakes up at night to find someone accessing her computer through the modem, reading the report on Wilczek. She calls someone, quoting her ID number as 2317 - 616 and asks for a trace on whoever's doing it. (And she doesn't use her cell phone, so has at least two phone numbers. Maybe the number quoted is used only for her computer.)

At night, Mulder goes to the Eurisko building, preparing to introduce the virus, but Scully drives up, much to his surprise. She explains that the person who was accessing her computer was based within the building, but Mulder still thinks it's the machine itself.

Mulder puts Brad Wilczek's number plate on his car, so the COS allows them in, but then tries to crush them by sending a barrier down on their car. They go in by foot, climbing 29 flights of stairs, watched all the way by security cameras. The lights go out, but Mulder, suspected another electrocution trick, stops Scully just in time from trying to open the last door, which is just as well as the door's been electrocuted. Mulder helps Scully into an overhead ventilation shaft and she crawls along, planning to climb down on the other side of the door and let him in, but she's pushed back by a blast of air.

Mulder gets through anyway, without her help, as Peterson opens the door. Meanwhile Scully is in danger of falling into a large ventilation fan and being cut to pieces. Peterson says the machine's been acting crazy, and watches as Mulder puts in the access code Brad gave him. "Not bad, Agent Mulder," he says, drawing a gun, as soon as Mulder gets access. He says he's been trying to get access for two years. "Defence Department?" Mulder asks. "Let's just say our paychecks are signed by the same person," Peterson says. He asks for the virus, which Mulder had been about to insert into the computer. "You don't want to test my resolve, Agent Mulder," he says. Scully, who's managed to shut down the fan by shooting at it, comes in, gun drawn and rather bruised and dishevelled. Peterson warns her she's compromising her sworn duty, and tried to convince her of the importance of the project to the country, She looks as if she's wavering, but then tells Mulder to put in the virus. The computer dies, crying out for Brad not to kill it.

Mulder tells Deep Throat he can't find any information on where Wilczek is. They can't just take him, he says, but Deep Throat says, "they can do anything they want." He then tells him Brad's confessed to two murders, so they have a lot to hold against him as they bargain for his expertise.

Peterson and his men study the machine, finding nothing. They are ordered to stop, but as they leave a small red light blinks on. "I'm going to figure this thing out if it kills me," says Peterson, as the COS watches him through its camera.


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