Página PrincipalInternal dating:"Tempus Fugit" starts with Scully's birthday, thus placing it as 23rd February 1997. Mulder's watch shows the end of "Max" to be March 8th 1997
The bright light shining on Mulder splits in two. Within seconds, it becomes obvious that a pair of divers have those lights. They are after Mulder. Mulder removes his airtanks and makes a bee line to the surface.
The discarded airtanks divert the other divers until Mulder is able to get to the shore. While the boats on the water are now following him, Mulder removes his flippers and goggles and tries to flee. A truck, however, follows Mulder. He is chased down by armed men in black gear. He is caught and wrestled to the ground.
The credits roll: The Truth is Out There.
As Pendrell is dying on the DC pub floor, Garrett, the shooter, suffers a leg wound. Scully forces Frisch to the ground. Scully rushes to Pendrell, undoing his tie and opening his shirt. The gunshot hit his right lung and Scully is very concerned.
When she goes to check on the shooter, all she finds is a trail of blood out of the bar. When she goes outside, the police are coming but Garrett is gone. Scully orders the DC cops to get paramedics for Pendrell. She returns to the bar, telling Pendrell, who is struggling for air, that the EMTs are on the way. She comforts him, telling him he's "going to make it...We still haven't celebrated my birthday Pendrell, I'm not letting you off the hook like this". The EMTs arrive and are told by Dr. Scully that Pendrell has a punctured lung and needs to be intubated.
Suddenly, Scully's nose starts to bleed. She grabs a tissue and decides to interrogate Frisch. Frisch denies telling anyone their location. He did not tell his girlfriend he was in Washington. Scully wonders if there is a mole on the inside who tipped off the assassin.
Skinner arrives as Pendrell is being wheeled out. He is shocked to see Pendrell in such bad shape. He asks Scully what happened -- he got a call about a witness transfer. Scully tells him that the witness is Frisch and Pendrell was shot in a botched assassination attempt on the sergeant.
Scully asks Skinner what happened to her request for a federal marshall. Skinner tells her that the marshall was cancelled, Frisch is now under military arrest for perjury and suspicion of murder.
Scully tells Skinner that Frisch has info on the military and his life is in danger. Skinner warns Scully that the arrest order came down from the Joint Chiefs of Staff (the heads of the Army, Air Force and Navy) who also want to arrest Mulder for interference in a crash site of a commercial airliner.
Scully tells Skinner this is all a coverup, the military shot down Flight 549. Skinner agrees, telling her the military is about to admit that a plane hit Flight 549. The story, however, is different from Frisch's.
Skinner notices Scully's bloody tissue. He warns her that he "has a responsibility for the agents under my supervision Agent Scully and I will not put another agent's life in danger just to keep her in the field". Scully tells him she's fine, but he orders her to the hospital anyway.
The next morning, Mulder is released from a military prison to Scully's custody. He is wearing military prison clothes but his street clothes have been returned. Mulder does not believe the new cover story. A tower in Albany gave bad flight coordinates to an F 15 Eagle. Scully tells Mulder she heard the tape. While this is going on, Mulder is changing in front of Scully. As he unbuttons his pants, Scully turns away to allow him some privacy.
According to the official story, Frisch and Gonzales could not see the planes until it was too late. The new story goes that Gonzales shot himself in remorse while Frisch was lying to hurt the military and help his career.
Mulder thinks this story is just too convenient - blaming a dead man. Mulder asks Scully if she believes the story. She admits she isn't sure. Mulder shows her a burn on his forehead covered by his hair. Scully asks where he got the burns -- they are radiation burns. Mulder tells her he got the burns during his dive, when he found the downed UFO in the lake.
As the two leave the jail building, Scully tells Mulder that Mike Millar found a disoriented Sharon Graffia at Flight 549's crash site. Sharon, however, is not what she seems. Sharon is not Max's sister, instead she is an unemployed aeronautic engineer with a history of mental problems. Sharon met Max when they were both institutionalized.
Frustrated, Scully wants Mulder to explain how a crashed jet could keep killing people -- Pendrell is dead. Mulder is surprised and comforts Scully as she recounts the shooting. Scully asks Mulder "What are these people dying for? The truth or the lies." Mulder tells her it has to be for the truth -- they owe the dead that much.
Mulder and Scully go to Max's trailer. Both remember their first visit to the place, Scully is "amazed at what some people call home". Mulder thought Max had an enduring style. Scully considers Max and Mulder "kindred spirits in some deep, strange way."
"What do you mean?", Mulder asks.
"Men with Spartan lives, simple in their creature comforts if only to allow for the complexity of their passions," Scully muses.
Scully wonders what they are looking for in Max's trailer. Mulder want to find what Max wanted to show him. When Scully asks how is he sure that Max wanted to talk to him, Mulder produces his bloody business card, found on Max's corpse.
Mulder finds a video. On the homemade tape, Max tells of being an abductee and his quest for proof. As he talks about the government being involved in coverups with UFO retrievals, the scene changes to the men in black who arrested Mulder on the shore. They are collecting parts of the downed UFO from the water and putting the dead aliens in body bags. One diver is suffering from terrible radiation burns. The man running the operation is Garrett -- Pendrell's assassin. He is still wearing the pants he had on when he was shot.
Back at the plane hanger, Millar is dismissing his workers with his heartfelt thanks. Mulder and Scully arrive. Millar thanks them for pointing the NTSB into the direction of the military. Without their help, Millar doesn't think he could have figured it out. Mulder says he and Scully agree about military involvement but disagree about some of the facts.
Mulder has a story, which he admits "Agent Scully thinks is bull", but he wants Millar's opinion. As Mulder tells his story, it unfolds on screen:
Mulder believed Max knew the plane was being intercepted. Max knew he was being followed for what he was carrying. Mulder thinks he was carrying proof of extraterrestrials. When the UFO intercepted Flight 549, the alien craft did not show up on radar. Max knew what was happening, that's why he didn't panic.
The UFO, with its advanced technology, was able to remove the emergency exit and stabilize the plane. The commercial flight did not decompress so no one was sent flying out the door.
Max has a seizure as the UFO begins to take him. He is lifted from his seat and flown out the door into a bright beam of light. The man sent to kill Max on the plane tries to fire his gun, but it will not work. Mulder tells Millar he believes the UFO had the technology to remove Max, the package he was carrying and return him. Mulder also believes the UFO would be able to blank out the memories of the passengers so only really Max, who was familiar with what happened, would remember.
A shot of Max being returned to the plane picks up the last minutes of Flight 549. Once the UFO goes down however, the plane breaks apart. The unseatbelted passengers fly out the window, people pray, a married couple hold hands as Frisch and Gonzales watch the place's altitude fall from 800 to 000 feet.
Millar, while not believing the story, doesn't think Mulder is nuts either. He tells Mulder the story is interesting, maybe it would work in Hollywood, but the could not sell the story to his superiors. Scully agrees Mulder's story has its problems, but questions why Max, Larold, Max's seat and the emergency exit door suffered radiation exposure.
Millar mentions he has Max's carry-on bag, maybe the answer is in it. It is not, just Max's new NICAP hat. Millar leaves.
Scully tells Mulder that they may never know what happened to Max. Mulder counters that they may never catch who killed Pendrell and if they don't, then the two died for nothing. Mulder suggests that they interview Sharon since she was the one person Max trusted. Scully says they can't interview Sharon, she has been institutionalized. Mulder is nervous about going, he's afraid they won't let him out. Scully smiles at him and says "Me too." Scully goes off to see Sharon.
Mulder goes back to Max's trailer. The place is trashed. The trailer park manager is worried about Max, what with the place being wrecked and everything. Mulder tells the manager that Max is dead. The owner tells Mulder that Max had some wild stories about being an abductee, Mulder just nods.
The manager brings Mulder Max's mail while he rewatches the home made video. Mulder notices a reflection of the video camera operator -- its Sharon. Max sent himself a letter in the mail. It is a baggage claim chit for Syracuse airport.
Scully visits Sharon in a Washington DC mental hospital. She confesses she is not Max's sister. Scully wants to know the truth, but Sharon is consumed with grief. Scully asks Sharon to pull herself together for Max. Scully finally gets a good look at Sharon -- she was sitting in the dark with her back to the door. Sharon has larger versions of Mulder's radiation burns along the side of her face.
Sharon admits that she stole some materials from a previous employer. Max had one part with him on the plane, Sharon had another and the third part was hidden by Max.
Mulder is picking up the bag with the third part in Syracuse when he notices a large number of men following him. He pulls his badge and is able to use security entrances at the airport. He is able to enter the terminal through a back door.
In the terminal, his phone rings -- its Scully. She warns Mulder, who is having problems hearing her on the cellphone, that the bag he has is stolen from Cummins Aerospace. She doesn't know what's in the bag, but she's sure it is radioactive.
Mulder wants to see what's in the bag so he runs it through the carry on luggage Xray machine. It contains a piece of equipment with three locking circles. He can't really tell what it is. Mulder tells her since "more people want to get their hands on it than a Tickle Me Elmo doll", Mulder is taking it on the plane with him. His flight is 501 and he needs a lift home.
As Mulder finds his seat, he passes Garrett on the plane. He is still wearing the bullet torn pants. Later on the flight, Garrett changes his seat to one in Mulder's row, stowing some gear in the overhead compartment. Garrett tries small talk but Mulder notices the bullet hole. Mulder threatens to shoot Garrett if he moves.
When Garrett asks what happens if Mulder misses, Mulder assures him he won't.
Garrett follows up on the miss idea, telling Mulder that he will cause the plane to decompress if he misses. Fog will fill the plane as everything that is not tied down will fly out the window. Garrett isn't concerned, however, since he will take the parachute he has just stowed in the overhead and jump to safety. Mulder and the other passengers will die.
Garrett also promises Mulder that when he jumps, he will have the package Mulder is hiding with him.
Mulder asks what is in the package, an alien energy source? Cold fusion? Over Unity? "Stolen property" is Garrett's answer.
Mulder is able to lock Garrett into the bathroom, placing the drink cart in front of the door. Mulder uses the plane phone to call Scully. She is waiting for him at Washington National Airport. He tells her he has Pendrell's killer and needs help getting him off the plane. Scully agrees to get back up.
Mulder, meanwhile, looks at his watch. Time has stopped at 10:10:20pm. He drops the phone and runs to the Flight Attendant. Mulder warns her the plane is about to be intercepted, tell the pilot. Before she can do this, however, Garrett is out of the bathroom and has a gun aimed at Mulder.
The passengers scream as Garrett demands Mulder turn over the package. Mulder reluctantly gives it up. The plane lurches as another UFO takes control of Mulder's flight. Bright lights come trough the window, the plane rocks. The emergency door is pulled off.
Mulder screams to Garrett to drop the bag, but Garrett won't. Garrett and the bag are removed from the flight.
At 11pm, Washington time, Flight 501 lands in DC. Skinner, Scully and a group of agents run onto the plane. Everything, however, seems OK. Only Mulder remembers what happened. Mulder compares his watch to Scully's and shows her the time difference. When Skinner starts demanding answers, Scully tells him he doesn't want to know. Skinner demands to know where Pendrell's killer is, but Mulder says he caught a connecting flight.
Several days later, Mulder and Scully are in their off duty clothes in Max's trailer. Sharon is watching Max on TV. Mulder tells Sharon to keep all of Max's stuff -- it may be worth something sometime. Scully comforts Sharon, telling Sharon that Max was a loss. Sharon tells Scully that she suffered a loss too. Scully, sad leaves. Mulder looks rather forelorn as well and follows her out.
Mulder joins a star gazing Scully:
M: "You thinking about Pendrell?"
S: "I realized I didn't even know his first name. I actually was thinking about this gift that you gave me for my birthday (she is fishing it out of her pocket). You never got to tell me why you gave it to me or what it means but I think I know. I think you appreciate that there are extraordinary men and women and extraordinary moments when history leaps forward on the backs of these individuals. That what can be imagined can be achieved. That you must dare to dream but there is not substitute for perseverance and hard work and team work. Because no one gets there alone and that while we commemorate the greatness of these events and those who achieve them, we can not forget those who made the sacrifices to make these achievements and leaps possible."
M: "I just thought it was a pretty cool keychain"
Scully starts to laugh and the two walk off.
The episode ends with a shot of the stars, the way Tempus Fugit opened.
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