resgestae.html

DISCLAIMER: THE X-FILES AND its characters are copyright and trademark 20th Century Fox, Ten Thirteen Productions and the Great Chris Carter. This script was written not to infringe upon the show and its creator but to pay homage to it. No monetary gain results from the writing and online publication of this script. Res Gestae By A. Diao Lavina So long as I keep before me the ideal of an absolute observer, of knowledge in the absence of any viewpoint, I can only see my situation as being a source of error. But once I have acknowledged that through it I am geared to all actions and all knowledge that are meaningful to me as the starting point of all truth, including that of science and, since we have some idea of truth, since we are inside truth and cannot get outside it, all that I can do is define a truth within the situation. Merleau-Ponty on phenomenology Scene 1. WASHINGTON. D.C. 9.10 AM (Diana Fowley is at a nondescript cafe, looking very nervous. She scans the room. A waitress approaches Diana's table and gestures inquiringly with the coffee pot she holds. Diana nods in assent and waitress pours coffee then leaves Diana alone. Diana's face lights up as the person she has been waiting for enters the cafe.) MULDER: I came as soon as I could. What is it? Why couldn't we talk at work? DIANA: Sit down, Fox. (Mulder sits. Waitress comes by asking if he would like coffee. Mulder shakes his head. Waitress goes away.) MULDER: Diana? DIANA: I didn't want Spender to see this before you did. (She hands Mulder a large envelope.) MULDER: A case? DIANA: I came across it in a database tape which was routed to my office-origin unknown. As soon as I read it, I had to talk to you. It's a brief of some kind, about a double-blind study involving a very large sample of subjects. Highly psychobiological, and in my professional opinion, unethical. MULDER: What's the scenario of the study? DIANA: Control of biochemistry with a device which acts like the pituitary gland. (Mulder looks up at her sharply.) DIANA: That's what I thought. Fox, I can't even begin to comprehend the technology involved. This device- MULDER: --regulates brain and body chemistry, possibly processes. DIANA: How did you--? MULDER: Does anyone know you have this? Could Spender? DIANA: No, no. I don't think so. And I don't know the source. MULDER: (Starts to get up.) Whatever you do, hold on this until I determine who planted it. DIANA: Fox? (Mulder looks at her, waiting.) DIANA: I want-I want to work on this with you. (They exchange glances. Fade to black.) Scene 2. NEW YORK CITY 26th STREET 10.32 AM (CSM is lounging, smoking, and talking with WMM, First Elder and other men in a dimly lit room with no apparent windows.) FIRST ELDER: This might be too soon. CSM: The boy is ready. He has been primed for this. WMM: Our man in the Defense Department will not be able to withstand scrutiny. Will he be able to reveal anything? CSM: He is merely a pawn. He wields no real power over the scenario. FIRST ELDER: Are you certain the locks are in place? CSM: We have virtually absolute control over the present; it is the past which must be erased. WMM: And the boy? CSM: He will soon be our instrument. WMM: The woman will want to confront our man. CSM: As I said before, Scully is harmless. He will follow orders. The risk is minimal. Scene 3. 1.54 PM (Mulder is in his apartment, looking exhausted. A deep sadness is moving in him. The report Fowley gave him is scattered on the coffee table where there is also half a glass of water. The phone rings. Mulder looks at the phone. After three rings the answering machine turns on.) SCULLY (voice over the phone): Mulder, it's me. I'm at the Academy. I've found literature which suggests probable factitious obsessions which might figure into the profile we're building. Give me a call as soon as you get this, I can't seem to reach your cellphone. (Click.) (Mulder remains inert, staring at the papers on his coffee table. After a moment he sighs, gathers the papers into a pile, and places his eyeglasses over them. He reaches for the glass of water, swigs it. Reaches for his jacket draped over the back of the sofa, takes out his cell phone. He turns the cell phone on and dials.) MULDER (into the phone): Scully? It's me. Scene 4. QUANTICO, VA THE FBI ACADEMY 9.46 PM (The room is a database center. Computer hardware fills most of the desk spaces. Here and there agents are using terminals, walking. Some DEA agents in training in red polo shirts, FBI trainees in blue, youngish, clean-cut, are walking or conferring over terminals in small groups. White noise. Mulder and Scully are peering into a computer monitor at a far terminal.) SCULLY: The literature on possible factitious disorders suggests no somatic triggers, although we can't rule out a physiological predisposition. As a child, he may have suffered repeated and systematic interchanges with an adult who fed him everything he believes to be true. MULDER: But the truth he knows are actually a carefully created web of lies designed to incite him into a future set of behaviors? We're looking at factitious delusional disorder. But the known outcomes are usually psychosomatic disorders. SCULLY: Mulder, we can extrapolate from a set of known cases. Cult behavior of children raised with no other view of reality, children in extreme cases of abuse, children of parents who feed their child's psychoses... MULDER: Scully, the odds against that child being manipulated to the extent that he would execute terrorism are so great, we can't even use those numbers to predict Andy Palmer hitting a hole-in-one. SCULLY: Mulder, the human being is a moral animal, but we aren't genetically predisposed for a particular morality; we learn it, internalize it, and our behavior follows. But we also respond to stimuli in individual patterns. Our lives, our experiences, are the blueprints for our reactions. MULDER: So what's your theory? That our guy is some cult-raised, rabid streetdog punk who might be able to pass it off on Wall Street? (Mulder rubs his forehead in an agitated gesture. Scully looks at him curiously.) SCULLY: Are you feeling all right? MULDER: (Gripping his forehead with his hand and shutting his eyes tightly) I...(softly) I'm sick of this, Scully. (They look at each other for a moment.) SCULLY: (Equally softly) What is it? MULDER: I can't...get into the case. Scully, I'm not sure what's important any more. SCULLY: What are you saying, Mulder? Is it the reassignment? MULDER: (Forcefully) Damn it, Scully, I've been here before. Six years ago before I found the X-Files, this was what I did-get into people's heads, relive what they might have gone through, figure them out, then catch them. SCULLY: This is what you know, Mulder. MULDER: This is episodic reality, Scully. The truth I know to be the truth inside a terrorist's head is a puzzle whose pieces were planted there. I uncover these pieces, then I move on to another, different puzzle. This is a distraction from our work, and you know it. SCULLY: Mulder, our work now is to do precisely what you have done six years ago. All that has happened to us, everything they've ever done-- MULDER: (His eyes close briefly in a subtle wince) Scully-our work is to uncover meaning in what was done to...Scully, what they've done to you, to the lives of the people close to you, those truths are long-lived and continue hidden in some people's agenda unless we use what we know to expose them. Scene 5. FBI HEADQUARTERS, WASH. D.C. 8.00 AM (Supervising Agent Kersh's office.) KERSH: (Glances at his watch.) Is Agent Mulder joining us, Agent Scully? SCULLY: No, sir. He is following a lead on possible connections to cult organizations. KERSH: He has not submitted any TOA.1 Where is he? SCULLY: I don't know exactly, sir. We got back from Virginia this morning at around 6, Agent Mulder dropped me off at my apartment and left. KERSH: As soon as he contacts you, I'd like you to tell him to contact me. And Agent Scully, I'd like to bring in another agent into this case. SCULLY: May I ask who, sir? KERSH: She's done extensive profiling for anti-terrorism and intelligence operations in the Middle East. Special Agent Fowley. SCULLY: I am acquainted with Agent Fowley, sir. Agent Mulder and I have worked with her before. KERSH: I want Agent Fowley to focus on strengthening the profile. I'd like you to follow up on the organizational ties. We don't have the luxury of time, Agent Scully. SCULLY: And Agent Mulder, sir? KERSH: I understand he and Agent Fowley have worked on profiles together, before. As soon as he checks in with me, I want him and Agent Fowley to work on a clear snapshot of our man. Scene 6. DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE BUILDING WASHINGTON, D.C. 9.07 AM Mulder walks into the building and heads for Personnel Information. He shows his Visitor Pass and FBI badge to a clerk. MULDER: I'm looking for a friend's duty posting. I can't seem to contact him or his immediate family. CLERK: And this is a personal inquiry, sir? MULDER: Yes. CLERK: Will you complete and sign this form, Mr. Mulder. (She hands him a form and pen.) MULDER: (Writes. Hands back the completed form.) Will I be able to contact him through Naval telecommunications? CLERK: That depends, Mr. Mulder. (Types into computer.) MULDER: On? CLERK: On his assignment or DO.2 (She peers into computer.) It says here that Major William Scully Jr. has been assigned to "Overseas operations, location classified." I'm sorry, Mr. Mulder, but you'll have to wait until he gets back Stateside to contact him. MULDER: I can't believe this. He's been reassigned? Is there a channel I can pursue to find him? CLERK: I'm afraid not. His assignment locations are strictly on a need-to-know classification. MULDER: Well, I need to know. CLERK: I'm sorry, Mr. Mulder. Scene 7. FBI HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON, D.C. 9.35 AM (Mulder's former office. The room is greatly changed; the I WANT TO BELIEVE poster is gone, of course, and the room is impeccably tidy. The room is freshly painted and the furniture is new. There is a vase of flowers on the desk beside a can full of sharpened pencils. The bulletin board behind the desk has been replaced with a whiteboard with notes written on it. Diana Fowley is poring over a case file, reference books open beside the papers, when Scully knocks and enters the office.) DIANA: (Looking up as Scully enters.) Agent Scully. SCULLY: Agent Fowley. (Closes the door behind her.) DIANA: (Gets up and pulls a chair for Scully.) Kersh called me about the case. I've just been reviewing the profile. I'm intrigued by the angle you took. SCULLY: What are your preliminary hypotheses? DIANA: I think the influential external experiences of the man are not entirely responsible for fomenting his behavior as an adult. SCULLY: Are you suggesting a physiological or biochemical factor? DIANA: I'm saying that children participate in constructing their mindsets; that these aren't simply innate or shaped for them by external stimuli. SCULLY: Granted that reactions may be modified, that still doesn't explain the prime cause or causes of the actions that the adult engages in. DIANA: The key to understanding this man is to find what incites him. SCULLY: (Mulling over the idea) We agree then, to a certain extent, on the premise that he was trained, or shaped, to know a version of reality which allows him to sincerely carry out his modus operandi. DIANA: Yes. SCULLY: But the central locus of this profile can't just necessarily be the child from which emerged the man. DIANA: What do you mean? SCULLY: The landscape of the person's consciousness consistently interacts with the landscape of his actions, and that results in how he lives. DIANA: Behavior as stimulus for consequent behavior? SCULLY: As an adult, his actions could be feeding his delusions, leading to behavioral spikes which grow more powerful in time. (They exchange glances, both comprehending the same thing.) DIANA: He's a ticking time bomb. SCULLY: Exactly. (She starts to get up.) I'm going to request a check on what we have in the database. (She takes out cell phone and dials a number, getting no answer. She looks worried. Diana notices this but says nothing. Scully puts the phone in her bag.) Diana... DIANA: Yes? SCULLY: That's the second time I've called Mulder and gotten no answer. I can't...I don't know where he is. Have you been in tou (she is about to say "touch" but changes her mind :))...contact with him today? DIANA: (Hesitates for a moment.) The last time I met with Fox was early morning two days ago. I gave him a file I wanted his opinion on. SCULLY: A case? DIANA: A brief about some kind of study which I found cryptic, having lost... familiarity with X-files cases for the past five years. SCULLY: May I ask what the study seemed to be about? DIANA: Devices implanted into humans. (Scully is visibly alarmed. Fade to black.) Scene 8. SOMEWHERE IN WISCONSIN. 11.00 AM (Mulder is climbing a flight of stairs in what appears to be a low-rent apartment building. He comes to a door on the 8th floor and knocks.) MAN'S VOICE (Belonging to Dales, former FBI agent in the 1950s and 60s): Yes? MULDER: Mr. Dales? It's Fox Mulder, sir. (Door opens and a man's face is seen through the 5-inch opening. The chain is still locked.) MULDER: Mr. Dales. I need some information. (CUT to Dales' living room. Mulder and Dales are seated.) DALES: I already told you about your father's involvement in the early years, Mr. Mulder. MULDER: It's not about my father, specifically, Mr. Dales. I've come across a document, a file, which names a man I believe to have participated in the conspiracy of silence about the government's deliberate intrusions into people's lives. And I need to know how he figures in all this. DALES: I can't promise I will know him. Who is it? MULDER: William Scully Jr. DALES: (Thinking.) Scully...There was a captain, William Scully. Served in the Cuban crises, before that I believe he was a brilliant young officer, rose in ranks fast... MULDER: It's his son I need to know about. DALES: His son...I don't have information that's as recent as that. MULDER: (Sighs heavily.) How far back does it go? Who else is in on this? DALES: Mr. Mulder, the lies go so far back...and I believe that these lies are built into physical lives of people, and when we fight them we either bring down the whole wall and triumph in its dust or have it suddenly collapse without warning to bury us. (Fade to black.) Fade in. (Mulder is driving on an interstate highway.) Voiceover DALES: the lies go so far back... that these lies are built into physical lives of people... when we fight them we either bring down the whole wall and triumph in its dust...or collapse without warning to bury us collapse without warning to bury us... Voiceover MULDER: We have traveled this far together in this labyrinth of lies which cages us within high walls that have been deliberately constructed to obstruct our view of the truth. Within this labyrinth we have been lost, countless times, intercepted, almost destroyed. But in our journey together, we have never lost each other. I have led you on this path and you have, with faith in the truth which you believe integral in me, followed me to this. Now the journey brings me to a crossroads, and I must choose a direction, but I am no longer sure that I want you to follow. Knowledge and truth has become unclear in the finitude of my situation, and I don't know if I want you to see what I see because I am no longer certain that what I see enlightens what I seek. What I know most absolutely is that if I reveal what truth I know now to you, I may lose you, or I may lose my self. Scene 9. WASHINGTON, D.C. 12.00 NOON (Mulder's apartment. The door opens, and Scully enters. The apartment is dim, the blinds are shut) SCULLY: Mulder? (Looks in the living room, walks over to the window and opens the blinds, checks the bedroom.) Mulder? (Sighs.) Where are you. (Scully sits on the sofa. A basketball is on the other end. She reaches for it, holds it in both hands, sighs, puts it back down. She turns to the side table where the answering machine is. Presses the Retrieve Messages button.) Answering machine with SCULLY'S VOICE: Mulder, it's me again. Where are you? Call me. (Scully punches the Stop button.) (Scully notices Mulder's eyeglasses on top of a pile of papers on the coffee table. She picks up the glasses, then the title on top of the papers catches her attention. Scully puts down the glasses, takes the papers the club chair by the desk, by the window, and sits. She reads.) (Short MONTAGE of various soft-light shots of Scully reading, her face each time showing that she is growing more and more emotionally agitated as she learns from her reading.) Voiceover SCULLY: I understand your silence now, and I accept it as your choice. It is the starting point of a knowledge I accept you not to have wanted me to possess. There was never truly a beginning to our journey. I believe there will not be a true ending. But what I know now binds me to a finite space, a space where my understanding or ignorance of the truth sends me falling into an abyss where truth and ignorance embody the spiral of my fall. In my mind, I cannot distinguish any longer between them nor can I recognize where to begin an inquiry into meaning and truth. (Scully leaves her note on Mulder's desk. She closes the blinds and then she leaves the apartment, closing the door very softly behind her as she goes. Shot of Scully walking away from Mulder's door. Fade to black.) Scene 10. FBI HEADQUARTERS. 5.00 PM (Outside Assistant Director Skinner's office. Skinner opens the door.) SKINNER: Agent Mulder? MULDER: (Nods and enters, both sit on respective sides of desk.) I'm here to ask for reassignment. Off the record. SKINNER: What is it, Agent Mulder? MULDER: Sir, I've come across a document which names people in a study that appears to explain what happened to Agent Scully during her abduction, the tests that were done on her and maybe others like her, and the illness she suffered. I need to pursue this. SKINNER: (Visibly upset.) Agent Mulder, I don't need to remind you that you are no longer working on the X-files- MULDER: --sir, I need to find out who's behind all this. I can. SKINNER: Spender is assigned to the x-files. I suggest you give this lead to him and continue with your own assignment, Agent Mulder. MULDER: (Stares Skinner in the eye.) I can't sir. Not without jeopardizing Agent Scully's credibility and her life. SKINNER: (Hesitates as he thinks about Mulder's words. He lets go of the tension.) Who is it, Agent Mulder? MULDER: (He also lets go of the tension. Sighs.) Her brother, Bill Scully Jr. The extent of his complicity is what I can't determine, and that's the bullet I want to take for her. SKINNER: (Nods.) I can talk to Kersh. Personally. Agent Fowley is already doing profile work for your case. I can remove you and transfer your orders. MULDER: Thank you, sir. (Mulder gets up to leave. Skinner also gets up to leave. Fade to black.) Scene 11. 6.30 PM (Mulder's apartment. Mulder enters and switches on the light in the living room. He sits on the sofa, picks up the phone and dials.) Voiceover Scully's answering machine: ...leave your name and...(beep). MULDER: Scully, it's me. If you're home, please pick up. Or call me. Scully, I need to talk to you. (Hangs up. Runs a hand over his hair. Sighs. Gets his cell phone from inside his jacket pocket. Dials. Listens as the number rings. No one answers.) Damn! (Slams the phone down on the coffee table.) (Mulder stops. He picks up the cell phone and stands, looking down at the table. He picks up his eyeglasses, then he looks up, forehead creased. Quickly pulls gun from holster and checks weapon. He searches the house, but no one else is there. He comes back to the living room, looks around. He notices the pile of papers on the desk. Mulder sees a note on top of the file, he picks it up and reads.) (CUT to Mulder driving.) Voiceover SCULLY: I understand your silence now, and I accept it as your choice. It is the starting point of a knowledge I accept you not to have wanted me to possess. There was never truly a beginning to our journey. I believe there will not be a true ending. But what I know now binds me to a finite space, a space where my understanding or ignorance of the truth sends me falling into an abyss where truth and ignorance embody the spiral of my fall. In my mind, I cannot distinguish any longer between them nor can I recognize where to begin an inquiry into meaning and truth. (Fade to black.) Scene 12. ANAPOLIS, MARYLAND 10.04 PM (Mulder is walking up the porch steps to Margaret Scully's house. There is a light on in the living room, but no voices. Mulder knocks on the door.) MARGARET SCULLY: (Opens the door. She is surprised.) Fox? MULDER: Mrs. Scully. Is Dana here? MARGARET SCULLY: Come in, come in. She came this afternoon, I could see she was upset, but she didn't want to speak about whatever it was. What's the matter? MULDER: I...I need to speak with her. MARGARET SCULLY: She left the house while I was in town, in the late afternoon, and she hasn't been back since. I checked her room, her things are still there. MULDER: Has she left a note? (Sees that Mrs. Scully is now very worried.) Wherever she is, I don't think she is in any danger. I believe she meant to be alone. MARGARET SCULLY: No, I didn't see any note. MULDER: Do you know where Dana might have gone? (Margaret Scully shakes her head. She and Mulder exchange a look, she's anxious, he is grim but obviously feels no fear for Scully. He takes out a business card.) I'm going to look for her, Mrs. Scully. If you think of anything, call me at this number. (Hands Mrs. Scully the card.) (CUT to Mulder driving around a downtown street, peering at the few shops that are still open. Very few people are walking on the streets of the small downtown area. Mulder's cell phone rings.) MULDER: (Biting antenna, pulling it up with his teeth in that cute way he does, answers.) Mulder. Margaret Scully's VOICE: Fox? I thought of somewhere she might be. Her father's funeral was on the coast. Where we scattered his ashes. MULDER: Can you guide me there? I'm on Main Street. (CUT to a large stretch of grass near ocean. Panorama shot. There is very little light. A lone figure sits on the grass, facing the sea. She is hugging her knees, her head rests on her knees.) (A car's headlights in the foreground. Panorama shot widens more so the figure is smaller. Camera is angled from the side of Mulder's car. He gets out of the car, closes the door. Walks toward the figure huddled in the dark.) MULDER: (Nearing the figure.) Scully. (He walks faster toward her. Scully stands up slowly. She does not turn. When he reaches her side, he stops. He is facing her profile. She doesn't look at him. Close up of her profile. She's crying.) Scully. SCULLY: I left as soon as I knew. MULDER: I didn't have everything...I wanted to find everything before I told you--(He moves to her.) SCULLY: (Moves back half a step and crosses her arms.) --don't, don't say any more. MULDER: Scully. (He moves a little to widen the space between them.) Everything that's happened, everything that's been done, I don't know exactly in which places they fit together. You're right, this journey we are on, it doesn't have a true beginning and there's no true ending that's visible. I only know that in the paths I've followed, when I've been lost, or when I've found a new path along the way, you have always been with me. (Scully looks at him. Their eyes lock. She uncrosses her arms.) MULDER: The times I felt like I was losing you, were the times, the times I felt I was lost to myself. I've asked you before not to leave me, but the reason I gave you was my own need, because I needed you to help me find my path to the truth. Now I'm asking you again. But this time I'm giving you another reason. (Mulder moves closer to Scully. Arti starts to squeal. Mulder reaches out with his hand and touches Scully's chin, lifting her face up to his. Her lower lip starts to quiver in that way that makes us cry. Her eyes are shut.) MULDER: (Softly.) Look at me. (Scully looks at Mulder.) MULDER: Scully, we are two very different puzzle pieces in this mosaic. But the places where the edges of our selves are jagged in different shapes-these are the places where we fit. SCULLY: What are you asking me, Mulder? MULDER: Come back with me. SCULLY: I ... I can't. Mulder, when I read about Bill, I couldn't do anything, or think of anything to do. I couldn't question, begin to question so that I might find a way to search for what was true. My whole life, my work with you, it seemed a finite space where I could find nothing, not even science, to make the truth an entity apart from what I have lived. I felt...science and faith won't change the truth that I have lost everyone to this. (She starts to cry again.) There was no one left. MULDER: (Reaches for Scully. She folds herself into his arms.) Your mother is here. You are here. (Softer) I'm still here. (They hold each other for a moment.) MULDER: Come back with me. SCULLY: (Pulls her head back to look up at him. She has stopped crying.) And? MULDER: Start again. The truth is still out there, Scully. But truth and knowledge are also within our finite spaces. That's where we start. FIN.