The X-Files

OK, OK.

OK.

g Que' pasa aqui?

[Santa Maria!

- What the hell is that? - I don't know.

Hey, get out of the way!

Hey, move!

Ray's hurt bad, man.

Hurry up! Get an ambulance!

This is Wesley Brewer out on route seven.

Looks like about an eight o'clock ETA on that trailer pick-up.

- This fog's gonna slow me down. - 10-4, Wesley. See you when you get here.

Mother of God!

Mom, is it gonna die?

She was just lying there when we found her, Officer.

So you saw nothing when the window broke?

- No. - Nothing.

We heard a noise, like thunder.

Then glass everywhere.

OK. Thank you.

- What'd the janitors say? - They claim they didn't see anything.

The security monitors don't have a recording of anything either.

Just a giant implosion of glass like some kind of giant shock wave.

What they described sounds more like a sonic boom.

Well, no sonic boom did this.

The construction worker who was killed had his spine crushed like a string of shells.

A circular abrasion on his torso in roughly the shape of an elephant's foot.

Other workers said they felt the ground shake, then a faint whiff of animal odour.

If you still think the elephant did this, it defies logic.

Somebody would have seen it.

Well, if somebody would have seen it, Scully, we wouldn't be here.

Another vehicle would have left evidence -

distress to the metal or paint. I can see signs of neither.

I'd admit the possibility of a tornado, but it's not really tornado season.

I'd even entertain the notion of a black hole passing over the area...

...or some cosmic anomaly, but it's not really black-hole season either.

If I was a betting man, I'd say that it was, um...

An invisible elephant?

I saw David Copperfield make the Statue of Liberty disappear.

- Agent Mulder? - Yeah.

Ed Meecham, Fairfield Zoo. Sorry for the hold-up.

We had trouble transporting Ganesha's body.

- This is Agent Scully. - Hi.

- Have they determined what he died of? - She. She was a 12-year-old Indian female.

I figure she ran herself into exhaustion.

- How did she escape? - Well, now, there's a puzzle.

When I got the call, I expected to find her cage open,

but it was locked, just like I left it.

- Any idea how she could have escaped? - No, sir. No signs of tampering either.

I've read about something called "the elephant rebellion" in zoos.

Elephants turning on their keepers, destroying their pens.

- Was Ganesha ever a problem like that? - Elephants are very big, very wilful animals.

So you're saying there were problems?

The person you wanna talk to about that is Willa Ambrose.

- Ambrose? - She's a naturalist.

She was hired by the board of supervisors last year to oversee things.

She's supposed to be the reigning authority.

In your opinion, the damage here, could this have been caused by an escaped elephant?

My honest opinion? Sure.

Excuse me.

- What you looking for, Mulder? - A local paper.

I wanna see if David Copperfield's in town.

Excuse me. We're looking for Willa Ambrose.

- There. - Thank you.

- Miss Ambrose? - Yes.

I'm Agent Dana Scully. This is Agent Mulder. We're with the FBI.

How can I help you?

A federal employee has been fatally injured.

There is a case around the elephant that escaped from your zoo.

I understood that the eyewitnesses said they didn't know how the man was killed.

What we're trying to determine is how Ganesha escaped.

- What did Ed tell you? - He found the cage locked, as he'd left it.

- What more can I say? - A man was found trampled to death.

An animal from your zoo was found 43 miles away.

No one's looking to place any blame. We're just trying to understand the facts.

This is where Ganesha was held when she wasn't in her habitat.

- Who has keys to this lock? - Only myself and Mr Meecham.

Otherwise, this is a restricted area.

Elephants aren't good jumpers, if that's what you're thinking.

No. I was wondering why such a small pen for such a large animal.

The zoo was built in the 1940s. The pens and habitats are all too confining.

I was brought on to expand and create more humane environments.

Unfortunately, these things take time.

- Those, uh... chains on the ground there? - Those are tie-downs.

They restrict the animal's movement. I disallowed their use when I came here.

- Disallowed their use by whom? - It was Ed Meecham's practice.

It reflected an old, non-progressive zoo policy.

How's your relationship with Ed Meecham?

I'm his boss and a woman. Ed doesn't like it.

Would he be vindictive enough to let Ganesha go as sabotage?

If he did, that would be foolish.

The facility is running at a deficit and may lose its funding.

- Have you discussed the incident with Ed? - No.

I think Ed's got enough dealing with the WAO.

- The WAO? - It's the Wild Again Organisation.

They believe any captive animal is a crime against nature.

They're gonna have a field day with this one.

Excuse me.

The WAO believes only tragedy results from keeping animals in captivity.

In the wild, an elephant would roam an area of 20 square miles minimum.

Ganesha weighed over 5,000 pounds and she was being held in a 50- by 50-foot cage.

- You consider that inhumane? - It's like you or I living in a pickle barrel.

FBI files state you've been arrested over a dozen times for the kidnapping...

- ...of circus and zoo animals. - The WAO sees it as liberation.

Hm.

Were you involved in the "liberation" of Ganesha?

That would make me an accessory to murder, wouldn't it?

Endangering these animals is against everything we believe.

These are incredibly spiritual creatures.

Their rituals and behaviour are linked to a past no man ever witnessed.

Did you know they actually bury their dead?

They can visit an elephant graveyard centuries old...

...and know instinctively where their ancestors' bones lie.

What do you think Ganesha was running from?

You wanna see? I'll show you.

Get up! Halt. I got him.

This is how Ed Meecham treats these majestic animals.

- This is still going on? - Meecham's a barbarian.

He's been torturing animals at the Fairfield Zoo for years.

We figure he's still at it. Eventually we're gonna get some proof.

We're here to put pressure on the zoo. We're keeping track of what goes on.

Willa Ambrose claims she's put a stop to most of his old practices.

Whatever her intentions,

she's too preoccupied to know how Meecham operates.

Preoccupied with what?

A lawsuit she's fighting against the Malawi government over a gorilla named Sophie.

Willa rescued her from an African customs house ten years ago. Raised her like a child.

- The Malawi government wants her back. - Will they win?

This is a perfect example of man's imperialism over the animal kingdom.

Some craven impulse to turn animals into objects for our own selfish pleasure.

- I thought you said she rescued this gorilla? - So she could spend her life behind bars!

Her obligation should have been to return the gorilla to the wild.

Animals should run free.

- Even if it means trampling a man to death? - Maybe he should have moved.

I'm sure he would have if he'd seen it coming.

Thanks for your time, sir, and we'll get back to you soon.

- It's all happening at the zoo, Scully. - Well, we found our suspects.

- You think they busted out Ganesha? - You heard him. "Animals should run free."

What about the eyewitness accounts, the security tapes...

...the fact that no one saw an elephant until it was miles away from the zoo?

The lights at the construction site were mercury-vapour, 10,000 candlepower.

They can restrict a man's ability to adjust to the dark.

And their security cameras are poor quality.

A grey elephant may not have registered an image on tape in the dim light.

I'm not buying it. I think these guys are all talk.

These guys are dedicated to exactly this kind of activity, unabashedly.

- Did you check out the night-vision camera? - No.

It wouldn't surprise me if they tried to capitalise on their success.

- By doing what? - By liberating another animal.

Willa Ambrose said the zoo was in trouble financially.

The loss of another big exhibit could shut them down entirely.

All right. You keep an eye on the WAO.

And where are you going?

To talk to the animals.

Beam me up, Scotty!

Did anybody tell you the camera loves you, Frohike?

Yeah, the arresting officers at the Free James Brown rally.

- What's this costing the taxpayers, Mulder? - Uh... about a 150 bucks an hour.

Ouch! Almost as much as Bill Clinton's haircuts.

- Where's Langly? - He has a philosophical issue...

...with having his image transmitted.

What are you doing in Idaho?

I'm in Fairfield. What do you know about it?

They got a little zoo there. Lots of strange lore. Animals escaping, disappearing.

- Any idea why? - You're near the Mountain Home Air Base.

Major UFO hotspot.

Weird fact, Mulder: no animal at Fairfield Zoo

has ever brought a pregnancy to term.

Not a cub or a chick.

The woman in charge has a gorilla that knows sign language,

supposedly a thousand words.

- (phone rings) - If that's the lovely Agent Scully...

...let her know I've been working out. I'm buff.

- Mulder. - Mulder, it's me.

I was right. I just followed the kid from the WAO to the zoo.

He's just about to make it over the fence.

All right. I'll be right there, Scully.

What the hell are you doing here?

There's a member of the WAO on the premises.

Come with me.

What's going on?

OK, Sophie. Calm down.

- (vicious snarling) - (man screams)

- (snarling) - (man screams)

I don't know what you're talking about.

You have no idea what he was doing at the zoo?

If you're asking if I had any idea of his intentions...

...the answer is simple: not the slightest.

I saw this camera sitting up there on the shelf yesterday.

Guess I never noticed it before.

A tiger is missing and a member of your organisation is dead.

For such a principled man, you show an amazing lack of emotion.

If the tiger killed this person, then it was a natural act.

If I find evidence that he was releasing those animals under your orders...

...you'll spend the rest of your life behind bars.