The X-Files

Argh!

X-Files Season 2 Episode 02 - Host

Dave can set it up, but the cost sounds a bit rich.

If he's putting it together, you'd be a fool to pass it up.

I hear you. I just...

You just what? You wanna take a dip, you gotta test the water.

- You just don't wanna get wet. - No, man. Dippage is sacred.

Dippage is sacred.

- Agent Mulder? - Yeah.

You're relieved from your assignment. Agent Bozoff will take over.

You've got a flight to catch in 45 minutes.

- Where am I going? - Murder case. Newark, New Jersey.

Treat yourself.

Your contact in Newark is a Detective Norman.

- How'd I draw the assignment? - Assistant Director Skinner requested you.

Skinner requested me?!

- Mulder, FBI. - My forensics team's just wrapping up.

We left the body where we found it. Kenny!

This is one case I'm gonna be happy to turn over to you guys.

Watch yourself.

Yeah. Wouldn't wanna step in anything.

They say it cuts the smell if you don't breathe through your mouth.

They lied.

- Who found the body? - Sanitation worker.

Looks like it's been here a while.

- Any ID? - No. Not much to go on, either.

Front side is pretty much eaten away.

- Would you like us to turn him over? - No, I'll take your word on that.

Hey, Agent Mulder! What should we do with the body?

Wrap it up and send it to the FBI, care of Assistant Director Skinner!

- Yes, sir. - Thank you.

I need to speak to him.

Mr Skinner is unavailable. If you'd take a seat...

Will you tell him that I'm here and I need to speak to him... now?

Certainly.

Mr Skinner, I'm very sorry to interrupt, but Agent Mulder is demanding to see you.

- Is there a problem, Agent Mulder? - Yeah, there is.

Then make an appointment.

That's hard when you're up to your ass in raw sewage...

...on another meaningless assignment.

- Excuse me? - What's next? Scrubbing bathroom floors?

- You're out of line, Agent Mulder. - So I gathered.

Fine.

Come into my office, Agent Mulder. Please.

Would you inform the room...

...as to why you regard your case in New Jersey as meaningless?

It's a simple drugland body dump...

...not the type of case the FBI wastes time or manpower on.

Given your recent history, you're not one to judge what is or is not a waste of time.

- Sir, my work on the X-Files ... - The X-Files have been closed, Agent Mulder.

You will carry out new assignments...

...and investigate them to the best of your ability. Is that not clear?

Yeah.

And I'll be anticipating your field reports on your current homicide case.

Thank you.

Is this seat taken?

No. But I should warn you, I'm experiencing violent impulses.

Well, I'm armed, so I'll take my chances.

I hear you really endeared yourself to Assistant Director Skinner today.

Sometimes it's hard to smile when they ask you to bend down and grab your ankles.

It's not as if you've ever tried to fit into the programme.

No.

No, I've been thinking a lot about that lately.

- I've been thinking about leaving. - The Bureau?

What would you do?

Pursue my work in the paranormal, somehow.

You could request a transfer to Quantico. Come back to the behavioural science unit.

They don't want us working together, Scully.

And that's the only reason I can think of to stay.

What about this case you're working on?

- It's a zero. - Where's the body?

In our forensics lab. Look, I know what you're trying to do.

Maybe I can request to do the autopsy.

It's an exercise. Skinner is just rubbing my nose in this one.

There's nothing to it.

There's a dead body, isn't there?

Oh!

Examination and autopsy of John Doe number 1-0-1-3-5-6.

Case number DP1-1-2-1-4-8.

Special Agent Fox Mulder, field investigator.

Body is an adult male with advanced tissue decomposition...

...weighing 165 pounds in extremis...

...69 inches in length.

Intact skin is mottled and discoloured...

...due to submergence in and exposure to a highly bacterial environment.

Cause and time of death...

...unknown.

Possible identifying mark on right forearm.

Body cavities appear normal.

Interior organs intact...

...consistent in rate of decomposition.

Removing the ribcage.

Condition of heart and lungs are good.

No sign of thrombi, natural or degenerate diseases.

Indicate victim was probably a young adult.

The liver shows some nodular hardening...

...consistent with incipient alcoholism.

Oh, God!

- It's on the way! - Got it!

OK.

Need a big piece of 30-gauge and some baling wire.

I gotta go back up top for the screen.

Frank! Help!

Frank! Frank!

Frank!

Frank! Hurry!

Hold on!

- Frank! - Come on!

Frank!

Hold on till I tie the line! Hold on!

Pull up, come on! Come on! Come on!

Pull up!

My God!

I'm gonna get help!

I'm gonna give you a tetanus booster, just as a precaution.

I'd be happy if you just give me something to get this taste out of my mouth.

Let me take a look.

Ah.

- Any trouble swallowing? - Uh-uh.

It'll go away.

- Agent Mulder? - Yeah.

Newark PD referred me to you. I'm surprised the FBI is involved.

- Is there something here I should know? - I don't know. Maybe you can tell me.

He's a sanitation worker. He claims he was attacked by something down in the sewer.

- Attacked? By what? - We've been unable to determine.

I thought it was a bogus disability claim, but he appears to be telling the truth.

- What's his condition? - He's in satisfactory health.

I've given him a heavy course of antibiotics, and we're checking for hepatitis.

He does have a strange wound on his back.

- What kind of wound? - It could be some kind of bacterial infection.

Frankly, I can't say I've ever seen anything like it.

- This is Agent Mulder of the FBI. - Any idea what attacked you?

- I've been thinking it might've been a python. - A python?

Or a boa constrictor. Somebody probably flushed their pet snake down the toilet.

We found an alligator in the sewer a couple of years ago.

Stronger than hell, I'll tell you that. Clamped onto me like a vice.

It almost looks like a bite.

Excuse me.

- Mulder. - Mulder, it's me. I need to see you.

I've got something you should know about.

- What is it? - Some kind of parasite in your John Doe.

I should know more by the time you get here.

I'm in Jersey. I should be taking the shuttle in about an hour.

Can I get outta here? I'd like to go home.

Excuse me.

- Scully, this is a bad time for me to talk. - Mr Mulder?

Yeah?

I think you should know... you have a friend at the FBI.

Who is this?

Agent Mulder? If you don't have any more questions, I'm gonna release this man.

OK. Go ahead.

Close the door.

It's called Turbellaria, commonly known as a fluke, or flatworm.

This was living inside the body?

It had attached itself to the bile duct and was feeding off the liver.

Lovely!

Believe it or not, some 40 million people are infected worldwide.

This isn't where you tell me some terrible story about sushi, is it?

Maybe you'd rather hear what you can catch from a nice rare steak.

So, what? The murder weapon was a top sirloin?

Flukes are endemic in unsanitary conditions.

It's more likely that the victim contracted it down inside the sewer.

- Before or after he died? - I don't know.

My sources say it's unlikely a single parasite could have killed him.

He was a young man. But the weird thing is, there's no other discernible cause of death.

How do these parasites attach themselves?

They have what's called a scolex, a sucker-like mouth with four hooking spikes.

- Anything like this? - Where'd you get that?

Something attacked a workman in a New Jersey sewer this morning.

- And you're asking me if this is from a fluke? - Could it be?