The X-Files

We're not... who... we are.

We're not... who... we are.

lt goes no further than this.

lt stops right here,...

right now.

X-Files Season 1 Episode 09 - Ice

Team Captain John Richter here.

lt's been a couple of frustrating months.

But after a lot of stick-with-it-ness, we're proud to report that half an hour ago,

we broke the previous record for drilling down into an ice sheet.

This team of scientists made up the Arctic lce Core Project.

They were sent to Alaska by the Advanced Research Project Agency a year ago

to drill into the arctic ice.

The samples they removed

contained trapped gases, dust, chemicals.

Evidence that could reveal the structure of the Earth's climate back to the dawn of man.

Their work was a success, nearly completed.

No reports or indications of problems of any kind.

Until, only a week later, this next transmission.

We're not... who... we are.

We're not... who... we are.

lt goes no further than this.

lt stops... right here,...

right now.

What happened up there?

So far nobody's been able to reach the compound because of bad weather.

Obviously we must be brilliant or expendable because we've pulled the assignment.

lt is severe isolation distress?

These were top geophysicists, trained and screened for this project in every way,

including psychological makeup.

We leave for Nome today. We'll join three scientists familiar with the lce Core Project,

and then head north up to the lcy Cape.

The National Weather Service gives us three days to get in and out before the next storm.

Bring your mittens.

Here's the snap. Fouts dumps it across to Winslow! Touchdown!

Touchdown! Fouts... is... God!

Sorry. My team scored.

There's no football on Wednesdays.

Fouts retired in '87, didn't he?

No, this is just my all-time favourite plays on tape.

- You two FBl? - Agent Mulder, Agent Scully. And you?

Denny Murphy. Professor of Geology, UC San Diego.

San Diego? Get much chance to study ice down there?

Just what's around the cake.

Dr Da Silva? Dr Hodge?

Yeah. Sorry we're late.

Agents Scully and Mulder. Professor Murphy.

Can l see some identification?

- What for? - Wanna make sure we are who we say we are.

That's me.

lt's you.

- That's me. - Thanks a lot.

Well, now that we know who we are, anybody care to guess why we're going?

Two federal agents, a geologist, a doctor and a toxicologist. That should give us some idea.

l assume you all took a look at the tape.

- Something wrong? - Come on. You're FBl.

You have to know more than we do.

You folks the ones goin' up to lcy Cape?

- Yeah. - Then l'm the one flyin' you.

My name's Bear. The plane's across the way. Provisions are loaded. Grab your gear.

Can we see some credentials?

Credentials?

The only credentials l have is that l'm the only pilot willing to fly you up there.

You don't like those credentials,

walk.

Bear, see if you can get the power started.

Anything to get out of here.

Where do we start?

The body bags are on the plane.

Before we touch anything, we have to thoroughly document the scene.

Flashing.

That's what they were drilling for.

A quarter of a million years melting away in a couple of days.

l'm gonna preserve some samples.

lt's the generator.

Agent Mulder!

Hold on!

Hold it down!

That ought to keep him out for a while.

- Are you OK? - Yeah. He didn't break the skin.

- Bear? Are you OK? - He got me.

- Get thatjacket off. - Just gimme the stuff. l'll do it myself.

ls it rabies?

l don't see any indication of glottal spasm or tetany.

lf it is rabies, it's not a strain l'm familiar with.

Look at this. Black nodules.

Swollen lymph nodes.

Symptoms of bubonic plague.

We'll do a blood test. We'll take it from there.

This dog

has got a skin irritation round its neck.

Looks like it's been scratching off its own hair.

Look at this. Look at this!

What... the hell... was that?

From the autopsies, it's clear these men killed one another.

There are contusions around the throat areas of three men,

evidence of strangulation.

Richter and Campbell killed themselves.

l also found tissue damage due to fever.

Did any of them have the black spots the dog has?

No. None of them had the black nodules.

So... those spots didn't have anything to do with those guys killin' each other, right?

l wouldn't rule it out. l just re-examined the dog.

- The nodules are gone. - What could that mean?

lt could mean the spots are a symptom of some disease at an early stage.

Denny?

Denny.

Denny. Sorry.

The play-off game against Miami, '82.

Helps me get my mind off stuff.

My interpretation of satellite remote sensing photos is a little rusty.

All right. This is the lcy Cape area.

lt approximates the depth of the ice sheet to be about... 3,000 metres thick.

l also found this data.

lf l'm reading it correctly, the team actually found the ice sheet to be twice that depth.

That's very good. The numbers indicate the topography to be concave.

Looks like they were drilling inside a meteor crater.

No, it's impossible.

- l analysed two samples. - What did you find?

There seems to be a presence of ammonium hydroxide in Richter's blood.

lt's not possible. Ammonia would vaporise at human body temperature.

l checked all the air filtration systems.

- l found no evidence of any such toxins. - l have.

ln the ice.

And that's not all there is.

l found a high ratio of ammonia to water in the ice core.

The Earth's atmosphere couldn't do that, not even 1/4 million years ago. Look in the scope.

Unless a foreign object was introduced into that environment.

Tell me that's not a foreign object.

Oh! Scully.

That same thing is in Richter's blood!

What if that single-celled organism is the larval stage of a larger animal?

That's kind of a leap, don't you think?

The evidence is there.

Maybe the organism somehow got into the men.

Nothing can survive in subzero temperatures for a quarter of a million years.

Unless that's how it lives.

Lookit, l don't see why you're squabbling over some bug.

You said your autopsy found those men killed each other.

That's it. l say let's get the hell out of here.

l agree. We can have the bodies

sent to a facility which can make a definitive diagnosis.

ln the event that something was missed, Agent Scully.

lf those bodies are infected, we can't take them back.

We can't go back without proper quarantine procedures.

- We can't risk bringing back the next plague. - Say they did come down with something.

We haven't, and l ain't waitin' around until we do.

l think it's safe to go back. There's no reason why we'd be infected.

- We took all the safeguards. - The dog did bite Bear.

- ltjumped Mulder, too! - There's only one way to proceed!

A doctor eliminates every possibility.

We must determine if any of us is infected.

All right. Parasitic diagnostic procedure

requires us each to provide a blood and a stool sample.

A stool sample?

Travel always makes that kinda tough... for me.

OK... Anybody got the morning sports section handy?

l ain't droppin' my cargo for no one.

l'm gettin' my gear, gettin' my plane, and flyin' the hell outta here!

You can't go. The dog bit you.

l got hired to fly you up here and fly you back!

No one said this might be part of the deal, so the deal is over.

We can't let him leave.

- Who's gonna stop him? - We have to.

We can't risk infecting the population.

He gets on that plane, l go with him.

- We don't have time to argue. - Take a vote.

Who says we should confine Bear until he agrees to an examination?

All right.

Bear, we just want to check you out.

lf we don't find any trace of the parasite or the virus, we'll all go.

All right.

Gimme the damn jar.

Murphy! Get a rope!

Right.

Here!

Oh, my God!

- Get my bag! - What are you gonna do?!

- Cut it out. - We don't know enough about it.

lt's killing him! Scully, help remove the skin.

Hold still, Bear.

Forceps.

Hold still, Bear. One more second. You're gonna be OK.

This is the AlCP investigative team calling Doolittle Airfield. Come in.

DAF responding.

This is Agent Mulder. We have a serious biological hazard.

Request air pickup and quarantine procedures. Over.

Come in, Doolittle Airfield!

We copy, Agent Mulder. We are under a heavy storm. No aircraft can get out.

The military base in Kotzebue could set up a quarantine.

Advise immediate evacuation. The storm is heading your way. Over.

We were told we'd have three clear days of weather! Over!

Welcome to the top of the world. Over.

ls Bear in any condition to fly? lf we don't leave in an hour, we're stuck for days.

He's dead.

lt's similar to a tapeworm. lt has a scolex with suckers and hooks.

So it's familiar. Something you can deal with.

- What? - No.

Very different from any organism at least that l know of.

Have you figured out how it's transmitted?