The X-Files s02e04 Episode Script

Sleepless

We can expect mild weather along the Atlantic Seaboard.
And here's Matthew with his report.
Well, Deborah, Stock prices fell for the third consecutive session today amid continued worries about the prospect of higher interest rates.
The DowJones Industrial Average fell almost 14½ points to 38, 37 bringing the Blue Chip Index's losses over the last three days to just under a hundred points.
Nine One One Operator.
Police emergency.
This is Dr.
Saul Grissom.
There's a fire outside my apartment.
I'm trapped.
Are you at 700 East 56th Street? Yes, apartment 606.
For God's sake, hurry! Fire units are being Somebody help! Help! That's right.
Please keep moving, sir.
I don't see any smoke anywhere.
Get a crew up to the roof.
This is Lieutenant Regan.
We have a possible 23 false alarm in apartment 606.
Let's confirm that location.
Six-zero-six.
Yes, that's affirmative six-oh-six.
It's cold.
Let's do it! I'll check the bedroom.
He looks dead.
Nothing here.
Nine One One Operator.
Police emergency.
This is Dr.
Saul Grissom.
There's a fire outside my apartment.
I'm trapped.
Are you at 700 East 56th Street? Yes, apartment 606.
For God's sake, hurry! Fire units are being dispatched right now, sir.
Please stay on the line.
The article makes no mention of the fire.
Yes, Agent Mulder.
I can read.
Grissom's company had a number of government contracts, which would place this investigation within the Bureau's jurisdiction.
But that's not why you want the assignment.
I think that the circumstances surrounding Grissom's death warrant a closer look.
I called N.
Y.
P.
D.
, but they won't even talk to me unless you get the attorney general to sign off on it.
Where did you get the tape? Presumably, someone has led you to believe there's more here than is being reported.
My source the only one I've ever trusted is dead.
I'll look into this further and, uh, let you know.
In the meantime, you have 24 hours of wiretap tape that need to be transcribed.
You comin' over, or what? You said you was comin' over two hours ago and I'm waitin' here like some stupid bimbo who ain't got nothin' better to do waitin' here like some stupid bimbo who ain't got nothin' better to do with my time than just sit around and wait for someone like you.
Agent Mulder.
Yeah.
It's your 302.
Assistant Director Skinner just approved it.
There's a mistake here.
There's been another agent assigned to the case.
That would be me.
Krycek, Alex Krycek.
Skinner didn't say anything about taking on a partner.
It wasn't Skinner.
Actually, I opened the file about two hours before your request, so, technically, it's my case.
And you already talked to the police? Yeah.
Just hung up on the officer in charge a few minutes ago.
A detective named Horton.
Turns out Grissom called 911 to report a fire.
I heard the tape.
Did you hear that Forensics found a spent fire extinguisher on the floor? Grissom's prints were all over it.
The walls and floor in his living room were covered with ammonium phosphate.
- But no trace of fire? - Not even a burnt match.
- Is that all you know? - Yeah, so far.
What do you think it means? Listen, I appreciate the show-and-tell and I don't want you to take this personally, but I work alone.
- I'll straighten things out with Skinner.
- It's my case, Agent Mulder.
Look, I may be green, but I had the case first, so I'm not gonna give it away so quickly.
All right, I'll tell you what.
I got some work to finish up around here.
Why don't you go down to the motor pool and requisition us a car and I'll I'll meet you down there.
That's all? I mean, you don't have a problem with us working together? Hey, it's your party.
I'll, uh, I'll get the car.
Electrocution affects electrolytic conduction, disrupting the heartbeat and most of the autonomic systems.
Death actually occurs from tissue damage necrosis in the heart itself, particularly in the sinus and atrioventricular nodes.
Agent Scully.
Sorry to interrupt, but you have a call from a George Hale.
- He says it's urgent.
- Excuse me.
- Where are you? - National Airport.
Catching the shuttle up to La Guardia in about half an hour.
How do you feel about joining me in the big apple for an autopsy? - What's going on? - I was hoping you could tell me.
I can't do it today.
My last class isn't over until 4:30.
Oh, that's fine.
I can have the M.
E.
Wrap the body to go.
- Mulder.
- You'll get it by 5:00.
What's the name? Dr.
Grissom's alpha-wave analysis defined the standard.
He revolutionized the way we think about sleep.
His death is a tremendous loss to the scientific community.
How many other kinds of sleep disorder did he treat? There are 38 different dyssomnias and parasomnias.
Dr.
Grissom treated them all with one unprecedented success ratio.
Maintaining that kind of batting average must have taken its toll.
Excellence demands certain sacrifices.
- Did he ever show any signs of psychological stress? - Not really, - except for his own occasional bout of insomnia.
- But he was never delusional? - Of course not.
What's his story? This patient's night terrors prevent him from cycling out of REM sleep into the more restful slow-wave sleep.
It's still experimental, but what we're trying to do is modify his brain-wave patterns externally.
- How do you do that? - Electrical stimulation of the occipital lobe creates simple visual and auditory hallucinations.
So it's actually possible to alter somebody's dreams? In theory, yes.
I paid off your cab.
You know, I don't appreciate being ditched like someone's bad date.
Sorry if I hurt your feelings.
Where do you get off copping this attitude? I mean, you don't know the first thing about me.
- Exactly.
- You know, back at the academy some of the guys used to make fun of you.
Oh, stop it or you're gonna hurt my feelings.
But there were some of us who followed your work and believed what you were doing because we knew there was more out there than they were telling us.
Yeah.
Dr.
Grissom didn't die from cardiac arrest.
- Well, what is it? - I think you should come back up here and take a look for yourself.
I haven't even started on the chest and the abdomen yet and I'll have a lot more to tell you then.
I can make it in two hours.
Where are we going? Spleen or pancreas? Stomach.
I was just about to start on it.
Oh, uh, this is Alex Krycek.
- We're working the case together.
- Good to meet you.
You too.
- Notice the pugilistic attitude of the corpse.
This condition generally occurs several hours after death.
It's caused by a coagulation of muscle proteins when the body is exposed to extremely high temperatures.
Like fire? This degree of limb flexion is observed exclusively in burn-related victims.
But there was no fire.
And no epidermal burns to indicate as much.
But when I opened up the skull, I found extradural hemorrhages which can only be caused by intense heat.
Somehow, this man suffered all of the secondary but none of the primary physiological responses to having been in a fire.
Any theories? I can't even begin to explain what could have caused something like this.
I mean, it's almost as if What? As if his body believed that it was burning.
this star burst with sapphire and cubic zirconium baguettes, all in a 14-karat gold band.
Now, normally this ring retails for 1350.
Well, I think it would be a value at 900.
- I saw it in a big department store last week for $ 1,000.
But you are not going to believe what we are offering it to you for.
Six seventy-seven.
I think Isn't that wonderful? You left the door open, Willig.
Preacher? Not a good idea leaving your door open in this neighborhood.
You never know who's gonna drop by.
Damn.
What are you doing here? How long you been in town? Not long.
Want a beer? How you doing, Henry? Huh? Huh? How you been? How am I doing? I'm, uh, trying to forget, you know? I'm trying to get it out of my head.
No luck, huh? No.
I'm, uh, still fighting it, you know? I keep seeing the faces.
Every day I see Aw, what's the difference? We're all going to hell, right? Where do you think we've been the last 24 years? But after this, wherever He sends us is gonna seem like like an Hawaiian vacation.
What do you want here, Preacher? You killed him, didn't you? You killed Grissom.
I saw it on TV.
He had to pay, Henry.
All of us have to answer for what we did over there.
Can't get away from it.
No.
He retains not His anger forever, because He delights in mercy.
He will turn again.
He will have compassion on us.
He will subdue our iniquities, Henry.
And He will cast off our sins into the depths of the sea.
It's all right, Henry.
It's all over now.
The victim's name was Henry Willig.
Unemployed.
Lived on disability.
The police found no indication of forced entry or struggle.
No abrasions or contusions or trace elements in the body and cause of death is being listed as burst aneurysm.
So why did your friend from Homicide call us? 'Cause the medical examiner called him.
The autopsy revealed forty-three small internal hemorrhages and skeletal fragments which doesn't just happen spontaneously.
Not without some kind of corresponding external trauma.
What does the M.
E.
Have to say about it? He said if he didn't know otherwise, he'd swear they were gunshot wounds.
What's this scar right here? According to his medical history, the only surgery he ever had was an appendectomy.
Well, unless they got to his appendix through his neck Maybe it happened in Vietnam.
Willig did a tour with the Marines in 1970, and I'm sure they didn't keep the best records.
- Willig was a Marine? - Yeah.
So where do all Marines receive basic training on the East Coast? Parris Island.
Where Grissom was stationed from 1968 to 1971.
Which means that he and Willig were there at the same time.
Twenty four years ago.
Here we go.
Willig was assigned to Special Force and Recon Squad J-7.
Of 13 original members, he's one of two survivors.
Until yesterday.
Which leaves us with one person who can tell us what happened at Parris Island.
I've been supervising Mr.
Cole's treatment since I admitted him Afraid you won't find him very cooperative, though.
We just want to ask him a few questions about his military service.
He doesn't respond very well to authority figures.
Is that why you put him in isolation? We've had to house Mr.
Cole in this section of the ward because he was interfering with our treatment of the other patients.
How was he interfering? He was disrupting their sleep patterns.
For psychiatric patients especially, it's critical that their circadian cycles be strictly maintained.
Excuse me.
But exactly how would Cole disrupt their sleep? Here we are.
Mr.
Cole.
There's some gentlemen here to - You discharged him two days ago.
- I most certainly did not.
Don't you think I'd remember if I did? Well, I was on shift, Doctor, and you signed the order yourself.
That is your signature, isn't it? Let's get Cole's face out on the wire.
- Mulder.
- Mr.
Mulder.
I've obtained information that might shed some light on your current work.
But you must exercise discretion when we meet.
If anyone follows you, I won't be there.
Who are you? Who I am is irrelevant.
Why are you trying to help me? Do you think I want to be here, Agent Mulder? I don't want to be here.
- What is this? - Data from a top-secret military project, born of the idea that sleep is a soldier's greatest enemy.
Grissom was conducting sleep deprivation experiments on Parris Island? Not deprivation, eradication.
- Why? - Why else? To build a better soldier.
Sustained wakefulness dulls fear, heightens aggression.
Science had just put a man on the moon.
So they looked to science to win a losing war.
And Willig and Cole were the lab rats? Lab rats with the highest kill ratio in the Marine Corps.
Four thousand plus confirmed kills for a 13-man squad.
You think Cole's behind what's happening now? I'm not here to do your thinking, Agent Mulder.
All I know is Augustus Cole hasn't slept in 24 years.
There's someone else you should see.
Another member of the squad who was reportedly killed in action.
- I thought Cole was the last.
- His name is on the envelope.
- So, how do I contact you? - You can't.
- I may need more.
- You still don't get it, do you? Closing the X-Files and separating you and Scully was only the beginning.
The truth is still out there, but it's never been more dangerous.
The man we both knew paid for that information with his life, a sacrifice I'm not willing to make.
Where were you? Someone matching Cole's description just robbed a drug store in Queens, - and the police have located him in a motel around the corner.
- Is he alive? He was when the night manager saw him.
So where were you? Detective Horton.
I'm Agent Krycek.
This is Agent Mulder.
I've been waiting for you guys.
I tried holding the SWAT guys back, but they're getting a little antsy.
For whatever it's worth, Cole didn't steal dime one from that drug store.
- Just a bunch of pills.
- Freeze! Inside, now! Officer down! We've got two officers down, both critical.
Requesting emergency vehicles immediately.
Roger.
I copy on your officers down.
Paramedics requested.
What's going on here, Mulder? These two officers, they shot each other.
Also described in the report is a highly experimental neurosurgical procedure designed to induce a permanent waking state.
The procedure involved cutting part of the brain stem in the midpontile region.
Which would explain Henry Willig's scar.
A similar scar should also be evident on Augustus Cole.
Post-op treatment included a regimen of synthetic supplements to replenish the organic deficits caused by prolonged lack of sleep.
This is consistent with the antidepressants Cole robbed from the pharmacy.
These drugs maintain serotonin levels in the blood, serotonin being the primary substance produced during sleep.
While it is theoretically possible that this procedure greatly diminished the subject's need for sleep, I can neither quantify nor substantiate its success without further clinical evidence.
Scully.
The second officer is still in a coma so I don't think we can count on him to tell us what happened.
I'm going over these reports you faxed me.
They're incredible.
Well, the military already sent troops through radioactive mushroom clouds.
I guess they figured they had to top themselves, right? Sleep eradication still doesn't explain the shooting of those two officers.
Or the anomalous autopsy results on Willig and Dr.
Grissom.
Well, I learned something at Grissom's clinic about what happens to a person's cortex when you stimulate it with electricity.
They experience mild visual and auditory hallucinations.
Any first-year med student can tell you that.
Well, what if that stimulus were to come from a remote source? What if Cole has somehow developed the ability to project his unconscious? Are you suggesting that Cole killed those people with telepathic images? Think about it, Scully.
In all those years without REM sleep, maybe Cole built a bridge between the waking world and the dream world the collective unconscious.
And what if, by existing consciously in the unconscious world, he's developed the ability to externalize his dreams and effectively alter reality? Even if you're right, you'll have a much better chance of finding Cole if you work up a profile and try and surmise his next move.
All right.
I'll sharpen my pencils and I'll see you later.
I'll be right there, Krycek.
Where are you going? We're gonna check on another member of the squad see if he can tell us something about Cole.
Sounds like your new partner is working out.
He's all right.
He could use a little more seasoning and some, uh, wardrobe advice, but he's a lot more open to extreme possibilities than - Than I was? - Than I assumed he would be.
Must be nice not having someone questioning your every move, poking holes in all your theories.
Oh, yeah, it's great.
I'm surprised I put up with you for so long.
You better go.
I'll, uh, read over this report again and see what else I can come up with.
Okay.
Later, Sal.
Salvatore Matola? You gonna shoot me? You gonna kill me? No.
We're with the F.
B.
I.
We just wanted to ask you some questions.
Why did you think we were here to kill you? I don't know.
You know about Willig and Grissom, huh? I read about it in the paper.
I figured they were finally killing us all off.
Who? Sal, can you spare a few minutes? Yeah, I guess so.
I got a break coming up.
Spare a few minutes I guess They said it'd be like living two lifetimes.
And that at first th-that's what it was like.
Not having to sleep and all made us feel like nothing could touch us, you know? Uh, we'd do 24-hour patrols, night ambushes, you know, - that type of thing.
- And you never got tired? No.
Not so that we had to sleep.
And then, nothing that the pills couldn't fix.
- Serotonin? - Yeah.
How long did this go on? Quite a while.
I'd say Quite a while, uh, until we stopped taking orders from Company Commander in Saigon.
The entire squadron went AWOL? Yeah, something like that.
Well, then who did you take orders from? We didn't.
We just made up missions as we went along.
You know, till it didn't matter anymore who we were killing Farmers, women.
Outside of Phu Bai there was this school.
And, uh, they were just kids.
No one ever tried to stop you? No, sir.
We suspect Augustus Cole may be behind the murders of Willig and Grissom.
You mean Preacher? Th-That's what we used to call him on account of that he was always reading from his Bible, you know.
Saying this and that aboutJudgment Day.
Saying that one day we were going to have to pay for what we were doing.
That-That's what he said back then.
That-That's what he'd say.
But why Grissom? He was never in country.
He wasn't even part of the squadron.
Sure, he was.
He made us what we are.
Him and Dr.
Girardi.
- Who's Dr.
Girardi? - The other doc on the project.
The one who did the surgeries on us.
It's because of him that I haven't slept a night in 24 years.
I'm still not clear why you think Cole will go after Girardi.
Cole sees himself as a kind of avenging angel.
In his mind, everyone responsible for the atrocities whether directly or indirectly must be punished.
Yeah, but why now? Why after all these years? Phu Bai was one of the bloodiest massacres of the war Over 300 children slaughtered.
But unlike My Lai, no U.
S.
Troops were ever charged.
The 24th anniversary of the massacre was two days ago.
Mulder.
I think I found the Francis Girardi you're looking for.
He's a professor of neurosurgery at Harvard.
Do you have his number in Boston? Yes, except he's coming to New York for Grissom's funeral.
- When? - Tonight.
He's arriving at Bronx Station on the 7:30 train.
Well, try to have a photograph waiting for us at the security desk so we know who we're looking for, okay? Got it.
Mulder, F.
B.
I.
You got a photo for me? Right here.
Stay here.
I'll cover the other side.
Federal Agent.
Drop your weapon! Drop it! Mulder.
You all right? Girardi! Where is he? Girardi's not here.
I saw him.
He was Mulder.
You were shouting and waving your gun around, but Girardi never showed.
No.
Girardi was here, and so was Cole.
We just missed them.
Mulder, if they had been here, I would have seen them.
I'm telling you, Mulder, they weren't here.
Okay, there's nothing here so let's rewind the tape.
Start with a small window of time, say 19:35 to 19:45.
If you don't find anything within that time frame, then open it up one minute at a time.
With all these cameras we should be able to see something.
Can we talk for a second? What's the problem? Well, you still haven't answered my question about what happened.
I told you.
I thought I saw Girardi.
But come on, you just about killed someone back there.
We both know I'm covering for you by keeping it between us.
All right, what do you want to know? Just the truth.
There's things you're not telling me that I need to know.
Yeah.
It's just that my ideas aren't very popular.
I told you.
I want to believe, but I need a place to start.
I think that Cole possesses the psychic ability to manipulate sounds and images to generate illusions that are so convincing they can kill.
How's that for a theory? Puts a whole new spin on virtual reality, but at least it begins to explain some things.
Agent Mulder.
See this car in the upper right corner? Yeah.
It wasn't there five minutes ago.
Where is this? That's track 17.
It's a restricted part of the yard.
What are you doing? This is insane.
You can't do this to me.
You can't hold me responsible.
I was following orders.
Just like you.
- The Lord hates a lying tongue.
- It's the truth.
The truth is what you did to us what you made us do.
No one made you do anything.
You volunteered.
The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance.
Who is it? Who's there? He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
Who is it? I can't see without my glasses.
You don't need to see to know who it is.
You know who it is! You shall pay as the judges determine.
You shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, strike for strike.
As he has disfigured a man, so shall he be disfigured.
And he who kills a man, shall be put to death.
He's still alive.
Put pressure on the wound on the back of his neck and radio for help.
Now! Uh, this is Agent Krycek requesting emergency assistance.
My location is track 17 in a freight warehouse.
Step away from the edge.
Corporal Cole, I'm a federal agent.
Now please step back.
Go ahead.
Shoot me.
That's not why I came up here.
I'm putting down my gun.
I just wanted to talk to you for a few minutes.
- After that you're free to do whatever you want.
- I'm tired.
- I know.
- No, man.
You don't know.
You have no idea.
One minute is all I'm asking.
A minute's more than I care to give.
The blood's boiling in my veins.
I can feel the air stinging on my skin.
What the military did to you was wrong, but maybe your testimony can help.
They cut out a piece of my brain.
They made me into somebody else.
And I can never get back what they took away from me.
But I can stop them from taking anything more.
Krycek, put down the gun and get out of here.
Krycek, I said put down the gun and get out of here.
No! Good night.
He had a gun.
He was going to shoot you.
You did the right thing.
They broke into my office, went through my files, my computer.
I came down as soon as security called, but the report was already gone.
Someone went to a lot of trouble stealing both our copies - to keep this a secret.
- I know.
But without that report as evidence, Skinner's not going to authorize an investigation.
He said it's never been more dangerous.
Skinner? The man who leaked us the report.
The one who's been helping us.
You actually met with him? He said that closing down the X-Files was just the beginning that we've never been in greater danger.
Do you trust him? Do you know where he got this? Not yet.
But he got it.
Which means he's either found another source, or another source has found him.
Sir, if I can recommend something.
You'll see that I've outlined several countermeasures.
What about Scully? Reassigning them to other sections seems only to have strengthened their determination.
Scully's a problem.
A much larger problem than you described.
Every problem has a solution.

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