"Yeah, dudes!" "Welcome to your Dumb Ass Show." "I am your Sky Commander Winky." " And this is the beautiful Captain Dare!" " Yeah, baby!" "Whoo-hoo!" " The biggest dumb-ass I know!" " Thank you, Sky Commander." "Yes, Captain Dare will show you what a dumb-ass he really is." "But be forewarned." "Only a stupid dumb-ass would neglect to take every safety precaution in the stunts you are about to witness." "Now, the physics alone took almost five minutes of calculation." "Oh!" "Yes!" "Yeah, dude." "Fire when ready!" "Oh, mother..." "What the..." "Ohhh!" "And that's a dumb-ass!" "Oh, right in the..." "Hey, Natalie, come here." "How about a kiss for good luck?" " Bill, why are you doing this?" " His name's Captain Dare!" "And he'll be famous one day for going where no dudes have gone before." "If you won't give me a kiss, how about throwing me a magazine?" "Dah!" "Oh, yeah!" "Whoo-hoo!" "Hey!" "Hey!" "That is it!" "Whoo!" "There it is!" "There it is!" "Yes!" "That is a dumb-ass!" "That is a dumb-ass!" "Whoo-hoo!" "I'm the man!" "I'm the man!" "What up?" "Come here!" "You want some dirt on you?" "And now the awesome Captain Dare will make Dumb Ass history in the scientifically modified shopping cart of doom." "Rolling down this hill, hitting the launch ramp at an estimated 24.6 miles an hour, sailing just over the scrumptious Natalie Gordon, who will be holding this flaming torch in her mouth." " I didn't say I was going to do anything." " This is the money shot." "Captain, tell her." " What could go wrong?" " "What could go wrong?"" "You mean besides landing on me and crushing my head?" "It'll be killer." "The Captain will jump, her torch will set the cart on fire." "And our daring hero rolling on to salvation in the pool of life, triumphant." "Natalie, come on." "Just do it for me." "Please?" " Please?" " You can do it, Natalie!" "You're gonna freakin' fly, man." "This is gonna be big." "You can do this." " You are the man." "Show 'em, dumb-ass!" " I'm the man!" "I'm the man." "Captain Dumb-Ass, comin' down!" "What up!" "Oh!" "No, no!" "Hey!" "Bill!" "Now that's a dumb-ass!" "Come on, Bill, get up." "Hey, Bill." "Hey, Bill." " Thanks for coming." " Are you the medical examiner?" "Yes, I'm Dr Fountain." "You're the experts from the FBI?" " "The experts"?" " I was told you were the experts." "We work on the X-Files." "Our expertise is the unexplained." "We were told you had an unexplained death." "You're the experts." "You tell me." "Why don't you explain what happened?" "Well, I can't." "That's the point." " You can't tell us anything?" " I'd prefer not to go on record." " Why is that?" " The kid's parents are suing everyone." " For what?" " Everything." "The county for making the street too steep, the supermarket he stole the cart from, the company that made the helmet he was wearing." "Off the record, Doc, what the hell has that got to do with a supermarket shopping cart?" " You familiar with The Dumb Ass Show?" " The Dumb Ass Show?" "A cable TV show." "A lot of kids act like dumb-asses." " They tape themselves doing stunts." " This was an accident?" "I'd prefer not to get sucked into a legal nightmare here." "You investigate the unexplained." "How about you explain it to me?" "Dr Fountain, do you see this?" " What the hell is that?" " You're asking me?" " Thanks for coming so quickly." " Your message said "urgent"." " What am I looking at?" " We hoped you could tell us." "Is she the expert?" "Well, what do you think?" "Well, I have to say that..." "I have never seen anything quite like this before." "Something killed this kid." "Judging from the amount of insect faeces in the ear and nasal cavities, they fed at such a furious rate that it caused the boy's skull to collapse from the inside." "His helmet protected his head during the crash." "There is no impact trauma here." "You're saying flies killed him?" "Of all the kids at the scene, flies choose to attack this boy." "Why?" "Maybe they were attracted for reasons we're not seeing." "What if somebody put something in his helmet?" "Insect pheromone." "Spanish Fly, that stuff you see advertised in magazines that guys use to attract girls." "I glance at 'em for amusement." "I may have to brush up on my Spanish Fly, but I don't think the science works that way." "Before we look for an M0, I wanna find out what kind of fly would act that aggressively." "The musca vetustissima Walker, the Australian bush fly." "It craves protein so much, it will crawl into your open nose, mouth, ears, even your eyes, to feed on blood and moisture." "Though the New Zealand screwworm fly often kills its victims in mere moments by burrowing into an open wound or cut." "I'm sorry." "I'm Dr Rocky Bronzino." "Hi." "Rocky Bronzino." "Hello there." "Rocky Bronzino." "Field entomological expert, Rutgers University, at your service." " Dr Bronzino..." " Rocky." "Neither of these flies are indigenous to North America." "Are you suggesting this is a virulent foreign vector?" "No." "The specimens you collected are your garden-variety calliphorid, harmless as, well... flies." " What are you suggesting, then?" " Nothing." "Dr Fountain brought me in for my scientific expertise and, I must say, I'm glad he did." "Dr Bronzino, you should know we may be looking at a murder." "A murder?" "Are there any suspects?" "Natalie Gordon, the lady in Captain Dare's short life and the last person to see him alive." " Leave me alone, Winky." " It's for the memorial video." "For a fallen hero." "Just a few words for Captain Dare." "You want a few words, Winky?" "You're a jerk, and 50's your brother, for making Bill do all those stupid stunts." "Hey, Captain Dare died doing what he loved, pushing the envelope." "Maybe if you weren't such a..." "Hey, you." "Freaky-Deaky." "You want your own memorial, huh?" "You wanna be in Dumb Ass?" "Just leave her alone." "I'm talking to you now, freak." "David Winkle!" "In my office, right now!" "Typical." "Lokensgard's gonna have his mommy stick up for him." "Baby." "That is it!" "Whoo!" "There it is!" "I just solved this case." "This kid had crap for brains." "The flies couldn't resist." "And you were a choirboy growing up?" "We did stupid stuff, but we didn't know it was stupid." "This isn't just stupid." "This is glorification of stupid." "These kids take enormous pride in being sub-mental." "That's why they call it Dumb Ass." " Mr David Winkle." " Sky Pilot Winky." "Just the man we wanna see." "Come on in." " It's very entertaining, Sky Pilot." " Sky Commander, if you don't mind." "You can call me Sheriff John when I haul your dumb ass off to jail." " What are you talkin' about?" " We have a copy of a recent email you sent, offering the video of your friend's death to the Fox network." "No, I wrote all the networks." "Fox were the only one who had any interest in it." "I don't think you understand." "What, you think I killed him?" "You think I'd kill Captain Dare to make money?" "My best friend?" "You were the last person to have contact with him." "You gave him his helmet at the top of the hill." "I think you put something in it." "Agh!" " Sit down, Sky Commander." " I can't!" "I'm being attacked!" "Oh, God, it's happening to me." "Now that's a dumb-ass!" "Where you been?" "Dinner's been on the table almost an hour." "I'm not hungry." "Then you sit down here until you get hungry." "Dylan?" "I have something to talk to you about." "Dylan?" "Dylan?" "Dylan?" "I'm glad you're here." "I think we just got our first break." " What'd you find?" " It's what Rocky Bronzino found." "The flies that ate at the brain and the skull of the victim are all female." "Every last one." "Exactly how is that a break?" "What are the chances of that?" "You mean the absence of males suggests a reason for the attack, behaviourally?" "Something biological is going on, hormonal or chemical, that caused these bugs to attack." " Or a need to express themselves." " Say what?" "The kid that calls himself Sky Commander Winky." "Agent Reyes and I were interviewing him as a suspect when this happened." "Paramedics arrived and treated him for an aggressive attack of body lice." "Lice are not uncommon in a school environment." "Except that these are better spellers than most of the kids." " So is this just another Dumb Ass stunt?" " That was my first thought." "But the victim was too freaked out to make me believe he'd staged this." "Which leads me to think that while you may be right about this being biology, someone is directing the biology." "How does one direct bugs?" "I don't know how, but we've been running down a long list of witnesses." "A loner who was present at every Dumb Ass stunt, who had a run-in with this kid Winky at school before the lice attack." "His name is Dylan Lokensgard." "We want to talk to him," "He's just not well." "He's unable to talk." "Dylan?" "Dylan?" "I wanna have a talk with you." "Honey, can you come out here?" "Dylan?" "Dylan?" "Dylan!" " Where are you going?" " To school," "I know where you're going." " What did Natalie want?" " Stay away from her." "She's no good for you." " She's trouble." " We've been friends since we were kids." "But you're not kids any more, which is why we need to talk." "You're going through changes." "Your body is going through changes." "You don't understand anything." "I don't wanna talk to you." "I wish Dad was still here." "You know nothing about me." "Honey, I want what's best for you." "Dylan, come back here!" "Dylan!" "So many flowers... so little time." " Excuse me?" " Pheromones, Dr Scully." "Heavy in the air." "Nature's natural attractants, driving the insect world to go forth and pollinate." "I'm aware how pheromones work, but according to this there are no pheromones here." "Well, that can't be right." "The biosensor we use is an actual fly antenna, over which the pheromones pass, but I modified the EAG to measure in picograms, making it sensitive to traces a mile in any direction." "I'm still not sure why you think pheromones might cause a harmless fly to attack a human so violently, Doctor." "Rocky." "Rocky." "Bugs are small-minded creatures and therefore very predictable." "They don't have moods per se." "They react to circumstance and stimuli, as they have been doing it for millennia." "So what do you suppose they're reacting to out here?" "It may be the bugs are being somehow driven crazy with desire." "You know, they say we humans respond to pheromones too." " Yeah, I tend to agree with that." " Women's dormitory syndrome." "Pheromones are the reason that women who live together share the same menstrual cycle." " Fascinating." " You know, when a male and female calliphorid fly mate, they are joined for up to one and a half hours." "One and a half, Doctor." "You know, Rocky..." "I'm a mother." "Mothers are women too." " Big hit!" " What is it?" "A high concentration of C-13 calliphorone." "Incoming." " Natalie!" " Agh!" "Dylan?" " Are you all right?" " I'm fine." " What about your bike?" " I'll get it later." " I came by your house to see you." " Oh, really?" "Your mom made it sound like something was wrong with you." "Me?" "No, I'm fine." "What did you want?" "I wanted to apologize about what happened yesterday at the cafeteria." "Winky can be such a jerk." "I was just worried about you." "What did I say?" "Nothing." "No one understands." "My mom and dad think it's just gonna go away." "What I'm feeling." "You mean about Bill?" "I wish you could just turn back time." "I wish you could just make everything go away, and start all over again." "I know, like when we were kids." "You remember that night when we played hide-and-seek on your street?" "Manhunt." "We hid in the tree together." "Our names are still carved in it." "I'm..." "I'm gonna be late." "Dylan Lokensgard?" "Can you come with us, Dylan?" "And now the awesome Captain Dare will make "Dumb Ass" history..." " Why are you showing me this?" " What do you think of it?" "You mean The Dumb Ass Show?" "That and the kids who make it." "I know 'em, you know?" "You ever had contact with Bill, the kid who played Captain Dare?" "No." " You have anything against him?" " No." "Do you think it's strange that he was attacked and killed by insects?" "Who wouldn't?" " What's going on?" " We're talking to Dylan." "Oh, no, you're not." "Dylan." "No one interrogates my son in my office without my permission." " Calm down, Mrs Lokensgard." " He's not a part of that crowd." " What are you accusing him of?" " We're just trying to see what he knows." " He doesn't know anything." " He was at the crime scene." "So were a lot of kids." "Dylan..." "Too late, gentlemen." "The bugs are gone." "Bugs are all gone." "Whatever." " How's he doing?" " He's unhurt, apparently." "Not so much as a single bite on him." "Mrs Lokensgard." "I don't think we've finished talking to Dylan." "Yes, you have." "We're going home." "I've said it before." "This case is attracting files because somebody's full of crap." "I think what we just saw was a show." "Dylan caused the bugs to attack him to make himself look like a victim, not the perpetrator." "OK, but how?" "This guy's a horse whisperer only for bugs?" "I don't know how he's doing it, but I may know a way to find out." " Where did you get this?" " Dylan gave it to us during his interview." "There's typically not a lot to be found in a teenage boy's sweaty Kleenex." "You're looking for pheromones." "Aren't they in adolescent sweat?" "Yes, it's what causes BO." "But obviously it's not all that attractive - to anything." "I've got a reading going right off the scale." "Holy Toledo." "We got pheromones coming out the Yin-Yang here." "C-13 calliphorone, and how!" " What happened?" " I think my electroantennogram just tilted." " What's 0-13 calliphorone?" " Insect pheromone." " Where did you find this mother lode?" " A boy named Dylan Lokensgard." "That specimen came from him." "A boy secreting bug pheromones?" "That's impossible." "Preposterous!" "You're the expert, Dr Bronzino." "How else do you explain it?" "Rocky?" "A boy is a boy, a bug is a bug." "You can't have it both ways." "OK, this boy is going through puberty." "Maybe his body chemistry is going crazy and his raging teenage hormones are attracting all these insects." "What if it's more than chemistry or hormones, more than biology?" "Dylan's not just attracting these bugs." "He's using them to act out." "Yes, but against what?" " We saw him talking to a girl." " The one in the Dumb Ass video." "Captain Dare's girlfriend." "Natalie." " Natalie!" " Dylan?" " What are you doing?" " I need to talk to you, Dylan." "You have to be quiet." "My mom's gonna hear you." "I'm coming up." "What?" "No." "Hi." " You're gonna break your neck." " I needed to see you." "I haven't been here in so long." "Since fourth grade." "After school." "It was a Wednesday in April." ""A dream in a mist of grey."" "That's from a Syd Barrett song." " How do you know all these things?" " My dad told me." "Syd Barrett, he was in the band Pink Floyd." "He was this brilliant guy that nobody understood." "Kinda like you." "Me?" "I never said I was sorry when your dad disappeared, Dylan." "I never said a lot of things." "But I wanna say 'em now." "I know you've always cared about me." "We've grown apart, but..." "I haven't forgotten you." "And... after we talked this morning at school," "I realized... how special you really are to me." "I can't believe this." "After what happened to Bill..." "I realized... how important it is to have someone who does understand you." "And..." "I want us to do this." "That... that was amazing." "Mn!" "What... what was that?" " What was what?" " Your to..." "Your mouth, your tongue." "There's something wrong with you!" "No, don't say that." " I need to go." " Natalie, please don't." "Just stay." "Let me talk to you." "Natalie, listen to me." "Natalie, please!" "Hey, Bug Boy!" "How about we go for a little buzz around the block?" "So, Lokensgard... how'd you do it?" "Huh?" "How'd you kill him?" " Bugs killed Captain Dare." " Yeah, bugs that do what you say." "You wanna know how I did it?" "I'll show you." "Maybe you should get your camera ready." " What are you talkin' about?" " I just have to open my mouth." "What the hell..." "Oh, God!" "Mrs Lokensgard?" "Dylan?" "I'm getting a reading here." "Trace levels inside the house." "Well, I guess that's probable cause." "Dr Scully?" "This is so exciting." "I've never had a partner before." "I have." "I like to think of it as a hymenopteran relationship." "Two scientists using knowledge to reach higher than either of them could reach alone." "And, if I may say so, Doctor, you complete me." " I got upstairs, you take down." " All right." "Oh, God." "Ow!" " David Winkle, is that you?" " Yeah." " Now that's a dumb-ass." " It wasn't a stunt." "It was Dylan Lokensgard." "He attacked us." " He attacked you?" " Yeah, the dude's a freakin' bug!" "He chewed right out the back window." "Ow!" "You stay." "I'll see that Dylan didn't head to that girl's house." " Scully." " Where are you?" "I'm with Rocky at the Lokensgard house, but nobody's here." "I'm afraid the kid's on a tear." "He's caused an accident on Glenhaven Road." "How'd he do that?" "You'd better see for yourself." "C-13 calliphorone." "I get a stiff reading up here." "Dylan's bedroom's up there." "Unfortunately he's not in it." " Where are you going?" " Kid's on a rampage." "Whoa!" "You got my number, partner." " Natalie?" " Whoever you are, leave me alone." "Natalie, I'm Monica Reyes, with the FBI." "I'm here because I need your help." " It's about Dylan Lokensgard." " Don't say that name around me!" "It's important." "You may be the key to stopping him." "Dylan Lokensgard is a freak!" "I thought he was the normal one." "I think Dylan was normal, just like any other kid." "What he's going through is to do with what he's becoming." " He kissed me!" " And it's probably what he's living for." "It's probably why he lost control and attacked David Winkle and his brother." " He attacked Winky?" " They're gonna be OK." "We just wanna make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else, all right?" "Come with me." " Why did you run from me?" " What is wrong with you?" "I'm different, Natalie." "Isn't that what you wanted?" " Somebody different from Bill and Winky." " You killed Bill." "To keep you from being killed!" " And now you're coming with me." " Stay where you are, Dylan." "Don't try and stop me!" "That little talk you wanted to have with me, it'll have to wait." " Where do you think you're going?" " It's where we're going, me and Natalie." " I'll be taking the car." " You won't." "Don't cross me, Mom." "I am not some kid everybody can kick around any more." "You think I don't know what you are?" "It's what I've been trying to tell you." "Dylan, to save you from what you are about to do." "These are the things I couldn't tell you, the things I couldn't tell your father." "You are not like the other kids." "You never will be." "Monica!" "Monica?" "Holy Mother!" "Monica, hold on!" "Can you hear me?" "Monica, can you breathe?" "Monica, talk to me!" " He's got the girl!" " Where'd they go?" " To Dylan's house." " That's where Scully is." "She lost phone contact with the entomologist Bronzino." " Where are they?" " I..." "Natalie!" "Help me." "Help me." "Four bodies were found in the Lokensgard attic." "including that of Michael Lokensgard, Dylan's father, long reported missing." "It now appears that he, like the others, fell victim to Dylan's mother, who, in Dr Rocky Bronzino's expert opinion, was neither human nor insect, but something in between, a biological anomaly" "whose difference from the rest of humanity could be hidden only for so long." "However strong Dylan Lokensgard's yearning to fit in, to win acceptance, to love and to be loved, he could not defeat the unseen forces which direct behaviour." "In the struggle between our desire to determine who and what we will be, and the identity which biology defines for us, there can only be one outcome." "But even in victory, there are forces biology cannot defeat." "The stirrings of the soul, the mysteries of desire, the simple truth that the heart wants what the heart wants." "I made this!"