"Radio check." "Perimeter is clear." "Copy that." "Give me a check every ten." "Why don't you folks make yourselves comfortable?" "Watch some television." "Get some rest." "Try to put your minds at ease." "Just try to stay away from the windows and the doors, if you would." "Do we have to ask you if we can use the bathroom?" "I feel like I'm a prisoner in my own home." "Ma'am, I apologize for the imposition, but my job is to protect you." "As of this evening, the FBI's top priority is keeping you safe." "For how long?" "A week, a month?" "Then what?" "Jim, don't do this, please." "You don't have to testify." "It's not worth it." "These people have a long reach." "They're powerful." "I have to do this." "I'm going to bed." "Thank you." "The grand jury convenes at 9:00." "We'll leave here at 7:30." "I'll be right outside the door if you need me." "Jim?" "Jim?" "Are you feeling all right?" "Jim?" "Mr. Skinner!" "Mr. Skinner!" " Jim!" " Dr. Scobie?" " Jim!" " Ma'am." "Yes, at the time I was in another part of the house." "Yes." "Yes, sir." "Yes, sir." "Yes, sir, I will have answers for you." "I..." "I..." " Rough night?" " It's shaping up to be a rougher morning." "Follow me." "There's fingerprints everywhere, but as they all belong to the deceased... and his wife, they don't help us." " This is where the body was found?" " Yeah." "What can you tell us about him?" "Dr. James Scobie, age 44, RD biochemist with Morley Tobacco." "If he were alive as of 26 minutes ago, he'd be giving testimony against his former employer before a federal grand jury." "Testimony concerning what?" "Not even his wife or his lawyer know the specifics." "Only that it concerns research that he was involved in." "Potentially extremely damaging to Morley." "Enough so that Scobie received death threats." "Given the high profile nature of the case, the director charged me with insuring Dr. Scobie's protection." " And you think that someone made good on these threats?" " I do." "Though we've yet to determine how someone got in here or... what killed him." "You can't blow a whistle with a mouth like that." "It's almost as if his flesh has been stripped or eaten away." "I mean, an assailant could have thrown acid on him." "Well, if it was acid in the face, he would have screamed bloody murder." "Well, we're looking at all possibilities, Agent." "We need answers." "We don't have a lot of time." "And we're going up against one of the biggest corporations in America." "The director instructed me that he wants this case closed as swiftly as possible." "I trust I can count on your help." "All right, I want you to perform the autopsy." "The body's in the county morgue." " I'll get right on it." " Thank you." " Huh." " What?" "There's no ashtrays." "Dr. Scobie and his wife don't smoke?" "Not that I witnessed." "Tobacco employee that doesn't smoke." "Isn't that kind of like a GM executive who drives a Ford?" "If this was a hit, it seems unnecessarily high profile." "It kind of draws attention to itself, don't you think?" "That could be the point..." "to intimidate potential witnesses." "Scobie had a supervisor at Morley..." "a Dr. Peter Voss." " I wanna talk to him." " You mind if I tag along?" " No." " Sir?" "We're here to see Dr. Voss." "Do you have an appointment?" "Do you have an appointment?" "Maybe you missed this the first time around." "Gentlemen, I can help you." "Daniel Brimley, head of corporate security." "A pleasure." "Nice to meet you." " You're here concerning Dr. Scobie's death, I take it?" " We are." "We were all extremely sorry to hear about it." "Jim has a lot of friends in this building." "Really?" "No hard feelings that he was about to turn federal witness against your company?" "Nobody was happy about Jim's decision, but the timing of his death couldn't have been worse." "So you have no problem with us speaking to Dr. Voss?" "Absolutely not." "Whatever we can do to help." "Please." "Could you, um..." "Could you give my sincerest condolences toJim's wifeJoan?" "How is she?" "I'm sure she'll take comfort in finding out why her husband died." "Dr. Voss, can you enlighten us as to what Dr. Scobie intended to tell the grand jury?" "We know it had to do with company research." "I'm sorry." "Dr. Voss would be in violation... of his employment confidentiality clause in answering that question." " Dr. Scobie was your friend?" " Yeah, for 14 years." "And yet you demoted him five weeks ago." "You took him off a particular project." "Can you tell us why that happened?" "As before, Dr. Voss would be in violation... of his confidentiality clause in answering questions regarding the nature of his work... here at Morley." "I'm sure you understand our cooperation cannot extend itself to revealing corporate secrets." "I'm not sensing any cooperation whatsoever." "In fact, I'm one more nonanswer away from getting... a federal warrant and searching this entire building." " Then this meeting is over." "Dr. Voss." " Dr. Voss." "Can you tell me what that is?" " It's a tobacco beetle." "Why?" " I found it atJim Scobie's house." "Well, you'll find a lot of these around here." "They're everywhere." "There's probably a dozen in the grill of your car right now." "May I ask where you're going with this, Agent?" "I'm sorry." "I can't." "Answering that question would violate FBI confidentiality... due to the sensitive nature of our investigation." "Evenin'." " What are you doing here?" " I run out of smokes." "Me and Dr. Scobie had an arrangement, as you know." "So I figured, uh, Dr. Scobie not bein' around, that my arrangement with him..." "slides on over to you." "Here ya go." "That won't hold me." "I'll bring you more." "Just don't come here anymore." "All right?" "It seems everybody's actin' funny around me all of a sudden, you know." "Tellin' me not to talk, to stay away from their houses." " Huh." " Too bad about Dr. Scobie." " Yeah." " I bet people are wondering how he died." "I've been working my own theory up in the old noggin." "I'd be happy to share it with you someday." "I think that you should leave now." "Yeah." "I don't wanna wear out my welcome." "We'll be seein' a lot of each other, I expect." " Smoke 'em if you got 'em." " What have you found?" "Well, the tissue damage on Dr. Scobie's mouth extends... all the way down his trachea into his lungs." "His alveoli looked like corned beef." "What about this being the result of some sort of corrosive agent?" "No, that's not the case." "There's no acids present, no caustics." "This damage isn't the result of any kind of chemical reaction." "His airways have more or less just been reamed out." " I can tell you what killed him, strictly speaking." " What?" "Hypoxemia:" "The inability to transfer oxygen... from the lungs to the bloodstream." "He choked to death?" "All right." "I mean, this damage, however it was accomplished, someone did do this to him." "Well, not necessarily." "There weren't any signs of struggle in the room." " Maybe no one was ever there." " Where are you going with this?" "Well, that this isn't a homicide." "You examined the body, Scully." "Did you find any of these?" " A bug?" " It's a tobacco beetle." "I didn't find anything like that, Mulder." "Were you expecting me to?" "Killer bugs?" "This is what I'm supposed to tell the director?" "I don't know, but judging from Dr. Voss's reaction to this," "I think it's the thing we should investigate." "I've been tellin' you all week." "How many times I gotta say it?" "No smoking!" "You hear me?" "America, man!" "E Pluribus, uh..." "I'll get you kicked out, you son of a bitch!" "You think I'm kiddin'?" "I'll do it!" "The law's on my side!" "Guests check in, but they don't check out." "Well, judging from the condition of the body," "I'd say that he died in the same manner as Dr. Scobie." "Except this man's no corporate whistle blower." "Thomas Gastall." "Out-of-date Massachusetts license, food coupons... and a certificate of completion for a court-ordered anger management class." "What could Morley Tobacco have against a transient from Massachusetts?" " Probably nothing." " What are you suggesting, Mulder?" "ThatJim Scobie wasn't murdered." "Neither was this man." "Well, then what killed them?" "These." "We didn't find any insects in Dr. Scobie's bathroom." "But there was an open window through which they could have escaped." "It's a long shot, Mulder, but it could be some form of contagious agent, like an insect-borne bacterium, which would mean there might be other victims in this building." "FBI." "Sorry to wake you." "No, you didn't wake me." "Come on in." "Thank you." "We're investigating the death of the man who lived right next to you... a Thomas Gastall." "Do you know him?" "I knew his voice." "He yelled a lot." "He yelled?" "Yeah, he said I smoked too much." "What are you gonna do, man?" "It's a free country." "E Pluribus, uh..." " Do you mind?" " No." "You don't seem surprised that he's dead." "I guess his number come up." "I'm just glad it wasn't me." " Well, what is your name, sir?" " Darryl Weaver." "Mr. Weaver, did you see or hear anything unusual last night?" "Little Korean fella down the hall dresses like Wonder Woman." " But that's every night." " Other than that?" "There wouldn't happen to be, uh, any reward money involved, would there?" "I mean, I could use an extra buck or two." "The FBI would appreciate your voluntary cooperation, sir." "That's the way it works." "Ain't that always the way." "No, my mind is, uh, just drawing' a complete blank." "That's my card." "Thank you, Mr. Weaver." "Anything?" "Two deaths in less than 24 hours and we've yet to come up with an answer." "And the only thing I have to go on medically at this point is Mulder's bug." "You know, I know an entomologist at UNC Willmington..." "Dr. Libby Nance." "Good." "Talk to her." "Where you going?" "To see about something else that's been bugging me." " Mrs. Voss?" " Yes?" "Fox Mulder." "Is your husband home?" " It's okay, honey." "It'll just be a minute." " Sure thing." "I really shouldn't be talking to you without our lawyers." "I understand your reluctance to talk, sir." "You have a nice family, a lot to lose." "What do you want, Agent Mulder?" "There's been another victim..." "Thomas Gastall." "Died exactly the same way Scobie did." "I'm sorry to hear that." "But what's that got to do with me?" "Well, we found these all over him." "I believe that that's what killed both men." "Tobacco beetle." "It's an herbivore." "It eats tobacco." " Hence its name." " I understand that, but... maybe these don't." " I'm not really required to talk to you, am I?" " No." "But why are you hiding behind your lawyers, Doctor?" "How many people have to die before you do the right thing?" " I'll get it!" " Hello?" " What did he want?" " Are you spying on me?" " I'm not spying on you, Peter." "I'm looking out for you." "What did he want?" "There's been another death..." "downtown." " How did it happen?" " I don't know." "I don't know." "This has gone on long enough." "We should come forward." "I should." "Do you hear what you're saying, Peter?" "Now, I want you to just take a moment." "I want you to think about what really matters to you." "Now tell me where I can find Darryl Weaver." " Why?" " This was my mistake." "I'll clean it up." " I don't know where he is." "This doesn't make sense." "What doesn't make sense?" "Well, it's a Lasioderma serricorne..." "a tobacco beetle." "Only I've never seen one exactly like this." "Hmm." "What are the differences?" "Physical differences." "Minor, but definitely notable." "Deviations in the mandibles, the antennae, the body segmentation." "What if such deviations arose from genetic engineering?" " Engineering the bugs themselves?" " No." "I was actually thinking about another possibility... transgenomics." " Which is?" " It's a form of DNA manipulation... alterations made on the genetic level." "It is pretty widely known that tobacco companies have been pouring money... into that kind of research." "Changing the tobacco plant itself in order to make it heartier, give it less nicotine, more nicotine, make it naturally menthol flavored." " You name it." " A form of what... super tobacco?" "Which possibly could have created super bugs." "I guess the real question is, could they have become dangerous to humans?" "Mr. Weaver!" "Mr. Weaver!" "Sorry, Doc." "No vacancy." " What happened there?" "Well, you tell me." "You're the one with the PhD." "I'm just a big old guinea pig." "Uh, listen." "Um, you have to leave town." "And give up all this?" "Me not doin' my part for science?" "Here." "Take it." "It's everything I have in the bank." "Four thousand." "It's not much, but, uh, it's a start." "W-W-Wait a minute." "I'm not kidding." "You gotta get out of here." "Why?" "I got a good thing goin' here." "I got cash money." "I got all the coffin nails I can suck down." "Although, lately," "I've been thinkin' this particular brand, it doesn't, uh, do anyone else any favors, health-wise." "You thinkin' that too, huh?" "Would it bother you if I lit one up?" "Toodles." "No, you... you don't understand." "Morley is a multibillion dollar global corporation." "You think they're gonna let you endanger that, huh?" "They'll kill you first." "Well, it sounds like a Darryl Weaver problem to me." "Yeah, uh..." "What am I looking at?" "Thomas Gastall's left lung and bronchus." "Well, I guess that explains where the beetles came from." "Hey, Mulder." "Where have you been?" "Talking to lawyers over atJustice tryin' to get a look at Morley's files." "Well, take a look at this." "They're the larval stage of the tobacco beetle, Mulder." "And somehow they have ended up nesting in Thomas Gastall's lungs." "But what doesn't make any sense is why Scobie's lungs didn't show this same condition." "The larvae must pupate inside the lungs, and then once they mature into beetles, exit the body en masse." " That explains the condition of the face and throat." "Only how did they get into the lungs to begin with?" "Mulder?" "How is he?" "They're using a deep suction technique that's been designed for asthma and cystic fibrosis." "And so far, we're having some luck at clearing his lungs." " But?" " For every one of those things that are in his lung tissue, there may be a dozen eggs that have yet to be hatched." " Eggs?" " His pulmonary tissue is riddled with them." "And they're going to hatch." "It's just, uh, we're buying time." "How did this happen?" "These eggs, how'd they get into his lungs?" "I'm thinking he inhaled them." "Well, the tobacco beetle lives out its life cycle on or around the tobacco plant." "That's where it lays its eggs." "If those genetically-altered beetles that we found did that, then maybe the eggs survived the processing into cigarettes." " And have been carried into Mulder's lungs as smoke?" " Right." "Like spores or pollen." "Somehow small enough to be airborne." "But Mulder isn't a smoker." "And neither was Scobie." "Maybe they were around someone who was." "Don't bother calling security." "Federal search warrant as promised." "Do it." "You're gonna talk to me, Doctor." "One of my agents is dying of the same thing that killed Dr. Scobie." "I believe you have information that can save him." "We stand by our contention that any information is proprietary... and is therefore the sole property of Morley Tobacco." "Listen to me, you son of a bitch." "This isn't about Morley or your precious research." "This is about saving lives." " That's exactly what we were trying to do." " Dr. Voss." "I'm advising you not to speak." "This has gone on long enough." "We thought we were doing a good thing." "We knew people were never gonna stop smoking, no matter how unhealthy it was." "So why not genetically engineer a safer cigarette?" "Except you engineered the bugs as well." "We recruited test smokers." "We conducted focus groups." "There were no problems." "And, uh, after a few months in, things... things got bad." "We had four test subjects and, uh," "three of them died." "Is that what Dr. Scobie was gonna testify about?" "Yeah." "And the company wanted us to keep it quiet." "I thought let's correct the mistakes and face the consequences." "Jim didn't." "He was monitoring the focus group, and that's... that's how he got infected." "You said only three died." "Who was the fourth?" " Clear!" " Okay, go ahead." " Told me he meant to get Weaver." " Looks like Weaver got to him first." "Mr. Brimley, can you hear me?" "You got Mickey's Big Mouth?" "There's no smoking in here." "Mickey's Big Mouth?" "Anything else?" "A carton of cigarettes?" "You don't have my brand." "Must be bad." "How do you feel?" "Like a Dustbuster attacked me." "We're looking for someone who may be able to help you." "A Morley test subject by the name of Darryl Weaver." "Mr. E Pluribus." "Yeah." "Well, Mr. Weaver seems to have some kind of tolerance or immunity, and we're hoping that once we find him, we'll be able to figure out how to treat you." "Mulder?" "Doctor!" "His sat's down to 72." "Get some O2 on him and call the code." " Susan, code blue!" " Right, Doctor." "Over to my side!" "Dr. Scully?" "We've got him stabilized on ECMO for the moment, but we're not gonna be able to maintain him on it for long." "Of course you see why." "There's more than there were six hours ago." "They're beginning to block the flow of blood." "Our best bet is to go back in there." "I think this time we have to crack the chest." "No." "No, uh, he's too weak for thoracic surgery." "He'd die on the table." "I don't know what our other options are." "I'd say for the time being, we just wait." "That'll definitely kill him... sooner or later." "Mrs. Voss, I'm Assistant Director Walter Skinner with the FBI." " May we come in?" " What is this?" "What's going on?" "I have to ask for your cooperation." "These men are here to protect you and your family." " Oh, my God." "Why?" " Your husband hasn't spoken to you about this?" " He's not here." " He told me he was headed home." " Try Dr. Voss at work." " I've just been trying." "There's no answer." "Behind you." "I was just leavin'." "I got what I came for." "He took the test cigarettes." "I couldn't stop him." "Stop right there!" "Why?" "You gonna shoot me?" "I'm not gonna let you go and infect more people." "You're gonna let me do whatever I wanna do." "Dr. Voss here tells me you need me." "You need me to save your boy." "Don't do it." "They say these things kill people, you know." "Any brand, sooner or later." "But you know, it doesn't have to be that way." "I think Dr. Voss is really... on to something with his research, I do." "It's over, Weaver." "I'm through." "Oh." "Come on, now." "I mean, you gotta figure... the first, uh, car... killed a bunch of people... before they perfected it, 'cause it's all just part of the scientific process, you know." "Mr. Weaver, I will shoot you." "No, you won't." "I'm a regular damn scientific marvel." "They're gonna study me." "They're gonna write scientific papers about me." "I could be the cure for cancer." "Me, Darryl Weaver." "You ain't gonna shoot me." "Toodles." " How's Mulder?" " Not good." "Let's get the blood work on this man." "Wait a minute." "Wait a minute." "Give me 30 milligrams of methyl-pyrrolidinyl-pyridine." " Nicotine?" " Yeah." "I think this could save Mulder's life." "Hey." "Good to be back?" " Beats the alternative." " Yeah." "Well, you'll be interested to know that Morley Tobacco has subpoenaed... all of our files on the case." " They seem extremely interested in your recovery." " What about Darryl Weaver?" "He's, uh, well enough to have been moved to the hospital ward at Riley Correctional." "It was the nicotine itself that was keeping him alive?" "His fingertips were stained yellow with it." "He was a four-pack a day smoker, far heavier than any of the focus group members who died." "You know, nicotine is extremely poisonous." "It's actually one of the oldest known insecticides." "It's good for killing tobacco beetles." "Well, once we loaded your system up with enough of it, it acted as a sort of chemotherapy." "Except it almost stopped your breathing at the same time." "That's not all it did." "I bought these on the way to work." "You're not gonna start smoking." "Why not?" "They say the addiction is stronger than heroin." "Mulder." "Good." "Skinner's waiting for us in his office." "I'll be right up."