The Beginning

Just after having returned from Antarctica, Mulder and Scully conduct an unofficial search for a vicious alien in Phoenix, Arizona.

Summary

A group of workers are carpooling in a Roush company van in Phoenix, Arizona. Sandy, a man in the vehicle, is obviously not feeling well. The men proceed to drop him off at his house.

He enters and turns the thermostat up as high as possible. He appears to be freezing cold and looks at his hand to see that it is becoming translucent.

His coworker comes to pick him up the following morning, but he doesn't answer the door. The windows are condensated and the house is very humid. His friend enters the house and finds Sandy on the couch. His stomach appears to have burst open. The man is then viciously attacked by a grotesque, long-clawed alien. He attempts to open the door but is dragged back inside and clawed to death.

Mulder is trying to enhance a portion of a burned X-file in his basement office and, later, he explains to an OPR panel that he believes a lot of the files that were burned in his office will be salvageable. Mulder continues to recount what happened to himself and Scully in Antarctica and outlines an elaborate scheme, involving a shadow group within the government that is growing corn which contains genetically-engineered pollen to hold a virus that will be taken away by bees. According to Mulder, the bees will transfer the virus through their stings, which will trigger the growth of an extraterrestrial being within a human host. He tells the panel that Scully has proof of these bees but, when given the opportunity to corroborate his account, she does not support his statement.

After the review, Scully tells Mulder that the virus is not what he thinks it is, stating that the virus is very much of this world.

In a shadowy meeting, the secretive Syndicate conclude that it took only twelve hours for the alien to gestate and the Cigarette Smoking Man says that they must kill the being, whatever the cost.

Meanwhile, Assistant Director Skinner tells Mulder that his request to be reassigned to the X-files has been denied. Skinner says that he might be able to help Mulder obtain proof of what he is alleging and hands him a folder that contains a disturbing picture of the man who was killed in Arizona.

In a surgical operation room, the CSM supervises a procedure on Gibson Praise's brain but tells the medical staff to conclude the operation because Gibson's expertise is required.

At the crime scene in Arizona, Mulder describes to Scully what happened to the man. He says that the first man was killed hours before the second. He then says that the same thing happened to a man he had seen in Antarctica. Mulder also finds what appears to be a fingernail embedded in a claw mark on one of the walls.

The CSM pulls up to the house with Gibson, who tells him that the creature is no longer in the house.

A man named Homer is sleeping at his work station at the Rolling Hills Nuclear Power Plant, outside Phoenix. A co-worker wakes him up and reminds him that he should be doing his routine systems check. While checking, the co-worker notices that the cooling system is overheating. Homer consequently goes into the plant, to investigate. The alien grabs and kills him.

Mulder and Scully arrive at the plant. Special Agent Jeffrey Spender is already there and tells Mulder to leave. Mulder and Scully go back to their car, where they find an unconscious Gibson in the vehicle's back seat.

Scully nurses him back and she sees what they did to him. The incisions on his head were poorly sutured. He tells them that he got away from his captors and went to them for refuge. He has infections and a fever. Scully recommends that they take him to a hospital.

Just as Scully and Mulder are driving Gibson to the hospital, Agent Diana Fowley arrives and stops them, but she doesn't see Gibson. She tells Mulder that she is on his side but has to pretend that she isn’t. Mulder reluctantly trusts her and they go to the power plant. Scully takes Gibson to the hospital.

Fowley tells Mulder what happened. She suggests that the alien entity is still developing and that is why it went to the power plant, to get heat. They enter the power plant and look around. Near the place where Homer was killed, Mulder finds what appears to be the skin of an alien as if it had molted. Mulder gets a call from Scully and she tells him that Gibson has been infected with the virus.

As she is calling Mulder, a Syndicate operative dressed as a hospital worker kidnaps Gibson from the hospital and takes him to the power plant, so he can find the alien. Mulder witnesses this happening through a locked door with a window. Just as this happens, the man is attacked by the alien. After killing the man, the alien looks at Gibson. Mulder calls out to Gibson, but can’t get to him. Agent Fowley returns and draws her gun on Mulder as power plant security officers arrive.

Back at FBI Headquarters in Washington, Mulder and Scully are told that, from now on, they are to have nothing to do with the X-files and will report to AD Alvin Kersh.

In Mulder's old office, the CSM is talking to Spender and tells him that he did well. Spender says that there is no way that Mulder will give up. The CSM says that there are solutions but that they can’t use them, in this scenario. The CSM says that you can kill a man but you can’t kill what he stands for, unless you break his spirit first.

Mulder is reconstructing old X-files documents. Mulder tells Scully that he’s starting to trust Fowley again. Scully says that the DNA from the fingernail is the same as from the virus and that it matches some of the remnant DNA in human bodies. This would mean that all humans are partially alien.

Gibson is hiding back in the plant and is looking over a pool of water with cooling rods. In the water, the alien is molting again. When it completes its molt, it takes the shape of the traditional Grey Alien.

Background Information

Continuity

Roush is also mentioned in "Redux", in which it is said to not only have bankrolled Kritschgau and Blevins but is all involved in congressional lobbying, in regards to bio-tech issues.

Cultural References

The sleeping nuclear power plant employee by the name of "Homer" is a reference to Homer Simpson of The Simpsons.

Links and References

References

Men in Black; RuPaul

Template:TXF episode

File:Sandy (dead).jpg
Series:	The X-Files
Original Airdate:	11/8/98
Production Number:	6ABX01
Date(s):	Unknown
Written by:	Chris Carter
Directed by:	Kim Manners