3x20 Jose Chung's "From Outer Space"



KLASS COUNTY
WASHINGTON

Roky: Yeah, this is Roky. I checked all the connections. I don't know why the power's down out here. I'm going to have to come in and get some more equipment. Yeah, yeah. I'll need several of those.

Harold: Um... I don't want to scare you, but... I think I'm madly in love with you. I mean, you're all I think about. You're my whole world.
Chrissy: Harold, I like you a lot, too, but this is our first date. I mean, I think we need more time to get to know one another. [car stops] What happened? Harold... what are those things?
Harold: How the hell should I know?
Alien 1: Jack... what is that thing?
Alien 2: How the hell should I know?

Chung: I had never thought much about it before. I guess that's because I always felt like such an alien myself, that to be concerned with aliens from... *other* planets just seemed so, uh... redundant.
Scully: I'd never actually considered it much myself, before I started this job.
Chung: Yes. Now, if I understand it correctly, your partner is the actual expert?
Scully: Yes, and I feel that I must apologize for his refusal to speak with you, Mr. Chung, but I probably wouldn't have myself, if I wasn't such an admirer of your work.
Chung: Oh...
Scully: The Lonely Buddha is one of my favorite novels.
Chung: Oh! And here I was thinking you were just some brainy beauty. Now I find out that you also have good taste.
Scully: What made you decide to write a book on an alien abduction, if you're not that interested in the subject matter?
Chung: Actually, it was my publisher's idea. At first, I was reluctant, until I realized that I had an opportunity here to create an entirely new literary genre--a nonfiction science fiction. Now, see, that gimmick alone will guarantee its landing on the best-seller list. In short, to answer your question--money.
Scully: Well... just as long as you're attempting to record the truth.
Chung: God, no. How can I possibly do that?
Scully: What do you mean?
Chung: I spent three months in Klass County, and everybody there has a different version of what truly happened. Truth is as subjective as reality. That will help explain why when people talk about their "UFO" experiences, they always start off with "I know how crazy this is going to sound, but..."
Scully: So, you're here to get my version of the truth.
Chung: Exactly. Now, when did you first find out about the case?
Scully: Well... not right away, of course. Um... not enough time had elapsed for it to be considered a missing persons case, before the girl was found the following morning. She was suffering from what my partner calls "missing time." She recalled nothing of the previous night, nor how she had arrived at her present whereabouts. Her body exhibited signs of physical abuse, and all of her clothes were on inside-out and backwards.
Chung: Have I had my share of mornings like that. These are the characteristics of someone who has... wait a minute. Do you prefer the term "abductee" or "experiencer"?
Scully: Actually, I prefer neither, but my partner uses "abductee."
Chung: My preference is for the other. "I've just had a little alien experience" as opposed to, "I've just been abducted."
Scully: Regardless, the girl was considered neither at the time. She appeared more to be the victim of date rape than anything else. She was given a physical exam, and her statement was taken later that night she received her... visitation.

Harold: Oh, Chrissy, thank God you're all right.
Chrissy: How dare you come here!?
Harold: Chrissy, I did everything I could.
Chrissy: Don't I know it, you bastard.
Harold: Chrissy, don't you remember?
Man: Who the hell is that out there, dammit?!
Harold: Chrissy, I love you.

Scully: The girl's father informed the police, who apprehended the boy back at his own home.

Harold: We... we were abducted by aliens.
Manners: You don't sound so sure of it.
Harold: It all seems so crazy, and I don't know why Chrissy doesn't remember it.
Manners: You willing to take a lie detector test to prove you were abducted by creatures from outer space?
Harold: Yes, I am.
Manners: Well, too bad, 'cause I don't need no lie detector to tell me the only thing you were abducted by were your rampaging hormones, you punk.

Chung: But he did take a test, and passed it?
Scully: And he stuck to his story, until we got there.

Harold: If she says I raped her, then... I guess I raped her.
Mulder: You don't sound so sure of that.
Harold: It seems so crazy, and I don't know why Chrissy remembers it that way.
Mulder: Would you be willing to take a lie detector test to prove that you raped her?
Harold: No. I'm not.
Mulder: Well, that's too bad, because the next rape you experience will probably be your own... in prison.

Scully: That should have ended our interrogation, but Mulder brought the girl in for questioning.

Mulder: Are you having trouble sleeping? Are you experiencing muscle pains? Vision problems? Nosebleeds? When you look at a particular object, do you receive the sudden flash that you're actually looking at something else? Like an alien's face?
Chrissy: Yes!

Scully: So my partner became convinced she was suffering from what he calls "post-abduction syndrome."
Chung: You don't believe in the disorder?
Scully: I think stress of any kind can cause all of those physical ailments. In any case, Mulder convinced the girl and her parents to let her be hypnotized.
Chung: What is your opinion of hypnosis?
Scully: I know that it has its therapeutic value, but it has never been proven to enhance memory. In fact, it actually worsens it, since people in that state are prone to confabulation.
Chung: When I was doing research for my book The Caligarian Candidate...
Scully: ...one of the greatest thrillers ever written.
Chung: Oh... thank you. I was, uh... interested in how the CIA, when conducting their MK-ultra mind control experiments back in the '50s, had no idea how hypnosis worked.
Scully: Hmm.
Chung: Or what it was.
Scully: No one still knows.
Chung: Still, as a storyteller, I'm fascinated how a person's sense of consciousness can be so transformed by nothing more magical than listening to words... mere words.

Fingers: You are feeling very sleepy, very relaxed. As your body calmly drifts, deeper and deeper into a state of peaceful relaxation, you will respond only to the sound of my voice. Chrissy, can you recall where you are?
Chrissy: I'm in a room... on a spaceship... surrounded by aliens.
Fingers: What do the aliens look like?
Chrissy: They're small, but their heads and their eyes are big. They're gray.
Fingers: Are you alone?
Chrissy: No. Harold's on another table, but he seems really out of it, like he's not really there.
Fingers: What are the aliens doing now?
Chrissy: They seem to be arguing. I can sort of hear them, but I can't understand what they're saying. Except the leader. I can understand him.
Fingers: When the leader speaks to you, does his mouth move?
Chrissy: No, but I hear him in my head.
Fingers: What is he saying? He's telling me this is for the good of my planet, but...
Fingers: But what?
Chrissy: I don't like what he's doing. It's like he's inside my mind, like... like he's stealing my memories.

Mulder: The description of the aliens, the physical exam, the mind scan, the presence of another human being that appears switched off--it's all characteristic of a typical abduction.
Scully: That's my problem with it, Mulder. It's all a little too typical. Abduction lore has become so prevalent in our society, that you can ask someone to imagine what it would be like to be abducted, and they'd concoct an identical scenario.
Mulder: Yeah, if it were only one person, Scully, but we have two individuals here, each verifying the other's story.
Manners: Well, thanks a lot. You really bleeped up this case.

Scully: Well, of course, he didn't actually say "bleeped." He said...
Chung: I'm... I'm familiar with detective Manners' colorful phraseology.

Mulder: You'll still hold the boy?
Manners: You bet your blankety-blank bleep.
Mulder: The victim seems to confirm his alibi.
Manners: The hell she did. Those kids' stories couldn't be more bleeping different.

Harold: Chrissy? Chrissy? What do you want with us? What do you want with us?!

Mulder: How did the alien respond?
Harold: Well... all he did was...

Chrissy: What..? What's happening?
Harold: Don't worry. It will be okay. I'm here to protect you. I'll never let anything happen to you.

Mulder: What was the other alien--the gray--what was it doing during all this?
Harold: He was just... talking.
Mulder: Telepathically?
Harold: No, in English. He just kept saying the same thing over and over again.

Alien: This is not happening. This is not happening. This is not happening.
Harold: Would you shut up already? No!
Alien: This is not happening. This is not happening.

Harold: I don't know where I was taken, because the whole time I was like this--in pain.
Mulder: Because the other alien was conducting torturous experiments on you?
Harold: No... no. It was like... you know, when you were a kid, and you tore the legs off a bug for no reason? I guess I was the bug. Anyways, the next thing I remember, I was suddenly outside, like I was flying through the air or something.
Mulder: Then what?
Harold: Then I think I hit the ground. When I came to, I immediately ran to Chrissy's to make sure she was there, and that she was okay.
Scully: Harold... did you and Chrissy engage in consensual sexual intercourse that night?
Harold: If her father finds out, I'm a dead man.

Mulder: He said it happened before the abduction. So what if they had sex?
Scully: So we know it wasn't an alien that probed her. Mulder, you've got two kids having sex before they're mature enough to know how to handle it.
Mulder: So you're saying this is just a case of sexual trauma?
Scully: It's a lot more plausible than an alien abduction, especially in light of their contradictory stories.
Manners: Hey, I just got a call from some crazy bleephead claiming he was an eyewitness to this alien abduction. Do you feel like talking to this blankhole?

Roky: I know how crazy all this sounds, but I don't care. What I have to say has to be said.
Scully: Why did you wait till now to tell us this information? Two kids' lives may be affected by it.
Roky: Well, it's bigger than a couple of kids. It has to do with the entire planet... the universe and who knows what all.
Mulder: Why don't you tell us what happened that night?
Roky: This. It's all here. After seeing what I saw that night, I rushed right home and wrote it all down, 48 Hours straight. I didn't want to forget a single detail, but I feel that I should warn you. I don't want to be overly dramatic, but by looking at this, you're endangering your lives.
Mulder: Why is that?
Roky: Because last night, the weirdest thing happened.

MIB: No other object has been misidentified as a flying saucer more often than the planet Venus.

Roky: Really? That was when I realized something was weird.
Scully: At which point?
Roky: See, normally, if two strangers drive into my garage, I'd tell them to get the hell off the property, but this time, I didn't. It was like I was in a trance or something.
Mulder: What did they look like?
Roky: Usually I'm good with faces but all I can remember is how they were dressed. They were...
Mulder: All in black?
Roky: How did you know that?
Mulder: Since the '50s, people who have had close encounters have reported visitations from these unearthly men in black.

Chung: But, you know, myths about men in black garments have been recorded throughout history, in many different cultures. The Celtic legends are filled with trickster men in black, and how anyone who encounters them becomes enchanted.
Scully: Unfortunately, I'm not sure that modern reconstruction of ancient fairy tales lends credence to Roky's testimony.

MIB: Even the former leader of your United States of America, James Earl Carter, Jr., thought he saw a UFO once, but it's been proven he only saw the planet Venus.
Roky: I'm a republican.
MIB: Venus was at its peak brilliance last night. You probably thought you saw something up in the sky other than Venus, but I assure you, it was Venus.
Roky: I know... what I saw.
MIB: Your scientists have yet to discover how neural networks create self-consciousness, let alone how the human brain processes two-dimensional retinal images into the three-dimensional phenomenon known as perception, yet you somehow brazenly declare seeing is believing? Mr. Crikenson, your scientific illiteracy makes me shudder, and I wouldn't flaunt your ignorance by telling anyone that you saw anything last night other than the planet Venus, because if you do, you're a dead man.
Roky: You... can't threaten me.
MIB: I just did.

Roky: This is what they wanted me not to show anyone. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go pack.
Mulder: If we have any questions, where can we find you?
Roky: You won't find me.

Mulder: "I sat in my stalled truck frozen in terror, watching as this third alien attacked the other two gray aliens. And then it happened... the thing that forever changed my life..."
Behemoth: Roky! Roky! Be thou not afraid. No harm will come unto thee.
Roky: What do you want with me?
Kinbote: Your efforts are needed for the survival of all earthlings.
Roky: How can I do that?
Kinbote: Come. I shall showeth...

Mulder: ...thee. Before I knew it, I was aboard the hover vessel, and was heading not into outer space, but into inner space, towards the Earth's molten core, for that is the domain of the third alien, whose name, he soon told me, was lord Kinbote."

Scully: In short, Roky showed signs of being a fantasy-prone personality.
Chung: Agent Scully, you are so kindhearted. He's a nut! I just read his manifesto.
Scully: How did you get a copy?
Chung: One was sent to my publishers. I don't know what was most disturbing--his description of the inner core reincarnated souls sex orgy, or the fact that the whole thing is written in screenplay format.
Scully: It definitely was peculiar.
Chung: Surely, your partner didn't believe any of it?
Scully: Well, Mulder's had his share of peculiar notions. He's not inclined to dismiss anything outright.

Scully: Mulder, you're nuts.
Mulder: I'm not saying he isn't delusional. I'm just suggesting that his delusional state was triggered by something he actually witnessed that night. And the first part of his story verifies the boy's version. In fact, the only account that doesn't add up is the girl's.
Scully: Who are you calling?
Mulder: I'm going to have her re-hypnotized.
Scully: Re-hypnotized? What for?
Mulder: To see if what she remembers is really what she remembers.

Fingers: You are feeling very sleepy, very relaxed. As your body calmly drifts, deeper and deeper into a state of peaceful relaxation, you will respond only to the sound of my voice.

Scully: So the girl was put under again, to see if she could confirm any of the boy's story, and as I suspected she might under such conditions, she did.

Chrissy: The whole time it's beating me, I'm like this. And then I'm... flying through the air.
Fingers: Now what's happening?
Chrissy: Some men are lifting me off the ground men in Air Force uniforms.
Mulder: Air Force?
Fingers: Where are you now, Chrissy?
Chrissy: I'm in a room... in an office. I'm surrounded by men. Some are in uniforms, some are in suits. The one closest to me looks like a doctor. He's talking to me.
Fingers: What is he saying?
Man: "You're feeling very sleepy, very relaxed."
Chrissy: I don't remember.
Fingers: What are the other men doing?
Chrissy: They seem to be arguing.

"Ask her if this third alien had a Russian accent."
"This is beyond their capabilities. This is beyond our capabilities."
"Ask if she knows where the grey alien's saucer went to."
"How is she going to know that?"
"Have we located any of the others?"
"We're combing the area but this weather makes it tough."
"All right. Rinse her out and give her the usual abduction rigmarole."

Fingers: What is the doctor doing now?
Chrissy: He's telling me this is for the good of my country. I don't like what he's doing. He's stealing my memories.

Scully: Mulder, I think you and the hypnotherapist were leading her, and I think that there was more confabulation in the second version than in the first.
Mulder: I think you're wrong about that, but I do think you're
right about one thing: That this case might not have anything to do with aliens.
Manners: Hey, I just got a call from some crazy blankety-blank claiming he found a real live dead alien body.

Blaine: I know how crazy this is gonna sound, but... I want to be abducted by aliens.
Chung: Why? Whatever for?
Blaine: I hate this town. I hate... people. I just want to be taken away to someplace where I... I don't have to worry about finding a job.
Chung: So you were out in the field that night?
Blaine: Looking for UFOs. There'd been some recent sightings in that area, so I was just hoping to stumble across one. Now, I've read every book ever written about UFOs and aliens, not because I had to, but because I wanted to, and I should've known to just go get my video camera then, instead of notifying the proper authorities.
Chung: What was wrong with doing that?
Blaine: Because the proper authorities showed up with a couple of men in black. One of them was disguised as a woman, but wasn't pulling it off. Like, her hair was red, but it was a little too red, you know? And the other one--the tall, lanky one--his face was so blank and expressionless. He didn't even seem human. I-I think he was a mandroid. The only time he reacted, was when he saw the dead body.

Mulder: [girlie scream]
Manners: Yeah, that's a bleeping dead alien body, if I ever bleeping saw one.
Scully: Wrap it up. [to Blaine] You never saw this. This didn't happen. You tell anyone, you're a dead man.

Scully: He said I said *what*?
Chung: When I interviewed him, he claimed you threatened him.
Scully: That's ridiculous! And, besides, we allowed him to view the autopsy.

Blaine: Whoa!
Manners: Hey, hey!
Blaine: You can't suppress the truth. The people have a right to know. Roswell... Roswell!
Mulder: Hey! Does that camera work?

Yappi [on video]: Is this actual footage of the alien autopsy, or simply a well-made hoax?
Chung: So this is footage of the actual autopsy you performed.
Scully: It's so embarrassing.

Yappi: Who is that mysterious man who seems to be overseeing the proceedings? And what secret government agency does this autopsy doctor work for?

Scully: But see, whoever got a hold of this footage, edited it in such a way as to delete all the significant findings.

Scully: There appear to be two layers of epidermis. There's a metal strip that runs just under the top layer, down the... it's a zipper.
Blaine: You mean it's-it's just a dead human being? Well... [gets sick]
Manners: Well, then, who is this bleep?
Mulder: I don't know, but I bet we can find his ID from the military database.
Mulder: Have you seen our video cameraman?
Scully: No, but I found our alien's ID. You were right, Mulder. Air Force major Robert Vallee.
Mulder: That was fast.
Military guy: Agent Mulder? We were notified one of our officers was confined here under your custody.
Mulder: Who notified you?
Military guy: Major Vallee is AWOL, sir. Our orders are to escort him back to the base.
Scully: Well, the major is dead--his body is being detained for further investigation.
Military guy: Investigation into what, ma'am?
Mulder: Possible kidnapping.
Military guy: May we at least view the body for verification?
Scully: I don't see why not...
Mulder: No, but you can talk to the other AWOL pilot brought in with him.
Military guy: Lieutenant Jack Sheaffer is in your custody?
Mulder: That's right. Yeah, he's right down... here. Oh. He was, he was here just a few minutes ago. I-I guess he's still AWOL. You wanna take a look at Vallee?
Military guy: Hmm. Guess he's still AWOL.
Scully: So what else is new?
Mulder: I got to find that video guy.

Scully: There appear to be two layers of epidermis. The wound is situated left of the midline of the abdomen. The edges of the tissue appear...
Blaine: Who is it? Hey! You just can't... what do you think you're doing? Hey, I... hey! You have no right to suppress... Roswell... Roswell!

Blaine: I was unconscious for... I don't know how long, and the only reason I came to was...

Mulder: Where's the tape?
Blaine: They took it.
Mulder: Who?!
Blaine: The other men in black.
Mulder: If I find out you lied to me, you're a dead man.

Blaine: And then he left. I never saw any of them again.
Chung: Aren't you nervous, telling me all this, after receiving all those death threats?
Blaine: Hey, I didn't spend all those years playing Dungeons and Dragons and not learn a little something about courage.
Chung: Hmm.

Scully: After not recovering the tape Mulder was heading back to the motel and that's when his account of things gets a little... odd.

Mulder: Lieutenant Jack Sheaffer?
Sheaffer: This is not happening! It's not happening! This is not happening. It's not happening. It's not happening.

Sheaffer: The Germans used to project the image of the virgin Mary over the French trenches in World War I. The enemy's always willing to fire upon an invading force, but on a holy miracle?
Mulder: Or on visitors from outer space?
Sheaffer: Yeah. The enemy sees an American recon plane, they start shooting. They see a flying saucer from another galaxy, they hesitate. You know what happens to most people after seeing a UFO?
Mulder: They experience missing time.
Sheaffer: Any number of "soft option kills" will do it. Nerve gas... low-frequency infround beams... hell, with high-powered microwaves, you can not only cut enemy communications, you can cook internal organs.
Mulder: But abductions?
Sheaffer: Don't know as much about them. I'm just the pilot. You ever flown a flying saucer? Afterwards, sex seems trite.
Mulder: What do you do with the abductees?
Sheaffer: Take them back to the base. Let the doctors work on them. Nothing physical. They just mess with their minds.
Mulder: Hypnosis.
Sheaffer: At the base, I've seen people go into an ordinary room with an ordinary bunch of doctors, and come out absolutely positive they were probed by aliens.
Mulder: But if abductions are just a covert intelligence operation, and UFOs are merely secret military airships piloted by "aliens" such as yourself, then what were you abducted by?
Sheaffer: Don't you get it? I'm absolutely positive me, my copilot and those two kids were abducted, but I can't be absolutely sure it happened. I can't be sure of anything anymore.
Mulder: What do you mean?
Sheaffer: I'm not sure we're even having this conversation. I don't know if these mashed potatoes are really here. I don't know if you even exist.
Mulder: I can only assure you that I do.
Sheaffer: Well, thanks, buddy. Unfortunately, I can't give you the same assurance about me. Well... looks like I'm a dead man.
Mulder: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. It can't all be fake memory implantation. What about that third alien?
Sheaffer: Who? Lord Kinbote?

Chung: That is odd. Because almost every day I was there, I ate lunch at that diner, and became dear friends with the cook. He told me a story about the night you're talking about. A man came into his place...

Mulder: Sweet potato pie.

Chung: ...sat down, ordered sweet potato pie, identified himself as FBI agent Mulder. He then questioned my friend.

Mulder: You ever seen a UFO in these parts?

Chung: He then ordered piece after piece, each time asking another question.

Mulder: You ever experienced a period of missing time? You ever had the suspicion that you've been abducted by aliens? Have you ever found a metal implant in your body? Have you checked everywhere?

Chung: He ate a whole pie in that fashion. Then got up and left. My friend never saw him again. The cook never mentioned lieutenant Sheaffer, let alone any other Air Force personnel. You seem non-nonplused by these contradictions.
Scully: Not after what happened when Mulder left the diner and got back to the motel.

Mulder: Scully? Where's Scully?
MIB: Oh. She, uh... she went to get some ice.
Mulder: Where is she?! Scully, what's going on here?
Scully: Mulder, these gentlemen have something very important to tell you.
MIB: Some alien encounters are hoaxes perpetrated by your government to manipulate the public. Some of these hoaxes are intentionally revealed to manipulate truth-seekers, who become discredited if they disclose the deliberately absurd depiction.
Mulder: Similar things are said about the men in black. That they dress and behave strangely, so that if anyone tries to describe an encounter with them they sound like a lunatic.
MIB: I find absolutely no reason why anyone would think you crazy if you described this meeting of ours.
MIB 2: You're feeling very sleepy... very relaxed.

Chung: Alex Trebek? The game show host?
Scully: Mulder didn't say that it was Alex Trebek. It was just someone that looked incredibly like him.
Chung: Did he? I mean, you were there?
Scully: Well, not exactly. I... I don't have any recollection of this. I... was surprised to wake up the next morning to find Mulder asleep in my room.
Chung: Oh...

Scully: But, Mulder, I don't even remember letting you in.
Mulder: I told you. You didn't let me in. They were already here.
Scully: [phone] Scully. We'll be right there. That was detective Manners. He said they just found your bleeping UFO.

Manners: Apparently, that was the cause of all those UFO sightings three nights ago. They refused our assistance because it's some kind of top secret, experimental plane.
Mulder: They don't want our assistance. They want witnesses to their alibi.
Man: Excuse me, ma'am.
Manners: Hey! That was the guy that was... bleep.

Scully: I know it probably doesn't have the sense of closure that you want, but it has more than some of our other cases.

Chung: Agent Mulder?
Mulder: Thanks.
Chung: What can I do for you, agent Mulder?
Mulder: Don't write this book. You'll perform a disservice to a field of inquiry that has always struggled for respectability. You're a gifted writer, but no amount of talent could describe the events that occurred in any realistic vein, because they deal with alternative realities that we've yet to comprehend. And when presented in the wrong way, in the wrong context, the incidents and the people involved in them can appear foolish, if not downright psychotic. I also know that your publishing house is owned by Warden White, Inc.--a subsidiary of MacDougall-Kesler, which makes me suspect a covert agenda for your book on the part of the military-industrial-entertainment complex.
Chung: Agent Mulder, this book will be written, but it can only benefit if you can explain something to me.
Mulder: What's that?
Chung: What really happened to those kids on that night.
Mulder: How the hell should I know?
Chung: Agent Mulder, I appreciate this little visit, but I have deadlines to face.

Chung: "Evidence of extraterrestrial existence remains as elusive as ever, but the skies will continue to be searched by the likes of Blaine Faulkner, hoping to, someday, find not only proof of alien life, but also contentment on a new world. Until then, he must be content with his new job. Others search for answers from within. Roky relocated to El Cajon, California, preaching to the lost and desperate."

Roky: And so, at each death, the soul descends further into the inner earth attaining ever greater levels of purification, reaching enlightenment at the core. Assuming, of course, that your soul is able to avoid the lava men.

Chung: "Seeking the truth about aliens means a perfunctory nine-to-five job to some. For although agent Diana Lesky is noble of spirit and pure at heart, she remains, nevertheless, a federal employee. As for her partner, Renard Muldrake--that ticking time bomb of insanity--his quest into the unknown has so warped his psyche, one shudders to think how he receives any pleasures from life. Chrissy Giorgio has come to believe her alien visitation was a message to improve the condition of her own world, and she has devoted herself to this goal wholeheartedly."

Chrissy: Oh, it's you. What do you want?
Harold: I just wanted to tell you I still love you.
Chrissy: Love. Is that all you men think about?

Chung: "Then, there are those who care not about extraterrestrials, searching for meaning in other human beings. Rare or lucky are those who find it. For although we may not be alone in the universe, in our own separate ways, on this planet, we are all... alone."