The X-Files (1993–…): Season 4, Episode 14 - Memento Mori - full transcript

Scully attempts to come to terms with her inoperable cancer. Meanwhile Mulder and the Lone Gunmen break into a high-security research lab to find the cure that could save her life.

For the first time
I feel time like a heartbeat...

..the seconds pumping in my breast
like a reckoning,...

..the numinous mysteries
that once seemed so distant and unreal...

..threatening clarity
in the presence of a truth...

..entertained not in youth,...

..but only in its passage.

I feel these words as if their meaning
were weight being lifted from me,...

..knowing that you will read them and share
my burden as I have come to trust no other.

That you should know my heart,...

..look into it,...

..finding there the memory
and experience that belong to you,...



..that are you,...

..is a comfort to me now
as I feel the tethers loose

and the prospects darken...

..for the continuance of a journey
that began not so long ago,...

..and which began again with a faith shaken
and strengthened by your convictions.

If not for which I might never have been
so strong now...

..as I cross to face you
and look at you incomplete,...

..hoping that you will forgive me...

..for not making the rest
of the journey with you.

Oncology?

Thanks.

Scully?

I, uh...

I stole these from some guy
with a broken leg down the hall.



He won't be able to catch me.

How ya doing?

I guess that's the question.

Actually, I feel fine.

Good.

What, uh, exactly are we lookin' at here?

It's what's called a nasopharyngeal mass.

It's a growth on the wall between the
superior concha and the sphenoidal sinus.

A growth?

A tumour.

You're the only one I've called.

OK.

Is it operable?

- No.
- But it's treatable?

The truth is that the type
and placement of the tumour...

..make it difficult... to the extreme.

- I refuse to believe that. I... I...
- For all the times I have said that to you,...

..I am as certain about this
as you have ever been.

I have cancer.

It is a mass on the wall
between my sinus and cerebrum.

If it pushes into my brain, statistically
there is about zero chance of survival.

I don't accept that.
Th... there must be people

who have received treatment for this who...

Yes, there are.

This news is the worst kind of surprise,
Agent Scully. I'm very sorry.

Thank you, sir. I would appreciate it
if we could keep this confidential.

I understand. I assume
you'll be taking a leave of absence.

No, sir. I've asked my doctors
to hold on to my medical records...

..until Agent Mulder and I can exhaust
an avenue of investigation.

Investigation?

Last year we pursued a case in which a
number of women, purported abductees,...

..experienced similar symptoms after
having implants removed from their necks.

A woman in Pennsylvania,
Betsy Hagopian,...

..was undergoing treatment
for nasopharyngeal tumour.

We haven't been able to contact her yet.

We have contacts
with the best physicians in the country.

Yes, sir, but I would like to pursue this
through the Justice Department...

..rather than as a personal matter.

I'm sorry. No early birds.

We're looking for Betsy Hagopian.

- No one's returning our messages.
- Sorry, I...

Um, Betsy's passed away.

Just two-and-a-half weeks ago.
Are you a relation?

No. We're with the FBI.

- Been some kind of trouble?
- Betsy was part of a MUFON group.

I don't know. I'm just the realtor.

Do you mind if we come inside
and take a look?

Hey, Scully.

Listen to this.

There are two lines coming in. One's lit.

Someone's sending a fax
or a computer modem.

But who? And to send what?

Somebody must have remote access
to the system.

And downloading data.

Copying files. Let's get a trace on them
before whoever it is hangs up.

Apartment 234
is listed under Kurt Crawford.

I'm gonna check around back.
See if you can get the manager.

Stop! Federal agent!

Hold it!

Put your hands where we can see them!

Is your name Kurt Crawford?

Yes.

- Scully?
- What?

I'm fine, Mulder.

Quit starin' at me. I'm fine.

- You OK, Scully?
- Yeah. I'm just washing up.

You took his cuffs off.

He's a member of the same UFO network
Betsy Hagopian belonged to.

He was downloading files for safekeeping,
as Betsy had asked him.

- Why did he run?
- He thinks his life's in danger.

That there's a government conspiracy to
suppress the information in those files.

- You think he's credible?
- He knows a lot...

..about what happened to Betsy
and the other women in her MUFON group.

That will have to be cross-checked.

We can't.

Why not?

How did they die?

Brain cancer. All within the last year.

All of them?

From the group you met,
there's only Penny Northern.

She's in the hospital,
and it doesn't look good.

What makes you think
it's a government conspiracy?

What makes you think it isn't?

11 women are abducted, all with similar
recollections about the experience.

All developing identical brain tumours,
and all refused state health care...

..because of their insistence of the facts.
And all dying within the space of a year.

- I want you to listen to me.
- About what?

About what you're denying.

- What am I denying?
- Where your cancer came from.

- It doesn't matter.
- It does.

If it's a result of your abduction, and that
is something the government knows,...

- ..these facts should be brought to light.
- I don't know what happened.

I have no clear recollection, and I don't think
these abductions are even abductions.

These women are dead.

No, they are not.

One woman isn't. This Penny Northern.

If you won't listen to me, then go talk to her.

About what?

What it feels like to be dying of cancer?

What it's like to know
there is nothing you can do about it.

If that's too hard for you,
then go as an investigator.

You have one remaining witness,
Agent Scully.

I'd think you'd want to know
what her story is.

Dana. Hello.

I... I'm sorry. Did somebody tell you
I was coming to see you?

No.

Then how did you know it was me?

I recognized you.

I told you when we met last year.

I held you and comforted you
in the place... after the tests.

I'm sorry. I don't mean
to be insensitive, but, uh...

..I don't share those memories.

It's all right.

I've come to ask you some questions.

- About Dr Scanlon?
- No. Who's Dr Scanlon?

He's treating the cancer.
He treated Betsy too.

He thinks he might have isolated the cause.

And that if he'd caught it earlier,
he might have been able to do more for her.

And for me.

- His name's Scanlon?
- Yes.

What did you want to ask me?

- Mulder.
- Mulder, it's me.

- Where are you, Scully?
- With Penny Northern.

- Where are you?
- At Betsy Hagopian's...

..going through files
before they start disappearing.

And I think I've found something. Some of
these women who've died were childless.

They've been treated
at an infertility clinic,...

..Penny Northern
and Betsy Hagopian among them.

- Mulder...
- I’ve made calls,...

..tried to get information,
but nobody is talking to me.

I need you to come up here.

Did you find something?

I need you to bring
the overnight bag from the car.

And I need you to call my mother and ask
her to bring some things to the hospital.

Anything I should know?

Whatever you found,...

..or whatever you might find,...

..I think we both know that...

..right now the truth is in me.

And that's where I need to pursue it...

..as soon as possible.

I will be right there.

Agent Mulder?

Agent Mulder?

Dana?

I'm Dr Scanlon.
We spoke last night on the phone.

Yeah. Hi. Sorry.

I was sleeping.

I noticed.

- How's your energy level?
- Oh, you know, I...

I don't...

I don't feel sick at all.

Your MRls and your charts aren't here yet.
But I have an idea what to expect.

You probably do too,
from your medical training.

I know that the chemotherapy
is going to make me sick.

And the radiation.

It's a high-dose approach
to knock your system down...

..so that we can attempt
a gene therapy on P-53.

You're gonna feel like dying.

- Dana.
- Hi, Mom.

Hi.

This is Dr Scanlon.

- Hi.
- Hi.

I, uh... I drove.

I was gonna take the shuttle,
but it's only an hour more by car.

- Can you imagine?
- Mom...

I'm fine. I'm going to be fine.
I'm just here for treatment.

I'm gonna go.

I've ordered additional blood work.
I'd like to start in this afternoon.

Thank you.

Mom, I know what you're going to say,
but I don't have any experience being sick.

I promise you, I feel fine.

I feel...

I don't know why you didn't tell me.

I don't know why you
didn't tell me immediately!

I wanted to get all the answers first.

And you found them here?

I have found some clarity.

And maybe a way to fight back.

I don't wanna be kept in the dark.

You'll know, Mom.

You have always been the strong one.

But you're my only daughter now.

I know.

Oh, Dana.

In med school,...

..I learned that cancer arrives
in the body unannounced,...

..a dark stranger who takes up residence,...

..turning its new home against itself.

This is the evil of cancer,...

..that it starts as an invader,...

..but soon becomes one with the invaded,...

..forcing you to destroy it.

But only at the risk of destroying yourself.

It is science's demon possession.

My treatments,
science's attempt at exorcism.

Mulder, I hope that in these terms...

.. you might know it and know me,...

..and accept this stranger
so many recognize...

..but cannot ever completely cast out.

And if the darkness should have
swallowed me as you read this,...

.. you must never think there was the
possibility of some secret intervention,...

..something you might have done.

And though we've traveled far together,...

..this last distance must necessarily
be traveled alone.

I've got a gun pointed at your head.
Turn around very slowly.

Kurt Crawford.
We travel in the same circles these days.

Put the gun away.

You disappeared with those files from Betsy
Hagopian's. I got to thinking you were a liar.

- Tell me I'm wrong.
- I'm looking for the same thing you are.

I've been trying to hack into that system,
but I need the password.

- You think you can get access from here?
- I need to find that password.

"Vegreville."

We're in.

Dana? Dana...

It's OK, Dana. You'll be OK.

Where am I?

You're in your own bed now.
You're safe.

I feel nauseous.

It's the chemo.
The chemo was always the worst.

I had a bad dream.

Some...

Someone was doing something bad to me.

You were there. I heard your voice.

They let me come to you
during the procedures.

I don't know why.

Human compassion
is not something that they have.

I'm sorry, Penny.

I can't...

I can't hear this right now.

You've got to try
and make sense of it, Dana.

It'll help you through the pain.

To understand why this is...

..this is happening to you.

I need you to set up a meeting for me.

Hold all my calls.

Where's Agent Scully?

In a hospital in Allentown
beginning treatment.

What happened
to your investigative avenues?

They've taken a turn.
A pretty big U-turn, by the looks of it.

This is a file from a federally operated
fertility clinic.

Agent Scully's name is on this file.

Although I'm damn sure
she's never undergone infertility treatment.

- What's in the file?
- It's just a directory...

..for a mainframe
in the Lombard Research Facility.

So you want a meeting. With whom?

The cigarette man.

I have no doubt he's behind this.

- You've come to me before like this.
- This is different. I'm willing to deal.

- Find another way.
- No. No! I need that meeting.

You offer this man anything
and he will own you for ever.

He knows what they did to Agent Scully!
He may know how to save her!

Then you can know too, but you can't
ask the truth of a man who trades in lies.

We are talking about Agent Scully's life.

Find another way.

The Lombard system is a dedicated
mainframe, impossible to hack, so they say.

- How'd you guys get in?
- A modified clipper chip...

..from a government army field encoder.

We bought it back from the Chinese.

But for what we got on Agent Scully's file,
we don't know how much help it's gonna be.

- What do you mean?
- It's a gene code we've seen before.

Detected in Scully's blood
after her abduction.

Does it tell us anything?

Normal DNA is inactive
when in its helical form.

When it's unwound, or branched like this,...

- ..that's when it can mutate.
- It's what made her sick.

Why store this, and why keep it a secret?

Scientists get funky
when their research is poached.

Somebody might be trying to find a cause.

- Or a cure.
- Theoretically.

You guys ever been to
the Lombard Research Facility?

Well, pick out something black and sexy
and prepare to do some funky poaching.

It's funny. I always thought of you
as Fox Mulder's patron.

You'd think under your aegis, he wouldn't
work in a corner of the basement.

At least he doesn't
take an elevator up to get to work.

You think I'm the devil?

I'm not here to talk about you.

Then why are you here?

Is it Mulder's partner and her illness?

Is it terminal? Is it cancer?

You tell me.

Modern medicine today...
I hear they can perform miracles.

I need a miracle.

Well, you think a lot more of me
than you let on, Mr Skinner.

- What'll it take?
- For Agent Scully's life?

- What would you offer?
- What'll it take?

Well,...

..I'll have to get back to you on that.

Oh, Mr Skinner.

Which way is the elevator?

He'll double back in 54 seconds.

Frohike, where are you guys?

In the K-section of a storm drain
where the communications system...

..links up to public power.

Stand by.

Two minutes for a system check.

We gotta go.

We're in motion.

They're in.

Security camera's off-line, patching in now.

Smile, Byers.
You're on Candid Camera.

Exterior security has been breached.

- Langly, are you reading this?
- Redundant systems... This is a toughie.

You couldn't get two of these?
What is going on?

Mulder, this is gonna take a moment.

We have a problem. The doctor
treating Scully is on staff here.

More mysteries await. Bypass is complete.

I need someone to get
Scully's treatment stopped.

You're the only one who can do that.

I’ve not written in 24 hours...

..because the treatment has weakened
my spirit as well as my body.

Mulder, it's difficult to describe
the fear of facing an enemy...

.. which I can neither conquer nor escape.

Penny Northern has taken a downturn.

I look at her with a respect
that can only come from one...

..who is about to walk the same dark path.

Seeing her, I can’t help but see myself
in a month or a year.

I pray that I have her courage
to face this journey.

Mulder, I feel you close...

For that I am grateful,...

..more than I could ever express.

I need to know you are out there
if I am ever to see through this.

Langly, where the hell am I going?

We're losing you on the video.

Mulder? Did you do anything, Frohike?

I didn't touch a thing.

Langly, can you hear me?

Langly, I can't hear you.

Open the door.

Open the damn door!

Agent Mulder, come in.

- You're hybrids.
- Please come in so that we might explain.

- You've been using me.
- Not at all.

Your arrival was only coincident
with the execution of our objective.

- What objective?
- To subvert the project.

The project that created us.

I've seen this boy before.

These boys are you.

We're among the end results.

- And you wanna destroy them?
- No!

What we want
is the same thing that you want.

What are these?

Human ova.

Taken from whom?

What?

Harvested during her abduction
through a radiation procedure...

..that caused... superovulation.

- Why?
- For fertilization.

They constitute one half of
the necessary raw materials.

For genetic hybridisation.

For reproduction.

These women...

These women are your birth mothers.

Barren now... from the same procedure
that caused their cancer.

And now they're left to die, their condition
hastened by the men running this project.

- You're trying to save them.
- They're our mothers.

Mulder, do you copy?

Langly, I can't hear you.

You've got a security breach in section J-14.

- You sure it's not Byers?
- Nope. I've got Byers on my screen.

Langly, I don't know where I am.

You're in a bio-quarantine wing
leading to an exit.

At the end of the hall,
you'll access a door to a bio-secure room.

OK, I'm here. Open the door.

The doors work under redundant systems.
We're working fast.

Work faster!

Langly, open the door now!

Get me outta here!

Get me outta here now!

Almost there.

Go!

- Nurse.
- Just a minute.

Nurse! Dana Scully's supposed to be
in her room. Where is she?

- She's not there?
- What happened to her?

- I don't know.
- Who the hell does know?

Mulder!

- What happened to Scully?
- I got to her.

Where is she now?

Dr Scanlon isn't coming back?

No.

I don't think so, Penny.

Dana,...

..I want you to get well.

You've been such a comfort.

You've got to be the one.

You can't give up hope.

I haven't.

I won't.

Is she gone?

I'm sorry.

I know what she meant to you.

When I came to find you
and you weren't in your room,...

..I got scared
that something had happened.

And I read some of what you wrote.

I didn't want you to read that.

I had decided to throw it out.

I decided tonight that, um...

That I'm not gonna let this thing beat me.

I came into this hospital able to work.

And that's how I'm leaving.

- Byers tell you about Dr Scanlon?
- Yes.

He may very well have killed those women.

That will have to be proven... if we find him.

When we find him.

Something was done to you. Something
you're just beginning to remember.

You can't quite figure it out,
but it can be explained, and it will be.

And no matter what you think
as a scientist or a doctor,...

..there is a way and you will find it,...

..to save yourself.

Mulder, I can't kid myself.

People live with cancer.

They carry on.

And so will I.

You know, I've got things to finish,...

..to prove to myself, to my family.

But for my own reasons.

Come on back.

The truth will save you, Scully.

I think it'll save both of us.

- Skinner.
- Oh, I was leavin' you a voicemail.

- It's 5.30. What are you...
- How can I help you?

I want you to know that Scully’s doing OK.
She says she's coming back to work.

Good. That's good to hear.

Thank you for your advice
about our chain-smoking friend.

You were right.
We have to know what he knows.

We just have to find another way.

There's always another way.

Yes, I believe there is...

..if you're willing to pay the price.

I made this!