- Previously on The X Files... - Max Fenig--
he was on his way here to deliver
something that he said the government would kill for,
but his plane-- it went down two hours ago.
Paul Gidney-- it's an alias that Max Fenig used
in his letters when he went underground.
There is not one wristwatch
on any of those bagged bodies.
All the wristwatches have been stolen.
Are you accusing these men of covering evidence?
We shot down a civilian jet knowingly and willingly.
The militaries were going to cover up evidence.
Get down!
That second aircraft never fell to the ground.
Came down somewhere around here.
He's not here!
We found his tank, but he's not down there!
Circle around towards the shore!
He's got to be swimming up top!
Get your lights on the water!
Get down!
Stay down!
You're going to keep breathing.
Do you hear me?
Hey, he's getting away!
I'll be right back.
Back away!
Back...
I need an EMT in here now!
Come on, let's let her through.
Let's let her through.
Help me with this table.
Make some room.
We've got paramedics on the way.
You're going to the hospital.
You're going to be okay.
Look, we still haven't
celebrated my birthday, Pendrell.
I'm not going to let you off the hook like this.
Let them through.
Let them through, please.
This man has a puncture wound to his right lung.
He needs to be intubated immediately.
He's an FBI agent, and he's not going to die.
Sit down.
I'm sorry.
How did they know?
When you talked to your girlfriend, what did you say?
Did you tell her you were in D.C.?
No.
Then there's someone inside.
What happened?
Who shot Pendrell?
I don't know.
I got a call about a federal witness being transferred.
It's Sergeant Louis Frish-- he was the intended target.
There was supposed to be a federal marshal
here to put the sergeant into protective custody.
That order was countermanded.
By whom?
Louis Frish is being put
under military arrest.
Military arrest?
For suspicion of murder
and providing false testimony
in a federal investigation.
He has testimony that is damaging to the military.
His life is in danger.
He is not going anywhere.
The order to arrest this man came out of the office
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who have also issued
a recommendation on Agent Mulder.
For what?
Agent Mulder's also been put
under military arrest, on charges of interference
with a military investigation
into the crash of a commercial airliner.
Sir, the military is responsible for the downing of that plane.
They are admitting as much.
But Sergeant Frish's story
is not the one they're telling.
What is their story?
Are you all right?
I have a responsibility for the safety of the agents
under my supervision, Agent Scully.
I'm not going to put another agent's life in jeopardy
just to keep her out in the field.
I'm fine.
I suggest you make sure of that
when you go to the hospital with Agent Pendrell.
Mulder.
Hi, Scully.
You come to spring me from the joint?
I came to talk to you.
About what?
Big old misunderstanding?
According to the military,
there was no misunderstanding.
So all of a sudden,
they just decide to take responsibility
for the crash of Flight 549?
They had no choice, not in light
of all the facts that have come out.
The facts? Have you heard their cover story?
That the control tower
gave bad coordinates to a fighter pilot
causing him to collide with Flight 549
over military airspace?
They allowed me to listen to the recordings.
If you believe them, the coordinates
that Sergeant Frish gave to the fighter pilot
were the exact path that 549 was on.
Now, they would indicate that Sergeant Frish
and his co-controller could not have seen Flight 549
in the airspace until it was too late.
So they're saying the tower
put those jets on a collision course.
Yes, and that they were the only two aircraft
on the radar screen.
And realizing his guilt,
Sergeant Frish's fellow officer put a gun to his head.
According to the Air Force,
Sergeant Frish lied to save himself.
When he found out that his fellow officer
committed suicide, he came to us to blame the military.
That's why they pursued him-- to bring him to justice.
Then they could conveniently lay the blame on a dead man.
Yes.
This, uh, second plane--
they say it's a military fighter?
It was an F-15 Eagle, according to an Air Force spokesman.
You believe that story, Scully?
I don't know what to believe.
You believe I got this from an F-15 Eagle?
Those look like radiation burns.
Where did you get that?
At the second crash site--
in about 50 feet of water at the bottom of Sacandaga Lake.
You found it? Mm-hmm.
I followed a trail of bubbles
down to wreckage that didn't look like anything
that might take off from an Air Force base.
What was it?
What collided with Flight 549 was a UFO
shot down by the military, taking the passenger plane
right along with it.
Except it can't be proven.
Why not?
Because they haven't been able to find
any physical evidence whatsoever
that Flight 549 was involved in a collision.
According to who?
Mike Millar, the I.I.C.--
the man running the crash investigation.
How do you know he's not lying?
I don't, except he seems to be the one man
who truly wants to figure out what downed that plane
and who came to me with information
he had no reason to share.
What information?
He found Sharon Graffia wandering in a daze
at the crash site the night we left--
after seeing lights over the area.
Max Fenig's sister?
That's another thing, Mulder.
She's not Max Fenig's sister.
Well, who is she?
She's an unemployed aeronautical engineer
who spent time in and out of mental institutions.
That's where she met Max.
Why would she lie?
I don't know.
All I know is that this plane
seems to be killing people as it sits there on the ground.
Mulder, Agent Pendrell is dead.
How?
Shot in an attempt
on Sergeant Frish in Washington.
He saved his life, Mulder, and maybe mine.
Wait, Scully, Scully.
Mulder, what are these people dying for?
Is it for the truth or for the lies?
It's got to be for the truth.
If we owe them anything, it's to make sure of that.
Excuse me, sir. Max Fenig?
Over there. Thanks.
Remember this place?
I remember being amazed
at what some people will call home.
You have to admit,
the man had an enduring sense of style.
Only Max Fenig and you would appreciate living like this.
♪ Unmarked helicopters hovering... ♪
I think you were actually kindred spirits
in some deep, strange way.
What do you mean?
Men with Spartan lives,
simple in their creature comforts if only to allow
for the complexity of their passions.
Mmm, beans and weenies.
What exactly are we looking for here, Mulder?
Something to explain
what Max was doing on that plane--
what he was coming to show me or tell me.
What makes you think that he was coming to see you?
Max is the key to all this.
He knew that plane was in danger even before it took off--
before it entered military airspace.
Now, how would he know that?
And what would be worth taking that risk?
Hi.
Max here.
But of course.
This is, uh, well, quite obviously my story,
since I'm telling it.
Anyway...
uh... for those of you who know me already,
this is going to be ancient history,
but for the rest of you,
this is-- well, what can I say?--
the story of my life.
Actually, all I ever wanted in life
was to be left alone.
Don't we all?
So just my luck
that I'd eventually become an alien abductee.
Now I'm never alone.
Any minute, when I'm least expecting it.
And the worst part is, no one believes you.
Well, uh... almost no one.
So I've devoted my life to providing
all you disbelievers out there with proof--
proof that there are
extraterrestrial biological entities
right now, as we speak, visiting our planet in alien ships
for purposes of a rather troubling agenda
known only to certain members of the government,
uh, the FBI and certain high-ranking members
of the military-industrial community
who have recovered some of these very craft--
not that they'd ever admit to it publicly,
uh... of course.
Nor would they admit that they have salvaged
some of this alien technology
and are using it in military applications.
No, that would be un-American.
And they won't admit it until someone confronts them
with irrefutable, undeniable proof.
Someone like me.
And, uh... I should probably mention
that I do this at great risk to my own health and safety,
but, hey, when every day's just another day
you're going to get kidnapped by a bunch of little grey dudes
from outer space, what's a few CIA spooks to worry about?
Here!
We found it.
Ladies and gentlemen,
recovery and identification of the deceased victims
of Flight 549 is at 76%--
which is far better than anticipated,
given the kind of destruction that we've all seen.
We've got a total
of nearly 3,000 man-hours logged already
in this first wave of investigation.
And I wish I could tell you folks
that we've come up with something more concrete,
but...
the evidence...
just doesn't support anything more conclusive
than the Air Force's assertion
that the cause of this crash was a midair collision
or a catastrophic near miss.
I'm going to ask you all to wrap up your reports tonight,
and then I want you to go home to your families.
You've done a good and thorough job here.
You'll be in touch with me or someone from the NTSB
on anything further.
I just wanted to thank you all personally.
Thank you.
I'd wondered what happened to you.
I'd put in a call.
You had something you wanted to tell us?
No. Just... just wanted to touch base.
Thank you for your help in leading us
to the fact of the military's involvement.
I think the facts are still a matter
of speculation, Mr. Millar, and listening
to what you just said, I think you do, too.
The military's public claim of fault
for the collision and their covert actions
to promote that claim have raised some suspicions.
Suspicions? Of what?
That the story the military is now promoting
is a convenient deflection and cover-up.
Of what?
Agent Scully and I agree on
some of the motives but not exactly on the facts.
Do you have facts that I don't?
No, but I do have a story,
if you're willing to hear it.
Feel free to tell me it's bull, as Agent Scully has,
but I think it's as believable as any story I've heard floated.
At least it's the only one that can't be
refuted by the facts.
All right.
There was one man who knew what brought this plane down,
and he knew it even before he got on the plane,
but he got on anyway.
He sat right here in this seat-- 13F.
Name was Max Fenig.
There are a number of possibilities
for Max's suspicions, but I believe Max had been followed
for some time before he boarded Flight 549,
and I believe he was followed onto this plane by someone
who wanted whatever it is
Max had carried onboard with him.
The object that ultimately brought down this plane--
the cause which has eluded you.
And what was this object?
Physical proof of the existence
of extraterrestrial life and intelligence.
Person who followed Max on the plane
may have been prepared to kill to obtain this object--
its value greater than one human life,
greater than the lives of the 134 people on that plane.
Whether that plan was executed, we may never know,
because Flight 549 was intercepted
by a second aircraft--
an aircraft which did not appear
on the military's or anyone else's radar screen.
What the hell is this?
Max Fenig knew immediately what this craft was
and that he would not be completing
the rest of the flight as scheduled.
Max would have recognized immediately all the signs
of a classic abduction scenario.
Craft taking control of the plane
and all its systems...
...preparing to take Max.
But something happened.
Something went terribly wrong-- something unimaginable.
Okay.
A third aircraft, probably an F-15 Eagle,
was given the coordinates for Flight 549.
...heading one zero-zero at two-niner thousand feet.
The flight controllers watched the fighter
enter Flight 549's airspace on an intercept pattern--
not knowing what they had set in motion,
no way of knowing there was a third craft
which was not on their screen,
not knowing that for the next nine minutes,
time would stand still on Flight 549.
We got something...
Some intercept.
My God! My God!
Mayday, mayday, mayday!
You're saying the man sitting in seat 13F
was abducted midflight
without any depressurization of the cabin,
without any effect on the plane.
If not for factors unforeseen, I believe Max Fenig
would have been abducted and returned to Flight 549
without any loss of life, without a trace.
Then what happened?
Flight 549 and the alien craft
which had taken control of it were intercepted
by the military fighter,
which had been given a specific set of orders:
to take down the UFO.
The missing nine minutes aboard Flight 549--
nine minutes that would've been erased from the memories
of the 134 passengers on board--
would prove to be the final minutes of their lives.
Blessed art thou among women
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners
now and at the hour of our death!
Amen!
You're saying, in effect,
that Flight 549 was in the grip of a sort of
UFO tractor beam.
Well, that's the Hollywood term... but yes.
And the Air Force shot down the UFO,
thereby sending 549 out of control
when the beam went off.
Yes.
Well, where I come from, that's what we call a whopper.
Even if it were true,
I could never in a million years
sell that to Washington, and neither could you.
Not without the object that Max Fenig was carrying.
Look, I had the same reaction to this story as you,
but there is one logical area that has yet to be explained,
and that is that the-the seats and the door
did show traces of-of radioactivity.
Now, you found nothing in the wreckage?
No source of any emitter?
I did find something.
I think you should look at it.
After you'd found the first traces,
I had my team see if they could link
the radioactivity to a cause.
They found no other evidence...
except for this.
That's it?
That's all there was.
I'm going to have to make my final report.
I'll include this if it makes any difference to you.
But not as a causal factor.
It's a good story.
Maybe you can sell it to the movies.
Mulder, I don't know what else you expect him to do.
Yeah, I know.
Look, it is a good story,
but it's a house of cards built on a shaky foundation.
We may never know what Max was carrying.
And we may never know who killed Agent Pendrell.
And if we don't find out,
what meaning do their deaths have, or their lives?
I mean, Max will be remembered as a...
disappointing rummage sale or some kook on a home video.
Well, where do we even start?
How about Sharon Graffia?
She's a disturbed person, Mulder.
She wasn't even who she claimed to be.
Yeah, but she knew Max, well enough for him to write her
thousands of letters, well enough for him to call her
and tell her he was going to die.
Do you know where she is?
In a mental institution.
I-I'd go with you,
but I'm-I'm afraid they'd lock me up.
Me, too.
♪ It goes black, black, black, black and blacker ♪
♪ Unmarked helicopters hovering... ♪
Hello.
Are you a friend of Max's?
♪ They said it was a weather balloon... ♪
No. My name is, uh, Mulder.
I'm with the FBI.
You're kidding, right?
No, why?
Well, I manage the park.
Uh, I know Max had some weird friends,
and I don't believe the FBI sends men out
'cause somebody trashed a trailer.
Any idea who did this?
N-No.
Is Max in trouble or something?
No, Max is dead.
He... he died in a plane crash a few days ago.
Oh, Lord, I... I am sorry to hear that.
Uh, did he ever mention
why he would leave or where he would go?
No.
But he disappeared sometimes.
Had... stories.
You're sure that's not what happened to him.
Yeah, I'm... yeah, I'm sure.
Have you, uh, any idea
who's going to be taking care of his estate?
Where I should forward his mail?
Oh, he has mail?
Yeah. Small stack of it.
I'll run and get it if you want it.
Please.
Here you go.
Sure feel sorry about Max.
So do I.
Sharon?
Hello.
How are you feeling?
You up to answering some questions?
I'm not Max's sister.
I know.
I'm not quite sure
why you lied to us though, Sharon.
Or what else you might be lying about.
Doesn't matter anymore.
Yes, it does.
If you know something, if you know anything
about what Max was doing,
about what he was carrying on that plane,
it could matter a lot.
To who?
To Max.
I can't. Why not?
Because I could be in big, big trouble.
Max had those same blisters.
You both were exposed to something, Sharon.
What was it?
It was something I stole.
From whom?
Max was trying
to find physical evidence
to prove that the stories about his abductions were true.
You worked as an aeronautical systems engineer.
You stole something from your employer,
didn't you, Sharon?
Something radioactive.
Only because I believed in Max.
What was it?
Max said it was alien technology.
It was three interlocking parts.
We divided it into sections.
I had one part.
Max had another on board that flight.
But they were taken from us.
There was a third part.
What happened to it?
I left a bag here.
Big bag? Little bag?
Short bag, tall bag. I-I don't remember.
Little bag, I think.
He's at baggage claim.
Is this it?
I'm a federal officer.
I need a security entrance to the terminal.
Right this way.
Mulder.
Mulder, it's me.
Where are you?
I'm at the airport in Syracuse, New York.
Whatever it is that Max had, I have it now.
How did you find it?
Luck.
Mulder, what you're carrying
was stolen from a military contractor-- Cummins Aerospace.
What is it?
I don't know.
Well, I'm going to let you know in a minute.
Mulder, it is extremely important
that you do not take it out of its container.
What's that? I'm having trouble hearing you on the phone here.
Mulder, did you hear what I said?
Hold on a second. I'm going to tell you what it looks like.
No, no, Mulder, listen to me-- do not handle it.
Whatever it is,
it is highly radioactive.
Hold on a second.
Mulder?
It looks like a small superstructure
with circular pieces inside.
It's hard to tell on an X ray.
Hold on.
I think what we've got here, Mulder,
is a case of high-tech industrial espionage.
More people are trying to get their hands on this thing
than a Tickle Me Elmo doll.
I'm getting on a flight.
What flight number?
Think it's 501.
Yeah. I'm going to need a ride when I get there.
I don't think that'll be a problem, Mulder.
Thanks.
Take this?
Sure.
Excuse me.
You look like you have some room here.
Do you mind?
No. Go ahead.
Didn't mean to disturb you.
It's all right.
You traveling by yourself?
You live in D.C.?
There's a weapon pointed at you right now.
I'm pretty sure at this range,
it wouldn't just hit you in the leg.
If you so much as raise your arms off your armrest,
I'm going to test that theory.
What if you miss?
I won't.
Do you know what happens when a plane
suddenly depressurizes at 30,000 feet, Mr. Mulder?
After the cabin fills with fog
and all light objects-- anything not tied down
and including your weapon-- go flying toward the breach?
A pretty lady comes around with the honey-roasted peanuts?
Presuming the pilot...
is even able to keep control of the plane,
I put on the lightweight parachute
I just stowed in the overhead bin
and go out the emergency exit.
With the knapsack you're holding.
What if the pilot can't get control of the plane?
Then you die, too.
A man, if he's any man at all, knows he must be ready
to sacrifice himself to that which is greater than he.
I'm sure all the other passengers on this plane
would appreciate dying for your noble philosophy.
Look out your window, Agent Mulder.
You see the lights?
Now, imagine if one of those lights flickered off.
You'd hardly notice, would you?
A dozen... two dozen lights extinguished.
Is it worth sacrificing the future--
the lives of millions-- to keep a few lights on?
What is this?
Stolen property.
It's an alien energy source, isn't it?
What is it, cold fusion? Over-unity energy?
What could be worth killing all those passengers on Flight 549?
The cause of that crash has been determined as human error.
I'm going to see you pay for that error...
along with you and your employer
and the government that finances its contracts.
Now I want you to stand up very slowly
and move to the back of the plane.
We're going to go to the bathroom.
Move.
Scully.
Hey, Scully, it's me.
Mulder, where are you?
I'm standing outside an airplane bathroom,
where I've got the man who shot Pendrell locked up.
What?
Yeah. And it looks like I'm going to
miss the in-flight movie, and it was something
starring Steve Guttenberg.
Mulder, did you get on the flight
that you said you were getting on?
Uh, yeah, everything's going according to plan,
but I think you should alert Skinner anyway just in case.
I don't want to take any chances getting this guy off the plane,
and I don't think you do either.
Right.
Hey, Scully.
Yeah?
My watch just stopped.
What?
Mulder? Mulder?!
Excuse me. I'm a federal agent.
I want you to listen to me very carefully.
This plane is about to be intercepted.
Intercepted?
Intercepted, engaged and boarded.
I want you to tell the captain to initiate
evasive maneuvers immediately.
Put the bag down!
Put it down on the floor.
Drop the bag!
Drop it!
Hey! Let it go!
Let it go!
Mulder.
Where is he?
He's not here.
What do you mean?
You said you had him on this plane.
You said you had what Max Fenig had-- the stolen part.
What time do you have?
Would you like to tell me what's going on here, Agent Mulder?
I don't think you want to know the answer.
Is this man on the plane?
I think he got the connecting flight.
But-but nobody ever finds out about it.
I mean, there are scientists in Finland right now
who say that they've detected antigravity
over the surface of a spinning superconducting disc--
technology that is supposedly 20 or 30 years down the road,
like over-unity energy, um, massless displacement current
from cold fusion that we need for space travel.
I know, thanks to my inside sources,
that this technology, in fact, exists.
I've seen military aircraft that use it
hovering right over my trailer.
Why is the U.S. Government keeping all this a secret?
I intend to expose these facts to the people.
I mean, I'm just one man...
These tapes-- you don't mind if I keep them?
No. I think you should consider yourself
the sole curator of the Max Fenig rolling multimedia library
and archive, and you should probably get
tax-exempt status as soon as you can.
This stuff could be worth something someday.
I want to thank you for helping me out--
for all you've done.
Max would have wanted it that way.
You lost somebody very close to you.
So did you.
You thinking about Pendrell?
I realized I didn't even know his first name.
I actually was thinking about, uh...
this gift that you gave me for my birthday.
You never got to tell me why you gave it to me or what it means,
but I think I know.
I think that you appreciate
that there are extraordinary men and women and...
extraordinary moments when history leaps forward
on the backs of these individuals...
that what can be imagined can be achieved...
that you must dare to dream...
but that there's no substitute
for perseverance and hard work...
and teamwork...
because no one gets there alone.
And that while we commemorate the...
the greatness of these events and the individuals
who achieve them, we cannot forget the sacrifice
of those who make these achievements and leaps possible.
I just thought it was a pretty cool key chain.