Set of Apple II Hard Drive Images/hard.hdv/HARD/TEXT/CONDUIT.XFILE

Text File | 1994-03-30 | 9.5 KB | 148 lines | [04] ASCII Text (0x0000)

1.4 "Conduit"

A family spends the night camping in Lake Okogobee National Park. The
kids are sleeping outside under the sky while the mom rests in their
small trailer. Suddenly, the trailer begins to shake violently and a
bright light can be seen outside the windows. The mother falls out of
the bed. And as suddenly as it comes, it stops. The mother's first fears
are for her children and are made real when her boy starts calling for
her. She rushes for the door and burns her hand on the doorknob. She
puts on oven mittens and opens the door. The young boy is standing
outside and says "Ruby's gone." The mother calls out for daughter many
times and finally looks towards the sky and calls her name again.
Section Chief Blevins speaks to Scully concerning Mulder's latest case
request which seems to be based solely on a tabloid story. Then he shows
her an X-File concerning Mulder's abducted sister. It describes how
Mulder (who was 8 years old at the time) recalls a bright light before
she disappeared. Blevins then asks Scully whether or not she feels that
it may be clouding Mulder's judgement. So, she goes to talk to Mulder
about his reasoning. Mulder tells her that the story caught his
attention because of the location, Lake Okobogee which is apparently a
UFO hotspot. Then he shows her a photo of a UFO taken by a girl scout
troop in the area many years ago and explains that one of the girl
scouts, Darlene Morris, is the mother whose daughter has disappeared.
When they are welcomed into the Morris home, they find that Kevin, the
younger brother is absorbed in some task. Mulder looks at the photos of
Ruby almost longingly, perhaps remembering his own sister. When they
talk to Darlene, Scully's first questions are concerning the divorced
father and whether he would have kidnapped Ruby. But Darlene is certain
that it was not, becase "it felt the same." Mulder prompts her by asking
if she is referring to her previous close encounter. She agrees and
looks at him hopefully. He then goes to speak to Kevin, leaving Scully
with Mrs. Morris, who states quite frankly that Scully has a look of
skepticism on her face.
Mulder asks the boy if he has had any nightmares. The boy answers but
continues to glance at the television (which is just a snowy screen) and
then back to a sheet of paper where he writes down some 0's and 1's.
Kevin tells him that the numbers are coming from the TV.
At the sheriff's office, Mulder faxes a copy of the sheet to a friend in
Washington before asking the sheriff a few questions. The sheriff seems
certain that Ruby has run away as she has done so previously and that
Ruby has always been trouble. He thinks that Darlene Morris just made up
the story in an attempt to delude herself.
As Mulder and Scully leave the police station, they find a note on their
car's windshield which reads simply "I'm across the street." When they
look up, they see a young girl enter quickly into the library. They
follow her in and she speaks to them through one of the bookshelves. She
doesn't tell them her name, but says that she was Ruby's friend and that
Ruby was supposed to meet with her boyfriend, Greg, that night.
Apparently, Greg had gotten Ruby pregnant and they were supposed to be
leaving town. She tells them that Greg is a tends bar at a nearby pub.
One of the librarians drop some books which startle Mulder and Scully.
When they look up, the girl has run off.
So, Mulder and Scully drive to the Pennsylvania Pub which is a
motorcycle gang hangout. They speak with the bartender on duty who tells
them that Greg Randall hasn't shown up for work in several weeks. Mulder
does notice a tattoo of a UFO on the bartenders arm and inquires about
it. The bartender tells them that around Lake Okobogee many people have
seen them, then he pulls back his hair to reveal his ear which is
scarred and shrivelled and tells them that he received it up there one
night.
Early the next morning, Scully is wakened by the sound of several car
doors slamming. When she notices many men moving about, she attempts to
go for her gun. However, the door is opened and many NSA agents enter
her room and demand to know where Mulder is.
When they wake Mulder, they ask him where he obtained the document. Fox
plays dumb to get them to tell him that the fax of the boys scribbling
was part of a transmission from a top secret defense satellite. One of
the agents declares that they've got him and they leave, whereupon
Mulder turns to Scully and accuses her of telling them about Kevin.
At the Morris home, the NSA ransacks Kevin's room for more evidence.
When Mulder and Scully arrive, they are taking Darlene and Kevin away.
They also find another stack of binary sequences in a drawer. Looking
out from the window of Kevin's room, Mulder notices something strange
and goes out to fetch a ladder. He climbs up the side of the trailer
parked in the driveway and finds that the top of the trailer is burnt
very badly.
Mulder and Scully ask about the binary sequence found in Kevin's drawer,
and apparently, it consists of a smattering of almost random
information. So, the NSA releases them. When Mulder tries to apologize
to Mrs. Morris, she tells them to stay away from her son and herself.
So, Mulder drives Scully to the campsite, saying that the boy is the key
to finding Ruby, that Kevin is some sort of conduit to the aliens who
abducted her. Scully remains skeptical.
When they arrive, Mulder points out that the tree nearby are singed at
the top and that some of the sand from the lakeshore has fused into
glass, which requires temperatures above 2500 degrees. Scully sees a
wolf emerge from the forest and points it out to Mulder. He follows the
wolf back to a few more wolves standing about a shallow grave. He shoots
his gun to scare them off and begins to dig up the remains. Scully tells
him to stop, as he is disturbing a crime scene, whereupon he replies,
"What if it's her, I have to know."
Later when the police have arrived and dug up the grave, the wallet
found on the corpse identifies him as Greg Randall. Mulder looks inside
the wallet and finds a note with a doctor's appointment written on it.
The handwriting on the note matches that of the note which they found on
their car. Recognizing the doctor's name, the sheriff makes an inquiry
as to who that appointment was for and they bring in Tessa, who was,
indeed, the girl from the library.
It turns out that Tessa is the one who was pregnant and not Ruby. Mulder
tricks her into admitting that she was at the lakefront that night and
that she killed Greg, but not Ruby as Ruby was not even there.
As they leave Tessa in the hands of the police, Scully wants to leave as
she feels that Ruby is most likely dead and the case is closed. However,
Mulder wishes to speak to Kevin again. Scully begs him to stop searching
for his own sister, which gives him pause. He tells her that he will not
give up looking for Ruby unless a body is found.
When they arrive back at the Morris house, they find it is deserted. But
a kettle of water has just started to boil, implying that they left
recently. There are many sheets of binary code on the floor of the
living room which Mulder stops to look at. He can not make anything of
them. Scully goes upstairs to take a look around. But when she glances
back down at Mulder she notices that the sheets of code from above form
a picture of Ruby.
The two of them drive out to Lake Okobogee National Park and Mulder
explains to Scully that for his entire life, he has never given up the
hope of finding his sister returned to him. They come upon the trailer,
which is deserted. A cry of pain rings out from the woods, it is
Darlene. They locate a trailhead and run down it. They find Mrs. Morris
who has apparently fallen. Scully stops to take a look at her and Mulder
runs on to catch up with Kevin. He sees Kevin walking across a small
clearing towards a bright light in the forest. There is a rumbling sound
which grows louder and Mulder catches up with Kevin and knocks him to
the ground, protecting his body as a motorcycle gang with headlights on
comes riding through.
After the gang has passed, Kevin tells Mulder that Ruby's come back and
Mulder says that she couldn't have. Suddenly, Scully calls for him. She
and Mrs. Morris have found Ruby lying in the forest. Ruby is alive, but
just barely.
Later, at the hospital, Ruby has just wakened from a coma. Scully is
describing Ruby's physical state to Mulder who surmises that she will
show symptoms which are indicative of prolonged weightlessness. He is
correct. When they talk with Ruby, she insists that "they" told her she
isn't supposed to say anything. Mulder tries to press her, but Darlene
arrives and assures Ruby that she doesn't have to say a thing. Mrs.
Morris asks Mulder and Scully outside, where she asks them not to
disturb Ruby again. She fears that if Ruby talks about her experience,
she will go through the same ridicule that she herself felt when she
told about her close encounter.
With the case closed, Scully takes some time to listen to the tapes of
Mulder's hypno-regression session. She hears his account of his sister's
abduction: how he was unable to move while his sister cried for help and
the voice inside his head telling him that no harm will come to her and
that one day she will be returned. When asked if he believes the voice,
he replies, "I want to believe."

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Summary by Cliff Chen, 1993