The X-files
Firewalker
Episode: 2X09
First aired:11/18/94
Written by: Howard Gordon
Directed by: David Nutter
Scientists recieve a distressing
signal from a party in Mt. Avalon, a
volcano. The video shows one man lying dead and then the equipment, a robot called Firewalker, being knocked down by a
mysterious shadow.
Scully insists on helping
Mulder when he says to stay and get more rest. The reach the
research site with another
scientist, Pierce. Walking around the site, Mulder is attacked by a memeber of the team. As Scully and Pierce rush to help him, Mulder yells that they are
FBI. The
attacker comes into the light and yells for the others to come out. There are three survivors, Ludwig, Tanaka, and O'Niel, who all fear their leader, Trepkos, who supposidly went crazy and
murdered their fellow scientist.
Looking at Trepkos's notes, Mulder finds references to a new life form, a
subterranean organism,
silicon-based, that can
survive the heat of a volcano. Pierce is murdered by Trepkos who tells him that no one can leave the site.
Working in the
lab, Tanaka collapses into a
seizure like state. Mulder, Scully, and the team rush to get him help, however Tanaka runs into the forrest and into a large ditch. Mulder and Ludwig watch as a huge
spore suddenly bursts out of Tanaka's
throat,
killing him. Scully, carefully looking at the body, notes that this spore grew inside of Tanaka.
While Scully studies the spore, Mulder and Ludwig go into the volcano in search of Trepkos. Ludwig is killed by Trepkos who also burns the body as Mulder watches, shoked. Trepkos explains that he's only trying to kill the spore, not his friends, and that Firewalker had brought the spore back and infected everyone.
Mulder rushes back to Scully, knowing that she is alone with O'Niel who most likely is infected. Scully had, before realized that the spore is
airborne. While working, O'Niel suprises Scully, and cuffs herself to her. It is obvious to Scully that O'Niel is
infected and is about to
die from the spore. Scully throws O'Niel into a
plexiglass chamber just before the spore burts out against the
window.
Trepkos returns to see O'Neil's
body and carries her down into the volcano. Mulder tells the rescuers that him and Scully were the only survivors, letting Trepkos escape.
Important Quotes:
Mulder -- "Scully? I don't think it's a good idea for you to go."
Scully -- "Mulder, I appreciate your concern - but I'm ready. I want to
work."
Mulder -- "Well, maybe you should take some time off."
Scully -- "I've already lost too much time."
Scully -- "But the
fundamental building block for every
organism known to man is
carbon, from the smallest
bacterium to the largest
redwood tree."
Mulder -- "Yes, but silicon is the closest element to carbon. It reacts almost identically with other elements, the way it
combines to form
complex molecules. A silicon-based lifeform in the deep
biosphere has been one of the
Holy Grails of
modern science and maybe Trepkos found it."
Scully -- "Will you at least let me go with you?"
Mulder -- "No."
Scully -- "Look, I know what you're thinking but you have to get past that. We both do. I'm back, and I'm not going
anywhere."
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