05x15 - Travelers

[bunniefuu]

Looks like nobody‘s home.

He's here. He knows the minute he steps out, I'm changing the locks on him.

It's an old guy, huh?

I don't much enjoy evicting old folks.

This particular one will change your way of thinking.

Mr Skur? It's the sheriff. Will you open up please?

Go ahead and open it up.

Ugh!

God Almighty. What the hell's he got in here?

Smells like a whole lot of something went bad.

Mr Skur’? I'm armed.

You wanna come out now?

Bedroom's back that way.

Mr Skur?

What is it?

Ain't nothin' but a glove. No reason to...

Oh, my God.

Mulder.

Mulder.

Mulder.

Mulder.

Mulder.

Arthur Dales?

Who's asking? I'm a profiler. Behavioural Sciences Unit.

You are Arthur Dales, former special agent with the Bureau?

I need to ask you about a man named Edward Skur.

You opened a file on him in 1952.

I don't recall. I brought the case file here with me.

How long have you been in the Bureau?

Do you know what an X-file is?

It's... yeah... it's an unsolved case.

No. It's a case that's been designated "unsolved".

Mr Dales, most of your report has been censored, as you can see.

Now, if somebody's trying to bury this case, I'd like to know why.

Edward Skur disappeared 38 years ago before you had a chance to arrest him for a series of stranger killings in which the victims' internal organs had been removed.

And now you've found him? Yes, last week.

sh*t to death during an eviction.

A man was also found in his bathroom with all his soft tissue removed.

Well, if he's dead, there's nothing you need from me.

Sir, my name is Mulder.

You know that name. And so did Edward Skur.

How?

Have you ever heard of HUAC? The House Un-American Activities Committee?

No, no, no... before your time. You wouldn't know.

They hunted Communists in America in the '40s and '50s They found... practically nothing.

Do you think they would've found nothing unless nothing was what they wanted to find?

Hm?

I'm sorry, sir. I...

I don't see the connection. Maybe you're not supposed to.

The chief Red hunters. Senator McCarthy and FBI director J Edgar Hoover, join forces.

The senator from Wisconsin and the legendary lawman vow to wipe out the Red menace within our own federal government.

Roy Cohn, chief counsel of the McCarthy hearings, warns Communist mind control can strike anywhere, at any time.

It is those Americans, sympathetic to the Communist cause, the so-called "fellow travelers", who pose the greatest thr*at to our national security.

So says the young US attorney and he should know.

He brought those spies, the Rosenbergs, to justice.

It was his staunch defense of the American way of life that first brought Roy Colin to the attention of Senator McCarthy.

With the support of the FBI, Mr Cohh and Mr McCarthy vowed to work tirelessly to root out the more than 70 suspected Communist spies and untold numbers of..

..McCarthy vowed to work tirelessly to root out the more than 70 suspected Communist spies and the untold numbers of "fellow travelers" working in our own State Department.

..spies and the untold numbers of "fellow travelers" working in our own State...

Dad.

Morning, Mr Dales. I brought you some coffee.

Speak.

Edward Skur d*ed saying a name. My name. My father's name.

Go ask your father. My father and I don't really speak.

I told you, I can't help you.

Mr Dales, I want the truth and I will subpoena you to get it if I have to.

Before his disappearance, Skur worked for the State Department, like your old man did.

You had to have suspected the connection before yesterday, but you said nothing.

The men that Edward Skur k*lled 38 years ago... was my father involved?

How?

Skur k*lled this man the way he did all the others.

All the soft tissue, the internal organs, ligature...

All were removed without tearing the skin.

The coroner wasn't able to determine how.

Oh, I can tell you how.

What I can't tell you... is why.

It said in your report that Skur was suspected of being a Communist.

Well, that's what they said he was.

That's what they said they all were.

To us, Skur was just another name on a list, another Communist spy at the State Department.

We had no idea who or what Edward Skur really was.

May I help you? Arthur Dales, ma'am.

I'm with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

This is my partner Agent Michel.

Is your husband in? What do you want with him?

Supper's getting cold sweetheart. I'll take care of this.

Edward Skur’? Yes.

You're under arrest for failure to appear before the committee.

I'm a family man, for God's sake.

Should've thought of that before betraying your country.

Edward?

Let's go.

Look what I found. You planted that.

I'll plant one in your keester, Bolshevik, if you don't watch your mouth.

I'm sorry. I... Get out.

Jeez Louise. Take a swim in the Potomac?

I'd probably be drier if I had.

Got something to warm me up?

Where's your partner? He's processing a prisoner.

You guys still busting Reds? Till Mr Hoover tells us different.

Good for you, Mr Dales.

Yeah?

Mr Dales? For you.

Yeah?

Did you try to reach me? No. Why?

I thought maybe you heard about Skur.

What about him? He's dead.

He hung himself in his cell. The guards found him about 20 minutes ago.

You figure Commie Central Command tells these mopes to snuff themselves?

I gotta go.

Hm.

Everything OK?

Oh, nothing a little bourbon won't cure.

I didn't know what I should say to her.

"I'm sorry about your loss, Mrs Skur. If there's anything I can do?"

The words sounded hollow.

No matter what I said, I was the man who'd busted her husband, turned her life upside down.

I sat there for over an hour trying to find my courage in a bottle.

And then...

Then I saw someone I shouldn’t - I couldn't - have seen.

Now it was my life that we turned upside down.

Edward Skur!

Hey! Who's down there?

Dateline Washington.

The Justice Department vows no mercy for A-b*mb spies.

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg again managed to delay their date with the electric chair.

Prosecutors are confident Judge Kaufman's death sentence will be upheld by the highest court in the land.

The world still seemed clear to me that morning, despite the night before, I still thought I knew who the bad guys and the good guys were.

But that was all about to change.

Hang up. Let me call you back.

What'd the watch commander say? They're still going door to door.

There's no sign of him yet. They're not gonna find him, Marty.

Open it up.

It's Skur.

Maybe you want to change your description of the suspect.

When were these taken? Last night.

Two hours before you say Skur att*cked you.

You had a few. You were feeling bad about what happened. It's understandable.

I... I didn't have that much to drink.

Just leave Skur's name out of your report. Nobody else has to know.

I already filed my report. An hour ago.

Dales?

Call for you.

Yes?

I'll be right there.

It's the Justice Department. They wanna talk to me.

Agent Dales. Have a seat.

You know who I am?

You prosecuted the Rosenbergs.

Now you work with Mr Hoover and Senator McCarthy.

Then you know how important my work is.

How vital it is to the future of this country that these rats, these vermin, who dare call themselves Americans, be exposed as the traitors they are.

I don't interest myself in politics, Mr Cohn.

Everything is political, Agent Dales.

Like this report you filed this morning.

We've spoken to Mrs Skur and the neighbours.

You seem to be the only person who can identify that man as Edward Skur.

Do you believe me?

We are fighting a powerful enemy in a w*r of ideology.

In any w*r there are secrets, truths that must be kept from the public in order to serve the greater good.

You want me to amend my report?

Take out any reference to Edward Skur?

I don't understand. You're not supposed to understand.

You're supposed to follow orders.

Agent Dales? Yeah?

I pulled that file. Oh, right. Thank you.

Dales.

I'd never so much as faked an expense report or used a Bureau car to drive home, so lying didn't sit well with me, even if I was under orders.

I wanted to forget the business with Skur and never hear that name again.

But it was too late. By then, Skur had already become a m*rder*r.

Homicide call came in from Chevy Chase PD.

Advise and assist.

Well, where are they? They must have come and gone.

Alle Leute soll'n es seh’n Wenn wir bei der Laterne steh’n Wie einst Lili Marleen Wie einst Lili Marleen Wie einst Lili...

I know this song. They were playing it the day my unit rolled into Berlin.

That guy must be a Kraut.

Yeah. Well-connected Kraut.

Hm.

I got six ounces of shrapnel in my can and he gets to shake hands with the president?

What's that?

Do you smell that? Yeah, kinda. Hospital smell.

Formaldehyde?

Well-connected dead Kraut.

What the hell happened to him?

Hands in the air! Over there. Over there. Now.

Fellas, FBI. Credentials in my front coat pocket.

Hey. Easy on the material.

I'm Agent Michel. This is my partner Agent Dales.

Who called you guys out? You did, you mope. Your department.

Don't know nothin' about that. Then who brought you out?

A nurse called in. The doc didn't show for surgery.

Well, something tells me he ain't gonna make it.

I was summoned by a man who had already been to the doctor's house that morning.

It was the man, Agent Mulder, you came here to ask me about.

Skur? No,

But I came here to warn you about him.

Like you warned that doctor you m*rder*d?

Skur k*lled him?

He'll k*ll you too.

Myrtle?

Is this some kind of Communist plot? Skur's not a Communist.

He's a patriot. All of these men are patriots.

What are you talking about? What men? There are three men. Veterans.

Working at the State Department.

Skur, Gissing, and Oberman.

Gissing and Oberman.

I read those names on a censored report.

They're dead now.

m*rder*d? No, Dead by their own hand.

They couldn't live with what they'd become.

What they'd been turned into.

And Skur's the last.

Why the story about him hanging himself?

Because they had to do something to cover up what they'd done to him.

Label him a Communist, say he k*lled himself, and put him up someplace where no one's even gonna look for him.

But his escape threatens everything.

Threatens what? What did they do to him?

Look... you asked me here.

And I risked my career and my family by coming here.

But the crimes these men have committed against innocent people, I can't have that on my conscience any more.

Someone needs to know the truth.

Who are you?

My name's Mulder. I work at the State Department.

You might say that, if the Republicans should take over the Senate, I happen to be...

Attaboy, Tailgunner.

Give ‘em hell.

Ah, Myrtle.

Jeez Louise.

Dumb cat.

Dammit! Dammit, Myrtle.

All right, then, Mr Mulder. Who is this "they' you want me to arrest?

You can't arrest these men. Why not?

It's... political.

Are you telling me that Mr Cohn and Senator McCarthy are involved in this?

Is Skur after them too?

Skur wants vengeance for what they did to him.

He's a k*ller now.

He can only guess at the dimensions of this conspiracy, but he thinks you're part of it. You and your partner.

Phone.

What's the number? Klondike 50133.

I knew I should've got a dog.

Come on.

Come on.

We've got to dig and prod out the Communists and the crooks and those who are bad for America...

Are you... You sure a man did this?

I suppose he could have force-fed him a corrosive agent of some kind.

An acid, maybe. Except I don't know why it wouldn't have b*rned to the skin.

Would that account for the smell? Yeah, maybe.

We won't know till we get a toxology report.

We'll have an answer in six to eight weeks.

Meanwhile, we can at least start on a physical exam of the body... such as it is.

Agent Dales.

Where do you think you're taking that?

This man's a veteran. The body goes to Bethesda.

Mr Cohn, these men are going to the county morgue. An autopsy needs to be performed.

Come here.

Give us a minute. Let's go.

You want to test me. See how fast I can pull the chain and flush you.

You want to see your name on a list? Are you now or have you ever been...

What the hell are you talking about? I'm no Communist.

You are if I say you are.

This is a matter of national security. Take this body out of here. Get it out.

See?

You're a patriot again.

When your partner dies, a piece of you dies with him.

I'd been threatened, but I couldn‘t leave it alone, not while Michel's k*ller was still out there.

Not if I wanted to live with myself

I knew Skur had k*lled Michel out of vengeance for what had been done to him.

Your father had told me as much.

But he also said that there were two other men who’d had the same thing done to them.

Men who were already dead. finding out what happened to them might help me understand what Skur had become.

Understand how my partner was k*lled.

What is this?

The deposition that names Skill and these other two men as Communists.

It's all censored. By the committee.

To protect the identity of the witness.

There was no witness. This has been manufactured.

Edward Skur is no Communist. Neither are these other two men. Gissing and Oberman.

I want their files. Gissing and Oberman. I already checked.

They're missing. But I recognize one of these names.

It's in an X-file. An X-file?

Yes. Unsolved cases. I file them under Why don't you file them under "U" for "unsolved"?

That's what I did until Iran out of room. There's plenty of room in the "Xs".

Who decides when a case gets an "X"? The director's office.

It's... It's kind of a dead end.

No one's supposed to see them, but it makes for interesting reading.

Here it is.

A German emigre, Dr Stroman, patrioted here after the w*r.

He was found dead in his office last week at the VA.

Let me guess. They weren't able to explain how his body just kinda collapsed, right?

Yes.

Gissing. His name's in this file somewhere?

Yes. A patient found dead on the scene.

su1c1de. I guess he didn't much care for his treatment.

They think he k*lled his doctor and then k*lled himself?

How did Gissing k*ll this man? That's why it's an X-file.

They don't know.

Dr Gissing's body's still here. The VA's trying to transfer.

Why haven't they? He's a bigwig.

His family's been kickin' up a stink.

What is this? Looks like he had some surgery.

Judging by the colour of the scar, I'd say it was fairly recent.

I want you to cut this man open.

No, I can't do that. His family will have my head.

Gissing and a man named Skur were patients of the same doctors.

I think whatever was done to this man was also done to the man who k*lled my partner.

It may be the only way we have to explain how he d*ed.

What's that? What is that?

I don't know. It looks like it's lodged into his oesophagus.

Wait a minute. Those are sutures.

Whatever this is, someone put it there.

Oh, jeez. Whoa.

Oh, my God.

Mrs Skur, I hope I'm not disturbing you. You have a nerve coming here.

Your husband...

You know he's not dead. How dare you!

He was discredited in order to cover up a crime.

A crime committed upon him, against his will.

Whatever was done to him, you're part of it.

According to VA records, he underwent surgery for w*r injuries.

So did two other men that he worked with at the State Department.

But the surgeries that they received... It wasn't what they thought it was.

It had nothing to do with their w*r injuries.

Then what was it? It's called xeno-transplantation.

It's the grafting of another species into the human body.

A procedure that n*zi doctors experimented with.

I believe that they continued their work here, using your husband and these other two men as unwitting test subjects.

I want to expose what was done to your husband, Mrs Skur.

I can't do that unless I have his help.

Get in.

Just get in.

Ed?

Oh, God. Are you all right?

I told you not to come down here. That FBI agent came back.

I'm getting worse. He says he wants to help you.

It's too late to help me.

I can't help myself any more.

You sit there.

Leave us alone.

Mr Director... Leave us.

In 1945, at the time of the first conference to map out the peace, after the Second World w*r, there lived within the Soviet orbit 180 million people.

Lined up on the anti-totalitarian side at that time were one billion, 625 million people.

Today, Mr Dales, just seven years later, there are 800 million people under the absolute domination of Soviet Russia.

An increase of over 400%.

On our side, the figure has shrunk to around 500 million.

In other words, in less than seven years, the odds have changed from nine-to-one in our favour to eight-to-five against us.

The thr*at of global Communist domination is a reality that can be ignored only at the risk of our own annihilation.

The men we arrested weren't Communists.

If we are to defeat the enemy, we must use their tools.

We must go further.

We must do those things which even our enemies would be ashamed to do.

It is only through strength that we can make our enemies fear us and thereby ensure our own survival.

You have one chance, Mr Dales, to save yourself, to demonstrate that you have the strength to serve your country.

Make your meeting with Skur. Let him think you're alone.

Put him at ease. We'll be in when the time's right.

So is this why you came to see me, Mr Mulder? Make me your stalking-horse?

I follow my orders.

I might need that. We want him alive.

There you go.

I turned the lights off out front. Pull the door shut when you go.

Thanks for your help. Anything to help out the Bureau.

Did you come here to k*ll me or to save me?

I'm here to help you. Just like I told your wife.

My wife is dead.

I'm dead too. Inside.

Because of this thing they put in me.

For what?

To turn me into some kind of k*lling machine?

Or just to see what would happen?

They're not coming, you know.

They wanted me to k*ll you or you wouldn't be here.

You're part of their test now too.

I don't want to k*ll you.

I know.

Mulder.

I can't believe my father threw in with these men.

He let them dictate his conscience. Don't tool yourself.

None of us are free to choose.

I was ruined for my insubordination.

You keep digging through the X-files and they'll bury you too.

Skur d*ed saying my father's name.

Why? I haven't the faintest idea.

There was...

There was one thing you didn't explain: how Skur was able to get away.

How he was able to live in obscurity for the last 38 years.

38 years?

My God.

Well, I kept hearing things through the years.

People tell me things. I heard that he was dead, that he had been kept in some secret lab while they finished up the experiment.

I even thought that maybe some poor innocent bastard, somebody with a conscience, might have let him go.

Why would anyone do that? Why let the k*ller go free?

In the hope that, by letting him live, the truth of the crimes that were committed against him and the others might someday be exposed.