04x19 - Synchrony

[bunniefuu]

You know what he's capable of.

McFarland's gonna turn this into a witch-hunt.

You should've thought of that before. No, you should've come to me before.

I did, Jason! That's bull!

You didn't wanna hear anything I had to say.

So you went behind my back.

Please. I need to talk to you. Excuse us, please.

That street is dangerous. Thank you, we'll be fine.

I won't lie about this. I'm not asking you to lie.

Then what? I've traveled a long way.

You want some money? Here's a dollar.

No, listen to me. Hey!

I'm trying to save your life. Hey, take it easy!

Let go!

What's the problem here? This old guy is harassing me!

He's just a little bit agitated. He's going to die...

..at exactly 11.46.

The bus! We're all gonna die, Pop.

Let's go sleep it off. No!

Jason!

Don't let him cross the street! His papers... He won't see the bus!

At 11.46! All right, into the car.

Stop him! No! Jason!

How did he know my name?

How the hell should I know?

Stop him! You've got to stop him!

You don't have much time! He's going to die! Stop him now!

Stop him now!

Lucas!

Wait! Look, man, give me a chance! We have got nothing left to talk about.

Lucas!

Damn it!

Lucas!

Lucas!

Lucas! No!

What did you do to him?

You pushed him. You pushed him right in front of me.

You k*lled him!

What the hell did you do?

His name was Lucas Menand, a postdoctoral fellow at MIT.

He was a bright researcher. A life dedicated to science, cut short by a bus accident.

Cause of death was massive head trauma, pronounced on site.

The bus driver says it was no accident?

He claims Menand was pushed by a suspect identified as Jason Nichols,...

..an associate professor of biology and Menand's academic adviser.

They'd been seen arguing earlier that evening,...

..but Nichols has refused to tell police about what.

Sounds like a motive.

Between that and the driver's statement, why am I looking at this?

Would you like to hear his alibi?

If I wanted to k*ll him, do you think this is how I'd do it?

Then what were you doing? Trying to save him!

From getting hit by the bus.

I told you! There was a man, some old guy, who said it would happen.

He warned Lucas about the bus. He knew the exact time and place.

He tried telling us. He knew my name!

That's his alibi? An old man warned him his colleague would die?

Well, he gives a convincing narrative, and a detailed description of the old man.

Was he wearing a long black robe and carrying a scythe?

Not when security picked him up. He was arrested?

Minutes before the accident.

Packed into a security vehicle, tryin' to warn Nichols as he was hauled away.

Has anybody talked to him? Or talked to the security officer?

Can't. Why not?

He's dead. Of what?

I haven't been able to make a definitive determination as to cause or time of death.

There's been some internal disagreement over how to proceed.

You mean with the autopsy? Yes.

But mostly whether to cut or to saw.

You see why we didn't put him in refrigeration.

Have you ever seen such an advanced hypothermic state?

Hypothermic? Mulder, this man's an icicle.

Did you see his ear? Looks like something's been inserted in it.

Something has.

I took his temperature. I don't know if the reading was accurate,...

..but it said his body temp was 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

Where was he found? On campus inside his patrol car.

Parked just off Adams with one wheel on the kerb.

Police also found an empty gin bottle under the driver's seat.

He had a history. He'd been cited for drinking on duty.

You'd assume he passed out and froze to death,...

..except the low temperature for last night was 28.

And now his body temperature is eight degrees.

You mean he's actually getting colder.

Like I said, we're a little betwixt and between on how to go forward here.

We'd be happy to take your lead on it.

I think we're gonna need some time ourselves.

So what's your medical opinion, Scully?

I'd guess he's been exposed to some chemical refrigerant like liquid nitrogen.

Possibly even ingested it.

See what happens when you drink and drive?

I don't know what to say. What this doesn't do...

..is add any credence to his alibi that the old man was on the scene.

Let's ask Nichols if he can explain. What if he can't?

We'll just hope that he keeps until Thanksgiving.

This is serious, Jason. This couldn't be more serious.

They're talking about charging you with second-degree m*rder.

I'll call you as soon as I speak to the lawyer.

Are you from the FBI? Yeah. Special Agent Mulder.

Is that your girlfriend? Yeah.

Thanks for seeing me. I know your attorney advised against it. I appreciate it.

I just want to talk to somebody who's going to listen to me.

Somebody who's going to tell me they can find that old man.

There are people lookin' for him. Who? The campus police?

You know that the man who allegedly detained the man you described is now dead.

So are they going to try and blame me for that one too?

Not unless you're capable of k*lling a man by flash-freezing him.

What?

The security officer in the morgue...

..has a body temperature a little south of Frosty the Snowman.

You think that's funny? Do I think what's funny?

Coming in here and trying to screw with my head!

Is this about you and Menand?

Look, he's the one that had been threatening me, OK?

He threatened your life? My reputation.

How'd he do that?

By saying he would go public on his claim that I falsified data on my research paper.

Had you? No.

The theory was sound.

If my interpretation of data was a little lax,...

..it's because I was under pressure to produce results.

My NSA grant is up for renewal.

And Lucas knew how damaging his allegations would be.

Was Lucas Menand up for the same grant?

What research would this grant have funded?

Cryobiology.

I study the effects of freezing temperatures on biological systems.

Excuse me.

Mulder.

Has Nichols said anything? No. I'm right in the middle of it.

I think we may be filing a second m*rder charge.

Security officer? Nichols's thumb print is on his uniform.

Forensics also matched his with the prints they lifted off the interior of the patrol car.

I think the old man is gonna be Jason Nichols,...

..serving 25 to life in a federal prison.

I understand. Thank you.

I'm sorry, sir. There's nothing we can do. My name is Yonechi.

Yes, sir, you've told me. But I'm not finding a reservation under that name.

This is where I am supposed to stay.

I'm sorry, sir. I don't know what else to tell you.

Dr Yonechi?

Yes? There's been a misunderstanding.

I'm afraid my assistant made a reservation at the wrong hotel.

So I came here myself to make sure you got a room.

It's a good room, with a view of the river.

You are not Dr Nichols.

He apologizes. He was not able to be here to meet you himself,...

..so he asked me to come in his place.

Excuse me, but who are you?

A great admirer of your work.

Here we go, sir. Thank you.

After you, sir. No. Go ahead.

If you need anything, just give us a call. Here you are, sir.

Have a good evening, sir.

Are you sick? No, no. I'm fine, thank you.

May I get you some water? If it's no trouble.

Please. Come in.

The mix-up with the reservation,...

..it was actually my fault.

Your fault?

But I owe you so much.

For what? Your contribution to my work.

Vitrification.

You solved the problem.

Me?

No.

Not yet. No one has solved vitrification.

Oh yes, Yonni.

You found a way to substitute water with a sugar: trehalose.

Your paper...

It changed everything.

I am sorry, Yonni.

But this is the only way.

I just spoke with the bellman. What did he say?

The Iceman Cometh. Dr Yonechi was with a man in his seventies.

It's confirmed by the desk clerk. They're working on a sketch right now.

Sounds like Nichols has an accomplice. Sounds like that.

More than that, it makes sense.

Science is a high-stakes game. Nichols is eliminating competitors.

He's succeeding. What if he's being set up?

He's a cryobiologist. He freezes things for a living. How many people can do that?

Just about anybody who's up for that grant money could.

Right... I want to show you something.

This is a nuclear magnetic resonance spectra.

Dr Yonechi had a spot of blood on the heel of his hand.

Something that might have been caused by a small-gauge hypodermic needle.

I found the same thing on the security officer. This is the analysis.

What is it? No one at the lab would hazard a guess.

But we think it's an unidentifiable chemical compound.

A lethal injection? You'll have to ask Nichols.

No. There's somebody I wanna talk to first.

Lisa Ianelli? Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you.

No, I was... working. Sometimes you just get lost in it.

You may remember me from this afternoon. I spoke with Jason.

From the FBI.

I'm Agent Scully. May I show you something?

Where did you get this? You recognize it?

You can tell us now, or we can subpoena your testimony in court.

Either way we'll find out what you know about it.

It's a kind of catalyst. A catalyst for what?

A self-sustaining endothermic reaction.

It's a rapid-freezing agent.

Something Jason's been engineering for years.

When a cell freezes, its moisture forms into ice crystals,...

..which literally grind up the cell from the inside out.

But extreme rapid-freezing causes a smoother, glass-like structure to form,...

..so the cell can survive being thawed. At least, according to Jason's theory.

This compound, has Jason tested it yet?

He hasn't tested it because it doesn't exist, except in the computer.

So far the work's been limited to generating virtual chemicals. Like this.

In fact, what we're looking at here is a version of the catalyst you brought me.

Could he have synthesized the compound without you knowing?

No. The technology to engineer something like that is five, ten years away, minimum.

Not any more, apparently. What are you talking about?

Traces of the compound were detected in a man who was found dead last night.

Frozen solid. There must be some mistake.

And a Dr Yonechi was also found frozen to death.

What? In his heated hotel room.

When was this? Just over two hours ago.

Why is that relevant? Because he may not be dead.

What's his temp?

His core temperature is up to 97.

OK. Let's take him out.

And then what?

We've got to try to resuscitate him. Let's go.

All right, on my count. One. Two. Three.

This isn't gonna work. His body temperature was eight degrees.

The lowest body temperature ever survived by a human being was 70.

If he's already dead, he's got nothin' to lose.

OK, we're hooked up here.

All right, Dr Ianelli, we're gonna start with 300 joules and an amp of epi.

Charging.

Clear? Clear.

Still no pulse. Go to 360.

No response.

Give him another amp of epi, and atropine one milligram. Try again at 360.

Clear.

He's got a rhythm.

Dr Yonechi? You're in a prototype frostbite bay in Cambridge, Mass.

You've been unconscious for almost 12 hours.

Dr Yonechi? My name is Lisa Ianelli.

Don't try and talk right now. We've inserted a tube to help you breathe.

Try not to fight the machine. Let it breathe for you.

Something's wrong.

Scully, look at his temperature.

Oh, my God. He's on fire.

He's having febrile seizures. This can't be right.

He's burning up. Hold him down.

Hold him down!

Lisa, what happened? What could've created such a violent cellular reaction?

I don't know.

All I can think is the compound used to freeze him must have been unstable.

So raising his body temperature may have catalyzed an opposite reaction,...

..heating him internally?

I question now if we should've removed him from the tub. We might've saved him.

The real question is how somebody could access a compound that doesn't exist.

I'm sorry. I need to talk to Jason.

Who are you?

I said who are you? What do you want? Why are you following me?

Unless I'm mistaken, you're the one following me.

I saw you outside. You're confusing me with someone else.

You're the man Jason saw, aren't you? You k*lled Lucas Menand and Dr Yonechi.

And I can k*ll you. Let go of me!

I came here... to k*ll you.

Who are you?

You say he followed you off the bus? Yes. I noticed him just before my stop.

And you were on your way to see Jason? Yes.

I confronted him inside the library. He followed me in there.

And then he grabbed me. Hurt my arm.

What did he say?

That he could k*ll me.

That that's why he was following me.

He threatened me with some kind of medical instrument.

But he just let you go?

Lisa, if you're leaving anything out,...

..you could be held accountable if Jason committed a crime.

It wasn't Jason. It was me.

I falsified the data to get the grant.

Jason's covering for me.

He's in jail because of me. That's what he can't tell anyone?

But people could've figured it out: Lucas Menand, Dr Yonechi.

These people are now dead. No, it's not what you think.

You know who this old man is, don't you? I don't. I swear to you.

But Jason does. This man is doing what Jason can't - he's protecting your secret.

He swore he would never confess it to a soul.

If he'd lie for you, what makes you think he wouldn't lie to you?

Scully?

Why would he thr*aten her if she's the one protecting his secret?

Because it's Jason's secret too. And the old man is protecting Jason.

With a medical instrument?

I suppose it is an unlikely choice as a m*rder w*apon.

What if it's not a m*rder w*apon?

I'm just speculating. But what if it was designed for some other purpose?

Agent Mulder?

Hotel manager from a couple of blocks away thinks he's made your guy.

It's on McKinney Street. Hotel's called the Lighthouse.

Tell the unit to keep watch until we get there.

Make sure she gets home safe.

Federal agents, sir. Open the door.

Sure this is the room?

The manager says he's been living here for five days.

I'm not sure if "living" is the word I'd use on this place.

Yonechi's flight information was taken down on this pad.

Look at this.

When was this taken?

And what's the occasion?

A celebration. But of what?

Of something that never happened.

What?

This is a photograph. A documented moment in time.

In a future that somebody's trying to prevent happening.

What? Think about it.

If Menand never gets hit by that bus, his complaint gets heard.

Jason Nichols loses his funding.

He never gets to collaborate with Dr Yonechi.

This photo never gets taken because this celebration never happens.

If your sister is your aunt and your mother marries your uncle, you're your own grandpa.

The old man couldn't save Menand, so he had to k*ll Yonechi.

OK, this photo - when was it never taken?

At least five years in the future, when they first synthesized the freezing compound.

Let's take the stairs.

The compound already exists. We have evidence.

Only because the old man brought it back.

Back from where? From when may be the real question.

You're seriously suggesting this old man is back from the future?

Unless you can explain how he knew when and how Lucas Menand would be k*lled,...

..why Nichols' fingerprints were inside that patrol car, and how he knew Ianelli's secret.

So what you're saying is the old man is...

Jason Nichols.

"Common sense may rule out time travel. The laws of quantum physics do not."

That's from your graduate thesis.

You were more open-minded as a youngster.

I know that the laws of physics would permit the theoretical possibility of time travel,...

..but the limits of human endurance would prevent such a trip happening.

There's one way to prove that possibility. How?

Show this photo to Lisa Ianelli and ask her if it was ever taken.

Jason?

I don't understand.

How is this possible?

Because you made it possible.

It was you.

How?

I need to know.

30 years ago,...

..10 years from now,...

..you'll be at a conference in Zürich. You'll meet a man named McGuane...

..who's just discovered the first evidence of tachyons: subatomic particles that can travel faster than the speed of light...

..and go back in time.

But only for a few seconds,...

..and only at a temperature of absolute zero.

But from that, and from your correspondence with McGuane,...

..you'll have an idea,...

..a revelation.

What revelation?

One so remarkable...

..it would change the course of history.

Then why did you...?

You said you came back to k*ll me.

But I couldn't do it.

You're cold.

Jason?

Yes.

Sign here.

Jason.

What are you doing here? I arranged for your bail.

I assumed it was Lisa. No. That's why I'm here.

Something's happened to her. What are you talking about?

It's something you should see for yourself. She's at the medical research facility.

Was it the old man? Yes.

Who the hell is he?

Jason, I don't expect you to get your mind around this right now.

What?

The man we're looking for, the old man...

He's you.

If that photo is indicative of a pattern, you may be his next target.

Puts a whole new spin on being your own worst enemy.

Except that I've never met Dr Yonechi, and neither has Lisa.

So this must have been altered somehow.

Not according to the photo specialist that I had examine it.

As far as she could tell, it's the real McCoy.

Maybe you should get a second opinion, because I'm not buying your story.

Jason, it's your story. It's science fiction.

So was your rapid-freezing agent, until two days ago.

Just consider the evidence as a scientist.

How could the old man come to possess a compound that you admit doesn't exist?

Whoever he is, why would he try to prevent my compound from being developed?

I'm not sure of that yet. But you have a theory.

I think it's to do with the practical application of your compound,...

..though I don't know what that is yet.

Involving time travel?

Physicists have hypothesized the existence of wormholes and time Ioops,...

..portals through which matter can travel back through time.

Although, extreme heat and gravity would render the trip lethal for any organism.

So you're saying my compound will make it possible?

Eventually, yes. That's what I'm saying.

But why stop time travel?

That's what I'm hoping the old man can tell us.

Agent Mulder, if any of this is true,...

..then what happened to Lisa...

..is really my fault.

We're going up to the cryo lab.

Hey, wait a sec.

Are you Dr Jason Nichols? That's right.

Then something's wrong.

It says you're already in the building.

Jason, I need you to get to Scully and tell her that he's here.

She's in the frostbite bay with Lisa. Can you do that?

All right.

Clear. Clear.

Let's give her another amp of epinephrine and we'll go again at 360.

Epi given.

Clear. Everybody clear.

Increase the DMSO. We have a rhythm.

Now what?

Get her back in the tub.

Now. All right, disconnect and get her back in.

Let's go.

Easy.

How high is the reading now? 106.

107.

Is there a problem? Has anybody been here?

Well, a maintenance guy fixed the fan. Other than that, it's just been me.

I'm lookin' for an older man. A man in his mid-seventies.

I haven't seen anybody like that.

Is this something to do with Dr Nichols?

You work with him? I'm his research assistant.

You have access to his files? Yeah.

I'd like to pull up some information about his rapid-freezing compound.

Mulder. We've resuscitated her, Mulder.

Her body temperature's high, but it seems to have stabilized.

Did Jason help? He's not here.

He should've been there five minutes ago.

Where are you? This is crazy.

Mulder? Let me get back to you, Scully.

What?

Dr Nichols's files - they're totally whacked.

What do you mean, "whacked"? His data. It's gone.

It's like somebody's completely erased it from the mainframe.

I knew I'd find you here.

I figured this is where I'd go to stop myself.

I don't have much time.

Please. Let me finish.

Let you finish destroying my work?

It's my work too.

I want her back. I know.

Then tell me how to go back, so I can save her. Please.

I don't expect you to understand.

Understand what? What she created.

What you... we helped to create.

A world without history, without hope,...

..where anyone can know everything that will ever happen.

I've seen that world.

Tell me how to go back.

I can't.

You will!

Tell me! No!

Jason, try to understand! Jason!

Tell me how to go back, so I can save her! Jason! She's alive!

Lisa's alive! Don't hurt him!

If you hurt him, we'll never know the truth!

Open the door.

She's OK?

It's better that we never were.

No!

Lisa? It's Dana Scully. Can you hear me?

You're going to be fine.

We knew to keep you submerged to maintain your body temperature.

After what happened to Dr Yonechi, your theory about the compound's instability,...

..you proved it yourself.

He said he was Jason.

The old man?

There's been incongruous evidence I've had difficulty explaining myself.

It was him... Agent Scully.

He was Jason.

Lisa, Jason's dead.

There was a fire in the mainframe room.

I'm sorry.

I'll see you at the hospital.

Did they find the second corpse? No. And I'm not hopeful they will.

We should put out an APB on the old man. We won't find him.

I know what I saw, Scully, and I know what I believe happened.

Even if it can never be proven? Never?

Never is a very long time, Scully. You said that yourself.

"Although multidimensionality suggests infinite outcomes in infinite universes,...

..each universe can produce only one outcome."

I was 23 when I wrote that.

But I take that to mean that you were suggesting the future can't be altered,...

..which means the elder Jason Nichols' attempts to stop his own research will fail,...

..and that eventually his compound, and time travel, will be discovered.

I made this!