Scruffy Guy
Look, ben, this is what infuriates me. Don't you see? It's so painfully obvious. Why do you think our stock's in the toilet? Because you're cutting research and development. You've forgotten what the adventure's about.
Season 1 · Episode 7
Ghost in the Machine
Character-labelled dialogue prepared from the official DVD subtitle track.
Production code1X06Original airdate · October 29, 1993
289 dialogue entries
EURISKO WORLD HEADQUARTERS
Suit Guy
The industry's changing. We need to make some choices.
Scruffy Guy
Save your sound bite for the press.
Suit Guy
Let's not relive the stockholders meeting.
Scruffy Guy
You're killing me. You're killing my company!
Suit Guy
Eurisko is not your company, brad-- not anymore. You'd damn well better get used to it. You're going to regret this.
( door slamming )
Ben
New paragraph.
Suit Guy
As I'm sure everyone on the board will agree eurisko has to face head on the realities of an increasingly competitive world. Since the unfortunate departure of brad wilczek, I have made certain recommendations which, I believe will reposition eurisko as an industry leader. At the top of this list is the immediate termination of the c.o.s. Project. Its disastrous performance over the past three quarters and projected losses well into 1994 leave us no other choice.
( water running )
( telephone ringing )
Drake
Hello? Hello!
Phone Voice
At the tone, eastern standard time will be 7:35 p.m.
Drake
What the hell?
( beep )
( beep )
COS Computer
File deleted.
FBI HEADQUARTERS
Jerry Lamana
Mulder.
Fox Mulder
Jerry?
Jerry Lamana
You're Dana Scully, right? Jerry lamana.
Fox Mulder
We worked together in violent crimes.
Jerry Lamana
Worked together? We were partners.
Lunch Cart Guy
That's 8.50, please.
Fox Mulder
What are you doing here?
Jerry Lamana
Looking for you, and I'm buying you two lunch.
Dana Scully
No, really...
Jerry Lamana
No. It's on me.
X-FILES OFFICE
Fox Mulder
Ah...
Jerry Lamana
Cause of death was electrocution.
Dana Scully
It wasn't accidental?
Jerry Lamana
It looks like an elaborate booby trap. We don't know a lot more. Building engineer just found him.
Dana Scully
Who's running the investigation?
Jerry Lamana
Do either of you know nancy spiller?
Dana Scully
The forensics instructor at the academy? We used to call her the iron maiden.
Jerry Lamana
On a good day. Well, anyway, she's putting together the squad and, well, I took the liberty of mentioning your name.
Fox Mulder
Look, jerry, I'd like to help you out but we're not on general assignment.
Jerry Lamana
Because of the x files. Look, the truth is I could use a little help on this. I don't want to drop the ball on this one.
Fox Mulder
You won't drop the ball.
Jerry Lamana
Drake wasn't just a c.e.o. Of a fortune 500 company. He was a good friend of the attorney general's. A feather in my cap would be nice. The one I got looks mangy.
Fox Mulder
Yeah, but, jerry...
Jerry Lamana
Look, I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important.
EURISKO WORLD HEADQUARTERS
Dana Scully
Damn.
Dana Scully
How come you two went your separate ways?
Fox Mulder
I'm a pain in the ass to work with.
Dana Scully
Seriously.
Fox Mulder
I'm not a pain in the ass? We had different career goals. Jerry wanted the fifth floor.
Dana Scully
And you?
Fox Mulder
I was gunning for a basement office with no heat or windows.
Dana Scully
I know where you ended up. What about jerry?
Fox Mulder
He had bad luck in atlanta working hate crimes.
Dana Scully
What kind of bad luck?
Fox Mulder
He misplaced a piece of evidence. Sent it to the cleaners. By the time he got it back, a federal judge had lost both his hands and his right eye.
( elevator bell pings )
Dana Scully
Twenty-nine? Uh-huh.
Elevator
Going up.
Dana Scully
Must be for the visually impaired.
Fox Mulder
How do you like that? A politically correct elevator.
Elevator
Third floor... Fourth floor...
Fox Mulder
You okay?
Dana Scully
Yeah. What was that?
( beeping )
( ringing )
Security Guard
Yes? Hello? Security. Who's this?
Dana Scully
This is agent Dana Scully.
Security Guard
Is there a problem?
Elevator Voice
Fifth floor...
Dana Scully
Uh, actually, I think everything's okay.
Elevator Voice
...ninth floor tenth floor, 11th floor...
( beeping )
DRAKE'S EXECUTIVE BATHROOM
Jerry Lamana
Someone tampered with the servo. They switched the ground to the negative so that when he put the key in the lock...
Dana Scully
...he completed the circuit.
Jerry Lamana
It's fused. It takes a lot of juice to melt a steel key.
Dana Scully
And to throw a 180-pound man ten feet.
Fox Mulder
Could the servo switch have been moved manually?
Jerry Lamana
We didn't find any prints in the surrounding area.
Peterson
Sure, it could have been, but whoever did it would have had to override the c.o.s.
Peterson
The central operating system. It regulates everything from energy output to the volume of water in each toilet flush.
Jerry Lamana
Claude peterson, building systems engineer. He discovered the body.
Fox Mulder
What if somebody wanted to override the c.o.s.?
Peterson
He'd have to break the access codes which wouldn't be easy.
Fox Mulder
We need a list of people with that know-how.
Peterson
It will be a short list.
Fox Mulder
Would you be on it?
Peterson
Me? Yeah. Hey, look I'm just a glorified building super. I just monitor the system, make sure it's functioning, like when I saw the overload in mr. Drake's office.
Fox Mulder
Does the c.o.s. Monitor all phone calls?
Peterson
Yes, it does. Why?
Fox Mulder
I was just wondering.
Peterson
Okay, um, look, can I go now? Okay.
Jerry Lamana
Why did you ask him about the phones?
Fox Mulder
Phone's off the hook. Maybe drake was talking to somebody right before he did his ben franklin impersonation.
Jerry Lamana
Taught him everything he knows.
( knocking )
FBI HEADQURTERS
Fox Mulder
Come in.
Dana Scully
It's past 3:00.
Fox Mulder
I'm just looking for my profile notes.
Dana Scully
Maybe if you cleaned your desk more than once a year.
Fox Mulder
They were right here, I'm telling you.
Dana Scully
Come on. We're late.
CONFERENCE ROOM
Jerry Lamana
There are a couple elements for us to consider here. Both the statistical rarity of homicidal electrocution and the complexity of the crime indicate a certain devious premeditation. After all, there are much simpler ways of killing someone. All of which leads me to believe that our guy was some kind of sociopathic game player-- maybe even a recluse, since he designed a trap not only to avoid detection
Dana Scully
Is that your profile?
Fox Mulder
Forget it, huh?
Jerry Lamana
Drake's final phone call supports this theory.
COS Computer
At the tone, eastern standard time will be 7:35 p.m.
Jerry Lamana
Drake's estimated time of death.
Agent Spiller
Why would drake call for the time before he died?
Jerry Lamana
It was an incoming call. From somewhere in the eurisko building itself. Whoever set the trap wanted to make sure that drake took the bait.
Agent Spiller
Excellent work, agent lamana.
Jerry Lamana
Thank you.
FBI BUILDING
Fox Mulder
Jerry, what the hell are you doing?
Jerry Lamana
Hey, don't get all bent out of shape.
Fox Mulder
Jerry, that was my profile.
Jerry Lamana
Look, I didn't think you'd mind. Anyway, they were just notes. I filled in the blanks.
Fox Mulder
Jerry, you went into my office and you stole my work.
Jerry Lamana
Look, you're on this case 'cause I asked you to help me out and you helped me out. What is the big deal?
Dana Scully
What did he say?
Fox Mulder
He apologized in his own way.
Dana Scully
I just got off the phone with peterson, the systems engineer.
Fox Mulder
One name? Brad wilczek?
Dana Scully
He said it would be a short list. It's headline news this guy despised drake.
Fox Mulder
That seems too obvious. To kill drake would be so brazenly egomaniacal.
Dana Scully
And fully consistent with jerry's excellent behavioral profile.
Fox Mulder
Fully.
WILCZEK'S COUNTRY CLUB HOUSE
Fox Mulder
This is what a 220 I.q. And a $400 million severance settlement buys you.
Wilczek
Yes?
Dana Scully
Brad wilczek? We're with the FBI
Wilczek
What took you guys so long? Oh, do you mind taking off your shoes? You can divide the computer science industry into two types of people-- neat and scruffy.
Dana Scully
I take it benjamin drake fit into the first category.
Wilczek
Neat people like things neat. They wear nicely pressed suits and work on surface phenomena-- things they can understand-- market shares and third quarter profits.
Dana Scully
And you had a different vision for the company?
Wilczek
I started eurisko out of my parents' garage. I was 22, just spent a year following around the grateful dead. You know what eurisko means?
Fox Mulder
That's from the greek, isn't it? "I learn things."
Wilczek
Not exactly. It means "I discover things." unfortunately, ben drake wasn't interested in discovery. He was a shortsighted, power-hungry opportunist. Let me show you the smart home. From this prototype, I have access to every square foot of my house. It's as safe as fort knox and as energy efficient as your average igloo. We were two years ahead of microsoft and cebus when drake, in his infinite wisdom, killed the program.
Fox Mulder
Is this system related to the one in your building?
Wilczek
Variation on a theme.
Fox Mulder
How many people know the system well enough to override it?
Wilczek
Finally, the bonus question. Not many is the answer.
Fox Mulder
Could someone have hacked into the system?
Wilczek
Well, not your average phone freak, that's for sure. But there's plenty of kooks out there. Data travelers, electro-wizards techno-anarchists. Anything's possible.
Dana Scully
Could you have done it?
Wilczek
Of course. I designed the system. That's why you guys are here, isn't it? I'm your logical suspect.
Dana Scully
You don't seem too worried.
Wilczek
It's a puzzle, ms. Scully and scruffy minds like me like puzzles. We enjoy walking down unpredictable avenues of thought turning new corners-- but as a general rule scruffy minds don't commit murder.
SCULLY'S APARTMENT
Dana Scully
Some see genius as the ability to connect the unconnected--
Dana Scully (voice-over)
To make juxtapositions to see relationships where others cannot. Is brad wilczek a genius? I don't know. But I do know this for certain. He has a predilection for elaborate game playing. He has an intimate knowledge of the eurisko building and he has a demonstrable motive for killing benjamin drake. The question remains. But if he's so clever, how do we nail him? End of field journal, october 24, 1993.
( computer beeps )
( modem connecting )
COS Computer
File opened.
Brad Wilczek (recorded)
I knew that eurisko would expand effectively not by traditional western structures but by employing certain zen beliefs and other eastern philosophies...
( tape rewinding )
Brad Wilczek (recorded)
...and other eastern philosophies...
( rewinding )
Brad Wilczek (recorded)
...eastern philosoph...
( rewinding )
Brad Wilczek (recorded)
...eastern...
( door creaking )
X-FILES OFFICE
Brad Wilczek (recorded)
From the outset
Fox Mulder
Will you give me a second?
Jerry Lamana
Look, I'm here with my hat in my hand. I'm sorry. What more can I say?
Fox Mulder
All you had to do was ask. I would have helped you.
Jerry Lamana
You don't know what it's like, Mulder.
Fox Mulder
What what's like?
Jerry Lamana
You heard about atlanta? I'm on six months probation. I got to file daily reports like some new agent.
Fox Mulder
That was bad luck. That could have happened to anybody.
Jerry Lamana
Not to you.
Fox Mulder
Don't run yourself down, jerry. You're a good agent. We did good work together...
Jerry Lamana
Let's face it. I was tagging along.
Fox Mulder
That's not how it was.
Jerry Lamana
How would you know? You were busy dazzling them on the high wire.
Dana Scully
Mulder, take a look. We borrowed this from the voice biometrics lab at georgetown. It's a computer spectrogram capable of identifying individual speech patterns. This is the recording the central operating system made of the phone call drake received just before he died.
Recording
At the tone, eastern standard time will be 7:35 p.m.
Dana Scully
And this we spliced together from a series of lectures brad wilczek gave at the smithsonian last year.
Recording 2
( distorted: ) at the tone, eastern standard time will be 7:35 p.m.
Dana Scully
Now we'll stack them.
Recorded Voices
( both voices: ) at the tone, eastern standard time will be 7:35 p.m.
Jerry Lamana
You're saying it's the same person?
Fox Mulder
I'm saying that both voices are brad wilczek's. He may have disguised his voice but he couldn't alter his speech patterns.
Dana Scully
Which means that he was the one that killed drake. He had the motive and the means. And now we have the physical evidence. Judge benson lives in washington heights. I can get a warrant in less than an hour.
Jerry Lamana
Someone has to watch wilczek.
Fox Mulder
I'll go with you.
Jerry Lamana
No. Let me bring him in alone. I need this one, Mulder.
Fox Mulder
All right.
( computer keys clicking )
WILCZEK'S HOUSE
Wilczek
Come on, come on, let me in. Damn!
( engine starting )
( engine starting )
EURISKO BUILDING
Guard
Mr. Wilczek!
Elevator
Going up. Second floor, third floor, fourth...
Guard
Can I help you?
COS Computer
Welcome back, brad.
Wilczek
You're not equipped with a voice synthesizer. What is my user level?
COS Computer
That is now at the discretion of the operating system.
Elevator Voice
Going up. Second floor, third floor, fourth floor fifth floor, sixth floor, seventh floor, eighth floor ninth floor, tenth floor 11th floor, 12th floor, 14th floor 15th floor, 16th floor...
Jerry Lamana
What the hell? What are you doing?
COS Computer
Sorry. Those commands are not available at your current user level. Try again.
Elevator Voice
...23rd floor, 24th floor...
Jerry Lamana
What are you doing?!
COS Computer
What are you doing?!
Elevator Voice
...27th floor... ...28th floor 29th floor 30th floor. 29-30, 29-30, 29-30, 29-30 29-30, 29-30, 29-30, 29-30 29-30, 29-30, 29-30, 29-30 29-30, 29-30, 29-30, 29-30 29-30, 29-30, 29-30, 29-30 29-30, 29-30, 29-30, 29-30.
Jerry Lamana
Oh, man.
Elevator Voice
Going down.
Wilczek
No! Don't do this!
COS Computer
Program executed.
X-FILES OFFICE
Dana Scully
I heard about jerry. I'm sorry.
Fox Mulder
I don't think wilczek did it.
Dana Scully
What?
Fox Mulder
It doesn't make sense. Why would he go back to eurisko?
Dana Scully
To destroy evidence, to cover his tracks.
Fox Mulder
If you were going to destroy evidence would you pose for the cameras?
Dana Scully
Mulder... You've been through a lot-- more than I think even you realize.
Fox Mulder
I think wilczek is smarter than this.
Dana Scully
He just signed a confession. How much proof do you need?
Fox Mulder
This is a crime scene.
WILCZEK'S HOUSE
Fox Mulder
Please leave. I know. I ordered the subpoena. That subpoena's been obviated. What are you talking about? Unless you've got a code five clearance I'm going to have to ask you to turn back.
PARK BENCH
Fox Mulder
Thanks for coming.
Deep Throat
I'm here against my better judgment. In the future, I must insist that you respect the terms of our arrangement.
Fox Mulder
I need to know why brad wilczek is the subject of a code five investigation-- what the defense department wants with him.
Deep Throat
What do you think they'd want with the most innovative programmer in this hemisphere?
Fox Mulder
Software.
Deep Throat
For years, wilczek has thumbed his nose at any contract involving weapons applications. He's a bleeding heart.
Fox Mulder
What kind of software?
Deep Throat
How much do you know about artificial intelligence?
Fox Mulder
I thought it was only theoretical.
Deep Throat
It was, until two years ago. Do you remember helsinki-- the first time a chess-playing computer beat a grand master?-- that was wilczek's program. And the rumor was that he did it by developing the first adaptive network.
Fox Mulder
An adaptive network?
Deep Throat
It's a learning machine-- a computer that actually thinks. And it's, uh, become something of a holy grail for some of our more acquisitive colleagues in the department of defense.
FEDERAL DETENTION CENTER
Wilczek
They make me wear shoes all the time. What else do you want from me?
Fox Mulder
Tell me why you're willing to spend your life in prison for a crime you didn't commit.
Wilczek
What are you talking about? I'm guilty.
Fox Mulder
I know you're innocent. You're protecting a machine-- the central operating system at eurisko.
Wilczek
If I'm protecting anything, it's not the machine.
Fox Mulder
Then what?
Wilczek
After the bomb was dropped on hiroshima and nagasaki robert oppenheimer spent the rest of his life regretting he'd ever glimpsed an atom.
Fox Mulder
But he never denied responsibility for them.
Wilczek
He loved the work, mr. Mulder. His mistake was in sharing it with an immoral government. I won't make the same mistake.
Fox Mulder
But your machine killed drake. And it killed my friend.
Wilczek
I'm sorry about what happened, but there's nothing I can do.
Fox Mulder
And you talk about morality. You're afraid of the government but you'll risk that your machine will kill again.
Wilczek
The lesser of two evils.
Fox Mulder
What about a third option? You created that machine. Now you tell me how to destroy it.
OUTSIDE FBI BUILDING
Fox Mulder
Wilczek can create a virus that will destroy the system.
Dana Scully
Blaming the machine is an alibi-- a bad one.
Fox Mulder
It's the only thing that makes sense. The c.o.s. Project was posting big losses for eurisko. Drake was about to terminate the program.
Dana Scully
So the machine killed drake out of self-defense?
Fox Mulder
Self-preservation. It's the primary instinct of all sentient beings.
Dana Scully
That level of artificial intelligence is decades away from being realized.
Fox Mulder
Then why was our government trying to usurp wilczek's research?
Dana Scully
Mulder, I think you're looking for something that isn't there and I think it has something to do with jerry. Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea if you talked to someone.
Fox Mulder
You're probably right.
Dana Scully
Where are you going?
Fox Mulder
To talk to someone.
FEDERAL DETENTION CENTER
Fox Mulder
How much time do you need?
( ringing )
( whirring mechanical sound )
SCULLY'S BEDROOM
Dana Scully
Oh, my god...
( dialing )
Dana Scully
This is special agent Dana Scully ID number 2317-616. I need you to run a quick trace on a number for me. Yeah. 202-555-6431. Yeah. That's my number. Somebody's accessing my computer.
OUTSIDE EURISKO BUILDING
Dana Scully
Mulder.
Fox Mulder
Scully, what are you doing here?
Dana Scully
Someone or something's been scanning my computer files tapping my phones. I traced the line. It came from somewhere in there.
Fox Mulder
It's the machine.
Dana Scully
How can we get in?
Fox Mulder
Remember the trojan horse? Open sesame. Oh, what the..?
Dana Scully
Mulder!
Fox Mulder
Horn blaring )
( blaring stops )
Fox Mulder
So much for the element of surprise. What do you say we take the stairs?
STAIRWELL
Fox Mulder
28 down, one to go.
Dana Scully
Oh, great. Mulder?
Fox Mulder
Trick or treat. No. Don't.
Dana Scully
What are you doing?
Fox Mulder
I don't want to make the mistake drake made.
( beeping )
Fox Mulder
Damn. What are you looking at? There should be a way for you to drop down and open the door. Come on, Scully.
( buzzer )
Fox Mulder
Scully?
Peterson
Agent Mulder? What are you doing here?
( air rushing )
( coughing )
( screams )
Peterson
The machine's been acting all crazy. Power surges, shut-offs. That's why I'm here so late.
Fox Mulder
Where's the b port?
Peterson
Oh, it's right back here. Look, are you sure you know what you're doing? Because if you don't, it's my job on the line.
Fox Mulder
Damn!
COS Computer
System access granted. User code, level seven.
Fox Mulder
Now I can put in the virus.
Peterson
Not bad, agent Mulder. I've been trying to access the c.p.u. For the past two years. Now, please, take out your gun and remove the clip. Careful.
Fox Mulder
Defense department?
Peterson
Let's just say our paychecks are signed by the same person. Now give me the diskette and step away from the console. You don't want to test my resolve, agent Mulder.
Dana Scully
Put down the gun.
Peterson
Look, you may think you know what you're dealing with...
Dana Scully
Shut up and drop the gun.
Peterson
You're making a mistake, agent Scully. Compromising your sworn duty. This operation is more sensitive than you can possibly imagine.
Fox Mulder
Don't listen to him.
Peterson
The technology in this machine is of enormous scientific interest.
Fox Mulder
It's killed two people. They won't be able to handle it any better than wilczek.
Peterson
Make no mistake... You will be held accountable.
Dana Scully
Mulder, put in the disk.
COS Computer
What are you doing, brad? Don't do this, brad.
( speaking gibberish )
COS Computer
Brad... Brad... Brad... Why?
PARK
Fox Mulder
I talked with congressman klevenaugh and the department of corrections subcommittee. I even petitioned the attorney general's office.
Deep Throat
You won't find him.
Fox Mulder
They can't just take a man like brad wilczek without an explanation.
Deep Throat
They can do anything they want.
Fox Mulder
Where is he?
Deep Throat
In the middle of what we in the trade call "hard bargaining."
Fox Mulder
Wilczek won't deal. He'll never work for them.
Deep Throat
Loss of freedom does funny things to a man and remember, wilczek confessed to two murders, and you effectively destroyed the only evidence that could have exonerated him.
Fox Mulder
What else could I have done?
Deep Throat
Nothing... Unless you were willing to let the technology survive.
Fox Mulder
The department of defense still hasn't found anything?
Deep Throat
They've been on it for five days. Wilczek's virus was thorough. It left no trace of the artificial intelligence. The machine is dead.
DOD LAB
Tech
What's the c.o.s.?
Peterson
FBI
Peterson
Oh, my god.
Peterson
We've pushed the pulse code modulations to the limit. Nothing. We've combed the parsing subroutine. Yes, sir. Twice. No, sir, still nothing, but I'd like to request... Yes, sir. No, I understand. Yes, sir. Well... Six more hours before we have to consign the whole damn thing to the metal shredder.
Tech
We'll do what we can, sir.
Peterson
I'm going to figure this thing out if it kills me.
No matching dialogue
Try another character, phrase, or keyword.
About this transcript
The dialogue comes from the official DVD subtitle track supplied by Boggsfiles. Speaker and scene attribution was cross-checked against character-labelled reference material. Subtitle wording is preserved while capitalization and spacing are standardized for easier reading.