Richter
We're not... Who... We are. We're not... Who we are. It goes no further than this. It stops right here... Right now.
Season 1 · Episode 8
Ice
Character-labelled dialogue prepared from the official DVD subtitle track.
Production code1X07Original airdate · November 5, 1993
288 dialogue entries
ARCTIC ICE CORE PROJECT · ICY CAPE, ALASKA ·
(metal clattering)
(gunshots)
FBI HEADQUARTERS
Richter
Team captain john richter here. It's been a couple of frustrating months but after a great deal of stick-with-it-ness we're proud to report that as of a half an hour ago we surpassed the previous record for drilling down into an ice sheet.
All
All right!
Fox Mulder
This team of scientists made up the arctic ice core project. They were sent to alaska by the government's advanced research project agency nearly a year ago to drill into the arctic ice. The samples they removed contained trapped gases, dust, chemicals-- evidence that could reveal the structure of the earth's climate back to the dawn of man. Their work was a success, nearly completed. No reports or indications of problems of any kind until only a week later this next transmission was received.
Richter
We're not... Who... We are. We're not... Who we are. It goes no further than this. It stops... Right here... Right now.
(groan)
Dana Scully
What happened up there?
Fox Mulder
Nobody's been able to reach the compound because of bad weather. Obviously they think we're either brilliant or expendable because we've pulled the assignment.
Dana Scully
Is it severe isolation distress?
Fox Mulder
These were top geophysicists. They were trained and screened for this project in every way imaginable, including psychological makeup. We leave for nome today. We'll meet up with three scientists familiar with the project and then head north up to the icy cape. The national weather service reports a three-day window to get in and get out before the next arctic storm. Bring your mittens.
DOOLITTLE AIRFIELD · NOME, ALASKA
Radio
Fouts looks over the raiders' defense.
Radio Announcer
Here's the snap. Raiders blitz. Fouts dumps it across the middle to winslow. He's at the 15! 10! Touchdown san diego!
Murphy
Touchdown! Fouts is god! Sorry. My team scored.
Dana Scully
There's no football on wednesday.
Fox Mulder
Fouts retired in '87, didn't he?
Murphy
This is some of my all-time favorite plays on tape. You two FBI?
Fox Mulder
Agent Mulder, agent Scully. And you?
Murphy
Danny murphy. Professor of geology, u.c. San diego.
Fox Mulder
You get much of a chance to study ice down there?
Murphy
Just what's around the keg.
Dana Scully
Dr. Dasilva? Dr. Hodge? Agent Scully, agent Mulder.
Fox Mulder
Nice to meet you.
Hodge
How you doing? Can I see some identification?
Fox Mulder
What for?
Hodge
I just want to make sure we are who we say we are.
Murphy
It's me.
Hodge
It's you.
Hodge
It's me. Thanks a lot. Appreciate it.
Fox Mulder
It's you.
Hodge
Well, now that we know who we are anybody care to take a guess as to why we're going?
Murphy
Two agents, a geologist, a medical doctor and a toxicologist. That should give us some idea.
Dana Scully
I assume you all took a look at the tape.
Fox Mulder
Something wrong?
Nancy Da Silva
Come on. You're FBI you have to know more than we do.
Bear
You folks the ones going up to icy cape?
Fox Mulder
Yeah.
Bear
Then I'm flying you. My name is bear. The plane's across the way. Provisions are loaded. Grab your gear.
Hodge
Oh, could we see some credentials?
Bear
Credentials. The only credentials I have don't like those credentials... Walk.
ARCTIC ICE CORE PROJECT · ICY CAPE, ALASKA
Hodge
It's me. It's you.
Fox Mulder
Bear... See if you can get the power started.
Bear
Anything to get out of here.
Dana Scully
Where do we start?
Hodge
Body bags are on the plane.
Fox Mulder
Before we touch anything we have to thoroughly document the scene.
Dana Scully
Flashing.
Fox Mulder
That's what they were drilling for. Quarter of a million years melting away in a couple of days.
Murphy
I want to preserve some samples.
(rumbling)
Fox Mulder
It's the generator.
Nancy Da Silva
Oh. Agent Mulder...
(screaming)
(barking)
Bear
Hold on.
(groans)
Hodge
Hold it down.
Dana Scully
That will keep him out for awhile. You okay?
Fox Mulder
Yeah, he didn't break the skin. Bear, you okay?
Bear
He got me.
Hodge
Get that jacket off.
Bear
Give me the stuff. I'll do it myself.
Nancy Da Silva
Is it rabies?
Hodge
I don't see any indications. If it is rabies it's certainly not a strain I'm familiar with.
Dana Scully
Look at this. Black nodules. Swollen lymph nodes.
Nancy Da Silva
Symptoms of bubonic plague.
Hodge
I'll do a blood test. We'll take it from there.
Dana Scully
This dog has got a skin irritation on its neck.
Murphy
It looks like it's been scratching off its own hair.
Dana Scully
Look at this. Look at this!
Murphy
What the hell was that?
(groans)
Dana Scully
From the autopsies it's clear these men killed one another. There are contusions around the throat areas of three men-- evidence of strangulation. Richter and campbell killed themselves. I also found tissue damage due to fever.
Bear
Did any of them have the black spots the dog has?
Dana Scully
No. None of them had the black nodules.
Bear
So, uh, those spots didn't have anything to do with those guys killing each other, right?
Hodge
I wouldn't rule it out. I just reexamined the dog. The nodules are gone.
Fox Mulder
What could that mean?
Hodge
It could mean that the spots are a symptom of some disease at an early stage.
Fox Mulder
Danny? Danny. Danny.
Murphy
Sorry. The play-off game against miami, '82. Helps to get my mind off stuff.
Fox Mulder
My interpretation of satellite remote sensing photos is a little rusty.
Murphy
All right, this is the icy cape area. It approximates the depth of the ice sheet to be about 3,000 meters thick.
Fox Mulder
I also found this data and if I'm reading it correctly the team actually found the ice sheet to be twice that depth.
Murphy
That's very good. The numbers indicate the topography to be concave. Looks like they were drilling inside a meteor crater.
Hodge
No, you're wrong.
Dana Scully
I analyzed two samples.
Fox Mulder
What did you find?
Dana Scully
There's a presence of ammonium hydroxide in richter's blood sample.
Hodge
It's not possible. Ammonia would vaporize at human body temperature.
Nancy Da Silva
I checked all the air filtration systems. I found no evidence of any such toxins.
Murphy
I have. In the ice, and that's not all there is. I found a high ratio of ammonia to water in the ice core. The earth's atmosphere could never have produced such levels even a quarter of a million years ago. Look in the scope.
Fox Mulder
Unless a foreign object was introduced into that environment.
Murphy
Tell me that's not a foreign object.
Fox Mulder
Scully.
Dana Scully
That same thing is in richter's blood. What if that single-celled organism is the larval stage of a larger animal?
Hodge
That's kind of a leap, don't you think?
Dana Scully
The evidence is there.
Murphy
Maybe the organism in the ice core somehow got into the men.
Nancy Da Silva
Come on. Nothing can survive in sub-zero temperatures for a quarter million years.
Fox Mulder
Unless that's how it lives.
Bear
Why are you squabbling over some bug? You said it yourself, Scully. Your autopsy found those men killed each other. That's it. Let's just get the hell out of here.
Hodge
I agree. We'll send the bodies to a facility where they can make a definitive diagnosis in the event that something was missed, agent Scully.
Fox Mulder
If those bodies are infected we can't take them back. We can't go back without proper quarantine procedures. We can't risk bringing back the next plague.
Bear
Let's say they came down with something. We haven't, and I ain't waiting around until we do.
Hodge
I think it's safe to go back. There's no reason why we'd be infected. We took the necessary safeguards.
Nancy Da Silva
The dog did bite bear.
Bear
It jumped Mulder!
Dana Scully
There's only one way to proceed. A doctor eliminates every possibility.
Hodge
All right. Parasitic diagnostic procedure requires that each of us provide a blood and a stool sample.
Bear
A stool sample?
Murphy
This kind of travel always makes that tough... For me.
Fox Mulder
Anybody got the morning sports section handy?
Bear
I ain't dropping my cargo for no one. What I'm doing is getting my gear, my plane and flying the hell out of here.
Fox Mulder
You can't go. The dog bit you.
Bear
I got hired to fly you up here and fly you back. No one said this might be part of the deal. So the deal is over.
Dana Scully
We can't let him leave without being checked.
Nancy Da Silva
Who's going to stop him?
Fox Mulder
We have to. We can't risk infecting the population.
Nancy Da Silva
If he gets on that plane, I will too.
Dana Scully
There's no time to argue.
Fox Mulder
Take a vote. Who believes we should confine bear until he agrees to an examination? All right. Bear, we just want to check you out. If we don't find any trace of the parasite or the virus we'll all go.
Bear
All right. Give me the damn jar.
Fox Mulder
Murphy, get a rope.
(bear grunting)
(groaning)
Nancy Da Silva
Oh, my god!
(groaning)
Nancy Da Silva
Oh!
Hodge
Get my bag.
Dana Scully
What are you gonna do?
Hodge
Cutting it out.
Fox Mulder
We know nothing about it.
Hodge
It's killing him. Scully, help me hold the skin. Hold still, bear.
(screaming)
Hodge
Forceps.
(moaning)
Hodge
Hold still, bear. Just another second. You're going to be okay.
(groaning)
(agonized moaning)
Fox Mulder
This is the a.I.c.p. Investigative team calling doolittle airfield. Come in.
Radio
D.a.f. Responding.
Fox Mulder
This is agent Mulder. We have a serious biological hazard. Request air pickup and quarantine procedures. Come in, doolittle airfield.
Radio
We copy. This area is under a heavy storm. No aircraft can get out for the next day. Maybe the military base in kotzebue can set up a quarantine. Advise immediate evacuation. The storm is bearing in your direction.
Fox Mulder
We were told we'd have three clear days of weather.
Radio
Welcome to the top of the world, sir.
Fox Mulder
Is bear in any condition to fly? If we don't get out of here in an hour we don't get out for days.
Dana Scully
He's dead.
Hodge
It's similar to a tapeworm in that it has a scolex with suckers and hooks.
Murphy
You can deal with it?
Nancy Da Silva
What?
Hodge
No. Very different from any organism-- at least that I know of.
Fox Mulder
Have you figured out how it's transmitted yet?
Hodge
Exchange of fluids, touch, air, all of the above? I don't know.
Dana Scully
All the other dead bodies had the creature. This is the only one that's still alive.
Fox Mulder
Were they all in the spine?
Dana Scully
No. It appears they were in the hypothalamus gland deep in the brain.
Murphy
Hypothalamus. What was that again?
Dana Scully
It's a gland that secretes hormones although I don't know why a parasite would want to attach to it.
Hodge
Hypothalamus releases acetylcholine which is what produces violent, aggressive behavior. That might be a connection. Everybody that's been infected certainly seems to act aggressively. Maybe the worm feeds on acetylcholine which floods our capacity to control violent behavior.
Dana Scully
A parasite shouldn't want to kill its host.
Hodge
It doesn't kill you until it's extracted. Then it releases a poison.
Fox Mulder
You're saying it's possible the worm makes you want to kill other people which is maybe what happened to the first team.
Nancy Da Silva
Or what could happen to us.
Hodge
It's just a theory. We don't have definite proof.
Murphy
Except five dead men.
Dana Scully
If the worm makes people violently aggressive then why did richter and campbell kill themselves?
Fox Mulder
Maybe they did it to save us.
Dana Scully
I'm just, uh... Double-checking. Making sure I didn't miss anything.
Fox Mulder
Just some sleep, right?
Dana Scully
Sleep. I'm so tired, I can't sleep.
Fox Mulder
We're all wired and hypersensitive. It will be good to get a fresh start in the morning.
Dana Scully
I don't want to waste a second finding a way to kill this thing.
Fox Mulder
I don't know if we should kill it. This area of the ice sheet is formed over a meteor crater. The worm lives in ammonia. It survives sub-zero temperatures. Theorists in alternative life designs believe in ammonia-supported life systems on planets with freezing...
Dana Scully
No.
Fox Mulder
The meteor that crashed here may have carried that type of life to earth.
Dana Scully
Mulder, that pilot developed surface symptoms within a few minutes. Within a few hours that parasite had total control. What would happen if this got into the population? A city the size of new york could be infected within a few days.
Fox Mulder
Exactly. But what do we know about it? This organism might be lying dormant in another crater.
Dana Scully
If we don't kill it now, we run the risk of becoming richter and campbell with guns to our heads.
Fox Mulder
If we kill it, we won't know how to stop anything like it in the future.
Dana Scully
Future!
(indistinct arguing)
Nancy Da Silva
Tell me it's hot in here.
Hodge
Don't worry. You don't have a fever. Heating system's malfunctioning. Outside, it's 40 below, and in here it's sweltering.
Nancy Da Silva
Can you hear what they're arguing about?
Hodge
They're probably discussing their little government secrets.
Nancy Da Silva
You think they knew what was here before we arrived?
Hodge
I'm sure of it.
Dana Scully
...biological hazard.
Hodge
You know, bear's infected blood did get on Scully.
Nancy Da Silva
It also got on you.
Fox Mulder
How do you know it can't be contained?
Dana Scully
It can! By extermination. We should take those bodies-- worms and all-- outside and incinerate them.
Hodge
Something going on we should know about? Agent Scully, you all right?
Dana Scully
Yes, I'm fine. It's nothing.
Hodge
You seem a little stressed out.
Dana Scully
What the hell are you saying?
Fox Mulder
Let's all settle down. It's been a hard day. We're all tired and scared. Let's not turn on one another.
Hodge
At least not without a good reason.
Fox Mulder
We should all get some sleep.
Hodge
You kidding? You think any of us could sleep right now? Guys, let's face it-- we got to check for spots. Any person or persons who has them should be confined. Are we agreed on that?
Nancy Da Silva
Are you going to do the exams?
Dana Scully
No. We do them in front of each other. No secrets.
Fox Mulder
Before anyone passes judgement, may I remind you we are in the arctic.
Hodge
Sleep tight. Don't let the bedbugs bite.
Nancy Da Silva
Yeah. Good night.
Dana Scully
Good night, Mulder.
Fox Mulder
Good night, Scully.
Dana Scully
At least everyone's okay.
Fox Mulder
Don't forget. The spots on the dog went away.
Radio Announcer
Ball on the three-yard line. Fourth and goal with only 15 seconds left in the game. He moves over the ball. Here's the snap. He goes over...
(gasps)
(door closes)
(barking)
(dripping)
Dana Scully
Mulder, what are you doing?
Fox Mulder
Murphy's dead.
Hodge
You killed him.
Fox Mulder
I found him like this. I heard one of the doors close. I came out to check it out. It was one of you.
Nancy Da Silva
You could have done it and not known.
Dana Scully
He said he didn't.
Fox Mulder
I have no symptoms.
Dana Scully
You checked him.
Hodge
Six hours ago.
Fox Mulder
It was one of you.
Dana Scully
Stop it! Shut up! Put the gun down and let hodge give you a blood test.
Fox Mulder
He'll doctor the results. I won't let him stick a needle in me.
Hodge
He has to be confined now.
Dana Scully
Turn around and let us take a look at your neck.
Fox Mulder
I'm not turning my back on anyone. As far as I'm concerned, you're all infected!
Nancy Da Silva
Hodge is right. We ought to lock him up.
Dana Scully
Mulder...
Fox Mulder
Scully, get that gun off me.
Dana Scully
You have to understand.
Fox Mulder
Put it down!
Dana Scully
You first!
Fox Mulder
Scully! For god's sakes, it's me.
Dana Scully
Mulder, you may not be who you are.
Fox Mulder
In here I'll be safer than you.
(gasping)
Hodge
What were you doing?
Dana Scully
You know what I was doing.
Hodge
I can't help thinking, agent Scully you're the only one with a gun. If you get infected, we don't stand a chance, do we? Okay.
Nancy Da Silva
Was there something there?
Hodge
You're okay, nancy. We're all okay. Now is not the time for the three of us to break down and turn on each other.
Dana Scully
There's four of us.
Hodge
Mulder isn't one of us.
Dana Scully
If Mulder is infected, it's not his fault. We can't turn our backs on him now. He needs us to help him.
Nancy Da Silva
She's right. Who knows what prolonged exposure to the parasite could do? It could damage him to the point of permanent psychosis.
Hodge
If he is infected, he doesn't go back. I won't risk the possibilities.
Dana Scully
This is a.I.c.p. Calling doolittle airfield. Please come in.
(static)
Dana Scully
This is the arctic ice corps project sending a general distress call. Please respond.
(static)
Hodge
Nancy, put a drop of the uninfected blood on the slide of the blood drawn from the pilot.
Nancy Da Silva
Run that by me again.
Hodge
Put the uninfected blood on the infected blood. No! Damn it! What did I just tell you? You infected already infected blood. We have to start over again.
Nancy Da Silva
I made a mistake. Don't yell at me.
Hodge
Wasted hours of work.
Nancy Da Silva
Maybe you should do it by yourself! Damn it! I'm not your assistant!
Dana Scully
Hodge.
Hodge
What?
Dana Scully
Come take a look at this. The larvae from two different worms killed each other. An individual worm will not tolerate another invading its host. It does to the invader what it did to humans. It makes them kill.
Hodge
But the species needs another to procreate.
Nancy Da Silva
Worms are hermaphroditic. It can reproduce itself.
Dana Scully
Look at the evidence in the microscope. This thing does not like company.
Hodge
What are you saying? The way to kill it is to introduce another worm into an already infected body?
(whining)
Hodge
It sounds okay. It passed the worms in its stool. They're dead.
Dana Scully
I want to talk to him first. Try and make this voluntary.
Nancy Da Silva
What?
Hodge
You can't go in alone.
Dana Scully
If anything happens, you come inside. I can't do this to him until I'm sure.
(door opening)
Fox Mulder
It's just you?
Dana Scully
Yes.
Fox Mulder
It's one of them. So?
Dana Scully
We found a way to kill it. Two worms in one host will kill each other.
Fox Mulder
You give me one worm, you'll infect me.
Dana Scully
If that's true then why didn't you let us inspect you?
Fox Mulder
I would have, but you pulled a gun on me. Now I don't trust them. I want to trust you.
Dana Scully
Okay. But now they're not here.
Nancy Da Silva
This is the last one. She's not going to let us give it to him.
Hodge
Well, she'll have to if he's infected.
Nancy Da Silva
He'll convince her somehow.
Dana Scully
I just examined him. He's uninfected.
Fox Mulder
So is she.
Dana Scully
Which means that it must be one of you.
Hodge
All right. Let's go over to the main building. I'd like to check him myself. Then he can examine both of us. You want to lead the way?
Fox Mulder
No!
Hodge
Get the worm.
Hodge
Oh, my god.
(screaming)
Hodge
It's her!
Nancy Da Silva
No! No!
Fox Mulder
Scully! It's dasilva.
(screaming hysterically)
Nancy Da Silva
No!
Dana Scully
Hodge! Now! Mulder. After this, there won't be any left. They're all going to be dead!
Fox Mulder
Do it!
(dasilva screaming)
Nancy Da Silva
No! Shh, shh. No!
(moaning)
Dana Scully
It's all right. It's all over. It all stops right here. Right now.
DOOLITTLE AIRFIELD · NOME, ALASKA
Fox Mulder
Don't!
Nancy Da Silva
Shh, shh. Shh, shh.
Medical Crew
Okay, lock her down.
Hodge
She's being put in quarantine along with the dog. We'll keep her there until we're sure she won't infect the rest of the population. Our tests came back normal, so we've been released. Plane ready. It will take you as far from the ice as you want to go.
Fox Mulder
I'm going back to the site. This time I'm going fully prepared with proper equipment. There's a lot of research to be done on the genetic structure on its origins...
Hodge
Mulder, don't you know?
Fox Mulder
Know what?
Hodge
45 minutes after they evacuated us they torched the place. There's nothing left.
Dana Scully
Who did that?
Hodge
The military... The center for disease control... You ought to know. They're your people.
Fox Mulder
It's still there, Scully. 200,000 years down. In the ice.
Dana Scully
Leave it there.
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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.