Angela
[ woman groans ] I've got mosquito bites. I've got blisters. I hate those new boots.
Season 6 · Episode 21
Field Trip
Character-labelled dialogue prepared from the official DVD subtitle track.
Production code6ABX21Original airdate · May 9, 1999
273 dialogue entries
Scene 01
Scene 01
Wallace
Honey. Why are you so p.o.'d? I thought we had a good time.
Angela
You had a good time. You had a fine time... Tromping around and leaving me a half a mile behind. For future reference, me running through the woods after you for an entire day... Is not my idea of a good time.
Wallace
I'm sorry. I've got longer legs. I was excited, you know-- the great outdoors, communing with nature. Your head hurt?
Angela
Yeah.
Wallace
You can hit me in the head with a rock if it'll make you feel better.
Angela
Fine. Go get one. I'm taking a shower.
[ screaming ]
Wallace
You still mad at me?
Angela
No, I'm not mad.
Wallace
Come here. So, I guess we're never going hiking again. It's indoors forever from now on. Angie, honey, what's up?
Angela
Just hold me.
[ Mulder groans ]
Scene 02
FBI HEADQUARTERS
Fox Mulder
I don't know what they did with the screen for this thing. Now, this is Angela and Wallace Schiff. It's a young married couple last seen hiking in the vicinity of brown mountain, north carolina. That's angie on the right. I should add this is the condition in which their bodies were found... After being missing for only three days in temperatures that never got above 70 degrees.
Dana Scully
Which rules out decomposition. I'd say predation, but the bones would be scattered.
Fox Mulder
Not to mention that these skeletons are not wearing any clothes.
Dana Scully
Right. Well, I'd say it looks like a double murder, possibly one with ritualistic overtones. The bodies may have been stripped, then skeletonized, possibly by boiling, or by the use of some kind of acid solution. Maybe the arrangement of the bodies... Has some meaning for the killer or killers. But at any rate, I'd term it "ritualistic."
Fox Mulder
That's a pretty big operation you're describing. There was no evidence found at the scene-- no tire tracks, no footprints, nothing.
Dana Scully
Well, what do you think this is?
Fox Mulder
It's brown mountain, Scully. That doesn't ring a bell? The brown mountain lights? It's a famous atmospheric phenomenon dating back nearly 700 years... Witnessed by thousands of people-- back to the cherokee indians. Strange multicolored lights are seen to dance above the peak of the mountain. There's been no geological explanation, no scientifical credible explanation at all.
Dana Scully
And what does that have to do with these two?
Fox Mulder
As I said, there's been no scientific credible explanation, but there are those of us who believe that these strange multicolored lights are really--
Dana Scully
UFOs? Extraterrestrial visitors... From beyond who apparently have nothing better to do... Than buzz one mountain over and over again for 700 years?
Fox Mulder
Sounds like crap when you say it. I'm just wondering if there's a connection, Scully. The conditions of these bodies are reminiscent of southwestern cattle mutilations-- cases where there's no physical evidence, and they've been associated with UFO activity.
Dana Scully
Mulder, can't you just for once-- just for the novelty of it-- come up with the simplest explanation, the most logical one, instead of automatically... Jumping to UFOs or bigfoot or--
Fox Mulder
Scully, in six years, how-- how often have I been wrong? [ scoffs ] no, seriously. Every time I bring you a new case we go through this perfunctory dance. You tell me I'm not being scientifically rigorous and that I'm off my nut. And then in the end, who turns out to be right like 98.9% of the time? I just think I've... Earned the benefit of the doubt here.
Scene 03
BOONE COUNTY MORGUE
Coroner
We gave 'em adjoining suites. I was ready to send 'em on to chapel hill. Figured the state medical examiner should have a look at 'em.
Fox Mulder
We appreciate you holding off.
Dana Scully
The connective tissue is more or less intact.
Coroner
Unlike everything else. I'm not sure what to make of it, considering the short time frame.
Dana Scully
If you'll, um, pardon an obvious question, are you sure that these are the right two bodies... And not two others that have lain out for six months?
Coroner
We triple-checked the dental records. Angela and Wallace Schiff-- no doubt about it.
Fox Mulder
Hmm. And they were both found near brown mountain, right? Where exactly?
Coroner
I could write you some directions.
Dana Scully
Would you, uh, happen to know what this is?
Coroner
Well, the remains were found in a swampy area. It's some sort of organic material relating to that. It's bog sludge.
Fox Mulder
I'm gonna go check out where the bodies were found. You coming?
Dana Scully
No. You go ahead.
[ sighs ]
[ car approaching ]
Fox Mulder
Wallace Schiff? Wallace Schiff?
Coroner
We got your gas spectrometer results. That stuff on the bones I said was bog sludge? It isn't.
Dana Scully
Water, hydrochloric acid, electrolytes, pepsins and trypsins. It's a digestive secretion.
Coroner
It's stomach juices pretty much-- pretty damn close to it, except for this.
Dana Scully
Chitinase?
Coroner
It's a digestive enzyme as well, but it's strictly Plant, not animal.
Fox Mulder
Hello!
Coroner
I told you I'd seen this before. These are the two I remember anyway.
Dana Scully
Both of these were discovered as skeletal remains.
Coroner
Right, but we saw nothing odd in that. Both were lost hikers found months or years later, or whatever it says there.
Dana Scully
Says here that the bodies were found not far from where Angela and Walter Schiff turned up.
[ line ringing ]
Dana Scully
Oh, Mulder, answer your phone.
Recording
The cellular customer you are trying--
Dana Scully
Do me a favor. I want you to forward a sample of that secretion... Over to the FBI lab at quantico. I want them to run a complete analysis.
Coroner
You got it.
Dana Scully
And, uh, in the meantime, can I borrow your truck?
[ rustling ]
Wallace
Please. Don't take me.
Fox Mulder
Come out here. Step closer. I won't hurt you.
Wallace
You're not one of them?
Fox Mulder
One of who? Are you Wallace Schiff? Well, I hate to tell you this, Wallace, but you're supposed to be dead. They found your skeleton not 200 yards from here.
Wallace
It's fake. They put it there.
Fox Mulder
Who put it there?
Wallace
You know who.
Fox Mulder
The brown mountain lights.
Wallace
They abducted us-- me and my wife Angela. They took us on board their-- oh, god!
Fox Mulder
Wallace? Wallace? They found your wife Angela, too, lying right alongside your skeleton.
Wallace
No. Don't you get it? They faked our deaths! They have that kind of technology. Who would be looking for us if they thought they'd already found our bodies? You see? They returned me, but Angela, she's still up there... Being experimented on and I-I-I-I can't-- I don't know what to-- what do I do?
Dana Scully
Mulder?
Fox Mulder
First things first-- we got to find a way out of here.
Wallace
Right behind you.
Fox Mulder
What the hell's going on? That was solid rock a minute ago. Now there's nothing there.
Wallace
Oh, god. It's them. They're affecting your head. Maybe mine too. What if I can't even tell what's real?
Fox Mulder
Let's get out of here. Come on, Wallace.
Wallace
They're out there, man.
[ rumbling ]
Wallace
It's them!
Fox Mulder
Wallace!
[ rumbling continues ]
Dana Scully
Mulder? Mulder!
[ rumbling continues ]
Scene 04
Scene 04
Wallace
Don't let them see you!
[ rumbling stops ]
Fox Mulder
They're gone.
Wallace
Yeah, for now. Thank god they didn't find us.
Fox Mulder
They should have. Maybe they came for something else.
Wallace
Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Angie! They brought her back.
Fox Mulder
Angie, can you talk to me? Do you remember what happened? Can you tell me?
Angela
It's all fuzzy and--
Fox Mulder
You were with your husband-- with Wallace.
Angela
There was a light-- a bright light.
Fox Mulder
Where was that light coming from? From the mountain?
Angela
Over brown mountain. There were strange lights dancing over the peak and-- and they took me and Wallace too.
Fox Mulder
And then what happened?
Angela
Just... It all went black. And when I woke up, I didn't know where I was... And I couldn't see Wallace anymore.
Wallace
They returned me first.
Fox Mulder
This-- this place that they took you to, can you describe it to me, tell me what it looked like?
Angela
It was... White-- a white place. It was featureless. I was lying on a table... And I couldn't get up. I mean, nothing was holding me down, but I couldn't move.
Fox Mulder
Were there men there?
Angela
Yes, there were men... Standing over me, but I couldn't see their faces.
Fox Mulder
Did they perform tests on you?
Angela
Yes, they did tests-- terrible... Tests.
Fox Mulder
You have a-- you have a scar back here on the back of your neck.
Wallace
What? What scar?
Fox Mulder
It's fresh.
Wallace
What is that?
Fox Mulder
It's an implant. I've seen this before.
Angela
Yes. The drill-- I remember the drill. I-- I couldn't see it at first. That was the worst part. But I could hear it spinning... And it was coming out of the light-- what did they put in me?
Wallace
Is there one in me?
Fox Mulder
No. Male abductees don't usually report this. And everything she says is textbook down to the last detail, except for one.
Wallace
What?
Fox Mulder
Two skeletons identified as yours and angie's? I don't understand that. It doesn't make sense.
Wallace
Maybe they're like the cattle mutilations you hear about. Maybe they're part of their tests.
Fox Mulder
I had that thought. But there's no precedent. It's in none of the literature.
Wallace
Well, they didn't want anybody to find us. I guess they didn't want you to know the truth.
Fox Mulder
We got to get out of here right now.
Wallace
Oh, no way.
Angela
They're out there. They're always watching.
Wallace
If they find us, if we leave, they'll take us again.
Fox Mulder
We're leaving right now. Gather your things. Angie, I'll help you up.
Angela
They're coming. I can feel it.
[ rumbling ]
Angela
They're here!
Wallace
Hide! They'll take you too! We've got to hide!
Fox Mulder
No!
Wallace
No!
Scene 05
Scene 05
Fox Mulder
Scully.
Dana Scully
Mulder. Why the hell did you leave north carolina without telling me?
Fox Mulder
Long story.
Dana Scully
You disappear and then I get a furtive call that you're back here in D.C.?
Fox Mulder
I'm sorry. Does anybody know you're here?
Dana Scully
No.
Fox Mulder
Scully, this is--
Dana Scully
Angela and Wallace Schiff. But Mulder, it can't be.
Fox Mulder
This is my partner, agent Scully.
Dana Scully
Mulder, I ID'd their remains myself.
Fox Mulder
Yeah, I think you were meant to.
Angela
Agent Scully, the aliens planted decoys so you would think we were dead.
Dana Scully
The aliens?
Fox Mulder
Scully, I want you to... Put aside your scientific bias for a moment. 'cause what I'm about to tell you is gonna change your life forever-- your life, my life, the life of everybody on this planet.
Dana Scully
Mulder--
Fox Mulder
I was out there... And I found it.
Dana Scully
What?
Fox Mulder
The truth. This couple-- they were abducted by a UFO-- the brown mountain lights.
Angela
They took me to a white place. There were men there. They put an implant in my neck.
Fox Mulder
Just like what happened to you.
Dana Scully
Mulder, from what very little I understand about this case, this is not what happened to me.
Fox Mulder
There's more. It doesn't like the light.
Dana Scully
Who?
Fox Mulder
I abducted him. It's a gray. It speaks to me. We communicate telepathically. He told me everything.
Dana Scully
I-- I can hear him.
Fox Mulder
Yeah.
Dana Scully
Oh, my god! I, uh-- I don't know what to say, Mulder-- where to begin. I mean, you-- you were right. All these years, you were right.
Fox Mulder
You think so? [ sighs ]
Dana Scully
You were right about the grays, about-- about the abductions, about the UFOs, the lights, the brown mountain lights--
Fox Mulder
What about the skeletons?
Dana Scully
They were-- they were fake. They were decoys.
Fox Mulder
You're buying that decoy theory? What about that organic substance we found on the skeletons? That goo you were so interested in?
Dana Scully
It was nothing. It was bog sludge.
Fox Mulder
That, uh, doesn't sound like you, Scully. It, uh-- god, I can't believe you're buying this.
Dana Scully
Mulder, I'm admitting that I was wrong. Are-- are you all right?
[ water stops running ]
Dana Scully
How are you feeling? [ groans ]
Fox Mulder
This doesn't make any sense.
Dana Scully
What?
Fox Mulder
These two, their story, their skeletons, none of it.
Dana Scully
Mulder, if I, of all people, can believe this, then why can't you?
Scene 06
Scene 06
Coroner
Did you go inside the cave?
Dana Scully
Yeah, I looked. It's empty. It's as if he just vanished.
Coroner
He's got to be around. We'll catch up to him. I know this area pretty well.
Dana Scully
Doctor. It's more of that digestive material. Looks like it's coming up from out of the ground.
Coroner
Agent Scully? I got tracks going in and out.
Dana Scully
They were only going in before.
Coroner
I guess you missed him.
Dana Scully
How? I mean, this cave's not much more than a hole in the rock.
Coroner
Agent Scully?
[ door opens ]
Coroner
The courier just arrived. They brought your partner's charts. I'm sorry. I know it's difficult.
Dana Scully
That, um-- that digestive secretion that we keep finding, could it-- could it have done this to him?
Coroner
I'm not sure I follow.
Dana Scully
Well, it's-- it's chemically similar to gastric juices, right? I mean, maybe he fell in it or... Maybe it's a product of a particular vegetation that grows in the area.
Coroner
That... All sounds plausible, I guess, except for one thing. There's no sign of it on these remains.
Dana Scully
It was-- it was on the schiffs.
Coroner
I just think we need to look for the simplest explanation-- the most logical.
Dana Scully
What is the most logical explanation?
Coroner
I'd say we're looking at a murder-- one with ritualistic overtones. I think his body was stripped... And then skeletonized, possibly by boiling or use of an acid solution. Don't worry, agent. We'll take care of the arrangements.
Dana Scully
What arrangement?
Coroner
We'll have the remains sent on to washington.
Scene 07
Scene 07
Walter Skinner
I appreciate the thoroughness of your report, especially given the circumstances. It might be best if you took some time off-- a short leave. Agent?
Dana Scully
Sir? You're satisfied with my conclusions in this case?
Walter Skinner
Absolutely. I take it you're not. [ scoffs ]
Dana Scully
I was unable to determine a clear cause of death, nor was I able to fully account for the condition of agent Mulder's body.
Walter Skinner
You concluded he was a victim of a ritual killing.
Dana Scully
No. I mean that was one possible scenario that I mentioned, but in my mind it-- it was the least plausible.
Walter Skinner
Not only is it plausible, it's-- it's, uh-- it's likely. Why are you questioning your own findings?
Dana Scully
My role in the X-Files has always been to provide... A rational scientific perspective... To cases that would seem to defy explanation-- a counterpoint to agent Mulder.
Walter Skinner
And you have done that. You have performed admirably.
Dana Scully
Have I? How many X-Files has my scientific approach... Fully and satisfactorily explained?
Walter Skinner
Your reports have consistently made sense of his conclusions.
Dana Scully
Sir, this one makes no sense at all.
Walter Skinner
Are you suggesting this is anything other than a murder?
Dana Scully
That's what agent Mulder would have thought.
Walter Skinner
You think he would have been right? [ sighs ] given Mulder's life work, it's tempting to attribute his death to the paranormal-- the unexplained, the unknown-- but that's simply not the case here. You need to see this for what it is. And given that, I promise you we'll get the bastard who did this.
[ elevator bell dings ]
Scene 08
Scene 08
Walter Skinner
I'm sorry.
John Fitzgerald Byers
Agent Scully, how are you holding up?
Dana Scully
I, uh-- I still can't believe it.
Richard Langly
Neither can we. I half expect Mulder to come knocking at that door. "surprise."
Melvin Frohike
This will dull the pain.
Dana Scully
No, thank you.
John Fitzgerald Byers
Just so you know, we've launched our own investigation.
Dana Scully
I was beginning to think that I was the only one who was at all suspicious.
Melvin Frohike
We'll find him. We'll find him and we'll make him pay.
Dana Scully
Find who?
Melvin Frohike
The son of a bitch who killed Mulder.
John Fitzgerald Byers
I hope you're not offended, but we, uh, managed to get a hold of your report. I must say, we were impressed by the thoroughness of it.
Richard Langly
Especially given the circumstances.
Dana Scully
I don't understand.
John Fitzgerald Byers
We concur with your findings. Clearly, this was a ritualistic murder.
Dana Scully
Those were not my findings. You guys believe that, too-- that Mulder was murdered?
Richard Langly
It's the obvious answer.
Dana Scully
No, it is not the obvious answer!
John Fitzgerald Byers
We believe his body was stripped, then skeletonized, possibly by boiling... Or the use of an acid solution.
Melvin Frohike
We'll make that monkey pay.
Dana Scully
What the hell is wrong with everybody? You guys, there are unanswered questions here! Am I the only one that's asking them?
Melvin Frohike
I could use a drink.
Dana Scully
You three, of all people, should be all over this, not buying the party line. Something else is going on here. Am I the only one who thinks that?
[ exasperated sigh ]
John Fitzgerald Byers
Are you all right?
Walter Skinner
I think you need to go home and get some rest. I'll call you a cab.
Dana Scully
What have you done with him?
Walter Skinner
Scully, you're emotionally distraught. You need to calm down and get some rest.
Dana Scully
Where is Mulder? What have you done with him?
Walter Skinner
Listen to me. He's gone. You need to accept that.
Dana Scully
Something else is going on here! Where is he? Where's Mulder?
[ knocking at door ]
[ knocking continues ]
Fox Mulder
Scully.
Scene 09
Scene 09
Fox Mulder
We were in the cave when the light came. It was a blinding... Blue-white light. And then they took me. I was abducted. I found myself in some kind of medical bay. It was white, featureless. It was just as the schiffs had described it.
Dana Scully
Mulder, the schiffs are dead.
Fox Mulder
No, actually, they're not.
Dana Scully
Mulder, their remains were discovered in a field. That's-- that's what brought us to this case in the first place. I found your remains in that same field.
Fox Mulder
Look at me. I'm here.
Dana Scully
How did you get here?
Fox Mulder
Aliens brought me back here.
Dana Scully
From north carolina direct to your apartment door? Mulder, you don't remember getting here, do you? Neither do I.
Fox Mulder
It doesn't change what happened.
Dana Scully
Mulder, why did you knock? This is your apartment. And you don't seem the least bit surprised to find me here. And what about the schiffs? I mean, if they're-- if they're alive, as you say, then-- then where are they-- where'd they go? Mulder, five minutes ago... This room was filled with people attending your wake.
Fox Mulder
Well, what can I say, Scully? I'm here. I'm real.
Dana Scully
Mulder, this is not reality. This is a hallucination. It has to be. And either I am having it or you are having it or we are having it together.
Fox Mulder
Brought on by what?
Dana Scully
Something that we found in that field, Mulder, because that's where it began. Wild mushroom. Wild mushrooms, Mulder. They were growing there. I stepped on one and it gave off spores. Several varieties of mushrooms are known for their hallucinogenic properties. If we inhaled it--
Fox Mulder
Whatever happened to the most logical explanation?
Dana Scully
This is it, Mulder. What if we're still there-- if we're still in that cave in north carolina? That we're not here in this apartment right now?
Fox Mulder
Whoa, Scully.
Dana Scully
Mulder, bear with me. I think this is making sense. I think that Angela and Wallace Schiff... Were digested by that substance that I found all over that field. That they were dissolved and then expelled up out of the ground. What if that substance... And this hallucinogen are from one and the same organism?
Fox Mulder
A giant mushroom?
Dana Scully
A giant fungal organism, Mulder. We already know that they exist. Biologists have found specimens that range dozens of acres... That weigh hundreds of tons. And what if this one needs to feed on living tissue? There is carnivorous Plant life. There's the venus flytrap and the pitcher Plant. Mulder, what if this one puts off a hallucinogen--
Fox Mulder
To lure its prey into the cave?
Dana Scully
To make it complacent-- to keep it still while it devours it.
[ gasps ]
Dana Scully
What if we're still underground, Mulder? What if we're moving deeper into the cave, or being moved? Mulder, what if we're being digested? Right now.
[ coughing ]
Scene 10
Scene 10
Walter Skinner
The exact size of this organism has yet to be determined?
Dana Scully
That's correct, sir. We know that the organism extends for at least ten acres. Though it's mostly subterranean, so it may be far larger.
Fox Mulder
We've contacted fish and wildlife. We've contacted the north carolina state health department... As well as the local FBI field office in raleigh. And we've contacted a mycologist at the smithsonian for good measure. We think we have our bases covered.
Dana Scully
The lab results determined that the spores we were exposed to... Have a chemical structure similar to l.s.d. They also contain an alkaloid which induces a state of narcosis.
Walter Skinner
It's a rare day when the two of you sign off on the same report. Agent Mulder?
Fox Mulder
I'm just thinking. Uh, I'm not exactly clear on how we escaped.
Walter Skinner
What's not clear?
Fox Mulder
Once you recognized we were under a chemical influence, then it simply kind of... Broke its spell?
Dana Scully
That's right.
Fox Mulder
Scully, how could we simply... Will ourselves out of a chemical hallucination?
Dana Scully
Well, the fact remains we did.
Fox Mulder
Did we? Can you name me one drug that loses its effect once the user realizes it's in his system?
Walter Skinner
I assume the effects wore off to the point you were able to make your escape.
Fox Mulder
How long were we underground-- hours, half a day? How come our bodies don't show effects of being burned by the digestive fluids? We were covered in hydrochloric acid, yet look at our skin. Nothing.
Walter Skinner
Agent Mulder, where are you going with this?
Fox Mulder
Scully, we never escaped. We're still trapped underground.
Dana Scully
Mulder, we did escape. I think you're suffering from post-traumatic stress.
Fox Mulder
No, I'm not. This is not real. You-- you're not real.
Dana Scully
[ scoffs ] Mulder, I--
Fox Mulder
I'll prove it, Scully. I'll prove it.
Dana Scully
Mulder!
[ liquid dripping ]
Walter Skinner
Over here!
[ men shouting ]
Unidentified speaker
Hey!
Walter Skinner
Rescue, over here!
Agent
He's alive.
Walter Skinner
Hurry up! Get him out! Get him out! Keep digging! She's down here! Pull her up. Get her out!
Dana Scully
Mushroom.
Agent
We found it. Just take it easy, agent.
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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.