Come on. Move around towards shore.
[Scully] Get down!
Get down Stay down!
You're gonna keep breathing. Do you hear me?
[ Grunting ]
I'll be right back.
Back away. Back aw—
[Sirens Blaring]
I need an EMT in here now.
Car 39 requesting EMT.
Come on, now. Let her through. Let her through.
- Okay. - Help me with this table. Give her some room.
We've got paramedics on the way. You're going to the hospital.
You're going to be okay.
We still haven't celebrated my birthday, Pendrill.
I'm not going to let you off the hook like this.
Let 'em through. Let 'em through, please.
This man has a puncture wound to his right lung. He needs to be intubated immediately.
You got it.
He's an FBI agent, and he's not gonna die.
Sit down.
I'm sorry.
How did they know?
When you talked to your girlfriend, what did you say?
- Did you tell her you were in D.C.? - No.
Then there's someone inside.
- [Man]... three, lift. - [Indistinct]
- What happened? Who shot Pendrill? - I don't know.
I got a call about a federal witness being transferred.
It's Sergeant Louis Frish. He was the intended target.
There was supposed to be a federal marshal here...
to put the sergeant into protective custody.
- That order was countermanded. - By whom?
- Louis Frish is being put under military arrest. - Military arrest?
For suspicion of murder and providing false testimony in a federal investigation.
He has testimony that is damaging to the military.
His life is in danger. He is not going anywhere.
The order to arrest this man came out of the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
who have also issued a recommendation on Agent Mulder.
For what?
Agent Mulder's also been put under military arrest...
on charges of interference with a military investigation...
into a crash of a commercial airliner.
The military is responsible for the downing of that plane.
They are admitting as much.
Sergeant Frish's story is not the one they're telling.
What is their story?
I have a responsibility for the safety of the agents under my supervision.
I'm not going to put another agent's life in jeopardy...
just to keep her out in the field.
I'm fine.
I suggest you make sure of that when you go to the hospital with Agent Pendrill.
- I came to talk to you. - About what?
A big ol' misunderstanding?
According to the military, there was no misunderstanding.
So all of the sudden they just decide to take responsibility...
for the crash of Flight 549?
They had no choice. Not in light of all the facts that have come out.
Facts? Have you heard their cover story:
that the control tower gave bad coordinates to a fighter pilot...
causing it to collide with Flight 549 over military airspace?
They allowed me to listen to the recordings.
If you believe in the coordinates that Sergeant Frish...
gave to the fighter pilot...
were the exact path that549 was on.
Now, they would indicate that Sergeant Frish and his co-controller...
could not have seen Flight 549 in the airspace until it was too late.
So they're saying the tower put those jets on a collision course.
Yes. And that they were the only two aircraft on the radar screen.
Realizing his guilt, Sergeant Frish's fellow officer put a gun to his head.
According to the air force, Sergeant Frish lied to save himself.
When he found out that his fellow officer committed suicide,
he came to us to blame the military.
That's why they pursued him, to bring him to justice.
And they could conveniently lay the blame on a dead man.
Yes.
This, uh, second plane,
they say it's a military fighter?
It was an F-15 Eagle, according to an air force spokesman.
You believe that story, Scully?
I don't know what to believe.
Do you believe I got this from an F-15 Eagle?
Those look like radiation burns. Where did you get that?
At the second crash site...
in about 50 feet of water at the bottom of Sacandaga Lake.
- You found it? - Mm-hmm. I followed a trail of bubbles...
down to a wreckage that didn't look like anything that might take off from an air force base.
What was it?
What collided with Flight 549 was a UFO...
shot down by the military, taking the passenger plane right along with it.
Except it can't be proven.
- Why not? - Because they haven't been able to find any physical evidence...
that Flight 549 was involved in a collision.
- According to who? - Mike Malar, the I.I.C., the man running the investigation.
- How do you know he's not lying? - I don't.
He seems to be the one man who truly wants to figure out what downed that plane,
and who came to me with information he had no reason to share.
What information?
He found Sharon Graffia wandering in a daze at the crash site...
the night we left after seeing lights over the area.
- Max Fennig's sister. - That's another thing, Mulder.
- She's not Max Fennig's sister. - Well, who is she?
She's an unemployed aeronautical engineer...
who spent time in and out of mental institutions.
That's where she met Max.
- Why would she lie? - I don't know.
All I know is that this plane seems to be killing people...
as it sits there on the ground.
Mulder, Agent Pendrill is dead.
- How? - Shot in an attempt on Sergeant Frish in Washington.
He saved his life, Mulder, and maybe mine.
All right, Scully. Scully?
Mulder, what are these people dying for?
- Is it for the truth or for the lies? - It's gotta be for the truth.
If we owe them anything, it's to make sure of that.
Excuse me, sir. Max Fennig?
- He's over there. - Thank you.
Remember this place?
I remember being amazed at what some people will call home.
You have to admit, the man had an enduring sense of style.
- Only Max Fennig and you would appreciate living like this. - [Laughs]
♪ Unmarked helicopters ♪
♪ Hovering ♪
I think you were actually kindred spirits in some deep, strange way.
What do you mean?
Men with Spartan lives, simple in their creature comforts,
if only to allow for the complexity of their passions.
Mm, beans and weenies.
What exactly are we looking for here, Mulder?
Something to explain what Max was doing on that plane.
What he was coming to show me or tell me.
What makes you think that he was coming to see you?
Max is the key to all this.
He knew that plane was in danger even before it took off,
before it entered military airspace.
Now, how would he know that,
and what would be worth taking that risk?
Hi. Max here,
but of course.
This is, uh, well, quite obviously my story,
since I'm telling it.
Anyway, um, for those of you who know me already...
this is going to be ancient history, but for the rest of you this is—
well, what can I say— the story of my life.
All I ever wanted in life was to be left alone.
[ Scoffs ] Don't we all.
Uh, so just my luck that I'd eventually become an alien abductee.
Now I'm never alone. Any minute when I'm least expecting it—
And the worst part is no one believes you.
Oh, well, almost no one.
So, I've devoted my life to providing all you disbelievers with proof.
Proof that there are extraterrestrial, biological entities right now...
visiting our planet in alien ships for purposes of a troubling agenda...
known only to certain members of government, the FBI...
and certain high-ranking members of the military industrial community...
who have recovered some of these very craft.
Not that they'd ever admit to it publicly, of course.
Nor would they admit that they have salvaged some of this alien technology...
and are using it in military applications.
No, that would be un-American. And they won't admit it until...
someone confronts them with irrefutable, undeniable proof.
Some one like me.
And, uh, I should probably mention that I do this...
at great risk to my own health and safety.
But hey, when every day's just another day,
you're gonna get kidnapped by a bunch of little gray dudes from outer space,
what's a few CIA spooks to worry about?
[Man] Careful.
[ Gagging ]
- [ Gasps ] - We found it.
[Man] Ladies and gentlemen,
recovery and identification of the deceased victims in Flight549...
is at 76%.
Which is far better than anticipated,
given the kind of destruction that we've all seen.
We've got a total of nearly 3,000 man-hours logged already...
in this first wave of investigation.
And I wish I could tell you folks that we've come up with something more concrete.
But the evidence...
just doesn't support anything more conclusive...
than the air force's assertion that the cause of this crash...
was a midair collision or a catastrophic near-miss.
I'm gonna ask you all to wrap up your reports tonight.
And then I want you to go home to your families.
You've done a good and thorough job here.
You'll be in touch with me or someone from the N.T.S.B. on anything further.
I just wanted to thank you all personally. Thank you.
[ Quiet Chatter]
I'd wondered what happened to you.
- I'd put in a call. - You had something you wanted to tell us?
No. Just— Just wanted to touch base.
Thank you for your help in leading us to the fact of the military's involvement.
I think the facts are still a matter of speculation, Mr. Malar.
Listening to what you just said, I think you do too.
The military's public claim of fault for the collision...
and their covert actions to promote that claim have raised some suspicions.
Suspicions? Of what?
That the story the military is now promoting...
is a convenience deflection and cover-up.
- Of what? - Agent Scully and I agree on some of the motives,
but not exactly on the facts.
- Do you have facts that I don't? - No, but I do have a story...
if you're willing to hear it.
Feel free to tell me it's bull, as Agent Scully has,
but I think it's as believable as any story I've heard.
At least it's the only one that can't be refuted by the facts.
All right.
There was one man who knew what brought this plane down.
And he knew it even before he got on the plane, but he got on anyway.
He sat right here in this seat, 13-F.
His name was Max Fennig.
There are a number of possibilities for Max's suspicions,
but I believe Max had been followed for some time before he boarded Flight 549.
And I believe he was followed onto this plane...
by someone who wanted whatever it is Max had carried onboard with him.
The object that ultimately brought down this plane,
the cause which has alluded you.
And what was this object?
Physical proof of the existence of extraterrestrial life and intelligence.
The person who followed Max on the plane...
may have been prepared to kill to obtain this object.
Its value greater than one human life,
greater than the lives of the 134people on that plane.
Whether that plan was executed, we may never know.
Because Flight549 was intercepted by a second aircraft,
an aircraft which did not appear on the military's or anyone else's radar screen.
What the hell is this?
Max Fennig knew immediately what this craft was,
and that he would not be completing the rest of the flight as scheduled.
[Woman, Screaming]
Max would have recognized immediately all the signs of an abduction scenario:;
the craft taking control of the plane and all its systems,
preparing to take Max.
But something happened.
- Something went terribly wrong. Something unimaginable. - Okay.
A third aircraft, probably an F-15 Eagle,
was given the coordinates for Flight 549.
- Heading one-zero-zero and two-niner thousand feet. - Go ahead.
The flight controllers watched the fighter enter...
Flight549'sairspace on an intercept pattern,
not knowing what they had set in motion.
No way of knowing there was a third craft which was not on their screen.
Not knowing that for the next nine minutes, time would standstill on Flight549.
- [ Controls Beeping ] - I've got something. An intercept.
My God! My God! Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!
[ Passengers Screaming ]
[ Clicks ]
You're saying the man who was sitting in seat 13-F was abducted, mid-flight,
without any depressurization of the cabin,
without any effect on the plane?
If not for factors unforeseen, I believe Max Fennig would have been abducted...
and returned to Flight 549 without any loss of life,
without a trace.
Then what happened?
Flight549andthealien craft which had taken control fit...
were intercepted...
by the military fighter which had been given a specific set of orders:;
to take down the UFO.
The missing nine minutes aboardFlight549,
nine minutes that would have been erased from the memories...
of the 134passengers onboard,
would prove to be the final minutes of their lives.
[passengers Screaming]
[ Indistinct Shouting ]
You're saying, in effect, that Flight 549...
was in a group of a sort of UFO tractor beam?
That's a Hollywood term, but yes.
And the air force shot down the UFO,
thereby sending 549 out of control when the beam went off?
Yes.
Well, where I come from, that's what we call a whopper.
Even if it were true,
I could never in a million years sell that to Washington, and neither could you.
Not without the object that Max Fennig was carrying.
Look, I-I had the same reaction to the story as you,
but there is one logical area that has yet to be explained.
That is that the seats and the door...
did show traces of radioactivity.
Now, you found nothing in the wreckage, no source of any emitter?
I did find something.
I think you should look at it.
After you'd found the first traces, I had my team see of they could...
link the radioactivity to a cause.
They found no other evidence.
Except for this.
- That's it? - That's all there was.
I'm gonna have to make my final report. I'll include this.
- But not as a causal factor. - It's a good story.
Maybe you can sell it to the movies.
- Mulder, I don't know what else you expect him to do. - Yeah, I know.
Look, it is a good story, but it's a house of cards built on a shaky foundation.
You may never know what Max was carrying.
And we may never know who killed Agent Pendrill.
If we don't find out, what meaning do their deaths have or their lives?
Max will be remembered as a...
disappointing rummage sale or some kook on a home video.
- Where do we even start? - How about Sharon Graffia?
She's a disturbed person, Mulder. She wasn't even who she claimed to be.
Yeah, but she knew Max well enough for him to write her thousands of letters.
Well enough for him to call her and tell her he was gonna die.
Do you know where she is?
In a mental institution.
- I'd go with ya, but I'm afraid they'd lock me up. - Me too.
####[Rock]
♪ Unmarked helicopters hovering ♪
- ####[Continues] - [Man]Hello.
Are you a friend of Max's?
♪ [ Stops ] - No. My name is, uh, Mulder. I'm with the FBI.
- You're kiddin', right? - No. Why?
Well, I manage the park.
I know Max had some weird friends.
And I don't believe the FBI sends men out 'cause somebody trashed a trailer.
Any idea who did this?
Uh, no. Is Max in trouble or something?
No. Max is dead. He died in a plane crash a few days ago.
Oh, Lord. I am sorry to hear that.
Uh, did he ever mention why he would leave or where he would go?
No, but he disappeared sometimes.
Had stories.
- You're sure that's not what happened to him? - Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure.
Have you any idea who's going to be taking care of his estate?
- Where I should forward his mail? - Oh, he has mail?
Yeah, small stack of it.
I'll run and get it, if you want it.
Please.
Here you go.
Sure feel sorry about Max.
So do l.
- Sharon? - Hello.
How are you feeling?
You up to answering some questions?
I'm not Max's sister.
I know.
We're not quite sure why you lied to us though, Sharon.
Or what else you might be lying about.
- Doesn't matter anymore. - Yes, it does.
about what he was carrying on that plane, it could matter a lot.
- To who? - To Max.
- I can't. - Why not?
Because I could be in big, big trouble.
Max had those same blisters.
You both were exposed to something, Sharon.
What was it?
It was something I stole.
From whom?
Max was trying to find physical evidence to prove the stories about his abductions were true.
You worked as an aeronautical systems engineer.
You stole something from your employer, didn't you, Sharon?
Something radioactive.
Only because I believed in Max.
What was it?
Max said it was alien technology.
It was three interlocking parts.
We divided into sections. I had one part.
Max had another on board that flight.
But they were taken from us.
There was a third part. What happened to it?
I left a bag here.
- Big bag, little bag? - Short bag, tall bag.
I don't remember. Little bag, I think.
He's at the baggage claim.
Is this it?
I'm a federal officer. I need a security entrance to the terminal.
Right this way.
- Tell me, is your wife going to be with you? - No, I'm going alone.
[Cell phone Ringing]
Mulder.
Mulder, it's me. Where are you?
I'm at the airport in Syracuse, New York.
Whatever it is that Max had, I have it now.
- How did you find it? - Luck.
What you're carrying was stolen from a military contractor, Cummins Aerospace.
- Well, what is it? - I don't know.
I'm going to let you know in a minute.
It is extremely important that you do not take it out of its container.
What's that? I'm having trouble hearing you on the phone.
- Did you hear what I said? - No. Hold on. I'm going to tell you what it looks like.
No, no, no. Mulder, listen to me. Do not handle it.
Whatever it is, it is highly radioactive.
Hold on a second.
- [ Static ] - Mulder?
[ Beeping ]
It looks like a small superstructure...
with three circular pieces inside.
It's hard to tell on an X ray. Hold on.
I think what we've got here, Mulder, is high tech industrial espionage.
More people are trying to get their hands on this thing than a Tickle Me Elmo doll.
- I'm getting on a flight. - What flight number?
I think it's 501.
Yeah. I'm gonna need a ride when I get there.
I don't think that will be a problem, Mulder.
Thanks.
Excuse me.
You look like you've got some room here. Do you mind?
No. Go ahead.
Didn't mean to disturb you.
It's all right.
You traveling by yourself?
Do you live in D.C.?
There's a weapon pointed at you right now.
I'm pretty sure at this range it wouldn't just hit you in the leg.
If you so much as raise your arms off your armrest, I'm gonna test that theory.
- What if you miss? - I won't.
Do you know what happens when a plane...
suddenly depressurizes at 30,000 feet, Mr. Mulder?
After the cabin fills with fog, all light objects, anything not tied down—
and including your weapon— go flying toward the breach.
The pretty lady comes around with the honey-roasted peanuts?
Presuming the pilot is even able to keep control of the plane,
I put on a lightweight parachute I just stowed in the overhead bin...
and go out the emergency exit...
with the knapsack you're holding.
What if the pilot can't get control of the plane? Then you die too.
A man, if he's any man at all, knows he must be ready to sacrifice himself...
to that which is greater than he.
I'm sure all the other passengers on this plane...
would appreciate dying for your noble philosophy.
Look out your window, Agent Mulder. You see the lights?
Now, imagine if one of those lights flickered off.
You'd hardly notice, would you?
A dozen, two dozen lights extinguished.
Is it worth sacrificing the future,
the lives of millions, to keep a few lights on?
What is this?
Stolen property.
It's an alien energy source, isn't it?
What is it, cold fusion, over-unity energy?
What could be worth killing all those passengers on Flight 549?
The cause of that crash has been determined as human error.
And I'm gonna see you pay for that error,
along with you and your employer and the government that finances its contracts.
Now, I want you to stand up very slowly and move to the back of the plane.
We're gonna go to the bathroom.
Move.
[Cell phone Ringing]
- [ Beeps ] - Scully.
- Hey, Scully. It's me. - Mulder, where are you?
I'm standing outside an airplane bathroom...
where I've got the man who shot Pendrill locked up.
- What? - It looks like I'm gonna miss the in-flight movie.
It was something starring Steve Guttenberg.
Mulder, did you get on the flight that you said you were getting on?
Yeah. Everything's going according to plan.
I think you should alert Skinner anyway.
I don't want to take any chances getting this guy off the plane.
- I don't think you do either. - Right.
- Hey, Scully. My watch just stopped. - Yeah?
What? Mulder? Mulder?
Excuse me. I'm a federal agent.
I want you to listen to me very carefully. This plane is about to be intercepted.
- Intercepted? - Intercepted, engaged and boarded.
I want you to tell the captain to initiate evasive maneuvers immediately.
put the bag down!
[ Passengers Screaming ]
Put it down on the floor.
[ All Screaming ]
Drop the bag!
Drop the bag. Drop it!
Hey, let it go!
Let it go!
Mulder, where is he?
He's not here.
What do you mean?
You said you had him on this plane. You said you had what Max Fennig had.
The stolen part.
What time do you have?
10:56.
Would you like to tell me what's going on here, Agent Mulder?
I don't think you want to know the answer.
- [ Sighs ] - Is this man on the plane?
I think he got the connecting flight.
[Max] But nobody ever finds out about it.
There are scientists in Finland right now who say they have detected antigravity...
over the surface of a spinning superconducting disk.
Technology that is supposedly 20 or 30 years down the road,
like over-unity energy.
Um, massless displacement current from cold fusion we need for space travel.
I know, thanks to my inside sources,
that this technology, in fact, exists.
I've seen military aircraft that use it hovering right over my trailer.
Why is the U.S. Government keeping all this a secret?
I intend to expose these facts to the people.
I mean, I'm just one man.
These tapes, you don't mind if I keep them?
No. I think you should consider yourself the sole curator...
of the Max Fennig Rolling Multimedia Library and Archive.
You should probably get tax-exempt status as soon as you can.
This stuff could be worth something someday.
I wanna thank you for helping me out, for all you've done.
Max would have wanted it that way.
You lost somebody very close to you.
So did you.
You thinking about Pendrill?
I realized I didn't even know his first name.
I actually was thinking about, uh,
this gift that you gave me for my birthday.
You never got to tell me why you gave it to me or what it means.
But I think I know.
I think that you appreciated that there are extraordinary men and women...
and extraordinary moments...
when history leaps forward on the backs of these individuals.
That what can be imagined can be achieved.
That you must dare to dream.
But that there's no substitute for perseverance and hard work...
and teamwork.
Because no one gets there alone.
And that while we commemorate the-the greatness of these events...
and the individuals who achieve them,
we cannot forget the sacrifice of those...
who make these achievements and leaps possible.
I just thought it was a pretty cool key chain.