Original subtitles

As soon as we're in position, we'll be on a count of five.

Excuse me. That's my house.

Okay, let her through.

What's going on?

- Stand by. Mrs. Budahas? - Yeah.

Your husband has violated base security procedure.

He's commandeered a military vehicle,

is believed to be armed.

- Team one moving in. - Oh, my God.

You've got to let me talk to him.

What the hell?

We got him, but he's going to need a doctor.

Or something.

Hi. I got your message.

Sorry for the runaround.

Can I buy you a drink?

It's 2:00 in the afternoon, Agent Mulder.

That's not stopping the rest of these people.

I got something to show you.

Something you couldn't show me at work?

Let's get a table.

Okay.

That's Colonel Robert Budahas.

That photo was taken last year

when he was a test pilot for the military

stationed at Ellens Air Base in southwest Idaho.

Four months ago, Colonel Budahas experienced a psychotic episode

and barricaded himself in his home.

The military police were called in.

Budahas was removed and apparently hospitalized

for the treatment of his condition.

Which was what exactly?

The military will not comment

on the cause, nature or status.

In fact, the military will not comment

- on Colonel Budahas at all. - What do you mean?

Mrs. Budahas has neither seen nor heard from her husband

in over four months.

Her inquiries to the military have gone unanswered.

Last month, she contacted the FBI

and reported it as a kidnapping.

What reason would the military have to kidnap

one of their own pilots?

That's the $64,000 question, Scully.

Since 1963, six pilots have been listed

missing in action from Ellens Air Base.

The military will say

only that these pilots accepted the risks

of flying experimental aircraft.

Yeah, there are rumors those pilots were

shot down at high altitudes while they were routinely

penetrating Russian airspace.

There were other rumors, too.

I've been tracking this case

since it came through the Boise regional office last month.

Last week, for reasons I can't figure out,

it was deprioritized.

They shelved this case without

an investigation, Scully.

So...

So you and I are going to the Spud State

to investigate a little kidnapping.

I don't get it, Mulder.

Does this have something to do with an X File?

I thought you only liked those paranormal-type cases.

Am I missing something here?

Let's just say this case has a... distinct smell to it.

A certain

paranormal bouquet.

Excuse me.

Leave this case alone, Agent Mulder.

What?

The military will not tolerate an FBI investigation.

Who are you?

I, uh... can be of help to you.

I've had a certain interest

in your work.

Sorry.

How do you know about my work?

Let's just say that I'm a position to know

quite a lot of things...

things about our government.

Who are you?

Who do you work for?

It's unimportant.

I came here to give you some valuable advice.

You are exposing yourself and Agent Scully

to unnecessary risk.

I advise you to drop the case.

I can't do that.

You have much work to do, Agent Mulder.

Don't jeopardize the future of your own efforts.

You okay, Mulder?

Yeah. I'm fine.

Hello.

- Mulder... - Yeah.

I checked on that file you gave me.

Uh-huh.

You failed to tell me a few things.

This isn't some UFO goose chase you're leading me on, is it?

Are you there, Mulder?

Yeah.

Did you hear what I said?

Because the Bureau has it out for us already

and it would make us appear pretty stupid

if my field report read like some tabloid story.

Uh, listen, I don't want to talk about it on this line.

I'll talk to you about it on the flight out, okay?

Hello?

Mrs. Budahas?

Yes.

We're from the FBI.

Oh, yes.

Please, come in.

I started noticing it about two years ago.

Bob developed this rash under his arms.

We'd been doing some renovations on the house

so we thought it was a reaction to the paint stripper,

but then everything just went crazy.

How do you mean?

Bob's whole personality...

it was so unpredictable.

He started doing things...

What kinds of things?

It was kind of embarrassing at first.

We were having this dinner party once and, um,

he sprinkled Tetra Meal D all over his food.

Hm...?

That's fish food flakes.

You ever talk to him about this?

I tried.

It was extremely difficult.

Bob would get so angry, he'd...

yell at the kids for no reason.

And then, and then he would shake

like he was having a seizure.

Did he ever talk about his work?

It was never discussed, even before the problems.

I knew that he worked on top secret projects...

word gets around...

but Bob was always

a patriot first.

He took loyalty to his country as an oath,

and now they treat us like strange...

I just want my husband back.

You know the government is not above the law.

They cannot withhold information.

And-and then I think...

well, what if he's...?

How would I support the family?

You said word gets around.

I'm sorry, um...

Have you ever heard of this happening to anyone else?

Um... yeah.

Verla McLennen's husband... he went kind of crazy.

But it's not like he didn't get to come home.

How long has he been...?

Almost two years.

The fly-fishing idea was his brother Hank's.

I was upset, at first,

but when you're the wife of a test pilot,

you thank God just to have him home alive.

Mrs. McLennen?

Has anyone ever offered to explain what caused this?

Stress, I guess.

You have to understand...

the military deals with things in a certain way.

They've given him plenty of therapy and treatment

and I'm thankful for that.

They've taken good care of us.

And, you know, they do volunteer for their jobs.

Really, Anita...

bringing the FBI to my house.

Here... I've, um, I've called all the numbers

about a thousand times.

Please, let me know what you find out.

We'll be staying at the Beach Grove Motel,

if you need anything, okay?

Thanks.

Come on, kids.

So what did you make of Uncle Fester, down the block?

Oh... It's called stereotypy.

It's a syndrome produced by extreme stress.

P.O.W.'s have been known to suffer from it.

They've studied it in zoo animals.

Yeah, but these guys aren't zoo animals,

they're test pilots.

They're not supposed to fold under pressure,

they're supposed to thrive on it.

Ever hear of something called the Aurora Project?

Yeah, that's the unacknowledged code name for some new kind of

Defense Department surveillance project.

The Pentagon has all but admitted

they've been testing a secret class

of suborbital spycraft over the western U.S.

Maybe these guys are flying those planes.

Maybe these guys are the washouts.

You saw the photos on the wall in there.

This guy Budahas received a presidential commendation.

He's never washed out of anything in his life.

Been on hold with the base director of communications

for 45 minutes.

How about you?

Yeah, somebody named Colonel Kissell

will meet with us...

a week from Friday.

Yeah, right.

Did you say Kissell?

Colonel Kissell?

Yes?

Can I talk with you?

Special Agent Mulder, FBI.

I've got nothing to say.

Please! This is an invasion of my privacy.

Why don't you talk to us about Colonel Budahas?

Why don't you get the hell out of my yard?

Good thing we still kept that appointment.

Hi.

Are you the FBI agents?

I'm Paul Mossinger.

I, uh, work for the local paper.

We live a few houses down from Verla McLennen.

She said you guys are out here

looking into this Budahas thing.

We're just looking around.

I got you. Right.

A lot of people out here just looking around.

UFO nuts mostly,

but it's not every day we get FBI.

By the time you hear them, they're already gone.

So this Budahas thing... are you getting anywhere?

We're not at liberty to comment.

Well...

Paul... right?

You've lived in this area a while.

You ever seen a UFO?

Never.

Bunch of hooey, if you ask me.

People see what they want to see.

But if I wanted to talk to one of those UFO nuts

that you referred to earlier, where would I go?

F-15 Eagle, pulling about four g's.

Those boys think they are such hotshots.

Get a few drinks in them, you'd think it was them up there

flapping their wings.

Who's the photographer?

Various and sundry.

I took the one on the end there.

You're kidding.

Where?

Out on the back porch.

Taking out the garbage.

And there it was... just hovering.

Quiet like a hummingbird.

For a minute there, I thought

it was going to land in the parking lot

and I was going to serve 'em lunch.

I'm selling limited edition prints, $20.

Down to my last five, if you're interested.

Put it on my tab.

Sucker.

What would be the chances of someone like me seeing a UFO?

Catch you outside.

You want to see something weird, Mulder?

Ellens Air Base isn't even on my USGS quadrant map.

I know.

Let's go.

You know?

Where are we going?

We got our own map, sucker.

What do you honestly hope to see?

I don't know. Maybe nothing.

Is this why we came out here, Mulder?

To look for UFOs?

Yeah, this is going to look real good on my field report.

Scully, wake up.

You gotta see this.

What are they?

I don't know.

Just keep watching. It's unbelievable.

That's unreal.

I've never seen anything like it.

They've been going at it like that for almost half an hour.

So it can't be aircraft.

Aircraft can't maneuver like that.

What else could they be?

I don't know, lasers, maybe...

being shot from the ground, reflecting up off the clouds.

Oh, my God.

Here comes another one.

That's not a plane, that's a helicopter.

...come on!...

- Hey! - Let's get out of here!

Okay, don't shoot.

Stay right there.

We didn't do anything.

Come on!

That was extreme.

Let's go.

You're coming with us.

What?

So, what exactly were you guys doing in there?

We were, um...

we were just...

We kind of have this spot.

You know, we go and we kind of kick back

and listen to some tunes and, uh, watch the air show.

Were you ever chased out before?

No... first time, right?

Our friend showed us the hole in the fence

about a year ago.

Oh! One time they dropped these bombs... whoa.

Yeah, it was kind of heavy.

Oh, uh, there's this place

uh, called the Yellow Base, right?

Where they're supposed to store all this stuff.

And my friend said that there's land mines

all around it and junk like that.

I've got a 20. Over.

Roger, Redbird.

Assume fallback position.

We're opening the cage.

Redbird out.

Sometimes they come in real low

and just put on the skidders, right?

It's like...

and then they just hang there and hover

without making a sound, and you just think,

you know, who turned down the volume, right?

What do you think they are?

Okay, everybody thinks that they're, like, UFOs

but I think it's some kind of

Star Wars cybertech newfangled

hardware, right? I don't know,

they'll probably roll it out

for Desert Storm II or something like that.

Cruise right over Saddam's house, you know?

He'd be, like, what?

Do they look anything like this?

No.

They look exactly like that.

Thanks.

Later, dude.

What's that?

Evidence.

Kids today, huh?

You believe it all, don't you?

Why wouldn't I?

Mulder, did you see their eyes?

If I were that stoned...

Ooh! If you were that stoned, what?

Mulder, you could've shown that kid a picture of

a flying hamburger, and he would have told you

that's exactly what he saw.

All right, I want to show you something.

This is a photo of a UFO

that reportedly crashed in Roswell, New Mexico,

in 1947.

Now, I know you don't believe that story

but just hear me out.

Now, Ellens Air Base,

the same base that we're at right now...

the same base that, for some strange reason,

doesn't appear on your U.S. Government map...

is supposedly one of the six sites

where parts from the wreckage were shipped.

Mulder, are you suggesting

that the military is flying UFOs?

No.

Planes built using UFO technology.

Mulder, come on!

You've got two blurry photos

one of them taken almost 50 years ago

and another one you purchased today, in a roadside diner.

You're going out on a pretty big limb.

Tell me there isn't a remarkable resemblance.

Tell me one good reason

why either of these photos is authentic.

You saw exactly what I saw in the sky tonight.

What do you think they were?

Just because I can't explain it

doesn't mean I'm going to believe they were UFOs.

Unidentified Flying Objects.

I think that fits the description pretty well.

Tell me I'm crazy.

Mulder, you're crazy.

And it still doesn't explain to me

what happened to Colonel Budahas.

Thanks.

You're welcome.

You didn't come to raid my mini-bar, did you?

You ready for this?

What?

We got a message from Mrs. Budahas.

Her husband came home last night.

We got your message.

Mrs. Budahas, are you okay?

Come inside.

What is it?

What? What's wrong?

That...

is not my husband.

Honey...

who are these people?

That is not him.

That is not my husband.

They've done something to him.

What are you talking about?

It's okay, it's okay.

Just relax.

I'm Special Agent Mulder from the FBI.

We're out here investigating your disappearance,

Colonel Budahas.

I'm wondering if you have any explanation

of your whereabouts over the past four months.

I was in the hospital.

Here? On base?

I think so.

Colonel Budahas, do you mind if I ask you your birth date?

November 21, 1948.

And the names of your kids.

Josh and Leslie.

They're right there.

Yeah.

Green Bay fan.

Yes, sir.

Bet you remember

the Super Bowl of '68, huh?

Don Chandler.

Kicked four field goals.

Lombardi's last game.

Why do I have to answer these questions?

It's not him.

Colonel... Colonel Budahas,

you're a pilot, isn't that right?

Yes, sir.

Bet you've flown

just about everything with two wings.

I got this hotshot pilot friend

who said he could do an Immelman at a sustained eight g's.

Is that possible?

I... I don't...

I can't...

Anita...

I can't remember.

No...

Mulder, would you explain to me

what's going on?

I think they rewired that man's brain...

some kind of selective memory drain.

The brain doesn't work like that, Mulder.

You can't just go in there and erase certain files.

Then you explain it to me.

There are types of amnesia that...

This is not amnesia... I think it's something

far more deliberate and insidious.

All I'm saying is that the science or medical technology

to do what you are suggesting does not exist.

And neither does the technology

to fly the aircraft we saw last night.

Listen to me, Scully, they can do this.

That man, he should have known the answer to the question.

It just wasn't in his head anymore.

Even if they could, why would they do such a thing?

To control information.

I think that after his psychotic episode,

Colonel Budahas became a security risk.

It couldn't just be that he had a nervous breakdown

with a concomitant memory lapse?

No, I think that men like Colonel Budahas

are physiologically incapable

of dealing with the stress of flying the aircraft we saw.

Of doing those maneuvers at those speeds.

I mean, we're talking about a technology

that is so sensitive and advanced

that it's taken almost 50 years to make it work.

UFO technology, Scully.

- What the hell is this?! - Hold on!

Please, step out of the car.

You think if maybe we ignore him,

he'll go away?

Please, step out of the car.

Guess not.

Special Agent Mulder, FBI.

Federal agents.

You want to tell me what this is about?

National security.

Now get in your car.

You'll be escorted back to your motel.

You'll pack and leave town immediately

or assume the consequences

of intense indiscretion.

Nothing under Idaho plate CC1356?

No plate registered under that number?

Thanks, Gail.

No, no, no.

I'm sure the other one's bogus too.

Bye.

So who were those guys?

I don't think it was those kids

they were chasing away from the base last night.

I think it was us.

They knew we were coming before we ever arrived

and they returned Colonel Budahas as a decoy.

There's something I didn't tell you, Scully.

Something else?

I was approached by a man in DC

who warned me to stay away from this case.

He didn't give me his name

and my phone was being tapped.

What?!

Why would they go

to all this trouble?

Out of a need for security?

Security of what?

I think there's a huge conspiracy here, Scully.

They've got a UFO here, I'm sure of it,

and they'll do anything to keep it a secret

including sacrificing lives and minds of those pilots

because what if that secret got out?

If... if... that were true...

it would be a national scandal.

No, no, you're not thinking big enough.

If it were true,

it would be confirmation of the existence

of extraterrestrial life.

Did you ever stop to think

that what we saw was simply an experimental plane

like the Stealth bomber or this Aurora Project?

Doesn't the government have a right

and a responsibility to protect its secrets?

Yes, but at what cost?

When does the human cost become too high

for the building of a better machine?

These are questions we have no business asking.

Our kidnap victim is no longer outstanding.

Let's get out of here, Mulder, while you still have a job.

Aren't you even curious?

Um...

I'm going to shower, I'll pack,

and then we'll get out of here.

Mulder!

Where are you going?

Right here.

Hey, aren't you guys coming?

No, we've...

you know, we've only gone in at night.

Okay.

This spot you told me about

where you watched the air show, how far is it?

45 minutes?

Will I be able to find it?

Just stay on the path.

And what about this other place you told me about...

Yellow Base,

- where they hangar them...? - Don't. Don't even.

It's like... ten miles.

Nobody's ever... nobody's ever been that far!

Hey, don't go past the edge of the tall weeds.

Oh, man.

Did we tell him about the land mines and junk?

Hey!

You got him! Go! Go!

No!

Come on, hold him.

Oxygen.

Yeah, I'm-I'm trying to make a call to Washington, DC,

and I can't seem to get a long-distance line.

Hello? Hello?

Excuse me.

Um, my phone's not working.

Can I use yours to make a credit card call, please?

Sure thing.

Thank you.

This one's not working either.

Phones are pretty undependable around here.

People say it's the military interference,

but they say that about everything.

Thanks.

Hi.

I was just looking for you.

I knocked but I saw the door was open.

I was in the lobby, trying to make a call.

Phones down again?

Yeah.

Base to Redbird.

Can you give us your position? Over.

Redbird, do you copy?

What are you doing?

Excuse me.

There's nothing in there.

Against the car!

Hands on the car! Do it!

Put the gun down, and we'll talk about it.

I said hands against the car!

Who are you?

You're a long way from home, Dr. Scully.

Nobody wants this to come to violence now.

Where's Mulder?

We took him to the base.

We waited for him.

I want you to get on that walkie-talkie

and find out where Mulder is.

I don't think I can do that.

I think you can

or I'm going to have every newspaper in America out here

writing about your experimental aircraft!

Vitals...

Respiration is normal.

Blood pressure... 120/50.

There are other ways to go about this.

Yeah, I've already seen

where you get with tears and a sad story.

Package is arriving...

Roger.

What are we doing?

Waiting.

I want the car running.

I said start the car!

And put your hands on the wheel where I can see them.

You do anything stupid

and this situation could get big in a hurry.

Yeah, you just keep telling yourself that.

Intruder arriving.

Copy.

I want you to keep the car running

and step out of the car.

Get in the car, Mulder.

Get in the car!

I just want to say, everything you've seen here

is equal to the protection we give it.

It's you who have acted inappropriately.

You okay, Mulder?

I think so.

Scully, I...

What?

How did I get here?

Hi.

Hello.

We came by to see how your husband was doing.

Oh, he's fine.

He's getting much better now.

Do you think maybe we could see him?

Um, well, he's resting now.

Who is it now?

Thank you for your concern.

They got to her, Scully.

They were here.

They must've threatened her and Budahas...

That's enough, Mulder!

We don't know anything...

anything more than when we got here...

and that's what I'm going to write in my field report.

Let's get out of here, Mulder...

as fast as we can.

Lieutenant Colonel Robert Budahas

was returned to his home,

though his own knowledge of his disappearance and whereabouts

is vague and inconclusive.

Special Agent Mulder's insistence

that Budahas may have been a test pilot

on a top secret project

involving aircraft using "recovered UFO" technology

and may have suffered severe stress-related trauma

by flying these aircraft is also inconclusive.

Though this agent can corroborate

Agent Mulder's eyewitness account

of two unidentified flying objects

in the northern sky over Ellens Air Base,

their exact nature or design could not be determined.

Barring further authorized inquiry, this case...

Your lives may be in danger.

Why?

Mm, you've seen things that weren't to be seen.

Care and discretion are now imperative.

I saw something I...

As I said,

I can provide you with information

but only so long as it's in my best interest to do so.

What is your interest?

The truth.

I did see something...

but it's gone.

They took it from me.

They erased it.

You have to tell me what it was.

A military UFO.

Mr. Mulder, why are those like yourself

who believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life

on this earth not dissuaded by all the evidence

to the contrary?

Because... all the evidence to the contrary

is not entirely dissuasive.

Precisely.

They're here, aren't they?

Mr. Mulder, they've been here for a long, long time.