Mulder attempts to catch an Alien Bounty Hunter who holds the key to his sister’s whereabouts

Deep beneath the frigid waters of the Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Circle, crewmen aboard a submarine investigate sonar readings that indicate a huge, unidentified craft is floating nearby. The submarine's captain receives orders to destroy the vessel without further investigation. Before torpedoes are launched, however, a powerful shock wave disables the submarine's reactors.

 Meanwhile, a bewildered Scully receives a telephone call from Mulder as, simultaneously, a man who appears to be Mulder (the Alien Bounty Hunter from the previous episode) shows up at her motel room. The doppelganger overpowers Scully, and demands to know where he can find Mulder. When Scully refuses to cooperate, the doppelganger throws her across the room.

 The real Mulder and his sister, Samantha, arrive at the motel some time later. Scully is gone, but signs of a struggle are evident. Samantha tells Mulder that the bounty hunter is interested in her, not Scully. Samantha explains that the only way the bounty hunter can be killed is to pierce the base of his skull. She warns, however, that his blood is toxic, and exposure to humans is fatal.

 Samantha assures her brother that the bounty hunter will contact them. As they await word, Samantha explains that aliens have been attempting to establish a colony on Earth since the late 1940s. Their experiments with cloning was not sanctioned, and others of their race considered it a dilution of the species. A bounty hunter was dispatched to terminate the colony.

 Scully, held at gun point, telephones Mulder and arranges a rendezvous at a bridge. Mulder informs Skinner of the situation, and an FBI sharpshooter is positioned nearby. The exchange is made, and the bounty hunter walks Samantha toward an awaiting van. Suddenly, the sharpshooter's bullet rings out. The bounty hunter is struck in the neck. He falls backwards over the bridge, still clinging to Samantha. The pair plummet into the dark, icy waters below.

Mulder relays news of his sister's apparent death to his father. Mr. Mulder gives his son an envelope, which Samantha had left behind during her visit. Mulder opens it and finds a key and address inside. Mulder travels to the address, which turns out to be an abortion clinic. Inside, Mulder is shocked to discover alien clones who look like his sister. Suddenly, the bounty hunter appears and knocks Mulder unconscious. A fire races through the building, but Mulder is saved by firefighters.

 X tells Mulder that all the clones, save the original "Samantha," were killed in the fire. He also admits that the bounty hunter is inside a vessel beneath the Beaufort Sea. Meanwhile, pathologists tell Scully that a strange retrovirus found in Agent Weiss's blood is inhibited by extreme cold. This leads Scully to conclude that the bounty hunter may have survived his fall into the icy river.

 Mulder makes the trip to Alaska by himself in secret. He finds the submarine's conning tower protruding from the ice. Inside, he encounters the bounty hunter. During a stuggle, the bounty hunter bleeds green ooze onto Mulder. Mulder is pushed outside the sub, and shortly thereafter the vessel descends beneath the ice. Mulder's body is rushed to a military field hospital. Scully arrives at the scene. She realizes that Mulder has been infected with the alien retrovirus. She convinces physicians to lower Mulder's body temperature to counteract the virus. Her efforts are successful, and Mulder's life is saved.

-- www.thexfiles.com

When Mulder becomes trapped aboard a train rigged with an explosive device, scully searches for the truth behind the government's involvement with secret experiments

(Continued from 3X09: Nisei)

 X tells Scully that the metallic implant surgically removed from the back of her neck is the key to all the answers she's been searching for.

 Meanwhile, Mulder -- clinging precariously to the top of a train bound for Canada -- makes his way to safety and climbs aboard one of the cars. With assistance from the train's conductor, Mulder searches for Dr. Shiro Zama, whom he suspects is behind the experiments. But the Red-Haired Man (an assassin who murdered the Japanese diplomat in the previous episode), kills Zama and hides his body inside a lavoratory.

 With the aid of Agent Pendrell, Scully learns that the implant collects information and artificially replicates a person's mental processes. Pendrell discovers the name of the chip's manufacturer, a Japanese firm, and traces a delivery to Dr. Zama at Hansen's Disease Research Facility in Virginia. Scully attempts to contact Mulder by cellular phone to relay the information, but unknown to her, Mulder dropped the device when he jumped onto the train. Scully drives to the research facility, where she encounters Escalante, a hideously deformed man. Escalante explains that the facility was once a leper colony, but the staff, including Zama, fled when death squads arrived to kill the patients. Escalante was being treated for leprosy, but hundreds of other patients were interned at the camp with symptoms that resembled the disease. The creatures were kept apart from the patients and apparently tortured.

 Meanwhile, Mulder finds Zama's body inside the lavoratory. He is suddenly attacked by the Red-Haired Man. With the conductor's help, Mulder overcomes him. The Red-Haired Man claims the quarantined car is rigged with an explosive device, which was installed by Zama in case he could not escape to Canada with his creature. Mulder and his captive are unable to leave the quarantined car out of fear that opening the door without the proper access code might detonate the bomb.

 Scully is captured by soldiers and brought before an Elder, a member of the Syndicate. He explains how Zama - actually a brilliant scientist whose real name is Ishimaru -- was hidden in the U.S. after World War II so he could continue his experiments. Ishimaru kept his discoveries secret, unwilling to share his knowledge with the government that had granted him asylum. Scully and the Elder dial the Red-Haired Man's cellular number and contact Mulder. Scully believes the creature aboard the train isn't an alien being after all. She is convinced that Ishimaru used the railroad to conduct secret radiation tests on lepers, the homeless, and the insane. As proof, she reminds Mulder about the President's public apology for secret radiation tests that were conducted on innocent people until 1974.

The quarantined car is uncoupled from the train in an isolated area. Mulder questions the Red-Haired Man about the creature, and theorizes how Zama developed a human-alien hybrid with super immunity, capable of withstanding the effects of atomic and biological weapons.

 Scully reviews the alien autopsy tape and realizes Zama was caught on video punching in the proper code to open the door of the quarantine car. She phones Mulder with the code. Before he can exit the car, Mulder is attacked by the Red-Haired Man. X arrives, shoots the Red-Haired Man, and rescues Mulder only moments before the train car explodes.

-- www.thexfiles.com

The agents investigate a series of murders linked to a device that alters television signals

 A mysterious Plain-Clothed Man alerts Mulder to a pair of multiple-homicides in which the killers suddenly became delusional. Mulder is unsure who the informant is working for, but he nonetheless follows up on the tip. He and Scully visit a psychiatric hospital, where Joseph Patnick, one of the mass murderers, suddenly goes berserk while watching television. The agents meet with Dr. Stroman, who theorizes his patient might be suffering from a delusional syndrome.

 The agents search Patnick's home looking for clues. While combing the house, Mulder and Scully locate row upon row of video cassette tapes containing cable news broadcasts. Back at the motel, Mulder views hours of the news footage but is unable to formulate a link between the broadcasts and the murders. Scully, however, cites recent studies linking television violence to violent behavior. Mulder dismisses the connection.

 Out of curiosity, Scully views the rest of the video tapes. Late that night, she sees Mulder and The Cigarette-Smoking Man meeting in secret in a car parked outside the motel. The next day, the agents receive word regarding yet another strange murder. This time, a housewife suddenly beat a neighbor to death. The killer, Mrs. Riddock, told authorities that her husband was having an affair with a blonde woman in a hammock in their backyard. In reality, Mrs. Riddock attacked and killed her next door neighbor, who was resting in a hammock with a Golden Retriever. The agents search Riddock's home and uncover a large pile of VHS cassette tapes. Mulder spots a cable technician working on a utility pole nearby. When the technician drive off, Mulder climbs the pole and removes a video trap device. He brings it to the Lone Gunmen for analysis.

 Meanwhile, Scully grows more and more suspicious about Mulder's activities. While speaking with Scully over the telephone, Mulder notices her paranoia and drives back to the motel. Believing she is being attacked by unknown intruders, Scully opens fire, narrowly missing her partner. She then runs off.

 The Lone Gunman confirm Mulder's theory that the device somehow induces violent behavior. Using different colors, it acts as a sort of mind control. Mulder, who is red-green color blind, realizes why he was not affected.

 Mulder receives word that Scully's body may have been located. Before he reaches the morgue, the Plain-Clothed Man warns him to concentrate on finding the parties responsible before they destroy evidence. Mulder ignores the warning and goes to the morgue. The victim, however, is not Scully.

 Mulder travels to Mrs. Scully's house. Scully suddenly steps into view, leveling a pistol at Mulder's head. Delusional, she claims that Mulder has been lying to her from their very first assignment. But Mrs. Scully convinces her distraught daughter to drop the weapon.

 Mulder realizes that Dr. Stroman's treatment of Patnick was unorthodox. He tracks Stroman and the cable technician to a house on the outskirts of town. Suddenly, gunshots rings out. When Mulder enters the home, he finds X standing over the bodies. X blames the deaths on Mulder. But Mulder counters he never knew who the Plain-Clothed Man was working for.

 Later, Mulder and the now-recovered Scully meet with Skinner. But Mulder does not identify X as the man who killed Stroman and the cable technician.

-- www.thexfiles.com