I have two versions of My Friend Flicker with two different endings. The first part of each was written in 1999 and is relatively the same for each version. This one is Scully/Mulder and the other one Scully/Doggett and Doggett/SecondAgent. I have re-organized them in 2018. I liked playing around with this story idea.

Here is the beginning:

Geeks, too.

:<7

Please note the Disclaimer at my Homepage. The X-Files characters are the property of Chris Carter, 1013 Productions, and Fox Company. We all know this, yes?

I read an article about the Lone Gunmen in which Bruce Harwood was wondering where the Lone Gunmen work. He wondered how they could afford all that computer equipment. He thought they might be "troubleshooters" for a computer company. I also read that Dean Haglund likes to make comic books. Just to get them employed, I decided that Frohike and Langly are the writer and illustrator of a comic book, and Byers works for a computer security company.

So, then, I asked, what would these three guys want to get, once they had a little "walk-around?" More computer equipment? NOT!...Girlfriends!

So as the showers of spring bring forth the first buds, perhaps Mulder has yet to melt THAT HEART of surgical steel, but on the first cherry blossomed weekend, the old VW van is loaded up to the Plimsoll Line with picnic baskets, coolers, blankets, and pillows, and the Lone Gunmen and their saucy sweeties are all gone a-May-ing. A visual aid to this would be to think of Manet's "Le Dejeuner sur l'herbe," and then remove the two Franch Gentlemen, insert Les Bandits Solitaires and another relaxed-looking lady, and voila!...Luncheon On The Grassy Knoll.

As with my other stories, I'm not sure any of this stuff is technically, physically, humanly, etc. possible, but I'm not losing sleep over it, y'know? The idea here is that these guys have been six seasons without girlfriends. Poor babies! We'll fix 'em up!

Nyack, N.Y., President's Day 2001: A college-age boy comes down the hall of a suburban house and looks into a bedroom. Two younger boys are at a computer station. They are trying variations on a word to go into another person's internet site.

"I didn't know you were a hacker, lil' Bro'...Whose site is this?" asks the older brother.

The younger boy at the station, not the younger brother says, "Some nerd at the Computer Club. He's the one who's walking home when you come to pick us up? Always comes across like he invented everything. I watched him log into his own page today and I think I know four letters of his five letter password." Suddenly a message comes up on the screen. "Warning: You have entered private computer files. You have 60 seconds to get out. Failure to leave will result in the termination of your programs." A clock appears in the upper right side of the screen.

"Whoa, way hokey!" says the younger brother. He looks a little tense, though, "He can't do that right? Take out our programs with his computer?"

"Doubt it." says the operator.

The older brother begins to walk away, up the hallway, "I'm going to the 'fridge. I'm gonna need my room when I get back. Oh-you better hope he doesn't take out my Freshman English Lit. reports. I can sell those." He's grinning when he says this. The clock is at 14 seconds.

At the end of the hall, he turns a corner. A dining room chair is in the extreme foreground. He walks in front of a window which frames the ell of the house, including the window of the bedroom in which the brother and his friend are working, and part of the yard. Snow covers the ground. At "0," the window and wall of the bedroom blow out.

Big "X," Whooee music, etc.

After reviewing the first police report, Scully, at a nearby hospital, asks the survivor of the third explosion if she also saw a warning or a 30-second clock. "No. No warning. No clock. Just a flash and a crack, and Jan and her desk were flying back towards me. She hit the wall. A corner of her desk hit my desk. Her desktop turned up and it smashed into her vertically. My desk knocked into me."

A suburb of Washington, D.C. Earth Day weekend, 1999: At the apartment of Langly, Frohike, and Byers, Langly has set the table for supper. Byers takes a casserole out of the oven. Frohike, and his girlfriend, Lois Lane, come through the door, greet him, and rush over to the t.v. They wear T-shirts from a Public Lands Clean-Up in the area. Lois gives Langly a bottle of White Zin. As they click to a channel, Frohike explains, "Lois' Clean-Up was covered by Channel 10."

"So the whole thing went over well? I know you were working pretty hard on it." says Langly.

"Yeah," says Lois, "The kids were a real help-getting it organized, too. I like the kids in the program. They seem tough, but they want to be challenged." The story on at moment is that the F.B.I. has been called in to investigate a series of bizarre explosions in the White Plains, New York, area. Frohike calls Langly's attention to it, "Have you seen the articles in the papers about this?" Langly nods, "It's weird!" The story of the clean-up follows in the local news segment. Langly says, "Look, Mel, there you are, lurking behind Lois. Oh, look! You just realized that the camera can see you. Peek-a-boo! Oh, good thinking-hide behind Lois!" Frohike scowls. Lois giggles. In the footage, Lois, surrounded by several huge teenage boys who obviously want to be on camera but want to be cool about it, thanks the sponsors and the participants. After the news program moves on, Langly pours glasses of wine, and the group sits down to supper.In a hotel lobby in White Plains, N.Y., Byers shuffles through some overhead transparencies and some note cards that he has pulled from his briefcase. His girlfriend, Mary Mallon, gives him a little kiss, then they both go into a large conference room. Byers goes to a chair near the podium. Mary sits in the audience.

Byers gives a speech to a room full of people, finishing it by saying, "So, in conclusion, these are the best steps you can take to avoid or minimize damage from the computer viruses that are out there today. I'll set out print-outs of these papers, so you can take this information with you. Or you can go to www.SiteSecure.com and review them there. Our firm is ready to help you with all your security needs. Thank you." He removes his papers from under the document camera, and turns it off. After the applause, Master of Ceremonies, noting the time, cancels the question and answer period, but asks Byers to stay and answer questions informally during the "social time" which will follow.

Byers, standing with Mary, sets out the information on a table. He is approached by a young boy. The boy asks, "Hi, may I speak with you in private?" They move to a quieter corner. The boy pulls a print-out of a news story out of his pocket and unfolds it. "I did that." he says.

Byers looks at the clipping. "This is that story about the two boys being blown up," he says. He's a little lost for an answer. He says, "Uhhh, Have you talked to your parents about this?"

"Nice speech," says the mother of the boy, who comes over to join them in the corner. "Ken insisted on coming. He's really into computers! We appreciate being able to get information about these darn viruses!" As she speaks, Ken shifts uncomfortably and quickly pockets the paper which Byers has given him back. Obviously, he hasn't talked with his mom about this.

Byers says, "Well, Ken, here's my e-mail address on my business card. If you send me your address, I can send you...advice...about viruses, or other um, computer related things." For some reason he's willing to believe the kid may have caused the explosion.

Back in Washington, Byers receives an e-mail at his office. A small t.v. on Byer's work station shelf is tuned to the news. A report shows the damage done to the interior of a Public Library in Pawtucket R.I. when an explosion sent nine computer users through to the next room into the stacks of juvenile fiction. The message from Ken consists of a lengthy narrative:

"Last summer I went to visit my Uncle Harv and Aunt Linda in Gunnison, Colorado. Uncle Harv runs a radio station there, and we went up to do some repairs on the tower. Summer is short there, so it was like it was going to storm up on the mountain. The sky was a weird color. Uncle Harv was done, and I was really glad he was off the metal tower. I thought he might get hit by some lightning. As I thought that, suddenly this ball lightning came out of nowhere and hung in front of Uncle Harv. Then it dropped at Uncle Harv's feet. For some reason he picked it up-barehanded-and threw it to me like a softball. I caught it and sent it back. It was fun. After we did this for a while, he says we really should get home, so I pretended like I threw the lightning away, but I didn't. I snuck it into my backpack. Two days later, I brought it home on the plane with me. I had to put it in my jacket when I put the backpack through the security baggage check, but it didn't set off the alarms in the big doorway you go through."

"I kept it in my room. I noticed it seemed to know what was going on. It was like a pet. We can't have pets in our apartment, so I liked thinking I had a pet. When my mom would come in, it would hide in a one of the outlets, or in a wire. I should probably mention my dad left us a long time ago. Mom works and also goes to school, so no one checks up on me very much. Of course, I'm very responsible for my age."

"I didn't tell my mom about this because I thought she would worry about it being lightning, but I thought it was pretty harmless. I wasn't right about that."

"I would like have a lot of security devices on my computer files. I have some bogus warnings that are posted in case anyone gets in. All I have are some games I've invented, but I don't want people messing. I told my ball lightning, which by the way, is named Flicker-it does this quivering thing when it's excited- about some security devices I would LIKE to have, like one that destroys the other person's whole computer if they hack me. Well, that was a mistake."

Mulder knocks on the door of Mr. Robertson's home room the following Thursday, after school. The teacher sits grading papers with another teacher. The agent steps in, "Mr. Robertson? I'm Agent Mulder, F.B.I." He shows his F.B.I. I.D.

"Yes," says Mr. Robertson. "The office told me you were on your way down. This is about those two boys?"

Mulder says, "I've talked with the brother of one of the two boys....they said the boys were hacking into the files of one of the students in your Computer Club. The brother didn't have a name or address, but said you might be able to help."

"Mrs. Gingrich, here, and I run the Computer Club," Mr. Robertson says, "Can you describe the boy?"

"Well," says Mulder, "The brother described him as something of a "know-it-all..."

Although she knows this is a serious F.B.I. Investigation, Mrs. Gingrich can hardly stifle a guffaw when Mr. Robertson indignantly asks, "Carol, do we have any "know-it-alls" in our Computer Club?"

If Mulder had wanted to be made fun of, he could have stayed in the office with his partner. Mulder tries again, "He said thin, sandy-blonde hair...he says he must live close to the school-he walks home after after Computer Club."

Mr. Robertson says, "That sounds like Kenneth McLaughlin."

Mrs. Gingrich nods, "The office can get you his address."

"Thanks," says the agent. He phones his partner, who is at the site of the Pawtucket Library explosion, gathering data at local hospitals and the morgue. She says she will be able to finish there by the end of the day and catch the 11:16 a.m. Amtrak the next day. He confirms that he can pick her up at Pennsylvania Station in NYC at 3:20 p.m. He says he needs her help questioning the boy, Ken.

Over supper that same night, Byers confides the boy's story with Langly and Frohike, and the two gal friends.

Mary says,"My parents live in the White Plains area. Right now they're down in Florida. I'm sure we could all stay at the house if you want to arrange to go visit this kid." Everyone agrees that this seems to be a good plan. As it turns out, everyone can go the next weekend, and Byers e-mails Ken that he should tell his mother what has been going on, and have her call him. She does, and agrees that they can come talk to Ken and her." Mary takes down Nell’s phone number.

In White Plains that weekend, the women stay at Mary's parents' house to fix supper while the trio of guys goes to the McLaughlin's apartment. Mary says they can make enough for Mrs. McLaughlin and Ken.

"Mary is good at cooking for a large group." Byers tells Lois. "She's worked as a cook at some of the Foreign Diplomats' residences."

"Yes, But...I'm having the worst luck!" Mary says ruefully, "For the third time, there has been sickness in the household. The people have had to go to the hospital, so I get let go!"

The three arrive at the McLaughlin's apartment at the same time that the two agents pull up. Both parties now know that they are on to something.

The whole situation is awkward for Byers. He hands the agents a copy of Ken's e-mail and says to the agents,"Look, this kid approached me in confidence. He brought back a strange ball lightning from Colorado last summer. It seems the lightning is sentient. It's gotten loose in the grid, and it has some bad ideas about what the kid wants it to do. I'm not comfortable with you approaching this kid like he wanted to hurt people. I don't think it's like that."

Mulder says, "OK, I guess we could pull back if you call us and keep us informed." The agents show faith that these right-minded, educated citizens of a democracy will do the best thing.

"I can call you tonight with whatever we find out," promises Byers.

Byers checks to make sure he has Mulder's cell phone number. Before the agents leave, Mulder turns and says, "The two boys were trying to access Ken McLaughlin's files when the explosion occurred. There doesn't seem to be any connection we can establish to any of the other explosions. The explosions just seem to occur at random. We'd like to know if there's a pattern or a reason for them. Find out if Ken knows why the other people were attacked?"

Nell McLaughlin answers the door. Nell is a slender ash blonde. When Langly's eyes meet hers, his pupils dialate. She says, "I'm glad you all could come. I don't have anyone to talk this over with. Ken's dad lives in another state. We don't hear too much from him. He's always "too busy" to help with Ken. We got married right after high school, right after we found out...Well, Ken and I ...we're just "in the way" of what Rob wants to do, so we leave him be!" She brings the three some coffee. "I'm lucky I can send Ken to my older brother Harv's in the summer. It gets him out of this little apartment, where there's nothing to do! I can scarcely believe all this. Harv says he remembers the ball lightning though. I'm glad you got Ken to tell me about this, Mr. Byers. Frankly, there were a couple of times I thought I saw something in his room...Well! I thought it was some sort of inner eye flash-like if you get hit on the head? This certainly explains it, but...what about those people and the explosions? Can Ken be held responsible?"

"Well, that's a tough question, Mrs. McLaughlin," Frohike says, "They say be careful what you wish for because you might get it. Ken clearly wished he had the ability to "blow away" any hacker. Apparently Flicker got that part of it, without realizing that this was a pretty typical adolescent power fantasy. Obviously, Ken wasn't expecting it to happen."

"No, that's right, I wasn't!" interjects Ken. "It's like all those games I play with other people on the 'Net...sometimes you "die," but not really!"

Langly leans in towards Nell and says, "We don't think, in the other deaths, the people were hacking your son's computer. They might have been breaking in somewhere else...or they might just have been visiting another site!" He turns to Ken, "Ken, I guess Flicker can tell the difference between computers and other appliances?"

Ken says, "Flicker could recognize the power spike when my computer came on. A lot of time it was just laying around in the lines until I came home from school and went the 'Net. Then it would float up and watch me."

"Apparently ball lightning is not a prisoner of the lines as is regular electricity," comments Byers.

"It went where it wanted to in the apartment," says Ken.

Do you know why it would have attacked those other people?" asks Byers.

"No,I can't figure out why Flicker attacked anyone other than the two boys," says Ken. Then he says, quickly, "Well, maybe they were watching something violent. Flicker got very scared if I was playing a game like "Deadly Combat" with lots of violence..."

Frohike says, "Hmmm, violent scenes...The worst case scenario is that Flicker has access to the power of the whole grid and has learned how to "take out" more than one user at a time. The grid covers the same area caught in the big blackout back in the 1960's...pretty much the whole Northeast Corridor from New York to Maine. I hope we don't start to see whole neighborhoods leveled, or a power plant blown up."

The phone rings loudly at this point and all five react in a startled way. They laugh at their reaction after they realize it is just the phone. Nell picks up the receiver and it is Mary calling to see if Mrs. McLaughlin and Ken would like to come for supper. Nell accepts, and expresses to them all how grateful she is to them to have taken an interest in helping Ken.

They all get their coats. On the way out to the parking lot, Langly says, "So, Nell, You have a very fluid way of moving. Have you ever studied dance?" Nell says, "Oh! I go to a fitness center. Last year I took "Exotic Dance!" She blushes and adds quickly, "...more for the aerobics of it, though!" Langly blushes also, and jumps in with, "Gee, I guess Ken is about ready to do some growing? Do you think he'll be as tall as you?" "Oh! Much taller!" His Dad's as tall as you!" she says. Changing the subject seems not to have solved the blushing problem. Both fall silent.

Over dinner, the male trio is surprised that the three women are so alike in their analysis of Flicker. All three see the ball lightning as some sort of half-tame creature that is lost and confused in the grid. All three use analogies of powerful domesticated animals. Lois thinks of Flicker as being like a guard-dog. Both Nell and Mary think of Flicker as more like some horses they have known. Mary recounts a story about a horse that kicked someone to death as that person tried to lead it out of a fire in the barn. At some point "it" becomes a "she." The trio now senses there had BETTER BE some compelling reason to put Flicker "down." They realize they are no longer able to "shoot on sight." Oh, like, as if this wasn't a big enough problem?

So, now they have to come up with a way to get Flicker back to Ken that doesn't destroy the lightning. But how? Byers calls Mulder as promised. Mulder is interested in some details about Flicker-size, shape, etc. Byers puts Ken on, and the two talk for several minutes.

The guys are up early, helping Mary unload the dishwasher and prepare breakfast. Mary gets them coffee and they stand around the kitchen discussing Flicker. They "buy into" the womens' idea that the lightning is lost in the grid. Byers says, "It's quite possible that when the lightning blew out the boys and their computer, it got knocked back into the grid. The next incidents were across the Hudson River. It went east for some time then changed direction at Providence. Maybe it's following a trunk line? Maybe if we knew more about the grid, we could anticipate where it would be next and be there to lead it out of the grid?"

"And maybe get kicked to death?" asks Frohike. No one speaks to this.

Lois comes downstairs, and Mary gets her a cup of coffee. She asks the guys what the discussion is about. Frohike tells her, "We can't figure out how to lead Flicker home."

Lois thinks for a minute and says. "Well, suppose there was only one way to go?"

"Excuse me?" says Frohike.

"Well," says Lois, "Suppose there are too many choices now. But, suppose you could fix it so there was only one way for her to go?" At this the Gunmen begin to jabber in computer jargon. Ken stands nearby listening, and then blurts out,"You're gonna SHUT DOWN the WHOLE INTERNET?"

"All except for YOUR site," says Langly. Frohike goes to the phone.

Mulder is asleep in the motel when the phone rings. The t.v. has been on all night.

After Mulder finishes talking with Frohike, he calls Ass't. Dir. Kersh, who approves Frohike's plan.

Mulder and Scully call all the servers. The servers agree to shut down all the internet sites for as long as necessary. Except one site. The group staying at Mary's parent's house goes to Nell's apartment.

Byers uses the McLaughlin's phone to keep the agents apprised of the situation. The three men, the two girlfriends, Nell, and Ken crowd into Ken's bedroom. Suddenly, Frohike scowls. He orders everyone but Ken and himself out of the room. "Go to the kitchen; make some coffee." he growls. Everyone complies. He's right, of course. What were they thinking, all crowding into the room to SEE if Flicker was going to blow the room apart? Lois and Nell share a glance.

In the room, Frohike bends over the keyboard and tells Ken, "Don't sit. Stand here, near the door. If this looks bad, I'm going to push you into the corridor." He turns on the computer, and follows Kens directions to log into his site. There is a minute that takes a long time.

Suddenly a small glowing ball appears in front of Ken. Ken is exultant. He smiles a beaming smile at Frohike. The small ball, about the size of a softball, sends off many, many, little flares. It flickers. Ken gentles it into his backpack.

Mary lands her family's little plane on the small airstrip at Gunnison. Harv and Linda meet the group with two vans, and they take off for the mountain. Everyone: Harv and Linda, Frohike and Lois, Byers and Mary, and Langly and Nell, is in for a treat to see the joy that comes to Ken as he lets the ball lightning back out into the wild.

After Ken zips Flicker into his backpack, the apartment door crashes open and Mulder, Scully, and four SWAT officers rush in. Two SWAT officers peel off and back the group in the kitchen into a corner. The other two SWAT officers go to the bedroom and back Frohike into a corner as well. Mulder grabs Ken, spins him around and cuffs him. He informs the boy that he's under arrest for murder and recites him his rights. Wearing big gloves, Scully gingerly folds the backpack into an insulated container that has been made especially for Flicker using the information Mulder pumped from little Ken on the phone, while feigning interest in the boy and his pet.

You didn't really go for that stuff about our Government trusting its citizens to do what's best, did you? Hello?

Ken is detained in jail until his day in Juvenile Court. As a clerk carries the large insulated container with Flicker to the Evidence Room at the local police station, a misstep sends the container down the stairwell. The container smashes open on one corner and Flicker zips through an outlet and heads for home. Several minutes later, visiting his cell, Nell slips Ken the ball lightning in a hollowed-out Lord of the Rings Trilogy (plus The Hobbit) secured by a thick rubber band. She hurries outside where Langly keeps her SUV running. The wall of the jail goes BLOOWEE!, and all four escape from the police parking lot.

This version of the ending of My Friend Flicker is called:

Monday, November 5, 2001

Ken and Flicker and Nell and Langly take off in Nell's SUV. Police stream out of the station to the parking lot. None of their cars will turn over though. The Chief of Police rushes in to the desk and shouts, "I want an APB..." Suddenly all the lights go out. None of the communication equipment works. The emergency generator comes on, but only for about two seconds. The police radio is out. No APB. Cell phone reception is out. Up on the roof the helicopter is dead as well.

Before Nell came to the police station, The Gunmen sat down with Flicker and went through everything that had to be shorted out.

They forgot one thing. Langly suddenly realizes what they missed, though, and fixes it. When we check back in on the SUV, he is explaining to Flicker, "...the cameras on board this kind of satellite are very powerful, and would be able, from that far up, they would be able to find this truck, and pinpoint its location. Why don't you check to see if there are any of these satellites, and blow 'em up if there are any? OK?" (Flicker hangs in the air, motionless, in front of him.)

Suddenly Ken says, "Oh, Flicker, there aren't any people in the satellite!"

Upon hearing this, Flicker flickers and zips out the window then straight up. Ken turns to Langly and explains, "I told her before she blew up the jail that she had to be careful not to blow up any more people."

In Earth's Orbit, over the East Coast of the U.S.A., several hundred miles up, there is a military satellite. It goes boom. The pieces of it are batted sideways into the Pacific Ocean. Flicker returns. Nell pulls out a map.

Nell says, "OK, C'm'ere, Flicker, here's where we're going." She turns to Langly, "I don't think we should get on the highway; we can take a back route north. Get into the left turn lane up here."

When Langly approaches the left turn, the signal turns to yellow. The motorist in front takes a long time.

The light turns red. Langly (peeved) says, "Oh great. Thanks a lot, Lady! Excuse me? We're trying to escape here?" He picks up his hands and slaps them back down on the steering wheel, slumps forward and exhales, noisily. He mutters under his breath.

Nell glances over at Langly. She is tracing a route on the map with her finger. Flicker, watching her, flickers briefly, and zips off out the window again.

After making the turn, Langly finds that they are on a long straight street, a major street, which has big intersections, as far as the eye can see. After three intersections he says, "Oh, look. We're getting all the lights."

Nell folds up the map, "Yes."

Ken says,"Way to go, Mom." After they turn off this road onto a rural county road, Flicker re-appears and settles into a replacement backpack which is on the seat next to Ken.

When the power finally comes back, the Police contact the FBI to report the escape. Director Kersch pulls Assistant Director Skinner, Mulder and Scully out of a meeting and drops the problem into their laps.

In their Office, Mulder says, "Grab your bag, Scully." He's referring to the emergency pack of clothes and medicine Scully has under her desk. "We're heading out."

"Where are we going, Mulder?" says Scully.

"Same place they are... Uncle Harv's radio tower...Gunnison Mountain, Gunnison, Colorado." He gets his bag out from under his desk, and also takes the brief case with all of their work so far. They take their guns from inside a locked drawer in the desk.

Director Kersch is by the elevator when they emerge. "Sir, it was contained when we left there." says Mulder.

"Make sure this case is closed this time?" Director Kersch gives them a hard look.

In Gunnison, plainclothes policemen in unmarked cars at the radio station finish a call over the police radio. Mulder and Scully pull up to the car near the Uncle's radio station. A call comes through from the other unmarked car at the Uncle's house. The Flicker group is wearing heavy jackets and boots from the back of the SUV. The Flicker group is getting into their van and the Uncle and Aunt are getting into their truck. When they pull away from the house, the car surveilling them begins to follow them. Mulder and Scully follow the second police car. When they are behind the first police car, and the van and truck, the first police car turns off on a side street. It pulls back into the street in back of them after they go by.

It is dark as the five vehicles head up the road towards Gunnison Mountain. There is snow on the mountain. The police and the agents pretend to not take the turn-off to the mountains. Then they turn around, turn off their headlights, and continue pursuit. The road has been plowed and it is dry. There is a full moon, and there is enough light to see to drive.

At the tower, Ken talks to Flicker, who has pulled down deeply into his backpack.

He says "Just like with all those guns on TV and videos, they'll shoot you! You have to leave. Go Please!"

The three police and agent cars pull up. Mulder is in the passenger seat as Scully is driving and he leaps out, gun drawn. Suddenly a bright ball of light soars straight up from Ken’s backpack. It rockets up, and up, into the sky.

Mulder takes three shots. On the third shot a gush of electric lava gushes down from one side of the ball. Then there is an explosion of sparks; a loud noise like cannon-fire. The noise echoes off nearby mountains as small sparks weave a path to the metal frame of the tower, settling on the bundles of wires going up the mast, and the cold snowy ground beyond. KEN bursts into tears.

Against the dark sky, a small cloud of smoke drifts away, crossing the full moon.

Mulder has reached Ken by this time and says, "Kenneth McLaughlin, I'm returning you to stand trial for murder." He cuffs him and recites the Miranda. Nell and Langly are arrested as accomplices to the escape.

Langly says to Scully, "Ken was planning to turn himself back in after he had released Flicker into the wild."

Scully shrugs. All she knows is that the kid has confessed to killing at least two people, using a frightening force only he had power over. Common sense, as well as scientific reasoning, says that he might be some sort of very evil child. She says, "He'll get his day in court."

Ken's Uncle is told he will not be charged. He tells Nell that he will get a lawyer for them as soon as possible.

Nell and Ken and Langly are put into the police cars. Aunt Linda drives Nell's SUV back to their house.

Uncle Harv gets them a lawyer. The lawyer is able to get bail for Langly and Nell. Ken is in a juvenile detention center. Nell's brother and Aunt Linda drive the truck and the SUV to Nell's apartment, and return to Colorado in the truck, after staying with her as long as they can, to give her support. The Lone Gunmen arrange to stay at Mary's parent's house in White Plains again.

Ken has his day in court. It is December 24th. Ken's case is the only case on the docket. Judge Stella Stevens presides. She looks very stern.

The Lawyer for the Defense has Byers, Langly, and Frohike tell their stories. The Prosecutor for the State introduces as evidence, the newspaper "The Magic Bullet" and points to the front page story showing someone wearing an odd looking device on their head which is intended to block high-pitched noises the government might send into your house. He opens the newspaper and, page by page, shows the court stories about various bizarre tales, including a regular feature called "UFO Watch". He does this in order to discredit the Gunmen's testimony about the innocence of Ken McLaughlin. He presents the Swat Team who charged into Nell's apartment. He presents the clerk who dropped the insulated chest down the stairwell. Last he has the Agents from the FBI, Mulder and Scully, present their story.

After Scully's testimony, Judge Stella Stevens smiles, but not with her eyes, and requests that the lawyers approach the bench. Scully, using her women's intuition, whispers to Mulder words to the effect that "the mudslide has reached the windmill." Mulder nods. It looks like their solid case isn't solid. He's baffled.

Judge Stevens has the two lawyers meet her in chambers. When they emerge, Judge Stevens says that she had almost reached a verdict, but wished to confirm several facts with the lawyers. She still has one more matter to clear up. If a warning bell hasn’t gone in Mulder's head at that, it should have.

Judge Stevens asks Mulder to stand. He does. "You've already been sworn. I'll take your testimony where you are." She says, "Agent Mulder, can you produce this creature?"

Mulder says, "No, Your Honor, I shot it. It exploded."

"Can any of the people on your F.B.I. team give witness to the actual existence of this creature?"

Mulder is confused, "Your honor, I shot it on Gunnison Mountain."

The Judge responds softly, "And, indeed, Agent Mulder, could it not have been a flare, or a firecracker? Could this whole thing not be a hoax to give front page news to this paper?" She holds up the copy of "The Magic Bullet" She shakes her head at Mulder as if he's a child completely taken in by an amateur magician.

Mulder has no answer.

Judge Stevens leans slightly forward and says, "I've looked over all the testimony. Your partner and the Swat Team testify that, she, Agent Scully, simply put a backpack that supposedly had something in it, in an insulated container. The clerk that dropped the container did not see anything come out of the container. This is all in the court records. There is no proof, admissible in this court, that this creature exists. You may sit down, Mr. Mulder. Thank you." Judge Stevens straightens up in her chair and looks at the defense table. "I have reached a verdict."

Nell, Ken, Langly, and their lawyer rise. "I find this to be a case of the over-active imagination of a little boy. All charges are dismissed. (Bang!) "

Mulder does not even go across the aisle at the end of the trial. Scully goes and congratulates Ken, Langly, and Nell. She drives on the way home so that Mulder can sulk.

She says, "Our friends sent us some really pretty cards."

She says, "Look at the view of that snow-covered valley! It's like a calendar picture!"

She says, "I have everything in the fridge for your favorite meal tomorrow."