They don't pay you to dance, Roberto!
Okay, okay.
God is watching.
Yeah, okay.
Santa Maria san locos.
What the hell is that?
- Hey. - Get out!
Get out of the way!
Get over there!
Ray's hurt bad, man!
Hurry up!
Get an ambulance!
This is Wesley Brewer out on Route 7.
Looks like about an 8:00 E.T.A. on that trailer pickup.
This fog's going to slow me down.
10-4, Wesley.
See you when you get here.
Mother of God!
She was just lying there when they found her, Officer.
Stay back.
Thank you.
So you saw nothing when the window broke? No one outside?
No. Nothing.
We heard a noise like thunder.
Then glass everywhere.
Okay. Thank you.
What did the janitors say?
They claim they didn't see anything.
That's not surprising; the security monitors
don't have a recording of anything, either.
Just a giant implosion of glass,
like some kind of giant shock wave.
What the janitors describe sounds more like a sonic boom.
No sonic boom did this.
Construction worker who was killed
had his spine crushed like a string of seashells,
a circular abrasion on his torso
in roughly the shape of an elephant's foot.
Other workers at the site said they felt the ground shake
followed by a faint whiff of animal odor in the wind.
Mulder, if you're still suggesting
that the elephant did this, it just defies logic.
Somebody would have seen it.
Well, if somebody would have seen it, Scully,
we wouldn't be here.
Another vehicle
would have left evidence of a collision--
distress to the metal, or paint.
I can see signs of neither of those things.
I'd be willing to admit the possibility of a tornado,
but it's not really tornado season.
I'd even be willing to entertain the notion
of a black hole passing over the area or some cosmic anomaly,
but it's not really black hole season, either.
If I was a betting man, I'd say that it was, uh...
An invisible elephant?
I saw David Copperfield
make the Statue of Liberty disappear once.
Agent Mulder?
- Yeah. - Ed Meecham, Fairfield Zoo.
Sorry for the holdup.
We had trouble transporting Ganesha's body this morning.
- This is Agent Scully. - Hi.
Have they determined what he died of?
She. Ganesha was a 12-year-old Indian female.
Near as I can figure, she ran herself into exhaustion.
How did she escape?
Well, now, there's a puzzle.
When I got the call this morning,
I expected to find her cage open or something,
but it was locked tight, just like I left it.
Any idea how she could have escaped a locked cage?
No, sir.
No signs of tampering, either.
I've read about something called the elephant rebellion
in zoos across the country--
a high incidence of elephants turning on their keepers,
destroying their pens.
Was Ganesha ever a problem like that?
Elephants are very big, very willful animals.
So you're saying there were problems?
Well, the person you're going to want
to talk to about that is Willa Ambrose.
- Ambrose? - She's a naturalist.
She was hired by the board of supervisors
last year to oversee things.
Now she's supposed to be the reigning authority.
Let me ask you something.
In your opinion, the damage here on the street--
could this have been caused by
- an escaped elephant? - My honest opinion?
- Yeah. - Sure.
Excuse me.
What you looking for, Mulder?
A local paper.
I want to see if David Copperfield's in town.
Excuse me. We're looking for Willa Ambrose.
There.
- Thank you. - Sure.
- Miss Ambrose? - Yes?
I'm Agent Dana Scully. This is Agent Mulder.
We're with the FBI.
How can I help you?
Well, a federal employee
was fatally injured last night,
and there seems to be a case developing
around the elephant that escaped from your zoo.
It was my understanding that the eyewitnesses
to the accident said that they didn't know
how the man was killed.
Actually, what we're trying to determine
is how Ganesha escaped.
Well, what did Ed tell you?
He said he found the cage locked,
the same way he left it.
What more can I say?
I don't want to belabor this,
but a man was found trampled to death.
An animal from your zoo was found 43 miles from here.
No one's looking to place any blame.
We're just trying to understand the facts
that led up to this incident.
This is where Ganesha was held
when she wasn't in her habitat.
Who has keys to this lock?
Only myself and Mr. Meecham.
Otherwise, this is a restricted area.
Elephants aren't particularly good jumpers,
if that's what you're thinking.
No, I was just wondering why such a small pen
for such a large animal.
The zoo was built in the 1940s.
The pens and habitats
are all too confining.
I was brought on
to expand and create more humane environments.
Unfortunately, these things take time.
Those chains on the ground there?
Those are tie-downs.
They're meant to restrict the animal's movement.
I disallowed their use when I came to work here.
Disallowed their use by whom?
It was Ed Meecham's practice.
It reflected an old, nonprogressive zoo policy.
How's your relationship with Ed Meecham?
I'm his boss and I'm a woman, and Ed doesn't like that much.
Would he be vindictive enough to let Ganesha go
as an act of sabotage?
Well, if he did,
that would be foolish.
The facility is running at a deficit
and in danger of losing its funding.
Have you spoken about the incident with Ed?
No.
I think Ed's got enough dealing with the W.A.O.
W.A.O.?
It's the Wild Again Organization.
They're a radical group that believes
any captive animal is a crime against nature.
Believe me, they're going to have a field day with this one.
Excuse me.
The W.A.O. believes only tragedy results
from keeping animals in captivity.
In the wild, an elephant like that would roam an area
20 square miles, minimum.
Ganesha weighed in excess of 5,000 pounds,
and she was being held in a 50-by-50-foot cage.
And you consider that inhumane treatment?
It's like you or I living in a pickle barrel.
According to FBI files, you've been arrested over a dozen times
for activities involving the kidnapping
of circus and zoo animals.
The W.A.O. sees it as liberation.
Hmm.
Were you involved in the liberation of Ganesha?
That would make me an accessory to murder, wouldn't it?
Endangering these animals
is against everything we believe.
These are incredibly spiritual creatures.
Their rituals and behavior are linked
to a past no man ever witnessed.
Did you know they actually bury their dead?
They can visit an elephant graveyard
centuries old and know instinctively
where the bones of their ancient ancestors lie.
What do you think Ganesha was running from?
You want to see what she was running from?
I'll show you.
Get up!
Pull! I got it!
This is how Ed Meecham treats these majestic animals.
This is still going on?
Meecham's a barbarian.
He's been torturing animals
at the Fairfield Zoo for years.
We figure he's still at it.
Eventually, we're going to get some proof.
We're here to put pressure on the zoo.
We're keeping track of what goes on there.
Even though Willa Ambrose claims that she's put
a stop to most of his old practices?
Whatever Willa Ambrose's intentions,
she's too preoccupied to really know how Meecham operates.
Preoccupied with what?
A lawsuit she's fighting against
the Malawi government over a lowland gorilla named Sophie.
Willa rescued her from a North African customs house
ten years ago.
Raised her like a child.
Now the Malawi government wants her back.
Will they win?
This is a perfect example
of man's imperialism over the animal kingdom--
this craven impulse to turn animals into objects
for our own selfish pleasure.
I thought you said she rescued this gorilla.
Yeah, rescued her so she could spend a life behind bars.
Her obligation should have been
to return the gorilla to the wild.
All animals should run free.
Even if that means trampling a man to death?
Maybe he should have gotten out of the way.
I'm sure he would have if he'd seen it coming.
Thanks for your time, sir,
and we'll get back to you soon.
It's all happening at the zoo, Scully.
Well, we found our suspects.
You think they busted out the elephant?
Well, you heard the man-- "All animals should run free."
What about all the eyewitness accounts,
the security tapes from the video cameras,
the fact that no one actually saw an elephant
until it was miles away from the zoo?
Well, the lights they were using at the construction site
were mercury vapor, 10,000 candlepower.
They can restrict a man's ability
to adjust his vision to the dark.
And their security cameras are poor quality.
A gray elephant may not have registered an image on tape
in the dim light in front of the building.
No, I'm not buying it, Scully.
I think these guys are all talk.
These guys are dedicated
to exactly this kind of activity unabashedly.
Did you check out the night vision camera
they had lying on the shelf?
- No. - It wouldn't surprise me
if they tried to capitalize on their success.
By doing what?
By liberating another animal.
Willa Ambrose said that the zoo was in trouble financially.
A loss of another big exhibit could shut them down entirely.
All right. You keep an eye on the W.A.O.
And where are you going?
Talk to the animals.
Beam me up, Scotty.
Did anybody ever tell you
the camera loves you, Frohike?
Yeah, the arresting officers at the "Free James Brown" rally.
So what's this costing the taxpayers, Mulder?
Uh, about 150 bucks an hour.
Ouch! Almost as much as Bill Clinton's haircuts.
Where's Langley?
He has a philosophical issue
with having his image bounced off a satellite.
What are you doing in Idaho?
I'm in the town of Fairfield. What do you know about it?
They got a little zoo there.
Lots of strange lore-- animals escaping,
disappearing without a trace.
Any idea why?
You're not far from the Mountain Home Air Base.
Major UFO hot spot.
Weird fact, Mulder: no animal at Fairfield Zoo
has ever brought a pregnancy to term.
Not a cub or a chick.
The woman who runs the zoo
has a gorilla that knows sign language--
supposedly with a vocabulary of 1,000 words.
If that's the lovely Agent Scully,
let her know I've been working out.
I'm buff.
Mulder.
Mulder, it's me. I was right.
I just followed the kid from the W.A.O. to the zoo.
He's just about to make it over the fence.
All right, I'll be right there, Scully.
What the hell are you doing here?
There's a member of the W.A.O. on the premises.
Come with me.
What's going on?
It's okay, Sophie. Calm down.
I don't know what you're talking about.
You have no idea what he was doing at the zoo?
If you're asking did I have any idea of his intentions,
the answer's simple: not the slightest.
What if I told you I saw this camera
sitting up there on the shelf yesterday?
Guess I never noticed it before.
A tiger is missing
and a member of your organization is dead.
For such a principled man,
you show an amazing lack of emotion.
If the tiger killed this person, then it was a natural act.
Well, if I find evidence
that he was releasing those animals under your orders,
I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life behind bars.
Scully?
You know, that guy really pisses me off.
You okay, Scully?
Yeah.
You calmed down?
Have they found the tiger yet?
No, but I took a look at the cassette
from the kid's recorder.
- He wasn't killed by the tiger. - What?
Unless it's trick photography,
that kid was killed by some kind of phantom attacker.
You saw his body, Mulder; that kid was mauled to death.
He had deep claw marks on his chest and on his back.
I can't explain it, either,
but I know someone who might be ale to.
Excuse me? Miss Ambrose?
May we have a word with you?
I don't know anything more than I've already told the police.
I have nothing to say.
Is this where you keep Sophie?
Sophie is ill.
You think we could meet her?
We're not here to try to take her away from you.
About six weeks ago,
I had to take Sophie out of her public habitat.
She'd become so withdrawn and depressed,
she'd curl into a ball
in the corner of her cage and just shiver.
Did you ask her why?
All the time.
What'd she say?
"Light afraid."
Literally, she's afraid of the light.
She speaks to you?
Over 600 words using American Sign Language.
She understands over a thousand.
I'll show you her vocabulary list.
Is this who you wanted to speak to?
It's basic investigative procedure, Agent Scully--
interview all possible witnesses.
Gorillas are highly sensitive creatures,
and Sophie's use of language skills makes her even more so.
Why would she be afraid of the light?
Well, you've obviously heard about the trouble
with the Malawi government.
There's a chance that Sophie could be taken away from me,
and I think that she knows that.
Are these Sophie's?
Yes.
What do they mean?
Well, until recently,
Sophie desperately wanted a baby.
The brown object in the center is her expression of that.
Have you tried to mate her?
We were looking for a suitable partner,
but under these stressful conditions,
I didn't want to put her through it.
Do you have a veterinary facility here?
- Yeah. - All right, this may seem like
a rather strange request, but it might help to explain
what's been going on here.
I'm going to need your help
on this, too, Scully.
I hope you know what you're getting us into, Mulder.
I'm pretty sure of what we're going to find.
'Cause this isn't exactly in my job description.
Next thing you know, they'll be doing it on MTV Sports.
Okay. The elephant's cavity is clear.
I'm ready for you.
The knife's right down there.
I've been told there's never been a successful pregnancy
at the Fairfield Zoo.
Sounds like you've been talking to Kyle Lang.
- Well, is it true? - Yes.
But I don't think for the reasons Kyle claims--
not because Ed Meecham has done anything
to these animals.
Why then?
Because bringing a pregnancy to term
in captivity is always difficult.
But a perfect failure rate?
I know. It's one of the things
I was determined to change when I came to the zoo.
Was an attempt ever made to mate Ganesha?
No. Mating an elephant out of the wild
is rarely successful.
There have only been six elephants born in captivity
over the last ten years.
Here's the uterine tissue,
but I'm still not clear on what you expect to find.
You're right, Mulder.
The signs in the uterus and the ovaries are unmistakable.
So what did you find?
This animal had been pregnant.
What are you talking about?
There's evidence
of hyperplasia, and the corpus luteum is ruptured.
That's not possible.
Neither is an invisible elephant.
What is going on here?
Whatever it is,
it's been going on for some time.
And I think you'll find evidence of the same thing
when your tiger returns.
Still can't believe you bet on the Chargers.
You hear that?
Hear what?
Where's the tiger?
Somewhere inside the construction site.
He's got two men trapped in there.
Put the gun away, Ed.
You want to be responsible
for another death, Miss Ambrose?
I think we can capture this cat without any harm to anyone.
This is no time for wishful thinking.
I'm ordering you, Ed.
Yes, ma'am. Lead the way.
Thank you.
How'd the tiger get
all the way across town without being spotted?
I don't know, but we better find it before Meecham does.
Hey!
Shh, shh, shh, shh!
It was just here.
It's all right, Willa.
They don't all talk and draw pictures.
This last incident has left the board with no choice
but to withdraw all funding.
Well, if that's your decision,
then there's nothing else I can say.
I'm sorry.
I'm out of a job.
They've cut off all funding.
The animals are being shipped out
to other zoos starting Monday.
I'm sorry.
It could not have happened at a worse time.
You mean for Sophie?
What I had going for me
was my position here.
Having a place for her.
Have the results come in on the tiger?
Agent Scully just finished the test.
The tiger had been pregnant, too.
It's impossible.
There's no chance those animals could get pregnant. No way.
What if they've been artificially inseminated?
That's an extremely fine and complex process.
I would have known.
Unless it was done somewhere else.
Where?
What do you know about alien abduction?
You're... you're kidding me.
You think that these animals
were taken aboard some spaceship?
I don't know where they're being taken,
but there's obviously some problem getting them back.
Due to what is probably an astrological variation--
a trouble with the time-space continuum.
These animals that are being taken from locked cages
are being returned roughly two miles west-southwest of the zoo.
Aliens impregnating zoo animals.
Yes, and harvesting the embryos.
Why?
Maybe their own Noah's ark.
To preserve the DNA of these animals
that we're depleting to extinction.
Whatever it is, that's probably the reason why you've never had
a successful birth at this facility.
I think that's the most ridiculous thing I've heard.
I understand
that you might think it's ridiculous.
Maybe you should ask Sophie.
You think this is what she's so afraid of?
I believe she's pregnant,
and she's afraid of them coming for her baby.
Sophie, come here.
I want to ask you a question.
It's okay, Sophie.
Come here.
What's she saying?
She says, "Man, woman-- hurt."
She thinks you or your partner
are going to hurt her or me.
Sophie, man, woman are here to help you.
They want to know
about Sophie's baby.
Can I ask her a question?
Yeah.
Will you ask her if she wants to leave here.
Sophie...
do you want to leave here?
She says,
"Light afraid."
Sophie, what are you afraid of?
Tell me.
What did she say?
She said, "Baby go flying light."
I just finished up in the infirmary.
A sheriff's deputy came looking to serve you papers.
I think it's about Sophie.
What am I going to do?
Whatever you do, you can't leave Sophie here,
not if you want to protect her.
I have nowhere else to take her.
Excuse me.
Willa Ambrose?
- Yes. - I'm serving you
with a court order to release a gorilla named Sophie
into protective custody.
What are you doing here?
I've come to ask for your help, Kyle.
Help with what?
Sophie.
They've taken her
into protective custody.
Let her go, Willa.
They're putting her in an iron cage as we speak,
without bars, without windows.
It'll kill her.
Sophie's been behind bars her entire life.
Let her go home, Willa.
She'll have the freedom she deserves.
Freedom to what? Be killed by poachers
and have her hands cut off as souvenirs?
They've promised she'll be in a preserve.
She's mine, Kyle!
I won't let her go!
Please, come on.
We can find a place
for her here-- a private reserve.
You know people.
That's against everything I stand for.
She's pregnant.
What?
Sophie's pregnant.
I don't believe you, Willa.
- It's true. - What if she was?
Is the baby going to live out its life behind bars, too?
Look, Willa, she doesn't belong to you.
She's not your child.
She belongs with other gorillas, not selling tickets for a zoo.
You won't help me?
No.
Want to see something interesting?
Where did you get this?
I was looking for a pen to finish my report
in Willa's office, and it was in her drawer.
It's a small world, after all.
It's okay, Sophie.
It's okay, honey.
Sophie, Sophie, Sophie.
Don't worry.
I'm with you.
I love you, too.
Willa?
You here?
Willa?
Where are you?
Willa?
I told you, it happened exactly the way it did with the tiger.
I heard the animals going crazy.
I got out of bed to check on Sophie, and she was gone.
That's when I found Kyle.
Do you have any idea
- what he would have been doing at the zoo? - No.
We have a witness who says
that you visited Kyle's office yesterday.
Is that true?
Yeah.
For what purpose?
Basically, to tell him that he'd won.
That the zoo was being shut down,
that Sophie was being taken into protective custody.
Did you ask him to help you take Sophie
to prevent her from being taken from you?
No.
That would be against everything Kyle believed in.
But he helped you to rescue her originally,
isn't that correct?
He had a connection to you and to this animal
that went back several years.
Whatever connection he and I had was over long ago.
But you asked him anyway, to help you.
No.
Then what was he doing here last night,
and why did he give you this note?
I don't know.
I told you.
Did he make a habit of visiting the zoo?
If he did,
it was probably late at night after he jumped over the fence
like a good W.A.O. soldier.
Anyway, why don't you ask Agent Mulder what he thinks happened.
He seems to have a novel theory.
Maybe it was alien abduction.
Scully, can I talk to you for a second?
You think she's telling the truth.
Why do you say that?
Kyle Lang's death and the disappearance of the animal
match the previous incidents.
Yes.
And you've been pushing this alien abduction angle.
I still am, but in this case, Willa's reactions are all wrong.
You mean to losing Sophie?
I think she knows where Sophie is,
and Kyle Lang died because he knows what she's capable of.
You think she killed him?
I think she'd do anything to protect that animal.
Even wait atop a stack of crates
for a former lover to walk underneath?
I think an examination of the body will give us
a lot clearer picture what happened last night.
You do that, and I'll check out the warehouse.
Looks like you're in a hurry.
Well, there isn't much to hang around for, is there?
I'm afraid there is.
I found evidence that Kyle died a wrongful death.
He was hit with a cattle prod.
There's going to be an investigation,
so I have to read you your rights.
It was an accident.
Kyle surprised Ed.
He wasn't supposed to be there.
Ed Meecham took Sophie?
Yes.
There was no one else to turn to.
Where is she, Willa?
Ed has her.
She's in some... building
on the road to Boise.
Put it down, Ed.
There's been enough violence, don't you think?
I didn't kill Kyle Lang.
Put down the gun and we'll talk about it.
I was only doing what she paid me to do.
Where's the animal, Ed?
Down the hall.
Okay, you show me where.
We're going to go there together. Come on.
What's she doing?
She's throwing herself against the door.
She's gone crazy.
She's scared.
Yeah? Well, she's going to kill herself.
Okay, Ed. Well, you're going to have to save her.
Take your tranquilizer gun.
I'll be right behind you.
I've only got one dart in this thing,
so you got to get her out in the light.
You see her?
I think she's over in that corner over there.
Hey, Meecham!
I'm not going to hurt you.
Mulder?
Sorry.
- Lie still. - Where's Sophie?
Lie down. Can we get a paramedic in here?
- Yes, ma'am. - Meecham.
Ed Meecham's been arrested.
We picked him up on the way to Boise.
That's how we found you here.
- Let me take a look at this. - They took Sophie.
Who did?
- Where's Willa? - She's outside.
She's going in to make a statement about Kyle Lang.
I got to talk to her.
- Where is she? - She's gone.
What did he do to her?
Wasn't Ed. She tried to tell me something.
What is that?
That doesn't make any sense.
What does it mean?
"Man save man."
We've just received a report
of a large animal spotted down
off the interstate, just west of the surface road...
That's her.
She's heading back towards the zoo.
Where is she?
Over there.
What happened here?
Animal got hit by a car.
Ran off into the field.
Oh, no.
Oh, no, no, no.
No.
Sophie?
Oh, no, no.
Willa Ambrose and Ed Meecham have been charged
with manslaughter for the death of Kyle Lang.
And though the courts will rule on this matter
and justice will no doubt be served,
the pall of a greater tragedy remains.
The motives of the silent visitors
who set these events in motion remain unclear.
Could this be a judgment on a global rate of extinction
that has risen to 1,000 times
its natural rate in this century?
An act of alien conservation of animals
we are driving hard toward oblivion?
And if so, might it follow that our own fate and existence
could finally be dependent
on the conservatorship of an extraterrestrial race?
Or in the simple words of a creature
whose own future is uncertain, will man save man?
I made this!