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FIGHT THE FUTURE

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We see Scully typing up her report as her voiceover continues. There were other signs of “episodes of intense phobia”. The vitreous humor, extracted from the eyeball in a procedure I'm sure we're all glad we didn't have to see even though she's dead, showed a high concentration of the same substance that was on a previous perpetrator's finger. We flash to Mulder reading what is presumably this report, his lower arm bandaged. Scully guesses that this chemical would react with adrenaline and other hormones to create a substance similar to LSD.

Now we're at a shopping mall in Franklin, Pennsylvania. Our friend Ed, dressed smartly, approaches a counter and asks to apply for a job. The lady apologizes but says they're not accepting applications, and puts up a sign that says, “Back in one hour”, and leaves. Ed sighs. He walks a few steps, looking around aimlessly, and his eyes come to rest on a banner advertising a blood drive. Right in the middle of the store? Really? Huh.

Anyway, he predictably panics when asked to sign up for it, and tries not to run away. The lady behind the table for the blood drive keeps calling after him. Okay, Miss Pushy, leave him alone! Not everyone wants to donate blood, sheesh! He's standing next to a bank of TVs when he suddenly seems to hear the dramatic chime, and all the TVs show static, then a bunch of violent scenes. I am once again grateful to the transcript for telling me what they are. I recognized Charles Manson, but there's also apparently “a scene from the L.A. riots, the Rodney King beating, an exploding building, another riot scene, and the famous O.J. Simpson-Bronco chase.” The TVs keep scrolling through these scenes, with a burst of static between each one. Ed watches, alarmed and confused.

Then the screen goes blank and says, “BEHIND YOU”. The dramatic chime confirms this. I kinda thought it was referring to the blood drive table or something, but no – Ed slowly turns around, and there is a big ol' gun section. There aren't many stores around here that have such a section. I think you generally have to go to a special store. Not that I'd know for sure. But anyway, Ed raises an eyebrow, sweating nervously, and looks back at the screen. A dramatic chime signals its change to, “DO IT!” Ed gets a rather unfocused look on his face and walks slowly toward the guns. The TVs are back to playing normal things like some sort of sporting event.

We switch to Mulder going for a run down the city sidewalk. He's wearing a sleeveless grey shirt which has a lot of sweat on the front, and his arm is still bandaged. He stops and breathes heavily, watching a truck stop in front of him. A man on top throws a shovelful of something out into someone's yard, and then the truck drives off

Mulder goes over to investigate (putting the I in FBI). Turns out it's a bunch of dying flies. Weird. Being Mulder, he picks one up and stares at it. The scene transitions to the Lone Gunmen (yay!) examining the fly in a magnifying glass.

Byers says their April edition had an article about the CIA's new something-something micro-video camera. Langly adds that it's small enough to be placed on the back of a fly. Mulder: “Imagine being one of those flies on the wall of the Oval Office.” Frohike: “Been there, done that.” He smiles and takes the fly over to another desk. They all follow. Byers explains that what Mulder found is a Eurasian cluster fly, a pest that can inflict a lot of damage to fruit crops.

Langly proposes that this one might have been “irradiated to control population”, while Byers alternatively suggests, “Or agents of competing South American agricultural corporations posing as Franklin city employees, are releasing fertile flies to destroy the crops.” Sigh. I love them and their craziness. Meanwhile, Frohike picks up the fly with tweezers, then plops it in a petri dish. He announces, “Nope. This bug's been nuked.”

Mulder pats Byers on the back and says that it was a fine effort, though. He changes the subject and asks if they know of the chemical compound Scully described. As he points to it on a paper in a file he's holding, Langly correctly identifies it as LSDM. He sniffs that Mulder obviously didn't read their August edition of TLG. Mulder smiles slightly and apologizes, saying it arrived on the same day as his subscription to “Celebrity Skin”. Langly chuckles.

They move over to another part of the room, where Frohike picks up some night vision goggles for some reason. He asks Mulder where his “little partner” is, to which Mulder retorts famously, “She wouldn't come. She's afraid of her love for you.” Frohike comments that Scully is tasty, and Mulder says that Frohike gives perversion a bad name. The exchange is funny, but I can't say much for DD's line readings there. He's usually good at doing those kind of lines, but there? Sounded bored.

Anyway, Byers finds a video about toxic pesticides, and he and Langly explain/exposit that LSDM is “an unreleased experimental synthetic botanical insecticide” that acts like a pheromone. It's sprayed on the plant and the pest reacts in fear to it. But it hasn't been released, as Mulder guesses, because it's possible it could create the same response in humans. Except Byers and Langly smirk at the use of the word “possible”.