CONDUIT

                           The boy is key to finding Ruby - he is receiving digitized data from a television screen.                                                              Kevin a a conduit of some kind.

The episode commences with a group of campers sleeping by a lake, awhn all of a sudden the camper van starts to violently shake and a brifht light appears. After a few seconds the movement ceases, and a small child, Kevin, screams at his mother that Ruby, his sister, has disappeared.....

Back at FBI headquarters in Washington Mulder has requested travel to the state of Iowa, going on the local newspaper heading of 'teen taken by alien.' Mulder's bosses are concerned by this, believing him to have linked this to his sisters disappearance - and concerns are shared with Agent Scully. The bosses feel that his personal agenda is clouding his professional judgment, and that his actions are becoming a big source of friction within the bureau. Scully relays these concerns to Mulder, feeling that the evidence is not substantial enough to warrant an investigation. Mulder informs her that the lake (Lake Okobogee) is a UFO hotspot and he pulls her attention to four sightings in 1967, one of whom was a girl scout called Darleen Morris - who just happens to be the mother of the missing child. The two agents pay a visit to Mrs Morris and meet her young son Kevin, who is behaving very strangely. Mulder observes the boy watching television (with a snowy picture) and recording some form of complex binary sequence - he takes this from Kevin and asks that someone look and attempt to interpret.

The next port of call for our two agents is the local Police station - however the Sherriff seems uninterested in the case - suggesting that Darlene had a very active imagination and that it was more likely Ruby ran away. However as the two leave Mulder spots a note on his windscreen, which beckons the agent to follow a girl across the road. She tells Mulder that Ruby had a boyfriend, Greg Randall, and that she was also pregnant,She added that the two were to meet at the lake the night she went missing, and that they were going to leave town together. When Mulder and Scully end up at a local bar, where Randall worked, the boss tells them that he has not been seen for three weeks....another dead end.

The following morning Scully is awoken by a group of agents looking for Mulder - it seems that the binary code he wanted interpreting is for the defence satellite transmission - and they want to know more about where Mulder got such information as whilst it was just a fragment - it is nevertheless highly classified. Mulder refuses to comment - however Scully tells the NSA agents where the information came from, and they soon take the boy and his mother for questioning. Whilst Mulder and Scully are powerless to stop this, at the Morris household Mulder notices scorch marks on top of the camper van. Later at Sioux City FBI offices Darlene and her son are released - with Mulder suggesting that Kevin is the key to finding Ruby and that he may be some form of conduit. The agents end up back at Lake Okobogee, and Mulder makes further observations (sand turning into glass/the tops of the trees) which indicates huge source of heat. They then make a gruesome discovery - a shallow grave which contains the body of Greg Randall.

The girl who left the note on Mulder's car - Tessa - is brought in for questioning. It seems that it was actually she who was pregnant and the father was Randall. Mulder asserts that Tessa killed Randall, and despite Scully's view that the case should now be turned over to local enforcement, Mulder pays a further visit to the boy. No-one is at home, although they make a startling discovery when looking at the binary code produced by Kevin - and after leaving the house in search of mother and son they come across the camper van near the lake. They hear a shout and find Darlene, who says she knows her daughter is here - and Ruby is then found unconscious.

At the hospital Darlene is recovering, and Mulder's theory of abduction carries some weight as she described symptoms of prolonged weightlessness, something astronauts experience. However Darlene tells Mulder that her family no longer wish to speak to the agents, she has her daughter back and asks the agents to leave. Mulder and Scully leave with many unanswered questions......

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