Ice (The X-Files) - Plot

Plot

At an outpost in Icy Cape, Alaska, a team of geophysicists meet a violent end in a mass murder–suicide. After reviewing their final transmissions, FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) head to the outpost. Accompanying them are physician Dr. Hodge (Xander Berkeley); toxicologist Dr. DaSilva (Felicity Huffman); geologist Dr. Murphy (Steve Hytner); and Bear (Jeff Kober), their pilot. Both Hodge and DaSilva are immediately suspicious of the FBI's involvement.

Entering the outpost, the group finds the bodies of the scientists, as well as a dog that attacks Mulder and Bear. Subduing the animal, Scully notices black nodules on its skin, and suggests it may be infected with bubonic plague. She also notices something moving underneath its skin. Later, Bear starts feeling ill and notices nodules on his body. Autopsies of the scientists show no nodules on any of them. Murphy finds an ice core sample, and believes it to originate from a meteor crater; Murphy theorizes the sample might be 250,000 years old after ammonium hydroxide is detected in one of the corpses.

Bear insists on leaving, but the others are worried about infecting the outside world with a contagion. When asked for a stool sample, Bear attacks Mulder and tries to flee. The others find something moving underneath Bear's skin. Scully removes a small worm from the back of his neck; Bear dies as a result. Stranded without a pilot, Mulder radios for an evacuation, but is told help is unavailable because of the weather.

The worm removed from Bear is kept in a jar, and another is recovered from one of the corpses. Mulder believes the worms are extraterrestrial and wants them kept alive, while Scully feels that they should be destroyed to prevent infection. The group check each other for black nodules, finding none, although Mulder reminds Scully that the nodules on the dog disappeared after a while. That night, Mulder hears noise and finds blood dripping from the freezer. He finds Murphy inside, his throat slit. The others—including Scully—believe Mulder became infected and killed Murphy. Mulder is locked up in a store room.

While investigating the worm, DaSilva accidentally mixes two drops of infected blood and discover that two worms put together will kill each other. They place one of the worms into the infected dog, causing it to recover. Hodge and DaSilva decide to put the other worm in Mulder, though Scully believes he may not be infected after all. Regardless, Hodge and DaSilva lock up Scully and restrain Mulder, trying to put the worm into him. Hodge notices a worm moving under DaSilva's skin and realizes she is the infected one, not Mulder. He and Mulder restrain DaSilva and put the last worm inside of her. After being rescued, DaSilva is quarantined and the others are released. Mulder wants to return to the site, but Hodge tells him that it was destroyed by an unknown government agency after their departure.