“S.R. 819” is episode nine of season six of The X-Files.
Two doctors are in a hospital talking about a patient. One tells the other he needs to call Agent Scully with the FBI. The patient is an FBI agent and he’s going to die. The patient is Skinner, and his veins are all strange. He tries to speak to the doctor and she has to lean in close. It seems he said a name. Then Skinner flatlines and, instead of trying to revive him, the doctor says to let him go.
24 hours earlier and Skinner is boxing in a gym. He’s doing fine, then his vision goes funny and he gets hurt in the side before being knocked down. He comes too in a hospital and a nurse asks if Skinner remembers what happened. He was boxing; he guesses he got tagged. The nurse tells him Dr Plant will be in shortly. As Skinner is waiting, his phone rings. A computer-generated voice tells Skinner it’s in him. He has 24 hours. He’s already dead. Dr Plant enters; he’s going to release Skinner. But he should rethink boxing; he’s not 20 anymore. Other than that, the doctor thinks Skinner is fine. Apart from the bruise. Skinner has a large bruise on his side where the other boxer hit him, though it didn’t seem that hard. There’s nothing broken and no internal bleeding though.
Mulder is at the FBI that night when he spots Skinner. Mulder follows and find Skinner on the couch. Skinner’s having trouble seeing and didn’t think he should drive. He’ll be fine. Mulder doesn’t believe that and calls Scully in. She asks why the lights are out. Because Skinner is having trouble with his eyes. The bruise on his side looks worse. Skinner told Mulder about the call. Scully thinks Skinner may have been poisoned and asks about his blood. Skinner asks why call and tell him he’s dying. Mulder suggests to scare Skinner, to see who he’d turn to. Does Mulder really believe this is about him? Or the X-Files. Skinner points out that Mulder isn’t even on them. Scully reminds Skinner that Skinner is still supervising them.
They question Skinner about what he did that day. The only unusual thing was being stopped in a hallway by a man who wanted to know the time. He grabbed Skinner’s wrist. Some poisons are absorbed through the skin. The footage shows the man and Scully recognises him. Dr Kenneth Orgel, an advisor to a Senate subcommittee on ethics and new technology. A physicist; fairly well known for such. He apparently signed in, to come see Skinner. Scully says if Skinner has been poisoned, he needs to be in care. If Skinner has been poisoned, he’s going to hold a gun to Orgel’s head and ask him why and how he’s going to fix it.
Mulder and Skinner head to Orgel’s home. He answers the door and claims he doesn’t know who Skinner is and that he didn’t come to see him. Orgel shuts the door. Mulder tells Skinner to go around the back then draws his gun. When Orgel opens the door again, he tries to barge it open and someone tries to shoot him through the door. Skinner enters through the back and sees a man holding Orgel with a gun on him. There’s another there who knocks Skinner down. Orgel is being hustled out as Mulder enters. Mulder gives chase and catches one of them, though the other bundles Orgel into a car and drives off.
Skinner is looking worse when Mulder returns with his prisoner. Who isn’t speaking English. Skinner finds he has a diplomatic passport and tells Mulder to let him go. He’s a Tunisian cultural attaché. Skinner doesn’t want to wait around for the police.
Scully is talking to Dr Plant; she explains Skinner may have been poisoned and wants to look at his blood. Skinner is on a government HMO; no-one has even bothered to handle the samples yet. The doctor says they should have a written release from the patient. Scully doesn’t think they have time; the blood sample is odd.
Mulder is looking through Orgel’s files with the police th3ere. The officer is concerned about Orgel’s personal property. Mulder is more concerned about Orgel. He finds photos of Orgel with Senator Matheson.
Dr Plant and Scully are looking at Skinner’s blood. It contains pure carbon. They don’t know how it got in or how it’s poisoning him. It shouldn’t be. Under a microscope, Scully says the carbon is multiplying. A close-up view of the carbon makes it look artificial. Like nanites.
Mulder heads to see Matheson about Senate Resolution 819 – S.R. 819 of the title. Matheson claims it’s to provide money and supplies to the WHO and medical technology to Third World countries. Mulder should leave. Matheson is trying to save lives, but can’t save Skinner’s. Skinner himself is following the Tunisian diplomat, trying to find out what is happening. He’s not in the best shape for doing something like that. Someone seems to want to kill Skinner, but someone also seems to be protecting him to a degree.