“Tunguska” is episode eight of season four of The X-Files.
The episode opens with Scully appearing before the Senate Select Subcommittee on Intelligence & Terrorism. She starts by reading a prepared statement about how she left a career in medicine 4 years ago to become an FBI agent because she believed in her country and upholding its laws. Though she still believes in the country, she says there are powerful men who do not. The CSM is at the hearing. Scully says these men have no respect for law and flout it with impunity. Scully is told this isn’t a soap box; her statement will be entered into the record. That’s not why they are here.
They want to know where Mulder is. Scully declines to answer, because answering could endanger his life. She’s told she’s an agent in the FBI; answering is not optional. That’s why Scully wants to continue her statement. She says it is no longer possible to carry out her duties as an FBI agent. She isn’t resigning, but the culture of lawlessness is preventing her from doing her job. The committee’s real target should be the men behind the crimes. She’s told that, if she doesn’t tell the committee what she knows about Mulder’s whereabouts, she will be held in contempt of Congress.
Honolulu Airport ten days earlier and a man on a U.S. diplomatic via is told by a customs agent that he is going to be subjected to a random check. His protests are ignored. The agent he sees wants to see what’s in his briefcase. He doesn’t have the combination. The man is subjected to a strip and full cavity search. When he comes back, the other agent has got into the briefcase and found a couple of cylinders. Despite the man’s protests about them being filled with biologically hazardous materials, the agent opens one, and drops it. The man starts panicking as black worms crawl from the dropped cannister and crawl over the customs officer. Black oil films over the man’s eyes. Frankly, that was a pretty dumb thing for the customs officer to do, opening something you’ve been told is dangerous and then dropping it.
In Flushing, Queens, Mulder, Scully and a lot more agents are gearing up. Mulder has been receiving receipts for materials that could be used to make a rather large bomb. The last two were for hiring a two-tonne truck and storage space at this address. A lorry arrives and backs up to a loading dock. Armed men appear, then the FBI bursts out of their hiding spot. Some of the armed men don’t want to surrender and the lorry starts to leave, pursued by Mulder and Scully. It crashes and Scully says the driver is dead – shot from the inside of the cab it looks like. There was another man in the cab and he throws out his gun, then gets out.
The passenger is Krycek, who was last seen locked inside an old missile silo in “Apocrypha”. Krycek claims he’s the one whose been sending Mulder the receipts; it seems the far-right militia may be the ones who got him out. Krycek has a very low opinion of them. He says he wants the same thing Mulder does; to find the man who tried to kill him and is responsible for the death of Mulder’s father and Scully’s sister. He doesn’t believe they can be brought to justice as they are protected. And this is only one bomb Krycek knows about.
Mulder and Scully take Krycek to Dulles International. They are looking for a man with a diplomatic pouch, who bolts when Scully approaches him. Mulder handcuffs Krycek to a rail and follows. The man gets away, but he drops the pouch. Krycek is still there when they return, and he’s asked if it’s a joke. The pouch contains a rock.
Mulder arrives at Skinner’s place and says he needs authorisation for a safe house. For a man who can give information on extreme right-wing militia. Krycek. Skinner says he will be safe here. Then punches Krycek in the stomach. Relatively safe. Skinner cuffs Krycek on his balcony.
Mulder and Scully have taken the rock to the Goddard Space Flight Center, specifically the Exobiology Department. Dr Sacks tells them that it contains stuff that suggests it is a fragment of meteorite, possibly from Mars. Is it valuable? Well, only related to the discussion about alien bacteria. He can’t tell what it contains without a core sample. He really hopes they will allow him to. Mulder says they’d all like to know what’s in the rock.
CSM ‘accidentally’ bumps into Skinner. A missing diplomatic pouch is causing problems. Skinner knows nothing. CSM finds that hard to believe, given that he’s Mulder and Scully’s supervisor. CSM gives Skinner some advice as a ‘friend’ about treason and sedition. The pouch needs returning; wars have broken out over less.
Someone breaks into Skinner’s place, but ends up being tossed over the balcony by Krycek. Skinner’s new apartment is quite high up. Cutting into the meteorite turns out to not be a great idea. Scully is worried about Mulder, who has found out about the Honolulu courier. The Well-Manicured Man makes a comment to CSM about his skill with a rifle; perhaps a reference to the previous episode, “Musings of a Cigarette Smoking Man”.
The story continues in the next episode, “Terma”.