“Alpha” quotes from The X-Files

Scully

(walking in to the X-Files office, where Mulder is pinning pictures to the wall) Aren't you going home?

Mulder

(not turning around) I am home. I'm just feathering the nest.

Scully

(looking through the file) What happened to the dog?

Mulder

(sitting close to her) Dog gone... Dog gone... (proudly) Doggone.

Scully

(dryly) Yeah, I got it.

Scully

(stares at him) You're not going to tell me that a dog did this.

Mulder

(sounding serious, but grinning) A bad dog.

Scully

(looking in the crate) What did you find?

Nothing conclusive, really, but I can tell you the dog's not likely still on the ship.

Mulder

How did you determine that?

You ever owned a dog, sir?

Mulder

Yeah.

Had to clean up after it? (Mulder grins and agrees)

Scully

I don't suppose you can tell us what kind of dog this is.

I'm not really sure. The man it was shipped to's name is Detweiler. Dr. Ian Detweiler. Calls himself a "cryptozoologist."

Mulder

(interested) Cryptozoologist?

They deal with animals thought to be extinct.

Mulder

(continuing) Animals that aren't supposed to exist like Sasquatch and the Ogopogo and the Abominable Snowman and-

Scully

(interrupting) Don't mind him. He'll go on forever.

Scully

Jake Conroy, age 30. He was employed as a customs agent by the Federal Government. The bite marks match those of the victims on the Chinese freighter. In this case, it bit off the man's hand. There's some talk in the house that he may be involved in the theft of the animal and that it turned on him.

Mulder

Talk about biting the hand that feeds you.

Mulder

I think we're speaking in too common terms about an animal we're calling a dog but which displays none of the behavior of man's best friend.

Scully

You mean covering up crime scenes?

Mulder

(smiles) You get a biscuit, Scully.

You two looking for Karin about boarding?

Mulder

No, it's actually more of a behavior problem.

Scully

(glancing up at Mulder) Yeah, he doesn't listen and he chews on the furniture.

Scully

(reading some of Karin's book titles) Ah. "The Wolf Inside." "Dogs Don't Lie." "Better Than Human." (pause) "Better Than Human?"

Mulder

(shrugging apologetically) She's not a real people person.

Mulder

Everything okay, Scully?

Scully

How well do you know this woman, Mulder?

Mulder

How well do you know anybody you meet on the Internet? She likes to talk.

Scully

Well, I question her motives.

Mulder

You're suggesting that this case was a way to get me out here, to meet me? (no response; Mulder smiles) I'm flattered, but, no. I don't know this woman. I'd go out on a limb and say there's no way in hell she has anything to do with those four people being dead.

Scully

She's enamored of you, Mulder. Don't underestimate a woman. They can be tricksters, too. (They share a look.)

Where's Fox?

Scully

Continuing his investigation.

You're not working together?

Scully

No. This is my investigation.

Of...?

Scully

You.

I have no idea what you mean.

Scully

I thought at first that they were eccentricities or affectations - the dark, the clothes - but it's photosensitivity. Your sleeves cover up skin lesions. It's why you're here amongst the humans instead of out in the field. Systemic lupus erythematosus.

Lupus... From the Latin for "wolf." Ironic, isn't it?

Scully

Ironic or perverse?

I've ignored the symptoms for years. I've always felt more like a wolf than a person.

Scully

But not with Mulder. With Mulder, you found somebody you could communicate with.... someone who challenged you... But that wasn't enough. You needed to lure him out here.

(flatly) I lack your feminine wiles.

Scully

(looks away for a moment) You don't believe it, do you - not for a minute - that there's an animal out there killing?

I don't believe that this man, Dr. Detweiler, ever caught it. I lived in Asia. I know about the Wanshang Dhole and if it survived for over a century it was because it was more cunning than man, more cunning than this man Detweiler ever dreamed of.

Scully

More cunning than you? (Karin looks surprised; Scully warns her) I'm watching you.

You watch... But you don't see.

Mulder

Through some blood curse, this man undergoes some kind of nocturnal transformation. He becomes the same shape-shifting trickster as that mythical dog.

Scully

So, what is he going to do? Walk in here, skitter across the linoleum and pee in the corners?

Mulder

It's about territoriality. He's going to come back here tonight to make sure his dominance isn't challenged. He's going to put down the threat he failed to eliminate when he attacked Cahn. Karin Berquist confirmed it.

Scully

Mulder, the only thing Karin Berquist is interested in is you. (he chuckles dismissively) You're kidding yourself if you think that she hasn't manipulated this entire situation for her own purposes.