Several days passed before Mulder returned home. Scully had been given an advanced copy of the debriefing tape. She clicked her audio tape recorder to playback. There was a hiss and the interview began.

Male agent: "Special Agent Fox Mulder, Washington DC bureau, current assignment: X-Files. Can I get you some water?"

Mulder: "No."

Male agent: "Mr. Mulder, we're discussing the incident involving Billy Newbold."

Mulder: "Yes."

Male agent: "Let's start where you and Agent Scully returned to the motel after you had learned of Billy's escape from the New Haven Police Department. What's your first memory?"

Mulder: "I… I don't remember the motel."

Male agent: "Ok. Where does your memory pick up?"

Mulder: "You mean before or after…"

Male agent: "Let's start before the alleged abduction."

Mulder: "Alleged?"

Male agent: "Do you remember the scene at New Haven PD that night?"

Mulder: "I remember being in the car with Scully. We were coming back from there."

Male agent: "Tell me about-"

Mulder: "Is she..."

Male agent: "She's back in DC. She's fine, Mr. Mulder. Now, tell me about your first memory after the car ride."

Mulder: "There was darkness for a while. I was moving. Always moving. Then he turned on a lamp."

Male agent: "Who was that?"

Mulder: "Billy. We were in this container. My hands were tied behind my back. I was attached to a… like a metal rod that was threaded through the container box. I… was sitting in the dark for so long."

Male agent: "Can you recall any sounds or any indication if it was a truck or a train? Was it a shipping container?"

Mulder: "Yes. And it was a… train."

Male agent: "So Billy turns on a lamp and you find that you're handcuffed to the shipping container."

There's a long pause. Scully can hear slight breathing and the electronic whir of the tape deck.

Male agent: "Agent Mulder?"

Mulder: "Yeah."

Male agent: "Was he in there the entire time? Please speak your answers."

Mulder: "I don't know."

Male agent: "Would you like to take a break?"

Mulder: "No."

Male agent: "What happened after Billy turned on the lamp?"

Mulder: "He… He, uh, opened my third-eye of perception, and we saw the future. We saw everything. We saw stars being born. I saw the end of existence, and everything in between."

Scully rubbed the back of her neck. She could feel Mulder's conviction. It made the hairs on her forearms stand up.

Male agent: "Please elaborate."

Mulder: "He revealed the Voynich Manuscript, lit some incense, and used a device to read the document. He read it out loud. It was incomprensible, but-"

Male agent: "You mean, you couldn't understand it because you were impaired?"

Mulder: "No. I mean, the language he was reciting was unintelligible. It was like an ancient dialect long dead like many Native American languages."

Male agent: "How do you know-"

Mulder: "I just do."

Male agent: "Was it the smoke that made you… see things?"

Mulder: "I was tripping balls."

Scully cracked a smile. She leaned back in her desk chair.

Male agent: "Was it the incense?

Mulder: "I think so. I blacked out."

Male agent: "How much time had elapsed?"

Mulder: "No sense of time. When I woke up. He was sitting across from me with all his paraphernalia put away. He put a folded up piece of paper in my front pocket and said that he had predicted a disaster in Oklahoma City. He couldn't tell me exactly where, but it would be huge. There would be casualties."

Male agent: "Did Billy give you a sense of his intentions?"

Mulder: "He's part of the Covenant. It's a secretive group that's existed since the druids. They use mysticism to preserve humanity. Billy warned of a great threat that I've seen first hand."

Male agent: "How do you mean?"

Mulder: "Alien colonization."

Male agent: "Agent Mulder let's backtrack a bit. You say that Billy is part of a secretive group called the Covenant. In your opinion as a special agent of the FBI, would you classify the Covenant as a threat against national security?"

Mulder: "Agent Spender, I don't think that's-"

Male agent: "How mobilized would you estimate the Covenant is right now?"

Mulder: "The Covenant is here to help."

Male agent: "So you're telling me a covert group of citizens that has existed for thousands of years undetected that purport to predict future events is not capable of destroying federal property on a massive scale?"

Mulder: "They, Billy, is one of the good guys. He wanted to show me the process so I could aid in their mission."

Male agent: "We have over 150 casualties. You were conveniently returned in Oklahoma City the day of the bombing with news that the Covenant predicted the disaster. You're telling me they're the good guys? Why didn't they stop it if they knew?"

Mulder: "The process is not perfect. It has holes. This is why Billy needs an ally."

Male agent: "What is the point?"

Mulder: "To preserve human existence against the ultimate threat."

Male agent: "Agent Mulder, it would seem to me that you met the threat. His name is Billy Newbold and he's the leader of the Covenant."

Mulder: "There are threats that you are unaware of. There is a shadow government at work. If you examine my case files, you will find multiple references to the forces working within our government to collude with the greatest threat to mankind."

Male agent: "Aliens."

Mulder: "You think-"

Male agent: "Suppose for a second, Agent Mulder, that Billy Newbold knew about your crusade. He's a resourceful guy. Think about it. All the signs point to Billy and the Covenant as terrorists. They are using you to muddy the investigation."

Scully sat breathless.

Mulder: "I'll take that glass of water now."

Scully clicked off the playback. Agent Spender made a solid case for the Covenant as a potential target; however, if true, than Billy had set up one of the most elaborate ruses Scully had ever encountered.