The team investigates the death of an astronaut who appears to have fallen to Earth from a high altitude. While Brennan and Booth question his associates at the Space Agency, Hodgins theorizes about a conspiracy involving extraterrestrials. Hodgins asks Angela to marry him but she refuses, asking him to keep trying.
"Spaceman in a Crater" [SCENE_BREAK] TEASER (Open: A blue sky. From the left an object comes hurdling down and lands heavily in an open field with two cows milling about. The cows moo.) (Cut to: a view of the crater through binoculars.) BOOTH: (V.O) Can you make anything out? BRENNAN: (V.O) Yes. It's a crater. (Cut to: Brennan looking through the binoculars then a shot of Booth, Brennan and a farmer standing atop an FBI truck looking over the crater.) BOOTH: We know it's a crater, Bones. The question is, what caused it? BRENNAN: You should ask a geologist. FARMER: I can tell you for sure it's not a meteor. BOOTH: You got a look at what's inside? FARMER: Not for long. State troopers didn't want anyone getting near it until you people got here. BOOTH: That's very nice of them. BRENNAN: But what did it look like? FARMER: Uh, I'm pretty sure it was meat...Meat wearin' clothes. BOOTH: What do you wanna do? BRENNAN: Let's take a look. (Brennan and Booth approach the crater which contains an array of splattered body parts.) BOOTH: Mmm. So what do you think? Dead? I'm just saying, if he fell out of a plane, that plane is long gone by now. BRENNAN: No sign of a parachute. What do those shoes look like to you? BOOTH: Loafers. BRENNAN: He hit the ground at approximately 200 kilometers per hour. BOOTH: How can you tell that by his shoes? BRENNAN: A hundred and twenty-four miles per hour is terminal velocity for a falling human. BOOTH: So we're gonna go with the theory that this was once human? BRENNAN: I've never read about an alien encounter in which the aliens wore loafers. BOOTH: How much you wanna bet Hodgins has? (Cut to: Jeffersonian Medico-Legal-Lab - Forensics Platform. Brennan, Hodgins and Cam are examining the body while Booth watches.) CAM: The crows and critters sure made quick work of him. HODGINS: Yeah, but these Calliphora vicina eggs will confirm time of landing. BOOTH: Blowflies on aliens. Who knew? HODGINS: You're taking a show at me because I happen to believe that we are not all alone in an infinity of space? BRENNAN: It's not the believing in extraterrestrial life that's odd. BOOTH: It's the believing that they're visiting us. HODGINS: This guy is wearing loafers. Aliens don't wear loafers, people. CAM: Even if they want to pass unnoticed amongst us? BOOTH: Before taking us over? HODGINS: Oh. Oh, this is harassment. You know, it's illegal to mock people for their fundamental beliefs. BRENNAN: Is the tissue damage consistent with a long fall? (Zack enters.) CAM: Definitely. ZACK: You've seen something like this before? CAM: Suicide of the Chrysler Building. At least this one didn't hit the pavement. Zack: A human being reaches terminal velocity after falling 200 to 220 meters depending upon air resistance. Velocity would be achieved between five and eight seconds depending upon atmospheric conditions, body position and clothing. He fell from a minimum of 1,200 feet. I can run through the math if you'd like. BOOTH: Send me an email. (Brennan moves to look at one of the computer screens showing X-rays of the bones.) BRENNAN: This is--I want to say "anomalous", but I'm going to go with "weird." CAM: What's weird? BRENNAN: These areas of radial lucency here and here. ZACK: Extremely porous bones. BOOTH: What's that mean? CAM: That means he was ill. BRENNAN: His right femoral head shows significant demineralization. Zack? ZACK: I'd put him at a hundred and thirty. BOOTH: Hundred and thirty what? BRENNAN: Years. CAM: Old? BRENNAN: There's an alternate explanation. CAM: Then that's the one we should go with. ZACK: He was in outer space. BOOTH: So he fell from outer space in a pair of loafers? CAM: Hodgins left too soon. ACT ONE (Open: Medico-Legal-Lab - Zack and Hodgins are working in their station to the side of the platform.) ZACK: The F.A.A. reports no recent accidents involving anyone falling from a plane, balloon or blimp. Commercial or otherwise. HODGINS: The F.A.A. doesn't have jurisdiction over the entire universe, my friend. ZACK: Little green men? HODGINS: Gray. They're gray. Not green. Gray. Being as you're half alien yourself, you should know that. ZACK: If they'd dropped him from orbit, he'd have burned up and his loafers would've fallen off. If he was an abductee tossed out of an interplanetary spacecraft why do his bones show that he has spent an extended time in outer space? The only rational explanation is what he was an astronaut. (Cut to: Zack, Cam and Hodgins walk through the lab.) ZACK: Astronauts lose two percent of their bone mass for each month spent in space. Our victim's legs, hips and lower vertebrae have demineralized over twenty percent indicating ten months in space. CAM: Do we do that? ZACK: The longest shuttle flight was STS-80. 17.66 days in 1996. HODGINS: The longest we know of. ZACK: The man who spent the most time in space was a Russian cosmonaut. HODGINS: That we know of. CAM: Why do you know that? ZACK: My knowledge is vast. CAM: Why did I ask? Anyway, there can't be all that many people who have accumulated ten months in space. HODGINS: That we know of. CAM: Call Booth. Tell him to see if anyone's missing an astronaut. (Cut to: Brennan's office. Brennan is seated at her computer. Booth is standing in front of her desk holding a picture and file.) BOOTH: Meet Colonel Calvin Howard. Senior training specialist and crew liaison in the shuttle program. Currently working in the National Space Agency in Bristol, Maryland. BRENNAN: Angela just sent me her work in progress of the partial skull reconstruction. She says we expected too much too soon, but the shape of the head, the cheekbones... BOOTH: Close enough for jazz. BRENNAN: Six months in the international space station. Plus, a number of servicing missions to both the Hubble and Lansing telescopes. BOOTH: Wait. Does that add up to the right amount of bone rot? BRENNAN: Loss. Bone loss. And yes. Has anyone reported him missing? BOOTH: No, not exactly. BRENNAN: Not exactly? BOOTH: Well, astronauts are regarded as viable terror targets. Their whereabouts are extremely confidential. BRENNAN: I bet if you told the agency you were going to identify Colonel Howard to the press, they'd be a little more cooperative. BOOTH: Yeah. You know, I have been a wonderful influence on you. BRENNAN: Well, actually, I learned that move from Cam. BOOTH: Yeah, well, I went the other way with it: looked up his wife in the phone book. (Cut to: Col. Howard's home. Living room.) JEAN MARIE HOWARD: Did my husband die in some kind of training accident? BOOTH: We don't believe so, ma'am. No. LONI GOWAN: It couldn't have been. BRENNAN: How do you know that? COLLEEN ADAMS: Because the space agency would be all over this. BOOTH: You're probably right. They wouldn't let anybody else take the lead, not even us. BRENNAN: You say your husband left the day before yesterday? On what airline? JEAN MARIE: Cal flies himself. BOOTH: What kind of plane? JEAN MARIE: He has a turboprop Cessna out at McNichol. BRENNAN: What exactly does a senior training specialist and crew liaison do? COLLEEN: Um, we're not supposed to discuss these things. JEAN MARIE: For the past three years Cal's been training others to go up. BRENNAN: Because he lost his medical clearance? JEAN MARIE: How did you know that? BRENNAN: His X-rays show that he was suffering from a dramatic loss of bone density. BOOTH: Must have been hard on the colonel. Training others to do what he loved to do. COLLEEN: No. Cal was a team player. JEAN MARIE: He was training her husband, James, for almost a year. Actually, it was very hard on him. LONI: It would be hard on any of them. JEAN MARIE: All they ever think about is going back into space and all we ever think about it getting them back home. BRENNAN: Is there some kind rule that astronauts' wives travel in packs? JEAN MARIE: When you marry an astronaut, no one really understands except-- COLLEEN: Except other people who are in the same situation. JEAN MARIE: This is Cal's itinerary, uh, mainly when he intended to call me and...when he'd be back. BRENNAN: You expected your husband home today? JEAN MARIE: Yeah. (Cut to: Booth's Car. Booth and Brennan. Booth is on his cell phone.) BOOTH: Yeah, I just need to know if it's still in the hangar or not. It's a Cessna turboprop plane registered to Colonel Calvin Howard. Thanks. (Booth hangs up.) BRENNAN: It just seems so odd. Those women stick together like a harem. BOOTH: What? They support each other, you know? A lot of service wives are like that. BRENNAN: Well, what about astronauts' husbands? BOOTH: Look, their husbands train for years, Bones. All right? Their families invest their entire lives. (Booth's cell phone rings. He picks up.) BOOTH: Yeah?...Are you sure? Okay, great. Thanks. (hangs up) Well, plane's still in the hangar. BRENNAN: Well, if that's the plane he got tossed out of, then it didn't fly itself back. (Cut to: Airplane hanger. Booth and Brennan watch as a team of FBI agents search the hangar.) BRENNAN: If someone simply pushed him out of the plane, there might not be any evidence. We have to hope there was a struggle. (Nina Sanborn enters.) NINA: Excuse me. Can I see some I.D. please? BOOTH: Well, yeah, sure. I'll show you mine if you show me yours...Right. Here you go. NINA: That airplane belongs to the agency. BRENNAN: Our information is that it belongs to Colonel Calvin Howard. NINA: The agency leased it to him. BOOTH: Well it's being investigated as a possible crime scene. You were Colonel Howard's boss? NINA: Yes. Nina Sanborn. I carry a rank equivalent to an Air Force general. BOOTH: Why didn't you report him missing, General Sanborn? NINA: Equivalent, I said. I'm a civilian. Cal was--Colonel Howard wasn't missing. He was barely gone a day. BOOTH: You know, General Sanborn, I know you people are really tight-lipped, but I'm really good friends with a very aggressive federal prosecutor who's great at getting warrants. (An FBI forensic tech approaches.) FBI TECH: Agent Booth? I got the usual fibers, hair, particulates. BRENNAN: No blood? No sign of a struggle? FBI TECH: Nothing. You'll have my full report by the end of the day. BOOTH: Great. Okay. I need to know what Colonel Howard was working on at the time of his death. NINA: Get your warrant, Agent Booth. Dr. Brennan. (Nina turns to walk away.) BOOTH: Hey, excuse me, "equivalent to a general" Sanborn? (Nina stops and Booth holds up a piece of paper.) BOOTH: I got that warrant. BRENNAN: Why didn't you just tell her right away? BOOTH: Well, I was hoping that we could all be friends. NINA: Let me see that. (Cut to: Booth's office. Booth sits behind his desk, Hodgins sits in a chair in front of it, leafing through a document.) HODGINS: These are the documents you subpoenaed from the agency? BOOTH: Yeah, but all the info's blacked out. HODGINS: Want me to see if I can get anything out of this? BOOTH: Can you? HODGINS: No. I'd need originals. These are photocopies. BOOTH: Then why'd you offer? HODGINS: Well, why else would ask me here? BOOTH: 'Cause you're a conspiracy nut and I thought you'd enjoy filling in the blanks. HODGINS: With paranoid ravings? BOOTH: It's better than nothing. Lansing telescope. That mean anything to you? HODGINS: Yeah. It's a multi-gazillion dollar, deep space, multifrequency telescope that keeps needing "repairs." BOOTH: Why'd you say it like that? HODGINS: It doesn't need repairs. There's no rust in space. So-called "repair crews" are up there retrieving classified information. BOOTH: Classified information, huh? The telescope is pointed up at the planet Pluto. HODGINS: Pluto's no longer a planet. It was demoted. And if the Lansing was pointed away from the Earth, why would they need to black out all this material? BOOTH: Huh. HODGINS: Can I ask you a question? BOOTH: Yeah. HODGINS: What's the deal on proposing to, you know, a woman? BOOTH: Oh! HODGINS: I mean, what is the absolute proper way to do it? BOOTH; I don't know. The one time I did it, I got shot down flat. HODGINS: Did you do it by the book? BOOTH: Mm-hmm. Well, no. We were waiting for the stick to turn blue or not to turn blue and I realized I wanted to marry her if the stick was blue or not. HODGINS: Yeah, that's sort of what I did. Only without the sticks. BOOTH: You asked Angela to marry you? HODGINS: Apparently I didn't do it right. BOOTH: Do it again. Go all out this time, right? With the dinner and the gettin' down on one knee, the violin. Forget the violin. HODGINS: Hey, hey, hey. With his bone density sure as hell wasn't going back into space again. BOOTH: Yeah, I know. That's why he was training his replacement. HODGINS: His replacement? For what? BOOTH: To repair the Lansing telescope. HODGINS: Oh, brothers in arms, my brother. That replacement's the guy who can tell you things the agency doesn't want you to know. (Cut to: A shot of a large picture of the Earth on the floor which then pans up to show Booth standing on a balcony above it looking down. Brennan walks up.) BOOTH: Makes you feel small, doesn't it? BRENNAN: Because the picture's so big? BOOTH: No, because the universe is so big. BRENNAN: You're not looking at the universe. You're looking at an enlarged photograph of Earth. BOOTH: Well, you see one thing and I see another thing. Personally, I like what I see. (A space agency employee walks up.) S.A. EMPLOYEE: Agent Booth? Dr. Brennan? I'm afraid Commander James is scheduled for time on the A300 Zero-G. You're welcome to talk to him there. BRENNAN: The Zero-G? BOOTH: The Vomit Comet. (Cut to: Booth, Brennan and Commander James Adams suited up with headsets inside of an airplane.) JAMES: It makes no sense. A man flies eight missions into space and he falls out of a plane? I don't think so. BOOTH: All right, look. You don't know anyone who would want to throw him out of a plane? JAMES: Look, I don't mean to tell you how to do your work, but shouldn't you be tracking down everyone who flew over that particular piece of real estate? BRENNAN: We are, but not everyone files flight plans. BOOTH: And not everyone sticks to flight plans. BRENNAN: And you didn't answer the question. JAMES: Look, I don't know anyone who didn't like and respect Cal Howard. BOOTH: It's just that all these, uh, itineraries, people keeping secrets--even from their spouses. JAMES: Look, sir, I understand you have to ask questions like these, but Cal Howard and Jean Marie were a very solid couple. BRENNAN: Did you ever get drunk together? JAMES: What? BOOTH: What my partner is trying to ask is if you two were buddies. Did you go out and have drinks and exchange confidences? BRENNAN: Yes, that's what I asked. JAMES: Yeah, sure, of course. At times. BOOTH: So you would have known if his marriage was in trouble? JAMES: Yes, sir. I would. BRENNAN: How can you be sure? JAMES: Because Cal knew when I was unfaithful to my wife. BRENNAN: Colleen? JAMES: Right. You guys met her at Cal's place. Look. That has to stay between us. BOOTH: Strictly between us. JAMES: Cal Howard was my friend, my colleague and my teacher. If someone tossed him from an airplane, I'll do whatever I can to help. BOOTH: Then why do I get the feeling you wanna tell us something? (A man speaks to James through his headset.) MAN: Prepare to go weightless. JAMES: We're about to go weightless. As the plane reaches the apogee of a climb, then falls we will have fifteen to twenty seconds of weightlessness. (All three begin to float. James goes to the controls, Brennan laughs and does flips, Booth playfully bats at his floating pen. Gravity is restored. All three sit back down.) BRENNAN: That was great. BOOTH: Man, you're not kidding. BRENNAN: I would like very much to do that again. BOOTH: I believe you were about to tell us something? JAMES: Cal was talking to S.T.C. BRENNAN: The what? (Cut to: Jeffersonian - Medico-Legal Lab-Hodgins, Booth and Brennan walk through the lab.) HODGINS: Space Travel Coalition. It's a privately funded space exploration and tourism group. And did you? BOOTH AND BRENNAN: Did we what? HODGINS: Vomit in the comet? BOOTH: No, I didn't vomit, okay? I'm sure they were trying. BRENNAN: They can try me anytime. It was truly amazing. BOOTH: You had little bit too much fun, okay? So what's up with this whole thing about the space tourists? HODGINS: Celestial joyrides for gazillionaires. Selling seats on a spaceship that don't even exist yet. BRENNAN: And won't be viable for at least another few years. HODGINS: That's what they want you to think, but these guys are swimming in dough. I already bought my ticket. I wanna see what's going on up there with my own eyes. What? (Cut to: Cam's autopsy room. Angela and Cam are looking over a table of the clothing.) ANGELA: These are the victim's clothes? CAM: Yes. ANGELA: And you'd like me to do what with them? CAM: Construct a three-dimensional hypothesis of what caused this damage to the clothing. ANGELA: Falling from an airplane isn't enough? CAM: Well, that would explain the burst seams and pressure tears, but this seems to be... ANGELA: Slashes. CAM: Yeah. When Zack gets ahold of the bones maybe you two can figure out if something catastrophic happened to this man. ANGELA: You mean before he fell to Earth? CAM: Yes. Go do your magic. (Zack walks in as Angela takes the the clothing. Cam and Zack walk over to a plastic covered body.) ZACK: Now? CAM: Are you certain you can't do what needs to be done with X-rays alone? ZACK: Do you need continued access to the soft issue? CAM: Why would the body burst vertically when all the forces are horizontal? ZACK: Ah, so you need more time with the soft tissue to answer that? CAM: Not really. ZACK: Please explain to me your reluctance to remove the flesh from the bones. CAM: I'm all right with it, Zack, if it's absolutely necessary. Even the boiling part, but perhaps you could at least acknowledge that this is a person? ZACK: Was, you mean. CAM: Was someone's husband, Zack. ZACK: What does that have to do with removing the flesh from his bones? CAM: Fine. Do what you have to do. ZACK: Thank you. CAM: Igor. ZACK: I beg your pardon, Dr. Saroyan? CAM: Nothing. (Cut to: Brennan's office. Brennan is sitting on her couch, Booth walks in.) BOOTH: Hey Bones, I ran a check on the S.T.C. They're part of the tinfoil hat squad. BRENNAN: What's that? BOOTH: They were tin little hats. Probably to keep aliens from controlling their minds. BRENNAN: Oh, schizophrenics? BOOTH: It's hard to believe that Colonel Howard was part of an organization like that. BRENNAN: Do they have access to planes? BOOTH: Access? Are you kidding me? They actually have a border patrol division. Members fly their own private planes and do bimonthly sky patrols in search of U.F.O.'s. BRENNAN: Do they file flight plans? BOOTH: Bones, you're a genius. Look, two nights ago they had planes on U.F.O. patrol within spitting distance of where Colonel Howard's body was found. ACT TWO (Open: FBI Conference Room. Booth and Brennan sit on one side of the table, Adam Bahr sits on the other.) ADAM: Look, we're not a collection of kooks. Just ordinary people with a mission to promote a friendly liaison with the visitors. BOOTH: That's quite a manifesto. ADAM: Until you've had an encounter you couldn't possibly understand. BRENNAN: You've been abducted? ADAM: Multiple times. BOOTH: Mm-hmm... ADAM: Through hypnosis I discovered that medical testing was done, and follow-ups were required. BRENNAN: Are there any side effects from these medical procedures? ADAM: You mean like tin hats? BRENNAN: Paranoia, outbursts of anger, loss of connection with reality? ADAM: You asked me to come, I'm here. I run a very successful aeronautics company. I'm richer than God. Do I appear to have lost contact with reality? BRENNAN: Well what about post-abduction syndrome? Similar to post-traumatic stress disorder. P.A.S. is very real. ADAM: I admit to bouts with it. Frankly, it's one of my main motivators. When we meet the visitors face to face, they will explain so many things to us. BRENNAN: Including why you were taken. ADAM: And why they put an implant in me, only then to remove it. BOOTH: Great. Do you, uh, know this guy? ADAM: Colonel Howard. Of course. BOOTH: So it's true that you offered him a position with the S.T.C.? ADAM: Yes. BRENNAN: As a method of bringing credibility to your organization? ADAM: Yes, but you have to understand, it was Colonel Howard who came to us. BOOTH: Why? ADAM: He wanted to pilot our suborbital flights. BOOTH: 'Til your spaceships are ready, he was gonna help you look for the U.F.O.'s? ADAM: Laugh if you must, but Cal didn't think we were crazy. He'd seen something himself up there, you know? And he's hardly the first. Quite a few astronauts and military pilots have reported seeing evidence of the visitors. BRENNAN: Colonel Howard told you this? ADAM: Yes, he did. So trust me, I would've been proud to have been the one to send Cal Howard back into space. BOOTH: Would've been? ADAM: He changed his mind six weeks ago. BOOTH: That didn't make you a little angry? ADAM: No, not angry. Disappointed. BOOTH: Great. Then you wouldn't object to my partner and I taking a look at your fleet of planes? ADAM: No, not at all. BRENNAN: Why do you think Colonel Howard changed his mind? ADAM: They got to him. Through his wife, I believe. BRENNAN: They? ADAM: The agency. They can be very persuasive. BOOTH: Persuasive? ADAM: In my opinion, the agency would rather have Cal die than have him announce to the world he'd seen a visitor. (Cut to: Col. Howard's home. Kitchen. Brennan and Booth are questioning Jean Marie again.) JEAN MARIE: That's not true. The agency loved Cal. They valued him. BRENNAN: Why didn't you tell us about the S.T.C.? JEAN MARIE: Because it's embarrassing. Cal wanted to get back into space so badly he would even listen to those crazy people. BRENNAN: Did your husband see something up there? BOOTH: Yeah, something that made him sympathetic with Mr. Bahr's organization? JEAN MARIE: Well, obviously you know that he did. Or he said he did. BRENNAN: And you doubted him? JEAN MARIE: It doesn't really matter now, you know? That was three years ago. It was his last mission and the agency explained it in a such a way that Cal was satisfied. BOOTH: Look, it's important we know the truth, Miss Howard. JEAN MARIE: Why? BOOTH: Because what I've seen, your husband was a man of principle. And if he saw something, he wouldn't just back down to save his career with the agency even if his wige begged him to. JEAN MARIE: He insisted on filing an official report. He wouldn't withdraw it. BRENNAN: They asked him to? JEAN MARIE: Yes. But he stuck by his story. They weren't happy with him, but like I said, that's ancient history. (Cut to: Booth's Car. Booth and Brennan.) BRENNAN: Cal's friend knew about the S.T.C. His wife knew. Maybe the agency did as well. BOOTH: So they killed him by tossing him out of an airplane? BRENNAN: That field is less than a mile from the coastline. Obviously, they were aiming at the ocean and they missed. BOOTH: The question is why. I mean, it's a big ocean, right? There has to be a reason. BRENNAN: Maybe it wasn't a U.F.O. that Cal saw. BOOTH: Ah. BRENNAN: He could've seen something else. BOOTH: Yeah, like a death beam or a space baby. BRENNAN: I was thinking more along the lines of a spy satellite or experimental technology. Maybe the agency was afraid that Cal was sharing sensitive information with the S.T.C. BOOTH: Well, regardless, our government does not kill people. Okay, Bones? BRENNAN: You were a sniper. Wasn't it our government who sent you to kill people? Just saying. (Cut to: Jeffersonian - Medico-Legal Lab - Zach is retrieving bones from the boiling vat as Hodgins enters.) HODGINS: Mmm, something smells good. ZACK: Help yourself. (A Pop-Tart pops from a toaster on the table, Hodgins goes and gets it.) HODGINS: Those definitely human bones? Because, apparently, there are a few types of aliens. Races, if you will. One is quite reptilian, widely known as Greys. ZACK: Definitely human. HODGINS: Another's bone structure's more amphibian. ZACK: These bones are as human as you are. HODGINS: Oh if you only knew how irony packed that is...It's a joke. Don't you be coming around to boil me in the middle of the night. ZACK: There's a strange callus formation of his right femoral head. Also bone marrow edema in the same spot. HODGINS: Healing from a fracture? ZACK: No. It's some sort of tuberous cortical defect. I've never seen anything like this before. HODGINS: Now you're freaking me out. ZACK: I have to get Dr. Brennan to take a look at this. [SCENE_BREAK] (Cut to: Medico-Legal Lab - Examination room - The skeleton is laid out on the table. Brennan, Cam and Zack are gathered around the table.) BRENNAN: It looks like he was in the initial stages of osteonecrosis. What did you get from the tox screen? CAM: Excess levels of vitamins D, K, E, A, and C. Along with glutamine peptides and creatine monohydrate. ZACK: All the supplements he was taking before his last space mission. BRENNAN: There's something odd about the texture of this bone. CAM: Leucine, isoleucine and valine. He foresaw going back into space. BRENNAN: This is not bone. ZACK: What is it? BRENNAN: A callus has formed over some kind of thick, porous substance. CAM: Careful. BRENNAN: It's an implant of some kind. ZACK: I never saw anything on the X-rays. CAM: How could that not show up on X-rays? BRENNAN: What the hell is this? ACT THREE (Open: Jeffersonian Medico-Legal-Lab -Hodgins is seated at his computer. Cam, Brennan and Zack are gathered around him.) HODGINS: Zoantharia of the order Scleractinia. ZACK: Scleractinia has a calcium carbonate exoskeleton with porosity similar to human bone. BRENNAN: Which would make it biocompatible. ZACK: So it wouldn't show up on X-rays. CAM: Wait, so this coral, like from a reef? ZACK: Suspended in a biphasic hydroxyapatite tri-calcium phosphate coating. BRENNAN: Theoretically, the calcium from the exoskeleton would grow hopefully overcoming the loss of his degenerating bone. CAM: Then this attachment would be... ZACK: And electromagnetic device implanted to accelerate growth. HODGINS: So it's a combination of human and alien technology. CAM: Don't say that to Booth. But if that's the case then all the vitamins and amino acids he was loaded up with were mainly to ward off infection. BRENNAN: And he'd need them, too. Bone marrow's highly susceptible. This is a very risky procedure. HODGINS: I gotta say it. Frank Olson. He was a U.S. Army scientist in the '50s and an unwitting participant in Project MK-ULTRA. They said he committed suicide, but an exhumation forty-five years later proved he was murdered. You need more. Project Paperclip. MK-Artichoke. And who could forget Tuskegee? The government experiments on people and then abandons them or worse. CAM: What's the point of this experiment? ZACK: The main obstacle to long-term space travel is bone demineralization. BRENNAN: If the space program could overcome this one effect their funding would triple overnight. HODGINS: Well, there you go. Experimental program for deep space fails and then the evidence has to be gotten rid of. CAM: By tossing it from a plane? Why not just have the visitors toss him into the sun? HODGINS: That is a good question. CAM: No, it's not. Sometimes when people try to cover things up it goes wrong. That's all. BRENNAN: First thing we should do is find out the source of this technology. (Cut to: National Space Agency - Nina Sanborn, Booth, Brennan and Colonel Bob Reid are talking.) NINA: Colonel Reid was Cal's commanding officer on three missions. BRENNAN: So you were the person to whom he reported the U.F.O. sighting? BOB: Oh for God's sake. You see what happens? You people get all secretive about things and...what Cal saw was space junk. It was satellite parts, a discarded hatch, a screwdriver. NINA: That information isn't cleared. BOOTH: Sounded like more than a screwdriver. BOB: Well it wasn't. Cal just thought we should be able to explain why it was whizzing around space at 25,000 miles an hour, and that's all. BRENNAN: Was Colonel Howard in a cast recently? BOB: Last winter. Said he broke his leg parasailing in the Caribbean. NINA: All of our astronauts suffer from brittle bones. BOB: I stepped off a ladder once, and my tibia snapped like a twig. NINA: Why do you ask? BRENNAN: Because of this. We found it in Colonel Howard's leg. We think it's designed to counteract the effects of osteonecrosis. NINA: Experimental surgery on one of our astronauts? Absolutely not. Our efforts to counter bone loss are limited to strength and resistance training and supplements. BOOTH: I trust you have documentation. NINA: Follow me. BOOTH: Thank you. (Booth and Nina leave.) BRENNAN: Colonel? Have you ever seen anything? Any screwdrivers up there? BOB: There's an awful lot up there to see, Doctor. The trick is not to let it cloud your judgement. BRENNAN: Did it ever cloud Cal's? BOB: Never. Not once. BRENNAN: And yet he wanted to go back into space so badly in spite of the physical damage it had caused him, the pain he was in. BOB: Let me show you something. (He leads her to a picture of two astronauts hanging on the wall.) BOB: You see this? That's me. And that there, that's Cal. Twenty minutes I spent out there that day and it is the last thing I think about every night. BRENNAN: I can imagine. BOB: No. All due respect, you really can't. This was the best moment of my life. Counting marriage, kids, everything. Now I'm not saying that's good or right, but I do know it was the same for Cal, for all of us who went up there, and we would do anything we could to get back. (Cut to: Jeffersonian Medico-Legal-Lab - Hodgins, Zack and Cam are gathered around a computer.) HODGINS: This coral's growth was aided artificially. ZACK: It was seeded with resin beads on glass plates. HODGINS: Which makes it rare enough to trace to a pharmaceutical supply house based in Geneva, Switzerland. ZACK: I searched the literature. There's a number of clinics and researchers working on bone replacement. The doctor most likely to have performed this procedure on our victim is Dr. Henry Pascal. CAM: In Switzerland? HODGINS: Based in Bethesda, with a clinic in Haiti. Plus, he worked for the Space Agency until 1998. CAM: What happened? HODGINS: He lost his funding and turned to the private sector. Namely, the Space Travel Coalition. CAM: The foil hat squad funds this guy? Booth is gonna love that. ZACK: Why? CAM: Because he doesn't believe in coincidences. (Cut to: FBI - Booth's Office. Booth and Brennan are meeting with Jean Marie Howard.) JEAN MARIE: Cal wasn't on vacation when he hurt his leg. He was in Haiti for a convention. BOOTH: Okay, so can you think of any reason Colonel Reid would tell us a different story? JEAN MARIE: No. Please, what...what's going on? BRENNAN: We found evidence in your husband's remains that he underwent an experimental surgery in Haiti. JEAN MARIE: What kind of experimental surgery? BRENNAN: To replace his bone loss. BOOTH: That sound like him? JEAN MARIE: Yes. BRENNAN: Was it like your husband to keep it a secret from you? JEAN MARIE: Yes. Cal wouldn't want me to worry. (Cut to - Jeffersonian - Angelator Room. Angela and Zack are running scenarios.) ANGELA: Cal Howard's skeleton before...and after he fell to Earth. ZACK: Every bone showed trauma. ANGELA: His clothing before...and after he fell to Earth. ZACK: Ripped. Every seam pulled apart. ANGELA: If I make the clothing translucent, we can see that some of the clothing damage lines up with the trauma to his skeleton. ZACK: And if you isolate the bone damage caused by a device capable of making robust cuts in a linear path... ANGELA: The guy was chopped. ZACK: Chopped? ANGELA: Yeah. Clothing damage, flesh wounds. ZACK: Bone damage. He was chopped. (Hodgins enters.) HODGINS: Ange, tonight, you and me, reservations at Les Deux Copains, 8:00. ANGELA: Wow. Fancy. HODGINS: Suit and gown fancy, baby. So leave your mukluks at home. ANGELA: What's the occasion? ZACK: An ax or a hatchet or a machete make sharp, well-defined cuts. These edges are abraded. HODGINS: This our guy? ANGELA: Hey do you aliens use any weapons resembling a... ZACK: A broadsword? HODGINS: How about a light saber? ZACK: No. Those can cut through any known substance. The victim would've been completely dismembered. HODGINS: If they existed, Zack. (then to Angela) Makeup, hair done, high heels. The whole enchilada. Only whatever's French for enchilada. ANGELA: No mukluks. Got it. (Hodgins leaves as Angela happily sighs.) (Cut to - Jeffersonian - Medico-Legal Lab - Upper Level Lounge Area. Brennan and Booth are meeting with Dr. Pascal.) BRENNAN: Dr. Pascal, Colonel Calvin Howard is dead. HENRY: Not because of anything I did. BOOTH: Wow. Didn't even blink. HENRY: Colonel Howard sought me out. May I know how he died? BOOTH: Let's just say it was a really bad fall. HENRY: And what's this got to do with me? BRENNAN: Was your procedure a success? HENRY: How do you define success? BOOTH: Just answer the question. BRENNAN: (to Booth) That's actually a fair question. HENRY: The results were heartening. BRENNAN: There were extremely painful calluses growing over your implant. HENRY: I'd very much like to see that. BRENNAN: And there was no indication of an actual reversal of necrosis. HENRY: The calluses were part of the healing process. See, coral resorption is slow but effective for osteoprogenitor cells. Incorporating the electrode was speeding the process. In my opinion, Cal was only months away from having mature lamellar bone. BOOTH: No way to know for sure now. (to Brennan) Right? BRENNAN: Correct. BOOTH: Probably to your benefit to terminate your experiment before it went wrong, keep those venture capitalists on the edge of their seats. HENRY: You think I pushed Cal Howard off of a ladder? BRENNAN: Or out of an airplane. HENRY: Look, you can have all my data, my projections, everything. Colonel Howard goes on the next shuttle mission to repair the Lansing telescope, I'm in every medical journal in the country. BRENNAN: That mission's a month away. Would his body have been ready? HENRY: At the rate Cal was healing, I believe so. BRENNAN: Did anyone at the agency know about this? HENRY: We were going to petition them officially next month. You may not like me, but I was his savior and he was mine. I didn't kill Colonel Howard. ACT FOUR (Open: Jeffersonian Medico-Legal-Lab - Brennan and Booth walk through the lab.) BRENNAN: Somebody's lying to us, right? BOOTH: Yeah. Maybe everybody. BRENNAN: Well, this is your strength. Reading people's minds, telling when they're lying. BOOTH: My strength? Wait a second. The trouble is...no, no, you haven't given me anything that I can spring on the suspect to see how he reacts. BRENNAN: Like what? BOOTH: Like a murder weapon. Or whether the poor b*st*rd was dead before he hit the ground. BRENNAN: Zack and Angela say he was. BOOTH: Okay, well, that's something. Dead how? BRENNAN: Best guess right now, a broadsword. BOOTH: Broadsword? Like King Arthur? BRENNAN: Yes. BOOTH: Broadsword? You know what, Bones? I like the whole alien thing much better. Broadsword? Where do you people come with this stuff? (Cut to: Another examination room at the Medico-Legal-Lab - The bones are laid out, Zack, Booth and Brennan stand around the table.) ZACK: I didn't say an actual broadsword. I said like a broadsword. It was the closest analog I could access. BRENNAN: No traces from the weapon left on the bone? ZACK: Traces are left when the weapon cuts deeply into the bone. Whatever this was wasn't very sharp. Left nothing behind. BOOTH: How about shape? ANGELA: (o.s.) The pattern is consistent with sharp force trauma from a curved blade approximately sixty-five millimeters thick. (Angela enters, seen first as a silhouette in the doorway, then steps into the room fully dressed up in a red dress and heels.) Angela: (cont'd) And if I am late for dinner, I will find whatever it is and I will hit you with it. BOOTH: Wow. You...you look incredible. BRENNAN: You really do. BOOTH: You know else I can tell just by looking at you? You smell great. ZACK: You cannot see smell. The victim was struck four times. BRENNAN: A glancing blow to the head, right humerus, thoracic and left femur. ANGELA: We couldn't figure out in what order. It's almost as though it was simultaneous. ZACK: The blow to the head is what killed him. BOOTH: Come on. Four hits simultaneously with a broadsword? Was he attacked by the Knights of the Round Table? BRENNAN: Sixty-five millimeters is too thick for a sword. Did you estimate a velocity? ZACK: The blade was moving at a velocity of approximately a hundred and sixteen meters per second. BOOTH: What's that in American? BRENNAN: About two hundred and sixty miles per hour. BOOTH: All right, I'm no expert in broadswords, but I do know-- BRENNAN: I know what happened! How fast does a propeller turn? ZACK: At full speed, the tips approach the speed of sound. ANGELA: But Howard exits the plane in flight. The propeller is ahead of him and pulling away. How could he come into contact with it? ZACK: There are pusher propellers. BRENNAN: It didn't happen in the air. BOOTH: He was pushed into a propeller? He would've turned into steak tartar. ANGELA: Scratch one item off the menu tonight. BRENNAN: Not if the plane was idling. Propeller speeds would decrease to a thousand or so R.P.M.'s. BOOTH: Let's go. BRENNAN: Where? BOOTH: To look for a dented propeller. Come on. ANGELA: Which you do not need me for. (Cut to: The airplane hanger. Again, Booth and Brennan watch as a team of FBI agents search the hangar.) BRENNAN: Hey. You're right. Here they come. (Nina, Colonel Bob Reid and Commander James Adams enter.) NINA: I hope you have another warrant. (Booth pulls out the warrant.) BOOTH: This is for the, uh, the hangar, but not the individual planes. BOB: Then why are your people looking at propellers? BOOTH: Because the warrant includes anything that is in plain sight. BRENNAN: "Plane" sight. Get it. It's a pun. BOOTH: Yeah. This is not the only hangar we'll be checking out. JAMES: What plane are you looking for specifically? BOOTH: We'll know it when we see it. BRENNAN: We believe that Colonel Howard was struck by a propeller. We're looking for blood stains using alternate light sources. NINA: You think Cal walked into a propeller? BOB: No way he makes a bonehead move like that. BRENNAN: We surmise he was pushed. NINA: But why? BOOTH: Here he was. This great guy, but he was a liability to one of you. NINA: One of us? BOOTH: Somebody wanted him dead. BOB: That's ridiculous. BRENNAN: If it turned out that Cal was able to reverse his bone loss would you put him on the next shuttle? BOOTH: You know, the one to repair the Lansing telescope again. NINA: Colonel Adams is slated for that mission. BOOTH: Colonel Reid? BOB: Well, Cal would be my first choice, yes. All due respect, James, but why send the student when the teacher can go? JAMES: I take no offense. Cal was the best. FBI TECH: Agent Booth. Dr. Brennan. (They walk over to her and another forensic tech.) FBI TECH: (cont'd) Blood. A lot of it. FBI TECH #2: It was washed down this train here. FBI TECH: High-pressure hose. BOOTH: Can you tell which plane's propellor may have done this? FBI TECH #2: Not within the parameters of the current warrant. Some of these planes have covers on the propellors, so we can't see if they're damaged. BOB: That is your plane, isn't it, James? (They all turn to a plane near the drain with a cover on the propellors.) BOOTH: Take it off. BOB: Take off the cover, James. JAMES: I respectfully decline. NINA: It's not his plane. It's the agency's. (Nina walks over and pulls the cover off. The propellor is damaged.) BOB: A propellor like that wouldn't get you very far. BOOTH: Certainly not over the water. (Booth handcuffs James.) BRENNAN: Which is why you had to dump Cal's body short of the ocean. (Booth begins to lead James out of the hangar.) BRENNAN: (cont'd) Booth! Booth! It doesn't make sense. The whole thing would take at least two people. Putting the body in the plane, cleaning up the blood, shoving the body out of the plane. BOOTH: (to James) Who are you protecting? (Cut to: Booth walking up to a house. Then Brennan and James watching from inside the back seat of a car. Back to Booth. Booth knocks. Jean Marie answers the door.) BOOTH: Mrs. Howard? Is Colleen here? (Booth walks into the house.) (Cut to: Brennan and James in the car. ) JAMES: Colleen came to see me off. Saw me talking to Cal. He was telling me that he was going to be okay in time for the mission. He was sharing good news, but it wasn't good. Not to me. (Cut to: Booth walking towards Colleen who is sitting with her back to him in the living room. Colleen turns to see Booth then stands.) JAMES (v.o.): She slapped him. That's all. Because she loves me. She knew what it meant to me not to go up. Cal took a step back. Just one. (Cut to: Brennan and James in the car.) JAMES: He fell back into the propellor. BRENNAN: Why didn't you just say it was an accident? JAMES: I don't know. We panicked. I mean, would they believe us? Would they understand? BRENNAN: Would you ever get into space? (Cut to: Booth leading Colleen through the house as Jean Marie watches in shock.) JAMES (v.o.): It happened because my friend shared good news with me and because my wife loves me. (Cut to: Brennan and James in the car.) JAMES: I'm a blessed man. (He turns to look as Booth brings Colleen out of the house. Brennan gets out of the car and watches Booth hand Colleen off the police. Colleen sees James in the back seat of the car and her face falls. James begins to cry. Colleen is handcuffed and placed in the back seat of a police car.) (Cut to: Les Deux Copains - Angela and Hodgins are seated at a table.) HODGINS: How--how are you feeling? ANGELA: What do you mean? HODGINS: It's a good meal. Nice bottle of wine. You feeling loving? ANGELA: You didn't need to do all of this to get me in a loving mood. HODGINS: I don't mean in that way. I am madly in love with you, Angela. And you--you are the most amazing woman that I have ever met. My life is so much better since we-- ANGELA: Oh my god. HODGINS: What? ANGELA: Are you breaking up with me? HODGINS: Why would I get you all dressed up for dinner just to break up? ANGELA: I don't know. Because you're...I'm not thinking straight. Go ahead. HODGINS: You know, I had this all laid out in my mind. ANGELA: Mm-hmm. HODGINS: You are an upsetting woman. ANGELA: I'm sorry. Please. Go ahead. (Hodgins pulls out a ring box and slides across the table to Angela.) HODGINS: I believe that if two people care enough for each other the rest of the world disappears to them. I feel that when I'm with you. (Angela opens the box to reveal a beautiful diamond ring.) HODGINS: (cont'd) I'm prepared to put you ahead of me for the rest of my life. Angela Montenegro, will you marry me? (Angela leans forward and kisses him.) ANGELA: Dear man. Good heart. No. HODGINS: Why? I didn't do it right again. But...how...Oh, you're not gonna tell me. ANGELA: I don't know, Hodgins. If I knew, I would tell you. But when you ask me, I have to have this...this feeling. It has to be...I'll know it when it happens, and I hope you won't stop trying. HODGINS: I don't know if I should laugh, cry, or punch out the sommelier. ANGELA: I'm sorry. I hope that you choose laugh. HODGINS: I don't understand. ANGELA: I don't either. Look, let's just finish the dessert and go back to your place and make love, and maybe it'll come to me. HODGINS: While we make love? ANGELA: I said maybe. HODGINS: But...you love me? ANGELA: More than you know. (Cut to: Jeffersonian Medico-Legal-Lab - Brennan's office. Brennan is at her desk as Booth walks in.) BOOTH: Did you eat yet? BRENNAN: I said I'd wait. How did you know that James would tell me? BOOTH: Oh, man loves his wife. He may not be strong, but he has a conscience. BRENNAN: See, I can't tell that stuff. BOOTH: And I can't tell the difference between coral and bone, so I guess we make a great pair. Hey, speaking of marriage, Hodgins is gonna propose to Angela tonight. (They walk out of Brennan's office.) BRENNAN: Huh. BOOTH: What? BRENNAN: I guess right now it looks to me like marriage is having someone who will slap your enemies and then toss their dead bodies out of airplanes. BOOTH: Try not mention that to Angela. (They walk out of the lab as the scene fades out.)
Spaceman in a Crater