16. COOPERATION or OPPOSITION?

Here is perhaps the ultimate question, the ultimate secret of the X Files: "Does the Majestic Consortium aid or oppose the aliens who are attempting to colonize the earth?" I'll try to address that question here by addressing how that relationship has unfolded in various episodes dealing with aliens and alien technology.

The Following are the episodes that seem to best illuminate the relationship between the Majestic Consortium and the aliens: THE X-FILES PILOT, FALLEN ANGEL, E.B.E., LITTLE GREEN MEN, DUANE BARRY/ ASCENTION, COLONY, END GAME, PAPERCLIP, PIPER MARU, APOCRYPHA, JOSE CHUNG'S FROM OUTER SPACE, TALITHA CUMI, HERRENVOLK, MUSINGS OF A CIGARRETTE SMOKING MAN, MOMENTO MORI, TEMPUS FUGIT, MAX and ZERO SUM.

THE X-FILES, PILOT: Although we never saw any aliens in this episode, there was an instance of missing time normally associated with alien activity and the whirlwinds of light and leaves at the beginning and end of the episode didn't appear to be the kind of thing that the Majestic Consortium or "Purity Control" could have been responsible for. What we do see though is evidence of the Majestic Consortium covering up the evidence of the aliens' activities, by burning Mulder and Scully's hotel to the ground, stealing the bodies of Billy Soames and the other abductees, as well as taking all the material from the regional FBI office in Oregon and, ultimately taking the alien implant right out of Chief Blevins' office. While the Majestic Consortium does cover up after the aliens there is no direct evidence of cooperation or opposition.

FALLEN ANGEL: This episode shows that the Majestic Consortium, or at least the U.S. Military, has a shoot-to-kill policy when it comes to extra-terrestrials. Later episodes (E.B.E. and THE MUSINGS OF A CIGARRETTE SMOKING MAN) provide more information on this policy, apparently United Nations Resolution #1013 created just after the 1947 Roswell Incident. The radiation weapon it used to cook the Deputy Sheriff, the EMTs and later Operation Falcon's soldiers was devastatingly effective. And very similar to the weapon used by the Oilien in PIPER MARU and APOCRYPHA. I also note that the alien used the weapon without provocation on the Deputy and the EMTs, not just to protect itself from thr Operation Falcon troops. This alien's only apparent goal was to get off the Earth and take Max Fenig with it. The realtionship between the aliens and Majestic is one of open hostility in this episode.

E.B.E.: While no aliens are seen in this episode, we do get to see them interact with humans.The alien spacecraft that was shot down by the Iraqi fighter acted as if it was either observing or playing cat and mouse with the fighter. After it was shot-down, the aliens continued to tail the truck transporting the crash survivor across the country. At one point they interfer with the truck, causing it to stall out. There seemed to be an indication the Aliens were looking for an opportunity to rescue their companion, similar to the way they steal their technology back in TEMPUS FUGIT and MAX. We also get the first introduction to the world-treaty relating to exterminating any aliens found on the Earth. Here the relationship between Majestic and the Aliens is thruroughly hostile.

LITTLE GREEN MEN: In this episode, we see another example of the Majestic Consortium (through the U.S. Military) covering up evidence of alien attempts to take contact with Humanity. Considering the other examples of Human-alien interaction (either open hostility or at least a desire to remain concealed) it seems strange that the aliens would try to make contact throught the Arecibo Radio Telescope Array. Of course, it may be that the contact was made accidently, or by a faction of aliens not representing the entire race. It also seems odd that Jorge Concepcion died after having contact with the aliens. Was it from fright? Or some other-worldly weaponry? The aliens here are portrayed as dangerous and unfathomable, but little is learned of their realtionship to Majestic, except that Majestic will not hesitate to kill to protect the secret that aliens exist.

DUANE BARRY/ ASCENTION: In DUANE BARRY we see (from Duane Barry's perspective) his abduction and torturous experimentation by alien Greys. But since we have since discovered that the experiments performed on Duane Barry were connected to Dr. Ishimaru/Zama and were part of the Majestic Consortium's Purity Control project. So it may be that the Greys seen by Duane Berry were implanted false memories put there to cover Barry's real memory of capture and experimentation by humans. Similar techniques were used to blurr the borders of reality and perception in the episode JOSE CHUNG'S FROM OUTER SPACE. Duane Barry claimed that the government not only knew about the aliens, but also worked with them sometimes. It's possible this percpetion was created by a manfunctioning memory implant. If sometimes Duane Barry remembered the humans experimenting on him as Greys and sometimes as humans, it might cause him to think that the government and aliens were cooperating.

COLONY/ENDGAME: These aliens first appeared in the epsiodes COLONY and ENDGAME. Here everything seemed simple. The "Gregors" and "Samanthas" are alien-human hybrid clones created by aliens who intend to inherit the Earth once man makes the planet uninhabitable for humans. Then a hulking shape-shifting alien assassin (originally called "The Pilot" but later refered to as "The Bounty Hunter") appears and begins slaying all the Gregors and Samanthas and destroying the abortion clinics they'd been using to harvest fetal tissue. Why? The Samantha clone claimed that she and the Gregors' project was seen as a dimunition of the alien race, an abomination. Or perhaps, it was simply an unapproved project.

In END GAME we saw the U.S. Military's shoot-to-kill policy regarding aliens in action again. As soon as the USS Allegience reports the characteriestics of the "sonar contact" it detected beneath the Artic ice cap, the submarine's captain is ordered to attack and destroy the alien spacecraft. The alien's disable (but don't destroy) the nuclear sub. Later Mr. X tells Mulder that a U.S. attack-fleet is on an intercept course to the alien ship's last known location with orders to destroy the craft and prevent the Bounty Hunter from leaving the Earth. I think the sub's crew was either dead when the Bounty Hunter arrived at the sub or the crew died when they shot him and were killed by the toxic fumes from his blood. It doesn't seem likely that he could have killed the entire crew without more signs of a struggle. Most crew-members were slumped over at their posts. Bottom line, the U.S. government is hostile to the Bounty Hunter in this episode, but there is no evidence of their relationship to the Gregor and Samantha clones.

In PAPERCLIP the Greys make a quick appearance, scurrying past Scully in the dark tunnels of the West Virginia DNA data archive as she and Mulder hide from the hit team sent by the Majestic Consortium. Its unknown wether these aliens deliberately or accidently show Mulder and Scully a back way out of the mine. But what is even more interesting is that the aliens have access to the Majestic Consortium's massive DNA data-base in the abandoned mine. While there is probably little the Majestic Consortium could do if the aliens wanted to get in there anyway, their presence does raise the possibility that the aliens have the Majestic Consortium's permission to use the archive to further their own experiments and their ultimate program of colonization.

One other item of note. When the Well Manicured Man announces to the other Elders that "Mulder's alive," the First Elder announces "I think its time that we call our friends who will handle this matter more satisfactorly." Then when Mulder and Scully are at the DNA data-base, the aliens appear on the scene, scurrying through the dark and thundering over-head in one of their ships and an CIA-style hit team arrives with machine guns. Which "friends" were the First Elder refering to? The CIA hit-team or the aliens? Do the Elders consort with aliens?

In PIPER MARU/ APOCRYPHA: We encountered the "Oilien," which came to earth in 1945, and was shot down by US Army Air Corps P-51 Mustang fighters (acording to the Well Manicured Man). I find it far more likely there was a mid-air collision that brought down the fighter and the UFO. I just can't see an extra-terrestrial spacecraft being shot down by .50 calibur machine guns. Regardless, we again see the U.S. Military's shoot-to-kill policy in action again. Although, U.N. Resolution 1013 was allegedly put into effect after the 1947 Roswell incident, so the 1945 shoot-down was probably not linked to a world-wide policy.

The Oilien's single apparent goal is to return to its ship. To do this, it cuts a deal with CSM and exchanges the stolen MJ file data tape for the location of the salvaged 1945 UFO. This deal was arranged without the knowledge of the board of Elders of the Majestic Consortium. Does the Consortium deal with aliens? CSM does. He doesn't even look suprised when the Oilien shows up in Krycek's body. Dealing with aliens is nothing new to him. But it still doesn't prove Alien-Consortium alliance. Why would the Consortium need to salvage alien spacecraft if they had a deal with the Aliens? All told, it seems that perhaps ONLY CSM has contact with the aliens.

In the episode JOSE CHUNG'S FROM OUTER SPACE, viewers got an look a cyclops-like "Harrihausen" alien which both Roky Crikenson and USAF Lt. Jack Schaeffer called Lord Kinbote. This alien appeared to abduct the terrestrial abductors (Lt. Schaeffer and Maj. Vallee) as well as their intended targets (Chrissy and Harold). The abduction appeared (at least to the abducted) to be a pointless exercise in sadism, Maj. Vallee does not survive the experience. Between the testimony of Harold and Chrissy and Lt. Schaeffer, it would seem that the aliens took the USAF's "terrestrial" flying saucer, leaving the USAF bewildered. This implies that while there are "terrestrial" USAF UFOs, just like ones in DEEP THROAT, the people working on those projects are not aware of the source of the technology they're using, namely salvaged alien technology. Is the theft of the USAF UFO another example of the aliens taking back examples of their stolen technology, like in TEMPUS FUGIT and MAX, or just sabotage of terrestrial technology like in SPACE? Regardless, the aliens appear hostile to humans in general and Majestic in particular.

TALITHA CUMI/ HERRENVOLK: In the episodes TALITHA CUMI and HERRENVOLK the relationship gets complicated. we meet the alien Jeramiah Smith and his fellow clones. Jerimiah Smith has the Bounty Hunter's abilties of shape shifitng, and both demonstrate an miraculous ability to heal the sick and injured. More Samantha clones appear, along with some nazi-looking boy clones, but they don't appear to be anything more than mindless drones. Biological robots tending the crops which Jerimiah Smith hints may not be terrestrial in origin. Certainly the bees which have been making honey from "alien ginsing" have become lethally toxic. There is a colonization effort afoot in these epsiodes too which the Majestic Consortium seems to be aware of and collaborating with. Jerimiah Smith's job at the Social Security service seems to have been creating identities for hundreds of thousands of "non-persons:" Alien clones sliped into human society who need electronic backgrounds in order to blend in. The Bounty Hunter returns again to kill Jerimiah Smith, but not because this project was unapproved, but because Smith drew attention to himself by healing the people wounded in a random fast-food shooting. Whether this is the same Bounty Hunter that killed the Gregors and the Samanthas cannot be known for certain, but he did seem to understand Mulder's desire to protect the clone of his sister.

In MUSINGS OF A CIGARRETTE SMOKING MAN we get a quick glimpse at the Alien/Majestic relationship. Deep Throat and the Cigarrette Smoking Man discuss the fate of an "E.B.E." (extra-terrestrial biological entity) which survived (barely) a UFO crash. CSM reminds Deep Throat that "a living E.B.E. could advance Bill Mulder's project by decades." To which Deep Throat responds "Security Council resolution 1013 states `any country captuing such an entity is responisble for its immediate extermination.'" Looking at the dying alien Deep Throat says "Tonight we have a new enemy."

By "Bill Mulder's Project" I assume CSM is referring to the "Merchandise" and the Hybridization project directed by Purity Control. A project he obviously wants protected. Deep Throat sticks to the official party line that the extermination of the E.B.E. is the paramount concern, refering to the E.B.Es as the "new enemy." This indicates to me that the Majestic Consortium's Purity Control project is seperate from the alien's colonization project. Or at least it was in 1991. The Majestic Consortium wouldn't need a live E.B.E if they were working hand in hand with the aliens. They'd have all the access they needed to alien DNA. Since CSM suggested keeping it alive, I believe that the relationship is not one of cooperation.

In MOMENTO MORI we see a possible example of aliens working with the Majestic Consortium. Since NESEI and 731, it has been obvious that Scully's (and quite probably insane FBI agent Duane Barry's) abductions were the result of a secret government experiment run by Dr. Ishimaru/Zama. Many other alien abductions seem to be cover for "Purity Control" which seeks to hybridize human and alien DNA. In MEMENTO MORI we encounter "the Kurts:" Alien-human hybrid clones almost identical in the way they die and decompose into green ooze as the Gregors and Samanthas in the episodes COLONY and ENDGAME. But here we have the alien clones working side by side with the same government project which harvested Scully's ova. So it would seem that the Majestic Consortium is either cooporating with the alien colonizers or their own hybridization project has advanced to the point where their hybrids are indestinguishable from the aliens' hybrids.

In TEMPUS FUGIT and MAX the Greys are seen trying to recover the energy souce stolen from the Majestic Consortium-connected Defense contractor (and apparently it was first stolen from the Greys by Majestic during a salvage operation). Several Greys are killed when the Air Force shoots down their spacecraft. In fact, the military was so intent on shooting down the Greys that they were willing to take the chance it would kill the passengers on flight 549. On their part, the Greys abuct Max Fenig, Sharon Graffia and Scott Garrett in order to recover the three components of their working energy source. Here the relationship between the Majestic Consortium and the aliens is thuroughly hostile.

In ZERO SUM we see the Majestic Consortium conducting a new aspect of the "Project." Bees (apparently genetically altered to breed and mature faster) are used to deliver Small Pox (also apparently altered to act quicker) to schoolchildren on a playground. Two interesting questions are raised by this test:

1. What was being tested? The Bees' ability to deliver the smallpox? If so, why did U.S. Military personnel show up at the hospital to assist in caring for the children? Were they there to observe the effects of the smallpox, or did the Military doctors show up to "field-test" an antidote? Was the Majestic Consortium testing a weapon, a counter-measure, or both?
2. Are the Bees related to the ones in HERRENVOLK? In that episode a colony of alien clones in Canada were using Bee husbandry to pollenate what appeared to be alien plants. The Bees also killed a telephone line repairman with a toxin that caused servere decomposition. But the Bees in HERRENVOLK are very different than the ones in ZERO SUM. It only took one sting to kill the repairman, where the school children suffered multiple stings without dying. Plus the bees in ZERO SUM seem more aggressive than the HERRENVOLK bees.

Of the 19 episodes on the Majestic-Alien relationship, they break down as follows: There are eight episodes where Majestic hostile to Aliens. Four episodes where Majestic is cooperating With Aliens, and seven where the relationship is ambiguous. By a majority of 2 to 1, that would seem to indicate that basically Majestic is hostile to the aliens. But there are still important an irrefutable examples of cooperation between Majestic and the Aliens.

But why does there need to be a U.N. Resolution 1013 and the shoot-to-kill policy? Well, considering the usual results of contact between primitive and technologically advanced cultures, a shoot-to-kill policy makes sense. Given what they know now, I have no doubt the American Indians would have killed every European they set eyes on. Nothing personal, I'm sure Chrisopher Columbus had good intentions, but the end result would still be the obliteration of the native culture. Either because the newcomers would impose their culture, or because many of the natives would adopt the newcomers' culture, assuming their own culture to be inferior simply because the newcomers are more technologically proficient. The same thing would happen to our own world if the aliens ever arrived openly. Most religious faiths would be called into question, and religious faith and teachings (like it or not folks) is the basis for most conceptions of morality, ethics and law. Alien arrival equals social chaos.

What I envision is a U.S. military commitment (directed by the Majestic Consortium) to kill any alien they come in contact with in order to preserve the status quo of human civilization. The military also salvages and cannibalizes the alien hardware and technology in order to preserve the U.S. position as the global superpower and even develop anti-alien weaponry. Then, at a higher level, concealed within compartmentalized projects, the Majestic Consortium works to create the hybrids. Most of the clues presented so far point towards the Majestic Consortium's Purity Control hybridization experiments being part of a "super-soldier" program. But an army of super-soldiers to be used against whom? The Leper in 731 said that the hybrid test subjects were exposed to things that gave them terrible burns. Terrible burns? Like those that resulted from the aliens' radiation weapons as seen in FALLEN ANGEL and APOCRYPHA. Is this army of radiation-resistant soldiers to be used against the aliens? This could make sense as part of U.N. Resolution 1013. No live aliens are used, so the resolution is upheld, but the Majestic Consortium continues to produce hybrids which can compete with the aliens. However, there may be another, more obscure answer and it's connected to the relationship between the Majestic Consortium, the aliens and the aliens designs on the earth.

Let's say that some of the Natives (namely a faction of the Majestic Consortium) figure that while U.N. Resolution 1013 would preserve the status quo, cooperation with the invaders might put the colaborators at the top of the terrestrial food-chain. If there is a faction of aliens intent on colonizing the earth (and events from COLONY, END GAME, TALITHA CUMI, HERRENVOLK, and MOMENTO MORI seem to point to such a "project'), then there may be a section of the Majestic Consortium that believe that the aliens will be successful, no matter what humanity tries to do. Perhaps the reason hybrids are being created is that the Majestic Consortium expects mankind to be supplanted by the alien invaders and figures the only way mankind will have a place in the invaders world is if humanity can adapt, evolve . . . hybridize. What did The Well Manicured Man say? "We predict the future, and the best way to predict the future is to invent it." Is that "future" the future of mankind? And does the Majestic Consortium plan to "re-invent" humanity is order to preserve some fraction of it in the "brave new world" of the alien invaders? Or perhaps this faction of the Majestic Consortium cooperates with the invasion plan in order to preserve their place in the new order to emerge after the invasion is complete. Is that what Jerimiah Smith meant when he asked CSM "How many people have to die to preserve your place in the project?" Does this indicate that CSM is betraying the Consortium to the aliens? Or that the Consortium as a whole is betraying Humanity while pretending to protect it through the shoot-to-kill policy.

At this point, nothing can be ruled out.

• The Majestic Consortium
• HOME