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Photos and Sound files

fire01.wav
"His entire story has been denied by all official and unofficial channels."

fire02.wav
"There's nothing to link them to any known anti-government militia."

fire03.wav
"None of our sources can confirm the advancement of nanotechnology to the extent suggested here."

fire04.wav
"Well, since all of your samples were destroyed, we have no way to validate your findings."

fire05.wav
"Just wrap it up, Connor."

fire06.wav
"Why don't you ask him?"

Synopsis

Episode Twenty - Part One
File #994124: "The Fire Within"

Written by Richard Oleksiak
Directed by Aaron Schuster

Coleman, Montana, USA

A group of ranchers, George Leeds (Philip Craig), Bob Guthrie (Chris Benson), Alvin McLaren (Howard Hoover), Dean Mathews (Tom Bishop) and Martin Shaw (James Kidnie) meet for their weekly game of poker. George, suddenly feeling warm, heads to the kitchen for some ice. His body begins to smoke and then bursts into flames, consuming itself within seconds. Hearing George's screams, the other men rush into the kitchen where they find only ashes and charred body parts. The Office of Scientific Investigation and Research (O.S.I.R.) interviews each of the witnesses but finds no evidence of anything unusual and medical tests of the ashes offer no additional clues. The O.S.I.R.'s Peter Axon (Barclay Hope) suggests that a lightning quick subatomic chain reaction instantly dehydrated George's body. This may explain what happened to the rancher, but it does not explain why.

At George's wake, Dean experiences the same terror when his arm bursts into flames. Horrified, the other ranchers douse the fire and rush Dean to the hospital. Blood tests on all the ranchers indicate the existence of nanites in Dean, George and Martin Shaw. These nanites are microscopic robots manufactured on a molecular level - until then believed to be in laboratory test stages only. They have the capability to deconstruct and rebuild human molecular structure, causing the chemical reaction Axon referred to in his theory.

While recovering, Dean erupts into flames in his hospital bed - this time he does not survive. The O.S.I.R. locates Shaw and tries to warn him about the nanites in his system. Shaw, afraid that the investigators are searching for more information than he is willing to disclose, panics and runs. After they capture him, the O.S.I.R. questions Shaw in a safe house and are astonished at the secretive rancher's claim to be an undercover U.S. government agent. Doyle becomes furious when Shaw asks for the O.S.I.R.'s elusive Director of Operations, Frank Elsinger (Nigel Bennett), who he claims can explain everything. What role did the O.S.I.R. and U.S. government play in these two tragic cases of human spontaneous combustion?