Summary: In-depth article by Anthony Leong. Frontier: Australian Science Fiction Media Magazine. Issue 13: November 1998, pp.12-14. Transcribed by Deslea, along with additional parethetical notes in light of episodes aired since this article was written.

Smallpox And Bees

The X Files model for gene therapy.

By Anthony Leong. Frontier: Australian Science Fiction Media Magazine. Issue 13: November 1998, pp.12-14.

Transcribed by Deslea, along with additional parethetical notes in light of episodes aired since this article was written.


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Over the past five seasons of The X Files, the smallpox virus and genetically-engineered honey bees have been a recurring and enigmatic motif in the paranormal investigations of FBI agents Mulder and Scully. These two seemingly-unconnected elements play significant roles within the series' alien conspiracy story arc and as the series has progressed, clues have been provided on the exact nature of these roles. Though pundits have often derided the consistency of the so-called "mythology" arc to the point of accusing series creator Chris Carter of "making-it-up-as-he-goes", the appearance and application of the smallpox virus and the bees have been remarkably consistent. In fact, the purpose of the virus and the bees in the universe of The X Files seems to have some basis in scientific fact.

The Smallpox Virus

Smallpox is a fatal scourge that has killed millions throughout human history. The infectious agent in smallpox is the variola virus, a member of the orthopoxvirus family. It was not until 1796 that modern science developed a new weapon to fight this ancient scourge - a vaccine. Edward Jenner, a doctor, noticed that milkmaids who had become infected with the less morbid cowpox disease became immune to smallpox. It was later learned that the cowpox disease was caused by another virus in the orthopoxvirus family called vaccinia. Through exposure to the cowpox virus, the antibodies created by the body's immune response also conferred protection against infection by the smallpox virus. This immunological response served as the basis for the modern smallpox vaccine, in which the patient is injected with a weakened strain of the vaccinia virus to create an immune response to the smallpox virus.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) initiated the Smallpox Eradication Program (SEP) in 1967, a global immunisation program. This initiative was so successful that the last natural smallpox victim was found in Somalia in 1977, and smallpox was declared eradicated in the early 1980s after no further cases were identified. Though routine administration is no longer required, the smallpox vaccine is still administered as a precautionary measure to military personnel and at-risk populations. The only remaining samples of the smallpox virus now exist in the quarantine laboratories of the US Centers For Disease Control and Russia's Research Institute For Viral Preparations, but are scheduled for destruction in the near future.

Appearances Of The Smallpox Virus And The Bees

The smallpox (variola) virus, and its close cousin the cowpox (vaccinia) virus have shown up numerous times in the conspiracy arc of The X Files. The smallpox virus made its first appearance in the second season cliffhanger "Anasazi", in which the alien-human hybrid bodies that Mulder found in the buried railcar had smallpox vaccination scars.

In the following season's "Paper Clip", Mulder and Scully stumbled onto a vast genetic database consisting of thousands of medical files that were stored in an abandoned West Virginia Mine ("Lots and lots of files," as Scully noted). These medical files formed a comprehensive database for every man, woman and child born since the 1950s, and the genetic data had been secretly collected during smallpox innoculations, as part of the Smallpox Eradication Program.

This genetic database was seen again in the fourth season opener "Herrenvolk", when Scully discovered reams of encoded data stored on the computer terminal belonging to the Jeremiah Smith clone. Further examination revealed that the code was based on the nucleotide sequences of the cowpox virus (the basis of the smallpox vaccine), and that each one of the millions of human beings that had been given the smallpox vaccine was "tagged" with a unique genetic variant of the cowpox virus. This task of tagging and genetic record keeping had apparently been carried out as part of Bill Mulder's (Agent Mulder's late father) work on Operation Paper Clip, a secret government project aimed at creating an alien-human hybrid.

This episode also marked the first appearance of the genetically-altered bees. The bees were found to be pollinating an unidentified, possibly alien species of the plant at the Canadian colony. Furthermore, the toxic venom in the bees' stingers contained a fatal variant of the smallpox virus, as witnessed by the deaths of the television repairman, and the smallpox-like scars on the ALien Bounty Hunter after being stung.

The smallpox vaccine returned in "Tunguska", only this time it served as the vehicle for the vaccine against the Black Cancer, a mysterious oil-like substance that "infected" its victims and placed them in a catatonic state. During Mulder's imprisonment at the Russian gulag, he was given a smallpox vaccination prior to his Black Cancer exposure. The smallpox vaccination apparently provided Mulder with immunity to the Black Cancer, without any ill effects.

[Deslea notes: The paragraph above does not seem to be correct. It appeared that Mulder was administered, not with the smallpox vaccine (which he should have already received in childhood), but with the Russian vaccine against the Black Cancer. That is, the same vaccine we saw later in Patient X and DeadAlive, and which WMM stated in Tunguska that they - the Western Syndicate - had recently stolen from the Russians. However, it is true that test subjects were tracked using their smallpox vaccination scars (Marita's testimony, The Truth), and that some of the American tests were administered by a variola expert, Bonita Charne-Sayrre. My personal opinion is that the Black Cancer is itself an orthopoxvirus - a relative of variola and vaccinia - which fits with both being present on the planet from ancient times, and therefore that vaccinia can be harnessed and modified against the Black Cancer. However, it would be equally defensible to suggest that the only connection between the Black Cancer and vaccinia is that of vaccinia's role as a tag in tracking those infected with the Black Cancer. It's also worth noting that the Black Cancer adhered to the pineal gland of Dr Sacks in Terma and that he would presumably have been innoculated for smallpox, so a past innoculation does not automatically confer protection against the activity of the Black Cancer.]

The bees returned a few [episode] hours later in "Zero Sum", when the Syndicate conducted a field test in a schoolyard full of children in South Carolina. This time, however, the lethality of the bees had diminished from "Herrenvolk", as the unwitting test subjects suffered multiple stings without dying. However, like the attacks witnessed in "Herrenvolk", the lesions that erupted resembled those of smallpox. When the children were brought to a local hospital, U.S. Military personnel took over their treatment, though it is unknown what sort of treatment was administered. On initial inspection, it would seem that the Syndicate was testing the ability of the bees to deliver the smallpox virus. However, other valid interpretations would be that the Syndicate had been testing the effects of the new smallpox virus, or the efficacy of a vaccine to counter the effects of this new smallpox virus.

[Deslea notes: Another possibility is that the Syndicate sought to re-activate the Smallpox Eradication Program by orchestrating controlled smallpox outbreaks, thereby resuming Bill Mulder's tagging work, which was forced to a halt by the eradication of smallpox in the 1980s.]

Finally, in "The X Files: Fight The Future", the bees reappeared at a Syndicate test facility on the Texas border. However, instead of acting as carriers for the smallpox virus, the bees carried the black oil within their venom, which was derived from genetically-altered corn crops. The Black Cancer vaccine, first seen in "Tunguska", was also used to treat Scully, who had become infected by the Black Oil, though it was not clear if this vaccine was based on the smallpox vaccine.

So What Does It All Mean?

So what exactly are the roles of the smallpox virus, the closely-related cowpox virus, and the genetically-altered bees in the colonisation plans? Based on the evidence seen during the series, the smallpox virus is most likely being used as a vector for the delivery of alien DNA. Various crops, such as the 'ginseng' in "Herrenvolk" or the genetically-altered corn in "The X Files: Fight The Future", serve as reservoirs for the altered smallpox virus. These crops are pollinated by the bees, which then deliver the altered smallpox virus to a human host by the bee's stinger.

The basis for these conclusions are:

- For the majority of DNA-based viruses, the nucleus (the central organelle of the cell containing the DNA) of the host cell is used by the virus for the viral replication process (viruses are often naked strands of DNA without the necessary bio-chemical "machinary" required to replicate themselves). The orthopoxvirus family is unique among the known DNA viruses because its entire multiplication process takes place in the cells' cytoplasm, completely outside of the nucleus. If the purpose of the virus is to introduce alien DNA into a cell, the use of a vector virus which had the least effect on nuclear processes, such as a poxvirus, would be the best choice. Note that the alien-human hybrids in the buried railcar, which Mulder found in "Anasazi", had smallpox vaccination scars, which may be indicative of how Dr Klemper created them - by introducing alien DNA into human hosts via smallpox vaccinations.

Other than a minor difference in the molecular structure (90% of the genes are identical), the main difference between the smallpox and the cowpox viruses is their relative virulence in humans. Whereas a smallpox infection can be fatal in a human being, a cowpox infection is comparatively asymptomatic. However, because of the morphological and immunological similarities between the two viruses, immunity to the cowpox virus confers resistance to the smallpox virus - this observation is the basis of the smallpox vaccine. Throughout the series, we have seen the experiments of the Syndicate alternate between the use of the smallpox virus and the smallpox vaccine (cowpox virus). The reasons for the choice of vector would be based on ease of handling. All innoculation, gene splicing, and tagging experiments (as seen in "Tunguska", "Anasazi" and "Herrenvolk" respectively) involved the smallpox vaccine, which could be synthesised with more ease and handled more safely than an equal amount of live smallpox viruses. When it came to a field test ("Zero Sum"), the Syndicate used the actual smallpox virus, presumably to test its virulence.

[Deslea notes: Another possibility is the change in leadership of the American tests. Until Terma, the contemporary testing regime appeared to be run by Dr Bonita Charne-Sayrre - according to Scully, an advocate for the destruction of smallpox stocks. It is unlikely that Bonita would have condoned tests with live smallpox stocks, and both by virtue of her own scientific position and her position as the Well-Manicured Man's mistress, it is likely that she was able to exert some influence over Syndicate decision-making on scientific issues. However, she was killed before Zero Sum. Presumably her successor was less invested in this ideological angle.]

- The transmission properties of the smallpox virus also make it ideal for the purposes of introducing alien DNA to a population. The smallpox virus is very specific to human beings and no non-human reservoirs for the disease exist, allowing for a highly-targeted dispersal. Furthermore, subclinical infections do not occur (and hence there are no such thing as smallpox carriers, which means that dispersal of the virus will result in 100% saturation of the target population. Finally, close contact is required for transmission of the disease (either through inhalation of respiratory droplets or contact with the skin lesions) which would simplify the identification of infected individuals. This would give the Syndicate the ability to track the spread of the virus and stop the dispersal if need be.

[Deslea notes: As most people over thirty are smallpox-innoculuated, it must be asked whether these factors still apply. On the other hand, that may be the whole idea. The way the SEP unfolded virtually ensures that at the time of colonisation in 2012 (The Truth), only younger, and theoretically fit people will be infected and transformed, while older and theoretically less useful hosts will simply be imprisoned, killed, or left to fight for whatever resources are still available after colonisation. It may be that smallpox was timed for eradication for precisely this reason. Still on the subject of targeted infection, it's worth noting that a bee can only infect one person, as the act of stinging disembowels and kills the bee. So if the smallpox/Black Cancer hybrid infection has been modified in such a way that it is not contagious except through subcutaneous injection (stinging), then it would be possible to absolutely limit the number of people infected (hybridised). If you only wanted to infect a hundred people fitting a certain population criteria, you would release a hundred bees in that population. (In fact you would release a few extra to allow for bee mortality, multiple stings on one person, etc, but the principle remains).]

- Poxviruses are very large in general, allowing them to be seen under a light microscope. Presumably this would translate to greater ease of manipulation, for the purposes of inserting another virus or a strand of alien DNA within the protein shell.

- Finally, since smallpox was declared eradicated by the World Health Organisation in the early eighties, regular vaccination is no longer done. This would reduce the chance of resistance to the disease in target populations.

[Deslea notes: A recent entry into the scientific landscape - one not exploited by the show, but of interest for the purposes of fanfic and general elaboration on the X Files mythology - is the advent in the last five years of a campaign to eradicate another orthopoxvirus, chicken pox. There are multiple angles available to the fanfic writer from this development - one could plot equally that this campaign is designed to either protect subjects from, or expose subjects to the hybridisation threat or equally to a vaccine against it.]

Based on these observations, it seems that the smallpox virus is being used to introduce alien DNA or some kind of biological toxin to human populations, with bees as the delivery vehicle. The end result would be either the Syndicate's plan for "inventing the future", helping humanity evolve with the assistance of alien DNA, or eradicating humanity to make room for the Colonists. As revealed to Mulder in "The X Files: Fight The Future", at the advent of colonisation, the President will declare a national emergency and the entire country will fall under the jurisdiction of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency).

It is at this time that the genetically-engineered bees would disperse an unknown biological entity on the unsuspecting population. Whether it is the Black Oil, which appears to be the colonising force (according to the recent feature film), or a vaccine against the Black Oil, remains to be seen.

So beneath all the deus ex machina plotting and altered premises that crop up on the weekly series, is a remarkably coherent scientific undercurrent in The X Files. The ultimate outcome of the interplay between the alien-government conspiracy, the smallpox virus, and the bees has yet to be seen, but the scientific basis for at least this aspect of the mythology arc is nonetheless fascinating.

END