Secrets and Lies

Carter insists the conspiracy is believable because of its complexity. Yet he's also aware that the clock is ticking toward the series finale. ''I was thinking today, I have another 28 episodes left. We've got to prepare for a big unravel. We figured it would be better to explain the conspiracy now, and make that last arc more emotional and action driven, with less baggage to carry.''

In other words, Carter acknowledges the density of his creation. He will not, however, admit to what plagues many fans: profound confusion. The conspiracy, he maintains, ''is not as complicated as you think.''

Hanging out with the conspiracy's supporting players is probably a mistake. They are relentlessly cheerful: The more dour they are on camera, the sunnier they are off; Mitch Pileggi (Assistant Director Skinner), William B. Davis (the cancerous Cigarette Smoking Man — or CSM), and Chris Owens (CSM's son, Agent Spender) smile entirely too much. Way to kill a mood, guys.

But to a man — and this includes Dean Haglund, Bruce Harwood, and Tom Braidwood (Mulder and Scully's geeky helpers, the Lone Gunmen), and Nicholas Lea (dastardly renegade Krycek) — they are baffled by Carter's Mythology. Of the upcoming two-parter, Lea admits that after he read the scripts, ''they needed to be explained about four times. Other than that, it was really clever.'' He laughs. ''But that's kind of like the norm. You read a script, then call someone to explain it.'' Harwood finds hardcore fans helpful. That they can explain it, he says, ''is scary in itself.''

Skinner is the character most in the dark (a visit to the set reveals even his desk calendar is out of it: The date reads August 1995). And it's a state of mind Pileggi can relate to. ''I don't feel either of us has a handle on'' the conspiracy, he says. For the two-parter he stuck to his usual methods of preparation: ''I just read my parts and play it as if I don't know what's going on. It's always a surprise when I watch the shows.''

''I am happy that Mitch sees that as a positive,'' cracks Duchovny a few days later. ''You know, whatever works for you.... I can't believe he's telling people that.''