Mulder and Scully arrive at the corporate headquarters of FPS, the startup company that makes the virtual-reality game First Person Shooter. To get into the security-minded establishment, they must undergo ID checks and retinal scans. They also must sign strict non-disclosure agreements.

Once inside, they meet their allies, the Lone Gunmen, who work at FPS as consultants.

"Welcome to the land where silicon meets silicone," one of the high-tech conspiracy buffs says. Another touts FPS's supposed financial prospects: "You're standing on the launchpad of a rocket headed for the stars." The IPO might be in a week, they note.

"Only there's a dead body between you and untold riches," says Scully.

Mulder shows the printout to a detective, indicating that this virtual character is the murderer. The cop and Scully are skeptical.

The agents bring in an expert Japanese game-player named Daryl to play the game, indeed to "slay the Ninja babe," as someone puts it. He soon gets his hands cut off and screams horribly. His head is cut off.

Concerns grow. Scully, uncertain about the factors that killed the first victim, does an autopsy. She argues with Mulder about his enthusiasm for these violent computer games that serve no social purpose.

Mulder gets a surprising call on his cell phone --the Los Angeles sheriff has brought in a suspect in the murder. Moreover, she is a real woman, not some computer-animated character.

At the L.A. Sheriff's office, there is much giggling and snickering about the woman they've arrested. Mulder and Scully enter her cell.

It's an attractive woman who calls herself "Afterglow," wearing a miniskirt and halter top. She is sardonic. When told they're looking for a murderer who used a sword, Afterglow sneers: "You must have had me confused with my sister, Xena Warrior Princess."

They show her pictures of Maitreya, and she tells them these were the result of a body scan she'd been paid for at a medical imaging organization. This means she's innocent, the agents realize. Mulder says she's free to go, and watches her leave.

Back at FPS, software developer Phoebe has worked 70 hours straight trying to find out what’s wrong with the game. She's tried to bypass the problem, but it's hard.

Worse, the Lone Gunmen are soon trapped in the game. The program can't be stopped.

Mulder dons game-playing gear, including shades conspicuously similar to those worn in The Matrix. He enters the game.

"What is he doing?" Phoebe asks. "He's getting his ya-yas out," says Scully with contempt.

In the garage-like building, Mulder encounters Maitreya, but she disappears and reappears behind him. She is formidable.

The game seems to end, and Scully runs into the game room to find the Lone Gunmen. But Mulder's not there. He's still in the game somehow. Phoebe receives telemetry -- Mulder's vital signs.

The game goes on. On a virtual street, Mulder shoots at Maitreya and misses. She leaps over him. The programmers try to shut down the program but can't.

Meanwhile, Ivan, an executive, comes in after meeting investors. He exults about the latest round of financing. Indeed, the bankers seem to be delighted by Scully's autopsy that said "cause unknown."

Scully asks him about scanning Afterglow, but Ivan has no knowledge of that. Phoebe starts to hurry off but stops and admits that she scanned Afterglow. It was for her own program, something she was developing to keep herself sane in this testosterone-driven workplace. But somehow the goddess she'd created had leaped into the First Person Shooter program and is now feeding off male aggression.

Meanwhile, inside the program, Maitreya is kicking Mulder. His vital signs are "wiggy."

Ivan seems angry at Phoebe, but Scully defends her. "No fair picking on a girl," says the agent.

Mulder manages briefly to knock Maitreya on her back. That brings him to Phase Two of the game, a simulated Old West environment. Moreover, the others can now watch him on screen. Unfortunately, no one has ever won Phase Two. Further attempts to shut down the game fail.

Maitreya, dressed as a cowgirl with a halter top, follows Mulder. Several copies of herself arise. Mulder complains that's "not fair." But Scully enters the program with a big gun and blasts away at the copies, with considerable success. The Lone Gunmen are enthusiastic.

But Phoebe's worried. Phase Two only gets harder, she observes. She wants to use the "kill" command, which would stop and erase the whole program. Ivan doesn’t want this but the Lone Gunmen do, since their friends are in danger. Phoebe is torn.

On the virtual Old West street, the battle escalates. Maitreya makes numerous copies of herself and then sits atop a tank. She begins blasting away at the agents.

The Lone Gunmen sway Phoebe to take their side. She tells them how to do the kill command. It is: shift-alt-bloodbath. It is done, and chaos fills the computer screens. The program ends.

The game-playing room is still empty, though. But Mulder and Scully are soon found, lying on their backs in a room off to the side. "That's entertainment," says Mulder cheerfully, though it's open to question.

And as Mulder ruminates about the "hostile territory of the digital world," we see that Ivan is writing a new program, and laughing. A leggy woman strides across his screen. She has Scully's face and hair.