 Shiban began crafting his story by <unk> a nanobot plot that had been considered by various writers for several seasons . Shiban and the rest of the writers made it a point to give Alex Krycek control over Skinner . In this manner , Skinner once again became a mysterious character , one whose true loyalties were being tested . Shiban noted that , " [ Krycek 's control ] gives Skinner an agenda that Mulder doesn 't know about [ ... ] Which was something we ultimately used again in the <unk> [ sic ] , and will carry us into next year " . 
