Doctor Barnes was a scientist at the American University who made a career of debunking wild theories.
When Solomon Merkmallen discovered a spacecraft on the Ivory Coast in Africa, Barnes intercepted him at the University, where Merkmallen intended to meet with Steven Sandoz. Pretending to be him, he took the artifact from Merkmallen, but, when he figured that Barnes was not who he said he was, Barnes killed him and took the artifact. He put Merkmallen's body into a trash bin in Sandoz' home to incriminate him. Back at the University, he suspended classes and waited at the crime scene for investigators. He met Fox Mulder and Dana Scully and painted Sandoz in a bad light during the conversation.
Barnes went into his office and realized something was amiss. Checked out his lab but did not find anyone. He then went to the rooftop where he met Alex Krycek, who had called him earlier and proposed a "friendship" by handing him a tape of a conversation between Mulder, Scully and Walter Skinner in his office where they discussed the artifact. (TXF: "Biogenesis")
Barnes traveled to Africa, where he found Dana Scully already investigating the ship with Dr. Amina Ngebe. Together, the three of them made a lot of progress deciphering the text inscribed on the ship's hull. Barnes eventually grew deranged as he became consumed by his obsession with the ship, threatening the lives of Scully and Ngebe with a machete, should they try to take credit for the discovery. Barnes' most profound discovery was made when proximity to an artifact from the ship brought some dead fish back to life. While distracted by his own wonder at this discovery, Scully knocked him out with a chair and fled the site.
Barnes grew more and more disturbed and even killed his own driver with his machete. However, the life-restoring artifact resurrected the driver as well, who then killed Barnes with a machete strike to the forehead. (TXF: "The Sixth Extinction")
- Dr. Barnes was played by Michael Ensign.