The Courtyard Shoppes
Sacramento, Calif.
4:36 p.m.

Marilys Robyns swiped a bead of sweat from her recently waxed brow as she crossed 
the threshold from retail refrigeration into the searing California afternoon, cursing 
the marketing geniuses who had dictated the move from climate-controlled browsing 
to the boutique-littered baking stone that was the Courtyard Shoppes. 

She hefted the bag bearing her new Prada heels and slipped into an opening in the 
mid-afternoon salmon-stream of retirees, soccer moms, label-festooned teens, and 
leisurely ladies -- Marilys' own particularly sorority. Dr. Robyns was away at a Seattle 
rhinoplasty conference for the week, and Marilys was killing an hour in anticipation of 
cosmos and caipirinhas with the girls at the martini bar down the street. A trail of 
perspiration rolled down her cheek.

The enticing scent of garlic and cilantro gusted past Marilys' exquisite Aryan nose (a 
souvenir of the Robyns' courtship), and her silver-blonde head tipped toward the 
food court. She was contemplating the impact of a California roll, a few cheese sticks 
on her delicate carb equilibrium when her teal eyes locked on the diminutive man.

Marilys halted, and a sea of affluent humanity oozed around her. She frowned at the 
strange little man, draped in raw leather, beads, feathers, and, what, bones? His 
swarthy features were thick, wind-worn -- Indian, or more likely Latino. As a native 
Californian, Marilys was completely simpatico with the culture: she'd reamed her 
domestic Rosita only this morning for buying non-Fair Trade coffee, attempting to 
educate the girl about the plight of the Central American grower. Rosita had seemed 
unappreciative.

Marilys snorted disgustedly (and silently, of course). Cheap theatricality, dressing 
some pathetic illegal in buckskins on a scorcher like today, hawking burritos and 
chimichangas. And in that ridiculous parody of "Injun" dress -- that alone was 
enough to raise her botoxed hackles. Marilys felt the rising inclination to seek out the 
mall management, or, better yet, perhaps e-mail a vehement protest to the 
Sacramento Bee editorial page. Fueled by a PBS documentary on migrant labor 
reform she'd seen last night, Marilys grasped her Pradas and set her Tuscan Gold 
Manolo Blahniks on a direct course toward the exploited man.

A pair of security guards in more sensible shoes intercepted him before she could 
traverse the hot pavers. The guards, feet spread in goose-stepping authority, began 
to grill the small man, who blinked, wide-eyed and clearly terrified, at the buff 
sentries. Marilys hesitated as the teaming masses moved obliviously past the terse 
trio, then made up her mind. She felt like Jane Fonda -- post-Barbarella, pre-Ted 
Turner -- as she stalked toward the men.

"Excuse me," Marilys rasped, forcing a tone of cool outrage into her words. The 
private cops glanced briefly aside, then returned to the Small Man. "I said, excuse 
me."

One of the guards stopped, puffed his cheeks at his partner, and turned. "Yes, 
ma'am?"

The look in his eyes made Marilys blink. She stepped forward. "Might I ask why 
you're interrogating this man? You appear to have singled him out."

"Ma'am," the guard sighed. "Could you just please move on?"

"I don't think so," she said loudly, exhilarated by her newfound radicalism. 
"You're…you're profiling this man. I have considerable clout with the Northern 
California ACLU…"

The partner snorted.

"Go ahead, chortle," Marilys growled, ears growing hot. "But I wonder what the 
media would think of you two harassing this Latino gentleman while he's trying to do 
his job. It's bad enough his being forced to sell his ethnic pride for minimum wages."

"Hey, lady," the cheek-puffer breathed, tapping the nameplate on his chest, which 
read R. Garcia. "We already checked -- this guy don't work for the mall -- the 
Shoppes. But we do, OK? Just let us do our job, OK? Hey, what are you…?" The 
guard's left hand twitched toward his holster as Marilys' right plunged into her bag. 
Fright, and then indignation, flashed through her contact-tinted irises, and she held 
up her cell phone. 

"I'm calling my attorney," she huffed. "He does a lot of pro bono immigration law, 
and he knows how to deal with jack-booted thugs."

"Knock yourselves out, lady." R. Garcia reached for the small man's arm. "C‘mon, 
dude, let‘s-- Hey!!"

The arm, along with the rest of the man, was roughly 15 yards out of R. Garcia's 
reach and gaining, sprinting at a blur through the crowd of late-afternoon shoppers. 
Marilys gawped, speechless, as the guards gave chase.

"Larry!" R. Garcia bellowed. In front of Ralph Lauren's, a thickset custodian paused 
before jabbing a fast-food wrapper with a spiked stick. "Grab him, Larry!!"

Larry's eyes widened, then darted toward the fleeing "Indian." He grabbed the stick 
with both hands and swung it like an overset ninja as he lunged into the man's path. 
The small man skidded to a halt, turned wildly around as a crowd of gawkers 
converged, and leapt at the custodian.

As the guards wove through the shoppers, the pair grappled over the litter stick. The 
custodian suddenly appeared to appraise the immediate risks of his situation, 
factoring in his sub-par weekly wages, and he released the "weapon." Marilys gasped 
as the small man whipped an odd-looking, double-looped device from his belt, slid 
his rough fingers into the twin loops, and fit the stick into what was now obviously a 
sling. The guards froze as the Courtyard Shoppes' patrons scattered, and the man 
planted his feet, eyes wild with fear and menace.

"Yo, dude," R. Garcia called. "Let's just chill, que paso? Put that shit down, dude -- 
we get a Pepsi and some nachos and we'll call it a day."

"Fuck that," the partner growled, yanking his pistol free. The Indian's arm blurred, 
and the guard fired.

"Jesus, Chuck," R. Garcia yelped as the small man spun and fell to the concrete and 
the custodian's stick lodged loudly in the trunk of a palm outside the J. Crew. "You 
shot the dude."

"Yeah," the partner breathed, seemingly shocked by his own action. He gathered 
himself defensively and shoved his gun back into its holster as he caught sight of the 
white-faced Marilys, cell phone dangling limply in her hand. "What, you gonna call 
the ACLU?"

**

"The wound itself wasn't that serious," Paul Liang informed the Sacramento P.D. 
detective assigned to the fashion mall altercation as the pair stepped into a deserted 
exam room. "Hit the fleshy portion of the upper arm, near the shoulder -- missed all 
the major vessels, thank God. Patient's in a lot of shock, though -- nearly catatonic. 
Very extreme reaction, given the relatively minor nature of the injury. Heartbeat, 
blood pressure were spiking nearly off the charts -- guy was scared shitless. And 
there's some kind of weird shadow on the shoulder x-ray that doesn't look like any 
natural anomaly."

The cop, a thin, tired-looking man, nodded disinterestedly. "How soon ‘til I can talk 
to him?"

"Jeez, I'd prefer you held off a couple more hours, at least," Dr. Liang murmured. 
"'Sides, I don't know what you'd accomplish. We haven't gotten a coherent comment 
from him so far. Nurse Contrera out there gave it a try, but he don't habla, you 
know? I can tell what he's babbling isn't French or Italian, and he doesn't look 
German or Chinese."

"Shit," the detective sighed. "Probably have to call the university, see if we can get 
somebody from Linguistics over."

"And, oh yeah," Liang snapped his fingers. "I got something you might want. The 
EMTs accidentally grabbed it when they brought our friend in. A moment, detective?"

The cop sighed, nodded, and the physician disappeared into the hall. Some poor 
crazy, likely, the detective theorized, given the Tonto garb and the schmuck's 
willingness to take on two armed men with a wooden stick with a spike in it. At the 
same time, he'd seen the damage the perp had inflicted on that date palm out at the 
Shoppes. He was no amateur with hand weapons. Vet, martial arts kook, gang-
banger cooked his brains on meth? Probably not homeless – the guy's rawhide 
ensemb, cut from him by the E.R. docs, was clean, maybe freshly tanned. Stray 
survivalist? Nah, too ethnic.

The cop had worked his way halfway down the chart of the alimentary system next 
to the sharps disposal unit when Dr. Liang returned bearing a large baggie. Inside 
was a contraption of leather and wood – two loops attached to a tube like shaft or 
cradle.

"Shit," he said. "He harpooned that tree with this, this slingshot?  Like David and 
Goliath? Forget COPS, man. I feel like I'm in a freaking Natural Geographic's special. 
You got any idea what this thing is, Doc?"

"All I took was elective anthropology, Detective." Liang frowned as he studied the 
artifact. "Maybe he stole it from some exhibition or something. Look, isn't there 
some sort of weapons database you guys can use?"

"Yeah, FBI," the detective brightened.

"We can save you the trouble," a deep voice rumbled calmly as a tall, athletic man in 
a black suit entered the room. A stocky but equally buff man trailed the voice's 
owner. "Special Agents Roosevelt and Truman, NSA," the taller man smiled, flashing 
his ID and gently relieving the detective of the "slingshot."

"Hey," the cop protested.

"Yes, I know," the tall agent murmured. "But we have a warrant, and whether you 
believe it or not, you don't want a piece of this case. And, Doctor, we'll be taking 
your patient along, as well – we have a fully equipped ambulance with a full medical 
staff aboard. We'll need his records, of course, and I'm going to ask you not to 
divulge any information about the patient, either one of you."

Liang scowled. "I don't—"

"That's right, Doctor. You don't." The agent and his silent shadow vanished. The 
doctor and the detective exchanged looks and moved quickly into the corridor, just in 
time to watch a bio-suited crew wheel a gurney bearing the small, swarthy man out 
the sliding E.R. doors. A similarly dressed trio followed, carrying what Liang assumed 
to be the patient's clothing and personal effects.

The E.R. staff and the scattering of emergency patients, distracted momentarily from 
their aches and pains, remained in a tableau of confusion and shock, until the 
detective marched to the open E.R. doors and stared at the small caravan of 
anonymous black vans rolling out.

"What…just happened?" Liang sputtered.

The cop shrugged, glumly eyeing the procession. "I had to guess, I'd say David just 
met up with Goliath. God help the poor schmuck."

Mulder & Scully's Residence
Georgetown
3:17 AM

They'd spent most of the day at Rock Creek Park, picnicking, horsing around and just 
enjoying the summer sunshine. Maggie, Tara and the kids had joined them and 
Mulder had spent a good part of the afternoon in what he considered to be a 
constructive game of catch with Matthew.  The kid had a good arm and Mulder had 
taken it upon himself as a somewhat surrogate father to teach him the love of the 
game.  It had been a welcome relief to step away from the madness for even a few 
hours; to occasionally step into the lives of the blissfully ignorant and just relax.  

Mulder had enjoyed it so much he now found himself back there in his dreams; the 
sounds of the city forgotten in the laughter of children and the music of nature.  He 
remembered that wicked game of Frisbee Scully had engaged him in and once again 
found himself chasing after the high flying disc. She seemed to revel in making it as 
difficult as possible for him to catch the damn thing but so far he hadn't let her 
down.  She let loose a NSAty curve.  It sailed behind him, down a small rise and as 
the disc faded away from him Mulder chased after it, running down the hill and 
leaping to his left to catch it behind his back. Turning around to find the hillside 
empty he was a little chagrined that she hadn't seen his latest feat of male agility 
and jogged up the hill with his prize  

"Hey, Scully, nice try…"  When he reached the top he froze.   Scully lay on the 
ground several yards beyond him, unmoving.  Dropping the Frisbee Mulder ran and 
knelt by her side.  His hands flitted across her lifeless body, a moment ago she'd 
been laughing at him.  The shock knocked the breath from his lungs; his distress 
increasing when looking around him, he realized that the park, too, had grown 
deathly quiet; it was littered with the grotesque shapes of Scully's family and other 
bodies.   Sitting there beside Scully he listened intently for the sounds of anything. 
Silence, save for the sound of his own breathing, was all he could hear.  Something 
was terribly wrong here.  

He moved from body to body checking for any sign of life and found nothing.  
Scooping Scully into his arms he struggled to his feet and began to make his way to 
the entrance of the park; breaking into a trot, his breath coming in short pants as he 
passed more and more bodies.  His trot increased to a run, his lungs ached, the fear 
robbing him of breath.   He made it to the entrance to the park and stopped 
abruptly, the streets had also grown empty and silent.  Looking down at Scully's 
ashen face he screamed to the heavens.  "Scully!  Damn it…Scully—NO !" 

Suddenly someone was shaking him.  "Mulder…Mulder!  Wake up!  You're dreaming!"   
He shot up from the bed, sweaty and shaky.  Scully sat up with him and reached 
over to touch his arm but he yanked it away.  Swinging his legs over the side and 
dropping his head into his hands he tried to calm his breathing.  He raked his face 
with his hands, "Shit."  What the hell had that been about?

"Mulder put your head down before you pass out."  Scully scooted across the bed 
and attempted to wrap the sheet across his shoulders.  The drying sweat left him 
chilly and trembling.  He shook his head to clear it and got up from the bed leaving 
her sitting there wrapping the sheet around nothing.  "Go back to sleep Scully, it was 
just a dream," his voice sounded shaky even to his own ears.  He yanked his pajama 
bottoms up on his hips and made it to the bedroom door before Scully spoke again.  
"Mulder?  Are you okay?"  

Realizing he'd finally been caught at this charade he'd been carrying on for months 
he turned to her, swiping a hand through his damp hair and sighed. He couldn't meet 
her eyes, "Yeah, I'm just going to go get some juice or something.  I'm okay."

Scully found him sometime later leaning against the kitchen door.  Silhouetted by 
the moonlight he stood with his arms outstretched on either side of the door frame, 
his forehead against the glass.   "Mulder?"  When he didn't answer, she made her 
way across the floor.  "Please come back to bed."  He ignored her.  As she got closer 
she could see gooseflesh dotting his arms, he was still shaking from the shock  A 
quick trip to the living room for an afghan brought her back to the kitchen where he 
still stood looking out at the moonlight now with his palms against the glass.  
Wrapping the blanket across his shoulders she hugged him lightly.  "I thought you 
weren't having these dreams anymore?"

He turned to look at her and smiled ruefully, pulling the afghan more tightly around 
himself.  "I'm—they're," oh hell, he thought to himself.  "They're not like before." 

"No?" she tried to get him to look at her but he still wouldn't meet her eyes.  Why 
could they never get past this avoidance game?  "Now they just leave you shocky," it 
came out a little more harshly than she intended. She reached out to touch his arm.  
"Come on, come sit down,"  she amended, steering him into the living room and 
onto the couch where he practically collapsed into the cushions, his elbows on his 
knees and once again dropping his head into his hands.   Scully pulled the afghan 
over his shoulders and started to rub his back.  "Are you going to tell me about it?"

He didn't say anything for several minutes.  Something in his subconscious had the 
warning bells ringing.  Something about the dream made it not what it seemed.  It 
wasn't just about him finding himself alone in the world, it was something more 
general something more all encompassing and until he understood it himself he 
wasn't about to include anyone else in the frustration.  "No, Scully, I'm not," he said, 
dropping his hands and settling back against the back of the couch.  

Scully wrapped her hand around his right wrist; his pulse was still a little too rapid.  
"I know you don't want to hear this Mulder, but you're not exactly a young man 
anymore.  These episodes are very stressful."

He got her subtle hint and pulled his hand away.  "Don't go into doctor mode on me 
Scully," his voice cold even to her.

She didn't know whether to be hurt or angry.  "Damn it Mulder, why won't you talk 
to me about this?  You tell me this is not like before and yet it's clearly upset you."  
She watched as he tilted his head back against the cushion and let out a deep sigh of 
frustration.  "Fine, if you won't talk to me then please just come back to bed.  I'm 
tired too and in three hours we have to get up," she snapped at him, making an 
attempt to pull him to his feet.

Now he was angry, yanking himself from her grip he settled back against the 
cushion.  "They're just nightmares Scully, I've always had them.  You know that as 
much as anyone else," he couldn't get the edge from his voice.  "This one was just a 
little more intense—I'm okay," he insisted, softening his voice to reassure himself as 
much as her.  "I'm just wanna sit here for a while."  

She searched his eyes in the darkness of the living room.  He looked exhausted.  She 
turned then, settling against his shoulder.  "Then I'll sit here with you—for a while."  

Mulder pulled her closer, wrapping the edge of the afghan around her shoulders and 
rubbing her arm.  She leaned into him, looking up.  "Thank you for spending time 
with Matthew today, Mulder…"  

God, Matthew, the image for his lifeless body from the dream flickered across his 
memory. He couldn't tell her that.  He continued to caress her shoulder, lost in 
thought.  She looked up to let him know she would wait. When he spoke his voice 
was almost weary.  "I haven't lied to you Scully.  I really haven't had any more 
visions of past civilizations," his voice now turning sarcastic.  She waited him out.  
"Actually I was dreaming about the park today—but then something happened—I 
don't know, maybe something's about to happen."

Surprised that he had opened up to her she snuggled closer, "What do you mean?"

She could feel him move, like he was shaking his head.  "I don't know.  I can't help 
but feel that this is all happening for a reason.  That I'm supposed to learn 
something or that someone is trying to tell me something through all this.  
Something like that collective consciousness of the dead you once spoke of trying to 
get me to understand what this is all about but I just can't get it"

She wrapped her arm around his middle.  "Maybe you're trying to look too hard 
Mulder.  Maybe the answer is a much simpler one."

"Ockham's Razor? Scully…"  

She chuckled a little, "could be.  All those episodes you had earlier this year.  They 
all centered on some catastrophe in the past.  What about tonight?"  

He grew silent.  Tonight had been a catastrophe of a much more personal kind.  

"Mulder?"

"No, tonight was nothing like that."


The National Thermoelectric Energy Laboratory
Alamagordo, N.M.
17 hours later

"Atlatl," Ronnie Skorzeny announced proudly.

Col. Wilson Grey looked up from the blotter-full of paperwork that seemed to 
accumulate even in the darkest corners of the Black Ops community, and rubbed the 
bridge of his nose. The Station -- the popular label for the NSA research lab which 
masqueraded as a Department of Energy R&D facility -- normally was embroiled in 
far less esoteric, if no less exotic work focused on national security, global 
"stabilization," and development of "contingency" weapons to be used in the event 
neither of the first two objectives worked.

"Ronnie," Grey replied evenly. "I thought I told you just last week I would personally 
drive you out to the desert and put two in your temporal lobe, you didn't start 
talking American."

The scientist grinned, too immune to geek-baiting or simply too stupid to be afraid of 
this steel-eyed soldier who'd reportedly taken out around three dozen men and 
women in four wars and three peacetime ops. "Actually, the term is far more 
‘American' than the mongrelized amalgam we call English."

"Ronnie." But Col. Grey was intrigued -- the bespectacled civilian was shaking like a 
poodle on a fresh patch of Berber.

"The weapon we took from our friend. It was an atlatl. A Native American spear 
thrower. You fit the spear or a stone dart into a grooved shaft, slip your fingers into 
the twin loops, and, with a flick of the wrist, you take down a bear or that pesky in-
law."

Grey blinked, his eyes registering menacingly bored impatience. "Fella couldn't afford 
a bow-and-arrow?"

Ronnie dropped into the colonel's chair unbidden -- the man's sheer cojones was one 
of the few reasons the officer tolerated him. "That's the point. The atlatl was the 
intermediate step between manual spear handling and the bow. Like many simple 
technological advances, it was common worldwide: The Eskimos used them, the 
Australian bushmen, ancient Europeans used the atlatl nearly 30,000 years ago. In 
America, spear throwers have been dated to 10,000 years ago.  Southwestern tribes 
replaced the atlatl with the bow-and-arrow somewhere between 500 and 750 A.D."

"So what? You said the guy appeared to be Native American. Maybe this atla-, atla-, 
weapon was a hand-me-down from his tribal forefathers, or maybe he lifted it from 
some museum, reclaimed his heritage. Bury my heart at Wounded Knee and all that 
crap."

Ronnie's head shook vigorously, and a sprinkle of dandruff snowed onto his garish 
Hawaiian shirt. "No, this atlatl is the genuine article -- design's identical to one on 
display at the University of New Mexico. The materials are authentic, too. But this 
atlatl is nowhere near as old."

"How old is it?" Grey's words were filled with exasperation.

"Try no more than three or four months."

The colonel's chair squeaked back. "So, basically, you're telling me all this time and 
federal manpower has been expended on some burnt-out Indian activist who chose 
to make his last stand at a fashion mall? Well, guess that's where I might start. But 
we're not the FBI or the Bureau of Indian Affairs, so I fail to see the relev—"

"There's a bacterial anomaly," Ronnie blurted. Grey crooked a brow, and the scientist 
sighed. "We found something that didn't square. Riggs – in Biologics – thought we 
might be able to trace the subject's geographical origin through any entomological or 
microbial traces on his clothing or skin. Well, he just about shit a bri--, ah, he got a 
little shock when he analyzed some bacteria that was feeding on the rawhide he was 
wearing. It didn't match anything in our database."

Now, Col. Grey straightened, a look of anxiety on his face. "Ronnie, you might have 
spilled that little tidbit a little earlier. What are we talking about here? Some kind of 
modified organism? A biological weapon?"

Ronnie hooked an arm over the back of his chair, seemingly pleased he'd managed 
to ruffle the normally unflappable military man. "Relax. It's a harmless, fairly 
primitive bacillus with a very low level of resistance. We had to use a clean room to 
culture the damn thing, it was so delicate. That's what got Riggs thinking. He's got 
this modeling program, lets him extrapolate mutation, development, and resistance 
in bacteria, viruses, the whole shmear. Guys in Bioterrorism use it to track potential 
agents. Anyway, you know we're growing some of the most powerful super bacteria 
in the world, what with all the antibacterial soaps and food pathogen controls and 
crap we've developed."

"Ronnie."

"Yeah. Anyway, Riggs gets to thinking about the low resistance in this strain, and he 
runs his modeling program backwards."

"Backwards?"

"Instead of extrapolating where this strain might've come from, he factored in major 
environmental and health factors, normal bacterial mutation and adaptation 
patterns, and extrapolated what it might be today."

"Whoa. What it might be today? What the hell are you trying to tell me, Ronnie?" 

Ronnie considered a little more drama, but the look on Grey's face forced him to 
reconsider. "Riggs wants to bring in a paleobacteriologist – a guy who studies 
prehistoric bacter—"

"Do not fucking patronize me, mister," Grey said quietly, and in that moment, 
Ronnie finally comprehended the colonel's homicidal potential. "This is some kind of 
prehistoric organism?"

"We don't know for sure," Ronnie stammered. "Bacteria reproduce and adapt so 
quickly, you know. But Riggs thinks we could be looking at least thousand years old."

"This thing has lived for more than a millennium?"

"No. It's not old. It's just ancient."

Grey frowned. "You're talking in fucking riddles."

Ronnie glanced at the ceiling tiles in an effort to carefully formulate his reply. "The 
bacteria we found on your subject likely would have lived centuries ago. And then we 
factor in the rawhide it was feeding on. On the basis of the bacterial anomaly, we 
analyzed the clothes – environmental toxins, air pollution, trace metals we eat and 
drink, they all routinely accumulate in human and animal tissues. But the subject's 
hides were alarmingly clean of manmade pollutants or contaminants."

Grey was too busy absorbing this new data to register the irony of Ronnie's 
statement. "All right. Let's cut out all the bullshit, and you just tell me what you 
think we're dealing with here."

Ronnie stared at his superior warily, then sighed. "I believe – and we have to do a 
ton more analysis before we can even begin to confirm this – I believe the clothing, 
the atlatl, perhaps even the man himself has somehow been miraculously preserved 
for several centuries. Cryogenically, maybe, I don't know. The other possibility..."

"Yes?"

"The other possibility is, your man was transported."

"Transported," Grey whispered. He blinked. "Wait a second. You better not mean 
what I think you mean. You fucking suggest that possibility outside this office, and 
you'll find yourself transported from this dimension into a black hole. You grasp my 
meaning, Ronnie?"

"Y-yeah. Yeah, I do. We'll go back to the lab."

Grey's eyes drilled into Ronnie's and then turned back to the paperwork on his desk. 
"You do that. Keep me apprised."

The colonel listened to Ronnie scramble to the door and the door click shut, then 
leaned back, heart pounding, breathing deeply through his nose. After he composed 
himself, Grey picked up his phone and, finger trembling slightly, punched in a pre-
programmed number.

"Yeah," the soldier greeted wearily but resolutely. "Ronnie Skorzeny. Yeah, down in 
the lab. When he leaves for the weekend, make sure he gets the desert tour."

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR WALTER SKINNER'S OFFICE
9:00 A.M. SHARP

By 9:00 A. M. there were seated in their superior's office.  Skinner looked at the two 
agents in front of him.  While they appeared smartly dressed and attentive there was 
something haggard about them both.  He was certain they had taken the weekend 
off.  Second thoughts briefly passed through his head as he fingered the file in front 
of him.  

He'd found it on his desk this morning.  That alone should have been a warning to 
tread carefully.  Mysterious files were nothing new to his office but he'd opened it 
anyway.  He knew enough about what the agents in front of him had dealt with over 
the years and after reading the contents of the file he knew in an instant where 
Mulder would run with this.  An ancient man popping up in the food court of a 
shopping mall; the absurdity of it made it almost believable.   But what IF this was 
the real deal?  What IF through some unknown force, some time warp or wormhole 
in space this man had really come forward from the past.  What exactly did it mean 
for his agents?  More importantly, he was trying to figure out how to keep Mulder out 
of those 5 point restraints.  Without saying a word he slid the file across the desk to 
Mulder.

He watched silently as his agent's eyes scanned the pages.  He watched him hand 
the photos to Scully who only looked mildly surprised until she too scanned the files 
contents.  Their eyes met and then he finally looked up to meet Skinner's gaze.  "We 
weren't supposed to know about this were we sir?"

Mulder had never known Skinner to be nervous but that's exactly how he appeared 
to be.  "I don't know where the file came from," he said, fidgeting in his seat as if his 
hemorrhoids were bothering him.  "I found it on my desk this morning."  Skinner 
could see the wheels turning, knew Mulder was already putting pieces together.  
"He's in military custody Mulder, not a Bureau matter."

"Like that's ever stopped me," he glanced at his partner, "Us before."

Bait or not, Skinner knew Mulder would take it…hook, line and sinker.  Worried that 
his agents would be caught doing extra curricular activities on the company dime he 
had already planned the cover-up. "I've had Kim make flight arrangements," he said 
passing another file to Mulder who picked it up slipping the previous one inside its 
cover.

As they got up Mulder turned to his boss.  "You're starting to scare me, sir."

Puzzled, Skinner replied, "Why's that?"

"You're beginning to think like me." 

"So—where ARE we going, Mulder?"  Scully hadn't waited long to inquire about the 
bogus file Skinner had slipped him.  

He leaned against the back of the elevator and flipped open the file. "We're going 
to," she watched as his eyes scanned the file, "Alamogordo, New Mexico, to 
investigate a report by local law enforcement of some mysterious deaths in the 
desert."  He looked up, handing her the file. "Don't forget the sunscreen," he 
smirked at her.

When the elevator hit the basement he made a quick exit forcing Scully to almost jog 
to keep up with him.  "Mulder, this can't be what it seems…the man is not an 
Anasazi."

"Why, because time travel is not possible Scully?" he asked without turning around.  
"Someone thinks he's the real deal or our friends at NSA wouldn't be so quick to 
snatch him up."  The door flew open in front of him and he was across the office in 
two strides.

"Okay—okay, before we go any further here Mulder, how do you think this man from 
the past suddenly turned up in a shopping mall?" She dropped the files on the desk 
with a little more force than she intended and crossed her arms over her chest.  "And 
please don't tell me he's a returned abductee." 

Mulder had already moved to the files, opening the top drawer and ransacking 
through it obviously in search of something.  "I don't have to, you already know."

State Route 54, SOUTHEAST OF ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., 7:19 P.M.

Mulder let his head lull against the headrest.  Being the ass that he sometimes was 
he'd insisted on driving.  Scully had dozed off despite the frigid temperature he'd 
cranked the AC up too; the scenery being as dull as his apparent company.   He'd 
wakened her out of a sound sleep the previous night with his freakish nightmare and 
neither of them had gotten much sleep thereafter, maybe he owed her these few 
hours.  He left the radio off.

The waning daylight cast shadows across the desert around him somehow making its 
harshness less obvious.  There was beauty here if you looked hard enough for it and 
messages scrawled across the rocks in hidden places; left decades ago by people 
with a unique knowledge of earths' past. 

The history of the Anasazi remained cloaked in mystery.  Ranging from Mexico to 
Arizona and Utah the land was still dotted with ruins of their pueblos and language; 
evidence of a once productive society that for some unknown reason just suddenly 
disappeared.  But as Albert had stated—nothing disappears without a trace and while 
many anthropologists believed that the Anasazi people assimilated into the other 
cultures of the southwest, Mulder had his own ideas.  He admired these people who 
had managed to make this land their home for decades; the Hopi, Zuni and the 
Navajo, native people of the earth who had learned to understand her far better than 
any of today's scientists.  He understood these people knew, through stories handed 
down through the ages, her future far better also.  

The road crested a small rise, curving to the right and bringing a small valley into 
view on his left.  Smoke caught his eye and he took his eyes off the road.  
Something was there in the valley, there but not there.  He glanced back to the road 
and then back again to the valley, scrubbing at his eyes with one hand as he slowed 
the car.  

Just beyond the edge of the road lay an encampment.  Tents of buckskin, teepees he 
realized, cook fires, natives in 19th century dress.  "What the hell?" he mumbled to 
himself, glancing back at the road and then unable to prevent his gaze from drifting 
back to the scene.  An American flag caught his eye, proudly displayed on a wooden 
pole.  Then just as suddenly as the scene had appeared, it changed; to utter chaos.  
Soldiers on horses, cavalry soldiers, thundering into the camp with their rifles ablaze 
aiming at anything and everything that moved and sending the terrified natives 
running for their lives.  He watched in horror as women and children dropped from 
gunfire or were trampled to death under the horses.  There was screaming and 
crying and the haunting chants of tribal elders.  And then again, just as suddenly it 
was over and he found himself faced with that same scene he'd witnessed in the 
park.  Bodies grotesquely displayed everywhere, and a deadly silence surrounding 
the burned out shells of their homes still smoldering in the pre-dusk light.

He didn't realize the car was still moving until a horn blasted and the car was filled 
with bright light.  The grill of the big rig gapped at him like a huge mouth about to 
swallow them both up.  He was on the wrong side of the road.  "Shit!" He yanked 
hard on the wheel and hit the gas sending the car back onto the right side of the 
road and beyond, over steering it off into the desert.  Scully woke with the jolt.  
"Mulder!"  He watched from the corner of his eye as her arms flailed out to brace 
herself against the dash.  He fought the car to a stop in a cloud of dust.

"Mulder!  What the hell?" she said, turning to him with an incredulous look.

He didn't wait to hear the rest, snapping the car into park, yanking off the seatbelt 
and climbing out faster then he thought possible.  Scully however, was not far 
behind him.  "Did you fall asleep?  If you were so tired, why didn't you wake me?"  
She realized how stupid that question was when she watched him plant his palms on 
the trunk, lean over at the waist and yack up whatever the hell he'd had to eat 
today.

"Jesus, Mulder, not again.  What…"

He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his mouth wishing for all the 
world he had a bottle of water.  He looked up to meet her gaze.  "Don't Scully, just—
don't."

"Fine," she said turning away from him to circle the car to the driver's side.  "Get 
back in the car, Mulder.  Alamogordo can't be too far from here."

They drove the rest of the way in silence.  He sat with his elbow on the armrest, his 
hand covering his mouth fighting the occasional rise of bile.  He didn't know what 
had upset him more, what he'd seen or that he'd almost gotten them both killed 
because of what he'd seen.  It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what that 
had been about. 

Back at the birth of the western frontier many Native tribes had put their faith in the 
white man; accepting his offerings as a peaceful existence for them both.  What they 
soon learned was that the white man didn't want to co-exist in this new land; they 
wanted it all and set about a strategy to wipe the Natives off their land for good.   
The metaphor made Mulder shiver.  He hoped they got to that damn hotel soon.  All 
he wanted was some mouthwash, a shower and to wrap himself around Scully for 
the rest of the night.

Alamogordo, N.M., 11:04 p.m.

The klaxon of a passing Frito-Lay truck brought Ronnie Skorzeny abruptly back from 
limbo. The anthropologist jerked his powder-blue, sandblasted '69 Bug back to the 
right side of the perforated yellow paint, and he cursed as he wiped a thread of nap 
drool with the shoulder of his rumpled chambray shirt.

Ronnie took a slug of Dew, grabbed a handful of Corn Nuts (ranch) from the ripped 
bag on the passenger seat, and cranked the AC to maximum capacity. A tepid blast 
of air revived him slightly -- the Germans may have known their gases back in the 
dark days, but the Volkswagen people didn't know shit about freon.

Normally, Ronnie remained fairly alert during the 45 minute ride from The Station 
back to his ranch rental, despite the monotonous desert scenery. An IQ in the 
nosebleed section, a fairly agile left brain, and a complete lack of sexual or romantic 
prospects had given him the ability to fully entertain himself in any setting or 
environment. But he'd been clocking the hours on this whacked-out Anasazi shit, and 
Col. Grey -- who Ronnie had always viewed as an anal retentive but essentially 
harmless nazi -- was even chillier, even more furtive than usual.

Ronnie hadn't questioned why the NSA had offered what had seemed like a small 
fortune to leave his undergrad purgatory. He hadn't questioned why Big Brother had 
wanted an anthro-geek out in the desert. He'd spent most of his time over the last 
year analyzing petroglyphs, cliff drawings for some kind of meaning. When they 
brought the Anasazi in, Ronnie'd suddenly become some kind of celebrity. 

But now… Ronnie still didn't know what his findings quite meant, or why Grey was so 
badly rattled by the self-admittedly ludicrous idea that the Anasazi had dropped 
through a temporal wormhole to terrorize suburban boutique rats. He'd tried to 
brainstorm it with Riggs, who'd run the bacterium taken from the Anasazi, and 
Pasmore in Medical, who'd hinted that he'd found some anomaly while examining the 
strange man. Ever since the meeting with Grey, the guys had avoided him, even in 
the cafeteria. As if they'd been instructed to.

The scientist blinked drowsily as he negotiated a hairpin in the road, and he cranked 
up the stereo. Sheryl Crow, wanting to have some fun. Yeah, I wish, thought Ronnie, 
whose big date for the weekend was Princess Leia, with Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, 
and the pizza delivery guy for chaperones. 

A momentary flash in the rearview mirror roused Ronnie, and he glanced up to see 
headlights coming around the curve behind. He tapped the brake, in case it was a 
trooper, and scanned the berm ahead in case it was a couple of drunk kids from the 
area college. As he braked, the lamps loomed larger in the mirror, and a red bubble 
erupted above them.

"Fucking marvelous," Ronnie moaned, crunching into the gravel at the side of the 
moonlit road. Maybe he was after somebody else. C'mon, c'mon…

The car slowed and slanted in behind Ronnie‘s. He slumped back in his seat, cutting 
the engine. At least he'd taken the car in for its semi-annual cleaning, or he'd have 
probably had to answer for the cannabis crumbs his moron brother had spilled under 
the passenger seat. Chill, dude, chill.

Ronnie felt the bells go off when two men emerged from the car behind him, peeling 
off to approach from both sides. Neither was wearing his Smokey the Bear hat -- 
weren't those things screwed onto their heads? As the cops stepped into the red 
glow of Ronnie's brake lights, he bolted up in his seat. Plainclothes troopers?

"Aw, Jesus," he breathed, heart pounding. Ronnie brushed panic momentarily aside 
and grabbed his cell phone from the door pocket. The scientist punched in a pre-
programmed number and, lacking religious faith, silently recited the stages of Man's 
technological development.

The Suits appeared simultaneously at the front windows, the tall one on the driver's 
side rapping on the tempered glass. Ronnie dropped the phone back into the door 
pocket, and cranked the window down.

"Dr. Skorzeny?" the man said, politely. "We'll need you to step out of the car, sir."

"It's Grey, isn't it?" Ronnie squeaked. "Shit, man, I signed the goddamned security 
waiver. I don‘t even know what the fuck‘s going on."

"Sir?" the man repeated. Ronnie looked wildly between the two men, and reluctantly 
climbed from the cab. "This way, sir," Suit No. 1 invited, gesturing toward the black 
desert and nodding toward Suit No. 2 before No. 2's head disappeared in a wet 
spray. No. 2's headless body dropped forward into the dirt.

"Oh, shit!" Ronnie screamed.

Suit No. 1 went for his gun, but his fingers spasmed as a meaty hole appeared in his 
white shirt. No. 1 mouthed something and went down.

"OH SHIT! OH SHIT!" Ronnie sobbed, dropping to his knees and then his stomach. 
"OHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT!!"

The anthropologist finally fell silent as a pair of cross-trainers crunched to a halt 
before his face. He looked slowly up to see a handsome -- if somewhat rat-faced -- 
thirtysomething man smirking down at him. An absurdly large pistol was in his right 
hand.

"Up," the stranger barked. "Let's hit it."

Ronnie remained on his belly. "Make it quick, OK, man. Please."

 "No, you make it quick, asshole. Get up fast, or I'll make it slow."

Ronnie scrambled to his feet, then nearly lost his footing as he glanced at the two 
corpses. "Shit, man, you just fucking murdered those guys."

"You're welcome," the man said, shoving the pistol in the back of his jeans and 
crunching away toward a car some 40 feet behind Ronnie's would-be assassins. 
"Haul ass."

"Where we going? I mean, who are you?"

Ronnie's savior stopped and turned with a sardonic grin. "You like Paul Simon, 
Ronald?"

Ronnie blinked, and he gulped momentarily like a neon tetra. "Uh, yeah. Yeah. I 
guess."

"Well, you can call me Al. And Ronald, when I call you, you'd better jump like a 
trained shitzu. C'mon."

The Lone Gunmen editorial offices, Washington, D.C., 11:24 p.m.

As John Fitzgerald Kennedy righted himself in the back seat of the sedan, the blood 
vanished from Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy's smart pink suit, and her contorted 
expression of terror was replaced by a smile of infinite beauty and joy.

"There," Byers hissed. The studious-looking former bureaucrat leaned in toward 
Langly's monitor. "The third spectator from the right."

Langly wheeled slightly away. "Dude. You need to get it on with the Tic Tac babe, 
seriously. Maybe she could hook you up."

"Sorry," Byers said. "Frohike put something unauthorized in the chili tonight." He 
started away. "I'll Listermint and be right back…"

Langly's bespectacled eyes rolled skyward, and he tapped the frozen Zapruder 
frame. "Just avert your head and tell me what's up with this dude. The guy with the 
scar?"

"Hey, Langly!" Byers and Langly reluctantly tugged their eyes from the monitor. 
Frohike waved Langly's cell phone. "I think one of your dweeb buddies is punking 
you. You know an R. Skorzeny?" 

Langly wheeled around, accepted the phone, listened intently with a growing frown, 
and studied the display. "Skorzeny…Oh, yeah, Ronnie -- we met at some Roswell 
con, and he helped out with that special Ancient Astronauts issue. He's an 
anthropologist with some college out there. Or used to be. I haven't heard from him 
for about a year now. I always figured he got laid."

Frohike smiled momentarily at the memory, then nodded toward the phone. "When I 
picked up, it was like that. Dead air. Or not precisely dead. I heard two shots."

"Shit, Frohike, bury the lead!" Langly gasped.

The lead Gunman held up a hand. "Relax. I heard somebody talking to your guy. At 
least he called him Ronald."

"Did you--?" Byers asked. 

"What do you think I am?" Frohike huffed. "Window dressing. Certainement -- soon 
as I heard the shots."

Langly had tricked out his off-market, untraceable, unbranded cell phone with a few 
extras, including a cross-platform interface, a GPS locator, and a digital recorder. 
The cadaverous chiphead grabbed a homemade USB cord, jammed one end into the 
phone and the other into his CPU. He clicked up two programs, minimizing one and 
maximizing the audio player. He launched the .mp3 stored in the phone.

"OHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT!" a tinny voice shrieked.

Langly nodded. "That's Ronnie."

The trio fell silent as they listened to the muffled conversation between Ronnie 
Skorzeny and the unknown man, presumably the shooter; and the sound of footfalls 
on gravel. Then, four last lines of dialogue.

"Where we going? I mean, who are you?"

"You like Paul Simon?"

Mumbled reply.

"Well, you can call me Al. And Ronald, when I call you, you'd better jump like a 
trained shitzu. C'mon."

"Al, Al…" Byers murmured. "That voice -- it's familiar."

"What I was thinking," Frohike nodded.

"Al…Albert…Alan…Alex…" Langly froze, forming a third of a momentarily lifeless 
tableau. "James Earl Ray on a freaking pogo stick."

Byers and Frohike looked at each other.

"Call Mulder," they ordered in unison.

Jimbo's Saguaro Siesta Motel, 45 miles east of Alamogordo, N.M., 12:34 a.m.

Alex Krycek kicked off his boots and placed his gun carefully on the wobbly motel 
dresser, disregarding Ronnie in the doorway. The anthropologist had been silent for 
the duration of their ride, too shocked by the suddenly homicidal events of his Friday 
night, too baffled by this casually violent, matter-of-factly menacing "hero." 

That had been fine with Alex. Ronald Skorzeny was a package -- albeit a crucial one 
-- but he was a sniveling mass that lived life based on theory and risk assessment. It 
was the type of life for which Alex held little tolerance, but which, on occasion, he 
envied.

"You know," Ronnie drawled as Alex dropped onto the first bed. "Those guys you 
blew away were probably NSA."

Alex looked up with disinterest, then closed his eyes. "Dress shitty, don't they?"

"Are you…like, CIA, or something?"

"Or something. Look, we've got a long ride ahead of us. Why don't we can the 
chatter and grab a few. OK, Ronald?"

Ronnie drew himself up -- a minor adjustment, at most. "Look, I'm not going 
anywhere unless you give me some clue what's going on."

Alex's eyes opened, and his head turned ominously toward the anthropologist.

"I mean, I'd like to know. After all, you saved my ass back there. I'd just like to 
know, you know?"

Alex sighed and pivoted into a seated position on the mattress.

"OK," he said. "You asked for it."

Motel Seven West, Alamogordo, N.M., 12:43 a.m.

"Mulder, at last," Frohike breathed, exasperated. "You need to get rid of that piece of 
crap federal-issue cell phone. I've been trying to get you for the last hour."

Mulder perched on the edge of the mattress, talking low as Scully purred beside him. 
"I turned it off."

"Why in the hell would you do that?"

"For reasons I increasingly suspect you could never understand."

Silence. "Oh. Sorry. Hey!"

Mulder snagged his jeans from the floor and wrestled into them one-handed. "What 
do you want, Frohike?"

"I think an old friend of ours may have resurfaced."

The agent crept to the door, slid the deadbolt back, and stepped out into the warm 
New Mexico evening. "My mind is kind of fuzzy from -- never mind what it's fuzzy 
from. Tell me slowly what the hell you're talking about."

"Krycek."

Mulder stopped breathing, and leaned against the sill of his motel window. "Alex 
Krycek? Where'd you come up with this?"

"Buddy of Langly's called a while ago. We think he's in trouble, or maybe offed a few 
people."

"Ah. So how's the wife and kids."

"Hey, I don't know if he offed anybody or not. We heard two shots, then Langly's 
friend talking with some guy who might've been kidnapping him or maybe saving 
him. I don't know. But the guy sounds like Krycek, and he called himself Al. But I 
figured you'd know his voice instinctively. Want me to shoot you an .mp3?"

"Uh, sure," Mulder said, shaking the webs from his half-unconscious, post-coital 
mind. "What's this guy's name? Langly's friend."

"Ronnie Skorzeny."

"Skorzeny? Ronald Skorzeny the anthropologist?"

"Yeah."

"I've read some stuff by him -- ancient astronauts, cliff drawings, crop circles. You 
got any idea where he was calling from?"

"GPSed it. Somewhere right outside Alamogordo, New Mexico."

Mulder came off the sill. "What?"

"Alamogordo. Where they tested the A-bomb."

Mulder looked off toward the desert. "And where I suspect something big may be 
about to blow."

The National Thermoelectric Energy Laboratory, Alamagordo, N.M.

Dr. Behrens smiled down at the frightened man, and he appeared to relax despite 
the restraints Grey had mandated and what to this primitive visitor must have 
seemed an utterly alien environment. Weaponless, locked in the lower bowels of a 
maximum-security federal installation that was unknown to many of the physicists 
and engineers above them, no doubt terrified out of his mind -- she doubted this 
dislocated remnant of the previous millennium could pose a threat. But it was crucial 
to play the good soldier, for now, anyway.

Though the cruel circumstances and brutality and the literal weight of a world had 
toughened Behrens well beyond her relatively tender age, she felt a pang of 
sympathy for this man, removed from his world, poked and prodded and scanned. 
She knew the feeling of violation and objectification.

A spark of excitement ignited within her chest. Riggs' erstwhile verification of the cliff 
dweller's authenticity initially had puzzled her, but on a hunch, Behrens had latched 
onto the geneticist Lakins and, while he was eagerly fetching the stunning blonde 
scientist a cup of wretched cafeteria coffee, she ran a DNA sample she herself had 
collected. She had not yet pinpointed the source of her hypothesis, but some after-
hours analysis of Native American lore and southwest geological surveys 
strengthened her conviction that this man had appeared out of time, out of place, for 
a reason of cosmic significance. 

Behrens stroked the Anasazi's temple gently, once. This time, he did not cringe. Her 
gesture was not a mere act of compassion or sentiment. It was essential this man 
trust her when hell began to break lose.

Or, she considered with a grim smile, when, with any luck, they broke out of Hell.

Jimbo's Saguaro Siesta Motel

"The day before your little friend shows up at the shopping mall, SETI gets an e-mail 
from deep space," Krycek began, easing back against his pillow. "You know SETI, 
right? The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute?" Ronnie nodded numbly. 
"Anyway, the SETI radio dish down in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, pulls in a numerical 
message. Three sets of digits. Of course, NSA's been listening in -- they have been 
since the SETI array first went in. Soviets, too, ‘til about three years before the Wall 
came down. You keeping up, Ronald?" 

Ronnie smiled weakly from his seat on the air conditioning unit. Alex shifted on the 
bed and continued. "NSA decrypted the first series of numbers pretty quickly -- 
that's how your coworkers knew where to retrieve our friend." 

Ronnie's eyes narrowed, then popped.  "Coordinates?  That's the scientific mind at 
work. The precise latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates for The Courtyard Shoppes 
in Sacramento.  No, no, wait a minute. That makes absolutely no possible sense -- 
latitude and longitude are manmade constructs. How could an extraterrestrial 
intelligence--?"

"Ronald," Alex said simply, investing the name with a chiding threat. "Think about 
the answer to your question, and I think it'll come to you. Now, unfortunately, your 
coworkers were just a little too slow figuring out where to pick up our friend."

"Where to pick up…?" Ronald clamped his lips shut.

"Thus the little show at the shopping mall and the siege at the Sacramento E.R. 
Sloppy. So, who is he, anyway?"

"He's an Anasazi -- a cliff-dwelling civilization that lived from about 1200 B.C. to A.D. 
1300 in the Southwestern U.S. They were known as ‘the Ancient Ones' or ‘the Old 
Ones.' What?"

Alex had perked at the word "Anasazi." He was now intent on every word. "Go on."

"Well, a lot of archaeologists originally thought the Anasazi had mysteriously 
vanished centuries ago -- they seemingly abandoned their cliff dwellings, along with 
a half-million-gallon reservoir in Colorado. Several Native American clans now claim 
they were descended from the Anasazi, who supposedly blended in with Hopi, Zuni, 
and Pueblo communities. But even those ‘descendants' haven't come up with a very 
solid explanation of why those villages were deserted. There're reports of a severe 
drought that could have driven them out -- you know, to look for food. But there's 
also some pretty compelling evidence that a marauding enemy might have driven 
them out. Who that would be, I dunno…"

Ronnie couldn't tell for sure what Alex muttered at that point, but it sounded like "I 
might."

SACRAMENTO REGIONAL AIRPORT, 8:37 A.M.

"Mulder, I don't remember the Bureau recruiting posters promising to show me the 
world," Scully blinked as they stepped outside the terminal. "What are we doing 
here? If this, this urban legend is true, I'm sure the NSA has covered its tracks 
thoroughly."

Her partner pointed down a bright red minibus in the far lane. "There's the rental 
shuttle – c'mon. Legend or not, Scully, the Alamogordo police found two dead feds 
and a missing scientist two nights ago…"

"On someone's "anonymous" tip. Bet the DOE -- the NSA people were irked the 
locals were called in first."

Mulder dodged a departing cab, Scully nervously in tow. "The whole thing would 
have evaporated into the Southwest sunset otherwise. And I wanted to see what 
kind of cover the NSA would come up with. And in true ham-handed intelligence 
fashion, it was a doozie. Though what the terrorists want with an arrowhead-
collecting geek, I can't imagine. The point is, it all started here. Evidence wants to be 
found. Secrets want to be uncovered."

"Good," Scully puffed as Mulder hopped aboard the shuttle. "We'll just wait for the 
Laws of Inevitability to catch up with us."

"Not inevitability, Scully. Human nature. When I called the ER doctor on duty the day 
the 'Native American protestor' was brought in, he was pretty tight-lipped, but he 
said the security guard who winged our alleged Anasazi was extremely paranoid 
about the possibility of a lawsuit. Seems some woman at the fashion mall raised a 
fuss, threatened to call the ACLU, Amnesty International, and Al Sharpton. This Mr. 
Halloran probably figured he was in the clear after the NSA detained our tribal friend 
as a 'person of interest.'  But you and I know all too well that Big Brother is 
omnipresent, and I wouldn't be surprised if he took out some kind of insurance. You 
up for some cage-rattling, Scully?"

Scully collapsed into a seat next to Mulder. "Whatever."


The Courtyard Shoppes, Sacramento, Ca, 11:12 a.m.

"Like, I'm not in some deep shit for shooting that guy, right?" Chuck Halloran asked 
defensively, a wet and anxious grin twitching under his brushy moustache. "I mean, 
I oughtta be a freakin' hero, right, I disarm this crazy homeless guy. Right? But 
instead, management tells me to shut my freakin' mouth about the whole business, 
and I don't even hear shit on the 6 O'clock News, you know?"

Mulder and Scully were silent as Halloran shifted his sweaty Coke from one 
uniformed knee to the other, leaving a dark ring on his huge thigh. The lunch crowd 
was beginning to build at the plaza -- business types on break, women who'd never 
known any business but courtship, conquest, and marital merger.

"Which is OK, don't get me wrong, ‘cause no news means I don't get sued by some 
freakin' ACLU group or something, right? Aw, shit, you guys are here cause the guy 
was an Indian -- a Native American, I mean. He's federally protected, right? Aw, 
shit. Guys, I had no idea he was a real Indian. I thought he was hawking tacos or 
something. All I know, he coulda been some kinda Al Quaeda terrorist or Saddam 
Hussein's cousin or some such shit. Guys, am I in some deep shit?"

Mulder was enjoying Chuck's increasingly shrill monologue, but Scully had begun to 
develop a throbbing headache. "Mr. Halloran, your colleagues said you've been 
especially concerned about the possibility of legal action as a result of the shooting. 
But you told your partner, Mr. Garcia, you had ‘some insurance' in the event anyone 
tried to sue. Could I ask what that insurance might be?"

"Goddamned Roberto," Chuck growled, searching the concrete storefronts and palms 
for his comrade.

"I was told the agents erased the mall security video the morning after the 
shooting," Mulder said. "Every inch of video documenting that man's actions and 
your apprehension of him. So how are you going to defend yourself in court with 
only your and Mr. Garcia's say-so?"  Mulder glanced around until his eyes spotted 
one of the mall's security cameras.  When Chuck followed his line of sight, he 
nodded.  "Bet I know how."

Chuck's narrow eyes narrowed more. "I didn't do nothing wrong."

"Your boss tells me you have a digital security system here -- covers the public areas 
and the loading docks out back. You were scared the entire Cherokee Nation and 
their lawyers might come looking for your scalp. You didn't by any chance have a 
copy of the video burnt off for your protection, did you?"

Chuck caught his soda before it hit the pavement. He glanced fearfully between the 
two feds.

"Chucky," Mulder grinned disarmingly. "Come on. I can talk to your bowling buddy in 
Surveillance; maybe put the fear of George Dubya in him."

The guard exhaled, and a button disengaged near his navel. "I just didn't want 
nobody sayin' I shot that guy cause he was a minority or somethin'. I don't profile 
nobody -- you ask Garcia. Look, you gonna take me in? Cause that agent guy who 
came around the day after the shooting, he looked like the type could make a guy 
like me a wet spot on the sidewalk, I crossed him."

"We're nice agents," Mulder assured him. "Scully here's not even the Bad Cop of our 
duo. Right, podner?"

"I'm a kitten," she said dryly.

Capitol Gardens Apartments, Sacramento, Ca

"You can see, right?" Chuck demanded. "He was a threat to the customers. Crazy 
Indian -- uh, Native American -- coulda iced somebody with that spear thing."

Scully turned from the screen of the guard's PC, where the Anasazi was frozen, atlatl 
poised. "You got anything from the private areas, the loading docks, from just before 
this?'

"It's all time-coded. I ain't looked at it, but I figured maybe I oughtta keep it, case 
the guy was prowling around, making trouble. Collaborative evidence, you know?"

"Corroborative, Chuck," Mulder corrected. "Scully, check those files marked ‘DOCK.'"

Twelve minutes and 8 video files later, she caught it. "What the hell?" Scully 
murmured.

Mulder leaned in to see the backside of a major bookstore and a frozen Anasazi, 
terror clear on his primitive face even through the grayscale digital grain. But the 
other man, beside the Anasazi drew Mulder's immediate attention. Far taller than the 
cliff-dweller, and older, he seemed vaguely familiar.

"Looks like somebody brought him to the Shoppes," the agent suggested.

Scully looked up, eyes wide. "Possibly. But not via the expressway." She turned and 
clicked the rewind button on the Media Player. The Anasazi and his host vanished, 
and Scully hit pause.

"They just…materialized?" Mulder asked.

"That's the least of it, believe it or not. Look at the clock in the corner." Scully hit 
play. The men appeared abruptly, and Mulder breathed sharply as he watched the 
digital time display.

"Again," he mumbled. "See if we can fix the second they appear."

Scully carefully worked the player second by second. At the precise second the pair 
flashed into view, the time code jumped ahead.

"No," Scully stated as she caught the mathematical significance of the jump.

"Nine minutes," Mulder said. Then, as if a circuit had been completed, he 
straightened. "Scully, can you take that up full screen?"

His partner clicked the player to full screen mode.

"His head's turned. See if you can catch our friend's friend head-on."

Scully advanced the video frame-by-frame, pausing, as the man accompanying the 
Anasazi turned full-face to the camera. Even in pixilated black-and-white relief, the 
face made Mulder reel back.

"Jeremiah," he whispered.

SACRAMENTO AIRPORT, 4:30 p.m.

"He's a gift," Mulder concluded as he and Scully located two seats in the crowded 
Southwest gate.

He'd been buried deep in thought, and she'd left him there throughout the cab ride 
from Chuck Halloran's apartment. The episodes back home and on the road in New 
Mexico had disturbed her both as a physician and as Mulder's partner in a myriad of 
senses -- Scully was terrified that someday the malady periodically consuming 
Mulder wouldn't subside. But no matter what safe harbor their life together provided 
him, he remained -- and likely would remain -- an island.

The revelation of Jeremiah's involvement in this affair left her more ambivalent: The 
alien engendered an apocalyptic anxiety in Scully despite his apparent goodwill, but 
the healing abilities he'd exhibited sparked a hope within her, as well. If he could 
somehow take away Mulder‘s disease, his condition…

"Who's a gift?" Sculy asked quietly, glancing at a father bouncing his daughter in his 
arms agitatedly as he interrogated a bored gate attendant.

"Our aboriginal friend. Jeremiah‘s working against -- well, you know -- and if he 
delivered this Anasazi…"

"Presumed Anasazi," Scully amended. "You only have that Atlantis thing on the mall 
video to go on."

"Atlatl. The precursor to the bow and arrow. If  that Anasazi was the real thing, then 
there are two possibilities. He's an abductee, which seems unlikely given that kooky 
wardrobe and spear-slinger, or E.T.'s come from a home far, far away, temporally 
speaking."

"C'mon, Mulder," Scully murmured, leaning in and lowering the volume for both of 
them.

"No, Scully. When Jeremiah and I broke into that hangar in South Dakota, he said 
the aliens' space technology would tax Stephen Hawking's comprehension level. If 
our friends can travel light years in minutes, then why couldn't they -- or Jeremiah -- 
have adapted their technology to crossing dimensional boundaries? Maybe even the 
timeline."

Scully sighed. "Let's for a second stipulate such a thing could happen. Why this 
particular Indian -- Native American? It's obvious this guy wouldn't be a real asset in 
a tussle with a shape-shifting extraterrestrial."

"What do you know about the Anasazi, Scully?"

"Well, they lived in the Southwest, in cliff villages, I believe." 

"Lived is right. The Anasazi people appeared to have vanished several hundred years 
ago -- the top archaeologists and anthropologists can't provide a satisfactory 
explanation why. Jeremiah brought us something that no longer exists, just dropped 
it off at the mall like an eighth grader looking for a prom dress. Why, unless this 
displaced Anasazi represents something of supreme value. If Jeremiah is as he 
seems, something of value to humanity."

"If," Scully breathed as Mulder's cell phone warbled.

"Mulder?" It was Frohike. "Think we might have a line on Ronnie and Krycek."

"Had we confirmed ‘Al" is Alex, my little conspiracy gnome?" Mulder chided.

"Langly ran a voiceprint from those wiretaps you had us run on your chain-smoking 
amigo a few years back. It's Krycek, all right. The guys and I got to thinking, what if 
Krycek and Ronnie holed up in the area, rather than taking to the road, where the 
law might catch up to them."

"Funny thing is, Frohike, the local law's been waved off. Homeland Security's 
suggesting the two suits were wasted by terrorists after they'd been tipped off 
Skorzeny was a target."
	
"Al Qaeda short on anthro majors these days? From the sound of Ronnie's cell call, 
Krycek was the white knight, and the feds were the ones out to punch his ticket. 
Question remains, why Ronnie?"

Mulder mulled silently for a moment. "You said you might have a fix on them?" 

"Langly hacked into the Amex, MasterCard, Visa, and Discover databases and traced 
hotel charges over the last week. Few days ago Rick Fermi checked into Jimbo's 
Saguaro Siesta Motel, about 40 or so miles east of Alamogordo."

"Fermi?" Mulder puzzled. Then he barked, and the old man seated across from him 
scowled briefly up from his Newsweek. "Rick Fermi? As in Enrico Fermi?"

"Our boy does have a sense of humor. I guess Oppenheimer or Einstein would have 
been a little too obvious for the locals." Frohike turned somber. "Hey, Mulder, if that 
rat bastard's involved, you better watch Agent Scully's luscious backside, as well as 
your own. Aw, shit, you know what I mean."

"I'll tell her you said hi," Mulder grinned as he rang off.

Jimbo's Saguaro Siesta Motel

"You after one a'them meth fellas?" the septuagenarian clerk inquired, finally 
silencing the Cubs game that had kept him rapt even as the agent flashed his Bureau 
ID. "Why we quit takin' long-term boarders after Number 14 blew up. Idiot-shit blew 
hisself to pieces -- sister tried to sue us, you believe that?"

Mulder smiled, pocketing his wallet. "Nothing like that, sir."

"Still findin' glass in the telephone pole across the parkin' lot." The old man rose 
creakily from his scuffed armchair and planted his leathery palms on the registration 
desk. "Ain't terrorists, is it? Them Al Qaedas? I know the feds cranked up the 
security after them boys flew into them towers out east. Jesus, Joseph, and Mary, 
that‘s all I need, have some A-rab plottin' to steel a' A-bomb." The hotelier worked 
his jaws and blinked. "You need some backup, son? I was at Normandy -- got the 
same side-iron I wore fightin' them huns."

"Thanks, sir, not necessary. I'm just running down a federal witness who flew the 
coop a few weeks ago. He probably checked in two, maybe three days ago. His 
brother might be with him -- they made contact, and we think he may be helping Mr. 
Krycek get across the border. Can I see your guest register."

The old man appeared disappointed. He glanced longingly at the muted black-and-
white ballgame. "Yeah, sure," he grunted, shoving the log in front of Mulder.

Mulder flipped through the coffee-stained book -- at least through the two pages that 
had been filled over the previous week. He smiled slightly as he read the third name 
from the bottom.

"Which unit is Fermi in?"

The crooked fingers halted two inches from the remote. The clerk sighed. "Number 
6." He peered out the side window at the long row of dust-covered windows. "Yup, 
car's there -- that blue Jap car. Wondered ‘bout the name -- sounded like a Mafia 
fella. You need that backup I was--"

Mulder shook his head. "Just a key to the unit. I'd like to surprise him."

The old man yanked a plastic-tabbed key from the wall behind the desk and tossed it 
to Mulder.

"You shoot it, you pay for it," he shouted after the agent.

**

On three, Scully knocked. "Housekeeping," she called with a tinge of an accent.

Mulder contemplated the intelligence of his nemesis when, shortly thereafter, the 
door creaked open.

Ronnie had been standing near the doorway, examining the motel's cable selections, 
and Krycek's bellowed "NO!" was lost in the flurry as two figures barreled into the 
room.  Mulder took Ronnie out with his shoulder, sending him flying across the room 
to land on his ass in the flimsy chair in front of the vanity. Ronnie heard someone 
yell "Freeze!"  It sounded like a woman.

"OHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT!" the scientist again wailed.

Krycek had sprung from the bed the moment the door had opened and at the 
moment was planting the butt end of his gun into the head of the guy who'd just 
decked him. The guy went down like a rock. He could now see that this guy's partner 
was indeed a woman who at the moment was doing her best to block their exit, gun 
drawn.  

"Aw, Christ, not you two!" Krycek hollered.

As Scully glanced down at Mulder's sprawled form, Krycek took the opportunity to 
kick the gun from her and knocked her to the floor as she leaped to grab for it.  She 
scrambled across the filthy carpet but Krycek was behind her instantly, leaning on 
her and trying to pull her arms back with his good arm.  "Hey, hey come on—I didn't 
know you liked it so rough." He cooed into her ear from behind and then grabbed her 
right arm and flipped her over so he straddled her.

Scully planted her palms on his chest, "Krycek, get off me you piece of shit!"  She 
was strong but he was bigger and he laughed at her feeble attempt to push him 
away.  Grabbing her wrists he pulled them back over her head and leaned into her 
face supporting himself on his right arm.  "Dana, you don't know how long I've 
wanted to get you in a position like this."

SNICK, the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked in his ear sent a tingle down 
his spine.  "Get off her now or you'll be missing more than an arm."  Mulder's voice, 
cold and determined, made him turn around.  The agent stood above him, his gun 
steadied in both hands blinking to clear his vision or his head, Krycek wasn't sure.  
As he started to rise Scully scrambled from underneath him to retrieve her gun, 
pinning it on Krycek as he flopped onto the saggy mattress.  "You could have called 
first…"

Mulder and Scully exchanged glances, she tried to catch his eyes, determine his 
lucidity.  She watched as he rubbed the back of his head.  "Mulder, bend over so I 
can see the back of your head."

"If I bend over, I'll fall over, I'm okay.  See if you can find his weapons," he said as 
he stepped back and sat down in the chair by the window.  He felt like he was going 
to throw up.  He sighed and looked over at Alex sitting on the bed.  "Who's the guy?" 
motioning towards Ronnie, who still sat frozen in the chair in front of the vanity, 
thankfully speechless.  

Sao Paolo, Brazil
1:23 p.m.

The Scarred Man watched with amusement as Charles Scully tore into the latest 
chunk of seared beef the sword-bearing waiter had deposited on his plate. The young 
man had selected the churrascaria as a "sophisticated" setting for their meeting, 
having once foraged at a similar Brazilian grill in Chicago.

The Scarred Man had dined at the city's finest restaurants and clubs during his 
frequent visits to the continent following the war, frequently as the guest of the 
crude little Teutonic expatriot who'd laid waste to many of his country's greatest 
treasures. He'd humored the obsequious young American in large part to annoy the 
third man in their party, a German who possessed all of the arrogance and cunning 
of the long-deceased madman and one hundred times the intelligence.

Strughold had been barely able to contain his impatience with and contempt for the 
young man or the proletarian trough he‘d chosen. The procession of meat-laden 
servers and the recently departed lunch crowd had provided the trio little privacy; 
even though they'd selected English as the language du jour in deference to "Charlie" 
(Strughold earlier had commented in guttural French on the ethnocentrism of the 
Americans, to which the scarred Frenchman had offered his assent in practiced 
German). 

The old German now cast a glacial look of warning at the latest waiter, although the 
young Latin was armed with a saber full of sausages. The swordsman retreated. 
"And you believe our Mr. Krycek is behind this?"

"C'mon, two federal agents whacked on a public highway, an NSA analyst missing?" 
Charlie laughed harshly, falling silent with an inorganic stare from Strughold.

"I understand," the Scarred Man said, sipping his thick demitasse of sweet black 
coffee, "That this ‘analyst' is some sort of glorified academician? An anthropologist? 
Why would Alex abduct this man?"

"Skorzeny – the anthropologist – specialized in Southwest Indian lore, especially the 
Anasazi. The Anasazi was a tribe that mysteriously disappeared."

Strughold and his Gallic colleague exchanged fleeting looks. "I know the Anasazi," 
the German grunted. "Like the lost world of Atlantis, these Anasazi." The Scarred 
Man regarded him neutrally. "Why would this man – an academic who collects spear 
points -- be important to such a dangerous organization?"

"I Googled Skorzeny," Charles ventured. "He left a university post nearly a year ago 
to join the Department of Energy's Division of Research, which operates out of 
Alamagordo. He was one of several university scientists recruited by the Division of 
Research within about a three-month window. There were also a Middle Eastern 
archaeologist, a linguist, a microbiologist, a quantum physicist, and two geneticists. 
Maybe more – that's what I found."

Strughold's eyes narrowed. "An odd assortment for the Energy Department. An even 
more inexplicable crew for the National Security Agency." He regarded Charlie's open 
jaw with amusement. "Of course I knew the Division of Research operated under the 
NSA. One of the more ill concealed subterfuges of your federal government. Still. 
Why hire these…these…?"

"Dweebs?" Charlie offered.

He nearly fell from his chair as Strughold erupted in laughter. "Yes, yes. Dweebs. 
Wonderful, the contemptuous resonance of the word. So American. Yes." The 
laughter faded. "Please, proceed, Charles."

Charlie was so flushed with pleasure at Strughold's approval he nearly lost his 
conversational thread. "Ah, I took the liberty of scanning police and media databases 
and Internet blogs for the past two or three weeks in search of anything Skorzeny 
might have been into." The vellum envelope had been burning a hole in his Armani 
jacket; now he placed it on the table. "This appeared on a website run by some 
college kid in Sacramento, Calif."

The Scarred Man unfolded the contents of the envelope. It was a garishly colored 
website – Brittani's Blog – that provided insight into popular music, childishly strident 
views on White House policy, and a daily litany of curiosities and photos of self-
indulgent, rattily dressed teens capering and scowling for the photographer. The 
highlight of the day's blog was a poor digital photo – taken no doubt with a cellular 
phone camera – of a primitively dressed, swarthy man, eyes wide with fear and 
menace, some sort of neopaleolithic sling poised in his hand. 

"Anasazi," Strughold murmured as he took the printout. The headline over the photo 
read, "Going Native at the Mall." 

"Yup," Charlie beamed. "This was taken at a fashion mall in Sacramento, or so the 
site owner says. Supposedly, there was some kind of altercation, but no news 
reports or police reports on the incident. And get this: The same afternoon this 
happened, a group of official-looking goons commandeer an E.R. at a local hospital 
and load one of the patients into a van. This is according to a few of the patients, 
once again on the Internet – the staff denies it. I bet it's our Anasazi, and he's what 
Skorzeny was working on."

Strughold leaned back in his chair, folding his surgeon's hands across his stomach. 
He nodded. "Occasionally, my boy, you astonish me."

Charlie nearly wet himself.

"Excellent work, Charles," the Scarred Man purred. "Now, if you could allow our 
friend and I to ruminate over these new developments…" 

Charles Scully blinked, opened his mouth, then clamped it shut in a tight smile, and 
rose.

"Do you suppose it is possible?" Strughold asked as the young man disappeared into 
the heat of the Brazilian afternoon.

The Scarred Man sipped his coffee. "At this point, I must suppose it is far more than 
possible."


Jimbo's Saguaro Siesta Motel 

Once subdued, Krycek was surprisingly talkative. "OK, Mulder. You and the Girl 
Wonder want to take me in for those two spooks on the highway, fine. But if you 
ever want to find out why they died or why they were trying to erase Dr. Skorzeny, 
you better put on three or four layers of Kevlar. "

"Spooks?" Scully inquired.

Krycek smirked. "NSA. You think the Department of Energy hires a couple of Special 
Ops ghosts to keep tabs on the Geek Squad?"

"Present company accepted," Mulder offered Ron before the anthropologist could 
defend his image. "So why's the NSA so interested in the affairs of one little 
Anasazi?"

"Head of the class," Krycek nodded appreciatively. "I assume that if you've come this 
far, you're up on the latest developments at Arecibo?"

Mulder regarded his nemesis silently, glancing away momentarily.

"Well, son-of-a-bitch," Krycek chuckled. He looked to Scully, perched on the dresser. 
"Your boyfriend must be getting a life."

"Shut up," Mulder sighed. "Why don't you just fill me in?"

"The first set of numbers was the coordinates for the Courtyard Shoppes," Scully 
drawled as Krycek concluded his report of the SETI communication. "Do you have 
the others?"

Krycek slipped two fingers into his jeans, then froze in mock fear. "OK, Buck 
Rogers?" Mulder rolled his eyes. Krycek grinned and handed Scully a slip of paper. 
She unfolded it and began to scrutinize the cryptic figures. "Hey, Ronald, tell them 
about the bacteria."

Ronnie, watching the proceedings in a sort of comatose awe, blinked. "The bact-- 
Oh, yeah. The guys at the lab found this funky prehistoric bacteria on the Anasazi's 
clothes. And the Ice Queen -- uh, Dr. Behrens, the department physician -- noted 
the guy's lungs, blood, organs all were clean and healthy -- too healthy. We've had, 
oh, about 150 or so years to adapt to our environment, respiratorily and 
immunologically. Behrens said it was probably a good thing we -- they -- brought 
him to The Station, ‘cause otherwise, the L.A. smog would've finished him off.

"And that atlatl the guy had-- it was the real thing, or the best archaeological fraud 
I've ever seen. I know it's gonna sound whacked, guys, but if I didn't know it was 
impossible, I'd have to say our Anasazi was at least 700 years from the reservation."

Ronnie scanned the faces around him for any sign of disbelief or contempt. Mulder 
and Krycek responded as if the scientist had discussed the Cubs' odds in the playoffs. 
Scully was absorbed in the SETI note. 

"OK," Mulder finally spoke up. "Our alien friend -- or friends -- instant message 
where they're dropping off our Anasazi, unescorted and unequipped to handle the 
modern world. Kind of a major risk, don't you think? Trigger-happy Chuck could've 
aimed a little to the left. Anasazi Boy could've met up with a Greyhound bus or 
contracted any number of minor allergies or viruses that we take for granted but that 
would've caused him to have an immunological meltdown. Plus, there was the lack of 
English skills -- or any contemporary language skills, for that matter. He was worth 
as much dead as alive. So why did Jeremiah bring him here?"

"DNA," Scully intoned.

Mulder, Krycek, and Ronnie turned as one toward Scully, who was still staring at the 
slip of paper.

"What?" Krycek ventured.

"Anasazi DNA," she murmured. "I can't be sure, but this second set of numbers 
could correspond to the human genome. Possibly, the location of a specific gene on a 
chromosomal chain. You said it, Mulder -- Jeremiah brought us something that no 
longer exists. A gift for all of us. For all of humanity."

"Scully, English, please," Mulder advised.

His partner glanced at Ronnie for a moment, then appeared to reach a decision. 
"Well, say the Anasazi had a unique genetic trait, perhaps a tolerance to certain 
organisms."

She paused.

"The oil,"  Krycek whispered. 

Mulder straightened. "God. Hey, Ronnie, share a little Anasazi lore with us. 
Specifically, what kind of enemies did they have? Any particular demons or god-
legends? Anything associated with visitors from space, maybe."

Ronnie smiled unconsciously, relieved finally to be in familiar territory. "Many 
Anasazi groups were expert observers of the sky -- in some cases, they even built 
sort of solar observatories. Probably to predict seasonal indicators such as solstices 
or equinoxes."

"Or to watch for invaders," Krycek suggested.

Mulder waved him off. "Any other signs of technological advancement?"

"Well, like a lot of Meso-American cultures, they experimented a lot with agriculture. 
Even some basic genetic work with plants and crops."

Mulder and Krycek exchanged looks. "Maybe they tried to buy their way in first," 
Mulder theorized. "Win the Anasazi's trust with a little genetic razzle-dazzle. Then, 
when they move in for the kill, they find out the locals are immune to their black 
magic. So they go on the offensive. What would you do, if you were the Anasazi?"

"Fortify. Build into the cliffs, make aerial assault or a flank attack tougher."

"Dudes, wait a second," Ronnie pled. "What the hell are you two talking about? 
Ancient astronauts or something?"

"Ronnie," Mulder said, seriously. "What do you think happened to the Anasazi in the 
end? When they disappeared?"

The anthropologist shrugged. "Some say some enemy, a rival tribe or something, 
conquered them, wiped them out. Personally, my guess is this enemy put enough 
pressure on them, they finally scattered to the wind, intermarried into other tribes."

"Intermarried," Scully echoed. "Mulder, what if they did? You say the Anasazi had 
some rudimentary expertise in genetics. What if they realized they held the key to 
resisting the Black Oil -- that it was in their blood? What if they left their villages and 
interbred with other tribes, as Dr. Skorzeny suggests? Except it was in an effort to 
genetically immunize their neighbors."

"Except their biotech expertise was a little off," Mulder continued, "and instead of 
immunizing the other tribes, they diluted their Black Oil resistance. Jeremiah brought 
us the pure, undistilled version. The original genetic stock."

Scully frowned.  "Except it's probably locked in the basement of a classified federal 
facility by a highly dangerous covert agency. Got a way to prove your theory, 
Mulder?"

Krycek grinned crookedly. "Guess I gotta do everything."


NATIONAL THERMOELECTRIC ENERGY LAB 


"Gonna grab a sandwich, Okay?" Toblowski muttered, tugging his latex gloves off 
with a snap. The lab technician had ceased a week ago to inquire if the Ice Queen 
wanted anything on his frequent treks to the cafeteria -- she was total permafrost 
under the hottie exterior. "I'll process those epidermal samples when I get back."

"Dr. Behrens" nodded silently, and listened for the security lock to click into place. 
Her heart was beating with an intensity Marita 
Covarrubias hadn't felt for years, since the last ultimately disappointing brush with 
salvation.

Covarrubias' tenure with the World Health Organization had given her the medical 
expertise and her subsequent life of subterfuge and obfuscation the wiles to land the 
clearance and eventually the position with the NSA's "research lab."  Little did these 
spooks and scientists realize that she probably knew more than all but a handful of 
humans about the threat that loomed over the specie's continued existence. The 
genetic research conducted here had been birthed in darkness by frightened men 
decades ago and was destined for a chosen few. Marita had given over her life, and 
was prepared to give her life, for the World.

She was uncertain whom or what had delivered the man in the bay beyond, but she 
was increasingly certain this displaced man -- this human remnant -- held the 
solution. Extensive Internet research (on her secure home PC) had revealed the 
truth that appeared to lie behind the Anasazis' lore, their gods and demons, the 
secret that had plagued them into extinction. The significance of the rich magnetite 
deposits surrounding the tribe's cliffside communities had staggered Marita.

She dropped in front of her monitor and clicked up the chromosomal data that to her 
was the Holy Grail. Only a few short years ago, scientists had completed their map of 
the human genome -- the roadmap to Homo sapiens' every genetic trait, weakness, 
and strength. Forty-six chromosomes, each with anywhere from a few hundred to a 
few thousand genes. Genes for sexual identity, genes for skin color, genes for 
hemophilia, and genes for potential obesity. Genes that fire the engine of human 
intelligence or the flames of homicidal psychopathy. Genes that lie dormant on their 
chromosomal chain, their functions atrophied with adaptation and dominance or, 
perhaps, awaiting the spark of expression.

Telepathy, telekinesis, communication with imponderable worlds beyond -- Marita 
had come to believe these were expressions of humanity's dormant potential. 
Whether by adaptation, mutation, divine intervention, she believed the Anasazi had 
possessed a potential beyond the rest of the species. The potential to resist 
dominance and extinction at the hands of the species she'd come to know as the 
Black Oil. That genetic potential had enabled the Anasazi to fight the future, and 
now, it had been placed in man's hands. 

Marita nonetheless couldn't shake the feeling that she was missing something here -- 
some piece of the equation was missing. And then there was Alex, who hadn't 
contacted her since the night he'd obviously taken out Grey's assassins. Her lover 
and co-conspirator was cocky and frequently reckless, and she was concerned he 
someday would underestimate Strughold, the Frenchman, even Spender, who'd 
professed disillusionment with the futile self-interest of the Consortium's impotently 
powerful/powerfully impotent members but whose actual agenda had always been 
unclear.

Alex' role was crucial, as was hers. Everything else was in place: 
Spender had pulled in nearly all the favors he'd accumulated in a lifetime of 
manipulation and murder to pull together the necessary capital and resources. The 
technology now existed -- had existed for decades, unbeknownst to the world at 
large -- to distill the essence of the Anasazi's resistance and inoculate humanity with 
a new potential to survive.

Unfortunately, Marita recognized, that technology was in the hands of a frail and 
planet bound species, and its blood again would be on her hands before the night 
was done.

**

"The whole world's changed irrevocably since 9/11, Agent," Garrett Monson sighed, 
crossing his hands over his significant stomach, under President Bush‘s portrait. The 
lab's chief administrator smiled deprecatingly at Mulder and Scully. "I'm sure you've 
heard the term ‘dual use technology.' Much of what we do here has great potential to 
reduce our dependence on foreign petroleum, generate clean sources of energy. 
We're also working to harness forces that, in the wrong hands, could destroy cities, 
make the Twin Towers look like a minor conflagration.

"It was quite an adjustment for our scientists when Homeland Security initiated new 
security measures. Personnel checks, invasive random security checks. The price of 
security, you might say. But Agents Cress and Ostrander became part of our 
extended family here at the lab, and they will be missed."

Krycek had suggested re-engineering Skorzeny's ID to gain after-hours access, but 
Mulder opted first to size up the lab's security.

"Ah huh," Mulder nodded as he crossed his leg. "And this Ronald Skorzeny. He was 
what, an anthropologist?"

Monson glanced out over the arid New Mexico landscape beyond his office window. 
"Yes. Dr. Skorzeny headed up our analysis of biomass crops cultivated by Native 
American populations. We hope to identify species from which we can produce 
cellulosic ethanol. We, er, think outside the box here."

"And you think this research may have been behind Dr. Skorzeny's abduction?" 
Scully inquired calmly. "We understand Agents Cress and Ostrander were notified of, 
what, a terrorist threat?"

Monson's smile flickered slightly.

"I'm afraid that's classified, Agent." Mulder and Scully turned toward the cool voice 
behind them. The uniformed man in the doorway was lean, graying, with mineral 
eyes. The inimitable Col. Grey, Mulder surmised. "Sorry I'm running late, Dr. 
Monson. Col. Wilson Grey."

The soldier's grip was gloved iron, firm but respectful. Scully's eyes narrowed as 
Mulder winced slightly.

"I apologize, Agents, but we're not at liberty to discuss the nature of the message 
Cress received the day of the…incident."

"National security?" Scully offered, glancing anxiously at her partner. Mulder had 
grown pale, his eyes bleary.  She watched as his hand came up to caress his 
forehead, he stepped away from the conversation.

By the time he reached the window in Monson's office he could hardly put one foot in 
front of the other.  The pain arching across his head so intense it made his eyes 
water.  The conversation and just about everything in the office had faded from his 
vision and he found himself looking through a black tunnel out into the desert 
beyond.  As he stood there the blackness began to fade away and he found himself 
looking a yet another Native village.  A proud Native man in conversation with a 
cavalry officer, what appeared to be a difference of opinion between Native elders, a 
scuffle and a shot and then the village was under siege.  Cavalry and artillery cutting 
down men, women and children as they ran for their lives; and once again it was 
over and all that was left were the bodies.

Col. Grey's lips formed a thin smile, he glanced at Mulder. "Precisely. I've already 
apprised your assistant director, Skinner, that we have this investigation firmly in 
hand. Dr. Monson, why don't you offer the agents a tour of the lab, so their trip 
won't have been in vain? I think you two will find it quite fascinating. Good morning."

Monson nodded farewell at Grey's retreating back, then shrugged cheerfully at his 
two visitors. Scully didn't notice -- her attention was on her haggard partner.  

"Mulder?"  When she touched his arm he flinched and suddenly found himself back in 
Mondon's office.  The nausea hit him immediately.  "Excuse me," he mumbled 
without looking at her and fled the room.

Through the delirium, Mulder spotted a familiar face in the atrium beyond the 
administrative suite. An ethereal blonde in a white lab coat, consulting with Col. 
Grey. The officer listened patiently for a moment, then nodded curtly and continued 
down a corridor to the right. The woman watched him depart, a thoughtful 
expression on her striking features, then turned and locked eyes with Mulder.

Marita Covarrubias froze, eyes widening. His former U.N. informant's fingers 
tightened around the folder she was holding, and she wheeled abruptly and 
disappeared into the stairwell.

Mulder struggled to comprehend the significance of his discovery, but his throbbing 
head could wrap only around the realization that Krycek did indeed appear to have 
matters in hand.

**

After waiting for Mulder to emerge from the Men's Room still pale and sweaty, 
Monson had led them down several flights and through a security check point to the 
research labs themselves.  Scully had tried not to make it too obvious but Mulder 
could tell she was watching him like a hawk.  This is where her expertise would come 
in handy.  As they passed through the door into the lab itself his hand came to rest 
on the small of her back.  I'm okay, Scully he was trying to say to her silently.  "Dr. 
Behrens," Monson announced.  "Perhaps you could inform our guests here about 
some of the research you're involved in.  Assure them that we're only interested in 
providing the world with a new energy source."  Marita looked up, her eyes meeting 
Mulder's instantly, willing him to play along.  "If you'll excuse me, Dr. Behrens will 
see you out."  The three of them stood and watched as Monson left the room.

"You two shouldn't be in here.  If we're discovered, the whole thing will go to hell," 
Marita hissed at both of them.  Before her on the counter were several high tech 
microscopes and monitors.  He and Scully both recognized the black substance 
frozen on the monitor to her left.

"This isn't a new form of petroleum you're working on here is it?"

She looked up from the slide she was viewing.  "You obviously know what it is, why 
are you asking?"

"Is it safe?"  Scully asked with concern as Mulder moved in for a closer look.  

"It's inert," the blonde replied.  

"What do you mean?" Mulder asked.

"It's dead, no longer active."

Mulder and Scully exchanged glances.  "You've found a cure." Scully stated.

"Follow me."  Marita led them into another room and closed the door.  Inside the 
room were several sealed examination chambers.  Stepping up to one she slid her 
hands into the gloves inside the chamber and motioned for Scully to use the other 
set.  From a small container she released some of the black oil substance.  Mulder 
froze as he watched it form into rivules looking for a host organism.  "Take the 
ampule and drop some of the blood sample onto the oil," Marita instructed Scully.  
When the blood hit the oil the rivules stopped moving and began to shrivel.  "Whose 
blood is this?"  Scully demanded as she pulled her hands from the gloves.  "I got it 
from the Anasazi man

When they returned to the lab Marita pulled several vials of blood from a container in 
the refrigerator.  "Lucky there are a lot of us here doing "private" research.  No one 
questions a little extracurricular activity."  Mulder looked around, sure they were 
being watched.  "Believe it or not, there are no cameras in the labs Agent Mulder.  
We've got something very important here but as usually it's fallen into the wrong 
hands," Marita continued as she began setting up the blood samples for Scully.  "I 
don't know about you, but I hardly trust that the government would use this for the 
good of all its citizens."  

Mulder recognized the pain again immediately.  Like fingers crushing his brain inside 
his skull.  He grazed his hand across his brow and couldn't stop the wince.  Scully 
looked up with concern, but Mulder just motioned for her to continue, pasting a 
forced grin on his face.  When she looked away he closed his eyes and gripped the 
counter behind him until his fingertips turned white.  Sharp little pains arched across 
his head.  The last time he had experienced anything like this he'd been in that 
fucking hangar in North Dakota admist a sea of alien technology.  What the hell?  He 
had to get out of there.  

"What's wrong with him?" Marita asked as they both watched Mulder bolt from the 
lab.  

Scully looked back at Marita.  "I don't know.  I should go after him."

"No, wait, you have to see this."

**

By the time he stumbled out into the daylight he was totally disoriented.  He 
wondered how many people had watched him stumble through the halls as if he 
were drunk and had ignored him as such. He was going to have to cook up a good 
excuse for Scully when she finally finished up and came looking for him.

The pain had begun to subside and he found himself walking across the blistering 
parking lot.  His jacket long since abandoned he loosened his tie and unbuttoned the 
top two buttons on his shirt.  God it was hot here.  At the edge of the parking lot the 
land dropped away into a canyon that was where he now found himself squinting out 
over the barren land below him.  Memories of that night in the hanger came back to 
him; Jermiah explaining about biological modifications and genetic manipulations 
used to insure immortality; about the concept of interstellar travel and his insistence 
that Mulder was some sort of key to mending the universe. He remembered the 
pain….  Suddenly the icy cold of that black oil working its way thought his system 
seized him, took his breath away as it worked its way though his mind to chill the 
pain.  He shook with the sickening chill.  Fuck, what the hell was he?

"You are troubled by these visions."

The voice was unmistakable, speaking the wisdom of the ages.  He hadn't asked a 
question, simply made the statement.  Mulder turned to look at the gray-haired man 
standing next to him on the bluff.  "Great, now I see dead people."  He turned away 
from Hosteen and looked back out over the canyon.  No sense in having the world 
know he was talking to himself.

"Do you want me to leave?"

Truth was at this point Mulder didn't know what he wanted.  "No, I don't.  What I 
want are answers."

Hosteen followed Mulder's gaze.  "I have no answers for you, F.B.I. man.  These are 
answers you must find for yourself."

Anger or maybe frustration was starting to build within him.  Sooner or later Scully 
was going to take the brunt of that—or maybe she already had.  "Look, these 
visions, or hallucinations, or whatever you want to call them almost got me and my 
partner killed the other day.  I don't understand what's happening to me!"

"You understand it.  You just don't believe it."

Mulder snorted.  "Well, that's a first.  Most of my acquaintances think there's no limit 
to what I'll believe."

"History, Mr. Mulder, is only written by those who have lived to tell it."

"So only the dead know the truth?"

"Yes."

"And they think I'll listen?"

"You have been listening, haven't you?"

Mulder sighed, looked down at his dusty shoes, "I can't do anything about it. I can't 
change history, Albert, even you know that." 

"Our brothers in the north have a practice called the Medicine Wheel, a circle of life.  
It is a physical manifestation of Spiritual energy, an outward expression of your inner 
self.  It helps us to see exactly who we are, what we need to develop in order to 
realize our potentials.  We are all connected to each other; all a part of the "Bigger 
Picture" but each of us must determine what our part in it all is."

Hosteen took the cane he had been holding and drew a circle in the dust at their 
feet.  "The universe is the circle, with no beginning and no end."  He then drew a 
cross through the circle, "The cross touches the circle at four points, four directions, 
four virtues."  He looked up at Mulder, "Courage, strength, wisdom and generosity.  
It is said that each of us is born with one of these. We must endeavor to find the 
other 3 within ourselves.  You, I suspect have been born with all of them.  Perhaps 
this is why you have been chosen."

Mulder remained silent, shaking his head ever so slightly at this revelation from 
Hosteen.

"You must learn to accept this within yourself; to dance within your own circle of life.  
It will help to clear your foggy view and help you to see more clearly to understand 
what is for the betterment of mankind and to promote the healing that must be 
done.  Only when you believe what you see will you be able to do anything about it."

When Mulder looked up from the circle Hosteen was gone but the circle remained.


NATIONAL THERMOELECTRIC ENERGY LAB 

Krycek had secured the sarin derivative from one of his underground sources -- a 
merchant only too happy to deal with dictators, revolutionaries, and terrorists alike. 
The compound Marita had carried casually into the lab that morning was a variation 
on the nerve gas the Aum Shinrikyo sect had released on a Japanese subway in 
1995. 
 
Sarin had been classified as a weapon of mass destruction under U.N. Resolution 
687, and its production and stockpiling was outlawed by the Chemical Weapons 
Convention of 1993. In a  previous life, Marita had viewed it and the other 
nightmares Man had manufactured to subdue and eradicate Man, abominations. 
Marita had seen the destruction, fought alongside men of humanity who had fought 
to stem the science of Death, and now was ready to wield that science in the interest 
of humanity's survival.

Beyond her qualms about the mass poisoning she was prepared to commit, Marita 
held deep reservations about her new "partners." The sight of Mulder in the atrium 
earlier that day had rattled her, and the encoded update Krycek had left on her 
home PC had done little to settle her anxiety. Marita had no doubt Mulder 
understood the stakes, and that Scully would follow his lead. But the agents still 
possessed an absolutist vein of personal humanity she had been forced to sacrifice in 
the interest of the race. Krycek had told Mulder and Scully the substance she'd 
smuggled into the federal facility was debilitating but temporary in its effects -- she 
had not asked him whether that was merely a lie designed to assure their 
commitment. Marita's devotion to Krycek and his mission was laced with the certain 
knowledge that life to him was a relative commodity.

Marita tried to console herself that the "legitimate" researchers and staffers and the 
night cleaning crew had left the building hours ago. 
The second-tier "staff" came and went at all hours, and her own return to the lab at 
1 a.m. had merited only a nod from the lobby security guards -- regrettably, two of 
her few innocent would-be casualties.

She had self-administered the antidote before arriving at the lab, and had inoculated 
her patient. Krycek, Mulder, and Scully also would be immunized against the sarin 
distillate. Marita walked briskly to the lab table where her Thermos full of full-
strength Kona sat next to a centrifuge. Steeling herself, she upended the container 
and unscrewed the slotted cover in the bottom. Marita gently withdrew the ampoule 
from its insulated compartment -- only a minute amount of the airborne poison was 
necessary to infuse the entire building.

The lab's blueprints, supplied by Spender, had shown the ventilation ductwork to be 
an effective conduit to every niche of the building. Newer covert facilities would have 
provided safe areas, but today, even the budget for inveiglement and obfuscation 
was tight.

**

"Hey, you got a cold, stay away from those chips," Kjellen barked at Washington. 
The beefy guard tugged the Doritos away from his lanky partner for punctuation.

Washington scowled and wiped his nose with his cuff. "Shit, man, you're the worst 
hypochondriac little Girl Scout I ever met. I'm fine, man -- must be an allergy or 
something."

"Allergy?" Kjellen snorted, jerking his bull head toward the inky night beyond the 
lobby windows. "To what? We're in the middle of the fucking desert. Though you 
mention it, my eyes are kinda bleary. Hell, you probably gave me the flu or the 
freakin' ebola."

Sniffing, Washington formulated a comeback, but stopped dead. "Shit, Arnie, you're 
drooling, man. Thought that only happened when the new S.I. Swimsuit issue came 
in."

"Ha, haargghhh," Kjellen sneered before his face drained of all blood and spewed a 
stream of half-digested burger, Krispy Kreme, Doritos, and Coke across the marble 
floor. "Jesus, shi—" The brawny sentry fell to his knees and began to vomit with 
alarming intensity and volume.

"Shit, man. Hold on -- lemme call Brookings." Washington went for his radio. "Hey, 
Cap? It's Washington. I think something's up with Kjellin or something." The guard 
was greeted by silence. "Hey, Cap? Cap?"

The radio dropped from his fingers and cracked on the marble as a hand gripped his 
muscular forearm. Washington's free hand started toward his sidearm, but then he 
caught the bulging eyes embedded in the swollen, purple face of one of the 
technicians in the lab football pool. Blood streamed from the man's nostrils, and he 
silently mouthed a plea for assistance. His finger's slipped down Washington's 
uniform as he collapsed, twitching and jerking on the cold, polished stone.

"What the fu--." Washington whispered, terror gripping his chest. Then he realized it 
wasn't terror, and the lobby went dark.

**

"What did you do, Krycek?" Scully asked ominously as she glanced at the bodies 
littering the first floor hallway. The pathologist fell to a knee beside a small man in 
lab scrubs and began to check for a pulse.

"Jesus, c'mon!" Krycek yelled. "We've got 10 minutes, tops! Less, if somebody called 
out!"

Scully glared up. "This man is dead, Krycek. These people…"  

"Goddammit, Scully," he roared. "I don't know what happened to him -- heart 
condition, I don't know, but we've got more important shit to worry about. Haul ass! 
Now!" 

Scully moved on to a woman five feet away. "Mulder, help me -- her Breathing's 
shallow, but.."

"Mulder," Krycek said, menacingly, gripping his Uzi pistol.

The agent stared at his unlikely new partner as realization hit, then at the 
agent/pathologist on the floor. "C'mon, Scully."

Scully's face was pallid, her eyes afire. "Mulder! This is…"

"I know what it is, Scully," Mulder sighed. "But it is what it is. We have to get that 
man out of here, or it may all be over."  He looked at the expression of disbelief on 
her face.  "C'mon, Scully. Please."

Scully rose, studying the two men. Krycek was still, knuckles tight on his weapon. 
Finally, Scully turned and stalked silently toward the elevators.

"My God," Mulder whispered as the trio reached the sub-basement. Covarrubias was 
waiting in the corridor, a small, rough-hewn man beside her. The Anasazi stared 
from face to face, afraid to move until his eyes met Mulder's. Mulder approached 
slowly. "This is really…?"

Covarrubias nodded somberly. "Really."

"C'mon," Krycek prodded. "Indulge your boyish sense of wonder on your own time, 
Mulder! MOVE!"

The Anasazi started at Krycek's sharp commands. Covarrubias took his arm as 
Mulder turned to look into the tiny man's eyes. They said nothing to each other but 
Mulder could feel a sense of understanding pass between them.  They all began to 
move out.


RAY'S SHELL
ALAMOGORDO, NM
ONE HOUR LATER

"Two days," Marita reminded Krycek as she slid the key into the van's ignition. No 
one around town would have registered the deeply tinted windows -- it was standard 
UV protection throughout the Southwest, and Krycek had secured a suitably 
sandblasted model. The quartet standing at the edge of the mini-mart lot could have 
been a double date concluding at the end of the evening. The fifth wheel was 
securely sedated in the back, and the station was in a busy neighborhood Grey's 
security forces would have been reluctant to invade even at this hour. 

"Watch your ass," Krycek nonetheless told his partner. "By now, Hell's gotta be 
quietly busting loose. I just hope Spender covered his tracks."

Marita glanced at Mulder and Scully by their rental, and then into Krycek's eyes. He 
nodded, then slapped the side of the van. Marita breathed deeply and turned the 
key. A cloud of hydrocarbons belched from the tailpipe, and she moved out.

Krycek watched the vehicle disappear into the night, then strode back across the still 
warm tarmac. Mulder stepped around the car and blocked the passenger door.

"What?" Krycek smirked. "We're covered -- even if they work it out, too many people 
know you're out here for you to just disappear, and Grey would have a lot more to 
explain if he had you two busted. I wasn't shitting about that gas -- dead guy just 
had a bad reaction. Grey'll explain it away as one two many burritos or job stress. 
The others are probably sleeping it off now. So take a pill, Mulder." He shouldered 
the agent aside and climbed in.

Mulder looked over the roof at Scully, who frowned worriedly, and grinned crookedly. 
"I lose Fonzie here, you up for a whattaburger?"

Motel Seven West
2:14 AM

The constantly annoying little clicking sounds brought her awake.  Finding the other 
half of the bed empty she rolled over.  The clicking hesitated until she'd settled and 
then began again.  Mulder, in nothing more than his boxers, was slumped at the 
small table by the window with their laptop.  The room was shrouded in darkness 
save for the eerie blue glow from the screen as it bounced off his glasses.  He hardly 
ever wore them anymore and she'd forgotten just how good he looked in them.  

Feeling somewhat voyeuristic, she lay there feigning sleep, watching him.  His 
relentlessness still amazed her. There were theories brewing in that mind of his and 
even after all these years she still couldn't keep up with them.  While he was playing 
connect the dots she still stumbled along trying to draw a straight line. Lately she'd 
been a little concerned at what he'd find when he finished the picture but while 
others might question his sanity she knew from experience that you never took 
anything he said for granted, even now. 

She knew he'd been in pain that afternoon in the lab. It was the same look she'd 
seen on him in Col. Grey's office and it was beginning to worry her. He hadn't said a 
word when he'd fled from the lab and it had been sometime later when she found 
him leaning against their car in the sweltering parking lot. When she confronted him 
about it he'd blown it off as a headache and begged her for some Excedrin as a 
cover.  Maybe that whack Krycek gave him on the head was more serious than she 
thought or maybe she just wanted to believe it was just the sun and the heat and 
the dust.  Maybe his eyes were bothering him too.

She continued to watch him through hooded eyes.  He appeared to be jumping from 
website to website from the constant flashes on his lenses, obviously looking for 
something.  He reached for the glass of water perched on the edge of the table and 
chugged its contents placing it back on the table.  His gaze then fell on her and she 
knew then that she'd been had.  "You know Scully; it's somewhat unnerving to have 
you lying there in the dark watching me sit here in my underwear."

She could ignore him, pretend she was asleep but she knew he would only get 
irritated with her and she really wanted to know what had driven him from their bed 
in these early hours of the morning.  She rolled onto her back and pulled herself into 
a seated position against the headboard tucking the covers around her.  Geez, it was 
freezing in here, men and their air conditioning.  "Why ARE you sitting there in your 
underwear, Mulder?"

He leaned back in the chair then, resting his elbows on the arms of the chair and 
began to pick at his nails.  "Couldn't sleep?"  It wasn't really a question, he was just 
buying time.  "Because I just can't shake the feeling that something is off here.  That 
this man, this Anasazi or whatever he is—is not what we believe him to be. I think 
we're being misled."

"Mulder," throwing the covers back; she grabbed her robe from the foot of the bed, 
wrapping it around herself.  "This man could be the answer to protecting the human 
race from infection by the black oil; for all intents and purposes, the key to saving 
the human race."

There was that phrase again, 'the key'.  Scully had come to stand behind him, "What 
are you looking at?"   On the screen was a site on Indian Wars, she looked at him 
puzzled when he glanced up.  That hesitant grin of his began to spread across his 
face.  He knew that she wouldn't put the pieces together until he explained.  After 
this she'd either believe him or have him committed.  He pulled the other chair over 
so they could both see the laptop screen and motioned for her to sit in it. 

He scrubbed his face with both hands and looked at her from between his splayed 
fingers and sighed.

"Mulder?"

"Scully, regardless of what you believe caused my seizures last spring, something 
has happened to me.  I—I don't know when, I don't even know how.  I just know 
I've gotten access to something; some nexus of consciousness or some connection 
to a higher plane of thought."  Scully's lips parted as if she were about to comment.  
He glanced up at her and put his hand up.  "No, don't, just hear me out.  I've finally 
worked up the courage to tell you this.  I didn't believe it myself, or maybe I did and 
I just kept denying it but I don't anymore."

Scully looked at him now with a mixture of fear and concern and pulled her robe 
around herself tighter.  "This has been going on since the spring?"  He could hear the 
worry building in her voice.  "You told me you were fine, Mulder.  I haven't seen 
evidence of seizures.  You've been hiding this from me?  Lying to me?"

He could tell she was hurt by his admission. "No, I have not been lying to you. This 
is not like before.  I'm not a part of these events." He reached for her hand as it 
clutched at her robe. He didn't like the way she was looking at him now with 
something like pity.  "Don't look at me like that," he pleaded. "I'm not sick Scully, at 
least not in the way you think. Please, just hear me out."  She nodded and let him 
take her hand in his as he rested them both on the edge of the table.  "I've seen 
things, I see things, Scully and at first they didn't make any sense but now I'm 
beginning to understand the connections."  He let go of her hand and scrolled 
through the site he had been reading, coming to a stop on an article about a 
massacre at Sand Creek in November of 1864.  "I saw this."

"You saw what?"

"The massacre—as it happened," he hesitated a moment, turning the screen so she 
could see what he was looking at, "On the highway coming down from Albuquerque 
the other day." 

"When you ran our car off the road?"

He didn't answer her.  "Black Kettle and his people had been told they would be safe 
on reservation land.  They were given an American flag and told to display it as a 
sign of protection.  I thought it looked out of place when I saw it. But now I 
understand."  Some fucking protection," he said with disgust.  "Cavalry troops rode 
in and slaughtered over 200 men, women and children." 

"Mulder, what do you mean, you saw this?"

She was prodding him and if she kept it up he was going to get angry. "I saw this, 
everything, just as it states here.  Calvary troops charging into a perfectly peaceful 
native camp; shooting at anything that moved.  Then, there were just bodies, 
everywhere."  She watched him swallow hard at the memory.

"Earlier in Monson's office, when Col. Grey came in it happened again.  You know I 
zoned out on you."

"You looked like you were in pain Mulder."

He looked her right in the eye.  "I was, but that's another story."

What she wanted most was to get to the bottom of what was causing this.  But she 
went along with him anyway. "You saw the same thing?"

Mulder shook his head and scrolled to another article, this one on Wounded Knee.  "I 
think it was this," he said pointing at the screen.  "Soldiers were trying to get the 
Natives to surrender their weapons.  There was a man, a medicine man, trying to 
convince them otherwise.  And then there was this scuffle and a shot and the next 
thing I knew I was watching it all over again; soldiers, cannon, gunfire, bodies, 
everywhere."  He scrolled down the article until he came to the photos of bodies 
frozen in the snow. "That's when I headed for the john."

Scully reached over, resting her hand on Mulder's arm as he scrolled back up to the 
top of the article and let Scully read it.  

The Wounded Knee Massacre
White officials became alarmed at the religious fervor and activism and in December 
1890 banned the Ghost Dance on Lakota reservations. When the rites continued, 
officials called in troops to Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations in South Dakota. 
The military, led by veteran General Nelson Miles, geared itself for another 
campaign.  
The presence of the troops exacerbated the situation. Short Bull and Kicking Bear led 
their followers to the northwest corner of the Pine Ridge reservation, to a sheltered 
escarpment known as the Stronghold. The dancers sent word to Sitting Bull of the 
Hunkpapas to join them. Before he could set out from the Standing Rock reservation 
in North Dakota, however, he was arrested by Indian police. A scuffle ensued in 
which Sitting Bull and seven of his warriors were slain. Six of the policemen were 
killed. 
General Miles had also ordered the arrest of Big Foot, who had been known to live 
along the Cheyenne River in South Dakota. But, Big Foot and his followers had 
already departed south to Pine Ridge, asked there by Red Cloud and other 
supporters of the whites, in an effort to bring tranquility. Miles sent out the infamous 
Seventh Calvary led by Major Whitside to locate the renegades. They scoured the 
Badlands and finally found the Miniconjou dancers on Porcupine Creek, 30 miles east 
of Pine Ridge. The Indians offered no resistance. Big Foot, ill with pneumonia, rode in 
a wagon. The soldiers ordered the Indians to set up camp five miles westward, at 
Wounded Knee Creek. Colonel James Forsyth arrived to take command and ordered 
his guards to place four Hotchkiss cannons in position around the camp. The soldiers 
now numbered around 500; the Indians 350, all but 120 of these women and 
children. 
The following morning, December 29, 1890, the soldiers entered the camp 
demanding the all Indian firearms be relinquished. A medicine man named Yellow 
Bird advocated resistance, claiming the Ghost Shirts would protect them. One of the 
soldiers tried to disarm a deaf Indian named Black Coyote. A scuffle ensued and the 
firearm discharged. The silence of the morning was broken and soon other guns 
echoed in the river bed. At first, the struggle was fought at close quarters, but when 
the Indians ran to take cover, the Hotchkiss artillery opened up on them, cutting 
down men, women, children alike, the sick Big Foot among them. By the end of this 
brutal, unnecessary violence, which lasted less than an hour, at least 150 Indians 
had been killed and 50 wounded. In comparison, army casualties were 25 killed and 
39 wounded. Forsyth was later charged with killing the innocents, but exonerated.

"Do you know about this Ghost Dance?" Scully asked.

"Yeah, The Ghost Dance was a phenomena that swept through the American west in 
the late 1800's. It was started by a Paiute holy man from Nevada named Wovoka, 
son of a mystic Tavibo.  He drew on his father's teachings and began to spread his 
gospel among the natives.  It became known as the Ghost Dance Religion.  His claim 
was that the earth would soon perish and then come back to life in a purified state 
and would be inherited by the Natives, including their dead for an eternally peaceful 
existence.  It was a pretty non-violent practice.  That was until Kicking Bear, a 
Lakota who had made a pilgrimage to Nevada to learn this new religion decided to 
change the teachings and advocated instead the possible elimination of the whites; 
claiming the Ghost Dance Shirts would protect the warriors against the white man's 
bullets.  All you have to do is look at these pictures and the truth of that claim is 
brutally evident."

Scully knew she had to tread very carefully here.  She really didn't believe Mulder to 
be delusional but she still couldn't follow his reasoning.  "I still don't understand what 
this has to do with our Anasazi man.  What connection are you trying to make here?"

"What do you mean you don't see it?"  It came out harsher than he'd intended and 
he saw her flinch at the vehemence.  "You don't think it's relevant that basically the 
same thing is happening here?"  He got up from the table and started to pace as he 
spoke.  "We've got government agencies advocating the production of massive gene 
therapy by claiming it will protect the public from infection but what if it's not 
protection at all Scully, what if its just the opposite?"

"We've done the tests.  This man is immune to infection by the black oil.  What more 
proof do you need?" 

He turned to her, rolled his eyes in frustration. "I know that, but what if this genetic 
immunity is being presented to us just like these Ghost Shirts were.  Don't you get 
it? We keep thinking we're going to be protected by this but maybe it's just another 
opportunity to wipe us off the planet?  That's why I'm seeing these things, there's 
something terribly wrong here."

God, it was the middle of the night, why did he start these discussions in the middle 
of the night?  She walked over to stand in front of him.  "Mulder, I think you're being 
irrational?"

"I'm being irrational!" She's known it was coming, the inflection told her he'd had 
enough.  She watched as he began to search the room for his clothes and began to 
wiggle himself into them.  "Mulder, where are you going?"

"Out."

She tried to grab him as he scooted by her intending to head him off before he 
reached the door but he slipped by her, stomping into his shoes his hand already on 
the doorknob.  She stopped, "Out where?"

"I don't know, I just have to get out of here."

"Damn it, Mulder, talk to me.  This gene Marita has identified, it could be the 
breakthrough we've been waiting for. I thought you trusted Jeremiah?  You believe 
him to be some sort of healer.  If he somehow brought this man back for us to find 
it's because he felt if would benefit the human race. What in God's name makes you 
think it's something else?"

"I have been talking to you Scully, you're not fucking listening!  And God has nothing 
to do with this."

"What about Jeremiah?"

She watched as the anger faded from his face.  "Jeremiah—Jeremiah is Wovoka, 
come back to make sure the planet is returned to its rightful owners."

She stood and watched his back disappear through the door.

**

It never ceased to amaze him how the desert could be hotter than hell in the day 
and become so cool at night.  Speaking of Hell, what was he doing out here anyway?  
He hadn't even warmed up before he'd taken off from the motel and now his muscles 
were protesting in earnest, his chest aching from the cold night air.  A vehicle was 
approaching from the distance and he watched the headlights growing larger as it 
grew nearer.  The driver laid on the horn, veering the truck off the road in his 
direction.  Caught in it's headlights, Mulder panicked momentarily diving out of the 
way just as the vehicle veered back onto the road kicking up gravel and sending it 
stinging at him though the dust.  Loud music blared from the vehicle.  "Asshole!", 
Mulder yelled if only for his own gratification as he got up and brushed the dust from 
his own ass, watching as the trucks tail lights disappeared down the road back 
towards their motel.  He didn't know if Scully noticed it or not, but his runs weren't 
as long as they used to be—but then his knees weren't as good as they used to be 
either; time to turn around.  

Used to be these runs would clear his head, put things in perspective and a case 
would become clear to him.  Things were starting to become clear but in truth they 
had nothing to do with the case.  This time those things had to do with trust and a 
truth he wasn't sure he wanted to believe himself. 

They were so close, so close to an answer here and yet his instincts kept telling him 
something wasn't right.  He'd seen the visions, visions of trust gone awry. Scully 
believed in her science, trusted what it told her.  But what if this truth was beyond 
the realm of what earth science was able to prove.  How could he convince her that 
what it was telling her was wrong? Would she choose to believe him or her science?  
The choice made his head ache turning his thoughts to the pain that had gripped him 
in the lab.  He hadn't experienced anything like that since Crofts dragged him out to 
Strunghold Mine.

It was then that things started to click into place.  It hadn't been a mine at all he 
thought as he recalled the images of the huge seamless hangar and the craft as it 
had hovered above the floor before him.  The pain had been there then, driving him 
almost to insanity with its intensity.  He remembered Jeremiah's tales of 
interdimensional travel, unholy alliances and the mergence of two worlds.  The same 
pain he'd felt in Col. Grey's office, the same pain he'd felt in the lab; a pain he now 
associated with a proximity to alien technology.  The connection made him sick.

The faint glow of morning was beginning to touch the eastern sky as he jogged back 
into the motel's parking lot.  Aside from lack of sleep he couldn't remember the last 
time he'd eaten and the hollowness of his stomach made him feel slightly nauseous.  
He'd passed a bank of vending machines in the alley between the buildings on his 
way out and headed back there for something to settle his stomach.  Now standing 
before the soda machine he picked though his pockets looking for change.  A hand 
and a beer suddenly materialized in front of him.  "Here, sorry I left you in the dust 
back there."

He contemplated turning around a decking the son of a bitch but a beer for 
breakfast?  What the hell.  He took the beer and turned around, popping off the tab 
as he did so.  "This is the first time you've ever had anything good to offer me, 
Krycek."

"You may not think so when you hear what else I have to tell you."

"Oh, so we're just a couple of guys having a chat over a beer?"  Mulder took a long 
swig of the beer.

"One guy, you I'm not so sure of."

"Fuck you."

Krycek smirked.  "Sorry, I'm not here on a social call."

Mulder stepped away from Krycek to lean against the wall.  He took another swig of 
the beer.  "Why are you here?"

"To bring you some news," he said, popping the top on his own can and taking a 
couple of long swallows.  "I think you're already starting to put the pieces together 
but you don't know the why do you?"

Mulder was tired, hell, he was exhausted.  "You know what I've always hated about 
you Krycek?  You never could just get to the point."

"OK, Mulder, I'll get to the point."  

"There is a God."

"You're partner, if you still call her that is beginning to think seriously about your 
state of mind. You're starting to scare her with these trips off the deep end."

Annoyed that Krycek seemed to know anything about his mental state, Mulder hissed 
back.  "What do you know?"

"Apparently a lot more than you do my friend. You know that little unauthorized 
brain surgery you had a few years ago?  There was some severe neurological 
damage going on in that head of yours.  Without treatment you probably would have 
died or at least spent the rest of your life in that padded room."

Mulder found he couldn't hide the shudder that ran through him with those 
memories.  It didn't go unnoticed by Krycek, he smiled and continued.  

"Along comes a former aquaintence of yours who convinces your father to have 
some of his doctors fix you up."

"My father's dead Krycek."

"Yeah, well, believe what you want."  He watched as Krycek swallowed the rest of his 
beer and tossed the can aside.    "These doctors have been working with some 
remarkable technology, undetectable micro-nanotechnology developed by the aliens.  
They used it to repair the damage to your brain.  You probably have a whole network 
of these little buggers running around in there."  Krycek reached over and scrubbed 
his hand across Mulder's scalp like you would a little boy.

Angry that Krycek would know this information and the condescending way he'd 
ended his conversation Mulder reached up and caught Krycek's arm, turning him 
around and pulling his arm behind him as he slammed him against the wall.  

"I'm supposed to believe this Michael Crichton shit?"

Krycek was pressed so tightly to the wall his teeth scraped it as he tried to speak.  
"You better believe it Mulder, the whole world might depend on it."

Mulder spun Krycek around to face him, shoved him back against the wall again and 
rammed his arm under his chin.

"I know what happened in South Dakota," Krycek blurted out. "Its happened again 
hasn't it?  These headaches?  Your proximity to anything of alien origin triggers them 
doesn't it?

Mulder let Krycek go, stepped back as the realization hit him again.  "In Col. Grey's 
office, when I was with Scully in the lab yesterday."  The wheels were turning now in 
his head.  "Grey's an alien?  This gene Scully's identified—is alien?"

"You've got some kind of connection, Mulder.  Those damn things in your head have 
made you a conduit between them and us."

Mulder didn't like the sound of that stepping further away from Krycek.  In fact just 
the idea scared him. The memory of the pain in his head, of the feeling of a 
thousand tiny fingers clawing about his brain. "I don't—I can't, I have no connection 
to them!"

"Then you have to find a way that you can." Krycek bent over and picked up the rest 
of the beer, handed it to Mulder who just stood there staring at him incredulously.  
"Here, you might need the rest of these."

Mulder watched him walk from the alley and disappear around the corner.  He was 
trembling now, with anger or fear, he wasn't sure.  He pulled another beer off and 
dropped the rest of the cans at his feet.  Chugging the whole can until he thought 
he'd throw up he turned around and drove the empty can into he wall with his fist.

**

She'd lain awake after Mulder had left.  Thoughts running through her head about 
what he had said.  No, she'd seen the proof.  Genetic proof in what Mulder had told 
her months ago; that the answer to their future would be found in the past.  Why 
didn't he believe it now?  

The morning sunlight had begun to filter through the heavy drapes, rippling across 
her face as she lay there.  She opened her eyes and watched the dust particles 
dance in its ray.  Thousands of tiny particles you normally didn't see suddenly made 
her think about what else one might not see.  As her eyes surveyed the room they 
came to rest on the figure once again seated in the chair by the window.

From her viewpoint Mulder looked defeated.  His elbows resting on the arms of the 
chair, legs splayed with feet firmly planted on the ground he stared at nothing.  He 
never moved as she got up from the bed but she could see his eyes follow her 
intently as she moved about.  It was sort of creepy in a way and when he finally 
spoke it made her jump.

"I need to speak with you about something."

She turned to look in the dresser mirror, examining her haggard condition.  "I 
thought we tried that earlier."

"Yeah, well, maybe I didn't start with the right story."

"Do you mind if I make some coffee?  Maybe it will help if I'm awake."

It took several minutes for the tiny coffee maker to purge forth the heavenly brew.  
She could feel Mulder's eyes on her the whole time she stood and waited for it.  
Pouring two cups she walked back to where he slumped in the chair.  "You smell like 
beer, Mulder.  You find an all-night bar?"  She backed away and sat down on the bed 
across from him, sipped at the steaming cup.

"Actually a mutual acquaintance of ours tried to run me over, then he bought me a 
beer to make up."

Scully took in his appearance.  His clothes were dusty and there was a hole in his 
right pant leg, just below the knee.  As he sat there the sunlight glanced off his left 
shoulder and highlighted the left side of his face.  His forty-four years were 
beginning to show in the silver that dotted his morning stubble.  They had both 
crossed that middle-age barrier and she hadn't even noticed it.  "Krycek?"

"See," he said setting the mug down on the table and finally looking at her.  "We still 
don't need any help with our communication skills."

She smiled gently at the memory. "What happened?"

"I'll get to that later.  I need to start from the beginning or you'll probably have me 
committed before I'm finished."

"Actually," she said, looking him straight in the eye.  "I'm thinking about it before 
you even start.  Mulder, what's going on?"

He leaned on his right elbow, scratching at his beard and broke their eye contact.  "I 
wasn't exactly honest with you about why I wanted to come back to the Bureau. 
Scully."

"Go on."  If this was true confessions, she wanted it all.

"It wasn't just about owing it to ourselves and our families Scully; it was more about 
finding the truth behind it all."

"It's always been about that Mulder, surely you know that."

"No, this was something more personal."  When she looked somewhat confused he 
continued.  "Something happened in the mines.  Hell, they weren't even mines, 
Scully.  There was no blast from trapped gases or whatever the hell story they 
covered it up with.  I would have been blasted to kingdom come with everyone else 
if it hadn't have been for Jeremiah."

"Jeremiah, again."

"On a recon mission as it turned out I believe.  It was some kind of underground 
hanger, Scully, filled with military personnel, like the one in Antarctica, the one you 
insist you didn't see.  He was there to steal the technology."

She got the dig he had implied. "An alien stealing technology from our military?  
Even you should find that unlikely, Mulder."

"Not from us, from other aliens working with the military or posing as military, I'm 
not sure.  Just before everything went to hell I saw something, a ship, a massive 
ship hovering above me and then there was just chaos. Jeremiah was there, he got 
me out of there but not before he'd taken what he'd come for and destroyed 
everything in his wake."

"But you don't know what this technology was?"

"No, but I keep thinking it was something that would allow him to bring this Anasazi 
man forward in time.  Scully, something happened to me in there.  A terrible pain, 
lancing through my skull, everything went black. I was so disoriented I could hardly 
walk.  The pain got so intense, it brought me to my knees.  I had these horrible 
visions of something—something catastrophic only it was—unearthly.  Scully was 
looking at him now with tears beginning to well in her eyes.  He was loosing her.  It 
dawned on him then that she thought she was listening to the tale of a mad man.  
He slid off the chair and kneeled before her.  "I'm not crazy Scully," he pleaded. 
Scully put her hand on top of his where it rested on her knee.   She stroked the side 
of his face with her other, "This pain Mulder…"

"It's the same as what hit me in Monson's office, in the lab.  Like a thousand tiny 
electrical charges going off in my head.  I know how this is going to sound, but I 
think it happens when I'm in the proximity to something alien."

She remembered standing in a hallway with him several years ago when he'd told 
her almost the same thing and she'd ignored him.  What had happened next had 
been one of her worst nightmares.  "What makes you think that?"

"Because of what my beer buddy had to tell me this morning. He's not our enemy, 
Scully I think even you would attest to that now."

Both her hands now came to rest on top of his.  In another life she could imagine 
him proposing to her like this.  Maybe that's what he was doing only it wasn't a vow 
of love he was after here.  It was something more.  

"According to our friend, it seems Diana had a lot more to do with saving my life 
than just giving you the key to find me.  Evidently my return to sanity can be 
attributed to the installation of a little alien technology in care of CBG Spender."

Up until then, he'd almost had her believing him.  She'd seen the test results from 
the hospital.  He was clean, outside of a little scar tissue.  There'd been no 
hemorrhaging, no nerve damage and certainly no implants.  He'd been fine, she had 
thought, up until this year and the discovery of more of those artifacts.  Could there 
be something in his brain that had triggered all of this?

Looking at him now, still kneeling on the floor before her she was taken back to 
another motel room and a young man confessing his life to her, asking her to 
believe.  Truth was, she'd never stopped believing in him.  "Mulder, there was 
nothing in your tests then or recently...'

"I know, I know, but what if there's something your science couldn't see…micro-nano 
technology?"   She looked beyond him, to the dust still dancing in the sunlight that 
now streamed through the gap in the drapery, something you normally couldn't see.  
Her hand came up to cover her mouth as the possibility began to dawn on her.

"I had as much doubt as you do, Scully but I don't anymore.  I'm asking you to 
forget what your science is telling you and trust me.  This Anasazi is not what they 
believe him to be," he reached up and pulled her hand gently back into his.

"What makes you so sure, Mulder?"

"A feeling," he said it with such certainty now she couldn't deny him.  "And because 
someone I trust told me to trust my feelings."

He watched as her brows creased across her forehead.  "Albert Hosteen.  We had a 
little conversation in the parking lot outside the NTE lab."  

She'd seen the circle with the cross drawn through it in the dust at his feet, could it 
be?  "Oh, Mulder."

He gripped both her hands tightly, stared through her with glassy eyes.  "Trust me."

She squeezed back, and then fell into his embrace.  He hugged her tightly, as if 
holding onto her was the only thing that kept him tethered to this life.  "A feeling's 
not much to go on."

She felt him chuckle softly against her.  "Sometimes a feeling is all we humans have 
to go on."

Mulder, she realized as she relished his warmth against her, was VERY human.

MEHALOMART DISTRIBUTION CENTER, PROMINENCE, N.M., TWO DAYS LATER
For the fifth time that day, Spender touched the pack of Morley's in his coveralls. 
When she'd brought the Anasazi in, Covarrubias had stressed the need for a sterile 
lab environment, and although he suspected her loathing for him was behind the no 
smoking directive, he had silently complied, taking occasional nicotine breaks out 
back. The old retail distribution center had died a decade ago with the rest of what 
was left of the now-ironically named Prominence, and the sole residents were a few 
burnt-out hippies and diehard naturists.
He glanced at the woman at the electron microscope some 20 feet away. 
Covarrubias was a true believer -- a species that had always amused the hardened 
Spender. Now, more complex emotions swirled through the bitter, aging assassin. He 
remained uncertain about the abrupt direction he had taken, and possibly was even 
unaware of the epiphany that had grown inside him after a life of duplicity and 
manipulation. But Spender had come to realize Strughold and the Frenchman and 
the rest of the Consortium were embarking on a cataclysmic path, and Charlie 
Scully's role in his own brother's death had reawakened his own recriminations about 
the sins he had visited on Jeffrey and Cassandra and Fox.
"Are you positive this is going to work?" Spender asked, as if to exorcise his 
increasingly mordant musings. 
"Nothing is positive," Covarrubias murmured, "but we have little option but to follow 
every lead."
"Mm," Spender grunted, wanting a cigarette more than ever.
"American researchers are scouring the interior of China for ancient soybean 
germplasm to refresh rapidly stagnating crop genetics and fight plant diseases we're 
woefully unequipped to address," she continued. "We've anti-bacterialized and 
irradiated and pasteurized ourselves into a state of dangerously low physiological 
resistance. Man has shed his biological defenses one by one as civilization has lulled 
him into complacency. If the expression mechanism I've come up with works, this 
new infusion of DNA could provide a booster shot for the entire species."
Spender laughed harshly. "I hope we have better luck persuading the world to line 
up for this shot than President Ford had with the swine flu." He fell silent for a 
second -- the swine flu scare had been one of his more dismal failures, though a few 
subjects had been "recruited."  With the recollection of the young soldier at Fort Dix 
who'd been sacrificed to spur public panic about the "epidemic,"  Spender again 
reached for his smokes.
"I'll be out back," he informed Covarrubias. She did not respond, and he headed for 
the small, steel-reinforced door at the end of the huge warehouse. Spender tensed 
as a buzzer echoed through the rafters, and he pulled his Glock from the deep 
pocket of his coveralls. Covarrubias glanced anxiously at the front of the warehouse 
as he passed, pistol poised.
As soon as Spender identified his guests via a skillfully hidden eyehole in the rust-
scabbed door and disengaged the triple locks, Krycek breezed by. Mulder paused in 
the doorway, staring at Spender as if Idi Amin himself had materialized before him.
"Fox," he smiled, feeling a constriction in his chest. Mulder brushed past; Scully 
skirted Spender.
"How's he doing?" Krycek asked Covarrubias, glancing around the warehouse.
"Light sedation," she told him, gazing into his eyes. "Though it scarcely seemed 
necessary. The sheer physical exhaustion and the fading shock over his new 
environment have sapped most of his energy. He's been out for hours.
"Good," Krycek nodded. "That'll make him easier to transport. We have to get him to 
a secure location; Grey and his goons are onto us."
"Are you sure, Alexander?" Marita asked quietly, eyes on the trio near the entrance. 
One of the three looked up sharply. "I've finished synthesizing the vaccine, but I was 
hoping to do a few more tests.
"Later. C'mon, let's pack up what we need."
"I'd like to look at him, check his vitals," Scully suggested.
Covarrubias reached for a rack of vials. "Certainly. Alexander, you want to help her? 
He's in the old manager's office, over there."
"Marita, dear, do you need any help with the equipment?" Spender asked with 
feigned concern.
"Perhaps that." She nodded toward a steel surgical table where a leather gym bag 
rested. "Agent Mulder, I'll need your help here, please."
The agent stepped forward. "Sure." When he was at her side, Marita leaned over.
"Do you trust Alexander?" she asked, looking at Krycek and Scully deep in 
conversation 10 yards away.
"What--?" Mulder stammered before he was interrupted by the sound of metal 
crashing against metal. He turned abruptly as Spender's arm froze in mid-arc. The 
agent backhanded the older man, and Spender's weapon; a long, matte-finish metal 
cylinder from which a wickedly sharp point projected; clattered across the concrete.
Mulder's attention turned to the trio framed in the blazing afternoon sun pouring 
through the doorway. The figure leading the group charged toward him, and Mulder 
yanked his sidearm from his waistband, firing instinctively. The intruder spun and 
dropped to the floor as his companions dove for cover.
"Stop," 'Krycek' called to Mulder. "Agent Mulder, you must realize any resistance 
here is futile. Surrender now, or Dr. Behrens will die slowly and in prolonged agony."
Mulder could already feel the throbbing beginning inside his skull. He knew 
instinctively who they were dealing with here.  He only hoped he could hold on and 
somehow get them out.  "If we'd known there was gonna be a party, we'd have 
baked a cake," the second Mulder said, emerging from the shadows.  "With a rocket 
launcher inside."
Krycek's cocky face morphed into the grave military soldier's face of Col. Wilson 
Grey. He regarded the real Krycek, writhing on the concrete, the right leg of his 
jeans reddening in a widening circle, and smiled with neither amusement nor 
vindication. "Agent Scully, as well, please."
As Mulder's partner came out into the light, the Mulder with the gun and the Scully 
at Grey's side morphed. Grey turned to Covarrubias. "Doctor? You know what we 
came for. You're of no consequence in this matter."
Marita's eyes narrowed. "This way."
"No!" Mulder began, stumbling forward.  Scully reached out to support him as the 
huge, chiseled man with the gun raised his arm, and the agent stopped.
"All of you, come along," Grey ordered, moving toward the glassed-in office in the 
corner. Mulder, Scully, and Spender, still rubbing his jaw, complied silently. Grey 
glanced at the pallid Krycek, bleeding on the floor. "Leave him, I'll attend to him 
shortly."
The Anasazi stirred as the group appeared in the doorway. The small, dark man 
curled into a ball on the cot, terror filling his eyes. He began to speak rapidly in a 
language few had heard spoken in centuries.
The gunman reeled suddenly against the doorjamb. Grey turned toward him warily.
"You never did come down to the lab to view your acquisition, did you, "Colonel"?" 
Marita inquired calmly. "If you had, you might have realized that I left some crucial 
data out of my reports."
"What?" Grey asked shakily. The third alien already was breathing raggedly.
"The emergency room doctor who examined our friend noted an odd subcutaneous 
implant. It appeared to be a solid mass with no apparent components or function. 
Have you ever heard of Superman?"
Grey glared malevolently at Marita, even as his eyes grew unfocused.
"Kryptonite," she said, simply. "When your race pursued the Anasazi, to eradicate 
them, they discovered you had one major weakness. That's why it was so difficult for 
you to slaughter them, even with your advanced weaponry. They built their villages 
in a place where they knew they would be safe, at least temporarily. Our benefactor 
knew this, and that's why he implanted a chip of the same magnetite found in those 
cliffs surrounding the Anasazi villages into this man."
The gunman screamed, a terrible, inhuman thing, and began to convulse. 
Through watery eyes Mulder saw something equally inhuman flash through its 
human facade just before the room was sprayed with its tissue. The second alien 
already was on the floor, vibrating violently. Mulder shoved Scully into the hall as it, 
too, shattered.
Grey glared once more into Marita's eyes, and she saw the Arctic hatred behind 
them. She shielded the Anasazi as he disintegrated into shreds of alien organic 
matter.
A few dazed minutes later, they found Spender out in the warehouse with a Morley 
tucked into the corner of his mouth and a rag tied in a tourniquet around Krycek's 
leg. Marita knelt beside her lover, stroking his sweat-beaded forehead. He threw an 
arm around her shoulder.
"It's OK," he insisted. The smartass grin returned momentarily to his lips. "Flesh 
wound.
"How did you know?" Mulder, Scully, and Marita turned back to Spender as he drew 
blissfully on his cigarette. Covarrubias' brow rose.
"You might be amused by this," she said coolly. "Would you believe woman's 
intuition? When I looked into his—its eyes, I didn't see Alex. I'm sure you could 
never understand what it was I was looking for, Mr. Spender."
The smoking man's face went slack with pain, then recovered into a sardonic smile. 
"I'm just happy you tipped me or Fox, Dana and Alexei might not be here right now."
"And I," Marita murmured, "Am happy you abandoned a lifetime of paranoia and 
failed to lock the door after inviting Col. Grey in."
Spender stopped in mid-puff, nodded, and turned away, reluctant to reveal that 
seeing his son again, even under these circumstances and given Fox's contempt for 
him, had rattled him.
"You might want to reserve judgment about the old guy's sloppy work habits." An icy 
finger ran down Scully's spine as the cheerful voice echoed off the walls. Spender's 
cigarette sparked as it dropped to the floor and smoldered on the concrete.
"Forget the back door on your last smoke break, Grandpa?" Charlie asked, stepping 
into the light, machine pistol in his well-manicured fingers.
The three of them turned to find Charles Scully flanked by a rather large party of 
military personnel standing in the hallway. "Charlie?" Scully stammered.
"I'm sorry, the door was open so we just came right in.  I hope we're not 
interrupting anything…" Charlie said sarcastically as he motioned for his colleagues 
to divest the party of their weapons.  Two burly men pulled Alex to his feet at the 
protest of Marita who was ushered back into the room with Scully.  Mulder was 
wrestled into the room after them flanked by more of Charlie's men.  The door 
slammed behind him leaving Alex, Spender and the rest of the party in the hallway.
"We know what you've discovered and we're here to see that it falls into the right 
hands." Charlie addressed them as he continued to survey the room.  He eyes soon 
fell on the small glass enclosed room beyond.  He motioned for several of his men to 
check it out.  "There's a Native man in here, Sir," one of them reported.  
"Excuse me," he said all too politely.  Moments later a single shot echoed around the 
room.  Scully flinched.  "Oh God".
"Ms. Covarrubias, if you'll continue to pack things up we'll be on our way." Charlie 
said, emerging from the glass enclosed room with his men. .
"Why don't you get your own hands dirty for once you arrogant prick?"  Mulder 
seethed at him.  A slight nod from Charlie and Mulder felt the ass of an automatic 
rifle pound into his ribcage.  The impact doubled him over but the two goons holding 
him would not let him drop, his knees buckled.
"Charlie stop this!" Scully yelled, pushing her way past Marita until one of the 
soldiers grabbed her. "Charlie, what's happened to you? Think about mom, what 
would dad think of you? How can you do this?" she uttered in disbelief. 
"Don't you get it sis, mom doesn't know me and I don't give a damn what dad 
thinks." Mulder watched as Scully's face fell with Charlie's admission.
"You can't take the vaccine, it hasn't been tested properly, she continued to plead 
with him.  "Don't you understand it might not be safe?"
"She's right," Marita added.  "We only know it kills the black oil virus, not what it 
would do in human testing."
Charlie eyed Marita momentarily; when he evidently surmised she was only being 
truthful he scanned the room, his eyes falling on Mulder. "Well, then, maybe we 
should find out," Charlie's eyes held only contempt as he looked across at Mulder.  
"Why don't you fill up a syringe, Marita?  We'll test it now."
Scully realized all too soon what her brother was preparing to do.  "No! I won't let 
you do this Charlie."
"He won't have to," came Marita's voice from across the room. "I'll do it."
"Marita, no!" came Mulder's plea as they all turned to see her placing the syringe 
against her arm, preparing to inject it. His attempt to wrench himself from the 
guards earning him another punch to the abdomen that knocked the wind from his 
lungs; he stood panting as Marita pressed the needle into her arm., her eyes 
meeting his.
"Damn it!" Charlie yelled as he crossed the room to where Marita stood.  He grabbed 
her and shook her, the partially empty syringe flew arm across the room.  "Tell me 
there's more. Tell me you didn't use it all."  
Marita staggered in his grip. "There is—there's more in the vial." She motioned to 
the vial still lying on the counter.  "There's more in the case."
"Fill another syringe," he ordered.  When she didn't comply he shook her again.  "Do 
it now!"
With shaky hands Marita filled another syringe and handed it to Charlie.  He took it 
and walked over to his sister.  He grabbed her left wrist and pushed her sleeve up to 
expose her forearm while one of his men held her shoulders.
"What are you doing?" Mulder yelled, his faced etched with pain from the blow to his 
gut as he tried to pry himself from the grip of his guards.  "Christ, she's your sister!"
"Not since she took up with you," he snarled back. "You going to let me do this 
Mulder or are you gonna sacrifice yourself for the good of your country?"  Charlie 
turned to look at him, the threat clear in his eyes.
"Give me the damn syringe!"  Mulder demanded.
"Mulder, no!" Scully pleaded as Charlie dropped her arm and took a step in Mulder's 
direction.  The guard pulled Scully's arms behind her back as she tried to struggle 
from his grip.  "Charlie please!  If I mean anything to you, don't do this!  Take the 
vaccine and test it properly!"
"It's you or her, Mulder, your choice."  Charlie purred standing only inches from 
Mulder's face..
Mulder looked over at Scully, met her tear filled eyes.  "Trust me," he mouthed 
silently.
"Tell these goons to let me go, I'll do it myself."
Charlie met his eyes.  He must have trusted what he saw there, "Let him go," he 
said to his men as he handed the syringe to Mulder.  Mulder wasted no time it 
grabbing it from him and jamming it into his left bicep and pushing the plunger 
home.
"Oh God, Mulder, no…" Scully sighed.
He yanked the needle from his arm and threw it at Charlie's feet.  "Let her go," he 
demanded.
When neither Marita nor Mulder showed any signs of distress after several minutes 
Charlie instructed his guards to let Scully go. Mulder held her closely as they 
watched Charlie and his party to gather the remaining vials of vaccine and make 
their exit taking the body of the Anasazi man with them.  Charlie stopped in the 
doorway, turning back to address Mulder.  "You know what I was hoping for, don't 
you Mulder?  Watch your back."
It took them several minutes after Charlie had left to realize they were alone in the 
room. "You okay?" Mulder asked, looking down at her.
"I can't believe it," she sighed.  "I can't believe he's my brother."
"He's not your brother anymore, Scully," Mulder murmured, tilting her chin up to 
make her look at him.  "At least not the brother you knew."
Scully took his left wrist and twisted his arm so she could look at the spot where he 
had injected himself.  There was a small bruise forming but nothing more.  She 
touched it gently.  "You feel okay?" she asked with concern.
"Yeah, I think so," he winced, touching his tender abdomen.  Truth was, he felt a 
little lightheaded. Scully met his eyes.  "You took a terrible chance, Mulder."
"It was the only way I could think of to get them out of here.  I was hoping they'd 
just take what they came for and leave."
"Including the Anasazi?"
"Jesus, what was he thinking?"  Mulder looked around.  "Where's Marita?"
Outside, they found the hallway empty as they headed out to search the building.  
Scully's quietly uttered "Mulder in here," from the open doorway of an empty office 
made him freeze.  Inside he found Scully stooped over Marita as she lay on the bare 
floor.  Her skin was gray and mottled, cold to the touch; her breathing shallow and 
labored. At the tip of her outstretched hand lay an empty syringe.  Mulder reached 
over and picked it up.  
"She injected herself Mulder."
"I don't understand, it didn't affect me this way," Mulder commented somewhat 
confused.
Suddenly he felt a cold hand touch his and he looked down.  Marita's eyes were 
open, looking intently at him.  He held up the syringe, "Why?  "Why did you have to 
do this.?"
"I had to know for certain who you were," she whispered.  "Scully has to know."
"I don't understand," Mulder whispered back, caressing Marita's hair.  "What are you 
trying to tell me?"  He looked up as Scully stepped away.  "I'm going to see if I can 
get a signal, call the EMT's," she said leaving the room.
Mulder scooped her head into his lap as she looked up at him. "One man can change 
the future, Agent Mulder.  Be that one man," she sighed.  Mulder held her as her 
eyes glazed over, her last breath coming in a final gasp.
**
When Mulder emerged from the building he found the place already crawling with 
local law enforcement.  Scully was standing next to one of the officers.  "What 
happened here, Agent Scully?" the officer asked her.  She surveyed the scene 
around them. "You're looking at your future, detective."
"I don't understand" he replied
"Just hope you never have to," she looked away when she saw Mulder walking 
towards her.  "Excuse me."
He was already shaking his head before she asked the question. "She's dead, Scully.  
The vaccine was lethal."  He kept on walking.  "Any sign of Spender or Krycek?"
Scully turned to follow him, worried.  "No one was here but the local law and the 
EMT's when I came out."
"You didn't call them?"
"No, to both those questions," she answered when he finally came to a stop.  
"Mulder, what about you?  Why did it kill her and not you?"
"I think that's for you to figure out, he said turning to face her.
"Damn you, Mulder," she hissed, her eyes filling with tears again. "You knew?"
Mulder put his hands on her shoulders.  "Not at the time.  I couldn't let him use it on 
you Scully.  You know me, this overprotective streak I have.  You're gonna be the 
one who saves this planet someday Scully, not me."
"You are so wrong Mulder, you are so wrong," she said pulling her eyes from his 
honest gaze to watch as EMT's brought Marita's body out of the building. "Don't you 
ever do that to me again," she said, meeting his eyes again.  "Promise me you will 
never do that again."
Mulder looked up and sighed.  "I can't make a promise I can't keep," he said, 
reaching out to pull her close.  "You're going to have to decide if you can live with 
that."
THE DISTRICT CLUB, WASHINGTON DC, THREE DAYS LATER
While Charlie was in awe of the imperious Strughold and amused by the furtive, 
meditative Spender, the Scarred Man had always elicited a deeply subcutaneous fear 
in the young man.
He'd long ago become accustomed to the European's prominent disfigurement, and 
the Frenchman's past sins certainly were no darker than Strughold's. It was the 
Scarred Man's inscrutability, his relative affability in the face of cataclysm and 
atrocity. As if there were no horror abysmal enough to touch the man. To Charlie, at 
his core a creature driven solely by ill-concealed fear, he was a more alien entity 
than the beings The Consortium alternately conspired with and against.
Even now, as his fellows laughed and drank inebriated by their sense of pending 
liberation; he quietly sipped his brandy, a Gioconda smile traversing the long white 
scar that ran from his throat to his non-existent hairline. Charlie tore his eyes away, 
inspecting the table at the center of the clubroom set with expensive linen and a 
dozen hypodermic needles with pride.
Certainly, failing to terminate Mulder and Scully or that turncoat Krycek was no 
feather in his cap among these ruthless men. But he had delivered salvation to their 
doorstep, and the rest had soon been forgotten.
"Gentlemen," Strughold called, raising his glass. "Today, we become pioneers, the 
first organism on this planet to cheat its own extinction. And as a great man once 
told me, with survival comes the opportunity for ascension. Thanks to our unknown 
benefactor, we and our descendants will rise from the ashes of humanity and stand 
toe to toe," the German chuckled; "so to speak; with the highest race in our 
universe. May our grandchildren and their grandchildren talk of this day, and may 
our enemies one day fear them as their masters."
An approving rumble rolled through the loosely gathered assembly, punctuated by 
the tinkle of antique Waterford. The Scarred Man was the first to lower his glass, and 
he gestured toward the table. "Gentlemen, se vous plez?"
Predictably, Charlie started toward the center of the room. "Charles!" Strughold 
snapped imperiously, face suddenly dark. "We have matters to discuss, privately. 
Gentlemen, continue."
Charlie, chastened, followed the old man into an anteroom off the main clubroom. 
He'd forgotten his place, and in his misery, he failed to hear the snick of a lock 
engaging.
"Ah, the impetuosity of youth," Strughold chuckled. "Please, please, have a seat."
Charlie looked up to see a countenance as cheerful as St. Nick's; if Santa Claus' eyes 
were as sharp and carnivorous as Satan's. Strughold nodded toward a plush wing 
chair, and his protégé slowly lowered himself onto the cushion. Strughold poured two 
amber Sherries from a huge decanter on a sideboard, handed Charlie one, and sat 
across from him to savor the liqueur.
"You know, Charles," he began, "when I was a boy, far younger than yourself, I 
found myself with the opportunity of working under the tutelage of one of the pre-
eminent scientists of my homeland. I'm sure you would recognize his name, or any 
of the names by which he came to be known. 
I'll call him Josef, though had I ever addressed him so familiarly in my impetuous 
youth, my, my, the consequences." Strughold smiled nostalgically. Charlie felt a chill 
that had no relation to the club's antiquarian architecture.
"I had been a good student, particularly in the sciences, when the call to serve 
Mother Country went out to the youth. When I was told I would assist this man, ach, 
you might have told me I would be sitting at the right hand of the Archangel Gabriel. 
Of course," Strughold sighed, "he was a monster, an abomination of humanity with 
vile tastes and perversities. All cloaked in the veil of Science.   Josef was, of course, 
a delusionary monster, but his delusion was shared by an entire nation." Strughold's 
expression darkened. "There are those who might argue that we are equally 
delusional and, perhaps, equally monstrous. The Reich was willing to slaughter 
millions to establish itself as a global empire. We are willing to sacrifice billions on 
the chance that we might survive the onslaught of our enemy."
He leaned toward Charlie, who inhaled sharply as the German seized his wrist. 
Strughold's mineral eyes bore into his. "You have proven your loyalty, Charles, and 
so I will share with you a secret countless men have given their lives to protect. 
Josef, those monsters with whom I once swore allegiance, they were the fathers of 
our struggle today."
Charlie swallowed, confused and somehow certain he did not want to know what he 
was about to learn. Strughold smiled darkly, but did not release his wrist. "In the 
summer of 1939, Hitler's Intelligence was called to investigate a report of an unusual 
air crash a hundred or so miles outside of Dresden. They suspected a reconnaissance 
mission by the British or the Russians, but instead discovered a craft so advanced in 
technology they knew it could not be of terrestrial origin. Two bodies were found in 
the wreckage; they were taken to a laboratory in Dresden, where the doctors 
examining them became first comatose, then managed to kill five soldiers before 
they were burned alive with gasoline.
As no doubt you have guessed, this was the modern world's first documented 
encounter with the Black Virus, the Black Oil. Their secret discovered, our "friends" 
from beyond contacted us with the lies they have spread, for all we know, for 
centuries. We were told this Black Virus had spread through their race, and now 
mankind faced extinction through infection with it. Der Fuhrer, as mad as any of the 
monsters with whom he had thrown in, believed their tale and, further, embraced 
their grand plan. He was to mount what today we would call a massive genetic 
screening program encompassing first all of Europe, then, when he was successful, 
the rest of the world. He would round up representatives of every culture and race, 
take blood and tissue samples, and turn these over to his new extraterrestrial allies. 
His "allies" would screen this diverse DNA for genetic resistance to the Black Virus.
Hitler at this time was formulating his own horrible Final Solution for the Reich's 
dominance, and this new plan no doubt appealed to his delusions of social and 
genetic superiority. You have seen the fruits of this conspiracy -- the trainloads of 
human cattle, the camps, the experiments, the abattoirs of a people gripped by 
madness and desperation. No one but Der Fuhrer's inner circle knew of the 
otherworldly dimensions of this holocaust, and Hitler himself had no idea that his 
extraterrestrial allies' plan was, of course, to eradicate any trace of resistance from 
the planet they and their far more powerful allies planned one day to dominate. 
Under the guise of Josef's insane experiments with women, children, we participated 
in this grand inventory of the human race. Charles, are you well? I am sorry, my son 
-- I realize this is so much to absorb."
Charlie nodded as a trail of sweat rolled down his temple.
"Of course, our alien friends had no concept of the bloody slaughter they had 
initiated, though I suspect that was of no moral or ethical consequence to them. 
Hitler's genocidal campaign ultimately was the downfall of the entire plan -- the 
world joined together to end the slaughter, and the Reich was obliterated. My 
knowledge of the threat to mankind's continued existence spared me a lifetime 
behind prison walls -- your government provided me a safe harbor and anonymity, 
just as it had many of my countrymen. In return, for nearly 30 years, I worked with 
some of your nation's greatest scientific minds. William Mulder, our good friend 
Spender, many others often of questionable provenance. The American people have 
no idea how they have been catalogued, experimented upon, and deceived about 
nearly every major postwar event of their lives. 
Despite the incredible revelations and incomprehensible inhumanity to which I have 
been a party, nothing has astonished me quite so much as the blissful complacency 
of the masses. As long as they have their reality TV and their sleek cars and their all-
you-can-eat specials, they are willing to suspend their disbelief. Soon, the fantastic 
has no meaning, and the people, they will do, say, believe extraordinary things to 
preserve the illusions that have been created for them.
The Herculean leaps in science once were made by courageous men of selfless 
imagination and vision. They were willing to give their lives to advance a cure, 
isolate a virus, find an answer that had evaded their fellows..."
Charlie cocked an ear at what sounded like a strangling sound from the next room.
"Today, we are driven by illusion: We swallow pills by the handful to eclipse the dark 
truths with which we live daily and starve ourselves in vain hope of societal 
acceptance. Those who survive are those who maintain clarity of vision and a 
memory of history."
The first shriek pierced Charlie's chest. His fingers gripped the leather chair arms as 
he heard the muffled cries of agony from the room beyond. Strughold's eyes closed, 
then opened.
"I have been at hand for many such disappointing moments, Charles," Dr. Mengele's 
former assistant sighed. "I am certain there will be many more before we find the 
answer."
Charlie leapt from his chair and wrenched open the door. Strughold smiled slightly as 
the young man gagged. He waited patiently for Charlie to wobble white-faced back 
to his seat.
"Mr.--?" Charlie asked hoarsely, eyes filled with horror.
Strughold chuckled. "He is a curious man, my Gallic friend. He wanted to see 
firsthand the results of our experiment. Do not fear, my young friend -- I imagine 
he's seeing to the cleanup."

MULDER & SCULLY'S RESIDENCE, ONE WEEK LATER

She was later getting home than she expected.  Armed with her laptop case and 
several bags of Chinese take-out she had picked up on the way as a peace offering 
she fumbled her way into the kitchen.  The house was quiet except for the 
unmistakable hum of the TV set in the front room.  The sudden sound of a crowd 
roaring tipped her off that Mulder was probably watching a game. 

He obviously hadn't heard her come in, sprawled in the big overstuffed chair he had 
labeled his 'throne' his "Fuck, Jeeters, I coulda caught that!" let her know that his 
beloved Yankees weren't having a good night.  When she finally caught his eye he 
looked up from the set.

"Yankees this time?" she asked with a smirk.

"Is there another team?"

"Well I don't know, you seemed to find a game at just about any time of day.  I take 
it they're not having a good night?"

"They suck tonight," he sounded disappointed as he dragged his bare feet off the 
ottoman and motioned for her to sit on it.  He evidently didn't care that she would be 
blocking his view of the game.

"How do you feel?"

Why did she keep asking him that?  The way he had it figured, any reaction to the 
vaccine he was given would have surfaced by now.  Last time he looked in the mirror 
he looked pretty much like his old self.  On orders from his 'Doctor' he'd been on 
medical leave all week while she had divided her time between the office and 
secretly keeping an eye on him. Right now he just wanted to go back to work. 

Curiosity was also beginning to get the better of him.  She'd been evasive all week 
about what was taking up all her time.  When his only avenue of communication had 
turned out to be her cell phone he'd come to the conclusion that she really wasn't 
spending that much time in the office at all.  The unmistakable smell of Chinese food 
had already floated in from the kitchen.  Maybe she was about to come clean.

"I think we've established that I've done nothing but sit on my ass in front of the TV 
for days.  I'm okay, Scully.  What about you?"

She looked a little surprised by his question.  "What do you mean?"

He looked her right in the eye.  "C'mon, I know you've been up to something."

Frankly surprised it had taken him this long to question her; she slipped out of her 
jacket and laid it on the other chair, turning to face him. "Quantico labs."

That had honestly surprised him.  "Doing what?"

"Following a hunch."

Scully watched as his eyes brightened.  "Dear Diary, today my heart leapt when 
Agent Scully followed a hunch."

She couldn't stop the smile that brought to her face.  "You better be careful who 
reads your diary, Mulder," she chuckled softly when his eyebrows did that little 
Grocho Marx thing.  "I've been at Georgetown, working with a geneticist. Doing 
some tests on the Anasazi blood and tissue samples we were able to bring back from 
New Mexico," she bent over and began to pull her shoes off, tossing them on the 
floor in front of the same chair where she'd tossed her jacket.  "Mulder, how much 
do you know about your family history?"

At first he thought she was joking and was about to come back with some wise-ass 
comment, but the seriousness of her expression changed his mind immediately.

"About as much as you do.  My mother's family left Europe before the Holocaust.  I 
don't know much about my dad's," the wheels had begun to turn.  She'd probably 
been trying to trace the Anasazi gene code.  "I doubt I have any Anasazi relatives 
though, if that's what you're getting at."

She reached over and patted his arm as she got up from her spot on the ottoman 
and headed back into the kitchen.  "I wouldn't be so sure."

Intrigued, he got up to follow her.  Trailing her into kitchen, he found her digging 
through her laptop case.  "This genetic trait we found in the Anasazi man, the one 
used to produce the vaccine," finding what she was looking for, she handed the 
scans to Mulder.  "It's in your DNA, Mulder.  It matches what I believed was a 
genetic remnant that we found in your scans back in January.  It might explain why 
you didn't have the reaction to the vaccine that we expected."

"You mean why I didn't croak," he commented sarcastically as he grabbed the scans 
from her.  She watched his brow furrow as he looked at the scans, deliberately 
avoiding looking at her.  She wondered if he even knew what he was looking at.  
Finally he thrust them back at her.  "How would that get there?"

She took the scans from him and laid them on the table, crossing her arms. "Either 
inherited or introduced through some form of gene therapy.  Your father had some 
powerful—associates, Mulder.  Among other things, Victor Klemper worked in 
genetics, as did Dr. Openshaw, one of the doctors burned in that train car.  Kurtzweil 
was an OBGYN…"

She watched as a sick look crossed Mulder's face, "I don't think I like what you're 
getting at."  He backed up to lean against the kitchen counter.

"Mulder," she smiled.  "This could be an amazing discovery.  The Anasazi' immunity 
was something inherent in their genetic code.  Something that as their civilization 
dispersed was lost.  The vaccine that Marita developed came from an original source, 
I believe that's why it killed her.  It would kill anyone who didn't have the genetic 
resistance.  We've identified another source for this gene, you. a white male.  There 
could be others, Mulder.  Perhaps all those medical files we found in West Virginia 
had something to do with that.  But right now, all I have is you.  You could be the 
key to creating another vaccine that wouldn't produce those horrific side effects." 

He made a face like he wasn't too please with that information either, reached up to 
scratch the back of his head.  "Isn't there some other way this would show up in my 
DNA?  I'd like to at least think that my parents knowingly had nothing to do with 
this."

So would she.  "Viruses can leave genetic markers—Mulder I know this all sounds 
cruel in a sense but this is definitely something we should pursue."

"So, what, I get to become your personal lab rat?  Trying to administer a vaccine to 
six billion people seems a little over the top doesn't it?"

"That's not what I meant."

He decided he didn't want to know what she meant and made to change the subject.  
"Please tell me that's Chinese I smell," he smiled a gentle acceptance and motioned 
towards the table with his head.  "Maybe we could experiment on that first."

"Mulder," she stepped closer to him, reaching out to caress his bicep and trying to 
catch his eyes.  "You know me, you know I'm not going to turn you into some 
science experiment." He still wouldn't look at her, but let a bitter laugh escape.  

"I'm not sure I trust my science anymore, not after this."  Realizing how much that 
admission had cost her, he finally met her eyes.  "There was so much I was wrong 
about here Mulder, so much that was beyond our science.  If I hadn't trusted your 
judgment…"  Mulder pulled her hand from his arm and clutched it to his chest.

"Don't berate yourself, Scully.  I'm the master of self-depreciation, remember?" his 
eyebrows went up a little to see if she was with him on this but all he got from her 
was a curve of her lips.  "I want to tell you a story, something Albert explained to 
me," he turned around and took the spoon from the sugar bowl on the counter, 
sprinkled a little pile of it on the counter and proceeded to draw a circle with a cross 
through it.  Scully watched him. "I've seen this before, when I found you outside the 
NTE lab; it was drawn in the dust."

"Albert drew it there."

"When he spoke to you?"

He didn't answer but went on with his explanation of the story as Albert had related 
it to him.  "In some ways I think he was wrong."  

"What do you mean?" Scully asked somewhat puzzled by his admission.  "You 
believed in these visions enough to find the truth, Mulder."

"Yeah, but I think you have also been born with these four virtues Scully, it's why 
we're together on this."  He turned around so his ass was against the counter and 
wrapped his arms around her middle, leaning back so he could see her face.  "Scully, 
I know this body of mine holds a lot of secrets.  Some your science can understand 
and some that for lack of another word are just plain unexplainable." He watched as 
her lips curved again into a soft hesitant smile. "But I've come to accept the secrets 
as a good thing.  That maybe I am the key to something greater than us.  But it 
hasn't changed who I am, Scully. I'm still me and I've come to trust what my body is 
telling me. Can you understand that?"  

She nodded and then touched his cheek.  "I worry about you, you know."  And this 
time she watched his lips curve into that smile of his she cherished, the one that 
went all the way to his eyes.

"You're a doctor, Scully and that's why I want you to hear this.  Whatever happens 
next, I trust you. I trust your judgment   Listen to yourself.  Believe what your 
science is telling you.  Only then can you do something about it."  He pulled her 
close then.  "This is a war Scully, but the victory won't go to those who possess the 
largest army or the most horrific bomb.  Your science is going to find it the humblest 
of things that God has put upon this planet."

She wrapped her arms around his back, completing his embrace.  "Together," he 
said, resting his forehead against hers, "you and me, we have the key to unlocking 
the future."