Invisible Cannons by Mauro. Washington D.C., 20th of September, 3:25 p.m. "Is that it?", Fox Mulder asked, an incredulous tone in his voice. Dana Scully looked at him and frowned; "Not everything you hear about our packaging abilities is correct, you know". She dropped the two new suit cases near the other two and sighed; "Since you didn't provide a clue as to where we are going, I didn't know what to take with me, okay?". "It is fine with me, Scully", Mulder replied, really, "We'll take my car" She followed him as he picked up half of her luggage; "Mulder, what I sti ll don't understand is why, since we see each other almost every single d ay of the week, we also have to spend our very rare and very short vacati on together?". He opened the trunk and placed the two suitcases near his single black on e. The other two went in the back seat. It was only after he had turned the ignition and started to drive leisurely down the tree-lined boulevar d that he turned to his partner; "Scully, do you remember Bambi?". "As in 'Scully, I want you to meet Bambi, she is really nice'?", she aske d, crossing her arms and staring at the road ahead. He smiled; "Yes, that Bambi. Well, remember how she helped us solve tha t problem with the disappearing cockroaches?". "She may have helped YOU!", she exclaimed, "But don't get me involved wi th the bug-lady again. I thought she had gone with that guy...". "Never mind that", Mulder interrupted, "It is time to return the favor. We are headed to the airport". "And from there?". "Alaska". He could almost hear her choking; "To be more exact, Mount Mc Kinley National Park, where she is researching some local fauna". "I wish you would tell me these things beforehand, Mulder", she proteste d, "Is it too late to drop me at my place?". He nodded; "Way too late. We have already wasted a good part of the day , and we have only got six more, and what better way of taking advantage of this break than to use it to enhance and broaden our scientific horiz ons?". "Oh, joy", she muttered, "A week with Bambi, my dream come true". They were flying slightly to the east of Chicago when Mulder suddenly to ok a sheaf of papers from his briefcase and dumped them on Scully's tray table. She slowly put down her book and looked at them suspiciously; "Do n't tell me this is what you do in your free time". "Not at all", Mulder answered, "I also go to lectures and watch TV". "You know what you should do?". "Tell me". "Get a life". She skimmed through the papers and shrugged; "What am I l ooking at exactly?". "Exactly at a 163 documented reports of what is scientifically known as the Cannons of Barisal", he put flatly. "Whose cannons?", she asked, looking at him with an air of aloofness tha t made him smirk. "You don't have to be so obvious", Mulder reminded her, "I know that you don't like this. Bur bear with me for a moment". He browsed through th e pile of papers and extracted a small yellowed slip; "Barisal, a small v illage to the west of the chief mouth of the Ganges, about 70 miles south of Dacca, India. This is a portion of a page from the diary of an unide ntified English traveler around 1840 or so. Hear this: '...walking for m ost of the day, and we are tired. The Sunderbund is oppressive around us , and we wish we could already glance at the shores of the Ganges. This trip would not be so oppressive was it not for the insistent cannons that explode day and night somewhere around us, invisible, and yet present ev en in our dreams...', that's all it says but....". Her hand was up, palm in front, and he stopped; "Mulder, first of all, w hat is a Sunderbund, and second, why are we interested in some battle in 1840?". "The Sunderbund is a huge stretch of swamps and lakes through which the sacred Ganges river gets to the sea", the agent explained, "And there was nothing there at that time, nothing at all, not even villages. Accordin g to some other portion of the diary, the cannons stopped their roaring s hortly after the group reached Barisal, hence the name". "And?", she wanted to know, wondering if Mulder really enjoyed his work or if he did all this just to bother her. "And is not the only documented case", he told her, "Read the documents, here, look at this one, for example", he picked up another paper, this t ime large and seemingly recent; "1965, a Japanese sailing vessel east of the island of Sakhalin heard detonations while they were returning to por t. They thought that it must have been a Russian unit exercising nearby, but later, in port, they were informed that they had been dozens of mile s away from any other vessel". "Weird, I'll give you that, but what...", Scully started. "And look at this one", Mulder interrupted. She sighed and relaxed back into her seat. It was going to be a long flight. ********* Mt. McKinley National Park, Alaska, 21st of September The flat lake rested peacefully embedded between an orange forest and an orange sky. Pink puffy clouds tinged red seemed to move slowly across t he heavens as the wind picked up. Fallen leaves formed small twisters th at traveled for a few meters before dropping silently to the barren groun d. It was a scene of idyllic poetry, and of butt-freezing cold. "Sunset", Fox Mulder put simply, resettling the contents of his backpack and grinning; "Full moon tonight, Scully". "Great", she replied, "So if we don't find Bambi, at least we will have the company of the werewolves. Mulder, why didn't you tell me we were go ing hiking?. I had to leave 90% of my luggage at the hotel!". "I had no time to waste in a discussion with you about packaging habits" , he answered, "If we hurry, we can get to Bambi's camp before dark". T hey set off on the trail, skirting the large calm lake, walking on beds o f orange, ochre, and brown leaves, feeling the wind and the forest scents it carried in its wake. After barely an hour, when the sky was finally turning dark blue, they came upon a small group of tents arranged in a ci rcle around a large bonfire. Scully counted four tents, small ones, prob ably for one or two persons, but nobody was outside. "Spooky", she whispered into Mulder's ear. He shrugged; "If they are not here, we'll wait". He stopped in front of the raging flames, dropped his backpack, sat down on a small log, and ca lled Bambi's name twice. Since nobody answered, he extracted a metallic cup, filled it with cold coffee from a thermos and set it down near the f ire, watching as the dark liquid slowly started to heat up. Scully watched for a minute, shook her head, and sat down opposite to Mu lder. She opened her bag and rummaged through it, wondering if the tent Mulder had brought was big enough for her too or if it was just meant to be for Bambi. "Well, I'll sleep in her tent, if she is moving in with Mu lder", she muttered. Her eyes came upon the gun she had brought with her It was probably silly, but she had learned that Mulder was some kind of magnet for trouble, and trouble just loved unprepared people. She wa s not willing to be one. A little past 10 o'clock, they heard footsteps approaching. Her first im pulse was to draw the gun, but then she resisted it and instead closed th e bag and stood up. Mulder was walking toward the footsteps, flashlight in hand. "Fox!", she heard, and then saw Bambi running out of the dark l ine of trees to jump on Mulder. Her arms flew around him, and the agent gave her a big squeeze and then let her go. "Fox, I am so glad you are here", she said, breathing hard, "For a moment I had thought they had canceled your vacation". "Well, with Skinner that is not a far-fetched idea", he replied, noticing three men standing behind her; "Where were you?". "Catching bugs, dusk is best", she replied jovially, "Oh , let me introduc e you to my team, this is Professor Charles Morgan, from Columbia Univers ity". A small man with thick glasses came forward, smiling. "Ray Cattel i, from the Anchorage Biological Institute". This one was large and had long black hair tied in a pony tail; a native. "And last but not least M arcel Spooner, from Yale". Spooner was an old bald man with shaky hands but a friendly smile. "And there is Dana Scully", Bambi said when she no ticed the woman standing by the fire, "What are you doing there? Come her e and say hello". "Hello", she muttered as she walked to the group and exchanged handshakes with everybody. After that, Bambi didn't even glance at her, although the other members of the team soon mingled with her and started telling h er about their great adventures hunting down rare insects. All very exci ting stuff, had it not been for the fact that she could not pull her eyes off Mulder, who had now extracted his sheaf of papers and was showing it to Bambi. She was smiling and looking hard, though not exactly at the p apers. It came out that Scully slept in Mulder's tent, since he had insisted th at he had to discuss some things with her. Bambi tried to stick to him, but, after a couple of cups of coffee and a few more bug tales, she fina lly went to sleep. "It happened six days ago and then three days ago again", he told her. Scully nodded, closing the sleeping bag zipper up to her neck and sighin g; "The invisible cannons? They heard them over here?". He nodded; "It has been the most recent episode that I have heard of, so , you can imagine how badly I wanted to come up here". "I can imagine", she said, "Where did this happen?". "In a lake 20 minutes from here", he explained, "Short, loud bursts that sounded like cannon fire. I read accounts from the travels of Charles S turt in Australia talking about 'a sound not of terrestrial origin, but r esembling discharges of artillery'; and then also Colonel Olcott in Bhuta n complained that for several nights loud explosions were heard in the mo untains were nobody lived. Scully, this is a phenomenon that has been go ing on for at least two centuries and nobody has been able to explain it" "Fox", she finally answered, "I am almost afraid to ask, but what is you r theory?". "Aliens, naturally", he smiled and closed his sleeping bag, "Frankly, I have to hear them before I formulate a theory. Sleep well, Scully". "Good night, Mulder". ********* 23rd of September, 6:24 p.m. Scully was propped against a massive granite rock, her sunglasses starin g straight at the flaming orange sun. Mulder was a few meters below her, on the shores of the small crystalline lake, pacing up and down, like he had been doing for the past two days. Suddenly he raised the binoculars and peered through them, adjusting the image a few times before dropping them again; "There is somebody on the other shore". "Uh?", she asked, looking and seeing several men walking in an orderly f ile along the opposite shore; "Fishermen, or maybe hunters, or other scie ntists. By the way, where has Bambi been all day?". "Doing her research", Mulder answered, shrugging, "It's her work". "So, that makes you what? Her assistant, to abandon in the shores of a G od- forsaken lake to look at the rocks and the sky? Not her assistant, may be her lap dog". "Scully?", he asked back, "You don't like her much, do you?". "Sure I do, she's as sweet as a caramel pudding, and about as healthy". He smiled, "Patience, agent Scully, patience". ********* 24th of September, 2:55 p.m. He felt it before it happened. It was like a rumble that started out fr om the deepest recesses of his soul, making its way with a deafening expl osion to the outermost of his consciousness. And the ground seemed to sh ake, once, twice, three times, four, five, he realized he was counting th e seconds, six, seven, eight, Scully was at his side, nine, ten, eleven, stop. It was the stillness of the forest once more, as if nothing had ev er occurred. "Mulder", she spoke slowly, almost in a whisper, "Look". He looked at where she was pointing and saw the evidence he needed to co nvince himself of his sanity. The waters in the lake were still rippling , seemingly from a thousand different centers, but rippling wildly; "Invi sible cannons", he muttered, "Let's go, Scully, we have to find out where they came from". Before she could say anything, he was gone, running up the closest hill and toward the northern shore of the lake. She followe d him. "There is nothing", he said, his arms flailing the air, "It was too brief ". "What do you think it was, Mulder?", she wanted to know, "It did sound li ke a shot from a heavy artillery gun, but...here?". "It must be a machine", the agent concluded, "Early in the sixties severa l Russian ships reported similar explosions off the northernmost tip of S iberia. One of the captains, a veteran soldier, swore under oath that th e explosions must have come from a device much similar to our own cannons We must start from the basic assumption that it IS a machine". "Hence we have to find a source of power", Scully followed his train of t hought, "And there is nothing at all around us but forests and lakes for miles and endless miles. Mulder, I don't want to discourage you, but thi s cannot be a machine". Mulder knelt, placing both hands on the humid ground and closing his eyes A moment later, he rose, frowning; "No vibrations. They could be bl ocked by a layer of rock, but they would still need an outside source of power...". "Mulder", she interrupted him, nodding towards the lake below the small h ill where they were standing. Six men, all dressed in heavy raincoats an d carrying heavy-looking backpacks, were making their way hurriedly towar ds their position. "Hide", he told her. "What about you?". "I'll see what these gentlemen want", he answered, "Quickly, before they see you". Barely a few seconds after Scully had disappeared behind a thi ck fallen tree, the six men spotted Mulder standing alone in the clearing. Three stayed behind, while the rest ran to him and stopped barely a few paces from him. One o f the men, high, thick, and with piercing blue eyes, approached him, nodd ing; "Who are you?". "I have the same question about you, sir", Mulder kept his tone friendly , "I am just a guy here...picking mushrooms". "Well, I have to ask you to leave this area immediately", the man replie d, "We are a special team of scientists. We have reason to believe that there has been a release of highly toxic agents in this area, and we are evacuating all civilians". "Uh? Did you...by any chance, hear a loud explosion some time ago?", Mul der asked, probing the territory. "Explosion?", he asked, "No, can't say I did. Sir, it is really importa nt that you leave this area now!". Mulder was about to go for another tangent in the conversation when his glance fell on the barely concealed .45s the two men in the back carried in their side holsters. And their hands were getting close to the butts. It was time to go. He nodded, looked around as if making sure he was n ot forgetting anything, and trotted away whistling a happy tune. Fiftee n minutes later, a quarter of a mile south, Scully joined him. "That was intense", she joked. "If they are scientists then I am an alien from another galaxy", he soun ded angry, "At least they gave me the benefit of the doubt and didn't sho ot me on the spot". "We should go back to camp", Scully suggested, "Get our guns, just in ca se". "I didn't bring my gun", he said. "What?". "Hey!", he exclaimed, "I thought this was a vacation, not a mission agai nst the enemy. How come YOU brought your gun?". "A feeling of danger", she confessed, "I get that most of the time I han g around with you, Fox. Let's get back to camp". That night there was much discussion around the fireplace. Scully manip ulated the conversation; "No matter how we put it, this is way over our h eads", she concluded, trying to close the topic, "Those people, whoever t hey may be, are professionals, of that we can be certain. We have only o ne gun, and no clue as to what we are looking for". "I still say this is a free country!", Morgan shouted, "If they are here to study the phenomenon, then why should we have to leave? We are only s tudying insects". "We are too close to the area", Scully repeated, "They will find out tha t you are here, if they don't already know, and tell you to leave. And i f you don't, they'll simply shoot you. It's just a matter if time, and i t is dangerous". "Scully is right", Mulder spoke, nodding toward Bambi, "You should take your group away from here". "What about you, Fox?", Bambi asked, concern in her voice. He shrugged; "I want to take one last look at that site. Scully, you ar e with them". "Like hell", she replied curtly, "You didn't expect to drag me all the w ay to this frozen forest just to then dump me when things got interesting ". "Should...should we notify the authorities?", Spooner asked. Catteli nodded; "I have a friend who is a ranger at a station not too fa r from here, we could ask for help". "And tell them what?", Mulder objected, "We don't even know who we are d ealing with. Best thing is to stay low until we get more info". "I don't know, Fox", Bambi said, "But all right, in the morning we split up". Scully could not help but smile. ********* Morning met the two FBI agents on the spot of their previous meeting wit h the six men. No one was in sight, and the only sounds they could hear were the chirpings of some unseen birds. They moved quietly, Mulder in t he point and Scully close behind, her small .30 caliber in her hand and s wooping constantly their surroundings. They walked out of a group of hig h trees and into a small clearing that ended in a massive outcrop of gray rock about 40 meters tall. Near the rock, pacing nervously, were two of the mysterious men. Mulder recognized them as part of the group that ha d stayed behind, probably being just hired labor. All pretending forgott en, the two men were sporting their firearms well in sight, though still holstered. The two agents squatted behind a rock and looked at their su rroundings. There was nothing in the small run that separated them from the guards that could hide them, not a tree, not a stump, not a rock. Th ey needed a diversion. "Hello there!", a familiar voice rang in the air. Mulder stiffened; Scully looked at him, alarm in her eyes. Bambi, followed by the three men, approached the guards, walking leisure ly and waving happily; "We are scientists here studying insect fauna". "Have you, perchance, seen a beetle with green wings and orange antennae ?", Morgan asked, walking past the rest so to leave the line of fire betw een Scully and the guards open. "You can't be here, old man", one of the guards said brusquely, "This ar ea has been restricted. Leave now or you will be in trouble". "We just want information", Bambi insisted, closing on the second guard as to block any sudden movement, "What are you guys doing here?". The first guard suddenly suspected something, brought his hand on the gu n and tried to draw it. Scully shouted a warning, stood, aimed, and fire d. The second guard drew, pushing Bambi away, and fired. The bullet hit Morgan on the shoulder, throwing him down. Scully fired a second shot, and then it was over. Mulder ran to the fallen girl, saw that she was fi ne, and then helped Morgan to his feet. Scully examined the wound; "The bullet went out through the shoulder. W ith a bandage, he should be fine until he can reach a hospital". "We are sorry about this", Spooner apologized, "We thought we could help ". "I should have listened to you, Fox", Bambi agreed, "We will take Morgan to the ranger station and await your return". Mulder nodded; "It was a foolhardy action but it did in fact help. With out your distraction, we would have never gotten near these folks". "Really?", Spooner asked, "Great!". "That doesn't mean it was smart", Mulder objected, "From now on, please stay away from the line of fire". "We will wait at the ranger station", repeated Bambi. She planted a kis s on the agent's cheek and smiled; "Good luck, Fox". "Good hunting, Scully", Morgan spoke softly. She nodded and waited until the four scientists were out of sight before she spoke to Mulder; "The two men are dead". "Good shooting, Scully", Mulder replied, "Any ID?". She shook her head. Mulder frowned; "Paramilitary?". "Or agency", she answered, "Anyway, they are out of the picture. Now we have to worry about their friends". Mulder knelt and picked up a .45 from one of the fallen men. He then st arted examining the area for any clue as to the whereabouts of the other men. All seemed quiet. If anybody had heard the gunshots, they were not showing themselves. "Mulder", Scully called suddenly, "Look at the moss on these trees". He approached and ran his fingers against the velvety green surface. It felt soft and cold; "Moss", he grinned, "What about it?". "East is that way", she pointed, "This is growing facing south. Doesn't that strike you as a little odd?". Mulder brought his hand on the back of his neck, squeezing as his brain worked out an explanation; "A heat dissipater", he finally answered her, "The moss is growing due south because it has a more constant source of h eat than the sun can offer. Any machine has to have a way of dissipating the heat it produces. If the invisible cannons are underground, then th at rock could work out just great to disperse all heat". "Let's have a good look", Scully offered. They walked all around the ro ck, looking closely at the gray and white mottled surface for any cracks or buttons or whatever might indicate an entrance. When they met again a t the starting point, they both looked disappointed. "Nothing", Scully p ut flatly. "The rock is big", Mulder reflected, "If you were to build a large struc ture and you were to blend it with the environment, you would not put som e obvious clue where anybody could just stumble upon and find, would you? ". She smiled slightly and nodded; "I would place it somewhere easy to find but only to those who knew where to look". "Those small outcroppings on the side of the rock", Mulder pointed, "Is it my impression or do they look like a staircase?". "But they are tiny!", she exclaimed, walking over and looking at the smal l rocky steps, barely 5 cm. wide. She shrugged and pursed her lips. It was an idea worth trying. Before she could place her booted foot on the rock, Mulder had anticipated her and was climbing rather gruffly, the gun stuck on the back of his pants. He had to climb almost 20 meters before he reached a small dais carved into the granite. She heard him scratc h against the rock, and suddenly a portion of the seemingly solid granite groaned and moved inwards, letting sunlight penetrate in the shallow cav e beyond. "Did that do anything?", Mulder shouted. "Come down, it opened up!", she exclaimed. "I found some kind of lever up there", he explained once he was down, "It was metallic". "As are those stairs", she pointed out as they entered the cave and saw a vertical ladder going down into the ground, "Man-made". "Or at least made with stuff found on this planer", Mulder told her, "I'l l go first, take my flashlight". He handed it to her and then, taking a firm grip on the cold handles of the ladder, started to climb down. He c ounted 84 steps, so he figured he had to be at least 40 meters below grou nd. He signaled to Scully to come down. She dropped the flashlight, whi ch he caught, and climbed down. "From here on don't raise your voice", he reminded her, "Those four men m ust be down here somewhere". "Mulder, there are three tunnels", she whispered, "Which one do we pick? Should we split up?". He shook his head; "We better stick together now, Scully. Let's see, tha t tunnel was dug on soft dirt", he observed, "While the other have stone walls and roof". "Odd", she agreed, "This place looks as if it was abandoned before it was completed. Mulder, there is some water dripping here". He walked over to where she was standing, at the entrance of one of the s tone- walled tunnels. Cold drops of water dripped incessantly from a port ion of broken rock. Mulder used the barrel of the gun to hit the rock un til the fissure expanded and he was able to remove the portion. Behind i t there was a little bronze pipe, maybe two cm. in diameter, with an almo st invisible crack from which the water came out. "I can see another one just below where the rock cracked", Mulder said, flashing some light int o the darkest corners, "The whole wall must be lined with them. Scully, put your ear close to the wall on the other tunnel and tell me if you hea r anything like running or dripping water". She went, listened, and came back, shaking her head. "Then this must be the tunnel that leads to the machine", the man conclud ed, "Maybe a cooling system for whatever they have down there. Let's go" The tunnel soon started to descend, at a very shallow angle, until i t brought them to a closed door. A large red sign was on the floor, lyin g seemingly forgotten. A large rectangle of red oxide seemed like an abs tract painting on the top of the closed door. "It must have fallen down", Scully said. "Yes, but how long ago?", Mulder asked, picking up the metallic sign and turning it over. A set of barely discernible symbols, some of them resem bling numbers, was etched in purple ink on the ruined surface. He frowne d and let it drop back on the floor. He raised his gun, placed his back against the wall, and signaled Scully to push the door open. As the meta l slab slowly screeched and rolled on its rusted tracks, Mulder moved smo othly, crouched, and leapt across the short open space to find himself lo oking at a man looking at him. The man's hand was fast, but Mulder's gun was already out. It hit the man's skull, making a crunching sound. As Scully stepped over the body, Mulder grabbed her wrist and pulled her clo se to the wall. "Scully, cover me", he whispered, "The others must be very close. Stay a few steps behind and careful not make any noise". "Contrary to what you sometimes seem to think", she complained, "I did no t graduate from the academy yesterday. Lead on, Mulder, and watch your s tep". He bowed his head and grinned; the rocky pavement muted their advance, an d they progressed along the corridor until they reached a railing that fa ced over a large pit from where a loud humming had started to come. "I have it on line!", somebody shouted. "Benson!", somebody else roared, "What are you doing?". "Sorry, sir, I was trying to get this thing to work". "We don't give a damn about that", the man who seemed to be in charge ans wered, trying to push his voice above the mounting din, "Once we have the data, activate the charges!". "Freeze!", Mulder suddenly shouted, "FBI! Stay where you are! Scully, I a m going down". He ran down a small set of stairs and found himself stand ing before the largest machine he had ever seen. It seemed to be made of various metallic forms, circles and squares being the predominant shapes , and the metal was so lucid that the feeble light from yellowish wall la mps was amplified and broken down into several blindingly brilliant strea ks of color. A long strip of what looked like black rubber extended belo w what must have been the bottom of the lake. But beyond the area of the gigantic machine, the lights were off and all was shrouded in darkness. The first man who had spoken made a move for his gun. Scully fired, the bullet ricocheting a span from the man's right foot. His hand stopped an d rapidly returned to a neutral position. "Don't even think about that", she shouted, "Mulder, stop staring and get their guns!". Mulder seemed to snap out of his reverie and nodded. He walked over to t he closest man, grabbed his gun, and moved to the next one. The third ma n was the one who had spoken to him the day before. "You", the man spat. "You shouldn't be here", Mulder spoke, his voice loud to stay above the h umming coming from the machine, "Toxic gases, man". The man bared his te eth in a wolfish smile. "Who are you?", Mulder asked, the muzzle of his gun trained on the man's head, "Who sent you? How did you find this place ?". "My employer is somebody so high you may call him God", the man answered defiantly, "As to how we found this place, we have always known of its ex istence, we were only unclear about its precise location. You see, FBI a gent, data is my business". "What kind of data?". "The one that no one knows how to read". "What is this place?". The man shrugged; "Who can know? Perhaps a laundry room for giants?". "Who sent you?". "You conversation bores me", the man concluded, and, with a sudden swoop of his left arm, he knocked the gun away from Mulder's grasp, then throwi ng himself head-on against the agent. Scully moved the gun, trying to ge t an aim on the attacker, but the two men were locked in a deadly embrace The first man moved and ran for a gun Mulder had dropped. The other ran in the opposite direction. Scully moved her aim again, this time fi ring a precise shot that perforated the first man's leg. He dropped, gra bbing the wound and moaning. The second man was nowhere in sight. Mulde r's fist met the soft flesh of the man's stomach, digging as deep as the rib cage allowed it too. The man gasped for air, tried to reach for the gun on the floor. Mulder's knee was up, hitting him hard across the face and throwing him backwards. He landed on his back, and before he could regain his breath, the gun was again pointed at his face. "Bad move", Mulder said, blood trickling from a corner of his mouth. The humming noise suddenly exploded, a flash of brilliance illuminating f or an all too brief second the extent of the large tunnel under the lake. Then the machine fell silent. "Mulder, what was that?", Scully wanted to know, her gun still trained on the fallen man, "One of the men got away". "It matters not", the man spoke calmly, "By now he already set the charge s. You will never get out of here alive, mister FBI". Mulder gritted his teeth, his aim bobbing; "Tell me what the invisible ca nnons are and I'll carry you out of here!". "I provide answers only to those blessed few that know my name", the man answered coldly, "This place is condemned". Mulder dropped his gun back into his pocket; "So are you". He ran for t he stairs, shouting; "Scully, to the exit! This place is going to blow up !". They ran through the tunnel, the phantasmagorical laugh of the man e choing behind them all the way. Barely a few seconds after they found th emselves outside in the sun, the massive granite rock behind them groaned and sank. Brown dirt quickly covered the hole. To their left, the wate rs of the lake whirled, and steam started to come out. The two agents, m an and woman, both stared enraptured as the water level started to go dow n, stopping suddenly as a huge bubble surfaced and broke into the afterno on sky. Then, a soft rumbling was heard, being quickly replaced by utter silence. "What kind of explosive would do that?", Scully asked. Mulder brought his hand to his mouth; "Not any one we have", he muttered , "That's for sure. Damn, if we had only had more time...". "We can certainly find another entrance", Scully suggested, "They could not have destroyed everything". "He decoded data no one understood", Mulder whispered, looking at the la ke starting to fill up again, "Scully, he knew what he was doing, I saw i t in his eyes. They covered their tracks, I am sure". "So, it's vacation over for us?". "Yes, let's find our way to the rangers' camp, shall we?". "What was that place, Fox?", she asked as they started walking. They tr aversed the forest in silence for almost half an hour. Then, suddenly, M ulder stopped and faced her, his eyes shining with a strange light. "Only those who we can call Gods know the answer, Scully", he said crypt ically, "But at least a good part of the truth they so jealously conceal is out there, and I am going to find it". "Uhmm", was all she could reply, "So, do you think Skinner will give us a vacation to rest from this vacation?". Mulder grinned; "If he does, I have a half-idea about visiting Mexico. You know, Scully, that there are some Mayan ruins over there...". She just raised her head to the sky and closed her eyes. Maybe being wi th Bambi wasn't so bad. At least that way Mulder had somebody else to ta lk to. The End. Written by Mauro Lorenzoni. September 1996. --------------101818F52DC9--