From spooky42@juno.com Wed Apr 09 02:28:22 1997
Subject: *NEW*  "The Naked Eye" 
From: spooky42@juno.com
--------

====================
"The Naked Eye"

written by GreenFish
<spooky42@juno.com>
post date:  9th April 1997
=====================
INTRO:  I wrote this about a year ago, I think, as you might tell
from the references to past cases (I think), but I always thought it
was kind of a wacky premise, so I decided to finally post it on the
list.  Comments are always fielded with joy-- I love hearing from
you people!
=====================
DISCLAIM:  Scully and Mulder aren't mine, but everyone else is...
and in this scary way, I'm totally proud of that.  I owe my title of this
story to that Lucious Jackson song of the same name.  One of the
coolest songs I've ever heard.

DISTRIBUTION:  wherever

RATING:  R  (for nudity and language--ooh, sounds like a movie)

SPOILER/CONTENT:  No spoilers (except for third-season stuff,
maybe-- but even that, nothing big, except in part 9.)  Content might
 be a little lewd for some of you... well, let's just put it this way. 
If you 
can't handle nudity, don't go here.  And I'm not necessarily referring 
to nudity in a *sexual* context, okay?  Just plain 'ol nudity.  If you
don't
like it, don't read this.

ARCHIVE:  X; H

SUMMARY:  Mulder and Scully go to uncover a UFO report... but
the scene of the crime is at a place where they might least expect
it...


Chapter one.
	Special Agent Dana Scully headed down into the basement
of the FBI.  Her partner Fox Mulder had once claimed it as the
feeding ground of the FBI's "most unwanted."  Lately she had
begun to feel that way.  Even Assistant Director Skinner hadn't
been quite so impressed with their field reports as of late.  Frankly,
it was becoming a bit mundane.  Even for her.  Scully had always
been interested in the cases Mulder and her took on.  Even if she
didn't always agree with Mulder's theories, she had always been
determined to find out what was really going on.
	But now, even Mulder's enthusiasm had begun to ground
lately.  That was what really got her worried.  Fox Mulder was too
dedicated to his cases to let anything bore him.  He found the most
ridiculously little things fascinating beyond belief.  Usually beyond
her belief, that was.  So his sluggish nature recently was beginning
to bother her.  And it had started to rub off on her, too.
	She set her briefcase down on the desk, looking around. 
The office was still as horribly messy as ever.  She couldn't stand
the mess.  But it wasn't her territory, either.  She noticed one
significant detail that was missing, however.  
	Mulder.  He was nowhere to be seen.  This was the man
who woke up at five-thirty every morning to take a jog.  A nine-mile
jog.  He then got a cold shower-- Mulder claimed it was great for
your circulation-- got dressed, and headed off to work.  Usually an
hour or two earlier than Scully ever bothered to come in.  That was
why his absence puzzled her.  He could have been sick... but
Mulder was never sick.  In fact, there was no sign of him having
ever entered the office that morning.  
	She sat down at the chair, and spread out some of the
paperwork that she had stacked in a neat pile in the corner of the
desk.  No sense wasting my time,  she thought.  There was always
something to be done.  And it never hurt to get it done early.
	"Scully!  Are you in yet?"
	She heard the voice before she saw where it was coming
from.  Scully looked up from her reading glasses to see Mulder
coming dashing in the room, his briefcase and suit jacket flapping
behind him.  She was surprised to see the pink flush alive in his
cheeks.  She was surprised to see him running through the halls of
the Hoover Building, for that matter.  "What?"
	"Scully," he said between breaths, throwing down his
suitcase and jacket.  She noted the tie he wore, splotched with
"Have a nice day" smiley-faces all over it.  That's interesting, she
thought.
	"What is it, Mulder?"
	"We got a case!"  Mulder said it like it was the first and the
last investigation he was ever going to get.  Scully stared at him,
waiting for him to elaborate.  Mulder was running so full of
adrenaline, he didn't notice her look until about twenty seconds
later.  "Oh--" he said.  "Yeah... this case, Scully... is the one we
have been waiting for."
	"Yeah, right," she said, and went back to her work.
	"Seriously.  Scully--"
	She looked up again, as he leaned over the desk, giving her
a pleading look. 
	"All right," she said.  "What do we have?"
	
	"This guy says he was abducted by aliens, along with his
wife, and two of their friends."
	"Yes," Scully said, looking at the picture.  It was just a facial
shot, a slightly older man, probably his late forties, not incredibly
attractive, but not too weird-looking, either, she noted.
	"So... this is the surprise bonus, Scully-- we have an entire
group of eyewitnesses who can correlate the entire story, pictures,
and..."
	Scully lifted her eyebrows.
	"...evidence."
	"What kind of evidence?" 
	"A recovered piece from the extra-terrestrial transport."
	"Ooh.  Feels like Roswell all over again," she muttered.
	Mulder gave her a look, and continued on.  "Anyway... we
have got everything, Scully!  If we get on this case, we could be
able to prove, indefinitely, the existence of UFO's and extra-
terrestrial life!"  Mulder was almost grinning.
	"So, when do we leave?" Scully asked.  She was ready for
anything by now.
	"Uh..." Mulder sat down.  
	"What?"
	"I didn't want to tell you this right away, because I thought it
might, uh-- curb your enthusiasm for this case.  I mean... this could
rise us out of the depths of this basement if we seal this one,
Scully."
	"What is it, Mulder?"  She glared at him.
	"It's the, uh... location, of the incident."
	"Yes?"
	Mulder swallowed.  "It's a nudist colony."
	"You have got to be kidding me."
	"No, but, uh--"
	Scully pursed her lips for a second, and then opened her
mouth.  "All right.  Well... we're federal agents.  They'll have to let
us in, fully clothed."  She raised her eyebrows at Mulder, and he
gave her an apologetic look.

*	*	*	*	*

	"But we're federal agents!" 
	"Look... I'm sorry ma'am, but we's here gots our rules, and
we jus' can't allow somethin' like that.  'Specially after the... uh,
incident... the other night.  It'd rile up the members."
	"We need to carry our weapons with us, as a protective
measure," Scully insisted.
	"No worry 'bout that... none of us can have any sort of
weapons 'round here.  We's jus' don't allow that.  Besides... you do
want cooperation, don't ya?"  The large man behind the counter
stared back at them.  He was completely au natural... and if Scully
had bothered to look down any further--
	Ugh.  
	The man looked back at the two agents, who were obviously
overdressed for him.  "Look... I'll tell you's all what... if you agree
to
go our way when you're outside... I'll give you a corner trailer
where you can wear your... clothing when you're over there."
	Mulder looked at Scully, who stared back at him, an obvious
look of disgust poured over her face.  "Could you excuse us a
moment?" Mulder asked.
	"Sure."
	Mulder pulled Scully aside.  "Scully... if this is a big deal for
you, we don't have to do it.  But this could be the case that breaks
our mold here."
	"I just..." Scully shook her head, and looked around.  "Look,
Mulder.  I'll admit.  I'm not exactly comfortable with this idea.  And I
don't want to have to go parading around here if I'm not sure we're
going to find anything."
	Mulder touched her shoulder.  But instead of making her
more secure, it made her more nervous about the whole thing. 
"Scully, I'm not too excited about this, either.  Believe me.  But I
think we have to do this if we want to find out what really
happened."
	Scully looked at him for a second.  "Can I have some time to
think about this?"
	Mulder nodded reassuringly.  "Let's go out for some lunch,
huh?"
	Scully wasn't too sure if she was up for eating much right
then either.

*	*	*	*	*

	"You're not going to watch, are you?"  
	Mulder's eyes widened suddenly.  "Oh... no.  I just, have to,
uh... go over there, and um-- get ready."  He walked over to the
other corner of the room where the guy at the front desk had stuck
the two.  
	"All right."  Scully turned around.  "And, Mulder..." she said
warningly.
	"Same to you," Mulder said.  
	Scully laughed slightly.  "Sure," she said.  
	Right, Mulder.  Don't you wish.
	She reluctantly started to take her shoes off, as she heard
the soft woosh of air as Mulder's pants fell to the ground.  Here
goes nothing, she thought, tugging on her belt.

===========================

Chapter two.
	"I feel kind of liberated," Mulder joked, as the two stepped to
face each other again.  They both found it very difficult to be in the
presence of one another, as they weren't quite sure where to look. 
Finally, they decided that strict eye contact was safe.
	"Let's go, Mulder," Scully  said.  "We've got a case to solve." 
As they stepped out, Scully found herself unconsciously folding her
arms across her chest, in an attempt to hold whatever modesty
she'd ever had out.  Like that was going to help, she thought.  She
knew her efforts were futile, anyhow.  If anyone really wanted to
see anything, they surely could.
	She just hoped that no one wanted to see anything.

	Scully blinked in the bright California sunlight.  Thank God
it's warm out, she thought, as a set of goosebumps ran up her arm,
despite the hot breeze that blew throughout.  Perhaps it was the
idea of her being that completely exposed that was making her
chilly.  She tried not to think about it, because the more that she
did, the more she was made aware of her complete vulnerability. 
Scully hated that.
	Suddenly, a person flew across their path, almost knocking
them over.  Scully forgot about her defensive stance for a minute,
and held her hands up in a surrenderistic gesture.  The person had
been running so fast, their figure was almost a blur.  But not before
they noticed that the person was fully clothed.  
	"I guess even nudist colonies have streakers," Mulder said.
	Scully bit a smile back, and said, "So, who are we talking
to?"	
	"Jonathan Meldon.  He's the guy you saw in that picture." 
Scully nodded.  "He and his wife agreed to answer some questions
about their experiences.  They claim they remember everything. 
Without hypnosis."
	"No kidding."
	"Scully," Mulder said.  "Let's give these people a chance.  If
we can get this--"
	"I know, I know," she said. "This could prove the true
existence of extra-terrestrial life.  I know that, Mulder.  I just wish
we didn't have to do it here."  Her hands once again rested across
her chest.  She hadn't bothered to worry about her bottom half, as
she knew there wasn't much she could do, anyhow.  Mulder
continued to furiously rub his hands together, attempting to release
some of the nervous energy he had built up.  
	Me too, Mulder thought to himself as they continued along
quickly.  The faster they could get out of broad daylight, the
happier the pair felt they would be.

	"So, Mrs. Meldon," Scully said, looking at the tall, large
woman before her.  "Would you mind, telling me again what
happened exactly."  Scully sat alone in the trailer with Meldon's
wife.  She had sent Mulder and Jonathan outside for him to
interview.  Scully was tired of the outdoors already.
	"Well..." she started off.  "I know how nutty this is sounding. 
But like I told you, we were out on our midnight walks."
	"Yes.  And what do you all do out in the middle of the night,
anyhow?  Any particular reason you like to be out well after
midnight?  Alone... in the woods?" Scully raised her eyebrows at
the woman.
	She hung her head slowly, and then looked back up at the
FBI agent.  "So... we like to have a little fun... beyond the normal
activities."
	"Are you suggesting that your husband and you, and your
friends go out to engage in..."
	"--Sex orgies?"
	"--Sexual activities involving multiple partners?" Scully said,
almost in tandem with the woman.  As her phrase hung out longer,
she didn't even realize what Meldon's wife had said until a couple
seconds later.  The pointedness of it stuck out in her mind.  She
wished she could be that forthright sometimes.
	"Yes," they both replied at the same time.
	"I mean... yes," the woman said a second later.  "Yeah... we
have," she replied.
	"And in such an event, " Scully continued, "has there ever
been any sort of alcohol involved?  Substance abuse?"
	"'Abuse?'" the woman echoed.  "No, I actually wouldn't--"
	"I'm talking about any sort of substance that... might have
affected your-- mood, altered your psychosis, perhaps--"
	"Are you saying we're psychotic?"
	"No!" Scully said, standing up, and hitting her hand on an
end table.  "What I'm asking is if there were any type of drugs,
alcohol, or tobacco substances at any of these events, and
especially, the night of your... experience."  Her arms swung out in
exaggerated emphasis as she spoke.
	"Oh," the woman replied.  "Why didn't you say that in the
first place?"  Scully said nothing, but sat back down, and waited for
the woman to continue.  "We've had... a couple Budweisers before
we left.  But we never brought any with.  John thought it would
hinder the natural enjoyment of the... feelings, ...you know."
	Scully nodded slightly.  "But nothing else?" she said.
	"No," she replied.  "Like I said, John had this thing about it--"
	"Yes," Scully cut in.  "I can imagine.  What I need to know,
Mrs. Meldon, if you might have been intoxicated at the time of the...
experience."
	"No," she replied deadpan.  "While we were still a bit... uh,
excited, maybe... we certainly weren't drunk.  Believe me," she said
to Scully, looking her in the eye.  The two stared levelly at each
other.  "When I'm drunk--and I used to drink a lot before--you don't
feel anything.  It's like you're numb to the world.  Believe me," she
said again.  "I felt this."
	"No hallucinations, you think?" Scully asked.
	"Agent Scully.  I didn't imagine this.  I may not be totally...
normal..." she said, waving her hands up in the air almost as if
putting herself on display.  It made Scully cross her arms even
more tightly across her chest.  "...but I do know what I saw.  We
were abducted, Agent Scully."
	"Would you be willing to take a test to prove that?" 
	"Yes, I would."  
	Scully sighed.  "So, how did it happen?"
	Mrs. Meldon went on to explain the entire incident, from
beginning, to bitter end.  It all sounded good and true... but then
again, who knew what these people were reading?  Scully had
once told Mulder that abduction folklore had become so prevalent
in modern culture, that if you asked one to explain a typical
abduction procedure, they might concoct the same such scenario
as they had many times heard.
	She had also been reading recent studies that the
subconscious could perhaps, trigger the idea of an 'implanted
memory' in someone's head, or a 'fake memory,' one of the major
problems they had developed with regression hypnosis.  There,
unfortunately, was really no other way to tell whether it was the
truth or not, unless she could come up with some physical
evidence.  The people could easily have just been dreaming about
it, or it could be some unconscious fear brought to life in the form
of a dream.  Some nocturnal terrors were so realistic, they actually
were the cause of violent tendencies in people, almost like what
happened to Assistant Director Skinner not that long ago.  What
they really needed was another witness account to back those
claims up.  And she had to hear Mulder's story before she could
come to anything on that.
	"All right," Scully finally said.  "I guess I won't be needing
you for anything further."
	Just then, there was a knock at the door.  
	"No need to knock," Marcia Meldon called out.  "Come on
in."
	Mulder popped his head through the doorway.  "Actually, I
was just leaving.  I was checking to see if you were almost done in
here."
	"Yeah," Scully said, standing up.  She saw Mulder's head tip
up slightly, and look away.  "We just finished.  I'll meet you
outside?"
	He nodded, and shut the door quickly.  Scully looked at
Meldon's wife.  "Thanks for your help.  Will you be around so I can
ask you a few more questions?"
	"Sure." 
	"If not--"  Scully glanced around the room.  "Do you have a
piece of paper?"
	"Yeah."  She went over to the kitchen area, and found a pad
of paper and a pen.  "Here."
	Scully wrote down her number on there.  "If you really need
us, this is my cell-phone number.  I'll try to keep it with me... when I
can."  She looked down at the absence of any pocket to carry it in.  
	"Well, we don't really have a phone, anyway, but if it's an
emergency--"
	"Yes," Scully said.  The two stood there for about twenty
seconds.  "Well," Scully said, breaking the silence.  "I've got to get
some other witness accounts... and get settled in."
	"All right," the woman said.  "Hope we'll see you two again."
	Scully smiled, and stepped out of the trailer.  She squinted,
remembering how much she hated the broad openness of the
daylight.  "Ready?" Mulder said, coming up behind her.
	She jumped a little, startled at his voice.  "Yes," she said,
attempting to regain her dignity.  It couldn't help that Mulder could
see the goosebumps of worry that had formed on her arms when
she had gotten scared by him.
	"Good.  Let's get settled into our rooms."

===========================

Chapter three.
	"What do you mean, you only have one trailer?"  
	"Sorry, ma'am.  That's all we could do."
	Scully stared back at the huge man that stood before her. 
Her eyes were full of rancor, but logically, considering their
situation, she knew there wasn't much that she could do about it. 
"There's nothing you could set us up with?"
	"We're a very crowded place as it is--"
	"Look," Scully said.  "This isn't a personal thing, but
professionally, we're going to need separate places to sort our
work with.  We could really use separate trailers."
	The man smiled at her with his teeth.  Gaining from what
they looked like, she imagined he brushed about as often as he
seemed to bathe.  That amounted to about how much Scully had
obtained time to develop a social life lately.  
	That wasn't very much.  
	"Miss Scully," he said.
	"Agent Scully, if you wouldn't mind," she said.
	"Agent Scully.  I's got thirty-six trailers here.  And a lot of
them is shared by more than two peoples... or couples.  So, you's
got to understand that I had to squeeze in three groups to get you
in back there.  Not that they mind, 'o course--"  Scully swallowed
down the urge to gag.
	"You can't get anything?" Scully asked.
	"No, ma'am.  I wish I could... for you."  He smiled at her.
	Scully sighed, looking to her side, and back at the man.  "All
right.  That's fine, then," she said, and went back into the other
room.
	
	"Well?" Mulder asked.  She noticed him, absently staring out
the window.  Scully sat down on the other side of the room.  
	"No such luck."
	Mulder looked at her, with a sarcastic smile.  "Of course." 
He then remembered, and turned back once again.  
	"Well," Scully said.  "Let's gather our stuff, and move in."
	"Yup," Mulder said, imitating the dialect of the resident
manager.  "Don't you's just love this place?"  Holding his duffel bag
strategically, he walked past Scully, and out the door.  But not
before a light shade of envy washed over her.  She kind of wished
she could do that.  

*	*	*	*	*

	"So, Mr. Neilsen?  You say that you witnessed the event of
Mr. and Mrs. Meldon's abduction?"
	"I didn't witness it," the young man said.  "I was there."  
	Scully went to cross her arms in a skeptical move across her
chest, but she forgot they were already there.  She crossed them
tighter.  "And how was that?" she asked.  "What happened,
exactly?"
	"We were all... out in the forest--"
	"Let me guess..." Scully interrupted, before he could say
anything else.  "Having a little... 'fun  beyond the normal activities.'"

	"Yeah," he said, looking at her.  "You took those exact
words out of my mouth."
	"Ooh... spooky," Scully mumbled between her teeth, rolling
her eyes.  "So, what happened after that part, Mr. Neilsen?"
	 "We were out there, having fun, when suddenly, this
blindingly bright light lit up the field.  I surprised we didn't suffer
any retinal damage--"
	Scully raised her eyebrows at him.
	"I used to be an eye doctor," he explained.  "You know, you
can get serious damage from such an intense wattage of light.  The
light source itself was probably beyond our capabilities-- as a
modern society, I mean.  That's when I knew it wasn't ours.  But I
knew it couldn't have been biological, either.  Nothing-- except the
sun, of course, is that bright.  And it was late at night.
	"It's weird, because, I don't remember how we got on there...
but suddenly--"

	"--we were all there."
	Mulder looked at the tall, thin woman that stood before him. 
"What did the place look like?"
	"It was very... white.  Very sterile.  And the room we were in
just had a bunch of tables in it."
	
	"--like this... huge, examination room."
	"Examination room?" Scully asked.
	"Yeah."
	"And what were they doing to you?"
	He bowed his head.  "First... they put these blankets on us."
	
	"Blankets?" Mulder asked.  "Why did they do this?  Did
there seem to be any discernible motive?" 
	"Other than to embarrass us?" she asked.
	Mulder didn't respond.
	"No... actually, I don't know."  
	"So, what happened after they... uh, covered you in
blankets?"
	"Well, we were just, basically, waiting around.  Until they
finally took them off again.  And that's when they began the tests."

	"What kind of tests?"
	"They were mean," Neilsen said.  "Drills... poking, a couple
shots..."
	"Did you find anything later?"
	"What do you mean?"
	"I mean, have you ever discovered a metal implant on your
body?"  She touched the back of her neck lightly as she said that.
	He shook his head.

	"Have you checked everywhere?"
	"I'm sure I would have found it by now, had there been one."  
	Mulder swore she almost smiled at him.  "Would you mind if
I checked something?" he asked.
	"Is it appropriate for this area, or do we have to make a side
trip?"
	"Just turn around," he said.
	She turned around, her long blond tresses swinging forward. 
	
	"Would you mind, pulling up your hair?" he asked.  "To the
front?"
	She pulled the rest of her hair up front, and Mulder then
grabbed her shoulder lightly, to hold her steady.  He scanned her
neck, looking for a scar... anything.  There was nothing.
	"All right," he said.  
	She smiled, and turned back around.  Mulder saw her long
hair cascading down over the front.  It was so long, it reached her
stomach.  It was extremely beautiful, he noted.
	Mulder didn't realize he had been sizing her up, until she
glanced downward for a second, looked back up, and right into
Mulder's eye, and said, "You're not so bad yourself."  She then
turned around, and walked away.
	Up until then, he had not been sure that the people were
actually capable of independent thought.  Count on him to learn the
hard way, Mulder thought.  "Thanks," he mumbled to himself,
heading back to their trailer.  Hopefully, Scully would be back by
then.  

*	*	*	*	*

	"Scully?" Mulder said, as he opened the door to their trailer. 
He walked in, and could see Scully off to the side.  There weren't
separate rooms in any of the trailers, either, he had noticed.  
	"I'll be ready in a second," she said, not looking up.  "Your
suitcase is in the corner if you want to get dressed."
	"Oh sweet heaven," Mulder said as he made his way over to
where his suitcase was sitting.  Two minutes later, the two turned
to face each other.  
	Fully attired.  
	"All right," Mulder said.  "What do you got?"

	"So this is the witness account that you acquired?" Scully
asked.  She looked down at the notes that Mulder had taken.
	"Yeah," he said.
	"Well," she said.  "I feel kind of weird saying this, but that
sounds almost exactly like the account that the man I interviewed
gave me."
	"You mean his story collaborates hers?"
	"Yes."
	"And what about the Meldon's?" Mulder asked.
	Scully sighed.  "As much as I hate to admit it... yes."  
	Mulder raised his eyebrows at her.  
	"I know what you're thinking, Mulder, but let's not jump to
conclusions too soon.  Look... for as far as we know, these people
could have gotten together, and planned a story to tell!  I mean, we
don't know anything about these people, what they do--"
	"When I last checked, they were just normal people who
liked to walk around naked," he said.
	"And like all normal people, go off into the words to have
sexual orgies?" Scully asked.
	Mulder couldn't help but smile.  It appeared that Scully had
just cracked a joke.  "Well..."
	"Look, Mulder," she said.  "I agree with you that we do have
some pretty strong witness accounts.  Four people, and all of their
stories back up the others'.  But, we also need some physical
evidence from the scene of the... abduction, to prove that these
people had actually been there."
	"Yeah--"
	"So far, all we have are these verbal accounts.  Who knows,
Mulder?  For all we know, these people could just be using this as
a way to bring more attention to this place, and into this way of life. 
As sick as it may seem-- this could all just be one huge
advertisement for this place."
	He looked at her, skeptical.  "I was just going to say that
maybe these people saw 'Orgy of the Vampires' one too many
times."
	Scully looked at Mulder, shaking her head, but said nothing. 
Only Mulder, she thought.
	"What?"
	"I think we need a look at that UFO piece, Mulder."
	Mulder looked down at his fresh clothing, and the pleasant
feel of the cotton shirt and jeans on him.  "How about tomorrow?"
he suggested.  "I never really realized how much I like these
clothes."
	Scully smiled suddenly, and nodded.  "Okay," she said.  "I'm
going to type up some of these notes, and get my thoughts
collected.  We can check that out in the morning."
	"Great," Mulder said.  "And by the way-- I like that shirt."
	Scully looked down at the olive-green ribbed T-shirt she had
on with her khaki pants.  "Thanks," she said to him.  She liked
Mulder's jeans, too.

===========================

Chapter four.
	Scully did not sleep very well that night.  She had gotten
over jet lag for the most part, after almost four years of what
everyone else saw as "exotic traveling."  The truth was, it was all
just a huge pain.  Her best friend Ellen had often told her that she
was lucky to be running around the country in a high profile job...
with a good-looking partner, of whom she could always rely on...
	But then again, there was also the worry of constantly
having someone on your back... never knowing if someone might
be lurking in the shadows with a pistol trained on you, a partner
who was constantly obsessed with some new case--who made it
his entire life's quest... though it was not that Scully wouldn't miss
him if he was gone...  As much as she avoided admitting it, she
actually did enjoy her work, and part of it had to do with working
with him.  He was like a good friend, as Ellen had said, that she
could always "rely on," without being too overprotective or
smothering.  Scully wasn't all that crazy about a lot of the men she
had run across in the law enforcement business.  If they weren't
doing anything to get ahead, they just weren't competent enough to
handle the job.  And many of the officers who were admirable, at
least in her view, for some reason, always seemed to have a
problem with her competence.  Simply because she was a woman.
	Well, she thought.  I'm not just another female agent there to
look pretty.  She reached over onto the nightstand where her
Walther PPK 7.65 was sitting.  Running her fingers over it lightly,
she set it quietly into the drawer.  That was another reason she
hadn't been too excited about taking on this case.  Scully had
spent the entire plane ride-- all eight hours of it-- mulling the idea
of this over.  That much time to think about one thing was definitely
not healthy, she decided.  And now she couldn't  fall asleep.  She
glanced over at Mulder across the room, where he slept peacefully. 
Interestingly enough, Mulder had always claimed to be a light
sleeper, while Scully was always the one who could sleep through
a tornado.  At least, that was what her mother had always said.
	Now he was sleeping like a baby.  And a baby he was... so
innocent, and without worry.  When Mulder had joked about feeling
"liberated" at the beginning of their investigation--that day... it felt
like an enternity since then--she wondered if he had been partly
serious.  So much of his time he spent locked up in that tight suit,
she wondered if he was actually enjoying this.  Scully then realized
at that moment how little she really did know of Mulder.
	No, she thought, like a black crayon running through her
brain.  Mulder looked just as happy to be wearing jeans as you did. 
She had to stop thinking so much.  It was beginning to ruin her
train of logical thought.

*	*	*	*	*

	"Rise and shine.  Coffee's on!"  Scully squinted her eyes,
and opened them to see Mulder's face directly over hers.  She
gasped, and had to cover her mouth to keep any sound from
escaping.
	"Mulder!" she said.  He was definitely too cheerful for-- she
glanced at the clock-- 7:04 in the morning?  "What are we doing up
so early?" she asked through a yawn.  
	"'Early?'  I was up at 5:30 on a jog this morning.  I managed
to sneak out of camp and grab us some bagels."  Scully's head
perked up.
	"Bagels?" she said hopefully.
	"Yeah.  They smelled pretty good when I took a peek in the
bag, but I haven't opened them since then.  Oh-- and I got some
cream cheese, too."
	She managed to drag herself out of the cot which was
supposed to represent a bed, and slowly sat down at the bench
that had served as Mulder's bed just a few hours earlier.  "How'd
you get out?" she asked conversationally.
	"Oh, well, you know... I had to sprint my way to the gate to
make sure nobody saw me in clothes, but I was fine as soon as I
got halfway across."  Scully nodded.  She found herself slightly
amused at the idea of Mulder sprinting across the grounds, trying
not to be caught... wearing clothing, of all things!  This was
probably the one and only time they were ever going to find
themselves with that problem, she thought.  She was slightly
assured by that idea, too.  
	"So, when are we going to check out that UFO piece?"
	"A couple minutes," Mulder said through a mouthful of
bagel.  "Let's eat first."
	She nodded again, taking a sip of coffee.  It was pretty
good, actually.  "Did you make this?" she asked.  He nodded.
	"I did the best I could under the circumstances.  There's not
much to deal with here.  I should have picked something up on my
trip out into the real world."
	She smiled, despite herself.  "It's not bad, Mulder," she said. 
"I think I'm getting spoiled by your coffee."  He shrugged.  "Maybe
you should come in and make coffee for me all the time."
	"We could arrange that," he said.
	She looked up at him, a worried expression crossing her
face.  What was he up to now?
	"Of course, that means you'd have to join me on one of my
jogs, then."
	Her eyelids lowered.  "Wouldn't you like that," she said,
barely audible.
	By the time Mulder caught the statement, he realized it was
too lame to reply to, anyhow.  "Well," he said, "enjoy the coffee--
and your clothes--while you can.  We're supposed to meet a--"
Mulder glanced down at a scrap of paper he had on the table, "--
Jason Gruber... in about twenty minutes.  We have to be across
the camp by then.  Supposedly, he's the one who found the
remains."
	Scully flicked her eyebrows.  "Great."  
	"Cheer up, Scully," Mulder said, brushing her red hair away
from her face.  "Maybe this one won't turn out to be monkey pee
after all."
	Scully's mouth hung open slightly as he went to the other
part of the trailer to clean up some of his stuff.  She couldn't
believe he remembered her saying that.

*	*	*	*	*

	Scully peered at the huge piece of metal that was sitting at
an angle.  It was wedged into the side of a trailer.  She couldn't
figure out--for all of God's name--how it could have gotten wedged
like that.  But she wasn't exactly positive it was a piece of a U.F.O.,
either.   She glanced over at Mulder, who was talking to the guy. 
He looked to be about the same age as Mulder, maybe, but it was
hard to tell.  Mulder looked young for his age, anyway.
	Scully ran her hands down the piece of metal, searching for
anything that might give her some insight.  True, the metal ran
about six inches thick--which was pretty damn thick for a piece of
normal scrap metal, she had to admit.   She also couldn't figure out
why it was lodged in the trailer... but she still had no proof that the
piece was of extra-terrestrial nature.  Though she knew that was
the first thing running through Mulder's mind.  Scully just needed
some sort of proof one way or the other.  It was annoying her not
being able to do anything.  Maybe, she thought, if she went over it
enough--
	She just didn't want to look like she was trying to fondle the
thing.  At a place like this, she didn't think it would have been put
past anyone.  

	"So you stepped out the next morning, and found it there?"
Mulder asked the man standing before him.  The guy nodded.
	"I didn't know what the hell it was... except that it happened
to be sitting there.  I didn't know much at all, until Jonathan
stopped by."
	"Jonathan Meldon?"
	"Yeah," the guy said, looking up at Mulder.  "That's right. 
Anyway, he comes by, and with this huge surprised look, steps
back, and looks at me--"  As he spoke, the motions pantomimed
what he was saying.  "--and goes, 'Holy shit!  That's a piece of the
U.F.O. that abducted us!'"
	"How was he so sure of this?"
	"Well, you probably heard it yourself, but he was taken up
the other night, when they were out in the woods, having fun--"
	"Yeah, yeah," Mulder cut in.  "I was informed.  But how are
you sure that this is a piece of a U.F.O.?"  The guy gave Mulder a
look like he was crazy.
	"What the hell else could it be?  There's a huge chunk of
metal thicker than anything I've ever seen... at least around here,
and there certainly wasn't any other activity in the area."
	"No weather conditions, you don't think?"
	"If you're talking about a tornado--which is about the only
other thing that would have caused that... no.  If the winds from a
tornado had been strong enough to do that, I suppose it would
have blown our trailer over like a pebble, anyway."
	"But it didn't knock your trailer at all when it happened? 
Wake you up?"
	"Well... I wasn't woken up.  But Kyle was--"  He looked at the
door to the trailer just as it opened, and a tall, lean guy still stained
with early morning stubble stepped out.  "There he is now.  He
woke up when it happened."
	Mulder raised his eyebrow, and turned to the other guy, who
started to head in Mulder's direction.  "Hey," the guy said.
	"Hi," Mulder said.  "Agent Fox Mulder, FBI.  I was wondering
about what you saw, or heard when you woke up in the middle of
the night."
	"Actually, I sleep pretty lightly, anyway, but when it hit, it
basically knocked the trailer up at an angle, and then back down. 
We didn't tip too much, but it was enough to wake me up.  I really
didn't know what had knocked me up like that.  I thought it was
Jason, so I hit him on the arm, and went back to sleep.  None of us
knew until we came out the next morning... and found it lodged
there."
	Mulder nodded.  "Did you two find anything interesting on
the piece itself?"  He looked over by the piece of shrapnel, where
Scully continued peering over it.  
	"Not really," Kyle said.  "Until we glanced under it."
	They headed over to where it stood, and Kyle bent down
into a bridge position to look under it.  "Under here," he called out. 
"You can really see it good."
	Mulder bent down carefully on his knees, and poked his
head under the curvature of the metal to see what Kyle was getting
at.  He pointed to what seemed like an indentation at first.  But it
turned out to be some sort of pattern.  "Wow," Mulder said, caught
in wonder already.  "This is almost representative of what they
found on the downed craft at Roswell.  The people said that the
inscriptions on the metal were almost like hieroglyphics, except
nothing like anything they had ever seen before.  This could be
part of some alien lexocology, that we may not understand..." 
Mulder's words drained off, caught in his own fascination.  
	Kyle pulled himself out from under the piece, to notice a
particular unfamiliar-looking female catching glances at him.  Quite
critically, actually.  "Hi," he said to the redhead.  "I'm Kyle.  Are you
new here?"
	"Actually-- federal agent.  Special Agent Dana Scully, FBI." 
She wished she'd had her badge with her.  Scully felt like she
couldn't justify herself without it.
	"You work with that other guy?" Kyle said, motioning to
where Mulder sat underneath the metal plate.  Only his shins were
visible from under it.  
	"Yes," she said.  "We're partners."
	"Oh," Kyle replied.  Her eyes narrowed in return at his tone
of voice.  What he said next, however, completely threw her off
guard.  "You have nice breasts."
	Scully found herself mortally speechless.  Her mouth hung
open in unabashed shock.  Jason, who stood next to Kyle,
suddenly found it necessary to explain the statement.
	"We're pretty comfortable with open sexuality around here,"
Jason said.  "It's not something to be offended by... he just meant it
as an observation, anyway."  The only thing Scully could manage
was an extremely forced nod.  She looked at the two with a wary
eye.  "Being blunt is actually a good thing about being here," he
continued on.  "Our denouncement of clothing has also provided us
with a more aware view of each other as a whole.  Did you know,
although we claim to be one of the most free societies in the world,
that sexually, we are one of the most repressed?  Europeans are
much more free in that sense, not just through their art, or movies,
or nude beaches, but on a general whole?
	"Back in World War I and II, when the American soldiers
went over to France, especially the black regiments, they were
overwhelmed by the response that the French women gave them. 
They were much more adept to opening themselves up to the men,
understanding their needs, and definitely gave them more of a
'close encounter,' if you'll excuse the term.  When the men came
back to the U.S., they were appalled by the 'chilly' response that
the women were paying them, and the extreme racism that the
blacks had to face up to again.  Back in France, the women would
dance with any of the men, but the women back in the U.S. were
extremely picky and close-minded in many of the minds of the
soldiers who came back.
	"That's why our camp is one of the more ideal situations. 
Although you appeared a bit surprised at Kyle's sexually blunt
comment--or what might appear so to you--it's actually something
that we've commonly heard or said to others around here.  Kyle's
very proud of what he has, and has no qualms about showing it off,
either--"
	Scully's head tipped up and back.  "That's... very
interesting."  She hoped he would refrain from any sort of
demonstration.  Luckily, he did.  "Uh... Mulder?"  She popped her
head underneath the metal piece, where she noticed Mulder
mumbling phrases to himself as he ran his fingers over the
writings--or whatever it was.  This was certainly the height of
Mulder's enjoyment, she was sure.  He seemed to be at the throes
of his delectation as far as she could tell.  She almost hated to
disturb him.  
	She then remembered the scene she had narrowly avoided
above her.  "Mulder," she said again.
	"Huh?" he said, broken out of his trance.
	"Mulder... have you found anything useable down here?"
	"What do you mean?" he said absentmindedly.  He was
obviously still off in another train of thought.
	"Like, something that's going to prove that we're looking at a
U.F.O. here?" she said.
	"Oh-- yeah," he said.  His tone had suddenly taken an
upturn.  "C'm'ere... you have to take a look at this."  Scully carefully
lowered her body onto the grass.  She felt kind of weird sitting on
the grass with nothing coming between her skin and the ground.  In
fact, it was probably the first time she had ever experienced that
sensation.  It definitely felt weird.  "Here," he said, lifting her arm
up to touch the piece of metal.  "Feel this."
	The metal was cold against her fingertips, even though
she'd been touching it quite a bit by then.  Maybe it was the fact
that Mulder was holding her arm up like that.  She wouldn't have
even noticed something like that, had his bare skin not been
touching hers by her left hip.  She resisted the natural urge to
scoot away, as that would probably only make the situation worse. 
She forced herself to concentrate on what she was supposed to be
looking at.
	"What am I supposed to be feeling here, Mulder?"
	I don't know, he thought to himself suddenly.  But he hoped
she wasn't feeling that same butterflies in her stomach that he was. 
He suddenly realized that they'd never had to stand so close in
proximity since they'd been at the camp.  Perhaps it had been an
indirect avoidance, or maybe just coincidence--but it made him all
the more aware of his own nakedness.  Not that he cared so much
about Scully--although a natural element of curiosity lingered
slightly-- he suddenly found himself suddenly very self-conscious. 
Almost like Adam and Eve's discovery of their own nudity in the
Garden of Eden, he felt like he had just eaten the forbidden fruit. 
Mulder suddenly realized his grip from Scully's arm  It dropped a
bit, not expecting the sudden lack of support.  
	She brought it back up quickly, not wanting to appear as if
she had been depending on him, and continued to trace her fingers
in the path that the indentations made.  "What do you think this is,
Mulder?" she asked.
	"I don't know.  I was thinking that maybe it was related to
something like what they found at Roswell..."  Mulder could almost
hear the sigh coming out of Scully's mouth:  he didn't even need to. 
"Really, Scully," he said.  "What they discovered, supposedly, was
inscriptions on the side of the ship that they thought might
represent an extra-terrestrial language that we might not know of. 
The inscriptions could even be similar to that of the Voyager
message that SETI has been transmitting, except that it's the aliens
speaking to us, Scully!   And think--by the evidence that we have
here, we could maybe even find out where they come from... what
their motive is--"
	"Don't jump the gun, Mulder.  This could just be a bunch of
gibberish.  I mean, it could have just been melted in by a very
human sodering iron for all we know.  Some construction worker
could have just had wiggy hands--"
	"Then how could it get lodged in there?" Mulder asked,
pointing to where the piece made an arc upward and fused itself
into the side of the trailer.  
	Scully shrugged.  "I don't know, Mulder.  I say we get some
pictures of this-- writing, or whatever you want to call it, and then
see what we can get off it.  Do you have a Polaroid?"
	"In my bag."
	"Well, I think we're done interviewing our witnesses... let's
go back and grab that camera."
	"All right."  He dared not look in her direction.  Although he
had not really been paying attention, Mulder had caught a few
snippets of conversation that had come between Scully and the two
guys he had been interviewing.  He decided getting the camera 
was a safe option.

===========================

Chapter five.
	They sat back in their trailer, dressed once again, sitting
over a lunch of sandwiches and Polaroid's.  Scully was almost
getting tired of the constant dressing and undressing.  She, though
only for a second, almost wished she could just sit around without
the clothes, if only to avoid the hassle of putting them on again. 
But the silky feel of fabric against her skin again only made her
throw that thought back even further.  She picked up one of the
photographs that they had taken, and looked at it.  They had
turned out pretty bad, actually.  But Scully could kind of make out
what the metal had engraved on it.  She actually hadn't ever seen
anything like it in her life.  The complex maze of circles and shapes
was unlike anything man-made that she had so yet encountered. 
Then again, what they really needed was a epigrapher to confirm
that.  Unfortunately, they were so few and far-between to find,
anyway, and she certainly didn't think they were going to get a hold
of one here.
	She had to go with the benefit of the doubt.  "I don't think
this is extra-terrestrial, Mulder," she said to him.  He put down his
sandwich, which he had just taken a bite of, and finished chewing.
	"What else could it be, Scully?" he asked.  Mulder held up a
picture, tracing some of the intricate lines with his finger.  "These
are way too detailed and thin to be caused by a man-made
product."
	"How do you even know this is hieroglyphic, anyway,
Mulder?  I've seen some decorated jewelry with patterns this
intricate on metal."
	"But on metal this thick?  This doesn't even look like
anything I've ever encountered before."
	"So?  Who knows?  Maybe this is representative of some
ancient tribe or ritual that we've never encountered before."
	"In downstate California?  Look, Scully, my Uncle Jack
always said that this state was full of fruits and nuts, but I think
you're stretching the band a bit.  Even for this place."
	"It could be a cult," she said.  "I mean, what do we really
know about what these people do around here?  The Meldons,
along with everyone else, had to make a point that they were going
out in the woods to have 'fun beyond the normal activities.'  What
do you suppose the normal activities are?  What if they were
breaking some sort of code by going out there, and had to concoct
some sort of story to cover it up?"
	"Scully, they admitted to doing it.  And if it all was such a big
joke, do you think they would have gone so far to contact the FBI to
investigate it?"
	"Maybe they didn't," Scully said.  "Who contacted you
again?"
	"Mr. Meldon.  He was the one who was in the middle of all of
this.  I doubt he would have called us all the way out here for
'monkey pee,' Scully."
	"Maybe he needed a legitimate cover.  Or, maybe, like I
said, they're trying to get publicity for this way of life.  I mean, who
knows, Mulder?"
	"Scully, you're still overlooking the obvious point.  How
would that metal piece have gotten stuck in there in the first place? 
It certainly wasn't a tornado, you heard Jason Gruber say that.  I
mean, it had to be something weird to get stuck in there, and not
knock the whole trailer over."
	"And how do you know that has anything to do with a UFO,
Mulder?  That could have been there before this whole incident
occurred... if it occurred, and it could have just served as a further
point for the case they were bringing to us."
	"But you can't prove that," Mulder said.
	"And either can you," Scully countered.  "If we're going to
get anything, we're definitely going to need more evidence.  I think
you should sweep that piece for fingerprints."
	"Sure, Scully... now that it's probably been touched by
everyone in the single entire damn community.  We're going to get
nothing off of that."
	"Well, then, captain... what do you suggest?" she asked,
looking up at him.
	Mulder thought, and then took a bite of his sandwich.  He
swallowed.  "I don't know yet," he finally said.  "I'll let you know
when I'm done eating."

	"This is ridiculous, Mulder.  I don't know what you expect to
find--"
	"Maybe nothing," Mulder said.  "But you never know..."  His
voice trailed off as he continued digging around the metal piece. 
He was convinced he might find something if he only dug enough. 
"I could really use a handkerchief," he mumbled to himself, wiping
the sweat that was gathering off his brow.
	"Mulder," Scully said.  "I really don't think you're going to get
anything that proves this was a crashed piece of a UFO.  Besides
that being the most ridiculous notion I've ever heard, there's no
physical evidence around this area that it crashed here."
	"What?" he asked, looking up at her for a second.
	"All I'm saying is that if this really were a UFO... for
instance, like they thought about Roswell--and I'm not saying I believe in
this, or anything-- but, there at least would have been some sort of
heat damage to that trailer, wouldn't there?"  Mulder looked at the
trailer.  "I mean, Mulder... you'd think some of this grass might have
been burnt away, too.  If anything fell from that sort of height, it's
going to make some sort of considerable impression in the ground,
don't you think?"
	"Well..." 
	"Look, Mulder.  That impression doesn't go more than a foot
deep.  Asteroids that have crashed, along with meteors have
caused much larger... even permanent, impressions upon crashing
to the Earth.  And another thing... if this thing crashed, where's the
rest of the craft?  Where's everything else that goes with this?"	
	"Maybe they took it back home?"
	Scully shook her head at him, giving him an 'I don't think so,'
look.  "This is ridiculous, Mulder.  We have no proof of anything,
except for their witness accounts, which I think are shaky, at best."
	"Just a few hours ago, you said we might actually have
something."
	"Yeah... sure.  But how's all of that going to look in
paperwork, Mulder?  It's not going to translate very well, and
Skinner's just going to have another pin to prick us in the back with. 
I say we drop this case and head back to Washington.  There's
nothing here that's going to help us.  We don't have anything."
	"Scully-- we haven't looked at all the possibilities yet..."
	"Mulder, I think we've exhausted all our plausible options. 
Anything you might have in mind is only going to dig us even
further into the basement... not get us out."
	"Is that what you think?" he said.
	She shook her head.  "I don't know, Mulder."  She sat down
against the side of the metal piece, its rounded exterior curving up
her back, feeling cool against her skin.  "I guess... I'm just getting
tired of covering vague leads.  Especially around here."  The two
looked over at two women who were making their way across the
grounds.  "I really like my suits, Mulder."
	He sighed, punching his shovel into the ground, and sat
down next to her.  "Me too," he admitted.  "While this wouldn't be a
bad place to meet women..." he glanced at her to see if she'd take
the joke.  She didn't.  "... I guess I really sort of hoped we'd finally
find an abduction case that we could prove indefinitely.  Roswell
was so vague... I mean, it was the first real government cover-up...
but this one, I thought, we could really prove."
	"But no one's going to believe it, anyway, Mulder.  Who's
going to believe an abduction case in the middle of a nudist
colony?  You heard some of those people--they're so into their
philosophy, they sound like they've gone out there, and are lost
forever."  Mulder looked at her.  "And I'm not talking about space
ships, either.  I'm talking about sanity."
	"You think these people are weirdos?"
	"Well," her eyes widened slightly, as she looked to the side. 
"I wouldn't say all of them... but you really have to wonder about
people who have to go off into the woods to have sex."	
	"With the other people's knowledge... yeah," he said quietly. 
"I would have to admit, that does sound a bit strange."
	"So?"
	"So... I think we should stick around for one of these 'activity
nights.'"
	"You're not suggesting--"
	"No," he said.  "I don't think we need to take a walk into the
woods.  I'm more interested in what drives them there."
	"How are we going to get involved in that?" Scully asked.
	"We'll convince them we want to become nudists."
	"What?" 
	"Sure.  You want to walk around naked for the rest of your
life, don't you, Scully?"
	"I do?"

===========================

Chapter six.
	"Oh... great!  I'm so excited you all want to do this!  I knew
you two would come around eventually.  It's really a lot of fun,
actually..."  The older guy at the front desk looked ready to jump for
joy at Mulder's announcement.   
	"Well, we really want to get involved... or actually, just
observe--one of your 'activity nights.'  We want to get a basic feel
for the program, you know."  
	It was funny, Scully thought, but Mulder actually sounded
convincing.  For a second there, she almost thought he really
wanted to do this.  
	"Great," the man said again.  "We have a group meeting
about eight o'clock tomorrow.  I'm sure you'll find it interesting."
	"I'm sure we will," Scully said.  
	She hadn't meant to say anything, but the statement had
slipped.  Luckily, the man either hadn't heard, or didn't notice the
tone it had fallen into.  He simply smiled at the two.  "We'll be
there," Mulder said, and the two headed out.  "Well..." Mulder said. 
"We have about a day to kill."
	"Are you asking me what I want to do, or what we should
do?"
	Mulder held back a smile.  "Do I need to?"
	"All right, all right," Scully sighed.  "What are we doing?"
	"I thought we should find out some more stuff about these
people."
	"More interviews?" Scully asked.  This was probably the first
time Mulder had ever heard Scully argue over what was typical
policy in their investigations.  He wasn't suprised. 
	 Well, maybe a little, he thought.  It was Scully, after all.
	"We can do them together," he suggested.
	Scully thought for a moment, considering the options.  "It
really doesn't matter," she decided.
	"We'll do them together," he said.  
	"Okay."

*	*	*	*	*

	"My name's Casey Marie Williams.  I was born in 1974, in
Newark, New Jersey.  I went to DePaul University in Chicago, and
studied--"
	"Yes," Mulder said.  "I think I got the basic information.  Can
I ask you a few more abstract questions, maybe?"
	"Shoot."
	"They might be difficult."
	"That's okay.  Give me your worst."
	"Okay..." Mulder said, taking in a breath.  He looked at
Scully, and then back at the girl.  "Why did you come to live here in
the first place?  You're not that old, actually..."
	"Well, yeah," she said.  "I came here just after I graduated
from college last year.  I was tired of the normal rules of everyday
life, and I wanted to try a different way of life."
	"How different is it here?  What kind of rules do you have to
follow here?"
	"Well, there aren't too many rules here.  And a lot of them
have to do with basic health.  Like, you're not allowed to smoke,
and drinking is limited.  Marcia Meldon used to drink a lot before
she came here, and now, she barely ever does it.  I used to smoke,
too.  But not anymore," she said.
	"What other kind of rules are there?"
	"Well, no drugs, of course."  Mulder nodded.  "And we're not
supposed to engage in multiple-partner sex, but so many people
do it, anyway.  They just can't do it in camp."
	"Is that why they go out into the woods?"
	"Yeah.  It's kind of stupid, actually... how this camp promotes
liberty, and freedom from sexual... um, repression, I suppose... and
then they have to restrict the way that we do it?"
	"Have you ever... uh, tried it?" Mulder asked.  Scully looked
at him, about to say something, but held her tongue.  	
	"Sure," she said.  "It's not nearly as intimate, but I still
believe that people should have the freedom to do it that way.  If
they want to.  I mean... I can understand where that rule initially
came from--that is, not being able to have more than one partner at
a time--but still, if people want to do it..."
	"Yeah," Mulder said.  "Are there any other types of rules?"
	"Well... religion.  That's kind of a big thing.  Like, that you
can't really have it."
	"Why not?" Scully asked.
	"That's another thing... it, uh, depresses your train of
thought.  It warps your mind into thinking the wrong way, and you
can't think independently."
	"Really," she said.
	"Really," the girl replied.  "I agree, though.  I've been able to
think so much better now that I've given up all those conventional
religious rules.  Not that we don't have our own code, of course."
	"Code?" Scully said.  Mulder got up, and began looking
around the girl's trailer.  She shared it with another guy who was
out at the time.  Mulder listened off-handedly as he glanced around
the walls.
	"Yeah... it's basically a code of respect.  That even if you
don't agree with someone, you have to respect them.  In all ways. 
That's all the law that we really need, actually."
	He saw lots of books scattered around the trailer. 
Apocalypse Culture, one read.  He wondered why he hadn't seen
that book yet.  He noted the author, and continued looking.  There
were a lot of Freudian studies, he noticed.  Big surprise there.  But
the biggest suprise was a book called The Works of Karl Marx. 
Marxism, he thought.  All she needed was a copy of 1984, and that
would close the puzzle.  Just then, he noticed a copy of the George
Orwell novel.  Great, he thought.  A sex-crazed communist.  
	Obsessed with the end of the world.  
	Well, there was nothing wrong with that, he thought. 
Though he never would have said anything to Scully, considering
her Catholic roots, Mulder had never perceived a pretty outlook for
the end of the world.  But if anything, he thought, the
Independence Day route would have been the way to go about it. 
He got a secret chill at the thought of aliens actually attacking the
earth.  Considering their advanced technology--perhaps millions of
years beyond ours--they could easily obliterate the Earth's
population in probably a matter of minutes.  So why, he sometimes
wondered, hadn't they?
	Maybe they just found people like... Casey... too fascinating
to kill right away.  She certainly was interesting.  Ah, he thought.  A
copy of Moby Dick.  Scully would have been going nuts.  He
decided not to tell her it was there.  It might scare her, considering
some of the other things that he had found.
	Mulder rounded the room, taking mental note of the
surroundings for later analysis.  What he saw already told him so
much, anyway.  "Are you ready, Mulder?" Scully said, standing up.
	He looked over at her.  "Yeah."
	"Okay, then."
	Mulder headed out, mysteriously finding the Bobby Darin
tune 'Beyond the Sea' suddenly stuck in his head.  He started to
hum it to himself.

===========================

Chapter seven.
	They had gotten about halfway across the camp.  Scully
couldn't stand it anymore.  "Mulder.  What are you humming?"
	"Huh?" he said, broken out of his thoughts.  "Oh-- uh... I
think, 'Beyond the Sea' --yeah.  You know, that one song-- 
'Somewhere... doo, doo, doo, do... Beyond the sea... doo, doo,
doo, do... Somewhere--'"
	"Yeah, I know it, Mulder," she said.  "They played it at my
father's funeral."	
	"Oh--" he said.  "I'm sorry... I forgot--"  He suddenly stopped
dead in his words, realizing when he had actually started singing
the song.  In some weird way, his subconscious had clicked on to
some earlier memories--probably when she had mentioned
something about that song-- to the time when she had been telling
her how her father always used to read her Moby Dick...
	He was surprised he'd even remembered that.
	"That's okay," she said.  "Why were you humming that?"
	He was about to tell her what he'd just remembered, when
he stopped himself.  It would scare her too much, probably.  "It just
sort of... popped into my head, I think.  I don't know why."  There,
he thought  That was only a half-lie.  He knew why, but he didn't
want to tell her.  The other part was true, though.  It had just...
popped into his head.
	He actually kind of liked that song.

	"Where are we going next?" she asked.
	Mulder glanced down at some of the notes that he had been
carrying with him.  Normally, Mulder didn't like to carry his papers
in plain view, but carrying a suitcase--with no suit to accompany it--
would look dumb, he had thought.  "Um... a John Malley."
	"John Malley?"
	"Yeah.  I don't know what his quirk is, but I suppose we're
soon to find out."
	Scully smiled slightly, and followed Mulder up to the next
trailer.  He knocked.

	"I haven't really been into this whole thing that long," the
man said.  "I was paired with another guy... a Walter Hedley, was
his name, but Walter doesn't spend all that much time around here. 
He likes to hang around the other trailers where people party
more."
	"Party?" Mulder asked.  "What kind of partying goes on
here?"
	"Well, not the kind that you're used to, actually," John said. 
"There's not as much drinking--although beers do get passed
around--and it's not all that wild.  At least, not in a conventional
sense."
	"What do you mean?"
	"I mean... there's ways to get around the rules.  If you really
want to."
	"What?"
	"Excuse me," the man said, and left the trailer suddenly.
	Mulder looked at Scully, a puzzled look on his face.  She
shrugged emphatically at him, and starting looking around.  "What
do you make of this guy, Scully?" he said.	
	"He seems different," she said.  She picked up a drafting
notebook that sat on the table, which was littered with tons of
notebooks, pencils, and loose sheets of paper.  "But not stupid,
either."
	"No," Mulder said, picking up a book.  "'Quantum Mechanics
in the Modern World,'" he read aloud.  "You learned this in your
chemistry classes, didn't you, Scully?"
	"Yeah," she said, with a bit of a chuckle.  "A lot of years ago. 
I was never really good at that stuff."  He scoffed at her.
	"I don't believe that one for a minute."
	"Okay," she admitted.  "I got straight A's, mostly."
	"So... the truth comes out."
	"But I had to work for them.  I'll bet you didn't have to work
too hard to get your grades."
	"Considering my grades--" Mulder began.
	"Whatever," she said, knowing that he was lying.  She
continued looking around the room.  "I don't know," she
commented, thinking aloud.  "I think there's something here that
they're not telling us about."
	"Like what?" Mulder said.
	"I don't know," Scully said.  "It's just-- what are all those
rules that everyone keeps referring to breaking?  And why is it
such a big deal?  Or is it?  Mulder... no one's making anything
clear around here.  And... I think, if we can find the answer to all
this mystery that everyone's putting their finger around, and
under... but never on, we'll find the answers to what all this UFO
stuff is all about."
	"Maybe they're all nervous because of what happened,"
Mulder suggested.
	"No, I don't think that's it.  Remember, Mulder, those people
were nervous about the 'rules' before they were abducted.  They
had to sneak out into the woods that night.  And Mrs. Meldon
sounded like they had done it before, with much secrecy."
	"But where's the secrecy?  Everyone knew about it."
	"It certainly begs the question, Mulder."
	"Maybe that's what this whole abduction thing was about."
	"I'm not following."
	"Maybe these people wanted to be abducted."  Scully gave
him a skeptical look.  "No, just wait a minute... what if, these people
wanted to be abducted, and went out into the woods.  The orgy
thing could have just been a guise to make us think they had some
other reason to be there.... and that's why everyone knows about
this 'secret' trip.  It finally happened, and that's why they called us!"
	Scully said nothing, but looked at Mulder.  She stared at him
until he had to look away.
	"You don't believe me," he finally said.
	"I don't know," Scully replied.  "It's an idea.  But I still
think something weird is going on around here.  What was that thing
about 'But not in a conventional way,' or whatever?"  
	"Yeah," Mulder said.  "There is something weird going on. 
And it has to do with the alien abductions."
	"No.  That's not it.  It's something else," she told him.  "It
just doesn't feel right.  All of those weird rules and regulations.  And the
insistence on sexual activities, but only on two-partner sex?  It's so
strange...  Even for a nudist colony," she added.
	"I admit, there is something else that's... off the kilter...
about this place."
	"We have to figure out what's really going on here, Mulder."
	"Tomorrow," he said, referring to their 'activity night' that
they were attending.
	"Yep," she said, letting out a breath.  "Tomorrow."

*	*	*	*	*

	Scully was rubbing her eyes on the bench--it was her turn to
sleep out on that, as she had agreed to switch off with Mulder on
sleeping quarters-- when the door flew open.  It was Mulder, on his
way in.  Her eyes flew open, and couldn't help but focus on the first
thing that was natural for her line of vision at the time...
	She turned away quickly, trying not to think about it. 
Actually, she had spent the entire time avoiding the look, and,
admittedly, the first glance at it hadn't been all that bad.  It wasn't
something she wanted to make habitual--she certainly didn't want
to give Mulder the wrong idea--but she didn't feel gauche by the
fact that she had accidentally seen him.  She was pretty sure he'd
probably already gotten a good enough look at her, considering he
had to look down to talk to her.  Scully was glad that at that
moment she was wearing at least a pair of underwear and a T-
shirt.  Since she had the blanket on, Scully had since found it
pointless to put on a pair of pants.  After all, she had to take them
off soon afterwards, anyway.  
	"Scully," he said, coming over.
	"What?" she asked through a yawn.  
	He threw her flower lei.  "Here.  C'mon, get dre-- I mean,
undressed.  It's almost time to get going."  She looked at the purple
and pink lei he had handed her.
	"I can't believe I slept for that long," she mumbled to herself. 
She then looked up at him.  "What is this?" she said.
	"It's a lei."
	"No kidding," she said.  "Why did you just give me this?  Or
is this a hint?"
	"No," he said.  "Actually, I'd prefer you with less on--" 
Scully's eyes widened, until he gave her a 'just kidding' look. 
Mulder grinned.  She narrowed them again.  "Really," he started
again, "it was Bob who gave them to me."
	"Bob?" she asked.
	"Bob Akers," Mulder said.  "The guy who runs this lovely
encampment?"
	"Oh, sure."  
	"He just informed me that tonight is Hawaii night.  I told him
we couldn't wait."
	"Oh, no..."
	"And he sounded really excited about us wanted to become
nudists."
	"Oh, of course."
	"I told him we were equally excited.  He can't wait to teach
us some tricks."
	"Tricks?" Scully suddenly said.
	"Gotcha," Mulder said, jabbing a finger in her direction. 
Scully whacked his arm lightly, but it was only a half-hearted
attempt, as she was still sleepy from just getting up.  "Look," he
said.  "I'll meet you outside when you're ready.  I want to take a
quick look around, anyway."
	"Sure," she said, yawning again, and fell back against her
pillow.  Getting out of bed was the hardest part.  Especially
considering the crick that this bench was giving her back.

	Mulder noticed that Scully had put the lei on.  He didn't quite
note where she had set it--whether it was strategically placed or
not, that was--but he wasn't really focused on her, for that matter,
either.  He was more interested in the others.  And for her sake, he
hoped that Scully had some fun for once.  Sometimes he wondered
if that woman ever had really enjoyed herself.  But he knocked
himself for the thought as soon as it emerged.  That was mean, he
thought.  Scully may not have liked the same things as he did, or
perhaps was more orthodox in her methods, to be more precise,
but that wasn't to say she didn't have fun.  Sometimes, Mulder
thought, she probably was able to enjoy herself more than he ever
could.
	Maybe not lately.  Putting aside the nudity issue--as that had
put a damper on the entire idea of fun in the first place, considering
that the tension between the two of them could have been cut with
a knife, though neither one of them was going to admit it-- there
was a whole other realm of problems to be dealt with.  Scully
probably hadn't had much fun since becoming partners with him,
either.  And since then, not only her father, but her sister had died.  
	Scully rarely showed signs of wariness, but he imagined she
got tired of their cases more than she let onto.  They were basically
Mulder's cases, his interests, his life... and it was her career to try
and repudiate what he thought about them.  That wasn't an easy
job.  And not always a fun one, either, he knew.  But this one, he
thought, was not only tiring physically (having to deal with her
nudity--and his--constantly), but also the fact that they weren't
getting anywhere with the case.  That was why he hoped that they
might, perhaps, pick up a lead or two with this night.  And figure out
what the hell was going on at this nudist colony.
	"You ready, Scully?" he said.
	"I don't know.  Are you?"
	"Yeah, I think so."
	"Well, then.  I've been ready," she said, joking around with a
competitive edge that he hadn't heard in a while.  A long while,
actually.  It reminded him of their first case, when Scully had
figured out an important clue to the case.  
	<"Good job, Scully," he had told her.  And with quite a
defiant look, she had replied,
	"Better than you hoped, or better than you expected?"
	"I'll let you know when we get past the hard part," he had
replied.>
	  Right now, that same thought passed through his head. 
The hardest part was yet to come, Agent Scully.  And they both
knew full well that neither of them was probably prepared for what
was about to come next.
	They certainly knew it was going to be a new experience. 
That was for sure.

===========================

Chapter eight.
	Rich Hawaiian music flooded the scene as Scully and
Mulder reached the huge courtyard where the 'activity night' was to
be held.  As far as she could tell, most of the people at the camp
had to be there.  There was at least--by a quick count--seventy
people there, and she remembered Bob Akers telling them that
there was thirty-six trailers, most of which were shared.  She also
noticed some more people arriving on the scene.  Great, she
thought, becoming more self-conscious by the second.  Another
moment later, and she had spotted Bob across the center.  He was
contributing to the huge woodpile in which they were starting a
bonfire with.  Just then, he noticed her.
	Damn, she thought.  She knew he was going to come over
now.  She glanced at Mulder to see him looking back at her with
the same expression on his face.  Scully smiled at him
emphatically, and the two took a seat on one of the wooden
benches that ran around the edges of the huge clearing.  "Agents
Scully and Mulder!" Bob proclaimed loudly, heading over.
	"Hi, Bob," Mulder said, feigning an excited mood.  
	"You came, I see."
	"Yep."
	"So... what do you think so far?"
	"It, um-- looks interesting."
	"Don't worry, the fun's yet to come..." Bob began, looking
around the group.  
	"We're just, um, going to observe," Scully said.
	"Nonsense," Bob said.  "Hey, everyone-- Agents Mulder and
Scully here expressed interest in becoming people preferring a
nude lifestyle!  What'll you think of that?"  Mulder brought his hand
up to his eyes, and over his mouth.  He slowly turned to look at
Scully, whose expression of shock could not have been coupled by
none other than Fay Wray in 'King Kong.'  He realized, at that
exact moment, how small Scully really was, and how exposed she
appeared in front of all those people.  He suddenly had that same
realization wash over himself, immediately followed by one of
horror.  What the hell had he been thinking?
	A wave of clapping broke out, as Bob held his hands out to
the two.  "Really," Mulder said.  "We, uh, appreciate all of this, but
we really just want to observe tonight.  We don't want to get
involved right away."
	"Oh, that's poohey," Bob said.  "You gotta get your knees
wet sometime--if you'll excuse the expression."  He grinned over
Scully, who had to take a step back.  If he had gotten any closer--
God forbid--he would have been touching her.  Mulder stepped in
front of her, thankfully creating a barrier between Bob and her.  
	"Really.  It'd make us more comfortable to do it that way."
	"You'll be screaming to join in by the end of the night," Bob
said.
	Mulder nodded lightly, and Bob headed off to continue
tending with the fire, which had become a huge bonfire by that
time.  "If screaming is the right term," Mulder whispered to Scully,
who stared back at him fretfully, but said nothing.  Scully didn't
know why, but she had begun to develop a sickness in her
stomach.  She felt as if she was being signaled for some reason. 
About what, she didn't know.
	Mulder watched her stare off into the distance for about a
minute.  "What is it, Scully?" he asked.
	She paused before responding to him.  "I don't know,
Mulder," she said.  "I just, suddenly... got this bad feeling."
	Uh oh, Mulder thought.  It was that women's intuition kicking
in, and he knew that when Scully was right, she was right.  What
were they getting into? he wondered, dreading the next few
minutes.  "Don't worry about it.  I'm sure it'll be okay," he said, sure
he was lying.  All he could think about was what Bob might be
putting them up to next.  
	
	As the night wore on, Mulder and Scully sat on the sidelines,
watching people dance freely in front of the circle, and around the
fire.  Mulder had to admit--for free, it wasn't all that bad of
entertainment.  Scully, on the other hand, couldn't have been more
horrified by what she had to watch.  She wouldn't have been
surprised if Mulder had a video in his collection featuring
something like what they were watching.
	It was so much different when you were right there.  And
when you realized you were just as naked as the rest of the people
there.  Scully felt a fresh set of goosebumps form on her arm, and
she shuddered, only partially from cold.  There was a hazy sort of
feel to the air.  The fire's heat blurred her line of vision across the
fire, and the people that she watched were warped, dancing
strange dances.  
	Scully recalled, distantly, a conversation she had shared
with Mulder a long time ago.  "If I were that stoned--" she had said.
	Mulder had laughed, interrupting her.  "Ooh, if you were that
stoned, what?"  She had given him a dirty look, and explained why
the people they had just interviewed were so completely incoherent
as to get absolutely nothing that would stand off of them.  She also
recalled something about a flying hamburger...?  Hmm.  Scully
thought, what to be in the good 'ol days again.  Lately... especially
since they had started this case... she never thought she would
have seen herself the day she said it, but she just hated her job. 
She looked over at Mulder, who was caught in a trance, watching
the people.  She wondered what he was thinking about.
	
	Mulder couldn't keep his eyes off the people, as they
danced around the circle, almost moving in  slow motion.  They
had no real cares or responsibilities, they could really be who they
wanted to be.  They could dance around in a free moment...
completely nude.  And didn't care.  Just then, he remembered.  He
looked exactly the same way as they did.  All he needed to do was
go up there... grab someone's hand... join in...
	He looked over at Scully, whose lower lip was pulled in
tightly.  She stared at the crowd, her arms crossed, but said
nothing.  He leaned over slowly, careful not to scare her with
sudden movements.  "Are you doing okay, Scully?"
	"Yeah," she said.  She certainly did not sound like it.  He
didn't believe her for a second.
	"Do you want to leave?"
	"No," she said.  She didn't look at him.  
	Mulder was puzzled.  "Scully," he said.  "I'm going to get us
something to drink.  Just... stay here, okay?  Don't move."
	She nodded absently, but he wasn't sure if she had really
heard anything he had said.  He got up, and walked over to where
there was a cooler, and a keg sitting by it.  For a society that
doesn't promote alcohol, he thought, they sure do give one enough
opportunity to drink it.  He remembered something Scully had once
told him about not trusting drinks at parties that weren't in cans.  Or
something like that.  He grabbed a Diet Coke for Scully, and a
Mountain Dew for himself, and headed back.  
	As he came back, he noticed she still had that look on her
face.  "Scully," he said, holding up the cans of soda.  "Drinks."  She
almost smiled, and went for the Mountain Dew in his left hand. 
"Hey.  I was going to drink that," he protested as Scully went to
open the can.
	She stared at him for a few seconds blankly.  "Oh," she
finally said.  "Here-- you want it?"  She offered the can out to him.
	"No thanks," he sighed.  "Keep it.  I'll grab another."  He
started heading back to the cooler, and almost ran into the woman
he had been interviewing before.  "Sorry," he said, attempting to
sidestep her, but she went the same way at the same time he did.
	"No, that's--"  They stepped back the same way again.  
	"Well," Mulder said.  "I thought about asking someone to
dance, but this wasn't exactly what I had in mind."  The girl
laughed, a high laugh full of sweet undertones.
	"You're not bad at it," she said.
	Mulder shrugged.  "Five years of ballet school... what can I
say?"
	"Seriously?" 
	"No," he said.  "Uh... excuse me."  
	"Sure."  She stepped aside so Mulder could make his way
over to the cooler.  He set the unopened Diet Coke back in, and
grabbed another Mountain Dew.  The girl watched as he brought it
up, and was about to crack the lid.  "Don't go too hog wild," she
said.
	"Huh?'
	"I said, 'Don't go too hog wild,' now.  You know, diet soda to
a Mountain Dew... that's a big leap.  You should have just gone for
the Jolt cola."
	"Do you have any?" Mulder asked.  She studied his
expression for a few seconds, wondering if he was serious.  She
shook her head.  
	"How about a beer, though?"
	"No," Mulder said.  "I don't like to drink."
	"Hmm," she said, squirting some beer into a plastic cup. 
She took a sip.  "Suit yourself."
	They stood there for a minute, not knowing what to say,
really.  Mulder didn't really mind standing there with the attractive
woman, though.  
	"So, Agent Mulder," she finally said.
	"So."
	She looked at him, as their eye level was about equal.  
"Would you like to dance?"
	Mulder nearly fell to the floor.   He blinked, wondering if he
was hearing right.  "Uh... sure."
	The girl slowly grabbed his hand, her long, soft fingers
enclosing themselves within his.  Her fingertips stroked the surface
of his hand gently as she pulled him along.  God, he thought, it felt
great.  He had almost forgotten how nice it felt to be held by an
attractive woman, if only by the hand.  And an attractive naked
woman at that, he thought.  Bonus points.
	He thought these kind of things only happened in the
movies.  

	Scully took a good slug of the Mountain Dew, and set it
down, waiting for the caffeine to set in.  As she sat staring across
the fire, she thought her eyes would suddenly pop out of her head. 
No, she thought.  That couldn't be Mulder.  She squinted, blinked,
and looked again.  Damn it.  It was Mulder.  What the hell did he
think he was doing?  Just then, she saw someone headed straight
towards her.

	"Agent Scully?"
	"Yes?"  Her back immediately stiffened reflexively.  She
recognized the man as one of the people that she had questioned--
had it only been two days ago? she thought.  It seemed like an
enternity.  
	"Hi-- uh, remember me?  Matt Neilsen."
	"Yeah," she said, barely audible.  He held his hand out to
her.
	"I actually never caught your full name," he said.
	"Oh-- uh, it's Dana Scully."  They shook hands again.
	"Well," he said, flashing her a smile that would have melted
dry ice.  "Now that we've gotten the formal introductions taken care
of, I was going to ask you to join in the dance, Dana."
	She looked up at him, incredulous at his garish
unabashedness.  She glanced over to where Mulder was dancing
with the tall, model-like girl.  A slight feeling of competition that she
had never quite felt before flew through her.  She looked back up
at Matt Neilsen, realizing that he was pretty good-looking.  Very
good-looking, actually.  "Sure," she said.
	As he took her hand, she couldn't help the feelings of guilt
that pushed into her mind for just a second.  That little voice that
muttered, "Dana Katherine Scully-- where are your morals?"
	She thought:  I lost them the moment I took a sip of that
Mountain Dew.  Or more precisely, the moment she had agreed to
go on this case.  What moralistic person would allow themselves to
investigate a case at a nudist colony?  She had to be losing it, she
finally decided.  But there was a definite calming feeling about the
way that Matt held her hand in such an intimate manner.  She had
longed for that intimacy for so long...
	It had been too long.

	Mulder didn't exactly know when it happened, but
somewhere along the line, the girl-- whom he had finally gotten to
know as Kellie Bradford-- pulled him aside, just outside the ring. 
With that same aggressive nature she had demonstrated when he
had interviewed her, she pulled him to her.  He wasn't used to
someone that close to his height... especially, as he couldn't help
but think about it... pressed up that close to him.  Needless to say,
it had been a while in any case.  "Fox," she whispered.
	Normally, he hated his first name.  There were very few
people limited to using it.  This included his mother, Scully's
mother... and as far as he was now concerned, Kellie could use it
all she wanted, too.  However, with the thoughts of Scully's
mother... also came thoughts of Scully.  He realized that he had
completely abandoned their professional investigation for his
libido.  He turned out of Kellie's hold for just a second to look over
by where they had been sitting.
	Truthfully, Mulder expected to see her over there, a clouded
look over her face.  She obviously would have noticed him ditching
her.
	<"Look, we've been working together for what, two years,
now?  I know we have differing opinions, but I didn't expect you to
ditch me.">
	But as he looked over there, she was nowhere to be seen. 
Had she left? he wondered, suddenly becoming worried.  Scanning
the fireside, he finally spotted her in close intimacy with some other
male he didn't recognize.  They did, however, seem to be in deep
conversation.  Satisfied, Mulder turned his attention back to Kellie,
who seemed to becoming more aggressive with each movement. 
She pressed her lips up against Mulder's.  
	Oh my God, he thought suddenly.  
	"C'mon," she murmured in the sexiest voice he had ever
possibly heard.  
	"Yes," he replied.  Not even thinking, he allowed himself to
be led along by this gorgeous woman.  They headed towards the
woods.

	Scully continued to talk to Matt, who turned out to be a very
fascinating individual.  Although he had eventually taken his career
in optomology--before coming to the colony, that was-- he had
worked as a physician in the ER.  The work had been too
demanding, however, and so he had taken courses in optics to
become an eye doctor.  It had been a lot more peaceful, he had
explained.
	She had then told him about her decision to take forensic
pathology as her residency.  As a woman, it was an unorthodox
thing to do, and that was part of the reason why she had done it. 
	"And that's why I came to this camp," he said to her.  "It was
the unorthodox thing to do."
	"But I also love my work," she said.  <That was, most of the
time.>  "Do you like it here?"
	"Yes," he said.  "It's very nice.  And though I can't stay here
forever, it's been a wonderful summer retreat."
	She flexed her jaw and shrugged.  Whatever works for you,
she thought.  Suddenly, Scully glanced off to the other side of the
camp, and noticed something strange.  She saw Mulder headed off
into the woods with that thin California-model-thing of his.  She
blinked, wondering if he knew was he was doing.
	"C'mon," she suddenly said to Matt.  "Let's take a little field
trip."  Scully took his hand, and led him in the direction that she
had seen Mulder headed.

	As they reached the edge of the woods, Scully stopped Matt
with her hand.  He carefully moved her hand off his arm into his
other hand, and waited, but she was too busy trying to figure out
what was going on to worry about that.  "Are we going to be
exposed to poison ivy?" she asked him.
	"No," he said.  "Not if you follow me.  I'll show you the path
that we usually take."
	He led her down a well-worn path until they reached the
edge of a clearing, that was not lit by anything more than the
moonlight.  Once more, Scully stopped him, but this time, more in
mortification and shock.  Just like they had said...
	"Oh my God," she mouthed to herself.  She shut her eyes for
a second.  She hadn't wanted to think about it... hadn't wanted to
believe.  People actually did this? she thought.
	"C'mon," Matt said, starting to pull her along.  
	"Um... I don't think so," she said, taking her hand back.
	"Dana, you said you wanted to become one of us.  You can't
not experience this.  You must."
	For some reason, something told her not to go there.  "No,"
she said firmly.  "I'd rather not.  You can... go ahead without me."
	"But... you brought us out here."
	"I changed my mind," she said.  She had never been so
embarrassed in her life.  Just then, she spotted Mulder, about to be
dragged into the midst of it.  He definitely did not seem to know
what he was doing.  She started sprinting towards him-- the best
she could.  
	When she finally reached the two, the tall bleached-blonde
leaned over on her.  "You'll have to wait your turn.  At least let me
get a run at him first."
	Scully looked to the girl, and then to Mulder with shock, but
nothing she said seemed to have registered.  "Well, before you
do," Scully said, "I need to talk with him.  You see," she explained,
lowering her tone of voice, "you kind of have to prep him first."  
	The girl nodded a little, appearing slightly suspicious.  
	"Trust me on this," Scully said.  Finally, she relinquished him
onto Scully, who gave the other woman the only grateful look of the
night.  "Thanks," she said, and dragged him off the other direction. 
Just as Scully had gotten him to the edge of the clearing, he
started to turn around.  "Oh, no, you don't," she said scoldingly,
and continued to lead him out.
	"But... Scully--"
	"Mulder," she said.  "Do you realize what the hell you were
about to do?"
	"Have sex with a very beautiful woman?" he offered.  His
speech still seemed off-center, though, as if he was still
disorientated.
	"Sure," she replied, nodding.  "And maybe six or seven other
people, too!  Who the hell knows what kind of diseases those
people have... and besides, since when are you into this orgy
thing?"
	"Orgy thing?" he asked, sounding confused.  "What are you
talking about, Scully?"  
	She was still helping him on her shoulder.  When they
reached the edge of the woods, she turned him to face her,
gripping his shoulders.  "That's what you were about to do."
	"What?" he asked, finally comphrending.
	She rolled her eyes.  He must have had something else to
drink along the way, she thought.  There was no way he would
possibly be that slow.  "Yes.  C'mon.  I want to grab our stuff, get
dressed, and get the hell out of here."
	"But... our case... we never--"
	"Forget it, Mulder.  We spend one more minute in this place,
and I'm leaving you to face up to Skinner when he wants to give
your ass to the Bureau's big brass."
	Mulder had started to open his mouth to speak when they
were suddenly silenced.  Time stood still for what seemed like an
hour.  When they were finally able to speak again, Mulder didn't
know how to say it.  "Scully-- did you...?"
	"That light!  Where did it--?"
	"There!" Mulder exclaimed, pointing to the woods that they
had just come from.  The two dashed off through the woods to the
site at which they had just been.  When they got there, everyone
who had been there before... was gone.
	"Mulder?" Scully said, turning to him.
	"Scully," he replied.  "That could have been us."
	"You don't think--?"
	"Don't you?" he asked.

===========================

Chapter nine.
	Scully turned on her computer, and saw the blue light of the
glowing screen as it reflected off her glasses.  She clicked the
mouse on the right icons until she got to her Word program.  She
went under her directory marked, "Dana's journal."  Heavily
passworded and locked.  Scully didn't worry so much about any
critical information leaking out-- it wouldn't be any more than they
had in their field reports that they turned into Skinner-- than the
personal effect it would have on her if she knew anyone had read
it.  It was like a diary to her, though she had long grown out of the
need to write a diary account of what happened every day.  This
was more like a recording of thoughts.  
	She opened up a new file, dated it, and began to type.

	In terms of cases that I have received lately, this has
probably been one of the most difficult.  Not simply on the sense of
a physical level (though constantly being aware of my nakedness
was quite depleting to my self esteem as a person), it was difficult
emotionally because the unity of the people as a group was
something that I found difficult to take in and accept.  We as a
people are born, are thrown through a socialization process, to, per
se, look out for "number one."  These people, as a group, on the
other hand, had grown so close to each other, they were
comfortable on practically all levels of one another.
	Emotionally, physically, mentally, they were able to
understand each other.  They were able to share each other in
sexual experiences, meals, support and love, and be perfectly
content with the homogeneous structure of their group.  They
functioned almost as one, and if one stood up for something, they
would all follow.  To receive the opinion of one individual proved a
very debilitating task for Mulder and I.  And I think that's one of the
hardest things I myself have to encounter within the field.  Getting
people to speak a voice of their own.  The problem I found with this
group was that they could not think as their own people, and what
they saw, what they felt... it was all a collective thing.  
	The problem with most people today is that we are all so
consumed within ourselves, that we don't tend to notice the needs
of others. Where we are at a incapacity, the people of that
residence were the complete whole and ideal of what a accorded
society would appear like.  I have often found myself stuck within
the confinements of my own knowledge, or as Mulder has told me,
"within the boundaries of conventional wisdom."  Admittedly, it is
sometimes a stretch to try and fit a scientific law into an occurrence
in which the laws of such could not apply.  But through persistence
and research, I believe, that (if not now), eventually there will be
reasons formed for everything that happens in our universe.  Some
may be part of a cosmic plan for God, or others may simply be in
that category that Mulder has called the "fantastic."  But, by
peering deeper into the problem, and studying it with a well-sought
and detailed eye, a possibly reasonable explanation might be
deluded from it.
	Too many times have I found Mulder (and many like him) to
simply jump to conclusions before considering all the evidence. 
This case was certainly no exception.  He was too quick to believe
we would find something, when indeed, there was absolutely
nothing substantiated.  Because of his megalomaniacal view of the
world sometimes, he has often dismissed variables, that I believe,
could easily point to a more realistic view of the problem, simply to
fit whatever theory that he wants to believe.  Mulder has found
himself in trouble with superiors, the enemy, even those that he
loves, like his family, to seek his quest for what he sees as the
truth.  Mulder is certainly not illknowlegeable... he is known to do
his homework... but he has a tendency to take the pieces of a case,
and even if they do not fit, he has often cut them to make them fit
his personal solution to the puzzle.
	I will not deny that he has a talent (or perhaps a luck) for
seeing aberrant things that many of us could never deduce in our
own limited minds.  His passion to seek the paranormal is forever
replenished at the smell of a new case; a new mystery to uncover...
sometimes (with his enthusiasm) I question whether he is really
human himself.
	I am able to continue along with life by taking each day for
what it is.  While it is important to keep a spiritual outlook... which I
now believe is the key to happiness in all eventuality... we are here
on this earth to take life day by day, and endure what is to come
along.  Mulder seems, though I don't believe he is religious, to be
searching for a greater cosmic truth:  the search for his sister; why
he chose to take the paths that he did; why he has become what
he has.  
	Even when Mulder is not working, he is working.  
	We were on a few days' vacation not too many months ago. 
I think it was one of the first days that I had actually gained some
time to get some things done around the apartment.  (Note for
later:  remember to finish up the last chapter of "Breakfast at
Tiffany's.")  Anyway, I remember needing to call Mulder for
something or another.  Or maybe I was just bored... I don't
remember.  I finally got a hold of him on the cell phone.  It turned
out he was in Massachusetts, where he claimed there had been
some strange sightings reported lately.  
	Count on Mulder to spend his down time still looking for
UFO's.  That was when he ran onto these experimental robotics
probes from outer space... disguised as (nothing but) cockroaches. 
Not the strangest case we've ever persued, but Mulder... for once...
was too busy following this what's-her-face entomologist named
Bambi.  Count on Mulder to fall for someone named Bambi.
	More recently, though, Mulder got me up at five in the
morning, told me to be ready in five minutes.  We caught a flight
down to Georgia, and another two hour car drive from the Atlanta
airport to check out along one of Mulder's latest obsessions.  (It
had been one of my childhood fascinations, by the way, but it was
something I had lost interest in a long time ago).  Because of the
extenuating circumstances, with my mom being out of town, and all
the sitters booked, I had to carry Queequeg with us.  Mulder was
obviously not too excited about this.  In fact, he did nothing but
gripe about it the whole way down there.
	I still can't believe that it was the last time I ever saw
Queequeg.  I can't help but think what I might have avoided had I
just given in to Mulder's griping and set Queequeg at a kennel... as
much as I deplore those places (considering their poor treatment of
the animals).  Or if I'd just forgotten the whole thing and told Mulder
to buzz off that day...
	Sometimes I wonder about decisions like that.  Is it
something I could have prevented?  Or was it forever irreversible? 
Poor Queequeg!  Imagine the simplistic life he had to lead. 
Worrying only about nutritional fulfillment's and mandatory physical
requirements... That dog had the only thing...
	Dwelling on the fact is not the way to go about this,
however.

	Scully looked at the last two lines that she had just written. 
Deciding she didn't like the way it had come out, she pressed the
delete button, and continued typing.

	Maybe it's nature's course to allow things like that to
happen.  Queequeg had no respect for the nature of the thing
(alligator, to be exact) that attacked him, but the animal also had
no respect for him, either.  And thus, the violent cycle of life in the
natural world.
	Someone once said to me, back at my undergrad days at
Berkeley, "Life's a bitch, and then you die."  How true that can
seem, sadly enough.  But if it wasn't for our determination to
survive, we would not be here.  In the order of a Darwinian
universe, only the fittest survive.  But is it worth all the effort?
	Mulder also said that he had always wanted a peg leg like
Captain Ahab in "Moby Dick."  (Which, by the way, is my favorite
book as I have mentioned several times over in previous entries). 
He explained that it would almost be heroic just to go about life with
one's disability, surviving on that, simply.  That one would not be
expected to make something with their life, but to go on, trying to
live with the fact that you have... a peg leg.  It was a cute theory,
but flawed, nevertheless.  Which makes me wonder about Mulder's
mentality sometimes.  
	I asked him if that was not being flippant.  He said no, but
I'm not sure if he meant no to it not being flippant... or no, to the
fact that he meant that "flippant," was his "favorite line from 'Moby
Dick.'" 
	Hence:  "Hell is an idea first born on an undigested apple
dumpling."  Of course it was a great line, but he had to ruin the
entire line by emphasizing the point that he knew the line.  As if I
don't know the book!  I had just finished telling him about how my
father, and the "Starbuck/Ahab" story... and the only thing he could
do was make a commentary about his simplified viewpoint of
things.
	I think, by being upset by the fact that he was bringing the
point back to himself, is being selfish, myself, albeit, Mulder's
condition of this such "megalo-mentality" is much more advanced. 
I have been thinking about this a lot lately. And I truly do believe,
that on a particular level, Fox Mulder is a lot like Captain Ahab.  I
told him so, and it sort of sunk in about skin deep before he'd let it
sink in any more.  The fact that he sort of blew it off annoyed me at
the time, but I think, in retrospect, it was the only natural response.
	I think the truth hurts, and even though Mulder says he
wants to know the truth, I really question that idea.  What if the
truth isn't what you want to hear?  Would he really want to find the
truth then?  Would I?  
	This case certainly brought up many questions I thought I
would never bring myself to ask.  Questions about my career, and
the direction that it is headed...  And whether I'm ready to spend
another waking moment with my partner after that exhausting
ordeal...
	We still have no idea whether it was truly an alien
abduction.  And even after what Mulder and I saw at the end, I still
can't bring myself to think that these people were really abducted. 
There were just too many other strange things going on.  
	But I still don't know what that metal piece was.  I still don't
know why Mulder was led off into the woods.  (I don't think his
libido controls him that much, truthfully.)  And I still don't
understand what those people's true motivation could have been. 
Too many things don't add up...
	But with these questions still in my head, I think I'm going to
switch gears, and shut off the computer for now.  Truthfully, I don't
really think I want to know anymore.  All that I'd really enjoy doing
would be to finish that last chapter of "Breakfast at Tiffany's."  
	And I suddenly find myself with this overwhelming desire to
pick up that old leather copy of "Moby Dick" again.  Good sailing,
Ahab...

	Scully shut off the computer, and went into her bedroom,
pulling the paperback copy of the book off of the middle bookshelf,
where she'd left it.  Settling herself into her soft down comforter,
she could feel the texture of the silk nightshirt she wore.  And
nothing else.  
	Dana Scully, for the first time in her life, suddenly felt
comfortable in her nakedness...  Underneath the security of her
nightshirt.  Sighing contentedly, she opened the book, and began
to read.


-finis-
--------------------------------------

comments, fan mail (ha, ha) to:  spooky42@juno.com

...sorry if I offended anyone who's actually been to, or participated in
a nudist camp.  I have the highest amount of respect for you people, and
the portrayals in my story were meant as exaggerations, and not as truth.
 Please don't flame me because of this!

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"Wearing nothing is divine; naked is a state of mind..."
		-lyrics by Lucious Jackson ("Naked Eye")
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