From: Scott Miller Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: NEW: Phantoms (6/11) Date: Thu, 28 Dec 1995 23:05:13 -0600 (CST) This is Phantoms part 6. See part 1 for more information 12:32 A.M. Sentis Memorial Hospital Sentis, France "I am with a group called the Seekers. Your friend Peter... He managed to escape from the detention complex in Artesia, New Mexico, and we picked him up shortly afterwords." "Why are you here," asked Dana, a cup of hot tea in her hands. "We have been tracking your movements ever since Peter sent you that transmission. Shortly after you sent it, we monitored quite a bit of activity high up. We figured you might be in danger, so I was sent to rendezvous with you. It seems I was a little to late." A shiver ran down her spine as she recalled an image of Mulder falling backwards and his head ricocheting off a car. "We need to leave here as soon as possible. Whoever shot your partner will be looking for you now to finish the job. I have a flight booked in Le Havre for 5:00 this morning... That is if we can get your friend out of here in one piece." "The doctors said he would be ok." Scully mumbled, still somewhat in shock. "We'll have to leave soon though, Le Havre is 160 miles from here... Oh, how impolite of me, I am Marcus Denville." He held out a hand to Scully. She held hers out, still shaking from the nights experiences. He took her cold hand and shook it firmly. "I'll be right back." Marcus walked up to a doctor in the hallway. Scully overheard half of the conversation. "We need to move Mr. Mulder tonight... Yes... I am aware of the risks... We are going to get him to a hospital in the United States... I am sorry, but we don't have time for hospital policy... Ok." A few minutes later Marcus approached Dana with an armful of Mulder's clothing. He deposited the clothes in Dana's hands and she felt something, in the pocket of his jeans. Pulling it free, she realized it was the floppy disk with the transmission on it. She gave the disk a look she might give a sample of toxic waste. Marcus noticed it. "Is that the.." "Yes." "Maybe I should keep it." "No, I... I would feel better with it in my hands." "Ok, No problem." 2:32 A.M. "The doctor has cleared Mulder's discharge. We can go now." Scully nodded and walked down the hallway to Mulder's room. Grabbing Mulder behind the neck and at his knees, Scully managed to lift him out of the bed to deposit him in a wheelchair. "Jesus your heavy." She suddenly wished he wasn't so damned tall. While carrying him she noticed he was wearing one of those hospital gowns with no back. 'No time for this now,' she thought, shrugging off the mental urge to take a peek. With him seated in the wheelchair she pushed him out of the hospital and into Marcus' Ford Escort. 'What is it with those cars,' she thought. 9:30 A.M. Washington, D.C. Buzz. "Yes, Marilyn." "Donald Jacobs to see you sir." "Send him in." Donald Jacobs walked into A.D. Skinner's office, a look of anticipation on his face. "Jacobs, I am going to get right to the point. Do you know Agent Mulder and Agent Scully?" "Yes sir." Mulder only from his reputation however. What was it, 'spooky', that they called him? And Dana Scully, he remembered her QUITE clearly from the Academy. She had many a man taking second glances in the classes. "It seems they have gone missing on us and attempts to contact them have failed. I want you to find them, and you can name one person to help, no more." "Yes sir, I uh, Carolyn Chambers sir." "Very well, get moving." Jacobs stumbled out of the office with a look of sheer surprise on his face. This was a far cry from the surveillance work he had been participating in. He walked to Carolyn's office with a wide grin on his face. 3:15 A.M. En route to Le Havre, France Scully looked out the car window, watching the countryside roll by. The stars were out, and in the absence of city lights, there were millions of them, brilliantly lighting the sky. She sighed and gazed at the open road ahead. Beside her, Marcus drove, a look of determination plastered to his features. She turned around and gazed at her sleeping partner, and IV in his arm and a bag of O positive hanging from the coat hanger on the inside of the car. He looked peaceful there, in his unconcious slumber. The bandage covering the stitches in his chest told a different story, however. Dana turned and gazed out the window, mezmorized by the passing landscape. Finally, after clearing the thoughts from her head, she yawned. Her heavy eyelids closed as she drifted into a deep sleep. A deep, but not dreamless sleep. 'Where am I?' she thought. Gazing around the dimly lit room, she realized her location. 'The garage.' She didn't notice Mulder in front of her, and realized she must be leading this time. She grazed her hands along the rough edges of the concrete wall, gun in hand. The scene around her was being played out at an incredibly slow pace. She carefully looked behind all of the cars, searching for any enemy. 'There's one,' she said silently. The man's dark hair peeked out from behind a car, about 80 yards away. She lifted the gun to the man behind the car. A fraction of a second later she felt herself fly backwards, realizing just another fraction of a second later that there was a throbbing pain in her chest. As she reeled backwards, she got a glimpse of the person behind her. She only saw herself for a fraction of an instant. Everything went black. She woke up with a scream. "Jesus Agent Scully! Are you alright?" "Yes, I uh... I was having a nightmare." She said shakily. "Well you woke up at a good time anyway, we're in Le Havre headed towards the airport. Maybe you should check on Agent Mulder." "Yeah... ok." She turned around in her seat to check on Mulder, who looked about the same as when she checked him when she went to sleep. A little more blood on the bandage covering the chest wound, but altogether no worse than when she had left him. His chest was still rising and falling in an even fashion that looked a lot like sleep to Scully. "He's still fine." "While you were sleeping I booked us first class on a 747 to New York, direct flight." "Great." A small smile crossed her weary features. The car pulled into well lit parking lot, although empty of many vehicles. Of course it was almost five o'clock in the morning. They eased the car into a space a short walk from the terminal. "How careful do we need to be about transporting Agent Mulder?" "He should be fine, as long as we don't drop him." She snickered. "Alright, You carry the bags, I'll get Mulder." "Deal." She knew how heavy a six foot Mulder was, even though he was unhealthily skinny. First class was great. And fortunately, since it was early in the morning they managed to get two seats to lay Mulder out on. The flight attendants gave them a suspicious glance. Understandable of course because they were transporting a man with a serious gunshot wound to the chest. Scully glanced over at Marcus, who had already drifted into a calm slumber, only 15 minutes into the flight. Mulder was as motionless as ever, but Scully thought she saw his eyelids twitching. At least he was dreaming, and not in a coma, she thought. She sat for a few minutes watching her silent partner, and then decided that she REALLY needed a drink. Fortunately, the flight attendants on this flight spoke English. She had had enough of the French language for a few days. Her mind crossed into how short their stay in France had actually been. This was only the third day they were in the country. Things had gone from bad to worse...quickly. Sipping her plastic cup of wine, she gazed out the window of the large airplane, seeing the same stars she had seen in the car, and the glow of the moonlight off the clouds. One of the stars moved. 'What's that?' she thought quietly. It stopped moving again. Scully sighed. Maybe I really do need the sleep. It obviously wasn't the inferior 'cup' of wine in front of her. The star moved again, this time quickly to her left. She followed the object with her sleepy eyes, and wondered what Mulder would say if he saw this now. Mulder dreamed silently. The scene was very familiar. The den at his house as a child, Samantha playing next to him. He silently glanced over at the window, now turning a slightly lighter color from some unknown illumination. 'What's wrong fox?' Samantha said gently. He said nothing, but stared at the increasing amount of light pouring through the small window. The house shook slightly, then broke into a rumble. A picture hung on the wall dropped to the floor with a noisy crash. 'Fox! Whats happening?' she shouted. 'I don't know Sam!' A beam of intense white light came out of no where, flooding the room. Mulder saw the sillouette of something behind Samantha. 'Sam!' She began to move 'Fox! Help me!' 'I can't move Samantha!' 'HELP ME! HELP ME FOX! PLEASE FOX!' He watched helplessly as her small body was lifted right through the ceiling. 'FOX! HELP ME FOX!' A final burst of the white light blinded Mulder. When it faded away he was on an airplane, unfamiliar faces around him. An isle away a woman buckled in her small child into her seat. A voice came over the intercom, in French. He tried to translate but he couldn't, not in his sleep. It was then that he saw the woman nearby looking intently out the window. He unfastened his seatbelt and went to the other side of the plane. 'What is it?' 'I don't know.' The light on the horizon was growing fast. 'Its heading towards the plane.' he thought. The plane jerked and he was thrown to the ground. A flight attendant ushered him back to his seat. More on the intercom. He could clearly see the object through the woman's window now. It was getting larger, and fast. 'Oh god' The light filled the entire window and then penetrated the cabin. The walls turned a blueish color and arcs of electricity jumped around the walls of the plane. The white light flooded the cabin. The object sped away from the plane, shooting out tendrils of electricity as it went. The plane dropped like a stone, pointed down at a steep pitch. Mulder gazed up. All the lights were out. Outside, the clouds rushed past the window. He could tell, everyone could tell, the plane was going to crash. The woman was screaming hysterically. He told her to get in a crash position and assumed one himself. Just as he heard the rumbling in front of the plane, he awoke, screaming. "Mulder! I'm here Mulder." "Scully. I was on the flight...in my dream...I saw what happened!" He tried to sit up, but fell back down when the pain in his chest grew too much for him. "Mulder, thank god your awake, there's something outside the window, and I want to know if you know what it is." Scully helped Mulder sit up in the chair and looked out the window. He saw it instantly, a small ball of light flying parallel to the plane. It looked like... Exactly like what he saw in the dream. "Jesus Scully." Mulder's face went from a slight pink to a pale white color. This alarmed Scully. "What is it Mulder?" "Oh God." was all he managed to say, shaking his head. "What Mulder?" "Scully, I was dreaming, I was on the plane that crashed, there was a light outside the window and it was heading toward the plane. It hit the plane, but it went straight through it." "Mulder, don't tell me your thinking what you saw in a dream is what is outside the window right now!" "Well what do you think it is?" "I don't know, but you better not say its a UFO or I may strangle you!" "I don't know what it is, but I think it is what crashed the flight in France." "On the basis of a dream?" "I know its not conventional logic Scully, but its all I have. Scully, were there any children on that flight?" "A 12 year old and a 3 year old." "I saw the three year old in the dream." "Could have been just your imagination." "Do you ever have dreams that seem incredibly real Scully?" She thought back to the dream she had about the experience in the garage. "Yes," was all she managed to say. "Well follow me here, what if it was some sort of craft, or even an energy field of some sort. It might have messed with the wiring as it passed through the plane." "Assuming your right, what the hell are we going to do with the one outside?" Her voice showed just a spec of anxiety. It didn't escape Mulder though. "I don't know Scully, I don't know." They paused briefly in thought, trying to decide what to do next. "Scully, I am going to do something unconventional. And I need your help to do it. Carry me to the cockpit." "What?", she said, surprised. "We have to tell the pilots to avoid the... object at all costs." "Mulder, that sounds like a bad line out of an action film." she said, a small smile crossing her face. She lifted him by the shoulders and led him past the stairway and too the cockpit. When a flight attendant approched her she showed her the badge. "FBI official buisness." She opened the door to the cockpit and Mulder poked his head in. The pilots looked agitated, one of them staring at a small computer screen between the captain and first officer. On it, a small yellow light was flashing a few centimeters from the red dot that symbolized the plane. "I see you fellas already see our problem." "What the hell are you doing here! You can't come in here!" "FBI sirs, and that object is to be considered extremely dangerous, so please can it and listen to what I have to say." Mulder's voice betrayed the fact that he was too weak to walk on his own. "Dammit, that's all I need in my cockpit is another backseat pilot." The captain said, punctuating the sentence with a bit of laughter. "Fred Laherty. I'm flying this bird, what seems to be the problem?" "We think that object out there is what brought down flight 227 in France. We want you to stay away from it if you can." "I wasn't exactly considering making friends with it, but if it decides to make the pass on us, I'll see if I can hold it off. In the meantime, I'm sorry but I don't seem to have any more seatbelts to offer you two. So if ya'd like to take your seats." The pilots voice was much calmer than he really was. Marcus was wondering what the hell they were doing and was about to get up and find out when he saw them returning. "Just what the hell do you two think your up to. Agent Mulder, you have a chest wound, and I'm surprised that you, Agent Scully, a medical doctor didn't keep him strapped to that seat!" "Yes, Mother." replied Mulder in his usual sardonic tone. "So what the hell IS that thing out the window." "If we knew, I would love to discuss it over pretzels, but I am afraid I don't have that priveledge." Mulder was just full of dry humor in times of stress. Maybe thats how he manages to keep from going insane, Scully remarked silently. "I think it may have been what brought down the plane in France. I was telling the pilot not to do any mingling with the thing." Mulder sat down. The door to the cockpit opened up and a voice from it boomed out. "Hey FBI, get in here!" Scully walked to the front of the plane. "I noticed there wasn't anyone else in first class, so I skipped being polite. Look at the radar screen." Scully glanced at the amber colored screen. She didn't see anything, at least not for a second. A few seconds later the object moved closer to the plane, only about a pixel closer on the screen's scale. "It moved." "Very good FBI, it has been drifting towards us the last couple of minutes, very slowly, but at this rate, it may hit us about half way across the atlantic. According to Bill here, in about 500 miles." "Great, so what do you suggest, you are definately more experienced operating heavy machinery than I am." Now where did that come from, thought Scully. Maybe Mulder's dry wit was rubbing off on her. "Well I have tried speeding up the plane and slowing it down, but the object adjusts its speed to match, it is flying directly parallel with us, and as the budhists say, it will become 'one' with us in a few hundred miles at this rate." Great thought Scully, another person with a Mulder sense of humor. "So what do we expect if this thing decides to get up close and personal?" queried Fred. "I'll be right back." She walked back to Mulder and relayed the captain's question. "Well from what I saw at the hanger, whatever the object touches is going to lose all conductivity. There won't be any impact, but the plane will lose function whereever it is hit." Trudging back to the cockpit she relayed the answer. "Well its going to hit the wing first if we can't manuever out of the way. We'll lose the right engine, but we can fly with two, one if ABSOLUTELY necessary, but not for very long. Without controls in that wing though... It's going to be tough." Scully returned to her seat, but grabbed some complementary wine on the way back. She needed another drink. When is this day going to end, she thought to herself, smiling meekly. Marcus, trying to infuse some humor into the otherwise drastic situation, spoke up. "So, does this kindof stuff happen to you guys often?" Mulder and Scully glanced at eachother knowingly and nodded. "However, this kindof stuff isn't my style. Usually I don't have to wait for the inevitable, it just happens spontaneously." Mulder added flatly. "Hey Mulder, I'd let you have some of this wine, but you have a chest wound and it might..." Noticing the expression of sarcasm on Scully's face, Mulder snatched miniature bottle and dumped it into his plastic cup. He laughed weakly. A few minutes later Laherty called Scully back into the cockpit. "Bill has the exact figures on the impact time." A balding man in the seat next to a much younger captain Laherty turned to face her. "At the present course and speed, or assuming that even if we change course or speed the object stays with us, it will impact in about 1 hour and 13 minutes. Of course you said yourself it won't be an impact, but a system failure, so thats what we are preparing for up here. We've told the passengers that the object is another plane, they may even be stupid enough to believe it for a while." "Understood." She walked back to her seat and flopped down into it. Behind her, Mulder piped up again. "Wanna play cards Scully? Poker and we can get Marcus into the game." The comment sounded like Mulder wanted to have fun, but the expression on his face showed he was concerned. "How can you think of cards at a time like this Mulder. I am surprised you didn't ask for dinner instead!" "Well, now that you mention it..." She nudged his shoulder. "Ouch! Hey Scully, in case you forgot, I've been shot." With a wicked smile on her face, she replied, "I know." Marcus said something from across the aisle. "Well hell Mulder, I'll play ya. Besides, I don't have enough money to lose." "Well if you're in I'm in. Deal the cards Marcus. I don't want to strain Mulder's wounds too much." Scully realized Mulder was trying to defuse the situation by keeping them occupied. It seemed to be working, she felt a little more at ease. She certainly would have been nervous if she was sitting there staring at the object getting nearer to them all the time. After exchanging cards and glancing at eachother's poker faces, Mulder lay his cards down on the tray. "Pair of Aces!" he said in triumph. Marcus lay down his cards. "Two pair, threes and fours." Mulder's face sank as Marcus' lit up. "Well guys, I don't know how I can beat four good cards like that Marcus. Well maybe if I had three Jacks." She beamed. Mulder shook his head. "Beginners luck." "I'm far from a beginner Mulder. Dad used to play poker with us all the time. You should see me in Atlantic City." Scully never ceased to amaze Mulder. "Alright, next deal, Five card draw again, nothing wild." Scully did a complicated shuffle, cut the cards with one hand, and began whirling them into there respected positions on the tray. Mulder just watched wide eyed, and Marcus chuckled. "Ok Marcus, what do you have?" She had a certain twinkle in her eyes. "Oh forget it, I fold Miss Scully." Marcus turned away, disgusted. "Mulder?" "Me too." "Well I don't understand why you guys dropped out on me, All I had was a measly pair of two's!" Mulder was amazed again. "Good bluff Scully." "Thanks." They continued to play for a while, Scully winning most of the hands, Mulder picking up a few. Mulder noticed it was a little brighter in the cabin. He thought he knew why. Glancing out the window confirmed it. It was much closer, probably a few yards from the edge of the wing. He could almost make out a shape too. Yes... There it is he thought, it was just a little triangular, but the intense light masked most of the outline. Just in the time he had spent examining the object it had moved dangerously close to the craft. It pulsed. A single arc of electricity shot out from the object, connecting with the tip of the wing and snaking its way around the wing, finally dispersing off one of the lightning rods on the back of the wing. The three gazed out the window awestruck. Again it pulsed, this time not just an arc of electricity, but a whole stream of energy emenated from the craft. It seemed to bend in shape as the tendril of white light wrapped around the wing. A rumble shook the plane and it dipped to the right, suddenly deprived of an engine. Mulder flew across the aisle, his chest connecting with the armrest of a chair. He screamed, white hot pain searing through his chest. Scully managed to brace herself and watched out the window in disbelief. Suddenly the energy stream ceased and the object flew away from the plane at a tremendous speed. Within a few seconds, it disappeared across the horizon. "My god." she whispered. =========================================================================== From: Scott Miller Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: NEW: Phantoms (7/11) Date: Thu, 28 Dec 1995 23:05:50 -0600 (CST) This is Phantoms part 7. See part 1 for more information. The sounds of her partner lying on the ground gasping for breath brought her back to reality. Mulder was in a ball on the floor, clutching his chest and coughing. "Mulder, are you alright?" She helped him back into a seat. "I should have been wearing my seatbelt," he managed through clenched teeth. Scully unbuttoned Mulder's shirt to make sure there wasn't any further damage to his chest. He had reinjured the wound, and a small trickle of blood was running down his chest. Scully walked to the front of the plane and grabbed a hot towel, and dabbed it off, then proceded to change his dressings. "Thanks Scully." Marcus came back to them from the front of the plane. Scully didn't remember him leaving, but she was too busy watching the attack on the airplane. If it was really an attack. "The pilot says the 'thing', whatever it is, has gone back east and isn't following us any more. How's Mulder?" "I'm fine." "Like hell Mulder, you broke two of your stiches when you hit the floor. You are an accident waiting to happen." Scully said grufly. Mulder only grinned. Scully got out a packet of stiching equipment. "You're not going to redo the stiches are you?" Mulder looked concerned. "Yes I am Mulder. do you have a problem with that?" Mulder eyed the needle like it was some sort of horrible monster. "Oh come on, Mulder! You have been shot, beat up, drugged, and stabbed, and your afraid of a needle?" She glowered at him incredulously. Mulder nodded sheepishly. "Hold still. and close your eyes if you don't want to watch." "OW!" "Mulder, I haven't even started yet, I was just taking off the rest of your old bandage." "Well it still hurt." When she finished, Scully ruffled Mulder's hair and told him he could open his eyes now. "That wasn't so bad now was it?" "Yes." The remainder of the flight passed uneventfully, except for the fact that they ran into another thunderstorm just before landing that jostled the plane a bit. They landed in Laguardia airport in New York City, where Marcus arranged a connecting flight to Denver. On the flight, the three passengers finally got around to completing an activity they should have finished much earlier that day. They slept. FBI Headquarters Washington, D.C. 10:15 A.M. "Donald, I have finished speaking with the American Embassy in Paris, and I spoke to an Agent Johnson. Apparently she hates her line of work, being stationed overseas and all. But anyway, she said that the two agents sent to investigate the crash couldn't be contacted in there hotel room, but the hotel clerk said they hadn't checked out yet. She also mentioned how she hated being woken in the middle of the night, but I don't think thats all that important." Donald Jacobs smiled at his partner. They had been lovers before, back in the academy. That wasn't very long ago, Donald thought. When they were assigned positions, they were separated, being placed in there separate, mediocre jobs. He was quite angry that he never got to see her, and when Skinner told him he could have anyone he wants to assist him, his first thought was to her. She was thrilled, naturally. She was tired of her job as well. Her bosses had given her the job of 'Interoffice Data Coordinator'. In more simple terms, she was a gopher. This was a giant leap up from that. She was assisting in a Federal Manhunt. Odd, though, that the men they were hunting were FBI themselves. "Great work Carolyn. Now where would they go if they left Paris. Back to the U.S. is an obvious answer, but where from there?" "I am not sure, maybe we should check all the flights out of Paris for there names? They would be on the manifest wouldn't they?" "Yes, if they left from Paris, but maybe they didn't. Here's a better idea. If you were coming into the U.S. from overseas, what airport would you land in?" "Well, Boston, New York, or here. Those are my guesses." "Here is most likely, since thats where they work and live, but we should check the other options too. I'll call Dulles, you take JFK." "Gotcha." She picked up the phone and dialed. Evergreen Colorado 7:30 A.M. Mountain Time A light flashed in the corner of the football game Mark Raislen was watching. He spun the swivel chair around and punched a few keys, and a window opened up, replacing the game. The window showed the phone call tracing status. After a few seconds, the system beeped, and a map of the U.S. showed a small yellow dot on Ohio. The text under the map read: CALL TRACED>Location: Flight 0832 EnRoute Frm NYC to DEN 'I hope this is good news,' Mark thought. "SKR Enterprises, Mark Raislen speaking?" "Mark, its Marcus. Weather's great up here." The code's right, Mark thought. "Hello Marcus. Did you manage to pick up our distinguished guests?" "Yes sir, they are in satisfactory condition. Agent Mulder managed to make it through surgery, and we have had a decent flight back, not considering the turbulence. Of course there will be plenty of time to discuss that later." "Very good Denville. When you arrive, bring them straight here, will ya. We have been waiting to chat with your guests for quite some time." "Understood, Sir." The window closed, and Mark hammered a few more keystrokes in, effectively clearing all the long distance charges for that call, as well as the records in the phone system database. "Jennifer!" "Yes?" "Make a room for our guests. They will be arriving very soon." "Yes, sir, should I inform Pete..er... Mr. Toernich?" "Yes, by all means." Jennifer hoped her slip of the tongue didn't belay her personal feelings for Peter, whom she had come to admire a great deal since he had arrived. Of course, she had read of his exploits before, she had guessed that he would be a typical hacker, unkept hair, and glasses. She was terribly wrong. Peter was more than decent looking. And he even groomed. What more could she ask for? Well, she could ask that he felt the same for her, but she would find that out soon enough, she hoped. Washington, D.C. 10:26 A.M. "I got 'em Carolyn. They arrived on a plane from Le Havre this morning at 8:26. They then caught a connecting flight to Houston, Texas. I am going to go tell Skinner." "Great. And I thought this would take a long time." She grinned, admiring her partner's enthusiasm. Hopefully Skinner would want them to 'retrieve' the Agents." Donald knocked on the door to A.D. Skinner's office, then let himself in after he heard his boss invite him. "Sir, we have located the Agents. They caught a flight out of Le Havre, France, then boarded a plane to Houston out of New York." "Very good Jacobs. Now get yourself a flight and get out there. I want you to put yourself and some agents from the Houston office on surveillance." "Sir, if you don't mind me asking, why are we watching two FBI agents." "Certainly, because they are not following procedure, and maybe overstepping there bounds. That will be all Agent Jacobs, good work." "Thank you, Sir." "Carolyn, ever wanted to go to Houston? Well were off." "Great!" She embraced Donald tenderly and planted a kiss on his lips. "I need a vacation. And who better to spend it with than you. Although I wish we didn't have to mix buisness with pleasure." "Me too." Denver, Colorado 8:16 A.M. The plane landed safely at the Denver International Airport. Upon exiting gate C14, Mulder, Scully, and Denville found themselves being escorted out of the building behind some people that looked alot like tourists. They all had camera's around their necks, and were dressed casually. When they got outside the airport, however, the tourists boarded two jeeps and held the door open for the trio. They immediately set out on the highway, where Marcus did a little talking. "Thanks guys, and I must say, nice outfits." Marcus chided. "Well, you know how it goes Denville, blend in, or hide in plain site. We did a little'a both," replied the driver flatly. "Where's the party?" questioned Mulder. "Just outside of Denver a few miles. Oh, and I am afraid you won't get to see much of the scenery. Marcus, take care of em." Marcus reached into the pocket of the back seat and pulled out two black bandana's and held them up to Mulder and Scully. "I am afraid you have to ride in the dark. Standard procedure, I'm afraid." With that Mulder and Scully took the bandana's and tied them on. The next twenty minutes or so were spent in darkness, but not without a little conversation. "So where are we going?" Mulder repeated. "One of our headquarters is just outside of Denver. Thats where we are headed. Peter Toernich is there already. We picked him up after he managed to escape from the complex." That peaked Mulder's interest. "How did he get out?" "Seems he wacked a guard over the head and took off, then he stole a car. We had a helocopter pick him up, but when he saw it he flipped the car." "He never was a great driver." Mulder commented. "Yeah, he totaled it, but he was wearing his seatbelt, and he amazingly got away with a couple of scratches." The driver piped up. "Do you have the transmission?" "I've got it," Scully said. "Good. When we get to the complex maybe we can figure out what the fuss is all about." Mulder looked puzzled, despite wearing a bandana. "What fuss?" "Oh, of course, you weren't briefed on that." The man sitting in the passenger seat spoke. "Shortly after Peter sent that transmission we monitored several phone calls from different locations. Noteably, Washington, D.C, Paris, and New York. Sounds like you guys stirred up a hornet's nest. You don't already know whats on that do you?" "No. I was trying to find out Peter's password when we got shot at." "Of course. I'm sorry Agent Mulder. How is the wound." "I won't be able to go swimming for a while, but other than that I think I will live." Scully grinned. Never was there a bad time for Mulder to use his sense of humor. Not even when he was talking about his own mortality. They continued on in silence until all at once the vehicle stopped. Mulder thought it was a little darker. When the makeshift blindfold was removed from his eyes he realized why. It was just shady. They were parked outside of a rustic looking cabin overlooking a scenic mountain lake. Scully helped him out of the car, and they were escorted inside the cabin. 9:12 A.M. It looked exactly the same from inside, a decently furnished... cabin. Not the sort of thing you would expect to be using as a headquarters, Mulder thought. "I know what your thinking Agent Mulder. Come this way." They were lead to the back of the cabin, to a stairway. It descended for about thirty feet until it opened up into a large computer center, much larger than the cabin itself, Mulder thought. "Ah! Mr. Mulder, its about time I meet you. Peter has told us quite a bit about you," said Mark Raislen, sitting in a chair infront of one of the largest computer screen's Mulder had ever seen. It was about five by five feet, and the image seemed more projected than displayed. "I'm sure he has," added Mulder dryly. "Mulder! Long time no see!" the voice wafted from the stairway. Mulder turned to see Peter Toernich bounding down the steps, two at a time. He held out his hand and Mulder shook it as forcefully as his chest injury allowed him. Scully was feeling a bit left out, but that feeling ended shortly after when Mark Raislen decided to greet her as well." "And you must be Agent Scully. I haven't heard much other than what Peter has heard from Mulder." "Thats a scary thought!" She shook Mark's hand. "Ah, well, now that we have dispensed with the formalities. I believe you are carrying a transmission from our friend here." "Yes, but before we figure out what is on it, I would really like to know why you are so interested in the information?" Mulder queried, a very serious look plastered to his tired face. "Ah, yes of course, well Mr. Mulder, we feel very much the same as you concerning the way our government has been hiding information from us. Our primary mission is to try to obtain information that the government doesn't want the public to know about, and let the public know about it. We have a couple of newspapers under our control. So we have an outlet for any information we collect." "I see. Alright, here it is." Mulder reached into the pocket of his trenchcoat and removed a black, unlabeled diskette. Mark quickly grabbed the disk and placed it into a slot on the computer console. A picture of a diskette on the large screen opened up to show one large file. The file opened up and a dialog box prompted Mark for a password. Mulder shot a glance at Peter, who nodded and spoke. "The password's SUNDEVIL." Mark quickly typed in a password and the computer whirred noisily. A few seconds later the computer beeped, and displayed an error message: INTERNAL FILE DATA CRC ERROR. RECONSTRUCTION IS POSSIBLE. Approximate time until completion: 7 hours 37 minutes. Recontruct? Mark typed in a yes, and cursed noisily. Spinning around and trying to look like a good host, he spoke. "Is there anything I can get you to make you more comfortable?" "I could use some sleep, and some breakfast, not necesarily in that order." "Thats fine, I think we can have a breakfast waiting in the dining room in a few minutes, as for sleep, we already have a room prepared for you. I am sorry, but we can't offer two, being as this is some what of a small building." "We'll make do," replied Scully. At breakfast, which consisted of pancakes and various sides, Mulder and Scully were introduced to the other members of the team. Mulder couldn't help but notice how Peter eyed Jennifer, and Scully couldn't help but notice how Jennifer looked back. After breakfast, with some food in his stomach, Mulder retired to the room and promptly fell asleep. This time, no dreams came. 4:36 P.M. Mulder awoke to find Scully waking him again. "The computer is about done, I figured you might want to be awake to see whats in it." Mulder nodded, and dragged himself out of bed and followed Scully down the stairs. The computer monitor hit one hundred percent just as Mulder reached the bottom of the stairs. In the room, all of the crew was staring at the monitor. Suddenly, the computer stopped thinking, and the screen opened, showing a large digitally scanned photograph. The photograph was of a wrecked plane, bits of charred wreckage scattered in a large open field. Below it was a headline, which read, "PLANE CRASHES IN BORDEAUX FRANCE, 98 PEOPLE KILLED". The rest of the article described the incident in detail. The next page of the document detailed the French investigator's report on the incident, as well as some more photographs of wreckage and bodies. Nothing more was in the file. "What!" Mark shouted. "Is this all that's in the file? Peter, you saw the original, what was in it!" "That's what it looked like, sir, I remember the photograph." Peter shot a glance at Mulder. "Well Peter, I guess this doesn't really help the case much. I was sortof hoping for more," said Mulder. Scully sat watching, open mouthed. She thought that the information in that file as hardly valuable, and wondered why anyone would want to kill them over it. Truely puzzling. Mark Raislen looked more than just frustrated, he looked downright angry. He practically tore the disk from the drive and hurled it into the trash. "We were so close! I was sure that disk would contain enough evidence to blow the coverup wide open." Mark sighed audibly. "Well, you can at least stay for dinner, I doubt you will be in any danger now that you are back in the US." Mark tried to sound polite. It didn't work. "Thank you Mr. Raislen. I for one am starved." Scully sighed, only Mulder could think of food at a time like this. 5:32 P.M. CST Houston, Texas "Damn!" Donald Jacobs cursed as soon as they were out of earshot of the flight attendants. No one had seen anyone bearing Agent Mulder and Agent Scully's description. "We should have known they would have tried to throw us off track." Carolyn Chambers nodded her head, her short auburn hair shaking with it. She looked up at her new partner, lines of frustration crossing his face. "Well lets call Laguardia and see if anyone saw them boarding another plane. Its the only thing to do. Someone will remember Donald. Don't worry too much about it." Donald looked down at Carolyn. Sometimes she felt like he was bearing down on her when he did that. He was a full nine inches taller than her, standing at five foot eleven inches. She tried to stop thinking about him and walked over to the nearest payphone. Donald sat down on one of the airports blue seats and watched as Carolyn spoke on the phone. No more than two minutes later she finished the phonecall. "A flight attendant on the Le Havre to New York flight said she saw them board a flight to Denver, Colorado at a gate nearby." Donald nodded. "Now that wasn't so bad, no was it." Carolyn smiled, trying to loosen him up a bit. "There's a flight leaving for Colorado in a half an hour. I say we go find something to eat in this airport before the flight takes off. I'd hate to have to put up with an in-flight meal." Donald smiled meekly at Carolyn, and stood up. They walked towards the main part of the concourse together. 5:40 P.M. Mountain Time Evergreen, Colorado "That meal was delicious. Thanks for the hospitality." "Its the least we could do Agent Scully. We apologize for the wild goose chase. I was hoping for better results though." "As was I. The way Mulder was working on figuring out the password, I was thinking it should be no less than proof that Elvis is still alive and well." "Very funny Scully. We all know he was abducted for the entertainment of the aliens." "I feel sorry for the aliens, then." Peter watched their exchange of dry humor with curiosity. It seems Mulder has finally met his match. He wondered if they weren't more than just partners. Nah. He shook off the thought. "Scully, I am going for a walk, wanna join me? If thats ok with you of course Mr. Raislen." "By all means! Enjoy yourselves." "Sure Mulder, I'm coming." They walked between the pine trees towards the lake a few hundred yards away. Around halfway there Mulder began talking. "What did you think of that transmission Scully?" "I hardly believed it Mulder, I thought there should have been more. I though Peter said it was something very interesting." Mulder thumbed around in the inside of his trenchcoat. When he removed his hand, it was holding another blank, black diskette. "Whats that?" "The real transmission Scully. The one I gave them was a fake. While we were working in the hangar I managed to scan some of the newspaper articles and the old case files. Peter knows too." "Why?" Scully was very surprised. She gazed at Mulder with confused eyes. "Trust no one, Scully. I was skeptical that someone just happened to pick up Peter from the compound after he escaped, someone just happened to find you at the hospital. It just doesn't add up. They're always in the right place at the right time. And the bit about being financed by wealthy buisnessmen. How many men with that much power do you know that WANT to find the truth. I made that fake transmission as a test. I think Mark Raislen already knew what was on the real transmission, and was trying to get it back. You know, 'treat your enemies like friends.'" "Ok Mulder, lets assume your right. What are we going to do about it?" "I don't know, but my instinct tells me I don't want to stick around any longer than I have to. I need to talk to Peter and figure out if we can get out of here quietly." "Ok. Lets do it." The pair walked in back to the cabin with a shared silence. =========================================================================== From: Scott Miller Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: NEW: Phantoms (8/11) Date: Thu, 28 Dec 1995 23:06:04 -0600 (CST) This is Phantoms part 8. See part 1 for more information 6:01 P.M. Mountain Time Denver, Colorado. Immediately upon landing Carolyn and Donald went straight to the registration desk to ask if they had seen anyone matching the missing agents description. The man shook his head. "Sorry, I don't remember seeing anyone that looked like that." "I have." A voice from the side called out. "They were in here real early this morning. I was opening the bar and I saw them walkin' by. They were with another guy though, tall with brown hair. Funny thing is they got behind some tourists and walked out with them." "Thanks a lot. Do you know anybody who may have seen the tourists or the others anywhere else?" Donald managed. "Yeah, Ned Olandsen down in the lobby saw 'em. He was tellin me about it a lunch today. You might wanna ask him." "Mr. Olandsen?" "Yeah, that's me." "Do you remember seeing a group of tourists escorting three other people early this morning?" "Yeah, I saw them. They got into some red jeeps outside. Funny bunch, they all were dressed like they wanted to look like tourists, but they didn't move like tourists. Too purposeful. A real tourist would look around." "Do you remember any of the liscense plate numbers on the cars?" "Matter-a-fact I do. But only a bit of it, the letters were CKR and I think the next number was a one, but I'm not real sure." "Thank you Mr. Olandsen." "No problem." Donald's next call was to the FBI branch office in Denver. "Agent Donald Jacobs here. I need you to run a plate check for me. Were looking for one or more red Jeep's, with a plate number of CKR and a possible 1 in the next position." There was a slight pause. "Yeah, here we go. Registered to an M. Raislen, lives at nine twenty-nine Pineview drive, Evergreen, Colorado." "Thanks." He slammed the phone down on the receiver. "We got 'em Carolyn." He smiled brightly. "Where are they?" "About a half an hour outside of town." 6:02 P.M "Peter, can I talk to you for a second?" "Sure thing Mulder, whats up?" Mulder handed Peter a slip of paper. It read: These guys aren't on our side. Government possibly. Have to get out of here. Whats the security like around here? Peter grabbed a pen and scrawled on the paper. Very heavy, its all computer controlled, and I don't know a damned thing about this computer system. Mulder flashed Peter a discouraged look. "Peter?" Peter spun around to see Jennifer standing there. "Something wrong?" "I need to talk to you Peter." "Okay. Lets go outside." Mulder nodded at Peter and walked to his room. When they were clear of the cabin Jennifer spoke. "I was toying with the computer system and I found something." "What?" She fished in her pocket and handed him a printout. It was a phone log. Peter looked confused. "That number... Its the same one that we monitored when you escaped. Only this time...the call's to us. Mark answered it..." Peter nodded. "What? You know?" Jennifer didn't understand. "I'm just not surprised. Its time for you to choose sides." "I choose you. I never have liked this anyway. Whats wrong?" "That transmission you saw, it was a fake. Mulder put it together. I guess he has the real one. He wants to leave tonight, but I know we won't make it with the security system you guys have." "I think I can arrange to have a little system hiccup tonight. I want to come with you." Jennifer flashed Peter a smile. "You know Jennifer, I think I love you." "I know I do." Peter could feel her smile as he kissed her in the soft glow of moonlight. 6:11 P.M. Jennifer finished hammering away at the few remaining lines of code. Pressing the enter key activated the program. She set the clock for twenty minutes. That should give her, Peter, and his friends ample time to pack and be ready. She started up the stairs and passed Jack Russel. "Hey Jack." "Hi Jen. Just off to watch the game." "Sure thing." -- "Scully, get packed. Were out of here in about twenty minutes. Jennifer just talked to me about the security system. Its going to be out for only five minutes. That won't leave us much time, but it should be enough. We don't want to risk them detecting that the security system is down." "Ok. I'll be ready in five." "It's started Peter. Lets get ready." "I am ready, I don't have any personal belongings with me, remember?" "Oh yeah. Well I have a few things. It'll just take a sec. We have fifteen minutes." -- Almost there. Donald couldn't wait to see the look on Skinner's face when he reported that he had the FBI agents in custody. He had better get promoted. He was damned tired of his lowly job. Anxious, he ran his fingers through his black hair and glanced over at Carolyn, looking intently out the window. He accelerated gently when he reached the hill, it had long since turned into gravel earlier up the mountain. The road was narrow, wide enough only for one car. He had to pull over two times already to allow a car to drive past him. "There it is Carolyn!" A small light on the side of the hill signified the location of the small mountain cabin that the Jeeps were registered too. -- Watching the football game, Jack Russel was too preoccupied to give much more than mild curiosity when the image flickered briefly. "Time! Lets go Mulder." Scully lifted the window and stepped out onto the shingled roof. She edged over to the side to allow Mulder to step out as well. Once they were on the roof, they were greated by Peter and Jennifer sneaking out another window on the second floor. "Keep quiet. Move to the north of the cabin. The jump is shorter there 'cause of the hill," Jennifer whispered. "Hope your not afraid of heights Mulder." "Don't even joke." They reached the edge of the roof just as Donald Jacobs car came to a slow halt at the top of the hill. The lights were off in the car. Mulder thought about asking Scully who she wanted to jump first. He didn't get the chance. Scully lept off the building, hit foot first and tucked into a roll to absorb the impact. She landed with a quiet groan. Turning, she gave Mulder the thumbs up sign. Peter and Mulder followed shortly after, and Jennifer jumped after gaining her courage. Mulder didn't manage to keep quite as silent as Scully did, emitting a deep moan as he impacted. Mulder's chest wound, thought Scully. Well, no time for that now. "You ready for this Carolyn?" "Damn right I am, lets get these guys and go home." Donald opened the door to the Ford Taurus and stepped out. Quietly, he shut the door to the car and followed Carolyn, who was already heading to the front door of the cabin. "This is too good," whispered Mulder to Scully. She nodded back. The group walked slowly around the back of the cabin, making a wide berth around the gravel which they knew would make to much noise. The car was a few yards ahead, the cabin several behind. Mulder went first, slowly opening the door to Jacobs' car. The others followed just behind, slipping in the back seat quietly. Mulder reached for the ignition. The keys were in it. Idiot, thought Mulder. "Agent Mulder? Ms. Scully? You ok in there?" No answer. "Agent Mulder! Open up." Still no answer. He stepped opened the door slowly and peeked in. No one. "Shit." Running to the end of the hall he hit the panic button. A siren went off, filling the small cabin with a deafening noise. "What the hell is it Jack?" "There gone!" "What!" "They aren't in the room." "Dammit! Get out there and find them. Hearing the sirens from the cabin, Mulder took no time starting the engine. The car rumbled to a start and Mulder swung the transmission to Reverse. The tires spun out as he wheeled it around. "What the hell?" Donald Jacobs spun around to see Mulder in the seat of his car. "Carolyn! They have the car!" He began to run, hearing Carolyn's footsteps close behind. Mulder calmly and quickly drove the car down the hill, not looking back. The siren faded slowly. It isn't over yet, he thought, they'll be after us. "STOP RIGHT THERE!" bellowed Jim Noland. Donald and Carolyn paid no attention. They kept running down the hill after the car. "STOP NOW DAMMIT! HANDS IN THE AIR!" Relucantly, they stopped, placing both hands in the air. Its them, Jim thought. Matched the description exactly. One female, around five feet two inches, auburn hair. The other six feet with black hair. "Down on the ground, now!" Donald and Carolyn protested. "There must be some mistake, we're with..." "DOWN ON THE GROUND!" They sank to the ground. Jim radioed the group. "I have them. Just off the driveway." Jim fastened the handcuffs to their wrists behind their backs. They seated on their arms with several auidble clicks. A few seconds later Mark Raislen reached Jim. "What the hell is going on Agent Mulder, Scully." "I'm not Agent Mulder." Donald hissed. "Dammit! Jim, these aren't them." "Sorry Mark, I hadn't seen 'em yet." Mark cursed and threw his hat on the ground. Finally calming down, he radioed the others. "Get the cars mobilized, we have a manhunt here." Placing the radio in his belt, he turned to the agents. "What the hell are you two doing here, and who are you?" "Agent's Donald Jacobson and Carolyn Chambers, FBI. We were assigned to track down Agents Dana Scully and Fox Mulder." "Yeah, right. We'll your helping us now. Where would they be going?" "Get these cuffs off me and THEN I talk." Mark motioned to Jim, who unfastened their cuffs. Donald stood up. "Thats much better." --- "Where are we going Mulder?" queried Scully. "I don't know right now, but we have to get as far away from the center as possible. They'll be looking for us." "Agreed. Got any suggestions Peter?" "Well, my place isn't a good idea either, they would check there. In fact we can pretty much eliminate any of our residences. How 'bout relatives?" "My place," stated Jennifer plainly. "No," replied Peter, "we can't risk staying at anyone's..." "No, I mean I have a place we can go that no one knows about. Before I joined the seekers, I used to live in a cabin in the rockies well to the North of here. Its stocked for emergencies. I guess you could say I used to be a bit of a survivalist. The cabin is on my Uncle's property." "Sounds good enough at least for the time being. Can you get us there from here?" "Yeah, easily." "We need to be taking the back roads as much as possible though, they may be tracking us. As for this car, were getting a replacement as soon as I see a rental agency." Mulder punctuated his sentence with quiet, yet noticable gasps. "Mulder, I think you should pull over and let me drive. That pulling on your chest is not good for you, and you just jumped off a roof." "Doctor's orders?" "Yes." Mulder pulled the car to the side of the road and stopped the engine. Stepping out of the car, Scully thought she heard something. Suddenly it dawned on her what the noise was. Helocopter. The interior light. "Mulder, shut the door!" Both agents shut the door to the car as a black helocopter flew overhead. It was flying low. Scully could feel the slight breeze from the malicious object passing overhead. A few seconds the rumble of the copter faded until it could be heard far off to the south. "Lets go." Scully swung into the front seat gracefully as Mulder maneuvered carefully into the passenger seat. She started the car quickly and threw it into gear and headed down the hill. Off in the distance the rumble of the helocopter could again be heard. It was coming back for a second look. "Scully, kill the engine and roll it in neutral." She shut off the engine after swinging the lever on the transmission to neutral. The car drifted down the winding road on the mountainside, being navigated by the pale moonlight on the road. The helocopter passed overhead twice more before they reached the bottom of the hill. The narrow road all at once merged with a larger state highway. Starting the engine, Scully smoothly merged with the northbound traffic, driving away in plain site. --- "Nothing Sir, and we made several sweeps." "Understood, return to the base. We'll track them on the ground." "Yes sir." Mark placed the black radio into the holster on his belt and turned to face Donald Jacobs and Carolyn Chambers. "Alright, were are they headed." "Well I don't think they're stupid enough to head back to D.C., so our best bet is to check with friends. Beyond that I haven't a clue." Donald shot a side glance at Carolyn, who had a somewhat perplexed expression on her face. "No, I know Jennifer, she wouldn't head somewhere we know about. We need to think about residences that we aren't supposed to know about. Somebody get me her file," boomed Mark. A thick manilla folder deposited itself into his hands and he preceded to search its contents. "Before she came to us she lived with her parents in Wyoming, vacationed in Colorado. Her parents own a condo in Florida..." "To far away. They'll need a place to stop and figure things out. Probably somewhere nearby." "After she ran away from home, she moved to Colorado, although we don't know where," Mark continued. "How 'bout relatives with homes they don't use year 'round. Maybe a summer home in the woods or something." "Well, the parents have the condo. The grandparents own a farm in Montana, and an uncle owns a cabin in Colorado." "Bingo. Thats where we should check first." "Agreed." Mark pulled out the radio. "All units mobilize. Target is Bellvue, Colorado. Coordinates are forthcoming on this band." A string of the familiar jeeps pulled up in front of the agents. Not ten seconds after stepping in did the jeeps start the decent down the mountain and towards the main road. Above them, noticed Carolyn, were two helocopters heading North ahead of the jeeps. =========================================================================== From: Scott Miller Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: NEW: Phantoms (9/11) Date: Thu, 28 Dec 1995 23:06:27 -0600 (CST) This is Phantoms part 9. See part 1 for more information. An hour Scully pulled into an obscure rental agency just north of Denver. She woke Mulder, amazed he was actually sleeping, and they walked into the rental agency, leaving the others asleep in the car. Mulder added an alias signature at the bottom of the form, and turned to stroll out of the office when the young woman working the night shift decided to thank them. "Enjoy your car mister and misses Hale." Neither Scully nor Mulder even turned around, but rather chuckled under their breaths. Waking Peter and Jennifer, they climbed into the Jeep Cherokee that was waiting outside. The minutes ticked by in silence as the car glided through the pitch black back roads of the countryside. Both Scully and Mulder had enjoyed long moments of silence such as this one. Scully, glancing in the rearview mirror, spotted the sleepy pair in the back seat. Jennifer was curled on her side, sleeping on the lap of Peter, himself snoozing with his head to the side. Mulder broke the silence. "I never knew he had it in him." he said with a sardonic smile. "People aren't always quite a simple as they seem Mulder. Take you for example. Sometimes I think I can describe you with one word." "And whats that Scully?" "Weird." Mulder chuckled. "But I realize that you are quite a bit more complicated than that." "I don't know about all that, I for one think I am weird. No sense in masking the obvious with humor." She smiled. "Is that your psych degree talking?" "Hardly. If my psych degree were talking I might say something like, 'Subject is a thirty five year old male suffering with a lack of normality.' But it all boils down to weird." "Speaking of weird, I wan't to know whats on that magical disk of yours." "Ah yes, that's the ten thousand dollar question. Hopefully, the answer to this plane crash." "Of course, that seems all so long ago Mulder. How do we get each other into these messes?" "I blame the government." "Tell me something I don't know." "Have I ever told you that I just love playing verbal tennis with you." "I'm surpised, you often lose." "Well, I can't help it, I am playing with an injury." Another smile. "I hope your ego is still in tact." "I lost my ego when I was twelve years old." Her smile broke. "Mulder..." "S'okay Scully, No problem at all. Tell me something Scully. Why did I join the FBI?" "You wanted to find your sister? And perhaps the bureau provided you with the tools?" "Thats what I used to think too, and now I am just not sure. I could have joined a civilians group, and done just as well." "Ah, but then you wouldn't have met me." It was Mulder's turn to smile. "Correct you are Special Agent Scully. Where would I be without you... Don't answer that, I already know the answer." "And what might that be?" "Dead." "I owe you just as many favors Mulder. You have saved my life more times than I like to say." Scully placed a hand on Mulder's and squeezed it gently. After a moments silence Scully spoke. "Get some rest Mulder, we should be to the cabin in about two hours and you look like you could use some sleep." Mulder nodded, shifted to his side, and closed his eyes. No more than two minutes later he succombed to the darkness of sleep. Scully watched the road ahead pass by, surrounded by the darkness of miles of forest. Beside her Mulder was breathing steadily. She really worried about him. Not a day went by when he wasn't stupidly risking his own life for the truth. One of these days... the thought shook her and she pushed it to the back of her mind. But what if for once she wasn't around to bail him out. What if he goes off on his own again. These thoughts disturbed her a bit. She needed some sort of activity to keep her mind off of that. She flicked the dial on the radio until it rested on a good soft rock station. Not so soft it lulled her to sleep, but not so much that it woke any of the other passengers up. Mulder slept dreamlessly for the remainder of the trip. Scully only wished she could sleep. The lack of the necessity was definitely affecting her driving. She was having trouble paying attention. Should she wake someone up? Mulder was out of the question, he was running on less sleep than even she was. Peter and Jennifer could both drive. Scully spotted a hotel up ahead. Not quite a Holiday Inn, but maybe she could talk the others into staying the night here rather than trying to finish the trip have concious. She pulled into a parking spot in front of the hotel and shut of the car. Screw it, she thought and went in to check in. When she got back to the car, she smiled to herself noticing how many people in the car were awake, which was about the same as the resident population of antarctica. Opening the front door of the car, she checked out Mulder, making sure he didn't have a fever and that his heart and breathing rate were normal. Satisfied, she reached to nudge his shoulder, then decided not to, remembering his chest wound. She didn't need him to wake up screaming. She ruffled his hair instead. "Wake up Mulder." "Are we here?" he replied sleepily. "Were at a hotel." "Works for me." He eased himself out of the car and stretched as much as he could. Scully woke up the sleepy couple in the back and informed them of the situation. No one protested. "I only got us two rooms, but they both have two beds." "Thats ok, I am so tired I couldn't possibly do anything other than crash," responded Peter. Once in their respective rooms, Scully took to the task of checking Mulder's gunshot wound. Removing the bandage with mild ammounts of protest, she revealed band of stiches. "Christ Mulder, you manage to get yourself into a lot of trouble." "Guess its just bad luck." "I prefer to be more optimistic. Your damned lucky that bullet didn't nick your heart. Your just as lucky it didn't hit any bones on the way through." "I live a charmed life Scully." "I've got to clean this thing up, try to bear with me." "Ooh, do I get a sponge bath? OW!" Scully put her finger to her lips and told Mulder to be quit as she finished washing the wound and the surrounding skin. "You know Scully, we don't have anything to wear." "Yes we do, there were clothes in the dresser at the cabin. I took the liberty of stealing some of them." Mulder grinned. Scully left the bathroom to retrieve garments. "There wouldn't happen to be a Knicks jersey in there would there?" "'Fraid not. All I have for you is a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. Pleasant dreams." Scully returned in a somewhat large nightgown and handed Mulder the clothes. "That doesn't fit you very well does it." "Nope, but my pajamas are several thousand miles away." "So is my Knicks jersey," replied Mulder with a faked sad look. They were both asleep seconds after hitting the pillow. Outside, a caravan of black jeeps drove by. December 20th 9:29 A.M. When Mulder awoke, it was to the sound of running water in the bathroom. He roled over on his side to stare Scully right in the face. Well if it isn't Scully in the shower, who is, he thought. His question was answered when Jennifer came out of the bathroom in a towel. "Our shower didn't work. Peter's in the lobby getting breakfast." Mulder groaned, sat up, and stretched... and flinched. "Oww! I have to remember not to do that." Mulder woke Scully up before wearily dragging himself to the bathroom to shower and shave. Well, shower anyway, his electric shaver was in France. "MULDER!" shouted Scully. "What?" he replied somewhat startled. "You can't take a shower, you have to keep your stitches dry!" "Ok. How 'bout you give me a sponge bath." "Sorry Mulder, I'm going to get breakfast first." "Oh well. A man can dream, can't he?" "Keep dreaming Mulder, I'll be in the lobby." Scully dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, and met Jennifer and Peter in the lobby sitting across from each other at a small booth. She eyed the sausage and pancakes with interest. She then paused a moment to tell the healthy part of her brain to stay quiet until she finished eating. She was halfway through her second pancake when Mulder strolled in looking several times better than he had before, save the worse than five o'clock shadow. Mulder too loaded up on a wide assortment of artery clogging breakfast, showing even Scully up on his second helping of sausage. Sensing Scully's amazement, he quelled her protest. "It seems like I haven't eaten in a week." "Well, it has been almost eighteen hours Mulder." "Close enough." he replied through a mouthful of pancake. When breakfast was finished, clothing was quickly packed and stowed in the Jeep. This time, Mulder decided he felt well enough to drive, and managed to convince Scully of this fact. "Ok, we should have about another two hours until we get to the cabin. Don't let me miss any turns Jennifer." The sound of crinkling plastic could be heard as Peter broke out a deck of cards to pass the time. It went quickly. Mulder decided to temporarily suspend the speed limits and came to the cabin in less than and hour and a half. The land surrounding the cabin reminded Mulder a lot of the terrain surrounding the cabin in Evergreen. The cabin was at the top of a somewhat smaller hill, and beyond the hill was a stream snaking its way down from the nearby Rockies. Even from a considerable distance he could see the start of the winding road that led up to the cabin. "Mulder, stop the car," demanded Scully. He stopped. "What is it Scully?" "I saw something. A flash from something." Mulder swung the transmission into reverse and slowly backed up. He saw it too, a flash from the sunlight reflecting off an object. "Could it be a window?" Jennifer stepped in. "No, all the windows are facing the stream on the other side." "Do you have a car up there?" "Not unless my Uncle is using the cabin." POP. The glass of the rental car went instantly from smooth to cracked with a small hole in the center. A thunk was heard where the projectile struck part of the metal chassis under the car. Mulder wasted no time even for a choice phrase, but swiftly floored the accelerator and backed the car quickly down the hill. At the first opportunity he swung the wheel sharply to the left, squeeling the tires as the jeep spun around. He threw the transmission back into drive and sped off down the hill. "They must have found out where we were going!" "We're being followed." Mulder checked the rearview mirror to see clouds of dust rising up from the dirt road at the cabin. --- "GET THAT CHOPPER IN THE AIR!" shouted Mark. The rotors of the large black chopper started rotating until they reached a blurring speed. Mark hopped into the cargo door at the side and strapped himself in. The chopper lurched upward with tremendous force, glueing the occupants the seat. He slipped on a headset to speak with the pilot. "Follow them and see if you can stop them, but DON'T SHOOT. I want them alive in case they have a copy of the diskette." "Got it," came the muffled reply. --- "Damn, a helocopter. This can't be my lucky day." Mulder had gotten the Jeep onto a larger state highway and was weaving his way through the light morning traffic, just a few hundred yards ahead of the skilled drivers of the Seekers. Horns were blaring from many directions as he skillfully cut of a car here or swerved in front of a truck there. "Mulder, there's one coming up from the right lane." Mulder jerked the wheel sharply left despite the fact that there was only a median to the left. The jeep bobbled violently in the grass. Beside them, the black jeep attempted to follow them by merging into the left lane, but was surpised to find a vehicle already there. The other vehicle clipped the back of the black jeep slightly off center, causing the jeep to spin sideways, then tumble forward in a cyclone of breaking glass and crushing steel. Another of the pursuing black jeeps joined the wreckage, slamming into the tumbling car ahead before sliding to a twisted halt on the highway. Focusing on the task at hand, Mulder joined the traffic again two hundred yards down the road, ignoring the smoking reckage behind him. The thumping of a helocopters rotors filled the air as the large black craft traversed the remaining distance between itself and the jeep it was pursuing with ease. Hovering only a few yards above the smaller jeep, the craft darted left and right, trying to give its occupents a better vantage point. Occasionally the black craft darted up over the odd bridge, but always came to hover a few feet back. Clearly Mulder was going to have to do something about this. "Scully, get out your gun and start shooting please." "Any specific target Mulder?" She shouted over the din. "Aim for the verticle rotors on the back. I'll slow down and see if I can get them ahead of us more." The car slowed quickly, and the chopper zoomed swiftly ahead before it realized its quarry had decelerated. It too began to slow and eased its way back towards the jeep. Scully carefully took aim and steadied her weapon as best she could against the speeding vehicle. She aimed for the center of the rear rotor and squeezed off several rounds, all of them pinging of the dense metal structure of the chopper. "Come on." Two more shots, to no effect. "Break you son-of-a-bitch!" The shot rang out from her pistol, followed immediately by a grinding sound from the chopper as the rotor broke, flying off the copter in a harmless direction. The chopper, now suffering from a lack of stability, started spinning instead of its horizontal rotors. Mulder slammed on the brakes as the spinning chopper careened down the highway. Mark Raislen's eyes narrowed as he contemplated the state of the craft. His scream didn't last long before the chopper impacted an embankment a few hundred yards down the road. "GET DOWN!" The explosion rocked the bridge ahead, sending a tremendous shockwave ahead of the shards of glass and metal. A large whoosh preceded the final destruction of the windshield, bits of glass spraying on the occupents. Behind them, the final black jeep was lifted from the ground by the out-rushing air and settled on its top several feet back. =========================================================================== From: Scott Miller Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: NEW: Phantoms (10/11) Date: Thu, 28 Dec 1995 23:06:43 -0600 (CST) This is Phantoms part 10. See part 1 for more information. No one moved for several seconds, until finally Mulder straigtened himself up, gently brushing shards of glass from his body. "Scully? Are you alright?" No response. "Scully? Scully!" "Calm down Mulder, I'm ok. I'm just in a very uncomfortable position. Please help me out." Breathing a sigh of relief, Mulder exited the car and moved to her door to assist her out. In the back seat, Peter and Jennifer were stirring, each picking glass from their clothing. "Anyone hurt?" "I'm fine," replied Peter. "Save a couple of cuts, I'm ok myself." Mulder noticed a large gash on Scully's forehead. "Are you sure you're alright Scully. That looks pretty bad." "Yeah, it just needs to be bandaged." Mulder promptly tore off a small scrap of his shirt and wrapped it around her head to cover the bleeding wound, despite the protests of his partner that she could take care of herself. When that was finished, he decided to look at the state of the vehicle. Mulder glanced at the front of the jeep and frowned. "Great, 'cause we have a bit of a walk to the nearest phone. We seem to have a piece of the helocopter buried in our radiator." Scully pulled her high heals off and banged off the heals. "Why don't I ever wear comfortable shoes?" She smiled wryly. "Because you never think you're going to be jumping off roofs or hiking," replied Mulder sardonically. December 21st 8:30 A.M. Boulder Peter Toernich walked into the hotel room looking decidedly happier now that he had showered. He walked to the small table customarily present in the Day's Inn hotels and placed a small black, square object, which was barely discernable to Mulder's weary eyes. Lifting himself up in bed, he was able to make a positive recognition on the object. It was a laptop computer. With energy unseen before, Mulder bounded out of the bed and strolled to his trench coat and reached in the side pocket to remove the black disk that would answer so many of their questions. "Get Scully and Jennifer in here." Peter wordlessly complied, moving into the adjoining room to summon the two women. Moments later the small laptop computer fired up to the startup screen. Mulder inserted the floppy disk and started the program. Moments later the screen cleared itself and presented a simple dialog box asking for the password. "Peter?" "Great Expectations" "Thats the password?" "Yeah, thats what I was having for the information on this disk, not to mention it was my least favorite novel in high school." "Ok." Mulder carefully typed in the phrase, while onscreen, his words were turned into a string of asterisks. He completed the sequence with the enter key. Another window appeared telling him to please wait. "Breakfast anyone?" asked Scully. Breakfast was a quickly eaten meal of pancakes for everyone, even Scully, who poured a generous amount of syrup onto her chocolate chip pancakes. "Hey, every once in a while." came her reply to Mulder's taunting. The bills were quickly paid so they could return to the hotel room. Upon entering the room and opening up the laptop, they were greeted with two words on the computer screen. WARNING: CONFIDENTIAL Mulder hit the next page button. PROJECT PHANTOM - Completion data - Department of Defense An elaborate logo followed that text, followed by instructions that the document be shown to no one outside of the 'project'. Mulder again hit the next page button. The next page contained a photograph unlike any Mulder had seen before. It showed a bright blue ball of energy sitting on some sort of pedestal. Surrounding the eerie light were several arcs of energy streaming out. Exactly like what they experienced on the flight. The pictures caption read: PHASE 1: Test 2 of Phantom device. "What's this Phantom device?" inquired Scully. Mulder read on. His eyes lit up as the text flowed by. "This is amazing Scully. It seems the US government was collaborating with the French on creating some sort of engine that could be fitted into standard military aircraft. It generates some sort of field that allows the object inside to pass through other objects." "But thats impossible Mulder! Matter can't occupy the space of other matter." "Well it seems they've found a way to do it. Check out these photographs." Three photographs were in a sequence, one showing the ball of energy on one side of a small metal door, the second with the ball partway through the door, and the final frame with the ball on the otherside of the door. The door was seemingly unaffected by all of this activity. "Amazing," interjected Peter. Mulder skipped ahead. "Here's an entry from 1987, the year of the Bordeaux plane crash. It says they recently outfitted a french fighter with the engine and were running it through some tests with concrete barriers. The plane easily passed through it without so much as a scratch. Then they got real gutsy. They flew it through the control tower." "Let me guess Mulder, the tower stopped working." "Exaclty. No one was affected, but all the electronic equipment in the building stopped working the moment the plane was through it. Monitors, readouts, and control panels went completely dead. An electrician checked the wiring out and found nothing apparanently wrong, except..." "...the wires weren't conducting electricity." added Scully "Right." "So why did they fly near a commercial jet." "Thats where it gets really devious. Read this journal entry." Scully read aloud. "May 13th, 1987. We've received word from the top that the project is going to be shut down because of lack of interest in the program by Prime Minister Chovert. We've decided to make one final test on a moving object." "I would bet money the moving object was the flight." Mulder said. "It was Mulder. I remember Chovert being a name on the passenger manifest in 1987. Jesus. They killed all those people just to get at one man." "And thats just in the 1987 flight. There must have been a reason to attack the flight this year too. Do you have a copy of that manifest?" "On the computer's at work. Does this computer have a modem?" she asked. "Yeah, and a phone cord. The jack's over there." replied Peter. Mulder quickly inserted the phone cord into both the laptop and the wall and Scully seated herself in front of the computer. She dialed the number and logged in, quickly accessing her filebase. A few clicks later, the passenger manifest appeared on screen. "Look at this, its another journal entry, from October of this year. It says that the former project leader was threatening to go public with the information, and that he must be stopped at all costs." "What's his name?" "I don't know, hold on." Mulder retrieved control of the laptop from Scully and scrolled through the text. Eventually he noticed another journal entry. "This one says that the former project leader resigned and was being replaced by an Alain Richard. Do you see that name?" "Let me check." Scully switched back to the passenger manifest and scrolled down to the R's. Her expression changed to a frown when she reached the section. Three Richards. "Damn. Any ideas?" "Who has a copy of the full list, full names and all?" "The bureau office in Paris?" "Yeah, lets try them." Mulder punched in the number for the Washington bureau and retrieved the international phone number. After dialing it in, he waited for an answer. "FBI Paris." "This is Fox Mulder, I was working on the plane crash wreckage there and I was calling to see if you had the full passenger manifest." "Agent Mulder! Its Johnson. You should have called sooner." "I got a little wrapped up in work. I'm back in the states now. Do you have the list." "I think you should know. Just after you left, something strange happened." "What?" "A truckload of men claiming to be French military came to the hanger requesting access to the wreckage." "Did you let them in?" "I had to, their credentials checked out, and we can't afford to have an inter-government mix-up, it looks bad on your record." "What did they do to the wreckage?" "Its gone. They took it, and the manifest too." "Thanks Johnson." "No problem Agent Mulder." The phone clicked shut. "Dammit Scully! They took everything. The manifest and the wreckage. We don't have a shred of evidence against them now." Scully just shook her head. "I should have known they'd do a cleanup job." "We still have this document Mulder." "You don't understand Scully. Without some hard evidence, this document is nothing. It could just have easily been fabricated. If we come forward with this, it'll be written off as a hoax, and we'll be discredited." Scully sighed. "Well there's nothing we can do about it now Mulder. We should get back to D.C." "We can't just give up on this Scully. That generator killed more than a hundred people." "And there is no evidence to prove it. Not even Skinner will believe a word of it if you tell him." Mulder's eyes darted about shiftlessly as he pondered the situation. Eventually, he gave up with a sigh. "Your right. Skinner would probably yell at me for having another one of my crackpot ideas and suspend me for a week." A small smile formed on Scully's lips. After a small lunch and some cheering up, Mulder was his old self again, despite the small hole in his chest and lack of a decent wardrobe. "No sense in leaving today. The day's almost half shot already. How about you Peter, what are your plans after this mess?" "Oh, I dunno, I'll probably go home to the old rats nest and see how much equipment they compromised. No sense in starting over." "And you Jennifer?" inquired Scully. "I don't really have much of a home left to go to. I figure I'll just tag along with Peter for a while, see if he gets on my nerves too much." "Ok, well you guys get some rest. Its been one hell of a week." "You got that right Mulder," replied Peter. Laughter erupted from the small group, all thankful that the ordeal was finally over. 6:39 P.M. "Ok Scully. Got some good movies on tonight. Lets see here, Hackers, Sleepless in Seattle, or Drop Zone." "My vote is with Sleepless." "You're pathetic Scully. Don't tell me you never hunger for a good action movie now and then?" "Mulder, I get more than my fill of action tagging along with you. I definitely don't need a movie to satisfy my craving for action." "Point well taken Scully, Sleepless it is then. I pick the pizza though." Mulder picked up the phonebook and searched for the nearest delivery. "No anchovies Mulder." "Not a problem. I don't like fish on my pizza." "Promise me you won't get sappy on this movie Scully." "Only if you promise not to point out how unrealistic it is." "Deal." December 22nd 7:48 A.M. "You guys going to be okay?" asked Mulder. "I'm fine, I've been driving for many years now. I can handle a short trip back to New Mexico," replied Peter. "Tell me again what happened to that car you stole at the complex?", Mulder retorted. "Ha ha. Low blow Mulder. Come on Jennifer, we got a good day's drive ahead of us." "Take care Dana, Fox." Mulder cringed. "You didn't tell her my first name did you Scully?" Scully put on her innocent face. "Who me? Never," she replied, smiling. "Lets go Scully. We can make it back to D.C. by tommorow night driving. I think we've had enough flying for one week. I get to pick the radio station though." "Oh no you don't!" Scully raced him to the car, trying to gain access to the small electronic device that might drive her insane if Mulder was controlling it. =========================================================================== From: Scott Miller Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative Subject: NEW: Phantoms (11/11) Date: Thu, 28 Dec 1995 23:06:57 -0600 (CST) This is Phantoms part 11, the end. See part 1 for more information. Epilogue -------- FBI Headquarters, Washington D.C. December 24th, 1995 Christmas Eve 4:45 P.M. "Agent Scully. Assistant Director Skinner would like to see you and Agent Mulder in his office right away." "Ok. How is he Marilyn?" "The same as always with you two." "Great." She turned to give Mulder an exasperated look. Mulder knew the look. "Its off to the lion's den." "Agent Scully, Agent Mulder, I was looking over this expense report here and I have a few questions." "Sir, we can..." "All I want to know is why the hell can't you two have a normal expense report. Where most agents have one round trip flight within the U.S., you have one overseas. Where most agents take rooms in small hotels, you use a honeymoon suite in a five star hotel. Not to mention the damage reports for 'one laptop computer'. You want us to pay for the loss of wardrobe, and Mulder! Your medical bill, this tops it all. Another charge to add to your medical file. You're an insurance company's worst nightmare." Scully grinned. "All this and the plane crash you two were investigating turns out to be 'mechanical failure'. Sometimes I wonder why I bother to put up with you two." "Does this mean no Christmas bonus sir?" inquired Mulder. "Dismissed Agent Mulder! Scully." The two agents made it as far as the elevator before collapsing in a fit of laughter. When it subsided, Scully spoke. "You know Mulder, he's right. You are an insurance company's worst nightmare. I swear to god we must be the two most unconventional FBI agents in this building." "Definitely," replied Mulder with a smile. "Come on Mulder, your spending Christmas eve at my place. We'll order out pizza and watch a movie or something. Lets see if we can have a normal evening." "Darn, I was looking forward to the 'Outer limits' marathon." "Mulder, tell me thats not what you normally do on Christmas." Mulder didn't speak. Scully groaned. It was going to be a long night. Scully's Apartment 9:29 P.M. "Its a wonderful life? Please Scully, lets watch something I haven't seen before!" "Come on Mulder, its a tradition of sorts. Don't make me break with tradition. You wouldn't do that would you?" Scully tried out one of Mulder's patented Puppy Dog expressions. "Only 'cause your makin me." She laughed, a laugh Mulder hadn't heard her make in a long time. He smiled in response. Mulder grabbed a slice of pizza and resigned himself to his fate. Mulder actually enjoyed the movie, moreso even than Scully, who was dozing peacefully next to him on the couch. Reluctantly, he nudged her shoulder. "Huh? What?" "Movie's over Scully. And you were right, it was pretty good." "Oh. I can't believe I slept through the movie. Mulder, you really wear me out. It must be all the jet lag catching up with me." "It had a pretty good theme too, one persons life affecting so many others. It kindof gets you thinking." "Sure Mulder. Look, I'm heading to bed, I'm exhausted." Scully got up to go to her bedroom, but Mulder grabbed her arm and held her back. She looked back at him inquisitivly. "Scully. I just wanted to thank you." "Why?" "For saving my life." "No problem Mulder, I probably owed you." "Seriously though. That movie helped put it in perspective. I really take my life, and yours, for granted. Thanks for being there." He held her hand gently and stared into her eyes. She sat back down on the couch next to him. "I did it because I knew you would do the same for me. You mean alot to me Mulder." "You mean alot to me too Scully. Thanks." "Merry Christmas, Mulder." "You too Scully. Hey, is that mistletoe?" Dana Scully smiled meekly and nodded. THE END.