From: sumrall@delphi.com (L. Sumrall)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: Voltage  Part 1
Date: 21 Sep 1995 05:59:03 GMT


I wrote this story last year around this time. I tried to post
it once here, but encountered numerous problems and so gave
up. But now I've read a teaser from CC saying an upcoming
episode will deal with a boy who can shoot lightning, and
I thought to myself I'd better post my story before then
so no one will think I am copying the show. (Which I've just
given you the gist of the plot if you haven't guessed already)
So here I go with another try. It's not a very good story
now that I've re-read it, but it's the point of the matter.

The characters of Mulder and Scully are the property of
Chris Carter at Ten Thirteen Productions. Hopefully he
won't sue me for copyright infringement.

                        VOLTAGE
Lancolm, Nebraska
July 21,  11:51 PM
  He ran across the rough, uneven fields, stumbling in the
darkness. His breath was labored but he called out once
more.
 "Hey, come back! Look, I'm sorry. I didn't think it would
upset you so much."
  Ahead of him, the monotony of the flat horizon was broken
by the hulking blackness of an empty barn. He knew where he
was, now; the Wyler place. He stopped to bend over double,
sucking in the warm night air.
  "I know you're here," he gasped. "Hey, you gotta come
back with me. I'm the one who drove, remember? It's a 
long walk back to your house."
  There was no answer, but he heard a crackling noise
coming from around the corner.
  "Damnit, I'm getting tired of this. I'm sorry, okay?
Sorry, sorry, sorry. That's the last apology you're
going to get from me. I can leave your scrawny ass here,
you know. Now are you coming or not?"
  As he stood there, watching to see if any figure imerged
from around the back, it finally sunk in that he was 
able to see the edges of the barn better. There was light.
  "What the hell," he whispered more to himself. Where
was the light coming from? It was brighter than a
cigarette lighter could produce, and since the Wylers had
died out two years ago, there was no running electricity
to the farm.
  His curiosity got the better of him. "What are you
doing back here," he asked as he rounded the corner.  
  The glow, bluish-white, grew brighter, illuminating
the shocked face of the young teenager. His mouth fell
open, then turned up at the corners. "Hey, how are you
doing that?"
  The air surrounding the area crackled and sizzled.
He could feel the hairs on his body starting to stand
up from static. Squinting, he held up a hand to shade
his eyes. "Mind turning it down, General Electric?
How in the world are you doing that?"
  Suddenly a pencil thin spark shot directly at him,
       
I wrote this story last year around this time. I tried to post
it once here, but encountered numerous problems and so gave
up. But now I've read a teaser from CC saying an upcoming
episode will deal with a boy who can shoot lightning, and
I thought to myself I'd better post my story before then
so no one will think I am copying the show. (Which I've just
given you the gist of the plot if you haven't guessed already)
So here I go with another try. It's not a very good story
now that I've re-read it, but it's the point of the matter.

The characters of Mulder and Scully are the property of
Chris Carter at Ten Thirteen Productions. Hopefully he
won't sue me for copyright infringement.

                        VOLTAGE
Lancolm, Nebraska
July 21,  11:51 PM
  He ran across the rough, uneven fields, stumbling in the
darkness. His breath was labored but he called out once
more.
 "Hey, come back! Look, I'm sorry. I didn't think it would
upset you so much."
  Ahead of him, the monotony of the flat horizon was broken
by the hulking blackness of an empty barn. He knew where he
was, now; the Wyler place. He stopped to bend over double,
sucking in the warm night air.
  "I know you're here," he gasped. "Hey, you gotta come
back with me. I'm the one who drove, remember? It's a 
long walk back to your house."
  There was no answer, but he heard a crackling noise
coming from around the corner.
  "Damnit, I'm getting tired of this. I'm sorry, okay?
Sorry, sorry, sorry. That's the last apology you're
going to get from me. I can leave your scrawny ass here,
you know. Now are you coming or not?"
  As he stood there, watching to see if any figure imerged
from around the back, it finally sunk in that he was 
able to see the edges of the barn better. There was light.
  "What the hell," he whispered more to himself. Where
was the light coming from? It was brighter than a
cigarette lighter could produce, and since the Wylers had
died out two years ago, there was no running electricity
to the farm.
  His curiosity got the better of him. "What are you
doing back here," he asked as he rounded the corner.  
  The glow, bluish-white, grew brighter, illuminating
the shocked face of the young teenager. His mouth fell
open, then turned up at the corners. "Hey, how are you
doing that?"
  The air surrounding the area crackled and sizzled.
He could feel the hairs on his body starting to stand
up from static. Squinting, he held up a hand to shade
his eyes. "Mind turning it down, General Electric?
How in the world are you doing that?"
  Suddenly a pencil thin spark shot directly at him,
lightly touching his left elbow. He jerked back in
pain. "Watch it! That hurt."
  Two more thin arches of light nipped at his leg
and hip. The boy stumbled backwards. "Stop it!
Get away from me, you freak!"
  The air sizzled and brightened. A thick bolt of
electricity shot out and enveloped him. He screamed
in pain as he was knocked through the air and 
slammed against the wooden wall of the barn. He 
thumped back down to the ground and laid motionless,
whisps of smoke gently wafting from his body.
The bluish glow dimmed, then disappeared.
It was dark in Nebraska again.

July 22, 10:13 AM
The local police were combing over the ground,
taking pictures and samples. Agent Mulder knelt
down, running his hand through the grass as his
partner Scully read the file to him.
  "His name is Geoff Simms, age 18. He was out
here with a gang of his friends, and they're 
able to give us a good estimation of time of
death. He was last seen alive around 11:30 pm,
and his body wasn't discovered until 12:30 am.
It appears he was struck by lightning. He has
a severe burn to the right side of his head,
plus some lighter burns to his arm and leg."
She flipped a page over. "Huh."
"'Huh', what?"
"His eyeballs imploded."
Mulder stood up and brushed his hand off.
"Do I really need to know that?"
Scully continued. "He flew backwards 13 feet
through the air, judging from where one of
his shoes was knocked off."
Mulder was looking at the one shoe now,
laying on it's side, the rubber sole partly
melted. "So Simms was killed by being
struck by lightning."
"Depends on how you look at it. Technically
speaking, when he hit the side of the barn,
it broke his neck. That is what killed him,
but since it was the lightning bolt that
threw him against the wall, you might as
well say the lightning killed him.
 It's tragic, really. He was captain of the
football team and helped take them to the
state championship. Now he's killed by a
freak act of nature, only weeks after
graduating. So why are we here?"
 Mulder reached into his jacket pocket and
retrieved a folded piece of paper he handed
to Scully. "Meteorological report for the
evening of July 21. Absolutely no evidence
of thunderstorms in the area, thus no origin
for the bolt to come out of the sky to kill
everybody's all-American."
  "Mulder, this part of the country is in 
Tornado Alley. Sudden thunderstorms and
strange weather are almost to be expected.
Besides, when has the weatherman ever been
right?"
 "In the statements from the teenagers here
last night, not one mentioned hearing any
thunder or seeing any lightning. In fact,
they said the sky was clear and full of
stars." He started walking towards their
rental.
 "It doesn't mean anything, Mulder. Just 
because Simms' friends didn't see any clouds
doesn't mean the atmostpheric conditions
could be just right to produce one solitary
bolt without the presence of a thundercloud."
  "Look at the autopsy report again, Scully.
The burn is on the side of his head. This 
source of electricity was on even ground
with Simms, moving horizontal with the earth."
  Scully shook her head. "So maybe it was ball
lightning. Is that strange enough for you? 
There's no mystery here, only a random act of
fate. It does happen, Mulder."
  He opened the car door for her. "Then there's
no harm in enjoying the scenic beauty of the
Cornhusker State, at government expense, is
there?"
  She sighed as she got in.                

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

From: sumrall@delphi.com (L. Sumrall)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: Voltage  Part 2
Date: 22 Sep 1995 06:41:17 GMT


                VOLTAGE (Part 2)
  "I don't understand why the FBI is asking questions.
I thought it was an accident that Geoff's dead. It was
an accident, wasn't it?" Hank Yothers squirmed nervously
on the kitchen stool. His mother reached over and put
a hand over his.
  "Hank isn't in any kind of trouble, is he," she
asked.
  Scully strove to reassure the family and calm
Hank down. "Hank isn't suspected of anything, Mrs.
Yothers. We simply want to make sure all the details
concerning Geoff's death are correct."
 "But he's already talked with Sheriff Haun about this."
 "Indeed." Mulder leaned forward. "And you may hear the
same questions the Sheriff Haun has asked you, but we
may find something in your answers that Haun didn't
think about."
  Mrs. Yothers' mouth flattened in a disapproving line, 
but she glanced at her son and nodded slightly.
 Scully started it off. "What was going on last night?"
 Hank shrugged. "Nothing, really. Around here in the
summer time, nothing is ever going on except work in
the fields. We were all hanging out and stuff."
 "Why that particular location," Mulder asked.
 "The Wylers, the couple who owned the place, died.
They didn't have any kids to leave the farm to, and
it's been empty for the last two years. We can go
out there and play our music as loud as we want to
with no one complaining."
 "What was Geoff doing so far away? Why had he
left the group?"
 Hank wiped his palms along his jeans. "I- I 
can't help you there. I was off with my girlfriend,
Gina. We were kinda... we weren't paying attention
to the others."
  Mulder and Scully exchanged a brief, amused look
as Hank continued. "I don't know how long Geoff
had been gone until someone, I forget who, asked
where he had gone to. We knew he hadn't left 'cause
his car wasn't gone, and he wasn't off...uh, doing
anything, 'cause Andrea was still there."
  Mulder quickly glanced at the list of names of
the witnesses. "Andrea Baker, right?"
 "Yeah, she's Geoff's girlfriend. Anyway, we got
kinda curious as to where he'd gone to. We thought
maybe he was up to some trick, so we went hunting
for him." Hank shuddered and quietly finished, "It
was Lois who found him."
 Scully allowed the young boy a minute to recover
from the memory. "What was the weather like last 
night?"
 The mundane question brought Hank back to the
conversation. "It was pitch dark 'cause the moon
had gone down earlier. You could see all the
stars in the sky. There wasn't a cloud around.
That's what I don't understand. Where did the 
lightning come from?"
 "We're trying to find out, Hank," Mulder told him.
"Were you and Geoff good friends?"
 "Yeah, I guess you'd consider us pretty tight. We
were gonna room together at NSU, but then
suddenly Geoff changed his mind, said he wasn't 
going to college. You know, he never did say why
he wasn't going. Now, I guess I'll never know."
 Scully and Mulder thanked Hank for answering their
questions. As Mulder was driving them away, Scully
said, "There's a good distance from the barn where
Simms' body was found from where the kids were partying.
Maybe far enough away they wouldn't see or hear anything.
But what was he doing way over there?"
 Mulder smiled. "I like the sound of your voice, Scully."
 "Thank you. I like the sound of yours."
  He laughed. "I mean, you're starting to get curious about
Geoff Simms' death. Since Hank and his girlfriend were so
'occupied', we'll strike Gina from our list. Next stop, Lois,
the girl who found Geoff's body."

 "I can tell you," Lois said, "I didn't like the notoriaty of being
the one to find his body. Do you know about his eyes?"
 "We know all about it," Mulder said, hoping to redirect the girl
from that topic. "Was there anything unusual or out of the
ordinary about the scene?"
 Lois shot him a look. "It's not like I find dead bodies every
day, Mr. Mulder. The whole thing was strange. Geoff was smoking.
I mean SMOKING! It was coming out from everywhere; from his
ears, his nose, his--well, it was coming out everywhere."
  Scully scribbled on her notepad. "If he was still smoking,
then it wasn't long from the time the accident occured to
the time you found him, which was around 12:30. Do you know why
he had left the party?"
  Lois shrugged. "I thought he'd left to take a l--" she caught
herself. "I thought he left to relieve himself. We were all
sharing a couple of six packs. I know, I know, we're underage,
but we were celebrating Carl's acceptance to Williams University.
  "How was Geoff acting before he left," Mulder asked.
  "Geoff was being an as-- he was being a jerk, smarting off
and stuff. He does that when he's in a bad mood. He takes it
out on us."
  "Do you know why he was in a bad mood?"
  She thought for a moment, then shook her head. "I dunno.
He'd started off, alright. We were all excited for Carl,
and we got to talking about what college would be like,
or where we were going to go to work and stuff, and Geoff
kept getting worse and worse."
  "Was there anyone in particular bearing the brunt of his
anger?" Scully inquired.
 "We were all getting it from him. To tell you the truth, when
he left, I was glad. He was ruining the night. But then, he
had a habit of ruining everything."
  Scully glanced at Mulder, then back at Lois. "Do you consider
Geoff to have been a close friend of yours?"
 Again, Lois shrugged. "Sure, we were close." Almost as an
afterthought, she added, "You know the saying, keep your
friends close, and your enemies closer."
  "Yes," Mulder said. "We know the saying well."

===========================================================================                            
From: sumrall@delphi.com (L. Sumrall)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: Voltage  Part 3
Date: 22 Sep 1995 06:42:28 GMT


                    VOLTAGE  (Part 3)
Lancolm, Nebraska
July 23
  Mulder cracked his hotel room door open to see who was 
knocking. Scully stood outside and brandished what appeared
to be a fax. "Something that was said yesterday got me thinking,"
she said, as she barged into his room and sat down on his bed.
"I played a hunch and got the information this morning. Lois
said they were out celebrating the fact Carl was going to
college, and the gang began talking about their futures.
Why are you hiding?"
  Mulder was backed up against the wall, standing behind the
open door and peering around. "Scully, I didn't exactly dress
for bed last night."
  She waved her hand in dismissal. "Go throw something on while
I tell you about this. Anyway, Carl is going to Williams College,
Hank and Gina are attending NSU, Walter Dorsey is going to--
why aren't you getting dressed?"
 Mulder pointed to the suitcase back towards the bathroom. "My
clothes are over there."
 "Oh, for goodness sakes!" Scully flopped down on her back
and covered her eyes with her hands. "I am a doctor, I'm used
to seeing body parts. I promise not to look while you streak
by me, okay?" 
 Mulder slammed the door shut and ran towards the bathroom. As 
he rushed by the bed, Scully peeked between two fingers. "As I
was saying, Mick Hathaway already has a job at the local bank
that his folks own, and Andrea Baker is going to USC to study
psychology. What do you see missing from this picture?"
  "My underwear."
  "Your underwear?"
  "I can't find it." Scully could hear the rustling of clothes.
"Guess I'll have to go au natural. Okay, I'm decent."
  "My mother always said decent men wear underwear," she teased.
  Mulder grimaced at her, then got back to the point. "It appears
everybody's got a life after high school. Except..."
  "Except Geoff Simms. I checked with all the colleges he applied
to, including NSU where he was planning to bunk with Hank. He
was continually told thanks but no thanks by every place he
applied to. Seems locally Geoff was a great football player,
but looking at the big picture, he was nothing but a small
fish. And while he was an all-around sportsman, a Rhodes 
scholar he wasn't. It's a wonder he graduated at all. While
his friends are celebrating their future, he's feeling left
out. So just like any other man, he takes out his anger
and frustration on the people around him."
 "What do you mean, just like every other man?"
 "Mulder, I know how men are."
 "So do I, I am one."
 "And it's typical that instead of taking the blame themselves,
they blame the world for their troubles."
 Mulder ran a brush quickly through his short locks. "So you've
established why Geoff was in such a bad mood the night of his
death. He pisses his friends off by taking out his own failures
on them."
  "Maybe he pushed someone's button one too many times."
  "Or, maybe he pushed all of their buttons one too many times."

  Mick Hathaway wasn't at home, so the two proceede to the next
name on the list. Scully pulled out the short file. "Andrea Baker,
daughter of Robert and Barbara Baker." 
 Mulder laughed. "Bob and Babs Baker. Quite a tongue twister. She's
the girlfriend, right?"
  "Something puzzles me. Andrea graduated near the top of her class
and won a scholarship to USC. Thinking back to how it was at my
high school, I would have thought she would help her boyfriend out
since he was doing so poorly."
  "Or to even do his homework for him," Mulder added. "I can think
of plenty of times I've received A's on reports I got my girlfriends
to write." 
  "Uh-huh. How much did you pay them?"
  Mulder pulled the car into the Baker's driveway, and as Scully was
walking ahead of him around a pick-up truck, she laughed.
  "What is it?"
  She pointed at the vanity plate on the front of the vehicle,
proclaiming it the property of "Bob & Babs".
  The front door was answered by the mother. "Mrs. Babs--uh, Baker,
I'm Agent Mulder with the FBI. This is my partner, Agent Scully."
  Barbara, dressed in somber colors, looked disapprovingly at the
duo. "Couldn't this wait until later? After all, it's only been
two days since poor Geoff was killed. Can't you let this town
grieve?"
  "Mom, it's alright." Barbara moved aside to look back at her
daughter.
  "Honey, if you're not up to this, you don't have to do
anything. I know how painful this all must be for you."
  "No, I'm fine." Andrea came to the door. "Why don't you
come in." She reached out a hand to Mulder, who automatically
reached back. As their skin barely touched, there was a small
popping noise. Both Andrea and Mulder jerked back their hands.
Andrea grinned sheepishly. "Sorry about that."  
  As Scully walked past the girl, she noticed Andrea didn't
appear to be pained at all. Unlike the mother, the teenager
was dressed in everyday shorts and a wrinkled T-shirt.
  Barbara was still uncomfortable with the situation. "Maybe
we should wait until your father gets back home. You should
have an adult with you when you speak with the FBI. I think 
it's a law."
  "I'm 18, Mom. I am an adult. They're not going to be
carting me off to jail. I doubt I need a lawyer to
answer a few questions. That is what you're here for,
right?" she asked Mulder.
  "I'm sure Hank and Lois have already told you we've
spoken with them. Can we talk in ther?" He motioned 
with his head to the living room off to the side.
 "Sure. Mom, can you get us some drinks?" Barbara
started to object. "Please? Could you make them
some coffee?" Andrea's mother shot the two agents a 
warning look, then disappeared down the hallway.     
"She should be busy for a few minutes. Won't you
sit down?"
  Mulder and Scully sat down on the couch, while
Andrea took a chair directly in front of them.
She surprised them both by quickly getting down
to business. "You want to know what happened that
night."
  Mulder was slightly taken aback by her attitude.
Hank had been sweating bullets when he had been
questioned. Lois had tried to hide behind a tough
bravado. But Andrea wasn't fazed at all to be questioned
by an authority figure. She was cool and collected. 
Mulder was tempted to try and shake her up a bit.
"The first thing we're trying to establish is why Geoff
had left and walked so far away from the group. Had he
said anything to you?"             
 There was a second's hestiation. "No, Geoff didn't tell
me where he was going. At the time I didn't care. He
was making everyone mad at him and I was trying to ignore
him in hopes he'd realize what a fool he was making of
himself."
  "You didn't see him leave, then?" Scully added. Andrea
shook her head. "Could he have left with someone else?
Another girl? Please, be honest."
  "He may have. I don't know. I doubt it. There weren't 
that many girls there. There was Gina, Lois, Cathy--but
she was in her car searching for a tape. There were two
other girls I didn't know, but I don't think they left
until we started searching for Geoff."
  Scully wrote something down on her notepad. "How long
had you and Geoff dated?"
  "About two years."
  "Did you and Geoff have any plans after graduating high
school," Mulder asked.
  "Geoff had plans, I had a scholarship."
  "What were those plans?"
  "He wanted me to stay in Lancolm, is as far as his plans
for the future went. I thought differently."
  Mulder had had enough of her cool facade. "You appear to
be holding up rather well, considering the circumstances."
  Andrea, who had up until now sat back in the chair, now
leaned forward. "On the contrary, I'm very-" she seemed to
be searching for the right word, "disturbed over it. I
didn't think it would ever happen. I mean, last week he was
alive, and now, he's gone."
  "Did you love Geoff at all," Mulder asked.
 Andrea started to answer, stopped herself for a moment, and
then said, "No. If you want me to be honest, I didn't
love him."
  "You dated him for two years," he pointed out. "Did you
develop *any* feelings for him?"
  She looked towards the doorway to see if her mother was
coming yet with the coffee. In a low voice she answered,
"Geoff and I live in the same neighborhood. Our parents
have known each other since high school themselves.
We come fromthe same background. He's the jock, I'm the
straight A student. We were voted homecoming and prom
king and queen. We made the perfect couple."
  "Sounds more like a business partnership rather than a
relationship," Scully commented.
 "For me, it was," Andrea replied. "For Geoff..."

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

From: sumrall@delphi.com (L. Sumrall)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: Voltage  Part 4
Date: 24 Sep 1995 01:44:12 GMT


                VOLTAGE  (Part 4)
 "That was strange," Mulder said, more to himself as they were
driving away from Andrea Baker's house.
  "I thought you liked strange," Scully replied.
  "There's something different about Andrea. She didn't act
like an 18-year-old, she didn't use words like a teenager.
She was too...too..."
  "Mature?" she offered, then sighed. "Mulder, you're as bad
as Andrea's mother. Neither of you ar aware that although
she's still in her teens, Andrea's an adult. Don't forget
this is a girl--no, a young woman, who's got a scholarship
to a prestigious college and plans to major in psychology.
Actually, she reminds me of myself at that age."
  Mulder looked at Scully, then smiled. "Andrea. Dana. They
do sound alike."
  "Let's look at Andrea's reaction to Geoff's death. She
didn't appear to be sad or depressed. Her mother was in
deeper morning over Geoff than his girlfriend. She didn't
appear to have been crying or losing sleep."
  "Andrea didn't even care about him. She made their 
relationship sound so cold-blooded. She was using Geoff."
  "He was using Andrea as well," Scully argued. This 
wasn't the point she was wanting to talk about. "Do you
remember what word Andrea used to describe how she
felt over his death? 'Disturbed'. I got the distinct
impression Andrea wasn't so much upset *over* Geoff's
death as she was *by* it, if you get my meaning. Something
is making her on edge, but it's not us."
  "You think she may know something more than she's telling
us about what happened that night?" Scully nodded. "I think
so too." Mulder stared quietly out the car window, watching 
the suburban landscape transform into the business district.
He wondered if now was the time to spring on his partner 
his developing theory.
 He turned in the car seat to face her. "Scully, she 
shocked my hand when we barely touched."
  Scully frowned, not understanding this jump in subjects.
"Yes, so? She was walking across a carpet and developed
static charge.
  "Don't you think it's more than a coincidence that she
shocks my hand, at the same time we're in town looking
into a death of her boyfriend, who was electrocuted?"
  "Simms didn't die of electrocution. He died of a broken
neck," she reminded him.
  Mulder waved his hand in dismissal. "Technicalities. In
the end he died of a broken neck *because* of electricity.
But still, electricity is involved."
  "Mulder, you've lost me. What are you getting at?"
  He took a breath. "Electric people."
  Scully looked at Mulder, then back at the road. She
suddenly whirled the car into the almost empty parking
lot of a restaurant. She shoved the car into gear and
turned towards Mulder. "What the hell are you talking about?"
  "Electric people. There are such cases written up in the
medical files. If only we were back at the office, I could
pull some out for you and show you what I mean."
  Scully rubbed a hand across her tight forehead. "Let me 
get this straight. You think just because Andrea was
walking across a carpet, built up a static charge, and
shocked your hand, she's responsible for Geoff's death?"
  "Human beings have an electric current flowing through
their bodies, we can agree on this, right?" Scully
nodded. "So is it impossible to believe once in a while a
human is born with a higher charge than normal?"
  Scully shook her head disbelievingly at him. "Mulder, if
what you're saying did happen--and I'm not saying it
couldn't--but if someone was born with a stronger electrical
current, it wouldn't be enough to do more than create a 
mild shock, as Andrea did with you. Or perhaps interfere
with a digital watch worn close to the body. Something
small like that. But there's no way one person could 
create enough voltage to kill."
  Mulder held up a finger. "What about electric eels."
  "That's an animal specifically designed by nature to
create an electric shock. Not so humans."
  He hit his fist against his thigh in frustration. "If
only I had my files here, I'd show you. There was a man,
I think his name was Brian Williams, who could light
up a bulb by merely holding it."
  Scully shrugged. "So? Uncle Fester did the same thing 
by putting one in his mouth."
  "There have been reports of babies being born with a
glow. One even charged up a Leyden jar. Back in the
1890s there was a woman known as the Little Georgia
Magnet, who could agitate a compass and attract or
repel magnets."
  "These are nice little parlor tricks you're describing,
Mulder, but we're talking about a force strong enough
to fling a 180 pound football player through the air for
13 feet. If a person could work up enough voltage to do
that, they would be burned up as well." Scully put the
car into drive and started to pull out of the parking
lot. "You can come up with some whoppers, Mulder."
  "My whoppers are usually right," he muttered.

  They pulled up to the house right behind a red truck
that had also pulled in. A young teenage boy, dressed in
a dark suit, got out. "Can I help you?"
  "Are you Walter Dorsey?" Scully asked.
  "Yes. Why do you--oh!" He snapped his fingers. "You must
be those FBI people."
  Mulder flashed out his ID. "I'm Agent Mulder, this is
Agent Scully. I assume you know we want to ask you a few
questions about Geoff Simms' death."
  Walter looked around at the other houses. Although he
couldn't see them, he could feel dozens of eyes belonging
to his neighbors, peeking out of windows and doors. "I
don't suppose I have a choice, do I?" He didn't bother
to hide his hostility.
  "As a matter of fact," Scully said, "you do. If now 
isn't a good time, we can come back later."
  "There is no 'good time' to ask questions about your
best friend's death." Walter glanced at his watch. "I've
been over at Geoff's house, doing what I can for his
parents. They're a wreck. I came home for only a minute,
then I'm going back, so this can't take long, understand?"
  "Of course," Mulder said softly. 
  Walter reluctantly directed Scully and Mulder into the
house. It was quiet, so Mulder guessed Walter's parents
were over at the Simms's house.
  "Do you mind if we talk upstairs, or does this have to
be formal?" 
  "We can talk anywhere that's convenient for you," Scully
answered him. As the trio walked up the stairs, Mulder's
eyes searched around the place.
  Walter opened up the door to his bedroom. "Sorry about
the mess. I haven't felt like doing any cleaning since
Geoff died. I came home to try and find something Geoff
made for me at summer camp a couple of years ago. I think
it should go to his parents. He would like that."
  As Walter started searching through drawers, Mulder
started his questions. "You and Geoff were good friends,
huh?"
  Walter shot the agent a cold look. "Not just good friends,
the best of friends. We've known each other forever, it
seems like. At least since kindergarten. We did
everything together; joined the same clubs, played on the
same teams, went to the same places. Since he's gone, I
think I know now what it feels like to be an identical
twin and lose your other half. I don't feel complete."
Walter stopped for a moment to wipe a tear from his eye.
"I still can't believe it. The last person who deserved
to die so young was Geoff. I don't know how his parents
are going to go on without him. I'll do my best for
them, though."
  Mulder was looking at the framed pictures on the walls 
and shelves. He motioned with his eyes for Scully to take
a look as well. They were almost all pictures of Geoff and
Walter together, a few of Geoff alone. There were also a
couple of awards for various achievements, but none went
higher than second place. Mulder had a good idea who took
first. 
  "You're not going to disturb them, are you?"
  Scully looked up at Walter, thinking he meant his awards,
but then she realized he meant Geoff's parents. "No, we'll
leave the Simms family in peace."
  "Then why don't you leave the entire town in peace?"
  Scully came over to Walter and started to place a comforting
hand on the young boy's arm, but he jerked back before she
could touch him. "Walter, I understand the pain you're going
through, losing someone you loved very much. It wasn't long
ago I lost my own father. I, too, felt he had died too soon.
But if there were some questions about my father's death, I
know I would want those questions answered. Wouldn't you?"
  Walter's eyes clouded with confusion for a moment. "What
questions could there be about Geoff? You're making this
sound like he didn't die naturally."
  Scully opened her mouth to say something, when Mulder
brought their attention back to him. "Walter, you said you
and Geoff have done everything together. Why didn't you
two plan on rooming together at college?"
  The confusion melted from Walter's eyes, as his whole
face closed up. He turned away and started to search through
his desk, answering Mulder over his shoulder. "Geoff felt
sorry for Hank. Hank's never been away from home before,
and he didn't want to have to live with a stranger, so
Geoff agreed to be his room mate."
  "But of course, Geoff wasn't accepted into college, was
he? It must have been painful to contimplate separating
after all this time; you going away to school and leaving
Geoff behind."
  Walter's voice came out hard. "No, you're wrong, I wouldn't
leave Geoff behind. I was accepted into college, but when I
found out Geoff had been refused, I planned not to go. I still
don't. I won't leave Geoff's family alone."
  Scully raised an eyebrow. "That's commendable, Walter, but
there's no need to put your life on hold for a friend."
  He shot her a scathing look. "Pardon me, ma'am, but I don't
believe it's any of your business what I plan to do with my
life. Now, are you done, or are there any more questions?"
  Mulder walked over to stand beside Scully. "Tell us what
happened the night of Geoff's death. We understand from the
other kids we've talked with that Geoff had been in a bad
mood, picking on people and cutting them down."
  "He had a right to be upset! All his so-called friends
were leaving him behind, going off to school. I was there
for him. I tried to help him all through high school. Did 
they? No. And neither did Miss Valedictorian. Andrea didn't
do anything for Geoff. She never loved him. She didn't
deserve him."
  "It's quite clear you don't like Andrea," Scully said.
  "I don't know why he bothered with her. She wasn't
pretty. She wasn't faithful. She wasn't loving. I tried
to get Geoff to open his eyes to her. I tried to get
him to drop her. You want to know why he was in a bad
mood that night? It was because of the big fight they
had."

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

From: sumrall@delphi.com (L. Sumrall)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: Voltage  Part 5a
Date: 25 Sep 1995 17:40:22 GMT


(I've apparently made this part too long for my computer to
handle, so I'm breaking it down in two parts. Hopefully)

                VOLTAGE  (Part 5)
  Scully and Mulder gave each other a knowing glance. Andrea
had said nothing about her and Geoff having a fight the
night he died. In fact, she had claimed to have been 
ignoring him.
  "There was a fight," Scully asked. "What was it about?"
  "Geoff had told her about me willing to give up college
to stay with him, and he was wanting her to do the same
thing. But Andrea couldn't wait to get out of Lancolm
and away from Geoff, which goes to show she never
really loved him!" Walter angrily slammed a drawer closed.
  "Did she say that?" Mulder inquired.
  "Not in so many words. Oh, she kept trying to tell Geoff
she never loved anyone like she did him, but she was lucky
to get a scholarship and couldn't afford to turn it down.
If you really love someone, a scholarship means nothing in
place of a person's happiness. Geoff told her not to expect
him to wait for her to come back, that he would go on and
find another girlfriend. Then Andrea went kinda crazy! She
jumped on him, trying to scratch his face and pull his 
hair. I thought I was gonna have to pull her off of him, 
but Geoff was able to push her away. He looked like he 
wanted to slap her, and frankly I wanted to myself, but I
knew Andrea would be the kind of girl to make a big
deal out of it and say he'd beat her up so she could get
the cops on him. I took Geoff aside and suggested he go
for a walk to calm him down. I suppose he simply kept
walking and walking, trying to cool off, and that's why
he was so far away when he was....killed."
  "What about Andrea," Mulder asked. "Where was she?"
  "She was gone for a little while. Maybe she was trying
to do the same thing, calm down. Maybe she followed Geoff
to talk to him. I don't know."
  Scully stood up straighter. "So you're saying Andrea
was gone at the same time Geoff was. Do you remember how
long she was absent?"
  "Uh, I don't know. I just know she was gone, and then 
she came back. Then I got worried about Geoff being gone
so long, and we all started to look for him. Here they are."
Walter pulled out a handful of photographs from a drawer 
and placed them in his jacket pocket. He checked his watch.
"I need to get back to the Simms' house. Are we finished 
here?"
  Mulder walked over to stand beside Scully. "Thank you for
answering our questions at such a difficult time. Would
you please convey our condolences to the family?"
  Walter nodded as he followed the agents out of his house.
Mulder and Scully were barely seat-belted in their car before
they started discussing all they had learned from Walter.
  "Andrea left the group, perhaps to follow Geoff," Mulder 
said as he started the car.
  "No, no, no. Your off the track here, Mulder. Everyone else
we've talked to have stated Geoff was picking fights with
everyone at the party, but not one said anything about a
huge fight between Geoff and his girlfriend."
  "I've had the persistant feeling from all of our questioning
that something was being hidden by the witnesses. They've
been holding something back. I think they've not told us
about the fight between Andrea and Geoff because they feel
they need to protect her."
  "Not Walter," Scully shook her head. "I don't like it. Walter
was planting ideas in our heads, to make us suspect Andrea, a 
girl he admitted to hating with a passion."
  "Or is Walter the only witness willing to tell us the truth
about Andrea?"
  "Two things are not right here, Mulder. First of all, Walter
said Andrea physically attacked Geoff, a football player twice
her size. There was no evidence in the autopsy of any scratches
on his face."
  "She *tried* to scratch him, she didn't succeed. And as for
attacking him, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. If she
was mad enough, she would leap first, look later."
  "Why would she attack him at the thought of Geoff getting
another girlfriend? You said yourself after our interview with
her, Andrea didn't care at all for Geoff. One would assume she
would be quite pleased if he found another girl. It doesn't
add up. I think Walter is lying."
  Mulder turned down another street. "Did you see all the 
pictures in his bedroom. It was a practical shrine to Geoff
Simms. Walter wouldn't kill his idol. After all, he wasn't
worried about Geoff leaving him, and with Andrea going off
to college, one more obstacle in his way was gone. Then again,
electric people become more 'charged' by emotions."
  "Not that again," she sighed. The discussion had been going
so well, so professional, until Mulder brought up his theory
again.
  "Yes, that again. Andrea had her blood up from the fight, 
she followed Geoff out to the abandoned barn, and maybe her
emotions got out of control and before she knew it, she'd
killed him."
  "Walter's been the only one to say Andrea left the group,
and I don't consider him a reliable source. He sounded like
he was jealous of her. I mean--jealous." There was a deeper
meaning to her words.
  "If Walter was jealous of anyone, it would be of Geoff. 
Always in his shadow, always coming in second, always being
measured up to the town hero. There are only two choices
when you're in the shadows: fight to get out, or stay in it
and share in the glory. Every win by Geoff was a win for
Walter. Walter needed Geoff."
  "But he finally had one up on Geoff," Scully pointed
out. "Walter had a chance to go to school, but gave it
up to stay with Geoff."
  "After the fact. Geoff's dead, so we don't know for sure
if Walter would really follow through. He may have been 
saying that to make himself sound big. But you are right,
he's not a reliable source."
  Scully leaned back in the seat, her mind racing. She 
considered the night of the party. If Geoff was starting
fights with everyone, what had he said to his best friend?
Her silent reverie was interrupted when the car phone rang.
"Agent Scully. Yes sir. Yes, we've just...we're working 
on..." She wasn't getting a word in edgewise. "Yes, we can.
We're on our way. Goodb--" Scully grimaced and hung the 
phone up. "That was Sheriff Haun. He wants to speak with us.
Right now. No stops, no drive-thru windows, no pedestrians-
have-the-right-of-way. We're to be in his office in five
minutes. And he is timing us." 

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

From: sumrall@delphi.com (L. Sumrall)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: Voltage  Part 5b
Date: 25 Sep 1995 17:47:44 GMT


                VOLTAGE  (Part 5)
  Mulder parked the car behind the small, one-story sheriff's
office. They were quickly hustled inside Haun's office, which
was sweltering hot. The only breeze coming from an ancient fan
and whatever came in through the window. Haun was not happy.
He made it a point of looking at his watch. "You two don't
waste time, do you? The poor boy's not even six feet under,
and you're already asking questions! Don't you have any
sense of decency? You're sticking your noses into a fresh
wound. The town's lost a promising young man. The last thing
any of us need are two big city FBI agents sifting through 
the dirt before it's been shoveled over his coffin."
  Mulder held up his hand placatingly. "Sheriff, you have to
understand. We have to investigate and ask questions while 
the case is still hot."
  "That's another thing!" The Sheriff slapped his palms down
on his desk top. "What case? I don't know what you people are
looking for. It's a simple act of nature, cut and dry. What
else is there to know? I mean, the boy's eyes were busted
like stomped grapes."
  Mulder frowned. "Can we leave the eyes out of this?"
  "We have reason to believe it may not have been an act of
nature that killed Geoff Simms," Scully explained.
  "Are you implying he was murdered? He was struck by 
lightning, for Christ's sake, and Christ is the only man
I think who can kill with a bolt from the sky. Myrtle!"
He called through the open door to his secretary at her
desk. "How many people around these parts have been struck
by lightning?"
  "Seven in the last twenty years," Myrtle called back
off-handedly.
  "Did you hear? Seven. It's happened before, and as much
as I hate to say it, it'll happen again. Now," Haun fell
back into his chair. "Since this has never been declared 
a suspicious death, there's no reason why the FBI should
be involved. I want you to leave the friends and their
families alone. If I hear that either of you are asking
any more questions, I will complain to your superiors,
and run you out on a rail. Am I understood?"
  A stilted silence fell on the office. Mulder and Scully
took it to mean the meeting was now over. As they silently
left Haun's office, he got up long enough to shut the door
firmly behind them, even though that cut off the breeze to 
the room.
  
  Scully rolled her eyes. "Nice. Very nice. I don't know
about you, but he made me feel like a first year cadet."
  Mulder wasn't finished yet. He stopped by the desk of
Myrtle, who's nose was buried in a romance novel. "You
heard all that, didn't you?"
  Her eyes didn't stop going left to right, left to right.
"Of course not. I never eavesdrop on the Sheriff's business."
  "You were awfully quick with the information Haun
requested. I take it you're a walking encyclopedia of Lancolm
history."
  "I've been called worse." She turned a page, then picked up
a scrap of paper to mark her place, and met Mulder's eyes. 
"Tommy didn't want you to ask anyone any more questions."
  "Very well, I won't ask." Mulder moved as if to walk away.
  "What do you want to know?"
  Scully smiled. Mulder and his way with women. 
  "Those seven people struck by lightning. Would you know
their names?"
  "Names, addresses, dates of birth, who they married, who they
slept with. Yeah, I could tell you." She ripped off a piece of
paper from a pad and started writing. "We've had plenty of 
strange deaths in these parts. Had three people sucked up by
twisters and never seen hide nor hair of again. 'Course, you 
gotta understand this is farming country, so these farmers
working out in the open with metal equipment see a storm
coming, but think they can get one more row plowed before
running for cover. Except him." Myrtle gestured to the wall
behind her. "But that was to be expected."
  What Myrtle wsa referring to was an old poster that had 
been preserved and framed. The faded colors and pictures
showed a man with his arm raised to heaven, while storm
clouds gathered in the upper right corner. Large letters
urged one and all to come see a man named Winston Levers.
  "Who is he," Scully asked.
  "Who *was* he, you mean. Back about '47 there was an
awful drought. The war was barely over and people were
trying to get back on their feet. So this Levers fellow
comes to town saying he can make it rain."
  "A rainmaker?" Mulder laughed. "People still believed
in rainmakers in 1947?"
  "They were desperate and willing to believe in anything
as long as it gave them hope. But as I was saying, it isn't
all that ironic a man who made a living bringing rain would
be killed by lightning. Not that he didn't leave his mark
on the town." Myrtle chuckled to herself.
  "What do you mean," Scully said.
  "Put it all together. A small town with most of the young
men dead from the war, and a fast talker promising miracles.
Nine months later a whole new crop popped up, if you get my
drift." She folded the paper and handed it to Mulder. "There's
the names you asked for. Don't know what good it'll do for
you."
  "I don't either," Mulder said as he slipped the list into
his pocket. "But who knows, may come in handy. Thank you,
Myrtle. I owe you one."
  "And don't think I'll forget it, either. I've got nothing
better to do sitting around here than to remember."
  By now the sunlight was fading and the two realized they had
missed lunch. Mulder went over to the passenger door and started
to get in. "It's probably too late to talk to Andrea again. Let's
go get something to eat."
  Scully remained outside the door, holding the door open. "We're
not going anywhere."
  "Huh?"
  "Look at the wheels." 
  Mulder stepped back out of the car and looked down, then dropped
to his knees. The rubber tires had partially melted, seeping
into the cracks of the asphalt before harding again, practically
cementing the car to the ground.

===========================================================================
    
From: sumrall@delphi.com (L. Sumrall)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: Voltage  Part 6
Date: 30 Sep 1995 18:27:40 GMT


                VOLTAGE  Part 6
  The tow truck driver kept walking around and around the
car, scratching his head and wondering how to go about
freeing the vehicle from the asphalt. Mulder and Scully
leaned up against the brick wall, watching the spectacle.
He tued to her and mused, "I wonder if our insurance
covers melted tires."
  "Ours is the only car in the lot this happened to. It
was done deliberately, but who? Sheriff's orders?"
Scully answered her own question. o, he couldn't wait
to get rid of ."
  "Scully, you're wondering who did this. I'm wondering
*how* it was done, and in so short a time with the risk
of being caught any second."
  The tow truck driver was wondering the same thing. "I
don't know how this was done, unless the tires were faulty
in the first place. I mean, I've seen this before, but not
without the entire car being damaged."
  Mulder perked up. "Oh? How?"
  "Well, I've cleaned up plenty of car wrecks in my time.
Sometimes, if the wreck catches on fire, the tires can
melt. But they also explode, which these haven't, and
there's no sign of a fire on the rest of the car. I don't
see wt could have generated enough heatn such a
localized point." He scratched his head again, and sighed.
  ou ain't got that car outta here yet, Larry?" Haun
boomed from his window.
  "Does it look like I have, Tommy?" the driver snapped 
back.
  Haun looked at the agents with undisguised contempt. 
"Guess this means you two are without a ride. C'mon,
then. I'll drop you off at your hotel. At least that
way I'll know you're not out bothering the families
again."
  
  Mulder shut the door on the squad car and tried to
say 'thank you' through the open window, but Haun sped
off before he could get the words out. "Unless you 
feel like walking, which I don't, I suggest we go to
my room and order a pizza."
  Scully kicked her shoes off and leaned over the air
conditioner while Mulder made the call. "Don't forget,
no mushrooms," she reminded him.
  Mulder hung up the phone and checked his watch. "Lets
synchronize Scully. If they're not here in 30 minutes,
we get the pizza free."
  "Mulder, I'm beginning to rethink your theory about the
electric people. It's like Larry said, what could generate
such heat without damaging the rest of the car, or any others
parked nearby? It's as if the tires were melted to stop us
from leaving."
  Mulder groaned and stretched out on the bed. "After Walter
told us about the fight between Andrea and Geoff, we were going
to talk to Andrea again when Haun ordered us in. Was it Andrea,
wanting to prevent us from coming to her house? Or Walter not
wanting us to check up on his story?"
  "How would Andrea know we were at the Sheriff's office?" Scully
pointed out. "And how would she know we wanted to talk  her
again, which Haun expressly fbade us to do."
  There was a knocat the door and Mulder looked at h watch.
"Damn, he's fifteen minutes early."
  Scully answered the doorbut instead of a pizza delivery boy, it was
Andrea, clutching the card Mulder had given her earlier withheir hotel
rooms and numbers written on it. "Andrea,wis it?" The girl was visibly
shaken.
  "I--I want to confess. I did it. I killed Geoff. I murdered
him."


  Scully leaned across the table. "I want you to reconsider 
this," but the girl shook her head. They were all three 
sitting inside the conference room at the jail house. Andrea's
parents, who had no idea what their daughter had done, had 
been notified but not gotten there yet.
  "Why are you confessing to the crime of murder, Andrea?"
Mulder asked her.
  "I couldn't take it anymore," she replied in a shaky
voice. "The--t guilt was getting to me. I thoughI 
could get away with it, make it look like an accident,
but you two started asking questions and I knew it wouldn't 
be long before you found out."
   Scully placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "You are 
aware you have the right to an attorney--"
  "No!" Andrea pratically shouted. "No. I don't want a
lawyer. I just want to confess. Give me a confession to
sign or something."
  "Still, I think you should wait until your parents get
here."
  "How did you do it?" Mulder asked excitedly.  
  "Mulder!" Scully felt at odds with her partner. He was
so ready to believe the girl was guilty, while Scully
had reservations about the whole thing. Her FBI instincts,
feminine intuition, whatever one wanted to call it, was
telling her something was not right about this "confession."
  "How did you kill Geoff," he said, ignoring Scully.
  "My dad, he's goa battery charger. Geoff was jealous
because I was leaving him behind.e wanted me to give up
my scholarsp and stay behind with him, but I uldn't
do it. He said he had ways  make me stay. You understand,
don't you?" she pleaded. "I couldn't let him mess up my
future!"
  "So you messed it up yourself by committing murder."
Scully jumped to her feet and started pacing behind
them. This was all a lie.
  Mulder pressed on. "The battery charger..."
  Tears welled up in Andrea's eyes, but none had fallen.
"I...I took the battery charger and I....I took it and I
electrocuted him to death."
  "How would you have gotten the charger to work?" You 
would need a power source and there was no running
electricity on the farm," Scully argued.
  "I hooked it up to my car."
  "No one saw you take your car during the time Geoff was
missing. Besides, how could you have the time to hook the 
charger up wihtout Geoff becoming suspicious?" Mulder at
least had the objective to ask that.
  Andrea was momentarily stumped. "I knocked him out. I
took a rock and knocked him in the side of his head."
  "There was no sign he was struck by a rock."
  "I covered it. It was the same place where the 
electricity burned him."
  Mulder shook his head. "Geoff was standing up when he was
struck by the bolt. That's pretty hard for a man to remain
standing when unconscious." He leaned in close. "Now, how did
you really kill him?"
  
===========================================================================

From: sumrall@delphi.com (L. Sumrall)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: Voltage  Part 7
Date: 30 Sep 1995 19:26:58 GMT


                VOLTAGE  (Part 7)
  Andrea looked deeply into Mulder's eyes and spoke softly.
"You wouldn't believe me if I did tell you."
  "Oh, you might be surprised at what I would believe."
  She searched his face, then took a deep breath and began.
"I don't know how to explain it. He had made me so angry.
The kind of anger that makes you feel hot. The kind that
you can't see straight, you can't think straight. He was
standing there, laughing at me, taunting me. I wanted to hit
him. I wanted to hurt him. I wanted...I wanted him to 
stop! But he was so much bigger than I was, I knew it would
be useless. It made me hate him all the more. And then..."
  "Then?"
  "Like I said, I can't explain it. It--just happened."
  "What? What happened?" Mulder scooted to the edge of
his chair.
  "Mulder," Scully started.
  He held up his hand to silence her. "Wait a minute."
  "No, you wait a minute!" Scully slammed her pen down on
the table. It bounced off and fell to the floor. She
counted to ten quickly. "May I see you outside for a moment?
 Please." Mulder really didn't want to let the moment go.
He felt Andrea was on the verge of telling him what really
happened. But he saw how upset his partner was and agreed
to speak with her privately. Almost as soon as the conference
room door was closed, Scully hissed, "You're guiding her."
  "No, I'm not! Scully, she's going to tell us how Geoff really
died. It's a fact that with poeple who are able to generate
elextricity, their physical and emotional state directly influences
the amount of voltage they generat Andrea said she was highly
emotional state of hate, she was feeling physically hot. How can you
say I'm guiding her?"
  "Mulder, don't forget she's going to major in psychology.
She can see how eager you are to hear the fantastic, and
she's telling you what she knows you want to hear."
  "How does she know that my hypothesis is an electric
person killed Geoff?"
  Scully sighed. Her shoulders were tight and her eyes
hurting. One hell of a headache was coming on. "Look,
when you first suggested 'electric people', I thought
you were way off. But after what happened to our tires,
I think that yes, she knows more about Geoff's death
than she told us before, but I don't think she's the
actual murderer."
  "Of course she's not guilty in your eyes. She's another
version of you. Tell me, Scully, why is she admitting to
Geoff's murder?"
  She hated it when Mulder got this way, when he wouldn't
bend an inch. "You know and I know there are people who
have confessed to crimes that they've had absolutely
nothing to do with. It's been done before and it'll be
done again. "
  They were interrupted when a deputy came up to inform
them the Bakers were here. "I'm going to go talk to them,"
Mulder told her.
  Scully went back into the conference room to speak with
Andrea alone. "You're parents are here." Andrea merely
nodded silently. "Why are you doing this?"
  "Because I'm guilty."
  "I don't believe you. Something, or someone, has pushed you
to confess. What are you hiding, Andrea?"
  "I'm not hiding anything, okay? Now, would you please go 
tell my father I don't want him to post bail. He really can't
afford it."
  "There is no bail. No official charges have been lodged
against you. You've not even been considered a suspect, so
you'll be released into your parents' custody--"
  Andrea jumped to her feet. "What! What do you mean? I'm
not staying? My God, can't a girl get arrested in this state?
I've confessed to murder! They have to keep me!"
  Scully came around the table and pushed the girl back down
into her chair. "Calm down. Why did you say you killed Geoff?
Why are you so desperate to go to jail?"
  This time the tears finally spilled down Andrea's cheeks.
"Because I'd rather be in jail and alive, than out there..."
She snapped her mouth shut, realizing hse had said too much.
  "Than out there an open target," Scully finished for her.
"Tell me the truth. Who are you afraid of? Tell me, so we can
protect you."
  "You want to protect me? Then get Sheriff Haun to charge me
with murder." Andrea roughly wiped her tears away with the 
back of her hand, then crossed her arms stubbornly.
  "Even if Haun did charge you with murder, without sufficient
evidence to back them up, you will be released. Tell me who
you're afraid of, Andrea, so I can go after the real killer."
  She remained silent. Scully shoved her notes back iebriefcase and
started to leave, anticipating Andrea's parents wanting to see their
daughter. As Scully opehdoor, she heard the girl softly say, "You
don't knowyou're up against."

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

From: sumrall@delphi.com (L. Sumrall)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: Voltage  Part 8
Date: 30 Sep 1995 20:04:16 GMT


                VOLTAGE   (Part 8--when will it ever end?)

  Mulder arranged for them to get another rental car in the
morning. As they were driving down to the Sheriff's office,
he noticed the local newspaper was within walking distance.
"Wait a minute, Scully. Drop me off here."
  "Aren't you going with us to the Bakers to look for
evidence?"
  "You go on ahead with Haun. I want to do some research."
  "Do you mind filling me in? We are partners, after all. I
get kinda tired of you going off on your own without giving
me a clue of any kind."
  Mulder smiled. "Yeah, you're right. I'm bad for that. You
remember Haun's secretary, Myrtle, saying seven people had been
killed by lightning in the past twenty years? Well, Andrea's
18. I'm going to look and see if there's any connection."
  Mulder shut the door and Scully drove on. She wanted to speak
with Andrea, but was told she was still asleep. Haun, who was
setting out to go to the Bakers' house, was in a foul mood
  "I don't like this one bit. I've known the Bakers fntime, known
Andrea since she was born. I can't beli do such a thing. I don't know
what's gotten into her "Maybe we'll find out when we search her
house," Sculd Bob Baker answered the door. Scully could hear cryfmthe
kitchen. "Barbara's pretty upset about all this'appreciate it, Tommy,
if you left her alone."
  Haun tipped his hat. "You got it, Bob. We'll be in and out as soon
as possible. Barb won't even have to see u Scully and another deputy
went upstairs to search Andr'room. Nothing had been touched by the
Bakers sinceanight. The bed was still made, since Andrea had insit
spending the night in jail. Some clothes were left on t floor, a pair
of shoes kicked into the corner. Waeof sadness, Scully picked up some
literature on USC fAndrea's desk. Would the young girl be able to
realize dream?
  As her eyes scanned the area, something in the waste basket
caught her eye. "I knew it!" she exclaimed before catching 
herself. She reached into the trash and pulled out a walkman.
Or more precisely, what was left of it. The body of the tape
player was warped and twisted. Not broken, but melted.
  "What did she do, put it in a microwave?" the deputy asked.  Scully
was reminded of their tires on the car yesterday, melted into the
tarmac. Whatever had done that had aomelted the walkman. Then she
noticed something on one fit. Three depressions in the plastic, in the
shape last three fingers of a person's hand. She held the of plastic
underneath the desk lamp and peered into tdepressions. There were a
few fine ridges at the top.
  "Fingerprints," she breathed. She needed to get this dto the
sheriff's office to compare the prints to Andrea's. Scully about bet
money they wouldn't matchbto whose fingers would they?

  Mulder was hidden in the basement of the Lancolm Star
newspaper offices, where old copies of the paper and
microfiche were stored. Consulting the handwritten list
Myrtle had given him, he was searching slowly and
diligently for the stories on the deaths by lightning in
the last 20 years. The first one happened before any of
the suspects were born, so that one was discounted. But
as the years rolled by, the deaths became more than
coincidence.
  'BOY SCOUT LEADER STRUCK BY LIGHTNING'
  June 17, 1986
  Jack Hadleman, 40, was apparently struck by lightning
and killed over the weekend. Hadleman, leader of Boy
Scout Troop #42, had taken his troop out for a camping
weekend when the incident occurred....
  Mulder skipped over to the grainy picture accompanying
the article. It showed Hadleman, dressed up in his boy
scout adult uniform, in a publicity shot taken earlier in
the year. He was demonstrating a complex knot to one of his
boys. What was interesting was the boy was listed as none
other than ten-year-old Geoff Simms.   
  The second death by lightning that captured Mulder's
attention was the tragic death of another football hero,
this time to a rival team from another city. The young
teenager, Wilson Intaro, had been the star quarterback
 of the Denholm Tigers. The death had occured before the
much anticipated game between rivals the undefeated Tigers
and the second place Lancolm Devils, with new football
captain Geoff Simms. The Devils broke the Tiger's winning
streak, rising in the ratings the rest of the season, while
the Tigers slowly went down.
  Mulder rolled his chair back to rest his eyes and think.
Two deaths by lightning associated with Simms. Had no one
else realized this, thought it was too strange for
coincidence? Mulder could see Andrea killing the quarter
back to insure her boyfriend's team would become the 
leaders, but why kill a boy scout leader? Especially since
at 10 years old, she wasn't even dating Geoff.
  No, Scully was right. It wasn't Andrea, it was someone
else. Someone who was with Geoff in the same Boy Scout 
troop and on the same football team. His living shadow,
Walter. But Mulder had to be sure. There was one more
thing he had to find out.

  Sheriff Haun shook his head while examining the melted
remains of Andrea's walkman. "Looks like something I would
find sifting through a burned down house. But to leave
imprints in the soft plastic, especially this deep, you'd
have to be touching the thing while it was stillhot, 
burning your hands."
  "And was Andrea's hand burned?" Scully asked.
  "You know they weren't. I knew Andrea couldn't have
done this. I can see the fingerprints you're talking
about, Agent Scully, but we don't have the facilities to 
lift prints out of there. It'd have to be taken to the lab
over in Mason City."
  "I can run it over there for you," Scully offered while
shoving the walkman into an evidence bag. "Besides, I want
to personally supervise it. I bet you ten to one these
fingerprints aren't Andrea's."
  Haun nodded. "I'm getting the same feeling."
  "Sheriff, other than this piece of melted plastic, neither
myself nor your deputies found any evidence linking Andrea
to Geoff's death. You don't have anything concrete to keep
her in here, do you?"
  "I never wanted to keep her, not even overnight. I was
willing to release her into her parents' custody, but Andrea
was adamant about not leaving, almost getting hysterical over
the whole thing. I thought as much as it was breaking Bob and
Barbara's hearts, I'd humor the girl and put her up in a 
private cell. Hell, the door wasn't even locked."
  "Then release her into my custody. I'll take her with me for the
trip to Mason City. She'll still be in the presence of a law
enforcement agent in case any questions are asked, and who knows,
maybe getting her alone in the car, she'll and confide in me about
what really happened."
  Haun wiped his hand down his face. "It's not in the regulaobut
nothing in this case has fit the book. Alright, uI'll sign her over to
you and give you the responsibile you leaving?"
  "Right now. The sooner I get this evidence to the lab, the sooner we
get the truth. Oh, Mulder's down at the newspaper doing some
research. I see no reason to bother him, seeing as how he never
bothers me to tell me where he's going. When he comes helhim know
what's up."

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

From: sumrall@delphi.com (L. Sumrall)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: Voltage Part 9 Again
Date: 2 Oct 1995 03:46:22 GMT


I was told my Part 9 was a bit garbled in the transmission,
so I'm going to try to repost it again and hope it gets
there all in one piece. And I thought getting your luggage
through the airport was bad!

                VOLTAGE  (Part 9)
(I'll try and make this a long one so I can finish this
up as soon as possible)

  Andrea was quiet and ansy when she was first released into
Scully's custody. But as they eventually left Lancolm city
limits, Scully noticed the girl was beginning to relax a
little. All she had told Andrea was she was running some
evidence to Mason City, which was the truth, without saying
what the evidence was. Now Scully decided it was time to
spring it on the girl. "I found the walkman in your trash
can."
  Andrea jerked in surprise.
  "Not only that, but there are fingerprints imbedded in the
plastic. You could save me some time, you know, and tell
me what I'm going to find." She glanced over at Andrea. "Who's
fingerprints are they?"
  Andrea was silent for a minute. "I didn't realize I'd just
dumped the thing into the trashcan. I should have gotten rid
of it. I wasn't thinking straight at the time."
  "It was a warning, wasn't it? Meaning not to say too much.
You weren't trying to cover up somebody else's guilt, you were
wanting a safe place to hide, and what safer place than in
jail, surrouned by policemen. The walkman was melted in your
room, so whoever did it was allowed into the house, probably
by your parents, so it's someone they know and trust."
  "You don't know--"
  "I don't know what I'm dealing with. You've said that before.
Andrea, if you tell me what I *am* dealing with, I can be
better prepared. I can protect you. You're safe with me. I'm
even armed if it comes to that. Why don't you trust me and tell me
what you saw the night Geoff was killed? Tell me what really
happened."
  Like a damn bursting, she poured out the story. "Geoff and I
did get into a fight. He was wanting me to give up USC to stay
behind with him, but as I said, I wasn't about to. Then Walter,
he came up and took Geoff's side, as always, and said he was
giving up going to college like a true friend to stay with Geoff.
Walter said I didn't know what true love was about, and how
I didn't deserve such a great guy like Geoff. And then Geoff...I
guess it's because he was in a bad mood anyway, he turned on
Walter. Said he wished Walter would go on to college and leave
him alone, that he'd never been able to do anything without
Walter tagging along whether he was invited or not. He was tired
of having Walter in his face and it was time to get his own life.
  Walter was shocked. Goeff had never talked to him like that.
He was just trying to be a friend. He started crying. Here was
this big football player with tears rolling down his face.
Everyone was kinda embarressed for him. With the exception of me,
everyone else likes Walter. It's why they didn't tell you about
what happened. They were wanting to protect him.
  "Geoff didn't make it any better. He made fun of Walter, said
he was crying like a baby, and if he was a real man he would
dry it up. Walter took off running. I don't think Geoff would have
followed him except by then Geoff had realized he had crossed the 
line. That's why Geoff left the group that night. Not long after
Geoff went after Walter, I followed to make sure Geoff didn't
screw his apology up."
  "Did you see Geoff get killed?" Andrea, choked up with tears,
could only nod. "What did you see, Andrea? What happened?"    


  Mulder came jogging into the sheriff's office. "Myrtle, my
dear..."
  Her nose was buried in another romance novel. She held up her
hand and murmured, "Not now, I'm at a good part." He sat down
on the edge of her desk and tapped his finger absently against
his knee. Finally she stuck a book mark into her place. "Okay,
what?"
  "I need some more information. Knowledge only you can tell
me." He leaned in closer so they could speak in low tones.
"Back in '47, when the rain maker Winston Levers got killed
by lightning, you happened to mention a few months later the
stork amde some unexpected deliveries. Who were these kids
and what happened to them?"
  Myrtle cocked an eyebrow. "What's this got to do with
anything?"
  "Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. Please, Myrtle," he took
her hand into his. "This information may be vital."
  "I don't see how, but anyway. Let's see...Rich Undley was
one, but there's a slim chance he was actually legit. May
Sullivan, it was obvious with her. The spitting image of 
Levers. She moved to Chicago in '72 and hasn't been back
since. Lisa Parker, she married Clint Dorsey--"
  "Wait a minute! Lisa Parker Dorsey, as in..."
  "Walter Dorsey's mother."
  "Where's Agent Scully? Is she here?"
  "I think I saw her earlier, but she went somewhere with
the Baker girl."
  This didn't make sense. "Andrea's with her? Where did
they go?"
  "Mason City." Haun had come into the front office. "She was
taking some evidence to the lab there. She talked me into
releasing Andrea into her custody, hoping the trip would
help the girl trust and confide in her."
  "Sheriff, I know I don't have any solid reason to give you,
but I think it would be much worth your while to pick up
Walter Dorsey for questioning."
  Myrtle interrupted. "It's funny you brough him up. Walter
was here a fe minutes ago. He was wanting to see if he could
talk with Andrea, but I told him she was with Agent Scully."
  "Then he may still be around here in town somewhere," Haun
said. "I'll go get a squad car and go looking for him."
  Mulder reached into his coat pocket and flipped open his
cellular phone. He touched the memory button, automatically
dialing Scully's number. The connection was crackling, but
he was able to hear her voice. "Scully."
  "It's Mulder. It was Walter, Scully. I believe he's the one
who killed Geoff, although how we're going to prove it is
another thing."
  "How about a witness? Andrea just told me it was Walter. She
saw the whole thing. I think it would be best if we took her
into protective custody until---" Suddenly there was a loud
bang in the background. There was a scream he judged came from
Andrea, and a clattering noise as the phone was dropped to the 
floor.
  "Scully! Scully, what's going on!" Now, instead of Andrea's
scream, there was the sound of tires as it sounded like the
car was going out of control, then the line went dead. "Something
happened! Where's Haun?"
  "He pulled out while you were talking. What is it?"
  "A car! I need a squad car to get to Scully!"
  Without hestiation, Myrtle reached into her purse and tossed
Mulder her keys. "This is faster than having to sign out a
squad car. Red Toyota truck parked in the back." 
  Mulder yelled his thanks as he rushed out the door.

  Scully fought to keep the car in control. She dropped her
cellular phone to fight the wheel with both hands. It felt
like one of the rear tires had blown out. Her worst fear
was the car turning over. It slid hard towards the right and off
the road. The air bags exploded open, blocking Scully's vision.
They bounced along the rough ground before the car came to
a halt.
  Scully beat at the airbag to get it out of the way. "Are you
okay," she asked Andrea.
  "I--I think so. Nothing's broken." She looked around then 
screamed when she saw out the back window. "Scully, we're on
fire!"
  Scully fought with her seatbelt and extracted herself out
of the car. Andrea fell out on the other side. The fire was
licking up the side of the car, from where the wheel had 
originally blown. Scully couldn't figure out why the fire 
had started, but knew they had to get away in case the gas
tank blew.
  She and Andrea met at the front of the car and started
jogging towards the road when Scully stopped. She had 
thought there had been no other traffic on the road, but
sitting idle on the shoulder a couple of yards away sat
a truck. She started to wave to the driver for help, but
there was something disturbingly familure about the
vehicle. Andrea answered her unspoken question. "That's
Walter's truck."
  So that's why there was a fire along with the blowout.
Scully remembered their melted tires at the Sheriff's 
office. 
  "Come on!" She grabbed Andrea's hand and they started
running deeper into the field. She heard the truck rev
up as Walter pulled off the road. There was no way they
could out run the truck. She reached behind her for her
holster, but as Walter was driving past their burning
car, the gas tank exploded. She and Andrea cringed, the
red truck lost behind a huge fireball.

===========================================================================       
From: sumrall@delphi.com (L. Sumrall)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: Voltage  Part 10
Date: 1 Oct 1995 03:12:00 GMT


                    VOLTAGE  (Part 10)
  Scully grabbed Andrea's hand and pulled the girl after her.
It appeared the explosion had showered the red truck with
deadly flames, but considering the boy inside was able to
generate deadly voltage, Scully wasn't sticking around to see
if he was stopped. She had no real destination in mind except
to get as far away as possible. Now that the car, along with
the melted walkman--the only evidence in this case--was destroyed,
it was important Scully keep Andrea, the only witness to the
murder, alive.
  "Where," Andrea gasped. "Where are we going?"
  Scully stopped long enough to look around the bleak landscape.
She saw two farm houses and a trailer in the far distance, but
was torn between involving innocent people, and finding a
phone to contact Mulder. If anyone would know how to deal
with Walter, he would. Scully racked her brain. What did you
do to defend yourself against an electric killer?
  She turned to Andrea. "You know this country. Is there
anywhere we can hide, or find a phone?"
  "I--I can't--I can't think!" The girl was near hysteria.
  Scully grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and administered
a sharp shake. "Andrea, listen to me. Do not panic. We won't
die if we keep control. Take a deep breath. There. Now, what
can you remember around here?"
  Andrea looked up at the sky, her eyes following the thick
power lines running across the fields. "A substation. I think
there's a power substation near here. That way," she pointed.
  "Good. Maybe there'll be insulated clothing we can get or--"
  "Look!" Andrea was referring to the sudden appearance of dark
storm clouds starting to gather over the accident sight. "He's
still alive!"
  "Let's move!"
  They stumbled up the bank to another side road. There was 
no one at the substation when Scully and Andrea came running 
up to the chain link fence. Barbed wire ran along the top and 
the gate doors were locked closed with a chain. Scully pushed
the edges of the gate far enough apart to allow Andrea to squeeze
through, then she followed.
  The sky was growing darker in the midday, as blacker storm
clouds came together with deafening thunder. "Oh, he's mad.
He's really mad," Andrea muttered.
  "Stay with me," Scully ordered. At the back of the substation
stood a small shack, also locked closed. Scully kicked at the 
door several times to break it open and flipped the light on.
There was nothing inside that could be used against Walter
except an old fashioned dial phone. Scully pounced on it while
Andrea kept a lookout through the grimy window. The line was
already starting to crackle like her cellular phone had acted
up right before Walter struck. Scully prayed she would have
enough time to get through to Mulder. He answered the line on
the first ring. "Haun?"
  "No, it's Scully."
  "Thank God! Are you alright?"
  "Mulder, listen. Walter caught up with us on Old Wagon Road.
We're at a substation on...where are we?" she asked Andrea.
  "I don't know the name of the road, I just knew it was here."
  Scully gave a shake of her head. "It's not far from where our 
car exploded. You can't miss it. Go southwest--" There was a 
loud burst of static.
  "He's coming closer," Andrea informed her, watching the storm
clouds center overhead in the sky.
  "Scully!" Mulder shouted over the interference. "I'm on Old
Wagon Road right now!"
  "Mulder, what can we do! How do we fight him!" 
  The phone shocked her. Scully dropped the receiver from her
hand as the phone started popping and snapping. Walter must be
sending electrical surges through the phone line. Scully
remembered all the times she had been told never to talk on 
the phone during a thunderstorm.
  "At least Mulder knows where we are," Scully sighed. She tried
to stop thinking of Walter as a human being and think of
him as another electrical outlet. "We have to think of a way to
drain his power. We've got to find a way to--to short circuit him."
  "Turn him off!" Andrea pleaded, tears pooling in her eyes.
Scully looked at her bewildered, not understanding. "Turn him
off," Andrea repeated, reaching into Scully's holster and 
pressing the gun into Scully's hands. "That's the only way
to stop him. Turn him off!"
  The dark thunderclouds hovered close over the substation,
blocking the sunlight like a total eclipse. The light bulb
in the maintenence shack brightened with an energy surge,
and then exploded, showering Scully and Andrea with bits
of hot glass. Grabbing the teenager's hand and bending
down low, Scully guided them out of the shack and skulked
around the large generators.
  A thick beam of lightning shot between two generators a 
few yards in front of the pair. The huge piece of machinery
popped and crackled, finally breaking into flame. Andrea
had started to scream but clamped her hand over her mouth.
She couldn't give themselves away.
  The air was eerily still despite the boiling black sky
above. Scully whispered to Andrea, "Maybe, while he's
wasting time searching for us, we can double back behind
him and slip out of the gate." Andrea was willing to try
anything and motioned for Scully to lead on.
  Scully didn't relish the idea of hugging close to the 
generators after seeing the fate of the last one, but
they were the only things giving the two cover. Shadows
were cast about from a blue light source far to the left
of them. Andrea noticed the light hairs on her arm were 
standing up from all the static in the air. Then something
occured to her. "Agent Scully," she whispered. "If the
generators go out, the light department will send people
out here to see what's happened. If we wait, they can come
help us."
  "Or get killed as well." Scully hadn't even thought about 
the light department checking in on a downed substation.
Would Mulder have the presence to call and warn them to
stay back?
  When the gate came into sight, Scully saw that although
the doors were swung shut, the chain which had originally
been locked between them was now melted and twisted off.
Scully signaled to Andrea to stay put for a moment, until
she saw the glow designating Walter's presence was moving
towards the back of the substation.
  "Now!" she commanded. She and Andrea started sprinting
for the gate. But before they crashed through it, Scully
skidded to a halt and stopped Andrea beside her.
  Sitting on the other side in front of the gate was a 
red truck. Had Walter tricked them into revealing their
location? Was the bluish light Scully had been tracking
a ruse?
  "Scully!" Mulder hopped out of the driver's door and
started racing for the chain link fence.
  "Mulder!" Scully cried as she too started towards him.
  Before either reached the gate, a hissing sound filled
the air. Sparks leapt from the fence surrounding the
substation, and the metal began to glow.
  "Stay back!" Mulder warned. "Walter's electrified the 
fence. There's no telling how much voltage he's running
through it."
  Seeing their only means of escape cut off, Andrea
cried out in a frenzy, "I can't stand this anymore! He's
got to be stopped!" Andrea grabbed Scully's gun from her
hand and started running back into the heart of the
substation.
  "Andrea!" Scully had no choice but to follow her. "Andrea,
stop!"
  Mulder ran back to the truck he had borrowed from Myrtle.
He hopped into the driver's seat. Putting the truck into
reverse, he backed up a couple of yards. Reving the engine,
he then slammed it into gear, smashing through the gate
and knocking the doors clear. 

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

From: sumrall@delphi.com (L. Sumrall)
Newsgroups: alt.tv.x-files.creative
Subject: Voltage  Part 11  The End
Date: 1 Oct 1995 04:15:47 GMT


                Voltage  (Part 11)
*Guess what! It's the end!*

  "Walter, show yourself!" Andrea demanded, holding Scully's
gun at her side. "If you're a real man, face me! I'm not
going to run away any more, Walter. Do you hear me?"
  The air became hot, searing Andrea's throat. She squinted 
her eyes against the bright bluish light glow floating
before her. Andrea could barely make out in the midst of
this huge ball of lightning the figure of Walter. His hair
stood out straight, power radiating out of his fingertips,
his eyes burning bright.
  Andrea wet her dry lips. "Walter, listen to me," she 
tried to reason. "You didn't mean to kill Geoff. I know
that. He made you so angry, it happened before you knew
what you were doing. It was an accident."
  Walter fisted his hands, remembering the night. "I was
his friend. His only true friend. Nobody loved him like
I did, and he treated me like dirt! He laughed at me!"
  "I know, Walter. I know," Andrea sympathized with him.
"There were times he made me so mad I wanted to find a
way to hurt him as he hurt me. I understand."
  "I didn't mean to kill him. Maybe show him what I could
do, make him afraid. I didn't mean to kill him!"
  Scully had caught up to Andrea and was speechless at what
she was seeing. So far Andrea still held the gun to her side,
and Scully calculated whether she could retrieve the
gun from the girl.
  "Listen to me, Walter," Andrea continued. "Geoff was an
accident. They'll understand. But if you kill me and Agent
Scully, that will be on purpose. You will be guilty of
murder. I wasn't going to rat on you, Walter. I didn't
say anything about you to the police, and I never would
have if you hadn't scared me like you did. Hell, Walter,
the cops will probably never believe you if you did tell 
them what really went on, so most likely you won't go
to jail. But you will if you kill us. Don't do it, Walter."
  "She's right, Walter." Mulder had come up on the other
side of Andrea. Scully noted he had his gun out, just in
case. "Geoff was an accidental death. Scully and I will
help you. We'll explain to the police about the situation.
There's nothing to be afraid of. I give you my word."
  "No, you're lying!" Walter spit back. "You're trying to
trick me! You don't care. No one does."
  "What I'm trying to do is save innocent lives. We mean
you now harm, Walter. We'll help you."
  "I can't--" Walter sobbed before finishing the sentence.
 The glow surrounding his body intenisfied. Large bolts
of electricity shot out from him to the black clouds 
hovering above. "I can't stop it! I don't know how!"
  Scully eased up to Andrea and quickly took the gun
out of the teenager's hand. "Easy," she soothed, putting 
her arm around Andrea's shoulders and pulling her back.
  "Walter!" Mulder shouted over the hissing and cracks 
of thunder. "Direct your energy towards something safe.
Pour all your hate and anger away from us!"
  Walter was growing dangerously powerful. The bolts
became thicker and deadlier, streaking in ribbons
across the sky. Inside the glow, the boy seemed to 
writhe in pain. Mulder held up his arm to shield
his face from the bright light. "Walter!"
  "Run!" Scully shouted, seeing what was about to
happen. Dashing for the gates with Andrea in tow
and Mulder hot on their heels, she heard behind her
where they had left the boy, loud explosions as the
surrounding generators started to blow up one by one.
Seeing the truck Mulder had crashed through the
gates, she practically threw Andrea inside and jumped
in after her. Mulder cranked the truck and pulled it
hard in to a turn around and raced back out of the
substation, away from the explosions. Pressing the
gas pedal all the way to the floor, Mulder reached
the main road and headed back towards Lancolm.
  "Stop the truck!" Andrea screamed. "Pull over!"
  "What?" Mulder asked.
  Scully was turning around looking back at the 
substation. "It's the clouds above Walter," she
explained. "They're becoming a funnel cloud."
  "I know about tornados," Andrea said. "There's
no way we can outrun it. We've got to find a 
ditch."
  Mulder slammed on the brakes and skidded the truck
to a halt on the side of the road. Abandoning the
truck, all three started running along the shoulder
until they found ground that dipped low enough to 
provide some kind of shelter. Flattening Andrea down
first, Scully covered the girl with her body, then
Mulder tried to protect them both.
  It sounded like a huge train. Andrea covered her
ears. Mulder could feel the wind whipping around above
them. A dark shadow crossed over the trio, as Scully
heard the sound of metal crushing. She assumed the
tornado was tossing the truck around. The roar grew
louder and louder. Mulder felt the suction on his
body, and purely from instinct he curled his fingers
deep into the grass, as if it would keep him anchored
to the earth. Andrea screamed as it sounded like the
funnel passed nearby, ripping on down the road.
  And then it disintigrated. The tornado had lasted
only a handful of minutes.

  " A tornado of short duration struck the county of
Lancolm, Nebraska, earlier today, claiming one life.
Walter Dorsey, age 18, was killed when..."
  Scully flipped off the tv set. They didn't need to 
hear the rest of the live report. They had been there,
clearing out moments before the camera crew got to
the sight. While Haun had stayed to oversee the clean
up, he ordered a squad car to take the three back to
the sheriff's department.
  "Well, Myrtle," Mulder began, suffering the woman's
stony countenance. "I suppose the government should
replace the truck you lost in the line of duty."
  "With a compact disc player inside," she added.
  "Wait a minute, your truck didn't have a cd player in
it."
  "This one will."
  Scully shook her head over this conversation and walked
over to where Andrea was sitting down sipping on a Coke.
"How are you doing?"
  Andrea gave a nervous laugh. "Won't I have a story to
tell at USC. That is, if I do get to go to college."
  "I don't see why not." This statement came from Sheriff
Haun, who had just returned. "We have no evidence you're
responsible for the death of Geoff Simms, so I'll see that
your record is wiped clean. We've had enough tragedy in
Lancolm to last us awhile. It'll be nice to have someone
from around here make something of her life. Just remember 
where you came from."
  "What about Geoff's murder case?" Mulder asked.
  "What about it? An arguement occured between Geoff and
his best friend, Walter. Emotions ran out of control, 
and Walter accidentally killed Geoff. Now Walter's been
killed in a tornado, not unusual for around here. It's a
sad story, but now the case is closed."
  "But there's more to this, Sheriff. Walter was a special
human being with powers that apparently run in his family's
genes. The Dorsey's, especially the mother, need to be
studied."
  "Case closed," Haun repeated in a stern, cold voice. "Now,
since you two are once again without a means of transportation,
I will drive you to the hotel so you can pack, then I'll take 
you to the airport. The NWA consider this tornado a freak
storm and don't predict any more to strike. I'll be waiting
in the squad car." He put his hat on and stepped out of
the building.
  Scully turned to her partner. "Do you get the feeling, 
Mulder, we're being run out of town on the next stage
coach leaving?"
  "It's just another way of Haun protecting his town and
his people," Myrtle explained. "Lancolm's been through
alot recently. Hopefully, the town will pull itself
together and keep going."
  Mulder came over and shook Andrea's hand. "Good luck 
with getting your psychology degree."
  "Thank you."
  Scully also shook the girl's hand, looking deep into her
eyes. "I know you'll do well. You may even want to consider
majoring in criminology and join the FBI."
  "I don't know about being an agent for the FBI. Are all 
your cases as strange as this one?"
  Scully and Mulder exchanged glances. Mulder started to
reply when the honking of the squad car interrupted.
"We'd better go. Good-bye, Andrea."
  "Don't forget!" Myrtle called after them. "A compact
disc player!"

Chicago, Illinois
6:45 PM
  "I've left two extra bottles in the 'fridge." Sherry 
shrugged her coat on. "Diapers! Do you have any--"
  "Yes, dear," her mother calmly reassured her. "I've
got a brand new pack, not even opened. I also have
plenty of powder."
  "Did I give..."
  "Me the number where you can be reached. Yes. I've also
got emergency numbers posted next to the phone in case
anything comes up, which I doubt will. Unless it's Timmy
spitting up his milk."
  Sherry laughed at herself. "I can't help it, Moma. This
is the first time I've left him behind."
  Her mother gave her a quick hug. "I know how it is, honey.
But don't worry. I've raised three babies without dropping
them on their heads. I certainly won't with my first
grandchild. You have a good time tonight, hear? Timmy will
be fine."
  Sherry bent over the crib to give her son a goodnight
kiss, then pecked her mother on her cheek. "We'll be home
soon, I promise."
  "Take all the time you want. Paint the town red."
  "I'm a mother now, Moma. I don't have the energy to 
paint it pink."
  They waved to each other until the car disappeared 
down the street.
  She went into the bedroom and leaned over the crib.
"Finally! I thought they'd never leave."
  The infant wiggled around in agreement.
  "Now we can have fun, since the grown-ups are gone."
She reached out to pick up the child, but as her
fingertips touched the blanket, there was a loud
static snap.
  She snatched her hands back in fear, watching carefully
to see if the baby had been hurt. Timmy did nothing
but coo. Steadying her hands, she carefully reached for
the delicate bundle again. There was no charge this time.
She gathered her grandson in her arms and sat down in
the rocking chair, wondering.
  May Sullivan Thompson wondered if it had been her, or
had it been the baby?