REPOST: Forgotten Souls #9
ImAStinker
discoloration that stretched from the middle of his ribcage to the middle
of his abdomen.
"Why didn't you tell me about this yesterday?" she whispered angrily.
"Because there was nothing you could do about it and I didn't want you to
worry, " he rasped quietly.
She continued the exam and was not at all happy with her findings.
"How'd I do?"
"Your blood pressure is almost as non-existent as your blood sugar levels,
you probably have several cracked ribs, there's fluid in your lungs, and
you're on your way to becoming dehydrated. Otherwise, you're as healthy
as a horse. You still haven't eaten, have you?"
"No, well, I was going to and something came up and I didn't get a chance
to, so ...."
"According to your physical, you should be passed out on the floor and I
personally can't see how you're able to stand on your feet."
"That good, huh?" He managed a lop-sided grin. "I feel just fine...am I
done now?"
"Not quite." she said pursing her lips.
"They need a sample." She made a small snorting sound under her breath.
"I already went," he replied warily.
"Not that kind of sample."
"I give..what kind of sample are we talking about?"
She raised herself up on tip-toes and whispered in his ear.
"They want *what*?" His voice cracked as his face turned a bright beet
red. "No, way...you're kidding, right?"
She slowly shook her head no and tried unsuccessfully to stifle a laugh,
for the look on his face was priceless. She explained in a hushed
whisper, "read the report I'm going to give you...when you find out what
kind of research these people really conduct, it'll make sense."
"This is *WAY* above and beyond the call of duty," he whispered through
clenched teeth.
"I'm sure you can "rise" to the occasion," she gasped, barely able to
contain the laughter that was stuck in her throat.
"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?"
"Not at all..." She placed her hand over her mouth and stifled another
laugh converting it into a fake cough in an effort to recover.
He bent over and brushed his lips past her ear and commented in a very
hushed voice, "at least give me some *inspiration*," then in a
semi-leering tone, "talk dirty to me, Scully...." She pulled him down and
spoke into his other ear. His eyes took on an unnatural sparkle as both
eyebrows climbed upward beneath the persistent stray hair, while his face
took on a puzzled expression of disbelief.
"You can do that?" he asked dubiously.
She gave her head an affirmative nod as he closed the door to the
lavatory.
He emerged from the room several minutes later and headed toward the pile
of clothes on the chair across the room. "Can I get dressed now?" he
grumbled.
"Sure...where is it?"
"*It* is in there, right next to a card that says, 'thinking of you,'" he
snickered.
"You tell anyone about this and I'll change my name and move to
Pittsburgh."
Dana handed him all the information that she had gathered thus far, as he
pulled on the rest of his clothes. She grasped his elbow as he turned to
leave.."be careful and EAT something. There's a small diner about two
blocks away from here....pay it a visit." He smiled wistfully and walked
down the hallway toward the exit. One large and two small forms watched
him from the shadows.
Since he was her last scheduled appointment for the day, Dana gathered her
things together, logged out and drove home to what she hoped would be an
uneventful evening. She need time to catch her breath and interpret the
information she'd discovered. That "time" was not forthcoming, however,
for when she walked through her apartment door, she noticed her answering
machine was flashing wildly and demanding her attention. Plopping down
heavily on the couch, she depressed the play button and immediately
recognized Byer's voice.
"Agent Scully, I hate to bother you but we have been digging into the
"matter at hand" and have uncovered some pertinent and unnerving
information that you absolutely must see. It is imperative that you get
here as quickly as possible." She bounded from the couch and sprinted for
the door.
Mulder eased into the little diner and sat in a booth at the back of the
room, hoping to blend in with the background. He didn't want a repeat of
his last "diner disaster" so he just ordered dinner and tried to remain
low key. Taking the reports Scully had given him out of his pockets, he
proceeded to follow their line of investigation to the research center and
its reason for existence: "Variant Biogenetic Cloning." Oh, that's just
wonderful, he pondered. They're into biogenetic cloning and he just left
a healthy helping of *his* genetic material on their doorstep, so to
speak.
He hoped Scully had the presence of mind to destroy the sample after
running whatever tests she was required to run or he envisioned his life
becoming like a grade C sci fi movie with evil Mulder clones chasing his
ass from here to eternity. Get a grip, Mulder, you're letting a
hypoglycemic haze turn your brain into a wellspring for incoherent
thought. Ok, snap out of it....biogenetic cloning, you understand...but
what is this "variant" shit all about? Think damn it!! Variant:
different, disagreeing, diversified, irregular, unusual,
alien.....*ALIEN*? Fuck...that's it. A thousand different scenarios
flooded his mind and none of them had a happy ending. His mind reeled.
They've skipped injecting the alien DNA into adult subjects with pre
formed ethics and moral development and had found a way to clone it
directly into cloned human DNA within the reproductive structure itself.
Oh God, they're crating their own hybrid beings from scratch, beings that
would have no predisposition of right or wrong. They would only know what
they were taught...and he *knew* who their teachers would be. What do you
get when you cross the inhuman strength and abilities of alien DNA with
the unstable psychosis of an Eve? Fucking Armageddon that's what. Didn't
they fucking learn anything for the Leitchfield Experiments? He knew what
they were doing, but *who* could he tell? Who in the *fuck* would believe
him?
The waitress came with his food but he had completely lost his appetite
and in fact was fighting the urge to throw up, when he found himself
surrounded by several men in black suits.
"Come with us agent Mulder and don't try and make a scene."
Scully looked at he screen in disbelief. How did these people get into
the facility's research files? What she saw there was even *more* amazing
and horrifying...The were creating beings--alien/human beings and she had
been naive enough to believe she'd put an end to their experimentation
with the destruction of what she thought was their only alien tissue
source. She'd obviously been mistaken. Then another shocker......the
report was posted by Dr. Sally Kendrick. My God, the "Eves" were back.
Frohike beamed with pride, "We also accessed their fax files, since it was
built into the computer...it was easy. I thought that you might find this
of interest. It's a request from the research facility to the FBI Bureau
records section, first for a fingerprint comparison and then for a
complete medical file on.....guess who?"
"I don't know, Frohike, why don't you tell me?"
"Our very own...Fox Mulder."