Date: Thu, 1 Jan 1998 11:49:29 +0000 From: Heather Markham Subject: Aliquantum Salio - Chapters 10-13 "ALIQUANTUM SALIO" by Heather Markham CHAPTER TEN As they drove back through the darkness of the desert night, to the motel, Dana settled down comfortably in the front seat next to Mulder. She pondered over the conversations of their late evening meal. She'd enjoyed Fox's company that evening, funny....Fox, she'd never thought of him as Fox before, always had been Mulder, his christian name sounded strange, it felt strange to use it. She wondered if he would ever allow her to use it in front of him. She realized she felt closer to him now, closer than she'd ever felt before. Dana turned her head to look at him as her thoughts continued. She remembered and replayed the light-hearted banter that had established itself between them as they ate, the occasional joke Fox had made to lighten the events of the day. Of course, she and Mulder had talked before, they often had long conversations about life, the universe and everything but his all consuming obsessions for UFO's and the paranormal, always turned the conversation to work or past cases. Everything seemed to revolve around his endless search for the truth. He reminded her somewhat of one of the characters, Captain Ahab, from her favourite childhood book, `Moby Dick' but tonight he seemed a totally different man, there had been no mention of either of his obsessive topics of conversation. Even his personality seemed to have changed, seemed to have lightened. He more inclined to show a warmer side, he'd certainly been more attentive and tactile. Several times he'd reached out and touched her hand tentatively, even holding it briefly across the table while they had chatted. Dana had noticed earlier that he seemed to have acquired some new mannerisms and had adopted a few very un-Mulderish expressions, softer expressions. She was curious as to why he'd changed in this way. When she thought about it, he'd been acting a little strange right from the first time she'd picked him up early that morning. She looked back at the darkness outside. She had been duped by a Mulder imposter before, not all that long ago but this time she knew it was the real Fox Mulder, it had to be, must be. He appeared to know all about events of the past. Although, he did seem to have trouble remembering some things, as if he was trying to drag the memories to the surface of his mind, but he did seem remember them. Never-the-less, she'd been studying him closely all that night, trying to pick up on all these new tendencies. There had been something in his eyes that she hadn't noticed before, a tenderness, a certain sparkle. It was hard to define but it was definitely different to the usual haunted look that seemed to emanate from Mulder's tortured soul. Over the five years she'd known him there had often been times when he had comforted her, looked after her. There had been many times that she had held him in her arms and comforted him, cared for him, too. The special friendship they shared ran deeply between them. They already shared a special kind of love. Of course, Mulder had his moments of tenderness before, that "almost" look of real love in his eyes, a look which was quickly controlled and hidden away in the closet of his mind. Any feelings of love other than the love shared between friends, were always so fleeting. Perhaps, snatched from him by his own overpowering sense of guilt at losing his sister and his father. He would never allow himself to lose track of of his self-imposed mission in life, to find his sister and more recently, to avenge his father's death and to find the truth. The pathway to that truth came with a price and so, everything else had been secondary to him, putting any emotional relationships on hold, until now. She sensed the guilt was no longer there, that the search was not nearly so important to him. She could almost feel, tangibly, that he felt free, free to be himself, his true self. A self she very much liked, one she could almost allow herself to fall in love with. Dana shook the thoughts from her mind as the bright lights of the `Mirage Motel-Diner' came into view. They parked outside the motel reception and went to pick up their keys. Mulder pointed out Langly's room. Although it was quite late, his light was still on. After they had checked with him that he was alright and had given him the results of the autopsy, Mulder walked with her to her room. As she opened the door and turned to say goodnight, he placed a hand gently on her arm, sliding it down to catch her hand in his. He held it there softly, he moved closer to her, resting his other hand lightly on her shoulder, he gazed into her eyes, his own eyes shone in the gloom of the dimly lit terrace. He was smiling, a warm tender smile, he bent his head towards her, his lips parted as if to say something....or, dare she even think it, it was almost as if he was about to kiss her. His face suddenly stiffened, he jerked his head away from her, an odd expression passed across his features to replace the soft smile of a second or so before. It was an expression, which to her, seemed to show an odd combination of anger and regret. Then he suddenly looked sad, he gave an almost imperceptible sigh and released her hand and dropped the other arm from her shoulder, his arms hung by his side. She noticed him clenching his hands into tight fists. He stepped back and looked away. She quickly caught at his arm, as if to draw him back. "Mulder? What's wrong? You were going to say something....please... what did you want to say?" He searched her face, looked down at the ground and replied, "Oooh, nothing. I..I'm sorry, it's late. It'll keep.....we should get some rest, it's been a long day. I'll see you in the morning. I'd like to go and check out that Project Centre tomorrow, if that's okay with you?" Her heart sank, she felt that somehow in that moment she'd lost something, missed an opportunity. The old Mulder was back in charge of his feelings again. She took her hand from his arm, "Okay, Mulder, if that's what you want to do, I'll see you tomorrow. Goodnight." He nodded at her, gave her a halfhearted, lopsided smile, stepped back and slowly walked to his own room. The odd thing she noticed, was that he appeared to be talking or muttering something to himself. Dana shook her head, it was with regret that she watched him go, that she had let him go. She closed the door and sighed. She felt the door had closed on any romance that may have been in the air that night or any other night. What Dana couldn't see, couldn't hear, had no way of knowing, was that Al had appeared and had been keeping a tight rein on Sam's emotions. Al trotted beside Sam into the empty motel room. "Yeah, I know it's not fair, Sam, but you gotta remember, you're in Fox Mulder's body. Dana thinks you are Fox Mulder. It wouldn't be fair on her or you, Sam, to let her think she was starting somethin' with a guy that you aren't. When Mulder leaps back into his body, he may not appreciate what you've been doing for him while he's been away and neither will she. Especially if he doesn't want to continue a relationship with her, one which you instigated. Sam tried to speak, his friend silenced him with a wave of his cigar. Al frowned in thought, a look of understanding in his eyes but he remained firm in his advice, "Yeah, I know she's a beautiful woman and she's clever too. I know she'd suit you well Sam, but you just can't go falling in love like this. You can't go playing around with other people's emotional lives. That's not what you're here to do. You saved Langly, you could leap outta here at any time now, then where would she be. No, Sam, ya gotta keep control here. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Sam rounded on his friend, his lips drawn together in a thin, tight line. His face showing controlled anger, he gave a sarcastic laugh and shot Al a look of withering scorn, "Oh yeah, that's good coming from you." Al winced and looked uncomfortable, "Okay, an unfortunate turn of phrase. I know what I'd do but you're not me, you're Sam Beckett and you should know better than to let yourself get carried away like that." Sam glared at Al, more than a little agitation still showing on his face. "Did you just show up to annoy me, to remind me who I am? I know who I am! I know why I'm here, damn it!" Suddenly all the anger seemed to flood out of him, he collapsed down on to the end of the bed, closing his eyes tightly shut and swallowing hard. Al moved over to him, he felt really bad about this. He could see how strongly Sam felt towards Dana, he didn't need to be told that his best friend had already fallen in love. Sam rubbed at his eyes, looked up at the ceiling and muttered something under his breath. All Al could offer was his own cold, holographic, comfort. "Sorry Sam. I really am. What else can I say. You know I'm right." Sam knew in his heart that Al was right. "Yeah, I know, it's not your fault, I shouldn't have let myself become so attached to her. I shouldn't have got involved with her at all. Anyway, why did you really show up?" He gave Al a weak smile, "Was it just to keep me from doing anything I might regret?" Al raised his eyebrows, as if to say, oh yeah, like it hasn't happened before. I know that puppy dog look only too well. Sam caught the expression on his friend's face. "Okay, okay.....I'll be the perfect Mulder from now on. I'll make sure she knows there was nothing there." "Good, Sam. Now, you should get some rest too. I'll come back tomorrow morning, providing that is that you haven't leaped out by then." Sam sighed and began to undress. Al left him to it and returned to the Imaging Chamber, leaving Sam alone in his room and alone with his thoughts once again. As Al walked back from the Imaging Chamber to check on Mulder's progress, he couldn't help worrying about Sam. He hated to abandon him like this. Sam's life had been taken over by other people's problems, other peoples mistakes. He knew that his friend was, by now, well used to fitting in, adapting himself to fill any role, play any part and because he was seen not as himself by the people around him, he inevitably suffered a terrible loneliness, which often led to him letting his feelings run away with him. Becoming caught up in the moment, succumbing to the temptations of love, wherever he could find it. Falling for the `leading lady' in whichever play of life he was participating had become an occupational hazard. CHAPTER ELEVEN Langly quickly scrambled up to the top of the bluff, it was an ideal place to hide while observing the Project Centre. Not that he could see much, it was very early morning, the sun's first rays had just begun to streak the horizon, it cast eerie, long shadows amongst the rocky sierra. The facility complex he was viewing lay his side of the sun and therefore was still in semi-darkness. Langly took out his binoculars and lay flat on his stomach, as near to the edge of the ridge as possible and carefully scanned the area of the facility. Everything seemed to be quiet, even the mountain seemed to be peacefully at sleep, there were no signs of electrical activity, no sparks of blue light emanating from it, there was none of the previous action he'd witnessed the last time he was out in the desert. The whole place was surrounded by a high, wire mesh fence, warning notices stated that it was electrified. He pondered on the thought of whether or not he could get over or under it....no, there was no possibility of that. The only way in or out was through the main gate, through the barrier and past the guards hut, there was absolutely no chance of him bluffing his way in either, so that was out of the question too. He tilted his glasses up to study the mountain, could he possibly skirt around the other side of it, climb up and edge around this side without being seen and without being fried by whatever it was that charged the mountain with an apparent electrical voltage or strange power source. He viewed the buildings inside the sprawling complex, there was a large group of buildings just in front of the mountain, some were almost up against the mountain side. From where he was he could just make out a line of buildings housing a visitors entrance and reception area, there were several buildings further away on the opposite side to a car park, these he guessed to be some kind of barracks or living quarters for guards and maintenance crew, there were also some other smaller buildings, the usual type of places these facilities contained. Set a little distance away from the other constructions, around to the other side and almost out of view was a Hacienda style ranch house, although, to him, this seemed to fit with the Mexican vista, it didn't seem to fit with the rest of the place. Perhaps this was the residence for the more important personnel. There were a few storage sheds and built into the side of the rocky crag opposite from the line of main buildings was an `L' shaped access tunnel and main doorway. He guessed this doorway led to the internal and possibly underground part of the research facility. He presumed this would be the place he would need to get into. He wasn't all that sure what it was he was actually looking for but he was sure whatever he found, it would have some connection to what happened to him and Churnik. He'd heard various reports that spoke of an alien underground base out at Dulce, he'd even heard rumours on the internet that US Special Forces and the FBI were waging a war of sorts against the aliens at that base. Something he would have to discuss with Mulder the next time he spoke to him. Churnik had got hold of an alleged classified document from a reliable sources which stated that some of the underground government bases had tunnels that stretched vast distances linking other bases and facilities together, in a vast underground complex network and that the base at Los Alamos had a network that stretched way out here, perhaps it even linked with this facility. The document indicated that some of these underground bases were experimenting in the field of particle physics, gravity, electron beam weaponry, and back-engineering crashed alien space craft. That would definitely account for the huge number of UFO sightings reported in this area. The most frightening aspect of recent government research was mind control and experiments in bioplasmic transference....body snatching, the ability to remove a persons soul from their body's and implant another consciousness, possibly an alien one, into the vacant shell of the brain. Langly new the results of the autopsy but still considered the possibility that Churnik may have been killed, killed because of the secret document or the dossier he was compiling on these research installations. Could they have found out about it. His attention was suddenly drawn to the guards hut. A jeep had pulled up at the internal barrier and was waiting to leave. Three guards came out, there appeared to be some kind of problem, two of them had to manually lift the barrier, while the guy from the jeep and the other guard struggled to slide open the main gate by hand! Could it possibly be that they were suffering from a power black out, that their surveillance and defence equipment was down! He removed the glasses from his eyes and rubbed the dust away, held his face skyward and said a silent thank you to his God, and moved as quickly, as silently and as unobtrusively as he could, back down the side of the bluff. Now came the ultimate decision, which route should he take to gain entry, if he chose to go over or under the fence and the power came back on he would be killed instantly, should he take that chance. Even if he did manage to bypass the fence, there was quite a clear distance between the perimeter and the nearest buildings, there was a strong possibility that the guards would spot him? He considered his chances...no, he'd have to try his luck at skirting around the mountain, climbing down the side closest to the fence and onto one of the roofs of the buildings. He'd noticed and remembered that the mountain usually began clouding in the strange blue light just seconds before the onset of the electrostatic charging. If the current came back on he'd just have to chance it and make a leap for the ground! The climb wasn't an easy one, it was taking longer than he'd estimated. Activity below him was increasing, more guards had been put on alert, probably because the usual defence systems were out. The threat of detection and imminent electrocution or some such, seemed to make time move faster. He was unintentionally counting the minutes as he edged closer and closer to his destination. He could see a few surveillance cameras from where he was, of course he knew they would have them, all installations of this type had them, they were a good security system but here they appeared to be extremely sophisticated. He wondered how many more of them would be installed around the place. He considered the possibility thet if they were to become operational while he was in his present position, he would stand no chance of going undetected. He whispered another prayer, struggled across the last bit of the climb, suddenly his foot slipped, he slid the remaining fifteen feet or so in a cascade of loose rock. He tumbled onto the top of the building that had been below him a moment before, his foot hit the hard flat roof and twisted underneath him, sending a sharp pain up his leg, he crumpled into a heap and clutched at his ankle! "Oh hell, that's all I need." he said quietly to himself. He rubbed at the ankle, miraculously, it wasn't broken but it was badly twisted and was going to slow him down considerably. Suddenly, the mountain glowed a faint blue, it momentarily pulsed with the fluctuating power. The diffused light wasn't very bright but it would be enough to highlight his position if it continued and that, coupled with the now rapidly rising sun, made him only too aware that he only had moments before he would be spotted. Crawling to the edge of the roof, he looked over the side, nothing to climb down, nothing to aid his descent, he gritted his teeth, took hold of the roofing edge swung his legs over and dropped to the ground below. As he did so, he dislodged part of the roof edging which clattered noisily to the ground beside him. He quickly looked around, no-one appeared to have seen or heard him. He looked back up at the mountain, the spark of life had only lasted for a brief instant, it now looked cold and ominous in its silence. He flattened himself against the wall and edged around the corner, there was a small group of guards standing in front of the visitors reception block, he looked around, there was a car park opposite him. He thought to himself, that if he could just manage to get to the other end of the line of buildings he would be very close to the access tunnel. He waited for the men to look in the other direction, took his chance and scuttled off and hid behind one of the parked cars, it was the flashy Testarrosa-Ferrari he'd seen before. Langly crouched down and hobbled silently towards his goal. The main project access area was housed inside the L-shaped tunnel extension, it jutted out further than the other buildings, Langly glanced about him, there was no-one in sight at this end of the facility, a guard had just come past him and had now vanished into one of the other buildings. He took his chance and half ran, half limped over to the main access area. He darted into the shadow of the entrance way, pushed at a set of heavy doors, much to his surprise, they opened. He lurched inside and found himself in an entrance hall, his hopes for good fortune were quickly dashed when he was confronted by a solid steel, security door at the far end. He searched around the doorway, there didn't appear to be an entry device of any kind, not even an electronic card swipe access point, all he could see was a small black box positioned above the door, there wasn't even a security camera positioned here. He wondered how the staff gained entry, perhaps they used electronic implants of some kind, if so, then they, whoever they were, definitely did not want unannounced visits. What were they doing out here? He knew he obviously couldn't get in this way. He wondered if he might be able to find another way in, a maintenance entry or an air shaft of some sorts. He reasoned that a facility housed inside or beneath a mountain must have an air conditioning system. He edged out and was just about to move back across to the line of vehicles when a siren blared he froze, momentarily, then dived for cover but it was too late, he'd been detected. Three armed guards were running his way, painfully he ran on, dodging behind and around the parked jeeps, trucks and cars. He was running and stumbling blindly, he didn't know the lay-out of the place enough to know where to run to, where to hide. Security men seemed to be everywhere, his ankle hurt like crazy, he was trying without much success to put all his weight on his other leg, he knew he couldn't run like this for much longer. A single shot rang out, one of the guards shouted at him to freeze, he considered what his chances were, could he make the short distance to the main complex, his decision was made for him when he tried to take another step, his ankle gave out and he fell, sprawling to the ground. He was hauled back up onto his feet by two large men dressed in Naval style clothes. He began to complain and argue, they took no notice and dragged him over to a holding cell and shoved him inside. The room was a combined cell and interview room. There was one small window above the door, it was too small to escape through, even so, it was barred. A table stood in the middle of the room, two chairs, one on each side of it. A bench bed stood against one wall and a doorless W.C. cubicle stood in the corner. A large mirror ran along the length of the back wall. He stumbled over to inspect it, he suspected it to be a two-way mirror, there must be another room on the other side. He could hear security guards talking outside, the door opened and an elderly tall thin man, dressed in a black suit walked in, eyed him suspiciously and sat down at the table and lit a cigarette. Two guards entered the room with him and indicated to him that he should sit down. Langly regarded the man and gestured towards his damaged foot, "Hey man, how about some treatment for my ankle?" The man barely looked at him, took the cigarette from his mouth, tapping ash onto the floor and said, "All in good time..... all in good time. We know how you got in here, but I'd like to know why you are here, what you thought you would hope to find here, Mr Langly? " Langly looked at him in surprise, how did they know who he was? CHAPTER TWELVE From the moment Mulder had awoken from his drug-induced sleep he had been formulating a plan of escape. He'd reasoned that if he appeared to calm down and co-operate, if he could create the impression that he trusted them a little and in turn, win a little of their trust, he might just stand a chance of getting out, wherever out was! That was something else to contemplate, where exactly was he? There were no windows to the outside world in this weird, furniture devoid, blue room, just the metallic, hospital styled bed. He reflected upon the events of the night before his abduction....nothing had occurred out of the ordinary, he and Scully hadn't been working on a difficult or particularly sensitive case. He'd gone back to his apartment and had fallen asleep on the couch just like he'd done countless times before, he hadn't heard any noises, nothing had woken him from his sleep until he'd woken up here. The scenario he'd woken to was completely unaccountable. He struggled to remember anything about arriving here....it was a total blank, there was one thing though, just before he drifted off to sleep he'd checked the time, it had been around three in the morning, when he woke up in the strange room, wearing a strange one-piece white, tight fitting suit, he had been pretty sure it was still quite early in the morning. So, he couldn't have travelled very far. Mulder's mind returned to the construction of his plan, his best possibility was to make his move as soon as the lady psychologist, Dr Verbena Beeks came to see him on her own. There were no clocks in the room but from the noises coming from along the corridor, he guessed it must be about breakfast time. The cabinet in the tiny room that served as a bathroom had yielded nothing he could use as a weapon, no razor of any kind, perhaps he would be given a knife with his breakfast, it was a vague hope, he knew it was a universal law of sorts that prisoners weren't usually issued with metal utensil The sounds of a trolley being wheeled along the corridor drew his attention, he wandered over to the door and peered out through the small observation window, the strange looking passageway was empty of guards. The two security men that had been posted outside yesterday, had been dismissed after he'd convinced everyone that he was no longer hostile. As he watched, Dr Beeks came into view from around the corner pushing a breakfast trolley, she was accompanied by one security guard. He backed away and returned to stand in front of the odd looking bed. The psychologist gave a verbal command to the security computer, the door unlocked and she entered the room leaving the guard outside. Dr Beeks pushed the trolley over to a chair positioned next to the bed, she smiled at him pleasantly, "Well, how are you this morning, Mr Mulder? I hope you enjoy the breakfast I've had prepared for you." Mulder was feeling quite hungry, he looked at the hot meal, it looked very tasty and very tempting but the thing that pleased him most was the fact that next to the plate, neatly folded in a napkin was a knife and fork! His mind was racing, could this be his chance. Mulder moved around the trolley, talking casually to distract her. "I'm fine. I'll feel even better after I've eaten. The breakfast looks delicious, all my favourites, savory scrambled eggs, hot strong coffee and toast. Would you care to join me?" As he inspected the contents of the trolley, he surreptitiously ran a finger along the edge of the knife. It was blunt, the sharp edge had been removed, it wouldn't have cut butter! That would be of no use to him but the fork had sharp prongs, he carefully palmed the fork while Dr Beeks wasn't looking. "No thank you, I've already eaten but there are a few more things I'd like to ask you before Admiral Calavicci joins us." Mulder realized he only had a limited time to act, it was now or never, he needed an excuse for her to open the door again, he moved closer to her, she looked at him slightly suspiciously, he stood still controlling his body language, rubbed at the thick stubble on his chin and cheeks and asked, "I wonder if it would be possible for you to get me some shaving equipment, the bathroom doesn't contain any. I would feel much better if I could tidy up before eating." Verbena Beeks, smiled broadly, "Yes of course, I'll see to it immediately." she moved towards the door, he casually walked behind her. She paused, commanded the computer to open the door, he heard the lock click open. In one deft movement he sprang forward, caught one hand around her mouth and with the other, held the sharp tines of the fork to her throat. He didn't intend to harm her, he didn't want to hurt anyone but he hoped they wouldn't know that. The words spoken by the little man...Admiral Calavicci, kept echoing through his mind...You can't shoot him. He knew then, that he had some kind of advantage over them, however, he still didn't know why. "I intend to get out of here, You're going to help me! Don't scream and I promise I won't hurt you." His tone of voice implied that he meant what he said. Verbena nodded and gave a muffled yes. Mulder unclamped his hand from her mouth, pulled her to the side of the door, he nudged it open a little and checked where the guard was. There was still only the one man present in the passage outside. She began to struggle, he pulled at her roughly and dug the fork into her neck, just enough to show he meant business, "Okay, call the guard in here....tell him you need his assistance." Verbena swallowed hard, tried to control the fear in her voice, she whispered to him, "You won't get away with this, you can't escape, it's not in your best interest to escape. Please, we're really not trying to hurt you here. Please you don't understand, you mustn't leave here! You..." her voice was cut short by him tightening his grip on her once again, "Alright, alright," she nodded, then raising her voice she called out to the guard asking him to come in. As the guard came through the door, Mulder stepped out, barring his way, he was firmly holding on to Dr Beeks, the fork clearly visible digging at her throat. The guard looked momentarily shocked and then instinctively went for his gun. Mulder shouted at him, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, not unless you'd like me to rip out the throat of this lovely lady, and believe me I will! Now, slowly unclip the gun, slide it over towards me!" The security man did as he was told, put the gun down on the floor and slid it across to him. Mulder pulled Dr Beeks with him as he reached down sideways and picked up the weapon. He tossed the fork aside and pushed the woman away from him. He ordered the guard over onto the bed and instructed her to tie him down with the restraining bands and to gag him with a strip torn from the single bed sheet. He then ordered her to remove the man's shoes, these he judged to be about his size, holding the gun on her with one hand he quickly put them on, they were a little loose but that didn't matter, at least now he had shoes. He left the guard locked in the room. Taking Verbena Beeks with him, he quickly started to investigate the passage way. Various doors led from this main corridor, he tried each one in turn, they were all securely locked. There was no obvious signs of an exit door on this level. The corridor ended at an elevator. Mulder hadn't yet encountered any windows in the building. He didn't know whether he was deep inside an underground installation or at the top of a high security block, he was cornered, there was nowhere left to go but to use the elevator, he moved towards it dragging Dr Beeks with him, "Now, tell me how to get out of here! Do I go up or down." Verbena turned to face him, the gun still directed at her, she was more afraid of what might happen should he escape than her fears for her own safety, "I'm sorry but I'm afraid I can't tell you...I won't tell you!" she answered. He hesitated, looked around, he could hear other members of staff approaching. He pressed the button beside the elevator door, the door slid open with a hiss, he ordered her inside with him. The elevator panel inside on the wall indicated that they were on the lowest level, there was nowhere to go but up. The lift rose a level, stopped, the door slide open, he stuck his head around the corner, this level was similar to the odd octagonal corridor he had just left behind, except this one was wide and opened out onto a series of glass fronted, white laboratory rooms. The place looked empty of personnel, probably too early for work to have begun here. The area didn't give any clues as to whereabouts he was positioned within the building and he couldn't see an immediate escape route. He pushed the Doctor out, she stumbled and fell. He quickly hit the buttons on the inside panel, the door closed and the elevator rose another couple of levels taking him with it. CHAPTER THIRTEEN The elevator shuddered to a halt, the lights on the floor indicator panel flickered and died. He cursed, he didn't want to become trapped inside. He pressed his hands against the doors, prized his fingers between the edges and managed to slide them open. He cautiously surveyed the area outside, he thought this looked more promising, it was an ordinary corridor, more in keeping with a normal if somewhat plush, office block. He quickly moved across to the office opposite and tried the door handle, this too, was locked, he cursed quietly under his breath and continued trying all the office doors along the corridor to the end where it opened into a tee-junction. The very last door was unlocked, he ducked inside. He searched in the darkness of the small room for a light switch, found it and flicked it on and off, there was no response. He stood and waited for his eyes to adjust to the gloom, it was a small utility room, not much bigger than a closet, he guessed this had probably been left open by an early morning cleaner. Suddenly, the single bulb hanging from the ceiling winked on brightly. Now he was able to see clearly. He looked around at the shelves and various stacks of office supplies and equipment, there was nothing of interest or of use to him except for a brown maintenance coat which had been hung on a hook behind the door. He quickly took it down and put it on, it covered the strange white fermi suit he was wearing but he still looked a little odd, he really needed to find some proper clothes. He opened the door and peered out, checking to see no-one was in sight. He could hear footsteps and the raised voices of two men arguing coming from further up the other corridor. He edged back inside the room, leaving the door open a crack, just enough to enable him to see and hear what was going on. The two men came into view, one was wearing a white lab technician's coat, the other man he recognized as Admiral Calavicci. Mulder listened carefully to their conversation. The Admiral, what was it he had called himself....Al, yes, that was it, Al was ranting and waving his hands at the other man, "I know this has never happened before but you must get the Imaging Chamber back on line, Sam needs me!" The other man was stammering his reply, "Yes, yes, we're trying. All these power fluctuations and power drops are causing absolute havoc with our systems, the last power disruption temporarily dampened the accelerator field, which has affected the holographic imagery..." the distraught man stopped walking, paused, shuffled his feet, a look of wild desperation playing on his face, his eyes were beginning to bulge, "and that's not the only problem......it triggered the emergency shut down process....we can't actually open the door to the Imaging Chamber! Ziggy's trying to find a way around the problem and I have as many people working on it as I possibly can," The little man, Al, stopped and turned to the technician, a look of pure horror on his face, "What! God damn it! Now you listen to me, I don't care how many people ya got on it, get down there and do somethin' yourself. I mean it, Gushie, ya gotta do something real quick, I've got vital information about another unexpected guest who's just turned up here. It's imperative that I give the information to Sam. I need to get it to him now, Gushie!" The two men proceeded up the corridor past his door. The other man began to speak but was interrupted by the Admirals attention being drawn towards some kind of brightly coloured communications device. He watched as the man appeared to read a small data screen on the device. Suddenly the man's face creased into a look of panic as he begun to run towards the elevator Mulder had recently vacated, he yelled at the technician, "Hell, Gushie, Mulder's just escaped." Mulder knew he had to get out of the place as quickly as possibly, he waited until the two men had gone, then hurried along in the direction from which they had come. He noticed one of the doors had been left slightly ajar, there was a polished brass name plate which bore the names Rear Admiral Albert Calavicci. He cautiously stepped inside. It was an ordinary office, it was furnished with an executive's desk and padded leather chairs, filing cabinets stood against one wall opposite the desk, a smaller cabinet was directly behind the desk. This room didn't have windows either, which meant only one thing.....he must be in an underground installation....it was the first piece of positive information he'd found. He walked over to the desk, it looked as though the Admiral had been working in here and had been disturbed while studying a case file. The file had been left open on top of the desk, Mulder slew the file around and towards him, he read the details on the cover.....Project Quantum Leap. He tuned to the first report page which was headed with the name Dr Samuel Beckett... Uncontrolled experimental leap number 52....1st April 1997....Fox Mulder...F.B.I Agent, specializing in paranormal and UFO cases. Mulder's mind was spinning as he read the other details listed below. The file went on to document the events after his abduction but the accounts were of events he hadn't participated in. He desperately tried to fathom what had been going on here, what they had really been doing to him. He couldn't remember any of the events contained in the file, to him they were completely unaccountable. There was no way he could possibly have been present during these events, he knew he'd been held captive during the hours these events had taken place. He read on, the document categorized events from the morning of April 1st through to what he guessed to be last night. The admiral must have been in the process of entering the latest details when he was urgently called away. From what had been written, it appeared that someone else had been living his life, in his body for him, for the past couple of days....how dare they do that to him...he felt a little sick, he felt somehow violated, abused by the idea of it, but how, how had they done it? How had they managed to convince Scully the other person was really him? Surely, after the last time someone had managed to dupe her, she would be more suspicious of any strange behavior on his part...or rather the other man's part. He put the file down, turned and went over to check the filing cabinets, they were locked. He moved behind the desk, and sat in the chair, swiveling it towards the other smaller cabinet, it was open, it contained more files. He flicked through them, there were cases belonging to men, women and children! He withdrew one and scanned the contents quickly. Andrew Hammond.....Bank Manager....Date 1st September 1994... The file seemed to imply that the man needed help and the experiment had been useful in rescuing him from some terrible moral dilemma. Mulder pulled another couple of files from the cabinet and quickly read bits here and there. What kind of frightening experiments were they performing here? The files suggested nothing short of abduction, mind and body transference...body snatching, it also seemed as if no-one from any walk of life, at any age, was safe from this experiment. He knew the government research into mind control had exceeded all expectations and now there were rumours that some black government projects had moved on in the direction of complete brainwashing, total mind and memory erasure and mind transference, the separation of bioplasmic auras, souls taken from human victims and replaced with the life-force matrices of others. Could they have gotten so far with these experiments in such a short time? If they had, then they'd certainly gotten hold of one hell of a spy weapon. It seemed almost inconceivable to him that anyone could actually do these things, could even think that they should be experimenting in things of this nature. The connotations and consequences of such insidious practises were almost too horrible to contemplate. They should be stopped from doing these things, it should be brought to the attention of the people, if he could get out of here then he would see to it that the instigators of these experiments were brought to account. He thought back to when he first woke up in the strange room, how disorientated and vulnerable he'd felt. He tried to recall what they'd told him, what excuse they'd given him, it was hazy, difficult to remember with clarity, as if he was trying to remember something told to him while he was drunk or drugged, his memories seemed to have holes in them...just like swiss cheese. He knew that at the time it hadn't made any sense to him, he had been sure they had been giving him hallucinogens. Now, he was beginning to realize why Al...the man he'd threatened had stopped the guard from shooting or harming him. If they shot him and injured this body....the host body.....it might hinder the eventual return of the interloper......Dr Beckett. It wasn't him, Mulder, they were really concerned with, it was the other man they were worried about! He mulled the name over in his mind.....the name seemed annoyingly familiar but he couldn't remember from where he'd heard it....it would come to him eventually. He took the first file from the drawer, this one was marked as Leap number one.....Tom Stratton....USAF Capt....Test pilot... he glanced at the date, it was 1956...no, that didn't make any sense it must be a type error, it must be '86, there was no way that they could have been doing these experiments as far back as that. He began to read on but a noise from outside the office drew his attention back to his immediate predicament. Guards had been sent out to search for him and one was coming his way. He closed the filing drawer and darted over to behind the door. He took out the gun and held his breath as the guard tentatively entered the room. As the man came in, gun grasped in the hand of his outstretched arm, Mulder kicked at the door, knocking the man sideways, he grabbed at the hand gripping the gun, twisted it, brought his knee up into the man's back catching him in the kidney, as the man lurched forward, Mulder whipped him across the back of the head with the butt of his gun. He slumped to the floor unconscious and lay in a heap at Mulder's feet, he was about the same height and build as the body Mulder was inhabiting, he took advantage of the opportunity and divested the man of his clothes. He struggled out of the tight one-piece white suit and donned the uniform. He grabbed the pages from his file folded them roughly and stuffed them inside the pocket of the jacket he was now wearing. He checked outside, ran from the room back towards the elevator. Three guards rounded the corner, one of them shouted over to him, "All clear this end, did you see anything......hey, you're not Crawley....hey, stop!" they drew their guns and began to run towards him, he just reached the elevator as one of the guards let a shot fly in his direction. The bullet pinged onto the metal door frame causing sparks as it ricocheted and struck him. A look of utter astonishment registered on Mulder's face as a sharp burning pain punched through the upper part of his left arm, he looked at the trickle of blood seeping through the uniform jacket he was wearing, he thought to himself, maybe they don't want to kill me but they look as though they damned well, aren't too worried about wounding me. These guys couldn't have been told not to shoot on sight, it was a very worrying thought. Perhaps he wasn't as invulnerable here as he'd first assumed. Mulder pushed the top level button before any more shots could be fired the door slid shut just in time to prevent another shot hitting him. He clutched at his arm, his mind was so intent on escape, his body so tense with shock, anticipation and the fear of being recaptured that adrenalin surged through his bloodstream, it coursed with each pounding heart beat, it heightened his awareness of the dangers of his predicament but also temporarily helped to deaden the feelings of pain. He pulled of the tie he'd borrowed from the unfortunate guard and wound it tightly around his arm just above the gun shot wound. The elevator rose again, this time to the highest level, level one. Mulder stepped out, his heart still pounding, the blood from his arm was still seeping thickly into the sleeve of the jacket. He looked around, this must be the upper level, to the left and the right of him were doorways which he presumed, led back into the installation. Straight before him was an empty passageway, this was in the same octagonal, ribbed design as the level on which he'd been kept incarcerated, it was lit by some strange blue self illuminating ceiling and wall material. At the end of the passageway was a hi-tech security exit door. There were no guards here, no-one was posted in front of the door, perhaps, they hadn't expected him to get this far, or maybe, there was no way out without a password or code. It occurred to him that maybe they didn't need to put any guards up here, perhaps for him there was no escape after all, it was a daunting thought, he ran the short distance to the exit door. A square brass plate lay on the floor about five feet from the metal security door, apprehension filled him as he cautiously stepped onto it. A red light winked from a screen on a small black box above the door, he looked up at it and watched as a tiny beam of blue light emanated from it and scanned him, a computerized voice came from nowhere "Access code scanned and recognized. Please confirm identity and rank." Mulder paused for a few seconds, if he really was inhabiting the body of someone who was used to coming and going as they pleased, then he must be carrying some kind of security device to allow him full access. Then the thought struck him, it was possible he could be carrying an access coded bio-implant in his host body. He drew in a deep breath and replied steadily, "Beckett, Doctor Samuel Beckett." The disembodied voice spoke again "Identity confirmed." The red light winked off and was replaced by the hiss of the door opening. -- Heather Markham