Page 5
For a couple of minutes,
Mulder and Samantha held each other, seeming not to move. Mulder then pulled
away from her and held her at arms length. He then hugged her again, saying,
“I’ve been looking for you for so long. I was afraid I’d never find you.
I’ve missed you so much.”
“I’ve missed
you too,” she answered.
Scully hated
to break the moment, but this was hardly the time or the place for a family
reunion. They had to try to find a way out of there. She put a hand on
Mulder’s shoulder. “Mulder…”
He looked up.
Scully smiled. Mulder seemed to blush for a bit. He grinned.
“Samantha, this
is my partner, Dana Scully. Dana, this is my sister, Samantha.”
Scully blinked.
He called her Dana. She recovered from her momentary surprise and shook
Samantha’s hand. “Nice to meet you,” Scully said, smiling.
Samantha cocked
her head for a moment, still shaking Scully’s hand. “You’ve been here before,
haven’t you? A couple of years ago, I believe. Yes, I’m sure of it. What
are you doing back here?” Scully’s smile fell. “But you don’t really remember,
do you. I’m sorry. At any rate, it’s nice to meet you too, Dana.”
Scully couldn’t
help feeling a little strange. And it wasn’t only the fact that she had
been called Dana more in the past two minutes than she has in the past
two weeks.
“Mulder, can
I talk to you for a second?”
“Sure.” They
moved away from the white-robed crowd.
“Mulder…” she
began.
He was obviously
not paying attention. His eyes were on his sister.
“Mulder, could
you listen to me for a second?”
He looked at
Scully and nodded.
“We need to find
a way out of here. We can’t wait here until ‘they,’ whoever ‘they’ are,
decide whether we leave or stay.”
Mulder looked
surprised. “So you believe what Samantha said about being judged by their
worth to our captors?
“If you’re asking
whether if I believe if people are judged by their potential to use telepathy,
no, I don’t, Mulder. I do believe that they know more about this than we
do and that they know the people who pass these tests stay, and those who
don’t pass leave.”
Mulder smiled.
“Sounds like something a school teacher might say.”
Why can’t
he ever take anything seriously? “Anyway, I suggest that we find a
way out of here and take these people with us.”
“Scully…” He
paused uncomfortably. “Scully, if we can’t take these people with us… If
we can’t take Samantha with us, then I want to stay behind with her.”
“What? Mulder…”
“If Samantha
stays here then I stay.”
Scully was shocked.
The thought of staying in a place like this unnerved her. “Mulder,” she
said gently. “Think about this. What about your mother, your career, everything
you’ve worked for?”
“Everything I
have ever worked for has been to find Samantha. Joining the FBI, opening
and reopening the X-Files, trying to uncover the government conspiracy
has all been to find Samantha. I don’t want to lose her now that I’ve found
her. As for my mother, you’ll take care of her, won’t you? I know she thinks
of you almost like a daughter. She’ll understand, Scully.”
“Mulder, please.
If I might be able to escape, why wouldn’t Samantha? Be rational.” Yeah,
right, she thought.
“Scully…” He
cut off.
More shapes were
coming their way. They were exactly the way Mercy Phelps had described.
Short with big heads, and a thin, yet muscular body. At least, that was
what it looked like. They had stopped just before they became clear. Scully
reached for her gun. To her surprise, her gun holster was empty. “Mulder,”
she whispered. “My gun. It’s gone.”
Mulder reached
for his gun. He looked at Scully, concern clearly imprinted on his face.
He mumbled a curse word under his breath. Apparently, he didn’t have his
gun either.
“Looking for
these?” one of the figures said in a deep, guttural voice. Two guns dangled
in the air. “Do you think us stupid enough to leave you with weapons?”
It cackled. Still laughing softly, it turned to one of the other figures
beside it. “Why did you bring this red-haired woman back here? She failed
our tests before.”
“I’m sorry, sir.
She was with this man. Our DNA scans show that he is the brother of First
Slave Maiden. He most likely has the gift too.”
The first figure
nodded. “Take him to the testing room.”