Chapter 8: Mulder & Scully’s Egyptian Day Out
January 1st 2000
Under the Sphinx
Giza, Egypt
15:58 local time
The seal on the great door remained closed, as it had for thousands of years, but today it would be opened and would reveal it’s truth upon an unsuspecting world. Deep beyond the outer seal, past the less imposing inner seal, far down inside the Earth, a bleeping noise echoed eerily around the metallic structure at the centre of the largest chamber in the complex. Small animals cowered as the sound reverberated through the labyrinth of interconnecting tunnels which shielded the important sleeper whose temporary home this vault was. In the main chamber, lights began to flash on a previously dull and featureless metallic grey panel as the ignition sequence started to release the chemical mixture which would revive the slumbering ancient. The chamber lit with many colours up as the structure continued it’s awakening process. Dancing lights struck the walls bringing the painted prophecy inscribed upon them into vivid relief. Within the life giving walls of his sarcophagus, the ancient took his first breath in 2000 years.
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Room 97
Nuclear Bunker
Appalachian Mountains
03:15 EST
“Scully, I think I should be the one carrying that.” Mulder told her, gesturing towards the object she held lightly in her fist. With it’s spike retreated within it’s casing it appeared harmless, but Scully knew – no, she *hoped* – that it would be enough for their purpose. Mulder’s comment got her back up and she looked down at the hand he had extended towards her as if he expected that she would just hand it over to him.
“Which is it *this* time Mulder? Are you being arrogant, patronising or protective?” She deliberately returned the weapon to the pocket of her jeans.
“Dana..” Mulder began with a smile.
“Since when were you so easy with my name.” Scully laughed as she interrupted him. “You’re not getting around me like that.”
“Scully I’m serious.” He sighed, sounding tired. His bruised face was testament to the strains of the last few days. “These EBE’s are strong. I stand more chance..”
“Woah, stop right there Mulder.” Scully held her hands up in front of her with the palms facing him.
“I’m not doubting that you’re just as capable as me, but..”
“Yes you are.” Scully sighed. “Look, it’s in *my* pocket and unless you’re planning on fighting *me* for it, then that’s where it’s staying.” She finished decisively and looked up at Mulder to find him smiling. “What? What’s funny?”
“Nothing.” He said as he allowed the smile to become wistful. “I was just thinking about how much I’d missed you. I didn’t just hurt you with that farce about me being dead. It was hell without you Scully.”
Scully reached up and kissed his mouth firmly but, as he began to respond, she drew back.
“So we’re agreed. *I* get to keep it.” She said firmly. Mulder grinned – winced as the pain of his bruised facial tissues hit him – and kissed her. Scully wrapped her arms around his neck as they fought valiantly against their height differences. Mulder’s hands moved towards her hips and traced the prominent bones gently. His left hand worked it’s way forward, found the hard shape of the weapon and groped covertly for the pocket. Scully’s right hand left his neck, ran lightly his over shoulder, down his arm and reached his hand before it got into the pocket. Firmly she guided his hand onto her back instead. They never broke the kiss. Mulder laughed into her mouth and wrapped both his arms around her back. Scully shrieked happily as he lifted her into the air.
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The Day Before.. December 31st 1999
The Kitchen
Margaret Scully’s Residence
23:27 EST
“Base of the neck.” Maggie said simply into the receiver. There was a tense silence on the line for a few seconds, then there was a deep inhalation of breath and a grim laugh.
“Yes Maggie, but do your sons and their families know that?” The voice asked.
“Bill and Charles have no part in this.” Maggie replied angrily. “You touch my sons and..”
“The scars healed quite well didn’t they Maggie? Bill Jr was *so* lucky that he wasn’t killed.” The voice cut in. Maggie felt as if she was swallowing a golf ball.
“You b..!” Maggie began.
“Still, we let you off lightly. You kept your child with only a few ‘minor’ imperfections. You should be grateful.”
“Grateful?!?” Maggie demanded incredulously. “He was only a child! He was in hospital for *three months* after that car hit him.”
“And he would have died if we hadn’t intervened.”
“I’m supposed to thank you..even though it was your men who were driving the car?”
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January 1st 2000
Room 64
Nuclear Bunker
3:40 EST
Maggie Scully woke up with a start and barely managed to restrain herself from shouting out her eldest son’s name. The hard bed was torture but it was less torturous than her nightmares. In them she relived that night again and again; the phone call to say Bill Jr was in the hospital, the doctor explaining that he was in critical condition following on from a head wound, seeing Them in the hospital, Robert’s promises, trying to contact Bill on his ship but failing repeatedly, Melissa lightly resting her tiny hand on Maggie’s swollen stomach as they sat by the bedside for long hours. He had recovered and he had gone on to live a happy life, get married and have children but the scars had never completely faded, not from his body or from his mother’s heart.
Maggie rolled onto her stomach and tried to force the images out of her head, tried to sleep, but sleep didn’t want to come to her. Instead the image of Dana’s face in the main chamber earlier on filled her mind. She deserved her daughter’s scorn, it was a bad thing that she did. She’d already had a beautiful son but it had been a difficult birth and the doctors had told her afterwards that she would never have any more children. Maggie had always wanted daughters, but she kept her sorrow to herself. She’d been working as Bill Mulder’s secretary before Bill Jr’s birth and returned there soon after. It was then that they began work on a new project.
It was a fun and exciting time. The people she was working with were interesting and intelligent. Workplace friendships crossed over into leisure time as she and Rebecca Mulder became great friends. The group met often outside of work and they stayed up late into the night talking about every subject under the sun. That was how she became acquainted intimately with Robert. The affair wasn’t difficult to organize, because Bill was away on his ship so much of the time there were many opportunities for them to be together outside of work. Bill Jr spent most of his early years with a nanny, which he had hated and which Maggie now regretted with all her heart. It wasn’t just physical, Maggie spoke to him on subjects she had never spoken to anyone about before. She told him about her wish for little girls. He smiled and told her that he could answer her wishes, then he’d explained parts of the project to her. His story was not the whole truth, by any means, but it was enough for her to piece together with other bits of information in order to see what was really happening. Before she knew it, she was pregnant. They had planned it down to the last detail so that it would seem as if the child was conceived during the time that Bill was last at home. Despite the unusual method of conception, Melissa was Bill’s daughter and for a few months Maggie stayed home and attempted to remain faithful to her husband. Robert’s charm was too strong for her to hold out forever though. Maggie returned to work once more, leaving both her beloved children with their nanny, and the temptation grew too strong to resist. Dana was not conceived naturally, nor was she William Scully’s daughter. How would her daughter look at her if she ever found out that information? Maggie hadn’t even disclosed that to Fox, although she had told Rebecca when her helicopter had arrived here. Maggie had known about Rebecca’s relationship with Robert – it hadn’t seemed important at the time, those years were like a different reality – so Maggie now felt it important to discover whether there was a possibility that Fox and Dana were related. They weren’t, in their human DNA at least – who knew about the alien DNA.
Why did she leave the project? That was a whole other story..
The alarm clock next to the bed clicked ominously, then began an incessant bleeping. Maggie gratefully gave up all attempts to sleep and stood up. They should have finished loading up their cargo for Egypt by now. It was time to go.
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The Great Pyramid
Giza, Egypt
22:03 local time
The plateau was almost as bright as day, but the pyramids still cast their imposing shadow over the vast multitude gathered there. Someone had organized thousands of chairs to be laid out across the desert plain and each was now occupied. Near the front, heads of state and leaders of nations sat on a special platform. Privileged leaders of people, gathered to witness the ascension of the human race to a higher level of knowledge. The finely patterned robes of the freemasons made the scene appear all the more surreal. It was like something out of a biblical epic. Cecil B. DeMille couldn’t have organized it better.
Cancerman viewed the entire scene with a jaundiced eye. <Small-minded fools> Why were his fellow human beings *always* such small minded fools? He turned from the glass wall of the heated box to face his <hah!> superiors. A large television screen occupied an entire wall of the room and They sat, smiling thinly, observing the drama unfolding on the plane before them. Wry comments were swapped as the people milled about far below their lofty position. Cancerman watched them and smiled, his plans turning over and over in his head. <They should be at the entrance now>
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Behind the Sphinx
22:13
Mulder reached out to run his hand over the solid stone and was amazed as his hand disappeared into the rock. Samantha laughed brightly.
“A fake wall.” Mulder commented wryly. Scully just shook her head disbelievingly. The skeptic had been defeated on many issues in the past few days but she couldn’t change her basic character. The sound of the gathering was muted on this side of the site and it was on the edge of the area lit up by the floodlights. One of the gigantic lighting towers loomed directly above them, casting a zig zag pattern over their faces.
Mulder carefully felt around the edges of the illusory wall, mapping where it ended and real stone began. The space was exactly a metre square. Mulder gestured to Jeremiah Smith.
“After you.” He indicated the wall. Smith walked towards it and felt the bottom edge.
“It slopes downwards sharply.” He told them and sat down on the rim, half of him disappearing. He sent them back what could have been an amused look and swung his legs around. He slid downwards into the wall and disappeared.
“Ladies first.” Mulder said in Scully’s direction.
“Gee Thanks.” Scully remarked under her breath as she reached down to feel the wall. She pressed her palms to the place where solid stone should have been, but they passed through as if it was not there. Scully sighed and smiled at Samantha.
“Good luck.” Samantha told her softly.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t trust you.” Scully told her in return. Samantha just touched her arm reassuringly. “See you at the bottom.” She told Mulder. Then Scully climbed into the mouth of the shaft and slid out of sight.
Mulder clasped his sister’s arm and smiled into her eyes.
“I’ll be there right with you.” Samantha told him.
“Now and always.” Mulder answered firmly.
“Get going. They’ll be waiting for you.” Samantha laughed suddenly. “Can you hear Scully laughing?” She asked him and Mulder laughed with her.
“It’s a great sound, isn’t it?” He replied. “Good luck Sam.”
“I love you Fox.” She said and reached across – they were of a height – and kissed his cheek. He lightly hugged her and kissed her cheek in return.
“I love you too.” They stepped apart and Mulder slid through the wall.
“Aaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!” He screamed as he lost his footing and slid face first down the dark shaft. The steep angle of descent sent him tumbling and bouncing along the rough stone walls. He forced himself into a seating position and continued the sliding descent as though he was on a helter skelter at a fairground. The tunnel veered and careened like toboggan run, swinging him violently from left to right around sharp corners. The air grew stale the further into the catacombs he fell. Sand caught in his mouth and throat, it covered his clothes and matted his hair. Then he wasn’t touching any walls, he was flying through the air. He landed in an undignified heap on the hard floor in a pitch black space. His muscles screamed in protest and the bruises he had sustained in his earlier beating now had little baby bruises of their own. Blood trickled from a gash on his arm. He struggled to sit but jumped as sliding noise sounded above him. Something flew past him as he rapidly moved out of it’s path. It hit the floor and smashed with a sound of breaking glass. <torch> He thought with a sinking heart. Why him? Why was it *always* him?
He opened up his jacket and felt around in the inside pocket. His hand closed on the object he sought and he removed it. Flicking the switch, he breathed a relieved sigh as a tiny pin point of light came to life.
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The labyrinth
Scully scrambled around on the floor searching for her hold-all. The bag had fallen some way away from where she had but it appeared to have survived intact. A pain in her temple caused Scully to raise her hand to it, it came away sticky and Scully realised that she was bleeding despite the fact that she could see absolutely nothing in the blackness. The sound of the zipper on the bag was very loud in the deadness of her location. The torch was the largest object in the bag and was thereby easy to find. She flicked the switch and the shock of light from the Maglite sent Scully’s eyesight strange for a couple of seconds. Once she had recovered, she used it to scan the walls and found that she was in a long featureless corridor which was about 15 feet high and 7 feet wide. She could see the black hole from which she had entered, about half way up the wall to the left of her. No wonder hitting the floor had proved quite so painful. She put the torch on the floor and tried to stand up, it was only then that she realised how badly she had hurt her ankle when she’d hit the floor. Hopping slightly, she bent down to grab the torch and the hold-all. Swinging the bag onto her back and holding the torch in her right hand, she used the wall to keep her upright as she set off to find Mulder and Jeremiah Smith.
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The Consortium’s Viewing Box
22:31
Samantha didn’t enter the room. Instead she stood in the doorway and waited for Cancerman to come to her. His glance in her direction was cool and he excused himself as if it were nothing important. Samantha walked out of the room and he followed her. They stopped some distance away.
“They made it safely into the tunnels.” She told him.
“Everything as planned?” He asked flatly.
“Not quite, they all got split up on the way down into the catacombs.”
“Have any of them found the main chamber yet?”
Samantha didn’t answer for a moment. She appeared contemplative and distant, then she returned her full attention to him and her present location.
“Neither Mulder or Scully has, they still haven’t found each other. Let’s hope that Smith is close.”
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Jeremiah Smith followed the light. Ahead of him pulsating lights led the way towards his goal; the ancient. The chamber which he reached was as he had expected. The sides towered 50 feet above him and the chamber was at least 200 feet wide. The walls of the chamber were adorned with intricate carvings that looked almost like photographs. The spaceship stood on stone supports in the centre. The ship gave off a dull bluish metallic shine and coloured lights flashed intermittently from the points of it’s triangular construction. At the centre of the triangle was a bulge, like a huge pimple stretched to it’s limits and about to burst. The bulge was 50 feet across and 10 feet high.
Smith’s timing was either very good or terrible because, as he watched, a hatch began to open in the side of the bulge. The figure that emerged was tall and broad, but it’s head was oval shaped and it’s eyes were huge and slanted black egg shapes. It wore no clothes but had no obvious bodily features and it’s skin was scaly and greyish in colour. As it caught sight of Smith it began to morph into a human form. Features melted in; a tall athletic build, disturbing blue eyes and shock of collar-length blond hair. It was still naked but was now fully equipped.
“You have a large ego.” Jeremiah Smith called out to the EBE.
“Leave.” The EBE stated flatly. “It’s before time.”
“I can’t do that. My name is Jeremiah Smith and I’m going to have to kill you.” He informed him dryly.
“Foolish human. Don’t you know what I am?” The voice boomed around the chamber.
“I’m not human. I’m an alien-human hybrid.” Jeremiah Smith replied. The alien showed no reaction.
“The plan succeeded.” It stated.
“The plan will fail.” A second voice said from behind the alien. It turned slowly towards the sound. From one of the dark tunnels that led into the chamber, Mulder stepped out into the dancing coloured lights. He looked in a bad way, bruised and bloodied, but walked with confidence and carried a knife before him.
The alien stepped down from the lip of the spaceship and walked slowly towards Mulder.
“That can’t kill me.” It stated flatly. Mulder’s palms were sweating and his grip on the knife wasn’t secure. He readjusted his hold fractionally and held it out more threateningly. He knew that the knife would have no effect of the EBE, unless – maybe – it was plunged into the back of it’s neck. The alien turned it’s head to look back in the direction of Smith, who had walked slowly with it towards Mulder. They now stood in a tighter group to one side of the large chamber. Mere metres separated them from each other. The alien looked back to Mulder, who assumed a more threatening stance and made to lunge towards it. Instead he threw the knife to Smith, who made a stab at the alien’s back. It was too fast for him and grabbed him by the neck, lifting him as if he weighed no more than a bag of sugar, and threw him across the chamber. He hit the wall high up and slid to the floor. Mulder barreled into the alien just as it let of Smith and managed to catch it off balance. It fell sideways but righted itself and turned on Mulder. The momentum of his movement had had Mulder sprawling, eyes-closed, across the floor, but when he opened them the knife was in front of his eyes. He reached out to grab it but was a spilt second too late. The alien picked him up and threw him across the chamber.
Smith staggered to his feet, winded but unhurt. He crossed to the knife while the alien was busy with Mulder. He seriously doubted that the knife would affect the alien at all. It needed to be the correct tool. If he broke the alien’s skin then exposure to it’s blood would surely kill Mulder. The alien, having finished with Mulder, spun back to face Smith once more.
“If you are really a hybrid, then you know that can’t kill me.” It told him.
“You’ve been asleep for a long time. What do you know?” Smith told it bravely, it was a bluff that would buy them a little time at least. For the first time the EBE appeared unsure of itself. Smith took the opportunity to lunge for it, but the alien was an expert at bluffing too. It recovered too quickly for it’s apparent confusion and ran at Smith. It clasped it’s hands around Smith’s neck and those hands locked in a vice-like grip. It continued running, driving Smith backwards until he hit the wall of the chamber. He struggled but it did no good. Then the alien smiled. Smith’s hand had locked convulsively around the knife but the alien just removed one hand from his throat – the second maintained more than enough pressure to keep him powerless – and took hold of Smith’s wrist. As it pressed, the fingers unlocked and it deftly caught the falling knife. Now it removed the second hand from Smith’s throat and moved it instead to his hair. It took a firm hold and dragged him forward, exposing his neck. The alien moved the point of the knife into position.
Mulder looked up from his place on the floor. There was too much pain in his spine for him to move. He’d placed too much pressure on his body in the last few days and now it was rebelling. The alien’s shadow towered on the chamber wall thanks to the still dancing lights of the spaceships awakening sequence. The knife’s shadow stretched and loomed across the ceiling. The lights hit the knife in the alien’s hand and sent a blistering flash towards Mulder, temporarily blinding him.
From her position crouched behind the spaceship Scully had watched the fight, wincing as Mulder had hit the floor. She didn’t want to lose the element of surprise so she had kept hidden until the best possible moment. Now she edged towards the alien’s naked and exposed back. She raised the weapon to shoulder level and planned where she would plunge it. She was about to strike when something stopped her. She was aiming too low. She should be aiming at a spot nearer to the height of it’s ears, where – in human’s at least – the brain met the spinal cord. Which spot was the right one? <make a decision Scully> She told herself.
The alien started to lower the knife towards Jeremiah Smith’s neck.
< “Do it!” > Samantha yelled inside her head.
< “Now!” > Mulder yelled simultaneously.
Scully brought her arm up and struck the alien. The point disappeared into it’s ‘flesh’ to the hilt. Scully let out a rush of air from her lungs, then swung away from the alien. The knife fell out of it’s grasp and clattered uselessly on the floor. It let go of Jeremiah Smith and he moved aside quickly. The EBE turned to face Scully with a look of intense pain. It fumbled for the weapon, which was still stuck in it’s neck. Scully stood her ground merely a metre away from the alien.
“You’re the One!” It gasped, pointing towards the wall. Then it fell to it’s knees – Scully moved out of it’s way – and then fell flat. It was dead. Green liquid sizzled from around the entrance wound of the weapon.
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The Main Chamber
23:39
Scully let out a deep breath that she hadn’t known she’d been holding.
“Mulder!” She exclaimed suddenly and rushed over to him. She fell to her knees beside him and stopped him from sitting up. “Stay there.” She ordered firmly. Mulder attempted a smile.
“I’m not going anywhere.” He said softly and lay back down. Scully removed her shirt and placed it under his head. He gasped in pain as he lay back, but she managed to guide him into a comfortable position.
Jeremiah Smith stood over the EBE, watching as it turned green and ‘decomposed’. His gaze followed the arm down to the finger that it had outstretched before it died. The finger pointed to the wall, to a specific picture near the base of the wall. Smith moved over for a closer look and couldn’t stop his ears from widening as he saw the photographic quality carving.
“You know Scully,” Mulder began huskily. “That alien reminded me of somebody but I can’t work out who.” He closed his eyes. Scully smiled.
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” She told him.
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Oakley Village – 50 miles from London
Hampshire, UK
21:56 GMT
The bee hive had been sealed for it’s journey from the north of England. Dozens like it had been moved to locations all over the United Kingdom.
It was one of thousands which had been strategically positioned in quiet areas all over the planet.
Across the globe men and women were dressed in protective suits ready to open the hives and let loose the next plague upon the world. They could be it’s first victims.
No one had informed them that they would be responsible for a holocaust.
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