Chapter 10
Without warning a dozen figures broke cover from the brush and
headed in the direction of the burning aircraft. Four were human,
the rest were much shorter. Their bodies were thin, and their
heads large. Mulder had seen dozens of drawings of them in
tabloids and UFO books. They seemed totally unaware of his
group's existence until one of them happened to look back. There
was a hail of fire. Mulder himself, fired several times, but was
unsure if he hit anything. But after a few moments those on the
runway lay dead.
"Get them out of there!" Scott cried.
Four men rushed out and quickly piled the bodies in a nearby
gully gathering up the weapons. Mulder looked at the weapon in
his hand and swallowed. Scott patted his shoulder.
"Yeah," he muttered, "they do an awful job. But
your weapons wouldn't even penetrate their body suits."
"This is going to sound like a silly question," Mulder
came back, "are you human, Scott?"
The Commander laughed. "Yeah," he said, "I was
taking a holiday in The Indian Ocean, spoiled English aristocrat.
Typhoon hit our ship. She broke up. None of us would have had a
prayer. Suddenly this big glowing ball came down, dropped a force
shield around us, and they picked us up. Spent a good many years
out there, but just had to come home for a while. Kids are all
grown, wife was killed, and they needed humans for their
operations. Boy the old place has changed. Some different from
1845!"
Mulder looked at Scott in amazement. "1845?" he gasped.
Scott laughed.
"Their medical people are really good," he answered.
"I've known some humans out there that have lived to be
three-hundred or better. The Mora have been known to reach
one-thousand!"
Mulder shook his head. A man ran up. "Sir," he cried,
"First Squad's in trouble. The others are advancing into the
complex, but they've been pinned down. They're caught in a
vicious crossfire. They've got two dead and several
wounded."
"Where" Scott asked, taking out his map.
"Here, sir," the man answered. "They're down here.
The defenders got on this ridge behind them. The fighters can't
help. They're all occupied chasing the escape craft."
Scott looked around him. "Stay put," Mulder remarked.
"I've got an idea. Give me ten minutes. If they don't report
they're out of trouble by then, send some more men."
Before Scott could argue Mulder was running off down the runway.
He had seen something on the map. The road leading up to the
ridge from which the defenders were pounding the squad began just
beyond the runway. If he could reach it and get up it he might
get behind the defenders.
He reached the end of the runway without difficulty, but found a
problem. He could see the road but it was a good eight-hundred
foot drop to reach it. It would take him a long time to climb
down, then run up the road. Then he looked down at his belt.
Taking several paces back he ran forward, leaped over the
precipice, and turned his belt buckle. It was a bumpy ride! When
he came to a stop he was floating several feet off the ground and
felt like he'd been worked over with baseball bats. He shut the
field off, got to his feet, and to his joy found a small golf
cart type vehicle. In moments he was rushing up the road.
He almost ran over the defenders coming around the corner.
Jumping from the vehicle he used it for cover and opened fire.
There were seven of the defenders but they were strung out along
the road using the stone wall for cover, and were totally exposed
to him. After two of them fell, mortally wounded, the others
scattered.
Mulder looked over the wall. The squad now freed from the
crossfire, was moving on their objectives, obviously with
devastating results.
The defenders below were fleeing from them. The rocks near Mulder
exploded. He rolled away, caught a glimpse of his attacker, and
returned fire, then, sought cover. The defender, too, took to
concealment. Mulder pulled an old trick. He fired two shots at
where he suspected the defender was, moving to the left. Then he
doubled back circling to his right. It worked! He found the
defender watching for movement where he would have been if he
would have continued left.
"Drop the weapon!" Mulder snapped.
The figure turned slowly around to look at him. To Mulder's
surprise he found himself staring at Scully! But it wasn't
Scully. It looked like Scully, but this woman's eyes were filled
with rage and hate.
"Come on!" Mulder pleaded, "Give it up! Don't make
me do it!"
The weapon in the woman's hand came around and Mulder fired. Her
chest lit up, she jerked backwards, then slowly light consumed
her body.
"What to hell?" Mulder muttered. He figured it was time
to get back to the airfield. The vehicle, though now rather
damaged, still ran.
He found the path back up to the end of the runway and was
starting up it, when he heard a nearby grinding sound, and saw
light begin to appear just a few yards away. He hurried off to
make a quick reconnaissance.
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