Chapter 11
The source of the light were the concealed doors of a small
hangar. Inside was a saucer shaped ship that was obviously
getting ready to take off. A lone alien was quickly working
controls on the wall.
Mulder raised his weapon. "Get away from there!" he
ordered. "Whatever you're doing, stop it!"
The alien froze. "Move away!" Mulder ordered again. The
alien suddenly dropped and rolled. Mulder fired, but knew he
missed. He sought cover by the door and watched. The alien fired
at him three rapid times, and darted to a new position.
Mulder returned the fire, to no avail. Again the alien pinned him
down and moved. Mulder realized what he was doing....getting into
position so he could make a dash for the open hatch of the
saucer.
"Let's see if I can mess up your flight plan!" Mulder
muttered. He quickly put the barrel in the stock on his weapon,
changed his position to get a better angle, and then let go three
shots into the open hatch. He moved, fired three more times from
another angle, moved, and fired again.
The noise from the saucer began to change. It became an
ear-piercing wail and the ship began to roll forward. It lifted
off the ground, sailed through the doors and slowly began to lift
skyward.
Mulder didn't think outside was a good place to be! He darted
into the hangar and got into a corner beside the door....none too
soon! There was a tremendous blast, and pieces of the ceiling
began to come down. Mulder was knocked senseless. When he came
to, the alien was standing over him, weapon in hand.
Mulder's own weapon lay on the floor several feet away. Blood ran
from the alien's nose.
"You know," he moaned in perfect English, "You are
a very annoying creature! It will give me the greatest pleasure
to kill you before I die, but not quickly."
"Lower the weapon, NiSlide," came DeMal's voice from
the doorway.
"Ah!" the alien moaned. "The grandson of the
worm."
"Lower your weapon!" came the sharp command.
The alien lowered his weapon and turned. DeMal came closer and
lowered his. "When you are ready!" he snapped.
The alien nodded, and his weapon began to rise. But DeMal's rose
a split second faster.
The alien's face disappeared in a bright flash. The weapon
slipped from his fingers, and he sank to the floor.
Mulder gained his feet. "He was doing something," he
managed, "over there at the wall. I interrupted him."
DeMal went over. "Trouble!" he snapped. "Self
destruct! We've got better than twenty minutes. He must've been
setting the timer when you stopped him."
He grabbed a communicator from his belt. "All units! All
units! Get to the planes! Get to the planes! Facility's self
destruct is armed and ticking. Twenty minutes, repeat, twenty
minutes! Come kinsman!" he cried.
Mulder followed for awhile, then began to fall behind. DeMal came
back, picked him up, heaved him over his shoulder, then with
great strides climbed the path to the end of the runway. Two men
met him there and took Mulder. They were almost to the planes
when a dozen or so defenders appeared, but they threw down their
weapons.
"We've got one ship left," one of them cried. "Let
us use it. We'll surrender!"
"Four of my men come with you," DeMal snapped.
"Too many," the man answered. "Four of you come
with us," DeMal snapped. The man nodded, grabbed four of his
people, and shoved them towards DeMal. More of DeMal's men
appeared, and they all hurried for the aircraft. As they got on,
Scott was counting. "With our two dead," he announced,
"all accounted for."
"GO!" DeMal cried. The plane's engines roared to life.
Its door closed, and they shot skyward.
When things finally quieted down and the lights came on, Mulder
looked towards the prisoners. Not two seats in front of him
another Scully sat.
DeMal came over. "All right?" he asked.
"Will be," Mulder answered. "I killed one of them.
It burned up. Eerie thing!"
DeMal nodded. "Duplicate," he explained,
"Unstable. They often go like that. Get some rest,
kinsman." Mulder tried to. One of the men examined his
bruises and spoke to DeMal.
"The medic thinks you should go to the hospital,
kinsman," he explained. "I agree. If anyone asks, you
were in a traffic accident, do you understand?"
"Yes," Mulder answered, "yes, I understand."
He settled back and tried to rest.
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