Chapter 12
He dozed off and when he woke up he found the duplicate
sitting in the seat in front of him, staring at him.
"What?" Mulder asked.
"You know her, don't you?" the duplicate inquired.
"Know who?" Mulder asked. "The original...the cell
giver."
Mulder nodded. The uplicate licked her lips. "Is she
nice?" she asked.
"Very nice," Mulder answered, "and, very
brave."
The woman smiled. "That's nice," she continued.
"Sometimes I have feelings. I wish for things, silly things.
You wouldn't understand."
Mulder returned the smile. "If there's some of Scully in
you," he answered, "I understand."
"That's enough!" the man beisde her barked. "He's
tired, and, hurt."
"Just one more thing?" the woman pleaded.
"Let her speak!" Mulder answered.
"I heard him say you killed my sister. She would understand.
She would expect you to do your duty."
"Thank you," Mulder put in.
The guard tugged her arm and she turned around. Mulder got up and
went back to use the facilities. As he was coming back he knelt
beside DeMal. "The duplicates," he asked, "can you
help them?"
DeMal nodded. "We always do our best," he answered.
"Sometimes they become very productive. I will take special
note of that one." Mulder began to get rather groggy. He
dozed off again and didn't wake up until the next day in the
hospital.
A colored doctor came in. "Ah!" he said, after
examining Mulder. "Much better! Much better! Delayed stress
from a concussion. I DO wish you people would come directly to
the hospital after an accident. Your injuries, sir, seemed rather
minor, but you were seriously hurt. I think now, however, the
crisis is passed, and you may return to your vacation. But NO
STRENUOUS ACTIVITY! And I will have a nurse check on you
daily."
Mulder thanked him. Scully arrived, helped him dress, and drove
him back to the cottage.
"There were reports on the radio," she commented,
"about a private research institute on one of the islands
blowing up...some kind of experimental hydrogen reactor. They say
there's little left but a big hole in the ground. Rough,
Fox?"
"Very!" Mulder answered. "You know you just used
my first name?"
"I hope you'll forgive me," Scully put in, "if I
slip once and a while."
"Always!" Mulder answered. "I'll tell you about it
in time, but it's got to settle a little while, first. I saw
them, Scully! I saw the aliens. I saw some of them die."
The remainder of their vacation was a series of joyous
entertainments. There were picnics, concerts, and a lot of just
sitting and talking. It was the final night when Mulder came to
the thing he'd been putting off. "Will we ever see each
other again?" he asked his sister.
It was her husband that answered. "We have a permanent
presence in this sector," he explained. "I think I
could arrange every couple of years to take a three month tour of
duty here, and, my leave."
Mulder smiled. "That would be great!" he agreed. They
packed up and said good-bye at the airport. As their plane winged
north west a little boy ahead of them cried out, "Look
mommy, another plane!" Mulder looked out the woindow. One of
the black Leers was just off their wing. It rocked slowly from
side to side, and then shot skyward. Mulder smiled at Scully and
she smiled back. They got home and settled in. Mulder noticed
that his apartment was cleaner than usual, but nothing seemed
disturbed. The next morning he checked in, went to his office and
found it empty, stripped bare! As he turned around he found
another agent standing behind him. "This way, sir!" the
younger man stammered. Mulder followed him to a corridor leading
into a suite of offices. The placard over the door read "X
Files Operations Center". Inside the door was a large office
containing eight desks. At the back were two offices. One read
"Agent Fox Mulder, Head Of Operations." The placard on
the other door read "Agent Dana Scully, Head Forensic
Unit".
Mulder looked around, dazed. He opened the door and looked in his
office. His files were all there, but everything was neat and
orderly. "Who are you?" Mulder asked.
"Agent Davis Lee, sir," the young man answered.
"I'm your office supervisor, really a glorified secretary,
sir! But I'll keep things going here while you're in the field.
You have the office staff here PLUS four other agents on standby
for field service. The supervisor said there's an important case
on your desk."
Mulder nodded. "As soon as Agent Scully arrives," he
snapped, "send her to my office. Tell the field agents to
arrange transportation to be ready to move on a moment's
notice."
"Yes, sir!" Davis snapped. "I've been told we'll
have some interesting cases, sir. Is that true?"
"That's MORE than true, mister!" Mulder laughed,
"That's MORE than true!"
THE END
Page 13
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