By:  Traveler
iluvxf@hotmail.com
 

Rating:  PG-13 for a few nasty words and a little MT.

Classification:  X-File

Summary:  The question of mankind's fate is explored when
Mulder finds himself looking through a window to the future.

Disclaimer:  Mulder and Scully and the other characters are
property of FOX and 1013.  I borrowed them Chris, you
haven't been doing anything with them lately so I hope you
won't mind.

Authors Notes:  This story was written exclusively for
VS12, some knowledge of that universe is helpful but not
necessary.  The VS universe picks up after Je Souhaite,
this is five years later.  More notes at the end of part 2.

Archive:  Exclusive to VS12 for two weeks, please write if
you'd like to archive this elsewhere.

Feedback:  iluvxf@hotmail.com
 

~~~

ANCIENT DIG SIGHT, WEST AFRICA
 

A commotion of voices brought her awake.  Diggers who had
been working in the ruins in the early morning light had
discovered something that had frightened them.  She heard
one voice among them ask to see her, demanding that she see
what had them all so upset.

Gathering up some clothes she dressed quickly, emerging
from the tent to find a familiar face connected to the
voice.  She recognized the man.  He'd worked with her
several years ago on the coast during one of the most
frightening experiences of her life.

"Professor Ngebe," he said, coming forward now, his hands
extended towards her, asking her to take the object from
him.  She accepted it, looking down at it in recognition.
It was a tile, a flat irregular shaped tablet of some sort
of stone material filled with glyphs. Glyphs she recognized
all too well, glyphs she knew were not meant for her.
 

X-FILES OFFICE 9:13 A.M.
 

Scully was surprised to find the office door partially open
as she came down the darkened hallway juggling her
briefcase, a bakery bag and a tray carrying two large
coffees.  Kicking the door open farther with her foot she
was twice as surprised to find Mulder seated at his desk
engrossed in something he was viewing on the computer
monitor.  The noise startled him but he got up quickly to
grab the tray from her hands. "Thanks," she said as he took
the tray and set it on the corner of the desk.  "I didn't
expect to find you here.  I thought you had a meeting with
Skinner this morning?"

"Well I'm here and I did and which one of these is that
low-fat latte crap you like to drink?"

She turned at the sound of aggravation in his voice and
took in his already haggard appearance; tie already askew,
his shirt sleeves rolled up almost to his elbows.  Peeling
out of her coat she walked over to where he was perched on
the edge of the desk and grabbed her drink, curling her
chilled fingers around the hot cup. "Mulder, you left the
house at 6:30 in a fairly good mood, it must have been a
hell of a meeting."

He picked up the other cup, inhaling the nutty hazelnut
aroma as he popped off the lid and then got to his feet,
wandering over to the row of files cabinets and leaning
against one as he sipped the drink.  "Wait until you hear
this. He wanted my opinion about adding some agents to the
department.  Do you believe that?  How long have we been
fighting to keep the X-Files open and now they want to add
more agents to the department?"

Scully's eyed him as she blew on her drink.  "What did you
say?"

"Among other things, I told him electronic bugs were bad
enough, we didn't need live ones crawling around down
here."

She rolled her eyes, "And?"

"And then he got frustrated because he said he was just
trying to help us out.  Made some crack about my age and
still being out in the field; that my time was too valuable
to be spent running across the country.  Then he suggested
that maybe if we had a couple pair of agents down here it
would give us more time-more FREE time we could spend on
research.  And then he ragged on me about our reports being
late, that we could use some clerical help.  To that I
basically told him we've worked together for 10 plus years
without any help and we didn't need any now.   And then he
said he wanted to talk to you."

"Now?"

"As soon as you got in-but first," he set the cup down and
grabbing her by the arm to steer her around the desk.  "I
want you to open this package from Africa with your name on
it," he finished, motioning with his head toward the chair
in front of the desk, the one on which she had dropped her
coat.

Following his gaze she noticed the brown box hidden beneath
her coat.  She set her cup down while Mulder cleared a spot
on the desk so she could set the box down on it.  It was
addressed to her, care of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation with a return address from West Africa.  She
looked at him, puzzled; he caught her eye and reached over
the desk to extract a box cutter from the top drawer.
"Mulder" it came out apprehensively.  "I haven't had any
contact from anyone over there in years.  Who would be
sending me something?"

"Maybe you should open it and find out," he said as he
handed her the cutter.

The box wasn't that large or heavy and when she got the
flaps open it was stuffed with straw type packing material;
an envelope with her name on it was lying on top.  She took
the envelope and slid the note from it not noticing that
Mulder had moved the box from in front of her and had begun
to dig through the packaging.

DR. SCULLY,

IT SEEMS OUR PAST HAS ONCE AGAIN COME BACK TO HAUNT US AND
WE FIND OURSELVES QUESTIONING THE ORIGIN OF OUR EXISTENCE.
THIS I FEEL IS MEANT FOR YOU TO EXPLORE NOT I.  I HOPE THIS
WILL HELP YOU FIND THE ANSWER.  A.N.

"A. N.?  Mulder, I think this is from professor Ngebe, the
woman...."

Mulder was standing next to her.  In his hands was a large
piece of tile filled with inscriptions like the ones she
had seen on the craft in Africa, like what had been on the
copy of the rubbing Skinner had given him, the one that
several years ago had almost driven him insane.  She
watched as he gently caressed the script, his fingertips
running across it almost reverently, his lips whispering
something she could not hear.  He looked up at her with a
look of understanding and amazement but said nothing.  As
realization hit her she went to grab it from him but it
suddenly fell from his hands, his entire body contorting
from the spasm that wracked it.  He stood frozen in the
moment and then another spasm racked his body and he
dropped so fast Scully had little time to react, his head
meeting the edge of the desk on his way to the floor.

Scully followed him down; the head wound already bleeding
when he hit the floor.  She rolled him onto his back.
"Mulder?  Dammit, Mulder!"  He was unresponsive, his eyes
glazed.  Unable to palpate a radial pulse and feeling no
respirations she bolted for the phone to dial 911.

"This is Agent Dana Scully with the F.B.I.  I have an agent
down!  Forty-something male in cardiac and respiratory
arrest, I am a doctor, I will start CPR, basement offices,
tell them to come in through the garage!"

She dropped the phone on the desk, returning to the floor
with Mulder.  Tilting his head back and opening his mouth
she blew a deep breath into his lungs and then clutched her
hands together and started CPR.  "1..2..3..4..5..."
 

NORTHEAST GEORGETOWN MEDICAL CENTER
 

Scully had resuscitated him in the office before the
paramedics had arrived.  His heart rate had been thready,
erratic and on advice from the hospital the use of a
defibulator had stabilized him. By the time they had
reached the hospital his vitals were almost normal but he
had remained catatonic on the way in.   The results of an
EKG showed that his heart had been subjected to some sort
of electronic trauma.  "You're certain that he hadn't
touched anything, that he didn't receive any sort of
electronic shock?" The young ER doctor asked her.

Nothing earthly Scully thought to herself.  "No, I was
standing right next to him.  He had some sort of seizure
and then just dropped to the floor in arrest."  She
caressed Mulder's arm, watching his face for some response
as the doctor continued to study the test results, his
glazed eyes staring back at her but seeing nothing.
"There's nothing in the tests we've run that indicates any
type of cardiopulmonary cause here.  I think maybe we need
to do a CAT scan and an MRI.  His BP is good or I would
suspect an aneurysm but there are also other possibilities
in the form of a stroke or some sort of neurological
disorder.  I could recommend a neurologist."

From somewhere, the mention of a neurologist hit home.
Something she had read recently about a friend from med
school who had been named the head of the Neurology
Department here.  "Um, yes, I understand Dr. Jason Leonard
is head of the department now, I went to med school with
him, if you could let him know I'd like him to take a look
at my partner..."

"Yes, certainly.  You're a doctor?" the young doctor asked
somewhat surprised.  "I'm sure you're aware then, there is
a very real possibility of brain damage due to oxygen
deprivation. You have medical power of attorney?"

Scully looked up from her study of Mulder's frozen
features.  She had only half listened to what the doctor
had been telling her. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You're not his wife but I see you listed on his chart as
the emergency contact."

Scully tried to make it sound matter-of-fact, "Yes-we work
for the F.B.I. We've been partners a very long time.  It's
easier that way."  It was more than obvious to the doctor
as he watched Scully thread her fingers through Mulder's
unresponsive ones, that these two were much more than
partners.  She turned to look at him then, meeting his
eyes, "He wasn't out long enough; I refuse to believe this
is caused by brain damage."

Somehow this all felt like deja vu only this time she was
present to see the effects.  This time however, Mulder was
not raving about in a padded room.  This time, his mind was
somehow frozen in that moment when he touched the artifact
back in the office and she was at a loss at how to bring
him back.  Still wearing her coat, she pulled it more
tightly around her, her hand sliding into the big pocket to
worry the surface of that very same artifact in some hope
she would find an answer there.

Within a half hour, they had stitched up Mulder's head
wound and had him on an IV drip.  The heart monitor showed
a steady reassuring 74 beats per minute. As they were
preparing to take him down for tests a nurse came in to
inform her that there was a Walter Skinner in the ER
waiting room and that he wished to speak with her.  She
leaned over the gurney, caressing Mulder's cheek, his eyes
still lifelessly gazing up at her.  Placing a gentle kiss
on his forehead she nodded to the orderly.

She found Skinner in the waiting room as the nurse had
said.  At the moment he was standing at the window, his
back to her with his hands on his hips, his dark trench
coat giving him a menacing look from behind.   Seeing her
reflection in the glass he turned as she approached his
eyes catching the worry lines that were as much in evidence
on her face as he knew they were on his own.

"I got word that Mulder was rushed in here in cardiac
arrest.  What happened?"

Scully met his eyes; he could see the resignation in them.
The oversized coat she still wore made her look so much
less than her usual self.  "I don't know" she almost
whispered.  "They don't think it was a heart attack.  He
just literally dropped dead right there in front of me."
He watched as her eyes welled with tears, the shock now
wearing off to become grief.

Skinner reached out to touch her shoulder in an act of
reassurance. "The nurse said his vitals were normal now,
how's he doing?"

She looked away, brushing angrily at the tears that
threatened to spill from her eyes.  Skinner was the last
person she wanted to see her like this.  "He's
unresponsive, catatonic, the ER doctor is afraid there
could be brain damage from the lack of oxygen to his
brain."
 
"A stroke?"

She shook her head, choking back the sob that threatened to
burst from her.  Skinner fought the urge to wrap her in an
embrace, not certain that she would welcome it especially
in this public place.  He looked around, almost
suspiciously.  "You know, this is the hospital they brought
him to before.  Are you okay with him being here?"

She nodded a small smile, realizing what he was referring
too.  "They-they just took him for some tests.  I have a
friend from med school, a neurologist that is on staff here
now.  I've asked for him."

Skinner shuffled his feet, looked down and slid his hands
into the pockets of his coat.  "You know-we had this
conversation this morning..."

"I know, he told me.  He said you wanted to see me because
you weren't getting anywhere with him and you won't.  He'd
never be happy behind a desk sir; you know that as well as
I do."

"Agent Scully?"  They both turned at the sound of her name,
one of the ER nurses was approaching her with a somewhat
distressed look on her face.  The nurse pulled them aside
so she could speak somewhat privately.  "They need your
help down in imaging.  Mr. Mulder seems to have regained
consciousness but he's being quite uncooperative."

"Oh God,"  Scully glanced quickly at Skinner and then
turned to follow the nurse.  A few steps down the hall she
hesitated.  "Sir?" She fumbled with her coat, tugging on
something she had stuffed into one of the large pockets.
Pulling out an object wrapped in a leather covering she
handed it to Skinner.  "Could you see that the Gunmen get
this?"

He took the object from her with a puzzled look.

"I think that is what caused what happened to Mulder."
 

**
 

Standing on a high point of land, the city stretched out
below him.  Built by their own hands, it was an incredibly
intricate labyrinth of buildings and temples.  The houses
were arranged in long terraces and simply built.  The
temples, on the other hand, were elaborate masses of
monolithic block faultlessly cut with razor sharp edges
that integrated completely into each other.  Intricate
carvings decorated the exterior of many of the temples.
The whole city had been neatly terraced and carved into the
mountainside.  Lush greenery surrounded the city on all
sides, hiding it from all but the sky above.  The
combination of stone, foliage and water made it a work of
natural sculpture, a place where man and the earth lived in
harmony, a heart-achingly beautiful place.

 But now it had become a city in turmoil and fear.  Failed
crops and hunger gripped the people and the demand for
sacrifice grew.  The gods were angry the priest had told
them and the king had ordered that blood needed to be
spilled to appease them.  Warriors had raided the outlying
villages, dragging off those chosen for sacrifice.  He'd
come here to hide and to watch as below him the blood of
many of his fellow villagers spilled down the steps of the
temple, their screams echoing off the faces of the other
buildings and up into the heavens above him.

Fear griped him, making it hard to breathe, how could this
carnage make the gods happy?  His friends were being taken
from their homes and slaughtered, many of them attempting
to flee into the jungle only to be brought back by the
king's warriors.  He was one of them, his flight instinct
urging him to run but he found for the moment he could not
take his eyes from the scene below him.

Behind him he heard the rustling of foliage.  He froze,
knowing for certain that when he turned around death would
be staring him in the face.  More thrashing filled the
jungle behind him and when he did turn he found himself
face to face with two of the king's warriors.  He bolted,
dashing off into the jungle, knowing that if he was caught
his heart would be added to those already piled on the
sacrificial alter below.  He ran, down the hillside,
brushing aside vines and stumbling over exposed roots, his
heart pounding in his throat with the sound of the men
behind him.  Crashing on through the dense foliage,
branches cutting at his hands and face, he thought for a
time he would elude his captors.  But then he fell, coming
down hard, his arms out in front of him in some feeble
attempt to prevent himself from being injured.  He was
going to die, what did it matter?

Strong arms grabbed his upper arms pulling him almost to
his feet.  He struggled, trying desperately to shake the
men off but he was no match for their strength and soon
found himself being dragged back through the jungle, across
the courtyard and up the many steps to the altar. His eyes
scanned the people below desperately searching for one, the
woman he loved, screaming her name as they pinned him to
the alter.  The village priest began to chant, standing
above him holding the sacrificial dagger.  Pain lanced
through his body as the sheath cut through his chest and he
remembered nothing else.
 

**
 

"What's going on?" Scully hurried after the nurse who now
stood before the elevator angrily punching the DOWN button
as if it would encourage the elevator the arrive more
quickly.

"I don't know.  I picked up the call from imaging.  There
was a lot of yelling in the background, they just said to
get you down there STAT-come on, come on!"  She continued
to smack the elevator button.

When the elevator doors opened on the diagnostic level
another nurse was nervously pacing the hallway.  "Are you
Dana Scully?"

"Yes, where is he?"  Before the nurse could answer they
both heard him screaming; the nurse bolting for the exam
room with Scully right on her heels.  Stepping into the
technician's office Scully could see through the glass
window to the exam room.  Three orderlies had Mulder pinned
to the wall.  His face was beet red as he tried to fight
the men that held him.  He continued to scream, terrified
of the restraint, his voice growing hoarse.  It sounded
like he was saying "Asordo", over and over but she had no
idea what the word meant or why he was screaming it.
Someone came through the door behind her, a doctor, pushing
past her as she entered the exam room.  She saw the needle
in his hand and knew immediately that they were about to
sedate Mulder.

"No, wait! What are you giving him?"  The needle went into
Mulder's hip before she could get the doctor's attention.
"Dammit it, what did you give him?"

"Five milligrams Haloperidol, he almost killed the
technician," the doctor answered angrily motioning to the
young woman who was being attended to on the opposite side
of the room.  Scully turned back to Mulder, the fear
draining from his face as the drug took over.  He slid to
the floor with the aid of two orderlies.  "Oh, Mulder," she
stooped to touch him but he shied away from her.  "Ego
indeo asordo..." he all but whispered as his eyes drifted
shut.

"I want him in the psych ward, five point restraints!"

Scully stood and turned to the doctor who was barking
orders.  "Who the hell are you?"

As Scully squared off with the offending doctor the
orderlies had strapped Mulder onto a gurney and were in the
process of wheeling him out of the room.  She turned around
again, "Just stop right there!"

"I might ask you the same thing.  Who gave you the
authority to just come barging in here?" The doctor was a
big man, brusque, probably mid 50's.

"He's my-I have legal medical power attorney over this
patient, I'm his personal physician."

"And you have the authority to practice in this hospital?"

"No..."

"Then they'll take him where I tell them to take him.
Fifth floor, restraints!"

Scully knew how Mulder hated restraints, she didn't' want
him waking up in them, not again.  "He's not violent,
that's totally unnecessary."

"Yeah, well tell that to Ms. Ellis..."  The doctor stormed
out of the door after Mulder's gurney.

Scully looked around at the shambles of the exam room.  A
young nurse was being attended to by another physician. She
made her way across the room and squatted down next to the
young woman.  She noted her name tag, KATIE ELLIS.  "Katie,
I'm so sorry, are you alright?"

The doctor looked up from his ministrations for a moment,
"Looks like she might have suffered a minor concussion, I'm
going to have her admitted overnight."

Scully turned back to Katie, "Can you tell me what
happened?"

"He came too during the scan, I think he was just
frightened, but I've never seen anyone that frightened.  He
was terrified.  We shut it down, tried to talk him down,
get him out but I guess he just didn't understand.  Doesn't
he speak English?"  Katie asked.

Scully looked back at her confused, "What do you mean?"

"He was chanting or something, I couldn't understand him.
It was like he didn't know who I was or what I was telling
him.  Then he just grabbed me and pushed me back against
the wall, then they guys came in, he yelled your name a
couple times, you're Dana right?  And then he started
yelling something like 'asordo' and you know the rest.  I'm
sorry it got so out of control but I didn't know how to
calm him down."

"It's not your fault Katie," Scully stood and helped the
doctor get Katie into a wheelchair before leaving the room
in search of Mulder.
 

GEORGETOWN PSYCHIATRIC WING
 

It wasn't hard to find the psych ward on the east wing of
the fifth floor, she'd been there before.  When she stopped
at the desk to ask for Mulder's room number the nurse asked
her to have a seat in the small waiting room across the
hall, explaining that Dr. Leonard was on his way in and
wanted to talk with her immediately.  The room was small,
about the size of an average hospital room. It was carpeted
with two nicely upholstered sofas, a lounger and a small
kitchenette with coffee.  She poured herself a cup and sat
down hard on the end of one of the sofas.  Cradling the cup
in her hand she took a sip, tilting her head back to inhale
the pungent aroma.  It was the first chance she'd had to
relax since she'd gotten out of bed that morning.  She
continued to sip her coffee lazily, thinking hard over the
events of the day.  What had brought this all on?  Was
Mulder's condition truly a reaction to the artifact?  She'd
denied it all the first time around, running off in search
of answers and leaving him behind to be drugged into a
stupor; she would not be fool enough to do it again.  She
needed to get a hold of Amina Ngebe.  Find out if it was
really her that had sent her this artifact.  If so, she
needed to know how Amina had come to be in possession of it
and if the ship had reappeared. But first, she needed to
get Mulder some help; she would not let him go through that
hell again.

Someone cleared their throat on the other side of the room.
The sound startled her from her thoughts.  She looked over
in the direction from which it had come.  Dr. Leonard now
stood in the doorway, he smiled tentatively at her, "I
didn't mean to startle you Dana."  She started to get up
but he waved her off, coming over to sit on the opposite
end of the sofa.  "I have to say, I'm surprised to see you
here-in another role, that is.  How are you?"

Jason Leonard had been a classmate in med school.  He was
probably Mulder's height with a slightly heavier build,
short cropped curly hair and dark eyes that were now hidden
behind wire rim glasses.  He'd been a member of the little
clique she'd hung in with until they all branched off into
different fields.

"I'm not the one you need to be asking that question of."

"So I understand.  Dr. Kelley filled me in on what happened
down in Imaging."

"Is that who that idiot was?  I want the restraints off,
Jason."

"Dana," he reached over to touch her hand.  "I think we
should leave them on, at least until he's lucid.  Until we
run some neurological tests, we don't know what we're
dealing with. He has a history of violent behavior from
what I'm reading here about the last episode."  He flipped
casually though a thick file she knew instinctively was
Mulder's.

She set her coffee cup down with a shaky hand.  "He was
frightened Jason, he didn't understand what was happening
to him. There was no need to drug him like that, if they
just would have let me talk to him. He won't hurt anybody.
I know he won't hurt me.  Please Jason," why was she
begging?  She could just go in there and take them off
herself.  "I'll sit with him until he wakes up.  I don't
know how to explain it; I won't have him wake up restrained
Jason, not again."

Jason took in her haggard appearance.  According to the
file, she was his F.B.I. partner and legal power of
attorney but it was painfully obvious they were much more
to each other.  She was just as strong willed now as he had
remembered her and he wasn't about to butt heads with her.
It had never worked before.  He'd wait it out.  Let the guy
wake up and take it from there.
 

7:22 A.M.
 

She awoke to someone stroking her arm.  She raised her head
from the edge of the bed and looked into some slightly
groggy hazel eyes, a gentle smile curving his dry lips.
Taking his hand, she brought it up to place a soft kiss on
the back of it.  "Good morning, sleepy."

Pulling his hand away he stroked her hair, pushing it away
from where it had stuck to the side of her face in sleep.
"Who's the sleepy one?" He'd drifted in and out all day
yesterday but this was the first time he'd been lucid
enough to speak to her.
 
 

She sat up and looked at him, really looked at him.  He was
pale, the dark circles under his eyes giving him a hallowed
look.  He looked confused and a little apprehensive.  "Do
you know where you are?"  As he glanced about the room, she
noticed him fiddling with something on the other side of
the bed, the restraint strap she realized.  Then he turned
to her, "It looks alarmingly familiar.  I'm in the nut ward
again," he sighed.  "Do they just automatically send me
here now when I'm admitted?" There was resignation and a
little disgust in is scratchy voice.

"I'm sorry Mulder, you shouldn't be here."

"Why am I here?"

"You don't remember?"

She watched him think for a minute, a moment of fear passed
across his face, he touched his chest, "I only remember-we
were in the office, you had opened that package from
Africa-I remember..."

"What?"

He hesitated, the memory of his dream coming back.  He felt
a little unsure of what to admit and what was best to keep
to himself.  This was nothing like he'd experienced in '99
or recently in North Dakota for that matter; the details of
which he hadn't shared with his partner.  "Nothing-just
weird dreams I think," was all he would admit.  He reached
for the water pitcher but his movements were still
sluggish. Scully had seen something pass across his face,
worry or fear, she wasn't sure  but got up to pour him a
glass of water, which he took from her with a shaky hand.
She knew he was keeping something from her.

He sipped the water, holding it with both hands to steady
the glass.  He felt loopy; shit what had they given him?
"What was in the box?"

She sighed, giving him that 'what are you not telling me'
look.  She knew he got it loud and clear but answered his
question anyway.  "That was the day before yesterday
Mulder, it's Sunday.  There was another artifact in the
box, Professor Ngebe sent it, similar to the one the
rubbing was produced from, the markings were the same, I
recognized them."

His face lit up immediately, she could almost see the cloud
lifting from his brain.  "From the ship? The ship you told
me about in Africa?  Do you suppose it's reappeared on the
beach?" He was already fumbling with the covers, sitting up
in an attempt to get out of bed.  She jumped back as he
swung his long legs over the side but stopped immediately
when a wave of nausea swept over him.  She watched as his
face went white and grabbed him to hold him steady.
"Dammit, Mulder, you're not going anywhere!  Not until we
find out what's going on. Put your head down."

He pushed her back gently when the dizziness had subsided
then raised his head slowly to meet her eyes.  "What is
going on?"  All the fight went out of her when she saw his
worried look.  She raised the head of the bed and helped
him settle back into it, sitting down next to him.  "You
collapsed in the office yesterday, cardiac arrest," she
said as his eyes grew alarmed.  "You were holding the
artifact when it happened."  When he attempted to say
something she shushed him with a finger to his lips.  "You
were catatonic and unresponsive by the time we got you
here.  Your heart is fine, no sign of any cardiopulmonary
disease or damage.  They took you down last night for a CT
scan and MRI; you came to during the MRI and attacked the
technician, that's how you ended up here."  He searched her
face with that same 'what are you not telling me' look.
She sighed, "Mulder, what does 'asordo' mean?"

He shook his head ever so slightly; she could imagine the
thoughts running though his mind.  His eyes closed and
tilted his head back against the pillows.  Was it happening
all over again?  He knew that's what she was afraid of.
"There's no oral dissonance, no voices Scully, I feel
fine."  She ignored him.

"You were shouting it, they hit you with some Haloperidol,
you looked at me and said 'ego indeo asordo'."

"I need help."
 

10:13A.M.
 

A light rap on the door startled her.  She had spent the
last hour gazing at her sleeping partner.  He'd fallen back
to sleep, still fighting the effects of the Haloperidol.
She'd gotten him to tell her a little of the dream he'd
had.  Though it was frightening in its intensity what
scared her more was the way his actions had paralleled it.
Right down to screaming the name of the woman he loved.
She looked up to find Jason standing in the doorway. "How's
your patient?"

Scully pushed herself up from the uncomfortable chair,
patting Mulder's arm reassuringly, "Still snoozing off the
dope."  Stepping away from the bed she motioned to Jason
and they both stepped to the other side of the room.  "You
look beat Dana, why don't you go home for a while?"

"I can't Jason; it's a long story..."

"Yeah, I gather from the size of this file I've been
carrying around."  Jason hefted Mulder's medical file and
then flipped it open.  "The good news is his CT scan and
MRI are clean but there are some anomalies on the EEG that
concern me."

"What type of anomalies?"  Scully glanced at the bed and
then back to Jason.

"Unusual activity in areas we don't normally see it.  From
what I gather this is similar to what put him here back in
'99.  The guy ended up in a padded cell Dana.  If we can't
determine a physical cause for this then I think you need
to consider a psychological one."

"What do you mean, from what you gather?  Can't you compare
the test results?"

"Yeah, I could, if I had them but they don't seem to be
anywhere in this hospital."

She didn't like the sound of that.  "They're gone?"

Jason didn't either, "Dana-what's going on here?  Who is
this guy?"

"Yeah, Dana, who is this guy?"

They both froze as Mulder's dry voice came from behind
them.  Turning around they found him sitting up in bed.  He
did not look happy.  Scully touched Jason's arm, guiding
him towards Mulder's bedside.  "Mulder, this is Jason
Leonard, he's a Neurologist, we went to med school
together.  Jason, this is Fox Mulder my-my partner."

Mulder gave her a look she couldn't quite comprehend.  "You
know Scully, one of these days you and I have to sit down
and determine just exactly what we are to each other."

Scully ignored the rub. This was no time to get into a
discussion of their relationship, especially not in front
of Jason.  "We were just discussing the results of the
tests..."

"Like hell, what you were discussing was the fact that Dr.
Neurologist here thinks I'm delusional, that I belong
here."

Mulder's behavior was beginning to infuriate her; he was
acting like she'd gone behind his back to discuss his
medical care.  For now she was going to ignore it.  "...we
need to determine the cause of what happened to you
yesterday, Mulder."

Mulder glared at her.  "You know what caused it Scully; the
problem is none of your damn tests are going to prove it
for you so when can I get out of here?"

Jason cleared his throat.  "Look, you two can get into your
own debate on your own time.  I'd like to run some
neurological tests, and a PET scan Fox, if I don't see
anything there that causes concern, I see no reason to keep
you.  The cardiologist might want to send you home with a
24 hour monitor though.  Dana cares about you, she and I
just want to be sure what happened yesterday doesn't happen
again.  Agreed?"

"Fine."

"I'll go see what time I can get you scheduled."  With that
Jason ducked out of the room, pulling the door too as he
left.

When they were alone again, Scully moved closer to the bed,
crossing her arms in front of her she almost hissed at him,
"Dr. Neurologist?  What the hell was that all about?"

Mulder tilted his head back against the pillows, covering
his face with both hands; he let out an exasperated sigh.
"Look, I'm sorry, I was out of line."

"Yes, you were.  I'm sure Jason wonders why I'm wasting my
time with you at this point."

"Jason, huh?  Was he before or after Daniel?"

"What?"  This confrontation was suddenly escalating into
something that would end up with one of them being hurt.
She had no idea what had brought on this hostile attitude
of his all of a sudden and she wondered, for the first time
if what Jason had said to her might be a possibility.  She
didn't answer him and when he realized it was probably for
the better he changed the subject.

"What happened to the artifact?"

She sat down, God, she was tired.  "I gave it to Skinner to
take over to the Gunmen."

He wasn't angry at her, just at her attitude.  She knew
damn well what he believed had happened to him yesterday.
What had influenced the dream or vision he'd had?  It was
happening all over again only this time something was
different.  He felt different.  This time there was no
noise, no pain, no voices in his head, he felt enlightened
or-or illuminated with something unknown.  The urge to move
on it was becoming overwhelming and the longer they kept
him here the more frustrated he knew he would become. He
needed her help not her medical expertise.  "We need that
artifact, Scully.  That's where you're going to find your
answers.  We need to find out where it was found, if there
are more pieces.  You told me before you thought it had led
you to a key, the key to all the questions we've been
asking; a piece of a puzzle that was left for us to put
together.  After what happened to me yesterday, I think I
know how to put those pieces together."

No, despite how angry it would make him, she was not going
to believe what he was suggesting.  "Mulder, what are you
talking about?  Please-don't sugg..."

He reached for her, caressing the side of her cheek, she
was scared, scared for him.  "I'm OK, I'm not crazy," he
chuckled briefly.  "Just trust me, Scully."
 

GEOREGETOWN IMAGING DEPARTMENT 3:40 P.M.
 

They had come up and gotten him about an hour after Jason
had left the room.  The PET scan and EKG would alert them
to any usual brain activity.  These were the same tests
they had run on Gibson.  Leaving Mulder in Jason's care she
made a quick trip home to change and bring Mulder back some
clothes.  She knew the moment she stepped into the exam
area that things had not gone well.  Jason and two
technicians hovered over a lighted screen conferring over
Mulder's scans. Mulder was no where in sight.

Geez-will you look at this..." one of the technicians tapped
his co-worker on the arm.  "You ever see anything like
this?"

"He must have been having a hell of a dream," the other
tech commented as he used his finger to highlight the areas
he was referring to.  "I've never seen activity in these
areas either.

Jason caught here eye, "Dana, come here, you need to see
this."

The concern evident on his face, she moved to stand next to
him.  What she saw on the screen brought back memories
immediately, of a twelve-year-old boy and his incredible
abilities.  Her hand went to her mouth as a small gasp
escaped her.  Mulder believed that Gibson's abilities were
attributed to something akin to alien DNA; something that
despite her beliefs she had proved was a part of every
human being.

Jason caught her reaction.  "What?"

"I've-we've, Mulder and I have seen this before.  A young
boy we had contact with several years ago."

"He had this same heightened activity in the temporal
lobe?"

"Yes, very similar."

"How did you treat him?  The human brain normally functions
at 5 to 10 percent of its capacity.  What we're looking at
here is at least 50 percent; I couldn't even begin to tell
you how to slow this down."

"We didn't.  He was just a normal kid-only..."

"Only what?"

She turned to look Jason right in the eye.  "He was
clairvoyant, he could read minds Jason."

"Dana, that's not possible."  He touched her shoulder as if
asking her to get a grip on herself.  "Those are just a
cheap parlor tricks. Look, I know Mulder is your friend but
you're a doctor, you know what the human body is capable of
and what it's not."

"Jason, I've seen things that 15 years ago I wouldn't have
believed either.  You have no idea what the human body is
capable of."

Jason smiled at her hesitantly.  "OK, so what happened to
this kid?"

"We don't know."  Mulder's voice came from the doorway.  He
walked over to stand next to Scully so he could see what
they were looking at.  He leaned down and in a soft voice
meant only for her he whispered, "What more proof do you
need?"

At this point she didn't know whether to be upset, worried
or scared to death.  She had seen scans done before on
Mulder and they had never looked like this.   Jason was
right, neither of them had any idea how to treat this or
even if it needed treating.  Mulder actually seemed fine
now.  "Mulder, I..."

Mulder stepped back a few steps, the irritation again
evident on his face.  "Look, you two can stand here and
debate what you see for as long as you think it's
necessary, I'm going upstairs and find my clothes."

"Mulder-this could be dangerous, maybe you should stay here
until we know what to do about this," Scully pleaded with
him.

"You've already decided you don't know how to treat it and
there's no way I'm going through that hell again. You," he
pointed to Jason.  "Can find me some discharge papers or
I'm walking out of here AMA.  And you," he pinned Scully
with a warning look.  "Can take me home or I'm calling a
cab."  He then turned, making sure he mooned them both as
he left the room.

Scully turned back to Jason.  "I'm sorry, he's usually not
like that. Please, can you write up those papers?"

Jason signed heavily.  "I don't like this Dana.  I know
you're worried about him, that you want to do what's right,
but I'm also worried for you.  This behavior could be a
sign that we're dealing with some mental disorder.  He
could get violent."

She looked down, her fingers nervously playing across the
screen in front of her and then looked back up to Jason.
"Truthfully, I'm more worried that it's not some mental
disorder, at least that I know we could treat."
 

GEORGETOWN PYSCHIATRIC WING
 

 He'd pulled on the clothes that Scully had brought and
gone into the bathroom to throw some water on his face.  He
leaned over the sink, letting the water run a few minutes
until it was at least luke warm.  He cupped his hands under
the stream and splashed the water on his face several
times.  He then propped his hands on either side of the
sink, standing there to let the water drip from his chin.
God, what was going on?  The vision he'd had, it had been
so real. He remembered the pain lancing through his chest;
his own life coming to an end.  Somehow it had felt so much
larger than that, like it was the death of thousands he'd
experienced, not just his own. He remembered holding the
artifact in the office.  The characters suddenly conforming
to reveal a message that he couldn't quite read at the time
but thought he understood.  He needed to see it again.  He
groped for a towel and raised his head to look in the
mirror.  His movements freezing at what he saw reflected
there.

The image that stared back at him was not his own.  What he
saw before him was the image of an older man with a flowing
white beard and hair dressed in white cloaks.  He rubbed
his eyes in frustration but the image remained.  A sudden
chill wracked his body and he reached out a shaking hand to
touch the glass before him.  When his hand made contact
with the mirror, the image disappeared.

"Mulder?"  Scully's light wrapping on the door startled him
and he found he couldn't make his voice utter an
acknowledgement.  She pushed the door open gently to find
him leaning against the sink, white as a sheet.  A worried
look immediately crossed her face, he looked like he was
about to pass out. "Are you ok?" she asked with concern,
moving into the room to take his arm.  He yanked it away
from her, "Yeah," he said as he pushed past her and made
his way unsteadily across the room.  She turned around and
followed him.

"Mulder, I don't like this."

He sat down on the edge of the bed and grabbed a shoe,
jamming his foot into it and tying it angrily.  "I know you
don't but I gotta get out of here Scully, or I might really
go nuts."
 

MULDER'S TOWNHOUSE
 

There hadn't been much conversation in the car on the way
home.  She'd finally gotten him to tell her a little bit
about what had caused him to hare off during the tests.
When they got in, Mulder headed right for the study and had
been there ever since. He was working on the computer; she
could hear the keys even through the drone of the
basketball game he had put on to cover it up.  By 8:30 he
still hadn't made an appearance outside the room.  She had
thrown together a small supper of grilled chicken and pasta
and headed up the stairs to try and entice him into eating
some of it.  The television was still on but the room
seemed quiet.  Maybe he had fallen asleep.

Pushing open the door she found the room empty.  Knowing he
hadn't left the house, she made her way across the room to
the desk, curious as to what he'd been so engrossed in all
afternoon.  On the monitor was a web site detailing Mayan
culture, there were also several other windows opened to
Egyptian mythology, star charts and human evolution.  She
glanced down at the desk and began to thumb her way through
the papers that were strewn across its surface.  He had
printed out pages and pages of reference material but what
fascinated her most were the pages of hand written notes
and incredibly detailed mathematical calculations.

The sound of the water in the bathroom startled her, she
felt like she was eavesdropping on him and yet she couldn't
pull herself away from what he'd been doing.   Moreover,
she was in awe of the work he had done.  She'd never known
Mulder to be a great mathematician; he refused to balance
the check book. But this was the work of someone not only
knowledgeable in mathematical calculations but also
astrological projections.  Her little calculator was still
in the drawer, he'd done this all this in his head.  "See,
I was right all along, you were sent to spy on me."

His voice behind her made her jump.  But when he came up
behind her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her
back against his chest she relaxed and leaned back into
him.  "I was just wondering what you've been doing up here
all evening?"  She continued to page through the papers
he'd been working on.  "What are you trying to work out?"

He nuzzled her neck, something she found incredibly
distracting.  "What do you mean?"  He'd asked the question
like he didn't know what she was referring too and
continued his ministrations.  She had the distinct
impression he was either trying to change the subject or he
really had no idea what she was talking about.  As good as
his lips felt, she really needed to know.  "Mulder, stop
that!" she pulled herself out of his arms and turned to
face him.  "What are all these calculations, this date,
2,012; look, you keep coming up with it over and over?"

He actually looked totally confused and leaned over the
desk to page his way through all the papers there.  "I-was
just looking for some information on what I might have seen
in that vision.  I think it had something to do with Aztec
or Mayan sacrifice.  Here," he grabbed up a few pages on
Mayan culture.  "This mentions how they felt the need to
sacrifice not only animals but humans as well to appease
their gods."  He looked at her at last.  "I think that's
what I was experiencing..."  He could tell she didn't buy his
weak attempt to cover his confusion when she slammed the
papers she held down on the desk in front of him.  He stood
up and stared at the sheets covered in his own scratchy
penmanship.

"You have no idea what you were working on, do you?"  I
know you're not a math wiz, Mulder.  This is calculus-I
don't know what else.  You did it in your head."  The wind
went out of her sails when she realized from his panic
face, he really didn't know either.  "How?"

His eyes came down to meet hers, she watched him as he
wrapped his arms around himself, rubbing his arms briskly
as if he was suddenly cold.  Truth was he couldn't really
remember much of this afternoon from the point where he'd
sat down to do just what he told her, looking for some
information on the Maya.  That was three hours ago.  "I
don't know Scully, I honestly don't remember..."

Her heart ached for him and as she stepped towards him,
opening her arms to him, he came willingly, stepping into
them and pulling her tight relishing in her warmth.  "I
made us some dinner," she mumbled into his shoulder.
"Please come down and eat with me."
 

7:05 A.M.
 

She awoke the next morning alone in bed with the
unmistakable aroma of coffee filling the house. Downstairs
she found Mulder seated at the table in his work clothes,
tie strung about his neck, buttering a muffin he had just
taken from the toaster.  "What are you doing?  I hope
you're not planning on going to work?"

He looked at her as if she had just asked the most
ridiculous question he'd ever heard.  "It's Monday, why
wouldn't I be going to work?"

She shuffled across the floor and slid into the seat next
to him, placing her hand on his arm.  "Mulder, a few days
ago they took you out of the office in what for all intents
and purposes was cardiac arrest, you were in the hospital
for two days, you've been having waking dreams,
hallucinations, lapses in memory.  I don't think it's a
good idea, not until we know what's causing this."

"You were planning on going in weren't you?" he asked
around the bite of muffin he'd popped into his mouth.

She didn't really acknowledge him but she didn't need too,
he knew she was.  He got up from the table then, went over
to the coffee maker and poured another cup adding the
condiments the way she liked it.  Ambling back across the
floor in his socks he handed her the cup.  "Well, then if I
come too you can keep an eye on me there."

Her shoulders slumped as she let out a sigh.  There was no
use fighting him when he was right.
 

FBI HEADQUARTERS
 

Scully made her way down the hallway with a tray from the
cafeteria; a sub for Mulder and a salad for herself, and
two bottles of water.  She had almost made it to the
elevator when a familiar voice stopped her.  "Agent
Scully?"  Skinners deep voice resonated behind her and she
turned to find him approaching her.  He gave a quick glance
in several directions as if looking to see if the coast was
clear then he grabbed her arm gently and steered her into
an adjacent empty hallway.

"I understand Mulder came in with you this morning, what
the hell is he doing here?"

Scully sighed in resignation.  "As he put it, Sir, the
doctors didn't exactly say he couldn't come in to work and
since I was planning on coming in anyway, I could keep a
better eye on him here."

"Is that your opinion also?"  She could hear the concern in
his question, see it in his face.

"I don't know what to tell you.  They released him from the
hospital because basically they couldn't find anything
wrong with him and yet we both know there is."

"What to do you mean?"

"He's having visions, waking dreams; Dr. Leonard prefers to
call them delusions
and thinks he should be treated for schizophrenia.  Mulder,
on the other hand, is certain that what he is experiencing
is directly related to his exposure to that artifact I gave
you to take to the Gunmen.  He says it has his name on it."

Skinner frowned, remembering the sight of Mulder in a
padded room, his inability to help him when he asked for
it.  "Is this the same thing that happened to him before?"

Scully sighed, "No, I don't think so, the effects are very
different. The scans show activity in the brain similar to
back in '99, much like what we saw in Gibson, a capacity
beyond what we normally see in the human brain.  He insists
he's not in any pain; there's no dissonance, nothing like
he experienced before, he just zones out. Yesterday I found
him in the study working on some mathematical equations
even I couldn't figure out and that has no recollection of
doing let alone what he was trying to calculate with them.
Byers just came and picked them up to analyze them for me.
I think that's what happened in the hospital...he was
mentally somewhere, someone else."

Skinner glanced around again, smiled agreeably at a couple
of agents who passed by.  "Scully, if you need any help, if
there's anything I can do you know I'm here."

Scully gave him a hesitant smile. "I will, thank you." She
said as she stepped away from him.

"Dana," she turned at the use of her given name.  "Just be
careful, I know it's a whole different ballgame now."
 

X-FILES OFFICE
 

She found a desk full of papers and an empty chair when she
entered the office.  Setting the tray down she briefly
paged though the drawings and written text that littered
Mulder's desk.  What the hell was he working on now?  A
noise from behind her made her turn around.

Mulder was standing in the back of the office, his arms
braced on the table his head bowed.  "Mulder?"  When she
got no response she approached him cautiously, "What is
it?"

He looked up suddenly, the anguish on his face making her
heart suddenly ache.  He stood up and turned towards her.
"What the hell is that?" he demanded, motioning to the
papers she had been sifting though.  "I find myself working
on this shit and I don't even know what it is or why I'm
doing it."

He walked passed her and stood with his hands on his hips,
a stance she recognized as very much his.  His hands came
up and he buried his face in them.   Scully walked over to
stand in front of him.  "I think I should take you home..."

His hands dropped immediately, "I don't want to go home!"
he grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair and
attempted to pass by her but she snagged his arm and held
on tight despite his attempt to shake her off.  "Let go of
me!"

"Where are you going?" Scully demanded.

"To see the Gunmen-the answers in that artifact Scully, I
keep trying to tell you that!"

"I will not pick you up off the floor again, Mulder..."

He finally succeeded in yanking his arm from her grasp.
"It's not going to happen again..."

"How can you know that?"

He rolled his eyes; a huge annoyed sigh escaped his lips.
"I just do.  Just like I was calculating the procession of
equinoxes yesterday, the astronomical variances of planets
and constellations and their alignments within a given
century and comparing them to ancient calendars and even
though I don't have a clue as to why I was doing it I
discovered that every single one of them came up with the
same date, December of the year 2,012.  The Mayan calendar,
the most accurate calendar in the world, one that has
existed for centuries ends in December of that year.  The
Egyptians worked it out too.  There's got to be some
significance. And that, whatever I was working on there,"
he said pointing to the papers on the desk, "has something
to do with an energy source.  Chemistry, astrophysics,
Scully, have you ever known me to know anything about that?
It's like I suddenly have this knowledge and its here in my
fron for a reason and I'm more certain than anything that
the answer to why is written on that artifact and I'll know
how to read it."

She was certain he hadn't taken a breath in that long
tirade and now he just stood there in front of her waiting
for some form of acknowledgement from her that she
understood what he was trying to tell her.  She didn't know
what to say to him. Somewhere in there he'd dropped another
word that didn't make sense, fron?  What did that mean?  In
the context it was used she had assumed he'd meant his head
and yet that's not at all what he'd said.  All she was
certain of was that he'd almost died three days ago and
without any other explanation somehow that artifact had
contributed to his collapse.  She would not let him touch
that thing again.

"Okay, look," he said wiping his face in frustration.
"There have been a lot of recent discoveries in the fields
of archeology and geology that indicate that the many of
earth's early civilizations were tied together somehow;
that they all came from a common ancestral past. The names
have been changed but their stories are all pretty much the
same.  Written in these myths and legends is the history of
mankind on a global scale.  The ruins and artifacts that
have been discovered are full of clues to a past we've only
just begun to understand because the ability to understand
them has been lost to us.  Somewhere in our past is the key
to our future. What if someone had a connection to that
past, could understand what was written?"

"And you think that it's you?"

Mulder shrugged into his jacket.  "Do you remember what
Chuck said about the characters on the rubbing?  What a
Magic Square is-a way of trapping power to the person whose
name or numerical correlative exercises the power written
there?"

Scully closed her eyes and then opened them again to find
Mulder standing there still waiting from some response from
her.  "Mulder, that rubbing was a fake."

"You believe that?" He swung away from her and then turned
around, using his hands to animate his speech.  "Then why
did it affect me the way it did?  What about what happened
the other day?  Or hell, why did you go all the way to
Africa for God's sakes?  You told me that what you found
there were not only religious texts but a map of the human
genome; a key to life itself.  Maybe that rubbing of that
artifact wasn't meant for me, on the other hand, maybe this
artifact is. Maybe it maps my genome or somehow altered my
genetic code.  You remember what we saw in Gibson."

"So you're telling me that you think this little piece of a
greater whole that Ngebe sent me-she sent it to ME, Mulder,
has somehow given YOU some super power to connect to
another civilization or whomever or whatever created that
artifact?"

Mulder shrugged, spread his hands in supplication.  "See,
it's like I told you years ago, we don't need to work on
our communication skills, you understand me perfectly."

Scully crossed her arms across her chest, "That is
ridiculous, Mulder."

"What?  The part about you understanding me or me being a
super human?"

Scully turned away from him, dropping her arms down,
"Dammit, Mulder, you can't just flip a switch and change
someone's DNA, it doesn't work that way.  Many people who
have returned from a near death experience believe they've
acquired some sort of psychic ability..."

"NDE? Oh, that's good Scully; let me get out my diary."

"But, I think what you're experiencing has to do with what
happened to you the other day, your body went through a
very traumatic event and you need rest.  I think these
hallucinations of yours are more of a post traumatic stress
syndrome than anything else."

He glared at her suddenly.  "You know, I used to enjoy this
technique you have of always trying to rationalize
everything I say, but right now I think it's a bunch of
bull crap."  He stalked back to the desk and picked up a
file and thrust it at her.  "You remember this?  Those are
the DNA results from the claw we found in Arizona.  DNA you
told me matched the alien virus, the virus you were exposed
to.  The same DNA you found in Gibson.  Junk DNA that is
found in all of us, what you called a genetic remnant that
in Gibson was turned on.  What if that artifact turned
something on in me?"

"Mulder..."  She wasn't sure whether he was just being thick-
headed or he really had gone over the edge.  "First of
all," she shook the file at him. "This only proves that
it's a common trait in all of our DNA."

"A common ancestral past."

"It doesn't prove you can turn it on and off.  It's not
possible."

He grabbed the file from her and threw it back on the desk.
"You want proof, well then fine," he grabbed her hand and
started to pull her towards the door but she stood her
ground.  "We are not going to see the Gunmen!"

"I know, we're going up to the lab, I want you to run a
PCR."

"Mulder..."

Not letting go of her hand he turned back, "I need your
help here Scully.  I need you to help me prove the
impossible.  Have a little faith."

His last comment made her angry.  "Don't question my faith,
Mulder."

He dropped her hand, his eyes met hers and a gentle smile
curved his lips.  "Faith is believing in something when
common sense tells you not to."  He turned and took a few
steps towards the door, "You coming?"

She stood there watching his back disappear out the door.
"Isn't that from MIRACLE ON 34th...?" Her shoulders slumped
again, damn him.  She turned and grabbed the papers from
the desk.

Continued in Part 2
 
 
 

FINDING THE FUTURE
PART 2
By:  Traveler
 

F.B.I. LABS
 

She placed the last vile of blood in the container and
gently pulled the needle from his arm, placing a cotton
ball over the puncture wound.  "Hold that for a few
minutes."  Mulder watched her label the vials in
preparation for the test.  No one had questioned them when
they had entered the lab and even though they were getting
a few questionable looks from the other technicians, most
of them seemed to accept that this was just another round
of far out investigations from the pair in the basement
office. She turned around and without saying a word angrily
placed a Band-Aid over the cotton.  He started to roll his
sleeve back down.  "How long will it take?"

"I'm going to call you a cab. I want you to go home like I
asked you to before."  As she started to step away he
quickly grabbed her, sliding his hand down her arm making
her turn back to him.  "I don't want us to argue over this
Scully.  I know you're concerned.  Jason thinks I need a
shrink but as far as I'm concerned you're the only doctor
that can help me here.  That's all I'm asking."

She finally looked at him.  With her standing and him still
sitting on the table where she'd drawn his blood they were
eye to eye.  What she finally saw in those eyes shocked
her.  He was frightened, literally scared to death and he
knew she was the only person who could understand that
fear.  With a quick glance around the lab she placed her
hands on either side of his tired face, stroked his cheeks
with her thumbs.  "We'll get through this Mulder, I promise
you this."  She watched him close his eyes, his dark lashes
coming to rest against his face.  He turned his head a
little and as his lips came into contact with her right
hand, he gently kissed her palm.  "I'm going to believe
that," he whispered.
 

MULDER' S TOWNHOUSE 8:10P.M.
 

**
 

The sun beat down overhead, a relentless heat that never
seemed to end.  The work was laborious, cutting the
limestone to precise measurements required intricate skill
if it were to fit in its place on the pyramid.  The tools
they used had been given to them by the gods and possessed
a magic he didn't understand anymore than he understood why
they had all been assembled to build this great monolith; a
huge square that, as it rose steadily from the sand,
tapered into a point aimed at the heavens.

Unlike other temples that were being built to commemorate
gods or pharaohs; this one was to be different.  Larger
than anything else on the plateau, it dwarfed the men who
worked on it.  Travelers from other villages said it could
be seen far off into the desert, its golden tip like a
beacon in the sun.  Within its walls chambers were being
cut but their purpose was as yet unclear. No pharaoh would
make his trip to the next world from this place.  Its
purpose remained a mystery.

He was hungry and thirsty now.  The water bearers didn't
come often enough in this heat and the sweat dripped from
his brow, his hands throbbing from broken blisters.  As he
worked on the block near the edge of the quarry his footing
began to slip, the block tilting ever so slightly in his
direction.  The huge block of limestone could crush him in
an instant if he were to become trapped beneath it.  He
continued to work; shaping the block into the precise
measurements he'd been given.  More gravel slipped from
beneath his feet and he scrambled for better footing.

Fear griped him as he realized the more he scrambled the
more the gravel gave way cascading down into the quarry
below.  The block leaned more precariously in his direction
and then suddenly let go.  His arms came up to brace
against the block in a feeble attempt to stop the monolith
from crushing him.  He screamed for help but all his co-
workers could do was watch as he and the huge stone tumbled
down into the quarry together.
 

**

Scully could hear the television as she opened the door.
It was dark in the room with the exception of the light
from the television, a couple of men droning on about
basketball on some sports talk show. She was about to toss
her keys onto the table when she noticed Mulder sitting in
the arm chair, one leg on the ottoman, his head thrown
back, asleep.  She set her things down on the table and
walked across the room.  As she approached him she could
see his face was somewhat flushed, sweat beaded his
forehead.  Sitting down on the ottoman next to his leg she
gently rubbed it to wake him.  She wasn't sure who was more
startled when he awoke with a gasp and sat up abruptly, his
eyes wide.  She dropped the envelope she had brought home
with her, placing her hands on his shoulders.  "Oh God,
Mulder, I'm sorry," touching him she could feel him
trembling under her hands.  Realization finally crossed his
face and he dropped his head, running a hand through his
hair, "Shit."

"You were having another dream, weren't you?"

He sat back, "Yeah, you could say that."  She watched him
as he inspected his hands and then his head went back
against the back of the chair and he closed his eyes again.
"What did you find?"  As she bent to retrieve the envelope
she realized that he had asked almost as if he already knew
the answer.

She slid the PCR results from the envelope, biting her lip
as she did so.  What she now had in her lap was something
she had told him was impossible only hours ago.  He didn't
wait for her to say anything.  Reaching over; he slid them
from her grip and held the first one up.  It was dated a
few years ago though he couldn't remember the reason it had
been done.  When he placed the current one on top of it and
held them up together the evidence of what he believed
stared right back at him.  There were obvious anomalies in
the latest scan.  "It's just like Gibson, Mulder."  Her
voice was hesitant, barely above a whisper.  "I don't
understand it, but you were right.  It's as if somehow
inactive DNA has suddenly been turned on."

"So I'm no longer a DNA match for myself huh?"

She smiled a little, "Something like that.  Mulder whatever
is causing this; we have to find a way to treat this, these
delusions of yours.  Look at you, you're exhausted."

A sudden look of disgust crossed his face.  "Pump me full
of Thorazine?  I don't think anything your doctor friend
has in his medicine chest will cure this."  He sat up a
little, looked down at the films he still held in his
hands.  "I'm not delusional, Scully.  It's something else."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know," he said looking up to meet her eyes.  "It's
like I have this connection to something-something ancient.
I think these dreams are clues-clues to answers you and I
have been searching for all these years.  I just need you
to bear with me a while, stop being my doctor.  I need you
as a friend Scully.''

As frightened as she knew he still was, as worried as she
was for him, she understood how he felt.  "Mulder," she
rubbed his leg that still extended across the ottoman.  "I
have been and always shall be your friend.  What do you
need me to do?"

Pulling his leg from beside her and placing both feet on
the floor in front of him, Scully watched as Mulder took
the envelope from her lap and without a word slid both the
films back into it.  "What are you doing?" she asked.

"Has anyone else seen these?"

"No one, I ran the test myself.  I have the only results.
When I knew what I was looking at I destroyed the rest of
the blood samples."

"Good because I don't want to end up as a test subject for
anyone but you."
 

5:14 A.M.
 

He came awake in a cold sweat.  The dream from earlier had
come back with a vengeance only now he was fairly certain
of where he had been.  Egypt, for centuries it had been the
Mecca of culture.  Home to a civilization as old as
creation itself, the birthplace of a library of wisdom and
knowledge so complete it would today awe any scientist.
He'd stood in the great Library of Alexandria, its halls
filled with ancient scrolls and texts said to have been the
greatest collection of scientific knowledge in the ancient
world.  Many today wonder what science would be like had
the contents of this great library not been destroyed.

He had then found himself in a great labyrinth, incredible
underground chambers filled with breathtakingly colorful
paintings and connected by intricate hallways filled with
ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs.  His hands had scrolled down
the text, reading stories from civilizations older than the
Egyptians themselves.  Stories of a people who came from
another land bringing with them their mathematical and
scientific knowledge, architectural knowledge,  star
charts, maps and the formulas for sources of incredible
energy that made it possible to travel from one world to
the next.

Within these walls were written the history of the world,
not as we knew it but as it had actually happened, secrets
of a civilization that had flourished on a global scale
thousands of years ago, before recorded history and that
had vanished in the blink of an eye leaving little evidence
of its existence. What he knew without a doubt was that
this incredible place contained more knowledge than his
muddled human brain could ever begin to assimilate.  It
made his head hurt and he sat up quietly, putting his feet
on the floor and resting his throbbing head in his hands.

He'd been here before, he realized, on this bridge between
two worlds where he had to decide between life and death.
This however was not a choice between life and death; it
was a different bridge, one that in one direction would
lead him back to a time when the world was a different
place, one that even the history books failed to mention.
He could feel the pull like a magnet, almost as if it were
beckoning him to come back to a place he'd been before,
perhaps were we'd all been before-on the brink of the
future.  Something pulled at his memory, a date he'd seen
calculated in the drawings within the labyrinth, a date
he'd calculated himself only days ago, 2,012; the date the
Maya believed signaled the end of the present world.  He
closed his eyes in resignation.  He'd once told Scully that
life wasn't governed by fate, that we had the free will to
choose and that it was those choices that ultimately
determined our fate.    What would happen if he gave in to
these ancient memories?  Would he loose himself or become
gifted with their knowledge? With every choice you change
your fate he'd told her. He realized he now had a choice to
make.

He pulled at the tee shirt that stuck to his chest; he
needed to get out of the room, to think out what he had
just experienced.  As he moved to get off the bed Scully's
hand came to rest on his back, her sleepy voice questioning
his movements.  "Mulder?"  He hadn't realized he had awoken
her and he turned around to find her looking at him with
concern.  "Hey, I'm sorry," he brushed her shoulder and
took her hand in his.  "I can't' sleep, I'm just going to
go downstairs for a while. Go back to sleep."  He leaned
over, kissed her softly and started to slide off the bed.
"You won't tell me what's troubling you, will you?"
Standing up he looked down at her.  "I will, I promise you,
when I can figure it out for myself."

She listened to him pad down the stairs, heard the
refrigerator door open and close, the television come on
then muted?  And finally, she heard the unmistakable
opening and closing of the front door.
 

GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY
 

Despite the chilly morning he'd already worked up a sweat
by the time he reached Georgetown's athletic field.  Dawn
was barely breaking the eastern horizon and he found
himself alone on the track.  He made the first few laps at
his usual pace and then the scenery around him began to
change. He felt the earth shudder beneath him and looked
down to find the track's surface had changed to
cobblestone.  As he ran he realized he was no longer
running on Georgetown's track but darting through ancient
village streets as structures crumbled around him.  The
sounds became deafening, a thunderous road came from the
earth and the people that ran with him screamed.  The
ground continued to tremble, huge fissures opened, ash fell
like snow coating him and sucking the air from his lungs.
He ran harder but there seemed to be no escape from the
terror as the world fell apart around him.

Hundreds of people filled the streets, running together;
many of them falling only to be crushed beneath the feet of
fellow villagers.  He ran with them, a terrified mob
running down the hill to the harbor below. When they
reached the sea, people were scrambling to get into
anything that would float, while others just swam out into
the churning waters. Mulder could feel himself being pushed
along with them.

The ground shook again, pushing up and then dropping from
beneath him as he tried to outrun the surge of people who
were carrying him into the sea thrashing and clawing at
each other in fear.  He found himself being carried out
with them away from the sinking land, hundreds of people
seeking some sort of safety in the familiar waters.  As
they drifted out many of them clung to boats and rafts as
the water frothed and churned around them.  A hand reached
out to grab him and he took it.  The arm pulled him tightly
against the boat's hull and he clung to it desperately as
the boat drifted away from land.  Other boats gathered with
them, the screaming had now stopped and an audible silence
fell over the scene as they all watched their home sink
beneath the sea.

**

Scully hadn't waited long before she dressed and headed out
the door after Mulder.  She knew where he'd go, one of the
reasons he'd moved here, Georgetown University's athletic
field.  She spotted him on the track, not running at that
easy jog he was comfortable with but running as if the
hounds of hell themselves were after him.  The closer she
got she could see him glancing back, his face an image of
terror from the unseen force that she knew he imagined was
after him.  He was on the other side of the track and she
yelled his name but got no response.  There was no point in
chasing after him; she'd never catch him until he fell in
exhaustion so she waited until he came around the track.

His shirt was soaked with sweat; rivers of it ran down his
face, his hair plastered to his head.  She waved at him
trying to gain his attention but he ignored her, she could
hear him panting as he approached her.  At a loss as to
what else to do she made the only move she knew would stop
him, she tackled him bringing them both down in a heap on
the rough surface of the track.  He started to thrash
about, gasping for air and kicking as if he were trying to
swim away from her.  "Mulder! Mulder!"  She crawled on top
of him, pawing at him as she tried to pull his arms to his
sides to calm this irrational fear he was enveloped in but
he continued to fight her.  "Mulder, stop! It's me, Scully!
You're okay, your safe!  She grabbed his head with both
hands and forced him to look at her.  "Stop it, relax, it's
over."  She tried to be calm but the truth was her own
heart was pounding almost as fast as one she felt pounding
in his chest.

She watched his face as he came back to her, his breathing
slowing a little.  She was still sitting on top of him.
"Take it easy, just breathe Mulder."  He took a huge gulp
of air, "You know," he gulped again.  "Any other time I'd-
I'd find this position incredibly erotic."  She rolled her
eyes and then closed them in submission before gently
climbing off of him and helping him into a sitting
position. "Just sit for a minute, I've got some water."
Patting him on the shoulders she got up and went to get the
backpack she'd dropped.

He was trying to wipe the sweat from his eyes with his
soaked shirt when she got back, handing him the towel she'd
brought along.  He looked up with a thankful expression and
took it.  Neither of them said anything for a while.
Mulder drank the water she'd offered and slung the town
over his shoulders, he was actually starting to feel cold
as the sweat began to dry.  When Scully saw him shiver she
produced a sweatshirt from her pack and offered it to him.
"You wouldn't happen to have an ounce of sanity in that
pack would you?"

"I wish I did Mulder, come on..."  He chugged the rest of the
water before letting her help him stand and pull the
sweatshirt over his wet head.  "You need to get dry and
warmed up and then we need to get you some help."

"I don't need a doctor, Scully."

She paused for a moment, reluctant to agree with him but
knowing now that it was the only way.  She faced him, took
his hand, "I know, I'm taking you to see the Gunmen."
 

OFFICE OF THE LONE GUNMEN
 

It took Frohike several minutes to open the assortment of
locks that secured their door.  He smiled when he opened
the door to find the two of them standing there.  "Mulder
my man, you gotta stop scaring us like this," he quipped in
reference to Mulder's latest hospital stay as the agents
passed by him.

"Yeah, another trip back from the dead.  We're beginning to
wonder if you don't have some biblical power."  Byers said
as he gave Mulder a friendly hug.

"Don't encourage him boys, he's doodling again," Scully did
not sound amused as she handed Byers the latest of Mulder's
writings.  He took the papers from her and leafed through
them.  "You know, I think I can tell you what this is-or at
least the theory behind it."

"You're kidding right?"  Mulder seemed somewhat astonished
that Byers was able to make anything out of his drawings".

"No, not at all.  I think what you have here is a power
source, one that has baffled scientist for centuries with
its simplicity.  It was nicknamed Brown's Gas because a
scientist in California, Yull Brown actually built a
generator using it.

"What sort of a power source?" Byers' comments had gotten
Scully's attention.

"It's a combination of hydrogen and oxygen that burns at a
low temperature and yet can burn holes through bricks or
weld different types of metals together.  Basically water,
when decomposed into its primitive elements by electricity,
produces a clean, limitless, pollution free energy source."
Langly piped in.

"So this is no scientific breakthrough then?"

"Actually Jules Verne alluded to it in THE MYSTERIOUS
ISLAND back in 1874.   If you remember, the characters in
the story end up on a remote island when their balloon
crashes.  At one point in the novel they're all sitting
around the campfire discussing what will happen when the
world runs out of coal.  Harding, the book's scientific
genius exclaims, water! And then goes on to explain how one
day the engine rooms of steamers and locomotives will be
stocked with these two condensed gases which will burn with
immense power...it will be the coal of the future."  Leave it
to Frohike to add a little color to the conversation.

"But seriously Mulder, the history dates back further than
that." Byers continued. "It's believed that the Egyptians
and Mayans used something similar to electroplate gold.
There have been many discoveries of ancient batteries that
would have supplied the electric current.  All I'm saying
is that what you have here is something using that theory
but in a much more powerful sense."

"When you combine hydrogen and oxygen you get an explosion,
remember the Hindenburg?" Scully asked.

"That's the thing; it took years for Brown to figure out
how to combine the gases to prevent that.  What he
eventually discovered was that by combining them in the
exact same proportions as they are found in water you get
an implosion not an explosion.  Add a little flame to it
and you get something similar to a welder's torch."

Scully was intrigued.  "So how does this produce an energy
source?"

"There's the mystery, Agent Scully.  Nobody knows for
certain.  It has something to do with how the combination
reacts with the material it's being used on.  The Chinese
actually used a similar generator in their submarines to
dispose of nuclear waste because of the gas's ability to
detoxify it.  The possibilities would be endless if we
could understand the chemistry."

"Do those diagrams help you understand the chemistry?"
Mulder asked.

Langly, who'd been sitting at one of the workstations
suddenly jumped away from it as movement caught his eye.
"Hey! Watch out!"  Both Mulder and Scully turned as Langly
cried out.  He'd been working on the artifact, attempting
to decode the writings on it when it had suddenly begun to
turn, rotate of its own accord, lifting from the table and
flying across the room in the direction of his friends.
Byers' and Scully's natural reaction was to duck, it sailed
right over Frohike and they all watched as Mulder stabbed
it like a line drive.

"Mulder!"  Scully voice pierced the silence.

He looked up at the sound of her voice, caught her face
alarmed with fear, at the look of astonishment on the faces
of his three friends and then they all faded from his
vision.  He now found himself in the midst of chaos.
Hundreds of people, but not human, running and screaming as
heat and smoke consumed them; a world, much like our own,
dying in an instant.  And then he was somewhere else,
another world.  Grays, as he'd fondly always called them,
their eyes even larger than he thought possible, their long
slender finger tips pressed against a glass, gripping it in
some attempt to reach out to a world they would never see
again.

More visions passed through his mind.  Other worlds, light
years from here all being consumed by a force their
inhabitants could not fight; something greater than them,
something greater than he.  It was he realized the natural,
universal force of the cosmos that had lasted since
creation and would continue for all time. A force that made
this fight he and Scully had been consumed in feel suddenly
silly and absurd.

Mulder's heart pounded in his chest.  Was this earth's
future he was witnessing?  What possible recourse could any
of them have?  From somewhere he heard a familiar voice,
felt the touch of a warm hand on his trying desperately to
bring him back.

The visions continued.  The earth, he recognized; as seen
from above. Flashes of stone temples, monolithic statues,
laid out in patterns across the landscapes; artwork etched
in the plains, reminders of a civilization the world knew
little about, left as a warning.  Voices now filled his
head, ancient languages he didn't recognize but understood.
Whispering to him of voyages across the vastness of the
universe, of finding a new home on a small green planet,
and using a highly technical knowledge to influence the
peoples they found there. His head was filled with a
consciousness of the ages, voices of the past whispering to
him a warning for the future.

The images changed again, to driving rains, torrents that
swelled rivers and oceans consuming the entire planet in an
endless sea and washing away the evidence of these
mysterious visitors. He found himself panting for breath,
unable to suck enough air into his lungs it made him dizzy.
Then a voice came again, a familiar one, warm and
reassuring, "Mulder..."

"Do you want me to call 911?"  Another voice, familiar to
his ears broke through the haze of visions.  Frohike and
the others had watched while Scully tried to reach Mulder.
He'd stood there frozen in place, holding the artifact.
His eyes glazed over, pupils dilated and unresponsive; his
breathing erratic. "Mulder, please, give it to me," she
pleaded with him, her palm outstretched."

She reached to take if from him but he waved her off;
turning it over in his hands, caressing the face with his
fingertips. He was back now, in the present. "I'm okay," he
whispered softly to her; moving a few steps away in order
to read the script.  "I WILL DESTROY MEN, WHOM I HAVE
CREATED, FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH, FROM MAN EVEN TO
BEASTS, FROM THE CREEPING THING EVEN TO THE FOWLS OF THE
AIR, FOR IT REPLENTETH ME THAT I HAVE MADE THEM."

No one said a word.  Scully met Mulder's eyes, "The Bible,
Mulder?"

"No, Scully," Mulder said, shaking his head ever so
slightly.  "It's from them, a warning maybe," he looked up.
"A story passed down through the ages."

He finally handed her the tile. No, she did not believe
this. The genesis of the human race was not alien despite
what she knew Mulder believed.  But what if there had been
alien intervention somewhere along the way?  This virus
they'd chased across the world, could it possibly be
evidence of an ancient civilization...a far more advanced
civilization that once flourished here?  Did that explain
the sudden advancements in evolution and technology that
have yet to be explained by science?  More frightening yet
was what if Mulder was right, that this artifact was
somehow linked to it and somehow it did trigger something
in his DNA, turned something on in him like they'd seen in
Gibson?  It was Byers who broke the silence.

"We-ah-haven't been able to identify the material.  Jesus,
Mulder, you can read that?"

"A passage from The Bible," Frohike took the artifact from
Scully.  "What would a verse from The Bible be doing on-on
something...?"

Mulder turned around, his eyes glistened. "Something
alien," he nodded towards Scully, "She doesn't believe it
and yet she found evidence of it in Africa.  Religious
texts from The Bible, The Koran, human genetic codes; the
power of God himself inscribed on a ship that washed ashore
on the Ivory Coast.  You've got to get in touch with Ngebe,
Scully, find out where she got the piece she sent you.
Maybe she knew how it would affect me.  The falatus came
from that artifact; I'm not cruvus about this." He stood
there while four pairs of eyes looked at him like he'd
grown another head.  "What?"

"What did you say?"

"I said the ability came from the artifact.  I know I'm not
wrong about it."

Scully shook her head wearily.  "No, that's not what you
said the first time.  You said something like 'the falatus
came from the artifact...'

"What the hell does that mean?"

"I don't know, you said it!"

Frohike was hacking away at one of the computers, "It's
similar to Medieval Latin. You take Latin in school
Mulder?"

"NO, I did not take Latin in school!" he swiped angrily at
his eyes, destroying the evidence of just how upset he was
becoming over this.  "Look, are you guys gonna help me here
or not?"

"Hey," Frohike approached his friend.  "Just tell us what's
going on, what you need, man."

Mulder's eyes flashed to Scully.  "I'm not real sure I'm
Fox Mulder anymore."
 

1:15 P.M.
 

Mulder had explained what he'd seen in his earlier visions;
in the hospital, at home, the terrifying escape he'd
experienced on the track.  How he'd felt himself become a
part of them. How he was sure the first one had something
to do with the Mayans and that in the second he had found
himself in ancient Egypt.  He had no recollection of where
he was in this last one but had proceeded to draw a map of
a land mass that Byers was now studying along with all the
other drawings and calculations Mulder had been working on
the past few days.

Langly and Frohike had gone off to another workstation to
go over the PCR results and scans that Scully had brought
from the hospital. The four of them had been so busy that
none of them had noticed that Mulder had plopped himself on
the couch in exhaustion and eventually drifted off to
sleep.
 

**

Around him lay the ruins of a ravaged civilization he
recognized all too well.  Monuments he'd passed everyday,
buildings whose purpose now seems incidental. Visions of
the world he knew that suddenly seemed to be no more.  But
it was not the desolate wasteland he had assumed it would
be.  Instead it was alive, green and filled with the voices
of the future; people, hundreds of them.  Who had picked up
the pieces of a shattered lifestyle and rebuilt them into
something new and different and better than before.  It
felt peaceful here, simpler; as if the earth had been
cleansed, the sky brighter, the water clearer, the air
fresher.  A new world, risen from the old much like what he
now knew had happened before.

His eye caught a movement to his left, he turned.  A man
was standing next to him, a man he also recognized.  The
man whose image he'd seen in a bathroom mirror a few days
ago.  They stood there together watching a new life being
recreated from death of the old.  It was that same
universal force engaged in it's never ending cycle. The man
said nothing to Mulder but somehow an understanding grew in
his mind; an understanding that he'd just been given a
sneak peak at the future and a very real message of hope.
 

**
 

"This is a map of Antarctica," Byers said turning to Scully
who had been sitting with him.

"How can that be?" She felt a sudden chill.  "What Mulder
described sounded almost Mediterranean.  Why would he be
drawing that? Antarctica is a frozen wasteland."

"That might not have always been the case.  Do you know
what earth-crust displacement is?"

"The theory that the earth's crust is in constant
movement?"

"It's much more than a theory.  Every time you have an
earthquake, it's an example of displacement.  There is
however, a theory that at one point in the earth's history
Antarctica was much warmer that it is today.  That at one
point parts of the continent were located some 2,000 or so
miles further north, outside the Antarctic Circle in a more
temperate climatic zone. Ever hear of the Piri Reis Map?"

"An ancient map of the globe?"

"An extremely accurate map, here look at this,"  Byers
clicked into a website that brought up the map he had been
referring too.  When he and Scully compared the map to the
one Mulder had drawn they found them alarmingly similar.
"Reis was a sixteenth century Turkish sailor and the author
of a sailing book filled with comprehensive descriptions of
land masses, ports and harbors of the Mediterranean.  His
source maps were probably housed in the Imperial Library at
Constantinople and may have originally come from the
Library at Alexandria."

"How would such a library contain maps of Antarctica?"

"Better yet look at this," Byers acknowledged. Clicking
into yet another website, he continued, "This is a current
geological survey map of the Antarctic continent under the
ice. When I transpose them all together..."  Scully watched
as the three maps came together in an almost identical
fashion.  "There were no geological surveys of the planet
in the sixteenth century Scully, as far as we know the
people of the Mediterranean didn't even know Antarctica
existed, let alone how to map it.  Only someone with an
aerial view of the planet would be able to map this so
accurately."

"I don't understand how this relates to the vision Mulder
had."

"Maybe it's where he was in the vision."

"Hey, Agent Scully, you should take a look at this." Langly
called from across the room.  She and Byers came over to
look at the images displayed on the screens in front of the
two men.  "These are the PCR scans of Gibson you brought us
a few years back," Langly pointed to the right screen.
"And these are Mulder's," Frohike said pointing to the
other screen. "You can see the similarities in the areas we
highlighted.  We all know by looking at this older scan of
Mulder's that these anomalies didn't exist a few years ago.
"You said that Mulder had been exposed to a virus years
ago. Viruses are known to leave markers in DNA, you've
heard of gene therapy..." She looked at him in disbelief, he
sighed. "Well, then you explain it."

"I can't explain it! I was also exposed to a virus guys and
I'm not experiencing any of these visions."

"You know we all assumed that Gibson had been born with his
abilities but this indicates that it's possible to
literally turn genes on with the right stimulus.  What we
see here are active genetic remnants, genes that science
will tell you there is no explanation for."

"Maybe because we have no use for them anymore?" Scully
questioned her mind suddenly drifting back to what Mulder
had said in their office about us loosing the ability to
understand the words of our ancestors.

"Sadly, you're probably right.  As we've advance
technologically, we find we no longer need our instincts to
guide us.  Look at all those people who perished in Asia
and yet the animals had the good sense to run for higher
ground."  Langly was not amused.  "Millions are spent each
year on warning systems set up to warn us of danger because
it seems we no longer have the ability to sense it. We've
lost touch with the earth around us because we sit inside
watching television instead of watching the sunset."

"You should talk." Frohike quipped.

"Hey," Langly shot back, "I didn't say I wasn't just as
guilty as the next person but it's the truth.  Mulder's
afraid he's become some sort of super human when maybe all
he really is, is more human than the rest of us."

"Scientists at UC San Diego have been working on a project
where they are trying to determine the existence of a 'God
Module' within the human brain.  It's pretty much common
knowledge that parts of our brain are specialized for
certain tasks." Byers took back the narrative.  "They
performed experiments on several patients who were
suffering a type of temporal lobe epilepsy in which their
seizures were accompanied by intense mystical or religious
experiences.  The patients were sometimes preoccupied with
mystical thoughts between seizures as well."

"I don't think what Mulder is experiencing are seizures.
He wouldn't be able to retain muscular control and run like
that if he was seizing. This is something else." Scully
added with some certainty.

"The temporal lobe is known to be important for intense
emotional experiences. It's not surprising, they pointed
out, that it would participate in intense religious
experiences as well.  Due to a brain abnormality, these
patients had strengthened involuntary responses to
religious words and symbols.  With that in mind, perhaps
the symbols on the artifact are indeed triggering something
in Mulder's brain."

"A personal communication from God?" Frohike asked with
some amazement.

"Possibly, but I don't know how you'd prove that.  What the
scientists were quick to point out was that their
experiments did not prove that God existed or that he was
communicating with us.  Nor did they prove he does not
exist.  These religious experiences like many others we
encounter are influenced by electrical and chemical changes
in our brain chemistry.  Neuroscience cannot answer these
age old questions."

"But why me, what are these visions trying to tell me?"

They all turned at the sound of Mulder's voice.  He'd been
so quiet they'd almost forgotten he was there.  He didn't
move to get up from the couch; he just continued to sit
there slumped against the back cushion with his legs
spread, his mind still reeling from his latest dream.  "If
we're to assume that this artifact came from the same ship
as the rubbing and it's some sort of key to unlocking human
potential then what is the likelihood that Ngebe would find
the piece that was meant for me?"

"I'd have to say highly unlikely Mulder."

"Have you been able to reach her?' Mulder asked, getting up
to get a closer look at what they'd all been working on.

"I called the university, she no longer teaches there,"
Scully answered.

"So the answer to that question is, no."

"No, I have not been able to reach her."  Scully's reply
was curt.

"I think we might have an answer to your question though
Mulder," Byers motioned for him to join him at his
computer.

"This man you saw in the mirror, the pale figure with the
white beard? Byers questioned.
"Legends of the Andes people describe a similar figure.  He
has different names in different places but he's always
recognized as the same figure, a tall bearded pale skin man
wrapped in a cloak of secrecy.  Viracocha, Foam of the Sea,
a master of science and magic who wielded terrible weapons
and who came in a time of chaos to set things right with
the world."  Byers clicked a command into his computer and
the image Mulder had seen in the hospital appeared on the
screen.  "As the legend goes he appeared when the world had
been inundated by a great flood and plunged into darkness;
society falling into ruin and disorder.  With his powers he
created hills and valleys of lush earth from the
destruction and taught the people how to live with love and
harmony."

"Similar legends exist in other cultures,"  Frohike took up
the narrative.  "Quetzalcoatl is the Aztec equivalent; he's
credited with the invention of the advanced mathematical
and calendrical formula that the Maya were later to use to
create their calendar of doom.  Similar I might add to what
you used to calculate the very same date, 2,012.  There's
Kon Tiki and Isis and Osiris; Native Americans speak of the
White Buffalo Woman, even Christ can be seen as this
figure.

A quick search of mythology from around the world reveals
other striking similarities.  Legends from different
peoples all living in different corners of the earth seem
to tell the same essential story-that somewhere in
humanity's past certain individuals with godlike powers
were responsible for shaping mankind into a civilized
state."

"Wait a minute," Mulder turned to Frohike in shock at what
he assumed his friend was referring to.  "I don't have any
godlike powers and I'm certainly not the reincarnation of
Jesus Christ!"

"Hey, easy man," Langly patted his friend on the shoulder
and walked around to face him.  "For a long time these
stories have been dismissed as myth but with the advances
in geology and archeology researchers are starting to
realize that there is a lot of truths in the ancient myths.
Evidence is coming to light of the possible existence of a
highly advance civilization that once flourished here on
earth.  You know the story of Atlantis, right, the
mysterious continent whose civilization was swallowed by
the sea?  There are a lot of similarities in the Mayan and
Egyptian cultures leading to a very popular theory that
these people are the descendents of Atlanteans."

"It's a story, Langly, a myth." Mulder said with disgust,
he stepped a few feet away and then turned around.
"There's no evidence that Atlantis has ever existed.  If,
as you're suggesting, this highly advance civilization
lived on this mythical continent; how is it possible for
them to disappear so thoroughly that even with our modern
scientific knowledge we can't say for certain that they
ever existed?"

"You're not listening, Mulder."  Byers came over and gently
steered Mulder to a stool and made him sit on it. "Maybe
they just haven't found it yet.  The Bible is filled with
myth.  Do you know that the story of Noah, the great flood,
exists in almost every culture on the globe? It predates
The Bible.  Natives believe that the earth has passed
through different 'worlds' in its history.  Hopi myth tells
us that the first world was destroyed as a punishment for
human misdemeanors by an all-consuming fire. The second by
ice and the third world ended in a universal flood, that
very same Noah story.  They believe the fate of the present
world depends on how the people behave in accordance to the
Creator's wishes.

There is other evidence, a lot of it; written in the codes
of ancient civilizations all over the world, codes which
are only now slowly coming to light.  Discoveries in
archeology have found that many sacred sites across the
globe like Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid and other mystical
structures scattered across the globe might have been built
to preserve and transmit the knowledge of an advance
civilization.  Some have even suggested these sites are a
warning system left behind for future reference if we could
only figure out how to use them."

"Listen to this."  Frohike added as he watched Mulder roll
his eyes.  The guys were on a roll and all he and Scully
could do was listen as they continued to weave their tale.
"Egyptologists continue to insist the Great Pyramid was
built as a tomb but just about any archeologist will tell
you now that it is a lot older than originally perceived
and that no pharaoh was ever buried in it.  It's an
incredibly sophisticated design.  Each of its four sides
aligns almost perfectly with points on a compass.  The
height is proportional to the radius of the earth and its
perimeter to the circumference.  Measurements of its base
halves yield the numbers 365.256 and 365.259, the number of
days it takes for the earth to orbit the sun

According to best modern estimates using satellite
technology, the equatorial circumference of the earth is
24,902.45 miles, roughly 25,000 miles and its polar radius
is 3949.921 miles.  The perimeter of the Great Pyramid's
base is approximately 3023 feet and its height is about 482
feet.  Amazingly enough these measurements equate to the
earth's northern hemisphere on a scale of 1:43,200.  So all
we'd have to do if this information was ever lost to us
would be to measure the height and base perimeter of the
Great Pyramid and multiply by 43,200 to get the
circumference and polar radius of the eath. That can't be
an accident.

These are not random numbers. 43,200 is one of a series or
numbers and multiples of those numbers that relate to the
procession of the equinoxes and have become embedded in
myths all around the world.  It's pretty remarkable when
you think that the scale involved here relates almost
precisely to one of the key planetary mechanisms of the
earth.  It takes 2160 years for the earth to pass though
one zodiacal constellation.  Two of those would be 4320
years.

Earth's circumference of 25,000 miles can be found in
several measurements within the pyramid.  The number 25,000
also happens to approximate the number of years in the
processional cycle, the time it takes for the earth to pass
through the twelve zodiacal constellations.  And here's one
more mystery for you.  This 25,000 year measurement is the
most complex measurement we know.  It's been shown that the
shafts if the Great Pyramid align perfectly with key stars
of the Zodiac at major changes in the houses of the Zodiac,
like when the earth passes from one sign to the next along
the line of procession.  When you look at star charts from
the age of the last global catastrophe, they are alarmingly
similar to the charts you will see in the year 2,012.
Mulder has them all printed out.  Somehow, who ever built
the Great Pyramid was able to calculate this, align these
shafts so that they and the Zodiac would come into
alignment in much the same way once again."

"Procession of the Zodiac?" Scully asked. Mulder had
mentioned this in his own explanation of what he'd been
working on, she, needed some clarification.

"Here..."  Frohike grabbed some of the papers from the table
Mulder was sitting at and handed them to Mulder.  "Mulder
calculated it himself.  Basically the constellations of the
Zodiac form a ring around the solar system.  Each year on
the Spring Equinox the sun rises within a particular
constellation.  Right now, it's Pisces.  This goes on for
around 2,000 or so years and then the earth processes into
the next constellation, this being Aquarius.  I know that
sounds backwards, but trust me on this.  It's called
Procession, it takes about 25,000 years for the earth to
pass though all twelve signs of the zodiac and what's
remarkable is many of the ancient civilizations were able
to calculate it long before modern day astronomers ever
figured it out."

"It's a clock."  They all turned to Mulder who had been
studying the calculations.

"What's a clock?" Langly asked.

"The Great Pyramid, a doomsday clock."

"Ticking down to what?"

"You saw what happened in Asia, the terrible tsunami; it
was caused by a violent quake beneath the ocean." Frohike
said. "Imagine if that happened on a global scale.
Geologists believe we're on the verge of some violent
changes in the earth, a cataclysmic destruction of the
world as we know it.  Numbers are a universal language.  If
these calculations Mulder has worked out are some kind of
code, a way to determine the exact date and moment of this
catastrophe, think of the lives that could be saved."

"December, 2,012," Mulder looked up at his audience, "The
beginning of a new age, the age of Aquarius."  Three pairs
of eyes seemed to believe him, the fourth, those piercing
blue ones, the only ones he had faith in, did not.

"You all weave a clever story of gloom and doom here but
how does this all fit in with Mulder?"

"I think he already knows."  Frohike motioned with his head
towards Mulder who had stepped off the stool to reach over
and pick up the artifact again. "And I saw a new heaven and
a new earth.  For the first heaven and the first earth was
gone, and the sea is now no more.  They're right Scully.
The earth is covered with clues to our past, the answers to
where we've been and where we're going aren't going to be
found in the science of the future.  You said it yourself,
the answers are there, you just have to know where to look.

I don't know if we'll ever know who our progenitors were or
what happened to them, but a whole legacy of their
knowledge has been left for you to find.  You have the key
now," Mulder hefted the artifact.  "That's why Ngebe sent
this to you, I'm your key."
 
She stood there looking at him, the boyish enthusiasm he'd
always possessed clearly evident in his eyes.  Was this
truly his destiny?  To be some conduit to the past that
would guide them to the future?  She walked slowly over to
where he stood, wrapping her hand around his wrist to find
the pulse point and the evidence of his excitement that she
found there.  He knew exactly what she was doing; she could
see it on his face.  "Mulder, listen to yourself, even if
this were true, how do we possibly find this information,
how do you prove that this knowledge of yours actually
allows you to understand any of it if we did?"

He pulled his hand from her grasp and flashed the artifact
in her face.  "You've got to believe it, Scully. Nou ani
anquietas. Ego indeo navo locas hic qua videum.  You just
won't give up on this proof thing of yours will you?  I've
been fighting this battle with you since I've known you.
You can accept the idea that God exists without question
but suggest that maybe we weren't first on his list and you
need a room full of evidence. We'll here's your evidence
Scully, it's staring you right in the face!"  He put the
artifact in her hand and then turned and walked to the
door, letting himself out as they all stood silently and
watched.

She stood there for a few minutes looking at the piece of
tile.  The truth was she did believe where it had come
from.  It was believing in how it had affected him that
frightened her most.  "We are the ancients."  Byers had
been typing as Mulder spoke, "Looking for a new location
for our legacy."

"Do you want us to go after him?  Frohike asked.

"No," she shook her head with a small smile at his concern.

"For what it's worth Dana," Byers came over to stand beside
her.  "There's a lot of truth in what he's related to you.
The things he's seen, the theories. The world is filled
with mysteries Scully.  Thousands of books have been
written on the subject.  The research continues.  Through
it we've come to realize that early man was a lot more
advanced than we ever imagined he could have been. Proof?
Maybe you only need to prove something if it's first been
disproved elsewhere."

"You shouldn't believe everything you read, John."

"No, but you should believe in him."

"I do, I wish he understood that.  I'm just afraid to
believe it could be true.  I'm afraid of what this ability
could do to him."

Langly came over and took the artifact from her.  "He seems
okay now. It doesn't seem to be affecting him anymore."

"Yeah, maybe it's already worked its alien magic. Frohike
made a vain attempt to lighten her mood.

"Mulder is NOT an alien, Melvin."

"You know what one of the definitions of the word alien
is?" Byers asked. "Unlike one's own, different.  I think
that describes Mulder pretty well. I want to read you
something."  He leaned over and picked up some of Mulder's
papers from the table, shuffling through them until he
found the one he was looking for.  "I am the Highest of
All, the First, the Creator of Heaven and Earth; I am the
molder of the human bodies, and the supplier of the
Spiritual Parts.  I have placed the sun upon a new horizon
as a sign of benevolence and proof of the Alliance.  In
order to do so, the Commandments of the Creator, verified
by the Highest of All, were, acting via the Souls of the
Ancestors, transmitted to the Youngest Ones."

Frohike looked at Scully's puzzled features. "It's a
translation from the Egyptian BOOK OF THE DEAD; the passage
of knowledge from something far greater than us.  Ancient
rites and wisdom coded in secrecy and passed down through
ancestral lines to a new place for the legacy.  History is
filled with these inventive and insightful individuals who
are responsible for some of the greatest leaps in our
development.  Mulder understands this Scully though why
he's been selected remains a mystery.

Why indeed. "Dammit Frohike, the Rosetta stone has enabled
the translation of hieroglyphs for years."  Scully was not
going to buy this sales pitch the guys had taken up in
Mulder's cause.

"You're right," Byers acknowledged.  "But most of the time
the translations are so filled with flagrant errors and
misinterpretations that nothing is left of the initial
meaning.  To be able to understand their true meaning, to
interpret the messages that have been left for us as Mulder
believes he is able to do is a gift Scully; a gift that
maybe we should just accept without question.

"Oh God, John, if only it were that easy."

"Well whatever has him reciting ancient scripture I don't
think it's something you want to broadcast to the world.
Somebody might lock him up and not because they think he's
crazy."  Frohike walked back over to the table he and
Langly had been working at and picked up an envelope which
he proceeded to hand to Scully.  "You said someone took his
old test records.  You better make damn sure they don't get
a hold of these."
 
 

MULDER'S TOWNHOUSE
 

Scully finished putting away the dishes and turned the
lights off in the kitchen.  Mulder had been sitting in the
car when she had left the Gunmen's' and they had driven
home in silence.  They'd engaged in some off topic
conversation over dinner and then he'd disappeared.  She
was still worried about him.  How would she convince him to
seek medical help if these dreams of his continued?  Would
he even tell her if they did? Langly was right, he'd seemed
fine when he left their office.  Could this nightmare
finally be over?  She found Mulder stretched out on the
couch in the living room with a book of mythology propped
on his lap.  She smiled and walked over to him. "Find any
answers?"

Mulder put the book down, looked up to meet her eyes.  "You
still think I'm nuts don't you?"

"Actually I'd prefer that you were because it scares me to
death that you're not."  She sat down next to him as Mulder
moved his legs over to make more room.

"All that gloom and doom stuff?"

"I believe in you Mulder, I always have.  I want you to
know that even though I don't know if I can believe what
you've been trying to tell me. Visions of the past, ancient
astronauts, the end of the world; two thousand, twelve,
Mulder, that's only seven years away.  It's safer not to
believe any of it. Even if the answers are here and by some
miracle we could find them do you honestly think that you
and I can could convince a world of non-believers in their
authenticity?"

The truth was sometimes an ugly thing, especially when you
thought you knew what it was. "No, probably not; they'd
lock me up faster than your doctor friend was threatening
to do.  But I think with the right information your science
could.  It's all about finding the future Scully before the
future finds us. Oo ya wolin wolin we tayil" Mulder watched
her freeze and then he smiled.  "That's Mayan, says it
right here, the enemy of my enemy is my friend."  He closed
the book and let it drop to the floor beside them, reaching
up to pull her close. She settled in next to him and he
wrapped his arms around her.  "Would it help if I told you
that even though the signs might point to the end of the
world as we know it, the next one will be a much better
place?"  She didn't look convinced.  "Maybe we should have
paid a little more attention to all that harmonic
philosophy your sister used to try and pass off on us."

Scully smiled into his shoulder, "She liked you Mulder."

He hugged her closer.  "I'm sorry I didn't get to know her.
Now that I think about it, we had a lot in common."

"Mulder?"

"Hmm?"

"Promise me I won't loose you to these ancients?"

"You mean if I find myself reliving ancient history again
I'll let you know?"

He felt her shiver in his embrace.  She clutched at his
shirt.  "I'm not kidding. That if you feel yourself
slipping away again you'll let me help you hold on?  If
seven years is all we have, if it's all the time I have
left to spend with you I don't want to think about living
them without you."

He cuddled her closer and kissed her gently. "Then don't
think about it, Scully. Carpe Diem"

"Seize the day?"

"Every minute of it."
 

AUTHORS NOTES:  This story is purely fiction.  Not being a
scientist or anything remotely close, you'll have to accept
my artistic license and conjecture.  There are a few facts
thrown in for your enjoyment and to get you thinking.  I
remember a television series that was very good at that. If
you'd like to explore some of the ideas put forth here,
take a trip down the New Age aisle of your local book
store; you'd be amazed what you might find there.  Reading
about some of the earth's mysteries I've come to the
conclusion that there truly are more worlds than the one
you can hold in your hand.

Special thanks to all my ebuddies out there, Chris for her
constant poking, Vickie for her help, encouragement and
some great ideas and to Chuck for his beta help; couldn't
do this without you.

And yes, there is a quote from Star Trek in here somewhere.