The Lambs: Part 2 (5/21)     
by Lamia (AKA so kiss me goodbye) 
                                        
Rating: PG-13 (violence, strong language)
Category: S                             
Spoilers: Seasons 1-9, Fight the Future 
Keywords: William; Colonization 
Summary: Liam van de Kamp's life changes the day two 
FBI agents kidnap him and his parents.
                                   
Author's Note: The Lambs is a three-part story (with prologue).
 

Chapter 15 

October, 2011 
New Mexico 

The adults wouldn't stop talking. Men and women were 
speaking then shouting over the top of one another, and 
they were getting louder and louder, and faster and 
faster. 

"Silence!" the Major bellowed. "People, please!" 

His plan to capture a supersoldier had ignited whoops 
of support and cries of horror. Everyone had something 
to say about it, and from the sound of it a lot of 
people were very unhappy. And frightened. 

It made perfect sense to Liam. It was so simple - and 
so daring - he wondered why no one had thought of it 
before now. Instinctively, he knew they should consider 
the plan, but it raised questions. If they did manage 
to catch a supersoldier, what would they do with it? 
Where would they put it? 

He wasn't the only one asking. When the Major brought 
the hall back under control, those who had doubts were 
quick to express them. Liam recognized one of Eric's 
companions - Cooper, the man who let him watch the 
female supersoldier disintegrate - by his deep voice. 

"Have you even seen one of those things in action? 
You'll get us all killed." 

Another voice called out. "What are we supposed to do 
with it *if* we capture one?" 

Others were blunter. "You're insane, Drummond. We're 
not soldiers ... *you're* not even a soldier! You're a 
freakin' minister for the Salvation Army!" 

The Major cleared his throat. 

"We are not soldiers," he said meditatively, as if he 
was testing the thought. 

"We are not soldiers?" This time it was definitely a 
question. 

Suddenly his voice boomed. "We. *Are.* Soldiers." 

Liam could imagine him sizing up each and every person 
on the other side of the door. 

"And we have all *chosen* to be soldiers." He took on a 
sense of urgency. 

"When you packed up your city lives, your desk jobs, 
your lecture halls and pharmaceutical labs, you made 
your first stand. Think you are a doctor, a biologist, 
a student, a garbage collector? Wrong! Think you are a 
researcher, a cleaner, a mother, a father? Think again. 
You are all soldiers and you know a battle is looming. 

"Did you come here to hide? To find a safe place where 
you could hole up while the world beyond the false 
safety of this keep goes to hell? 

"Did you come here to save yourself? Save your 
children? No. You came here because you answered a call 
you knew was impossible to ignore. 

"You - no! - *WE* must be the soldiers. *We* must be 
the weapons. 

"Those with knowledge bear the responsibility. Don't 
talk to me about fairness, about choices, about how 
you're just not cut out for this. 

"You want a choice? Choose not to be a soldier! Go 
home. No one will think any the less of you. There will 
*be* no one to think of you. 

"We are soldiers. And we must be ruthless." 

Tiny hairs on Ellie's arms had popped up. What did the 
Major mean "be ruthless?" 

No one had spoken, so Major Drummond went on. 

"This man has given us something to work with." He was 
now softer, appealing for calm and reason. "Should we 
trust him? You tell me. I'm not suggesting we shouldn't 
be careful or circumspect. But I do think this man 
presents us with an opportunity we ignore at our 
peril." 

His final word soaked into the silence. 

"So how would this plan work?" Mr. Skinner was giving 
the idea serious thought. "Can you even fight a 
supersoldier, Jeremiah?" 

There was a long, tense silence. "Yes." 

A sigh broke across the hall. 

"Yes, it's possible. It won't be easy." 

"So what if he can capture one?" Cooper asked. "Isn't 
the real question what are we going to do with it if we 
*do* catch it? How are we going to keep it there? What 
do we want it for?" 

The man didn't attempt to disguise his unease, but at 
least his questions were sensible. 

"Are there plans to be made, doubts to be assuaged, 
risks to take?" Major Drummond asked. "Of course! But 
if what Jeremiah said is true, the captured 
supersoldier might be used to lead us to this ultimate 
soldier. And if we can take out their major player - 
that could be an unexpected coup. One I doubt they'd 
see coming. I think that's worth a shot. Don't you?" 

There was still plenty of resistance to the idea. 

A voice Liam didn't recognize jumped in. "You're 
working on some pretty large assumptions. For 
argument's sake, say we do destroy this ultimate 
soldier - what's to stop them just creating another 
one?" 

"Does that matter yet?" another person responded. "I'm 
more interested in how anyone in their right mind 
thinks we can control a supersoldier - let alone find 
some place to hold it. Even if we wanted, we couldn't 
keep it here. As much as I wouldn't want it near the 
camp, it'd be equally dangerous keeping the thing at a 
distance - just supposing we could control it." 

Chairs scraped against the floor. The discussion was 
going on like a soccer match; the ball had just been 
lobbed back to the Major, who was ready. 

"As to that, I believe Dr Scully may have discovered a 
solution -" 

Liam had been listening so intently he didn't notice 
the door pushing into his shoulder. He looked up in 
surprise. Mulder bent low pretending to tighten his 
laces. 

"You two better get back to your classmates. If Mrs 
Scully sends out the search party, I doubt I'll be able 
to save you." He didn't sound angry. "Try to keep this 
all under wraps, okay? I know I can trust you, Liam." 

Liam felt a gentle pressure on his arm as Mulder leaned 
against the door again. He knew better than to argue. 
He and Ellie retreated into the storeroom and the 
spring in the lock pinged. He stretched, working a knot 
out of his neck. 

"Do you think we should stay and listen some more?" he 
said. 

He looked up when Ellie didn't respond. She was staring 
at him, unsettling Liam with the intensity of her gaze. 

"What?" 

"I don't get it," she said, a frown pulling on her lip. 

"Don't get what?" 

"You. Your family." Her eyes bore into him. "What's so 
special about *you*?" 

Her mouth puckered. For Ellie, not knowing an answer 
was as distasteful as sucking a lemon. He shrugged. 
"Dunno. I know I'm lucky to be here. But so's everyone 
else." 

"You can be really dense sometimes, Liam. *Who* saved 
Rudi van der Veldt's life by breaking our most 
important rule - and didn't get punished? *Who* gets 
special attention from the most famous alien-fighters 
ever? *Whose* dog leads a man thousands of miles across 
the desert in search of her family? *Whose* neighbor is 
a rebel alien who's been living next to him all his 
life? *Who* got chased by supersoldiers? *Whose* father 
is especially wanted by the supersol -" 

She blinked. Liam waited for her to finish but her 
mouth stuck shut. She had a point. Several, in fact. 
Still, he had to put up some sort of argument. 

"It's just coincidence - like Stan said." 

The sneer of her lip told him what she thought of that 
suggestion. She twiddled a strand of hair. Then she got 
a funny look in her eyes. 

"Liam, the supersoldiers want your dad, right?" 

"Yeah. I think Mulder said they had a list of people 
who'd make really good supersoldiers because of their 
genes or something." 

"If your dad is genetically perfect to be a 
supersoldier. Could you be as well?" 

He laughed, making Ellie tip her head to one side. 
"It's funny how I forget," he said when he saw her 
quizzical expression. 

"Forget what?" 

"I suppose I could become a supersoldier - but not 
because of Dad." 

"Why not?" 

"Because I'm adopted." 

Ellie's eyes went wide and she sucked in a breath. "I 
didn't know that." 

"It's not meant to be a secret or anything," he said. 

"You never said." 

It annoyed him that she looked so hurt. It was none of 
her business after all. It wasn't like he had to tell 
her. 

"I was adopted when I was eight months old." 

Since it truly didn't matter, he supposed it wouldn't 
hurt to explain a little. 

"I don't know who my birth parents are - or were. I've 
always had this feeling my birth father is dead, and 
Mom and Dad say my birth mother gave me up because she 
wanted me to have a better life. I've lived with them 
ever since." 

"Oh." Ellie leaned forward to pat Sal, who had not 
stirred since they entered the room. 

"What about that stuff about Sal? About how she found 
us and all." 

Liam shook his head. 

"Stan's like an animal doctor - not a vet or anything - 
but everyone in Tessa knew if your pets had a problem 
and the doctor was too far away, Stan could usually 
help you. He knows how to calm animals down." His 
shoulders slumped. "Maybe he can talk to animals 
because he's alien." 

It was hard to shake the feeling he had lost a friend 
today. 

"But Stan didn't find us, Liam. He said Sal led him 
here." 

"That's crazy. Sal's never even been here before. How 
would she know the way - or even that we were here?" 

Ellie's smile was triumphant. "Exactly! Don't you see? 
Gibson would have known if Stan was lying about 
*anything* and he would have said so ... but Gibson 
didn't say anything. Stan wasn't lying. Your dog led 
him here - not the other way round. Do you know what 
that means?" 

She stood up and her grin grew wider when he shook his 
head. "We have our very own, real-life x-file!" 

Mulder had explained to him what an x-file was weeks 
ago. Liam knew it had something to do with 
investigating crimes that involved paranormal things 
like vampires and mind-reading. He'd thought it rude at 
the time to point out that monsters and ghosts didn't 
exist; and since he'd seen supersoldiers in action, he 
had to admit maybe there was room in the universe for a 
bit of weirdness. Still, although Stan managing to find 
the camp with the aid of Sal was incredible, he failed 
to see how it was an x-file. For one thing, there was 
no crime involved. Ellie waved it off when he pointed 
that out. 

"That's not the point, Liam. The point is we are 
playing a game. You can be Scully, and I get to be 
Mulder." 

He stared at her, trying unsuccessfully to decide if 
she was playing a joke on him. He'd played make-believe 
before - in third grade. 

She shrugged. "My therapist says role-play is healthy." 

"Your what?" 

"You are *so* country, Liam." 

"Whatever." It was a retort he'd heard one of the 
students use. 

She scowled. "My father says people who say 'whatever' 
are really disrespectful." 

It was going to be easier to humor her. "Fine, then. 
But don't you think I should at least get to be 
Mulder?" 

"It's not about who gets to be the guy and who gets to 
be the girl. Mom told me what made Mulder and Scully so 
famous in the first place was that Mulder believed the 
weird stuff and Scully was hired to prove him wrong. 
She was all scientific and everything. That's more you 
than it is me." 

"How do you know everything about them anyway?" 

"How come you don't know?" 

He refused to let her needling irritate him and 
reminded himself that he knew everything he needed to 
know about Mulder and Dr Scully because they'd told him 
- personally. When he'd explained the x-files to Liam 
and his parents, Mulder had also told them how he came 
to believe in extraterrestrials and ESP; about how he'd 
had a sister and she'd been abducted when she was 
little; about how he'd been hypnotized years later and 
suddenly remembered it was aliens that had taken her. 
From that moment on he'd devoted his life to solving 
unusual crimes. Ellie approached her role-playing 
seriously. It was all she would talk about for the next 
few weeks and she spent much of her free time making 
props to make the game "more realistic." Liam wanted 
very badly to laugh when she showed him the ID cards 
and tinfoil badges she'd made. She'd even managed to 
find a small magnifying glass and tweezers which she 
said they needed to pick up their evidence. In her mind 
they were solving a real mystery. 

Liam didn't mind; her investigation amounted to nothing 
more than an internet search on psychic pets (which 
offered tantalizing but unsubstantiated claims about 
dog powers) and an afternoon where she made Liam hide 
around camp and had Sal "find" him. He knew Sal thought 
the game was as silly as he did, but they both played 
along. After Sal located Liam for a fourth time and 
Ellie was ready to start her victory dance, Liam 
pointed out that Sal was probably just following his 
scent. Liam didn't want to admit it was kind of fun - 
in a silly way. 

Anyway, it provided a useful distraction from the 
nervous air that was pervading the camp. The adults 
were sharper than usual. Even Mrs. Scully snapped once 
or twice when she was helping out in the classroom. 

It was easy to understand. They were going to go ahead 
with the Major's plan. Liam knew they would - the same 
way he also knew many people were still upset. Even the 
usually jovial young students wore tight, grim 
expressions when they came to help with classes. 

Ellie's obsession for her x-file made up for another 
thing too: Stan was no longer his friend. Not really. 

His old neighbor had brushed off his attempts to say 
anything more than hello and never stayed long when 
Liam was around. 

Stan couldn't completely avoid his parents - his dad 
was in on the plan to hunt a supersoldier (which Liam 
wasn't supposed to know about) - but even they had 
stopped calling him Stan. 

When it became apparent Stan was determined not to talk 
to him, Liam had stopped talking about him, which 
seemed to relieve his parents. At first Liam was 
confused by their reaction. Although Stan had been 
their friend too, they seemed to be pretending nothing 
strange was going on. 

And that was the problem - none of them seemed willing 
to discuss how or why Stan was here. Liam wanted to 
believe it was just coincidence, but there were still 
too many unanswered questions. 

Liam scratched his cheek. That was *another* strange 
thing. Was it just coincidence that he'd called his 
frog Jerry? 

One person who was unusually happy was Gibson. Whatever 
planning was going on, Gibson, with Rudi van der Veldt, 
was in the thick of it. Instead of hanging back and 
avoiding the throngs in the mess hall, Gibson was now 
at the center of the action - and he was spending a lot 
of time with Stan. 

Liam gave up trying to catch Stan's eye. His old 
neighbor was never around. Stan refused to sleep on 
site (for their own safety) and often disappeared for 
days. Frequently when he returned he brought more 
refugees, including some who had come from overseas. 
When Stan did arrive back in camp, he would be pulled 
aside by Mulder, or Gibson or Mr. Skinner, and their 
heads would go together and they would get secretive 
looks on their faces and peer around suspiciously when 
one of them spoke too loud. 

Liam had been ditched for Gibson. 

One evening three weeks after Sal brought Stan to the 
camp, as Liam was preparing for bed, his father knocked 
on the sliding door that connected their tiny living 
space to his room. Liam looked at his father's dark 
clothing and grim face and knew exactly what was about 
to happen. 

"Dad?" 

His father gave him a fleeting smile. "Just wanted to 
see you before I left. Thought Sal might like to 
stretch her legs in the desert tonight." 

His dad had been on night shift all week. Tonight was 
different though. As soon as he'd finished dinner, he'd 
left Liam and Mrs. van de Kamp in the mess hall for a 
security meeting. When he'd slipped back into their 
living quarters, he'd been quiet. Now he was leaving 
earlier than usual. 

Frustration gnawed at Liam. He wanted to talk to his 
father about the mission; he wanted to throw his arms 
around his dad and tell him to be careful. But if he 
revealed that he knew about the plan to capture the 
supersoldier, he'd have to explain how he knew. Liam 
didn't want to get Mulder (or himself) in trouble. 

"Is everything alright, Dad?" 

Mr. van de Kamp didn't take the opening. "Nothing to 
worry about, Lee. Finished your homework?" 

"Yep. I'm just going to brush my teeth," Liam said. 
"I'm up to a really good bit in my book. I thought I'd 
go to bed early." 

"Well, good then." His father hesitated, tapping his 
fingers against the door frame. "I'll see you in the 
morning." 

"Yep." When had it become so difficult to talk about 
things with his dad? He had to say something. "Dad?" 

"Yes?" 

"Be careful, please," he said, surprised at how small 
and fearful-sounding the words came out. His dad's eyes 
twinkled. "I always am, Lee. Anyway - Sal'll keep me 
out of trouble." 

Liam waited until he heard his dad leave before he 
picked up his toilet bag and headed to the communal 
bathroom used by families with children. 

Ellie was hunched over a sink, spitting out toothpaste. 
She looked up and wiped her hand across her mouth when 
Liam walked in. Some of the stall doors were closed. 
He'd have to be quiet. Sounds echoed off the restroom's 
polished tiles. 

"It's happening tonight," he whispered, propping his 
toiletries on the sink next to her. 

The hand holding her brush dropped to her side. "Wow." 

Liam squeezed toothpaste onto his brush and ran some 
water. "Dad's going out." 

"Mulder won't let anything happen to your dad." 

"Mulder's not going. They won't let him." 

Ellie's jaw dropped. "Why not?" 

"The supersoldiers still don't know where Dr Scully and 
Mulder are. Major Drummond and Mr. Skinner don't want 
Mulder to go out just in case something goes wrong and 
the supersoldiers learn that he's in this area." 

"Oh. Well, Stan's going. He'll look after your dad." It 
was funny that Ellie put so much faith in a friendship 
Liam thought was all but over. 

"Will he?" Liam couldn't be so sure. There was a big 
question mark hanging over his former neighbor. It was 
almost as though Stan was embarrassed to know him. 

"He hasn't said anything to me. It's like he doesn't 
want to be seen talking to me." 

"It's probably just 'cos he's been so busy, Liam. Maybe 
after they catch a supersoldier, he won't go away so 
much." 

She curled a strand of hair around her finger, and 
studied her reflection in a mirror while they waited 
for another kid to wash her hands and leave. "It would 
be good if you could talk to him. I bet he could prove 
if Sal was psychic." 

Liam repacked his bag (which his mother insisted he 
use). "I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight." 

"Me neither." 

-o0o- 

Half an hour later he threw aside his book in 
frustration. His mother had allowed him to read longer 
than usual, but he couldn't get into the chapter. He'd 
started the same sentence about ten times before he 
concluded he was getting nowhere. He tossed on his back 
and then to his side. His dad was out in the darkness - 
who knew where, doing who knew what. He could hear his 
mother moving around in the family's tiny living space. 

Somewhere in his aquarium Jerry was singing. He sounded 
woeful and lonely. 

Liam's stomach leaped into his mouth when he heard 
footsteps in the corridor outside and the soft tap at 
the door of their quarters. 

His mother was at the door in a second. "Dana?" 

Liam sat up. 

"I'm sorry," he heard the doctor say. Although her 
voice was low, there wasn't much soundproofing in the 
old walls. "Mulder isn't here talking to Liam, is he?" 

"I'm sorry, Dana. I haven't seen Mulder this evening. 
Do you think he's gone with the others?" Dr Scully 
sighed. "Not with them knowing it. Skinner would have 
sent him back. But he does have an uncanny ability to 
end up in the thick of the action all the same." 

Liam didn't wait any longer; he padded to his door. 

"Sorry, Mom. I can't sleep." 

Two pairs of startled eyes turned to him. 

"Are you okay, Lee?" his mother asked. 

There was little point pretending he could go back to 
bed. He decided to come clean. "Mom, something's going 
on tonight, isn't it?" 

Mrs. van de Kamp glanced at Dr Scully with fleeting 
unhappiness. "Lee, there's not much I can tell you." 

"That's okay. Dad wouldn't do anything stupid." He 
grinned and looked at Dr Scully. "At least this time he 
won't." 

Dr Scully shifted uncomfortably - the last time his dad 
had made a bad decision, she'd shot him. That was the 
first time they'd seen the supersoldiers. 

His mother wasn't silly. She was quick to work out the 
significance of his reference. "Good Lord, Liam van de 
Kamp! How long have you known?" 

He fudged the answer. "I guessed?" 

Her expression went from irritation to horror. "Just 
*how much* did you guess?" 

"You and Dad and everyone else has been acting really 
weird since Stan arrived, Mom. It wasn't hard to work 
out something strange is going on." 

She exhaled. "Well! There's no way any of us is 
sleeping now." 

She gathered up papers scattered over the table she 
used for a desk. "I think Liam and I will go wait in 
the mess hall. You're welcome to join us, Dana." 

The mess hall was quiet this late in the evening. Mrs 
van de Kamp let herself into the kitchen and returned 
with steaming mugs. Liam stared down at his watery hot 
chocolate, wishing he could've had just a dribble more 
milk. 

They sat on a stall at a long table, but neither woman 
seemed particularly talkative; Mrs. van de Kamp flicked 
through a collection of magazines left on a communal 
rack before she waved her hand apologetically over a 
load of paperwork. Dr Scully rummaged in a cupboard and 
found a pack of cards, which she went about sorting. 

"What games do you know?" she asked Liam when she was 
satisfied the pack was complete. 

They played Old Maid and Go Fish and he taught her 
Cheat. 

Each time a door slammed or steps were heard in the 
corridor they froze, looked up and let out tiny breaths 
when another late night straggler would wander in. 

When his mother finished her marking, she picked up a 
stack of newspapers piled next to the magazines. She 
dumped the stack on the table, and, starting at the 
top, leafed through the pages. Periodically she would 
use a craft knife to slice a page. It was the first 
time Liam had taken any notice of this activity. He'd 
seen her do it in the past and assumed she was 
preparing material for the senior classes. He'd been 
wrong. She was gluing the cuttings into a lumpy 
scrapbook. 

"Can I look?" he asked after another loss at Cheat to 
Dr Scully (who was a surprisingly quick study). 

His mother hesitated before she pushed the scrapbook 
over to him. 

Liam opened to the first page. A date was written in 
her loopy handwriting: "9 Aug, 2011". Smoothed flat on 
the page was a small familiar sunflower seed packet. He 
touched it. 

"Mulder left it on the counter at that house in 
Wamsutter," she said. "Remember that town we stopped 
in?" 

They'd bought stuff from the gas station; Mulder had 
shared his sunflower seeds while he and Liam walked 
into the small town. Liam looked at his mother. 

She cast her eyes down. "I'm making a new book of 
memories. These are all things I've saved from our 
journey. It's not much - mainly just newspaper articles 
- they're the easiest to get." 

Three road maps stuck together marked the route they 
had taken from their home in Wyoming to New Mexico. On 
the page under it was a round imprint where an object 
appeared to have been pressed into the paper. Turning 
the page he saw why. 

"This is the plastic lid from Jerry's cup," he said in 
surprise. 

"Silly, isn't it?" his mother replied. "The pages don't 
even sit flat." 

Dr Scully stopped shuffling the cards. "May I see too?" 

Liam scooted over to make room for her so they could 
look through it together. 

"That's our house," he said, turning another page. The 
shape of his two-storey wooden house was still there, 
but the windows were like burnt-out eyes and the 
blackened weatherboards where the fire had tried to 
escape were like fingers reaching out. 

"What's happened to our stuff?" he said, trying to 
sound as though it didn't matter. In a way it didn't - 
or not as much as it might have had he been there. 

His mother ran her finger around the edge of the 
cutting. "I don't know. We're the local mystery now, 
Lee. The fire department knows it was arson, but they 
don't know what happened to us. Our bank accounts 
haven't been touched. Our vehicles were left at the 
house." 

He laughed. "We're an x-file!" 

Dr Scully stiffened. "Please don't say that." 

"It's okay, Dana," Mrs. van de Kamp said. "I hadn't 
thought of it, but Liam's right. We are an x-file." 

"If there had been any other way," Dr Scully murmured. 

"I don't think we'll ever be able to thank you 
properly." 

Liam fingered the scrapbook. The pages were stiff like 
papier-mache. His mother hadn't let a shortage of glue 
spoil her efforts. The flour and water paste worked as 
well as any adhesive, but large air bubbles had formed 
under the newsprint, crinkling it. She didn't seem to 
mind. 

He skimmed the articles, finding some more interesting 
than others. He liked the ones with pictures best. He 
was about to pass over one when the same date as the 
first entry, hand written and heavily underlined, 
jumped out from the side: 9 Aug, 2011. That was the 
same day Mulder and Dr Scully had kidnapped them. He 
scanned the headline: "Kidnap Video Sparks Internat'l 
Search." The printed date on the story was October 13. 
He read on. 

    MELBOURNE, Aust (AP): An international storm is brewing 
    over a YouTube clip allegedly showing U.S. marines 
    abducting a man on New Zealand territory. 

    New Zealand Police Commissioner Stephen Smiley has 
    opened an investigation into the disappearance of U.S. 
    citizen Henry Martin from a remote South Pacific island 
    but denied officials had ignored vital information 
    which could have alerted them to the situation earlier. 

    "Grave fears are held for the safety of Henry Martin, 
    who hasn't been seen or heard from since August," 
    Smiley told a packed press conference yesterday. 

    "However, I stand by the way police have conducted this 
    matter, and am resolved that, short of the new 
    information that has come to light, nothing was known 
    or would have indicated to us that Mr Martin had fallen 
    victim to an act of malice." 

    The investigation has been prompted by claims made in 
    an Australian newspaper this week that Martin is the 
    man whose abduction went viral on YouTube two months 
    ago. 

    The video clip uploaded to YouTube on Aug 9. 
    purportedly shows U.S. marines bursting into a 
    barricaded room and abducting an Internet conspiracy 
    theorist known only as John X as he was conducting a 
    live webcast. 

    Australian paper The Age-Sunset reported Monday it had 
    had access to a hard drive belonging to Martin, whose 
    last confirmed sighting was on Chatham Island, a remote 
    island 500 miles east of mainland New Zealand on Aug. 9. 

    The paper said the hard drive, which was found 
    concealed in a house on the island, proved Martin was 
    John X and the YouTube abduction clip was real. 

    The U.S. government has moved swiftly to deny any 
    involvement. State Department spokesman Kenneth J. 
    Kipley said the military had neither overt nor covert 
    operations active on New Zealand territory. 

    "We can categorically state the U.S. has never 
    transgressed the territorial boundaries of our Pacific 
    neighbors. To suggest we have is ludicrous." 

    Kipley said any attempt to impersonate U.S. military 
    personnel was taken seriously, and it would press for 
    severe censure of any offenders - regardless of 
    nationality. 

    "We are as concerned about the fate of a U.S. citizen 
    as Australia and New Zealand, and will afford the New 
    Zealand Police every assistance. 

    "Our ambassador to New Zealand has been briefed on the 
    situation. However, as the alleged incident occurred on 
    foreign territory, it will be dealt with under the laws 
    of that country. We have no jurisdiction there." 

    He refused to comment on criticisms leveled at New 
    Zealand that it had been too slow to respond to 
    Martin's disappearance. 

    The Age-Sunset reported Martin was last seen by three 
    Chatham Island residents collecting mail from a post 
    office box on Aug. 9; however, the alarm was not raised 
    immediately because Martin was known to be almost fully 
    self-sufficient and was sometimes not seen for several 
    months at a time. 

    When shown a picture of John X, islanders noticed a 
    resemblance between the clean shaven Martin and bearded 
    John X. 

    *The experts' opinions, pg B4* 

    *Island recluse unmasked as internet 'hero', pg B4* 

Liam flipped the page, expecting more. He was 
disappointed to find only one more story glued into the 
scrapbook. It had the same look of the other story and 
the same printed date, and probably came from the same 
newspaper. But it had nothing to do with the man who 
had been kidnapped on YouTube. It did have a large 
color photo of an oil rig though. 

    $430m Rig Construction Ahead of Schedule 

    By JERRY de BEAUVOIR 

    ALBUQUERQUE, NM: Construction at petroleum giant 
    Galbon's $120 million oil platform has been 
    fast-tracked to ensure it is pumping by November - five 
    months ahead of schedule. 

    Galbon CEO Ramon Araya told company shareholders 
    yesterday construction of the multimillion dollar 
    Galbon-Addonexus platform had been sped up to meet a 
    renewed demand for oil in North America. 

    "This platform represents a significant boost to the 
    health of the United States energy economy," Araya 
    said. 

    "In recognition of the importance of the Addonexus 
    platform, no effort was spared by the Government to 
    ensure red-tape was minimized, and contractors working 
    round the clock to meet construction deadlines have our 
    hopes and exceeded expectations." 

    Once a three-week commissioning of the platform is 
    completed next month, the rig will begin to tap oil and 
    natural-gas reserves from the Chava field in the Gulf 
    of Mexico. 

    Chava has estimated recoverable reserves of up to 65 
    billion barrels and is the world's largest known 
    deep-water discovery. 

    News that production would come in ahead of time marks 
    a reversal of fortune for Galbon which has been beset 
    with problems since it first expressed an interest in 
    exploring the Chava field. 

    Mr Araya said the good news vindicated investors' faith 
    in the project. He dismissed as "superstitious 
    nonsense" any suggestion Galbon was the subject of a 
    curse, which had resulted in a series of misfortunes 
    over the last decade. 

    Between 2003 and 2008, consent delays dogged the 
    planning phase of the Addonexus platform, and at the 
    same time, Galbon was forced to spend millions battling 
    the Mexican government in a fight to gain unrestricted 
    access to the field. After British Petroleum's 
    disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill last year - the 
    repercussions of which will affect Gulf states for 
    years to come, Galbon mounted a fight against the 
    moratorium on drilling in the Gulf, resulting in the 
    Government's unexpected back-down in August. 

    However, many trace Galbon's run of bad luck in the 
    Gulf of Mexico back to 2000 - a year before Galpex 
    merged with Mobon to form Galbon - and not everyone has 
    welcomed the onset of production in the Chava field. 

    Galpex faced financial ruin in 2000 after 
    Galpex-Orpheus, the rig it had heavily invested in to 
    work Chava, was destroyed by an explosion which claimed 
    the lives of 17 rig workers. 

    An investigation into the incident concluded the 
    explosion was the likely to be the result of a 
    terrorist act - although reliable evidence to support 
    the claim has been scant and no terrorist group ever 
    claimed responsibility. 

    A compensation lawsuit by relatives of the dead workers 
    failed, which prompted some to openly question the 
    investigation's findings. 

    Some have claimed the official lack of explanation was 
    a cover up and have mounted opposition to the Addonexus 
    platform development, saying the entire field is 
    cursed. 

    Rumors have persisted that the rig had been quarantined 
    just hours before the explosion because workers aboard 
    developed symptoms of a previously undiagnosed and 
    deadly contagion which could have come from the oil 
    itself. 

    A spokesman for the families, Sergio Martinez, had a 
    warning to the Galbon venture. 

    "You do not want to take that oil - you might not like 
    what you find. How many more people have to die before 
    you accept the truth?" 

    Mr Araya said the final stages of construction would 
    not be stalled by "empty threats" and the project would 
    see the return of platforms to the gulf after a 
    significant decline in rig numbers started five years 
    ago. 

    *Return of the big rig? Industry pundits decree the 
    Galbon-Addonexus platform the savior of drilling in the 
    gulf, pg A4* 

Reaching the bottom of the story, Liam frowned. 

"Why's this one in here?" he asked, not sure how the 
oil rig fitted into the story. 

Mrs. van de Kamp looked over his shoulder to see the 
story he had asked about. "Dr Scully can explain that 
one better than I could." 

The doctor raised an eyebrow. 

"If he's old enough to ask, he's old enough for an 
answer," his mother said. 

Dr Scully tried not to let her surprise show. She took 
a deep breath before she spoke. 

"Do you know how people become supersoldiers, Liam?" 
When he shook his head, she continued. "They're exposed 
to a virus which causes their bodies to change, to 
mutate." 

"I thought the aliens had to kidnap you first?" Liam 
said. 

"In the early days, while they were still developing 
the virus, we think that was the case. When the virus 
eventually started to work as they wanted - to produce 
supersoldiers - they probably started trying to make it 
contagious. Until that point, they would have 
controlled it - I'm sure they didn't want a dangerous 
and unpredictable virus on the loose - but there *was* 
one natural way the virus could spread. Would you 
believe we found a thinking alien that lived in oil? It 
was a virus, but it was conscious - in a manner of 
speaking." 

Liam was fascinated. His mind made the leap between 
what she was saying and the article. "Is the alien 
virus in the oil in the gulf?" 

"We think it could be." 

Liam examined the photo of the rig more closely. 

"Dr Scully?" 

He gulped, considering the implications of his next 
question. "You said they were trying to make the virus 
contagious. Like swine flu?" 

His mother put her hand on his back, an old move that 
used to reassure him. "Dr Scully's been working on a 
vaccine - just like for measles, Liam. It's nothing for 
you to worry about." 

"We have a lot of work to do, but we know it can be 
created," Dr Scully said. "It's possible both Mulder 
and I have immunity. Mulder was exposed a couple of 
times. I found a way to save him - I didn't have a 
vaccine but we did stop him becoming a ... His 
circumstances were special though. I couldn't use that 
method again to save others. And I got stung by a bee 
once with the virus. Would you believe me if I told you 
Mulder had to rescue me - from Antarctica? He was given 
a vaccine to save me. The man who gave it to him was 
killed. We don't know who made it or if they are still 
alive." 

Even Liam's mother was interested. "You've never 
mentioned Antarctica before, Dana." 

The doctor shrugged, her cheeks reddening. "It was a 
long time ago." 

Liam thought over this new information. "So, can you 
make a vaccine?" 

Dr Scully made a face. "Well, it's not proving easy. 
But your finger has come in handy. Actually, your 
finger's proving *very* useful." 

Liam didn't have to ask what she was talking about. The 
finger from the supersoldier. 

"Isn't it, like, rotten now?" 

"If it were still a normal human finger, it would be. 
But it's not behaving in the least like a normal human 
finger. For one thing, it still thinks it's alive." 

"Eww." 

"I don't have all the answers but it has certainly 
raised some questions. Do you remember the supersoldier 
near the rocks?" 

He wasn't likely to forget it anytime soon. 

"That supersoldier was destroyed, but our finger 
survived. We think the larger the body, the stronger 
the magnetite's force. That's useful knowledge." She 
shuddered. "Very useful knowledge." 

Liam was confused. "How does that help with the 
vaccine?" 

"Well, to be able to create a vaccine, we need the 
virus. That's where your finger comes in." 

They talked a little longer about the finger - Liam 
swore he didn't think it gross at all - but Dr Scully 
declined his request to see the digit again. Instead, 
she drew his attention back to their card games. They 
played until he took longer and longer to make his 
moves and his yawns were impossible to ignore. 

Riddled with sleepiness, his last thoughts as he put 
his head into the crook of his arm, were full of 
confusion: why wasn't his mother making him go back to 
his room? 

-o0o- 

A sharp cry shattered the night-time silence. Liam came 
to with a start, nearly falling off his perch at the 
table. 

His mother stood in a pool of spilled tea and broken 
crockery. 

Dr Scully was also on her feet. "Who's hurt?" 

Men were piling into the room, Mr. Skinner in the lead. 
As though a line had been drawn on the floor they could 
not pass, they halted. 

Liam hunted for a familiar face. 

"Scully -" Mr. Skinner stopped. 

Supporting a man between them, Mulder and Stan emerged 
from the center of the group. 

"Harry?" Mrs. van de Kamp said. 

Liam stared at the bloodied man who threw off Mulder 
and Stan's support. Liam's head went light; the room 
was spinning. 

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Mr. van de Kamp said over and 
over. "Please ... don't touch me." 

Liam rubbed his eyes and looked again. Dark patches and 
dots were splattered over his father's face. He was 
holding up his hands, staring with scary detachment. 
"It's not mine." 

"Dad!" 

"Don't touch me, please." 

Arms snaked around Liam, pinning him into an embrace 
before he could spring at his father. 

It was his dad standing there but something essential 
seemed to be missing. He was like a husk. Liam started 
to fight the arms holding him in place. 

"Hang on, Liam," Dr Scully said. 

Mr. Skinner took Mrs. van de Kamp by the shoulder, 
guiding her to a seat. 

"What's wrong with him?" 

"He's okay, Marie. It's not his blood. We'll get him 
cleaned and warmed up." 

"Skinner? What happened? The blood ..." Dr. Scully said. 

Mr. Skinner steadied himself, putting a hand on the 
table. "Harry saved lives." 

"The plan?" 

"Worked. Hence the blood," Mr. Skinner said. He pushed 
up his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. 
"They're dropping them in the pits now." 

"Them?" 

"It was a two-for-one deal," Mulder replied. He refused 
to look at Dr. Scully. 

"That isn't all. What aren't you telling me?" 

Mulder lifted his head and for a moment something 
seemed to pass between him and the doctor. Then he 
closed his eyes. 

"It's Doggett."