The Lambs: Part 3 (5/11) 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. Chapter 36 December 22, 2012 New Mexico The shaking went on forever - again. Liam growled in frustration on his knees. Without stillness he couldn't concentrate. They were getting out of this room. He knew how to do it, he was sure. All he needed was the ship to stop moving so he could stand still and - "Well?" "Not yet!" Gibson's impatience needled him. "When you're ready." Liam reined in a retort. Ever since he had revealed his plan, Gibson's comments had been divided equally between feverish hope and biting ridicule. He wanted Liam to deliver - but he couldn't allow himself to believe. For himself, now that he had decided on a course of action, Liam just wanted to get off the ship. Before the metal holding it together decided to break apart. Or blow up. Or whatever it was doing. Gibson's skill at mindreading was no help. Whenever Liam asked if Gibson had picked up on the thoughts of anyone else on board, the injured man scowled. All he could say was that something was happening on the ship somewhere, but why and who was causing it was unclear to him. "It's like a thousand voices shouting in a cave," he'd said. He'd lifted his wrapped hands to his ears too, as if that would drown the sound out. The ship was still rumbling when Liam pushed himself to his feet again. He tensed himself to counter the movement and stared at the scratched lines. They were faint and almost triangular. The dead silence of the room (when Gibson wasn't insulting him) was useful - but Liam knew he wasn't doing it right. The shaking, Gibson's expectation, his own determination were distracting him. *How* do *you concentrate*? As if responding to the plea in his question, the room calmed. The floor leveled, the booming stopped and Gibson held his tongue. Liam sucked in a breath, rested his palms against his thighs and reconsidered his theory. The supersoldiers hadn't been staring at their feet when they opened the portals, so why should he (except to keep his balance)? He went back into his memories. He remembered the woman standing straight, gripping his hand and waiting. Had her eyes been closed or open? Frustration was not his friend. He needed to find the void again. At least there he could block everything else out. Planted, he felt the grip of his feet in his socks on the metal, the straining of the muscles in his calves holding him upright, the in and out of breath in his chest, the lifting of his chin as he trained his eyes on the wall in front of him then focused on what he could see in his mind's eye. He created the image of the marks, refusing to let them wander away. Not letting them slip through the dream net. A burst of white noise shot into the room, and Gibson gasped. "Shit. You've done it - haven't you?" Liam snapped back to reality. A portal - a glowing rectangle - blazed before him. Gibson used his shoulder as leverage to push himself up. He inhaled, then staggered forward using his shoulder to guide him along the wall. He stopped on the edge of the portal, its fiery outline contained within the wall and not putting out any heat. "What's there?" There was no time for triumph or a fist pump. Liam joined him, poking his head into the dark corridor. He pointed Flashlight into the darkness and switched him on for a few seconds. "Looks empty. Both ways." "I'm going," Gibson said with determination. Liam gave the pie-shaped room a sweeping glance, his gaze falling on Waterbottle. "Liam?" Gibson called. "Coming," he replied, stooping to collect Waterbottle. A little bit of water was better than nothing. *No one gets left behind*. Liam paused on the threshold. Leaving the portal open could give their escape away. But as he puzzled over how to seal the room, he was plunged into blackness. The portal had closed, but the guide lights did not come on automatically. He almost laughed. "Damn. No emergency lighting." "Make a complaint." Liam could tell Gibson was grinning. The pain could still be heard when Gibson sucked in a determined breath, but the despondency was gone. "Guess there's no light switch handy," Liam said, wondering how the guide lights had worked before. Not that he needed them. He just hoped Flashlight had enough juice to stay on for them for as long as they'd need him. "Put your hand on my shoulder. I'll lead." If the action hurt, Gibson didn't let on. His shuffling steps soon became more sure as he trailed Liam. "I figure we're somewhere near the top of the ship." Liam shone the flashlight beam one way, a fruitless search for clues. "I think I can get us down a few levels. We might find another way out. Let's just stay away from that room with all the pods." "Mulder managed to get on and off a ship once. I think he used a venting system." Despite his injuries and his unusual gait, Gibson moved quickly behind Liam. Liam kept an eye on the floor, fearful of missing a sign he might remember. With Flashlight in one hand and Waterbottle in the other, he found himself working harder to balance when the ship shook. Mostly mechanical groans echoed back at them. Their own feet padded noiselessly. Liam still wore the socks that the woman had given him. Gibson's feet were bare. If he was feeling the cold, he didn't say. While the empty corridor made their escape less stressful, it also caused its own unease. "You don't suppose they abandoned the ship and just left us, do you?" Liam asked. "No," Gibson said, his voice low, "they're out there." He would know. As if to answer him, a particularly violent rumble threw them against the wall. But the tremors were becoming fewer and farther between. With Gibson unable to offer any more explanation, Liam had no idea what might be happening. He wedged Waterbottle between his arm and torso. It freed him up to concentrate more. He wasn't sure how far they'd come - for all he knew they'd done a circuit - when at last they came to a shape which tickled his memory. "What is it?" Gibson asked when Liam draw to a halt. "A way down, I hope." -o0o- It turned out to be easy. A vertical line of symbols was etched into the wall. Liam chose the bottom one and focussed on it, fixing its shape in his mind. He extinguished Flashlight to eliminate the distraction of vision. A blue funnel rose around them and he felt a swooping feeling in his stomach before he had time to feel satisfaction or fear at what their destination might yield. Who knew what they were stepping into. No need to ask if Gibson was aware of the sensation of movement. The whisper was loud in Liam's ears. "You're one of them." How could he argue against it? The light funnel disappeared, leaving them in blackness again. For all its inconveniences, the darkness was a comfort. *If you can't see it, it isn't there.* A faint tink-tink-tink resonated in the murk. Cupping his hand over the beam, Liam turned on Flashlight again, keeping it low. In reality any supersoldier probably didn't need a beacon to spot them. They stood at an intersection. Two passageways curved, while a third struck off in a straight line. It was just a guess, but Liam thought it likely the straight passageway led to the edge of the ship. "We should go that way." A nod to the straight path was meaningless to Gibson, but he accepted Liam's suggestion. "I don't sense anyone down there. Lead on." They moved as quickly as they could. Neither had any appetite for discussion, staying alert for any sounds that weren't their own. The straight path went on and on. Symbols on the floor emerged from the gloom at regular intervals. His spirits were raised when they hit another intersection, but five paces further ahead they ran into a dead end. Liam rapped his knuckles on the gray metal in front of him. Gibson's fingers dug into his shoulder blade. "Don't do that." Frustration made Liam shrug him away. "There's no one here. It's a dead end. No one cares." "So," Gibson said, "we look for another way." "Yeah, I guess." Liam didn't say it, but he didn't want to head back to the center. The bisecting corridor had to be the outermost ring around the ship. It was not an option. Going in circles - that was the last thing they needed. Liam waved the flashlight beam over the dead end one more time. Couldn't there be *something*? He wasn't expecting an exit sign or anything ... but a door, or some stairs, or something familiar would be nice. The ship hiccupped again. As Liam flung himself to the wall, Gibson dropped to his knees to ride out the motion. Liam squeezed his eyes shut when the ship calmed, and as he did an image blazed in his mind. He was looking down at his own legs in fatigues. He was seeing through Doggett's eyes. He looked up to see Mulder's back in front of him. To his side was the familiar red hair and short form of Dr Scully. They were running down a dark corridor - passing the same sorts of symbols Liam had seen on his trip to the green cavern ... He blinked and the vision was gone. *Are they coming for me?* "Come on," Gibson said, pushing himself upright. "What's the hold up?" Liam decided to say nothing about his vision. Until rescue arrived what was the point of getting his hopes up? Then, another worry hit him. *How will they find us?* If he could see through Doggett's eyes, perhaps Doggett could see through his. What advice did they give lost people? *We should stay where we are.* Liam was studying their options when they heard it: the unmistakable stamp of boots running in unison along the ring path. Instinct kicked in. Liam flicked off the flashlight. It might make sense to stay in the dead end, but there was nothing to offer any cover and if they were found they'd be trapped. "This way," Liam whispered, grabbing Gibson by a bandaged wrist and not caring about the man's hiss of pain. Retracing their steps back to the center was the best choice. The passageway was clear. They could use the wall to guide them without the use of Flashlight. And the soldiers were already on the ring corridor. Chances are they'd stay on it ... They hadn't gone far - the bootsteps still beat a warning - when Liam's fingers brushed over indents in the metal wall. An idea formed, and when he felt them again, he pulled Gibson to a stop. Whipping out the flashlight, he turned the beam on the wall. He stared at the symbol in front of him, branding it onto his retinas and praying it would take them to safety. "Get ready," he said by way of warning. The elevator funnel rose almost instantly, and this time its sensation was definite. Liam's stomach dropped the way it did whenever he jumped from a good height. Liam flicked Flashlight around to check they were still alone. They were on another straight corridor. A line of pulsating lights at his feet seemed to be suggesting a direction. Go this way, they seemed to say. "You okay?" Gibson tugged Liam's sweater sleeve. "Just ... need a ... moment." They'd left the boot steps behind but other sounds filled the corridor. His heart jumped when the darkness cracked. "Gibson?" "Yeah?" "We don't have time." "No, we don't," his companion agreed. "There's more out there. I can't tell where." The blinking lights kept beckoning. "Behind us," Gibson said. The choice was made for them. Liam pulled Gibson forward, following the lights which led them forward at a desperate pace. It turned them around a corner - onto a ring passageway. The curve of the wall under his hand registered to Liam. And the slipping of his feet on the floor. He wasn't playing this time. Whatever was behind them was moving at pace. The guide lights ran into a green glow creeping around the curve. Stinging smoke burned Liam's lungs and got into his eyes. The echo of clangs and crashes and human grunts reverberated ahead of them - and they were running right into it. He slowed to a fast walk. *Are we surrounded?* "What's ahead?" Gibson asked. The edge of a railing appeared around the sweeping hall. The guide lights stopped moving. The final light blinked in one spot. "Fighting. In the pod chamber." Liam hugged the side of the wall and peered over, hoping like hell he was just a tiny speck to anyone looking up. Even through the haze he could see the destruction. The pods had been decimated. Dust shimmered in the chamber. As he watched, a power sound whirred up. The whine started low and built up until it discharged - and a pod in front of him exploded in a rain of wispy ash. The metal rods were striped bare like bones. The rod above him shook and rotated, moving like a slow carnival ride. The new rod which took its place was also completely empty. "The pods," he whispered. "They're destroying them." "Who?" "You tell me." A shadow flittered against the wall far below him. When he looked, Liam saw no one, but the sound of fighting carried. "I think they've moved to the other side." Still looking over the rail, Liam saw something else which interested him. He risked leaning out some more. About six feet below the rail was a ledge wide enough for three, maybe four people to sit on. By himself, the climb would be nothing ... he glanced at Gibson. "Do you think you can do some climbing?" "What?" "There's a ledge just below us. If we go over the rail it should be a short drop ... but I'm not sure I can hold you. You'll have to do it yourself." "Do we have much choice?" Liam guided Gibson to the rail. He hated doing it, but he grabbed Gibson's bandaged arms around the wrists as the man rolled his body over. The burnt skin on Gibson's cheeks scrunched. "My feet aren't touching anything ..." Liam took another look. "You're nearly there - just a foot more - I swear." An odd smile twisted on Gibson's face. "Gotta trust someone one day. Okay. Let go." His hands, which had gripped the rail for dear life, slid down with no hesitation. He landed with an "oof." "The ledge is about four feet long and maybe two feet wide," Liam said. "Keep your back against the wall and don't go near the edge." Gibson grunted but kept his hands on the wall as he lowered himself. He extended a leg, testing for the drop with it. He pulled it back sharply when his foot went into space. With no time to find a better solution, Liam tucked Flashlight and Waterbottle into his waistband and swung himself over the rail. He knew it wasn't far too fall, but the sensation of his feet dangling was unpleasant. What had it been like for Gibson who still couldn't see? The landing jarred. Liam took a moment for the tingling in his feet to disappear, then he eased himself around to face the chamber. The distant clash of fighting echoed, but the space below them was still. A movement at the base of the column in the center caught his eye. A soldier was guarding it. The soldier kept a slow patrol, disappearing around the other side with no sign it was aware of the two humans sitting high above. Liam's racing heart slowed. The ledge was sturdy. A familiar jerk sent a flutter through his body as the ship shivered, but the movement couldn't dislodge them. Gibson received Waterbottle with a sigh. "We'll get out of this," he said, wiping a bandaged hand across his mouth. "This shaking means something." "Do you think the virus which affected Doggett has worked? Does that mean" - Liam nearly grabbed Gibson's arm in excitement - "could that mean we're winning?" Gibson chewed on his lip. "Winning?" A whole world of thought opened up to Liam. "Between that vaccine and the defective pods we might have done enough." He explained how he had watched a pod explode when he was taken to the round room and he described the way the woman had pointed to her arm. "She was telling me the vaccine had made the pods defective. I'll bet the clones in those pods came from people who had had the vaccine. That would mean -" The vaccine worked. A yell from below alerted Liam to more action. "Two more soldiers just appeared below," he told Gibson. "I can hear their thoughts. They aim to destroy - but are they destroying because they know these clones are all defective or for some other reason?." From his perch Liam watched as the male and female soldiers thumbed devices in their hands. The room picked up the high-pitched whirring he'd heard before and in a matter of seconds four more pods exploded, blasting ash into the chamber. The male soldier ran to the black column and stood before it as though he was trying to open it. More soldiers swarmed around the column, coming from the side Liam couldn't see. A yell went up when they saw the man. "I don't think they're all working together." The man was surrounded; the woman turned to run back to the edge of the chamber. Her escape was cut off by soldiers who appeared on the outer ring. Stopped in her tracks, the woman lost her footing and toppled into the goo. Her arms flailed as she was sucked into the mass. But the goo didn't incapacitate her, and the depth of it wasn't as great as Liam had imagined. The woman rose to her feet - the goo came to her thighs. "Nasty," Gibson muttered. "Did someone fall in? They're burning." The woman did not scream, but when she pulled herself onto the platform, the legs of her fatigues were gone and her skin looked burnt - even from a distance. She changed direction, running to her comrade who had fallen to his knees but was still trying to fight off the other soldiers. One pulled him to his feet and held him in place. Another stepped forward - and in one swift motion sliced off the man's head with his hand. Liam's nightmare of flying heads was brought to life. It wasn't just the soldier's head. The defenders fell upon his body, tearing it to pieces with no passion and dumping the parts in the goo. The woman must have known what her fate would be, but she didn't stop, rushing right into the grasp of the other soldiers. Liam closed his eyes. "Whatever that stuff below is," he said, "it kills them. I don't think they can reform." "It means death." "And life." Something in the goo had been feeding the pods. The vines from the green soup went into the pods, feeding the supersoldier clones growing in them. The responsibility of growing up on a farm weighed on Liam. But you could justify life and death on a farm. At least, that's what he used to think. Now he wasn't so sure. Moments ticked by and Liam suffered as new thoughts entered his thinking. The defending soldiers retreated, leaving the chamber empty except for the sentry. The section of the chamber below them was now empty. Their biggest threat would now come from the spiral path. As if he had willed them into existence, footsteps thundered above them. Liam pulled his knees up wishing he could make himself invisible. All it would take was one curious soldier to check over the rail. *Don't look. Just keep moving.* He got his wish. The boots plowed on, continuing down the corridor. He let out a heavy breath. "I think they've moved -" Before he could finish, an object landed with a thud between them. Liam looked up to see a green witch's face leering at him. He was staring into the eyes of one of his captors - the woman who had taken him to the pod chamber. Light from the chamber reflected off her face.