From: k.morse@ntlworld.com   
      
   Echoes 7/7 (disclaimer in the first chapter.)   
      
      
   Black rock cottage 7.13am.   
      
   Scully sat bolt upright, paralysing   
   dread gripping her heart.  Something   
   was very wrong she just knew it. No   
   sleepy awakening wrapped in the warm   
   cocoon of her partner's arms and his   
   gentle languid kisses that always   
   greeted her, she felt bereft. She   
   could still smell him, his aftershave,   
   the way his skin felt but he was   
   physically gone from the bed. Jolted   
   from a dream back into cold reality,   
   she shuffled off the bed and threw   
   on her clothes without bothering to   
   change into fresh.   
      
   Taking the stairs two at a time she was   
   shaken when she almost knocked her aunt   
   flying coming in the back door as she   
   was trying to go out, an equally shocked   
   look plastered on her face...not just   
   shock, Scully's mind supplied.   
      
   Horror.   
      
   Working on the X files over the years   
   she felt her stomach flip, she knew that   
   look all too well.   
      
   "Dana...."  Katherine had been crying, but   
   was now out of breath, shaking a little,   
   a sight that almost paralysed her.   
      
   Mulder.   
      
   Causeway cliffs   
      
   It took them a while to reach the cliffs   
   overlooking the shore but both of them   
   had a determined mission and pressed on   
   through treacherous rocks and driving   
   rain dragging a huge medical kit, tools,   
   ropes and Ned's old climbing equipment along   
   with them. The first morning light was just   
   a few streaks of orangey pink edging up over   
   the horizon. It was freezing cold.   
      
   Scully's stomach flipped again When they   
   spotted the dog sitting dutifully in   
   place on the cliff top, they knew they had   
   reached the right place.  He turned and   
   roused a little when he saw his mistress   
   and her companion, he whimpered. It wasn't a   
   nice sound. Merlin barked, as to mark where   
   his friend had gone over the cliff so they   
   could help him.   
      
   "Good boy Merlin, that's a good laddy eh."   
   The old Labrador looked at her mournfully.   
      
   Katharine didn't say much, she seemed   
   unable somehow as if something had   
   pierced her heart and her soul had   
   bled out through it. She looked utterly   
   bereft, this had to be bad. The words   
   that spilled form her mouth had shaken   
   scully like a small earthquake. Still   
   shaking.   
      
   She had been on the shore watching the   
   waves as she said she often did. Scully   
   thought she must have had a reason but   
   didn't press her, too preoccupied as she   
   was with pulling air into her lungs after   
   listening to her. Then she mentioned all   
   her sheep were dead where they had been   
   perfectly fine the night before. No surprise,   
   just flat speech. Detached. She mentioned a   
   disturbance, another loud sonic boom and   
   what looked like arching over the   
   causeway.   
      
   She'd made her way down over the honeycombed   
   shaped basalt structures to see if she   
   could find the cause. Curiosity always got to   
   her.Wind and rain had driven her for shelter   
   in a cave and thats where she had heard his   
   cry. Saw the impossible.   
      
   Scully had heard it to too, telepathically.   
   Their trademark.   
      
   About twelve foot up an open crevice, Mulder   
   was somehow trapped in the rocks, caught in   
   the mouth of a hard unforgiving foe. Moaning   
   quietly and calling for help.   
      
   Katherine hadn't known it was him at first but   
   she was in shock when she saw him hanging   
   upside-down, blooding dripping from somewhere,   
   maybe everywhere on him turning the sand and the   
   rocks red in a slippery pool by her feet.His legs   
   seemed to be trapped but his arms hung free like   
   a broken puppet, his eyes closed.   
      
   'Hang on please. I'll get help.'   
      
      
   Horrified, she ran back the house, that's   
   when she had noticed the sheep for the   
   first time, all lying on their backs,   
   like white unmoving rocks in the grass to   
   ramp up her horror even more.   
      
   No time to waste, she needed to find Dana.   
   There was a storm coming and where Mulder   
   was trapped the tide was coming in. Like a   
   egg he could be dashed against the hard   
   unyeilding stacks. He would surely drown   
   if they couldn't free him soon and his   
   injuries looked severe. Just how they   
   could free him was something her mind   
   had stalled on.   
      
   The thought that he'd been looking out   
   for her when this happened didn't even   
   bear thinking about. She was beyond   
   bereft, if he died.....   
      
   "He was alive when I left here to fetch   
   you Dana, alive but trapped and I think   
   maybe unconcious. I couldn't reach him,   
   there was no way. He was too far up. I   
   called to tell him I was coming to get   
   you and to hang on but I don't know if   
   he heard me, the tide was coming in and   
   the surf breaking up over the rocks. I   
   dunno if he heard me." She repeated, her   
   words all spilling out in panic.   
      
   "How bad was he?" Scully had forced   
   herself into doctor mode to offset the   
   shock and despair she felt right then,   
   the immovable fist of pain in her chest   
   tightened exponentially. Keeping herself   
   together was the only way she could hope   
   to get him out of this.   
      
    "I don't know dear. I swear it's my fault.   
   I think he must have been looking for me. ...   
   I ....should have said I go on these dawn   
   walks.... makes me feel closer to Ned....   
   and... but now look what I've done..  I   
   couldn't get a line to call for help...   
   phone..the phone seems to be out."   
   And she dissolved into tears but Scully   
   pulled her into a tight hug.   
      
   "Oh Katherine...it's not your fault...it's   
   just what Mulder sometimes does...more   
   times than I care to count. Believe me,   
   that man is so inquisitive. Something   
   must have drawn him outside. Something   
   weird was going on all last night. Cracks   
   and bangs, lightning I think. I could only   
   half hear it because I was so tired and   
   worried about him being sick on this trip.   
   I fell asleep and Mulder must have got   
   up for something. We'll get him out eh?   
   You and me. C'mon ....its okay."   
      
   "Thank you dear." She seemed far away   
   for a moment before speaking again. "Check   
   the ropes bag; I think there are some long   
   ones in there with a second harness. Some   
   crampons. They were Ned's. Old hobby of   
   his but could never let the stuff go.   
   Don't forget the tool belt either. You're   
   going need that."  And she locked eyes with   
   Scully who nodded, breathless.   
      
   Scully peered gingerly over the edge of   
   the cliff but couldn't see anything but   
   jagged storm lashed rock, her heart sank   
   right down to the frothing sea with them.   
   Eyes scanning anthing little oiece of hope   
   she could latch onto she couldn't see her   
   partner or any sign of him, just angry   
   waves crashing and dark foreboding rock   
   that went straight down in almost uneartly   
   hexagonal pillars, some hollow that led   
   right through to the sea like a funnel.   
   White water hissing and blowing up through   
   the gaps in a snarl.   
      
   Where was he?   
      
   "Mulder..."  No answer. Only the waves   
   and wind answered back like a mournful   
   cry. Like a voice.. death song... No she   
   mustn't think that way.   
      
   The drenched agent dumped the bag of   
   medical equipment on the grass and went   
   for the other bag of ropes and stuff her   
   aunt had brought along. Pulling out a long   
   one she began to loop it and clip to the   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)