From: mrkeller829@gmail.com   
      
   =====o============================o=====   
   "Chermera" by Mary Ruth Keller Part 34  of 45   
   E-mail: mrkeller@eclipse.net, mrkeller829@gmail.com   
   PG-13   X-File: Myth-arc   Disclaimed in Part I   
   Already sent to Gossamer   
   =====o============================o=====   
      
   Office of the Lone Gunmen   
   Alexandria, VA   
   Monday, June 22, 1998   
   3:14 pm   
      
   John Byers leaned back from the workbench. "Okay, guys, I think we're there."   
   He waited until the others had gathered. Clip lead in hand, he pointed at the   
   monitor he had set up beside the tablet. "I've traced the output signal, so   
   this will show what    
   the screen would have. When I attach this lead, it'll be just as if the unit   
   were fully operational. How did you know there was shape-shifter speech   
   involved?"   
      
   Mulder extracted his cell phone. "What was that number again?" He looked to   
   his partner.   
      
   After tugging free a small notepad from her backpack, she reached over his arm   
   to key in the digits. He hit the dial button. A series of squeaks and whistles   
   sounded in the room. The monitor started to display Hiragana and Katakana, top   
   to bottom, right    
   to left, as before.   
      
   "Get a picture." Mulder’s command was crisp. "That box will want a password   
   here in - "   
      
   Several Katakana characters blinked on the screen, then the cursor waited.   
   After several flashes of the Polaroid, Scully again spoke the password, but   
   nothing happened. "Did the unit save the password in protected memory, I   
   wonder?"   
      
   Byers frowned. "What, no good?"   
      
   Mulder shook his head. "The site we were supposed to be accessing took itself   
   off-line as we were downloading the files you have over there. I'm surprised   
   the number we called was still sending data."   
      
   The auburn-haired agent gripped, then released, her partner's elbow. "That   
   means there are more operatives out there who haven't been notified of our   
   hack. Once they are, it'll go dead, too."   
      
   The tall man turned to her. "Any luck?"   
      
   Scully nodded. "I've not translated any names yet, but the lengths are   
   suggestive: ten bytes, fourteen bytes, all under twenty so far."   
      
   He bit his lower lip. "You're most likely right that it's common species   
   names, Scully. At two bytes each, it's too short for a full human name in   
   English or Japanese, which they would have needed for tracking with all the   
   test subjects they were using."    
   As her stomach rumbled loudly, he looked down at her slender waist.   
      
   "Sorry." She waved her free hand at him. "Let me get back to the files."   
      
   Byers disconnected himself from the anti-static pad. "Hey, no, it's nearly   
   six. I'm assuming you two skipped lunch today?"   
      
   The partners exchanged a nod, but said nothing.   
      
   Langly ambled into the kitchen. "Okay, let's see what it will be tonight." He   
   returned with several take-out menus. "Greek, Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese, or   
   Indian?"   
      
   "Indian works for me." The auburn-haired pathologist slid to her feet.   
      
   After settling on, then placing, their orders, Frohike pointed toward the   
   living room. "Nothing so far from the camera and we have several hours of   
   downloading to go. We have the projector and screen still set up, Mulder. We   
   can kick back while we wait    
   and eat."   
      
   The tall agent cocked an eyebrow at Scully, who, to his delight, nodded.   
   "Samosas and satanic dinosaurs, here we come." He found himself unable to stop   
   grinning.   
      
   --o-0-o--   
      
   Office of the Lone Gunmen   
   Alexandria, VA   
   Tuesday, June 23, 1998   
   4:32 am   
      
   Fox Mulder turned to his sleeping partner. "Hey, Scully, check this out!" She   
   had pulled one of the armchairs into the space behind the video monitor, where   
   she had curled into a ball against the high back. He tugged the thick white   
   cotton of her over-   
   sized left sock, that was hanging loosely from her toes, to shake her foot   
   gently.   
      
   After a long breath, she opened one green-blue eye to gauge the excitement in   
   his tone, then sat upright. "What do you have, Mulder?"   
      
   He was bouncing happily on the tall stool. "After you zoned out, Doctor, I   
   watched through the rest of the stored video as it was being read off."   
      
   She rubbed her cheek with the back of her hand. "So you finally got to the end   
   of the images?"   
      
   He nodded. "I got Fro to help start the program." You're beat, Scully, it's   
   okay. "You fell asleep so fast, neither of us wanted to wake you."   
      
   She cocked her head. "Mulder, that wouldn't have been a problem. I wrote some   
   of that code."   
      
   He grinned broadly. "Now that we have the last few minutes of imagery, you'll   
   see." He played through the remaining frames.   
      
   "Mulder, stop. Let me have the keyboard." She rose to stand in front of the   
   workbench, where she opened an X Window. After typing several lines of code,   
   she keyed out several commands he failed to recognize, then ':wq'. "This will   
   let us zoom, a bit. It    
   won't be as good as an analogue video editor, but, it will have to do."   
      
   His chin was grazing the cotton shoulder of her polo shirt. "So, that area-"   
   He rapped on the glass over the final video frame, still up on the screen,   
   with his knuckle. "-you can blow that up?"   
      
   She clicked several keys, then a different window appeared. "This is digital   
   imagery, so we'll eventually get pixelated, but, before that, we should still   
   be able to make out details."   
      
   He grunted. "It's Amanda Edwards, Scully, and Luther, and, who's that? The guy   
   with the straight black hair?" His nose was nearly on the glass. "Can you make   
   it any bigger?"   
      
   She let out a choked gasp. "I know him." She reversed through the frames.   
   "There, he faces the camera and points." Her right hand shaking, she activated   
   the digital zoom, then jumped back as if struck. "He was there. In the   
   warehouse. He was there."   
      
   Mulder bent over his partner, who was hugging herself. "Scully?" He reached   
   around to steady her with a hand on her spine. "Scully, talk to me."   
      
   She closed her eyes for a long moment, then gazed up at him. "He was a   
   technician. He was the one who administered most of the tests." She was   
   rubbing her forehead. "His name. I heard his name so many times. But, I can't   
   remember. Why can't I remember?"     
      
   He eased her into the armchair, then took her right hand in his left to rub   
   the back with his right palm as he knelt in front of her. "It's okay. You'll   
   get it, just give it a few minutes." He watched her eyes moving back and forth   
   under closed lids. "It'   
   s okay." He wondered, briefly, whether he would need to regress her again.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)