Title: Chilmark:  Part II - Mother's Day   
   Authors: Wylfcynne and Ravenwald   
      
   See Authors Notes and Disclaimers in Part I:   
   Demonology   
      
   +++   
      
   The Board of Directors Meeting Room Fifth   
   Avenue, New York City. Thursday, June 27, 2000   
      
   Topic:  progress review of long-term projects.   
   Currently on the table: the suspended Chilmark   
   Project: Project 1961-#28   
      
   Mr Harmon:  It has been thirty-nine years since this   
   Project was initiated.  Why is it on the table, now?   
      
   Mr Lermontov:  I have a personal interest in the   
   Project, and I believe the Board would be   
   interested in some of my findings...   
      
   Mr Webber:  Was your continued interest in the   
   Project authorized?   
      
   Mr Lermontov:  It was.  Chilmark was the first   
   genetic manipulation study we did; we used our   
   own children because access to other subjects put   
   the Project, and the Group, at too great a risk of   
   exposure. My son is part of the Project, and I have   
   been monitoring the other survivors as well.   
      
   Mr Harmon:  Survivors?  What was the study's   
   catastrophic failure rate?   
      
   Mr Lermontov:  None of the initial groups of   
   subjects died as a result of the project.  One of the   
   females in this first group died in an airplane crash   
   at age nineteen, and another one suffered   
   irreversible brain damage during surgery after a car   
   crash at age twenty-six and died just recently in a   
   long-term facility.  The other four are still alive and   
   functional.  There were several miscarriages at the   
   initiation levels of the Project, but we could never   
   prove, one way or the other, if the miscarriage   
   might not have happened anyway.  That's why,   
   despite eight couples volunteering their children, in   
   the initial phase, there were only six subjects, and   
   two of them were siblings.   
      
   Mr Webber:  The Chilmark Project was a failure.   
   Why do you want it reviewed, now?   
      
   Mr Lermontov:  It was NOT a failure!  We simply   
   got results that were totally unexpected!  This is a   
   request for an active intervention, not a review.  I   
   have reason to believe that one of the male   
   subjects who lost his original partner has   
   successfully attached himself to another female,   
   one from a different group, and that this   
   relationship appears to approximate that of   
   bondmates in all significant ways.  If this is true, and   
   the bondmate relationship can be initiated in   
   appropriate partners even after adulthood, then the   
   Chilmark Project has succeeded beyond our   
   wildest imaginings.   
      
   Mr Webber:  What sort of intervention do you want   
   us to authorize?   
      
   Mr Lermontov:  I want the four original subjects   
   brought in for testing and re- evaluation. Mr   
   Harmon:  I don't suppose the subjects are aware of   
   their participation in the Project?   
      
   Mr Lermontov:  No.  They were told nothing; it was   
   feared that any such knowledge on their part might   
   affect the outcome of the Project. They know   
   nothing.   
      
   Mr Harmon:  Then how do you propose to get them   
   in for this testing?   
      
   Mr Lermontov:  Abduction, of course.  Surely you're   
   not squeamish about these things...?   
      
   Mr Harmon:  No!  No.   
      
   Mr McClintock:  Excuse me, but I believe that Mr de   
   Kuiper has a personal interest in one of these   
   subjects.  He has exempted Subject B, I believe,   
   from any participation in our research programs; he   
   is a member of Mr de Kuiper's family and I believe   
   he is an heir presumptive or some such.   
      
   Mr Lermontov:  This is not a new project, merely a   
   continuation of an old project that Mr de Kuiper was   
   made aware of at that time.  He lodged no   
   objections then.   
      
   Mr McClintock:  On your own head be it.  Old   
   Johannes is not always rational about family   
   matters and less so as he ages.  His health has   
   been precarious, lately, and his heir is an idiot.  He   
   needs Fox Mulder whole, sane and functional.   
      
   Mr Lermontov:  I repeat; this is not a new project,   
   nor is it a project termination.  It is merely a   
   maintenance exercise.  There is no anticipation that   
   upon its conclusion that any of the subjects will be   
   unable to resume their lives."   
      
   Mr McClintock:  I see that you will do what you will.   
      
   Mr Slate:  I move in favor.   
      
   Mr Webber:  I second.   
      
   Mr McClintock:  I abstain.   
      
   The Chairman:  All in favor?  Motion is carried, Mr   
   Lermontov.  Have them brought in.  Do you have   
   facilities in mind?   
      
   Mr Lermontov: Yes.  One of the rail labs is free,   
   and it will do for the two men.  There is also a lab in   
   Santa Fe that is doing related work; it will do for the   
   one pair still together.  At a later date, assuming   
   results from this testing are positive, I will want to   
   reunite all five under controlled conditions.  When   
   they were children, there was evidence of a bond   
   between all six of the members of the original   
   group, and the one sibling pair has maintained a   
   powerful bond, despite the length of their   
   separation.   
      
   The Chairman: Very well.  We expect a full report   
   on the results, Mr Lermontov. Now.  On to item 17   
   on our agenda...   
      
   +++ +++   
      
   Mother's Day, 2000 Sunday afternoon, 3:48pm   
   Greenwich CT   
      
   Fox Mulder picked up the flowers he had chosen,   
   pink roses with baby's breath and ferns, and   
   climbed out of the car.  His mother's house looked   
   dark.  He knocked and rang the bell, but there was   
   no answer.  His gut tightened.   
      
   (*Could she have had another stroke?*)   
      
   "Mom!" he called, making a fist to pound on the   
   door.   
      
   "Young man!"   
      
   Mulder whirled, to face an elderly woman on the   
   sidewalk walking a pair of tiny black Pekingese   
   dogs.   
      
   "Young man, are you looking for Teena Mulder?"   
      
   He blinked and recognized her.  "Mrs. Herringer?   
   It's me, Fox.  Her son."   
      
   The woman smiled sadly.  "I remember you, now,   
   lad.  It's Mother's Day, isn't it?  But Teena isn't   
   home; she went antiquing with a new friend of hers,   
   Patsy McClain.  They're staying over in New   
   Hampshire, somewhere."  She gestured helplessly.   
   "They left yesterday."   
      
   Mulder stared at her.  "She... left?  Yesterday?"   
      
   The elderly woman nodded, and her smile faded.   
   "I'm sorry, lad.  I think she should have told you."   
      
   (*Yeah...*)   
      
   The elderly lady resumed her walk.  Mulder   
   watched her go, and then walked down the steps   
   again.   
      
   +++   
      
   It was well after midnight when Margaret Scully   
   heard a car pull into her driveway.  Nervous, being a   
   woman alone, she peeked cautiously out through a   
   curtain.  She was startled to recognize the car and   
   driver: that was Fox Mulder, and he was alone.   
      
   This was unusual; she had invited her daughter's   
   partner to come and join her and her family for   
   various holidays in the past; he almost always   
   declined. Margaret could not help but wonder if he   
   expected to find her daughter here. Dana had been   
   there but had gone home hours ago.   
      
   Mulder was still sitting in the car.  Puzzled that he   
   made no move to get out or approach the house,   
   Margaret finally pulled on her raincoat over her   
   housecoat, and went outside.   
      
   He did not seem to see her approaching and when   
   she tapped on the glass to get his attention, he   
   flinched.  Then he rolled down the window.  "Mrs.   
   Scully?"   
      
   He sounded confused, and Margaret frowned.   
   "Fox?  Are you all right?"   
      
   He looked up at her, and she was deeply disturbed   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)