From: msnsc21@aol.com   
      
   ok to post to newsgroup; I'll post to Ephemeral and Gossamer. Thanks!   
   December 5, 2004   
   Title: Lost in the Stars   
   Author: ML   
   Email: msnsc21@aol.com (feedback always welcome!)   
   Distribution:  Yes to Ephemeral and Gossamer, or if you've   
   archived me before.  If you haven't, please drop me a line   
   and let me know, and leave headers, etc. attached.  Thank   
   you!   
   Spoilers: Various S9 eps through The Truth   
   Classification: Vignette   
   Keywords: Lone Gunmen   
   Summary:  ...and we're lost out here in the stars...   
      
   Written for the E-Muse Secret Santa Swap.  Thanks to Carol   
   for Speed!Beta.   
      
   Note: This is a follow up story to "Where the Boys Are," so   
   if you've read that one, you know that it dealt with the events   
   in "Jump the Shark" and its aftermath.  If you haven't read the   
   first one, this one will still make sense.  I'd prefer that JtS   
   had never happened, but for the purposes of this story, it did.   
      
   Disclaimer:  All the characters named in this story belong to   
   Chris Carter, Ten Thirteen Productions, and FOX.  I mean no   
   infringement, and I'm not making any money.   
      
   =====   
      
   Lost in the Stars   
   by ML   
      
   Byers, Langly and Frohike looked around them with bemusement.   
   Their former home was changing before their eyes.   
      
   Walter Skinner stood in the door of the transformed kitchen in   
   the former Magic Bullet headquarters.  He surveyed the main floor   
   of the warehouse, now cleaned and painted and re-equipped.   
      
   "Welcome to Skinner, Incorporated," Langly said.  "Who's he gonna   
   get to run all this stuff?"   
      
   "I miss *our* stuff," Frohike complained.   
      
   "You may recall that most of it was sold before we, um, left,"   
   Byers reminded them.  He still had trouble reconciling himself   
   to their fate, such as it was.   
      
   None of them had any idea as to the how and the why of their   
   continued presence in their former haunts -- a word that Frohike   
   often used deliberately.   
      
   "Probably another bureaucratic screw-up," Frohike had suggested.   
   "Eventually someone'll figure it out, and poof!  We'll be gone."   
      
   "Gone to where?"  Byers asked.   
      
   "Dunno, man.  But I'd think there'd be others like us.  Do you   
   suppose everyone exists on his or her own astral plane?"   
      
   "If I'd been given a choice, I don't think I would have chosen   
   to spend eternity with you guys," Langly said.   
      
   "Love you too, man," said Frohike.  "Anyway, who says it's for   
   eternity?"   
      
   "Well, it feels that way," Langly muttered.   
      
   An alarm bell rang.  The three ghosts jumped but Skinner didn't   
   bat an eye.  He moved to the door and peered through the peephole,   
   unlocking the multiple locks to allow Jimmy Bond and Yves Harlow   
   to enter.   
      
   Jimmy looked around and whistled.  "Cool.  I bet the guys would   
   love this."   
      
   "Bet they wouldn't," Langly muttered.  Byers didn't bother to   
   shush im.   
      
   "Doggett and Reyes should be here soon," Skinner said.  "I'll   
   give you the tour then."   
      
   In due time the two agents arrived.  Monica Reyes held up a   
   six-pack of beer.  "Maybe we should have brought more," she   
   suggested.   
      
   Langly, Frohike, and Byers looked at each other.  Could she see   
   them?  But it appeared Monica was talking about Jimmy and Yves.   
      
   Skinner gave them the tour and the Gunmen followed along, shaking   
   their heads at the changes and additions.   
      
   "Where does he get the dough?"  Langly whispered to Frohike and   
   Byers.   
      
   "Good investments?"  Frohike hazarded.  "He's a single guy, a   
   workaholic, he probably just socked his money away over the   
   years."   
      
   "Instead of buying a cabin in the woods, he's doing this," Byers   
   said.   
      
   "Glad to see he's taking care of security at least," Langly said.   
   There were cameras inside and out, and thick doors with keyless   
   locks.  Even Frohike couldn't find fault with them.   
      
   "Not the same old homestead, that's for sure," Frohike commented.   
      
   "It certainly isn't," Byers agreed.   
      
   "Do you suppose he's going to live here?"  Langly wondered.   
      
   "I have an idea about that," Byers said, but wouldn't elaborate.   
      
   The group moved into the kitchen and sat around a big table there.   
   Every surface gleamed with a spit and polish shine.   
      
   "Boy, what a difference.  You had to have gutted it and rebuilt   
   from the ground up," John Doggett commented.   
      
   "Again with the insults," Frohike muttered.   
      
   Skinner cleared his throat and all idle conversation stopped.   
   "I'm about ready to go on a fishing trip.  Anyone have any   
   ideas about location?"   
      
   "Well, I guess you could start in New Mexico," Doggett   
   said.  "That's pretty close to their last known location."   
      
   "It would be safer to find a way to get word to them through   
   other channels,"  Monica said.  "Where did Gibson go?"   
      
   "He's back at the reservation," Doggett answered.   
      
   "Then he'd know if Mulder and Scully were anywhere near,"   
   Monica answered.   
      
   "Can we get in touch with Gibson?  Is it safe for him, and   
   for them?"  Skinner asked.   
      
   "Good question.  Jimmy, do you have any idea?"   
      
   Jimmy thought for a moment.  "I wish the guys were here.   
   They had contacts in a lot of places, through their   
   newsletter, through MUFON --"   
      
   "Nice to be missed, isn't it?"  Frohike murmured to Byers.   
      
   "Can we get into their hard drives?"  Skinner asked. "Yves?"   
      
   "It would be tricky, but possible.  I don't know if any   
   of their contacts will talk to us, though.  They're a   
   suspicious lot."   
      
   "With good reason," interjected Langly.  "Look what   
   happened to us."   
      
   Byers watched Monica Reyes.  Every now and then she'd get   
   a thoughtful look on her face, as if she could hear more   
   than the conversation of her colleagues.   
      
   "We have to find a way to contact them outside of normal   
   channels," she said.  "But we have to be sure it's safe   
   first.  And it has to be someone that Mulder trusts.  If   
   a stranger tries to approach them, I don't think it'll   
   work."   
      
   "I never thought I'd say this, but with Kersh's help, I   
   think that Mulder's conviction will be overturned,"   
   Skinner said.  "The tribunal is being investigated now,   
   and since one of the judges has disappeared, everything   
   is being called into question.  Then at least officially   
   there won't be any danger.  There will still be danger   
   from the unofficial channels -- which at least we're   
   learning to deal with."   
      
   "What about Dana?"  Monica asked.   
      
   "She was never implicated.  She wasn't at the prison when   
   we broke Mulder out.  She was reported missing later --   
   there are no eyewitness accounts of seeing them together,   
   after."   
      
   "Is Mulder being blamed for her disappearance, too?"   
      
   "Not `officially.'  Kersh saw to that."   
      
   "So they could both come back openly?"   
      
   "Yes, pretty soon.  And the more openly, the better,"   
   Skinner said.  "Their -- *our* enemies would have a   
   better chance at them where they are now, outside of   
   any protection we can offer them.  Wherever they are.   
   In the meantime, we need to find a way to get word to   
   them, a safe way.  Any ideas?"  he asked again.   
      
   Silence around the table.   
      
   Byers said to his friends,  "Maybe this is where we   
   come in.  Gentlemen, we can sit idly by or we can do   
   what we can."   
      
   "What the hell does that mean?"  Langly asked.   
      
   "Let's go see Mulder,"  Frohike said.   
      
   "Beat hanging around here," Langly agreed.  "But how   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)