Disclaimer: I don't own The X Files (Mulder, Scully, Lone Gunmen, the huge government conspiracy, etc.) or The Tomorrow People (Adam, Jade, Megabyte, Ami, Kevin, General Damon, Dr. Culex, etc.). The X Files belongs to 1013 productions, Chris Carter, et all. The Tomorrow People belongs to Roger Damon Price, Nickelodeon and some other people, but I forget who, exactly.
Author's Notes: First off, a sweeping bow and many thanks to my intrepid Beta reader, Fleur (http://members.xoom.com/forbiddnlove/). Despite the fact that she's never seen The Tomorrow People, and there's not mention of Mulder/Krycek slash in this story, she braved this...thing. She also wrote the two letters in the first part, as I didn't want the writing style to sound like mine. Second, this is my first fan-fic that I've submitted anywhere. Count yourself lucky, as you've never seen earlier pieces... It's also my first Tomorrow People fan-fic ever. Third: Chronologically, this is the first story in my Universe, A Realignment of Life Forces (no, I don't understand what it means, either). This story stands alone. If you feel compelled to read the second (which is totally unrelated), though, it's called Extended Family. All my writing can be found at http://members.aol.com/ngwjaguar/writing.html Fourth: FEEDBACK! I don't mind if you tell me you don't like it, as long as you tell me why. Also, the timeline for XF is off by a few months. This is supposed to be taking place after the events of Momento Mori. This might be a tad confusing for non-XF-fans.
"You want to trust the doctors / their procedure is the best / but the last try was a failure / and the intern was a mess."
-REM's "Hope"
The letter had arrived innocently enough. It had come in a standard envelope, on standard sized (for the US) paper, everything typed, including the address. Special Agent Dana Scully of the X files division reached across her desk to pick up the offending object for at least the tenth time since she had arrived at the office. She focused her attention on the 32-cent stamp in the upper right-hand corner, pondering it. How would one decide what type of stamp would be proper for this type of letter? Whoever had sent her the letter had chosen one of the basic types with a yellow orchid on it. It struck her as a rather neutral choice, but maybe she was just overanalyzing things.
For a moment, she considered the thought of having one of the American Cancer Association stickers on it. Irony. Somehow, she had the distinct feeling that this was somehow associated with her cancer. Or at least with the time that she had been missing. Of course, this wasn't all that difficult conclusion to draw with her knowledge of the contents of the envelope. The part that she had read, anyway. Upon finding the letter in her mailbox, she had quickly opened it with a certain amount of curiosity, as there was no return address on it. Inside, she had found a single piece of paper, folded in half, with writing on the front half. Obviously, there was writing inside as well, but whoever had sent it intended the front to be read first. Now, sitting in her office, she pulled out the piece of paper and carefully reread it. The first time she'd looked at it, she'd merely skimmed it. Even the glimmering of meaning that she had caught then was enough to force her to sit down. After that, she'd read it slowly, digesting each sentence as she was doing now.
To whom it may concern,
Contained in this letter, you are about to find information about and pertaining to yourself. It is extremely personal, and in all likelihood, highly disturbing. I would therefore strongly advise allowing a close friend of relative to read this paper before you. The reason for this is that you will not like what it is you are going to be otherwise reading. There are quite probably certain elements of this letter that you would prefer not to know, and in any other circumstances, should not know. What I am meaning to say is that you let someone who knows you extremely well decide what you can and cannot handle.
Dana Scully was not one to be afraid of something that could be contained within a letter. However, after a few moments of consideration, she decided to take the advice of whoever had sent her the letter. As of now, she still wasn't sure why. Something about the tone of it. Despite the seemingly dry and detached overtone, a deep sympathy and concern also showed through. So, here she was, sitting in her office, waiting for her partner who, as usual, was late. Later than usual, actually. At times, she caught herself wondering if Special Agent Fox Mulder had a sixth sense of his own. If she were he, she certainly wouldn't want to start the day off with something like this. She sighed deeply, her fingers beginning to reach for the edge of the paper to unfold it. Patience was always a virtue that she had valued, but enough was enough. This was not the type of thing that she cared to sit on. Just as she had grasped the edge of the paper and was preparing to read it, the door swung open and hit the wall. Hard. Scully's eyebrows shot up. The letter in her hands momentarily forgotten, she took in her partners tousled hair, rumpled shirt, and bloodshot eyes.
"Morning, Mulder," she said. "Long night?"
He turned to look at her. Even in his current state, he didn't miss the double meaning in her question. He grinned and leered at her. "Heaven..." he drawled.
Scully shook her head and chuckled. "Down boy."
"Isn't that what I usually say to Frohike?"
"Mulder, there are times when the lack of differences between the two of you is truly frightening."
"That's not a very nice thing to say."
"Neither was that."
Mulder chuckled appreciatively and dropped his coat and suitcase in a heap on the floor. He sat down in a chair, rolled across the room to the computer, and then spun around to face her.
"Actually," he said, "I just fell asleep in my clothes because I was working late. Then I missed my alarm." Scully nodded. He continued, "What's that?"
"What's what?"
Mulder jerked his chin towards the folded paper Scully was holding. She looked down at it and deliberately placed it on the desk in front of her, covering it with one hand. "I got it in the mail today. I just read the front of it." She picked it up again and leaned towards him, stretching out her arm until her was able to take it from her. "Here," she said. Mulder took the paper from her, and read the front of it. Scully watched as he stopped for a moment, and then went back to the beginning to reread it as she had. After a few minutes, he looked up at her, the question written on his face. Scully nodded.
"You want me to read this for you, Scully?" he asked her softly.
She nodded again. "If you don't mind," she added quickly.
Mulder shook his head and turned his attention back towards the letter. He took the edge of it in his hand, as Scully had done a few minutes ago. For a moment, he paused. Then, he pulled the front half of the paper up. Scully held her breath as she watched him read it, her pulse suddenly increasing so that she could feel it in her throat and chest every time her heart beat. Eventually, Mulder looked up at her again and she raised her eyebrows expectantly. He shook her head and she released the breath that she'd been holding, although she wasn't sure why.
"What does it say?" she asked, her voice quieter than she'd intended.
"Nothing that we hadn't already guessed or known," he replied. "I can understand the warning, though." He handed the letter back to her and she took it, slowly breaking eye contact with him and beginning to read. Mulder was right. Suspecting something, and reading it, though, were two totally different things. She bit down on her lower lip, carefully reading it for a second time, making sure that she hadn't missed anything.
It is probably that, sometime in your life, you were missing for a period of time. Perhaps this has happened several times, perhaps only once. You may have begun remembering some of the details from this time, but I doubt that you will ever fully remember the experience. I have learned this from official US government documents, but I am not transcribing the entire thing. The essential and important facts are as follows.
You were subjected to several texts, climaxing in the 'harvesting; of all your ova. In order to do this, the testers exposed you to certain levels of radiation. Before you were returned, a small chip was implanted in the back of your neck. I expect that you have found this chip already. Despite the invasive nature of this chip, I would warn you to leave it where it is at all costs. Dude to the radiation, the chip is the only thing preventing you from developing a deadly, inoperable, malignant brain tumor.
I am omitting certain details which details with other experiences and tests that you may have undergone and experienced. What I have told you is what you need to be concerned with. The only permanent effects you may suffer from everything else can only be psychological. I have no desire to read these documents, and I'm sure you wouldn't either. However, I will not withhold this information if you truly wish to learn it. It is already available.
My condolences,
MM
Scully sat back in her chair and read the entire letter once again. Finally, she raised her gaze to look at her partner. "Well," she said quietly, "whoever sent this certainly doesn't mince words."
"You OK, Scully?"
She bit down on her lower lip and nodded. There was a moment of silence, which she eventually broke. "There's no name or return address, save the initials MM," she noted.
Mulder eagerly switched modes to investigative in an attempt to avoid being overwhelmed before the two of them had a chance to digest what they'd just read. "Yeah, I noticed that. Of course, it makes sense."
"Either it's someone working from within the US government who doesn't want to be exposed, or it's someone who managed to find the information and doesn't want to be tracked down."
Mulder nodded at Scully's quick synopsis of the situation. "Doesn't seem like the most trustworthy source, does it?"
"We know it's true, though, Mulder."
"Yes, but most people who received it wouldn't. Do you think that any of the MUFON members who you met would pay attention to this warning?"
"No, they were too paranoid. They would probably think that it's an attempt to control their actions through fear." She paused for a moment. "Who am I to say that they would be wrong."
"I think that the important thing to do right now is see what more we can find out."
Scully gave him a questioning look and he explained himself. "The last line says that if we want more information, it's available.
Scully sighed. "Mulder, how would we even know where to begin?"
"I can think of one place."
December 10, 1996
The Magic Bullet Headquarters
"Mulder, you are aware that Skinner's not going to be happy if he finds out that we're taking work off."
Mulder grinned and rapped on the door with a gloved hand for what was quite possibly the tenth time. "Think of it as field work, Scully." She rolled her eyes and he grinned again. He turned his attention to towards the wall next to the door. "Hey, Frohike! Open up! We're freezing our asses off!"
There was a burst of static from a small intercom next to the door. "Did you say 'we,' Mulder?"
"Yes, Frohike, Scully's here also. . . Now open the damned door!"
The intercom turned off with another burst of static and Scully turned around at the sound of several locks being undone on the other side of the door. She cast a look towards Mulder, who shrugged his shoulders with the helpless air he always had when dealing with the Lone Gunmen.
Finally, the door swung open, revealing Frohike standing with a mug of hot chocolate. He pointed upwards with a helpless expression. "Sorry," he said. "I forgot the mistletoe." Scully rolled her eyes and pushed past him, leaving Mulder and Frohike standing at the door. "Wow, what's wrong with her, G-man?"
"Actually, that's what we came to talk to you about," Mulder told him and walked past Frohike into the building. Frohike thought for a moment, and then proceeded to close and lock the door.
He followed Mulder into the main room to see Byers handing Scully a mug of cocoa. The Gunman was, as always, clothed in a dark suit complete with tie and polished black shoes.
"What's the problem, Mulder?" he asked.
"Are you implying that we wouldn't just stop in for a friendly visit, Byers?"
"Do you blame him?" asked the third Gunman, Langly, as he walked by. He was wearing a G-Force T-shirt, despite the freezing weather.
"Actually, it's not as much a problem as just a favor that we need help with," said Mulder. He and Scully exchanged a look for a moment. "The problem has yet to present itself," he explained.
There was a pause as the Gunmen regarded first Mulder, then Scully, and then one another.
"Okay..." Frohike said slowly. "So, are we going to play twenty questions or are you actually going to tell us what you want us to find out?"
Scully jumped in before Mulder could say anything. "We heard about someone going by the initials of 'MM.' We've come into contact with some of his information."
"MM," repeated Frohike.
"The Masked Marauder," Langly drawled.
Mulder gave him a somewhat irritated look. "Come on, Langly, this is serious."
"He is being serious," said Byers. "The Masked Marauder is a nickname which has been given to someone releasing information over the Internet."
"Is he legitimate?" asked Mulder.
"About as legitimate as any of the conspiracy theorists out there," replied Byers.
"In other words, you really have no idea."
Byers shrugged. "There's really no way to keep track. He's generated quite a following, though.
The information is released a little at a time, at random instances. The information also has kind of an electronic signature on it. Anyone can find it in his messages, but no one can duplicate it. The part of the file which contains it is protected by a 25 character password."
Frohike whistled appreciatively.
"I thought you just said that you didn't know much about him," said Mulder.
"Well, none of us have ever read any of the information that he has, we've just heard about him through the net. We don't have the time to spend waiting around for him to make an appearance since we don't even know if his information is legitimate. If it is, it's the type of thing which he would probably only be able to get by having direct access to one of the government computers. Quite possibly mainframe."
Scully stepped in again. "Well, from what we've read, we think that he actually *does* have access to some high-level government information."
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" asked Langly. Everyone turned to look at him. "Well, who's to say that he's not just leaking half-truths and misinformation?"
Mulder sighed. "We don't know for sure, but at least now we do know that it isn't something which has been deliberately planted for Scully and me to find. Otherwise he probably wouldn't be as well known."
There was another pause as everyone in the room thought. "Well," said Byers. "There's only one way to find out." Langly grinned and sat down in front of a computer.
"Hey, shove over, blondie, this is no job for a flower child."
"Shove over, yourself, Doohickey."
"That's Frohike, you idiotic ja "
"Will you two cut it out?" interrupted Byers. "This is serious." Frohike and Langly looked at one another, rolling their eyes. Then, they turned their attention to the screen in front of them.
December 12, 1996
London, England
The Damon Household
"Hello!" shouted William Damon as he walked through the front door. Kicking the door shut behind himself, he dislodged the snow which had amassed on his shoulders. "Hey, anyone home?!"
"Oh, Ricky," came an overly acted, distressed voice. "You look like an icicle. It must be freezing out there."
Bill turned to regard his redheaded eighteen-year-old son, who was leaning against the doorway. "Very funny, *Marmaduke*." He stressed the boy's hated first name. "When did you start watching I Love Lucy reruns?"
"When I got grounded on Sunday and you guys wouldn't let me watch any TV other than what someone else was already watching. Speaking of which, I cleaned the bathroom."
"What does that have to do with anything, Megabyte?" He switched to his son's nickname.
"Am I still grounded?" was the hopeful reply.
Bill chuckled. "Yes."
"Dad, that's not fair!"
"It's not fair that you decided to pop over to Africa, without telling either your mother or me, and scared us half to death."
"You only missed me for half an hour. Besides, I was with Adam and Ami."
"That's not the point."
"What is the point, then?" Megabyte asked belligerently.
"That there is a reason why people going to Africa need to get vaccinated against certain diseases. What if you'd come back with Malaria or something? Not only would you have been seriously sick, but don't you think people would have wanted to know how you got sick in the first place?"
"But I didn't get sick. I'm fine! Adam's fine. Ami's fine. Where's the problem?"
"That's not what matters. What matters is that it was a stupid risk that I want to make sure you don't repeat."
"How about Adam and Ami?"
"That's none of my business, is it?"
Megabyte growled something about 'classic Dad speeches' and stomped up the stairs.
"Nice to see you too, Megabyte," Bill shouted after him. He grinned and dumped his trench coat onto one of the hooks lining the wall for the purpose. He noted the rather large puddle of water which had resulted from the snow he'd brought in, and walked into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee.
"Hello," he greeted his wife, who was already sipping at a cup of her own, hunched over a book.
"Hmmm," she responded.
Bill rolled his eyes and sighed in defeat. "I don't know what it is, but everyone just seems so happy to see me today."
His wife, Jennifer, looked up from her book. "Oh. Hello, Bill. Didn't noticed you come in."
"I gathered," he replied dryly. "How was your day?"
Jen shrugged. "The normal. Push some papers. Yell at some people, be yelled at by others. And yours?"
Bill grimaced. "Not too great."
"I'd say that rates at an 'it really sucked' on the Dad scale," came his daughter's bemused voice.
Millicent had picked up a bit of a British accent since they had moved, much to Megabyte's amusement.
"About that, I guess," conceded Bill.
"What happened?" asked Jen.
"I'd rather not talk about it."
Millicent rolled her eyes. "I'm going out to dinner with some friends. I'll see you later."
"Don't you have school tomorrow?" queried her father.
"Dad, it's called winter vacation. I'm off 'til January."
"Wonderful. I suppose that means that Marmaduke is off as well."
"Bill!" chastised Jen.
Millicent grinned. "Yeah. Have fun." She waved over her shoulder at them, while shrugging into her coat and walked out the door.
After she had left, Bill turned to his wife. "Do you think we should give Marmaduke a break on his grounding? The vacation starting and everything."
Jen shook her head. "No. Unusual or not, he has to learn not to go popping off whenever he feels like it."
"I thought this had more to do with him not leaving a note and not taking the proper precautions. You have the accept him for what he is. It will drive both of you insane if you don't."
"I know," she sighed. "It's just not that simple, though."
Bill nodded. "I know how you feel."
Upstairs in his bedroom, Megabyte was mulling over whether he should simply disobey his parents and "pop out," as his mother called it, or actually wait the grounding out. He knew that he hadn't exactly made the wisest of decisions, but being grounded since Sunday had already imprinted the concept as far into his mind as it would go.
{Megabyte?}
"Go away, Dad!" he shouted towards the door.
{Dad? When did we become related?}
Megabyte grinned ruefully at his mistake. {Hey Adam,} he telepathed.
{So, are you still grounded?}
{Of course. And for all my trouble, I'm going to smell like the bathroom for the rest of the month.}
{Thanks for the warning.} Megabyte could hear his friend's chuckle in his head.
{Very funny, Adam. Nice to see college hasn't hurt your wonderful sense of humor.}
Adam laughed mentally again. {Ouch,} he 'pathed, good-naturedly. {So, you're actually going to wait this thing out?}
{Please, Adam. Never, ever consider for one moment that I might actually be an obedient son.}
{The thought had never crossed my mind.}
{Adam, that was an absolutely horrid pun,} interjected Ami's mental 'voice.' {You've been spending far too much time around Megabyte.}
{As if there were such a thing,} remarked Megabyte.
{You're still grounded?} queried Ami.
{Please, don't ask.} Megabyte groaned. {I don't want to go over this again.}
{Yes, he's still grounded. He's also going to smell like a restroom for the rest of the month,} supplied Adam.
{I hate you both,} 'pathed Megabyte.
{What did I do?} was Ami's indignant reply. {And why on Earth do you smell like a restroom? Or would I rather not know the answer to the question?}
Megabyte was saved from having to reply by his mother shouting for him to come down for dinner. {Gotta go, guys. Dinner time.} He purposefully blocked any attempts to continue the conversation on the parts of his two friends. "Coming!" he shouted.
Fifteen minutes later, as he was about to take a bite of smashed potatoes: {Megabyte, why do you smell like a restroom?}
Megabyte smacked his forehead. "Shut up, shut up, shut up," he repeated it as a sort of muttered litany.
"Megabyte, are you alright?" asked his mother in a worried voice.
"I'd be a lot better if Dad would blow Jade away with his gun."
{Megabyte! I heard that! It certainly wasn't a very nice thing to say.}
As far as he knew, Jade was the only Tomorrow Person capable of sounding miffed when she 'pathed. Then again, neither Adam, Ami, nor himself ever felt the inclination to sound miffed.
{Jade, go away. I'm trying to eat.}
{But I want to kno- }
Megabyte cut her off, mid sentence, by raising his mental shields. He smiled sheepishly at his mother, who was glaring at him. "Sorry about that, guys. Annoying background noises." He winced as a bit of Jade's mental shriek of indignation got through his shields. He glanced up at his father, noticing for the first time that he hadn't said anything. "Hey Dad." He whistled. "Earth to Dad! Anyone home?"
Bill shook himself out of his reverie and looked at his son. "Oh yeah, sorry. You were saying?"
"Bill, are you sure you're alright?"
He nodded. "I'm fine. Just a bit distracted."
"A bit?" repeated Megabyte. "I'd say very distracted. What's up?"
"Nothing."
Megabyte rolled his eyes and stuck another fork-full of potatoes into his mouth. {Adam,} he 'pathed, hoping his parents wouldn't notice as his eyes unfocussed the way they always did.
{Megabyte, I will not play referee between you and Jade. Aren't you supposed to be eating?}
{It's not that. I think my Dad's worried about something.}
{General Damon?}
{No Adam, my other Dad. I've got a few dozen of 'em. Didn't you know that?}
"Megabyte?" It was his mother's voice.
{Hang on Adam.}
"Megabyte, the last thing I need is you spacing out, too." She gestured towards Bill, who was staring at the pot roast. "I might as well eat with the wall. It would probably do a better job of listening."
"The walls have ears, Mom," he joked.
Jen rolled her eyes and returned to her food. "Forget I mentioned it."
{OK,} he 'pathed.
{Do you think it could have something to do with us?}
{I don't know. Dad usually mentions anything he hears that concerns the Tomorrow People.}
{Did you try asking?}
{Hang on, again.}
"Dad?" No response. "Dad!"
Bill started and looked up. "Hmm? Yes, Marmaduke?"
Megabyte rolled his eyes at the use of his name. "Dad, what's going on? What are you so upset about?"
Bill sighed and pushed himself back from the table. "World Ex just got word that Dr. Culex escaped from prison."
Megabyte nearly choked on his potatoes. "Culex?! Isn't she dead, or something?"
General Damon shook his head. "Unfortunately no. And we have no idea how she escaped."
"Dad, this is not good!" he shouted. Memories of the time his friend Kevin, a fellow Tomorrow Person, had spent in a coma after being stung by one of the 'mad doctor's' mosquito hybrids came forward in his mind. "Culex on the loose! Oh man, I have to go talk to the others." He stood up from his chair.
"It gets worse. We're not sure why nobody told us, but Culex escaped over a year ago."
Megabyte's jaw hit the floor. Across London, at Oxford University, a pre- med. student fell off his seat in the middle a lecture, jumped up, and dashed out the door.
"Adam!" the lecturer shouted after him. Noting that the boy'd had a somewhat pale complexion, he remarked, "I've never seen anyone have quite that reaction to a discussion of the digestive system."
Sprinting into the men's bathroom, Adam locked himself into the nearest stall. Shutting his eyes, he concentrated, and disappeared in a flash of brilliant, electrical light.
December 13, 1996
J. Edgar Hoover Building
Washington DC
"'morning Mulder."
"Hey." He dropped his coat in a heap on the floor and rushed over to his desk.
Scully raised an eyebrow. "Nice to see you, too."
"Hm? Oh, Sorry, Scully. I'm expecting a call from the guys."
"The Lone Gunmen? Have they found anything?"
"That's what we should be finding out any second now."
The phone rang on cue. Mulder pressed the 'speaker' button. "Mulder."
"Hey, Mulder, Langly here. We think we've go- am I on speaker?"
Mulder rolled his eyes. "Langly, what have you got?"
"Am I on speaker?"
"Yes, you're on speaker. It's just Scully, though. If you're going to record all our conversations, I can put you on speaker."
"Mulder- "
Mulder rolled his eyes again. "Fine, Langly. We're taking you off speaker and Scully's going to pick up the other phone. Is that alright?"
"Yeah."
Mulder clicked off the speaker as Scully picked up her extension. "You are officially off speaker," intoned Mulder. "Are you going to turn off the recorder?"
"OK, we've got some background on this Masked Marauder guy. He seems pretty reliable to us. Actually, some of his stuff might be making an appearance in our next issue. We're going to be having an issue which focuses just on mass abduction scenarios, nothing else, it's- "
Mulder cut him off. "Yeah, that's great Langly, now what did you find on our guy?"
"As I said, he's legitimate, as far as we can tell."
"Why do I not find that reassuring," Mulder said with a grin.
"Look, Mulder, do you want to info or not?"
Mulder chuckled. "Yeah, I'm sorry, Langly. What else?"
"We've been able to get some of the Masked Marauder's uploads off of some contemporaries. There's a lot of stuff here, guys. If we hadn't heard so much of it from you, we'd probably be going nuts right about now. From what we can tell, it's totally accurate. One thing that we've noticed is that whoever this guy is, he likes to delete certain details."
There was a pause. "So this is half-truths, then," said Mulder. He sighed heavily.
"No exactly. The stuff that's been deleted is names of people and the grisly details, basically."
"Whose names?"
"Mulder, I don't know if I made this clear, but these are all original reports. The names that are missing are names of victims, not the men in charge. We don't think that their names were ever on in the first place."
"You mentioned grisly details," prompted Mulder.
There was a pause on the other end. "This stuff gets pretty nasty. It's hard enough to read it with just the general ideas. These are experiments, Mulder. On people." There was another pause and Mulder could hear whispering in the background. "Yeah, Frohike and Byers say you should get over here as soon as possible. You have to read this stuff to believe it."
Mulder placed the phone back in its cradle without saying goodbye. "What did you think of that,Scully?"
There was no response.
"Scully?" He turned around to find her with the phone still in her hand, albeit halfway to the cradle. She was staring off into space. "Scully?" He crossed the room to stand beside her.
"Hmm? Oh, Mulder. Sorry. I was just thinking about what they said."
"You OK?"
"I'm fine, Mulder."
"You're sure?"
She gave him a bit of a glare. "Yes, I'm sure. Do you think that this person is working alone?"
"Well, it would seem that they're working from inside of the government, which suggests that they're probably totally alone on this."
"But what about the letters? I'm guessing that they were sent out to every single member of MUFON who's still alive. And Langly mentioned that there were other experiments, which means that someone took the time to send out letters to all of them."
Mulder nodded. "They were all copies of the same thing, though. It's not as though the letters were personalized."
"Still, whoever it was has spent a lot of time on this, Mulder."
"They've probably devoted their life to it at this point," he agreed. "Still, I'm all but positive that there's only one person working on this. What I'm worried about is the fact that whoever it is is being so public. The government knows that this is going on, they're going to be looking for their leak. I doubt this person has much chance for survival."
December 13, 1996
The Main Room
an island in the South Pacific
The four Tomorrow People were seated in various places around the central column of the ship. Adam was sitting in one of the seesaw-like contraptions attached to the column. The seat was raising him up and down, in a movement which would have been disconcerting to any of the other Tomorrow People if they were trying to think and, as it was, could be rather distracting. Ami and Jade were sitting on the platform in the middle of the room. Megabyte, for his part, was leaning against one of the slanted walls framing the clear panels blocking out the ocean.
"Has the General found anything?" asked Jade.
Megabyte shook his head. "Nothing. And he hasn't exactly been sleeping much lately."
"But shouldn't he know something?" persisted Jade. "Generals are supposed to know these things. Why didn't he hear about it earlier?"
"He doesn't work for the government anymore. World Ex is a private corporation. It does work for the government sometimes, but it's a separate entity. They should have told the old man about it as a professional courtesy, but they didn't. No one knows why."
"Megabyte, you and Ami were going to look on the Internet, weren't you? I checked all the medical records I could get my hands on to see if we found any of the symptoms matching what happened to Kevin, but I couldn't find anything," said Adam.
"I couldn't find anything," stated Megabyte. "There's a lot of stuff out there on the Internet, and it's tough too even know where to start.
"Well, I found something." All eyes turned towards Ami. "It's not much, and it's not exactly the same thing, but it sounds similar enough." She reached into her bag and pulled out some printouts. "It's actually not a very good source. It's from a conspiracy newsletter called The Magic Bullet, run by some people who call themselves The Lone Gunmen."
"A conspiracy newsletter?" queried Jade.
"It's really popular in the US," supplied Megabyte. "Conspiracy theorists are people who put information together in a way that they think shows that some greater power, usually the government, is running a conspiracy."
"Against who?"
"The American people, in this case," said Ami as she handed the printouts around. "There's an article in here about some killer bees which caused a small number of deaths in the US."
"Yeah, killer bees tend to do that," commented Megabyte.
Ami shook her head. "That's not what I mean, Megabyte. This says that the people weren't stung enough times to actually kill them." She started gesturing with her hands at this point.
"Supposedly, they actually died from a strain of smallpox which was transmitted by the bees."
"I thought that smallpox was wiped out," said Jade.
"It was," said Adam from his seat above the rest of them. "The thing is, small amounts of it are still being kept. The argument is that there might somehow be a breakout, and they'd need samples of it for vaccinations. Also, it's useful for study." He sighed heavily. " It's possible that the US government could gain access to it, although they shouldn't be able to."
"Well, there's something else. This also says that the incubation time for this specific strain of smallpox had an incubation time of mere seconds. It killed within hours," added Ami.
"Hours?!" Megabyte nearly shouted. "Smallpox didn't kill in hours."
They were all startled by Adam's chuckle. "You guys, I just realized, we're debating a conspiracy newsletter. There are tons of them out there. The chance of the first one we look at with some significance having accurate information is less than slim. Chances are, we're discussing the delusions of some overly paranoid individuals. Delusions stemming from fact, but still delusions."
Ami met the Australian's eyes with a sheepish grin. "Yeah, I guess you're right, Adam. Besides, I have a few other things here, also. I'm not sure why, but I found about a dozen things concerning bees carrying diseases."
"Are any of them more likely than this?" asked Jade.
Ami gave another sheepish smile. "Not particularly," she conceded.
December 13, 1996
London, England
The Damon Household
Megabyte pressed the 'search' button for what had to be the thousandth time. He'd used every search engine he could think of, all the while running up an Internet bill that wasn't going to do much to help with his grounding. Adam had decided that since he was grounded, and therefore didn't have anything better to do, Megabyte was to spend all his time trying to find more information concerning the documents that Ami had pulled up the day before. For whatever reason, Adam was still participating in classes during a time when all college students in their right minds would be elsewhere on vacation. Ami's mother was doing her best to send her daughter on a wonderful guilt trip because of Ami's involvement with the Tomorrow People and everything that entitled. Jade's knowledge of computers was limited, to say the very least. All in all, Megabyte hadn't been able to find a single person to rope into his Internet search.
{Anything yet, Megabyte?} It was Ami's voice.
Megabyte surmised that it was an effort to ignore her mother's tirade. {Not really. Nothing that would be helpful, anyway. Unless, of course, you're in the market for opening a honey farm.}
{So none of the things I found have come up again?}
{Nope. Sorry. Guess we'll just have to buy some bees and settle down, Ami.}
{Very funny, Megabyte. Oops, I have to go. My mum noticed that I wasn't paying attention. Good luck!}
Megabyte sighed, already missing the distraction. Actually, he hadn't been entirely truthful with Ami. Something had come up. Repeatedly, actually. There were various mentions to what Ami had found in The Magic Bullet. Unfortunately, all the mentions came from other conspiracy theorists, so that basically destroyed the credibility.
He watched as the results from yet another search scrolled up the screen. Still nothing. And he was bored out of his mind. {Adam,} he 'pathed.
The response was a few moments in coming. {Hey, Megabyte.}
{Am I interrupting something?}
{No, I'm just doing some work in the library. Did you find anything?}
{Not exactly. I keep getting hits for that thing that with the smallpox- carrying killer bees.}
{That's helpful,} was Adam's sardonic reply.
{Hey, I guess there's a real buzz about it, eh Adam?} joked Megabyte.
Adam groaned mentally. {That was terrible, Megabyte. So you haven't found anything else?}
{No, and my eyes are starting to burn.}
{Wow, you smell like a bathroom and your eyes are burning.}
{Adam...}
Adam chuckled. {I'll go back to my studies now. Be sure to let us all know if you find anything.}
Megabyte turned his attention back to the screen. "Perfect," he said to no one in particular. "Another message from The Conspiracy Theorists of America." He clicked the link for the heck of it, not really having anything better to do. He quickly skimmed over the piece. It was actually a post from an online bulletin board. The only difference about this one was that it used the discussion of the bees to lead into something about secret government laboratories.
Megabyte grinned. It was almost better than those books he had stored away on his shelves. The ones that Kevin had scoffed at, despite the fact that they dealt with a subject both boys had known to be legitimate. Telepathy. Then again, Kevin had scoffed at almost anything bordering on the paranormal, as he'd wanted nothing more than to be normal.
Megabyte went back and reread the post again. Halfway through, he stopped. One of the names mentioned seemed familiar. He shut his eyes and relaxed, trying to remember. With a bit of effort, he utilized some of his ailities to try and uncover whatever it was that was buried in his mind. For the Tomorrow People, searching their memories was very different than simply trying to remember something. In a way, it was systematic, while also flipping randomly through certain pieces of information. At times, the process could be lengthy and take the combined efforts of all the Tomorrow People. Fortunately, the particular memory that Megabyte was trying to locate wasn't too hard to find. The name suddenly jumped out of his memory, along with the context in which he had noticed it before. Ironically enough, it was from one of his books.
It was one of the secret US government installations that had been mentioned. A Roswell type of thing, except that it was more scientifically oriented, and there was no mention of alien spacecraft, which was what made Roswell so special. He doubted that this new bit of information would have much of a reception among the other Tomorrow People. Adam and Ami had wanted to know if he found anything, though. {Adam. Ami.}
{Hello Megabyte.}
{Hey Jade.}
{You found something?} asked the girl, who was two years his junior.
{Sort of, but I need to talk to Adam and Ami, also.}
{We're both here, Megabyte,} came Adam's mental voice. {What's going on?}
{I might have found something. There's only one problem.}
{Which is?} queried Ami.
{It's about the smallpox bees, again.}
Jade sent a mental scoff in his direction. {Megabyte, of all the things from medical journals and other legitimate sources that Ami found, you had to focus on the conspiracy newsletter, didn't you.}
{Hey,} Megabyte defended. {I wasn't trying to. This is what I found on the Internet. I didn't really expect any of you to take it seriously, though. It's just that I found a connection to something I read in one of my books.}
{A selection from your library?} inquired Adam.
Megabyte could almost see the 21 year old rolling his eyes. {Yes, Adam. It was one of those books. It's not like there's anything wrong with them, you know. That's how I learned so much about telepathy and teleporting.}
Jade decided to throw in her two cents on the matter: {Megabyte, I think that you were right when you said that conspiracy theories were something that's popular in the US. You're the only American I know and you're also the only person I know who goes on about that type of thing.}
{This coming from the girl who stays up all night watching for UFOs out her window,} Megabyte shot back.
Jade's presence in the conversation disappeared. Megabyte grinned. {Oops.}
{I'm going to refrain from commenting on that, Megabyte,} stated Adam.
{So, I guess this means that you guys don't care much for what I had to tell you. Well, I must say, I'm deeply hurt. I'd expected more from, you guys,} he 'pathed, trying to sound distressed.
{Megabyte, if you could hear people grinning...}
{But Adam, you wound me.}
{Megabyte. Shut up.}
Five hours later
London, England
The Jackson Household
"Ami!" shouted Mrs. Jackson. "Your dinner's getting cold!"
"I know, Mum!" Ami shouted back. "I'll be there in a moment. I just need to ask Adam something."
"Hurry up, dear."
{Adam?}
{Hey, Ami, what's up?}
{Did you want me to check on the Internet again?}
{That's alright, I think that Megabyte's still checking.}
{He's not online, though. I just checked. And I talked to him about an hour ago, and he'd already eaten.}
{Maybe his parents gave him a break on the grounding,} suggested Adam.
Ami just 'pathed a feeling of disbelief.
{OK,} conceded Adam. {He must have skipped out on his grounding.}
{That's altogether more likely,} agreed Ami.
{Did you ask Jade? She's still got a bit of a crush on him and tends to try and talk to him whenever she gets the chance.}
{She hasn't heard from him either. We should probably just ask Megabyte, although we're not likely to get a straight answer out of him.}
{Megabyte,} the 'pathed together.
{Hi Ami, Adam.}
{You're parents aren't going to be too happy,} 'pathed Ami.
{Well, after that Internet bill I just ran up for you guys, I don't think I can make the situation any worse than it already is. Not to say my dad won't try his best.}
{Where are you?} asked Adam.
{Just checking out some more information on the thing with the killer bees.}
"Ami! Are you coming to dinner or do you want me to put your food outside for the strays?"
"Be right there, Mum!"
{Guys, I have to go. My mum's still on the warpath. She's been a little testy since our trip to Africa.}
Ami's telepathic presence disappeared.
{Actually, Megabyte, I should go, too,} admitted Adam. {I've got to do some studying.}
{Adam, it would seem that you don't understand the concept of winter vacation. Why the heck are you still in school?}
{I don't have anything better to do.}
{Oh no, only about fifty thousand things.}
Adam chuckled. {Bye Megabyte. Try not to get your dad too upset; dead Tomorrow People aren't worth very much.}
Arizona, USA
The desert
{Thank you for your words of wisdom, Adam,} 'pathed Megabyte, ending the conversation.
He probably should have told them what exactly he'd meant when he said that he was checking out some more information on the killer bee incident, but he knew that they never would have let him go. Either that or they'd have gone with him just to prove that the laboratory didn't actually exist, and then tried to get him home before his father noticed that he was missing. Of course, Megabyte now knew that the laboratory, or whatever it was, certainly did exist. He was staring at it. All the more reason not to tell the others. He'd just broken half a dozen laws to get to where he was standing. He'd gotten the general location from his books and the posts on the Internet. Then, he'd asked some locals at a convenience store where to go. Eventually, he'd found a sign forbidding him to go any farther, as he was entering government land. He'd paused for about ten seconds, and then continued on. Later, he'd arrived at a metal fence with barbed wire at the top. One teleport later, he was about 200 yards inside the fence. He'd walked for about ten minutes before Adam and Ami had starting talking to him. Now, he was standing about fifty yards away from a relatively small building. While he watched, a small group of men entered through a set of sliding doors at the front of it.
In the distance, he could see the type of booth with a bar that could be lowered by guards. A car passed through a set of gates, and paused at the booth before continuing on to a parking lot. Another group of men exited the car and walked towards the sliding doors of the building, which they too entered.
Megabyte's interest was piqued, to say the very least. The building was too small to provide working space for all the people he'd seen go inside. His best guess was that the building was just an entrance for an underground structure. 'Either that or I've been reading too many comic books again,' he thought to himself. 'Only one way to find out.'
Closing his eyes and concentrating, he disappeared in a flash of light, immediately reappearing just inside the doors of the building with an identical flash. A faint whirring noise drew his attention upward to the corner next to the door. With an exclamation of surprise, he darted to the corner, out of sight of the camera, before the machine could complete its navigation of the room. 'And you wonder why Adam and Dad worry about you so much.'
From his relatively safe perspective, he did a quick study of the room. There was a door directly across from the sliding ones that served as an entrance, obviously leading farther into the small- in appearance- complex. A second door was positioned on the side of the room.
Opting for the less obvious of the two, he waited until the camera was pointed in the opposite direction, and then darted the few yards across the room, which seemed to serve as a foyer, or reception area. Whatever receiving that may have been. Yanking at the handle on the door he noticed, for the first time, that there was an electric lock. Slapping the door in disappointment, he returned to his post beneath the camera. With concentration, he pulled forth at something inside his mind until his hand began to glow with a slowly pulsing red.
When the camera moved out of line with the door again, he ran forward. Placing his hand against the electric lock, his eyes unfocussed, and a small part of his consciousness found its way through the circuits and paths within the lock, directed the energy within until the door opened with a satisfying click. Grinning, he moved inside and closed the door behind himself.
He'd been right. The room he'd been inside was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. There was a narrow flight of stairs leading downwards, and he noticed, happily, that there weren't any cameras. There was no exit at the first landing, and he continued downward another three flights before the stairs stopped abruptly.
Just as Megabyte was reaching for the door, he heard voices. Flattening his body against the wall, he waited. The door flew open and, much to his dismay, proceeded to flatten him even further against the wall. The voices continued past him. He realized that the door was going to close, revealing him, and readied himself to teleport. However, the two men didn't even pause as they started up the stairs.
"Do you think it's absolutely necessary for them to keep the only bathroom upstairs?" complained one of them, a man who appeared to be in his late fifties.
The younger man chuckled. "You were expecting something that catered to human convenience, maybe?"
The first man sighed. "I suppose you're right. I still don't understand why this had to take place here. Too little room for so many people. The only impressive aspect of this complex is the lecture room."
"Which is exactly why we're here. Besides, they don't do much in this place. Exactly for the reasons you mentioned. They don't trust all of us the same amount. Why take chances and send us all to a complex where their high priority research is taking place just so we can watch some videos?"
At this point, they were too far up the stairs for Megabyte to hear the older man's response. However, he'd learned plenty. Like the fact that the door, which was situated in such an obvious place upstairs, led to nothing more fantastic than a restroom. More importantly, he knew what was going on inside. Tentatively, he pushed open the door and stepped into a long, gray corridor. Checking either way, he started off in the direction that he'd heard the men's voices coming from. Unfortunately, he failed to notice the cameras situated near the ceiling. Occasionally, he would come across a door, and he would stop to look in. Almost all of them were locked. A few had glass windows at the top, but there was nothing to see. The ones that were unlocked tended to be storage closets or similar rooms.
After several corridors and a few instances of guess work at turns and forks, he found a room which was not only was unlocked, but also had a window. Peering in, the first thing he noticed was that there were several dozen people sitting in what looked like a theatre. Almost all of the individuals were men, but he could see about five women among them.
Realizing that all the people were looking at the same thing in the darkened room, he turned his attention to a large projection screen. The fact that while the video itself wasn't of very good quality, but that the projector was one of the best built of its type escaped him. The only thing that his mind could take in was the scene shown on the screen. Even that was enough to almost make him forget to breathe.
On the other side of the complex, in a locked room, a figure sat hunched over a keyboard. There was a small pile of labeled three-and-a-half inch floppy disks sitting on the desk next to the keyboard. There was a muffled curse as the person working at the computer missed a key. A few seconds later, the event occurred again. After this had happened several times, the person lifted their hands and realized that they were shaking violently.
'That's interesting,' the person thought with annoyance.
They continued to type, pulling one floppy out of the computer as it was filled, and inserting a different one. Missing yet another key, the individual looked at their hands once again. Now, not only were they shaking, but they were cold, clammy, and very pale as well. Touching their face, the person concluded that it was in the same state. 'Funny,' the person thought. 'I must look as though I'm absolutely terrified.'
At that moment, Megabyte *was* absolutely terrified. He could feel his legs weakening as he continued to watch the screen, unable to look the other way. The people in the audience continued to watch, utterly detached. Megabyte's only explanation for it was that they had to be some sort of doctors. He'd read about experiments on humans in some of his books, but this was beyond anything he could have imagined.
December 13, 1996
London, England
The Damon Household
"Megabyte!" shouted General Damon. "Hey, we got a movie and some popcorn. I know that it doesn't rank with your usual film selection, but why don't you come downstairs?" He was referring to Megabyte's love of badly done monster movies. Usually, the titles had to do with something or other attacking either Tokyo or Metropolis. "Megabyte!" he shouted again, as he walked up the stairs to his son's room. He pushed the door open.
"Oh, this is just great." Megabyte was gone. And the computer had been turned off. Lifting the phone sitting on his son's desk, he dialed the number of Adam's dorm room.
"Hello?"
"Adam, this is Bill Damon."
There was a pause for a moment. "Megabyte isn't home yet, General?"
"No. Was he with you?"
"No, he told us that he was just checking up on a few things. He should have been home by now, though."
"'Checking up on a few things?'" repeated Damon.
"Yes. He kept finding references on the Internet to something concerning killer bees carrying a form of the smallpox virus. All the information came from conspiracy theories and such, though. None of us took it very seriously."
"Killer bees..."
"Yes. General Damon, are you alright?"
"Oh no," he murmured. He hadn't even made the connection.
"General Damon?!" Adam was beginning to sound very upset.
"Adam, one of my friends had come across something concerning that. He mentioned it to me a while ago."
"You think it does have something to do with Culex?" asked Jade.
Bill nearly dropped the phone. He hadn't noticed as Adam, Ami, and Jade had appeared behind him. "I don't know about that, but it certainly isn't something I want Megabyte mixed up in. Can you call him."
The three Tomorrow People nodded. Standing in a loose circle, they held their palms upright, facing their neighbors', but not quite touching. As Bill watched, a blue light formed inside their circles and grew until it was about a foot in diameter. It then began to pulse as they concentrated their energy.
{Megabyte,} they all called together.
Arizona, USA
The underground complex
Megabyte stumbled backwards a few feet in surprise.
{Megabyte!} he heard again.
He could still see the screen from where he was standing. Unable to collect his thoughts or concentrate on anything else, he merely shook his head.
{Megabyte! Can you hear us?!} The voices were nearly a roar in his head.
He blinked. {How can they do this?} His mental voice was barely above a whisper. {How can they do this to people?}
The next thing he knew, there was a sharp pain on the left side of his head and he was lying across the hall.
The Damon Household
The three Tomorrow People were suddenly thrown backwards as they lost control of the energy they had concentrated and it pushed out at its restraints. Bill just barely managed to catch Jade as she fell towards the floor, clutching her head. He helped her back up, where she stood on unsteady feet, still with a hand pressed against her left temple and wincing. Bill noted that the other Tomorrow People were doing the same thing.
"What happened?" he nearly shouted.
Adam was the first to speak. "We lost contact with him. He said something to us, but we could hardly hear it. Then he just disappeared. He's still there, but we can't hear him anymore. He might be unconscious."
"Adam," started Ami, in a shaky voice. The two of them made eye contact, obviously exchanging something, and Adam nodded solemnly. Ami turned to look at Bill. "Wherever he was, General Damon, he was absolutely terrified of something."
The underground complex
At the same time, the figure at the computer stopped typing, and brought a hand up to their head. There were a few seconds of a heavy pain near the front of the left side of the person's head, and then it faded away. With shaky hands, the person began to type again, placing yet another floppy into the disk drive.
'That wasn't me,' the person thought. Pausing as the information from the computer downloaded onto the disk, the person leaned back in the computer chair and concentrated, sending their mind outwards. The pain had come from somewhere nearby. As far as the person knew, the experiments were no longer being carried out on people. Not since the Masked Marauder, as the person was now referred to, started releasing the information over the Internet, as the individual was planning on doing with what had just been downloaded. There was always the possibility, though, that these people had gotten hold of a psychic.
Suddenly, the person's eyes flew open, as the other psychic was located. "That's impossible," the person said to the empty room. The individual stood to leave the room, but stopped, realizing that the disk had as yet to finish downloading. Scooping the other disks into a backpack, the person cast a worried glance towards the door. There wasn't much time. And the information still wasn't done.
Across the complex, Megabyte squinted his eyes against the glare of the lights on the ceiling and tried to focus on his attacker. It was the younger of the two men who had gone up the stairs earlier. The man's eyes narrowed and he started forward. Megabyte scurried backwards in alarm, trying to rise to his feet, but finding that his balance wasn't what it should have been. It was as though the pain in his head was a blanket thrown over everything. Trying to teleport, Megabyte realized that none of his abilities were functioning. He had the feeling that the pain had something to do with it.
dam!' he tried to 'path, but he knew that the cry for help had never left his own mind. The panic he was feeling as the man advanced on him was replaced by an even greater one as he realized that he might never get his abilities back.At this point, the man was standing over Megabyte, who couldn't back up anymore, as he was leaning against the wall. Staring down at the teenager, the man's face suddenly began to change, morphing. His jaw widened and the hair grew shorter and receded up the forehead. By the time the changes stopped, Megabyte was staring at a totally different individual.
Megabyte's eyes widened, and he lashed out with his foot, trying to knock the man- or whatever it was- off balance. His foot connected solidly with the man's leg, but the man didn't even shift his weight.
"Finally!" shouted the person across the complex. Grabbing the last disk and shoving it hastily into a pocket, the psychic shut their eyes, concentrated, and disappeared in a flash of light, reappearing in the middle of the hallway that Megabyte was in.
The man who had hit Megabyte looked up at the person's entrance without even blinking. He broke into a run, as did the individual down the hall. Rounding the first corner, the individual teleported again. The man skidded to halt and turned around, realizing his mistake too late as the person he'd been chasing teleported away with Megabyte.
The two of them reappeared outside the complex, Megabyte unable to form a coherent thought, and the other constantly looking over their shoulder to see if anyone was looking for them.
"I'm going to take you to a hospital," the person told him.
Megabyte managed to collect himself enough to shake his head. "No. The others."
"The others?" 'There are others?'
"Adam. Go to Adam."
"You really ought to get to the hospital. You're concussed."
"No!"
"OK. We'll find this Adam, then." {Adam?} the person called.
{Who are you?} came the almost immediate reply.
{I'm with someone.} The person thought for a moment. {I'm with Megabyte. I need to know where you are.}
Adam sent out his location. The person concentrated and disappeared with Megabyte.
The Main Room an island in the South Pacific
They reappeared instantly next to the column in the center of The Main Room. Bill rushed forward, nearly knocking the person out of the way in his haste to get to Megabyte.
"Excuse me," said Adam urgently.
The person stepped away and Adam joined Bill at Megabyte's side. The Australian concentrated, and his hands began to pulse with the same red color that Megabyte's had earlier. He placed his hands over Megabyte's head. After about a minute, Megabyte felt the pain in his head begin to diminish. A little while later, there was nothing left but a dull throb, and he could once again feel the other Tomorrow People's presence in his mind. He turned his head to look at the person who had gotten him out of the complex. "Thank you," he said.
The individual smiled. "No problem."
The other Tomorrow People turned to look at the person for the first time. The person was female, dressed in a black sweatshirt with the hood pulled over her head. She was also wearing a pair of sunglasses that were probably fake Oakleys. The overall effect was that neither the person's hair, nor eyes could be seen.
After glancing around at the room and at its occupants, she reached up and pulled back her hood. Then, she removed the glasses, letting them dangle around her neck. Her hair was pulled back in a tight, if rather messy, bun. Actually, it was more a great tangle of black hair. Her eyes were large, and just as dark, if not more so, as the hair.
Adam inclined his head. "It's nice to meet you, Cassia."
End
If English weren't such a screwy language (not that I know any others :::shrugs:::), that whole deal with saying "person" rather than being sex specific would've been much nicer. If, for some odd reason, you feel inclined to take a peak at the rest of my universe (which is rather small at the moment), check out http://members.aol.com/ngwjaguar/writing/Life_Forces