X-Seven

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Cast
This is a sequel to Fly Paper in which Scully meets Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln on the Moon. Scully is used by Gary Seven as part of an Interventionist plot to stop global warming. Mulder suspects that Scully is a puppet for aliens and gets Skinner to assign Reyes and Doggett to shadow Scully and try to detect alien forces at work.

Also returning from Fly Paper are the Observer clones, who also suspect that Scully is part of an Interventionist plot.

'''Spoiler warning! Plot or ending details follow'''

The basic strategy of the Interventionists is to genetically engineer ocean bacteria to more efficiently sink atmospheric carbon dioxide to the bottom of the oceans. They want to make use of Scully's credentials to gain access to research facilities where the genetic engineering can be done making use of alien ideas, but passing the work off as having been done by Earth humans.

Key issue: How to turn Scully from the Observers to the Interventionists. A key role will be played by Roberta Lincoln. Roberta will befriend Scully and pretend to be an abducted marine biologist. She tells Scully that she was close to altering the Prochloroflexus marinus genome so as to produce a super carbon dioxide fixing organism. She claims to have been abducted because she happened to be on a marine research expedition that stumbled across a lost alien spacecraft. She says that she was told by the Observers that she would not be allowed to go back to Earth because she is a carrier of an alien virus that is now detectable by Earth technology (similar to Scully).

Teaser
May 4, 2005 South Pacific, 112.34 W, 41.05 S

Marine Science Research Vessel Floreana is at sea for the purpose of collecting ocean floor sea life. Operating from the Floreana, the two passenger submarine La Senza is deployed and collecting samples.

Captain Peterson, the pilot of La Senza, is making small course corrections according to the instructions of Dr. Lori Morgan, the mission specialist. Peterson notices a new blip on his radar display panel. "Floreana, I'm reading an obstruction at 200 yards on our current course."

The science mission command crew on Floreana is monitoring the data feeds from La Senza. The mission commander looks at the high resolution radar scan from Floreana. "Okay, we're seeing it from up here to."

The radio officer speaks into the microphone of his headset, "Roger, La Senza. From here it looks like an isolated feature. Advise you distance yourselves from the bottom. Clearance of 5 meters estimated if you initiate a five degree climb now."

Peterson initiates the climb. Morgan complains, "We are getting too high for the collection boom."

Peterson puts a hand on Lori's tense shoulder; she is slick with sweat. He advises, "Take five, Doctor. You are loosing a lot of fluids. We have a ledge to get over."

Lori is frustrated by the interruption in her work, but she releases her hold on the levers that control the sample collection system and then relaxes back into her seat. She opens a water bottle and drinks, gulping. The view out through her window dims. She can see that Peterson is turning all of the lights forward, towards the ledge they are approaching. Peterson keeps looking back and forth between the radar screen and the forward window. Gradually a hazy form becomes visible in their path. A warning tone starts to grow louder and the thrust gauge starts to register a reduction in thrust. Peterson casually inactivates the automated collision avoidance system and the forward propulsion returns to its previous level. "Floreana, we are at 50 yards. Visual contact."

From above, "Roger, visual contact confirmed on camera 2." Suddenly Peterson cuts the thrusters and the sub slowly drifts over the obstruction. "La Senza, we read forward thrust zero, please confirm."

Peterson wipes sweat out of his eyes and stares out the window as the object on the sea floor comes into position under the submarine. "Lori, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

She tries to look out the small front window but the angle is bad from her position. She presses a button and shifts her video monitor to the camera 2 circuit. "What the hell is that?"

Peterson replies, "According to radar, that's a perfectly circular disc with a diameter of 20 meters."

Lori shifts her video recording unit from camera 1 to camera 2. "Judging from the accumulated debris, I'd guess its been down here for thousands of years."

From Floreana, "La Senza, do we have radio contact?"

Peterson shakes his head. He says to Lori, "I've seen dozens of ship wrecks. There was no ship like this thousands of years ago." Then he opens his microphone, "Floreana, communication is nominal. This is no rock outcrop down here."

Lori numbly offers, "Lava dome?" Peterson snorts derisively.

From Floreana, "Roger, we have your video, Peterson. What does that look like to you?"

Lori notices a glow that seems to be coming from the mysterious object. She orders, "Kill the lights!"

Peterson finally pulls his eyes away from the window to see if Lori is serious. The sub is almost at rest and he decides it would be safe to go dark. This is a request that Lori has made repeatedly in order to photograph the light-producing organisms that are common at this depth. He kills the lights.

As their eyes adapt, they can see a ring of slowly flashing lights around the circumference of the disc. Peterson chuckles, "Okay, that's it. This must be an NSA submarine listening station."

Lori guffaws. "No. I'm telling you, this has been down here a long time. There's no way to explain this."

Peterson says, "Floreana, this is a thousand year old ship wreck with functioning lights and internal power."

The science mission commander picks up a phone and speaks, "Captain Kelly? I've got something you have to see."

Sixteen hours later the crew of the Floreana has grappled the disc and pulled it to the surface. As the disc rises above the wave, the crane operator looks at a gauge and then shouts to the Captain, "The damned thing weighs less than a ton!"

The crew quickly pulls the disc onto the deck of Floreana, but it is totally dark by the time they have it secured. It rests lightly on the main cargo hold hatch, a perfect fit to the width of the ship's deck. The science mission commander climbs off of the disc and speaks with the captain, "I see no obvious entry hatches."

The Captain scowls at the disc as crew members continue to scrub accumulated debris off of some of the light fixtures. "Maybe Plato knew what he was talking about. Atlantis and all that crap."

Nearby crew members laugh. The Captain orders the helmsman to head for San Diego. A guard is posted on deck and slowly the crew disperses and goes off to bed. As the Moon rises over the horizon the lights on the disc grow brighter.

U2
Langly is sitting in front of a computer screen, going through email addressed to The Lone Gunman. One item is from "WaWa@spoook.net" and is titled "satellite images". Langly opens the email and his screen fills with an image showing the deck of the Floreana. The circular profile of the salvaged disc is visible. He clicks on a button that says "forward" and types "fmulder@gmail.com into the "to" field and then hits "send".

May 6, 2005 3:10 am, W 94.34

In the middle of the night another space ship arrives above the Floreana and uses a tractor beam to lift the salvaged disc off of the deck. The mineral-encrusted disc rises gently and slides into the hold of the larger space ship. The guard watches, at first he is stunned and motionless, then he raises an alarm and the rest of the crew soon comes out on deck. First the guard then the rest of the crew is lifted up into the air and pulled into the space ship.

In the control room of the Floreana, the helmsman watches everything that is happening on the aft deck as shown on a video monitor. He cannot see the space ship hovering above the Floreana. He goes to the radio consol and puts on the headphones. He types "1650 kHz" into the keyboard and says, "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Floreana out of San Diego."

Two men who look like identical twins leap out of the hold of the space ship and fall feet-first towards the Floreana. One lands on the narrow walkway that rings the control room; somehow what should have been a bone-shattering landing is gentle as a cat step. He opens the control room door, enters and points two fingers at the helmsman.

Out of the corner of his eye, the helmsman notices the man enter the control room. The helmsman turns and continues to talk, "Captain and crew taken off ship! Pir-"

A crystalline projectile erupts from between the two fingers of the clone, ripping into the chest of the helmsman. The helmsman springs from his chair and attacks the clone, but as soon as he grabs hold of the clone's still out-stretched arm, his legs buckle and he falls to the floor. The clone steps to the helm consol and shuts off the engines of the Floreana.

The other clone goes below deck and into a room that holds the video archives. He pulls open one of the drawers that line one wall of the room. Inside are neat rows of magnetic tapes. He puts pieces of plastic sheet over the two ventilation ducts in the room then opens all the tape storage drawers a crack and sets a small canister on a desk and departs. Soon the canister emits a cloud of orange acidic mist that ruins the video tapes.

The two brothers perform a quick search of the rest of the ship, find nobody else on board and then they step out on deck and are pulled back up into the space ship.

The hold of the space ship closes and the ship slips away silently into the night. Inside the hold, the two bothers are separated from the crew of the Floreana by a semi-transparent barrier. One of the clones holds up a hand, "Greetings, we mean you no harm. Our only interest is the space ship you salvaged from the ocean floor."

The Captain of the Floreana shouts, "You can't get away with this kind of piracy!"

The clone signals to his brother who activates a control switch on the wall. A gaseous form of their knockout drug starts to spill into the part of the hold containing the crew of the Floreana. "Relax and sleep. Everything will be fine." The crew members start to stagger and collapse. The two clones turn and exit from the hold.

Geer up
Reyes and Doggett are doing paper work in the X-Files office. Doggett is looking for something that is lost in the papers on his desk and he accidentally knocks some file folders on the floor. Doggett groans and says "I really am ready for the paperless society."

Reyes looks up from her work, sees the mess on the floor and goes to help pick up the items that went sliding out of the folders and across the floor. She says, "Maybe we should put through another request for an office assistant."

John and Monica pick up the assorted photos, reports and other items and try to figure out which folder each belongs in. "We may be 'special agents' but we are not special enough to get a secretary."

Three times in a row they each reach for the same folder and they do a funny little juggling of the folders. Monica giggles and gives up, letting John finish the last few items. "They are not called 'secretaries' anymore." She leans against John's desk and crosses her arms.

John looks up at her, "Ya, I'm just a politically incorrect flat foot. I'd use the term 'lord high master of executive file folder management' if it would get some of this drudgery off my back." He picks up the last item from the floor and stares at it. "Hey, this report is what I was looking for." Task complete he stands up, places the miss-filed evidence report on his desk and takes the folders to a filing cabinet. "Thanks for your help, Monica. I guess I should not complain, and should be grateful for what I do have. I hate to think how really awful this job would be without you here to share in the glory of endless paperwork."

Monica says without conviction, "You're a luck man, John."

Doggett closes the file cabinet drawer and strides back towards his desk. He starts to speak but stops and watches Monica. She suddenly seems a million miles away. Or at least a quarter million. During the past month she has continued having flashbacks and dreams concerning the events during her abduction. She has become increasingly persistent in her belief that the group of abductees was taken to the Moon. Doggett at first had dismissed the idea, but he had since heard the same from Mulder.

He leans close to Monica's face and blows a little puff of air onto her forehead. She is startled out of her day dream. "Am I lucky or just trigger happy?" He has a little flashback of his own, the sight of the clone's head rupturing and the wall behind suddenly turning glittery with the light of reflected red neon.

Monica tries to regain a sense of good spirits by sheer will. "We have to put the past behind us. I have to trust that Scully knows what she is doing." She stands up straight and takes several slow and sauntering steps over to John. Slowly she rises up on her toes and looks him in the eye, "And you, Mr. Doggett have to trust your instincts. Nobody has questioned your shooting of that clone."

He looks pleadingly into her eyes, "But Monica, think what we might have learned if I had just wounded him and we could have questioned him. Or maybe we could have done a trade for Scully."

She slowly shakes her head and lets her heels sink back to the floor. "What would you do, call the Moon and say, ‘we seem to have misplaced a former FBI agent, care to swap?’ Drop it, John, and move on. It should be your instinct to go after these aliens with a head shot. We know that might be the only chance of stopping them."

"The problem is, based on the autopsy and from what you and the other abductees reported, these clones are not aliens."

Monica wrinkles her forehead, "I don't know John. Its all too fuzzy now. They may have brain washed us into believing that."

"Are you suggesting that the autopsy results were faked?" He shakes his head emphatically. "That guy I killed was as human as we are. I did not have to kill him."

Monica realizes that she is not going to win this staring contest with John. She backs down and sits down at her desk, takes stock of her progress on the day's work and tries to cheer John with a change of subject and some flippancy. "We could have some fun with this. I could nominate you for FBI office assistant of the month."

Doggett chuckles. "You'd just get us farther onto the bad side of the executive staff."

Reyes gets really mischievous, "Or we could have some sort of contest where the winner does get to have an office assistant for a month. If you win, I have to do all of the paper work for a whole month."

Doggett says, "Why do I think you are planning a contest that you are sure to win?”

Reyes is glad that they have again broken the gloomy spell cast by the loss of Dana. Before she can answer Doggett’s question, the office phone rings. Doggett picks up, "Hello."

It is Assistant Director Skinner's office assistant calling. "John, can you and Monica come to a meeting?"

Doggett is ready to do anything to put an end to the paper work. "Sure. I mean, when is the meeting?"

"Right now. Conference room 1. Skinner is putting together an emergency task force."

"We're on our way." Doggett slams down the phone and grabs Monica's hand as he rushes past her desk. "Come on, something has come up."

Agents Doggett and Reyes open the door to the conference room and twenty pair of eyes turn to them from the gloom. The lights are low and an image of the Floreana is projected onto a screen at the far end of the room. Skinner turns and says, "Come in, Doggett. Reyes. I thought you should hear this. Agent Geer, do a thirty second recap, then continue your briefing." John and Monica sit on a small bench in a corner of the room.

Agent Geer is standing at the far end of the conference table. She points with a laser pointer at the circular disc on the deck of the Floreana that is easily visible in the black and white image projected on the screen. "This is a satellite image of the artifact that was raised from the floor of the Pacific. The salvage team reported that it was glowing with self-generated lights and had an anomalously low mass."

She advances to the next image which shows a color aerial view of a Coast Guard cutter alongside the Floreana. The salvaged disc is gone, and a military VTOL aircraft rests on the cargo hatch which had previously been under the salvaged disc. "The Floreana was returning to its home port with the artifact, then it was attacked by pirates. The entire crew, except one man, is now missing. The salvaged disc is gone.”

Geer turns the room lights back up half way. "This is the recording of the mayday."

They hear, "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Floreana out of San Diego. The guard sounded the alarm and when I looked, the artifact was gone! Then everyone started floating off the ship! Just drifting right off the deck! Captain and crew taken off ship! Pir-" There is a loud clatter in the recording, some faint noises then silence.

Geer explains, "The crewman who made the distress call was the only person left on board. Analysis of the recording shows that low frequency noise from the engines cut off soon after the crewman was silenced." Geer shows the next image, a close up of a wound on a man's chest. "He was incapacitated by some sort of drug, introduced into his body by a glass projectile."

Reyes says, "Analysis will show that it is plastic, not glass. A biodegradable plastic that will leave no permanent residue."

Geer asks, "You've seen this sort of wound before?"

Reyes is ready to reply but Skinner silences her with a glance. Skinner stands up and goes to stand beside Geer. "Let me re-cap, since I misjudged this case from the start. Certain terrorist groups have become very active in open sea piracy. Initial indications were that the Floreana had salvaged some archeological artifact or maybe a piece of lost military hardware. I now think these explanations unlikely. This case increasingly resembles several past X-file cases...."

"Geer interrupts, "Sir, you already put me in charge of this case."

Skinner heaves a deep sigh and pauses before replying, letting his ire at having been interrupted dissipate. He has long experience with the rush of excitement and possessiveness experienced by agents given their first major task force to run. "And you remain in charge, Agent Geer. But this is going to take team work. Agents Reyes and Doggett filed a fifty page report on this type of wound last week. I'll summarize. This type of wound is produced by a crystal projectile that carries a potent neuroactive drug, inducing unconsciousness in less than ten seconds. This type of projectile has been used sporadically all over the world during the past thirty five years. The CIA thinks that the drug was developed in Eastern Europe during the Cold War. The plastic is similar to certain polymers created by a French chemist in the 1950's, but never commercialized because of their unstable chemical structures." Skinner turns control of the meeting back to Geer who sets the special task force in motion along the lines of a piracy investigation.

When Geer ends the meeting, Skinner signals for Doggett and Reyes to follow him back to his office. Just inside the door Skinner stops and huddles with John and Monica. "Guess where you are headed?"

Monica and John both say, "San Diego."

Skinner nods and grins. "The one remaining crewman from the Floreana has been taken to the Naval Air Station Hospital there. He's in exactly the same drug-induced coma that John was in for two days. I want you there when he wakes up."

John says, "He is not going to remember much."

Skinner shrugs. "Do the best you can. Try to confirm if he was shot by one of the clone brothers that took Scully."

Hearing Skinner talk about Scully and the clones sends a shiver up Monica's back. She is rocked by a nightmare-like doubt about Skinner's intentions with respect to Scully. She blurts out, "Sir, are you telling us everything you know about Scully?"

Skinner is surprised by Monica's outburst and stops just before speaking, leaving his mouth hanging open. John is surprised too and he says, "Monica, what are you implying?"

Reyes has a sever sensation of vertigo and stumbles to a chair. She starts to sweat and her respiration is deep and fast. Doggett takes her pulse at her neck and Skinner brings a cup of water. Doggett takes the cup and presses it to Monica's lips. She takes a sip then grabs the cup and pours its contents over her scalp and face. Skinner thinks she's having heart attack and opens the door and starts to shout orders to his assistant, "Medical emergency, call..."

Doggett shouts at Skinner. "No! Wait, she's okay!"

Skinner looks at Monica, "Are you okay? Can you talk?"

Monica nods and replies, "I'm okay. It was some sort of anxiety attack."

Skinner turns back to his assistant, "Have Dr. Josselsen call me." He closes the door again and pulls a chair up next to Reyes.

Doggett takes that chair and continues holding Monica's hands in his. She is still sweating but her hands feel stone cold.

With clear exasperation Skinner pulls over yet another chair and sits down with Reyes and Doggett. "What the hell is going on?"

Reyes shakes a drop of water off the tip of her nose. "I'll be fine, sir."

Doggett says, "Shut up, Monica. She's not fine. She's been dealing with all sorts of strange shit for the past month. Nightmares. Flashbacks."

Skinner says to Reyes, "You've been having these panic attacks for a month and not reporting them?"

Reyes sighs deeply. "No. I've never felt what I just felt. Sir, I had this, I." She tries again. "I knew you were not telling us everything you know about Scully's abduction."

John squeezes Monica's hands, "Monica, do you want to force Skinner to put you on medical leave? There's no-"

Skinner puts a hand on John's shoulder. "No, John. She knows what she is talking about. I don't know how she knows, but she's right. But I can't tell you what I know." Skinner has taken a business card out of his wallet and is writing on the back of it. "You are both going to have to trust that I am doing what's best for Scully."

He hands the card to John, he reads it and hands it to Monica. "Meet Jeff. Mem. 1h," is what Skinner wrote on the card. Skinner keeps talking while they read, "As long as you are physically and mentally fit, Agent Reyes, I need you to get out to San Diego.

Reyes looks up from the card and nods to Skinner. Doggett helps Reyes get to her feet and half carries her out of Skinner's office as she tries to fight off remaining dizziness.

One hour later Reyes and Doggett have booked a flight to San Diego and are on their way to National Airport. They meet Skinner at the Jefferson Memorial. They move off away from the tourists. Reyes and Doggett wait for Skinner to speak. Finally he says, "After John shot that clone, I got a phone call from his brother."

Doggett asks, "One of the clones called you by phone?"

Skinner hangs his head. "I made a deal. The clone said that everyone who had been abducted would be safe if I kept what I knew about Dana's branched DNA to myself. I accepted the deal."

Reyes slaps Skinner's face and screams, "You gave them Scully? You bastard!"

Some tourists are starring at the FBI agents. Doggett takes out his badge and holds it up towards the tourists. "FBI. Everything is under control." He grabs Reyes arm and pulls her over into a dark alcove of the memorial's structure.

Skinner follows along but says nothing. Reyes figures she didn't hit Skinner hard enough. She winds up to really slug him, but John puts her in a bear hug. "Hold on now, Monica! Let him finish!" Then he demands of Skinner, "Is that it? Is that all you have to say?"

Skinner straitens his back and lifts his head. "I assumed Scully would be back. I..." His voice breaks.

Reyes can see tears in Skinner's eyes and she stops straining against Doggett's restraint. She takes one of Skinner's hands in both of hers. "I'm sorry."

Skinner shakes his head, "You are right. It was wrong to make the deal. We never deal with terrorists."

Doggett says, "Don't try to be cute. We are not dealing with terrorists here."

Skinner, sneering, asks Doggett, "What are we dealing with here? Can you tell me that?"

Doggett fires back, "Then name the terrorist organization behind this! You know this is an honest-to-God X-file. Standard FBI rules do not apply."

Reyes does not want Skinner and Doggett getting into a pissing match. She tries to diffuse the cloud of testosterone. "Look, I was there with Dana. She wanted to stay. I'm sure of that now."

Doggett thinks she is just trying to take some of the weight off of Skinner and John is not buying that. "You are not sure of anything. Your memory was turned inside out by those clones."

Reyes looks Doggett in the eye and says, "I know what I know, John"

Doggett smirks, "Ya, right. You know only what those clones programmed into your brain."

Skinner cuts off their bickering. "This is pointless. Either you trust me or you don't. I say," He pauses, "You have no choice. In any case, I'm counting on you two. I can count on you two?"

Reyes and Doggett both say "yes." Skinner turns and walks away.

Reyes takes hold of Doggett’s hand, "Come on, hurry, we're going to miss our flight."

Brave New World
May 10, 2005

Scully looks at herself in the mirror and thinks, "My butt has not looked this good in twenty years." With the low gravity of the Moon, her body has been reshaping itself for the past month. She chuckles to herself. Month. She realizes that she has orbited the Earth once now and wonders where the time has gone. She has been like a kid in a toy store, learning about all of the high tech gizmos known to the Lunatics.

Scully now has her own research lab and her own house and she has been learning about the people who populate this underground Lunar city. Most of them do not concern themselves at all with Earth. Many are artists and Scully is still trying to understand the many novel art forms that are popular on the Moon but unknown to Earth. Some of these involve the sophisticated and ubiquitous computers that are natural components of everything in this world. Dana says, "Mirror, mirror, who's the fairest?"

The computer in her dressing room replies, "Current dating service polls rank Jenni Detrin of South Park as the fairest of them all."

Scully titters and can't resist a peek. Show me a picture of her." A holographic projection of Jenni Detrin appears beside Scully. It says, "Hello, Dana."

Dana is still a bit nervous talking to such simulations. "You are cute. Do you have a boy friend?"

Another projected simulation appears beside Jenni. The simulated Jenni says, "This is Rani Umahrto, my current partner." Then unexpectedly, "Hey, I saw you on the Earth Report. You're a new immigrant!"

Scully has learned that not many people come up from Earth and get to integrate into Lunar society and that as one of these select few, she is a minor celebrity. The Rani simulation asks, "How are you adapting to life on the Moon?"

Scully realizes that she is a little irked with herself for being so happy on the Moon. Whole days now go by with hardly a thought of Earth.

The Jenni simulation asks, "Did you leave someone special behind on Earth?"

Scully shouts at the dressing room computer, "Shut them off!"

The simulation images evaporate. The dressing room computer says, "They're just simulations. No point in getting mad at them."

Scully finishes getting dressed. "What about you? Are you just one of these simulated personalities?"

The voice of the dressing room computer sounds hurt. "I'm an autonomous mind. I'm pleased to be your dressing room expert."

Scully leaves the dressing room, walks through her luxurious bedroom, down a hall, down a flight of stairs, down another hall and into the living room of her house. What looks like Mulder is sitting in a chair watching a holographic simulation of a baseball game and drinking a beer. Scully thinks to herself- this has got to be the biggest mistake of my life.

The Mulder robot springs to his feet, turns his baseball cap around to point backwards and sweeps Scully up in his arms. She thinks- well, he is a great kisser. She says, "I'm going out," and turns to leave.

The Mulder robot says, "Why don't you ever take me out?"

Scully stops in her tracks and slowly turns around. "I can't believe you said that."

The robot shrugs. "I could make you very happy, Dana."

Dana looks at the ring on her right index finger and twists a small lever protruding from it. The Mulder robot shuts off. She says to the room computer, "I want this thing gone when I get back. And if I ever start talking about making another, remind me how much I came to hate this one." She turns and strides out the front door of her house.

Dana lives in a part of the underground city known as Aventine. The individual dwellings are mostly under the ground level. The ground level resmbles a garden with paths for walking. Dana looks up at the simulated sky; today it is pink. Every day the residents can vote for the sky color of the day. She reaches the entrance to the local Lezaro and enters by going down the stairs. Scully has learneed that most domes of the city have a Lezaro, a sort of combination art gallery and bar. She goes to the section of the Lezaro that resembles a sidewalk cafe. A robot worker shows her to her favorite table and takes her order.

Scully looks around and recognizes many of the patrons. Her eyes keep drifting back to a new woman who seems to be watching Dana. Dana judges the woman to be approximately 30 years old, but she has learned that many anti-aging technologies are used on the Moon and residents are often much older than they look. The robot brings Dana her meal and inclines its head towards the woman who has been glancing at Dana. The robot says, "Her name is Roberta Lincoln, and she would like to join you for dinner."

Rater than just glancing, Dana stares at the woman. They exchange small nods of their heads. Dana decides that the women chooses to show the world a rather convention good looks, somewhat out of fasion for the Lunar city where all manner of exotic personal looks are crafted and displayed by the residents. Dana tells the robot, "Very well, invite her over."

Roberta comes over to Scully's table and introduces herself to Dana. The robot brings Roberta's dinner over and they settle down to eating. The first thin Roberta does is drop her spoon on the floor. The robot server is there instantly with a new spoon. Dana asks, "You do not seem to from around here, are you from Earth?"

Roberta nods, "Yes, that's why I want to talk to you. I was told that you are also a recent immigrant." Dana is intrigued by the sound of Roberta's voice- it could be that of a teenager.

Scully says, "I prefer the term 'visitor', I never agreed to stay here for ever."

"The longer you stay the harder it will be to ever go back. Do you ever think about going back? I do all the time. Sure, it is fun here, and these robots are wild! I mean, I wonder if I'll ever find a real man who can do it half as good. But still, I just have to get back to Earth." After that machine gun speed prattle Roberta falls silent and rests her chin in the palm of one hand and looks at Dana with what strikes Scully as contrived gravity. Dana can't keep from laughing. Roberta asks, "What's so funny?"

Dana tries to explain, "You are looking at me like I'm a laboratory specimin."

Roberta grins and now tries to treat Scully like an old friend. "Yes, I'm a scientist like you. We have much in common. I feel like I can read your mind, like I know you very well, Dana." She extends her index finger along side her delicate nose and lits her head to one side, "But I need to know if I can really trust you."

Scully sits back and sips her wine. She is vastly amused by Roberta. Scully can't remember ever having met a scientist who seemed so- ditsy. Scully tries to rewind and start the conversation over. "How did you come to be here on the Moon?"

Roberta proceeds to tell Dana her life story. Half an hout later Dana needs to pee and Roberta is just getting into telling the story of her college years. Roberta pauses to take a huge bite of chocolate cream pie, giving Dana a chance to ask, "But Roberta, what brought you to the Moon?"

Roberta takes a sip of coffee and seems to realize how far she has wondered from where even she wanted the conversation to go. Dana wonders- is she blushing? Roberta collects her wits, such as they are, and asks, "Do you follow the Earth News?"

This is an around the clock news service that never really mentions Earth. It covers what might be called Earth-related gossip and works of art that purport to depict the culture of Earth. The Earth News also tries to intrude in the personal lives of new immigrants from Earth and report on how the adapt to life on the Moon. "I've seen it and find it shallow and offensive."

Roberta giggles like a school girl. After thirty seconds she has regained enough control to talk again. "I'd love to hear them report that comment on the Earth News. Dana, you simply must give them an interview and slip that in." Roberta laughs again, dabs a small tear from her eye and asks, "What was I saying?"

Dana pleads, "Can you tell me how you came to be here on the Moon?"

Roberta replies, "Surely you know. It has dominated the news for the past week. The Floreana?" Dana looks at Roberta blankly. Roberta repeats herself with a jiggly shaking of her head, "The Floreaaaaanaaaaa?"

Scully is clueless. "Is that some sort of flower?"

Roberta throws her hands up in the air. "Really, Dana, you must have heard. The marine research ship Floreana? We were all brought up here together, the crew, all of the research staff."

Dana says, "Oooooh. Ya, I think I did hear something about that. I thought the crew was sent back to Earth?"

Roberta reaches across the table and puts a hand on top of Dana's. "They were. Everybody went back, except me."

Dana had long felt Roberta's story was heading towards this. Scully says, "Then we do have something in common. But tell me, why you? Why did everyone go back except you?"

Roberta says, "I'm a marine biologist, so I do not understand what they told me, but they said that I'm a carrier of some virus and, an alien virus, and they do not want me to go back to Earth."

Chapter 4
May 15, 2005 Gary Seven returns Roberta Lincoln and Dana to Earth (San Diego). They work on the genetic engineering of Prochloroflexus marinus.

Chapter 5
September 23, 2005 Scully and Roberta Lincoln are at an estuary of the mouth of the Colorado river doing field tests on their engineered Prochloroflexus marinus. The bacteria are having some trouble adapting to conditions outside of the lab.

Chapter 6
Mulder meets with the Lone Gunmen, they tell him about a clone sighting at Scully's former rental house in Damascus. They speculate, Mulder decides to shadow Doggett and Reyes.

Chapter 7
Doggett and Reyes given new assignment by Skinner, follow up on recent spat of clone sightings. No sooner do Doggett and Reyes leave his office and Skinner is contacted by a clone. Skinner demands to know how Scully is. The clone says they have located her in San Diego. They want the FBI to pick her up. Skinner agrees, sends Doggett and Reyes, but makes plans to prevent Scully from actually going back into the hands of the clones.

Chapter 8
September 24, 2005 Doggett and Reyes first go to San Diego, learn about the field station.

Funny scenes with Mulder and Skinner each watching Doggett and Reyes and everyone just barely missing seeing each other.

Mulder checks at front desk of hotel for message from Lone Gunmen, goes to elevator, desk clerk runs after him calling name, jumps into elevator with Mulder. Skinner hears Mulder's name, but Front desk wont reveal Mulder's room.

Chapter 9
Skinner trying desperately to get the cooperation of Mexican authorities.

Chapter 10
At night, Gary Seven arrives and gives Roberta Lincoln a new virus to modify the Prochloroflexus marinus to make it able to adapt to the ocean. Dana discovers Roberta infecting the bacterial cultures with the virus and does a test, discovering that she was using an alien branched DNA virus.

Chapter 11
Hands up! (this could be a funny serries of reversals of fate) September 25, 2005
 * 1) Scully confronts Roberta about the virus.
 * 2) Gary Seven comes to take Scully back to the Moon.
 * 3) Doggett and Reyes arrive, capture Gary Seven, free Scully
 * 4) Clones arrive, capture everyone, say they will shut down Gary's project
 * 5) Mulder and the Lone Gunmen arrive, they find the clones' space ship and (funny scene, fly off with it)
 * 6) Clones have to start making a deal with Gary for the use of his ship, he agrees to let them have his ship and Scully if he can take the bacteria.
 * 7) Skinner arrives with Mexican army, frees Scully, Clones fly off (Reyes stows away on the space ship), with the help of Isis, Gary escapes with the carbon fixing bacteria.

Chapter 12
September 26, 2005 Mulder and the Lone Gunmen have crashed the alien ship in the Mexican desert. They are all trying to hike to civilization

Chapter 13
September 27, 2005 Scully with Mulder in hospital as Mulder regains consciousness. She tells him that Reyes is still missing.

Chapter 14
September 28, 2005 Doggett being assigned a new partner (Keri Ann Wold) by Skinner, and a new project.

Chapter 15
Doggett ignores new project and continues trying to find Reyes. Goes to see Mulder and Scully (now back at Scully's house in Damascus). Funny scenes as Doggett keeps making up stories and busy work for his new partner.

Scully suggests that Doggett tries to blackmail Gary Seven; Scully will not reveal alien source of carbon fixing bacteria if he gets Reyes back

Gary Seven arrives and blanks their memories. Creates a new bond between Keri and John, Fox and Dana as expedient for shifting their thoughts away from recent events.

Where next
Yes, there is going to have to be a second X-Seven story in which Doggett and Reyes are re-united. This has the potential makings of some rather heated and happy ending DRR.

Part II of X-Seven is going to see the re-uniting of John and Monica. I'm thinking that Monica is going to be tied up in an alien operation on Earth (think Patty Hearst) and be trying to manipulate John (and his new partner) while trying to double-cross the aliens. John will be forced to work on an assignment that he is uninterested in, but he will learn that it leads to Monica. Once they are back together they are going to kick some alien butt.

Maybe the clones can be trying to gain access to Skinner so they can manipulate his memory. They put Monica on some other "dummy mission" while using her presense on Earth to set a trap for Skinner.

Gary Seven will be trying to help Skinner (in order to work against the clones). Also using Roberta to feed Doggett clues about the case he is on, so he can figure out it is a cold "clones case" and actually leads to the current location of some of the clones (and Monica).

"cold case": several years previously (okay, this has to be the unexplained teaser for Part II) Gary Seven is on Earth trying to prevent the September 11 attacks. The clones foil his attempt to do so, but leave behind some key evidence of how they operate on Earth.

Doggett and Keri are initially assigned a new X-File case dealing with the theft of some Sept. 11th Commission documents. (Some funny report of Roberta "magically" getting into a high security document storage facility.) Then Roberta shows up at John's house with the documents and tries to get him to understand how they are related to the clones and Monica.