textfiles/sf/XFILES/a1

                        OCEAN FILES

An X-Files / Ocean Girl crossover story by Bruce Carter - with help from Lia
Dawn.

OK - about the title.  I could have called it "X-Girl", but everybody would
think I was writing an X-rated story.  I would not do that to the wonderful
series Ocean Girl, or Marzena Godeki - who seems to be a nice person.

                        Mulder's Office

Mulder was waiting anxiously.  This was one of the few times he ever had
reason to be annoyed at Scully.  Skinner was all business today and had called
both of them promptly for a meeting at 8:00 AM.  Scully was nowhere to be
found - uncharacteristically late.  Usually it was Mulder who was late to
work.  But not since he narrowly avoided disciplinary action for attacking
Skinner in the hallway.  The investigation had cleared him of responsibility
when they determined that he was, indeed, being drugged through his water
supply.  But Mulder knew that Skinner was just barely tolerating his presence,
any understanding they once had was gone.  And so he had been playing
"professional".  To work on time, leave on time.  His office was newly cleaned
and almost looked organized.  Not one sunflower seed shell in sight.  Well,
maybe one or two.  Now this - Scully was making the two of them look bad.
Skinner's calls every 5 minutes to see if Scully had arrived did not help.
Mulder could almost taste cigarette smoke over the line as well ----

Scully suddenly burst in - looking like she hadn't had too much sleep the
night before.  Mulder - never able to stay mad at her when she was there in
person - just said "hot date last night?"  Scully's cheeks turned just about
as red as her hair, but only for a moment.  She just said "I forgot to turn
on the alarm".  "Skinner is waiting for us - impatiently"  "Damn - why this
morning?" she asked.  "Something about a new assignment".

                   Assistant Director Skinner's Office

"Agent Scully, thank you for finally gracing us with your presence."  "Sorry,
sir, it won't happen again."  "Agents Mulder and Scully, you have been
re-assigned to detached duty for the Australian government.  They have need of
agents with your special - talents."  From the back of the room - a shadowy
figure was smoking a cigarette.  "During this assignment, you will represent
the United States government and this agency with the highest professional
standards.  Do I make my meaning clear?"  Mulder nodded his head submissively.
"My secretary has your travel arrangements.  That will be ALL - agent Mulder,
will you remain a minute?"  Mulder could sense it coming - Skinner was not
hard to figure out.  Here was the lecture about not running off on tangents
about UFOS and mutants and playing it straight.  To his surprise - especially
with cancer man in the background - all Skinner did is say one word:
"Contact!" Then "You may leave".

                The Hallway --- back to his office

Scully had already left to go home and pack a few essentials.  Mulder had a
bag already packed in his office - years of experience following UFO leads had
told him to be prepared at moment's notice.  He was mildly annoyed that Scully
hadn't learned to be similarly prepared, but he knew she was a woman - who
needed to pack right before leaving.  She was well worth the bother of the
wait.

Mulder's heart was starting to race - his mind filled with questions.  Skinner
would normally never give the slightest indication of going along with his UFO
notions.  Especially with cancer man present.  Did this mean that Skinner had
totally forgiven the incident in the hall?  Did it mean that cancer man was on
HIS side after all?  It didn't seen likely - after cancer man had given an
order which very well could have incinerated him.  The chilling word:
"contact" had only been given to him once before - by his friend on capital
hill.  Did that mean that Skinner, or cancer man, or both had discovered (and
maybe eliminated) his friend in high places, maybe Mr. X as well?  All of
these questions paled in significance compared to the idea that he might
actually be going to an assignment where he would make contact.

He arrived at his office, retrieved his bag, and headed to the airport to wait
for Scully.  There was NOT a lot of time ----

------

                                The ORCA complex

Mulder and Scully arrived by helicopter at the Oceanic Research Centre
Australia, or ORCA for short.  They had been given a short preliminary
briefing when they reached Australia - something about two scientists and some
VERY unusual trasmissions.  They had been told the commander of ORCA would
complete their briefing.  They were very tired, having endured a long plane
ride, followed by small, bumpy plane rides and VERY bumpy jeep ride to the
heliport.  The fatigue was making them more than usually irritable.

Vanessa was the first to see the strange visitors from America, as their
helicopter landed on the pad.  She had never been very popular with the other
kids at ORCA, she knew she wasn't terribly pretty.  Her attitude had made
her really unpopular until she decided she would fit in.  She had recently
started a real relationship with Mick, Commander's Byrne's son, who was
supposed to meet her on deck to go jet-skiing.  Mick was a similar outcast,
and the best guy who had ever paid attention to her.  But now - her day was
ruined because the commander had cancelled his day off - she needed Mick to
meet some VIP's from America and show them around ORCA.  He did not like the
idea, either, but he did not dare cross his mother.

"They look like fun" Vanessa said sarcastically to herself.  The man was tall
and attractive, but VERY straight, with ugly short hair.  Not her type.  The
woman was a redhead, which was in her favor, but beautiful, which just made
Vanessa jealous.

Mulder and Scully, to their surprise and annoyance, were met by a sullen faced
teenage boy, about 17 or 18.  "I am special agent Mulder, this is special
agent Scully - on loan from the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
We were expecting Commander - Byrne?"  "Yeah, well she couldn't make it.  We
are having drills today.  I'm her son, Mick. I'm supposed to show you to your
quarters."

Mulder and Scully could sense the open hostility in his voice, they looked at
each other in disbelief that they were being met by this teenager.  He
immediately saw the look, and it added to his own bad attitude.  "Look, I
haven't got all day, you made me miss an important date!"  Mulder - unphased -
said "if commander Byrne is busy, could you take us to see Dr. Bates and Dr.
Seth on the way to our quarters?"  Mick was more than willing to ditch them
there - it was close to Vanessa's quarters!  "Sure!  He said.  But he knew
something was up if they wanted to see Jason and Bret's mother.

"Dr. Bates, Dr. Seth?  These people are from the US - the FBI - they asked to
meet you."  Mick did the introduction clumsily.  "Fox Mulder, this is my
partner Dana Scully"  Mulder said to complete the introduction.  Dr. Diane
Bates was a pleasant looking woman, quite attractive for her age, which he
judged to be mid to late 30's.  Dr. Winston Seth was obviously from India -
with his very distinct pronuciation.  Mick had already slipped out of the room
---- The initial pleasantries soon turned to tension that Mulder and Scully
could easily sense.

"Just why are you here?"  Diane asked - as politely as she could.  "We were
requested by commander Byrne"  Scully answered.  "She is concerned that some
jamming signals are hindering your work of charting the sea floor, and wanted
some experts to determine the origin of the jamming and hopefully eliminate
it."  Oh great  - just what we need - FBI agents nosing around thought Diane.
How typical of commander Byrne - thinking only about the sea floor mapping and
not her whale dictionary.  Worse yet - any serious investigation would reveal
her connection to Neri ----.  Still, if she acted like they didn't want the
help, it would look even more suspicous.  Dr. Seth tried to salvage the
situation.  "Actually, we are recording a dictionary of whale vocalizations.
We tagged one whale we call Charlie with an audio transducer, and were making
a lot of progress.  Then one day, quite mysteriously, we began to receive
noise along with the signal." Diane took up his lead "Commander Byrne can get
a little - excitable - when her ocean survey is delayed.  I am sorry you were
dragged all the way from America to investigate - static."  Mulder was sensing
a cover-up already, and NOT buying it.  "Could I see some of your data?"  A
reluctant Dr. Seth loaded the CD ROM with the data.  Mulder said "this is no
static - it is a regular pattern that repeats.  Has this pattern continued?"
Dr. Seth was absolutely panicing, but had to hide it.  This was their worst
nightmare - a trail of evidence leading straight to Neri and her island.  But
he decided to play along.  "Yes, it has continued.  I suspect some design flaw
in our sensor causing it to oscillate." Mulder said half to him, half to
Scully "I have seen this same pattern before. It is a transmission - a homing
beacon of some kind."  Scully knew that Mulder was probably drawing from his
personal file of UFO encounter knowlege.  An announcement came over a video
link - Commander Byrne was ready to see them - NOW!  Diane was so relived she
offered to guide them to the commander's quarters.

Mick found Vanessa, and they quickly found Froggy, Jason, Bret, and the other
kids on ORCA who knew about Neri.  "These people are bad news" Jason said.
"But what can we do about it?" Vanessa asked.  Mick said "Let's get Froggy -
he can get HELEN to do anything."  Froggy was a computer whiz.  He knew more
about HELEN - the ORCA central computer - than the engineers that designed it.
He had free reign of the system, within limits, because the commander knew he
had repaired "her" when all the experts had given up.  The commander had given
him a very high access code, but not quite high enough to allow him to
eavesdrop on the private conversation in her office with the strangers.  No
problem - he had the connection through anyway in seconds.  All the kids
gathered around the monitor as the picture and sound came on.