textfiles/sf/XFILES/x-filesi

Hi all,

If you've been keeping up with the threads on alt.tv.x-files, you might have 
read about ideas for an international X-Files show.  Of course, that will
most likely never happen, but I thought I'd write up my own version of what 
such a story *might* look like.  It'll be entirely up to you to decide if 
it works for you or not.

Here follows "X-Files Internacionale", by Steven Han, 8/16/1994, Part 1 of 2.
Being another one of my 'concept' pieces, you might not like this story.  
But then, hey - what do you expect for free? :^)

Boy, I'm just cranking these stories out like a sausage machine.  And since 
no one's complained so far, I'm going to keep posting these silly stories 
until someone tells me to stop. :^)


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

December 15th, 1994
8:05 a.m. EST
1:05 p.m. GMT
FBI Headquarters
Washington, D.C.

Dana Scully walked into her office and hung her coat on the rack.  She
turned to Mulder and greeted him in her casual voice.  "Morning, Mulder.
What's new?"

Mulder sat on the edge of his desk, intently reading a fax.  He responded
without lifting his head, "Scully, did you hear about the comet last night?"

Walking over to her desk, Scully turned her towards Mulder with a curious 
look on her face.  "A comet, Mulder?"

Mulder pulled his head up and looked over at Scully.  "Yep, an asteroid.  
It landed last night outside a small town in Arizona, about forty miles 
south of Flagstaff."

"Very interesting, Mulder.  But it doesn't quite sound like an X-File", 
said Scully, sitting down behind her desk.  "Is there something more to
it? were there any little green men on board?"

Mulder's lips formed into a smile, and he continued on.  "No, Scully, but
there was definitely something on that rock.  Turns out, the people from
Clarksville, a nearby town, went out to take a look.  You know those
small town types; not much for them to see at night except for the dogs
howling at the moon.  So this must've been something really special."

"Anyway, about thirty of them went out to the site and came back a few
hours later.  That was around nine o'clock.  At about midnight, people
started collapsing.  The town doctor didn't know what was going on; in
fact, he collapsed himself a little later.  Eventually, people started
dropping left and right.  The remaining ones called up the county sheriff's
office, and the sheriff put the town under quarantine.  And apparently, as
of 3:00 a.m. this morning, Arizona time, all communication ended with the
people of Clarksville."

Scully grew more fascinated.  "So what do they think happened to those 
people?"

"They believe the townspeople are dead.  All one hundred and six of them.",
said Mulder flatly.

Scully's eyes narrowed.  "But Mulder, what are you suggesting, that the
comet caused all their deaths?  you can't be serious.", she said.

"Then what do you think?", retorted Mulder.

"Well, perhaps those people that came into contact with the asteroids -
perhaps they suffered radiation poisoning, from the stellar matter.",
said Scully.

"But Scully, that doesn't explain why the rest of the townspeople died with 
them.  There's no way the original thirty people could have carried the 
radiation back with them, unless they physically brought large chunks of 
the asteroid back to the town.  And even then, there could not have been
enough radiation emitted by the chunks to kill everyone in a matter of a
few hours.  Even severe radiation poisoning can take days to kill a person."

"So what do you think the answer is, Mulder?", asked Scully, leaning back 
and crossing her arms.

"That's what we're going to find out, Scully.  We have a plane to catch."






3:15 p.m. local time
10:15 a.m. GMT
In a field 30 miles north of St. Petersburg, Russia

Captain Victor Ivnanovich of the St. Petersburg police Special Investigative
Unit approached the site of the newly formed crater.  Slowing down to sixty 
kilometers per hour, he observed a flurry of activity near the site.  
Numerous Red Army trucks were parked by the side of the road, and two Hind 
helicopters were circling the site of the downed asteroid.

Victor slowed down further and turned the car to the left, pulling off
the old highway and onto the frozen tundra.  He maneuvered his rickety 
police cruiser past several snow-covered trees and pointed it in the
direction of the activity.  

Moments later, he ran up against a barricade manned by two soldiers.  They
had Kalashnikov rifles slung over their shoulders, and did not look very
friendly.

"Halt", said one soldier, holding out his palm in Victor's direction.
Victor obligingly brought the car to a halt in front of the barricade.  The
soldier walked up to Victor's car and bent down to look into the window.

Victor leaned down to the window crank and lowered his driver-side window.
Turning to look at the soldier, he saw the officer's breath forming vapors 
in the cold Russian air.  The soldier was wearing a thick gray overcoat and 
a gray army issue cap.  He looked to be no more than twenty-five years old.
His baby face was pink and flush from standing out in the cold.

The soldier looked into the car and saw Victor sitting alone in the
driver's seat.  He turned to him and said in an arrogant tone, "Look,
this area is off limits to civilian personnel.  You'll have to turn your
car around."

Victor was annoyed at the petulant little army boy.  He looked at the
soldier's epaulets.  A Junior Lieutenant, he noticed.  Looking back 
into the soldier's eyes, Victor started.  "Look, kid.  I'm not just any
civilian, I'm captain Victor Ivanovich of the St. Petersburg police.  
See?", he said, pulling out his badge.  "And I'm here to investigate a
disturbance.  Now why don't you let me through, little boy?"

The soldier grew visibly angry, and raised his tone of voice.  "Mister, you
could be arrested for just looking at this place.  Now I suggest you turn 
around, and get the hell out of here *right now*!"

Victor grew furious at the obnoxious little kid.  Who was he to tell me what
to do, he thought.  Why, this kid's probably been in that uniform less than 
five years.  Victor, for his part, had been a uniformed police officer for 
over twenty-two years, had been decorated six times, even received the 
mayor's highest award of valor.  And in his years with the Special 
Investigative Unit, he had seen all sorts of things, the kinds of bizarre, 
strange things that would make the soldier's beady little eyes bulge out.  
The kinds of unexplainable things that would make this comet look like a 
drunken motorist with a flat tire, thought Victor.

Besides, at six foot three and 230 pounds, Victor figured he could 
undoubtedly mash the scrawny little runt into a pulp.  But he decided 
against it; getting in trouble with the army was never a good idea, not 
even in these times of openness and political reform.

He was about to try reasoning logically with the soldier when someone
approached from behind the lieutenant and pulled him out of the way.
Seconds later, and army colonel bent down into Victor's car window.

"Hello, I am colonel Petrenko.  And who am I speaking to?", he asked in
a professional voice.

"Hello, colonel.  I am captain Ivanovich of the St. Petersburg police,
Special Investigations Division.  I'm here to investigate a disturbance in
the area.", he said, handing over his ID wallet.

The colonel inspected Victor's credentials for a moment, and handed the
wallet back to him.  "A little out of your jurisdiction, aren't you,
captain?", he asked, smiling.

"Well, you know, colonel, ..", Victor said, trying to explain.  But the
colonel cut him off.  "Please, step out of the car and come with me,
captain.", he said, motioning to Victor.

Not sure of what to do, Victor did as the colonel asked and got up out
of his vehicle.  Noticing Victor's uncertainty, the colonel let out a 
reassuring smile and held out an arm towards him.  "Come, come, my police 
friend, we have something very important to discuss."

The colonel put his hand behind Victor's shoulder, and led him towards the 
asteroid.





11:25 a.m. local time
3:25 p.m. GMT
60 miles south of Buenos Aires, Argentina

"How much further is it?", shouted Enrico Fernandez into his microphone.  
Even with the heavy helmet shielding his ears, the noise of the helicopter
rotors was deafening.

"We're almost there, lieutenant", replied the pilot.  Enrico looked
outside the windows of the Aerospatiale helicopter, and saw the outlines
of a large crater in the distance.  He looked back at sergeant Jose 
Mendez, his partner.  Jose was not taking the bumpy ride well, and was 
looking rather pale.

Enrico smiled and stroked his mustache as he recalled the numerous times 
they had taken these trips by helicopter.  He remembered how intensely 
Jose had hated them.  He hated fixed-wing aircraft as well; anything with 
wings, in fact.  

Enrico realized they had now been working together for three years in the
special investigation division of the Argentine national crime bureau.  
Enrico had taken the young agent, twenty years his junior, in under his 
wing.  Although Enrico was married with three daughters, he had no sons,
and the young agent fresh out of law school had become like an adopted son 
to him.

Enrico had always been fascinated with astronomy, ever since he took his
first astronomy class in college.  He had always suspected there was life 
out there in the stars; after all, with the billions and billions of 
galaxies in the universe, each containing billions and billions of stars, it
seemed likely that one of those stars must surely have a planet capable of 
sustaining life, he thought.  

He had also been fascinated by the reports of crop circles and cattle 
mutilations in the countryside, although his superiors had told him not to
waste his time investigating such nonsense.  It was probably all the work of 
some teenage pranksters, his superiors had told him.  As for himself, he
wasn't so sure.

The copter descended down on the hilltop overlooking the impact site.
Enrico eagerly jumped out of the chopper, and Jose followed with a bit
of hesitation.  Looking down the hill, Enrico saw a long black scar in the
ground, stretching for nearly half a mile from north to south.  At the 
southern end about four hundred feet away from him was a smoking ember, a 
roughly circular rock about the size of a large delivery van.  It was 
surrounded by vehicles and men in white body suits and oxygen masks.  In 
the distance beyond was a small village.

Enrico walked briskly down the hill in the direction of the asteroid, as 
Jose picked up his pace to catch up with him.  Enrico heard him protesting 
behind him, "But Enrico, sir, we have to check the radiation readings first.
It may not be safe here!"

Enrico brushed him off, saying, "That's not important right now, Jose.
What's of importance here is that we have sixty people dead in that village,
all because of this one asteroid."

Jose continued to protest as he tried to catch up with Enrico. "But we 
don't know that for sure; there may have been something else that affected 
them.  Perhaps the water supply, or a batch of bad dairy products.  How 
can we know for sure?", he asked, gasping.

Enrico picked up his pace ever further, breaking into a jog.  "Well, that's 
what we're here to find out."  He saw the technicians in their white 
overalls just ahead of him, and he could feel the excitement stirring in 
his veins.






5:44 p.m. local time
8:44 a.m. GMT
72 miles northeast of Osaka, Japan

Lieutenant Toru Onuki of the Japanese Nation Criminal Investigative
Bureau approached the head technician at the crater site.

"Is it safe to approach the asteroid?", he asked the man in the white coat.

"Yes, but the radiation level is borderline acceptable.  I recommend you
wear a radiation suit."

Toru struggled with the bulky yellow radiation suit for several minutes, 
trying not to wrinkle his newly pressed gray tweed suit.  He finally
managed to don the awkward garment, and put on a matching yellow hat
with a clear plastic viewscreen.  He looked like a creature out of a bad 
1950's Japanese monster film.

He stepped out of the makeshift dressing van and turned towards the site
of the fallen comet.  He noticed a buzz of activity around the site,
with technicians in radiation suits taking instrument readings and
collecting soil samples.  Others were touching the truck-sized piece of 
space debris with strange long metal probes.  Still others were recording 
the whole event on videotape.

Toru slowly descended the pit created by the malformed piece of rock, 
stepping gingerly in his slippery radiation boots.  He approached the dark 
black and brown blob of an asteroid, which stood more than three times his 
height.  He was impressed by its size, and thought about its destructive 
power.  He wondered whether this object had really caused the deaths of all 
those farmers and villagers this morning.

The diminutive man's eyes sparkled as he gazed deeply at the mysterious 
object.  In all his fifteen years with the bureau, he had never run into a 
case like this.  He tried to think back into his past investigative work
to see if any part of his experience would be of help here.

He had started out at the bottom, as a street cop in Osaka, then recruited 
into the elite national bureau.  Over the years, he had made a specialty 
of solving unusual criminal cases, ones his colleagues had given up on.

But even he was stumped on this particular case.  Over a hundred villagers 
had died, all over a period of a few hours.  There were no reports of any 
outbreaks of disease in the area, nothing that could have caused such a 
massive loss of life.  He had seen nothing like this before.

He mulled the case over further in his head.  The deaths were localized to 
this region, all ocurring within a five-mile radius of the asteroid.  Could 
the asteroid have carried some destructive agent with it?  It seemed so 
unlikely, such a strange possibility even for him to consider.  But he 
could see no other rational explanations.  He turned to talk with one of 
the astronomers on the site.






2:14 p.m. local time
1:14 GMT 
In a field 44 miles north of Hamburg, Germany

Karl Hurchstburg of the German Federal Investigative Bureau stood looking at
the oddly shaped asteroid that had landed in the wheat fields in front of
them.  He looked over at his partner, Ute Schumaker, and noticed her looking
equally puzzled.  The tall, imposing blond woman was poised on the
edge of the crater, looking down intently at the smoldering heap.  Her
freckled face was locked in a questioning gaze.

"So, Ute, do you still think this piece of space garbage killed all those 
people?", asked Karl, trying to be heard through the plastic face cover of
their protective suits.

"I really don't know, Karl", responded Ute, now more unsure of herself
than ever.  She wondered whether her twelve years of criminal investigative
experience would be of any help here.  There were no fingerprints to be
lifted, no DNA traces to analyze.  She could sense that her partner was 
getting impatient.  He had been skeptical from the start; he had insisted 
that this incident was not even under their jurisdiction, that the Ministry 
of health should be the only ones investigating.  But then he had never too 
been happy about many of the cases they had investigated, anyway.

Ute smiled as she remembered Karl's skepticism, how he always relied on his 
supposed logic and his advanced degree in physics to provide a straight 
answer for every problem.  "It's all in the science", he kept saying 
confidently.  "Study the problem long enough, and you'll find the answers 
staring back at you."

She had reacted to such naive comments in the past with a smile, comfortable 
in her knowledge that more often than not, these investigations did not
produce such pat answers.  As a matter of fact, many of the cases she had
investigated before Karl joined up with her had been filed away unsolved,
their bizarre circumstances defying all attempts at rational explanation.

But perhaps Karl was right this time, she thought.  This object seemed like 
just an ordinary asteroid, exceptional only in the fact that it had avoided 
burning up completely in the atmosphere.

Still, she was perplexed.  She had thought she had all the pieces sorted 
out; the asteroid was the only link between the deaths.  The forty-seven 
villagers that had lived nearby, and the eleven people that had reported 
stopping on the road to view the asteroid.  They were all dead, just seven
hours after the reported impact time of the asteroid.

She looked down at her Geiger counter to check the radiation readings again.
Eighteen rads.  Above normal levels, but not unusual for something that just
came in from outer space.  And certainly not enough to kill anybody, except
from very young children.  But all of the victims had been adults and older
children, all apparently in good health.

She wondered about the possible causes, but her mind kept returning to
the possibility of an alien virus.  Nothing else could explain it,
especially the fact that the townspeople who hadn't even visited the
asteroid had gotten sick and died.  The ones who had come out and
returned home must have spread it to the others, she figured.  And if it
indeed was a virus, the implications were mind-boggling.






10:21 a.m. local time
5:21 p.m. GMT
On US 46, 38 miles south of Flagstaff, Arizona

Mulder bit into some sunflower seeds, spitting the shells out the driver's
side window.  Scully peered intently at the outstretched map in front of 
her and then folded it back up.  "Well, we should be there any time now", 
she said.

"And here we are", said Mulder, spotting a group of vehicles gathered on
the horizon.

As they approached the posse of official cars and vans, Mulder noticed a
blockade sitting across the road, with a menacing-looking state trooper 
standing next to it.  He slowed the Taurus down and stopped in front of the 
barricade.

The trooper walked over to Mulder's window and looked down at him.  Mulder 
rolled down the driver's window and leaned out, flashing his badge.  "Hello,
officer, I'm special agent Mulder with the FBI, and this is special agent 
Scully.  We're here to investigate a case."

The trooper responded with a sullen look on his face.  "I'm sorry agents, 
but no one is allowed beyond this barricade.  The area's been sealed off by
the CDC."

Mulder's eyes narrowed.  "The Centers for Disease Control?  When did they
get here?"

"Early this morning, sir.  And they've quarantined the whole town.  I'm
afraid you're going to have to turn back."

"Well, we'll see about that.  Come on, Scully, get out of the car.", said
Mulder, opening the driver's side door.

"What? but Mulder!", protested Scully, but Mulder had already stepped
out of the vehicle.  She shook her head and exited out the passenger's side.

Mulder turned to the trooper and asked, "Officer, can you take us to
whoever's in charge here from the CDC?"

The officer shrugged and responded, "Well, okay, sure.  Come with me, 
please."

The trooper and Mulder started walking towards a parked white trailer, and
Scully hurried to catch up with them.

Inside the cavernous white trailer, Mulder and Scully saw dozens of
people in white lab coats engaged in a flurry of activity.  Some of them 
were working at computers, and others appeared to be running tests on
medical instruments.  Mulder tapped one of the technicians on the shoulder
and asked, "Excuse me, miss, can you tell me who's in charge here?"

The lady looked up at Mulder, then pointed towards the back, saying, "Try
Dr. Kirschner back there."

Thanking the lady, Mulder and Scully proceeded to the back of the trailer.
There, they found a balding bespectacled man sitting at a desk and speaking 
furiously into a phone.  He seemed oblivious to their approach.

Mulder waited a few moments for the man to stop talking, but grew impatient.
Finally, he bent down and looked into the man's face, flashing his badge.
"Excuse me, Dr. Kirschner, but I'm special agent Mulder, and this is special
agent Scully.  We're with the FBI.  Can we talk to you for a minute?"

Dr. Kirschner looked up at Mulder, and covered up his mouthpiece with his 
hand.  "I'm sorry agents, but I have some rather urgent matters I have to 
attend to.  Now, if you'll excuse me,", he said, turning away from Mulder.

Undaunted, Mulder continued on, "Sir, this is important.  We need to 
examine the bodies of the victims in that town."

The doctor turned back at Mulder, and a trace of a smile formed on his lips.
Covering his mouthpiece once again, he started.  "The bodies? you want to 
see the bodies? well, I'm afraid you're too late for that."  

Mulder couldn't tell whether the man was being humorous or sarcastic.

"What exactly do you mean? have you shipped the bodies off for study?",
asked Mulder.

The man shook his head, rolling his eyes up to the ceiling.  "No, no, no,
no, no!  We didn't take the bodies - that's the whole point.  That's why 
I've been on this stupid phone all morning.  Somebody beat us to it - they 
came in here early this morning before we did, and took all the bodies away.
And I haven't been able to figure out who it was.", he said, with a highly 
annoyed look on his face.

Mulder's face froze in thought.  He paused for a moment, looking down at
the floor.  He turned back to the man and asked, "sir, can you give us 
clearance to enter the town?"

The man sighed, and replied.  "Well, fine.  Go look all you want; there's
nothing there now anyway.  Only that stupid space rock."  Turning to one of
the women in the van, he shouted, "Melissa, get these two people passes and
biohazard suits!"

Mulder smiled and thanked the man.  "We appreciate your help, sir.  If you 
do ever find out where the bodies went, I'd appreciate your contacting me.
Here's my card."

The man grunted and took Mulder's card, then returned to his phone 
conversation.

Ten minutes later, Mulder and Scully were riding in a jeep headed south
towards Clarksville.

Approaching the town's main street, they noticed the area abuzz in activity.
They saw technicians in body suits taking samples, making measurements, and
spraying down buildings.  They drove past abandoned cars, abandoned houses,
and abandoned farm animals.  Mulder couldn't tell whether the animals were
affected by the virus as well; they were roaming about playfully in their
pens under the watchful eyes of the men in white.

As they continued south past the edge of town, they could just begin to make
out the outline of a small crater in the ground.  As they got closer, 
the edges of the pit became more defined, along with the sea of white coats
huddled around it.  Finally, they pulled up near the crater and got out.

Even through the glass in his helmet, Mulder could sense a certain aura
about the oblong crater.  Some might have considered it just a hundred-foot 
long hole in the ground, but he felt it was much more than that.  If only 
he could put his finger on it...

They carefully made their way down into the pit, making their way towards 
the mangled heap that was the remains of the asteroid.  As they got closer, 
they felt the heat the asteroid was still giving off.  "Be careful, don't 
get too close - it's hot!", shouted one of the people nearby - 
unnecessarily, thought Mulder.  

He kneeled down a few feet in front of the asteroid, observing the smoking 
and glowing particulates in the thirty-foot pile.  It was a magnificent 
sight, a genuine piece of space debris.  Few comets had actually ever made 
it down to the earth, as most burned up in the atmosphere, he recalled.  
This one must have been something special...

But wait a minute, he thought. "Scully! how is possible that the virus
could have survived on this asteroid?  This rock must have sustained 
temperatures of tens of thousands of degrees when it entered the atmosphere.
Wouldn't temperatures like that kill the virus?"

Scully looked down around the crash site, and noticed some bits of green
liquid.  Strange, she thought.  But Mulder's question jarred her out of her 
moment of wonder, and she responded, "Well, Mulder, that's assuming it 
*was* a virus.  And no, a virus could not possibly have survived these 
temperatures.  Unless..."

"Unless what, Scully?", asked Mulder.

"Unless, ", continued Scully, eyeing the asteroid more carefully.  She 
suddenly noticed that the rock layer on the surface looked strange, not at
all like the space rocks she had remembered seeing in her physics classes.  
Those rocks had all been porous, with very rough and uneven surfaces.  These
rocks were actually solid and smooth, except for the parts that had burned 
off here and there.  In fact, she could swear that the rocks actually 
looked like... ceramics.





3:37 p.m. local time
10:37 a.m. GMT

"Captain Ivanovich, I'd like you to meet Dr. Shukovsky of the Russian
National Astrophysics Institute", said colonel Petrenko, introducing the 
captain to the short, gray-haired man in the baggy suit.

"It's a pleasure, doctor.  What do you know about this asteroid?", asked
the police captain.

"Well, captain, it's good to meet you too.  Now let me fill you in on what's
been going on here.  You see, ..."

The colonel interjected.  "Captain, I must first have your assurance that 
you will help to keep this information under tight wraps.  This information
is rather sensitive, and it might disturb the well-being of the population.
I am counting on you to help control the flow of information and prevent 
panic within the civilian sector."

"You have my word, colonel", reassured the captain.

The doctor went on.  "You see, captain, um, walk this way with me, please."
They walked up beyond the ring of vehicles to within sight of the fallen
asteroid.

The doctor started again.  "We can't get much closer without protection 
gear.  But you can observe everything from here.  You see, earlier this 
morning when the asteroid dropped here, several of my people came out to 
investigate.  But they weren't wearing protective gear, and they started 
dying off a few hours later."

He continued, "This area was cordoned off, and we began to investigate.  
Upon closer inspection, we made the determination that the asteroid was, 
in fact, mad-made."

The captain's eyes widened.  "What? man-made? you mean... that someone
created this thing?  are you sure?"

The doctor nodded his head.  "Yes, the signs are unmistakable."

Victor was dumbfounded.  "But... but.. made by whom?  the Americans?"

The doctor shook his head.  "No, I don't think so.  The asteroid is too
massive for the Americans to have sent up.  You see, it consists of a
four-foot thick protective heat shield, made of some type of ceramic 
material.  Inside that layer is a metal ball, some twenty feet in diameter.
This object is too large to fit in their space shuttle, and too massive to 
be launched by a rocket."

The captain's eyes narrowed in puzzlement.  "But then who could have sent 
such a thing?"






12:44 p.m. local time
4:44 p.m. GMT

Lieutenant Enrico Fernandez looked on through the plastic helmet at the
workers in the pit below.  Working in the dizzying heat, they had managed
to crack open the outer rock layer of the asteroid, exposing the shiny
metallic globe inside, nearly six meters in diameter.

Enrico turned to the chief scientist on the scene and asked, "So, doctor,
where do you *really* think this thing came from?"

The doctor shrugged his shoulders and mulled it over.  Turning towards 
Enrico, he began.  "Lieutenant, if I had to guess, and this is just a
guess, I'd say that it had to originate in outer space.  There's just no
other explanation for it."

Enrico wanted to believe the scientist, but his instinct told him to be
skeptical.  "Doctor, let's just say for the sake of argument that this 
object did indeed originate from outer space.  Now why would it be sent 
here?"

"Any why did it kill off all those people?", added Jose, who had been
standing behind Enrico.

The doctor sighed, and responded.  "Well, I'm still speculating here, but
I think it may have landed here purely by accident.  I think it may have
been a probe of some kind, like America's Voyager probes, sent out into 
space in search of intelligent life."

"But that doesn't explain the deaths", persisted Jose.

The doctor turned to Jose and began, "Well, you know, the beings that built
this 'probe', if that's what it really is, may have placed artifacts
from their culture inside it, like the Americans did.  And those artifacts, 
while harmless to them, might be lethal in some way to humans."

"Perhaps they carried a virus of some kind", suggested Enrico.

"Perhaps, but we won't know for sure until we study this globe further
in the lab", said the doctor.





9:44 p.m. local time
12:44 p.m. GMT

Toru Onuki stepped inside the sterile lab at Osaka university's medical
school, which had been borrowed for the study of the strange metal globe.
It had been just minutes ago that the semi truck had unloaded the massive
metal ball into this room, and technicians were already at work trying to
open it up.  He observed people attacking it with welding torches, but
without any success.  The metal was simply too strong and resisted all such
attempts.

Finally, it was decided that a laser would be brought in from the
school's metallurgy lab.  It took another hour to get the device set up in
the sterile facility, but the effort paid off.

Toru and the scientists huddled close by as the laser made its final pass
over the surface of the globe.  Moments later, a wedge of the metal shell
fell off, making a loud crash as it hit the floor.  The observers were 
jarred by the impact, but quickly gathered themselves to look inside the 
split open globe.

Toru's eyes lit up in wonder as he saw the complex honeycombed pattern
of cells taking up the entire space inside the object.  Peering closer, he 
noticed the structure was similar to the insides of a beehive.  The yellow 
hexagonal cells were laid out with perfect uniformity, each occupying a
space about the size of a thumbnail.  And each was filled with a strange 
green gelatinous fluid.

"Quick, Shiro, let's run this liquid through the electron microscope",
shouted one of the doctors.  Soon, a mass of technicians were gathered
over the exposed surface of the globe, shouldering Toru out of the way.







8:14 p.m. local time
7:14 p.m. GMT 

Ute Schumaker stood next to the doctor operating the scanning tunneling 
electron microscope.  The doctor placed the green fluid sample inside the
magnification chamber, then adjusted several controls.  Soon, a greenish 
image appeared on the monitor in front of them.

"Ah, yes, it's definitely...", said the doctor, as other observers
behind them gasped and peered closer.  Several of them rubbed shoulders
with Ute, and she had to fight to keep her spot close to the monitor.

"Yes, it would certainly appear to be a virus of some sort, only like
none I've ever seen before", said the doctor at the controls.

A virus! she had been right! Ute smiled confidently.  But then, another
thought occurred to her.  The virus was now loose on the population -
fifty-eight people had already died, and who was to say how many more would
follow.  She elbowed her way out of the crowd and moved to a back corner of
the room.

She pulled out her cellular phone and dialed up headquarters.  She began
second-guessing herself, thinking she should have done this sooner.  "Yes, 
Hans, get me Klaus Hochtfield at the civil defense division.  We've got a 
quarantine situation on our hands."

Ute began running her fingers though her hair as she waited for the call
to be transferred.  She began pacing the floor nervously, glancing 
occasionally back at the doctors huddled over the microscope console.  She 
turned back towards the corner and started observing the patterns on the 
wall.

The call finally went through, and Klaus' voice appeared on the other end.
"Hello, Ute, so nice to hear from you - it's been such a long time!  Why 
don't you ever stop by?  We could have dinner sometime", he said coyly.

Ute rolled her eyes and cut him off.  "Look, Klaus, there's no time for
that.  We have here a confirmed new virus that's spreading throughout the
region.  We need to quarantine the entire area."

"A virus? what kind of virus?", asked Klaus, expressing surprise.

Just then her partner Karl Hurchstburg came up behind her and tapped her on
the shoulder.

Covering the mouthpiece, Ute turned around and asked, "What is it?  I'm
on the line to civil defense.  Can't it wait?"

Karl looked back with her with a grim expression on his face, and said, 
"No, this is rather important.  Those people, the ones that died, I'm afraid
they're missing."

Ute lowered the phone, though she could hear Klaus shouting through the
receiver, "Ute, Ute! are you there?"

"What do you mean, they're missing?", she asked, her look intensifying.

Karl shrugged his shoulders and responded, "All I know is what I heard from
the hospital.  One minute they were in the morgue, and the next minute they
were gone.  It seems there were several eyewitnesses who actually saw the
victims leave the hospital under their own power."

Ute stared at Karl, then at the doctors over by the microscope, then down at
her phone.  This can't be happening, she thought...






12:47 p.m. local time
7:47 p.m. GMT
Collins, Arizona, the county seat
County Sheriff's office 

"Sheriff, I'm agent Mulder with the FBI, and this is agent Scully", said
Mulder, putting away his ID wallet.  "We understand you were called out
to Clarksville last night."

The obese sheriff leaned back in his chair.  "Yup, but you know - I told 
everything to those CDC guys this morning", he said, looking Mulder and 
Scully up and down.

"But what about the missing bodies?", inquired Mulder.

"Missing bodies?  I don't know nothin' about any missing bodies.  As far
as I know, them CDC people took everyone.  Now if you'll excuse me, I'm 
quite busy today.", said the sheriff, turning towards some papers on his 
desk.

Mulder wasn't satisfied, but he knew he wouldn't get much more out of the
sheriff.  He turned towards the door and said, "Thanks for all your help",
with more than a trace of sarcasm.  Scully shot a quick look of displeasure
over at him.

Walking through the corridors and turning towards the front door, they 
were approached by a young sheriff's deputy.  "Uh. excuse me, sir and
ma'am, I understand you're FBI agents?", he asked quietly.  Mulder and
Scully glanced at each other, and Mulder replied, "Yes, that's correct".

"Well, I'd like you to know, well, um., the sheriff won't like it if he
found out I was telling you this, but I think I really should tell somebody,
and it might as well as be you folks.  You see, um.."

"Yes, please go on", said Mulder, his interest piqued.

"Well", said the deputy, as he looked around the corridor.  Seeing no one
nearby, he spoke.  "I was there last night, in Clarksville.  And I saw all
those bodies, lying around everywhere.  It was horrible.  The sheriff told
us to quarantine the place, so we put barriers up around the town.  And I
was there again early this morning, before the CDC came.  But by then, all
the bodies were gone.  I mean, who could have taken them?"

His eyes darted around the hallway again, and he continued on, "I asked the
sheriff about it, and he just told me to forget about it, and consider 
myself lucky that I didn't drop dead there like all the townspeople.  I
thought about asking him again later, but I decided against it."

Mulder paused for a moment, then said, "Thank you very much, officer - 
you've been a great help."

Mulder and Scully stepped outside the sheriff's office and into the 
hot afternoon sun.  Squinting for a moment, Mulder put on his sunglasses
and looked around.  They were on the town's main street.  Mulder saw pickup
trucks and flatbeds coming and going, and townsfolk walking about.  Everyone
was out and about on their business, apparently oblivious to what had gone
on just a few miles away.  Mulder wondered if any of them knew, whether the
whole incident had been just covered up by whomever's specialty it was to
cover up such things.

"Come on Mulder, let's get a bite to eat.  There's a diner across the
street." said Scully, motioning down the block.

The diner appeared as if it was taken right out of a 50's movie.  It was a 
perfect replica of the legendary greasy spoons of old, complete down to 
the human fixtures in overalls sitting at the counter.   Mulder and Scully 
entered and walked past the human potato sacks and approached an empty booth
by the window.  

"Be right with you, folks", said the waitress behind the counter.  She too 
looked like a transplant from decades ago, with her pink waitress uniform,
white apron, and noisy chewing gum.  And as she walked around the counter
towards Mulder and Scully, Mulder guessed her to have seen nearly forty 
years, most of it in that uniform.

"The special today is meat loaf, folks.  Best you ever had", said the 
waitress, with a cheerful smile perfected through years of the art.  She
handed them a pair of plastic-coated menus.

"Well, Madge, is it?" said Mulder, looking up at her nameplate, "We'll need
a moment to decide."  Scully smiled at the waitress, and she and Mulder 
buried their faces in the menus.

"Sure thing, honey - I'll be back in a bit", said the waitress, as she
began to turn away.  But just then, she turned back to Mulder, and
asked, "say, you're government folks, aren't you?  are you all with the 
people that were here this morning?"

Mulder's head instantly snapped up. "This morning? what people?" he asked
eagerly.

"Well, all those gentlemen in the dark suits that were swarming around
here this morning.  You know, the ones that visited Clarksville - oops, I
guess I wasn't supposed to say that, was I?  the sheriff told me not to 
mention that."

"That's okay, Madge - you can tell us.  We just got here this afternoon.  
We're with the FBI.  I'm agent Mulder, and this is agent Scully", he said 
as they flashed their IDs.  "Anything you can tell us would be most 
helpful."

"Well, all I know is that there was some kind of trouble in Clarksville last
night, some kind of commotion.  The sheriff and his men went to investigate,
but they came back this morning and claimed nothing was wrong.  Seemed kinda
strange to me, cause then all these men showed up this morning."

"These men - who were they, and what were they doing here?", asked Mulder,
transfixed.  

"But don't you know? aren't you also from the government?", asked Madge.

"Yes, but in circumstances like these, information doesn't flow very 
quickly.  I'd appreciate your telling us anything you remember about these 
men.", Mulder replied.

"Madge, how's 'bout some more coffee?"  "Hey Madge, how about my order?",
shouted some people a couple of booths away.  "Be right back, folks", said
Madge as she stepped away.

Scully bent down and whispered to Mulder.  "Mulder, it's probably nothing 
more than the people from the CDC checking this town to see if the 
infectious agent had spread." 

Mulder whispered back, "But Scully, how then do you explain all the secrecy,
all the coverups?"

Scully shook her head and said, "Mulder, it's standard policy.  They're 
simply trying to avoid widespread fear and panic."

Madge came back to their booth, interrupting the conversation.  "Sorry
'bout that folks, just had to take care of some of the customers", she said.
"Now you were asking about those gentlemen this morning - strange thing.  
They came here this morning, shortly after I started my shift at 5:00 a.m.  
They came into town along with the Sheriff, and I saw them heading into the 
Sheriff's building - about ten men in dark suits.  A couple of hours 
later, some of them came into the diner to order breakfast.  They looked 
tired, like they'd been up all night.  The sheriff also came in a little 
later for breakfast, and he looked like he'd been through hell and back.  I
tried to make conversation with the folks, but none of 'em would talk a 
single word.  Didn't particularly tip too well, either."

"Madge, did you overhear them saying anything?  Anything about 
Clarksville?", asked Mulder, his attention locked on Madge.

"Nope, they didn't talk amongst themselves much at all.  Oh, wait a minute -
one of them, an older, kinda important-looking fellow, got a call on his
phone - one of them portable thingies.  He went over to a booth in the 
corner to talk, away from the other customers.  But I passed by him a 
couple of times as I was serving everyone, and I did overhear a few words.  
But they didn't make much sense to me, though."

"What, what did you hear, Madge?", asked Mulder, hanging on her every word.

"Well, he mentioned something about some trucks - along with something about
some 'containment' facilities or something.  Oh, and he also mentioned a
word, I think it may have been a place - "McAllister", I think.  That's 
about all I could make out.  Now, do you folks want to order something?"





1:45 p.m. local time
8:45 p.m. GMT
Starlight Motel
Collins, AZ

Mulder stood in the motel room with the phone receiver glued to his face.
The phone cord was wrapped around his wrist as he paced the floor near the 
nightstand.  "Well, okay, Charlie - run it through the computer, will
you? I'll hold on.", said Mulder, twirling the phone cord with his fingers.

"So, Mulder, do you still think the government stole those bodies?",
asked Scully, sitting down on the bed.  All the running around was
getting to her, and she stretched out on the bed to rest.

Mulder turned towards her, still holding the handset up to his head.  "I'm
telling you, Scully - there's no other rational explanation for it", he
said, covering up the mouthpiece.  "Those people were dead, and there's no
other agency apart from the CDC that would have legitimately retrieved 
those bodies.  And besides, you heard the waitress - she mentioned trucks 
being dispatched here.  I'll bet you anything those trucks carried the 
bodies off."

Scully turned her head away from Mulder and sighed.  Looking back up, she
said, "Mulder, you have no evidence of any of this.  That waitress, she 
could have just heard a tiny snippet..."

Just then, Mulder's attention turned back to the phone.  "Yes, Charlie, you 
have it?  hmm... okay, now just where is that?  okay.  Allright, thanks a 
lot, Charlie.  Bye."

Scully looked up at Mulder.  "Mulder, what is it?"

Mulder put the handset down and smiled.  He grabbed the hotel's paper pad
and began scribbling down some notes.  Without bothering to look up, he 
began talking, "Well, Scully, I think we just hit the jackpot."

Scully quipped, "What, were the bodies shipped off to Vegas?"

Mulder finished writing, then tore off the page and folded it up, sticking
it his shirt pocket.  "No, Scully, but someplace equally loony.  Are you 
familiar with the army's biological weapons program?"

Scully's expression turned dark.  "But Mulder, biological weapons were
outlawed decades ago.  Nobody uses them anymore."

Mulder marveled at her innocence.  "Scully - just because they were
outlawed, doesn't mean they disappeared from the face of the earth.  It's
a known fact that the army has been continuing its research all this time.  
And some unscrupulous countries have even been using them.  It's been 
suggested that Iraq used them during the Gulf war."

"Causing the Gulf war veteran's syndrome, you mean", noted Scully.

"Precisely.  Or at least, that's the theory, anyway.  In any event, it
all makes sense.  The army finds out about a virus from space that kills
over a hundred people in a matter of hours, and they want to get their 
hands on it.  So naturally, they sneak in here before the CDC arrives, and
ship off the bodies in trucks specially equipped to deal with biological 
hazards."

"Mulder, that's just a wild theory.  What more do you have to back that
up?", asked Scully, still skeptical.

Mulder smiled and pulled the piece of paper back out of his shirt pocket, 
waving it in front of Scully's face.  "It's right here, Scully.  Remember 
the place the waitress mentioned, McAllister?  well, it turns out that's 
the name of a top secret army research facility in South Dakota.  That's
where we're headed."

"But Mulder, wait! even if all this is true, even if the army did ship
those bodies off to that base, they would never let us in there!", she
protested.

"No need to actually get onto the base, Scully", said Mulder confidently.  
"The base is 1200 miles away from here, or about a twenty hour drive.  If we
fly out to Salt Lake city and drive north, I believe we can catch up to 
them before they reach their destination."

Scully did not like this plan.  "And Mulder, let's say we *do* catch up to 
the trucks.  What then?", she asked.

"Just leave that part up to me, Scully", said Mulder confidently.

		*               *               *


9:15 p.m. local time
3:15 p.m. GMT
St. Petersburg University of Medicine

Captain Ivanovich, Colonel Petrenko, and Doctor Shukovsky walked around
the laboratory, examining the various culture samples that were gathered
on the tables.  A female doctor called them over, motioning them towards
several cages stocked with monkeys.

She began, "Gentlemen, I've injected these monkeys with the virus we
found in that uh, thing.  I've been inspecting them for the past several
hours, and the progress of the virus is most remarkable."

"How so, Doctor?", asked doctor Shukovsky.

"Well, it appears that the virus has an incubation period of about two
to four hours, during which the victim is completely immobilized.  The 
victim then appears to expire.  But the strange thing is, they're not 
really dead.  Rather, their life signs just become very weak, as if they 
entered a state of hibernation.  Then, a few hours later, they return to a
normal state of activity."

Doctor Shukovsky was fascinated.  "Do you think that perhaps the virus
is using that time of 'hibernation' to reproduce itself?"

"That's certainly a possibility,", said the female doctor.  "But there's 
more.  The strange thing is, the monkeys behave differently after they 
return from the hibernation stage.  I can't really pin it down, but somehow,
they seem..."

"Seem what, doctor", prodded captain Ivanovich.

The doctor looked up at the captain and finished her thought.  "They seem
more intelligent, captain."





9:44 p.m. local time
1:44 a.m. GMT
Buenos Aires Institute of Human Health

Lieutenant Enrico Fernandez knelt down in front of the caged chimpanzees.
They had just awoken from their hibernation-like stage, and were beginning
to show signs of activity.

"Lieutenant, just what are you looking for?", asked Jose.  He was not at
all convinced that the virus was having any effect on these chimps.  As far
as he was concerned, chimpanzees basically made a habit out of acting 
strange.  He recalled the ones he had seen at the Buenos Aires city zoo,
and how they had reminded him of mimes, seemingly mocking his every move.

"Shh! there - did you see that?", said Enrico, pointing to the chimps, who
had assembled into a group in the center of the cage.  They had sat down
in a circle, looking across at each other.  They began making noises, 
squawking and schreeching.  They then began gesturing at each other with 
their hands, making strange patterns in the air.  If Enrico didn't know 
better, he would have sworn that the chimps were actually having a 
conversation.






9:44 a.m. local time
4:44 a.m. GMT

Toru had not slept well the previous night.  The hotel room had been
cramped and uncomfortable, as many hotel rooms were in Japan.  He had been 
up most of the night thinking about the implications of a virus running 
loose throughout the country, turning people into zombies.  

He had dreamed that he was trapped in a laboratory, with hundreds of zombies
outside trying to break in.  He tried to keep them out, stacking chairs 
in front of the door and pushing back on the door as hard as he could.  But 
the zombies broke through the glass window in the door, and reached in with 
their arms, grabbing him.  The zombies' arms and hands, with their molding, 
rotting flesh, had started tugging on his jacket, his neck, his face, 
pulling on his hair...

Toru shook off the thought and turned to the doctor that had been studying
the monkeys.  He asked, "Doctor, what evidence do you have that the
monkeys are more intelligent now?  Have they started asking for healthier
snacks?"

The doctor managed a smile, though he was quite tired from staying up all
night with the monkeys.  He turned towards Toru and said, "Mr. Onuki, I've
worked with monkeys all my life.  and I've worked with these particular
specimens for more than three years.  Believe me, the behavior they
exhibited this morning was far from normal."

Toru was itching for more details.  He asked, "can you be at all more 
specific, doctor?"

The doctor continued, "Well, for instance, lieutenant, when was the last
time you saw monkeys using written communication?"

Toru was puzzled.  He stayed silent, letting the doctor continue.

"Well, our monkeys have colored wooden blocks in their cages, toys for them
to play with.  But when I came back in this morning after a short break, I 
noticed that, over there."  The doctor pointed to scribblings on one of
the walls of the monkey cage, around which the monkeys had gathered.

The doctor continued.  "You see, lieutenant, the monkeys used the blocks to
mark up odd patterns on the wall, some sort of hieroglyphics.  Next to that,
they put up representations of the humans they had seen in this room.  And 
most significant of all, right there, they've drawn up a map of this very 
laboratory, clearly marking the exits."

Toru was afraid to ask the next question, but the doctor answered it for him.

"Yes, lieutenant, I believe they were planning their escape."






10:14 a.m. local time
9:14 a.m. GMT 

Ute Schumaker couldn't believe what she just heard from the doctors in the 
animal lab.  The virus was actually causing the lab animals' intelligence to
rise!  It seemed preposterous.  In all the cases she had heard about, 
viruses always had a debilitating effect on their victims, or would sit
around in a benign form at best.  But raising the intelligence level of 
their victims?  It just didn't make any sense.

She turned to the doctor and asked.  "Doctor, have you seen this behavior 
in all the affected animals?"

The doctor responded, "No, Ms. Schumaker.  Only in the more intelligent
animals, like the monkeys and the chimpanzees.  We saw no response in the
lower animals."

Just then, Karl walked up to her with more news.  "What is it now, Karl?",
she asked, turning towards him.

"Well, Ute, I'm afraid we have a larger problem on our hands that we 
thought.  I've just heard from headquarters - The World Health Organization 
is reporting similar cases of the virus in four other countries.  And in 
each of the cases, the source was tracked to an asteroid just like the one 
we found.", Karl said grimly.

He added, "The cases of the dead victims getting up and walking away - 
similar incidents were also reported in the other countries."

Receiving the news, Ute's head suddenly filled with a jumble of thought.
It occurred to her that this might not be an accident; it might have all 
been planned.  In fact, the more she thought about it, the more it made 
sense.  Five asteroids, five packages, landing on different areas of the 
planet at about the same time... and spreading a virus which... which 
controlled the victims bodies, somehow imposing their will on them.  But 
viruses, controlling minds?  Just way too strange, she thought.






8:45 p.m. local time
3:45 a.m. GMT
US 36, 40 miles north of Salt Lake City, Utah

A bleary-eyed Scully let out a yawn and took another sip of coffee.  She
squirmed in her seat, trying to find a comfortable position.  To her left,
she could see an impassionate Mulder, his right foot glued to the floor
in rigid determination.

"Mulder, we don't even know what we're looking for.  For all we know, it
could look any other truck on the road.", muttered Scully.

"Not to worry, Scully - I have a feeling about this.", retorted Mulder.

Scully turned back and stared outside the passenger side window, gazing
at the darkened scenery outside.  She reached behind to rub the back of
her neck, which was becoming stiff from the supposedly supportive automotive
seat.

"Scully! look!" shouted Mulder, pointing up ahead.  Scully's head snapped 
back, as she made out a light in the distance.  Moments later, she saw that
it was a truck, turned on its side on the shoulder of the road.  It was
apparently on fire.  

Mulder slowed the car and pulled over to the shoulder, approaching the 
back of the truck.  Gazing out at the wreckage, Scully surmised that the 
truck must have gone out of control, as the cab was badly twisted out of 
line with the trailer.  The back door of the trailer was open, and some 
objects had spilled out, while other objects were hanging out the back.

Mulder stopped the car a short distance from the wreck and dashed out.
Scully cried out towards him, "Mulder, wait! it's not safe!", but to no 
avail.  He was now almost at the trailer, and Scully rushed off after him.

What they saw in front of them made both their jaws drop.  The objects they
had seen hanging out of the trailer door were actually people dressed in
white body suits, with rubber hoses dangling loose from their spacesuit-like
outfits.  Peering inside the smoking trailer, they saw still more people in
body suits, along with all sorts of medical equipment and computers strewn
about.  The signs of a struggle were unmistakable.

"Mulder, there are no virus victims' bodies here.  Whatever happened here, 
I don't think those people were aboard." Said Scully, eyeing the burning 
cab with concern.  She added, "I don't think it's safe to remain here.  
We'd better move back."

"Wait, Scully - I think this one is alive", said Mulder, as he stepped
over to a body lying sideways on the ground.  He bent down to take a look
at the man, who was writhing in pain.  Peering through the man's solid
glass helmet, Mulder noticed he was struggling to communicate something.
He was breathing rapidly, fogging up his glass viewport, and rivers of 
sweat were running down his face.

Scully came over and bent down next to Mulder.  Looking at the suffering 
man, she peered into his eyes and said, "Mulder, this man's in shock.  We 
have to get him to a medical facility immediately."

Mulder interjected, "I think he's trying to tell us something, Scully.  
Let's open up his helmet."  Mulder immediately began fumbling around the 
man's neck, looking for a release switch.  Scully began to protest, saying, 
"Mulder, I don't think that's such a good idea", but the man's helmet was 
off in a matter of seconds.

The man, finally free of the helmet, began breathing more slowly.  He tried
to talk but was still too far out of breath.  "Easy, relax.  Don't try to
talk yet", said Scully, as she put her palm on his forehead.  Mulder
glanced over at her, and then looked back down at the man.  "We're with 
the FBI", said Mulder.  "I'd like to know what happened here.  Where are 
the bodies you were carrying?"

A moment later, the man began talking in short spasms.  "It was ...
terrible.  The bodies... they, they weren't really dead... it turned out 
they were in... a sort of hibernation or sleeplike state.  They... they woke
up, and they started attacking us.  Viciously... for no apparent reason.  
They seemed possessed, like madmen.  They wanted to get out of the truck, 
any way they could.  People and bodies started flying, and somehow, there 
was an explosion.  Must've been the compressed oxygen.  I nearly passed out,
and I felt the truck going out of control, and we ended up on our side.
And the bodies, I mean the people... they escaped."

"Escaped? out there? When was this?", asked Mulder impassionately.

"I don't know... thirty, maybe forty minutes ago.  I'm not sure."

"Where did they go?", demanded Mulder.

"They seemed to all head off, down the road, south, towards the city.  
That's all I remember.  They have to be stopped... or else the infection 
could spread out of control..."

Just then, they heard the sirens of ambulances and state troopers in the 
distance.   Other motorists had also noticed the ruckus, and were starting
to congregate around the accident site

Mulder bent down closer to the man and said, "Look, now listen very 
carefully.  This could be a matter of urgent national security.  Were the 
others being transported in the same way?"

"Yes.. we had four trucks... I don't know what happened to them... we were 
the last one in the convoy."

Mulder looked up at Scully.  "Scully, do you know what this means?"

Scully looked up at Mulder, and replied, "Yes, Mulder - people afflicted 
with a highly infectious virus, wandering free."

"Worse than that, Scully - up to a hundred people turned into killers,
roaming the countryside, carrying a virus that could turn other people into
killers as well."





10:05 p.m. local time
5:05 a.m. GMT

"That's right, we need to quarantine the entire county, as well as the
neighboring counties", shouted Scully into her cellular phone.  "These 
people are carriers of an unknown but highly infectious virus."  

It was difficult for her to concentrate amidst the activity and noise of 
state troopers cars, ambulances, and medical helicopters still flooding the
area.  She continued shouting instructions to her colleagues back at the
Bureau.

Mulder was hunched over in his overcoat, glancing back and forth at Scully 
and the rescue scene in front of them.  He wondered where this would all 
lead.

Just then, he heard a heavy thumping noise, like something pounding the air
around him.  He turned around to see bright lights shining in his face,
piercing the darkness.  Moments later, he saw several large helicopters 
approaching in his direction.

Four army Blackhawk helicopters made their excruciatingly loud approach
to the crash site, landing just behind Mulder and Scully's Taurus.  Several
dozen soldiers with M-16s and full combat gear poured out, along with an 
officer wearing combat fatigues.

The officer barked out orders to his men, and the soldiers fanned out in 
all directions.  They immediately took over the perimeter of the accident 
site, rudely shouldering the state troopers out of the way.

The officer approached Mulder and Scully, eyeing them with disdain.  He was
a tall, imposing figure, wearing a colonel's eagle insignia.  He walked
right up to the two of them and shouted above the noise of the choppers.
"This is not any of your concern, and I would advise you to leave this area 
immediately!"

Mulder stood his ground.  He noticed the colonel's namepatch, and addressed
him by name.  "Colonel Roberts, we're agents with the FBI.  We're 
investigating the abduction of numerous townspeople from Arizona.  We 
believe they were in that truck", he shouted.  "And we have every right to 
be here to conduct our investigation", he added.

The colonel was unfazed.  "This matter is under military jurisdiction, and 
you are not authorized to be present here.  I can have the two of you 
arrested for interfering with a military investigation.", he said menacingly.

"Yeah, well, just try it", retorted Mulder.  "I'm sure the press will just 
love a story about a military coverup like this."

"Mulder, we don't need this kind of trouble!", said Scully, as she pulled
Mulder back by his arm.  "We appreciate the value of cooperation,
colonel.", she said to the officer, pulling Mulder back towards their car.  

She proceed to chastise Mulder, saying, "Mulder, making trouble with the
army isn't going to get us anywhere.  If we're going to get a handle on
this situation, we may need their help."

Mulder looked incredulous.  "Their help, Scully?  are you serious?", he 
laughed, throwing his head back.  "Scully, they're the reason we're in this
mess in the first place.  They're just itching for an excuse to arrest us 
and lock us up until this whole thing blows over."

"And you're certainly giving them plenty of reason", replied an annoyed 
Scully.

Mulder simply shook his head in amazement.

Scully continued, "In any case, there's no point in our staying here, 
Mulder.  I'm sure the army is going to take over this whole area, whether
we like it or not.  And they'll soon recover all the bodies, or people, or 
whatever state they're in.  I don't think there's much more for us to do 
here."

Mulder looked back at Scully, and noticed she was starting to look rather
tired.  Looking around, he saw that many of the soldiers were observing 
them menacingly.  He turned to Scully and said, "Well, this time I think 
you may be right, Scully.  Perhaps we'd better head back and regroup."  
He and Scully got back in the car and headed back for Salt Lake City.




10:31 p.m. local time
5:31 a.m. GMT
U.S. 46, north of Salt Lake City

"What I don't understand, Scully, is - why these people would die, or
almost die, and then come back again, especially in such a violent state", 
asked Mulder.  He took another sip of coffee, being careful to keep his 
left hand firmly on the wheel.

"Um..., I don't know, Mulder, I guess they were maybe just inactive during 
the virus's incubation stage or something - besides, can't we talk about 
this later,", mumbled Scully, half asleep in her seat.

Mulder continued on, "But when's the last time you heard of a virus making 
people violent?  From my limited knowledge, viruses almost have a severe 
debilitating effect, and only incapacitate people.", said Mulder.

Scully twisted her head left and right to get rid of the wrinkle in her
neck.  She replied "Well, not always.  Sometimes people live just fine for
years with a virus in their system.  It depends on the person and the type 
of virus."

"But to make a person violent, or actually several people violent, it
makes no sense.  Perhaps the virus is affecting their brains, triggering
aggression.", Mulder speculated.  

"Maybe", grunted Scully.

"But to affect everyone in the same way?  That's pretty strange.  You would
think there would be some variations in the effects - some people might be
more affected than others, and some might not even be affected at all -
but no, everyone was apparently affected in exactly the same way.  Almost 
makes you think that..."

"Think what, Mulder?", said Scully, fighting off her drowsiness.

Mulder paused for a minute, and asked, "Scully, do you believe in 
intelligent alien life forms?"

Scully sighed deeply.  "Mulder, I believe I've already answered that 
question before.", she said, rolling her eyes.

"No, Scully, I don't mean in a conventional sense, at least, not like 
little green men.  What I mean is..." Mulder paused.

"Yes, Mulder?", Scully inquired.

"What I mean is,... you know, all this started with that asteroid - and
that means the virus originated from space.  Somehow, we seemed to have
ignored that in all this confusion."

"Well, I may be willing to grant you that, Mulder.  But it's a long way
from a simple virus to alien intelligence.", said Scully, yawning.

"Maybe, maybe not.  But I think there may be more than a simple virus at
work here, Scully.  Are you aware of the theory of distributed systems?"

"Which theory, Mulder?  you'll have to be more specific than that."

"Well, it's the theory that says that a complex system can be made up of a 
large number of very simple systems.  Like the human body, for instance.  
It's made up of billions of very simple cells, and yet is the most complex
system known to man."

"So? what's the relevance here?", asked Scully.

"Well, the relevance is that it should be possible, theoretically, that
what we consider to be simple viruses can, collectively, form a system of 
intelligent life, able to think and reason on a sentient level."

"Oh now wait a minute, Mulder.  Are you claiming that those viruses are
intelligent, sentient beings?"

"Not necessarily intelligent on an individual level, but perhaps together, 
they can acquire a collective intelligence, like the millions of transistors
on a computer chip.  The proverbial totality being more than the sum of its 
parts."

"Now what do you have to back this up, Mulder?  It just seems like rampant
speculation to me", dismissed Scully.

"Not so fast, Scully.  Remember how the man in the truck said that the
people all attacked them at once?  that indicates a concerted effort by
the victims.  And after they had managed to overcome their captors, 
they proceeded away from the truck, together.  They didn't wander off
aimlessly like you would expect from a bunch of sick people, but rather, 
they formed a group and left."

Scully countered, "But maybe they had overcome the effects of the virus by
then, and realizing what was happening to them, maybe they panicked.  Maybe
they didn't want to be experimented upon, and decided to escape.  Seems
pretty logical."

"No, Scully - it was more than that.  These people acted uniformly, as a 
group, not individually.  That indicates to me a collective form of
intelligence.  I'd be willing to bet those people were acting together, each 
of them under the control of the virus."

"Now this is just so much speculation, Mulder.  It's only one of many, more
plausible explanations."

"Well, I think we will soon find out."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, we're almost back in Salt Lake City.  We need to find some lodging.
Then I'll call up doctor Kirschner at the Clarksville site.  I'm sure he'll
be thrilled to get a chance to talk to me again.", said Mulder, smiling.





11:25 p.m. local time
6:31 a.m. GMT
Hampton Inn, Salt Lake City, Utah

"Hello, Dr. Kirschner? It's Fox Mulder.  We met earlier this morning.  You
know, it's actually been quite an ordeal trying to reach you", said Mulder, 
sitting down on the edge of the bed.

The doctor's voice came through from the other end of the line. "Mr. Mulder,
ah, yes, I remember.  Actually, it's good that you called; we've had some 
interesting news."

"News? what kind of news?", asked Mulder quizzically.

"Well, Agent Mulder, you might already have heard this by now, but in case 
you haven't, well, this asteroid - four more just like it fell today all 
around the world."

Mulder rushed up to his feet.  Thinking for a moment, he thanked the doctor
and dropped the phone down on the receiver.  He rushed out to Scully's room
and pounded on her door.






1:57 p.m. local time
7:57 a.m. GMT

Captain Ivanovich sat in his office in the midst of a conference with the
city's mayor, the police chief, and the head of the city's civil defense 
team.  He was speaking, "... and we now have the area under complete 
quarantine.  We're keeping the victims under observation...."

Just then, his secretary knocked on the door and snuck her head inside.
With an apologetic look on her face, she said, "Sir, there's an 
international call coming in.  It's someone from the United States, from
their 'FBI'.  He says it's urgent."

Victor was not entirely surprised that a foreigner was contacting him, not
since he had found out about the other asteroids.  He paused and wondered 
whether this was a good time, and figured that the people in his office 
might as well hear everything.  He said to the secretary, "Please send the 
call into my office."

The voice of a young man came through the line.  "Hello, captain
Ivanovich, this is agent Fox Mulder of the United States, Federal Bureau
of Investigation."

It was a good thing Victor had taken those classes in English at the 
academy, so he could understand what the yankee was saying.  He responded in 
broken English, "Yes, is captain Ivanovich.  You have asteroid too, in 
America?"

The voice on the other end seemed to chuckle, then continued.  "Yes, we also
have an asteroid here.  Just like the one over there, and in Germany, in
Japan, and in Argentina.  I'm going to try and link everyone up in a 
conference call.  Can you bear with me sir? um, no pun intended"

Victor did not get the joke, and shrugged.  "Okay, is good.  I'll be here."





3:25 a.m. local time
7:59 a.m. GMT

Enrico Fernandez was woken out of bed by the loud ringing noise of his 
phone.  He rushed to grab the handset after the first ring, not wanting his 
wife to be woken up as well.  He pulled the handset to his face, thinking 
this had better be some pretty good news in order to wake him up in the 
middle of the night.

"Buenos Noches, Senor Fernandez, soy Fox Mulder, de la Federal Bureau of
Investigation, en los Estados Unidos", said the voice in tortured Spanish.

"Mr. Mulder, you can speak to me in English.  I attended Boston college.", 
said Enrico.

"Well, that's great", said the voice, sounding mighty relieved.  It switched
to English and continued on.  "Now the reason I'm calling you is that I've 
been told you're heading up the local investigation into the asteroid and 
the virus.  Is that correct?"

"Yes, that's correct", said Enrico, sitting up in his bed.

"Well sir, as you may be aware, a total of five asteroids have fallen in
various locations around the globe.  We're setting up a conference call
with all the investigating parties.  Can you participate?"

"Okay, but first let me transfer this call to my den.  And I would also
like to include my partner Jose in on this conversation."

"Whatever you wish, Mr. Fernandez", said Mulder.




1:41 a.m. local time
8:41 a.m. GMT

Mulder had finally finished setting up the five-country international 
conference call.  It had taken over an hour to track down and connect all
the parties involved, and the time of day had not been quite convenient for 
everyone involved.  But some sacrifices had to be made.

Introductions were made all around, with Mulder speaking on the hotel phone,
Scully on her Cellular phone, and the Russians on a speaker phone.
Enrico Fernandez and Jose Mendez talked from their homes, and Toru Onuki
talked on his car phone with an interpreter sitting in his passenger's
seat.  Ute Schumaker and Karl Hurchstburg spoke on their cellular phones 
from a medical lab in Hamburg.

Mulder began the conversation.  "Now ladies and gentlemen, I believe we're
all basically aware of what has happened.  The asteroids impacted in the 
United States, Russia, Japan, Argentina, and Germany, in each case 
releasing a dangerous virus into the atmosphere.  And it has been determined
that the virus somehow takes over the victim's brains, causing them to
lose control over their bodies."

Mulder continued, "Now that's about all I have for an opening.  I'm
hopeful that if we all work together on this problem, we will be able to 
resolve it much more quickly than if we were to work independently.  Now,
does anyone have any new information they would like to add?"

Ute Schumaker spoke up.  "Well, Mr. Mulder, our scientists here tell me
that they believe the virus interacts with the cells of the brain, 
combining their DNA with that of the host's brain cells.  They then appear 
to take control of the electrical pathways between the brain's neurons, 
controlling the signals that pass back and forth."

"So you mean they get total control over victim's brain?", asked Victor
Ivanovich.

Ute Schumaker responded, "Yes, we believe that's correct.  We believe that 
essentially, the individual viruses are acting together in a concerted 
effort to control the victims' brains."

Mulder interjected, "Yes! that's exactly what I was thinking, that the
viruses were forming a collective intelligence, not simply acting
individually on their own."  He stole a triumphant glance over at Scully.

Ute Schumaker continued, "We believe that the viruses require an
intelligent host in order to link up properly, that is, a host with a 
suitably advanced brain.  Our lab tests showed positive virus responses in 
monkeys and chimps, but no response at all in lower animals such as rats or 
pigs."

Enrico Fernandez concurred.  "Yes, we've made similar discoveries.  
Apparently only a higher form of life will suffice as a host."

Victor cut in, asking, "Yes, Yes, but why these viruses make the people 
angry?  Why they make them attack others?  Make no sense to me."

Lieutenant Toru Onuki's interpreter responded to the question.  "Well,
our experience may be somewhat enlightening.  We have found that the 
victims only reacted violently when confronted with a major threat.  
Otherwise, they seemed to keep to themselves.  We tracked down all of the 
victims that escaped from our containment facility, and we had only 
minimal trouble reclaiming them."

Jose Mendez rang in with a similar account.  "That's correct - We only
had problems with a few of our escapees.  It seems that when they do act
violent, they do so purely out of an instinct of survival, just like any 
other life form."

Mulder sat on the bed, puzzled by the new information.  Perhaps the victims
weren't so prone to violence after all, he thought.  But what about the 
men on that army truck?  Apparently the viruses possessing the victims must 
have been smart enough to see them as a serious threat.  But then, just 
how smart were these things? He started wondering aloud.

He spoke, "Everyone, so let's just recap and hypothesize here for a moment.
Now apparently these viruses are a strain that had mutated to a point where 
they were able to develop a collective intelligence.  Now, what would they 
do after that; where do you think would they go from there?"

Scully cut in, "Now Mulder, we're still just speculating on all this."

Karl Hurchstburg jumped in. "Now, Ms. Scully, I'm just as skeptical as you 
are, but let's just hear Mr. Mulder out."

Mulder smiled and continued.  "Now, let's say that the virus did evolve
into this higher form.  And let's say it invaded a host, or several hosts.
What would be its priorities as a new life form?"

Ute responded, "Why, its first priority would likely be self-preservation.
Then it would seek to propagate the species, most likely."

Mulder segued into the thought.  "Exactly.  And to do that, it needs to 
replicate itself and attack other victims.  And if the virus spreads 
unchecked, it would eventually take over the entire population of a planet.
Then what?"

Victor jumped in. "Then it must go somewhere else."

"Precisely, Mr. Ivanovich.  Since the host planet has been conquered, so to
speak, the virus naturally seeks out new colonies for its species."

Enrico finished Mulder's thought.  "And so they built spaceships to
transport the virus to other worlds."

"Or rather, they got their hosts to do it for them", said Ute.

Scully was still skeptical.  "So you people are suggesting this is an
interstellar conspiracy?"

"No need to get so melodramatic, Ms. Scully", said Enrico.  "Conspiracy
may not be the most appropriate term, but it does appears to be the most
likely scenario in this case."

Scully shook her head and continued, bowing to the opposition.  "Okay, so
everyone, let's just say for the moment that all of this is true.  So what
do we do now about the virus, here on this planet, before it becomes an
epidemic?"

Mulder spoke.  "Has anyone determined the mode of transmission for the
virus?"

Toru's translator spoke up.  "Yes, we have."  After a moment of delay for
the translation, he began again.  "We are fairly certain that the virus
is spread only through physical contact.  Through bodily fluids, I believe."

Ute concurred.  "Yes, we also believe that's the case.  The original 
victims must have come into contact with the green fluids that were carried
in the asteroids, and then spread their own bodily fluids onto others,"

Mulder's face gathered into a thought.  "Bodily fluids? you mean like..."

Ute cut him off.  "Well, actually, Mr. Mulder, it's not quite what you may
be thinking.  We found that the secondary victims, the ones who contracted 
the virus from the original carriers, all displayed prominent bite marks 
on their skin.  So the carriers apparently spread the virus through their
blood and saliva."

Mulder turned to Scully with an innocent look on his face, as if to say
'No, I wasn't thinking *that*.'

Toru's translator continued, "Yes, I believe that if we can keep the
affected victims physically separated from the rest of the population,
the virus can be controlled."

Victor spoke next.  "We have our area controlled good.  We have, how you 
say, good containment.  No further spread likely.  And you?"

"We have the area quarantined here too, out to a twenty mile radius around
the asteroid site", said Toru's interpreter.

"Our site is also well cordoned off", said Ute.

"As is ours", said Enrico.

Mulder covered up his mouthpiece and motioned to Scully to do the same.
He whispered to her, "Well, Scully, looks like our government is the only
one that's managed to screw up so royally.  For all I know, our victims are 
probably out there right now wandering the streets of Salt Lake City."

Mulder lifted his hand off his mouthpiece.  He began optimistically, "Well,
I believe our situation here in the U.S. will also soon be under control.  
Now let's discuss the next steps we should take."

Enrico started, "Well, the metal globes and the virus samples must be 
destroyed, of course."  The others voiced their agreement.

"But what about the people who are affected, what do we do about them?",
asked Jose.

"They must be destroyed as well", said Victor dispassionately.

Scully protested, "Now, wait a minute, Mr. Ivanovich.  These are human 
beings we're talking about.  There must be *some* way to save them."

Ute responded.  "Unfortunately, Ms. Scully, that appears highly unlikely.
The victims are not the same people they used to be.  They have all had
their brains chemically altered at the molecular level.  They're under the
total control of the viruses now, and we don't have the technology to
reverse that process."

But Scully persisted.  "But even if they *are* zombies or whatever, they're
still human beings.  There's got to be some way to save these people..."

A thought flashed in Mulder's head.  "Scully, everyone, I've got an idea.
It may be totally crazy, but it might just work.  And I'm going to need
everyone's cooperation, and the cooperation of your respective governments.
Scully and I will do our best to secure our own government's help on this 
end."





3:45 a.m.
US 46, 20 miles north of Salt Lake City.

Mulder and Scully drove up in their Taurus to the edge of the quarantine 
zone.  The perimeter was ringed with army trucks and journalists'
vehicles.  Legions of reporters and cameras were camped out by the area's
edge, and soldiers were doing their best to keep them outside the barricades.

Mulder stopped the car amidst the press vehicles, and he and Scully got
out.  They elbowed their way through the reporters and cameramen to
reach the front of the pack.  Scully overheard some of the reporters
talking, and she pieced together the news that all four of the army 
transport trucks had been overrun by the awakening victims.

Mulder and Scully flashed their badges to the guards, but to no avail.
They moved along the edge of the quarantine zone, asking for the person
in charge.  Finally, they ran into none other than colonel Roberts, who 
had forced them out the previous evening.

"Well, well, if it isn't our intrepid agents", he said, grinning.  "I'm
afraid you're no more welcome today than you were last night."

Mulder started, "Now colonel, we have a lot more information than we did
last night.  For instance, are you aware that our country is the only
one among the affected nations that's facing the problem of runaway 
disease carriers?  All the other countries now have their victims under 
containment.  It's only because of your attempts to nab the bodies away 
for weapons research that those victims are out loose in the area."

A reporter overheard part of their conversation and perked up his ears.  He
turned towards them and asked, "Folks, what's this I hear about weapons
research?  can I get an interview with you people?"

The colonel grew angry and ordered a guard to push the reporter away.  He
then turned to Mulder and grabbed him by his collar.  "Now listen, you 
arrogant little twerp, you're dealing with matters of national security 
here.  You have no right to be messing in these affairs."

Now Scully was the angry one, and she glared at the colonel, speaking to him
in an emboldened tone.  "Now *YOU* look, colonel.  We can turn to the press
here right behind us and expose your little operation.  We can tell them
all about how you conspired to steal human bodies for illegal 
experimentation.  Now I suggest you let Mulder go, and listen to what we 
have to say!"

Seething, the colonel decided he had no choice and threw Mulder back.  
Mulder grinned nonchalantly and flattened out his collar.

Scully continued, "Now look, colonel.  What do you plan to do about those
victims roaming the area?"

The colonel stopped seething long enough to respond.  "Why, shoot them,
of course.  They represent a major biological hazard."

Scully sighed, and continued.  "Well, colonel, let me first assure you
that the threat from them is not as great as you might think.  The virus
is only transmitted through bodily fluids.  And secondly, we believe we
have a humane way of dealing with the victims.  I'm sure you don't want a
bloody mess here any more than we do.  I've gotten preliminary approval 
from the CDC and the State Department to implement our plan, and I'm 
looking for your support as well.  Will you give our plan a chance?"

The colonel had now calmed down enough to think rationally.  He replied,
"I'm listening."





***************************************************************************
EPILOGUE


8:30 a.m.
FBI Headquarters
Washington, D.C.
Two weeks later

Mulder and Scully played hosts to their guests - Victor, Toru, Enrico
and Jose, and Ute and Karl.  They were gathered together in Mulder and
Scully's tiny office, recounting the events of the past two weeks.

"So the most difficult part for us was just gathering up all the victims",
recalled Mulder.  "They were scattered over a five hundred square mile
area, and it took three days to comb the entire region.  But once we found 
them all, the transport itself was easy."

Ute responded, "Well, it sure was gracious of the Greenland government
to volunteer that island as a sanctuary for the victims."

Enrico added, "Yes, it was certainly good that those people will be able
to live out their lives peacefully, with no fear on our part of any more 
people becoming infected."

Toru said something to his FBI translator, who spoke up.  "Yes, Mr. Onuki
agrees that it was a good thing that the people could be relocated; his
people abhor the taking of human life."

Even Victor rang in.  "Yes, I must to admit, it was good not to have to 
just get rid of the people."

Scully smiled at the warm feelings in the room, and turned to face Mulder.
She spoke, "Well, Mulder, looks like your plan worked out splendidly.  Why,
creating a sanctuary for the victims, instead of the extermination that the
army had in mind.  Gee, Mulder, I never knew you could be so politically 
correct."

Mulder smiled back.  "No, Scully, it was just smart thinking.  You'll never
pin that PC label on me."

He turned towards the crowd and addressed them as one.  "Folks, folks,
everyone... gather up.  I think this has been a tremendous experience for 
all those involved.  Together, we defused a potentially deadly situation, 
which was certainly a great feat in itself..."

The group cheered and applauded, but Mulder held up his hand to stop them,
and continued.

"...But more than that, we have made new friends and established an 
international circle of contacts.  We have found in each other a group of 
multinational crime-fighters and investigators dedicated to the search for 
answers, no matter what the obstacles.  I say we make a toast to our
newfound friendship and international ties, and to our new global mission of 
peace, cooperation, and the search for truth.  What do you say?"

"Da!", bellowed Victor.
"Ja, Ja!", shouted Ute and Karl.
"Hai!", cried Toru.
"Si, Si!", yelled Enrico and Jose.
"You betchya!", said Scully, smiling.





THE END




-- 
Steven Han - shan@nyx.cs.du.edu - finger for PGP key

Insert the most unimaginably obscure Monty Python reference here