The President's plane (and a Brain) …is missing!

Somewhere, in dark & stormy skies over Alaska, and the Arctic Circle – it happened…

Air Force One – with the President aboard, along with his staff, and two special guests, went off radar and out of this 'reality' – for ten whole minutes. Then, just as mysteriously, were returned... All but one!

One guest was a 'Hibakusha' (a survivor of atomic bombings in Japan), and now a protester against all nuclear weapons (which she considered illegal and immoral)… Setsuko Azuma. She was the one witness to what happened onboard the President's plane… when the second guest, Russian scientist Vladimir Timken (aka the 'brain') - disappeared. And she captured some of what happened in a short video, on her smart phone… at least that was what she told Secret Service agent Johnson and the President's personal secretary, Sara Lincoln, moments after Air Force One re-appeared on long distance radar, and into 'every-day' Time & Space reality… and just before she slipped into a tragic, very deep coma!

Director Skinner (FBI offices, Wash. D.C.): "Agent Mulder… the agency, and I, can really use your help; And, of some of your associate 'assets' – on this new X-Files case!" (Skinner now took a deep breath, and gave a quizzical short glance to agent Scully, before he continued…)

"Three nights ago, while on a return flight from the Ukraine… and somewhere over Alaska… Air Force One went 'missing' – off radar, at least, for just over ten minutes….

Skinner took another breath, once again… "One of the guest passengers onboard seems to be the only witness, as the others came back in a mental 'fog' and claim to have seen nothing… The woman, a native of Japan named Setsuko Azuma, said she took a video… but, unfortunately she then went into a coma… The woman's smart phone was locked, and all my tech staff here, are stumped... If there's any way to get this phone 'unlocked', so we can learn what might have happened on the President's plane, during those 'lost' ten minutes… and find out what exactly happened to another guest aboard the plane… a now missing Russian scientist, by name of Vladimir Timken, who had earlier promised the President to bring an end to the 'Nuclear Nightmare'… once and for all!"

Fox Mulder, with agent Dana Scully standing next to him: "Yes… I know who can help… Can I have the phone – for at least 24 hours – I'm guessing that's about how long they'll need?"

Skinner: "Sure… and tell those three knee-jerks to 'knock themselves out'… and, make it happen!" Skinner then pulled an evidence-labeled clear bag containing the smart phone from a drawer, and carefully handed it to agent Mulder. As Mulder and Scully turned to go, below his horn-rimmed eyeglasses, Skinner then gave a sly & knowing grin…

In Fox Mulder's basement 'office', he asked Dana Scully, his long-time partner and 'sounding board' on many occasions – too many to count – to go to the 'undisclosed-to-the-Public' FBI hospital, and check in on the Japanese witness Azuma's condition. As a brilliant doctor herself, maybe she could help end the woman's deep coma?

That night, Mulder was in the lair of the Lone Gunmen: Byers, Frohike, and Langly. They listened intently to Fox – their friend – and then they quickly went to work with all the 'tools of their trade'… so to speak! And Fox was right… in fact, it only took them, using their combined efforts – a total of 22.8 minutes!

"Wow! Freaky-Geeky! Check this out Frohike – you remember all those old Star Trek episodes…" said Langly, as matter-of-factly in tone as usual. Byers and Mulder then gave a puzzled look to each other.

"Well… I'll be damned… It sure does remind me of that woman that stole Spock's brain!" Frohike replied, soon pulling the video file out to a computer, and then all of them watched it on a large Wi-Fi connected flat-screen.

Yes, in the video, now: there appeared a strangely dressed blonde woman… wearing a bright sparkly blue dress, and some tall purple boots! She pressed some device on a heavy bracelet on her left arm, and then she and the Russian scientist (Timken)… vanished thru a halo of purple-bluish light. Like some 1960's 'hippie' version of a black hole!

Mulder could only reply: "Well… just 'F*** me'!" Byers & company then all said much the same…

The next 'business day'… Mulder invited Skinner to come down to his 'dungeon'. Dana was waiting there. As Scully had hours earlier reported that the Japanese woman Azuma was still in a comatose state, Skinner knew that whatever Mulder had been able to dig up with his friends was the best hope to find the 'missing time'… and the also missing Russian scientist Timken!

Unknown to the three then… at the not too far-off FBI special hospital… a small hazy mist formed just above the woman Azuma's head. And more wisps, there in the empty bed next to hers… Two misty-clouds, all aqua & lavender, formed. A minute later, Timken appeared, laying in the other bed… also, in a very deep sleep…

"Good Luck…to you both!" spoke an exotic, female voice, before the colorful mist all suddenly vanished... A few minutes later, first Timken, and then Azuma, both 'woke up'…

Timken's very first words: "My god – the answer… it is so simple. I must write it down –Now!" He still had a vague 'memory' of some device being attached to his cranium, but that was less important…

"Mulder… your friends are often, unruly jokesters… you sure this isn't some clever prank by one or all of them?" spoke a bewildered Skinner, after viewing the short video file several times on Mulder's desk PC.

"Well… they've pulled me and Scully's legs more than a few times… But I watched them work. Believe me, if you believe anything… this video is the 'Real Deal'… and so are they!" spoke Fox Mulder.

Dana Scully then added: "Sir, impossible as it seems – it must have happened… this isn't 'fake news'!"

Suddenly, agent Scully's cell phone then buzzed, softly…

"Sir, something important has happened… Miss Azuma is now wide awake… but even more than that… Timken is also there… in the other hospital bed, there in her room… also awake, and blabbering away to the nurse and doctor!" voiced a now curiously excited Dana.

"Well… Don't that beat all!" said Skinner to them both.

Just out of eye-sight, and away from the basement hallway door to Mulder's office, a haze hung in the air… from the 'mist' of the Cigarette Smoking Man… who wickedly and quietly – smiled.

THE END