10:10. Cheyenne Mountain Complex, Colorado.

The elevator doors opened into a grey walled corridor. As they stepped out of the elevator, Mulder turned to Scully. "Sergeant, report to Doctor Frasier in the Infirmary, deliver your documents and pick any up for return. I'll meet you topside when we're finished."

The junior officer turned to Mulder. "Er, I don't know about that sir!"

"Is there a problem Lieutenant?" Asked Mulder.

The junior officer turned to Scully and then back to Mulder, a helpless look on his face.

"'Is' there a problem 'Lieutenant'?" Repeated Mulder in a hard tone of voice.

The Lieutenant's body straightened. "No sir!"

"Very well. Cary on Sergeant!" Scully couldn't believe it when Mulder actually winked at her. "Lead the way Lieutenant!"

"Yes sir! This way please."

It was Scully's turn to give Mulder a helpless look. She didn't know where the Infirmary was, and it wasn't as though she could afford to draw attention to herself by wandering around the base asking for directions.

As he set off behind the junior officer, Mulder pointed up to a sign next to the elevator doors that said 'Infirmary' and had an arrow pointing the way. "Topside Sergeant!" He said without looking back.

Scully glanced back up at the sign before heading off in the direction of the Infirmary. As she walked, she tried to adjust her movements to account for the stiffened and regimented style of walking that seemed to be drummed into military types the world over. The expression on her face told of a woman on a mission, which, she hoped, would stop anyone stopping her to ask awkward questions.

In front of her she saw another sign for the Infirmary that pointed down a corridor to her left. Concentrating more on her movements than on where she was actually going, she rounded the corner at speed and almost collided with two men coming the opposite way.

"Whoa, easy Sergeant!" Said one of the men, a tall, lean man who's hair was starting to grey.

Scully looked from him to the other man, a tall, impressively built man, dark skinned, bald and with some kind of gold emblem on his forehead. She turned her attention back to the first man and noticed for the first time that he was a Colonel. She stood rigidly to attention and, quite sub-consciously, snapped off a near perfect salute. "Sorry sir, I wasn't watching where I was going!"

O'Neill returned the salute. "Alright, no harm done." He turned to Teal'c. "You harmed?"

"I am not!" He replied putting his hands behind his back.

"See!" Said O'Neill, turning back to Scully with a smile.

"Yes sir, it won't happen again sir." Said Scully, still stood at attention.

"Do I know you Sergeant?"

"No sir," said Scully staring fixedly ahead, "just got in from Nulles with medical reports for Doctor Frasier sir."

"Ah! How are things in Nevada?"

"Dry, sir!"

"Huh!" Said O'Neill with a nod of his head. "Well, don't let me detain you Sergeant."

"Yes sir. Thank you sir." Scully saluted again.

O'Neill returned the salute again before setting off up the corridor.

Scully looked at the other man who bowed his head toward her before following the Colonel. There was something about him; something different that Scully couldn't quite put her finger on. She inclined her head to acknowledge him before continuing down the corridor.

She tried to calm herself down as she walked by breathing deeply, trying all the while to ignore the tightness in her chest, behind which she could feel her heart beating frantically.

She was relieved to see the Infirmary just ahead and force herself to keep a sedate pace. She couldn't help feeling that someone, maybe the Colonel and his large companion, was watching her from behind. When she reached the double doors of the Infirmary, she risked a glance up the corridor, which, to her relief, was empty.

Inside the infirmary, Scully could see no sign of any Doctors or Nurses. What she could see were two patients lying on beds in what was obviously a military field hospital, just a better equipped one.

The two men were both asleep and, after checking around one more time, Scully went over to the foot of the nearest occupied bed. The sleeping man had his blankets up to his bandaged chest; bandages also covered his right shoulder and partway down his right arm. She also noticed a dark tattoo on the man's forehead and, though she couldn't say for sure what the big man's tattoo had been, she felt sure it wasn't the same design as this one.

A noise in the corridor outside made Scully turn to the double doors. When, after a few tense moments, the doors remained closed, she turned back to the bed and picked up the clipboard that held the man's charts. A frown appeared as she read about 'deep wounds', 'burns' and 'staff blasts'. The frown deepened as she read Doctor Frasier's conclusions. 'Rem'nac is strong, even for a Jaffa warrior, and his symbiote is already accelerating the healing process. He should be able to return to Chulac in a couple of days, a week at the most.'

Scully returned the clipboard to the hook at the bottom of the bed and looked at the sleeping man again. She was about to go over to the second patient when she spotted an X-ray light board with some plates hanging on it. She quickly made her way over and turned on the backlight. The X-ray plates showed, what looked like, some kind of strange snake inside a man's stomach. Successive plates showed the organism in different positions that left Scully with only one conclusion. The snake was still alive.

Scully turned back to the man on the bed and looked at him with wide, staring eyes. A simbyote? Two organisms living within the same physical body, both reliant on each other for survival. She had heard of examples of symbiotic relationships in nature before, but never involving Humans.

Unless the man lying on that bed wasn't…!

"Excuse me Sergeant," said a woman's stern voice from behind her, "but what are you doing here?"

Scully started and almost dropped the 'reports' she was carrying. She spun around to see a young woman wearing an Air force uniform under a Doctor's white coat standing just inside the double doors. "Oh! Doctor Frasier?"

"Yes! Now that's out the way, do you want to tell me what you're doing in my Infirmary?"

"I'm sorry Doctor, I was looking for you. I've got some medical reports for you, from Nulles!"

Doctor Frasier gave Scully a suspicious look as she walked towards her. "Medical reports go to my office, they aren't required reading for my patients."

"Of course, Doctor. I am sorry! It's my first time here and, well, it won't happen again." Scully was beginning to think that this last phrase had magical properties. It certainly seemed to sort out all kinds of problems as far as officers and other authority figures were concerned. Next time she saw her brother, Bill, a ranking officer in the Navy, she would have to thank him for that piece of invaluable information.

It seemed that, no sooner had she navigated around one problem, she was faced with another one. Frohike and Langley had done a pretty good job of falsifying those reports, but would they stand up to Doctor Frasier's professional scrutiny? Fortunately, she wasn't about to find out any time soon.

In the corridor outside, a klaxon began sounding its intermittent signal and a red light began flashing next to the double doors. If Scully couldn't believe her luck, she had a harder time believing her ears as a man's voice came over the tanoy.

"Unscheduled off-world activation!"

Did she hear right. Did the announcer really just say 'off-world' activation?

Mulder was beginning to wonder if the junior officer actually knew where he was going. After leaving Scully at the elevator, something he was going to get it in the neck for later, he had followed the junior officer down one grey corridor after another until, finally, arriving at a large briefing room.

"If you would wait here please sir, General Hammond will be with you presently!"

"Certainly!" Replied Mulder, taking in the layout of the room.

"Would you like some refreshment, sir?"

Mulder was taken aback for a moment. In his line of work, people usually wanted to get rid of him, not offer him refreshment. "Yes! Coffee, please."

"I'll inform General Hammond that you're here and have the coffee brought to you."

"Thank you Lieutenant, it's most appreciated."

The coffee arrived before General Hammond did and, Mulder had to admit, was actually quite good. He had just decided that he could get used to a life as a Major when general Hammond entered the room. Mulder, after almost dropping his cup, stood to attention and saluted.

"Major!" Said Hammond returning the salute. "What can I do for you?"

"Dispatches sir, from Nulles!" said Mulder offering the bundle of manila envelopes to the stocky General.

"Thank you!" Said Hammond as he leafed through the envelopes. "How is General Baker settling in?"

Mulder was stumped for a moment. Realising he had to act quickly, he replied, "Sorry sir?"

Hammond looked up from the envelopes. "General Baker, your new base commander?"

"You mean General Masterson sir! I'm afraid I don't know any General Baker, sir."

"Of course, General Masterson, yes!" Said Hammond, appearing to realise his mistake.

Mulder felt that he had just passed a test and silently promised to praise Langley's hacking skills. "He's very well sir. If I may, he speaks very highly of you and your organization. He says that we wouldn't be nearly as busy as we are if it wasn't for you sir."

Hammond seemed to finish his appraisal of the officer before him. "You're welcome!" He said with a nod of his head.

"Sir?" Said Mulder with genuine eagerness. "I realise that this is highly irregular, but I was wondering if I might..?" He knew there was an 'it', but didn't have a clue as to what 'it' might be. Either way, this was probably his one and only chance of finding out and leaving the sentence open was the only way of doing it.

You could call it providence, lady luck or divine intervention, but at that moment a klaxon sounded and a red light in the corner of the room began flashing. A man's voice came over the tanoy. "Unscheduled off-world activation!"

"Looks like you get to see it in action, Major!" Said Hammond as he turned and stalked out of the room.

Mulder quickly fell in behind him, the words 'off-world activation' echoing in his mind.