Find The Future - Chapter 10
"Mom? Can you hear me, mom? I'm so sorry."
Scully thought William was calling out to her. But her mind was foggy, and she couldn't quite seem to focus on his voice. Her body felt heavy, as if she was anaesthetised, and she felt the urge to drift back into oblivion.
"I came to see you every day, and I'm so sorry. They said it was the only way to keep you safe, and I just couldn't lose you again."
William's desperate pleadings kept dragging her back to semi-consciousness.
She blinked, but her vision was very limited and blurred. She thought she could just about make out the outline of her son's face. Scully tried unsuccessfully to raise her arm to reach out to him; it was like a lead weight. She tried to speak, but no words would come, although she felt warm teardrops rolling down her cold cheeks.
"Mom? What's wrong with her, why can't she move?" Her son was panicking and demanding answers from someone who was just out of her field of vision.
"She'll be fine, don't worry. It takes time for the effects of the deep sleep to wear off, that's all," the man replied.
Scully recognised Jeremiah Smith's voice and she began to feel angry, although she wasn't sure why.
After a while, she experienced a wave of warmth sweeping through her whole body, and the feeling returned to her limbs. Her vision started to focus and she could see her son's face clearly once again. His eyes were red rimmed and she assumed he'd been crying. Her heart was breaking for him and she hated to see him looking so sad. But as her senses returned to her, she suddenly had more pressing concerns.
She sat bolt upright and began to scan around the room.
"Where's Mulder?" She was desperate when she realised he wasn't there.
"Don't worry, he'll be here in a moment," Smith tried to reassure her.
Scully remembered why she was angry at him, and she didn't trust him.
She was about to try and get up onto her feet to go and find her husband, when the door opened, and Mulder was wheeled into the room. He was still out of it, as she had just been, but his eyes flickered in protest at the light. Their gurneys were pushed close together so Scully could reach out to her husband, and she softly stroked his face.
"Mulder, can you hear me?" She asked as she held his hand and kissed it.
He looked like he wanted to reply, but couldn't. She understood as she had been in the same condition only moments before.
"What the hell did you do to us?" She turned on Jeremiah Smith, looking for answers.
Scully tried to piece together their last meeting with him.
"You wanted to leave here, and we couldn't allow it. The decision was taken to put you both into suspended animation, for your own protection," his tone was one of calm and reason.
She was ready to unleash her anger when William came around and placed his hand over his mother's and father's.
"I didn't want to help them, I just wanted to keep you both safe," he said as tears streamed down his cheeks.
Scully's heart ached for her son. She felt wariness too, as she realised with sadness, that she hardly knew him. He had powers that frightened her when he was a baby, and the rational part of her still struggled to accept them now.
"Don't blame the boy; he was only terrified of losing you for a second time," Smith explained.
Mulder stirred and he seemed to be regaining his senses, as he weakly squeezed Scully's hand.
"Where are we?" He asked as he blinked his eyes.
It appeared his vision was not yet fully restored.
"Still in the land of the living, just about," Scully replied as she tenderly stroked his hair with her free hand.
"I'll let you both get back on your feet. There's a bathroom through that door and clean clothes, and then we will talk," Smith said.
He was ready to leave the room, and he gestured for William to go with him. But the boy shook his head in refusal.
"I want to stay here with mom and dad," He affirmed.
Smith nodded in understanding before exiting.
Scully gently eased herself onto her feet with William's help. Although she still felt unsteady she was able to walk a few steps. Mulder pulled himself into a seated position, and he rubbed at his eyes to get things back into focus. He smiled tentatively at his son, but the atmosphere between them was awkward and uncomfortable, with so many things still left unspoken.
"What's the date?" Mulder finally asked.
"December 8th," his son replied quietly, and didn't meet his eye.
"We've been out of it for eight months?" He was incredulous.
"They told me you'd be killed if we left here. I can't lose you both again; you understand that, don't you?" William began to get tearful again, and anxious as he read the uncertainty in their minds.
He turned to his mother with desperation in his eyes.
"Mom, you gave me up for adoption to protect me, and I understand why you did that, even though I would rather have stayed with you. Because when you love someone that much, you don't ever want to see them get hurt, and I love you mom," he explained between sobs.
Scully could not hold back her own tears as she pulled her son into a tight embrace and kissed the top of his head. She could appreciate the truth in his words, and she could understand why he would believe Jeremiah Smith and go along with his plans. Mulder was able to get up and join them, and he put his arms around them both. He also understood his wife and son's emotions, and he shared them.
"It took me such a long time to realise what was most important to me; too long. Nothing is more precious to me than the two of you, and I love you both so much," Mulder kissed their foreheads, and he pulled them as tightly to him as he could.
Mulder twitched about in his seat. It was hard for him to maintain his calm demeanour because time was running out, for all of them. He had just lost eight months of his life, and the date of the planned alien invasion was only two weeks away. He looked over at his wife and son, and wondered how he came to be so blessed, or cursed. Because the more you have, the more you have to lose. He had lost so much during his life, but he couldn't bear the thought of losing them. He hoped Jeremiah Smith had something good to tell them, and that they really did have a way to fight back against the alien colonists. He couldn't even begin to contemplate the alternative.
William was also restless, but he had a more pleasant reason for his fidgeting, and he suddenly leapt up and went to the door.
"Is everything okay?" His mother asked with concern.
"Err, yeah, mom, it's just... You know how you were asking if I was lonely when you and dad were sleeping? Well, I made some friends, you already know Gibson Praise, but there's someone else, and she's special just like me," he explained.
"She?" His father questioned with a slight grin.
William looked bashful.
"Her name is Joy; her parents are dead, and she was rescued from the bad guys by Jeremiah Smith's men. She's coming to find me now, because I promised I'd watch 'It's A Wonderful Life' with her," he opened the door and looked out.
Scully suddenly remembered her encounter with a woman called Patti and her baby girl, Joy. She remembered how the father tried to help her rendezvous with Mulder, and that he was killed. The girl's parents had told her that their baby was special like William. But she never knew what happened to mother and daughter, after her own confrontation with the super soldier.
"How old is Joy?" She queried.
"Eleven, just like me," her son confirmed her suspicions.
Joy waved when she saw that William was waiting for her. He was happy to see her and she was likewise to see him. She was slender and pretty, with hazel eyes and shoulder-length light brown hair that had a natural wave to it. They smiled at each other, and William took her hand to lead her into the room to meet his parents.
"Mom, dad, I'd like you to meet Joy."
"Hi, Mr and Mrs Mulder, I'm so pleased to meet you," she said sweetly.
They greeted her warmly in return. Scully wondered whether she should ask about her parents, particularly her mother. Joy could read her mind, just like her son and Gibson, and she anticipated the question.
"You met my mom, Patti? I know you remember her. She tried to protect me, but without my father, she just couldn't stop them from taking me away," she explained with sadness.
"I'm so sorry," Scully said, knowing full well that mere words were inadequate to make up for all of her pain and suffering.
William squeezed Joy's hand and he gave her a look that somehow expressed all of his emotions at once. She immediately understood, because they had a connection that went far beyond words.
Jeremiah Smith entered the room, making everyone jump, and he gave the kids a friendly smile.
"Why don't you guys go and watch your movie, and we'll come find you afterwards, okay?" He suggested.
Scully smiled reassuringly at her son and his friend, and they happily complied.
Mulder gave Smith a wary look.
"Please, come with me," Jeremiah said and gestured that they should follow him.
"I'm not sure we should go anywhere with you," Mulder put a protective arm around his wife's shoulders.
"It's your choice, of course. But I'm offering full disclosure this time," Smith knew that they couldn't resist such an offer, and sure enough, they accepted.
"It's time for you to see our grand plan, so you might better understand what we've done here. I'm not going to pretend we haven't made some difficult choices along the way, and done some things that are, shall we say, ethically challenging. But you know what we're up against, and you know what's at stake. We may have crossed a few lines, but it was all in service of the greater good, and for that we can offer no apology," he explained as he led them deeper into the facility.
"I'm pretty sure the Nazis said something similar," Mulder said with obvious disdain.
"That is rather disingenuous of you, Mr Mulder. When you, of all people, know the extremes that some are willing to go to in order to succeed in their ambitions, whatever they may be. It may be a political movement, or a government, or a shadow group within a government, it could even be one man, or one woman, on an all-consuming crusade," Smith said pointedly.
"Since you mentioned the Nazis, I'm sure you're familiar with Operation Paperclip. That's a fine example of what I'm talking about here. Because when your average person views the newsreel footage of Neil Armstrong taking his first giant leap for mankind, what do you think they see? Do you think they see one of the greatest achievements, perhaps even the greatest achievement of all humankind, or do you think they see the pile of dead bodies that made it all possible?"
He knew full well that both of his companions understood the point he was making, and so he didn't wait for them to respond.
"You both know what is at stake here, of course you do. You also know the price that has already been paid by humans, and aliens alike. If we are to succeed now, and if the sacrifices and lives of all those who have suffered and perished to get us to this point are not to be in vain, then we must work together. In the end, if we are on the winning side, then history will be kind to us. We will be judged, not on the lives that were lost, but on how many were saved. Anyway, one thing you people are really good at is editing out the more unsavoury aspects of your past," Smith said with a wry smile.
They reached a glass elevator and were soon descending into the bowels of the facility.
Mulder and Scully remained silent and thoughtful throughout, as they digested Smith's diatribe. They were able to look out on each floor as they passed by them, and Scully recognised the place where Gibson had taken her. The tanks, which had been occupied the last time she was there, were now all empty.
"Where did they go?" She questioned.
"They were needed," Smith replied without elaborating any further.
They passed another floor which was full of glass pods. Mulder thought he recognised them as being similar to the ones he'd seen years before in Antarctica. He had rescued Scully from one, and he'd seen aliens gestated from human hosts in others. He couldn't see if these pods were occupied or not, and so he gave Smith a questioning look.
"We needed alien test subjects. We procured a number of elderly people, who were very nearly at the end of their lives, and we infected them. We only took those who had no families, and no one to care whether they lived or died. I did warn you that you might find some of the things we've done here... challenging, I can offer no apologies," Smith explained without displaying any remorse.
Mulder and Scully looked at him with disgust.
"What about letting those people die with dignity?" Dana angrily asked.
"We are all going to die one day, with or without dignity. The enemy we're facing, won't care either way," Smith argued.
"Then maybe the price of saving ourselves is too high. If we have to trade our humanity for salvation, maybe we don't deserve to survive?" Mulder questioned.
"It's a moral dilemma you'll no doubt revisit many times, when all of this is over. Perhaps in the small hours of the morning, when you're safe and warm in your bed, while your son sleeps soundly down the hall and your wife slumbers peacefully at your side. You see what I'm saying, don't you?" Smith asked with a knowing look.
"What is the alternative? Many men and women throughout human history have made terrible choices to ensure the survival of the many, or the few. Life, or rather the continuation of it, is a compromise; it's as simple as that," he concluded as they finally reached their destination.
Mulder and Scully looked out in shocked awe on a vast underground hangar, which contained many alien spaceships of varying size. Jeremiah Smith waited for the elevator door to open, and then he stepped out, and invited his companions to join him.
"It's time to leave the past where it belongs; it's time to find the future."