Chapter 14: All-too lone gunmen

I suppose Mulder saw my sad look or wondered why I didn't say anything while we were driving back to the airport. Whatever it was, he suddenly turned around and said: "Hey, Amy. It's too early to give up hope." I looked up and tried to give him a smile. I thought that was so nice of him.
"He's right", Scully said and looked at me through the rear-view mirror. "We promised to help you and that's what we'll do. We haven't exhausted all possibilities yet."

Our flight back was way better than the flight to Illinois. We landed in D.C. at 10.13 pm. It had been a long day. So I guess all of us fell asleep pretty soon. Annie didn't leave my side anymore. She slept on the couch with me.

It was Wednesday the 19th. Mulder was already there when we came into the office. He was just hanging up the phone.
"Hello there, I've been waiting for you", he complained.
"Sorry, we had to walk the dog first", Scully excused our late arrival.
"Alright, let's go now, then. They're waiting."
"Who is?"
"We're going to visit some friends."
Scully raised her eyebrow but didn't ask any further questions and just followed him out the door.
I didn't even take off my jacket.

We drove to a typical dirty alley with lots of cardboard boxes and garbage laying around. Mulder went straight to a door next to a barrel.
"The Gunmen", Dana taunted "I should have known."
Mulder knocked on the door and gave her a smile.
"Why? I think that's cool", I said.
Mulder pointed at me. "There, do you hear that? She thinks it's cool."
Scully nodded slowly. "I know, I'm the bad old party-pooper."
The door opened and a small guy with a hat stared at us. Then he turned around and shouted into the empty room behind him: "Okay guys, you can come out. It's just Mulder."
Mulder stepped inside followed by his partner.
"And the wonderful agent Scully", the man added as she passed him. "And uhm…", he followed me with his eyes as I entered the room. "A young lady with a nice b…"
"Frohike!", Mulder cut him off.
"Bone structure", he ended his sentence.
The other two gunmen came out of another room. Langly walked over to one of the many computers they got, while Byers joined us.
"So, Mulder. What do you need?", he wanted to know.
"Don't you want to offer us anything to drink first?", Mulder joked.
Frohike thought about that for a moment. "Actually", he then replied. "No. We're really busy."
"Ever heard of the HAARP Project?", Langly asked from across the room.
"It is a scientific endeavour aimed at studying the properties and behaviour of the ionosphere, with particular emphasis on being able to understand and use it to enhance communications and surveillance systems for both civilian and defence purposes", Mulder answered.
Langly laughed and countered: "That's the official explanation. HAARP claims that the supposed 3,600 kilowatts of energy originating from the project are completely harmless. But actually, HAARP is a giant death ray, based on a design contained in the notes of inventor Nikola Tesla. It's a weather-control machine, an earthquake machine, a giant Mind Control broadcasting machine."
Scully folded her arms and shook her head. "No UFOs?", she taunted. I listened carefully.
"In fact, some people claim", Langly continued. "HAARP has something to do with UFOs. Either signalling them, blasting them from the skies, or feeding babies to them."
"That's pretty darn fascinating!", Scully said. "But can we get to the point, Mulder?"
"Sure", Mulder commented and turned to Byers. "Is it somehow possible to get into the TV?"
Byers smiled. "By connecting television with broadband fixed and mobile networks. German companies are working on linking in viewers live either from home or out and about to let them participate in a game show. The viewers are supposed to call in during the show and will be 'beamed into the television studio' via video telephony. But it's going to take some more years until that's possible."
Mulder rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "That doesn't matter. But no, it's not what I'm looking for. I mean actually get into the TV. Really get in the movie you're watching."
"I don't think so, Mulder. Sorry!"
"What about that article?", Frohike interfered.
Byers and Mulder looked at him and said at the same time: "What article?"
"The article in that one magazine. Star Trek, you know?"
Now Langly joined us too. "Yeah, I remember that. The guy claimed that he was in Star Trek and got in there through his TV. I think it's somewhere over there", Langly said and pointed at a shelf with a bunch of magazines and newspapers. "I'll search it. One minute, okay?"
Mulder nodded and glanced at Scully. But she didn't object.