The E-Files: Epilogue
Mulder's apartment, Washington DC
10:03 p.m.
The knock on the door was not unexpected, but Mulder answered it with some trepidation. He glanced at Scully for support before he opened the door. Her serene smile comforted him.
"Come in." Sarah Connor and Ripley accepted the invitation. "I'm glad you are okay, Ms. Ripley," Mulder added. Neither Ripley nor Arnold had quite made it out of the facility before it exploded. Very little had been left of either of them, but they had survived.
"We are very hard to kill, agent Mulder," Ripley replied. "Some more than others, of course." Sarah Connor was also completely recovered from the close encounter with the bounty hunter.
The Eternity Agents sat down and faced the FBI agents. "Well, we're here for the wrap-up," Sarah said. "And your answer."
Mulder nodded. "Well, we gave the vaccine formula to a few contacts of ours." He turned to Scully.
"The vaccine is not particularly hard to produce. And several members of the original conspiracy have switched allegiance. With their resources, we will have total exposure to the vaccine in two years, with over 75% in the first two months."
"The colonization project is dead." Mulder continued. "We won." He didn't add that it had been a costly victory. With the collapse of the Conspiracy, Mulder had learned many of the truths he had been seeking all of these years. Truths about his family – his sister, his father. Some of those truths had been very hard to take.
"We have also completed another turn in Chicago," Scully said. "We are certain that there was only one alien in the area, and that it was killed thanks to the actions of the hospital's personnel."
Sarah shook her head. "I can't believe we missed it. And that those doctors were able to take it out."
"Believe it," Ripley said. "Sometimes, it doesn't take special powers or weapons. Sometimes, it takes guts, and a little luck."
"Heroes come in many guises," Mulder agreed.
"They are ER doctors," Scully said. "They were already heroes."
"In any case, there is too much information available for a
cover-up. The truth is going to come out, at least some of it. Enough of it –
humanity is going to find out it is not alone in the universe."
"Many people will refuse to believe even with all the evidence," Scully replied.
"Still, who knows what the consequences will be?"
"Well, we know a bit about that," Sarah said. "According to our superiors, there will be some chaos and instability, but soon things will settle down. There will also be a renewed interest in space exploration. More unity, too; when people realize there are beings outside humankind, and that some of them are not friendly, they find it hard to hate and fear each other."
"And the X-Files?"
"People will be more willing to face the unexplained. Even in law enforcement. It will be a lot harder to hide behind incredulity and disbelief."
"So I guess our job here is done," Mulder concluded.
"Possibly. Which brings me to the question we asked you before."
Mulder leaned back on his chair. He had seen very little, in the few minutes they had been at Mother's – a huge fortress somewhere near the end of time, if their guides could be believed. They had been transported there after the explosion, to avoid the authorities. So little, and yet so much. He and Scully had spoken for a long time, a discussion that had carried into the wee hours of the night. At the end, there had been no need for words, and they had been together in a different way. He didn't know what would come of that, but he knew of the other result of that night.
"This morning, we tendered our resignation, effective immediately."
"In other words, we accept," Scully added.
"I'm glad to hear it," Sarah said, accepting the proffered handshakes. "It's a dangerous job, a nasty job, but a necessary job."
"That's one hell of a recruiting motto," Mulder said with a smile. "But we're still in."
Chicago, IL
11:43 p.m.
Mark Greene slept, and dreamed. Things had finally settled down, and he was back to work normally. It had been a chaotic few weeks, with all kinds to strange news and revelations, but he felt, more than anything else… exhilarated. He had faced Death's avatar, and he had beaten it. And if that was not a physician's ultimate duty, what was?
So he slept, and dreamt of a time when death and suffering were vanquished once for all, unaware that one day in the unimaginable future, those dreams would come true, and he would be there to see it.
THE END