Title: The Master Calls A Butterfly
Author: april leigh
Rating: R, for language, adult situations
Category: X, A, MSR, in that order. And because it took me so long to
write this and so much has happened in the interim, Alternate Universe.
Spoilers: Nothing is off limits, up to the end of the Sixth season.
Timeline: Takes place about a week after the events of One Son. All of
the events that followed that episode have not occurred in this world.
Archive: Ask first
Feedback: always a good thing, e-mail: aprilleigh50@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: Ha! If they were mine, you would be watching this, not
reading it.
Thanks: Many thanks to nay for patiently and expertly beta-reading all
of these many months. If I try to say more I'll just start babbling
with gratitude. g Also, thanks to vermin, whose rather 'copious'
advice did not in the least hinder my creative processes.
Summary: There's a fine line, it seems, between fate and choice. How
much, really, is within our control? Fate is about potential. Choice is
about fulfilling that potential.
Author's Note: This is my attempt to connect the dots, make the
connections, and wrap nearly every dang thing up in the x-files
universe. Well, except the bees, I don't think *anyone* could explain
those guys. g I also want to stress that the majority of this story
was fleshed out before the seventh season started, so anything that was
'revealed' this past year is not taken in consideration while writing
this story, and essentially did not happen in this world.
Posting note: Because of the length of this story, I plan on posting
this story over the course of several days. The story can be found at
http://www.geocities.com/aprilleigh50/ in all of its parts.
* * * * * *
The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in
injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of
the world, the master calls a butterfly. --Richard Bach
* * * * * *
Earth
4 billion years ago
* * * * * *
Great is this organism of mud and fire,
terrible this vast, painful, glorious
experiment. -- George Santayana
* * * * * *
Volcanoes belched noxious gas into the turbulent atmosphere--an
atmosphere that contained no free oxygen, only a toxic mixture of
molecules forged from hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen. The gray barren
ocean dominated the landscape while vigorous chemical activity took
place in the land and water. Chemical reactions were fed by the
volcanoes and penetrated both by lightning discharge and solar
radiation. Meteors and comets, remnants of the creation of the solar
system, pelted the young planet, providing both water and minerals.
Along with water and minerals, one meteor provided something entirely
different.
The meteor measured a mere three meters in diameter, and the impact
site, although significant, was rapidly lost to time and the brutal
elements. The meteor had shattered on impact, still glowing white hot
from its descent. Out of the ruin poured viscous black oil and the
creature contained within it. The oil moved with a purpose, seeking out
another life. But there was no life on this hostile landscape.
And so this creature languished. The dead world had its deadly effects.
The chemicals of the air and sea violently reacted with first the oil,
then the life form within it, quickly breaking it down to its chemical
components. Now, completely vulnerable, the creature could not last. The
compounds of the earth were electrically and chemically attracted to the
organism. Attaching directly to the creature, they interfered with all
of the life's processes.
Radiation that came unfiltered from the sun attacked on the cellular
level. The rapidly dividing cells were vulnerable to the high-energy
ionizing rays. The radiation destroyed the cell's ability to reproduce
by inducing sublethal DNA breaks that with each cycle only grew worse.
So quietly, and unnoticeably, the planet consumed the creature.
But even as the radiation, chemicals, and the other elements attacked
the oil's very essence, even as they broke down molecule by molecule, an
event occurred that would change everything.
As the last of the creature's DNA unwound, almost to the point of losing
all cohesion, lightening struck the small tide pool where the process
had been taking place, halting it. Now, with the electrical current
changed, the DNA pulled forcefully back into its helical nature. And
along with it came other chemical substances-- substances such as water,
carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen cyanide. These elements began to
form primitive molecules we would later recognize as sugars, amino
acids, and nucleotides. These molecules would be the building blocks of
proteins and nucleic acids, compounds ubiquitous to all living
organisms.
And so, life sprang forth on this insignificant planet, of a mundane
star, on the far edge of a galaxy tucked away in a forgotten corner of
the universe.
* * * * * *
Department of Defense
February 19, 1999
8:21am
The smoke curled from the end of the cigarette as it was brought up to
the old man's mouth. He inhaled, then exhaled, expelling more smoke,
further contributing to the haze of the room. He sat silently in his
chair, back facing the door, studying the wood paneling that covered the
wall. Several folders lay spread out behind him on the expansive
mahogany table.
Dr. Ken Dagen stood near the door of the conference room and shifted
nervously on his feet. Smoothing his white lab coat that bound
uncomfortably across his large frame, he spoke again. "Sir? Sir, did you
hear me?"
"Yes I did." He did not turn to face the doctor. He continued to stare
at the wall.
Talking to the back of the chair unnerved Dagen. "Do you want us to
begin preparations?"
"We are sure that she is the one?"
"Oh, yes sir. There aren't many left to chose from to begin with. So
many died from the cancer, and then the encounters with the
rebels... Anyway, of those few that remain, she has demonstrated the
most latent abilities," He hesitated, looking for the correct words to
express what he meant. "What I mean to say..."
"What you mean to say is that she may already be a step or two ahead..."
The Cigarette Smoking Man found the right words.
The doctor nodded in relief. The older man understood what he was
saying. "Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying."
Several moments passed. The doctor watched the smoke softly curl,
disembodied, from the chair as he waited for a response. He was just
about to remind the man of his presence, when the older man spoke once
more. "Her exposure to the antivirus... will that affect the outcome?"
The doctor indicated the results he was holding in his hand. "No, it
shouldn't. In fact, from the latest sample we were able to retrieve, we
believe that that exposure has actually begun the process."
A drag from his cancer stick. "Then proceed."
The man began to leave, but hesitated. He turned back to face the room.
"Sir? How...?" He faltered.
"Follow the plan as it has been arranged."
"Are you sure sir? Her partner--"
He was interrupted by the older man's harsh words. "You need not concern
yourself with her partner. He is of no significance to you."
Dagen continued, although he knew it was not wise to question him. "But
it would be so much simpler to just take her from her home--"
"No." He barked the word. It came out sharp and bitten off. He took a
moment to hide his irritation before continuing. "No, he needs to
witness it. It will bring things home to him. Everything will take on a
much greater significance if he is there to witness it." He said this
evenly, the harsh tone from before absent from his voice. He slowly took
another drag on his cigarette.
"But won't that encourage--"
"I did not ask you to think. Send the message; proceed with the plans."
Another slow drag and he turned in his chair so that he could
extinguished the cigarette in the ashtray on the table. For the first
time in the conversation, he met the doctor's eyes. "Don't worry about
Mulder, he's my concern."
* * * * * *
Author: april leigh
Rating: R, for language, adult situations
Category: X, A, MSR, in that order. And because it took me so long to
write this and so much has happened in the interim, Alternate Universe.
Spoilers: Nothing is off limits, up to the end of the Sixth season.
Timeline: Takes place about a week after the events of One Son. All of
the events that followed that episode have not occurred in this world.
Archive: Ask first
Feedback: always a good thing, e-mail: aprilleigh50@hotmail.com
Disclaimer: Ha! If they were mine, you would be watching this, not
reading it.
Thanks: Many thanks to nay for patiently and expertly beta-reading all
of these many months. If I try to say more I'll just start babbling
with gratitude. g Also, thanks to vermin, whose rather 'copious'
advice did not in the least hinder my creative processes.
Summary: There's a fine line, it seems, between fate and choice. How
much, really, is within our control? Fate is about potential. Choice is
about fulfilling that potential.
Author's Note: This is my attempt to connect the dots, make the
connections, and wrap nearly every dang thing up in the x-files
universe. Well, except the bees, I don't think *anyone* could explain
those guys. g I also want to stress that the majority of this story
was fleshed out before the seventh season started, so anything that was
'revealed' this past year is not taken in consideration while writing
this story, and essentially did not happen in this world.
Posting note: Because of the length of this story, I plan on posting
this story over the course of several days. The story can be found at
http://www.geocities.com/aprilleigh50/ in all of its parts.
* * * * * *
The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in
injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of
the world, the master calls a butterfly. --Richard Bach
* * * * * *
Earth
4 billion years ago
* * * * * *
Great is this organism of mud and fire,
terrible this vast, painful, glorious
experiment. -- George Santayana
* * * * * *
Volcanoes belched noxious gas into the turbulent atmosphere--an
atmosphere that contained no free oxygen, only a toxic mixture of
molecules forged from hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen. The gray barren
ocean dominated the landscape while vigorous chemical activity took
place in the land and water. Chemical reactions were fed by the
volcanoes and penetrated both by lightning discharge and solar
radiation. Meteors and comets, remnants of the creation of the solar
system, pelted the young planet, providing both water and minerals.
Along with water and minerals, one meteor provided something entirely
different.
The meteor measured a mere three meters in diameter, and the impact
site, although significant, was rapidly lost to time and the brutal
elements. The meteor had shattered on impact, still glowing white hot
from its descent. Out of the ruin poured viscous black oil and the
creature contained within it. The oil moved with a purpose, seeking out
another life. But there was no life on this hostile landscape.
And so this creature languished. The dead world had its deadly effects.
The chemicals of the air and sea violently reacted with first the oil,
then the life form within it, quickly breaking it down to its chemical
components. Now, completely vulnerable, the creature could not last. The
compounds of the earth were electrically and chemically attracted to the
organism. Attaching directly to the creature, they interfered with all
of the life's processes.
Radiation that came unfiltered from the sun attacked on the cellular
level. The rapidly dividing cells were vulnerable to the high-energy
ionizing rays. The radiation destroyed the cell's ability to reproduce
by inducing sublethal DNA breaks that with each cycle only grew worse.
So quietly, and unnoticeably, the planet consumed the creature.
But even as the radiation, chemicals, and the other elements attacked
the oil's very essence, even as they broke down molecule by molecule, an
event occurred that would change everything.
As the last of the creature's DNA unwound, almost to the point of losing
all cohesion, lightening struck the small tide pool where the process
had been taking place, halting it. Now, with the electrical current
changed, the DNA pulled forcefully back into its helical nature. And
along with it came other chemical substances-- substances such as water,
carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen cyanide. These elements began to
form primitive molecules we would later recognize as sugars, amino
acids, and nucleotides. These molecules would be the building blocks of
proteins and nucleic acids, compounds ubiquitous to all living
organisms.
And so, life sprang forth on this insignificant planet, of a mundane
star, on the far edge of a galaxy tucked away in a forgotten corner of
the universe.
* * * * * *
Department of Defense
February 19, 1999
8:21am
The smoke curled from the end of the cigarette as it was brought up to
the old man's mouth. He inhaled, then exhaled, expelling more smoke,
further contributing to the haze of the room. He sat silently in his
chair, back facing the door, studying the wood paneling that covered the
wall. Several folders lay spread out behind him on the expansive
mahogany table.
Dr. Ken Dagen stood near the door of the conference room and shifted
nervously on his feet. Smoothing his white lab coat that bound
uncomfortably across his large frame, he spoke again. "Sir? Sir, did you
hear me?"
"Yes I did." He did not turn to face the doctor. He continued to stare
at the wall.
Talking to the back of the chair unnerved Dagen. "Do you want us to
begin preparations?"
"We are sure that she is the one?"
"Oh, yes sir. There aren't many left to chose from to begin with. So
many died from the cancer, and then the encounters with the
rebels... Anyway, of those few that remain, she has demonstrated the
most latent abilities," He hesitated, looking for the correct words to
express what he meant. "What I mean to say..."
"What you mean to say is that she may already be a step or two ahead..."
The Cigarette Smoking Man found the right words.
The doctor nodded in relief. The older man understood what he was
saying. "Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying."
Several moments passed. The doctor watched the smoke softly curl,
disembodied, from the chair as he waited for a response. He was just
about to remind the man of his presence, when the older man spoke once
more. "Her exposure to the antivirus... will that affect the outcome?"
The doctor indicated the results he was holding in his hand. "No, it
shouldn't. In fact, from the latest sample we were able to retrieve, we
believe that that exposure has actually begun the process."
A drag from his cancer stick. "Then proceed."
The man began to leave, but hesitated. He turned back to face the room.
"Sir? How...?" He faltered.
"Follow the plan as it has been arranged."
"Are you sure sir? Her partner--"
He was interrupted by the older man's harsh words. "You need not concern
yourself with her partner. He is of no significance to you."
Dagen continued, although he knew it was not wise to question him. "But
it would be so much simpler to just take her from her home--"
"No." He barked the word. It came out sharp and bitten off. He took a
moment to hide his irritation before continuing. "No, he needs to
witness it. It will bring things home to him. Everything will take on a
much greater significance if he is there to witness it." He said this
evenly, the harsh tone from before absent from his voice. He slowly took
another drag on his cigarette.
"But won't that encourage--"
"I did not ask you to think. Send the message; proceed with the plans."
Another slow drag and he turned in his chair so that he could
extinguished the cigarette in the ashtray on the table. For the first
time in the conversation, he met the doctor's eyes. "Don't worry about
Mulder, he's my concern."
* * * * * *