Title: "Felis Domestica"
Author: KimotoCat.
Further notes: See part 1.
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Felis Domestica – part 3Next morning, Fox Mulder was declared fit for duty by the doctors, who had kept him hospitalised for surveillance over night. Apparently he had been given some kind of electrical discharge, which had caused some damage but nothing serious.
"You'll have a wonderful black eye for some days," the doctor had told him. "But I don't think there are any permanent injuries. Go see your own doctor in a week or so, just to make sure."
When Mulder left the ward, he almost ran into Scully.
"Good morning," he said with a smile.
"Hi," Scully answered, slightly short of breath. "You're OK now?"
"Yeah, doc says I'm fine," Mulder said. "Were you coming to pay a visit? Where are the flowers?"
"I didn't bring any," Scully admitted. "But I do have something very interesting. Come, I'll show you."
"I've been running some tests on Kimoto Takita," Scully explained as they walked down the corridors. "It does seem that she has some DNA abnormalities, which I cannot just explain. Both her x-rays and her blood tests show a completely unique structure. And the things, I could not find to be human, are very close to the traits of the greater felines, such as the mountain lion or the cheetah. I have shown some of the x-rays to a biologist friend of mine, he says they are a hoax, but a very well made hoax. But the x-rays are real enough, now I just have to figure out, how she has become that way."
"How is she taking it?" Mulder asked. "I mean, other than her physical state."
"Oh, well, she is very depressed. Naturally, after all she did try to kill herself yesterday. A psychologist is talking to her right now, but she is very persistent about her alien story being true."
"Supposing, just supposing, that it is true?" Mulder inquired.
"I just can't believe, that it is," Scully answered, opening a door into another hallway. "But if it is, the DNA analysis and further tests will show some of it. She is right down here, room 14."
As they approached, a tall man in a white robe met them.
"Hi Dana," he said with a smile. "And you must be the famous agent Mulder," he continued, stretching out his hand giving Mulder a cordial handshake. "Pleased to meet you!"
"Mulder, this is Doctor Edward Flynch," Scully introduced. "He is the psychologist responsible for Kimoto."
"Pleased to meet you," Mulder muttered in his typical slightly distant fashion.
"And that is one heck of a responsibility, you've placed me with there," Flynch said, looking at Scully with concern in his grey eyes. "She's a very complex case. Very complex in deed!"
"What can you tell us?" Mulder enquired, suddenly taking an interest.
"Well, for one thing there is no doubt that she thinks she is telling the truth. If we were to take a lie detector test on her, it would show her telling the truth when she talks about being from the future and another planet. Now, I've heard of delusional people, claiming to be time travellers or extraterrestrials, but this is the first case where both things are claimed."
"Is there any possibility, however remote, that she could think, she was telling the truth, simply because she actually was telling the truth?" Mulder asked, looking seriously at the doctor and ignoring Scully's upturned eyes and heavy sighing.
"Well, theoretically, I guess so," Flynch said hesitating. "If we assumed that it could be possible, yes. But naturally, it isn't."
"Are you sure?" Mulder insisted. "Have you exposed any contradictions in her explanations? Has she made any, and I do mean any, mistakes?"
"No, not that I've noticed," Flynch muttered, taken aback by Mulder's sudden eager.
"Well, I just wanted to know," Mulder smiled, finally leaving the doctor alone again. "C'mon, Scully, let's go see the alien time travelling pussycat!"
"You're not suggesting that you actually believe her now?" Scully asked after having assured doctor Flynch about her colleague's mental integrity. "After all, it is part of the delusional patient's behaviour to believe the delusions to be the truth. There's nothing so revolutionary about that."
"I'm not saying I believe her," Mulder answered, hasting towards door 14. "I'm just saying that I'm fascinated by her story, that's all."
"Mulder, look at me," Scully demanded as they stopped outside door 14. "Yesterday you had a long day at work. You went home, but you had one of your insomniac strides and decided to go get some air. Then you dropped into some God forsaken bar and had a something to drink. I am only surprised you did not find Big Foot in there too!"
"You are not reasonable now," Mulder muttered. "You have to admit that she is special!"
"Scientifically, yes," Scully replied. "But she is a biological wonder, to use your own words. She did carry a rather special model of a stun-gun. And she is a mental patient at the same time. Tragic, even strange, but true."
"What's so wrong with talking to her? She's not armed any more, you know!"
"You'll just get carried away," Scully reasoned. "Look, you're tired, you've had a rough night and you were almost electrocuted. Go home and get some sleep. Kimoto is in the safe hands of Doctor Flynch!"
"Just a short talk," Mulder smiled at Scully. "Then I'll go home." He put his hand on the door handle and opened it before Scully got time to object any further. "I'll be good, Mum!" Mulder said to her as he entered the room.
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She was fixed onto a bed, strapped down, but as comfortable as possible, given the circumstances. As Mulder entered, her emerald eyes met his hazel. She did not look angered or disappointed, just tired.
"Told you that you would arrest me or admit me to a hospital," she said with a kind of smile. "As it ended up, you did both!"
"Sorry about that," Mulder said, grabbing a chair to sit down next to the bed. "But nobody is better off dead, trust me."
"Not even a mad freak like me?" she asked, seemingly seriously.
"Not even a feline star traveller like you," Mulder replied. "Look, I'd like to hear some more of your story."
"What? I thought you said, you were a special agent with the FBI, not a shrink," Kim exclaimed. "What do you want to talk to me about?"
"What if I told you, that I believe you?" Mulder tried.
"Ha!"
"No, seriously. I mean, your story is plausible, when we overlook the laws of physics. You say strange things, but you do not mumble away and you do not contradict yourself."
Kim, who had been staring into the ceiling, turned to gaze at him.
"Seriously? You believe me?"
"Yes, I think so," Mulder said cautiously. "I cannot find any other way to explain about your physical nature or that weapon of yours."
"Sorry about your head," Kim muttered, suddenly avoiding his eyes. "I did not try to kill you, you know. It was a stupid accident in the heat of the struggle. I am sorry. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Mulder smiled. "Just a black eye to brag with. Never mind me. But how about you?"
"You can see how I am," she groaned. "I just lost grip yesterday, I shouldn't have had a few drinks earlier in the evening, I'm really bad at drinking alcohol. Felines mix badly with that. You really believe me?"
"Yes, I do," Mulder assured her.
Kim once again fixed him with her unnaturally big eyes. In the daylight, stressed by the white surroundings, her pupils were even more thin and alien to an otherwise somewhat human face. Now, as the two dark stripes burned into his own eyes, Fox Mulder suddenly felt sick. His stomach lurched and for a short second, he felt uncomfortably giddy. Then he snapped out of it; Kim turned her face away again and did not seem to have noticed anything.
"You know, strange thing is, I believe that you do believe me," she suddenly said, facing the grey sky outside the window. Then she once again turned to look at him. "Say, are you sure, you are okay?"
"I'm fine, I just haven't had much sleep lately," Mulder answered, his brief seizure having passed.
"You do not look to sharp," Kim said in a worried voice. "Would you like me to summon a nurse? They've placed a buzzer here by my hand, so that I have the liberty to do that. Nice, isn't it?"
"You don't have to call a nurse, but thank you," Mulder said. "If you believe, that I believe you, then please tell me how we can prove your story?"
"Prove it?" Kim smirked. "Well, by letting me out to tell whoever would like to hear it!"
"Letting you out, well, that just may be the tough part. You see-" Mulder began, but his voice snapped as his eyes once again met Kim's. Those dark lines, mere cracks of darkness in two emerald seas. Once caught in those eyes, Mulder could not get himself to look away. More so, he did not want to look away.
"I see what?" Kim purred gently.
"Well… Erh…" Mulder stuttered, sweating and panting heavily.
"No, special agent Fox Mulder," Kim purred on. "You are the one who should see. You say, you believe me. Will you help me?"
"Erh… Yes…" Mulder gasped, mechanically loosening his tie. "Off course."
"Good, I am happy about that. Now, please, Fox Mulder, unstrap me."
"Unstrap, erh… Yes. Unstrap," Mulder stuttered, getting slowly on his feet, reeling as if he was drunk.
The air in the room had become sultry. Both Mulder and Kim were sweating heavily; Kim from the effort of what she was doing and Mulder from the effect of the very same thing. Without trying to say any more, Mulder released the feline woman in mechanical and somewhat fumbling movements.
Kim got up from the bed and rubbed her sore wrists. Then she looked at Mulder.
"You are a remarkable man, you know that?" She asked in a friendly purr as she gently guided him down on the bed. "You know, I told you that I had inherited certain parts of my mother's species. Well, the sheerar have strong telepathic gifts. That is how they have managed evolving into intelligent beings without the human touch for tools. I am not strong with telekinesis, but I do have other gifts."
"But… Bu… How…" Mulder tried, having a very small bit of self-control left.
"How? I don't really know," Kim said, continuously purring quietly as she tightened the straps around Mulder's hands and waist. "But everything I've said this far is true, so you can make your own decisions about the future from it. Now, do you believe in prophecies? I do. I have to; it's what keeps me going after having lost track of both my world and my time. Only I feared the worst yesterday, that's why I preferred death to imprisonment as an interesting specimen here."
"Mmmphh…" Mulder desperately tried, his weary eyes almost popping out of his head from the effort.
"Nooo," Kim purred, almost whispering. "No, I cannot let go of your will so much that you can talk. I am sorry, as I know that you also spoke the truth. You see, I can even, to a degree, read your mind like an open book. And an interesting book it is. In this day and age, heh, I've never before encountered a mind like yours. Fascinating."
Mulder could only stare at her. He barely had the ability to know that he was being manipulated. With this tiny bit of his own consciousness, he tried to make her understand that he wanted to talk to her. He wanted to know more.
"I am sorry for intruding in your mind," Kim continued, making sure that the last strap was secure. "But do not worry, it is a slow process and I did not get far, and even if it is tempting, I have only seen the mere surface of your thoughts. The other thing requires much more effort and your co-operation. But it was enough to intrigue me. And it was enough to see, that you could be persuaded to help me."
"You know, you are the first 1998-person, who has believed me. Even after seeing me, touching me and talking to me, people refuse to believe that the truth is right here."
Mulder could feel something slip away. He was not panting anymore, in stead his breath was slowing down into a pleasant and almost shallow one.
"Agent Fox Mulder, I am sorry to do this to you," Kim said as she opened the window. "I can force you to sleep and I'll do that. It will be some time before they notice that I'm gone. Then you can tell them whatever you like; after all, this is DC and I can easily hide here. I've managed well for two weeks, but I think that I can do much better now that I know, someone believes in me."
Mulder could feel that he was slipping away. He knew he should be terrified by what was happening, but he did not feel like that at all. In stead, this was by far the most pleasant way he had ever been attacked. Well, as attacks go… He just wished he could talk to her.
"Oh by the way, tell your superiors that I cannot become a spy with this, as you know, the subject is bound to notice that something is wrong," Kim said. "Now, because of all this, I have to hide for a while," Kim's voice sounded from far away. "But you are actually the first Earthling human I trust. If it's okay, I'd like to come and visit you some day. Then we can talk. Is it okay?"
Once again, the brief sensation of nausea and vertigo came over Mulder. Then, just as suddenly as it came, it passed. The only strange thing remaining was this immense weariness and persisting desire to sleep.
"Okay, I will drop by then," Kim's voice echoed in the darkness, having a pearly sound of laughter about it. "I'll look forward to it. But now I must leave. Goodbye, special agent Fox Mulder. Till we meet again!"
Mulder could hear some scraping sounds, coming from the direction of the window. Then the weariness overwhelmed him and a warm, comfortable darkness engulfed him.
He welcomed it.
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Fragment from special agent Dana Scully's report a few days later:
"...and agent Mulder recovered completely, without any permanent physical or mental injuries.
As for the presumed Kimoto Takita, the explanation to her extreme physical appearance remains unknown. How an otherwise human person can evolve into this form and mental capacity remains an unanswered question to science. If we did not have photographic material, x-rays and tissue-samples from this creature to support the claim about her existence, it would be my scientific opinion that she could not possibly exist."
"...the weapon has obviously been made from an unknown facility, as the technology presented within it are not known to any department within the U.S. Officials from the Department of Defence have made a claim on the weapon, which is to be the focus of further investigations. Any further details regarding it have been classified as a matter of national security."
"Regarding Kimoto Takita's whereabouts since her escape from the mental ward on Bethesda Naval Hospital, there is very little to say. Investigations reveal that she must have climbed out the window of the 3rd floor room and left through the park. Extensive search, including the use of police dogs, have not lead to an arrest of her..."
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The End?
August 1998 by KimotoCat
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