Hands up!

Mulder has no trouble following Doggett and Reyes from the San Diego FBI field office in the Federal Office Building to the laboratories of Champion Research. Once Mulder takes up an observation position across the street from the Champion Research building, he calls Langly and requests a search for any information he can get via the internet on Champion Research.

About noon, Langly calls Mulder. "I hacked into phone records for Champion Research. Looks like Doggett and Reyes pulled their plug on them early today. There has been none of the normal outbound phone traffic at all today."

Mulder realizes that he has seen plenty of FBI activity but nothing that looks like workers being sent home from the Champion Research lab. He asks Langly, "How big an operation is Champion Research?"

"Judging by the typical weekday phone call volume, I'd guess a dozen employees. Normally there is plenty of activity on weekends, too."

"This is some kind of high-tech startup research park. Plenty of activity all around here. The FBI didn't get here until about 11:00 am. There were no phone calls before then?"

"Nada." Langly asks, "Were they tipped?"

Mulder replies, "Looks that way." Mulder is parked in another company's parking lot across the street from Champion Research. Workers have been coming out, headed to lunch. Mulder says to Langly. "Later." He gets out of his rental car and approaches a group of workers who are getting into a car.

Mulder says hello and shows them his Virginia private investigator's license. "I'm investigating Champion Research," He nods in the direction of the building across the street. "Do any of you know anyone who works there?"

The man who is getting into the driver's seat looks across the street. "They moved in a few years ago and put together a softball team for the research park's league. Bunch of young science nerds just out of school. Well paid; they all drive fancy cars. Cars that I don't see today. Strange, they usually show up on Saturdays. They work as hard as us computer geeks."

One of the women in the car says, "Speaking of work, Bill, lets get going. I have to be back by 1:00 for that Singapore phone conference."

Mulder reaches through the window and puts his hand on the driver's shoulder. "Is it alright if I go in and use your restroom?"

The driver laughs, "Sure, there's one just inside. You do not have to deal with security to get to it."

Mulder goes back to his car and tries not to think about lunch. Half an hour later he orders lunch for delivery. "Ya, I'll meet you in the parking lot. Right. Cash."

By 1:30 his hunger is sated and he is fighting off sleep. Most of the FBI agents have left and a the moving crew is in full swing. His curiosity gets the better of him and he crosses the street and talks to one of the movers. "Hey, I work across the street. What's going on here?"

The mover replies, "Police operation. We're cleaning the place out. Somebody said this is a bioterrorism lab. Probably be on the news tonight."

Mulder looks around, "I don't see any reporters or cops. I'm wondering if you guys are stealing this equipment."

The worker laughs. "Just two plain clothes FBI agents left. I'm getting back to work. You can take your doubts up with the foreman."

Mulder walks back to his car. While crossing the street, he does not see Doggett come out and drive off to hunt up lunch for himself and Reyes. Fifteen minutes later Mulder realizes that Doggett's and Reyes' rental car is no longer in the Champion Research parking lot. Mulder goes into panic mode and decides his best bet is to go back to the FBI field office. Just as Mulder pulls onto the street, Doggett returns. Mulder tries to turn invisible as he passes just ten feet from Doggett, driving in opposite directions. But Doggett is busy looking for the correct drive way and does not notice Mulder. Mulder turns around and goes back to his watch.

After their lunch break, Doggett and Reyes finish photographing all of the alien script on tubes, flasks, vials and boxes in the lab. Reyes sends the last of the images to Washington via her laptop and the WiFi network of the research park.

Mulder is dozing off when he sees Doggett and Reyes come outside and sit on the loading dock. Mulder perks up and wonders if they are getting ready to leave. He can't imagine why they are spending so much time inside the lab. If it was a bioterrorism lab, there would be hazmat teams swarming the place. Soon after Reyes and Doggett go back inside, Langly calls. "Finally got a call at Champion Research. Incoming." Mulder sees Reyes and Doggett rush to their car and drive away.

Mulder follows Doggett and Reyes and says to Langly, "Let me guess, the call was from FBI, Washington. Doggett and Reyes just took off like Skinner punted their butts."

Langly says, "Wrong. Hold on. The call was from some private phone system." After a pause, Langly says, "There's a hack for this database."

Mulder is having trouble keeping up as Doggett speeds through traffic. "Langly, don't do anything illegal unless you can't get caught."

Langly says, "Hey, man, don't ask for my help and then doubt my kung fu."

Mulder gets trapped by a red light at an intersection after Doggett blows through on the yellow light. "Damn! I'm going to lose them, and I have no idea where they are going."

Mulder guesses that maybe they were heading for the Marine Research Institute in Chula Vista. He stops his car and looks in his wallet for the address of the Institute. Langly says. "I traced it. Ever heard of San Felipe, Mexico?"

Mulder curses and turns around, heading for the airport. Langly says, "I found it. Hey, you could drive there in two hours. Baja California."

Mulder asks, "Plane connections?"

Langly says, "No regular connections. There is an airport there if you want to charter something and fly down."

Mulder stops his car and turns around. "Not on my budget." He is still stinging from the cost of his flight to San Diego. "Okay, I'll drive it." He pulls back into traffic heading south again.

The idea of Doggett tracing her phone call puts Scully into a panic. After breaking the phone connection, Dana regains her composure and leaves her cabin to return to the lab. She is nearly mesmerized by the gymnastics of her own thoughts; half thrilled with the idea that Doggett probably was able to trace her phone call and half sickened by the same thought.

Dana decides that she has no more time to try to spy on Roberta in order to figure out what Roberta has been doing with branched DNA. Dana is certain that Roberta has been using branched DNA vectors to genetically engineer the Prochloroflexus marinuslargus, which is just the sort of thing that Rupert had wanted to make use of Scully for in his effort to prevent illegal intervention into the development of Earth.

Dana finds Roberta in the cell culture room, working in the sterile containment hood. Scully sits down on the stool next to the inverted microscope and speaks loudly over the noise of the hood's fan, "What are you doing, Roberta?"

Roberta caps the culture tubes she is working with and spins her chair to face Scully. "I'm doing some control transfections with the new vector."

Dana asks, "What kind of controls?"

Roberta replies, "Just a couple of other bacterial species. Dr. Bernak was never sure that we should put all of our eggs in one basket with Prochloroflexus marinuslargus."

Dana wonders how she could have been so blind. Clearly, Roberta has been keeping the use of branched DNA-containing viruses a secret for months. Every new gene modification was rock stable, a near statistical impossibility for random insertions into a chromosome. With branched DNA viruses, each insertion could be carefully controlled to target stable locations in the chromosome without risking the disruption of any existing genes. "I know you have been using branched DNA vectors."

Roberta narrows her eyes. "What is branched DNA?"

Dana does not have the patience to deal with an innocent act by Roberta. "Tell me who you are working with. Who has been sending you these viral vectors?"

Roberta shrugs. "Dana, what are you talking about? You know all of these vectors come down from the Institute."

Scully counters, "No, I've traced them to Champion Research. Nobody at the institute knows you or me."

Roberta nods, "Yes. Champion Research. That is the commercial lab that got the contract to synthesize the vectors."

Scully starts to wonder if Roberta has also been duped. "Roberta, I spoke to the payroll office at the institute. They've never heard of us."

Roberta laughs nervously, "Dana, how can that be? Everyone here at the field station gets pay checks from the Institute. Who did you speak to? They must not know what they were talking about."

Dana wonders if Roberta has an excuse for everything. "I spoke to Dr. Bernak, he does not know you."

Roberta says, "Oh, my God." She gets up and places the cell cultures in the incubator. She turns back to Scully, "Gary warned me that this might happen. But it makes no sense. I've spoke to Bernak a dozen times this summer. Why would the Observers be erasing memories now?"

Dana is impressed. Either Roberta is a great actress or she is truly puzzled. Dana asks, "Gary Seven? What does he have to do with all this?"

Roberta ignores Dana and walks out into the main lab and picks up the phone. Dana watches Roberta take out her PDA, look up a phone number and make a call. "Dr. Bernak?" Roberta turns and flashes a smile at Dana. "Ya, I'm fine. Yes, the pms growth remains very robust. We are going ahead to try the new vector also, just as a back up." Roberta listens for a while. "Well, I called because I heard a wild rumor. It sounded like maybe everyone at the Institute was suffering ill effects from the Floreana abductions. " Dana tries to take the phone from Roberta, but she will not let Dana have the phone. "Memory effects. Dr. Scully said she spoke to you and that you did not know who she is, that you did not even know me." Roberta laughs with Bernak. Scully can hear a loud male laugh from Bernak. "Okay. I'll let you know."

Dana is finally able to grab the phone from Roberta. Roberta says, "Dana, I think someone was playing a joke on you. You had me worried that maybe everyone who had been abducted from the Floreana was loosing their memories, but Dr. Bernak is just fine."

Dana looks at the display screen of the phone to see the phone number Roberta had just been connected to. "This isn't a phone number at the Institute."

Roberta nods. "That's Dr. Bernak's cell phone number."

Dana keys in the number for the Institute. "Roberta, I want you to talk to the personnel office at the Institute." The connection goes through. "Yes, you can help me. This is Dr. Scully again. Right. I'm still trying to sort out this mystery. I need you to tell Dr. Lincoln what you told me." She hands the phone back to Roberta.

Roberta listens for a minute then says, "Okay, but look, I have Dr. Bernak's cell phone number. I just talked to him-" Roberta listens again and pulls out her PDA again. She reads off the phone number for Dr. Bernak. She listens again and enters a new number into her PDA. "Thanks." Roberta ends the call and immediately keys in the new phone number.

Dana says, "Wait, Roberta, do you know-"

Roberta puts up her hand in "stop" position in front of Dana. "Its me again. Roberta Lincoln." She listens for ten seconds, then hangs up. "Dana, that was someone else. I called the number that payroll gave me as Bernak's cell phone, a man answered and said he was Bernak, but it wasn't."

Dana takes the phone out of Roberta's limp fingers. "Roberta, do you see what this means? Someone has been using us and tricking us."

Phil is gone for the weekend but the other technician has been over hearing parts of the conversation as the two women have been talking. He asks, "Is there some problem?"

Dana replies, "Some screw up with payroll. Paper pushers! Everything is under control." The technician goes back to his work and Dana turns back to Roberta and says quietly, "I need you to tell me everything you know about Gary."

Roberta shrugs. "You know everything I know. Why do you think he has something to do with this?"

Dana realizes that what Roberta has said still does not make sense. Surely the real Dr. Bernak had invited Roberta to go to sea on the Floreana. An imposter could not have made such arrangements. But the real Dr. Bernak did not know Roberta. Could his memories have been altered? But why? Dana realizes that Roberta not only looks baffled but scared. Dana takes Roberta's hand, "Let's go for a walk."

They step outside into hot muggy wind. Dark clouds are stacked high over the bay. They make it to the administration building just as big rain drops start to fall. "Roberta, I think Gary Seven has been using us. This is exactly the sort of thing that Rupert warned me about."

Roberta snarls, "Why do you trust Rupert? He wanted to keep us in prison on the Moon."

Dana tries to think what she can say to make Roberta understand what has been going on. "Roberta, someone did experiments on me and many others. Experiments with branched DNA. Genetic engineering experiments. Many people died. I was lucky to live. Someone has tricked you into making use of branched DNA viruses to speed the pms project. I suspect that Gary is behind these uses of branched DNA."

Roberta unlocks a filing cabinet and pulls open a drawer. "Dana, you are making me very nervous." Scully can see that Roberta is sweating and her hands are shaking. Roberta finds a particular folder and takes it to the office desk. Roberta sits down and looks through the papers in the folder. "You know, its like déjà vu, or backwards déjà vu. There's something wrong about all of this. I almost have a memory of this paper work, but in that almost-memory, these documents were all different. Someone changed them all." Suddenly she has an idea. She picks up the phone, reads a phone number off of sheet of paper from the file folder and makes a call. Dana looks at the papers and sees Mexican government permits for the pms genetic engineering project. "Eso es Roberta Lincoln. Dr. Lincoln, correcto. Projecto 34802. Si, cerca San Felipe. Gracias." Roberta says to Dana, "I'm betting the government's copies don't match these." Hola. Si, Dr. Lincoln. Que es el nombre del sponsor en los documentos para proyecto 34802. Champion ResearchEn todos de losdocumentos? Gracias. Adios. Si, gracias."

Roberta points to the permits on the desk. She looks at Dana and Scully can see that Roberta's face is very pale and slick with sweat. "All of these permits say that the Marine Research Institute is the sponsor for the project. But all of the copies of the permits that are still in government hands say Champion Research. I could feel that there was something wrong- " Roberta turns and vomits on the floor.

Dana grabs a coffee cup off of a shelf and goes to the water cooler. She brings water to Roberta. "Relax, Roberta. Here, have a sip."

Roberta takes the cup and tosses the water on her face.

"Don't think about what you want to say. When you were abducted, your memories were altered, restricted." Dana helps Roberta back into the chair. "It must have been Gary Seven who-"

Roberta puts her hands to the sides of her head, screams, and runs outside and into the heavy rain of a thunder storm. Dana goes to the door and calls, "Roberta, come back! Don't run off in this storm. I'll help you." Just then Gary Seven appears, running across the field station compound like a two legged cheetah. He intercepts Roberta near her cabin, sweeps her off her feet, and carries her back to the administrative building. He pushes past Dana and Dana closes the door against the storm.

Gary places Roberta on the couch in the visitors' waiting room. Roberta says, "Dana said…Dana says…"

Gary is holding tightly onto Roberta's hand, but he speaks to Scully, "The project is complete, my memory lock on you two will now expired. Soon you will be back in full control of your actions. I would have been here sooner, but Rupert tried to set a trap."

Dana is enraged by Gary's cool dismissal of what he has done as some kind of routine mission accomplished. "You lied to us! You used us!"

Roberta sits up, "I'm starting to remember, Gary."

Gary looks back at Roberta, "You'll soon be back to normal. All we need to do is get some of the bacteria and we can go."

Roberta nods and rises. Still holding Gary's hand she leads the way towards the door.

Dana shouts, "Wait! Wait. Is that it? You just go?"

Gary nods to Roberta and she leaves by herself. Gary turns back to Dana. "Dana, I want you to come with us. You did a great job on this project. There is much more work to be done."

Dana realizes that Rupert had foreseen this all, months ago. "So you are an interventionist. Everything Rupert said was true."

Gary nods. "Rupert is an honorable man, just misguided in his zeal for keeping Earth humans in the stone age. But thanks to you, progress wins another round."

Dana is still angry over the way Gary has made use of her. "What gives you the right to take control of my mind? To make me do your dirty work?"

Gary shrugs. "It may sound disingenuous to you, but it is all Rupert's fault. I'd be glad to work in the open, but he insists on forcing upon us all a bunch of petty rules and regulations."

Scully asks, "The Rules of Alien Contact?"

Gary answers with a question. "I'm as human as you are. How can rules of alien contact apply between you and I? Only because of the absurd political fanaticism of the Observers. "

Roberta returns, carrying a cryogenic sample box. Gary opens the box and looks at the frozen tubes of bacteria. "Good work." He closes the box. "My ship is just outside. Let's be off."

Roberta steps to the front door, opens it and says, "There's a strange car out-"

Doggett yells, "Hands up! Don't move"

Roberta looks to her right and starts to raise her hands. Gary turns and sprints to the back door. He pulls the back door open and comes face to face with Reyes. Monica shouts, "Halt! Put down the box. Put your hands on your head!"

At the front of the building, Doggett puts hand cuffs on Roberta with her arms locked around one of the decorative wooden pillars of the sun porch at the front of the administration building. He enters the building and sees Scully. "Dana! How many others are there?"

Dana points to the hallway, "One. He just went out the back."

Doggett runs through the administration building to the back door. He stops and calls out, "Monica?" He bolts through the door and out into wet sandy soil to the right of the sidewalk that leads to the center of the compound. He instinctively follows the fresh scuff marks around the corner of the building.

On the slight rise about fifty yards away, Doggett sees Gary Seven loading Reyes into- what? Doggett takes off at a full run and mutters, "What the hell is that?" Doggett sees Gary follow Reyes through what looks like a doorway to….. nothing. First Reyes then Gary disappears, then the doorway disappears. Doggett starts up the rise and feels a sudden gust of wind and hears a low rumble, not like thunder. He reaches the spot where Reyes had been just moments before and finds the end of a set of tracks made by men's shoes in the wet sandy soil. He thinks he can also see a set of smaller foot prints. Now he can see and hear that there is something large and blurry right beside him.

Doggett stretches out an arm and makes contact with what feels like a wall but looks like dirty glass. Keeping his hand on the mysterious "wall" he jogs all the way around its circumference. Returning to his starting place, Doggett looks back towards the administration building and sees that Roberta is gone and Dana is coming around from the back of the administration building.

Behind Doggett, the door to the space ship opens again. Dana, coming up the rise shouts to Doggett, but Rupert looks out of the doorway and fires a crystal projectile into Doggett's back. Doggett turns just in time to see Rupert duck back into the ship. Doggett lunges for the doorway but collapses just outside the ship.

Dana sees Doggett go down and she turns and runs back to the Administration building. Rupert emerges from the ship and runs after Scully. He shouts, "Dana, stop! Let's talk."

Dana reaches the front door of the administration building then stops. She decides that there is no point in running from Rupert. Rupert reaches Dana and says, "I'm sorry I did not get here sooner. I had to set a trap for Gary."

Dana says, "I was totally useless to you. The project was completed before I even figured out what was going on."

Rupert laughs, "We can set everything right now. Most important, I caught Gary introducing illegal technology to Earth. This will put an end to his illegal interventions."

Just then Mulder comes driving up the road towards the field station compound. He sees Rupert and Scully in front of the administration building and recognizes them both. Rupert pulls Dana into the front doorway. Mulder slams on his brakes in the center of the small gravel-surfaced visitors' parking lot. As Mulder gets out of the car, he sees Dana come back out the front door and she waves to him. Mulder jumps behind Doggett's and Reyes' rental car. Dana walks towards Mulder and calls out, "Its okay, Fox."

Mulder is happy to see Dana, but does not understand what she was doing with the clone or where the clone went. He says to Dana, "Tell that clone to come out where I can see him, with his hands up." Mulder looks around the area and notices Doggett on the ground not too far from the parking lot on a slight rise. "What's going on here, Dana?" Dana is relentlessly walking towards Mulder. His mind fills with the fear that she has been brain washed by the clones and is now working for them. Why else would she be back on Earth for months without contacting anyone she knew? "Stop, Dana! Stop right there."

Dana does not stop, "Don't be an idiot, Fox. What are you going to do, shoot me?"

Fox stands up as Dana comes around to his side of the car. He replies, "I don't even have a gun." Dana comes into his arms and they embrace. Fox is impressed by the solid feel of muscle on Scully's body and the ruddy glow of her skin.

Dana leans her head against his chest and says, "I wanted to contact you, but something was in control of my mind. Fox, I don't know what has been happening. Can we trust Rupert?"

Mulder asks, "Who the hell is Rupert? That clone?"

Dana realizes that Fox is totally in the dark and she is going to have to decide for herself. She senses Mulder's body become very tense and she breaks his embrace and turns to see Rupert at the top of the rise. She realizes that he went out the back of the administration building and circled around to climb up the back side of the dunes. Rupert disappears into the space craft.

Mulder watches the clone disappear. "What the- "

Dana explains, "It's a space craft. Almost invisible."

Mulder's cell phone rings and he opens the connection. "Mulder." He listens for a moment and then hands the phone to Dana. "Its for you."

Dana hears Gary Seven's voice.

It is important for Gary Seven that he completes his mission and that it appear that Rupert also completes his mission. Upon entering his space ship with Roberta and Reyes, Gary is well aware that Rupert and one of his brothers had snuck on board. Gary had purposefully made it possible for the two clones to force the pattern recognition lock on his space ship's hatch. Rupert does not allow Gary a chance to even discuss matters and fires three crystal projectiles into Gary's back. From another angle, Rupert's brother does the same. Gary turns and fires an electrode at Rupert's brother, shocking him into unconsciousness with a high voltage pulse. With the same motion Gary tumbles behind a control consol and tries to estimate where Rupert is located. Rupert has ducked back into the alcove of the ship's entry port where he waits until Gary Seven stops moving. Rupert calls to Reyes and Roberta, "Just relax. Everything will be fine."

Roberta calls back, "I'm not going back to the Moon with you!"

Rupert judges that Gary is under the influence of the drug from the crystal projectiles and enters the control room of Gary's ship. "You really have no choice, Roberta." Rupert goes to where Gary is sprawled on the floor and rolls up Gary's shirt sleeve, revealing the electrode canon. Rupert detaches the weapon from Gary's arm and stuffs it in his pocket. He then checks on his brother, who is stunned, but regaining full consciousness.

Reyes has already mostly recovered from the electric jolt she got from Gary, but she is wearing her own hand cuffs and cannot remember most of the past twenty minutes. Roberta helps Reyes get to her feet and Rupert helps his brother get up off the floor. Rupert says to his brother, "Watch these two. If they cause trouble, knock them out, too. I'm going to go get Scully." Rupert straps the electrode canon onto his brother's arm. Rupert exits the space ship with a final glance back at Gary's inert form on the floor of the control room.

A black cat enters the control room from the adjacent crew lounge and goes over to Gary's body. "Mrow!"

Roberta takes hold of the hand cuffs on Monica and says to the clone, "Can we get her out of these cuffs?"

The clone asks, "Where is the key?"

Reyes checks the key compartment of her hand cuff holster and does not find the key. She does not know

what happened to the key and shakes her head. Roberta says, "Gary must have it." She goes to Gary and searches his pockets, of which there are only two, She finds the key in his shirt pocket and shows it to the clone. He nods approval for her to release Reyes. The clone is watching Roberta try to figure out how the key works. The cat moves close behind the clone and morphs into the shape of a dark haired woman.

Reyes notices the movement behind the clone and the clone notices Reyes' reaction. The clone turns just as the woman fires an electrode into him. The clone collapses and the woman says, "Thanks for distracting him, Roberta. He'll wake up again in just a minute and we need to be ready."

Roberta pulls the cuffs off of Reyes and turns towards the dark haired woman, "Glad to be of service, Isis."

Reyes watches in fascination as Isis kneels next to the clone and kisses him on the lips. Roberta goes to a drawer of one of the control consoles and gets a small silver object that Reyes cannot see. Roberta goes to Gary and touches the small object to his neck. Both Gary and the clone begin to regain consciousness. Isis morphs back into the form of a cat. Gary gets to his feet, takes off his shirt and lays down on a flight couch and pretends to still be unconscious. Roberta sits on the edge of the couch and winks at Reyes. The clone looks around the control room groggily. "What- ?"

Reyes tries to speak but words will not come to her lips. Her thinking has cleared enough that she is sure she is not dreaming, but she has no idea what is going on. But who says alien abductions have to make sense? She goes and sits in the couch next to Roberta. Finally she finds something she can get into words, "Are we going back to the Moon?"

Roberta shrugs and looks at the clone. "He's in charge."

Reyes is trying to figure out if she can trust Roberta. Is an enemy of the clone brothers her friend? Monica is having a hard time imagining why it is that Roberta, Gary and Isis do not simply take control of the ship. Is it possible that they are just waiting for a chance to escape from the ship? Reyes has a vague dream-like memory of Gary putting her into the ship. Monica asks, "Do you know Dana Scully?"

Roberta starts rubbing the small medical servo over the bloody wounds on Gary's back. Reyes is startled to see the blood disappear and the wounds start to heal right before her eyes. Roberta replies, "I've known Dana for about four months."

"You have been with her for the past four months?" Roberta continues to heal Gary's wounds and nods. Reyes asks, "Do you know where she is now?"

Roberta replies, "I presume she is outside, talking to Rupert." She gets up and returns the medical servo to its drawer. Reyes touches one of the six pink scar-like spots on Gary's back. Her fingers tell her that there is something moving under her finger tips. She looks at her finger tips and sees what looks like a moving film of glistening oil. The oil seems to home in on an abrasion on her wrist that was caused by the hand cuffs. She watches the raw skin change hue and the pain goes away. Soon the ache in her arm from the recent dog attack also fades away.

Gary starts to stir and Roberta brings him a small bottle of liquid. Gary sits up, takes the bottle from Roberta and takes a drink.

The clone points his arm at Gary and says nervously, "Don't try to get up. I have your weapon."

Gary says quietly to Reyes, "There is a problem outside. Mulder. Can I use your phone?

Reyes takes out her cell phone and decides she is going to trust Gary. Anyone that runs with women who can turn into cats is worth cultivating as a friend. Monica hands Gary her phone. Gary does not take it. He asks, do you know Mulder's number?" Monica calls out of her phone's memory the number for Mulder's cell phone. She initiates the call and hands the phone to Gary.

The clone says, "Hey, what are you doing with that phone?" Then he falls silent and stares blankly into space. Gary walks past the clone and into the crew quarters of the ship. Just as Gary exits the control room, Rupert enters through the hatch from outside.

Outside, Mulder watches Rupert enter the door of the space ship and disappear from the top of the rise. "What the- "

Dana explains, "It's a space craft. Almost invisible"

Mulder's phone has started to ring. He takes out his phone, "Mulder." He listens for a moment and then hands the phone to Dana. "Its for you."

Gary says, "Dana? This is Gary Seven."

Dana is surprised to be talking on the phone to Gary. There is a pause while Dana tries to recover her wits. Dana finally says weakly, "What do you want?"

Gary replies, "I'd like to continue working with you, but Mulder scared Rupert off. Please come up to the ship. Rupert will let you in."

Dana laughs, "Sorry, but I've learned my lesson. I'm reluctant to continue to be a puppet for you or Rupert. The only way I'll go with you is if we can trade. Let Reyes go."

Fox grabs Dana's arm and says, "No, Dana! You can't trust them!"

Dana hears a low pitched throbbing from the ship. Gary is speaking very quickly, "Hurry to the hatch. Roberta is an Earth woman just like you. She has worked with me for over thirty years. She'll explain everything to you."

A gust of wind sweeps down on Dana and Mulder and a blur moves from the top of the rise off into the stormy sky. Gary says, "Until we meet again." The phone connection goes dead. Scully and Mulder climb up the rise, pick up Doggett and haul him back into the administration building.

Dana and Fox place the unconscious Doggett on the couch in the visitors' waiting room. Dana says to Fox, "Well, you were right. I was totally helpless for the past four months. I was the perfect puppet. I can only be thankful that I was only doing genetic manipulations on bacteria. It could just as easily have been people." Her voice breaks as she thinks about how her efforts have only led to Monica being abducted again. "It could have been more people than just Monica. My God, Mulder, that's enough."

Mulder places a hand on her shoulder, "Reyes just got in the way again. She'll be released, just like last time." Mulder asks, "What is this place, Dana? What has been going on here?"

Dana does not know how to explain it all to Fox. Somehow the past few months seem like a distant dream. She flops into a chair. "We created a solution to global warming."

Mulder figures that Scully can't be joking. "Ah, that's a bad thing?"

Dana tries to explain, "We did it with alien technology. Illegal technology." She laughs. Mulder is still confused. "Call Skinner. Tell him that we lost Reyes."

Mulder takes out his phone and calls Washington. The cook, Guadalupe comes in. "Dr. Scully. Ah, will your guest-" She notices Doggett on the couch. "Will your guests be staying for dinner? I'm canceling the cookout."

Mulder turns his back and talks to Skinner. Dana replies to Guadalupe, "Dr. Lincoln went….to San Diego. This is Fox Mulder, he and I will be here for dinner." She gestures towards Doggett. "And that is John Doggett. He's….very tired and will not join us for dinner." Guadalupe nods, takes a last dubious look at Doggett and heads back to the kitchen.

Mulder ends the phone call, "We'll expect you in about six hours. Right" He explains to Scully, "Skinner is flying in tonight. He's hoping Reyes will be released just like the last time the clones took her." He looks at Doggett, " What should we do with John?"

Dana has decided that they can take care of Doggett until he wakes up. "Let's haul him over to Roberta's cabin. We can share my cabin." Dana kicks off one of her wet shoes and rubs her foot on the inside of Mulder's thigh. "After dinner I want to show you something I learned on the Moon from a robot named 'Fox'."

Mulder grabs her leg and strokes the firm curve of her calf. "Wait a minute, a robot….named….Fox?"

Dana nods, "I had a whole month to explore the advanced technology of the Moon. Granted, some things are only possible in one sixth gee, but I'll settle for the basics tonight."

Mulder drops her leg and pulls her to her feet. He places his hands on the sides of her face. "So you were fooling around with another guy on the Moon while I was wondering if I would ever see you again, and now you expect me to…."

"Oh, yes, my expectations are now sky high." And she figures that her embarrassment over having to explain the Fox robot will be compensated for by- what? Can a man be jealous of himself?" Then she gives up temporarily on that speculation and abandons herself to trying to figure out the secret of that "Mulder look" that she could never quite reproduce in the robot. "If I ever again start to talk about needing to try something different, oh, like staying on Moon, or some planet, I want to have plenty of memories of good reasons to stay here on Earth. Let's get started on those memories, Fox."

Fox runs his fingers through Dana's rain-wetted hair. He knows that he must always keep trying to push the world closer to recognition of the fact that aliens have long been on Earth. He is grateful for the fact that Dana has miraculously come back, but he can never make his enjoyment of that, or anything, deflect him from his duty. "I wish you had contacted me and let me know that you were back on Earth. When I could no longer imagine where you were, I….suffered."

Dana moves her hands up Mulder's chest and rests them on his shoulders. "Fox, I'm quite sure that these clones and the people who did experiments on me are not aliens. They are as human as we are. They just have access to technology that is more advanced than what we have on Earth. And Fox…"

Mulder notices that she is lost in thought. "Yes, Dana?"

Scully comes back to Earth and looks into Fox's eyes. "All that mumbo jumbo about altering the memories of people abducted from Earth. That's just a smoke screen."

Fox is confused. "Come on, Dana. I've felt it, everyone who was abducted has felt the holes in their memory and other odd effects. Its chemical brain washing. How can you deny that?

Dana explains, "Because I did not go through the memory alteration treatment. Do you remember that Fox? When you were on the Moon? You and the others went through the memory change sessions. That was your ticket back to Earth. But I was not handled like that. I suspect I cannot be handled like that. But I have been going through problems with my memory and being forced to live with restrictions on what I can talk about. There is something else at work. Some more subtle way by which our thoughts and actions can be controlled."

Fox is skeptical. "How do you know? Maybe they erased your memory of going through the brain washing process."

Of course, Dana cannot be sure. But she must go with her intuition. "I stayed on the Moon in the hope that I could learn something, something that I could bring back to Earth. I think what I got was this idea that there is something we are missing, something we have not yet understood about how the people of Earth are manipulated."

Fox feels a shiver run up his spine. "Dana, you're really creeping me out. I can live with seeing shapes in the shadows, but I feel better if you are always optimistically finding a way to light the darkness. Don't tell me all you can see is the dark and the shadows."

Dana takes Fox's hand and tugs him towards Doggett. "Come on. Lets get Doggett bedded down. Its almost time for dinner." Dana is ready to take refuge in the peace of mind that comes from work and the necessities of life. But she knows that like Fox, she is obsessed with the truth and her own duty to serve it. Particularly if she is the only person on Earth who has been given the gift of what she now knows. How could she ever abandon the responsibility of finding a way to share her knowledge with the world? And it might even be fun trying to get Fox to accept the truth, a truth that even Fox thinks is just too strange.

As they lift Doggett off the couch, Dana sees him as sleeping humanity, with Mulder tugging at one end and Dana holding up the other. Dana tries to find a faith in the idea that humanity will wake up.

The End, for now.

(Continues in Part Three of the Trilogy: Fly Paper – X Seven - Moon Reyes)