Introduction
"It is the system and its fragility, not events, that must be studied—what physicists call "percolation theory," in which the properties of the randomness of the terrain are studied, rather than those of a single element of the terrain."
― Nassim Nicholas Taleb, in 'Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder'
"La percolation est un des phénomènes critiques les plus simples. Un phénomène est dit critique pour caractériser le fait que les propriétés d'un système peuvent changer brusquement en réponse à une variation même très faible des conditions extérieures. Dans les conditions critiques, le système hésite entre deux états différents, il est instable et présente de grandes fluctuations. (…) Percolation vient du latin « percolare » : couler à travers."
— Bernard Sapoval, in 'Universalités et Fractales'
["Percolation is one of the simplest critical phenomena. A phenomenon is said to be critical to characterize the fact that the properties of a system can change abruptly in response to even a very small variation in external conditions. Under critical conditions, the system hesitates between two different states, it is unstable and presents large fluctuations. (...) Percolation comes from the Latin "percolare": to flow through."
Translated with Translator (free version)]
Out There - Laboratory of the Divine Fate
Percolation Experiment Number 1013-1121-09101993
→ Object of study:
FBI Agent Fox Mulder, an emotionally vulnerable human being filled with intelligence, wit and passion, nevertheless working alone on unsolved spooky cases in a basement office.
→ Experiment:
Assign FBI Agent/Doctor Dana Scully to the basement office in order to spy Agent Mulder and debunk his work.
Wait and see how the duplicity and perfidiousness of this assignment would percolate through the randomness of the terrain, made of the subject's nerves, brain, heart, fluids and his whole body cells.
→ Uncertainty:
In this critical situation, what state would our subject Fox Mulder reach eventually? Rejection, or acceptance?
Day 0 - In the Lone Gunmen den - Evening
"Here's your cup of coffee," says Fohike to Mulder, handing him a chipped cup, "Think about it, Mulder… In the process that made this black, there's a lot involved that could be used against American people."
"What about coffee, now?" Mulder asks.
"Percolation theory," Langly replies.
"Yeah, I know what a percolator is. And?" Mulder says, doubtful.
"For one, percolation models can predict with accuracy the spreading of viruses, especially lab-engineered ones… But that's not our main concern. They also demonstrate how disruptive technologies could be able to shake up social organizations. More precisely, models predict values of percolation thresholds at which undesirable ideas and untruths are freely distributed within whole social networks," Byers explains.
"Social networks?" Mulder asks.
"You'll see. In a few years or decades, that will be a major concern. For all of us," Langly adds.
"Well, guys, my current concern also deals with paranoia. Mine. Tomorrow, Bureau conspirators are sending me a spy. A new partner. A spy-partner. "
"Wow," the Gunmen reply in sync, thrilled by the news.
"Hear me out, I don't want you to spy on her," Mulder says.
"Her?" Frohike asks, even more thrilled.
"Yeah… No Woman, No Spy…"
And then, without revealing the name of Dana Scully, Mulder tells the Gunmen what he's learned about the G-woman sent to spy on him and debunk his work.
He had the news about a week ago, and although presented to him in a positive prose, he immediately figured out the hidden intention behind this assignment. From tomorrow, he won't be a free agent anymore and will have to level his accountability standards up. Nonetheless, he needs to be cautious, not to bring too much attention to his unconventional investigations and to the bits of conspiracies he's about to uncover. Quite a challenge to face!
Of course, as the profiler he once was, Mulder did research on his future partner, willing to estimate her potential level of inner maliciousness and of submission to a pernicious hierarchy —or, rather, to conspirator groups.
What he's discovered is unexpected, surprising, and finally, refreshing.
It hasn't been difficult to gather intel about Dana Katherine Scully MD —not to say it wasn't intel, just factual facts you could easily find in the FBI files— and to uncover a lot more informal information, easily given to him by work acquaintances.
Nothing secret, nothing malicious, nothing suspicious about her. On the contrary.
As Mulder now summaries to the Gunmen:
"She's just a fucking brilliant FBI Agent, even if green; was a fucking brilliant student all along; could have been a brilliant physician or surgeon or whatever in the medical field; surely could have been a brilliant astrophysicist considering her smart undergraduate thesis about Eistein's Twin Paradox. She's just a petite red-haired efficient G-woman, who happens to have a huge smart brain all wired for science, and seems to only live on honesty, determination, intellectual rigor, hard work, and I don't know how many other fucking moral qualities."
"Petite red-haired?" Frohike asks.
"Einstein?" Langly asks.
"Honesty?" Byers asks.
"Yeah, I'm freaking fucked-up," Mulder replies.
Considering Mulder's face and its indecipherable expression, the Lone Gunmen stand frozen and don't know what to add or how to behave. So, after a few silent seconds, Mulder drops his empty cup of coffee, grabs his coat, then stands up.
"Well, guys, I have to leave you. I must prepare myself for tomorrow. Petite MD, big Meeting Day."
The Gunmen, watching Mulder step outside of their den, remain all quiet and stunned by such a revelation —actually, the three of them merely freaking jealous and envious of the thrilling adventure lying ahead of their friend.
Though, as much curious as they were for the rest of the evening and the following days, they wouldn't dare seek information about Mulder's spy-partner on their own —they would have to wait for his permission, or for his detailed report, or for him to bring her in their den; men can dream.
Indeed, they have noticed that the ever paranoid Mulder has displayed subtle early signs of compliance and assent towards the enigmatic MD G-woman. And, more surprising, has been his secretive way of not even dropping any letter of her name.
Something was happening, for sure, and they wouldn't want to mess it up.
Day 2 - In a plane, en route to Bellefleur, Oregon
Defying the Bureau etiquette, Mulder is lying down across his entire row of seats, eyes closed and earbuds on, pretending to rest while listening to music.
Actually, it's just a masquerade and his restless brain doesn't leave him in peace.
He can't help reliving the Big MD that took place in his basement office, over and over.
He wanted to surprise Scully with his prepped discourse and slide show —and, he can't lie to himself, to directly show off his peculiarity— but, eventually, it was her attitude that surprised him. All went beyond his expectations.
'Needle punctures, maybe.' 'It's organic.' 'Do you have a theory?' 'Logically I would have to say no.' 'The answers are here.' Damn, she'd been in the ping-pong game right on and spot on, launching precise and sharp-witted lines to counter his ones and challenge him back.
Their banter was light, stimulating, exhilarating. She was all sparkles in her eyes, the face lightened up by the projector, her presence brightening the whole room that he didn't know before was lacking radiance.
And right now, what is she doing? She thoroughly studies the files of the case, not giving a damn about his own provoking attitude. She even seems to enjoy all his legendary spookiness and idiosyncrasy. Was it a mere way to win his trust so she could stab him in the back later?
Sure thing he'd have to watch his back, remain careful, and keep crucial information to himself for a little while. He's aware he can be pretty vulnerable and that, in some circumstances, he can't help wearing his heart on his sleeves. Especially during a case like this one, dealing with potential abductees.
On her face yesterday, he even saw a hint of Samantha. When he brought up his 'existence of extraterrestrials' credo, Scully displayed, for a microsecond, this expression his little sister was taking when he was telling her crazy and nonsensical stories about cryptids or aliens. He wasn't prepared for that and he almost lost his cool.
'Beware, Mulder. She can fuck you up and you wouldn't even realize it,' would have to be his new mantra once they land.
Day 3 - Streets of Bellefleur, around M&S's Motel
It has been a hell of a day in Bellefleur, heavenly stimulating and exciting.
Mulder isn't ready to go to bed even that late in the night; he's way too wired and needs to expel out all the kick and fire that has overtaken his body and mind.
He just has to run, run, and run, until tiredness and dehydration overcome excitement.
One long stride after the other, sweat heavy drops flowing down his skin, breathing in and breathing out, his steady and rhythmical pace exhausts his juices while draining images from his memory of the day.
Discussing oddities in the rental car, a sudden radio interference, the X painted on the road, the grave-digging, an unexpected coffin stunt, the spooky corpse, a very questionable medical examiner, the intervention of the daughter, arguing in an autopsy bay, X-rays and the implant discovery.
And, on each image or sensation attached to those events, the superimposition of a new face, a new voice, a new perfume, new gestures, new glances, new interactions, new expertises, new questions…
As if all his mind iconography were celebrating the advent of a whole new world that wasn't existing only a week ago; a world ruled by Dana Scully, now fully colliding with his own.
'Beware, Mulder', he expiates a few times over his exhalations. 'She can fuck you up and you wouldn't even realize it.'
Though, if he's honest and thinks more prosaically, he can only acknowledge that he has entered a complete new dimension at work, where he has gained a fully competent, respectful, and ardent partner.
How could he come back to his old usual and lonely routine from that rollercoaster of a field investigation, coupled with that level of partnership?
Is he willing to?
Even if she's a fraud and a deliberate spy?
Day 4 - Somewhere between the Collum National Forest and the Motel, Bellefleur
Rain is pouring over them, soaking their clothes, sneaking in under their collar and through their shoes, and still, they won't let the elements wash out their back-and-forth about the concept of time.
Then, facing Scully across the large X painted on the road, Mulder reaches his point of non return.
"Time can't just disappear. It's a universal invariant!" Scully claims.
Her words, her gestures, her intensity, her offended reaction as a scientist, it's all it takes.
As she's standing opposite her partner, completely soaked yet vibrant, Scully's intangible quintessence —this ethereal flow that has been slowly percolating through Mulder's inner system for a few days— breaches Mulder's last defensive dams.
It was all predictable, since all the barriers Mulder had promised himself to keep up have insidiously been weakened by another day on the field, spent together. Scully pushing him steadily and firmly, forcing him to cut the crap, wanting to seek the truth even more resolutely than himself, then heading them into the woods, has been a constant stream against which Mulder had no defense.
Now, Mulder realizes that there's no way back in time —time can disappear but definitely can't be reversed.
He could wait for the flood to go down and away, then erect new walls and stronger shields, but he doesn't want to.
He doesn't want to think of Scully as a spy, an enemy, or an untrustworthy partner.
No matter the consequences, never mind being drowned in the sea of deception, he's making a conscious choice: embracing Scully's partnership, totally and unconditionally.
"Not in this zip code," Mulder answers to his co-opted partner, while smiling back at the wink that has been flashed by their rental car —a good omen about their future together, he wants to believe.
Out There - Laboratory of the Divine Fate
Percolation Experiment Number 1013-1121-09101993
→ Conclusion:
The final state of the subject FBI Agent Fox Mulder is a complete and unconditional acceptance of FBI Agent/Doctor Dana Scully.
It is worth noting that the subject has reached its final state in a very short amount of time, and that instability and fluctuations weren't that much at work during the whole process.
→ Further developments:
We might study the reciprocal point of view of the initial experiment, i.e. considering the percolation of the quintessence of FBI Agent Fox Mulder through FBI Agent/Doctor Dana Scully.
The latter subject doesn't present the same types of obstruction, beliefs and emotional history, which would completely change the nature and steps of the whole process.
→ To be continued…
Notes
Written for the Baby Fic X-Files Fanfic Exchange with the following prompt:
"Before he's even met her, Mulder knows his new partner is a spy. Then comes a moment he realizes he *really* doesn't want her to be a spy. When does that happen, and how?"