Chapter Six
They wound up at an all-night café at midnight, sitting around a table piled with sandwiches bigger then Anne's head.
She wanted another cigarette. Bad.
"Sometimes," Roofer explained. "They fly real low, you know, and then they sort of put on the brakes like-" he inserted a screech. "And then they just hover there, and then shot off. You don't hear the sound until later. Like whoa."
"What do you think they are?" Mulder asked.
Personally, looking at Scully, Anne wondered why her dad's partner hadn't killed him yet. She looked ready to.
"Well, lots of people think they're like, UFOs ,but I think it's like some super secret weapons project, getting ready to roll out for Desert Storm Two. Buzz Saddam's palace. He'd be like, 'What?'"
The image of Saddam Hussein scratching his head outside his palace while UFOs flew over his roof was funny enough to make Anne giggle. She stifled it at Scully's harsh look.
But Mulder was all smiles for Elfie and Roofer. Anne knew she was in for it worse then when she'd made a bomb that exploded trash in the apartment. He was being too nice.
"Did those UFOs look anything like this?"
Ah, that was the crux. As Scully's mouth tightened, Anne saw the photo-a triangular UFO hovering over a backyard. She nodded absently, remembering the vague shapes in the sky. It was possible.
"No," and Mulder looked crushed at Roofer's decree.
"It looked exactly like that," Roofer continued, shoving more sandwich into his mouth.
Scully looked to Anne for support.
"Roadside restaurant?" Anne asked sympathetically. Scully just nodded.
"They keep the planes at a place they call Yellow Base," Elfie offered. "It's surrounded by all these landmines and stuff. We've never gone that far. Just to our spot."
"Yeah, people who go looking for Yellow Base disappear and then they wind up on the back road two counties over like they spent the last few days drugged out."
Probably like Elfie and Roofer.
"Why?" Anne asked.
"Cause the military like, did one of those mind wipe things," Elfie said.
Anne nodded again, thinking and chewing the interior of her cheek. But did it have anything to do with Colonel Budahas?
"Do they do those to the pilots, too?"
"Probably. They go all wonky sometime," Elfie made her hand jiggle to demonstrate.
"All the ones you've seen have gone wonky?"
Elfie nodded firmly. "They all go wonky sometime," Roofer repeated.
After dumping the scooter so they could go off to where ever they lived, the three of them piled into the car. Anne put a tape on, leaning over the backseat to do so. It was rock n roll.
Having gotten a stick of gum from Elfie at some point-or maybe it had been Roofer-hell, even the waitress could've had it-Anne popped it into her mouth.
"You," she pointed at Mulder. "Do not yell at me like that in front of everyone again unless I committed heinous, vile acts of perversion like the Bloody Countess. And you were supposed to have been back from Bellefleur a week previous to when you did, so don't talk to me about disappearing. Scully can, but you can't, capice?"
And she leaned back to chew her gum. Mulder looked at her. "I hate when people play turnabout."
Anne cracked her gum across her teeth in reply.
Scully turned to look at her. "Will you tell me where you'll be at?"
"Try to. This thing with those guys sort of came out of nowhere. Did you guys get to see Kissel?"
Mulder replied. "He told us to kiss his."
"And this surprises you why?" Anne asked cheekily.
Mulder made a face at her.
"Mulder, please tell me that you don't take those two seriously. Anne, did you take them seriously?"
Anne shrugged.
"Scully," Mulder began in his enthusiastic puppy voice. "Can't you see a resemblance between the two?"
"You have two blurry photos, one taken over fifty years ago," Scully began. "You have the testimony of two teenagers, and if I were that stoned-"
"Whoa, if you were that stoned, what?" he asked. Anne groaned on Scully's behalf.
"You don't have anything, and we're no closer to finding Colonel Budahas, which is our primary reason for being here, or should be," she glossed over what Mulder had implied.
"Can't you see a resemblance?" Mulder handed the photos to Anne, one the UFO in the backyard, another of one of the Roswell sightings.
She looked at them, at two triangular craft in the air. "Dad."
"Go on. Tell me I'm crazy."
Anne and Scully looked at each other. "Mulder," Scully announced. "You're crazy."
"The peanut gallery concurs, and would furthermore like another Coke," Anne added.
"Haven't you had enough junk in your system for one day?" Scully wanted to know.
"No such thing as too much shit. Stuff. I meant stuff. Well, I didn't actually, but Dad has a fit if I swear in front of you because it makes him look bad," she chirped cheerfully.
"Let's all go back to the motel and sleep," Scully decided. "And Anne, please only swear if you have to."
"Yes ma'am," and she clunked Mulder on the back of the head. "You heard her, drive."