Seven

Shannon was not surprised they had chosen a night of the new moon to act. The sky was darker than usual, and even the stars shone more dully. From the safety of the Hawaiin coast, she could see very little, but beside her Ted was also watching, and together she knew they would see enough. They were relaxed, sitting at the top of a tall sand dune on a hill that had previously been covered in lush greenery. Ted had already downloaded and copied all the data from the supersoldier computer systems before Shannon had blown them up. There was nothing left to do but wait.

Since West Africa, Shannon had quickly and methodically destroyed complexes in Brazil, Argentina, Tanzania and Indonesia. She had not been able to kill any supersoldiers, obviously, but she had succeeded in destroying some of their dormitory residences, and most of all their known research complexes. She knew she had killed a large number of human military personnel, all American, who had scattered around the world after West Africa in an effort to avoid detection. Thanks to Ted and Shannon's ability to quickly cover vast distances their attempts had been useless. They had all been involved with the program, and she had known most of them personally at some stage of her life, but she felt no guilt or remorse at their deaths.

Finally it was time for it all to end. Shannon was not sure how she felt about being dragged to Hawaii by Ted. If she did not die at the hands of the aliens, she could never die. She could be forced to sit by and watch her friends get old and sick. They would all die eventually, and she was not sure if she wanted to be the one left behind. And yet if she did go back and allow herself to feel again, would she age? Would she eventually make herself mortal again? Was that even possible? Ted had not been able to tell her, nobody had. But there were scars on her arm to prove to herself that her cells were still capable of listening to her, so maybe there was hope for a normal life.

"I don't know how we're going to see anything from all the way over here," she mumbled. "The earth is curved, you know."

"Very funny," Ted chuckled, adjusting his glasses and running his hands through his long, brown hair. He had let it grow, and it hung in loose curls around his shoulders. He still looked typically daggy, and Shannon had to keep reminding herself he was not human. He played his part so well, even when he was just with her. "And they can't fight back?" he asked.

"They were using all available power to manage their research and reproduction facilities and to communicate with each other. You know that. Don't be nervous. Any weapons the supersoldiers have are primitive, and if they were never taught how to use them by human trainers before I killed them all, then they don't have much more than their bare hands."

"Excellent," Ted assured her with a wide grin. Shannon grunted. She was content to wait in silence. She was not sure what they were waiting for, but she figured it was a light signal of some kind. Remembering the day Sarah had gone blind and how distressed she and Walter had been, Shannon was glad she didn't even need sunglasses.

xxx

Scully rapped her knuckles against the edge of the mess hall when she found Eddie alone there, pouring over a research book on chemistry.

"Shouldn't you know that?" she asked as he looked up. He smiled at her. Scully was pretty sure he knew she hadn't been herself for a while, and it had not been too many days since she had cried in his arms, but he had not said anything to her since. He had said nothing about her mini-breakdown. He had asked her nothing personal. They had all been busy, pulling long days to try to mass produce the liquid which would be used to defeat the supersoldiers.

Now that it was done, they had scattered, all eager for some alone time out of each other's company. Michael was presumably in contact with his superiors and arranging to transport the magnetic ferrofluid to wherever it was meant to be. Mulder had followed her to their quarters and they had quietly spoken before he fell asleep, and Scully was not surprised to have found Eddie with his nose buried in a book that by his standards should have been basic first-year science.

"I like to keep refreshed of the old stuff," he answered simply, shrugging. "So, excited?"

"Not really," she admitted with a frown. "Can we talk?"

"Uh-oh," Eddie sang with a laugh. "Knowledge tells me that's a loaded question, Dana. Take a seat, girl. Everyone else is asleep so it's private here. What's up?"

"Mulder would have been here but he was exhausted," Scully began as she took a seat opposite him and folded her hands calmly on top of the table. "What's going to happen to-"

Scully's words were silenced when she felt the earth shake. She and Eddie stared at each other in shock and she gripped the edge of the table as it moved side to side just as everything else around her was. Alarms began blaring, deafening in their pitch and volume. She resisted the urge to dive underneath the small table. Scully had only experienced one other earthquake and she had been very young. Her heart skipped a beat in fear as she risked a look upwards. They were at the very bottom of Tower Two, hundreds of metres below the surface. She couldn't remember whether Antarctica was earthquake prone. She seriously doubted it.

Frozen to her seat in surprise and fear, she did not move until Eddie hurried around the table and pulled her to her feet. His fingers dug into the healing bruises Mulder had forced upon her and his touch stung her enough to cause her wide eyes to look into his. It was as though he knew where her bruises were, she realised, even though she had never shown or told him.

"We need to get out of here," Eddie told her seriously. Even though the alarms were loud, he did not yell and she heard him perfectly, her shock enclosing them in a cone of panicked silence. She nodded, swallowing though her throat and mouth was dry.

"Mulder-"

"Come on," he urged, gripping her hand and tugging her out of the mess hall as the alarms continued. Scully thought for a moment he would be taking her up the stairs, the escalators and elevator obviously not safe, but when she looked upwards and saw all the residents already panicking on the stairs, she realised they would be taking the dangerous way up. Oh well, she thought resolutely. She would take the elevator in an earthquake and see what happened. She had done more stupid things with or for Mulder in her time.

"Why are they all starting to run down?" Eddie asked once they were in the elevator. Scully had her eyes closed and a hand bracing against the clear glass of the elevator as it rose more rapidly than any elevator she had ever been in before. She had never been motion sick until she had ridden the complex's elevators. Mulder had almost passed out, and she knew if she did not get to the top fast and regather her equilibrium she would be violently ill.

"They're running down because most of our office buildings were built above ground and it's our instinct to evacuate down, not up. No matter how long they've been here, in an emergency situation not everyone will be able to defeat that instinct with rational thought. Are we nearly there?"

As soon as the words were out of her mouth Eddie had an arm around her waist and was pulling her forward onto the upper hallway. It was still shaking and the rumbling was more pronounced closer to the surface. Scully wasn't sure if that was right. She could not think clearly, her nausea from the elevator forcing her to again clutch at the wall for balance as she and Eddie hurried to the entrance to her quarters.

"Mulder!" Eddie shouted as Scully opened the door with her palm print and allowed them entry. The living room was dark and empty. The couch was jittering across the floor and the water in the fish tank and the fish were sloshing uncontrollably. Panic for Mulder's safety quickly helped overcome any nausea as Scully looked at the empty living room. Had he been going downstairs while she'd been going up with her eyes closed, she wondered?

"Mulder!" she shouted desperately, hurrying to the bedroom as the lights came on. She would laugh about it if they survived, but she felt no relief or humour at the fact that he was still comfortably asleep despite the blare of the alarm. She jumped onto the quivering bed and began shaking his shoulder as hard as she could with both hands.

"Wha-" Mulder gasped and sat upright as soon as he was pulled from his deep sleep and registered the alarm, the vibrating bed and Scully's nails digging into him. At first he had thought they were back on the X Files in another crummy motel whose only saving grace was the beds' 'Magic Fingers', the coin operated vibrating beds they had always joked about but secretly loved. But as he looked around he realised their entire room was moving. Scully took his face in both hands and brought his eyes to hers, holding them both as still as possible.

"Come with me," she urged. He nodded, scrambling off the bed with her. Scully stood by and watched him pause only to hurriedly swipe their photos off their side table and collect her diaries from the top drawer. She smiled at him but it was tempered by impatience. Eddie was waiting in the living room when they returned, watching the fish in their large aquarium.

"Where's Michael?" Mulder asked as they followed Eddie at a jogging pace out of the quarters, leaving the door open. They headed straight for the bridge to Tower One and crossed it onto the lower levels of Scully's medical offices, the ones accessible to the public.

"Waiting for us," Eddie called behind him, leading them up the stairs to the restricted area and reaching back to drag Scully forward to get them in. The biological scan required by her had never taken so long, Mulder thought desperately, shifting his weight from side to side as the rumbling and shaking around them began to drown out the wail of the emergency sirens.

"What now?" Scully asked once they were inside the research lab. She held Mulder's hand and braced herself against the large bench as Eddie began searching through the everyday chemicals stored in a cabinet in the room. The bottles were clanging against one another in their shelves and Eddie did not answer her, too busy reading all their labels as they struggled to evade his grasp as the result of the constant movement of the walls, ceiling and floors.

"Eddie there's no time!" Mulder exclaimed, still holding the last remaining evidence of their past in his free hand, their photos and diaries. "We have to get out of here!"

"We gotta go!" Michael announced from behind them, rushing in through the open door and opening the secure storage room with just a touch of his hand. So they COULD get in, Mulder realised smugly. He knew beside him Scully's mouth had dropped open in surprise. He leant down close to her ear so that he could whisper.

"Restricted access my butt," he mumbled. She smirked and squeezed his fingers, but they were both distracted when Eddie produced a bottle and reached for some paper towelling.

"What is that?" Scully asked as he soaked the paper towels in the clear liquid. A fear that had nothing to do with the fact they were stuck underground in the middle of an Antarctic earthquake began to bubble in her stomach, and it grew when he failed to answer. Eddie finished soaking the paper towel and put the bottle back in the cabinet. He then retrieved the paper which had not moved around much on the shuddering bench.

As he strode towards them, Scully took a step back and placed herself deliberately and defensively between Eddie and Mulder.

"What is that?" she repeated, yelling to be heard over the alarms and the sound of the shaking structure. "Eddie! Answer me dammit!"

"Here," he stated once he stopped a metre from them. "If you don't put these over your nose and mouth now, we'll do it for you. We're going for a ride."

"WHAT IS IT?" Scully screamed angrily. She was not sucking in anything unless he told her.

"Diethyl ether." She frowned with concern at the soaked paper in his hands. She knew diethyl ether would knock them out. She suddenly was not sure whether she would escape the earthquake, or be buried alive amidst it when the complex collapsed. "We don't have time, Dana. You do it or we'll do it for you. I gave Mulder a concussion with what to me was a gentle toss; I can overpower you both without raising a sweat. Make it easy for me, hon."

"Would you lot hurry the hell up!" Michael exclaimed, quickly analysing the situation and the body language of the room's occupants. Without hesitating, he walked over to Mulder and Scully. His fingers wrapped around Scully's ponytail and she screamed as he dragged her in one direction. Mulder attempted to hold onto her and put himself between them. She felt as if she was being scalped in the tug-of-war and it hurt so much all she wanted was to be released.

"Let me GO!" she yelled, fighting Mulder with one hand and Michael with the other. Mulder let her go as she requested and she briefly thought how brave that was of him, and Michael threw her to the floor, straddling her hips and holding her shoulders down so that she couldn't struggle. Eddie was right. They could overpower them both. Michael was exceptionally strong for such a comparably young alien. When he took one of the towels from Eddie and placed it firmly over her nose and mouth she had no choice but to breathe in as he leered at her. She turned her eyes away, searching for the man who she had devoted her adult life to.

The last thing she felt before she passed out was Mulder taking her hand, and the last thing she saw was him kneeling beside her, voluntarily putting his own ether-soaked paper towel over his own face. His probing, wise and gentle eyes never left hers. It is okay, his expression told her. She knew he wanted her not to fight. She wanted to tell him that she knew why he was giving in so easily; if they were going to be killed in the earthquake or by aliens, they wanted to be killed together. But she did not have the strength to tell him that she understood, and her eyes were soon drawn shut by the general anaesthetic she knew she had just inhaled.

She could only hope that he quickly followed her into the darkness.

xxx

"JOHN!" Gibson shouted as he ran towards the hospital in the dark. His feet tripped as he hurried along the uneven ground but never completely lost his balance and he kept moving. His glasses were smeared with water which had been falling for days in a constant drizzle. There was a storm coming, but not just a storm, and Gibson needed to find the Captain. At the low rumble of approaching thunder everyone had been ordered to shelter in their homes. Gibson had taken Sarah home while Skinner and John patrolled the streets, but upon Skinner's return Gibson had needed to find John, and Skinner's guess had not surprised him.

In the past week, ten people had died of cholera and another five were still ill. Immediately after Xilona's diagnosis of the first fatality, all pregnant women and young children had been sequestered within their family homes. Monica had been sequestered in the hospital room where she had spent the majority of the past two months throwing up for the better part of most days. John and Xilona were taking no chances, and Gibson knew his older friend was almost constantly dehydrated already. Any little bug and John would almost certainly lose his wife. Gibson knew Monica hated the special treatment but she was comfortable in the hospital, and since the rain their wrecked house had been leaking. John slept with her most nights, and Nicky lived in the hospital with her. They had basically moved in there.

Gibson knew that was where John would have gone. In the dark, he almost crashed into the figure just outside the hospital entrance. The two men pulled apart from each other with a jolt, everybody was nervous about the spread of disease and nobody was touching anybody else. With less than a thousand colonists, every person was aware of the significance of their life, and nobody wanted to be the next to get sick.

"Hey!" John exclaimed angrily at the contact. Gibson heaved a sigh of relief and gripped his arm. John realised who it was by Gibson's size and grip and looked downwards, rain falling between them heavier than it had for a while. "Gibson, was that you callin' me?"

"Yeah," he huffed. "We have to go."

"What do you mean go?" he asked. "Go where?"

"Away from here!" Gibson exclaimed. "They're coming TONIGHT!"

"Who?"

"The rest, it's starting tonight. Remember what Shannon told us? If there's an earthquake abandon your post and get your family out. That's what I'm doing. Get Monica and Nicky and their things and we have to go up into the mountain. I've already told Skinner and Sarah to get as much food and water together as they can and they're coming with us. They're probably waiting."

"Well we should warn the others, we-"

"No," Gibson insisted firmly. "There's no time. They'll be okay, I think, but I can't risk it."

"It's the wet season," John defended. "Where the hell are we meant to go in this weather? In the middle of a thunderstorm?"

"It's not a thunderstorm," Gibson replied. "That's just what it looks like. We have to get to high road; it's not that far-"

"Gibson, Monica is four months pregnant. Do you 'remember' what it was like for her the last time? Why panic her when no supersoldier can get to us here?"

"We'll be fine against the supersoldiers," Gibson assured him. "It's not them I'm worried about. Come on John, we can't wait around here okay? You've got the benefit of having me here as your advanced warning system and I'm TELLING you that we have to go NOW. Just get Monica OUT of the hospital!"

"Okay, okay," John exclaimed, holding up his hands in surrender. "I'll be five minutes." Gibson exhaled sharply and nodded, shooing him away with a flutter of his hands.

John increased his stride once he passed through the hospital doors. Torches lit by fire lined the hallway but the rooms would be in darkness. John was grateful Xilona or Nathan did not cross his path as he made his way to Monica's room at the back end of the clinic. His hands were in his pockets so that he did not have to touch anything, and he pushed Monica's hospital door open with his elbow.

"You awake?" he asked softly into the darkness. He could see her propped up on her pillows with her knees up so was not surprised when she said that she was. John could hear the soft sleeping sounds of his son in the crib beside her and he hurried forward, removing his hands from his pockets and reaching for her hand. "I was just coming to see you for the night," he hurriedly explained. "There's a thunderstorm coming-"

"I know, I heard the thunder. Nice to be inside isn't it?" she asked happily, grinning. John only sighed and her smile disappeared, replaced by a concerned frown. "John?"

"Gibson just caught me outside. He's adamant I remove you and Nicky from here right away and that we go with him, Skinner and Sarah up onto Yungas Road before the storm hits. He implied it was what Shannon mentioned to me before we left, and he said the war was starting, and that he wanted us to be safe. I told him I would come in here and get you and Nicky, and Shannon and Sarah are collecting supplies, and I think we have to trust him, Mon."

"John, I know I complain about being locked down in this hospital," she whispered. "But I couldn't walk a kilometre let alone uphill onto that really, really high road."

"I know baby," he whispered. "I'll help, just like last time. I think we have to hurry though."

"Nicky will get all wet."

"We'll wrap him in a blanket and keep him close," John promised, pulling her blankets down and helping her swing her legs over the side. She looked thin, he reminded himself quickly. She had lost a lot of weight in the past few months throwing up every day.

They were all becoming increasingly worried about her nutrition. She had been living off vending machine sports drinks. She did not have access to the pre-natal vitamins she'd had with her the first time. They could not simply go and loot a supermarket for everything she needed to try to swallow to keep her healthy. She was not used to the local conditions the way the other pregnant women were. She had started mentioning offhandedly about not getting any milk and he knew she was secretly as worried as him.

"Are we coming back?" Monica asked as she looked around for some clothes and pulled on a pair of jeans, a singlet top and a thick jumper that was two sizes too big for her. For the moment, anyway, he thought.

"I dunno," he mumbled. "Gibson's concerned for our safety here so I don't know what's gonna happen, Mon. I just...think that he came all that way to warn us the first time. He's doing it again and I think we should go with him."

"Can you carry the baby?" she asked, her voice shaking as she brushed her hands down her waist and over her hips, nervous and frightened by the urgency in his voice. It sounded to her like Gibson had been panicking. Gibson only ever panicked when the situation was desperately serious. Watching John carefully lift his son and search for the bag of nappies and blankets and toys they had transferred from their home to the hospital, Monica made the decision to trust her husband's instincts. She knew they were putting their faith in Gibson again, but she did not mind giving the young man that sort of control. He handled it well.

John whisked his wife and son out of the small clinic without being seen. All the cholera patients were being kept in a separate wing away from the main entrance and that was where Xilona and Nathan would be. They lived there with their spouses, who were daring and committed enough to assist the doctors in nursing. So far neither doctor had gotten sick, but John suspected it would only be a matter of time.

That is if they had any real time left, he realised.

Gibson met them outside the entrance and John pulled Nicky's blanket up around his head as they were immediately drenched by the heavy rain. The thunder was getting louder but there was no lightning and John thought that was odd. Nicky started crying as Gibson led them quickly away. He obviously did not want anybody to find them fleeing. It would cause a mass panic and maybe there was no time to explain.

Skinner and Sarah were waiting on the outskirts of the colony. Skinner had a large backpack on and Sarah's arms were bundled with tarpaulin and plastic sheeting.

"They're all here," Skinner stated when he saw Gibson approaching with two adult shadows. Sarah handed her uncle one of the plastic sheets and he walked forward to Monica, greeting her with a warm smile and helping to wrap it over her head and around her shoulders. "Nice night for a day trip out of that hospital you're stuck in," he teased. She laughed, barely able to make his face out in the night and amidst the heavy rain.

"You might not think it's so nice when I pass out if I don't sit down again soon," she countered. "I haven't walked more than a few hundred metres at a time in months."

"I can carry you if need be," Skinner promised her, squeezing her shoulder affectionately. "And Nicky?"

"I'm not putting plastic over him," John insisted, cradling his son's head of curly, dark brown hair as he fussed on his father's hip. "The blanket will do. He'll be all right. There are some places we can shelter along the road, I mean if it's safe to stop. I don't know. Gibson-"

"Just everyone follow me," he added seriously, taking the lead. "And I know it's dark and you all can barely see in front of you, but we have to all stick together and try to move fast. Monica, I know you're not confident but if you don't speak up for yourself I will, and you'll end up being carried either way so just...try to give me some warning if you're gonna faint."

"I'll try," she promised, swallowing heavily as all the blood rushed from her head with just the first few steps. She reached for John. On the dark, uneven ground her balance was shot.

"Walter!" John called. Skinner turned and got an arm around Monica's back before she dropped. John watched with wide, blue eyes as Skinner settled Monica in his strong arms. She was as tall as Skinner but much thinner, and even though Skinner had lost some muscle from all the extended walking they had done he was able to carry her with the bag still on his back. "Monica," John pleaded urgently, Nicky crying in his arms. "Mon, can you hear me?"

"Mm, yeah," she mumbled.

"She's out to it," Skinner confirmed with a sigh as John tilted her head towards Skinner's chest so the rain was not falling directly on her face. "Gibson you take Sarah in front with you. John, you're at the rear. Mon and I will head up the middle so we don't fall behind. If it gets too steep I might need to rouse her."

"The rain will keep her up," Gibson promised. "This is what she was like some days in the desert," he explained to Skinner and Sarah. "She would be so tired she went to sleep right under the bright sun and we would cover her face in a t-shirt and then a hat when we had them and she was just really, really sick."

"If I was that sick the first time I'm not sure I'd want to do it again," Sarah mumbled to him. Gibson chuckled and wrapped his hand around her elbow to help guide her along faster.

"I don't think this one was so well thought out," he whispered humorously. Sarah giggled.

The rain got heavier as they walked and despite the plastic Sarah had passed around they were all soaking before Gibson allowed them to stop under a meagre overhang of the thick vegetation above and below them. The road was cut around the side of the mountain, the cliff was sheer and a fall equalled near-certain death.

"Is this the 'shelter' you mentioned John?" Sarah asked as they huddled. The rain was coming straight down, which was a plus in that wind was not pushing it into their faces even so high up, but it would have been preferable if the wind was blowing it away from them. The shelter might have meant more then.

Skinner lowered Monica to sit against the side of the cliff and sheltered her with the dripping plastic, tapping her cheek a few times to get her to focus on him. John watched on cautiously, holding Nicky away from the rain and sheltering him as best he could.

"Are you going to be sick, Monica?" Skinner asked seriously. "Gibson's let us stop for a bit."

"I haven't eaten anything all day," she admitted. "I can't be sick, but don't try to feed me otherwise I will be."

"Gibson, we need to get back," John mumbled, fear shaking his voice. "She needs-"

"We're staying," Gibson declared. "We need to get further away though-" A loud clap of thunder sounded directly overhead and he looked around urgently before pointing into the distance where a light was growing. "Look!" he declared. John and Skinner turned to look, but Sarah's eyes were unseeing and Monica's were tired. There was a purple tinge to the sky in the distance through the rain, as though the clouds were being pushed away by the moon or a small sun.

"Um, Gibson, I'm sure whatever you're looking at is really grand," Sarah stated suddenly. "And I know I'm blind, but it's been raining for a while and we're on a dirt path on the side of a mountain, right?"

"Yeah, so?" Skinner asked.

"Ever think about possible landslides?" she prompted. "I mean uh...should we 'really' be stopping underneath an overhang when if there are trees it means there is...wet muddy soil?"

"WHAT?" Monica exclaimed, opening her eyes and scrambling to her feet, finally looking upwards at where they were and where they had stopped. "Oh my God, where the hell are we?" Skinner laughed at her as she looked around frantically for Nicky. She was relieved to see him still in John's arms, transfixed by the light in the east sky. "Gibson-"

"Shh, look!" he urged. Monica stepped forward and reached for John's jumper, pulling him back a step, not wanting them standing too close to the edge. He hadn't been, not really, but it was such a narrow road she did not want to take any risks, and she suddenly did not want to be so high up in the middle of a thunderstorm in the heavy rain.

"John I don't like this," she hissed, unable to stop the tremor in her voice. "Honey, I-"

"It's okay Monica," Gibson interrupted seriously. "I brought you up here to protect you."

"I appreciate that Gibson," Monica replied. "But you can't hear mudslides coming."

"Can we keep walking?" Skinner suggested. "It will take our minds off it and maybe we'll have less chance of running into one. Are you at least able to tell us 'why' we're up here? We all trust you Gibson, but maybe a little explanation-"

"Over there," Gibson stated. "That light, it's an alien craft coming to destroy the supersoldiers."

"You can read their minds from this far away?" John asked incredulously.

"They're different to humans," he explained. "I can hear them further. Like on a different frequency. We can communicate over really long distances."

"We?" Sarah asked softly. "You can uh, communicate with them?"

"In my head," Gibson confirmed. "Sometimes I've chosen not to, but...I know what their orders are."

"To destroy the supersoldiers," John stated. "I'd like to know how-"

"Well I only know what they're thinking and what they're thinking is that they are gonna make it rain. They know where the supersoldiers are. They have exact locations."

"How?" Sarah asked.

"Shannon," Skinner replied with a sigh. "She was working with them."

"The man we went to see in the complex that day Scully was all black, he was an alien," Gibson confirmed. "They got wind of her differences and sought her out to help them. When they realised they could have Mulder and Scully at their complex they jumped at the idea. This man, Ted, he knew there was another alien hiding there that would really like to spend time with them and get their ideas."

"Hang on, aliens in Antarctica?" Monica asked. "I thought it was meant to be 'neutral'?"

"Mulder and Scully weren't in any danger. As far as Ted was concerned, he was excited. He knew their names. He knows a lot about humans. The alien in Antarctica he wanted them to meet was his mentor, sort of. On gut instinct alone I'm going to say this treatment for the supersoldiers has been helped along by two of the humans that knew the most about them."

"But they never needed them," John replied with a concerned grimace. "If they had a guy on the inside of the supersoldier program the whole time he would have known all about their weakness. Maybe Shannon was useful because she could get around fast and do risky stuff, but information-gatherin' shouldn't have been a problem. If the aliens were using them-"

"Mulder and Scully were always intended to be with us," Gibson assured him. "There's no deceit involved here. Because of Scully's medical condition they couldn't come here-"

"It's a stupid rule," Skinner growled. "Nobody here even cares."

"This was just a way to keep them safe. But that's not why we're up here."

"I didn't think it was just for a light show," John conceded. "Not the way you barrelled into me earlier. What's goin' on? Is the colony in some danger?"

"Their orders are to destroy the supersoldiers, and if they are successful...to continue harvesting resources in the south."

"What? No!" Skinner exclaimed angrily. "Why?"

"In English, they're worried about a plague that has stopped them reproducing. They're desperate to find a cure somewhere in the earth. Early forms of their life existed here once."

"Doesn't mean you have to take everything away without even knowing if it's worth it," Skinner argued. "Just destroy an entire planet on a hope!"

"We should be down there," John mumbled, glancing back into the darkness the way they had come. The purple light in the distance had not moved, but it had gotten brighter, as though whatever sort of craft it was, it was moving closer. Not that anything about the light looked like a craft. It looked like a gas or some sort of atmosphere.

"No, we can't," Gibson insisted. "Shannon told us to get to safety and stick together when this happened. She didn't really know what form it would take, but this is what she meant. I know it. She just didn't want to say, 'when the aliens come back for the south', because she did not want us to feel helpless."

"But how the hell are we going to get out of here?" John exclaimed. "If you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of the Bolivian Andes! None of us can make it through this rainforest."

"They cleared the north in a month," Gibson stated seriously. "If we push it and we're lucky, we can reach the equator by then. We got in here. We can get out again."

"Gibson," Monica whispered. "I'm not sure I-" He turned to her in the dark, hands on hips.

"Yes, you can make it," he insisted. "You can do anything you want."

"Is there any point?" she asked desperately. "Gibson I know you're trying to save our lives, and we are all grateful for that, but is there ANY point?"

"We need to get to Ecuador," he repeated. "It's not over yet. I promise." Monica covered her mouth with her hand and nodded emotionally. Everybody was silent for a long time, contemplating whether or not it really was worth another trek, if they were all going to die.

"Let's go," Skinner mumbled after several minutes. "We came this far."