Frozen in Time – r4 p2

Aqualegia

~+~+~+~+~

Jack Scully ushered Wade and Beverly into the cave beneath Spender's statue, which disguised a gardener's tool shed. Scully easily unlocked the door, got the three of them inside, then locked it again from the inside before using one of Wade's penlight examination torches to search the room. At the far end of the room was a closet, and when he looked inside he grunted with satisfaction, the instructions implanted into his mind coming to the fore. He twisted a hook, pressed two wood knots at the same time, then one alone. Finally he twisted the hook back again and tugged. The was a thunk, and the back of the closet swung away from him disclosing a passageway which narrowed as it sloped downwards out of sight.

Looking back at the two waiting by the outer door, he said, "I guess this is where we go next."

Wade switched on his torch, blessing his paranoia which always made him carry two, and helped Beverly through the doorway into the passage. As they started downwards they heard Jack close the door behind them. A couple of minutes later he squeezed past them, and led the way downwards, to another door.

Cautiously, Scully turned the knob, pushed the door open, and shone the narrow beam around the room beyond. The place looked deserted, but he was disinclined to take any chances, so he eased inside and made a quick search of the area. When he was satisfied that they were alone, he came back to the doorway and passed his hand over the light switch beside it. A string of safety lights came on, lighting up an area far larger than they would have imagined would be hidden beneath the city.

Jack beckoned the others inside, then closed the door behind them. As Wade helped the Captain over to a seat at the table he gave the older man a 'now what?' look.

Jack smiled back at him, pleased that his young lover seemed to be taking everything in his stride. "Stay with Beverly," he said. "I'm going to take a look around and see what supplies our comrades have stockpiled here."

Wade nodded, feeling rather overwhelmed at the size of the caverns beneath the park where he'd spent so many hours reading through his lecture notes before an exam, and worried about the amount of blood seeping through the scrubs they had snatched to cover the Captain's nakedness. Moments later Jack was back, placing an emergency medical kit, and two automatic pistols, by his side

Leaving the young medic to attend to the Captain, Jack went into the kitchen he'd found and made them all a hot drink, then concentrated on making a nourishing meal since none of them had eaten for quite a while. After that he intended to search the caverns thoroughly to see what other supplies they might be able to use to aid them in their mission.

-oo0oo-

Soon after leaving Lermontov's quarters, Mango slipped away. Helix explained to the others that he was going to pass on the information about the meeting.

A short while later, Helix, after greeting the woman behind the counter, led them into the back room of what the sign outside proclaimed to be a book shop, although it didn't resemble any kind of bookshop that Mulder had ever seen. The shelves looked reminiscent of those he'd seen in stores selling DVDs before his enforced 300 year sleep. Helix saw him looking and, once they were safely ensconced in the living room behind a locked door, explained that he sold mainly text books for schools and the university. During the war most of their manufacturing ability had been lost, and much of the body of literature, except that which had already been available in electronic format. There had been very few real technical advances for the civilian population, as most of the research was carried out by the military in their quest to defeat the Resistance, and for defence against any further alien invasion.

Casting an apologetic look in Morrison's direction, he added, "The children of some of the first families are so insular, and in many ways uneducated, that they are little better than idiots, and will inherit positions for which they are ill-suited. Others are reasonably intelligent, but their personalities make them unsuitable as rulers. Take Spender Junior for instance; he is sadistic and cruel, but because of his position he can, literally, get away with murder."

"We must get to him before he harms Alex," Mulder stated, pacing the floor with impatience. "Why are we here instead of-"

"Mulder, please, calm down." Chaz interrupted him. "Remember, we are a militaristic society, and we are vastly outnumbered. We have to make plans for what to do after we have rescued Alex. We would be stupid indeed if we did not have an escape route after stirring up a hornet's nest."

Mulder managed to look contrite. "Sorry, I guess it's because I haven't had time to come to terms with this... this..." He searched for an adjective which would not sound insulting to his present comrades.

"We understand, Mulder," Helix assured him. "Judging by what we overheard, neither Alderton nor Lermontov is likely to go back to the apartment until much later today. So, unless we are very unlucky, you will not be missed until tonight."

"What if they do miss us?"

"If they do realize you are missing, we will know almost immediately through our contacts, then we shall have to hide you. Whatever happens, our first job is to get you some false identities, and some different clothes, so that you can move around the city without attracting unwelcome attention. That's also part of what Mango is doing now."

"Contacts?" Chaz repeated.

Helix nodded. "The Resistance has been growing in the cities for a long time. We are separated into small cells, in case of discovery, but the time is coming when we shall have to join with our brethren outside and make a stand for democracy before it's too late."

"I'm beginning to think that time you speak of is almost upon us." Morrison said thoughtfully.

The store owner got to his feet. "I'd better get us all an early breakfast, Mango is bound to be hungry when he gets back."

-oo0oo-

Mango spoke to his contact, Frankie, who listened with growing concern to what he had to say. She complimented him when he mentioned leaving John, the third member of their cell behind to listen to the rest of the conference, and immediately took him along to meet another member of her cell, Paula. Having despatched Paula to meet up with John, whom she already knew, Frankie told Mango to go back to the bookstore. She would send her brother along with new clothes, while she dealt with the identities, and got the word out to others who would be able to help them get the fugitives out of the city.

-oo0oo-

After the visit from his sister, Frankie, Joseph Sanchez went to the park to fetch some clothes from their cache beneath the statue. As soon as he opened the closet door he knew that there was someone in the caverns. Going through the door, he crept along the winding corridor until he reached the point where there was a hidden spy-hole. Looking down inside, it was immediately obvious from their actions that these people, whomever they were, did not pose a threat to the resistance in the Domes. Carefully concealing the hole again, he went down to the lower door and opened it quietly.

Hearing the door open, Jack spun round, pistol in hand to cover the intruder.

Joseph halted just inside the door, his empty hands held away from his sides. Meeting Scully's golden eyes calmly, he said, "Code, Krycek."

Jack immediately put his weapon away. "Greetings friend. I'm Jack, this is Beverly and Wade," he introduced themselves as he held out his hand.

"I'm Joseph," the newcomer announced as he shook Jack's hand. "Why are you here?"

Scully quickly gave him a resumé of their activities from the time of the raid on the Dakota installation.

Joseph regarded him silently for a moment when he had finished, then said, "I think I had better get you some less conspicuous clothes, then take you to see some friends who will be able to help you more than I can." Sanchez then walked into one of the storerooms and retrieved six sets of overalls. Handing one each to Jack, Beverly and Wade, he went on, "Wearing these is the next best thing to being invisible. No-one takes any notice of maintenance people wandering around. While you get changed, I'll clear up in here."

When he was changed, Scully quietly asked, "Joseph, is there a way out through these caves?"

Joseph grinned. "Yes, and no. More a way in, than a way out. Getting out would be very difficult because there is a shear drop involved, and would need people on the outside to let down a rope or ladder."

"So we won't be using it." Jack thought for a moment, then muttered. "I wonder if Commander Jefferson knows of its existence."

"I don't know," Joseph answered the question, even though he knew it wasn't really directed at him. Then, seeing the others were now ready, he said, "Let's get going, I'll explain what to do as we go along."

-oo0oo-

Robert Gethin was bored. He and the other archaeologists had been evacuated from the Dakota installation during the raid, and had not yet been allowed to return. He wasn't really sure whether he wanted to go back, as his part, actually finding the installation, was done and there were those Roman remains he'd been working on...

His reverie was interrupted by the phone ringing. "Gethin."

"Doctor Gethin, it's Doug Elliott. I don't know if you remember me, we met at the Atlas mountains..."

Gethin's heart sped up as he recognized the resistance code phrase he'd been given, and a smile drifted across his face. "Of course, Doug, how could I forget..."

Doug laughed. "I have a proposition for you. How would you like a field trip to see some of the Anasazi ruins, and you can fill me in on the latest innovations in archaeological geophysics."

"That would be great, Doug. I've always wanted to visit some of the cliff dwellings."

"Okay then, I'll get the permits and the transport, and be with you in about one-and-a-half, to two hours, that will give you time to have some breakfast and collect your notebook and pen."

"Sure. See you then." Gethin cut the connection, and set about getting himself dressed and fed. He put his precious journal in his pocket, and felt ready for whatever the day might bring.

-oo0oo-

Doug Elliott, arranged the transport for himself and Dr Gethin, then put through a call via his webcam to his daughter in the New England Dome, as he did every morning, telling her of his meeting with his colleague, and about the field trip they would be taking. While he was talking he activated a small program on his PC which delivered a 'meet me and prepare for passengers' message to the resistance headquarters in New York.

-oo0oo-

Commander Jefferson read the message from Elliott, and contacted Jacqueline who confirmed that she would be at the meeting place, in fact she was already concealed nearby.

-oo0oo-

Alex came awake and cautiously opened his eyes. The lights had been dimmed, but he could see that he was still lying where he'd lost consciousness from Spender Junior's ministrations. He moved his arm and stifled a moan of pain as lines of fire travelled along it, his muscles twitching, where the whip had touched him. Gritting his teeth, he got to his hands and knees, panting with the effort of moving his abused body. He finally made it to his feet and tottered into the bathroom on rubbery legs. In the mirror he could see dried semen streaking his body where Junior has got off on torturing him. Shaking his head, he went into the next room where the hot tub was still bubbling and gratefully lowered himself into it, to ease the strains on overtaxed muscles and nerves.

-oo0oo-

Frankie arrived back at the shop moments after her brother had led the others inside, and she was just in time to see Mulder hugging a slim, blond, you man with evident joy. Going over to her brother, she asked, "What's going on?"

Joseph whispered a quick explanation of where he'd found them and told her that the two resistance fighters, Jack and Beverly, had accompanied Commander Krycek to the city to rescue Fox Mulder, but unfortunately the Nomads had spoiled their plans. Wade had been taken by the resistance at the Dakota installation where he'd been a medic on the team tasked with the revival of the two cryogenically frozen humans, and from what had been said, had come back to the domed city because Jack had been captured... though he wasn't exactly sure why.

Frankie thanked him for the update, and when the babble of voices died down she took charge. "The transport we have arranged will be leaving in about two hours. Helix and Mango will stay here. John should be returning soon with the first of the recordings he's made of the big meeting. We need to get that copied so it can go on to the transport. As soon as the copy has been made and tested, Joseph will take Jack and Beverly to the transport. He will hand them over to our contact and return here. I will go with Mulder, Wade and Chaz to find Alex." She held up her hand to forestall any protest. "The reason I am splitting you up is that Jack and Beverly are needed to validate the tape if we have to wait another day to get the rest of you out. I want Mulder with me so that Alex knows who we are, Wade in case he needs any medical attention, and Chaz because he knows exactly where Spender Junior lives and can give us an insight on what to expect. Any questions?" She looked around the circle of faces. When there were no comments, she said, "Let's all get changed, and we'll be on our way."

-oo0oo-

After soaking his aches away in the tub, Alex dried himself off on one of the soft fluffy towels from the rail. Under the harsh light of the dressing room, he inspected his wrist, and could just see the shadow of a chip beneath his skin, and the slight mark left behind by the insertion. He also inspected his chest, but was unable to find any corresponding mark for the bomb Spender had boasted about. Feeling much better, he padded through the apartment to Spender's bedroom, and stood gazing down at the malevolent young man who had bought him.

"I wonder if you would sleep so well if you knew that I could kill you without waking you up," he mused. He looked around the room in the growing light, trying to look through Spender's eyes and find the controllers to the devices, if there were two, which had been implanted. When nothing seemed out of place he widened his search to include the other rooms in the apartment.

He was standing in the middle of the living room, frowning at the main door, when he was distracted by tapping coming from the balcony window. Looking out he was shocked to see Mulder grinning at him from the other side of the glass. He opened the door and Mulder stepped inside then wrapped him in his arms, trying not to show the distress he felt at the sight of the welts with covered Alex's body. Alex's eyes widened when his lover was followed by a woman he'd never seen before, then came Wade du Prés and Charles Morrison.

"What-"

The woman put her finger to her lips, enjoining him to silence, then went into Spender's bedroom. Bursting with curiosity, Mulder and Alex followed her as far as the doorway and watched as she opened a vial at arm's length and waved it underneath Spender's nose. The man snuffled, then started to breath deeply.

She put the vial away again, then said, "He'll sleep for at least four or five hours now, which should give us plenty of time to get away. Get Alex into the clothes, and let's be on our way."

"Who is this, and what's going on?" Alex wanted to know.

Mulder quickly introduced Frankie, and told him what had been happening, then urged him to get dressed.

"There's a slight problem. Spender has had at least one chip implanted in me. The one I know about is in my left wrist. It sets off an alarm if I step outside the apartment without him, and hurts like hell as well. He's also said, that there is another implant in my chest, which will explode if I am more than a meter away from him outside the apartment."

Frankie raised her eyebrows at Wade, "Is there anything you can do?"

Wade shrugged. "If they are the standard security devices, then I should be able to remove them as I have recovery unit in my medikit."

As Wade got ready to scan Alex, Mulder asked, "Why do you have a recovery unit in the medikit?"

Wade grimaced. "Unfortunately slavery is not uncommon. They could be criminals sent to work in the fields, captured Nomads, or those that the local Nomads have sold to the guards for food. Whatever the circumstances a slave is a valuable commodity, to most people, so if a slave is taken ill, we have to be able to remove the implants so that we can take them to hospital - other measures are taken there to ensure that the slave does not escape."

"That makes sense...." Mulder's voice trailed off as he watched the young medic remove the first of the implants.

"Usually we have a lead-lined box to put them in..." Wade said, holding the chip and wondering what to do with it.

Chaz held out his hand, "Give them to me, I know where to hide them. The other chip should be behind his left nipple, and as soon as you have that out I'll get tid of them both."

It was the work of a few minutes to remove the other implant, and Chaz took them over to the large entertainment unit hanging on the wall. Easing the screen away from the wall, he dropped both the chips inside the casing at the back. He grinned at his audience, "If he tries to activate it, and the signal actually does get through the interference, then all he'll damage is his entertainment centre."

Once the implants were removed, Wade quickly sprayed the worst of the welts with a local anaesthetic, before allowing Alex to get dressed.

They went back out through the balcony door, and along the streets towards the transport hangars. When they were nearing their destination, Frankie started to lead them through the maintenance shafts to where the transport awaited them. They had almost reached their destination, when they heard the unmistakable tramp of soldiers on the move.

Frankie moved to the nearest hatch and had it open in a matter of seconds. Telling Mulder and Alex to get inside, the other three made a show of tools in use and Chaz lay down half under some piece of machinery, trying to look as if he was repairing it.

Mulder felt for Alex's hand and held it tightly as the patrol halted and its leader demanded to see Frankie's papers.

She wiped her greasy hands on a rag, and fished them out of her pocket handing them over without a trace of concern showing on her face. While the Lieutenant was shuffling through them, she handed a tool from the bag to Wade, who was now crouched over where Chaz was apparently working. A few moments later, he handed a different tool back to her, which she put carefully away.

The Lieutenant, unable to find any reason to interfere, ungraciously dropped the papers near Frankie's feet and ordered the patrol onwards.

Picking the papers up, Frankie refolded them and returned them to her overall's pocket. Conscious of their time slipping away, she listened to the tramp of feet receding in the distance, and once they could barely be heard, she ordered them to pack up their tools and leave.

Moving swiftly, they reached the end of the tunnel and passed out into the hangar. They could see Dr Gethin and another man, standing studying a map, deep in conversation, near the open door of a transport.

Frankie pointed to a pile of boxes. "Hold one of them on your right shoulder, and walk into the transport, and don't look round."

Doing as they were told, the three men followed her into the large helicar and into the storage compartment at the rear. As soon as he had put his box down, Wade found himself enveloped in the arms of Jack Scully.

Joseph grinned, then said, "You'd better sit against the walls and make yourselves as comfortable as possible." While they were doing that, he, Frankie, John and the pilot, went outside. They brought two more loads of boxes on board, then the pilot reported to Elliott that everything was on board, and the three loaders walked away to return unnoticed to their normal occupations.

Once the helicar was in the air, Scully again took Wade into his arms. Not to be outdone, Mulder snuggled up to Alex just glad to be able to touch his lover again.

Chaz and Beverly chatted quietly during the short journey, but as it wasn't very comfortable sitting on the floor, they were all pleased when it came to an end. Elliot called them out of the rear compartment and introduced themselves to the fugitives. "I'm Doug Elliot, Professor of Archeology at the Dome University. This is Dr. Robert Gethin, a British colleague, who is usually to be found digging up Roman remains. Our pilot, who is deploying the awning over the main door, is Luke, one of my brightest postgraduate students."

Luke nodded amiably at them, then when the awning had opened covering the gap between the door and the trees, he unstrapped a huge flask and offered them a mug of hot coffee.

Through the windows they could see that they were parked in a steep, heavily wooded canyon, and seeing their quizzical looks, Doug went on, "Once we've finished our coffee, Bob, Luke and I will be taking a walk along the canyon to look at the Anasazi ruins. This side of the canyon will be in various amounts of shade for most of the day, which is why one of the reasons why we are parked here. At some point your own people will be joining us."

"Aren't you afraid that the Nomads might attack you?" Jack asked.

Elliott shook his head. "No. Whenever we encounter the Nomads we always give them some of our medicine and food supplies. They have come to realize that the archaeological fraternity means them no harm. After all, they are part of our history, and it would be remiss of us not to ensure that they can be studied by our successors, for they seem to have survived outside the cities for many years in what is supposed to have been a wasteland. Theoretically, they should not have survived at all, let alone bred, so we will need to study them to find out why, and maybe even learn from them how to live outside in the open again." He smiled selfconsciously, "Sorry for the lecture."

"You've made some good points," Alex said, leaning forward, his eyes alight with interest. "It begs the question, is the wasteland as toxic as we've been led to believe? Could it be that only the big cities are the real wasteland?"

"How do you account for the missing supplies?"

"We don't have to, we have an item in our budget for spoilage, even Minister Lermontov knows what happens to the items which end up in that category at the end of the year."

"Lermontov? Lermontov... knows...?"

The Professor's eyes twinkled. "I believe it was the present Minister who persuaded his Grandfather to introduce the budget item, just after his first sightseeing trip to Russian Georgia."

"Well I'll be damned!" Gethin exclaimed, "I didn't realize that. So Dmitri was listening to me, after all. He remonstrated with us when we gave some food and medicine to the local Nomads there. We explained that on many European and Asian digs we hired them to do some of the heavy digging where mechanical diggers would do too much damage. Therefore, if we weren't hiring at the moment, it only made sense to keep the peace between us."

"I would say he learnt that lesson well," Elliott told him. He looked towards the trees, and went on. "I think our company is here."

Jacqueline walked the short distance to join them inside the craft, and held out her hand to Elliott. "Hello Professor."

Elliott shook her hand firmly. "I don't think you've met Robert Gethin, one of our British colleagues." He waited while they shook hands, then said, "As you can see we have a larger party than we originally expected... but I'm sure you have plenty to talk about."

Gethin smiled and got to his feet. "It's time for our stroll up the canyon. I have to say, I'm really looking forward to seeing these cliff dwellings. I've read a lot about them, and seen photographs of course, but this will be the first time I've actually seen them."

Elliott laughed, "Get your stuff, don't forget your hat in this heat, and we'll be on our way."

Jacqueline waited until the three archaeologists were out of sight before giving in to the urge to hug first Jack, then Beverley and finally Wade.

When the introductions were over, Jack took a recorder spool out of his pocket. "I was given this by one of our contacts in the Dome. It's a recording of a meeting that was being held to discuss annihilating the Resistance once and for all. We need to listen to it, to compress its contents into a report we can send to Commander Jefferson..."

Alex interrupted him with, "Is your craft big enough to hold all of us, Jacqueline?" When she nodded, he went on, "Then let's clear up here and remove any traces of our presence. It would be just our luck that they get some visitors while we're here and they're not, and I don't want to risk any confrontations. Chaz, Wade, sort out some of the food and water supplies to take with us.... oh and medicine.... since it's in the budget." He gave them all a flashing grin. "Then we can study the information at our leisure."

-oo0oo-

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