R6-Amothea-p4
Scully was poking at the small fire with a when the first man jumped at her from behind the green bushes and white birch trees. She bolted to her feet and stumbled backwards her hand automatically reaching for the gun nestled at the small of her back. More men quickly surrounded her before she had a chance to draw her weapon. The seven dirty, camouflaged men all carried what looked like army issued M-16s, and judging from their hard, wary expressions they were not afraid to shoot her. She raised her hands in surrender, not sure what else to do with Skinner off scouting forest. She should have told him to stay at camp, but neither of them knew they would be found in less than an hour.
The man standing in front of her grabbed her arm and spun her around like she was a rag doll. She gaped in surprise when her foot caught the edge of her blue backpack and she started to fall. Strong arms wrapped around her middle stopping her downward decent. She started to struggle against the arms holding her, not sure if these men were members of the resistance or the alien occupation.
The hands tightened momentarily before they pushed her away. This time she stumbled and fell on her knees, she winced in pain, of all the places to fall she had to hit a rock.
She heard a few voices quietly talking, and then she heard the voice of a man obviously in charge. "Allen, search her for weapons."
Scully turned around still on her knees not wanting to waste time standing up. "Krycek! What are you doing here! Where's Mulder?"
The young man with dark hair and green eyes stared at her in surprise and confusion. Scully realized her mistake after she studied Krycek more closely. There was no way this man could be the Krycek she knew. His eyes didn't have the same hard bitterness when they looked at her. His face was missing a few nicks and cuts along with facial hair, and his hair was a lot longer. This Krycek couldn't be older than twenty years old.
Krycek pushed the stunned Allen aside and walked over to the kneeling woman with red hair. He stood above her for a moment before he reached down and grabbed the back of her jacket and jerked her to her feet. He did a quick search and found her gun and the hunting knife Skinner forced her to take once they had set up camp. Krycek placed the gun in the back of his pants and clipped the knife to the tattered waistband of his jeans. All of the men's clothing looked frayed and worn out, or maybe it was just their clothing? Krycek felt strong enough when he prevented her from falling.
Before she could ask any questions Krycek gently brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face, before cupping her chin with a glove-covered hand. "Who are you? You're too beautiful for any slave owner to let you escape without an extensive search. Never mind, somehow I know you're not from around here." Scully stared into the shifting green eyes mesmerized by Krycek's warm husky voice.
He let go of her and stepped back, "Allen, Steven, Raz, do a quick search of the area, someone else was with the woman. Come back to camp before night, even if you don't find him. The rest of us are going to escort our uninvited guest back to camp. Bailey, do you have a handkerchief on you?"
A small figure stepped forward, at first she thought it was a young boy with a really bad haircut, but then a high pitched feminine voice answered back, "Yeah, you gonna blindfold her?"
"As a matter of fact I am, and its 'Am I going to blindfold her?'"
"Yes sir. Oh and lady I want this back when we get back to camp so don't go a stealin' it." The young teenage girl glared at her before handing Krycek a dark purple cloth that still looked clean.
Scully wanted nothing better to do than tell the girl that she was a FBI agent, and that she never stole, something in her expression must have warned Krycek. "Bailey, I'll make sure you get back your pretty handkerchief. We're just going to use it to blindfold our guest, is that okay with you?"
Bailey kicked her foot into the spongy tundra and forced her features into a grimace, which Scully assumed was the girl's idea of a smile. "Sure, Krycek, I trust you."
Krycek smiled, "Okay people clear the camp, we've wasted too much time already. The sooner we return the sooner we can eat." Everyone quickly started working at covering the camp, and within a few minutes she wouldn't have known there used to be a campfire in the spot where she made it.
A slight shake brought her attention back to Krycek. What was wrong with her? She'd never been this scattered-brained, she hoped it wasn't a side effect of time traveling. "Lady! Pay attention. Don't pull any stunts because none of us will hesitate to shoot you, and God help you if you're a part of the AC. I'll be leading you to our camp, so don't worry about falling over anything. We'll take the blindfold off once we reach our destination."
What happened to Krycek? Considerate and nice did not describe the man she knew. Although, he did act differently around Mulder, kind of like he was treating her now. Something has obviously changed this man for the worse, or maybe it was just an act? She frowned at that thought, and tried not to think about it. She had enough to worry about, like where was Skinner, and what did AC stand for?
Some of her confusion must have showed in her eyes, because Krycek paused for a moment before he continued to wrap the purple cloth tight around her head, making sure her eyes were covered, along with half her nose. "Don't worry I think some of your questions will be answered soon." Again Scully was amazed at how nice Krycek treated her. The Krycek she knew would never explain anything to her to ally her fears, or anyone else's for that matter. If only he was always this considerate. What could have happened to change him? Was it this future, or did he become more cynical and world-weary in her time?
A warm, strong hand grasped hers and gently led her away from the clearing where not twenty minutes ago Skinner and she had conversed. Like Krycek promised, she didn't trip over anything or hit any tree branches. His voice was a constant presence during the long hike, always whispering how many steps to take, when to step over fallen trees, and warning her to stop so he could move tree branches out of the way. No one else spoke.
*****
Skinner knelt on the ground studying the remains of the camp he and Scully made. If he hadn't seen the camouflaged men leading Scully away he wouldn't have known where to find the camp. Those men knew how to cover their tracks. Unfortunately, he was too far away to hear the men talking, but judging by the ragged clothing they were probably a part of the resistance.
He counted eight men when they first entered the camp, but only five of them left with Scully, which meant he needed to watch out for the other three. Shit if only they didn't do such a good job at covering their trail. His time in the Marines prepared him for wilderness survival but that was years ago. Sitting behind a desk did not promote tracking skills. All he needed to do was watch out for broken branches and disturbed leaves. The tundra's springy nature made footprint almost impossible to find. Every time he stepped the ground gave way slightly and then raised itself up again.
A squashed moose or caribou dropping leading out of camp was his only sign of finding out which direction the resistance fighters took. He never should have left Scully by herself in the camp. If only he had controlled his impatience. Scully tried to tell him to wait, but instead of listening to her he had to rush off by himself and get lost in the woods. Leaving his backpack with Scully was not the smartest thing he ever did. Food and water might come in handy in a few hours, and unless it started raining or he found the resistance camp he would run out of water soon.
******
Space
Krycek scrutinized the gray alien. He knew Mulder said they had help, but for some reason he pictured a fierce ally not a short fragile looking alien.
"My name is Ilias, and I think my colleges and I might be able to help your lover. But we think it might be best to wait until his change is complete before performing the procedure. With any luck his change will fix his chemical imbalance and cure him of the addiction. 'Til then we will help you subdue your lover so he doesn't leave this room." Ilias' calm, soothing voice somehow relaxed Krycek's shaking and sobbing lover. Abruptly Mulder's body froze and went limp.
"What did you do to him?" He demanded suddenly afraid. He hoped the aliens didn't mean they would kill Mulder for him.
Ilias scurried over to his side, and touched one finger to Mulder's sweaty forehead. "Do not worry Krycek. We merely made him sleep. He needed the rest. The hunter caused him much stress."
That was the understatement of the century if Krycek ever heard one. He hoped the aliens couldn't read minds. They were helping him and Mulder fly this craft back to earth. They didn't have to help him. He had to say something after acting so suspicious. "Umm...thank you. I don't think I could have restrained him by myself.
"With his growing powers I don't think any human could restrain him. Soon it will take our combined power to keep him sleeping. Do you want to see the rest of the ship?" Ilias changed the subject so quickly that at first Krycek didn't respond.
"Yes of course. Let me make Mulder more comfortable before we leave." He didn't tell the Ilias that he needed to learn the layout of the ship in case the morph somehow escaped. Or that he felt cooped up in the room Mulder had hidden him in. Ever since his first experience with the slave pens he hated enclosed spaces.
Krycek gently lowered Mulder's head to the floor and quickly found some blankets in a storage box. The morph thought of everything. He folded the blanket and placed it under Mulder's head. Luckily the aliens and humans had the same temperature requirements; the room was neither too hot nor too cold. It felt perfect.
He stood up carefully, his legs felt like they had gone to sleep during the few minutes he squatted down to fix the blanket. He kicked one leg out trying to get the blood to move faster. The alien's silent and still patience made him feel ridiculous, so he quickly stopped all movement and forced his hands down to his sides. "Okay, I think I'm ready to go."
"I'll take you to the command center of the ship first. I would like to have taken you to my colleagues first, as they're not strong enough to speak telepathically over any distances yet. Unfortunately, they are trapped in the same part of the ship where the morph is."
"Oh of course." Krycek felt like someone kicked him in the knee. He was so worried about Mulder he didn't even stop to wonder how he could understand Ilias when they both spoke different languages and Ilias mouth never moved. Nor did he bother to ask how Ilias and his friends stayed hidden from the morph.
Krycek followed Ilias out of the small room and into a dark corridor with metal grating for a walkway. The ship sounded so metallic it reminded him of the old a science fiction movie called Alien. He saw it on one of those rare occasions where he actually had nothing do except hide from CGB Spender.
"We're almost there." The voice in his head startled him. For the last few minutes he'd been listening the gentle sound of chimes. It felt like they were in his head, but also running through the whole ship. Ilias stopped in front of another door, and hit the panel next to it. The door slide open and Ilias stepped inside. He started to follow when a bright flash of images hit his mind. He cried out and fell back against the metal wall. He covered his eyes trying to do anything to stop the new flood of images invading his mind.
Scully! She was in his older memories. She used the device to go to the future! The first time he met her. He remembered seeing her sitting on a blue backpack picking at a small fire that produced more smoke than heat, with a small stick. He was only twenty and she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. The women in his time looked old before their time and everyone had scars...even him. After her first outburst she stopped talking.
Smack! Krycek's head bounced back on the wall bringing him out of his trance. He tried to grasp the rest of his memories, but all he could remember was leading the red hair woman back to the resistance camp. She must be in his time changing his past. So of course he wouldn't remember everything yet, she was still there making new memories for him.
"Krycek! Krycek what's happening?" He opened his eyes, stared into Ilias kind, and concerned blue eyes. Why couldn't these aliens have been humanity's first contact?
He mumbled something that he hoped resembled, "I'm fine. Don't worry." He felt like he drank too many beers and missed the high.
Ilias cocked his head to the side like a child, "You don't appear healthy. What happened?"
"Look I'm fine. A woman I know used my time device and is now in the future changing my past and the memories bulldozed me. That's all."
Alien voices crowded around inside his head clamoring and speaking to themselves. The chimes sounded louder. Maybe that's how they communicated? Oh fuck it. He wasn't a scientist. He closed his eyes again and leaned his head back against the wall. "Ilias, I'm hearing voices?"
"We are near the command center, my colleagues are one deck below us. They are trying to communicate with me. Come on stand up. I need to show you how to run the ship." Ilias withdrew a few paces to give him room to stand back up.
"Krycek will these memories overtake you again?"
Krycek ran his hands through his hair, resisting the urge to pull it out. Right now he felt fine, but he didn't have a warning the first time either. "I don't know, Ilias. I don't know."
*****
Nicole's Turn!