From: Snark 911 Date: 13 Jun 1999 14:44:54 -0700 Subject: xfc REPOST: Falling Snow, 7/19 TITLE: Falling Snow, Section 7/19 AUTHOR: Snark E-MAIL: snark_911@yahoo.com ------------ Chapter 4 ------------ "Yes, I'm here, what?" Scully mumbled into the phone as she hung over the side of the bed. It had taken her a couple of seconds to extricate herself from the sheets and blankets on her bed, her arm knocking the phone from the nightstand in the process. "This is Amy calling from the front desk. This is your 7:00 wakeup call, Ms. Scully," the voice said brightly. "Um, yes, thank you," Scully answered, thinking it should be criminally illegal for the girl to be so chipper at 7:00 in the morning. "You're welcome, Miss Scully, and have a great day!" Amy replied, ending the call before Scully could use the 'yeah, whatever, shut up' line on Ms. Perky. Probably for the best, she thought. Scully crawled back onto the bed, drawing the covers up over her head to shut out the light streaming in through the rather thin curtains. She knew she was risking falling asleep again, but she wasn't quite ready to just leap out of bed yet. She'd been sleeping on her stomach, she realized, something she hadn't done since she was a little kid. Did the prospect of facing this day scare her so much that she had reverted to child-like patterns in her sleep? Would she be checking under the bed for the boogie man next? Get ahold of yourself, Dana, she thought. You're going to get up, you're going to do this jump, and you will see that there was absolutely nothing to be concerned about. You'll be back here having dinner with Mulder this evening, complaining about having to go to the final session of the conference tomorrow, and all will be right with the world. With a sigh, Scully slid out of bed, pulling the covers back up as she stood. She did a few quick stretches, bending to touch the floor a couple of times, leaning side to side to work out the kinks in her back. She had intended to go down to the gym for a quick morning run, but decided against it. Scully instead took a long, hot shower, relieved that the water seemed to rinse away the last of the morning's grogginess as it coursed across her body. Stepping out of the shower, she dried off quickly and slipped into the thick folds of the hotel robe hanging on the back of the door. She pulled her hair dryer out of her bag, deciding to just do a quick dry and simply pull the hair back into a ponytail for the day--plunging to the earth from several thousand feet up wasn't exactly an activity that demanded stylishness, she laughed to herself. Her morning routine complete, Scully picked up the phone to order some breakfast from room service. Normally, she would have just gone down to the lobby restaurant, but she didn't want to have to dress twice--once, lightly, to head downstairs and then again, more heavily, to prepare for the day. She glanced over the room service menu. Mostly light fare for breakfast, but that was all right with her--she was still half full from the previous evening's dinner. Scully picked up the phone and dialed the number, ordering a bagel with cream cheese, a dish of fruit and some juice. "And, would it be possible to have a local paper brought up as well?" she asked the woman. Scully enjoyed reading the local news when out on assignment. It reminded her that in some parts of the world, the local school carnival or the winners of the snowman-building contest were still considered front-page news. "Sure, ma'am, that's no problem. Would you like anything else?" the woman asked. She was polite, but thankfully not as annoyingly animated as Ms. Perky had been earlier. With a glance back at the nightstand, Scully thought for a moment. Finally, she said "Yeah, and I know this will sound rather strange, but I need a large vase for some flowers that were delivered to me yesterday. Doesn't have to be anything fancy, just something tall to hold some water." "I'll see what we can come up with, ma'am. The maid service might be better able to help you out, though--if our guy doesn't arrive with something for you, just leave a note to the cleaning staff," the woman said, letting Scully know that her food would arrive in about 30 minutes as she hung up. Scully walked over to where the flowers were sitting, leaning over to inspect the petals more closely. Remarkably, both the roses and the vine flowers were as vibrant as the night before-- they had barely wilted at all. A little water would liven them right up again. Or maybe I could just get Ms. Perky to come up and talk to them for a bit, she thought with a laugh. To pass the time until breakfast arrived, Scully went through her bags to lay out the clothing for the day. Khi had recommended layering both pants and shirts, and to wear boots with a couple layers of socks. She had said her friend would have jump coveralls and gloves for them, along with light helmets and face shields to protect from the cold. Scully had no trouble finding shirts to wear, drawing out a couple of mock turtlenecks to layer underneath a heavy fleece pullover. But she realized she only had a pair of jeans as casual legwear-- she had sent her sweatpants and some other clothing down to be laundered and hadn't brought anything else that would work. She picked up the phone and dialed Mulder's room. It didn't even occur to her that some might have thought it strange for her to think of borrowing clothes from her male partner--they'd been together for more stakeouts and field assignments than she could remember, and had long since become comfortable sharing supplies as needed. After a few rings, she glanced over at the clock. It read 8:03. Surely, he must be up by now, she thought. She was about to hang up and head down the hall when Mulder picked up. "Mulder," he said. Scully was glad to hear he sounded completely awake--she didn't think Khi would ever let them forget it if they were late. "It's me," she said. "I'm trying to get clothes ready for today, but don't have anything other than a pair of jeans. Do you have an extra pair of sweatpants or something I could borrow?" "Yeah, I was just doing the same thing," he replied. She could hear him rummaging around in his suitcase as he talked. "Ummm... let's see... sweatpants, no. But I do have an extra pair of Spandex running pants, flygirl," he finished with a laugh. "That'll do, I guess," she said, hoping the smile on her face didn't come through in her voice as much as it threatened to. "OK, I'll drop them off on my way down to the lobby in a few minutes," he said. "I'm about to head down to grab some breakfast, did you want to come along?" "No, I ordered room service--didn't want to have to come back up to the room to change," Scully replied. "All right. I'll be down to your room in five," he said as he hung up the phone. The need to end every conversation with a 'goodbye' was also something that had dropped away years ago. A few minutes later, a knock at the door heralded Mulder's arrival. Scully drew back the chain lock and opened the door. He held out the aforementioned pair of Spandex running pants. She noticed, though, that he had neglected to mention that they were wildly colored, black base streaked with neon orange and green. "Ooo, pretty stylin' there, Mulder," she teased him. "These look like they should be hanging on the back of a slow-moving vehicle." "Actually, you wouldn't believe how difficult it is to find Spandex attire that *isn't* wild," he said, laughing a bit. "Oh, and I'm sure you searched high and low for plain ones, too," Scully said. "I know how... sedate your tastes are." Mulder didn't bother defending himself, knowing that there really wasn't any defense to make, instead turning to head down the hall. "I'll see you downstairs in a bit, then," he said over his shoulder. She let him walk for a good 20 or 30 feet before calling out to him. "Hey, Mulder?" she said. "Yeah?" he asked as he paused. "Thanks for the flowers, they're beautiful," she said simply. She didn't trust herself to say anything more. "Only the best for you, my lady," he said, affecting the half-bow he'd used the night before. With a grin, he turned and headed on down the hall. Scully went back in her room, and it was only a few minutes until the room service arrived. The man had everything she'd ordered: the breakfast, the paper, and even the vase. She tipped him more than she normally would have, thanking him and the staff for being so accommodating. After arranging the flowers in the vase, making sure it was filled with water, Scully settled in at the small table. She made short work of the bagel and fruit, then lazily sipped at the juice as she browsed through the paper. She made a mental note of an ice- sculpture contest taking place today, thinking the results might be worth checking out this evening when they got back. Realizing it was getting close to 9:00, Scully refolded the newspaper and began getting dressed for the day. She slipped on a light t-shirt, followed by the mock turtlenecks and finally the heavy pullover. After pulling on three pairs of socks, she reached for the Spandex pants. Laughing as she stretched them on, she was actually surprised at how comfortable they were. They clung to her legs like a second skin, matching her movements without feeling bulky or binding. She started to pull her jeans on, but stopped. Scully sat still on the edge of the bed for a few moments, the jeans forgotten. She soon dropped them to the floor as she went over to the mound of packages in the corner. Rummaging through them, she finally withdrew and opened a long, thin box. Placing her right foot on the edge of the bed, Scully strapped the black-handled knife over the neon Spandex, securing it firmly to her lower leg. * * * * * * Mulder and Khi were waiting for her as she crossed the hotel lobby towards the front door. She was carrying her heavy parka, knowing she'd want it for the trip and the first part of the plane ride. She noticed that both of them were similarly equipped, Khi also carrying a backpack. "OK, then, are we all set?" Khi asked after quickly making sure Mulder and Scully had followed her apparel instructions. "Let's do it," Mulder said, clasping his hands together and grinning. Khi and Scully just laughed at his eager-beaver antics. They headed outside to the Regal's parking ramp, Scully slipping into her parka as they walked. It was still snowing lightly, but no more than a couple of inches had accumulated. The sun was trying to peek through the clouds, but clouds were overtaking it quickly. It would most likely be completely overcast within the hour. Khi lead the way over to a sport utility vehicle parked nearby. As they approached, a man stepped out of the driver's seat. Or rather, an unbelievably huge man unfolded himself from the front seat and stood, towering over the top of the vehicle as if it were a Tonka toy. He had to be at least seven feet tall, Scully realized as she drew near. "This is Mobaje," Khi introduced the man. "He'll take us up to the flight line and pick us up at the drop site as well. Mobaje, this is Fox Mulder and Dana Scully." Mo-ba'-zhay, Scully repeated to herself, wanting to make sure she remembered the pronunciation. "Nice to meet you, Mobaje," she said, reaching out to shake his hand as he turned to her. His hand completely enclosed hers, but was gentle as he shook hands. "So you are the two whom Khi has convinced to join with her on a fall from the sky, yes?" Mobaje asked. His speech pattern was unusual, his words a strange mix of formality and imagery. His voice flowed as smooth as silk, the tonal quality low and lustrous. Scully was beginning to think exceptional voice timbre was a prerequisite for Khi's friends. "Yes, that would be us," Mulder replied, holding a hand out to assist Scully as she climbed into the backseat. "I'm not sure how she did it, but here we are." "Khi has convinced Mobaje of many things as well, zhajeen. Her tongue, not her sword, is her greatest weapon," Mobaje said as he took Khi's pack and put in the back storage area of the vehicle. Khi, who had already lifted herself into the passenger seat, let them know 'zhajeen' was a term similar to 'sir' or 'ma'am', but used neutrally. Scully was tempted to ask about the sword reference, but decided against it. Mobaje refolded himself into the driver's seat, looking to Khi for confirmation that everyone was ready to go. "Everyone set?" she asked, glancing at Mulder and Scully with a smile. "Nobody has to go to the bathroom?" "Are we there yet?" Mulder whined, falling into the game easily. "Scully's on my side! I'm bored! She's looking at me weird!" They would have needed a photo-finish replay to determine who reached out to slap Mulder in the head first. Since they each went for opposite sides of his skull, Khi and Scully were content to declare it a tie. Mulder just laughed, causing Scully to roll her eyes heavenward, a slight smile on her lips as well. "Take us out, Mobaje," Khi said. "Before I have to crawl into the backseat and split these two up." "Not even you could do that, zhajeen," Mobaje replied, guiding them out of the parking lot and into the city streets. Scully wondered what he meant, but didn't get the chance to ask as Mobaje and Khi started chatting. She didn't dare look over at Mulder, either. Of course, she didn't need to--her mind could see both the grin and the look, clear as crystal. They left Colorado Springs and at first headed almost directly west, straight towards the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. They turned to head south after a while, weaving their way right along the edge of the mountain range. Khi explained that their pilot would take them on a quick sight-seeing jaunt back up towards Pike's Peak, then take them south again to a more open location for the actual jump. "No need to waste a ride in the Rockies," Khi said. "From the window of a plane is really the only way to appreciate their magnificence." Not knowing what to expect from a car ride with Khi, Scully was happily surprised to find the trip quite intriguing, actually. Khi and Mobaje spent the first 20 minutes or so chatting about the jump retrieval and related items, as Mulder and Scully took turns pointing out various portions of the stunning landscape to each other. Scully listened in as Mobaje talked, finding herself fascinated by his words. Imagery was present in almost every sentence he uttered--her mind was filled with pictures created not only out of the words themselves, but from the tonal inflections of his voice. His ancestry was another source of interest for her. She wouldn't even hazard a guess as to what ethnic class might give rise to his seven-foot frame. He was darker-skinned, but not black, the coloring suggesting he was of Latin or Asian descent. His hair, as long and straight as a Native American's, was a shimmering silver, sweeping down his shoulders like a river of mercury. When Mobaje and Khi seemed to wind up their conversation, Scully took the opportunity to ask him where he was from. "I am from the earth, zhajeen," Mobaje replied simply. "Mobaje's people believe they are each a direct descendent of the earth itself," Khi translated, seeing Scully's look of confusion at Mobaje's apparently flippant remark. "Sorta gives the phrase 'Mother Earth' a whole new meaning, doesn't it?" Mulder quipped--he had to duck to avoid another double slap for his undeniably flippant remark. "We are all children of the earth Kanji and of the sky M'alvahe," Mobaje intoned. "They birth us, feed us, protect us for the whole of our lives. When the line between life and death is crossed, Kanji and M'alvahe swallow us undivided and return us to the earth." "Undivided?" Scully asked, entranced. Even Mulder appeared to be paying attention, head tipped, his hair falling over his eyes as he listened. "The soul and the body kept together, to live again within Kanji," Mobaje said. "They reside as one until such time as M'alvahe opens his arms for the soul to be born again. On that day, the body is finally returned to the dust." For the next hour, Mobaje played the role of teacher, telling story after story about his culture and his people. Scully couldn't remember the last time she'd been so thoroughly interested in listening to someone talk about themselves. Glancing over at Mulder occasionally, she saw he was as engrossed as she was-- they were like a couple of 6-year olds at storytime. Maybe I should ask for a carton of milk and a cookie, she laughed to herself. "So, ok, what's the difference between a... um... a rhaven and an ut'aari?" Mulder asked, trying to get his mouth around the unfamiliar words correctly. "A rhaven transforms without thought, without will, into a single animal identity as M'alvahe directs. The man does not choose his time and he cannot change the animal he becomes," Mobaje explained as he finally turned off the main road onto what appeared to be a driveway. We must be almost there, Scully thought. As Mobaje continued, she began to pick out buildings in the distance and finally what could only be the flight line--a strip of land about a third mile long, blown free of the falling snow. "An ut'aari can control his shape, mold it as his heart desires," Mobaje said as he brought the vehicle to a stop next to an open hangar. "He can become the elk, the wolf, or the hawk as he chooses. Not even M'alvahe can control an ut'aari. They are the righteous among men, the embodiment of Kanji herself." Trust Mulder to find the X-File in a discussion of culture, Scully thought, turning her head to hide her smile. The smile was soon forgotten, though, as she caught sight of the plane inside the hangar. Oh dear god... For one thing, it was the smallest plane she had ever seen-- Cracker Jack toys were more solidly built. It looked as thought a strong wind would tip it right over. But it was the paint job that took her breath away. She felt Mulder lean over next to her to look out the window, a huge laugh emanating from him as he collapsed against her in the backseat. The plane, the object to which they would soon be entrusting their safety and their very lives--the plane looked just like the Spandex pants she was wearing. * * * * * * "C'mon in, c'mon in," a voice called out as they approached the open hangar bay. At first, there didn't seem to be a body attached to the voice--it seemed to come from nowhere. As they slipped inside the hangar door, though, Scully saw a pair of legs standing on the other side of the plane, legs which soon carried their owner around to meet them. "Zippy, Scully, this is Vincent Alger, our pilot for today," Khi said, slapping the man on the shoulder. "Vince, these are Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully." Khi moved off to a set of storage lockers nearby as Vince stepped over to talk to Mulder and Scully. "Ain't never flown the FBI before. Ought to be fun," Vince said with a smile, quickly holding up his grease-covered hand as they each reached out to greet him. "We can just skip past the handshake, I guess, unless y'all want some of this on ye." Vince spoke with a decidedly heavy drawl, the words lazily flowing from one to the next. As he moved back towards the plane, Scully noticed that he walked with a slight limp, his left leg dragging slightly. Vince must have noticed her watching him. "Yup, I got me a little left-foot drag," he said, grinning at her. "Don't worry, though, it don't affect my flying none. 'Course, I wouldn't have a left-foot anything if it weren't for the co-... for Khi, there," he finished suddenly, obviously editing his words. Scully wondered what his original statement would have been. Before she could ask, though, Khi gave a whistle and waved them over. Mulder leaned in close to her ear as they headed over to the lockers. "I done bet the plane's name is Ol' Spandy," Mulder whispered quietly, teasingly. Slap... They reached the lockers just as Mobaje was handing Khi her pack. She checked its contents, nodding her head as she glanced through it. "Check the altitude conditions for us, Mobaje--the clouds are throwing me a little, here," Khi said to him. Mobaje nodded to her as he turned to head through the open doors. Scully assumed he was heading for the small building about 100 yards away. "All right, we have to get you guys suited up and versed in everything here, before Vince'll take us up," Khi said as Mobaje left. She looked around for a moment, searching for something. "Ah, there they are," she said as she stepped around Scully's side to pick up a stack of material. As Khi moved around her, Scully turned to watch her, then continued the motion to look out the open doors after Mobaje. Except that Mobaje was nowhere to be seen. Startled, Scully glanced quickly around the interior of the hangar, thinking maybe he stepped back inside. She saw no one. There was no way he had covered the distance to the other building in the ten seconds that had passed. She was about to cross over to the open door and look outside, but Khi began handing out items, describing them as she went along. With one last glance out the door, Scully tuned in to Khi's explanations. "This is your jump coverall. It is similar to a regular coverall suit, with two notable exceptions," Khi explained. "One, it has built-in carabiners to attach right to your parachute harness. And two, a small homing device is stitched into the lining of the collar." "Built-in search and rescue?" Mulder said with a laugh as he stripped off his heavy jacket. He stepped into the coverall, pulling it up over his clothes and zipping it to mid-chest level. Scully did the same, stacking her jacket on his before pulling on the coverall. "Why is this a less-than-comforting idea?" Mulder asked, tossing a wry glance over at Scully. "It's not a full-blown radar detection system, that's for sure," Khi said, grinning at him. "But as long as we land within a couple of miles of each other, it will allow me to track each of you very quickly." Next, she handed out a set of what looked like miniature tie- down straps. She showed how to thread them through the bottom loops of the suit legs, wrapping around the ankle and then criss- crossing them under the soles of their boots. "Just makes the ride down a little warmer, if you don't have the wind whistling up your shorts," she laughed. Handing them each a parachute, Khi showed them how to step into the harness correctly, attaching the various slip-links to the carabiner hooks on their jump suits. The chute packs were sleek and almost completely black--only the bright cord handles stood out. "This, the red, is your main chute cord. When your feet leave the plane, count to five and then pull this straight down, hard," she said, simulating a swift jerk towards the ground. "If you don't immediately feel the chute open, this is your reserve, the yellow cord. Again, yank it straight down." Feeling his pack for the location of each cord, Mulder grinned as he asked "And if that one doesn't open?" "Then you'll be really glad that we're jumping in the winter--the snow would provide something of a break for your fall. Not the same as a nice, cushy safety net, but better than slamming into the bare ground," Khi said. "But don't worry, I've only seen two instances where the main chute didn't open, and in both cases, the reserve worked fine." Khi stepped over to each of them, checking the strap fittings and carabiner latches individually. She had Mulder unfasten part of his harness, untwisting the straps so they laid flat against him and readjusting the strap length. Satisfied at last, she next handed out the helmets, complete with face guards. They resembled a full-face motorcycle racing helmet, V-shaped at the chin area, but were much lighter and more compact. The shield was integrated as part of the helmet itself, not a piece that the occupant could flip up or down as needed. "These provide you with protection from both the cold and any objects you might hit when you land. Like, you know, the ground," Khi laughed. "Someone with experience can land without leaving his feet, but I don't expect that for either of you." "Hey now, I'm experienced, what are you-... oh, you mean experienced as a *parachuter*, gotcha," Mulder quipped, shooting a wink over to Scully. Khi just groaned at the remark as Scully rolled her eyes. Khi spent ten minutes showing them proper landing techniques, telling them to disregard the chute itself on landing. "You're going to get wrapped up in it a bit, there's no way for you to avoid that. So don't concentrate on it," she instructed. "Reach for the ground with your feet as you approach, but keep the knees bent. Roll to whichever shoulder you consider your strongest, and keep your legs and arms tucked close to the body." Looking around her, Khi told them that was really it for now. "Here's the gloves, but don't bother putting them on yet--just stick 'em inside your helmets for now so they don't get left behind," she said, gathering up her own chute, helmet, gloves and pack. Khi excused herself to go speak to Vincent, stashing her gear in the passenger compartment as she walked by. Starting to feel a little warm, Scully walked over the open hangar door and stepped outside. Looking around the area, she was amazed at the beauty of the location. The relatively open ground of the flight line swept up to the edge of the evergreen forest, slowly melting away into the snow mountain landscape. You see the beauty of nature in pictures all the time, she thought, but you never quite appreciate it. The fresh air, the rich colors, the sensation of peace--all were things to be admired in person. The snow fell silently, cloaking the world in a mantle of whiteness. "Still think this is a good idea, Scully?" Mulder's muffled voice asked from behind her. She turned to look at him, seeing that he had slipped on his helmet and was talking through it. She just shook her head at him as he took the helmet off, sending his hair spiking out in all directions. "You're assuming I ever thought it *was* a good idea, Mulder," she said pointedly. She watched as he tried to straighten his hair out, but he had already put the gloves on. He could do little more than try to flatten his hair against his skull. With a sighed "I can't take you anywhere," Scully reached out and combed her fingers through his hair. Mulder closed his eyes as she ran her hands across his head, over and over. She told him to lean closer to her, so that she could reach the back more easily. "Yes, ma'am," he murmured, a smile playing across his face as he tipped his head forward. His dark hair flowing over her fingers like silk, his forehead just barely grazing her own, Scully couldn't help but smile a little herself. *** 30 ********* Section End *********** 30 *** It is the *same* story--if you read it before, there is nothing new in it. I simply rechopped it to smaller, more manageable sections. Thank you, and again, I apologize for the need to repost. CLASSIFICATION: SA (Story, Angst) plus some UST KEYWORDS: NONE RATING: PG-13 Complete disclaimers in Section 1. * * * * * * Khi soon motioned them both over to the plane, calling out that they were about ready to get going. As they moved back inside the hangar, Scully gave one last appreciative glance around. Looking up to see a hawk circling lazily against the backdrop of the mountainside, she could hardly imagine a more beautiful location to live. As Mulder and Scully drew near, they noticed Vince had washed up and changed clothes, his mechanic's suit replaced by a leather flight jacket and the standard mirrored sunglasses. He climbed into the pilot's seat, telling them to follow him out to the flight line on foot. A few seconds later, the engine roared to life. The plane slowly made its way out of the hanger and onto the cement strip that connected the building to the runway. "Why didn't he just load us up now?" Scully wondered aloud, following Khi over to the open doors. When she saw that Khi was going to roll the doors shut, Scully stepped to the exterior side and began to push the right one closed. "Pilots get freaky about startup routines and such," Khi explained. "Vince usually flies alone, so he doesn't want to do anything different until he's lined up and ready to throttle it into the air." She called out to Mulder to get a move on and join them before the doors closed. "M'alvahe is restless this day, zhajeen." Scully jumped as Mobaje's voice rang out from right behind her. He nodded to her as he stepped forward to talk to Khi. Where in the hell did he come from, Scully wondered. She had seen no one when she stepped through the doors, and Mobaje wasn't exactly someone that was easily overlooked. It was almost as if he'd fallen out of the sky. "What do you mean?" Mulder asked as he came near. He stepped through the doors just as Scully rolled the door closed behind him. "The air is tense, the clouds unsure of their course," Mobaje explained. "M'alvahe beckons for Kanji to join with him in the day's game, but she refuses." "Is it unsafe today, Mobaje?" Khi asked, listening to his words carefully. Scully figured they must have known each other long enough for Khi to translate Mobaje's imagery into useful information. "I cannot say, zhajeen. M'alvahe remains uncertain--he has not yet chosen his path," he said, gesturing an arm up towards the sky. Khi stepped away from them a bit, taking a long look up into the sky as she slowly turned a full circle. Scully looked up as well, but could see nothing except the unbroken expanse of cloud cover, as far as her eyes could see. "I say we do it," Khi said suddenly. "We're talking about being back on the ground within an hour and a half, and I don't see any signs of storms or anything. What do you guys think?" "Well, we're all suited up and ready to go, why waste the opportunity?" Mulder said. "I'm still up for it. You, Scully?" Scully just nodded her head, knowing if Mulder was still going, she was still going. "OK, then," Khi said, clasping her hands together. "Let's get out there and boarded up before Vince takes off without us." She stepped over to Mobaje, turning to face him as she touched her fingertips to her temple, rolling her hand out to face him open-palmed. "K'as taani mu lanos, my friend," she said. "May M'alvahe guide your paths and guard your souls," Mobaje said, encompassing them all with his eyes as he bowed slightly. Mulder and Scully nodded to him as they fell into step behind Khi. "Keep an eye out for us, Mobaje," Khi called back to him. Mobaje tipped his head towards her, raising his hand in the same salute she had used earlier. "As always, zhajeen," he said. Vince popped the side door for them as they approached the plane. As Mulder helped her into the compartment, Scully saw the interior of the plane was surprisingly roomy. There were six passenger seats, two facing backwards and four facing forwards, plus the pilot and copilot seats. Khi climbed into the compartment behind them, slamming the door shut and latching the bolts. She slipped on a headset and told Vince they were all set--Vince was separated from the passenger compartment by a clear wall. A small access door could be used to move between the compartments if necessary, but Khi said they would leave it closed for this trip. The plane increased speed, Vince lifting them off the runway at the last possible second. As he banked and headed north, Scully was amazed at how swiftly they lifted above the earth. Looking back, she saw that Mobaje was already a small pinpoint of darkness next to the quickly receding hangar. It must have been a trick of the light that made it seem as though Mobaje himself took to the air as the hangar dropped out of sight. * * * * * * Twenty minutes after take-off, they were lazily circling Pike's Peak. Vince took them around it a couple of times in both directions, making sure everyone got ample time to see it clearly through their own window. Even though low-hanging clouds shrouded the summit, it was still a magnificent sight. The indicator light next to the headset flicked on. Khi slipped them on and listened for a moment. "Yeah, that's good. Reverse and move out," she said. Hanging the set back on the small hook, she told them Vince wanted to get headed towards the jump site. "He's getting some strange readings out ahead of us and doesn't want to get caught in something," she explained to them. "Strange, how?" Mulder asked. "Strange, there's some storm activity brewing or strange, there's a 100-foot flying pickle on an intercept course?" "Closer to the former, Zippy," Khi laughed. "Although with you in the plane, I wouldn't be surprised if we eventually ran into the latter." "Well, it would have to be a pickle with either a past-life syndrome or the ability to communicate telepathically, really," Scully said. "Otherwise, it would just be another run-of-the-mill pickle encounter." "Ah, you guys are just so funny," Mulder sighed. He brought his hands to his chest, somehow managing to get that I'm-too-happy- for-words look in his eyes, tears brimming. "You love me, you *really* love me!" he cried out, sending them both laughing. They chatted back and forth for the next forty minutes or so as the plane headed south along the mountain range. Keeping one eye trained out the window, Scully noticed the clouds, which had drifted above them when they left, were now beginning to surround the plane itself. They seemed darker and more forbidding, almost as if a thunderstorm were building. There also seemed to be an increasing amount of turbulence-- nothing horrendous, but the plane was definitely being buffeted around more heavily as they continued. Just as she was about to ask Khi if she still thought it was safe, Scully saw the headset light flick on again. As Khi spoke quickly to Vince, Scully became aware of something that had been nagging at her. When speaking casually, Khi spoke very animatedly, using gestures and a good deal of slang as she spoke. But when speaking 'business,' such as she was doing with Vince now or with Mobaje earlier, she used very short, clipped sentences, her words containing no extraneous words or thoughts. As she continued to listen, Scully finally realized what it reminded her of. Khi spoke as Ahab often had, as Scully had heard many of her father's fellow officers speak. It was the style of someone accustomed to being in command, to giving orders to the people around them. Was Khi a member of the military, Scully wondered, remembering the Marine captain back at the hotel. Is that why she seemed so calm all the time, so in control of every thought and action? Her thoughts were interrupted by Khi as she took off the headset. As she replaced them on the wall, Scully felt the plane begin to bank again, turning a wide arc as it headed back to the north. "Vince is calling it a day. We're only 20 minutes from the jump site, but he's getting spooked about the cloud cover and radar readings," Khi explained, motioning out the window. "I told him we didn't want to chance anything, so we're heading back for the hangar." "Well, at least I can take this chute off, then," Mulder said, starting to unbuckle the carabiners from his suit. "It hasn't exactly been comfortable sitting in these seats with this strapped to my back." "Yeah, I can feel my spine kinking up as I speak," Scully agreed. She, too, slipped the carabiners from their suit hooks, sliding the harness down her legs until she could move out of it completely. Mulder, more constricted for space because of his height, was having trouble getting the harness completely unbuckled. He had somehow managed to get one arm free, but the other was trapped in the shoulder strap--each time he tried to thread his hand through to get free, he only succeeded in wrapping himself up more tightly. Laughing, Scully reached a hand over to help him out, repeating the 'I can't take you anywhere' line to him softly. Her hand never reached him. Without warning, the plane lurched sharply to the right, slamming them up against the side of the plane. The aircraft shook violently, tossing its occupants from side to side like a bizarre amusement park ride. A rapid pinging sound swept over the plane, growing louder each second. Scully smashed into Mulder's side as they tumbled, a groan of pain escaping his lips as her head connected solidly with his ribs. As they fell, Mulder's head snapped against the metal with a sickening thud. Somehow, Khi managed to right herself almost immediately, her arms and legs spread to brace herself in the center of compartment. She immediately dipped her head to look out the windows. Scully followed her gaze, feeling the blood drain from her face at what she saw. She would not have been comforted to know that Khi's did the same. Hail was crashing against the plane, huge chunks of ice pounding out their fury. As Scully tried to find something to push against to get off Mulder, a huge booming noise resounded in her ears. It was nearly deafening. She slapped her hands up to her ears before she was even aware of what she was doing, collapsing against Mulder again. An image of herself as a child flashed through her mind--curled up in the corner of her closet, her hands to her ears, silently screaming as she tried to shut out the sounds of the summer thunderstorms. No, it couldn't be, Scully thought as her throat tightened with a genuine sense of fear. It's the middle of winter, it's been snowing for days, it couldn't possibly have been... "Lightning just hit us," Khi screamed, struggling to be heard above the roaring hail. * * * * * * "Put your chute on. Check Mulder and fix his harness. Get helmets on," Khi commanded, barking out the directions as she moved toward the door in the clear wall. Scully finally got herself lifted off of Mulder, rolling away from him to hang onto one of the seats. She stretched out to check Mulder's pulse and feel his head for injury. She was relieved when she heard him moan slightly and try to move a little bit-- most likely, he was just dazed from the collision. She wasted no time trying to straighten out the tangled mess of the other shoulder, instead just shoving his free arm back through the harness and cinching it tight against his chest. One by one, she hooked the carabiners to whatever slip-link was closest, moving Mulder from side to side as she worked her way around his harness. Her motions seemed to rouse him, and by the time she clicked the last carabiner into place, he was fully awake. "What the hell happened?!" he shouted, trying to get his bearings in the darkened compartment. "We flew into a hail storm. Lightning struck the plane," she yelled back, trying to locate Mulder's helmet. "Khi's checking on Vince." Mulder rolled up into a kneeling position, wincing as he contracted his stomach muscles. Bruised or broken ribs, Scully though at first. But Mulder realized he'd been lying on something, and with a shocked expression of realization, he pulled Scully's chute out from underneath him. "You gotta get your chute on, Scully. Hurry!" Mulder said, fear squeezing his voice into the upper register. "Go! Find the helmets, go, go, go!" Scully yelled as she grabbed the chute and harness from his hands. He still hesitated, wanting to make sure she got hooked up OK. "The chute's not going give me much protection for slamming my head into the ground, Mulder. GO!" As she started straightening out the straps of the harness, Mulder scrambled around the compartment, searching. He finally found all three helmets, rolled up against the back of the plane. Mulder scooped them all up, twisting the chin straps across his hands to hold them all as he fought his way to the front again. Lying on the floor, Scully rolled onto her upper back, much as she would when trying to squeeze into a pair of tight jeans. When she had the harness pulled firmly against her lower body, she rolled forward into a kneeling position, trying to get her arms stuck through the shoulder straps. The wild motion of the plane made it difficult, though, as she kept getting tossed about. "Scully!" The word snapped through the plane like a whip. Scully turned to see Khi motioning to her from the cockpit. As she crawled forwards, she saw that Khi was trying to keep hold of the flight controls as she pulled Vince's unmoving form from his seat. Reaching the doorway, Scully grabbed Vince under the armpits and pulled him partway through the door, giving Khi the room she needed to sit at the controls. "He must have been in contact with something conductive when the lightning struck us," Khi yelled back to her. "His body was still conductive when I broke through up here, gave my hand one hell of a shock. He's dead, or damn close to it." Scully felt Vince's neck for a pulse, but found nothing. His eyes stared ahead, wide and lifeless. "What are we going to do?" she shouted. "Can you fly this plane?" "Normally, I'd say yeah, but not now," Khi said, frantically flipping switches and controls. "The entire circuitry has been fried. None of the gages work, I can't tell where we are, and we're dumping fuel." She paused for a moment, eyes closing briefly. "We're going to jump." Son of a bitch, Scully thought. Son of a god-damned bitch. Glancing back at Mulder, she knew that he'd heard Khi's statement as well. He reached for her hand, holding it tightly for just a moment. "Hand me a tie-strap out of my pack," Khi yelled. Mulder dug through the packing, finally finding a single strap at the very bottom. Khi lashed the throttle stick of the plane in place, working off the theory that if they hadn't crashed into anything yet, they must be flying fairly level. But she had no idea how long it might hold or what their true direction was. Khi crawled over Vince's body back into the passenger compartment. Seeing Scully still struggling with her chute, Khi yelled at her to sit still--with the ease of long practice, she unhooked and rethreaded the straps around Scully's shoulders. "It's not perfect, but it will have to do," she yelled as she snapped the carabiners in place. "Is she safe? Is it good enough to hold her?" Mulder yelled, his own pain forgotten in his concern for Scully. "It's as good as we're going to get it, Mulder," Khi said. Some part of Scully's brain noticed that the nickname 'Zippy' dropped away as well when the situation was serious. She and Mulder slipped their helmets on, trying to hold themselves steady against the thrashing of the plane. Khi retrieved her own chute from the wall peg where it had been hanging, cinching herself into it as she yelled to them. "Here's what's going to happen. I pop that door, Scully goes through. Give her ten seconds, Mulder goes next. Deploy your chutes immediately," she yelled, again simulating the downward jerk of the handle. "You won't see the ground until you hit, so keep your legs bent. Once you're down, get out of the chute harness and find whatever shelter you can. Keep your helmets on and try to keep moving, even if it's just pumping your arms and legs--I don't know how long it will take me to track you, and you need to stay warm." By the time she finished talking, she was into her chute harness and had grabbed up her pack from Mulder. She undid one of the carabiners, threading the strap from the pack to the inside. When the carabiner snapped back into place, the pack was attached safely to her waist. "Any questions?" she yelled, looking each of them in the eye. When they said nothing, she held her hands out, motioning for each of them to touch hands with her. "You're strong, you can do this," she said simply. "Yeah, whatever, shut up," Mulder bellowed, getting the barest of laughs from both Scully and Khi. Trust Mulder to make a joke on the eve of our deaths, Scully thought. Khi stepped over to the door, grabbing the release handle and standing back inside the frame of the plane. She motioned for both of them to take positions on the other side, Scully closest to the door. As he took his place behind her, Mulder suddenly wrapped his arms around Scully and held her close. She lifted her hands up to hold onto his arms as though they were a lifeline. No words were needed--they both knew what this moment was. "Set?" Khi yelled as she glanced over at them. Scully reached up and found the handle of the main chute cord, nodding to Khi to go ahead. With a swift jerk downwards and a twist to the right, Khi popped the door handle. The door flew open against the exterior of the plane as hail pounded in through the doorway. Unwinding from Mulder's embrace, Scully stepped forward and leapt into the fury of the storm. *** 30 ********* Section End *********** 30 *** TITLE: Falling Snow, Section 9/19 AUTHOR: Snark ------------ Chapter 5 ------------ Scully thought she'd experienced pain before, but nothing had ever felt quite like this. The hail slammed into her body like sledge hammers, each one more painful than the last. As she felt the plane's floor fall away from her feet, she counted to five and pulled the chute cord. A few seconds later, she was jerked upwards as the chute opened and slowed her descent. Thank God it opened, she thought--she hadn't held onto the reserve cord on the way out, and did not want to think of having to find it in the midst of the storm. Remembering Khi's instructions, Scully bent her knees, tucking her arms up in a fighter's pose. The wait was living agony--she had no way to tell where she was above the earth, no way to prepare for the shock of landing. That shock came much sooner than she had anticipated. Had she been able to focus, she would have sworn her knees touched the back of her throat as her legs tried to absorb the impact. Before she could even register the pain, though, she found herself rolling to the left, but not under her own power. Caught on a steep hillside, she tumbled over and over, able to do little to stop the motion. Scully finally came to a rest face down in a deep drift, half buried in the snow. She carefully but quickly tested each limb, not wanting to aggravate a dislocated or broken bone by thrashing around wildly. She was grateful when she was able to move everything with a minimal amount of pain. Slowly, she clawed her way out of the drift, fighting through not only the snow but the tangled web of the chute itself. As she emerged from the snow, though, she realized it had actually been providing her a small protection from the hail. With fingers numb beyond the ability to feel, she ripped at her harness, tearing at the carabiners one after the other. She was finally able to slither out of the harness, turning over to start digging into the drift as quickly as she could. She was glad for the helmet--a person would have been rendered unconscious in seconds without its protective guard. Keeping one strap of the harness wrapped around her hand, she managed to burrow her way far enough into the snow bank that she escaped the worst of the hail. She laid on her back, her body tucked up in a tight ball to protect against the chunks that did reach her. She curved her arms around her head, creating a pocket of air in which to breathe. Scully wasn't sure how long she remained like that. It felt like an eternity, but the rational part of her brain knew it had been no more than 20 minutes. Hunkered in as she was, every muscle flexed against the pain, it had taken her a few seconds to realize that she was no longer being pummeled by the hail. She dug her way to the surface again, finally clearing the snow away from her face shield enough to look around her. She could not believe what she saw. It was snowing heavily, the wind swirling and twisting the flakes into a thousand tiny whirlwinds. Evergreen trees towered above and all around her, restricting her field of vision to perhaps a hundred yards in any direction. She had somehow landed in a thin strip of clear land, tumbling between the huge trunks on either side. Had she landed 10 yards to either the left or the right... Scully shuddered as she saw how narrowly she had escaped serious injury, or even death. Mulder... Gingerly testing each muscle and bone as she rose, she climbed to her feet. She made her way over to a tree, leaning against it as she fumbled to get her helmet off. Without the continuous pounding of the hail, she figured she needed to use her ears more than she needed to protect her skull. "Mulder!" she yelled. Her voice was absorbed almost immediately by the surrounding snow and trees--sound would not travel very far in the dense forest, she realized grimly. Find shelter and stay put. Khi's instructions were ringing in her ears as she surveyed the forest encircling her. Dark and forbidding, it seemed to be alive, watching her with sinister intent. At the moment, though, she wasn't concerned about her ears. She wanted to get rid of the pain in her heart--the fear of losing Mulder was knifing through her chest with enough force to take her breath away. It didn't take her long to make up her mind what to do. Wrapping her parachute into a ball and tucking it under her arm, Scully set off into the forest, calling out the name of the only man she'd ever trusted. * * * * * * It didn't take Scully very long to realize why Khi had told them to stay put wherever they landed--making headway against the sometimes 2- or 3-foot drifts was laborious, exhausting work. After only half an hour, Scully could feel her body rebelling against moving another inch. From her experience as a doctor, she knew exhaustion was usually one of the biggest factors leading to hypothermia. So considering she'd only made a few hundred yards' progress, she decided to follow the advice she probably should have followed from the start. Finding a spot relatively free of snow beneath a broad-branched white pine, Scully spread the nylon chute out a bit and sat down to wait. And wait... And wait... And wait... It was excruciating for her, alternately sitting and walking around, trying to keep as warm as possible. She had nothing to do but fill her mind with every horrible scenario imaginable. Mulder, down in the snow... Mulder, unconscious and bleeding... Mulder, dying... Stop it, Dana, she lectured herself firmly. Your fear of what might be happening will prevent you from seeing what *is* happening. Right now, you don't have enough information to form any opinions. You're a scientist--act like one. Find the facts and then act on those facts. Her speech didn't really make her feel any better, but it did serve to strengthen her resolve to stay focused. Scully began to formulate a strategy for both saving her strength and searching for Mulder. She knew she'd have to balance movement with rest periods, using the activity to stay warm without exhausting her body past its limits. Keep moving for 15 minutes, rest for 10, eat snow to keep herself hydrated--she knew it wasn't the best plan in the world, but she was consumed with the need to *do* something. She had just rolled her parachute and emerged from underneath the tree when she heard something. She held herself perfectly still, straining to listen to the surrounding forest. "Scul-eeee!" The voice was faint, but it was definitely there. Filling her lungs to the limits of their capacity, Scully bellowed an "Over here!" so loud that her throat hurt. "Stay put!" the call came, the voice clear enough this time to answer her question of who had found her. It wasn't the answer she wanted, but at least it proved someone besides herself had survived the crash. After a few minutes, she could make out movement up on the hillside. Khi was descending from slightly higher than Scully's position, using the hill itself to speed her descent. She would slide on her back as much as possible, not even trying to actually walk through the snow unless absolutely necessary. Within five minutes, Khi was at Scully's side, breathing heavily from her exertions. She was bleeding from a cut on her forehead, but she waved off Scully's attempted inspection of her. "It's nothing, and we don't have the time to spare," she said, glancing around her as she spoke. "We gotta find Mulder and we gotta find him right now." "Why?" Scully asked. It wasn't that she didn't want to find Mulder as quickly as Khi did, but it looked to her as though the worst of the weather was over. "Because this is just the calm before the storm, the eye of the hurricane," Khi said grimly. "Those clouds, low and black like that? They tell me that they're just beginning to dole out trouble. This snow is already falling much more heavily than it was 15 minutes ago." She gestured up at the little bit of sky that showed through the treetops, the sky getting darker by the minute. "We've got a full-strength Colorado storm descending on us, Scully," she said, looking Scully straight in the eyes as her hand dropped back to her side. She paused for a minute, taking a deep breath before continuing--it was as if she needed to gather strength to even say her next words. "And if we don't find Mulder now, they'll be digging his body out come springtime." During the time Scully had been around Khi in the last few days, even during the frantic situation aboard the plane, Khi had always remained calm and sure. Her voice had always been steady and unwavering, a fixed point in the surrounding chaos. But not this time. This time, her voice shook slightly, a noticeable break in the timbre as she spoke those words. Words that chilled Scully's heart like death itself. * * * * * * Scully clamped down on the terror rising inside her with iron control. Shoving all of her fear into a tiny chamber within herself, she bolted the door tightly shut. Mulder needed her strong and alert, now more than he ever had--she couldn't afford to give in to the pain threatening to overwhelm her. "All right. What do we do?" she asked, cracking her shoulder blades a couple of times and taking several deep breaths. "Can you track him? How do we find him?" Khi held up the small scanning device, gripping it in her right hand as she slowly turned around. "This tracks the beacon in your jump suits," Khi explained, working a couple of controls on the device with her left hand as she pivoted. "Unfortunately, it's range is severely limited--I found your location more by good fortune than by use of this equipment." "So how do we find Mulder?" Scully said. "Is he showing up at all on that thing?" When Khi met her eyes as she returned to her starting position, Scully knew she didn't want to hear the answer. "No," Khi said simply. Scully closed her eyes briefly, allowing herself just a moment of sheer panic before forcing control again. When she reopened them, she saw Khi searching the surrounding forest with meticulous care. Each section of the landscape was explored, each detail found and catalogued. To Scully, the forest looked equally bleak in every direction--she could only hope that Khi was seeing something more. "I'm going to make the assumption that Mulder is ahead of us," Khi said finally, motioning in the general direction Scully had been moving. "I covered perhaps a mile and a half of terrain coming from the other way, and never picked up a signal for him. So time spent backtracking would be wasted--we need to maximize our search area, which means going northeast." Khi took a minute to asses Scully's condition, wanting to know of any broken or bruised bones or strained muscles. Scully explained that she had actually missed the trees when she landed, avoiding any serious harm. She could breathe easily and had no symptoms of concussion. Returning the question, Scully learned that Khi slammed into a tree trunk right after landing, dislocating her shoulder upon impact. But she had already reset the joint, a fact that surprised Scully slightly. Having a dislocated shoulder reset was a lesson in extreme pain--performing that reset without painkillers, by yourself, in the middle of a snowstorm... Despite herself, Scully felt her respect for Khi bump up a notch. With the exception of the gash on her forehead, she had sustained no other injuries. Reaching out to take Scully's chute, Khi unrolled it onto the snow, folding it into a large square perhaps eight feet by eight feet. She took both helmets and placed them towards one edge of the square. Then, performing a series of quick twists and folds, she fashioned a 'pack' out of the material, securing the helmets within the folds of material. Scully was then able to step back into the harness and fasten it and the pack to her suit. The pack rested on her shoulders and left both arms with a free range of motion. Though not heavy, the pack was somewhat bulky--it took her a few minutes to find the right balance point for her movements. Khi spoke as Scully tested the weight of the pack. "I'll lead. Follow at a distance of about 10 yards. Do *not* lose visual contact with me. If at any point you find yourself dropping back, or if you need to rest, yell out," Khi stressed. "My attention will be focused on the readout screen. If you were to fall behind, it might be several minutes before I would even notice." "Understood," Scully said. "I packed the helmets for the same reason you probably took yours off to start with--we need to listen for Mulder much more than we need to keep our heads warm," Khi said. "However, it does leave us unprotected in the event of more hail. So be ready to either dive for shelter or to have me rip open that pack should we need them." Scully nodded in silent agreement as Khi turned to lead off through the snow. Scully tried to watch and mirror Khi's movements, since she seemed to have a much easier time moving through the drifts. After only a few strides, though, Khi paused. Turning, she looked at Scully with a gaze so intense she felt as though she would go up in flames. Khi looked right past all of Scully's defenses, past the bolted-shut door in her soul, and somehow saw all the fear and pain she was harboring deep inside. "We'll find him, Scully," Khi said simply. "We will." This time, her voice shook not with fear, but with the strength. * * * * * * Making headway was grueling work. The snow was neither light enough for them to pass through easily nor heavy enough for them to walk on top. It also hid the underbrush, making it hard find a clear path to move forward in many places. The wind, though somewhat lessened by the dense forest, still whipped with enough force to sting their faces and swirl their breath away. But it was the utter silence that unnerved Scully the most. A storm was raging around her, but it made barely a sound--a muzzle had been dropped into place over the forest, cinched tight by a blanket of snow. On and on they pushed, Scully listening for any possible sign of Mulder as Khi kept watch over the scanner's readout. As they walked, Scully was amazed at Khi's physical prowess--she had not slowed one bit since setting out over an hour ago. Scully was still moving fairly well too, but she knew it was only because Khi was out there in front, blazing the trail in which Scully followed. I should be used to it by now, she thought. How many times has it been Mulder out there in front, leading me down a dizzying path in pursuit of a goal I could only hope to understand? A goal that molds him, defines him, consumes him? One to which he's prepared to sacrifice his very life? A sacrifice she hoped hadn't already taken place. Khi drew to a stop up ahead, allowing Scully to catch up to her. Scully saw the cut on Khi's forehead had stopped bleeding, having left a trail of red down the side of her face. "We have to make a decision," Khi said. "We've got perhaps 20 minutes of good daylight left. After that, it won't be long until it is completely dark. Forty-five minutes, tops." Khi paused, sweeping an arm up towards the sky as she continued. "The temperature is dropping rapidly and the wind is picking up. An increasing wind at the end of the day is a bad sign," she said quietly. "We've got to get a shelter built before it's too dark to see what we're doing. Trapped in the open, we probably won't survive the night." "Which means... Mulder won't survive the night if we don't find him," Scully said, struggling to get the words out of her throat. Khi just nodded in agreement. Through a small shrug of her good shoulder, she indicated it was Scully's decision now. Scully looked around her, searching the forest for the solution, for the answer. But the dark evergreens gave no response, provided no guidance. They simply watched her. Waiting. Waiting for her to make the decision of who would live and who would die this night. Closing her eyes, Scully saw Mulder in her mind. A thousand different settings, a thousand different outcomes. Reaching up to shake her hand that first day... Pouring his heart out by her bedside as she lay dying... Pointing a gun at her in a bright hospital room... Coming back from the dead to hug her in a crowded courtroom... Standing amidst the blackened ruins of his life... Telling her he loved her... Scully realized there was no decision to make. "If we've got 20 minutes of daylight, we search 20 more minutes," Scully said simply. Khi said nothing, giving only a swift nod before turning and leading the way again. Shrouded beneath the falling snow, the forest watched them, a silent witness to their journey towards what they both knew would be their own deaths. At precisely 19 minutes after they resumed searching, Khi stopped suddenly. Scully, wrapped up in her own thoughts, didn't notice until she nearly knocked Khi down. She asked what was wrong, but got no response. Scully stepped around Khi's right side, following her gaze down towards her hands. There, at the very edge of the readout screen, a small green light was blinking. * * * * * * Within 25 minutes, Scully and Khi were closing in on the beacon's location. The hope of finding Mulder alive, however slim that hope might be, had revitalized them. When she had first looked at the readout screen, Scully had physically felt the rush of adrenaline enter her bloodstream--she could still feel it pumping through her as they drew closer. Time was their enemy, though. Darkness was falling as heavily as the snow now, continually reducing their field of vision. Although she didn't mention it to Scully, Khi knew that in this light they could pass within 70 feet of Mulder and not see him. They had begun to take turns yelling out for Mulder, hoping he would be able to hear them and indicate his position. Khi finally drew to a stop. As Scully approached her, she held up the scanner to Scully could see the readout screen. The blinking light was squarely in the center of the display's gridlines. "According to this, we should be standing right on top of him," she said, beginning to look around for any sign of Mulder. Khi thought for a moment, options and strategies turning in her mind. "Let's do a 1/2, 3/4 circle search for him." At Scully's blank stare, Khi began drawing a picture in the snow as she talked. "Think of it as using circles to search a square grid. We start 15 yards from each other. You do a half-circle around my stationary position, so that you end up on the other side of me. I then do a 3/4-circle around you, so that I end up 'north' of you, again at 15 yards. You do another half-circle, I again wrap around you in a 3/4-circle. After three iterations, we 'skip out' a step, widening the grid like a spiral each time." Scully saw the efficiency of the search pattern immediately--each person would never be more than 15 yards from the other, yet they would cover a large amount of ground quickly. She nodded her understanding to Khi. "OK, then, let's start. Remember, you aren't just looking for a human form--the chute itself will be the biggest locator," Khi stressed. "You are looking for *anything* that is anomalous or out of place. Feel with your feet as well. Your feet might catch a buried chute or..." The word 'body' hung in the air unspoken. They began the search pattern, looping around each other over and over as they continued to yell out. Khi was still using the scanner, knowing its limited capabilities may have gotten confused by the storm--she had no way of verifying if it was even showing the correct location. But the scanner kept displaying the beacon in the same spot, the location from which they had originally started. As they finished the fourth complete spiral, Khi motioned for Scully to join her. "The beacon remains steady where we first started, but we saw nothing there," she explained, her voice tight. "We have to consider the possibility that Mulder is buried beneath the snow entirely, especially if... if his chute didn't open." "No, he's here, he's alive" Scully said, somehow managing to sound rational. "I know he's here, we just have to find him." "Scully, we're at near total darkness. I can barely see you and you're standing right next to me," Khi said. "We need to take shelter or we're going to die out here." "No, I won't leave him, Khi" Scully said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I can't." She turned and headed back to their original location, not even bothering to see if Khi was following her. As she reached the starting point, Scully knew that the already slim chance of finding Mulder had been reduced to nothingness. She knew that she should follow Khi's advice and ensure her own survival--Mulder had most likely met his death and would not benefit from her actions. But she also knew she would never forgive herself if she quit. Her own death would start at the moment she gave up, as part of her very soul fell away. Scully closed her eyes, tipping her face up towards the sky in silent prayer. She remembered Mobaje's words earlier, that the sky and the earth together were the givers of life and the keepers of death. Though she had been raised on traditional Christian beliefs, she had felt a strong attraction to the worldview that Mobaje had described, finding both peaceful and full of power. Show me the way M'alvahe, she prayed. Guide my path and give me the strength to follow you on the course you have chosen for Mulder. Whatever Scully had been seeking, whatever ray of light or hope she had hoped to find, remained hidden from her. She felt nothing but an ever-increasing sense of dread and fear as it settled around her heart. She opened her eyes, barely registering the snow that swept against them. "Khi!" The word tore from Scully's throat like a living thing, escaping with force enough to cause physical pain. Khi was at her side within seconds, following her gaze upwards. Forty feet above them, barely visible against the sky's blackness, Mulder's unmoving form was hanging from his chute harness. * * * * * * Khi was at Mulder's side in less than fifteen seconds. Hand over hand, feet searching for traction on the snow-covered branches, she scaled the tree as easily as a primate. She reached the branch even with Mulder's position, easing herself towards him. She pulled a glove off and felt for a pulse at the side of his neck. "He's alive!" Khi yelled, hoping Scully could hear her above the wind. The wordless cry of joy that reached her ears seconds later told her the message had been received. Khi began unbuckling the carabiners and untwisting the harness, trying to free Mulder enough so that she could ease him out. But the awkward angle at which he was hanging made it difficult-- she couldn't keep hold of him and reach everything simultaneously. She reversed direction and descended from the tree, jumping the last 10 feet to land next to Scully. "Where is he?!" Scully yelled above the wind. "I can't get him free," Khi yelled back. "I can't hold him safely while unhooking everything. I need to find something to cut him out of there." Khi delved into the pack that still hung at her waist, searching for anything that might work to sever the harness straps. "Wai-wai-wai-wai-wait," Scully mumbled rapid-fire, slapping a hand down onto her lower leg. She immediately began stripping down, paying no attention to the cold or the snow. Or to Khi , who was staring at her as though Scully had gone mad. As she peeled her right jean leg down, she unstrapped the knife from her leg and held it out to Khi. "Here, use this," she said as she handed it over. Khi unsheathed the blade, the knife heavy in her hands. "You can have a spot in my lifeboat anytime, Scully," Khi said, tossing her a look of respect. "Go get Mulder," Scully said, acknowledging Khi's comment with a brief nod. "I'm going to try to cut him free and get him across my shoulders in a fireman's carry," Khi explained. "I can make a controlled descent that way. But it might be difficult, considering the angle he's at up there. Worst case scenario, I slash his harness and he comes out of the tree freefall. Be ready." Scully nodded, watching as Khi scrambled up the tree again and was soon lost to the blackness. The seconds passed slowly, each more agonizing than the last. She was completely cut off from them, unable to see or hear anything. "C'mon, c'mon," she whispered aloud. "Where the hell are you?" Finally, she could discern movement above her. At first, it appeared as if Mulder were floating downwards, feet first, of his own accord. But Scully soon saw that Khi was holding him by the remains of his harness at the back of his neck. Somehow, she was controlling her descent with her right arm while taking Mulder's full weight on the left. A left arm that had been dislocated, Scully remembered. She could not even imagine the extreme pain Khi must have been experiencing. Slowly, branch by branch, they made the descent. As Khi put her weight on the next branch, though, she felt it start to give way from the main trunk. Strong enough to have held just her previously, the weight of her and Mulder together was too much for it. The branch fell away from beneath Khi's feet even as she tried desperately to maintain her hold on the branch above her. Scully hoped, for one brief second, that Khi would be able to hang on, to somehow hold them both and get down safely. But the hope was short-lived. Watching in horror from below, Scully saw Khi and Mulder plummet from the tree. Mulder hit the ground first, Khi dropping directly on top of him-- she had been straight above him during the descent, and simply did not have enough time to try to change her position. She rolled off immediately, lifting her body up and falling away to the side. Scully was at Mulder's side instantly, checking his pulse again and beginning to do a quick check for injury. As Khi stood, trying to catch her breath, she saw Scully jerk her hand back as she ran a hand down his right leg. The twisted, splintered end of the broken branch had been driven clear through Mulder's upper thigh. *** 30 ********* Section End *********** 30 *** TITLE: Falling Snow, Section 10/19 AUTHOR: Snark * * * * * * Scully was not a squeamish woman. She had seen death in all its forms, had seen more genetic abnormalities and human mutants in five years than most people would in five lifetimes. She prided herself on her ability to look at her work clinically, to distance herself from the horrors she saw. But not this time. As she looked down at Mulder's leg, she felt his pain course through her as if it were her very own. A dizzying wave of agony washed up over her, enveloping her, drowning her. She had to fight with every ounce of her strength to keep control, to resist being overcome. Concentrate, Dana, she said to herself. You didn't come all this way to pass out now. Mulder needs you, he needs both your strength and your help to get through this. Concentrate. Scully knew she had to get the branch out of Mulder's leg immediately--God only knew how much damage had been caused as the splintered wood tore through his musculature. She reached out to feel around the wound, to try and asses how to best remove the branch. But Khi's hand stopped her. "Shelter first, Scully," Khi yelled, her hand encircling Scully's forearm and holding it away from Mulder's body. "But he needs medical attention *now*," Scully insisted, trying to break free of Khi's grasp. She was annoyed when she realized she couldn't--Khi held her as easily as if she had been a child. "No, he needs to get out of this wind and he needs heat. And we're only going to give him that if we find shelter and build a fire," Khi yelled. Scully still struggled, not listening as Khi tried to calm her down. She wanted only to reach Mulder, to help him, to save him. "Scully!" The word rocked Scully like a physical blow. She felt the force of it cut through her as if Khi had struck her across the face. Her struggling ceased as Khi hauled her to her feet. "Listen to me, Scully. Out there, in that world, in *your* world, you don't have to listen to me," Khi yelled. "You don't have to like me, you don't have to trust me, you don't have to do a damn thing I say. But here... in *this* world..." Khi paused, releasing Scully's left arm to gesture around them at the forest, the wind, the snow. "This is *my* world. Our course so far has been determined by you only because I wanted to find Mulder as much as you. But now we hold his life in our hands," she said. "And if you want to save that life, you are going to have to listen to me... you are going to have to trust me." Scully could make no response. She simply shook her head as she kept her eyes on Mulder. When it came to trust, there was only one person she would ever say those words to. "I know you trust only him," Khi said more gently, even though she was still yelling to be heard. More seriously than she would have ever admitted, Scully wondered if Khi were partially telepathic. "I know that. And I know that now, he trusts only you. But when we knew each other, Mulder trusted only me. What he and I used to be are what the two of you have now become. That's going to have to be enough, Scully. You're going to have to trust me through him." Still holding Scully's arms, Khi waited. Despair, agony, distrust-- all were clearly visible on Scully's face. Khi could only hope that she would see what was right in front of her. That only Khi could see them through this now. All of them. "Yes." A single word, spoken a thousand times by people every day. But Khi knew how hard it had been for Scully to say it. Khi released Scully, swiftly nodding her head to acknowledge the effort and to assure her that she meant no harm. Khi wasted no further time. "We passed a suitable place about ten minutes back," she yelled, indicating the way they had come. As Scully turned to look, she was shocked to see that their path had already been almost completely filled with blowing snow. "Get out of your harness, unroll the chute and remove the helmets," Khi fell into command mode quickly. "Put one on, put the other on Mulder. Refold the chute to a 12 by 3 rectangle. Find at least three tie straps in here." She unclipped the pack at her waist and handed it to Scully. Moving to Mulder's side, Khi assessed both the broken branch and the injury to his leg. She offered up silent thanks when she saw that the branch was only a little over an inch in diameter. The wood had torn completely through the flesh on his inner thigh, entering from the back side and protruding above the skin a couple of inches. Rolling Mulder onto his side, she gripped the branch with both hands, as close against the back of Mulder's leg as she could. Khi began to apply pressure, wanting to break the branch off within a couple inches of the thigh. Expecting more resistance, she was thrown slightly off balance when the wood snapped quite easily. Khi felt the weight of the broken branch, realizing the wood was dry and brittle. It was no wonder it had cracked beneath their weight. Khi was busy breaking the remainder of the branch into foot-long pieces when Scully finished folding the chute. "What now?" Scully asked, easing a helmet onto Mulder after checking for obvious neck injury. "The wood in Mulder's leg is acting as a plug against bleeding, and we're going to leave it that way until we can remove it safely," Khi said, directing Scully to drag the chute over to Mulder's side. "The chute will serve as a travois--we put Mulder on it, strap him in and drag him over the snow." Khi did what she was explaining, rolling Mulder up onto his side and motioning for Scully to position the chute next to him. When it was in place, the extra length all to one end, Khi gently slid Mulder onto it and let him roll onto his back. Knowing they would need the dry wood soon, she also packed the short pieces of the branch around his sides. They then slid the tie-straps underneath him and cinched him in tightly, making sure his arms were crossed over his chest. Khi stood up, tying the ends of the chute together and slipping the resulting loop over her head. She threaded her arms through the loop as well, positioning the fabric as high on her upper chest as possible. She would be able to drag Mulder straight behind her with minimal effort, her hands and arms left free for balance. "I'll take the lead, you follow as closely as possible behind Mulder," Khi yelled. "Do *not* get distracted. In this darkness, it would take only a couple of seconds to lose sight of the chute and get separated. Got it?" "Got it," Scully yelled back, grabbing up Khi's pack and zipping it shut. As Khi stepped forward to lead off, Scully saw that the travois was pulled along like a child's toboggan, sliding easily across the snow. As Scully fell into position behind Mulder, she followed Khi's instructions. She focused on the red and white stripes of the chute, training her body on keeping pace. To keep her mind clear, she fell into a simple mental cadence as she moved, repeating the same phrase over and over, a mantra against the storm. M'alvahe find us, M'alvahe find us, M'alvahe find us... She would have been surprised to know someone else was already trying to do just that. * * * * * * When Khi drew to a stop some fifteen minutes later, Scully had to catch herself before walking right up Mulder's body. Having concentrated solely on the chute as it slid along in front of her, Scully found it something of a shock when the travois suddenly halted. By the time Scully had moved past Mulder, Khi was already out of the travois. She untied the loop and tucked the extra length over Mulder, shielding him slightly from the snow and wind. Standing, she took the pack from Scully and removed the scanning device, slipping it inside her suit. She then took the knife out, zipping the pack as she handed it back to Scully. "Stay with him. Do not move from this spot," Khi stressed. She then turned and headed off to their right, disappearing quickly in the swirling snow. It did not occur to Scully to ask what she was doing or where she was going--when Scully had decided to trust Khi, she had done so as wholeheartedly as she did everything else in her life. Scully took a couple of minutes to carve out a deep depression in the pathway, scooping the snow behind her and off to the side. Sitting down inside the hole and leaning forward, she hooked her hands under Mulder's shoulders and pulled him as far onto her lap as she could. She folded the chute around him again, knowing that both the chute and the 'walls' of the pathway were providing at least some protection from the wind. She crooked her arms around Mulder's body and held him close, telling herself it was to try and help him conserve body heat. How did I get here, she wondered as she waited for Khi to return. Yesterday at this time, I was having a nice, relaxing evening. Now I'm huddled in the snow, holding my near-dead partner in my arms and doubting if we'll ever get out of this. What the hell happened? Scully had never been one to wonder about the 'why' of the world. As a doctor, she had always looked at life through the lens of science. She had rested firm in the belief that events happened for quantifiable reasons, even if the human mind could not yet comprehend those reasons. Things simply were they way they were, she had always thought. But what if I've been wrong, she asked herself. What if each decision, each action, each thought changes the outcome of the future? She knew of infinite-universe theories which stated that a universe existed for each possible outcome of every decision made. That, in this universe, when she decided to turn left at some intersection, another universe popped into existence in which she had decided to turn right. If I hadn't decided to come on this trip, she wondered, would Mulder be in his hotel room safe and sound right now? Would he be flipping through the channels and eating the remains of a delivered pizza, just like always? Did my decision to try to *protect* him from harm become the very action that *caused* him harm? She decided she didn't want to know the answer. * * * * * * Even though she was keeping a close eye out for Khi's return, Scully was still a bit startled when Khi reappeared just in front of her. The driving snow had provided a cloak of whiteness over Scully's vision, causing Khi to seemingly coalesce out of nothingness. "Get up and follow me," Khi yelled, wasting no time on pleasantries. She handed Scully the knife and the scanner, indicating to return both to the pack. As Scully did so, Khi recreated the travois loop and stepped into it. Checking to make sure Mulder was still securely tied in place, Khi turned and began retracing her path. Scully simply carried the pack this time as she fell into the rear position. After just a couple of minutes, Khi made a sharp turn to her left. Scully soon realized they were heading into thick undergrowth, young trees crowded together closely under the limbs of the older forest. Making progress became increasingly difficult as the brush became thicker, the snow deeper. Scully found that she was having to pay attention not only to the travois, but to branches snapping around her as Khi passed through. Scully took a small token of pleasure in the fact that even Khi was being slowed this time--Scully was not falling behind, even though she knew they were going more slowly than before. Suddenly, the travois paused ahead of Scully. She couldn't really see Khi ahead of her, but the slight shaking of the travois told Scully that she was still there. After a few moments, the travois moved forward again, more slowly this time. Moving up alongside Mulder, Scully soon saw that Khi had turned backwards and dropped to the ground, pulling Mulder behind her as she scooted backwards. She was pulling Mulder through the opening of a small hut-like shelter, formed right out of the young trees themselves. Scully wasted no time on sight- seeing, though, crawling in right behind them as soon as she could. Once inside, a strange sensation fell over her, one that she couldn't place right away. She finally realized she was no longer being buffeted by the wind. After being out in the howling storm for so long, the interior of the shelter seemed eerily still. Glancing around, Scully could see that Khi had created the hut out of the living forest itself. After clearing the 10x10 area of any brush and saplings, Khi had then bowed the young trees along the edges, tying them overhead to form the ribs of a dome. Pine boughs were woven amongst the small trunks to form the curving walls of the shelter. "Don't get comfortable," Khi warned, struggling a bit to get out of the travois in the short confines of the shelter. Although wide across its base, the shelter was no more than five feet high at its center. "I wanted to get Mulder out of the wind as soon as possible. But we now need to pack the exterior, cut more pine boughs for insulation beneath us, and try to find firewood." Scully noticed they were able to converse in something less than a full yell inside the shelter, a welcome change from fighting the howling wind outside. Every time she had opened her mouth outside to speak, she had had the uncanny feeling that an icy arm of the storm itself was reaching down her throat to take steal her breath. "Let me check him first," Scully said, though her words weren't really a request for permission. Pulling off a glove, she eased her fingers up underneath the helmet to feel for a pulse. As cold as she knew her hands were, she was frightened to realize that Mulder was even colder. The seconds ticked by as she frantically pressed his throat, as she searched for the beating of his heart. As her own heart stood still. Finally, she found it. Weak and thready, barely whispering against her fingertips, but there. She closed her eyes briefly, taking a couple deep breaths to calm her shaking body. Moving down his body, she quickly inspected the leg wound, relieved to find no signs of additional bleeding. A feel of his ribcage turned up no immediate signs of broken bones, but she could not be sure. She'd have to perform a more thorough examination as soon as possible to be certain of his condition. "Leave him, Scully," Khi called out, somehow managing to soften the utter command in her voice with a layer of gentleness. "We've got work to do. Bring the knife and follow me." After receiving an acknowledging word from Scully, Khi dropped to her knees and crawled outside. Scully draped the chute over Mulder again, taking care not to jostle him. Without conscious thought, her hand lingered on his chest for just a moment, caressing him gently even though he could not feel it. "You'll be OK, Mulder, you just have to hang on for a little while longer," she whispered as she stood. "You have to hang on." You just have to. * * * * * * Crawling outside, Scully was met by the blast of the raging storm. After the relative calm of the shelter's interior, Scully was slightly disoriented. She stood slowly, trying to get her bearings in the surrounding darkness. "Give me the knife, I'll go cut boughs," Khi yelled, leaning in close to Scully. Her voice and light touch to Scully's arm was a welcomed point of reference. "Pack snow on every exterior surface of the shelter, as thickly as you can. Throw it up top, let it fall down the sides. You're done when there's no more green, got it?" "Understood," Scully yelled, passing the knife to Khi as she headed into the blackness of the forest. Scully turned to the shelter and started pushing snow against the sides as quickly as she could. It was too cold for the snow to really pack, she knew, but she found she could work the snow in amongst the branches. Then, with repeated shoveling motions, she could cover the boughs completely. She moved around the shelter clockwise, working from the ground up as she looped around the shelter. Each successive ring of snow rested on the level beneath it. She was about halfway up the shelter when Khi returned the first time, unloading a pile of broad pine boughs next to the entryway before disappearing again. Scully had no idea how Khi was able to keep her bearings, but did not want to question the advantage it provided. Scully knew that left to her own sense of direction, she would have been lost within seconds. The activity warmed her slightly--she could feel a tiny measure of heat working its way through her body. She was careful not to over-exert herself though, working at a slow enough pace that she could still breathe comfortably through her nose. Khi returned the second time just as Scully was beginning to scoop and throw snow onto the top of the shelter. Khi dropped the boughs next to the first pile, then stepped around the shelter to find Scully. "I'm going for firewood now," she yelled. "If you get done before I get back, start bringing the boughs inside. Line the floor, leaving a bare area in the middle." Khi headed back into the night again as Scully continued throwing snow onto the shelter. It was rough going, in a way, since she had no bucket or shovel to assist her. The storm swirled away a large portion of her efforts before they ever reached the roof of the shelter. She kept at it, though, knowing the snow would provide the insulation they needed to survive. Eventually, Scully had covered all but the very center of the roof--she couldn't find a way to get the snow up that far before it blew away. Assuming Khi would be able to solve that problem, Scully turned her attention to bringing the pine boughs inside. Khi had originally positioned Mulder in the center of the shelter, so Scully was able to line the floor without moving him. Khi had cut enough for nearly three full layers of boughs around the interior. As she began overlapping them on the second layer, Scully was surprised to realize how soft the boughs were beneath her. She would not have imagined that pine needles could be anything other than prickly, but these were very long and very soft, almost plush. Scully had just begun the third layer when Khi returned. She had cut another bough to use as a sled, and Scully was heartened to see a sizeable stack of dead twigs and branches piled on it. Khi pulled the whole stack right inside the shelter, unloading it swiftly and restacking the wood along the wall. She then used the sled bough itself to seal up the small entrance to the shelter, weaving it into the edges of the doorway. She wastes nothing, Scully realized as she watched Khi work. Words, motion, materials--all were used precisely and without excess, achieving their goal efficiently. Again, Scully was reminded of a military bearing, the attitude that if you didn't need it, you left it behind. "There, that's that," Khi said as she turned from the wall. At least, that's what Scully assumed she had done. Whatever meager light had been provided through the doorway was now gone--sealing it had plunged the interior of the shelter into a black hole. "Now what?" Scully asked. "Where's the pack?" Khi asked in reply. "It's right... I think it's... uh...," Scully mumbled as she groped behind her in the darkness. She knew that she had set the pack along the wall, but was having trouble finding it. "Ah, here you go." She held the pack out towards Khi's general direction and felt it lifted from her hand as she heard Khi move forward. She heard first the zipper, then the sounds of Khi rustling through the contents of the pack. "So how are you going to start a fi-" The telltale sound of a striking match cut off Scully's words. She just stared at the tiny flame for a moment, watching as it flickered slightly. "Khi, you can have a spot in my lifeboat anytime," Scully said slowly, tossing Khi's previous comment back at her. The howling of the storm proved no match for the relieved laughter that erupted from inside the tiny snow-covered hut. *** 30 ********* Section End *********** 30 *** TITLE: Falling Snow, Section 11/19 AUTHOR: Snark ------------ Chapter 6 ------------ As the tiny match burned out, Khi assured Scully she had an entire box. "But we need to move Mulder first, so I can build the fire near the center," she explained. Scully could hear her movements as Khi put the pack down and tried to stand up. "I couldn't get snow on the very top of the shelter, does that matter?" Scully asked. "Actually, no, that's fine," Khi replied. "The smoke will need to escape out the top anyway. Move to Mulder's feet, we're going to lift him up onto the boughs where you are now." Scully felt her way across the floor, swearing at herself under her breath as she accidentally bumped Mulder's injured leg. She half- stood over him, reaching down to wrap her hands under his ankles. "Set?" Khi asked. "On three. One... two... three." They lifted together, picking Mulder up just enough to move him across and up onto the bed of boughs. Setting his shoulders down gently, Khi moved across to the dead wood she had brought inside. Scully heard the snapping as Khi broke the larger branches into kindling sticks. "Damn," Khi muttered, pausing for a moment. "I need to go back outside for a minute, before I start the fire." "Why? What do you need?" Scully asked, trying to imagine what Khi was after. "Bark." With that, Khi quickly removed the pine bough door and went through it. Once outside, Scully heard her prop the bough back up against the doorway, and then Khi was gone. What the hell, Scully wondered. Bark? What did they possibly need bark for, with the twigs and branches Khi had already gathered? Assuming there was little sense in trying to figure it out, Scully resigned herself to waiting for Khi's return. She checked Mulder again, a quick rush of joy coursing through her as she felt his pulse beneath her fingers. "We'll get you warm in no time, Mulder," she whispered, running her hand lightly down his body. She spoke to him simply, as she would to reassure a child--she didn't allow herself to acknowledge she was trying to reassure herself. "Khi's got matches, we've got some wood for the fire and this nice little shelter, soon it'll be toasty and warm." She was still murmuring quietly, gently stroking his arms and chest, when she heard Khi return. Even if she'd been deaf, the quick swirl of wind that swept through the shelter as the doorway opened would have announced Khi's return just as conclusively. "OK, we're set now," Khi said as she brushed herself off slightly. Scully listened as Khi first dug out a depression in snow, then piled a small amount of twigs at the bottom. A pause of a few moments, then the rasp of a match against the box. The tiny flame was born again out of nothingness. Khi slowly coaxed the fire to life, slowly adding branches only after the previous ones had completely caught. It seemed like an eternity, but in actuality, it was only a few minutes before a small fire was burning nicely. The flames danced brightly, throwing shadows onto the walls. Scully could see that Khi was now working with one of the birch bark strips she had harvested outside. "What-... what are you doing?" Scully asked, unable to decipher Khi's motions. "Making a bowl to heat snow in," Khi said, following her comment with a short laugh as she caught sight of Scully's expression. "No, I'm not crazy. The bark won't burn, because the heat is transferred to the snow and water inside. It's a trick Mobaje taught me a long time ago." Sure enough, Khi was soon melting snow in the large bowl, setting it right on top of the small fire. The flames lapped up around the edges of the bowl, but the bark did not burn. Khi kept adding snow as it melted, stopping only when the water threatened to spill over the sides. "OK, that's going to take about five minutes or so to get heated to a good temperature," Khi said, adding a couple more small sticks to the fire. She stood as best she could, working her fingers through the roof and opening up a smoke hole between the boughs. "Strip Mulder down as needed, check him for wounds and get that branch out of his leg. We'll use the water to bathe the wound." "We're going to need bandages for him--that wound will most likely bleed heavily when the branch is removed," Scully said as she knelt down beside Mulder, easing his head out of the helmet. She gently brushed a lock of hair off his forehead, smiling slightly as it immediately fell back to its original location. Starting with his head, Scully slowly and methodically felt her way over every inch of Mulder's body. She was thankful his helmet had stayed on--without it, she had no doubt that his skull would have been cracked open from the pounding hail. His arms and chest were beginning to bruise, as she knew her own were, but the joints moved freely with no signs of broken bones. The ribcage seemed strong, without evidence of cracked ribs or internal bleeding. Scully paused for a moment as she reached Mulder's lower body. Until now, she had been able to feel his ribcage and chest by reaching through the zip-front of the suit and working her hands up underneath his sweaters. But that wouldn't work for the lower part of him--the suit fit too tightly across the waist. She also knew the right legs of Mulder's suit and jeans would have to be cut away at least partially anyway to allow access to the wound. She didn't want to slice away any more than was necessary, however--he would need as much insulation from the cold as possible, even with the fire. Scully acquired the knife from Khi, receiving a cautionary word that the blade was extremely sharp. Lifting the suit fabric up from Mulder's body, she sliced it from his left hip across to just past the wound, peeling it to the sides to expose the clothing underneath. Her face went ashen at what she saw, at what she felt as she ran her hands across him. Mulder's right leg was drenched in blood, the fabric clinging to his body. Scully saw the jump suit was lined with a very thin plastic layer--it had prevented the blood from soaking through the fabric. Prevented her from learning just how heavily he had initially bled. She set the knife down next to Mulder as she gathered her thoughts a bit, glancing down as she did so. Glancing at her hands soaked in crimson blood. At a black- handled knife lying next to her. At Mulder's motionless form, his blood finally escaping the torn suit to seep into the snow beneath him. She gasped in realization... Her vision had come true. * * * * * * At the sharp intake of air, Khi was at Scully's side immediately. "What is it?" Khi asked, reaching out to place a steadying hand on Scully's shoulder. "It can't be, it was just a dream, it was just a dream," Scully whispered. "What was just a dream," Khi said. "What did you see?" "This. I saw this," Scully motioned at Mulder, at the knife, at her hands. "The same sequence, over and over. Every night for three nights, and several times during the day, I've seen exactly this-- each time the same." "But never past this?" Khi's tone was intense, searching, but far from disbelieving. "You never saw anything beyond this point?" "No, I either woke up or passed out from the pain each time," Scully said--Khi saw the remembrance of that pain was nearly as agonizing as the pain itself must have been. "But it was just a dream. It doesn't mean anything." "But it does," Khi said, pulling Scully around so that they faced each other. "Visions are real, Scully. I believe they exist and I believe you had one. You gained knowledge of the future, you accessed this moment as reality. But that you never saw past it, that you didn't see the outcome of this moment... That means we can still form the future for ourselves." Whether or not Khi's words convinced Scully to believe in visions, the resolve behind them served to lessen her rising panic. She focused on Khi's strength, finding that it provided a path to her own. She breathed deeply, closing her eyes as she searched for herself amidst the chaos within. Finally, Scully was able to stop her body from shaking. She opened her eyes and nodded to Khi that she was all right. Turning back to Mulder, she inspected the wound more closely, her clinical skills surfacing above everything else. "OK, all right. If he bled that heavily when the branch went in, we can only assume he's going to bleed heavily again when it comes out," Scully said. "It must have hit the major femoral artery, or at least nicked it. Just bandaging him isn't going to be enough--he'll just bleed himself to death." "So we either need to find something to sew him up with or we'll need to cauterize the would closed," Khi finished the thought. Scully remembered that Khi had mentioned medical training during the incident at the airport. "Burning it would be tougher, considering the size of the entry and exit wounds." "Agreed. And it would leave one hell of a nasty set of scars," Scully pointed out. "But unless you've got a sewing kit in that pack of yours, it may be our only choice." "Let me see what we've got," Khi said as she crawled back over to the other side. "Cut away his jeans and use some water to wash away some of that blood." Scully split the jump suit further towards Mulder's knee, cutting it so it fell flat against the snow. As carefully as she could, she slipped the edge of the knife under his jeans at the branch exit point. Turning the blade outwards, she executed a quick 'letter opener' maneuver to slit the denim all the way to his hip. She then repeated the motion in the other direction. She was able to tear the Spandex running pants underneath with just her hands--it tore away cleanly, finally leaving Mulder's leg bare. Leaning over to look more closely, Scully was thankful to see a minimal amount of shredding around the branch. It had broken off the tree at a relatively straight angle, allowing the branch to push right through the tissue somewhat cleanly. She lifted his thigh up a bit, gently feeling the underside. "I'm going to have to pull this from the other side," Scully said as Khi came back across the shelter. "The branch is thicker at the back, since it splintered at the tree. If I pull it through from the front, it'll do even more damage." Scully saw that Khi had stripped off one of her thick shirts and was ripping it to form long bandages. Scully took one and folded it a few times. She then soaked it into the bark bowl on the fire, which was just beginning to steam. As Khi turned to add more snow to the bowl, Scully used the cloth to wash away most of the blood on Mulder's leg. "I couldn't find anything even remotely similar to a needle, Scully," Khi said as she tore the remaining portion of the shirt in two. "Not even close. You'll have to burn him." "Damn," Scully breathed. She'd been hoping that Khi would find something, anything, that would work as a suturing implement-- cauterizing such a large set of wounds would be difficult work, with no guarantee of success. "All right, here's what we do," Scully said, thinking through the steps as she spoke. "We roll him up on his left side so you can hold him. That'll give me access to both sides of his leg simultaneously. I pull the branch through, wash the wounds, inspect for embedded wood in the tissue, you then clamp pressure. Hard. We heat the knife blade and cauterize the tissue, then bandage him." Khi nodded her understanding at each step. "Go ahead and cut his jeans away completely around that part of his leg now--you won't want to bandage over any existing material," she said as Scully paused. Scully quickly sliced through the small piece of remaining material around Mulder's leg, easing it out from underneath him. "The whole process is going to have to be as quick as possible," Scully warned. "But I can't heat the blade until I know I won't need it to remove any broken wood in his musculature. So you're going to holding his leg for at least a couple minutes." "Understood," Khi said. They spent the next few moments preparing what they needed-- Khi used a few pieces of wood to create a platform on which to heat the knife while Scully folded the various 'pad' bandages which would be bound against the wounds. She had Khi move the bowl of water so that it rested near Mulder, placing an entire bandage strip in it to soak completely in the steaming liquid. Finally, supplies readied and waiting, they looked across Mulder at each other. "Let's do it," Scully said. "Come around here to his left side, I'll go over to the right. We'll roll him towards you. You're going to need to hold him on his side while keeping yourself away from his legs. When I tell you to clamp down, you need to apply steady and strong pressure over each wound, as tightly as possible." Khi nodded her readiness as she took position next to Mulder. She sat with her back to him, so that his body would lean against her and be prevented from rolling over completely--she demonstrated to Scully she would be able to twist and apply pressure easily when directed. Scully went to the other side and, together, they leveraged Mulder up onto his left side. Scully carefully lifted the right leg as they rolled him, making sure it was supported entirely by the left. "Set?" she asked, knowing once they started, there would be no stopping. "Go," Khi said simply. Grasping the back end of the branch with her right hand, steadying herself against Khi with her left, Scully pulled the branch from Mulder's leg in one swift motion. Blood began to flow, but not nearly as heavily as she had feared. Tossing the branch aside, she retrieved the soaked bandage from the bowl. She held it above the thigh as she twisted slightly, letting the water drain onto his leg. She folded it a few times and brushed it over the wounds. Finally cleared of blood and dirt, she felt the wounds for evidence of wood still embedded, but found nothing. If there was anything still in there, it was too small to worry about now. "Clamp him," Scully said. Khi twisted at the waist, placing one hand over each wound and then pressing them towards the other. Scully immediately grabbed up the knife and swiped a bandage across the blade, clearing it of any dirt. She then set the handle across the small platform, the blade inserted directly into the fire itself. As the minutes crawled by, Scully tried desperately to think of another solution. She had cauterized wounds before, but only with a laser--never with a heated piece of steel. She knew the possibility for infection would be much greater, and that the scarring would be horrible. At least he's unconscious for it, she told herself. He won't feel the pain until it's already over. At five minutes, Khi told her that the blade was probably as hot as it was going to get, cautioning Scully to wrap her hand in a bandage before picking up the knife. "The heat will have transferred throughout the handle as well by now, though not to the same level," Khi said. "But you're not going to be able to hold with a bare hand." Scully took the longest strip of bandage available, wrapping her hand and then her fingers individually. She wanted to have the fullest range of mobility possible, so simply wrapping her fingers to each other would impede her motion. "All right, we'll do the entry wound first, since it's bigger and most likely to bleed," Scully said. At an acknowledging nod from Khi, Scully picked up the knife. She could feel the heat working its way through the bandage, but it didn't become overwhelming. "Release him," Scully directed. As Khi pulled her hand away from the back of Mulder's thigh, Scully immediately pressed the widest part of the blade against the wound. The skin sizzled, the smell of burning hair and flesh filling the air. Slightly nauseated, Scully rocked the blade slightly, making sure the entire surface area of the wound received the burning effects of the blade. After perhaps 15 seconds, she pulled the knife away, shifting to return it to the fire to reheat. She bent close to the wound, trying to see the effects of the cauterization in the flickering light of the fire. The skin was burned and blistered where the knife had pressed, but she was thrilled to see that the bleeding had been virtually stopped--the small amount seeping from the upper part of the wound would be stopped easily by a tight bandage. Giving Khi a quick 'looks good' nod, Scully turned back to the fire and picked up the knife again. She came around to the other side of Mulder this time, not wanting to be leaning over him. Khi shifted slightly, still maintaining pressure on the exit wound as she moved. Scully positioned herself as needed, kneeling close to Mulder's legs. As before, she told Khi to release her hold and immediately pressed the blade against the wound. But this time, another sound soon overpowered the sickening sizzle of flesh against the blade. A wordless scream tore through the night, threatening to fracture the walls of the shelter in its sheer agony. Mulder had woken up. * * * * * * "Shit!" Khi and Scully would not have been able to tell who said the word first, and neither of them cared. As Mulder bucked his body against the pain, he came smashing forward into Khi. Because of his position against her, his efforts to reach his leg succeeded only in wrapping himself around Khi's body. As his knees drew up in an instinctive attempt to reach the source of his pain, Scully lost her grip on the knife. As it slapped up against her chest, it was pure reflex to reach out with her other hand and knock it away from her body. She immediately realized her mistake, though, as the unprotected flesh came in contact with the heated blade. But she did succeed in pushing the knife off her body, where it tumbled harmlessly into the snow beneath her. She immediately focused on her patient. "Mulder! Mulder! Calm down, hey! Calm down," Scully yelled as she wrapped her arms around his legs to restrain them. Even though she was fairly certain he had no broken bones in his lower body, she didn't want him contracting his abdominal muscles to try and bring his legs up. She knew his convulsions would seriously aggravate any cracked or bruised ribs--she had felt no obvious broken rib bones, but she was not so nave as to assume that meant no hairline fractures. Scully had forgotten just how strong Mulder could be. Weak from blood loss, in severe pain from his injuries, probably near delirium from the cold--none of these made a single bit of difference to Mulder as he screamed and writhed. Khi turned towards Mulder's torso, threading her left arm through his right and then applying pressure against his chest and neck with her forearm. The action virtually immobilized Mulder's upper body, since his left arm was trapped beneath him. Khi could still feel his hips bucking against her back, though, and knew the choke hold wasn't going to be enough. Scully felt Mulder's knee smash against her as she tried to loop her arms around his thighs. She hooked her leg up over his, positioning herself right on top of his calves--she hoped her weight would be enough to hold him still. But just as she tightened her knees against him, she saw Khi raise her right hand slightly and bring in down at Mulder's jaw in a sharp blow. Scully felt Mulder go slack beneath her as quickly as if someone had thrown a switch. "What... what the hell... did you do to him?" Scully asked, slightly breathless. "He's still alive, Scully, don't worry," Khi said as she unhooked her other arm from Mulder's. "I just knocked him unconscious, figuring he was going to risk seriously hurting himself before we could get him calm any other way." Once Scully moved off of Mulder's legs, she could not resist the need to move up and feel his throat. Stronger than before, but still weaker than it should be, his pulse beat beneath her fingers. But he was still exceptionally cold. She knew his core temperature would have dropped by at least a couple of degrees by now, and they needed to get him warmed up before it dropped any further. "OK, heat's next," Khi said, her words echoing Scully's thoughts. "Check the second wound, make sure you got it burned enough before he woke up. If it's sufficient, bandage him." As Khi turned to attend to the fire, Scully inspected Mulder's leg. Had the exit would been as large as the entry, the few seconds of burn time would not have completely cauterized the tissue. As it was, she saw that the bleeding had been stopped, the flesh blistered and raw but successfully sealed. She immediately began bandaging the wounds. She placed two thick pad bandages against the burned skin, binding them tightly with several long strips of material. She was careful to use only enough to accomplish the task--no one knew how many times they would need to change the bandages before they were found. If they were found... *** 30 ********* Section End *********** 30 *** TITLE: Falling Snow, Section 12/19 AUTHOR: Snark * * * * * * Scully stopped the train of thought before it even got started. She practically felt the barricade drop into place across her mind as she continued bandaging Mulder's leg. Focus on him, right here and right now, she told herself. Anything else is just a waste. Finishing the wound bandages, Scully wondered what to do about covering Mulder's exposed leg. Earlier, she had sliced completely through the layers of fabric surrounding the wound-- now she had to figure out how to bind them closed again to protect his skin from the cold. Well, if Khi can give up a shirt, so can I, she thought. Standing, she peeled down her jumpsuit, slipping her arms out of its sleeves. Looking down to jog her memory as to what she was wearing, she sighed when she realized the best one to give up was also the first one she'd slipped on over her T-shirt. Son of a bitch... As quickly as she could, Scully stripped off the heavy fleece pullover and the first of the turtlenecks as one unit. She then pulled off the second, much longer turtleneck, leaving only the T-shirt still on her upper body. Seeing its new prey, the cold air pounced on her immediately--the fire had not been in existence long enough to really heat the interior of the shelter. She felt her skin crawl with goosebumps as she began to shiver. Scully tossed the turtleneck onto Mulder's body, threading her arms back through the pullover and yanking it down over her head in one swift motion. She knew it was mostly an illusion, but the extra weight of the clothing made her feel warmer immediately. Zipping up the jump suit again, she quickly pulled the edges of Mulder's severed clothing together and wrapped his leg with the stripped-off turtleneck. "Get over here by the fire, Scully, and get warm," Khi said. Scully turned to see that the fire was considerably larger than it had been before, though still small enough to be contained safely within the shelter. "We have to get Mulder warm first," Scully objected. Her own comfort could wait--Mulder was dangerously close to hypothermia, if he hadn't in fact suffered a bit of it already. "That's what we're doing. You need to get warm to keep him warm," Khi said as she stood up and headed over towards Mulder. "What?" Scully asked, confused. "What does my being warm have to do with heating Mulder?" "One of the best ways to heat a human body is to wrap it up with something that's already warm, in this case another body," Khi said, beginning to spread the chute out to a much larger surface area. "You're going to get warm, we're going to strip both of you to the waist, and then I'll wrap you together in the chute." "Wait, wait, wait," Scully said, holding out a hand as if directing traffic. "Wouldn't it quicker to just bring him close to the fire, heat him that way?" "Transferring heat by air is not as effective, especially for someone who is unconscious," Khi said. "He or she cannot regulate their own 'closeness' to the heat source. Direct source contact, the transfer of heat by actual physical interaction, is far superior. Your body will provide the heat Mulder needs to get his core temperature back up." "But how can-" Scully started to say. "No, Scully. No objections, just do it. Trust that I know what I'm talking about, OK?" Khi cut her off, straightening to look Scully straight on. Khi gestured slightly at the fire and the shelter itself as she spoke. Scully glanced around, realizing that she would have been long dead by now had it not been for Khi. She simply nodded as she moved over next to the fire, standing as close as she could and holding her hands out over the flames. "In the pack, there's a small metal cylinder," Khi said after a minute. "Find it and use it to drink some of the heated water. It'll help keep you warm from the inside as well." Rummaging through the pack, Scully found the cylinder. It contained a variety of wire strips. She dumped them out into a side pocket of the pack, then used a bit of the water to wash out the interior of the cylinder. Finally, she began dipping it into the bowl and drinking the hot water, surprised at how good it felt going down. Even if it tastes like I'm licking a flagpole, she thought, a slight smile appearing briefly. Her brothers had caught her just once on that particular winter dare, but she had always remembered that metallic, almost salty flavor. Following Khi's earlier example, Scully kept feeding the bowl with fresh snow as she dipped out water. They would need to keep it full at all times, since they would each benefit from drinking the heated liquid as the night wore on. If Mulder didn't reawaken within an hour, she would try to drip some down his throat as well to try and rehydrate him. After perhaps ten minutes, Scully was actually beginning to feel warm--feeling had returned almost completely to her hands and feet and she was no longer shivering. She could really feel the slight burn on her hand where she had knocked aside the heated blade. A red line tracked its way across her palm, extremely painful to the touch now, but not a serious burn. She could still grip things as necessary, still use the hand as needed. "How are you feeling? Warm now?" Khi asked. She had been working over the chute for a while, but now stood to add some small pieces of wood to the fire. "Well, not fully heated, but acceptably warm, I guess," Scully said. "I can feel my feet for the first time in hours." "All right, then. Let's get you wrapped in with Mulder. First, we need to lift him and get him onto the chute," Khi directed, indicating that Scully should take his legs. Khi explained that she wanted to put Mulder just off of center on the chute. As she lifted and moved with Khi, Scully noticed that Khi had torn several long strips off one edge of the chute. She had placed several of them underneath the chute, stretched to their full length. Several more were lying on top of the chute, somewhat shorter. "To do this right, we have to do it in stages," Khi explained. "First, I will strap you and Mulder directly together. Then, I'll wrap the chute around you both and strap that around you again. You're not claustrophobic, are you?" "Not that I've ever been aware of," Scully answered. Any past panic or fear she had ever felt was always caused by the situation itself, not by the physical closeness of the surroundings. "Good, because you're going to feel like a sardine in there. Once you're wrapped, I'll nudge you guys as close to the fire as possible, Mulder towards the flames," Khi said. "How long will we need to stay like that?" Scully asked. She didn't allow herself to distinguish whether she wanted the answer to be a short or a long period of time. "With any luck, about an hour," Khi answered. "I'm hoping Mulder will wake up in that timeframe--once he's conscious, things will go much easier. But even if he doesn't, an hour should be long enough to pull him back up to an acceptable range." Khi took a moment to check what Mulder was wearing on his upper body, then stood and checked Scully's attire as well. "We need to get you chest to chest, bare skin, but we also need to make sure that your body heat is not lost to any location except Mulder," Khi explained. "His top-layer sweater is huge, so we're going to slip it over both of you, once you've stripped. I'll cut the neckline a bit so that you both fit through it. I'll then wrap all the other clothing pieces around all sides, drawing the suits up against your backs, cinching the whole set tight against you. With the chute wrapped over everything as a whole, it should be sufficient." Khi turned, looking for the knife. "It should be sleeping bags," Scully murmured, thinking back to a much warmer Florida night. A night that seemed light years away now. "What was that?" Khi asked, putting a hand to her ear. "Nothing... nothing," Scully said, shaking her head slightly. Khi seemed to understand completely, though, the barest of smiles on her face as she turned to go get the knife. Scully looked down at Mulder, smiling a bit herself as she remembered all the times each of them had used a variation of the sleeping bag comment in the past months. A jab here, a tease there, they had tossed it back and forth between them as a father plays a game of catch with his sons. As the fire crackled behind her, the flames moving across Mulder's face in a thousand flickering shadows, Scully cast a plea up to the heavens. Please let us continue the game... * * * * * * Khi crouched next to Mulder. "Do you have reason to believe Mulder has broken ribs, or any other upper torso injury?" she asked as she motioned for Scully to join her. "No, I think he's sound through the chest and cage. Why?" Scully asked. "We're going to prop him up into a sitting position, then, rather than trying to do this while he's lying down," Khi answered, performing the deed as she spoke it. She quickly had Mulder propped in front of her, his back to her chest as she knelt behind him. "When I say go, I'll strip Mulder, you strip yourself. Everything off, including the bra. Lay each piece flat against the chute near me. Sit in between Mulder's legs, twisted so that your legs hang over his injured thigh. Be careful not to bump him too much, though," Khi said as she pantomimed each step. "Be as close to him as you possibly can, chest to chest, arms up. I'll slip the sweater onto both of you, with your arms through the sleeves. As soon as it's on, wrap your left arm around him tight, leave your other arm somewhat free--you're going to want to use your right arm as the pillow. I'll wrap everything around you, cinch it, lay you both down and strap the chute around you." "Understood," Scully nodded, visualizing each instruction as Khi spoke. "It has to be quick, start to finish, or you're going to just freeze yourself up again, OK?" Khi said. "Minute and a half, max." "Got it, let's do it," Scully said. She knelt in front of Mulder, watching Khi set the knife down and get prepared. As they made eye contact, each nodded in silent agreement they were ready. "Go." Scully peeled down the jump suit, leaving it gathered around her waist. Pullover, turtleneck, T-shirt, bra--each was stripped off as Scully quickly fell into a mumbling cadence of 'son of a bitch' as the cold closed in around her. Khi stripped Mulder just as quickly, finally grabbing up the knife and slitting the neck of the sweater slightly. At 15 seconds, Scully was seated between Mulder's legs, raising her arms towards the roof. As Khi pushed Mulder forward, Scully felt their skin come together. She had to fight the instinctive reaction to jerk backwards--his cold skin was like an electrical shock straight to her heart. A chill swept through her body instantly and she began to shiver. It was only a second, though, before Khi flashed the sweater down over her arms. Another couple of seconds passed as Khi threaded the sweater over both their heads and down to their waists. Scully quickly grabbed Mulder around the back and held him close, freeing Khi to begin wrapping the stripped off clothing around them. Scully could not have explained how Khi managed it, but within another 30 seconds, she was completely enveloped by the clothing. Khi had tucked sleeves here and edges over there, tied the opposing sleeves of the jumpsuit together around them, and somehow managed to cinch everything tight without the whole set slipping down to the ground. "All right, I'm lifting you up and over Mulder's uninjured leg as I tip you guys down," Khi said. Scully felt herself lifted off the ground, then felt Mulder's leg being pushed underneath her. They tipped to her right, slowly, as Khi repositioned Mulder's injured leg as needed on top of his left. Scully straightened her own legs out as needed, moving as close to Mulder's body as she could. "Get your arm out, hooked underneath your head and his," Khi cautioned as they neared the prone position. "You don't need to add a neck injury to everything else." Scully used her free arm to position Mulder against her more comfortably-she turned him so his cheek rested against her collarbone as her chin moved across the top of his head. As they reached the ground, she crooked her upper bicep under her own head and cradled Mulder's head in her elbow, wrapping her hand around to grasp his other shoulder. She felt the chute being wrapped up and around them, left side first, followed by the right. Each 'flap' was tucked underneath them, Khi rolling them slightly to the other side to shove the chute underneath them before rolling them back. At each movement, Khi pushed them against each other as closely as possible--their bodies were in continuous contact from Scully's feet to the top of Mulder's head. Sardines indeed, she thought as Khi tied them together, strap after strap. The chute material hung over their heads by at least a foot. Only a meager amount of firelight managed to seep through the nylon fabric. Scully experienced a brief flash of memory, seeing herself as a child trying 'hide' from her brothers as she pulled the covers of her bed over her--she had figured if she couldn't see them, they couldn't see her. The theory hadn't worked, of course, as they would quickly find her and snap the covers back, tickling her until they were all laughing uncontrollably. She could only wish that they would come find her and come to her rescue now... "All right, you're set," Khi broke into her memory, her voice slightly muffled from the nylon. Scully felt herself being moved towards the fire, Khi dragging the pine boughs themselves rather then trying to scoot Mulder and her across them. "I let the chute overhang your heads to trap just that much more heat inside with you. I'm going to prop on edge of the fabric on a stick to let air move freely. But if you feel claustrophobic at any time, or think you aren't getting enough air, just yell out and I'll peel the chute back for you." "Got it," Scully said, surprised at how loud her voice now sounded to her own ears. She felt the chute lift slightly from her head as Khi positioned a stick under the excess material. The interior became slightly brighter, although there wasn't much for Scully to see except the other side of the chute. For some reason, though, it made her feel a little better. Seconds passed, Scully becoming aware of a muffled noise coming from above her. She realized it was the sound of stifled chuckling. "Whaaat?" she asked, drawling out the word. She knew Khi had something to say and figured she might as well hear it now. "Well, considering you *are* both officers of the law, it just kind of dawned on me how appropriate the phrase 'pigs in a blanket' is in this case," Khi said, her end words trailing away as she began laughing outright. At that comment, Scully realized that it had been too long, that there was only one response possible. "Yeah, whatever, shut up." Scully's own laughter soon joined Khi's, spiraling out into the night as one. *** 30 ********* Section End *********** 30 ***