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Monday, September 23- Friday, October 18, 2024: Because hurricanes usually go up coastal areas, the Cabinistas are surprised that Hurricane Helene is predicted to go inland. "No one should be surprised about anything anymore as far as the weather," says Frohike, "This is more of that Climate Change topsy-turvy stuff." They consult Internet sites to find out what should be done to prepare. Mulder and Will drive the two trucks to a lumber yard and buy a large quantity of wood and plywood sheets. They decide to buy some sacks for sandbags. The Group hastily constructs wooden superstructures for the greenhouses and secures the structures to posts pounded into the ground. They attach sheets of plywood to these structures. Inside they secure anything that could fall or move around into other stuff. They cover the windows of the cabin with plywood. They secure the duck/doghouse and the bee hives. They go up into the woods to where the stream has some sandy banks and fill some sandbags. They guess at the amount that might be needed if the stream overflows its banks. This is purely a precautionary measure. The cabin and the buildings are on higher ground than the stream or the road. Only the knoll is higher than the cabin floor and the other buildings on the property. Mulder and Scully buy food and medical supplies they think will take care of their needs. There are also supplies in the prepper shelter The Group made when they added on the second greenhouse. Heloise assures them that The Pixel will be fine and will be parked over the fields and will stay in contact with everyone. She says there are extra beds, linens, and blankets aboard, and if it gets too scary they all could Whoosh Up and she could fly them all off to someplace nice, “A mini-vacation, maybe in Paris, or a South Seas island…” she explains. “Sounds like a plan!” says Will. The Cabinistas each pack a suitcase This is called a "go bag. "Packing a Go Bag and a Stay Bag" (U.S. Department of State) https://www.state.gov/global-community-liaison-office/crisis-management/packing-a-go-bag-and-a-stay-bag/) and these are stored aboard The Pixel. Will gets a notice that there will be no classes at his college until further notice. (Note: Will started his college courses in the fall of 2022. He switched to online classes as he can do his work aboard The Pixel and send it in from out at the edge of the Solar System if that’s where he is. He has taken all his required courses and is focusing on Science courses. Much earlier, he had taken courses about Bountiful’s History and Geography as part ot the Space Cadet Program. He’s getting better at their Language, too.) Scully is scheduled for an extra shift per week at the Mt. Weather facility, and she still is on call at the women's clinic in Leesburg, but she is told not to attempt to go anywhere until the danger has passed. Mulder is advised that the library will be closed for the duration of the storm, and maybe afterwards. He notifies the local FEMA office that he will be available as a volunteer to deliver food, water, and medical supplies, if needed. Scully notifies the County that she will be available on her days off from Mt. Weather to do forensic examinations with the County Coroner's Office. It is quite scary, but everything holds in place and there is no flooding. Lots of trees get uprooted or get branches ripped off but not so much on their property. Later, they hear that the Blue Ridge Parkway took a lot of damage to the roads when lots of trees came down. It’s closed until it can be fixed. Mulder is asked to go with a group of volunteers from a church to head up into the hills where there are some off-the-beaten-path places. “Some of these properties have been handed down through the family since great great grand-pappy ran a still hidden in the hills,” chuckles one longtime resident of the area who is the leader of the group. It's the third day of some hard work doing things like using winches to move whole trees off of roadways and jacking up collapsed house walls to check for bodies. They've found some, so it's hard on the volunteers in that way too. Each day, before leaving his car, Mulder had put his gun and holster on, under his jacket. He’s still very opposed to dying in a bear attack. Also the group leader explains that there are groups of armed people trying to prevent FEMA from assisting people. “They scare off the volunteers, then complain that no one came to help them.” says the same guy, Zeke. Mulder laughs and says if need be, he’ll use his skills as a trained hostage negotiator. Zeke gives him an “Oh, really?” look. “FBI, 34 years” says Mulder, sotto vocce. He may also have pushed the front of his jacket over far enough to let Zeke see his shoulder holster. Dunno. I couldn't see from where I was narrating. Zeke nods then grins, "If we see these type o’ folks, they’re all yours, Sir.” Mulder doesn’t want to die in a jerk attack, either, but if you get to choose a hill to die on, “He was shot by a crazy person while he was trying to help people after the big hurricane.” isn’t as bad as some hills. When Mulder and Scully are able to catch two days together, Mulder tells Scully at breakfast that he may have to confront anti-government groups, some militias. Then he adds, "And I hear tell there are some groups of the women's auxiliaries to these men's militias prowling around, too! They're made up of the wives of these fellows." Scully catches the change of tone, so she just waits for it. Sensing she's not going to ask about the women's auxiliaries to the men's' militias, Mulder says, "Surely you've heard of the Oaf Keepers?" Scully has wisely not taken a sip of her orange juice. There are no incidences of armed oafs, or their wives, however, and Mulder gets a great deal of satisfaction from working with this group, helping out. After six days of this hands-on work, Zeke asks the group if anyone can help people fill out the forms for government assistance. Mulder says, "Yes I speak government-ese" and he spends a few days helping people the group contacted and brought to FEMA centers, (the one he goes to is in the National Guard Armory) to fill out the various forms for assistance. Scully has it a little rougher, as her entire duty is to assist in medical examinations of the victims at the morgue. One beautiful girl of 16 almost stops her. She has to sit alone for a while, but recording these deaths in the official county records is something that needs to be done, and done with care, and that's what she gets up again and does. These people, these children, will be remembered in the history of the area.The Group has an incident, whereby, while both Mulder and Scully are out of the Cabin, and Will is aboard the Pixel, three teens show up at the property in an old truck, and begin to wander around. The Group received notification of this via Heloise's device calling their cellphones. They send Babushka to stand at the back of the driveway and loudly greet the teens and inquire of their business. As she does this, the other two Group members walk from the bunkhouse over to the back of the cabin. The teens make an excuse and leave. Mulder goes out with the church group one last time before the group disbands. They are at a wrecked home. There is a building inspector there assessing the damage with the owners. Mulder and the church group have been working for two days to clean and sort a huge pile of muddy objects. Some things are ruined. Others could be repaired. Some of the group have brought tools and supplies to do the repairs onsite on the pile of cleaned things that they figure can be fixed. Mulder finds a cat, or rather, it comes out of the woods and finds him. No one claims ownership of the cat. Mulder tells Scully over the phone that he plans to take the cat home but then turn it in to the county animal control. Everyone who has ever had a pet find them instead of the other way around is now rolling on the floor, laughing, aren't you? Of course the dogs, ducks, robots, aliens, and people at the cabin like the cat immediately. It is an "outside cat" by preference, but The Group puts a cat door on the greenhouse with a kitty litter box inside and a box with a blanket lining it, for cold weather. They pass the cat through the door several times until the cat goes through by herself. Mulder puts a notice on the county lost and found pets site, and makes an appointment for the cat to be checked, and spayed at the same veterinarian the dogs go to. On her next scheduled workday at the Mount Weather facility Scully is told a cat showed up at another property. One of the other staff members, who already has two cats, brought it in. Scully goes and takes a look at it as she prepares to go home. This cat is pregnant, and Scully can't bring herself to let it go to the county animal control center (and, in for a penny, in for a pound, too, what with they already have cat food, litter, etc. now.) The cat looks skinny despite being pregnant, and has scratches and bruises. Scully thinks the cat had a rough time in the Hurricane. She brings it home with her. The new cat takes up with the first cat like they've known each other forever. After the cat births eight kittens in the Greenhouse, which happens that week, two are stillborn, probably owing to the ordeal of the Hurricane, Mulder adds the mom cat and the kittens in to the appointment to be checked and spayed, or just checked. They name the adult cats Shadow and Shade, because it looks like they own them now. Although the Group sets out cat kibble, and water, the clowder seems to provide a lot for itself with pond water, voles, chipmunks, field mice, and other small creatures. Not as many birds as Scully dreaded, and the ducks seem to have let the cats know they're good buddies with the dogs, so not to try anything. In November the guy who promised to take revenge on FBI agents wins the election. Mulder finds out that all the people at the headquarters and district offices have had copies of their employment dates, duties, and pension plans sent to them. “Oh that Mrs. Yazzie, What a gal!” says Mulder to Scully. He finds out at a Christmas party that there were many volunteers to help her make the copies, stuff the envelopes, attach address labels, etc. "Many people were concerned after reading what happened to that Deputy Director, a few years back," says the person at the party, "These people don't have seem to have much respect for the law." In December, before Christmas, Mulder and Scully successfully give away four kittens to people at their church and workplaces who want to give them as Christmas gifts to their family. There's a boy, Phantom, and the smallest kitten, a girl, Misty, left in the clowder. So that’s Shadow, Shade, Phantom, and Misty -did I mention all the cats are gray? No? All the cats are gray. Will and Heloise assist the FBI and Homeland Security to investigate sightings of large drones over New Jersey and New York. Their job is to look into any incidences of drones being too close to military installations. They find that once places like military installations are declared off-limits there aren't drones too close to military installations. "They may not have recognized the places as military installations." says Will. They concur with the FBI that the drones are probably privately owned and operated. "This means they have rights." says Will. They agree with the other agencies that known landing sites for medevac and other emergency helicopters be declared off-limits for drones. "The most important issue is to prevent crashes," says Will. The guy elected to be the next president demands that the government explain the drones better or "shoot them down." Heloise says, "Oh...doesn't he know there are people on the ground under where these drones are?" Will says, "That's true," and adds that the guy "probably hasn't thought it through..." Will explains to Heloise that this guy is "Earthly, very Earthly." Wednesday, December 25, 2024: Christmas is very quiet and uneventful. “No Posada -again!” says Mulder, pretending to be complaining to The Group as they sit in the family room watching TV. Scully is at the Women’s Health Center. Gift opening has been put off for a day, so Will and Heloise have taken the opportunity to finish some science work on the Pixel. Tuesday, New Years Eve, and Wednesday, January 1, 2025 Scully Comes in from the women's clinic very late and goes to bed. Mulder and The Group have been watching the new year come in all around the world on TV. He and The Group toast the New Year. They did a Zoom call to The Pixel and listened as Heloise described some surprising information about Neptune she has sent to Science Base."They will probably be debating the meaning of it for quite some time! I love giving them something to talk about!" January 20, 2025 Mulder, Scully, Will, and Heloise had planned to attend the MLK Remembrance Walk in Winchester, VA, but it has been postponed because of wintry weather. Heloise whooshes them all up and they go to Mesa, Arizona for the 25th annual MLK Parade and Festival. They enjoy the Parade and Festival there, On Saturday Mulder and Scully have to work, but Will and Heloise go the the Walk as part of their studies of Earth’s Cultural Events. “Someone read Dr. King’s ‘I have a Dream’ Speech. It was lovely! ” says Heloise, "And the parade-Oh! It’s what’s needed sometimes when there’s so much bad news.” The case of the shooting in the supermarket and the demise of the shooter has not been resolved. Will has discretely asked about the shooter and the victims with the people he works with in the AARO section of the building (He has permission to work "from home", but he occasionally needs to look something up or confer with another person.) No one knows anything, or will tell him anything, one or the other... It has become a cold case. “At least we now know that there is rogue Alien activity in the area. We know to use caution,” says Will. (Indeed, Babushka now accompanies Scully to the supermarket if Mulder is busy elsewhere, and she comes along on other trips as well. She brings her knitting. Mulder declines an escort for his trips, mostly to The Ranch 'N 'Home Store. “Ah jest strap on mah shootin’ ir’n!” he tells Langly.) Oh, here’s the thing to note: Babushka brings her knitting into more restricted areas than you might think. She just puts her vintage carpet bag on the conveyor belt, hobbles along a little more stooped over than usual,and boom! she and the knitting needles are IN! Mulder rolled his eyes until they got tired of rolling the first time he saw that happen at the Virginia Legislature Building, where he and Babushka had gone to listen to debates in 2022 about abortion access. “Eight inch steel pointed projectiles… he says to everyone at dinner that night. Holding his folded hands to his chest, Mulder imitates Babushka’s falsetto: “Oh...That’s my afghan I’m knitting for the church bazaar..."(in his own voice) "So she chooses to be wanded instead of the full body scanner...and when they wanded her? It dings everywhere and so she says," (Mulder uses the falsetto again) “Oh, Goodness...at my age, everything has been replaced.” I mean,” Mulder rolls his eyes, “Duh-UHHH! It’s true”.”The group convulses with laughter, and applauds towards Frohike. Frohike bows in place and takes their applause.) Thursday, Jan 30, 2025 At breakfast, Scully receives a call from Dr. Davies, the Loudoun County Coroner. (She renewed their friendship from working with him, Dr. Davies, on several X-Files cases, She called him when she signed up to help at a women’s clinic in Leesburg following the June 2022 Roe VS Wade reversal. The clinics in northern Virginia get a lot of “overflow” patients from West Virginia where there is a total ban on abortions.) He asks if she could come in Friday and assist prepping the autopsies of some of the passengers on a plane that was hit by a military helicopter over the Potomac. She recognizes the situation from the news. “They’ve changed from rescue to recovery,” he says. Scully is familiar with the procedure in a case like this. A lot of extra people have been called in to help. She and other doctors or PAs will do a lot of the work on the bodies, but Dr. Davies, of course, will oversee everything and sign the Death Certificates. Scully is accompanied by Babushka. Babushka sits in the hall knitting all day while Scully works in the morgue. Mid-morning, Dr. Davies asks her to accompany him to a press conference. He promises her she’ll “see some famous faces, maybe.” Indeed. Scully gets a good look at one of the new administration's “star performers” He’s come there to disparage everyone, and blame “DEI” for the crash. At the end of the day, Scully has done a lot of necessary work to prepare these victims to be released to their families, and Dr. Davies thanks her for her help. When she and Babushka get home late Friday night, before she goes to bed, she contacts Heloise, out on the Pixel, near Saturn. She gets a message prompt, and leaves a short message. Scully reports on the press conference. She says, “I’ve seen this guy up close now. He’s had an ear job.” Wednesday, January 22, 2025, In the early light of a winter sunrise, the Mulders sit at the breakfast table. They’ve finished a bowl of oatmeal with sides of sausage patties and toast with butter and jelly. Now they’ve put their cup of coffee off to the side and each looks at their laptop. They go to different sites first thing. Scully has some science and medical sites. Mulder usually checks the national and international news for a while, but today he goes to his e-mail, first thing. He’s changed his morning news routine since the new administration came in. The Group are clearing off the table and counter tops and are loading the dishwasher, having long since finished their mug of warm water. Mulder has received an e-mail from Assistant Director Torres. Mulder had asked him to keep him posted on what is going on with the FBI under the new administration, and Asst. Dir. Torres has done that this morning... Oh, no...!” Mulder says something further under his breath, and gestures angrily with closed fists. Everyone stops what they are doing. “They fired Evans!” He shakes his head and continues, “They fired these guys -some from top positions, and twenty agents.” He gives more details, “Most of these guys I know them because a few of ‘em got raised in rank after Kirsch and his crew retired, (glad enough to see him go!) and others -maybe been out in a large operation with some of ‘em, but Evans? yeah nice guy. Not doing DEI or political stuff. Just helping the police and justice departments with criminal investigations.” Mulder exhales, “... into criminal activities.” No one in the kitchen really needs to be told where Evans worked or what he worked on. Or why he got fired. Mulder gets up, refreshes his coffee from the pot, sits down again, and then doesn’t drink it. He just stares off into the middle distance, lost in thought. Finally, he gets up and goes to the bedroom and bathroom. He and Scully are going in to Early Mass and then the Adult Bible Class. Later he sends an e-mail Asst. Director Torres, thanking him for the information. He calls Torres and expresses his concern about the agents who were fired. “Are they going to pursue any legal action?” he asks. Assistant Director Torres says quietly, “I don’t know. I...I got demoted. I’m Agent Torres now, just like before.” It takes Mulder several seconds to process this. “Are they giving you any time to get reorganized? “Yes,” says Torres, “I have two weeks to move out of here and downstairs. Hey, I’ve still got a job.” Mulder says “Do you have a list of contact information- I’d like it if the agents who were fired would contact me out here. I know Scully and I would like to show our support. Mulder adds, “I mean, they were fired without cause, although that’s not how it’ll be presented." Torres says, “Well, I don’t know if I could put my hands on such a list but you know who could?" “Mrs.Mrs.YazzieYazzie!” Both agents say this almost together. Then they laugh. Agent Torres says he'll ask Mrs. Yazzie. And sure enough, on Friday in the afternoon, all of of the agents call or write to Mulder thanking him for his kind words. He tells them to look for his next notice. “I’m thinking of having a meeting.” he writes or says. Photo Source:Image from satellite shows former Hurricane and then Tropical Storm Helene as of 5:30 a.m. EDT on Sept. 27, 2024, after it moved rapidly inland from Florida and was mostly over Georgia. NOAA / National Hurricane Center posted on CBS online: Maps show Helene's track: What to know about its path, storm surge and flood risk (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tropical-storm-helene-hurricane-path-maps-track-forecast/) "Packing a Go Bag and a Stay Bag" (U.S. Department of State) https://www.state.gov/global-community-liaison-office/crisis-management/packing-a-go-bag-and-a-stay-bag/) |
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Our Word of the Day: effuse (adj.): scattered, profuse (from: Dictionary.com) Keep Your Eyes on the Prize Pete Seeger https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdJh0F_vYs8 Sweet Honey in the Rock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbq4vDG65_A Only thing I did was wrong Was to stay in the woods too long Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on! Hold on! Hold on! Keep your Eyes on the Prize, Hold on! Only thing I did was right Was to organize and fight Keep your eyes on the prize, Hold on! Hold on! Hold on! Keep your Eyes on the Prize, Hold on! All of the men fired respond to Mulder’s invitation to contact him and are very eager to get together. The two women decline. Both say that they will be stay-at-home wives for a while, maybe for four years. “I do a lot at my church, and I have plenty of hobbies! I think I’ll take a rest.” says one. The other says, “We were planning that I’d take off for a while and start a family. I just object to how it was done.” Evans is very enthusiastic to make some sort of response to being fired. Mulder makes a reservation for Thursday, February 13th, 2025, 7:00pm at the private party room of a restaurant that he and Scully used to go to at the end of a long day at the FBI. They sometimes saw other agents there. They often sat together with those other agents. It was a popular place for after hours. Everyone knows where it is. Thursday, January 30, 2025, 6:45 pm When most of the guys expected had shown up, the core organizers, Mulder and Evans, announced the news of Assistant Director Torres’ demotion to make sure everyone knew that he was demoted by these new people. Pretty shocking. “Oh”, says a guy at the end the table, “Did they think he was a DEI hire?” “Probably” replies Mulder, “But did you know? Before the FBI, he was part of a very diverse group...(Mulder waits the required time.) I’ve forgotten, though...Did he come from the Halls of Montezuma or from the Shores of Tripoli? Anyone know? Anyone?” Men quietly sip and shake their heads over this. Evans speaks up: “Y’know. If I’m gonna be told to go risk my life, it had better be an order from someone who has more credentials than he gave someone a big campaign donation.” Men murmur in approval. From the responses he hears, Mulder senses his audience is ready for some positive action. And maybe a little snark. He hopes not to disappoint them. Agent Torres walks into the room. The men at the end (several tables have been pushed together. Mulder and Evans are sitting in the middle table.)at the first table hastily clear off a place and pull up a chair for him. He asks the man next to him, who has out a yellow legal pad, what is on the agenda. The man clears his throat. “Well, First, a plenary session. The objective of the session will be to (1) keep our eyes on the prize. And (2) hold on...He sings this, very softly to Agent Torres. The room quiets down as men listen. Most of the men know that this guy's dad was with the group marching on Edmund Pettis Bridge in 1965. Agent Torres thanks him. Now he’s assessed the level of formality. When Mulder set up the meeting, he set up with the restaurant to serve three choices for dinner, a chicken, a fish, and a non-meat pasta casserole. When he asked each man to choose, some of the men tell him that they would prefer to eat at home beforehand, “What? You don’t want a free dinner?” exclaims Mulder. The men are surprised that there is an anonymous backer of their organization meeting. “There’s more people on your side than you imagine,” says Mulder. They would be even more surprised if they knew the backer ran a business that fixes space ships. Three waitresses appear and begin to distribute bread baskets for each table. Then salads to each person. The men begin to enjoy a pleasant meal with their co-workers of yore. Mulder enjoys his fish. The waitresses have delivered pudding and the room is jolly with remembered tales of glory and folly. Mulder quickly finishes his pudding. The group is small enough that Mulder is able to rap loudly on the table with an empty plastic cup and bring the crowd to order. He knows it's always a good idea to start with a joke and he has one: "Hey, So...Did you hear about the President's Tariff Policy? He's going to put a tariff on all of Canada's crude oil! (pause) He's also going to put a tariff on all their polite oil...He waits for the laughter to subside, then he says, "I stole that from Stephen Colbert... " and he announces that the first order of business is the creation of a “social club, like the Moose or the Elks.” Mulder says he will write a 501(c)4 for the group, and -this is real good, guys-publishing it in the business section of WaPo will be paid for by "donors." The guys would be surprised if they knew that these donors called Mulder from France to offer support for this organization. Mulder suggests that the club is open to present and former FBI people, but there will be an admission process, mostly agreeing to the Mission Statement. The mission will be the mutual support for FBI agents. Guys nod. He suggests a Title and Mascot, “The Effuse Order of Wavy Seals” “I have no objection to seals,” says the guy at the end of the table. (Mulder thinks he will need to order this guy a cab/Uber/Lyft or drive him home later.) Mulder asks loudly: “Can I get a response to the suggestion that we ordain and establish the Effuse Order of Wavy Seals? Our mission is to oppose the unjust treatment of FBI people and do good projects for the community... All in favor respond with our slogan.” As they’d worked it out beforehand, Evens stands up and holds his hands out stffly as if they were flippers, and, clapping in rhythm, he begins to shout the first word of the club’s title, separated into syllables: “Ef-fuse! Ef-fuse! Ef-fu...se!” he shouts. The others join in, but, as they progress, shouting the correct word goes off track. Some of them substitute a similar sounding vulgarity for the phrase. I shan’t repeat it. No wonder Scully doesn’t join. Men. Hmmm. Anyway, by voice vote, the Effuse Order of Wavy Seals is established. Mulder borrows the legal pad and sends it around so he can have a record of the attendance and contact numbers and e-mails. A guy volunteers to draw and create, on a wooden disk, in acrylic paint, the Great Seal of the Effuse Order of Wavy Seals. He passes around the prototype, in blue ink on a napkin. Everyone says Wow! It DOES look like a great seal! Mulder declines the nomination to be President, but accepts the Secretary nomination. He says, “I’m retired. I’ll have time to do all the newsletter stuff.” He’s elected. Evans is elected President and Torres is elected Treasurer. Someone suggests that that’s probably enough officers. The guy at the end says it might even be too many. They vote make a reservation for the room for the next month. Mulder says their meals are paid for. They decide to "pass the hat" to look into launching a Class Action suit. Torres is given the money. Someone near the opposite end of the table from the guy at the far end of the table says, “My brother is a lawyer. He asked me if I thought anyone was gonna do anything about this! He'll work pro bono.” He gives Mulder and Evans his brother’s card. They are pretty much all gone home by 10:00. Another guy offers the guy at the end of the table a ride and a couch. Mulder is invited back to Enrique Torres’ house. He has a small suitcase in his car as he thought he might have to go to a hotel. He stays over on the Torres’ downstairs couch. At breakfast Mulder declares it all a success. He lets Enrique know that the anonymous backer will cover the expenses of hiring a lawyer that exceed the money from "passing the hat." "Send me receipts, and I'll reimburse you and Carl (the lawyer)" he says, but adds, “But it’s important for the guys to have invested in this...and to feel it’s their lawyer, and their court case.” He drives home buoyed. He knows that if any of the guys has trouble finding employment, that there is an offer on the table to join up to be stationed at one of the outposts that protect the Aliens from the Unfriendlies. “They’re brave, intelligent and dedicated to law and order. That meets all of our high standards,” says Ness in a phone call that surprised Mulder with how much the Elders knew about his nation’s troubles. And how much they cared. Sources: Photo Source: Héloïse Delbos for Unsplash https://unsplash.com/s/photos/seals https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.277085/gov.uscourts.dcd.277085.1.0.pdf Joke Credit: I had forgotten where I got the Tariff Policy joke from, but I put it up on the family Signal and my older son reminded me that I got it from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert 
Friday, January 31, 2025: Mulder takes the attendance list home in his briefcase, and the next afternoon he sits in the family room of the Cabin at the big desk, and takes the list out with the intention of looking the list over to see if he can mentally picture each of the men. Mulder wants to get to know them by sight, to know each person without having to think about it. He knows that this may come in handy in an emergency situation. He is surprised at the amount of names. It seems like too man...Oh. When he sent the yellow legal paper around, he didn’t know that Ben Dover, Heywood Jablowme, Beau Nerr, Harry Balz, Willie B. Hardigan, Emerson Bigguns, Rip Wonoff, Mike Rotchburns, Peter File, Cole Ostamie, Lou Briccant, Hugh Jass, Dick Raasch, Oliver Closzov, Mike Hunt, Yuri Nator, Robin D. Craydle, Pat Myaz, and Seymour Buttz had been in attendance. He opens up his laptop and he transcribes the names of actual Agents in attendance into a document. He places the pad and the yellow sheets back into his briefcase. He makes a mental note to buy his own yellow pad and return the one he borrowed. Then he goes to an e-mail and attachment sent by Torres. He checks his progress against ID pictures Agent Torres has obtained from Leon Greeley, who now knows about the Effuse Order of Wavy Seals, (and is very amused!) but knows how to act dumb if asked about it. Mulder sends out a newsletter about the decisions of the meeting. He gets back an e-mail from one of the two women who declined to come to the dinner. The woman says she wishes to be part of the class action suit. He replies to her that he will include her in the list of plaintiffs. Wednesday February 5, 2025 : Mulder receives a link from Torres in his e-mail. It goes to a website that publishes court cases. It is: Court Document 1 Filed 02/04/25 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA JOHN AND JANE DOES 1-9 ) Employees/Agents of the Federal Bureau ) of Investigations, ) on behalf of themselves ) and those similarly situated, ) ) Case No. ) Plaintiffs, ) CLASS ACTION COMPLAINT ) ) JURY TRIAL DEMANDED v. ) ) DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE ) James McHenry ) Acting Attorney General ) of the United States, ) ) Defendant.) Mulder sends the link in another newsletter to all the Wavy Seals. Also, he includes the offer for “employment” (unspecified) if if any of the guys is in financial straits. If it’s just one or two guys, he thinks he could put them on at the farm. He’s not sure how that would work out, only that it could probably be made to work out so no one goes “underwater” financially. Mulder is continuing to fill out the paperwork to obtain a 501(c)4. Towards the end of the day, Mulder gets a call from Agent Torres. There’s been a shoot-up at a garage in Washington Park, outskirts of Chicago. It has echoes of the Valentine’s Day Massacre. Two of the shooters were dressed as police. After the shooting they marched the other three men out at gunpoint, leaving four men dead inside the garage. No one called the police. Mulder knows the facts about that incident. 1929: One Chicago mob taking out another Chicago mob. Torres asks him if they should get a group of former Agents together and go see if they can be of any assistance. Mulder says “Tell me more.” Torres is confident he can call the Chief of Police and work through the local police. “I don’t think the FBI would be very welcoming, but I know the Chief. He was the Assistant Chief over in Joliet. We worked on a gang war a few years ago, got that sorted out, put some small time drug lords in prison. We don’t have to be out in front to help.” Torres already has gone over the list of guys he wants to ask with Evans. Mulder doesn’t know all of them, but he likes the idea of getting the case solved by looking at the facts instead of placing blame and making the facts fit the conclusion. “You mean it might not be because of DEI?” he asks Torres. Mulder makes a call to Elder Ness. He’s pretty sure the big donors out there will approve of this expenditure, but he wants to hear it from The Elders. Elder Ness says he’ll contact the others. Mulder works on the minutes from the meeting and then he gets a call from Elder Ness. He says the plan is approved, but he wants to voice a personal concern that Mulder not take part in any physical hunts or shootouts. “I will speak frankly. You’re retired. Please acknowledge that there’s a reason behind the mandatory retirement age of the FBI.” Mulder knows that the young guys might be more up to those tasks. He hasn’t been to a weight room or shooting range in months. No, wait...years. That night he and Scully have a romantic dinner at a favorite restaurant. Mulder has decided he'll bring up this new development the next day... Before Mulder can commit to even an advisory role, he holds a Family Meeting. After supper, Scully, Will, Heloise, and The Group all sit around the kitchen table. Mulder presents the proposition: “We’re planning to assist the local police with the shooting in the garage in Chicago. It looks like a gang or mob hit. We’d be working with the police, undercover as their detectives.” Scully gives him a disapproving look. “Well,” she says, “I suppose this means our trip to Puerto Penasco is off?” Mulder suppresses a grin. Back in 2018, when he was retiring from the FBI, he promised Scully a trip to Rocky Point via the Southwest, and then one thing after another happened: Heloise had medical problems, (she went back to her planet and the doctors there treated her successfully), the Van de Camps had an auto accident, then the Black Labrador dog showed up and needed veterinary care, tags, etc., etc., and the trip was forgotten. For a while. Now this is their little joke. She doesn’t like it but she knows he needs to do this secret mission. Mulder, having been advised by Elder Ness, now senses Scully’s reluctance as well. He says, ”OK, how about this: I’ll go there, scope out the situation, do some analysis, give my opinion, but then I’ll come back and work from home here?” The consensus is that this is a good plan. Mulder runs it by Torres and Evans. “Hey, you’re retired," says Evans. "We’ve got a lot of guys signed on. We can 'keep you in the loop' OK?” Mulder wants to keep doing his job forever, but he has been told several times now not to, so he is happy to have been asked in the first place. Mulder finishes the Meeting Minutes. He adds an attachment from himself asking if all of the Agents are doing well and to please write back if they are having any financial difficulties. He reminds them that “helping each other is the Mission of The Order of Wavy Seals”. He makes up a list to send Minutes to, then sends the Minutes. On President's Day (celebrated) The Elders, through one of their Earth agents, deposit a cheque to the Wavy Seal’s bank account that Mulder has set up. The agents are pleased with the amount of compensation, but also, the group wants to be a complete in-your-face success to the “New Guys “ that fired them, even if it is only known to them and the local police. Wednesday February 19, 2025, In the airport, as they wait for their flight, they choose seat mates, who will be motel room-mates, and partners. Mulder will partner with Liam Doud, one of the youngest of the group, who will also be flying back to Washington after visiting the crime scene. Mulder asked him to come along so he could learn how to do a crime scene investigation, at least looking at the scene and evidence found there. The partners are Albert Silverman and Yousef Fayed, George Evans and Juan Castro, and Amir Akhtar and Hassan Wali. Mulder asks around and, except for him and Evans, everyone’s parents or grandparents came from a different country than the US, and even different continents. They have a low decibel discussion about if they need a name for the “action” part of the Wavy Seals. “Hey, Evans,” says Wali, “Kinda too bad ‘The A-Team' is taken." Everyone laughs. It’s important to the understanding of the joke that George Evans looks like Mr. T’s nephew. So, Evans often does undercover work with glue-on full beard, dressed with the vest, jewelry, bandana, etc., and some people ask about it, but most just think, “This guy must’ve idolized Mr. T.- How Funny!” When not in costume, he has an effect on women. Not so much much WWE as Woo-ee! (visual of woman fanning herself!) His FBI nickname is "Gorgeous George", “That gorgeous sonofabitch”, or “You gorgeous sonofabitch”, depending, but the main complaint is that if he’s doing detective work, clean-shaven and nicely suited, and you and Evans go around the neighborhood knocking on doors to get witness statements, “You keep having to re-focus the housewives’ attention, It’s like, ‘Now, M’am, about the shooting…’ before every question,” says Juan Castro, one of his frequent partners back when they were in the FBI, and his partner on this trip. On the flight, Mulder and Liam discuss the recent shooting at a supermarket in Ohio, where Liam was sent to investigate with George Evans and some other agents who are not in the group. (Those Agents were not fired.) and Mulder tells of his experience with the supermarket shooting in Winchester. He tells Liam that his wife, Scully, disarmed the shooter while the guy was attacking the Assistant Store Manager. “Yeah, I heard about that.” says Liam. “I figured you might want to tell me about that firecracker you did the X-Files with.” He grins. Mulder tells him how depressed Scully was for a while after the incident. He leaves out how his son and his Alien wife arrived by spaceship to console her and how, at dinner, the escaped military robots cheered her up. He ponders, later, that apparently, he’s the guy who partnered with “that firecracker” for 25 years. The Agents arrive and are picked up in the pickup zone by plainclothes Detectives in nondescript cars. They will stay in a medium priced hotel. Over the motel breakfast, they list the information they hope the police already have. They list information they will try to obtain. They have rented a nine person van and it has been delivered to the motel. They meet a Detective and an Officer at a park across the street from the garage and decide to go over in two small groups of four. Mulder, Doud, Evans and Silverman go over first with Detective Pinardi. The other group will sit in the van and Officer Campoflores will go over handouts of useful information that the police have compiled for the detectives working on the case.(Then they will switch.) After Officer Campoflores goes over the handout information the FBI Agents ask her questions about some of the information on the handouts. In the process, they find out that the Agents from the FBI have been taken to a meeting with Police Chief Jim Palmer. Later, they share this with the other group. “So, they aren’t going to let them know we’re here, I guess”, says Mulder “Well, I’m not looking forward to meeting up with them,” says Evans. The Ex-Files Agents (as they come to name themselves) get to work. They interview witnesses, They sit in the Evidence Room and go over things the police found at the scene. The look at the pictures of the evidence in situ. They look at the pictures of the bodies in situ. They do a re-enactment on the scene (another meeting with the Chief for the new FBI Agents takes place, conveniently.) Mulder and Doud are dropped off at the airport. Scully picks up Mulder in the pick-up zone. Liam takes a shuttle to the bus station, where he can take a short bus ride home. “They keep waiting for us to give them their assignment.” says Police Chief Palmer on a phone call to Torres on Friday, February 21, 2025. “That’s why I thought you’d like to have our agents there,” says Torres, adding, “Are they keeping busy?" “The toughest part is how they got the police uniforms, so that’s where they are focused,” says Chief Palmer. We got a picture from someone who happened to be sitting in their car and pulled out their phone when this bizarre procession of people dressed as police officers and people dressed like gang bangers walked across in front of him and into an alley...then they all came out in a black Chevy Silverado Crew Cab. But these aren’t costume shop police uniforms. They are the real thing. We’ve already asked all our officers if anyone had anything stolen, and no one has, so it’s very strange.” Torres calls Mulder about the police uniforms. “Yeah, it’s weird.” says Mulder. "Something will crack, though. Right now we’re asking seamstresses who work at cleaners if they did any alterations on uniforms. Those dudes were pretty skinny, but the uniforms fit them.” Friday, February 28, 2025: Evans is sitting in a local chain restaurant with Officer Campoflores. He has asked her to lunch so he can discuss the uniforms. She’s charmed and flattered by his attention, but maintains her professional attitude. She comes from a family of police people. Her brother is a policeman, Her father was a policeman, killed in the line of duty. She stays focused. “Well,” says Evans, “I’ve looked at all your officers. None of them were as thin as these guys. I don’t know where to go with this, Nina...” She shakes her head, stares at the plate on the table... Suddenly, she has a look of horror. “I need to think.” she says. She turns towards a blank wall. She begins to shake, very subtly. Evans hardly breathes. Officer Campoflores composes herself and turns back to the table. She says, “Three years ago we had a robbery at a jewelry store. Two officers were gunned down. They were new...had just come out of the police academy, maybe 6 months... They happened to be in the area just by chance actually.” She stops stares at the table. Evans nods. “and so... they were young,” he nods. “...and very thin, both of them.” she continues to stare at the table, “They were both taken to the county hospital. Later, at their funeral they were dressed in their Sunday suits, of course.” Evans takes the cheque up, pays, and he and Nina drive over and wait outside Chief Palmer’s office. Evans calls Mulder. He puts Officer Campoflores on his phone. “Mr. Mulder, it was an unsolved case. The thieves got away...oh with no jewelry. The two police officers showed up so quickly the thugs had to make a choice between getting the loot or running, so they shot them and ran.” With this new information, Mulder does the only sensible thing. He puts his firecracker partner in the car and roars up to Chicago. They call in sick from their jobs on the way. They get a motel room late at night and the arrive the next morning at the County Hospital. Police Chief Palmer is already there. Scully tells him what she knows about correct procedure, and most importantly, in a case like that, “There would be a chain of custody for everything on the officer’s bodies.” she says. Chief Palmer already knows that from receiving the clothes and other effects from police shootings at his job in Joliet, before he was hired for his present position. It is good that he has a medical examiner from Mt. Weather Facility to back him up, on technical medical matters, though. The County Medical Examiner, Dr. Watt, who has been called in from his weekend, is indignant about being questioned, but when Chief Palmer subjects him to a barrage of questions that pretty much indicate that there’s no way out of this, he finally breaks down and admits that he lost track of the clothes. “The orderly told me that he’d disposed of them, and I just never followed up on it." ”And this orderly...? Is...?“ says Chief Palmer "Gillette...He’s no longer here…” Police Chief Palmer tells Dr. Watt he may return home, but not to go anywhere out of the area, because he WILL be needed again. Chief Palmer returns to the station. Hospital records show that the orderly was fired. The HR director confides to Detective Pinardi that the doctors and nurses thought he was stealing patients' medicines. He gets the orderly's full name, address, and phone number from the files. Mulder and Scully, now joined by Evans and The EX-Files Agents in the van, follow Officer Campoflores, Detective Pinardi, and Officer Lanza in their car when they go and arrest the former orderly, Reginald Gillette, at his apartment, on suspicion of being an accessory to a crime. A warrant obtained later shows that he has pictures in his phone of his brother and himself posing in the police uniforms surrounded by the other three family members who were the three fake arrestees. (Mulder watches as Scully rolls her eyes at The StupidTM going on here.) The police uniforms are found in a storage locker owned by the brother. He also owns a black Silverado Crew Cab. The detectives re-open the case of the two officers shot in front of the jewelry store. It feels like when you turn a combination lock and the cams are lining up. They make a call to Langly to let The Group know that they have been successful. All the EX-Files Agents, and Mulder and Scully go back to their hotel and take a long nap before dinner. At dinner, Mulder orders champagne all around. March 1, 2025: It’s the middle of the afternoon, and snow is expected in the evening. Mulder and Scully drop most of the EX-Agents off at the Airport and Mulder takes the van back to the rental office there. The group will be home for supper, happy at having brought bad guys to justice. Mulder calls Agent Torres to expect the group at the airport, and, in a phone call Mulder makes to Elder Ness, the Elder compliments the group. "Nine Days! This exceeds all of our expectations!" Mulder and Scully have called their respective workplaces early in the morning and played sick again. They've decide to stay a few days and go look at some of the famous places in Chicago. (They are retired, y’know.) They go out to a sports bar and restaurant recommended by Officer...Nina, and George, who meet them there. (He didn’t take the flight out.) “The Blackhawks are playing the Anaheim Ducks,” says Mulder indicating the large screen. They order several appetizers and they are able to make a meal from those, plus sides, plus selections from a list of craft beers, and dessert. When The Mulders pull into their space in front of their motel room, big flakes of snow are drifting down. Scully undoes her seat belt and leans across the console, resting against Mulder. They watch the snow come down for a few moments. Well, exactly five minutes, actually. Mulder’s watch goes off, because he set it so they wouldn’t fall asleep and freeze, tragically, in their car, steps from their motel room. The next day they visit downtown Chicago and Mulder calls Torres from underneath The Bean, which has snow on top... He asks Torres to make out the cheques and send them to the EX-Files team members. He calls Babushka to check in on the Cabinistas. “We got about 6 inches here, but the roads are cleared,” says Babushka. “Will and Heloise came in last night. I was just about to go get some groceries for them. They're going to try to make a stew the way they've seen Scully make it. We'll save some for you to try when you get back. Glad that this was a success!” The Mulders go sightseeing, mostly indoors (Art Institute! Museum of Science and Industry! Field Museum!)from that point on. The new FBI Agents go back to the Hoover Building, or the Chicago Field Office, none the wiser. In his press conference, Police Chief Palmer credits his officers and detectives for their fine work apprehending the suspects. Photo Source: https://www.instagram.com/chicago.explore/p/C1xu5ztsWyN/ https://ly.lygo.net/af/images/background.jpg
This Part 4 starts on February 20, 2025, after Mulder and Liam flew back from Chicago: When we last left young Liam Dowd, he was on his way back to his home in a suburb of Washington, DC. Although the bus goes past the end of his street, he gets off in the downtown area with his suitcase and backpack and buys a gift card in a sporting goods store. When he gets home he is greeted by his mom and next door neighbor Mrs. Green, a retired nurse. He had asked Mrs. Green to look in on his mom in his absence. He figures she will refuse to take money, so he’s been very clever, he thinks. She won’t refuse a gift card to this big sporting goods store. She and her husband are the very definition of an Active Retired Couple. They could be in an ad in AARP magazine holding golf clubs. They are in several groups that go hiking and play tennis and even a pickle-ball foursome. His mom has taken in their little pug dog on two occasions when they kayaked over the weekend. “Time for a re-stringing!” says Mrs. Green, when presented with the card. Of course, the store does re-stringing. and Liam is very pleased that Mrs. Green seems to know exactly how his gift will be used. He helps Mrs. Green bring all the little things she’s brought over back to her house: her Yatze set, her picture albums, several cds, and her cd player, and a basket, use unknown to him, but he uses it to carry the items. Mrs. Green carries Ching Shih back, along with her leash, bowl, and a dog toy. Liam calls Mulder later and gets the news about how the new FBI agents are, in the opinion of Police Chief Palmer, “just flopping around like a fish on the dock.” He also checks in with Agent Torres just to keep up with the latest stuff new management is up to. “Oh, the new guy made a rule about reporting. Everything goes through him now... he keeps close watch so no success goes uncredited to them.” Liam lets both men know that he’d be interested in joining a Wavy Seals Team in the future, and expresses his wish to “get in on the action.” When Mulder calls him with the news of the group’s success, he expresses this wish again. In the meantime, Liam continues to help his mom. He does some early spring cleaning with his mom, and expands this by going to his Uncle’s place and helping there. He cleans his Aunt’s windows, a very big job, as their house has six bedrooms on two floors. This keeps him busy through the end of February and into the first week of March.At the end of the next week,Thursday, March 6, 2025, Liam has an interview with a firm that provides security to businesses. The position is a night watchman at a warehouse. He thinks he might get the job. It sounds awfully lonely though. Also, someone at his mom’s Card Group (meets every Tuesday for cards and lunch) tells him that they've seen advertisements for Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Liam gives that person a look that would bore through steel plating, but then, realizing they are trying to help, thanks them. Also in March, back at her parent’s apartment on Bountiful, Bridgette continues to make her recovery. She is visited from time to time by Elder Adele. Elder Adele brings her the news from her worksite out on Planet Serenity (the close English translation of the planet’s name,) and things are still difficult. “It’s requiring very hard work to overcome the terrible effects of the meteor strike,” says Elder Adele. “It’s lucky so many Bountiful Space Exploration ships were in the area to rescue the people and creatures there.” Of course, the Space Cadets didn’t only try to save the people there...they had moved whole herds and populations of critters to other places plus saving botanical specimens and even bugs and microorganisms. Each ship, each trip out, was quite a full Ark. In their little corner of Virginia, Scully and Mulder still go to her Adult Bible Study group on Wednesdays (the Ecumenical Group no longer meets) and they do so on March 5th. While there Scully gets a call and schedules working at the Women's Center on Friday. On Thursday, the day Liam had the job interview, Mulder calls Liam in the evening and asks him if he would like to work on the farm to help plant some seeds in little containers in the greenhouse. Now that Babushka accompanies Scully to many places, there’s work in the greenhouse for someone to do. There’s also deliveries to supermarkets and restaurants. Mulder sometimes has a full week. Mulder sets up an hourly wage for Liam of $50 an hour from 1 to 5 pm. He says Liam will be welcome to dinner at 6:00 but he won’t be paid. Mulder has decided to give Heloise’s device a test run again as well. He explains to Liam that Liam is going to help him test his new security device: a drone which has a camera. Liam will do that just by driving up to the farm. This farm work idea sounds like fun to Liam. Like every kid in the city or out in suburbia, he grew up curious about what being on a farm would be like. He knows it’s a lot of work, but he also knows people get a lot of job satisfaction from it. He figures after so many years in the FBI, Mulder must like to go out and plant things. His mom has had a garden every year since he can remember. Mostly he has just watched her as she worked, but he still has a pretty good idea about basic things, like planting seeds in little cups. The next day, Liam drives his Mom’s SUV (he has always used public transportation to get to his school or to work) to the cabin using GPS. When he gets there, Mulder takes him past their house on the walkway to the patio. Out on the patio Mulder brings a small drone in for a landing. He catches it when he shuts it off. He tells Liam, that the test was a complete success. Mulder shows Liam that the drone has a camera. He removes the camera and replays Liam’s approach from the drone’s aerial viewpoint. “I absolutely saw you coming, Liam!” Mulder explains that he will station the drone above his property so he can see anyone driving down the long road which is the approach to the cabin. This exercise saves him from explaining that he has an alien device his daughter-in-law gave him which was originally designed by her Uncle to monitor unfriendly spacecraft approaching the military outposts around her home planet and the device has been modified to give the people at the cabin advance notice of anyone approaching, by air, land, or mountain stream. Mulder and the Cabinistas were all warned via their phones about Liam’s arrival and would have had time to prepare if it had been an unwelcome visitor. Mulder and Liam do some tending to plants inside the greenhouse. They are starting lots of tomatoes and some broccoli, cabbage, carrots, and cauliflower in little containers. Over the years Frohike has learned to use various types of "starter cups". The ones they are using today are made from bath tissue and paper towel rolls, cut in half or in thirds, and then cut, folded, and glued at the bottom. ("Just a dot, holds a lot," said Frohike, instructing Mulder on making the little cups.) Root vegetables, like carrots, get the larger paper towel roll cups. The Group of two is down at the end of the field doing the really hard work. Liam does a lot of very light tasks. Then there are long breaks and Mulder and he discuss national events and local news.Mulder and Liam discuss tariffs and what they might mean for the economy. They've both seen websites that have lists of commodities that the writers say people should "stock up on now" because prices on these items are predicted to go up. Mulder relates his theory that, because tariffs are paid to our government by the manufacturer or supplier, from another country and the increase is passed onto the consumer in this country, they are a very sneaky tax. The government gets the money. Then the government can continue to do business, paying or everything it orders, but now can give a big tax break to the top 1%, or top 10% later. and so these are taxes on goods passed through a middleman. After an afternoon of seed planting, Mulder calls another break and leads Liam into the cabin through the back door, and almost immediately they are followed in by what Liam deduces are Mulder’s son and daughter-in-law. Liam thinks this is strange, because he didn’t see them outside, but decides they could have been lots of places on the property. Mulder introduces them to Liam, and then they and Mulder have a conversation about someone named Bridgette. Apparently this Bridgette is Heloise’s sister and she has gotten out of the hospital after an accident requiring surgeries. She’s at home, at their parent’s home. The dogs get excited, and Mulder goes outside and waves as Scully comes in from her on-call job at the Women’s Center. Babushka has been with Scully all day, and she power walks through the house, giving a little wave and saying, “Привет всем!» (Hello to all!) as she goes to the back door and on out to the bunkhouse. Mulder introduces Scully to Liam. Everyone enjoys a drink and a vegetable dip snack tray from “Mulder’s Bar and Grill” where “Everybody knows your name“ says Mulder, as he sets Scully’s drink down on a cork coaster on her grandma’s antique hope chest which is used to store pillows and afghans for winter comfort on the couch and overstuffed chairs in the great room. (The afghans are all knitted by Babushka, of course.) Mulder tells Liam the paid part of his visit is over (and a success! he reminds him.) and he slips Liam a cheque for a very generous amount of money. Liam thinks Mulder’s family is very nice, but, Umummm, odd. He doesn’t know what to make of the little old lady who doesn’t know English, then Heloise explains to Liam that she does cosplay as an elf or a Vulcan so she had an “ear job”. She’s wearing a band that covers her ears, but he does see the outline and they do look...elf-ish.. Liam nods his head, not really understanding but deciding he doesn’t have to know much about cos-play. He’s seen pictures of Furries and Anime characters from conventions of those type of actors. Mulder finds out more about Liam’s family...that his Dad was in the military and worked in the Pentagon. "My Uncle Darius still works at the Pentagon," says Liam. He’s kind of interested that Will and Heloise both have some sort of job at the Pentagon. He “gets” that they do investigations at AARO, but they "work from home". Liam knows AARO (All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office) is the part of the Pentagon that does investigations into unidentified aerial phenomena, so It seems “like father, like son” to him. Liam knows Mulder was called "Spooky" by the other guys. The Group now comes in, having showered and changed out of their overalls, in the case of the two who’ve worked in the field all day, and out of a dress, in the case of Babushka, who had accompanied Scully all day, into casual clothes for dinner. Mulder introduces them to Liam. Liam now gets a very strange feeling. They are odd in a way he can’t actually describe. He knows it would be rude to stare, so he doesn't. Mulder turns on the local and evening news on the over-air tv. The group has a short discussion about what one of the stories might mean. Mulder thinks “someone ought to sue all these people” who are “turning people out of their jobs!” Dinner is empanadas, which, Liam finds out, is Mulder’s specialty food that he makes with the help of Scully “or whoever is around,” says Mulder. There are sauces, refried beans, and corn from last year’s garden which has been home-canned in jars. Frohike tells Liam that the three of them, the field hands, do the processing and canning, or storing (as in bins) of most of the vegetables served at the farm. Liam nods his head. He doesn’t understand why the three field hands aren’t eating any of their delicious home canned corn, but he decides that maybe they have eaten earlier. And also why isn’t the little old lady at supper? When Liam leaves later that evening he feels he definitely has inched up a little more on the list to be considered for the next Wavy Seal operation. But he’s wrong. It turns out that there’s going to be an job opening on the Pixel in a few months as Heloise is pregnant. She will spend the last part of her pregnancy on Bountiful, at her parent’s apartment. She’ll share a room with her sister, which they used to do as children. They are looking forward to it. Will and she think her pregnancy might have started around the time of their anniversary. Paris again. “We may have to give our baby a French name,” she says to Will. They are expecting the child in October. The Space Exploration Program has a very generous plan for new mothers. Heloise may not go back into the program for years. She might be a stay-at-home mom. This could be a really good opportunity for Liam. On the flight back from Chicago, Mulder and Liam discussed Liam’s interests as regards work. Liam said solving cases by using solid scientific methods was one of the most attractive aspects of FBI work. “All the forensic and lab work-DNA, fingerprints, voice analysis, and now things like facial recognition...I was hoping to get the chance to specialize in all that science. But now...well, I guess I have to lower my expectations a little”, and he laughed a forced laugh. Liam puts the hurt into words. “I was fired for waste, fraud, and abuse; waste, fraud, and abuse. I was doing ...waste, fraud, and abuse.” He takes a breath and tells Mulder that he’s glad that he has so many little chores to do for his Mom -he’s actually started and completed several projects around the house which he never had time for before. And that helping his mom is something that has kept him… “I guess you could say I’ve had dark thoughts...” Liam has not had this conversation with his mother. “My Mom would be too upset if I told her this stuff.” Mulder had decided right there and then on the plane to see if Liam could be recruited into the Space Exploration Program. Now that a position has opened up on The Pixel, the Elders ask if they may get to know Liam better. Liam gets a call from Mulder the next day, Saturday,, asking him if he’s like to come over the next Tuesday, March 11th. Will and Heloise will be there. “Usually Will and Heloise help us out during the spring planting.” says Mulder. “There will be more planting and general tasks.... It won’t be much that you won’t know how to do...You might get asked to move a pile of stuff from here to there and then later move it back again.” Mulder says the pay will be as before, and he is again invited to have dinner. “ ... Oh…!” says Mulder “You’ll be working just with Will and me, Heloise is visiting with her Spiritual advisor. They will be consulting most of the day but she and her Advisor will join us for dinner.” Liam has to go to the store for his mom, and he makes a side trip to a store that sells gift boxes of almond-stuffed dates along with candies, fudge and other sweet treats, and gets three boxes. He also buys three boxes of date rolls that are covered in coconut. He puts them in the refrigerator and tells his mom to give one of either or both to Mrs. Green, who will be coming over, and he also will take some to the Mulders. That Tuesday, after a brunch at home, he heads out in the SUV. He knows the way there. He wonders if he’s being tracked by the drone again. Mulder makes sure to be outside with the drone in the air filming him when he arrives. Once again “The operation is a success!” declares Mulder. Liam has questions in his mind about how using a drone would give advance notice...are they planning to keep a drone up in the air 24/7? It doesn't seem very,,,Liam decides it's not his business. As before, everyone at the cabin knew Liam was coming up the road because of the notification they received on their phones from Heloise’s device. Liam presents Scully with the two packages of dates, then he and Mulder work in the Greenhouse, putting herbs into bags, sealing them with a machine. They store these in a small refrigerator in a room off one end of the greenhouse. When asked to help inside, Liam and Scully have a discussion about religion. Heloise and a lady introduced to him as Miss Adele are sitting in the Great Room. Liam responds to Scully’s question about his religion by saying,”Well, I usually go with my mom to church, because she likes to have someone sit with her. I like the hymn singing, and having someone give a talk about how to be good to others is nice, too...” Liam continues, “I once heard a quote by Abraham Lincoln about his religion and he said, ‘When I do good then I feel good. When I do bad then I feel bad. And that’s my religion.’ I think that’s about right. I like to do good. I like to help other people. That’s why I joined the FBI.” Mulder comes in and everyone in the house watches the news on the over-air TV. They have a short discussion of some of the top stories. Mulder loudly opines a criticism of Elon Musk and the “DOGE Boys” firing government workers. If Liam thought he was going to get let up on at dinner, well, he didn’t. Miss Adele also wants to know about him. He says his dad died when he was a baby, and he doesn’t have any brothers or sisters but he has four cousins, and every summer he and his mom, who inherited some money from her dad and mom, so she was able to be a stay at home mom, stayed in her brother’s summer house up the street from Green Hill Cove, in Rhode Island. (Mulder does not interrupt to tell him he's familiar with Green Hill Cove.) They would all walk down to the beach. They swam every day, even on rainy days as long as there was no lightning. He tells her about his mom, Eveline Dowd, her neighbor Mrs. Greene, and Ching Shih. Miss Adele tells him she knows of a program that needs young people who want to go out and help others. This catches Liam’s interest. He laughs and says, “You can put my name in. I’d apply to a place that wants me to go do some good.” There is a lull in the conversation right at this point. Miss Adele smiles and says, “I think any group would like to have you onboard.” This particular turn of phrase: “onboard” seems to provoke smiles all around the table. Liam can feel the smiles, even coming through his back from Mulder and Scully, who are now in the kitchen prepping to serve the meal, although he doesn’t know why that pleased everyone so much. At that moment, The Group comes in through the back door. They’ve showered and changed and now are in casual clothes. Once again, Liam now gets a very strange feeling. He tries to suppress it because he wonders if this is some unconscious bias showing itself. But over what? Will sets out iced water for the three and they sit at the end of the table. Scully has made a very nice dinner of fish fried in the air fryer, cole slaw, (made with cabbage and carrots from the greenhouse and storage bins.) and there’s a basket of bread on the table and another basket of rolls. There’s two butter dishes. Everyone eats plenty of everything (seconds, even seconds and a half) except the three farmhands. Liam decides that this must have something to do with...what? Scully says she has made a some biscuits for dessert and yesterday she prepared strawberries from Mel’s Greenhouse (indicating Frohike. who sits across from Liam at the table. He takes a bow, a seated bow. It turns out that The Group uses the name “Mel’s Greenhouse at Galactic Farms” for the herbs they send to the supermarket chain.) This information adds to Liam’s confusion-if they’re so proud of the food they’ve grown, why aren’t they having any? At this point Mulder comes around and taps Will on the shoulder and Will goes to his place next to Scully and Mulder slips in next to Liam. “Liam, “ says Mulder in a low voice,, “I wouldn’t be surprised if you are thinking this is a very strange household. Am I right?” Liam nods his head. “Well, it is a very strange household. As you know I spent years as the X-Files Special Agent.” Liam nods his head. “Well, sometimes you look for the strange stuff, but other times,(he shrugs,) it looks for you.” Liam nods. Mulder says “This bunch here are all a little strange but they’re good folks.” None of the chatter at the table has stopped during this exchange. The Group are very happy with the progress they’ve made getting things planted. Byers describes some of the new hybrids they’ve gotten from the seed companies. Heloise and Miss Adele tell everyone that Bridgette is doing very well. Liam asks if this is the same person he heard about before. They explain to Liam that Bridgette-Heloise’s sister, had an accident with an industrial vacuum cleaning device in another country (technically true) and she’s been recuperating at her and Heloise’s parents’ home. Liam says to Heloise he’s glad to hear that her sister is doing better. He actually doesn’t know what kind of situation she might have been in where an industrial vacuum cleaner blew up, but he feels sort of overwhelmed with things he doesn’t know at the moment. He thinks he could let that slide and accept she had an accident at work without knowing much of the details. Liam says it’s time for him to leave, go home, and let Mrs, Green go home for the evening. Everyone is cheery and asks him to say Hi to both his mom and Mrs Green. And Ching Shih, too, of course. Sources for this story include: Virginia Has Become a Hotbed for Immigration Arrests https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/05/us/virginia-immigration-arrests.html A Chinese Woman Led the Largest and Most Successful Pirate Fleet in History https://www.military.com/history/chinese-woman-led-largest-and-most-successful-pirate-fleet-history.html Ching Shih - Madame Ching And Her Crew's Exploits https://www.thewayofthepirates.com/famous-pirates/ching-shih/Photo Source: Seeds Started in Cardboard Tubes FELRQN1G8LWTE1J.webp 
“The big test is...will Liam come out again for a visit now that he’s seen that we’re ...unique... here at Galactic Farms?” It’s Sunday morning, March 16th, and the Mulders, the younger Van de Camps, and The Group are all at breakfast. The Group has made pancakes. They have two syrups, one reduced from Canadian Maple sap and gotten at the breakfast aisles at Food Tiger, and one made in house, or, in hot house, from reduced strawberry juice, gotten from several flats of strawberries Frohike had started in back in 2020, in recognition that strawberry shortcake was a favorite dessert of Bountiful Aliens and Earthlings. Mulder had decided to ask Liam to come over on Thursday and Friday of the next week and has made that call. Liam and his mom were getting ready for church. Liam seems enthusiastic enough. “So I guess we didn’t seem too awfully strange?” Actually they did seem that awfully odd to Liam, but his mom had counseled him that “it takes all kinds!” all throughout his growing up years, so he wouldn’t be narrow-minded. “Well, you said they were nice. I’m going with that.” Mulder has added an invitation to stay overnight Liam says he will have to see what arrangements he can make for his mom. Liam has already turned down the offer of the night watchman job. He's still hoping to be put on one of the Wavy Seals teams.Liam has picked up a little helpful hint from working in the Greenhouse, however. He tells his mom about using tp and towel tubes for seed starter containers. She has always bought the little cups from the home store. She says she will start to save the tubes so she can try out this idea. As is usual on Sunday, Mulder and Scully have a part time job to go to, so they do. The younger Van de Camps have on-going experiments out in the Solar System to check up on, so they go out to the new garage and take the elevator up to the third floor which is baffled, that is, it’s concealed from view by a combination of camouflage and false fronts, with a touch of Alien cloaking thrown in. The Pixel is parked there on top of the garage. The garage has a retractable roof. After Bill Guilder your friendly builder and his crew finished building the garage, “which was the biggest garage I’ve ever built for a house!” said Bill Guilder, the third floor was added, and concealed using Alien Technology. A crew from Bountiful added more structural support to the walls of the building then removed the roof and added the spaceship garage on the third floor. They put in an elevator to make going from the first to the second floor, where Will and Heloise now live and work, then, up to the ship garage, easy to do “Even with an armload of scientific equipment,” adds Will. In truth the garage was another house. There was a living space on the first floor: two bedrooms, a bath, and a common area, with a small old refrigerator and a microwave and a sink in a small counter space,then a second floor with an office space, a bedroom a bathroom, and a partially covered deck on top of the living space on the first floor. The deck also was a place where, if you stand on the deck, in the right place, you can be whooshed up into the Wooshing Room in the ship, so there are three ways to access the ship from the garage, a side entrance, a bay with a large bay door, and the Wooshing Room door, on the bottom of the ship. The garage itself is a two bay garage, with a drive through third space -a tall carport which could house an RV, or two cars but is used for Will’s truck and the small tractor. In order to fit all of that built space in to the space at the driveway, the Group poured a concrete pad and then moved the bunkhouse to the other side of the patio. The greenhouse did not need to be moved. “Well, yeah, glad we didn’t have to move all of that,” says Frohike. “I don’t like change,and neither do my herbs and vegetables” he adds.”Too much fuss and bother and the lettuce get stressed!” Anyway the garage is a spaceport. Liam comes over Thursday and will stay over to Friday, the 20th and 21st of March. His mom goes to her brother’s house for a visit (she usually goes about once every season. She goes for an extra long visit when they are at the summer house. She can take public transportation with her purse and a small bag, with medicines and a laptop. She has clothes and toilet articles in the guest closet at her brother’s place. When Liam arrives at the cabin,the sun is peeking over the mountains. Liam doesn’t see Mulder out with the drone. Liam puts in a full day. He and Mulder make little seedling boxes from paper tubes. They pluck sprigs, or leaves from the herbs and put them in plastic bags that they seal closed, for delivery to restaurants. He and Mulder have a tuna fish sandwich and chips at lunch. Liam will be staying in the guest room, upstairs in the cabin. Mulder says Scully is staying in town with an old friend. Will and Heloise are “working” and “may be in tomorrow.” Mulder puts a casserole in the oven and lets it bake. There’s also a salad in the refrigerator, all made. Mulder and Liam eat and the three farm hands don’t even come inside. Mulder says they’re busy “fixing some broken equipment”. Liam stays up with Mulder and watches a movie, The movie is about a guy and his dad, who is difficult to get along with and also dying of cancer. His son concocts an elaborate ruse to keep him alive. Liam doesn’t know if that could be done. “Something would go wrong,” he thinks. Would the dad be mad about being tricked? Liam thinks about his Uncle Darius. He doesn’t think anyone at any time has ever thought they would be able to pull a trick on Chief Warrant Officer Doud. On Friday Liam puts in another full day. He comes down in the morning when he hears the dogs eating. There’s a lot of metal scraping sounds, some snorting, and continuous crunching. He and Mulder have cold cereal with juice and coffee. They pack the sealed bags into boxes for each restaurant. There are two bags with chicken salad sandwiches, chips, a bottle of water and a can of soda in each. Mulder and Liam put the boxes in the back of Will’s truck and do deliveries to the restaurants. They have lunch, then they take some herbs over to the food kitchen. They come back to the cabin. then once again there's a casserole ready to be put in the oven and a salad. Will and Heloise just seem to appear and come in the back door right before supper. Once again the three farm hands are somewhere else, not at dinner. After supper, Liam and Will go out “Let’s watch the sunset”, says Will, and, as the sun sits low in the sky, they sit in Adirondack chairs on the knoll. They've each taken an afghan to wrap around themselves. Will says “It’s been a very clear day and it’s supposed to be clear tonight. We should be able to see a lot of stars...” They sit out quietly for a while. Then, Will begins to talk about the stars, about what constellations are where this time of year. Liam also begins to talk about the stars. He got a badge for identifying constellations in Boy Scouts, but he also would sit out with his Uncle Darius and look at the stars at the summer house. Then Will and Liam have almost the same conversation Liam and Mulder had on the plane. Liam doesn’t confess having dark thoughts to William. He does say that he feels like his big chance is pretty much over. Will sits for a bit then says, “If you got the opportunity to do some science work, would you be able to figure out how to take care of your mom? I mean-suppose a job required you to be away from home most of the week?” Liam says, “Well, I don’t know. There’s Mrs. Green and my Uncle Darius. My mom and I discussed this now that I am no longer on a rail line to work. She had said she’ll figure something that would work around whatever job I got. My mom had to raise me by herself. She was lonely and very depressed not only about my dad but that they wouldn't have the big family they planned. Of course, I was lucky to have Uncle Darius as my role model. I was in the same Scout Troop as his two boys. I went to Scout Camp with them too, for a week each year from age 8 to age 11.... Uncle Darius was always right there with what was needed. There was a kid at school that was bullying me. Uncle Darius came over on a Saturday, all by himself. That afternoon he took me out into the back yard and taught me how to throw a punch. If Uncle Darius helps us, we’ve got a lot of options I think.” Well, I know of a position that’s open but it does require just that-you go out all week on the job, then you go home then out again”. ”What is the actual work?” ”Oh, you’d like the work. It’s doing science experiments and also a a little sleuthing, so you get to use your FBI skills.” ”Some sleuthing? That sounds good.” Liam would rather be known for his science and FBI skills in sleuthing than for his waste, fraud, and abuse. It’s very appealing. Will sits more straight up. ”OK. From this point on you can’t ever tell anyone about our talk. Whether you take the job or not.” ”Um. OK.” Liam doesn’t think of himself as a blabbermouth or a snitch. Quite the opposite. “Yes. I promise I will never tell what you say from here on out.” Liam thinks it might be a job with the Pentagon. Some secret military program. ”Or what you see?“ ”Yes, that too." "Good! Come with me.” Will flops his afghan over his chair. Liam does likewise. Will leads Liam to the garage. They get in the elevator. Liam isn’t looking at the floors, but then he looks at it, the read-out is at “3” This seems very strange. Then the doors open. It’s a big space, a big room. So big it confuses Liam. Will has Liam stand next to the elevator “Stay here.” and Will goes over to a table and picks up out a small hand held device: “I’m going to press this button here.” says Will. Liam nods. Will presses the button. It’s the Pixel’s cloaking button, which we last heard of when the ship momentarily materialized above Langly, Byers, and Frohike in the Teaser, to show everyone on the Naval Base there that the Lone Gunmen were being abducted to a spaceship. The ship appears, like a magician’s trick. Liam coos. “Ooooh! ... a space ship?” ”Yeah,” says Will, “It’s part of a space program run by another race of beings. They’re very nice.” ”Have I met any of them?” says Liam. ”Yup." ”Let me guess...Heloise?” ”Yup.“ ”That’s why her ears are pointy?” “Ha,ha! You got it!” ”How about those three field hands? “ ”Nope. That’s another story.” ”Not Mulder? “ ”No.” ”Not Scully? “ ”No.” ”How about that lady Miss…” “Wow! Score! Miss Adele, Elder Adele, is the one who approved you for the program, She’s a big cheese on their planet. She’s had her ears ”done”. ”Ah!” Liam is thinking that Heloise and Miss Adele seem very nice. ”Would you like to go inside?” ”Um, I guess.” ”Don’t push any buttons.” Will grins. ”No.” Liam grins. He makes an exaggerated motion of clasping his hands in back of his back. Will presses another button and a set of stairs open like a Murphy bed-down from the wall. from a long rectangular (looks like a staircase might be there) type section of the craft. He goes in. "Welcome aboard The Pixel" says Will loudly. Liam unclasps his hands to help him ascend the stairs. Will takes him down the corridor, for they are in a corridor. He points out the Bridge, the Engine Room, and the Science Lab. A closed door is "my and Heloise's bedroom and bath..." He says the kitchen, a bathroom, a conference room, three bedrooms and storage space are in the floor below them. He says there are storage areas above and below the two floors. The floor they are on is considered the main floor. Will goes into the Science Lab, and Liam follows. Liam is attracted to a picture on the wall. There’s a picture -a computer printout of a digital picture of a close-up of Saturn. The visual is on a big screen, and, off to the right side, a counter-top with some science equipment on it. The picture is taped up next to the same now-dark screen and empty counter-top. The close-up of Saturn was taken by someone standing exactly where Liam is standing now. Liam turns to Will. His eyes are wide. Will says “Right now we’re doing some tests to find out more about some of the moons of Saturn.” Mid-way in the corridor there’s a set of stairs and an elevator. They go into the elevator and it’s a large, long elevator. A gurney or a large piece of science equipment could be brought up or down in the elevator They go down to the kitchen, and Will opens the refrigerator. He recommends a can of fizzy pomegranate drink to Liam. Liam takes it. Will takes another, and they pop them. "Cheers!" says Will, raising his soda can. He shows Liam Heloise's drinks. They have logos and writing on them in the Alien Language. Liam has been seeing other examples of this language in the places one might expect: directional and safety signs, the buttons in the elevator, etc. “So, What d’ya think? You would spend 5 days each week in this tin can.” Liam doesn't answer. Will has a pitch: ”You can’t work here if you get motion sickness. You can’t work here if you get claustrophobia. You can’t work here if you think Earth is the only place God loves, and even there he only loves certain people. You would take an oath, but it works like dual citizenship-you would still be an American Citizen first. The people from Bountiful-that's the English translation of their planet's name- have sometimes become Earth citizens and have lived their lives on Earth. Most of the time they just observe, though. They do take a surprising number of Earthlings into their Space Exploration Program. There’s a group I play banjo with -it’s a band made up of of Earthguys from several wholly different continents who are in the program. When we jam, it's mostly in the Bountiful language because that’s the language most of us share. If you take the oath, you are allowed to visit their cities, unescorted; maybe even marry one of their citizens.” Liam laughs. He hasn’t has a date in years. The FBI isn’t a great place to pick up women. Mulder is famous for being the exception that proves the rule. ”Heloise and I do experiments on different planets in this Solar System. It’s our section to explore. We send information back to Science Base. Heloise and I also work with AARO but that’s to make sure no unfriendly Aliens show up thinking Earth is ripe for the plucking. That’s where having access to all my parents’ files-the X-Files-comes in. Dad and Mom did a lot of work to make sure we didn’t get taken over. That work continues.” ”There’s a position coming open here because Heloise is expecting our first child in October. When she’s a little further along, she’ll be going home to her parent's place on Bountiful to have our child there. So we need another crew member to work with me. You would start in a week or so , and then, around June, Heloise leaves. By then you should know how to do some of the procedures.” “You should think it over and talk it over with your mom. Here: this is the contract." Will hands Liam the two page contract, which is folded into thirds. Liam sticks it in the back pocket of his slacks.” Liam states, “It’s amazing how much this is exactly what I was looking for but totally different from what was looking for.” ”Really. Same here.” They go down another set of steps and out into the bay, on the other side of the ship. It has a large garage door size entrance, which they go through. They walk around the back of the ship. When they reach the side with the elevator, Will re-cloaks the ship. They take their sodas down the elevator and, after putting the sodas and the contract on a metal table, they rewrap themselves in the afghans, and retake their seats. After a bit more stargazing, Liam decides to turn in. Will tells him to leave the empty can and he’ll put it in one of the bins. Liam takes his contract into the cabin. Will returns to the second floor of the garage, drops the afghans on a chair, and drops the cans into a recycling bin next to a desk in the office, then goes into the bedroom. He strips to his undies and undershirt, and climbs under the covers. Will spends about a half an hour remembering his first encounter with The Pixel. He was 12 and in the 7th Grade. A new boy came into class after the school year had started. His name was Mitchell Stewart. They became friends. Mitchell lived on another farm close enough for them both to ride their bikes for a visit when they didn’t have chores to do. Mitchell played drums. Will decided to teach himself to play banjo. One thing they had shared that made them especially close was that Mitchell also was an adopted child. The Stewarts had a large blended family with three adopted and three “natural” children. The other children were younger than Mitchell. “I get to try everything out for the rest of ‘em.” He said this to Will on the Van de Camp’s porch steps when Will complained about being an only child. “Well, I guess I didn’t mean to sound like such a grouch!” said Will. Mitchell cleverly countered with a boast about how he never has to “wear hand-me-down clothing”, or “even play with toys anyone else has played with first!” Will sits glumly at this, knowing this is about him, too.. Mitchell places his hand on Will's back in a comforting gesture.“Oh...I was just kidding..I get a lot of stuff from my cousins!” says Mitchell. “Oh...I do too! “ says Will, climbing out of his little wallow he’s dug. The two decide to play a video game. With permission, Mitchell stays for supper at the Van de Camps and Mr. Van de Camp gives him and his bike a ride home in the truck after another video game they play after supper. Will was over at the Stewarts sometime in the spring...Will remembers it was a little before Easter- 2015? and the girls at Mitchell’s house were all showing him their new Easter Clothes. He knew enough about girls to smile and nod with enthusiasm, even thought it was ...y’know, b-o-o-r-ing. Will and Mitchell went outside to sit on the porch. They talked about science, their favorite topic, and science fiction, their second favorite topic. Mitchell asked Will if he would ever want to meet a being from another planet. (Leila's note: As Will realizes later, only Will thought they had switched from science to science fiction. Mitchell was still talking about science.) Will responded with real enthusiasm about this. "Wow! a being from another planet? Sure!" “What about going up in a real spaceship?" “Whoa, I’d want to!” Wouldn’t be scared?” “Probably would be... But I’m scared of the roller coaster at the amusement park now, sooo... Eh! I'd MAKE myself do it!”Mitchell gets up and indicates that Will go with him. They go to the barn. Surprisingly the barn has an elevator. They get in and Will sees that have gone to the 3rd, floor, which doesn’t seem right. When they step out they are in a large room. A very large room. It’s much larger than the barn below. Will is confused by this. Mitchell goes over to a small table and picks up what looks like a small remote device. “I’m going to press this button,” he says. He pauses, then presses the button. Suddenly there’s a spaceship in the room.“Whoa, COOL!” “Yes!” “Was I promised a ride?“ “Let’s do it.”So they did. They went inside to the Bridge. They re-cloaked, opened the roof, went up far enough for Will to see all of the Stewart's farm. They went and looked at the school from above. They looked at the Van de Camp Farm. They returned to the Stewart's farm. Mr. Stewart waved from out near his car. “Can he see us?" asked Will. “Sort of. You have to know what to look for." “Cool!” says Will. Mitchell and his family left the community at the end of the school year. Mitchell confided that they were moving to somewhere so his younger (Alien!) sister could recruit another Earthling for the Space Explorer Program. Mitchell continued to pick Will up on weekends and teach him how to operate the ship and also do science experiments. Sometimes they would play along with music Mitchell had on a device. Then Mitchell got a position as the pilot of a shuttle service from Bountiful to several of the ships. He could continue his studies on-line. He is the one who brought baked goods from Heloise's mom to The Pixel during the Pandemic, when they couldn't go to Earth because of the Covid. First Will had an Elder for a temporary mentor, then Elder Adele saw to it he had a person his own age and that's when he was paired with Heloise.Will is reliving his ride around the community in The Pixel, and his memories of Mitchell, and Heloise, when Heloise comes up the elevator. She comes in and kisses him. We see her shadow on the wall as she takes off her clothes and gets into her nightgown. She says, “How’d it go?” ”He seems interested. He doesn’t want to leave his mom alone for several days at a time. She gets depressed. ” ”Maybe there’s a workaround for that.” The next day. Liam has a long talk with his Mom, Eveline.. He’s decided to tell her in small bits about everything. It turns out that when his mom stayed over with his Uncle, something very much like a workaround happened. Eveline begins, “I hadn’t brought anything up yet about the possibility of you working on a completely different schedule, and Collette brought up something remarkable about her plans for when she’s in college. (Collette is Uncle Darius’ oldest daughter. She is looking forward to her high school graduation and beyond. She and her best friend Hannah, have both been accepted at George Washington University. ) “Now, they could commute from home, but what they propose to do is something quite different. They want to rent the third floor!” The third floor at the Dowd’s house is very rentable. It has two bedrooms, a small living room and a kitchen and bath. It has a separate staircase. “It may have been a maid’s quarters, back when the house was built.“ was how Eveline always described it. Of course, when his dad and mom bought the house, they figured to renovate it for a large family. It mostly has been used for a guest quarters. It would be a very safe “first apartment” for two young women who want to experiment with living away from home. Everyone liked the idea. “Well, of course there’ll be no rent...you’ll only have to pay for the utilities and food you use.” said Eveline. Liam liked that, when he was off at work during the week, his cousin and her friend would be available for company for his mom, if she got depressed and needed some company. He knew they already understood this. His mom was ready to do her part, too. They already were talking excitedly about what favorite foods Eveline could have waiting for them when they came in from class.Liam calls Mulder to tell him about this. “There’s a downside, though...I might not be as available as before to come work in the greenhouse,” he says. “At least for about two weeks. We’re going to move the girls in and all the guys are the moving crew. Up, up, up to the third floor!” The girls get mostly moved in although they still sleep at their parent’s house while they finish high school and have Graduation. And Oh, a huge party at the Bernstein’s. The whole class was invited. What a buffet! Well! What would you expect from the owner of Bernstein’s Deli? March 26th through the 30th, 2025, is the annual “Wooshing Day” celebration at the cabin. The Group gets some new caps, which they don’t really need but they like that they have a bigger choice of headwear. The caps are red. “Oh...We’re making red hats great again!” says Byers. Monday, April 7, Liam brings his signed contract back and has been asked to have dinner and stay over. Mulder says he could use his help out in the Greenhouse. During Happy Hour at Mulder’s Bar and Grill, he’s asked to try on some of the uniforms the Space Exploration Program provides the cadets. Liam is very amused. He’s seen Will and Heloise in these uniforms and always just thought they had peculiar taste in clothing. Just more of the Galactic Farms oddness. He doesn’t know if it would be rude to bring this up, so he doesn’t. The size uniforms that were a little large will go back into storage. He changes back into his own clothes. He’s given a list of suggested personal items to bring aboard. There’s also a list to check off if he has any allergies, phobias, or the like. He takes all these things up and puts them in his suitcase. Dinner is a take-out pizza.Photo Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/a-couple-of-wooden-chairs-sitting-on-top-of-a-lush-green-field-PQSvTqVNH7Q
The next day, Tuesday, April 8, and Liam is given the task of tending to the Specialty Herbs Frohike is growing in the Greenhouse. During the first “coffee break”, Mulder shows Liam the device that Heloise has given them to warn them of anyone coming toward them at the cabin. “Heloise’s Uncle invented it. The drone is helpful but this is our first warning system.” Mulder asks Liam if he wants to put it on his phone They spend a few minutes doing that. “All set!” says Mulder when he finishes the process. Liam goes back to tending the herbs. Liam is aware that the hard part of planting is being done by the field hands. He’s given lots of breaks. Mulder wants to know if he wants to work the next day and they agree to that, and Liam calls his mom. In the evening they all watch the evening news and discuss several stories. Once again, Mulder decries “the wanton destruction of people’s careers”. Dinner is Jambalaya with shrimp and smoked sausage rounds. Red peppers and green onions make it colorful It has a little heat but not too much. It’s served with cornbread. Liam gets a second helping. Once again the field hands sit with glasses of water. Liam has seen them at the end of the field all day, planting. There is no way they have had a meal beforehand. Liam decides he has to know what is going on. “So the other day we went to see the ship....” says Liam. “And... I’m going to be aboard this ship doing Science and also doing work with AARO making sure we don’t get taken over by bad Aliens. This is all pretty amazing...” ”Yes,” says Mulder, “That’s right! See, there are good guys out there and bad guys. We’re real lucky to know the good guys.” ”I’m especially lucky,” says Will “I married one of the good gals!” He smiles at Heloise. ”Yes. But…” Scully says, “Oh it’s really hard to think about, I know-an invasion from outer space! But Heloise’s planet successfully kept the bad guys from taking over her planet!” Scully smiles at Heloise. ”Yes, but…” ”They’re glad to share their technology with us to keep the bad guys away” Mulder is thinking about the Heloise’s warning device and how well it performed. Liam sits and looks at them. He looks a little forlorn. It seems to dawn on them that he’s confused about something not covered in Will’s tour of the ship, or in the contract, and maybe not about the warning device, either... He looks directly at The Group. ”Why don’t you three eat anything?” ”Ohhh!” “Ahhh”! “Ohh!” Comes from The Group. “We, ah Ha Ha Ha!” The group looks at each other and all three shrug. Langly says, “Liam we don’t need to eat anything.” ”Why not?” ”Because we’re robots.” ”…?”Liam's eyebrows go up. “Robots.” Langly stands up and pulls up his tee shirt, which is a tour merch shirt from a band, and removes it, up and over his head and onto the chair behind him. With his left hand, he touches a place on his ribcage on the left side of his chest, and then, crossing his chest with his right hand, pulls the front of him open like a refrigerator door. It even makes the same sound. Liam wakes up. He’s in the guest room. His suitcase is on the floor in front of the closet. Scully is sitting in the chair next the bed. ”You OK now?” ”Yeah” ”They got made into robots by our government. They got sent on really dangerous missions the government wouldn’t have sent soldiers out on....They got blown up a lot. But what they didn’t like the most was that they never really were told what they were doing. They delivered boxes sometimes. They figured they might be delivering drugs or arms to someplace shady. Will and Heloise “abducted them” with The Pixel and brought them here. They’re hiding out. They don’t want to go back.” Will and Heloise peek in the door, “You OK?” says Will. “Did she tell you it was our government that turned them into robots?” Scully turns her head to Will at the door and says, ”Yeah, I told him.” Then she turns back to Liam, “This is why we have to be very careful about who comes to the cabin.” ”Um, yeah. OK. That makes sense.” Scully gets up and all three say “Goodnight!” to Liam. He says "Goodnight” as well and then he calls his Mom. He tells her he’s staying over. She says that’s fine and she has been told to stay as long as she wishes. Liam is surprised that he has no trouble sleeping. When he wakes up he has to use the bathroom and, in the hallway on his way back to the room, he hears the sound of dogs noisily eating kibble. So he goes downstairs and Mulder is pouring himself a cup of coffee. He asks if Liam would like a cup and Liam would. They sit at the table. ”Well, I did tell you some of us were strange, right?" ”Anything else I should know?”” “Hmmm, well, You probably should know that any of those three guys will take a bullet for you. And It’s not just because they’re robots and they just would have to be patched up. When they died the first time they sacrificed themselves for others. The government was looking for that type of person to make into a robot. They love their country. They won’t let any bad guys get us if they can help it.” Liam has breakfast with Mulder and Scully and then Mulder and Scully take off for their Adult Bible Class. Liam goes upstairs and packs his suitcase, then comes down with it and his backpack and watches a news program with Will and Heloise. Will asks him if he wants to take another look in The Pixel. He further says, “We could go up in the ship and see the farm from above.” This sounds like fun to Liam, so he goes with them up to the ship. Will de-cloaks it and opens the stairway and they go into the Bridge. Liam sits behind Will so he can watch Heloise. “She does more piloting than me, so watch her!” says Will. Heloise starts the ship then cloaks it. She retracts the roof. They rise up in the air and Liam watches the screen. Heloise moves the ship down over the road a bit, so they can see the farm. Liam can see the Group working in the field. They wave. Then Heloise guides the ship back until they’re over the patio. Langly has walked up to get some tools out of the shed. Will says, “Come with me and we’ll whoosh down to the patio.” This sounds like really fun, so they go to the Whooshing Room and whoosh down to the patio. Will instructs Liam to move out of the way so he can whoosh back up. Liam moves back and watches Will get whooshed up. Liam thinks this may be why people just show up at the back door. Langly comes over to Liam and as the ship goes up, he shows Liam how the ship disturbs the sky very slightly, so you can see where it is if you know what to look for. Liam goes back inside and gets his suitcase and backpack and goes home. He helps his mom with her garden. They make a few cardboard tube containers and plant seeds in them. But they use the store bought containers for the rest of the seeds. The Pixel is out to Bountiful for fourteen days, from April 13-26 and the ship is remodeled. The Science Lab is moved to the supply room, which is directly below it, and the place where the Lab was is now the Pilot’s quarters. Will and Heloise get to stay at her parent’s house catching up on Bridgette’s recovery. She has another cosmetic procedure on one of her arms scheduled for the end of April. She can do tasks, but she has a lot of scarring and this procedure will improve that. The treatment she has gotten so far has been very successful. The doctors now think she will not have very much scarring on her face or limbs. While the ship and Will and Heloise are out at Bountiful, Liam gets a break, sort of. One of the older Wavy Seals Ex-Files team members, Albert Silverman, suffers a stroke. He’s OK! He gets emergency care immediately, and he is out of danger, but there will be a rehabilitation period. Liam is asked to go in and help the team. He’s happy to do so because Al is the one who takes evidence collected at the scene and brings it to the Police Laboratory. He helps the guy in the Lab run tests. The team is finishing up an investigation of a drive-by shooting. Two people were injured. The team has concluded that this was intended to scare the older brother of the victims. Neighbors the team questioned said the young man had started hanging around with the wrong sort. The son refused to provide any names. The mom said she was planning to move. The team reported this as “stalled” at this point. Torres begins to look for a permanent replacement for Al, in case he decides to take an early retirement (Al is 51, but keep in mind that mandatory retirement at the FBI is at 57 years of age, Al has told Torres of his other interests, like taking over the management of his brother’s restaurant “until the kid finishes business school”. Then both brothers will “head out to a golfing community in Arizona.”) The Elders see this as some extra experience Liam will get working in a laboratory. The understanding is that Liam will be available to work on the Pixel at the end of June at the latest. The Pixel is ready to go Saturday and Will and Heloise are back at the cabin on the afternoon of Monday April 21. They say they could use a nap, so they go rest up in the garage office until dinner. The Group makes a lasagna with a green salad. They serve it out on the patio. There’s pudding for dessert. The Group clears and brings everything in while the evening news is on. In some cities the National Guard has come in. Some farms report that their workers won’t come to work out of fear of being seized and deported. Government agencies are being sued. Universities are being threatened with defunding. Mulder says, that, “in case you missed it out at Bountiful last week...” he takes a breath and exhales it with a huff... “the Wormy Guy at Health and Human Services fired all the CDC people!” Through the end of April and the most of May, Will and Heloise alternate visits to the Van de Camps’ and the Mulders’ farms. No matter where they go, the older folks are upset with the amount of chaos the new administration is causing. “The on-again, off-again tariffs are making it impossible to make any plans!” exclaims Mr. Van de Camp. Will and Heloise find that the solar system, with all its crashing meteorites and magnetic storms is a little more manageable than farm life at the present moment.On June 11, after early Mass, Mulder and Scully are at their Adult Bible class. Now there are some discussions before and after the scheduled discussions of the Book of Ruth, that ICE has raided businesses and farms in Virginia. Many attribute it to the governor’s approval of the process “Not only does he approve, he solicits it” says one of the farmers of the group. Father Brennan asks the group to sit for a New Testament Reading. He reads about The Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus enumerates all of the people who are especially blessed because they have faced a trial or a hardship. Father Brennan concludes with a prayer. The group sitting in a circle, join hands. Father Brennan prays for the group, the community, the nation and the world. He finishes by inviting the group to join him in Jesus' prayer. After, people sit for a few moments, then get up hug each other and depart. Mulder and Scully each have a fruit and nut bar in the car (They keep some in the glove box) and decide to to eat at home, just a snack, as it's getting on in the afternoon. The Group comes in and air fries some salmon served with a salad, and bread. Everyone turns in early. In the middle of the month, there are two “Teams” of Wavy Seals in actual operation, a total of twelve guys. who are usually out on assignment, due to getting recommendations by word of mouth among police chiefs. Liam is out with Team Seal #1 . The drive-by shooting has become a cold case because the victim’s brother won’t say what he knows. The family moves. Now both teams are investigating very weird criminal cases. Former Assistant FBI Director Torres explains these strange cases to Mulder: “So, in the first case they found this employee floating in one of the little ponds at this family theme park, where the actors re-create life in Gilded-Age Virginia. It's near Richmond. They are having a typical day where actors playing servants in the mansion are playing their parts, and they’re on the porch serving tea to other actors, with an audience there, and they can look out and there’s this thing bobbing around in the pond. It turned out to be one of the for-real grounds-keepers. He’d been missing for about a week. A storm the night before disturbed the body where it was weighted down and sent it to the surface. So we have Seal Team #1 out there.” “In the second case, which was started June 17th, Team #2 is investigating an “accidental” shooting which took place during The 253rd Burning of the Gaspee on June 15th, just two days before." Torres gives some historical context: "The original burning of the Gaspee took place in Rhode Island June 9th to June 10th -overnight- in 1772, six months or so before the Boston Tea Party... The Gaspee was a British ship that was interfering with everyone’s shipping business-making them stop in the middle of Narragansett Bay while they checked to see if they had the tax stamps on their cargo. So this little ship the Hannah lured the Gaspee into shallow water and it -being a bigger ship- got stuck on a sand bar. The Gaspee was waiting for high tide to come in the middle of the night, but they got boarded by colonists masked to conceal their identities. They shot and wounded the captain, took the crew to the shore and held them, then they burned the ship to the waterline and the powder magazine exploded. Torres stops to emphasize:"not just boxes of tea, you understand-the whole of His Majesty's big ship-if it could have sunk it would have sunk... When the local actor playing Lieutenant William Dudingston was shot ...Well, you have to understand that he’s supposed to be shot because the historical Lieutenant Dudingston was shot in the leg and the groin during the boarding of the ship.” “ow.” “He had made himself unpopular with the Rhode Islanders.” “Will they be able to cast that part next year?” “Maybe not the same actor,” says Torres, dryly.“So there was a lot of confusion.” says Torres. “They had to take him ashore in one of the boats, just like in the original story, and then -this time- they air-evac him from the shore. He’s wounded; in the hospital. The gun got dropped into the bay and they don’t have it yet. The Seal Team #2 is there to see if they can figure this all out.” So, the Wavy Seals teams were busy. Al Silverman told Torres he was going to retire, so he’d better get a replacement. Liam is overdue to start his duty on the Pixel. Sources: https://gaspee.org/ Photo Source:https://www.istockphoto.com/search/2/image-film?phrase=3%20cups%20of%20water&page=2. 
Thursday, June 12, and Scully is not going to the Women’s Center, and so Frohilke, as Babushka, does the preparation and delivery of specialty vegetables herbs and spices to the restaurants and supermarkets. On Friday, June 13, Mulder and Scully have the rare opportunity to go out on a date to dinner and a movie. They go see "The Materialists", a romance. Then they go to their favorite place to "make out" up off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Then they have their usual Saturday and Sunday jobs at the Library and the Mt. Weather Facility, and then a very uneventful Monday and Tuesday catching up on chores around the cabin. Will and Heloise are visiting. So it was about 7:03 am on Wednesday, June 18, and Mulder and Scully were both dressed and ready to go in to have a breakfast in town and then attend Scully's Adult Bible Studies, that the alarm went off in the cabin and on their phones, everyone’s phones. Mulder makes sure the ring cams are set to be motion activated at the front and back doors and also on the driveway. Mulder goes out to the garage, retrieves his gun and holster from the car, and brings them into the kitchen. Mulder puts the gun and holster in the "gun box" -a metal tin that once held shortbread biscuits, with Scully's gun, in the pantry, takes the drone from off the shelf in the Great Room, and goes back out to the patio. He sends up the drone to get a video of whatever is going to happen. Heloise and Will and The Group go to the garage and take the elevator up. In a few moments Mulder, standing on the patio operating the drone, knows they are aloft. He waves. (Besides being very friendly, this lets Heloise and Will know he's not going to crash the drone into their ship.) Scully has gone over to the small file cabinet in the corner of the great room and has pulled out files which contain the originals and copies of licenses, birth certificates, and passports Leon Greeley had made for The Group. As she straightens up she comes face to face with the poster which has been in their office, various offices, for something like 40 years. “I want to believe too!” she says back at the poster. “I want to believe good wins over evil.” Her head drops and she stands, eyes closed, lips moving slightly, holding the files for a several moments, then she mouths a word directed upward, and continues her preparations. Mulder has come in and gone out while she does these things. Scully puts the folders with The Group's documents on the kitchen counter. She makes sure the front door is locked, and also takes a look at the ring cam. She checks the back door cam, and puts the panel in the dog door at the back door before she joins Mulder on the patio where it abuts the driveway. “All we do now is take full breaths and keep from fidgeting too much,” says Mulder. Scully smiles, “Are you getting my good side?” she asks, looking up. “Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up” says Mulder in his now-legendary falsetto. Indicating the road as the lead ICE truck becomes visible down the road. “and those wonderful people out there in the dark…” Scully calls up to the ship. “Sure, sure,” says Langly. “It’s them all right. One of ‘em is hanging out the passenger side window with his rifle...um, I guess in case Bambi and Thumper attack? We’re filming it here.” “Don’t forget to let us know if you need help.” adds Byers, leaning into Langly’s phone. As Heloise skillfully maneuvers The Pixel to keep all of the trucks centered on the screen, Will has gone into what functionally is a glove box on the dashboard, and has retrieved what we would call an “owner’s manual.” He finds the page he’s looking for and passes it back to The Group seated in the second row behind him and Heloise. It’s written in Bountiful’s language but the pictures are clearly diagrams and cutaways of The Pixel’s wholly adequate defensive and offensive arms systems. “Whoa.” whispers Langly, “Is this what I think it is?” He points to some parts of the diagram wordlessly. Frohike and Byers nod. A close up of their eyes would find their pupils dilated to the maximum. The leading white panel truck pulls into the driveway. The rest of the convoy-a second white panel truck and three SUVs-park along the side of the road. A guy in camo and a sidearm drops down from the passenger side of the first truck. He has a short conversation with the driver, then he swaggers over to where Mulder and Scully stand. Scully’s phone is still connected to Langly’s phone and Langly turns up the volume. Mulder has the control box of the drone. Clearly the guy wants to know what it is, and clearly Mulder tells him, pointing up, that he’s flying his drone over his farm, on his property. Will turns a knob and a console opens out into his lap. He opens a screen, pulling it up and, pressing a button on the screen, he now has a view of the scene below. The Pixel is stationed above and behind the lead guy. Will presses a button. A line of white characters appears on the screen. Will pulls a stylus from its holder, locates the ICE leader, standing with his parents, touches his back, and then he touches the first of the characters and a small crosshairs “sets” in the back of the leader. The crosshairs follow the leader as he moves. Now Will lifts a joystick-like controller from where it is secured to the side of the console. He pulls the stick up until it goes “click”. He returns to the task of locating each truck and SUV and assigning them a character which “sets” a crosshairs on each. Frohike says, in Russian,«Каждому из них он присваивает значок!» (He assigns each an icon.) Byers says, «Он может быстро переместить их.(He can re-locate them quickly.) As he moves down the line of trucks and SUVs, there is a barely perceptible movement of the ship at each stop. The Group can feel it, though. Frohike says, «Что-то движется» (Something moves.) Langly re-finds the illustration of where a weapon is located in the front of the ship. He points to it. Will has finished assigning each part of the convoy a character. He returns to the character assigned to the leader and touches it again. Will pulls a microphone on the ship's control panel over to his face. He turns it on, taps it, then turns it back off. He slides his hand over the joystick, He leans forward towards the screen, and says, very quietly, “Hey, ICEDude: Don’t touch my mother.” It would be apparent to anyone aboard The Pixel at this moment, that this also applies to touching Will’s dad. The Group is pretty sure of this. As this exchange about the drone on the patio goes on, armed men in camo get out of the trucks. Without any by-your-leave from the owners of the property, they run, in formation, past the lead truck, over the patio and past the Mulders, and then they fan out and go into the field. Mulder asks Scully to go sit with the dogs, who are barking loudly. (Scully, as you recall, is the one who comforts the dogs whenever the others set off firecrackers.) Scully goes inside and puts Rani and 'Rooni on leashes and slides the leash loops under and up two legs of the heavy table in the Great Room. She could well imagine a scenario where she is yanked and pulled sideways like a cartoon person with nothing but a puff of air to show where she WAS standing with the dogs on leashes and then they yanked her out of the frame. Then she tells them to sit and they do; they both sit between her and the back door. 'Rooni the little off-white shepherd, sits on Scully's foot. As she sits in one of the overstuffed chairs, Scully shushes them and strokes their fur. She continues having an open line with Langly. Her phone lays on the broad arm of the big chair. She tells him that she’s inside sitting with the dogs. Onboard the Pixel, Will relaxes his grip on the joystick. Heloise leans over and rubs his back with her free hand. Will takes a deep breath, then returns his attention to the screen. He finds each ICE Agent and assigns a character, as with the lead man. Now he is using two characters per man, consistent with a numbering system. Mulder has been bringing the drone down and he catches it and puts it and the control box on a metal table on the patio. Any video The Pixel takes can be attributed to the drone and it could be entered as evidence if he sues the government for violation of his Fourth Amendment Rights, which, at this moment, Mulder is at least mulling over as a response. The lead man moves past Mulder up onto the knoll so he can oversee this operation. “There’s no one here you’d be interested in.” yells Mulder. He gets no answer back. Two of the agents walk past Mulder, knock on the door, then enter the cabin. The dogs jump up but the leashes, and the heavy table stop them. Mulder takes his drone and control box, follows them in, takes out his phone and asks if they have a warrant. They don’t answer him. Mulder puts the phone, the drone, and box on the table, picks up his phone and films them as they look in all the rooms, upstairs and down. For the benefit of the video, he asks again if they have a warrant and once again gets no response. Scully holds the collars of the dogs. The two men leave the cabin. The agents outside have looked in, and gone in, the bunkhouse, the garage, and the greenhouse. Mulder notes that they don’t seem to have figured out that there’s a cellar in the greenhouse, or, and this is important...a third floor in the garage. his son and daughter-in-law probably locked the elevator when they exited it. (It's an Alien elevator, it locks. Also, if the elevator is locked, a set of shelves moves in to the space. Part of the cloaking technology. There are boxes on the shelves with uninteresting content descriptions: crib bedding, plastic hangers, light bulbs, extra binders, etc... nothing to see here!) Mulder moves the folders over to a cluttered corner of the counter and puts them on a pile of old mail from the week before (they have a box at the Post Office, and Mulder went in on Saturday to get the latest batch of bills and circulars.) The Agents haven’t asked him for any information so he’ll be damned if he’s gonna volunteer anything. After what seems like a much longer time than the actual 60+ minutes (he noted the time they arrived, as did every person aboard The Pixel.) they climb back into the vehicles and leave. They have turned around in the wide place end of the road at 8:07 am. On The Pixel, Will begins to go through "stand down" procedures with the console. Finally he puts everything back in its resting place and closes it up. Langly tells Scully when they turn out onto the main road. She removes the panel on the dog door, lets the dogs off the leashes and watches them bolt outside, sniffing. They check the Duck House. The cats are off in the woods doing Cat Clowder Business this whole time. Mulder and Scully call in to Father Brennan, who runs the Adult Bible Class, and tell him they will be late, and why. They have some cold cereal with dried cranberries and sliced almonds on top and coffee. When they get to the class, everyone wants to see the film. They have Mulder’s phone and the drone footage. One of the farmers, Titus Reeves, who has experienced this at his own farm, (he says he was able to warn his workers, but "now they've left out of fear, and I have to hire people who are very slow...and more of 'em to do the same work!") asks Mulder if he may call up someone he knows at the local TV station. He says, "We didn't have film of it, so it wasn't as impactful as your video of this!" Mulder, after consulting with Scully, says, "Tite, you should do this! Call them. It's an outrage!" The local station wants to know if they can interview Mulder and show his film footage. Mulder says he or his farm can’t be identified, but he agrees to let them show the film with any identifiable scenes deleted, “because people in the community should know this is going on.” The reporter does a good job on the story, even calling up one of the law professors at the local college and asking her for commentary. As the film is played, she points out that the ICE Agents "...did not have a warrant or permission to go in any of the buildings...clearly a Fourth Amendment violation!” she says. The next day, Mulder writes all of this up, what he experienced from his perspective, for the Wavy Seals Newsletter. Of course he explains that the workers were called and they “didn’t come in to work” because they “didn’t want to be harassed” He also mentions that he had copies of the workers’ documents, but “they didn’t find anyone so they didn’t ask.” Mulder says he can answer any questions at the next Wavy Seals meeting, which is the next Thursday. Photo Source: https://x-files.fandom.com/wiki/%22I_Want_to_Believe%22_poster?file=I_Want_to_Believe_UFO_poster.jpg To be Continued in Part Eight, below... Leila here: It might make y’all chuckle to know that until I wrote it, I didn’t know The Pixel had weapons. I swear, No, I didn’t know, I mean, they let Teenagers drive it… What? Would your parents have let you drive (driven?) driven the family car if there was a machine gun mounted on the middle console? Y’all will do well t’keep in mind you don’t want to make any of these Aliens angry. If one lands his/her ship next to you and demands to be taken to your leader, see if y’all can get him/her in to see Stephen Colbert. I know I’d like Mr. Colbert to get an exclusive interview, then air it on his first show SOMEWHERE ELSE...Snort! I'm feeling a rant coming on, so we'll just move on to the next part. Sometime in the future, down the road, I may add a special section with just a RANT in it. 
Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box. - Italian Proverb The day after the raid by ICE, Thursday, June 19, 2025: It’s Juneteenth, Mulder was planning a BBQ, but asks Will to do it, helped by the Group, as he needs to think over what has happened. He spends the day on the Internet. He has a Document open and he is taking “notes” by copying and pasting information into the Document. Mulder asks the Cabinistas to have a family meeting in the kitchen after supper, which is served out on the patio. The Group brings the last load of dishes and cups to the dishwasher, and close it up. They will run it later. Mulder gets himself a beer from the fridge, pops off the cap, drops the cap into the wastebasket in the pantry, rounds the turn and takes a seat to the right of Scully. He starts by saying how much he appreciates having The Group living at the house. “A lot of retired people sit around lonely, Not me. I can hardly keep up!" Mulder pauses, taking a sip of beer,...”And, in fact, I really can’t. So, I’m going to put myself on “Substitute” standing for my part time job at the Library. I’m still going to help Coach O’Connor when he gets an emergency call. And Mel, I know you could use more help in the Greenhouse, and making deliveries. Also I’m going to be available if the Wavy Seals or AARO need me to help them. I still want to go out and do gigs with Earthen Vessels.” He takes another sip. “Yeah, I still like doing gigs with them and with you too.“ Says Will. Mulder takes a sip. Mulder practices with the group but usually can't perform on weekends when he's been working at the Library.They have a guitarist. Mulder helps with percussion and vocals when he does perform with them. “Yup, I’d appreciate having you to help at the Greenhouse on weekends.” says Frohike “That Liam, he’s been real helpful, too.” Mulder takes a sip. “What I’m looking for is flexibility.” Says Mulder. “I’m thinking of reorganizing the Wavy Seals, less as a social club, more like a crew that shows up for a job. I’d send out a newsletter and manage the payroll, but no dinner meetings. A lot of guys-most of ‘em -have gotten new jobs and have moved away or are just too busy to make the meetings. This actually a good thing. Being fired for waste, fraud, and abuse...that’s all back in history now.” Mulder pauses and checks for questions. He chugs the remainder of the bottle. Mulder sets the bottle down, and then drops the real purpose for the meeting. “I’m going to try to start a resistance group. Getting raided by ICE was a violation of our Fourth Amendment rights here. We might get some of the former agents who aren’t on teams, and we might get some farmers from the Bible Study group, or the folks who used to come to Ecumenical Services. We might get some people who just don’t like what they are reading in their morning news.” He continues,”I‘ve looked around and there’s this Internet site- it works like a bulletin board- people post meetings, protest events, and other people go there to see if anything is going on in their area, and they can sign up to come to the event.“ Mulder stops again to let someone ask a question if they have one. “Well, I guess this means our trip to Puerto Penasco is off?” asks Scully. This garners a giggle from the group. “Seriously, though, If I was going to go to a protest I think I’d want to go to a protest held by a guy who has 34 years in the FBI. You’re pretty up on the legal parts of this, right?” Mulder states, “I aim to spend some time looking it all up” If Scully knows anything it’s that Mulder does his research, whether it’s the Jersey Devil or cow exsanguination, he gets the facts.On Friday, Mulder goes over to St. Pat’s to visit Father Brennan and asks him if he may use the room where they have Adult Bible Study for a meeting about ICE raids. Father Brennan says he’s been wondering when “some one of you farmers was going to get upset enough to organize!” They both laugh. “Yeah, I’m your hothead, rousing the rabble, stirring the pot ...I’ve got my pitchfork and torch out in the back of the car.” says Mulder. “You read about people arrested in church?” asks Father Brennan. Mulder hadn’t. He’s a little taken aback. Father Brennan continues, “Well, several cases of it. It’s disrespectful to The Church. That’s just my opinion, but I feel it’s being done as a power-play, to show who's boss. If you need me to make calls for you, any other service, don’t hesitate to let me know.” Mulder is a little stunned at Father Brennan’s response. On the way home he has a flashback to the famous Hebrew National hot dog commercial. “We have to answer to an even higher authority.” Mulder smiles as he considers that Father Brennan answers to an even higher authority. Maybe Mulder does too? Well, that and the ICE Agents knocked over some of Frohike’s pots of herbs when they went into the greenhouse. “It was just rude.“ said Langly. Mulder goes over to the library and resigns in person with Ms. Diane Kessler, the head Librarian. He tells her that he wants to be a Substitute. He says he can work the next weekend and the one after, if they need him. He tells her he’s intending to start a resistance group. He shows her the video and pictures he took with the drone and his phone. She says “Was that your farm on the news?” He gives her the shushing sign, a smile and a wink. She smiles and says quietly, "I'm glad youre standing up for your rights!" He comes in that weekend, but then Ms. Kessler calls him on Monday and says she has gotten a replacement, and he should start his group “ASAP!! “I know of several people who want to join,” she says. Mulder gives her the address of the site where he intends to post notices of events and tells her there will be a meeting soon at St. Pats.When Mulder was looking at the site, he saw that there is a student group and a group that’s being funded by the local Democratic Party in the local area. He has no competition for his target membership. He decides to make his group for politically independent people, farmers and working folk, business owners and employees. He posts that there will be a meeting. Saturday afternoon, June 28th. On Saturday, Mulder has ridden in with Will and Babushka to the Farmer’s Market and spends the morning with them in the booth. This is the first time he’s not gone in to work at the Library since he and Scully went to Chicago. After he helps set up, he takes some odd-shaped or otherwise unsalable vegetables over to the Food Kitchen and then some specialty vegetables over to a restaurant. He shows up early to St. Patrick’s and gets the key to the room from the office. He opens the room and takes a folding chair out to the front of the building so he can sit and direct people to the room. About ten people show up. He’s not surprised that Farmer Tite is there, but he’s very pleasantly surprised to see Bill O’Conner the plumber there. And Ms. Kessler, the Head Librarian. The rest of the people are from the Ecumenical group Scully used to attend while it met. They represent the Pleasant Union Baptist Church.He gets a response from Liam. Liam wants to join him on the protest but can’t make the meeting. Mulder says That’s OK “I'm posting the protest soon, check the site for where and when." he says. The other two groups that have posted on the site are planning to protest on Monday, July 14, Bastille Day. The group decides to join them in the center of the city in an area called “Old Town.” Mulder says, “We could meet at the gate to Old Town on the south side of the area. Then we’ll walk to where the others are..” Mulder is thinking how picturesque the place is. He’s looking forward to it as a nice outing as well as a political statement. Mulder has found out from the other posts Old Town has public restrooms and it takes a quarter. He tells everyone he’ll bring extra quarters but to have one quarter at the ready. Mulder has brought some poster board and markers and some other special supplies and the group makes some signs at the tables in the room. Some of them talk about their reasons for coming while they work. Diane Kessler tells him the people she told about the meeting had a prior engagement, but “this group will grow, I’m sure,” she says. They glue one side of a long paint stirrer stick to a large piece of cardboard and set a hymnal on top of it. Mulder says he’ll let them dry, then take them home, staple the sign to the cardboard, and bring them to the protest. When all of the signs are lettered and colored, one of the ladies from the Baptist Church suggests they close with a prayer, and she delivers a powerful one, recalling the struggles of groups in the U.S to work for freedom and justice. Mulder walks the group out to their cars. They wave to each other and to him as they drive off. He goes to the office and writes the details of the protest on a piece of notebook paper so the Church Secretary can post the event in the church newsletter. He visits with Father Brennan, who is organizing materials for the newsletter, and tells him that he’s impressed with the group. “The signs are great!” he says. He tells Father Brennan about each of the people who came. "Oh, those ladies are from the choir" he says of the Baptist Church Ladies. and, then,"Ah, so Ms. Kessler came?" Father Brennan says, looking amused. Mulder has a puzzled look. “Her uncle is Dr. David Kessler”. Mulder indicates he can’t place the name. “He was fired four months ago. He was FDA Commissioner and Chief Science Officer of the White House Covid-19 Task Force.” Father Brennan sits quietly then, letting all of that wash over Mulder. Mulder thanks him for the information and leaves, lost in thought. Mulder carefully takes the signs out to the truck and he puts them in a long box he’s brought to put them in. and he puts a long heavy toolbox on top that just fits into the box with the signs. He returns the key to the Office. He goes back to the Farmer’s Market and Galactic Farms is sold out, so he helps them put everything back in the truck around his box of signs, and they go home. The glue on the signs is dry when he pulls into the driveway and waves back to Langly. He brings everything to the desk in the Great Room, and staples the signs onto the cardboard and stick. After supper he shows the Cabinistas the signs. When he gets to Ms. Kessler’s sign, he relays what Father Brennan told him. “Busy, busy, busy,” says Langly. Mulder continues to find places to advertise his protest. He goes to the police station and tells Lt. Gleeson that he has a group coming to exercise their First Amendment rights in Old Town on Monday July 14th between 9 and 11 am. He also does more helping out with the farm and greenhouse business. He practices with Will and the Earthen Vessel. Finally he gets a call from (now)Agent Torres that a replacement has been found for Al, and Liam will be able to fulfill his other contract, whatever it is. (Mulder and Liam have been very vague about where exactly Liam is going to be working, just that he’s going somewhere else.) Mulder finds out that Will and Heloise want to “cover” the demonstration by hovering over the Old Town area and recording it. Heloise will get the view from above but Will might “whoosh down and film it at street level.” Mulder tells him, ‘I’ll bring the drone, and we can credit the aerial shots to the drone if we show them to anyone “out of the loop” By which he means anyone who doesn’t know about the alien spaceship that is parked at their cabin on weekends. Will has asked the Van de Camps to sit with Babushka and sell vegetables at the Farmer’s Market. As is usual, Gus Van de Camp wants them all to "give 'em Hell" over in Washington." Heloise and Scully have been shopping, and Heloise is looking properly outfitted in a maternity top and stretchy pants. Scully is thinking she’ll give her a Baby Shower and wonders if Avai and Bridgette can attend, maybe by the Alien version of Zoom? Maybe she, Lena Van De Camp, and Heloise could go there? She'll call Avai. Oh-Elder Adele might want to attend, too. Bastille Day arrives. Mulder loads the truck with the signs. It already has been loaded with produce for the Farmer’s Market much earlier by the Group. As he takes the signs through the kitchen, and puts them in the long cardboard box and places his backpack on top, then returns to the kitchen, he sings: Allons enfants de la Patrie Le jour de gloire est arrivé! Contre nous de la tyrannie L’étendard sanglant est levé L’étendard sanglant est levé Entendez-vous dans les campagnes Mugir ces féroces soldats? Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras Égorger nos fils, nos compagnes! Aux armes, citoyens Formez vos bataillons Marchons, marchons! Qu’un sang impur Abreuve nos sillons! Amour sacré de la Patrie, Conduis, soutiens nos bras vengeurs, Liberté, liberté cherie, Combats avec tes defénseurs; Combats avec tes défenseurs. Sous drapeaux, que la victoire Acoure à tes mâles accents; Que tes ennemis expirants Voient ton triomphe et notre gloire! Aux armes citoyens! Formez vos bataillons, Marchons, marchons! Qu'un sang impur Abreuve nos sillons! There are some people who complain about how militaristic the Star Spangled Banner is. “Huh,” thinks Mulder singing, “Aux armes, citoyens! Formez vos bataillons, Marchons, marchons! Qu'un sang impur, Abreuve nos sillons!“ (To arms, citizens! Form your battalions, Let us march, let us march! That their impure blood Should water our fields.") “La Marseillaise is, um, a little rougher.” Mulder opts for the choice of Babuska dropping him off at the gate to Old Town. After he gets dropped off, he sits on a little low wall. He has a backpack and the stack of signs. Another guy with a sign comes over and sits next to him. They chat. Mulder learns that this guy goes to college and is waiting to see his group to arrive. A group of three college age girls comes over and sits on the wall. Liam is dropped off by a bus at the bus stop up the street. Mulder knows Liam has no girlfriend. He tries to give him a non-verbal gesture towards the three girls, but Liam misses the cue. He gets up and meets Liam in front of the girls, and maneuvers himself so Liam sits next to the girls, with Mulder on the other side. Everyone chats, and then a big group of young folks comes up the street from the parking lot, and all the young people on the wall go with them. Meanwhile the ladies from the Baptist Church have come up to them and with them is Farmer Titus and his wife Mildred. One of the Baptist Church ladies named Raylene takes out a little change purse and shakes it. It jingles. “We’re ready, Mr. Mulder!’ she laughs. They decide it’s time to go and find a good place to stand. One of the ladies recommends a certain store, and the group agrees that they like her suggestion, so they tell Mulder that where they’ll be. Mulder gives them their signs, but says he’ll continue to wait for others. While he waits, a group of five people arrive saying they saw the protest notice and want to join Mulder. He directs them to the store. Or look for a sign...like one that says, "Shut Up Donald, and make me a sandwich". Finally both Bill and Diane arrive from the parking lot and they join the others in place. Mulder takes a clipboard out of his backpack. He asks the group to write their names phone # and e-mail addresses for him so he can start a mailing list. “And don’t be a smart aleck!” he says, “Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck aren’t here in our group, so don’t write their names!” (He’s learned his lesson.) The group laughs a little. “Not Manny, Moe, an’ Jack either!” he says while the group smiles and passes the clipboard around. Mulder strikes up a conversation with the organizer of the next group over. His group has protested here once before. “Where are the Police?“ asks Mulder. “Oh, they sit in two or three cars over in the parking lot," says the guy, pointing. "They’re just here to keep other groups from bothering us as near as I can figure.” says the guy, Garrett. Mulder goes around and gets the names and contact information of the other groups. There are some good signs and he compliments the artists. He keeps hydrated and reminds his group to take a sip of water now and then. (The Democrat group has brought a cooler of small waters.) Just then Mulder gets the sense that he should look up. He “sees” The Pixel. He looks around and soon Will comes around from the parking lot. He may have Wooshed Down behind a big dumpster. “Behind a dumpster” is one of their favorite places to use for a Whooshing Down. Mulder takes his drone out from the backpack and Will films him on his phone sending it up above the crowd. He asks Liam if he’ll take charge of the drone. He explains quietly to Liam that his biggest task is to keep the drone out of the way of The Pixel. Liam salutes him, ”Aye, Aye, Sir! Got it!“ All this time the women from the Baptist Church have been busily recruiting people for an “a capella sing.” They’ve gotten the people who showed up after seeing the notice. They’ve got Farmer Titus and Plumber Bill. Garrett moves up front and center. The Church Ladies brought sheets with the lyrics on them. One of them points to the white painted brick side of a building that has no windows and says this would be perfect for a projection of lyrics. Indeed, it would. Mulder makes a mental note to check and see if that’s feasible. He thinks the projector might be hard to carry in a backpack. Anyways, the ladies announce the first song and begin to sing. In two-part harmony. Mulder starts to clap along with everyone. Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me 'Round (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJr6YV-KS4Y)Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me 'round, turn me 'round, turn me 'round! Aint gonna let nobody turn me 'round, ‘Gonna keep on a-walkin’ Keep on a-talkin’ Marchin' up to Freedpom Land. Ain’t gonna let Donald Truuuuump (Garrett, recitative: No, M’am!) turn me around! Ain’t gonna let Stephen Miller (Garrett, recitative: No, M’am!) turn me around! Ain’t gonna let Laura Loomer (Garrett, recitative: No, M’am!) turn me around! Ain’t gonna let no no ICE fools (Garrett, recitative: Oh No!) turn me around! Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around, turn me around turn me around! Aint gonna let nobody turn me around, ’Gonna keep on a-walkin’ Keep on a-talkin' Marchin' up to Freedom Land. The crowd cheers. They choose a second song. We Shall Not Be Moved Again, two-part harmony. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppOP9OYR2M4)Raylene shouts out each verse before it comes around. We Shall Not Be Moved We’re Fighting for Our Freedom We’re Standing for Our Children The Union is Behind Us Black and White Together Gay and Straight Together We Shall Not Be Moved And so it goes. They have a lot of songs. Mulder gives a call out to Garrett a "Do You Know?: call out for "Keep Your Eyes on the Prize-Hold on!"(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNRtwgoSf9o OR: https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/mavisstaples/eyesontheprize.html) Garrett makes a little "come here" motion to Mulder. Mulder tries to back out of it, but the crowd won't let him! Mulder says,"I only know two verses." They confer briefly, and decide that they will do those verses together then maybe Mulder can let Garrett take over the rest. Mulder catches Garrett on the chorus for each verse. The crowd cheers! Mulder looks at his watch then raises his hand, waves, points to his watch and shouts a “Thank You!“ to the crowd. “Check your newspapers! Maybe they’ll stop doing bad stuff! But, if not...” And he reminds them to look at the site for the next protest. Mulder makes his way over to Will. “So, Will. I have an idea for our next gig…” Will is down with it. They talk about the technical issues...portable generator? Mic stands? Projector for lyrics to be projected on the wall over there? Mulder wonders if one of the stores would let them run a power cord inside...he thinks about how he might have to bring a little change purse full of quarters- 25¢ per 15 minutes of power?...(It turns out not to be a problem for The Baptist Church Ladies. They know the Presbyterian Church Ladies and if they want, they can run a power cord into the church right there in the mall. When Mulder asks if there would be a charge for this, the Baptist Church Ladies tell hiim they know Scully from the Eccumenical Services. Imagine finding out your wife is considered a generous supporter of the church community. "Huh!" Mulder is amazed. They also know that the workers from Galactic Farms donate vegetables, herbs and spices, and money, to the Food Bank and Kitchen; have for years, every week after coming over from the Farmer's Market from May to September. Mulder realizes that those donations are The Group's money. Imagine finding out your farm hands are considered big supporters of the community food kitchen. ""Huh!" Mulder is amazed.) Mulder goes over to Liam and helps him bring down the drone. Mulder gives it to Will so he can integrate the drone video with the aerial shots taken by The Pixel, plus Will’s video on his phone. Will goes back to the parking lot and gets Whooshed Up out of sight. Mulder calls Babushka and they agree he could have lunch there (Babushka made lunches for the Van de Camps and they will “eat in between customers.”) and then he'll do some shopping.
Langly and Byers have made a buffet with some salads, meat and cheese platters, a platter of crackers, and a relish tray. There's cookies and ice cream for dessert.
Sources: picture: No King! Sign by Leila private collection (smirk!) Bastille Day: A French National Holiday, is the anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille, on 14 July 1789, a major event of the French Revolution. La Marseillaise French national anthem (https://www.britannica.com/topic/La-Marseillaise) Old Town Winchester (https://visitwinchesterva.com/locations/old-town-winchester/) Shashibo Magnetic Puzzle Cubes:(https://funinmotiontoys.com/) Sterling Silver Marcasite Cross Pendant Necklace: (https://www.etsy.com/listing/1891266495/sterling-silver-marcasite-cross-pendant?) UFO Fridge Magnets:(https://www.etsy.com/listing/1760871156/ufo-fridge-magnets-3-pack-glow-in-the)  Leila's Note: These next parts are very new. Some don't have a picture yet. My husband and I are visiting my home state, seeing old friends and relatives, and I will be attending a "No Kings!" march and rally at the Statehouse so there won't be pictures for a while. In June, Liam Dowd is down in Virginia, with Seal Team #1, helping the FBI laboratory technician process evidence from the McKay Family Amusement park murder scene. They’ve processed the weights and rope with which Mr. Ts’ao (Mr. James Ts’ao, 46, originally from San Francisco, CA) was drowned. They’ve processed his clothes. They’ve gone through his apartment looking for evidence. There is not much they’ve discovered with all this going through. Liam, reviewing papers from Mr. Ts’ao’s desk, gets the notion that maybe there could be evidence stored somewhere else. He inquires about it. And to everyone’s surprise, there’s a bank box. Well, yes, of course there is. So they go to the bank and get the box and go to the little room and open it. There’s his birth certificate, his social security card, some certificates of training, some news clippings of high school sports stories (he played soccer) his HS diploma, and …..photographs of dump trucks. “This is something...” says Albert Silverman, who is still helping with the case, retirement be damned.. I’m not sure what, but these trucks...it’s something.” They decide to take copies of the pictures of dump trucks around and show them to the family and the staff at the park. No one from the family seems to know anything. Two days later, on a rainy Friday, Liam is interviewing several staff members who are the re-enactment cast members. The ones who serve tea on the porch as the tourists watch. No one seems to know anything. At the end of the session, Liam goes over to the the end table off to the side of the overstuffed chair various members of the cast have sat in to be questioned, and upon which he had laid his raincoat and hat when he came into the mansion parlor. When he picks these garments up, a small card flutters to the floor onto the oriental rug. He picks it up. It’s the business card of The Jade Door, a small tea room, and, by the address, it's in town. Handwritten on it is the day's date and “6:00 pm” Liam doesn’t react, but puts the card in his pocket. It’s 4 pm now. So apparently he will learn more in two hours. When he arrives at the tea room Liam has no difficulty figuring out what to do next. The lady actor who plays the downstsairs maid is sitting in street clothes at the table by the front window. He remembers her name is Amber, Ms. Amber. She’s been served a pot of tea and two teacups, and some sugar and cream are in silver service off to the side. Liam goes over and says “Ms. Amber?” “Yes, Mr. Dowd. Please have a seat. Do you take tea? “I do gladly. Please. What is it?” “Oolong,” she says, She pours. Liam takes a sugar cube in tongs and drops it in and stirs with a spoon. She does the same to her cup. Neither take any cream. They smile and each takes a sip. “Mmmmm! Just what I needed after all of my interviews.” says Liam. Ms Amber nods in agreement with this. Ms. Amber leans forward and says, very quietly,”Everything I tell you must be held in confidence.” Liam says, “I work for a government group that keeps lots of secrets; yours will be safe.“ “Well, I should begin at the beginning then. I was raised by a foster family- a very celebrated foster family, actually- Time Magazine did a story on my foster family.” Liam nods. “We were located out in Exeter, RI. Out where the coastal plain begins to be hilly and is on the Connecticut border.” Liam nods. “The family patriarch was this black guy -we always called him Mr. Carl-who came from Oklahoma, but decided after he got out of the Army, after being in Vietnam, to move up to New England. And he wanted to be a cowboy, so he was a cowboy, in Rhode Island. (Ms Amber gives a little laugh at this juxtaposition of cowboys and Rhode Island) He bought a large piece of land-an old farm-and brought his family -brothers and sisters and such -along to help run the place, which he named the CircleB Ranch-so we were all cowboys and cowgirls in Rhode Island. We kids-fostered, all eventually adopted- and his own -grew up to be responsible for taking care of the horses, chickens, ducks, goats, dogs and cats on the place and also learn how to entertain folks in the Music Hall- a big dining hall in an old barn on the property. We learned how to dance, sing, and tell jokes along with the grown-up members of Mr. Carl’s family after the dinner part of the evening was over. These were very family friendly jokes and skits, of course, very corny. After I graduated high school, I worked as an adult with the grandkids, and then I decided to try my luck in several other places…I did a lot of summer theater shows like the Warwick Tent, Theatre by the Sea, the Ogunquit Playhouse, The Cape Playhouse-all those... and various local productions-Broadway shows mostly. Then a few years ago I applied to work here at the mansion. I actually should retire some one of these days, but I’m having fun, so (Amber shrugs) and I actually have nowhere else to go. Mr. Carl’s farm was sold years ago.” “Now as far as poor Mr. Ts’ao. There was an event that we experienced back in the mid-70s that all those pictures of trucks put into my mind. This may be nothing. But it may be something.” Liam nods, “Go on, I’d like to hear about anything you think!” “Well, out in the western part of the state of RI, there’s a big reservoir. So there was this guy named Picillo, and he was running a pig farm on the land that was in the watershed for the reservoir. So all his neighbors would complain to the state environmental agency about the smell coming from his pig farm, For a long while the State ignored this-I mean a pig farm...it smells, right? We would sometimes smell it just driving past on our way back to the ranch. So they finally send someone out there because the complaints won’t stop. And the guy realized it’s not just pig manure he’s smelling -it’s a very heavy chemical smell. So he looks around the pig farm and sees places where the ground’s been dug up, so now he realized there might be something buried there. So long story short...the Mafia was running an illegal hazardous waste dump. Trucks were coming in from as far as New Jersey and dumping barrels of the worst of the worst of hazardous waste-well, like there was some stuff that would blow up if it came in contact with water...and this was the watershed for the reservoir, remember!” Liam nods. This is wilder than he could have ever imagined. Ms. Amber concludes,“They prosecuted the owner of the pig farm, Picillo, but never got anyone above him, although everyone was sure there were lots more people involved in Rhode Island and New Jersey, and probably New York, too.” Liam excuses himself and he goes outside and calls the police station in Richmond. He says he’s going to need metal detectors at the place early as possible, then maybe a backhoe. Then he comes back inside and chats with Ms. Amber some more. They are on their third cup when she asks him who he works for. He tells her the Pentagon’s AARO -All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office- ”It’s the new place you call if you see a flying saucer”. She says, “Huh. So do you believe in flying saucers?” “Absolutely!” says Liam. (He doesn’t add in anything about actually going up in one.) After a few stories from her growing up at the CircleB Ranch, Ms. Amber leans forward and says quietly, “I wound up at a foster home because I was abducted by aliens when I was a little girl .” Liam nods his head, more vigorously. (He’s read a lot of the reports by Mulder and Scully that are stored in the Office on the second floor of the garage. He knows a lot of women have been abducted by the “unfriendly aliens” as Heloise calls them. “I actually have no memories from before I was abducted. It may be that I’ve buried them sufficiently deep that I’ll never know who I was before the State Police found me walking along with...um... no coat or shoes in March 1974.. on Rt. 1 in southern R.I. Route at night..." Amber seems to work up her courage to go on...She looks away. ”they-the aliens- put me out with no clothes at all…” She is still looking away. She takes a big breath, “The policeman took a blanket from the back of his car and wrapped me up in it and carried me over and put me in the patrol car, in the back.” Now Ms. Amber begins to tear up. She takes a small package of tissues out of her purse, and opens it, takes out a tissue. Dabs her nose. “And then he got in the front and he turned to me and said, ‘Now, Miss, I’m going to take you to the hospital and I want to get there as soon as possible, so I’m gonna turn on my lights and the siren. Don’t be scared. It just to let the other cars know that we are coming up behind them so as they know...’ Another breath, and dabbing. “So he called ahead then on his radio- he identified himself as Officer DeSalvo- Johnny DeSalvo, and let the hospital know we were coming and they met us outside with a gurney when we pulled up at the door.” Ms. Amber stops here and takes a few moments. “And everyone took care of me.” Ms. Amber stops. She seems to be re-living the moment when she was taken into the hospital and cared for. Liam reasons that it seems understandable that she would want to spend some time remembering that rather than everything that led up to it. After a moment Ms. Amber resumes her story. “So, this was on the big road that goes to all the beaches in RI.” Liam nods. (He knows where this is. It’s how you get to his Uncle Darius’ house near Green Hill Cove. ) He decides to tell her that he spent all his summers in Rhode Island. Ms. Amber seems done with her dreadful story, and ready to move on. “I’m familiar with that road," Liam says, “We used to visit My Uncle Darius down to Green Hill Beach every summer growing up.” Ms. Amber seems pleased to have Liam’s confirmation that this is a real place. The subject sufficiently changed, they chat about Rhode Island, and all the nice places they remember from growing up -once Amber was placed in Mr. Carl’s foster family. “Every year we went to the Newport Folk Festival, and lots of boogie board surfing at Narragansett Beach!” Liam says he liked Narragansett Beach too. And Wickford, the Art Festival. And the seafood. And, suddenly, Liam is hungry. He tells Amber this, and she suggests several nearby restaurants. Liam catches the eye of the waitress and pays the bill. He thanks Ms Amber for all her help and after he stops for take-out fish ‘n’ chips, he goes back to his motel.  McKay Family Amusement Park: Long story short. Ms. Amber is right. The next morning, In a back field, they dig up barrels full of some very bad stuff. The McKays, owners of the park, are charged with illegal dumping. And murder. (It’s obvious the pictures of trucks were evidence Mr. Ts’ao had on the owners. )The FBI decides that perhaps Mr. Ts’ao was extorting the owners, and the family decided to shut him up permanently. Among other bad side effects of these charges is is that the park closes. Ms. Amber, anticipating this, is already calling her agent, who she hadn’t worked with in the 17 years she’s worked at the Park. Liam communicated all of this to Mulder, and Mulder had told Scully. Scully gets Ms. Amber’s contact information, and decides she’ll go interview Ms. Amber herself. And she sets up an appointment at the Tea Room for the next month. Liam has switched over to working on The Pixel with Will and Heloise. All the Cabinistas are pleased that he had the inspiration to look for more evidence, and the FBI found the pictures of the trucks. “That’s some sleuthing!” says Will. Liam grins and takes another empanada and some sauce. Scully meets Ms. Amber in The Jade Door, in downtown Richmond. Over Oolong, they have a long talk. Both remember a lot of painful procedures the aliens did to them, and Scully is able to verify, from Amber’s descriptions of the alien’s ship, and the room she was in, that Ms. Amber is not making any of this up. Ms. Amber tells Scully her best guess about when the abduction took place “I remember we had celebrated Thanksgiving-we’d finished making the last turkey sandwiches for lunch that weekend. In my class at school, we were learning the Multiplication Table.” She tells Scully it was her foster dad, Mr. Carl, who gave her the name Amber, and then his last name. Belmont, as she has no memory of her life before her abduction except these very small memories of Thanksgiving and the Multiplication Tables. Scully, being a doctor, wants to know about her health record. Amber says she doesn’t get to go to the doctor much. ”I do have a dentist, though.” Scully asks her if she would mind if she, Scully, gives her a wellness exam. Ms. Amber says it would be a really good idea to have a check-up “before I commit to having a role in a play...I am planning to try out for several roles.” Amber asks if she could get some shots, like the latest Flu and Covid shots. They set up a time at the Women’s Clinic in Leesburg. Scully and Babushka will pick her up and bring her back. This is not one of Scully’s regular days, so they can leave once Scully has given Ms. Amber a thorough examination. “Nonetheless, you might want to bring a book,” says Scully. When Scully and Babushka pick Amber up at the apartment she shares with two other actresses, she is pleased to tell them that yesterday, she tried out for the part of Lady Macbeth, and also one of the three witches, as Macbeth is being done by the local theater group. At the Women’s Center, Scully gives Amber a very thorough examination including lab work. Scully says she will need several vials of blood as, “I have a lot of tests I want to run” She explains. Scully discovers that the Aliens removed Amber’s ovaries. “Yeah. I never got to be a real woman. I try not to let it discourage me. I think I’ve had a lot of good things happen to me too. Mr. and Mrs. Carl and his family were everything any little girl could wish for in a family, even my own horse to ride, so I’ve always kept that in the front of my mind." As they drop Ms. Amber off at her apartment Scully says, “I’ll have the Women’s Center call you with the results of the exam and their blood tests. If you get a part, call me. I love Mr. Shakespeare, and I’d love to see you in MacBeth!” Two hours later, Liam is pleased to meet Scully at the FBI Laboratory in Richmond, and is more than happy to ask the Lab Tech to run all the tests she wants with the various vials of blood she has brought. Some vials say “Amber”, others just have an “X” on the label. Scully confirms her analysis of the results with the laboratory tech, and takes the reports with her when she and Babushka leave. Babushka notes that Scully seems to be barely suppressing a grin the whole ride back. When Liam met Scully, he took a day off from his task of learning how to operate The Pixel. Will and Heloise let him make it up by giving up a day on their weekend. At the end of the day, the three of them sit in the garage, having parked The Pixel. Liam sits and looks sad. “Hey buddy, why the long face” Will asks. Liam shakes his head. “I don’t think I’m ready. Look I don’t want to do this if I think I’m not ready. Is there another alternative?” Heloise is getting ready to go back to her planet and go under her mom’s care for the remainder of her pregnancy. Now she sits in the pilot’s seat and says, “Oh, my! Will, I could probably put off going back for two weeks or even a month.” Will says, “I suppose. I think all your family will be very disappointed, though.” Then, Heloise gets a thought-”Oh wait...I know! Why don’t we ask Elder Adele? She probably has just the right answer.“ So they call Elder Adele, but they get her messaging service, so they leave a message. “Liam not ready to pilot Pixel.. Heloise going to Bountiful. What to do? Please advise? Thnx!” Then they go for the remainder of their weekend with the Mulders, and Liam goes to his Mom’s house. They get a message from Elder Adele. “I have asked Frank to take me to Earth. I think I have the answer. Please ask The Mulders if I may visit?“ Heloise sends the message back “Mulders are very glad you are coming! Stay as long as you want.” “I’m glad you got her involved!” Mulder says to Heloise. “She’s always so gracious to help!” says Heloise. Dinner is joyful. Frohike offers Babuska’s help to get in any supplies from town to make Elder Adele’s visit as pleasant as possible. Do we know how many are coming? He asks “Um, she says two people are going to be Whooshed down." says Heloise. She says, "Frank and the crew of The Stern Winch have another appointment they must attend to right after that. I don’t know who else is coming. I guess it’s a surprise?" Indeed, it is a surprise. All of the Cabinistas are assembled on the patio at tables set up for dinner. Dinner is on buffet tables. The plates of cold meat, cheese, crackers and fruit look delicious. Frohike has made his potato salad. Several types of drinks, including some of Heloise’s soft drinks from the Pixel are available. There’s a separate dessert cart and a coffee and tea table available inside. Two people whoosh down Everyone loudly greets Elder Adele, Only those who know Bridgette greet her by name. Otherwise, yes, this is Bridgette, Heloise’s sister, the one who had the awful accident out heroically saving the planet Serenity, but is better now. People familiar with the problem now “get it” instantly. Bridgette is a pilot, and a first rate one. She can fill in until Liam feels he’s ready to do piloting. She may not be ready to do more vacuuming on Serenity, but she can do light duty on The Pixel. It seems like the most wonderful solution. Huzzah! Mulder, Scully, and The Group, as soon as they see it’s Bridgette, immediately turn their whole side-eye/corner eye attention to Liam, the one who will be helped by this momentous turn of events, but could probably manage to screw it up. I mean, of course he could.... They are rewarded for their attention by witnessing the amazing spectacle of seeing a man fall in love at first sight in real time. To their great delight, Liam decides to be very cool and formal when he’s introduced to Bridgette, telling her he's so glad she is feeling better and looks forward to working with her, while he is devouring her with his eyes. For her part, Bridgette lets Liam know that she has heard good things about him and hopes to get to know him better. Then she licks her lips. “She can’t wait for my potato salad,” says Frohike to the other Group members. Langly elbows him in the ribs. The Group goes over to the stack of plates at the buffet table and begins to offer them to people. And everyone lines up to get their food. Cabinistas and Bountifuls are all mixed together in the line. Heloise calls Liam and Bridgette over to her table to two seats together “right next to me!”. Will and Scully were holding the seats, but they quickly go and grab seats at two other tables, when they see what Heloise is up to, getting them seats together. A quick glance around the room establishes that everyone is up to the same thing, and enjoying this immensely. The folks from the ship want to “catch-up “on Mulder and his “downtown protests”. All of the Cabinistas either have been on the ground in the crowd, or watching the protest from The Pixel. Heloise quickly finds the video of the latest protest, and plays the part where the Church Ladies sing. Everyone agrees that the singing couldn’t be better not even if you paid a high price. People start to go and get a dessert. When everyone has a dessert, Mulder calls on Liam to tell everyone about his role in solving the McKay Family Amusement Park Murder. “Oh, My! a murder mystery!” exclaims Elder Adele. Liam is clearly caught off-guard, “Well, ummmm,“ he says, “It turns out the grounds-keeper knew that the McKay family was running an illegal hazardous waste dump. Well, we figured it out and they got arrested for his murder.“ Then...nothing. Everyone holds their breath, until Heloise says, “Y’know Liam, I’ve been telling Bridgette about Frohike’s wonderful Greenhouse. Maybe you could take a stroll over there while it’s still light out and show her.” “Yes “says Elder Adele, “and Heloise and I can go back into the ship and get our overnight bags.” This seems to be a great plan. Everyone from the ship has a job to do. After Liam and Bridgette close the greenhouse door after themselves, Heloise gets high fives from everyone. Then she and Will tell Elder Adele that they will go grab the overnight bags. After about 5 minutes, Byers (he has been standing watch) tells everyone that they are moving back to the door (it’s a greenhouse, so see-through.) Instead of coming back to the patio, though, Liam and Bridgette head over to the garage.They are taking a longer walk. This is seen as a good thing. People begin to move into the cabin for another dessert, or coffee or tea. Heloise and Will reappear on the patio with the bags and bring them in and Scully shows them Elder Adele and Bridgette's rooms upstairs. Over by the coffee maker, Mulder has been looking up something on his phone. When Scully Will and Heloise come back down, he plays the music he’s looked up on his phone, very loudly. Scully recognizes it right away, and she and Mulder “dance in place” to the music. Langly dances over to where Elder Adele, Heloise, and Will are standing and explains ,“The music is from a television situation comedy that was on Earth TV in our country over 45 years ago-back in the 1970s and 1980s. The idea of the plots were that people would take a long boat ride to see other places all around the Earth, but they would meet someone and fall in love on the boat-it was called “The Love Boat” because of that.” “Oh, I get it” coos Elder Adele, smiling sweetly. e“I thought you would.“ says Langly, also smiling, but with a little wink to Elder Adele. In a conversdation with Heloise some time ago, Heloise said that one of the things Elder Adele is "famous" for is introducing young people to each othwer. "Everyone thinks she's like the villiage matchmaker-what is the earthly term? The Jewish word? The Yentl? Like that." Just then Liam and Bridgette come through the door. Mulder shuts off the "Love Boat" music, quickly switching it to his usual playlist. Will, standing next to Scully, says, “I’m going to have to teach him where the cookie jar is. And that there’s the milk in the fridge,” and Scully either didn’t hear it or she did, and had no comment to add. I couldn’t tell. Picture Credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Love_Boat It’s September and Harvest Time has begun at Galactic Farms. They’ve had a wonderful crop this year. They often had two truckloads of vegetables to take to the Farmer’s Market, specialty herbs for the supermarket chain, vegetables for the restaurants they supply, and lots of vegetables left over for the Food Bank, plus they make donations from the money they make to help keep the place running-heat, ac, lights, etc. The Group is busy canning in ball jars and putting these on the shelves in the prepper cellar below the second greenhouse. Sometimes Mulder drove the second truck over to the Farmer’s Market, unloaded the vegetables, and then went to a protest he’d organized. Will and Babushka would run the booth. Scully continues with her part time job and her volunteer work. Heloise, Bridgette and Liam would stop overhead in The Pixel and listen to the church ladies and church gentlemen sing as Mulder projected the words to the songs onto the side of the church building. Then they would continue on their way out to some new assignment observing some interesting phenomenon in the Solar System. Bridgette pilots, Liam co-pilots, and both do the Science just like Will and Heloise did. Bridgette made plenty of opportunities for Liam to get in many hours of piloting. He’s getting good at it. At the end of summer, Will leaves to go live on Bountiful with Heloise to be around for when their baby comes.In the middle of September Scully, Avai, and Marlena have a Baby Shower for Heloise. Several neighbors in Avai's apartment building are invited, as well as some of the Elders and Heloise's female family members. No one bats an eye when Babushka and Uncle René show up. Babuska is in her usual peasant witch dress. Uncle René is in a white slub linen suit, with a silk ascot and a very expensive watch, plus one gold earring and pinky ring with an opal. Obviously they are here to represent The Group and the Uncles from Paris. Uncle René's gift is the latest tech gadget for babies on Bountiful. It's sort of an AI babysitter. It has a rolling table and two places to sit. The AI sits across from the baby and entertains the baby with classic baby games like "Peekaboo" and "What Does the Cow Say?" but it also has a hazard awareness system which kicks in if the baby tries to do something dangerous, like, say, put a stick into a wall outlet. Babushka has brought a crib mobile. It has some mirrored surfaces, so very shiny. He points out that it is really for "any age" and they can put it up in the window to catch sun beams when the baby grows out of the crib. At the end of September, Mulder is out at an evening sign-making event at the Baptist Church. Bridgette and Liam, and The Group are at supper at the cabin when Scully announces that she’d like to have a birthday party for Mulder this year. (They usually just go out to dinner, the two of ‘em, and give the birthday person a little gift...) “It’s his 64th birthday, and I think he’d like a “When I’m 64” themed party. We could invite the Van de Camps, the Dowds, and people from Bountiful.” Scully suggests. Everyone thinks this is a good idea. Then Scully gets up and goes to the kitchen counter and retrieves a folder. She pulls out stapled copies some paperwork "These are the results of blood tests." Scully has written notes in the margins to explain what it all means. The room goes quiet. Then Frohike says, "Well, this is all a matter of planning isn’t it? We ask folks if they can come, we order a cake from Food Tiger… We buy some decorations, balloons, ...is it going to be a surprise party?” “We could try..“ says Scully. Langly speaks up, He holds the papers up in the air. “So this is... this is…?” “FBI Crime Laboratory testing." says Scully. “Yes,” says Liam, “that’s the tech guy's signature right there at the bottom of the last page….” It turns out that Scully has been working on this for a while. Above all, she has been in consultation with Father Brennan. She also has been in contact with the Elders. Everyone is glad to help. Through contacts at work-her boss at Mt. Weather Secure Facility- she is given access to a lot of records that have sat in file boxes in cellars gathering dust for years. After doing the work that must be done, it’s time for the fun part. She and Frohike sit together and make out lists of guests. They call and invite them. They order a cake. They shop for ingredients for Scully’s mom’s party punch. It's going to be held at the cabin after an afternoon rally in Old Town. And after a happy hour afterwards at a bar in the Old Town area of the city. In the middle of the afternoon, the The Group fills a huge bunch of helium balloons from a cannister filled with Neptunian helium (if you are planning a party this is THE place to go for free unlimited Helium!-Leila),and stores them in the bunkhouse, then after the furniture and buffet tables are all set up, they bring them over to the Great Room and decorate with them. Scully and Mulder drive back from attending the Happy Hour after the protest. When they get to the cabin, Langly is standing outside waving. When they enter there is a huge buffet on the table in the Great Room. There are balloons in bunches. There are strings of Papiel Picardo decorations. The Group, the Van de Camps, the Elders, Ness and Adele, Father Brennan, Mrs. Dowd, Uncle Darius, his wife, and their children, Liam’s cousins. the crew of the Pixel, Bridgette and Liam, Heloise’s older Brother Frank and and his wife and their children, and the crew of the Stern Winch, who as you recall, are all cousins of Heloise. All shout “Surprise! Happy Birthday!” Mulder is led over to "the Guest of Honor" chair, which he checks for whoopie cusions before seating himself in, and over the computer, which has been mounted on a wheeled acart and pulled out into the center so all can see -on the Bountiful version of Zoom, they call up the band that Will and Mulder play with on occasion. They are called ”Earthen Vessels” and they are ready to play- so they sing and play “When I’m 64” by the Beatles. The older Earthlings sing along. Then they strike up "Happy Birthday" for everyone to sing. They end the call. “People were told not to get you a gift” says Scully, “so I’m glad they are honoring our request.“ Scully continues, speaking to Mulder as he sits in the Guest of Honor chair, “I got you something, though. I think you’ll like it. First these:” She sits next to him and shows him copies of the blood tests she had done at the FBI laboratory, the same ones she showed the Cabinistas. There are no notes in these margins, however. Mulder looks confused. Scully says “All I want to you see is that these are legitimate blood tests, run at the FBI laboratory. “Ummm, whose blood?” “Some of it is yours. I got it while you were taking a nap”. “Ummm, Oh." Mulder gives her a look of confusion, and a little panic. Very quietly the Group has indicated to all the guests that they clear a space in the middle of the room. Frohike knocks on the door of the pantry. The door to the pantry opens and “Amber” comes out. She and Mulder look at each other Both are clearly stunned at seeing the other. Then she slowly moves one hand then the other to her hips, widens her stance, and leans towards Mulder. She sneers at him. She begins to take steps towards him and she taunts: Fox, Fox, dumb as rocks! (holds own nose) Stinky, Stinky, like old socks! Fox, Fox, dumb as rocks! (holds own nose) Stinky, Stinky. like old socks! ...and now Mulder stands up, peculiarly, he hunches up his shoulders, also leans forward, and makes his hands into claws held stiffly out in front of him. She moves slowly into his space... While this interchange goes on, the three members of The Group have placed themselves at three sides of the room. They begin to message the guests with the International "All Cool" Hand Sign. which is to tilt the head back, close the eyes to slits, smile,maybe shake your head to stop protests or outbursts, and pass your hand flat in front of yoursef in a horizontal axis move signifying "A-l-l-l-l... C-o-o-o-o-l!" Fox, Fox, dumb as rocks! (holds own nose) Stinky, Stinky, like old socks! Now she’s face to face with him! She continues to taunt: Fox, Fox dumb as rocks! (holds own nose ) Stinky, Stinky, ... Mulder grabs her! She shrieks! In a terrifying voice he growls,“I Am the Nougie Monster. an I'm goin’agive you such a NOOGIEEEEEE!” He holds her to him with one arm and with the other he’s rubbing his fist into her head! She is punching him in the gut now! Punch after punch! He he begins to collapse under her intense frontal pounding. He slumps to the floor. The Group continues to signal: ""A-l-l-l-l... C-o-o-o-o-l!" "NOOOOOOO!!!!" Mulder yells in agony as she as she kneels astride him pummeling him! He holds his hands up in supplication!”Stop, Stop! Please! I give!” She stops. They’re both breathing hard from this frightening display, their faces contorted, in sort of a ...grin? Both “Amber” and Mulder looks over at Scully, who still holds the papers “proving they are brother and sister through FBI scientific DNA testing,” Scully holds the papers a half second, then tosses them over her shoulder with an eye-roll. Mulder helps his sister up and assists in brushing her off. “Are we going to have cake now?” He asks. Leila again:...Well, that’s all for now. Flight tomorrow early morning... We should check in on Heloise and Will on Bountiful,soon, though, Huh? I bet Will is pretty excited to think he’s going to be a dad. Write to me at leilafile@hotmail.com if you have a correction. If you like "Mulder and Scully in Retirement", please send some people this way? Thanks! Also if you know anyone who’s doing a reboot, please put in a good word for “Mulder and Scully in Retirement” at Leila's X-Files Homepage. Think of all the awesome new parts they could cast...Will and Heloise, the new Gunmen, Al and Avai, Uncle André and Uncle René, Liam and Bridgette and The Doud Family and Mitchell, Elder Adele, Ness and all The Elders, Torres and Evans (that gorgeous sonofabitch),...and THE VILLAINS? Why, half the work has already been done by the new Administration! Oh, yeah, I like David Duchovny's visual podcasts, "Fail Better". (Can't make myself listen to just spoken podcasts. I start to re-enact the Bob and Ray routine where they are at the Slow Talkers of America Convention (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvrh73BVraE) and I keep wanting folks to "pick up the pace". And yeah, I also wonder, in this new age when late nite comedy shows are being censored and removed, where, what place with the capability to produce "Mulder and Scully in Retirement!", would do so? Hey, I'm not asking rhetorically here. Who should I be badgering? And Oh, I'm done with Ryan Coogler and his reboot! You can tell he's hoping folks will forget and stop asking about it. He probably lost interest when he got told Mulder is up for retirement. He just didn't see any good stories there. And, yes, this series of stories is much more like a situation comedy with an Alien AND three robots (Mork and Mindy, My Favorite Martian, Small Wonder.) Maybe some indie film company would want to take it on as a comedy. You have to remember that X-Files was aired during the Socks the Cat/Buddy the Dog Era. The Oval Office Sex Scandal was NOT scary. Today we have masked gunmen kidnapping people and sending them to gulags. My response is to make a joke about re-resting a wrist. Yeah it's pitiful, but it's my small part to play. That and organizing rallies in the center of our city. Thanks for visiting my site! Keep your eyes on the prize; hold on. Leila "We ought to do good to others as simply as a horse runs, or a bee makes honey, or a vine bears grapes season after season without thinking of the grapes it has borne." -Marcus Aurelius The chapter name here refers to the old SNL (Saturday Night Live) ongoing skit "Wayne's World", about two older teens, Wayne (Mike Myers) and Garth, (Dana Carvey) who supposedly are hosting a community broadcast TV show from Wayne’s mom’s basement. When the broadcast was going very well, Wayne would shout “Party On, Garth!” and both of them would be very pleased with how they were doing. So what I meant by this is that Mulder’s Party is far from over, even though an intergalactic band has sung to him, and his long-lost sister, the search for her, was his life-long quest, has just shown up amd given him a trip back to himself at the height of his pre-teen powers, age 12, when, a guy in Seventh Grade, and along with the Eighth Graders, you are the kings of the school. SRSLY, AMIRIGHT? Kings. Of. The. School. Lords. Of. The. Playground. None of that being knocked back to peon status by High School Upperclassmen. Kings! KINGS! And his sister... They get to begin again after her long sad life fending for herself with no older brother to clear the way. ("Hey...you...What did you say to my sister?" "Quadratic equations? Nah, I'll show ya how to do em.") It’s obvious they adored each other and it was the Most Cruel Trick of Fate that Aliens abducted her at age eight, before any of the wonderful things that can happen to a woman could even begin. And after they were all done with her, those things could never begin. So here they are and...Hmmm. Why am I spending time spending time here...Party On! In the Pantry, The Group is busily setting up 64 candles on a sheet cake-made from Marlena’s spice cake recipe, which Mr. Kapoor was happy to make for a special order, seeing that Scully is such a special customer (See: “Mrs. Mulder Goes Shopping” Part Eleven of Cabinistas. if you’ve somehow forgotten why he holds her in such esteem. Let me tell ya...HE hasn’t forgotten!) Then Langly gets a call on his cell phone. And he stops the process. He mouths the word “Bountiful”, and both Frohike and Byers put all the materials-tiny candles, three books of matches, spatula (for repairing any frosting that gets messed up) down on the tablecloth draped on the wheeled cart, and Frohilke and Langly rush to the Great Room, pull the computer back out in front of everyone, from where it and the wheeled cart it was on got pushed into the corner over by the big desk after the song. They enter the address for the Bountiful version of Zoom, and enter more information. Then Avai and Al are on the screen. They are standing with what has to be a Doctor or male Nurse, in scrub-type clothes. They are in a hospital room on Bountiful. They say they have good news. Before Scully can move, Byers delivers a box of tissues to her lap from in back of her chair. He has gotten an armload of them from the pantry, and he’s distributing them around. It is the best news: Will and Heloise have a beautiful healthy little Baby Girl. The sleeping baby looks like Heloise, elf ears and all. The baby has been cleaned and wrapped in a blanket, and has been fed. Scully suspects that Heloise’s Cousins, Bellatrix and Zed, had arranged to be called if this exact thing happened, and waited until all that cleaning and feeding had been done, and also waited until all the excitement of Scully’s gift had gone down a little, and then called and set up Avai and Al so they would be ready to make the announcement, in front of the computer camera, and then they had called Langly. They are the same two, as you remember, that provided commentary on Heloise’s wedding. They seem to be good at this sort of thing. Byers has cleared out a space on the other side of Mulder’s Seat of Honor, gotten another chair, and has directed Amber to sit in it. After pulling her aside and telling her about this new over-the-top-of-the-top event. She gets a brother and a grand-neice in one huge stork bundle dropped down the chimney. Yeah. Visualize it. As a cartoon. If you are having trouble visualizing this I can share my envisioning of this. So, A stork is a big bird, about the size of a flamingo-very long legs, it’s a wading bird in someplaces so long legs. It’s white as opposed to pink like a Flamingo, maybe because of diet? It has a big wingspan. It takes very big flaps as opposed to say smaller birds flapping very quickly. In Europe, many times a stork will take up residence on people’s roofs, sometimes on the chimneys. Sometimes they build their nests there. So I guess it got to be a good answer for parents when the children asked “Where do babies come from?", to say "Oh! The stork brings them!" This had sort of a ring of truth to it as the children could see the stork carrying things to its nest. A baby wasn’t that much of a stretch...y’know in contrast to that stuff about the man puts his seed in the woman and all that complicated nonsense. So people imagined a stork flying with a bundle in it’s beak, and the bundle had the baby in it, and the stork would drop the bundle in the correct chimney and fly away. So now let’s imagine a stork with a very big bundle, a bundle so big the stork can hardly fly. When it gets over the right chimney, it lets go of the bundle, but now we see that Mulder is in the bundle, perhaps he’s in his famous speedo, and then there’s a baby, in a diaper, and both are falling into the chimney. Mulder crash-lands and he sits in the hearth with boing-spirals coming out of his head... The baby gets caught up in the big bundle-cloth and this large cloth scrapes along the sides of the chimney, slowing the baby down. Mulder shakes off the boing spirals and, at that moment, the baby falls into his arms. So Mulder gets up, and goes to the kitchen with one of the baby bottles he conveniently finds on the dresser. He heats up some milk to “warm” and then he sits in the rocking chair in the first room, and rocks with the baby in the rocking chair. He’s found a baby blanket on the dresser too, so he wraps the baby in that, gives the baby the bottle and the baby yawns once then goes to sleep. The baby doesn't open its eyes at all. He places the baby in the crib,(on the other side from the dresser) covers the baby better with the blanket, then goes over to the closet. There are three suits. He holds the middle one up to himself. Looks just right, so he puts it on, finds some socks and shoes, just right, and then a derby hat, stylin'! in the top of the closet. Back in the kitchen, he finds two slices of bread, slathers some condiment on them, and adds a slice of salami, a slice of cheese, and a slice of tomato. He wraps the sandwich up in a napkin and then in the bundle cloth. He finds an apple in a fruit bowl. He pops that in his bundle, and goes outside and finds a stick. So he ties the bundle on the stick, and puts it over his shoulder. He closes the door after himself, and he walks down the road. If you wish, you may have him walk like Charlie Chaplin as The Little Tramp. Your choice. “The End” scrawls across the screen. Scully has begun to check Mulder’s vital signs surreptitiously. She holds his hand and counts to herself. She impishly applies a fresh tissue to his forehead and keeps it there, comparing the temperature to her own. He seems stunned by the news of his beautiful new granddaughter. Scully thinks he seems a little too stunned. He's 64. Suddenly Mulder stands up and says he must do...something (garbled) He retreats to his bedroom. Scully takes the box of tissues and slips into the room a few moments afterward. While this is playing out, the Group has retaken up the task of lighting 64 candles and slowly, so they don’t lose any flames, wheeling the cake out into the center of the room. The people on Bountiful will be able to see the cake via Zoom. After Byers checks with Scully at the bedroom door and gets the “OK” sign, The Group starts a group chant: “We want cake!” We want cake!” “We want cake!” Mulder appears, being led by Scully, to cheers. She whispers something to him as they reach the cake. “OK!” says Mulder, “I’ve got my wish all ready-Thanks Scully!” (Scully bows). The Group is at the ready! They each have a cannister of compressed air-like the cannisters a person uses to clean a computer keyboard and they (not very well) hide helping Mulder blow out all the 64 candles. Everyone insists, in opposition to their own lying eyes, that Mulder has blown out all the candles and will get his wish. After Mulder is served the first piece, everyone lines up for cake. On Bountiful, before they went on Zoom, Avai and Al surprised everyone by going out to their ship and getting a cake Avai has made (same spice cake recipe from Marlena) and Al brings in several large bottles of Best Drink and some cups for it in a large case which seems made for that purpose. Back on Earth, The Group serves the guests champagne and some sparkling water for themselves. “To my family” says Mulder. “To my Family” says Al. Six of one, half dozen of the other, Eh? Up to this point, little Adele (named for the famous Elder) has had her eyes closed. Now Al is holding her close to the camera, so everyone can get a good look at her, and then...she opens her eyes, and they are Scully-blue eyes. Mulder is Over The Moon. In January, 2026, in Richmond, the apartment rental is coming up for renewal, and all three actresses have decided to move on and try new places. When the Cabinistas learn this, they ask Samantha (she has reclaimed her identity and Leon Greeley has helped Mulder once again by supplying any document that is missing) if she would like to work at the farm. “You could still do any acting parts you are cast for...this just would be filling in.” says Frohike. Samantha is very pleased at the prospect of seeing her family all the time, now that she once again has a family, and says she would like to give it a try. She moves into the downstairs of the garage in one of the bedrooms. As soon as Samantha is all moved in at the cabin, Scully sat down with her to explain all the oddities at Galactic Farms, over tea in the downstairs kitchen at the garage. Samantha actually laughs when she realizes that when she asked Liam if he believed in UFOs-Unidentified Flying Objects- there was nothing unidentified about them." She shares this story with Scully. "Yes. We've identified them." says Scully. Scully takes her up to the third floor and uncloaks The Pixel. "You also need to know about the The Group" says Scully when they re-take their places downstairs.Scully is using the sensible rationale that after you've seen a spaceship parked in a garage, you can accept people made into robots. It just flows like that. Samantha tries to do some farm work, but The Group keeps very odd hours, using their infrared vision, and working at night all the time. This is confusing to her. She's correct to wonder if this schedule has been put into place to make it impossible for her to try to help out. She settles for planting seedlings in the Greenhouse and filling up the little plastic envelopes with herbs and spices, then sealing them. So she correctly suspects that she deliberatively has been shut out of doing the very hard field labor. So she can’t help there. What she knows about tractor repair, well, you can imagine...Mr. Carl's brother had done all the machine repair where she grew up. There’s never anything she can do in the cabin, either. Everything seems to be already done the day before when she asks about it. She does like going into town with any of the Cabinistas and delivering to the supermarkets and restaurants, and going to the Farmer’s Market with Babushka is just fun. By the way, she didn’t get either part in the Shakespeare play, but she has found that working in the Greenhouse part time with Frohike and with Mulder, her brother... her brother... her ❤️ brother... is a lot of fun, and she gets paid at the same rate Mulder established for Liam. She asked one of the Group-Langly-once about paying for her room, and he whirled around, said, “Shhhh!” (with his the finger on his lips, looking around her in an exaggerated gesture, if you will...) “Shhhh! Ahh! Please don’t EVER bring that up again, Samantha! You’ll ruin our good thing...he leans in on her conspiratorially, and says, “We’ve never paid for our room here, and we figure we’re putting one over on Management!” Then he looked around as if someone might be listening, over in the orchard, where they were, and then he winked. And then he looked her straight in the eye after lying like that, and took his leave. Samantha has concluded that she’s not allowed to have anything but fun at the farm, as per order of the Management... But there is more. Scully has begun to tell the Cabinistas that she might retire from the weekend job at the Mt. Weather Secure Facility, and she might co-ordinate it with a retirement anniversary party for Mulder in 2028, ten years after Mulder retired from the FBI. “We could celebrate all three of us being retired,” suggests Scully. “The year before this, you and I could go to one of the retirement sessions that help federal employees prepare for retirement. (Mulder has already been to one of these) and you could get help with your Social Security benefits.” So for the first time in a long time someone is going to make some process easy for Samantha. Scully even has it in her mind that the three of them could go to Puerto Penasco, maybe sooner than on the anniversaty of Mulder's retirement. She might make a hint to Mulder. On November 5, 2025, Scully and Mulder have invited Samantha to attend the early Mass, then the Adult Bible Study at St. Patrick's church, conducted by Father Brennan. Samantha hasn't gone to any church, temple, mosque, for any sort of meeting in years. She's very pleased to have been invited, though. Mr. Carl was a member of the Exeter Chapel, and she always liked going there with the family. He even had a Bible Study Group meet at the Ranch for several years. Mr. Carl also was a member across the street at the National Domestic Preparedness Coalition. "After September 11, many people were interested in domestic preparedness," says Samantha. "They thought the government had been "asleep at the switch" as the saying goes. That day the study group at St. Patricks was studying The part of the Bible called The Acts of the Apostles. Coincidentally, they were on Acts chapter 28, where, after a storm at sea, and a shipwreck, Paul and the others who survived the storm and shipwreck, are welcomed and taken care of by people on the island of Malta. Father Brennan stops the discussion of this about halfway through the hour, and redirects everone's attention: "It has been reported by Reuters, that Pope Leo has issued a statement. His Holiness calls attention to the fact that in Broadview, near Chicago, detainees who are held by the government, have been refused the opportunity to receive Holy Communion." Samantha observes that everyone in the room reacts as though they'd received a jolt of elecrtricity. She knows that Communmion is a foundational sacrament established by Jesus himself. Father Brennan reads from the article, copies of which have been passed around the group in the library of the Church. "Leo, originally from Chicago, cited Matthew’s gospel, chapter 25." Father Brennan reads from the paper." Then the article quotes Pope Leo," says Father Brennan. "This is what Pope Leo has to say: “Jesus says very clearly at the end of the world, we’re going to be asked, you know, how did you receive the foreigner? Did you receive him and welcome him or not? And I think that there’s a deep reflection that needs to be made in terms of what’s happening,” the pontiff said." Father Brennan puts the paper down and allows this news to settle on the group. Then Father Brennan repeats to the group more or less what he said to Mulder when Mulder wanted to use a room to make signs for a protest. "I want to say that you have my support to welcome the stranger. His Holiness is right and we should be opposed to people being refused in any way-spiritual needs, food, shelter-any need they have, our job is to help them. I know that some of you have been attennding protests in Old Town. I would be there, except they usually happen on days I am scheduled to visit the sick in hospitals. But I want to make it clear that this is sanctioned by the highest authority in our church, so carry on, please!" Everyone presently carrying on says they intend to carry on. They are joined by others who now say they would like to help carry on as well. Mulder gets their e-mail addresses. Father Brennan finishes with a prayer for the church, the community, our country, and the world. Some in attendance expand this thought to other places beyond our world, but only think this to themselves. Then Mulder Scully and Samantha have lunch in a little cafe. As usual, Mulder and Scully discuss how the lesson might be put into effect in their life on the farm and in the community. Mulder tells Samantha that she and he were brought up Reformed Jewish, but that he appreciates discussing moral issues of the day over lunch."Then we can work on putting these ideas into practice as a team," he says. I want to conclude this with a report on the new baby, who, as I mentioned, is named Adele, after the renowned Elder. She is doing wonderfully well. Also as I mentioned, in the Space Exploration Program specifically, and also on the on the Planet Bountiful generally, there is a very generous Parental Leave Program, and both Will and Heloise are taking advantage of parenting classes. Adele will reside with Will and Heloise in their parent’s apartment, and will only visit the farm on Earth for special occasions, like holidays and summers. Nontheless, there will be a lot of Zoom calling. And, of course, not to be a nag on the subject, OK, maybe to be a nag on the subject, but why would Will and Heloise continue to live in a country where armed thugs can barge in on your house, find your brown skin-toned wife, abduct her, take her to a detention center, and send her off to a prison in a foreign country? Would they take Adele, the Sun, Moon, and Stars of Will's world, with them as well? Will is beginning to wonder if visiting his parent's farm is too risky. "Maybe we should all meet up in France with our wonderful Uncles!" he says to Heloise, when discussing the subject of visiting. Well before his question, Heloise has checked online and, yes, Disneyland in Paris is still operating. Nownetheless,nowadays Mulder and Scully and the Earthly Cabinistas practice their Bountiful Language lessons all the time. It has replaced the Russian Language out in the field at Galactic Farms. Everyone at the Farm wants to be able to have conservations with Adele! If asked what language they are speaking, they tell people it’s the language of the indigenous peoples near Hudson Bay in Canada. (As soon as you say “Canada”, though, that usually stops any other questions, for lack of interest, so this works very well!) If you were to ask, neither Mulder nor Scully are opposed to visiting Paris. Well, OK, first Puerto Peñasco with Scully and Samantha this February (motels are booked!), then Paris somewhere down the line. Mulder knows: "Mama ain't happy, aint nobody happy." Just sayin'... Thank you for visiting my site! Leila credits:Quote of Marcus Aurelius from: https://quotefancy.com/quote/860077/Marcus-Aurelius-We-ought-to-do-good-to-others-as-simply-as-a-horse-runs-or-a-bee-makes Credits:Pope calls for 'deep reflection' in US about migrants' treatment under Trump By Yesim Dikmen November 4, 20253:48 PM MSTUpdated November 4, 2025 https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/pope-calls-deep-reflection-us-about-migrants-treatment-under-trump-2025-11-04/ Leila here: Once again, I will be pleasantly surprised if anything I like comes of Ryan Coogler’s re-boot of The X-Files, which I understand will take place after Ms. Anderson, and Mr. Duchovny, and I, and maybe you, are dead. Someone should tell him that I’ve got it all worked out here. He could buy the story from me and put me on as a creative consultant. All Mr. Coogler would have to do is cast it, and what a pleasant task that would be- finding actors who could bring these roles to life: Will, Heloise, and Baby Adele, The Group, Gus and Marlena, Avai and Al, Liam and Bridgette, Frank and Miranda, Bellatrix, Zed, and the cousins, Adele, Ness, Maxine, and Rom, Elders and Clerics, Mrs. Dowd and Uncle Darius, Mrs. Greene and Ching Shih, Mr. Kapoor, Ms. Diane Kessler, head of the Library, and Ms. Poole, Mrs. Yazzie, who actually runs the FBI, despite what it seems like on the TV, Bill O’Conner, the hometown hero, and Bill Guilder (Your Friendly Builder), Farmer Titus and his wife Mildred, kind, grandfatherly Officer John (Johnny) DeSalvo, Team #1 and Team #2, including Yousef Fayed, Juan Castro, Amir Akhtar and Hassan Wali, Al Silverman, and of course, George Evans, that Gorgeous Sonofabitch, and Nina Campoflores, Reginald Gillette and his felonious family (as we know, some people love to play bad guys!(see Cyril Ritchard as Captain Hook,) Detective Pinardi, Officer Berto Lanza, FBI friends Leon Greeley and Agent Enrique Torres, and finally, Father Niall Brennan, Garrett Morton, and the Church Ladies and Gentlemen. As noted before, most of the villains of these stories have been cast already (smirk!) but you would have to find some actors who want to be seen in a role where they violate people’s Fourth Amendment Rights. And there I am out in the audience yelling "Booo!~ Hiss! Booooo!"like the audience at all the late night tv shows does.
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Leila's Myth Arc Click here to go to Leila's Myth-Arc! Yes! I have a Myth-Arc! This section has stories about The Lone Gunmen Click here to go to a Re-creation of the Original Homepage of The Lone Gunmen site Click here to go to The Three Moscateers Click here to go to A Hunter Thompson Weekend Click here to go to one of the two different treatments of the ending of the story My Friend Flicker which has Scully/Doggett and A Wild Hair Day, the continuation of the story of Flicker, with Doggett/SecondAgent Click here to see one of two different treatments of the ending of the story My Friend Flicker, which is a Scully/Mulder story and then there is This Case is Closed, which is the continuation of the story of Flicker, with Scully/Mulder Click here to go to A Cruise To Nowhere Thank you for visiting my page at Angelfire. Please come back and visit again!
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Will and Heloise have edited all the footage together by the time Mulder returns home. Scully has had a long day at the Mount Weather facility. Mulder stands outside and waves as she pulls in, then he helps her out of the car and gives her a kiss. “You’re not arrested? I thought they were gonna give ya three hots an' a cot! They must not’ve gotten my note,“ she says. He says, “Oh, I leaned on my arm on a handrail...they told me not to do that..."(Scully starts to move to the door. Mulder follows her, opens the door) "Then I did it again and they charged me with re-resting a wrist! I blamed it all on you and the rest of the Commie FemiNazis.” 
The live feed from The Pixel was sent to Bountiful-to Al, Avai, and Brigette, the Elders, Frank and the other relatives aboard The Stern Winch, plus the Uncles in France and several other people Mulder doesn’t think he’s ever met in places he doesn’t think he’s ever been to. Apparently this was a big hit with everyone. After supper, Heloise presents her edited version to the Cabinistas and the Van De Camps and Liam. Both the video and the protest itself are declared a success. Especially the Baptist Church Ladies.