From drjudd@rainbow.net.au Fri Aug 30 09:00:02 1996
OFFSPRING
DESLEA R. JUDD
drjudd@rainbow.net.au
Copyright 1996
DISCLAIMER
This book is based on The X Files, a creation of Chris Carter owned by
him, Twentieth Century Fox, and Ten-Thirteen Productions. Fox Mulder,
Dana Scully, Walter Skinner, and a number of lesser characters including
Bill Mulder, Mrs Mulder, Samantha Mulder and her clones, Maggie Scully,
Melissa Scully, Captain Scully, Sharon Skinner, Kimberly Cooke, the
Cigarette Smoking (Cancer) Man, the Well Manicured Man and his offsider,
Frohike, Quiqueg, Gautier, Jean Gautier, Ellen, and Alex Krycek remain the
intellectual property of those parties. A number of other characters are
the author's creation and are copyright, and may not be used without her
written permission. These include but are not limited to Dr Karen
Koettig, Agent Grbevski, Melissa Samantha Scully, Grace Skinner, Clone 1
(Cynthia), Clone 3 (Carolyn), Clone 4 (Catherine), Dr Sam Fieldman, Dr
Paul Sturrock, Dr Marion Pieterse, Wendy Tomiris, Serena Ingleburn,
Amarette, Dr Jillian Maitz, Hallie, and Emily Trent. Any queries
concerning ownership of minor characters not mentioned here should be
directed to the author.
(See Pt 1 for complete spoiler, content, and comments info).
A few spoilers from Pilot, Duane Barry, Ascension, One Breath, Colony,
Endgame, Anasazi, Blessing Way, Paper Clip, Nisei, 7.31, Piper Maru,
Apocrypha, and Avatar.
I've rated this book R just to be on the safe side, but I think it's more
PG-13, in truth. There's some low-level sex (three scenes, more
emotional than anatomical), low-level bad language, low-level violence,
and that's about all.
Comments, good and bad, are welcome; but make sure they're constructive,
please! My e-mail is drjudd@rainbow.net.au, but don't worry if you see
something else in your "reply" header like magna.com, because Rainbow.Net
shares a server with another ISP called MagnaData. And if you think my
work's worth stealing, I'm flattered; but don't even think about it.
Archivists, feel free to add this to your collections; but be sure to let
me know.
OFFSPRING BY DESLEA R. JUDD (18/18)
EPILOGUE
Manhattan City Hotel
Manhattan, New York
April 27, 1997
"You were right about using one of the human Samantha Mulder clones,
Sir. They told her everything, and we got her away safely for her to make
her report. The phone call was a nice touch." He paused. "The real Miss
Mulder prepared her quite thoroughly. They didn't suspect a thing. And
in using that troublesome Clone 4 to alert the man who was with them, we
not only confirmed their belief in Miss Mulder's 'death' but got her out
of the way, too."
An elderly, meticulous, well-manicured man with finely chiselled
features sat, immobile, listening.
"We made some enquiries after the explosion. They registered the
infant as one Hillary Trent, illegitimate child of a terminally ill street
kid named Emily Trent. Conveniently, the Trent girl's medical expenses
have been miraculously paid by an unknown benefactor and she has now been
transferred to a private hospice. The Trent girl supposedly arranged a
private adoption to a Dana Katherine Scully, who changed the infant's name
to Melissa Samantha Scully. It's her, though. We got someone in to her
and got a blood sample. The genetic mother is the Mulder woman, and the
natural father is Walter Skinner, a Bureau operative who's involved with
Scully. This was not the direct result of the GIFT project. Scully and
Skinner conceived naturally, but got the mystery prize from the Mulder
ovum."
"Very poor work on the part of our Washington man. We shouldn't have
lost Scully in the first place, but even so, all the candidates were
supposed to be screened for existing or possible involvements to prevent
just such an eventuality," the well-manicured man pointed out, annoyed.
"Sir, to be fair, it does seem that the Scully woman checked out on
that point. She hadn't been involved with anyone for some time, and she
wasn't seeing Skinner at the time that she was taken. It seems that the
abduction itself was the catalyst for the relationship." The younger,
darker man stopped. "That's all, Sir. Do you want us to get the child?"
The well-manicured man was silent for a moment. He shook his head.
"No. The FBI woman and the child are to be left alone. And I don't want
you to mention any of this to the rest of the group - especially our
Washington man."
The dark man was surprised. "With all due respect, Sir, may I ask why?"
The well-manicured man said calmly, "We have done what we set out to
do - though admittedly not in quite the way we had expected. It is indeed
possible to create and incubate an alien-human hybrid which is human in
appearance, largely human in content, and capable of surviving a massive
encounter with radioactivity - the Scully infant shows us that. Time and
prudent observation will tell us if she is capable of resisting biological
warfare. And, as an unexpected bonus, the mothers seem to be capable of
making a full recovery from radiation exposure, as well - at least for the
duration of the pregnancy." He paused. "Either this accident can be
duplicated, or it can't. If it can, then we will have plenty of subjects
for experimentation in due course. If it can't, then it doesn't matter.
And I don't think there's any value in taking a child from a woman who
knows she's given birth and who, if robbed of the child, will stop at
nothing to get her back - especially not one with resources such as the
Bureau and that blasted Fox Mulder. It's an unnecessary risk. Besides,
this Scully child will give us the information we need to know the effect
that human society will have on the children of the Project. This way, we
need never fear exposure of the Project from Mulder or Scully, because to
do so would be to expose that child. We've got everything to lose and
practically nothing of use to gain by removing the Scully infant."
The dark man suddenly broke into a grin. "Is that really why? Sir,
I believe there's another reason."
The well-manicured man raised an eyebrow. "Do go on."
"You <> them. You like having an adversary to match wits
with. You wouldn't let them endanger the Project, but you wouldn't kill
them, either. I believe Fox Mulder and Dana Scully make you feel young
again."
The well-manicured man regarded his assistant keenly. Then he laughed.
"I believe you're right."
Sandy Mountain 24-Hour Diner
Unmapped U.S. Government Territory
Nevada
April 29, 1997
Two blonde women sat close together in a diner on the outskirts of
Nevada. The customers in the surrounding booths, mostly men, were all
government operatives. It was a government town. None of them seemed
surprised by the completely identical pair. If anything, they were
surprised that they numbered only two.
One of the women was named Samantha Mulder. The other, who if you
looked really closely had slightly less brilliant eyes, but who otherwise
was her replica, was a woman without a name. The files referred to her as
Clone 3. Samantha, in a concession to sentiment, had named her, as she
had named them all. This one, a human, she had named Carolyn.
"What can I get you ladies? Twins, ain't ya?"
Two sets of identical eyes looked up at the man. The hearty old
bastard was so jolly it was disgusting. Samantha spoke. "Just two cokes,
thanks. Yes, we're twins."
Digesting this seemingly self-evident information, the old man nodded
thoughtfully. He came to himself, remembering the chore at hand. "Two
cokes? Won't be long."
The two women waited until he was out of earshot. "Well?"
It was a demand for information. Carolyn provided it. "A child was
born of the Project. A girl. The mother is your brother's closest friend
- woman named Dana Scully. The father is Scully's man - seems they had a
little rendezvous as soon as Scully was rescued. Scully and your brother
and Scully's man had found out that you were the genetic mother. They
also knew the baby wasn't completely human."
"How did they know?"
"Genetic testing. Interestingly, and quite by accident, the Scully
woman was caught in a nuclear accident of some kind. She made a full
recovery, as did the baby. Everyone else was dead within the day."
Samantha sat back in surprise. "Well, I'll be damned. It actually
worked." She looked back at Carolyn. "The woman?"
Carolyn shrugged. "I only met her briefly. Nice lady. Gave birth
the day I saw her. She was all in."
Samantha nodded. "I'll just bet she was." She paused warily, then
asked in a low voice, "And the baby?"
The other was noncomittal. "Hard to know. They said she looked
normal, and her blood was normal, of course, since the clone sperm didn't
make it into the package; but they knew her DNA had been interfered with.
We'll have to wait and see. Scully called her Melissa."
Samantha's brow creased. "Any reason for the name?"
"She didn't say, but I know Scully had a sister by that name. There
was an attempt on her life last year, by them. That creepy Krycek guy and
his gang, to be precise. The first Melissa was killed in the crossfire."
Carolyn was silent a moment. "Samantha?"
"Yes?"
She hesitated. "I don't want to offend you, Samantha, but-" she
broke off, before blurting out, "Why do you stay with these bastards, and
the Project? That guy, your brother - he's really nice. And he hasn't
given up on looking for you in over twenty years."
Samantha laughed cynically. "He's not quite so committed as all
that, Carolyn. He handed over Cynthia, the alien clone - the one they
called Clone 1 - in exchange for Scully in a hostage crisis. She died."
Her eyes became grave. "I loved Cynthia. She was the first. It wasn't
right, him just handing her over like that. They were going to kill her
anyway, you know - just to stop him from searching for me - but he did it
as much as they did."
Carolyn was unconvinced. "Just the same, Samantha, he loves you. I
wish someone loved me like that. But I'm just a clone. I don't belong to
anyone. Just like Cath-" She stopped short. She couldn't say it. The
wound was too fresh. "Just like Clone 4. We're nobodies, and nobody's.
That why they let her die in the fire, to make them think you had died.
We're dispensible because somehow we aren't <>." How very Carolyn,
Samantha thought.
Carolyn was a dreamy, emotive personality. That was why she had been
chosen to play Samantha for Mulder: those who made the decisions in these
matters knew she could be trusted to fabricate the necessary emotions to
be convincing in the role. Many of the clones, especially the aliens such
as the now-deceased Catherine, could not. What those who made these
decisions didn't realise was that for Carolyn, she and Samantha were one.
And her emotion at seeing "her" brother had been real. One day, Samantha
thought regretfully, that would be Carolyn's downfall.
At this thought, her look became stricken. She took Carolyn's hand.
"Don't say that, Carolyn. You belong to me. I love you like that. You
and the others are why I stay. Besides -"
"Yes?"
"It's all I know."
Their cokes came, and the conversation ended. But later that night,
Samantha Mulder thought of her brother, and her child, the one Dana Scully
had borne, and she began to think.
And plan.
OK, I know the cliffhanger is a cheap trick. I don't even know if
Samantha will bother to carry out her scheme - she's got a lot going on,
you know. But then, who knows? Let me know what you thought, and whether
you want to see the story go on.
Deslea R. Judd
Sydney, Australia
June 15-August 25, 1996
--
_______________________________________
| |
|Deslea R. Judd (drjudd@rainbow.net.au) |
|"The Owls Are Not What They Seem" |
| - The Log Lady, Twin Peaks) |
|_______________________________________|
(
geocities.com/hollywood)