Saturday, 18.00 hours.

Ardeth sat still behind the wheel of his rented car. Iwan sat beside him. Both were looking at the house several meters away from where they parked.

"She lives there?" Iwan asked.

"Could be. We will see." Ardeth answered shortly. He reached to his pocket and let out a pack of cigarettes. He offered it to Iwan, who took one and lighted his own cigarette.

They both wait in silence, smoking cigarettes. Not knowing that several houses ahead of them, two men were also wait in silence…. Watching them smoking.

Ten minutes later, a car stopped in front of the house. A young man went out of the car rang the bell and walked inside the house. Ardeth and Iwan ducked their heads and peeked to see who he was.

"Ardeth, is that …."

"Yes… Roger Andrews. The man who tried to kill us in Randara forest. Which reminds me that I owe my life to you, my friend. I will never forget that for the rest of my life." Ardeth looked at Iwan, a smile cracked for a few seconds and then gone. It seemed that the memory hurt him more than he admitted to Iwan.

Iwan looked at him, frowning, "Who said I came back to the forest to rescue you?"

Ardeth looked at him in surprise.

"Hey, I didn’t know you that well then. I came to safe Pu’un. The Randaran people would be lost without their chief. So, you don’t owe me anything." He waved his hands in front of Ardeth’s face.

Ardeth’s smiled widened, "Whatever you say, my friend…… hey look he’s leaving the house. Get your head down."

Roger Andrews left the house and once again the car passed by.

"Well, are we going in now?" Iwan asked, impatiently.

"Yes. But first I will check out the surroundings, who knows if she’s not alone in there."

"So, how are you gonna solve this case if you don’t believe what she said?" Mulder said to Scully. He was sitting on a chair, in Scully’s room.

"Well, first of all, I have the report here from the lab about the capsules that Jenny gave me. Then, I still have the coroner’s report on dr. Ronal Mitchum’s postmortem to decide that the two cases are connected. I don’t have to believe any story about alien technology to solve this case." Scully handed him the reports.

Mulder study the reports, hoping that Scully would spare him the trouble by telling him. And she did.

"Look at this, Mulder." She pointed the second line of the report.

"This substance here, NH1 was found by a giant pharmaceutical research company that has chains of hospitals, and also biology and biotechnology researches. It was all over the news three years ago. Andrews & Hetfield Corp., the same company that owns Santa Anna Hospital, extracted this substance from a tropical plant they found in South East Asia’s rain forests. NH1 could low down the level of growth hormones in human’s body, ‘causing a human to grow only a third size of normal human, but live 60 percent longer. However, it was only tested on mice. Tests on humans are not allowed."

Mulder smiled and stood up, "So, Jenny was given this prescription by dr. Ronald, to prolong her baby’s life. Scully, this only proved that what dr. Hetfield told us is true."

"Did I say why tests on humans are not allowed?" Scully looked at Mulder.

Mulder raised his eyebrows and sat back on the chair, "Tell me."

"All the mice injected with the substance did live 60% longer, with a slight change in their neurons. Somehow, NH1 affected the neurons. There’s a part of neurons called myelin, which acts as an insulator that keeps electrical impulses strong as they pass from neurons to neurons in the brain. Myelin affected by the NH1 will not only keep the impulses received by the brain strong but will also magnify them, causing the brain to receive extraordinary strong signals. Theoretically, for a human, a scratch in the skin could result in an unbearable pain."

While listening to Scully, Mulder glanced at the postmortem report.

"And here it says that the NH1 residue was found in Ronald’s Mitchum’s body."

"Mulder, the dosage of NH1 in the capsule that was given to me by Jenny, could kill an adult."

"But Molly took the capsules twice a day as prescribed by dr. Mitchum. And, as per your conversation with Rebecca, Molly spit out some kind of acidic substance to her." Mulder once more tried to state his point to Scully.

Scully looked at him, "I didn’t say I have all the explanation to this case yet, Mulder. But I can assure you, it won’t be aliens." She smiled at him so sweetly.

"Then, there’s no harm in checking out the address she gave us." Mulder raised from his seat and opened the door for Scully.

"You go check on the address, Mulder. I’ll go visit Mrs. Mitchum." Scully said, smiling.

Saturday, 21.00 hours

Becky was sitting alone, watching the TV. She was wearing her favorite night apparel, which consisted of a white thin shirt and short. She felt comfortable and was drifting to sleep although it was only nine o’clock. She was tired taking care of Jenny.

An hour ago, she had attempted another suicide and had threatened to hurt her as she came inside her room. Jenny had been standing in the middle of the room with a kitchen knife, screaming that someone would come and kill her and took Molly away. It had taken Becky more than half an hour to persuade her to put it down and another half an hour to put her to sleep. She had decided to take her for a professional help on Monday. As far as her concern, Jenny already cracked under the pressure and she had become delusional. Becky didn’t quite understand the words she had been saying, but she knew that Jenny was afraid. Her delusioned mind led her to believe that someone was coming to kill her.

RRRRRRING!!!

Becky jumped on her feet holding the pillow in her arms. It took her two seconds to realize that it was the sound of the telephone ringing. She sighed and walked to pick it up.

"Hallo?" She said in a sleepy voice.

"Becky? It’s me, Emma." The voice at the other end answered.

"Oh, Emma. Yes, yes." She listened to Emma carefully. She was telling her the result of the laboratory check on the capsules she gave her this afternoon.

The longer she listened to Emma’s explanation, the paler her face turned.

"No, Emma……. I don’t know where she got them from. …. OK. Thanks a lot, Emma. I really appreciate your calling me…… yes, sure, I’ll be OK……. Bye."

Becky walked weakly and then sat on the couch. Her mind was full of questions and she was afraid to find the answers.

"What have the doctors done to Molly and Jenny? What kind of research are they doing to Molly? Is there a connection with Jenny’s mental state? What kind of abnormality does Molly have that makes her need medicine, which is lethal to a normal human? Why does Molly produce such acid from her mouth? What is wrong with Molly anyway? Are her abnormalities caused by hormonal dysfunctional or not? Does her kidnapping have anything to do with her condition?

Becky closed her eyes, because she didn’t know what else to do. She felt she could form a thousand questions that would drive her to insanity. She rested her head on the sofa. "Maybe, it’s better to wait for Dana Scully to call… or better I will call her tomorrow morning." Becky thought.

Suddenly she heard a thud behind her. Before she could turn her head, a strong hand covered her nose with a cloth. She opened her mouth to scream, but the smell of the chloroform rendered her unconscious almost instantly. She fought to keep her consciousness and to open her eyes to see the man’s face, but all she got was a blurry image before darkness claimed her vision.

"Get the other woman. Bring them to the car."

"Sir, if we take them outside, somebody might see us."

"No one’s foolish enough to stay out in the rain. Now do as I say."

"Yes sir."

Ardeth rang the doorbell and waited. Iwan stood beside him. At first Ardeth insisted him to wait in the car. But Iwan didn’t want to have the same experience as in Randara Forest. He had been in the toilet when Ardeth and Pu’un, the chief of the tribe, had been captured by Roger Andrews’ men. In Randara he had been able to safe them because he knew the jungle well. Here, in this strange land, he wouldn’t want anything happened to any of them. So Iwan insisted that they both stayed together.

The door opened up very slowly. The person behind the door seemed unsure whether to let them in or not. The door chain was still hooked. They could see a woman’s face peeking out.

"What do you want, Ardeth?" She asked coldly.

Ardeth slipped one foot between the door and the frame. Catherine didn’t seem to notice.

"I need to talk." He said as coldly.

"I’m rather busy. Sorry." She said nervously and tried to close the door. When she realized that something was stuck and looked down, Ardeth shoved the door with his elbow.

"You know if I push a little harder, I can easily break the chain." He said in a frighteningly calm voice.

Catherine looked at him for a moment. She knew she had no other way but to open the door.

"Open up, Cat." Ardeth said. "Please."

Ardeth’s voice still sounded cold but he looked at Catherine with pleading eyes. Looking at his eyes reminded her of their moment together in Randara and it quickly washed away her hesitation. She released the door chain and opened up the door for them.

"Thank you" Ardeth walked in followed closely by Iwan.

The three of them sat in the living room, each waiting for someone to say something. Iwan noticed that Catherine was avoiding Ardeth’s gaze. He also noticed that the house barely had enough furniture. The room only had a two-seater couch and a chair, nothing else. He looked around, then broke the silence.

"Miss…. Doctor Hetfield, we came here to clarify something." He said. He spoke in his regular tone, yet his voice sounded loud in the almost empty house.

Catherine turned her attention to him, "What is it, Mr. errrr… I’m sorry I don’t remember your name. You are the ranger in the forest, aren’t you?"

"Yes. The name’s Iwan."

Ardeth let out a sigh, "You know why we come here, Cat. I don’t want to play in your game anymore. We know that you sold us out to the FBI. I just want to know why." His voice was extremely cold and his face was of no expression.

Catherine’s eyes widened, she looked confused. "FBI? I don’t understand…….." She didn’t finish her sentence because Ardeth cut her off.

"Cut the crap!" His deep voice sounded like thunder in the room. Iwan almost jumped from his seat.

Catherine was as surprised as Iwan, but she managed to reply with a high tone, "Really, Ardeth, I don’t know what you’re talking about!"

Ardeth raised from his seat and walked towards her. He held her shoulders and forced her to stand. He looked into her eyes while pressing her shoulders hard with his hands.

"Ardeth…. You’re hurting me!" Catherine almost screamed out the words.

Ardeth let go of his grab a little, but he kept holding her firmly and brought her face close to his.

"Didn’t you?" His deep voice whispered to her.

Catherine looked away from his eyes. She knew what he meant.

"Is this about us, Ardeth? You want to hurt me back?" Her voice was above a whisper.

Suddenly Ardeth pushed her away, sending her standing imbalance. She held the chair to prevent her from tumbling, but her move wasn’t quick enough.

When Ardeth saw her tumbling he quickly caught her waist and steadied her. For a moment he let go of his cold mask and Catherine saw a glimpse of sadness in his eyes. But not for long for he turned his back and walked away from her.

Iwan watched the scene and suddenly regretted his decision to come into the house with Ardeth, for obviously there were more personal reasons for Ardeth being here. He should have had stayed in the car, just like Ardeth told him.

"Ardeth, give me the car keys." He said.

"What for?"

"I want to wait outside, if that’s not a problem."

Ardeth threw the keys to him without saying anything and sat back on the couch. Iwan smiled at Catherine and went out of the house.

"Damn, it’s raining." Ardeth heard him murmured before he closed the main door.

Now there were only both of them in the room. They sat opposite the other, speaking no words. They could only hear the rainfall.

"Why?" Ardeth broke the silence between them with a soft voice.

Cat looked at his face… He had put down his mask, she thought. She could see sadness emanating from his eyes. Yet it was different than the sadness she had seen in those same eyes before. It had been sadness based on grief and anger. But now, as she looked deeper into his eyes all she saw was just sadness.

"I….. I had to." She answered him nervously.

Ardeth now looked at her carefully. He chuckled, "Yes, of course and I was just a fool."

Cat rose from the chair and sat on the chair beside Ardeth. She touched his arm and Ardeth looked at her more closely.

"No, Ardeth. You were never a fool for me. I meant to help you, I did, but … but… I couldn’t."

Ardeth didn’t say anything, he kept staring at her with his sad eyes.

"My duties back there was to divert your attention from finding our research facilities and to destroy the photographs you had taken…. But I hadn’t expected to fall in love with you."

"You are a cold blooded killer." Ardeth said sadly.

"Maybe I am……, but I’m trying to save the world, and there will be sacrifices to do so." She touched Ardeth’s face and held it to level her gaze.

Ardeth kept still, saying nothing at first, but his eyes said so much. He felt the sensation ran through his body when she touched his cheek. He felt weak.

"You must hate me for what I did……. If only you knew why….." She let go of his gaze and stared at the floor.

Suddenly Ardeth’s strong hands grabbed her back and pulled her to him. He took her lips into his and kissed her. They kissed passionately. For a brief moment Ardeth was engulfed by his lust, but as his tongue met hers he realized that once again he fell for her trick. He quickly let her go and stood a few steps away from her.

"You know I can never hate you, Cat." He admitted.

"I hate what you do, I hate what you become, but I can’t hate you…. I can only hate myself for it. When I decided to come here, I had everything planned. What to say to you, what to ask…. But now, you made me only want one thing from you. You’re really good at playing me, Cat. I hate to admit this but Iwan was right after all. I do become weak in front of you." He sighed heavily.

"You can’t hate me because you love me. We share the same feeling, Ardeth." Cat stood beside him, about to place her hand on his shoulder.

Ardeth backed away and shook his head, "No, Cat. I love you, but I don’t know if you feel the same way towards me. I don’t even know why killing somebody would save the world. I don’t know if you’re telling the truth or not. I don’t know anything about you, Cat. Nothing." He raised his voice as anger took over him.

"Tell you the truth? You wanna know the truth, Ardeth? I’ll tell you the truth." She said whispering.

"I’ll tell you everything, if you want me to….. Although you might not believe in the truth anymore than the lies.

Ardeth walked closer to her and looked down. His face was only one inch away from her. "Then tell me." He pleaded.

"Sit down." She motioned him to sit on the couch.

Cat drew a deep breath and started her story.

"As you know, my father and brother owned A&H Corp. with my uncle, Roger’s father as partner. The line of A&H Corp. business was, you know, medical & pharmaceutical research. But for the past fifteen years, A&H Corp. joined biological and biotechnological research. Since then we became the biggest in the fields."

"After we came back from Randara, my father explained to me the big picture of it all. I did feel sorry for killing dr. Kevin Ryan. But after that, I understand that it was a small cost compare to the noble goal we are trying to achieve."

"Cut the crap, Cat." Ardeth said impatiently.

"Don’t lecture me about your company’s line of business. Just tell me what is this so called the big picture, the noble goal." He added.

"We are trying to create a super-human race." She said flatly.

"What?!!!" Ardeth was shocked. He couldn’t believe what he had heard and shook his head.

"A super-human race? What is wrong with normal human, Cat? Don’t tell me this is some kind of a Neo Nazi scenario." He asked smiling cynically.

"Oh no…. not at all, Ardeth. I know this is hard to believe, but believe me I’m telling you the truth." Cat rose from he seat and sat down beside Ardeth.

"There’s nothing wrong with normal human like us. Nothing is wrong. Only, we will not stand a chance to fight the alien colonization."

"Alien???" Ardeth was about to open his mouth again, when Cat touched his arm and said, "Please Ardeth, don’t say anything. Not until I finish, OK?"

Ardeth sighed, "OK. Finish your story. I’m all ears."

"Since the time of Ice Age, our planet had been visited by aliens. They came to colonize earth, but that time earth and humans were not fully evolved. They waited for thousands of years for the chance and now it’s the time they made a move. They formed a conspiracy with humans, offering that those who join and their family will be spared when the time comes. My father and uncle was one of them." Cat stopped a moment to look at Ardeth’s expression.

He was staring at the ceiling, still listening to her.

She continued, "However, he found out that the colonization plan was a trick for them to make us cooperate. The truth is, they want to make human as host for their seed. They’ll inject human body with a formula containing the embryo of their kind. And it will grow inside our body, making us dying so slowly and painfully. Once it’s big enough to grow by itself, it will come out through the belly and leave the host’s body dead."

Once again she stopped a moment to look at Ardeth. He was still staring at the ceiling, saying nothing.

Cat knew that he didn’t believe anything she said, but she went on, "My father, my uncle and several others of the people inside the conspiracy silently acted behind their backs. Some of the people were from government agencies. They decided to fight. For almost 10 years, we have tried to create a human race that can resist the injecton. A human that has immunity in the body system to fight that embryo from growing. If we succeeded, then this super-humans will be able to fight them back. We have succeeded with only a few super-human babies. However, their live spans are too short. Only 19 to 20 years old. It’s not long enough to fight them. So we gave them a formula called NH1 to prolong their lives. And we have succeeded, Ardeth."

Cat sighed deeply, "Unfortunately, they smelled this scheme about three years ago. They started to hunt us down. They have successfully destroyed 4 out of 10 research facilities that we have. And everytime, they killed all the people involved. So far they haven’t suspected my father yet. However, since the incident in Randara Forest, they have traced us back here. They hunted my partner Ronald Mitchum and as you know, killed him successfully. It’s only a matter of time before they can connect him with me. And if they found me guilty, they would destroy my father and the whole corporation. Years of hard work and researches would be gone. It’s bad and the worse is just beyond my imagination…… because they have one of our super-human with them. A baby, Ardeth. A super-human baby of three years old. I don’t know what they would do to her…. I just can’t imagine."

Suddenly Ardeth laughed out loud. So loud that the sound of his laughter became thunderous in the almost empty room.

"Do you expect me to believe all the things you said? This is bullshit, Cat. Garbage!!" His angry voice cut her ear. She didn’t expect him to believe her story, but she was still surprised when Ardeth suddenly rose from the couch and walked towards the door.

He opened the door and stepped out, it was still raining outside. Before closing the door, he said, "I know I have nothing to prove that you are a murderer. I can’t bring justice because I don’t have proof, because I don’t see enough. Maybe Allah has a better way. I rest my case, Cat. I pray that you will get what you deserve… you and your kind deserve to be punished. If men can’t bring justice, then Allah will. I’m outta here."

Cat didn’t try to stop him from leaving. Her tears flowed down her cheeks, but her eyes suddenly saw something behind Ardeth.

Ardeth was about to close the door when he saw her expression. He turned his back and caught a glimpse of a man charging his way. He reflectively ducked and moved one step away from the man. The man kept on charging towards him, aiming for his head. Ardeth landed his fist on his face and sent the man a few steps back. Not waiting for his opponent to steady himself, Ardeth kicked him hard on his chest rendering him unconscious almost immediately. He saw two other men coming, much bigger than the first one. They both charged at the same time. Ardeth managed to avoid a blow aimed to his head, but received a severe kick on his stomach. He fell rolling on the ground. Thanks to years of martial art training, he managed to stand up. Only to receive a hard blow on his right temple.

Ardeth fell down to the ground, but he was still conscious, thanks to the rain. With a dizzy head, he saw that one of the men went inside the house to get Catherine. The other men pointed a gun to him and motioned him to walk inside the house. When he stood up and turned his back, the man hit the back of his head. Once again, Ardeth fell on the muddy ground, this time fully unconscious.