| “Well, I always said that you spent too much time online.” Piper joked. “Yeah, well can you fix it?” Max wondered. “Fix what?” Scully asked, walking in. Mulder followed. Piper quickly stood, trying to hide the large amount of wires that were on the floor behind her. “What are you guys doing?” Mulder questioned, sensing the uneasiness in the room. He tried to look beyond Piper to see what she was hiding. “Nothing.” Piper answered simply. “It doesn’t look like nothing.” Scully said, motioning towards the laptop on Max’s bed. Mulder walked around Max’s bed to where Piper was standing. She tried to back up to the wall, kicking the wires as she went, but Mulder noticed. He bent down and picked up one of the loose wires. “What’s this for?” He asked. “Piper is trying to get me some Internet connection.” Max blurted out. She cupped her hand over her mouth after she finished speaking. “Max!” Piper cried. What she was doing wasn’t illegal by any means but she knew that she was in for a talking to. Not only was she forced to drill a slight hole in the wall but she could have messed up any number of electrical wires. “Piper! Do you know what you just did? You could have caused the entire hospital to lose electricity. Do you know how many lives you could have put in danger?” Scully said sternly. “I know but I also know that I could do it without any consequences.” Piper explained. “When was the last time you tried rewiring a hospital’s electrical means to accommodate the Internet?” Scully asked. “Look, she may not have done it before but she didn’t do anything wrong.” Max responded. “Please, I need the Internet.” “And what is it that you’re looking for?” Mulder questioned. “Yeah, I’d like to know.” Piper added in. Max rolled here eyes at Piper. “I need to look up information.” “Would you care to elaborate?” Scully prompted when she realized that Max wasn’t going to say anything else. Max sighed. “Piper told me that last night I was muttering something about saving the animals of the woods. Now I know that this is going to sound stupid but I feel the need to find out more information on the park to see exactly what it is that they’re doing.” “So you really think you’re supposed to help the animals?” Piper asked skeptically. “I don’t know but I want information. Something is making me have these…spells and I want to know what it is.” Max responded. “Piper, can you fix these wires so she can get the Internet?” Mulder questioned. “I can try.” Piper answered. “Mulder.” Scully said sharply. He looked over at her and led her outside. Piper and Max looked at each other strangely. “Must be some partner disagreement thing.” Piper commented. Outside, Mulder shut the door to Max’s room. Scully turned and faced him with an angry look on her face. “Mulder, you cannot just give Piper permission to mess with the wires of a hospital room!” Scully cried. “Come on, Scully, we’ve seen her work on computers before. You know she can do it, you just don’t want to admit it.” Mulder said. “Maybe it’s you who doesn’t want to admit what’s wrong with Max.” “And what is that supposed to mean?” “Mulder, she’s thinking that animals are really talking to her. I think she belongs in the psychiatric ward.” “The psych ward?” Mulder questioned, not being able to believe what he was being told. “Well, at least until she can get evaluated. Mulder, we have no idea what kind of state of mind she’s in.” “Come on Scully.” Mulder said, laughing. She looked at him quizzically, not finding it at all humorous. “We’ve known Max for almost as long as we’ve known Piper. Do you honestly believe that something is wrong with her?” “Mulder, she thinks she’s talking to animals.” “I know that you don’t believe in talking animals…” “Oh and you do?” He ignored her. “But Max believes that something happened out there. She believes that she’s needed and until we can prove that what Piper said happened didn’t really happen, we have to help Max in any way we can. Even if she doesn’t find out anything to help her prove that she was communicating with another species, maybe she can help us with our investigation.” “And how can she do that?” “Both of the men who died were workers on the construction part of the park. One man designed it, one man was helping build it. Something is going on with the new plans to make a new and improved park. If Max finds some information on it, it could prove to be valuable to our investigation.” Scully sighed, knowing she had no argument to what Mulder was saying. “Fine, but if something goes wrong, you’re to blame.” Mulder smiled and they walked into Max’s room together. They saw Piper sitting back in her chair, watching the computer screen. Mulder and Scully gathered around her as they watched the computer load up again. “Well, so far so good.” Piper said. “That’s what you said last time.” Max reminded her. They waited for the computer to load before Max used the small mouse to open the Internet file. Piper glanced back to watch the wires, making sure that not of them were sparking or malfunctioning. “It worked.” Mulder said calmly. Piper looked back towards the screen, smiling. “Told you I could do it.” She rejoiced. “I never doubted you for a second.” Max joked. “Yeah, right.” Piper commented. An hour later, Max was still searching the web for any information on the park. Scully had gone out to the hall earlier to get a cup of coffee. She was sitting outside, reading the same magazine that Mulder had been reading earlier. She laughed as she read the same article. Inside the room, Piper and Mulder were playing catch with an apple that one of the nurses had dropped off for Max. When the nurse entered, Piper quickly shoved the laptop under the blanket of Max’s bed and then stood in front of it. Mulder sat on the wires. The nurse didn’t suspect anything, which was good for both Piper and Mulder. “Okay, this isn’t working.” Piper said as she threw the apple at Mulder. He caught it and looked over at Max tiredly. His tie had come off a half hour earlier and he lay slouched in the uncomfortable hospital chair. “Max, you getting anything?” Mulder wondered. Max shook her head. “Let’s go.” Piper suggested, standing and stretching. “Wait…I think I got something.” Max finally said a few moments later. Piper and Mulder just looked at each other, waiting to see what Max had found. “Crap.” “What?” Mulder asked, somewhat disappointed. “It’s password protected.” Max responded. Piper walked over to her and looked at the small computer screen. “What site is this?” “I dunno. I got linked to it off geocities.” Max answered. “This looks like an official government site.” Piper said. “Well, that would be why it’s password protected.” Max added in. Mulder walked over to them and stared at the screen. “You’re right, Piper. This is a government site.” Mulder agreed. “Yeah, but why would the park have an official government site?” Max questioned. “The government must be funding the renovations on the park.” Piper said. “Yeah, the government’s doing more than that.” Mulder commented. “What do you mean?” Max asked. “I’m not exactly sure. The only way to find out is to get onto this site but that’s virtually impossible.” Mulder answered. “I can hack into it.” Piper said simply. “You can what?” Max said, astonished. “I can hack it. I can hack into virtually anything.” Piper responded. “When did you learn to hack into websites?” Mulder questioned. “When you have no life like I do, you learn to pick up some useful skills.” “Well, what are we waiting for?” Max wondered. Scully looked up from her magazine as Mulder walked out of the room. He sat down next to her and looked over her shoulder to see what she was reading. He looked up at her and smiled. “You think we should try this flirting thing to see if the article speaks the truth?” Mulder joked. Scully smiled and laughed to herself but chose not to comment. “So, did Max find anything?” “Yeah, she found this government link that Piper’s hacking into as we speak.” |