Gothic, that was my first impression as I came into the conference room and sat in front of the young woman. She had her grayish white face turned to a shoulder, barely visible beneath her thrash of ash white hair. She was in black leathers and silver like a punk rocker, darker ash shadowing the cheek bone as the only thing I could see of her face and curving airbrushed into her cleavage. A shoulder shifted lethargically, her hands cuffed behind her. She looked like she had been through hell, her demeanor despondent and withdrawn.

"I'm agent Mulder with the Federal Bureau of Investigations," I spoke calmly but the feeling was there, a sense that I've just come across the possibilities I strive for. It seemed so unlikely with her but something was telling me as so many times before, I have just crossed the thresholds of our socially contrived perceptions of what we are. Perhaps even, where we are going. "Can you tell me your name? Do you understand why you were arrested?"

Her eyes came up to me from that deep curtain of white hair. It was a haunting gaze from dark eyes, a gaze I may never forget like that calculating collectiveness of the CancerMan, knowing when he's won. Her lips parted, the pleading look in her haunting gaze like the soul of someone who's lost everything. Afraid, alone. It was in that moment I knew I had to protect her. Maybe I just didn't want to see some street kid get the shaft in a country bumpkin system. It was likely Curtis felt the same. I felt more than awake in the moment, staring into those eyes with avid fascination. I didn't care what this was. I was almost certain though, what ever it was going to be, she was from that ship.

"Do you recognize this?" I asked as I pulled out the recorder and set it on the table.

She let out her breath slowly, almost like a haggard sigh as she stared at the recorder. She said nothing, shifting her shoulders again as she turned her head away.

"Don't be afraid," Curtis spoke up gently beside me. "We aren't going to harm you. We just want to help. Don't you want us to call you something? You don't have to tell us your real name, anything."

I felt my heart twinge with a mild leap as I caught her frightened glance at the recorder. Again she said nothing but I had my answer that would begin the mystery set before me. The door opened, two guards stepping in as I stood and turned. One of them nodded to me as the came and took the girl by her arms and made her stand.

"She's all yours, her personal items are at the front desk." He took his cuffs from her and the two stepped back out unceremoniously.

I couldn't believe it was that simple as I turned to look at her again. She looked away, stretching her arms out as she seemed to be looking the room over for her escape. Apparently she didn't believe in wasting time. I took out my cell phone and pressed the digit for that one all purpose number I knew as going to try to reason me out of this.

"Scully," I couldn't suppress my smile as I turned and waited for Curtis to take over the young woman's containment. "I have someone in my protective custody I think you should see."

"Mulder," she sighed in protest. I smiled again as she let out a few argumental grunts and then breathed into the phone her surrender. For a moment I was tempted to ask her if she was practicing for answering calls to 1900 HotMammas but I decided against. "I thought you went to Henderson County to investigate a crash sighting."

"I did." I glanced towards the other two. "I have a Jane Doe, her fingerprints aren't identifiable."

"Let me guess, you want me to physically exam Jane Doe for possible connections to extraterrestrial life so you can link her to the crash sight you didn't want to go to in the first place."

"I knew you'd understand," I breathed into the phone before hanging up on her sharp "ah!" of defiance.

********************************

"Moya was pregnant. I guess I should have been more understanding...but, I hadn't felt so abandoned as I did when I saw her StarBursting away from me. It was like I had lost everything all over again without any chance of finding my way home. I don't know, Dad. First one thing and then another. Just as soon as I think things are going to be okay, Bam! Take a trip in the arora chair, jump into the dimensions with a recaporalized creep. It's just so frelling weird out here. If it wasn't for Aeryn... I wish, I could get closer to her you know? She's so, I dunno, what do you call that, like Cherish, remember her? Heh, stubborn as they come, quiet, sincere, though probably not as quick with a pulse pistol. I just wish I could get one little hint out of her, even just a tad. I'm starting to feel so torn. I - I just want to get back so you all know I'm okay. So I can sit back on my own damn back porch and think about where it is... I really want to be."

I stopped the tape, gazing at Scully and the plain, unreadable expression on her face. I hoped she was thinking the same thing as I was though as I stole my glance to Chiana sitting with her head down, staring down at her hands listlessly in the lab. She looked tomboyish, like some kid I just plucked out of a gothic night club near enough into her withdrawal to alarm my concerns for her.

"John Crichton." I stated, my eyes steady on Chiana as I watched her shift her eyes in a cutting glance to me, her lips parted. She seemed far more than apprehensive, like she was afraid of something far deeper than myself or being in my civilization. I looked back to Scully feeling a sense of desperation though I wasn't sure if it was actually my own or what I felt for Chiana and the astronaut we lost in the flash of a major solar flare two years ago. "He's alive."

Scully pursed her lips, turning away from me and to a desk. She picked up a large brown folder and looked over its contents as she cleared her throaght.

"The question is where do we find him now," she stated quietly without looking to me but I knew what was on her face. I was right... and she hated that. Somehow even this seemed to defy her reasonings. "I've run all the tests I can on, Chiana. If this is that particular person in John Crichtons recordings to his father."

"She isn't human is she."

Scully turned to me, seeming to be as prepared as she was going to get with what she had to say to me now. I blinked slowly, waiting for her denials and rationality's so that I could point out my own reasoning. The expectation must have been written all over my face and I couldn't help but feel amusement towards her expression. She was trying gallantly to not show me how preposterous this was to her. I wanted to tempt it out of her, find something in this great yet so subtly shifted bearing to convince me that -

"John Crichton disappeared in a major solar flare," she stated. "It is impossible that he could come back to earth much less make these memoirs in the two years he's been declared legally dead. I think this whole thing is an elaborate hoax to divert your attention from -"

"Explain her," I suggested as I sat back with a shallow sigh, becoming reminded of my lack for sleep again. "What did you find in your exam, Scully?"

"That she's humanly impossible," she muttered as she turned her gaze to Chiana and stared at her.

I could feel my eyes brighten with the life I felt at that, coming from Scully. I tried to dismiss my excitement but Scully seemed to know me well enough that she sighed her surrender with a small swallow. I wasn't giving in, but I never did.

"Chiana," I brought my chair across from her and leaned to her, hoping to catch another glimpse of her awareness in her eyes again. "Chiana talk to me. If John Crichton is alive we need to know. We could help you get back to your ship. Moya? Is that her name, a living Leviathen. Do you want to go back to her?"

"Moya?" She spoke with such humanness, questioning as she swallowed and lethargically looked from shoulder to shoulder. I'm not sure what came over me as I put my hand over hers. She didn't seem well. I was afraid I might loose her into the depths of her own despondence. She looked into my eyes, her own gentle and solemn as she tilted her head and drew nearly close enough that we might have kissed. "Netu esh Crichton netrubidrain."

"We'll find him," I said as I leaned back and rested my hand on her shoulder. "I promise."

"Mulder." Scullies voice tilted up in protest but she drew silent. The pause seemed endless. "Where are we going to start? If he was here, he would have notified someone by now."

"Then that's where we'll start," I smiled up at her. "Crichtons father."

"What about the crash sight?"

"Curtis is investigating that, let him. If anyone can go over it as well as I could he would be my choice."

**************************************

"He really is one scary dude. I thought I would never survive being in that chair. Escape? If it hadn't been for Stark I don't think I could have survived another microt. I'm telling you Dad, this Scorpius character scares the dren outa me. What am I going to do? He wants this frelling wormhole technology and I just don't think I have it. I mean, I know the Ancients gave me something when they were pretending that whole damn thing about me being home but if he couldn't get it out of torturing me in that chair... I'm afraid he's going to catch me and spin me around again until he's either found what he wants or I'm dead. If he ever found earth, God, Dad, between the PeaceKeepers, the Nebari and the Scarrens our own little universe would be in deep deep dog dren. I can only hope they never find out how to make wormholes. Rygel! Yo Sparky how 'bout some damn privacy?"

"Ha! Gathmau shidu bauck Crichton!"

I clicked the recorder off as my phone rang and glanced into my rearview. Chiana was sleeping soundly in the back seat, unstirring as I answered.

"Aces pool hall, eight ball speaking."

"I'm sorry I have the wrong number."

"No, I- " I sighed to myself as they hung up, hanging onto the phone until it rang again. I smiled, wondering what kind of idiot they think I must be as I answered. I was definitely in need of some sleep by now. "This is Mulder."

"Agent Mulder?" The unsure voice of an older man, possibly in is late 50's, early 60's drifted through the line like the sound of a man clinging on the edge of a cliff hoping he dialed the right digits to 911. "I am Jack Crichton, I understand you are coming to see me about my son?"

"Yes, sir," I shifted in my seat and glanced again towards Chiana. "I have reasons to believe John Crichton is alive and I was hoping you could answer a few questions to aid my investigation."

"If you're on your way up here agent Mulder I would recommend you change course son."

"Excuse me sir?"

"If you're the man I think you are you're going the wrong way," his voice came through more evenly. "I received a call a few days ago with a name given to me of one Eli Kimlar, does that ring with you?"

"No, I'm sorry."

"It doesn't with me either agent Mulder but they were looking for my son too. There's a place I want you to go, do you have a pen and paper?"

"Yes," I looked in the rearview again but this time with a sudden apprehension someone could be following me. "I don't understand, Mr. Crichton. Why the cloak and dagger?"

"You'll understand when you get there. I'll have to ask you not to call me, just understand I am going to help."

"Sir, are you aware of my passenger?"

"Yes, Mulder, I am. Just write this address down and I will call you again soon."

**********************************

A shower, a shave and 75hrs later I was coasting through my dreams in the harshly soap smelling Happy Motel only 300 miles away from where I really wanted to be. I had my misgivings about brining Chiana but I could see little choice. She was undeniably alien but there were only two directions for her in a future with humans and neither one of them entailed consideration of her welfare or inalienable rights under a constitution intended for human beings. My dreams became restless, going back over the horrifying discoveries in my last case and on into weird bizzarities about StarBursting ships and aliens that could rip the fabric out of human concept much less the entire social structures of our world orders. I found myself in my own creative minds ideas of what the arora chair of Scorpius must look like, screaming as he spun me while Crichton watched with his arms crossed, observing my reaction with anger stretched across his face. In the dream it didn't seem like because he didn't like me. It was more like he was expecting me to find him and was rather upset I had not done so by now. Ironically, instead of everything I know and all the cases I have been on flashing across the screen in front of my face I was seeing things about Crichton from what I had established in his recordings.

Almost as soon as the thought came over me I saw the images of my last case haunting me again. She seemed like a very average woman despite the plastic doll she carried with her every where she went. She had proclaimed that the doll could speak to her and prophesies for the individual lives of her neighbors. It had been persuading enough to flash into the local cheap magazines where people continue to spot Elvis. She had infact, been convincing enough to have me sent to investigate her claims of a doll that could speak from what ever other side a spirit world may contain. I would have disregarded it except for a nagging feeling that just wouldn't rest with me. It came to my horrifying discovery that this woman had lost her new born child five years prior to her claims, claims which lead me to believe the missing child and her schizophrenic tendencies over the doll where connected. It wasn't the first time a case had lead me to someone mentally or even spiritually unstable, but it was the first time I had actually considered her claims on a legitimate basis, to find that inside the abdomen of her plastic doll were the bones of her missing daughter.

I woke up in a sweat, gasping for my breath as the motel door slung open almost in the same moment, just in enough time for me to watch Chiana run out in her knee length coat.

"Chiana!"

I stumbled out of the bed, running after her in my T-shirt and suit pants. The pavement smarted my feet with every kernel and stone as if they were going out of their way to nearly puncture my tender soles as I ran like a mad man. I was halfway down the second block before I realized I had my gun in my hand and was raising it at this young mystical form as she made an inhuman bound over a fence, landing on the platform of a fire escape on all fours. She tilted her head as she stood in a sprawled stance and gazed around herself for her options.

"Wait! Chiana!" I lowered my gun and hit the fence, scrambling to keep up with the lithe ease she had displayed while I began to feel heavily weighted by earths gravity and possibly those chocolate donuts that had served as our evening meal. By the time I made it to the fire escape she was gone. I scanned for her desperately, the thought of loosing her put a terrified knot into my chest so tightly I could scarcely breath. "Chiana think about what you're doing! I'm trying to help damnit. I want to find Crichton as badly as you do. You're going to have to trust me!"

I looked up and saw her movement, the light breeze stealing at her short hair in the shadows above. I sighed heavily, the relief overwhelming me as I climbed after her to the roof top. She had waited for me but the image I beheld caught me. I felt almost as if I were interrupting something very private as I watched her sway back and forth, her head tilting somewhat with her arms stretched out as she gazed up at the constellations. I came to her side, looking into her pale, delicately featured face as she hummed to herself.

"You miss her don't you?" I asked quietly. "Moya."

"Mulder," she stated with a seriousness that was so human it left me stunned. She reminded me of Scully as he lowered her head with solemn consideration at the roof top. It was her tone of voice, the look in her face as she swallowed. I was dealing with someone who had more sense than I was really accrediting to her. She pointed up towards Orion's belt and cut a glance to me. "John Crichton jo'esh akrudina. Shisaru'es hekra ni'frelling dith etchenay? Akrusi farbot eshur."

"Well, I understand frelling and farbot," I smiled. She let out a light sigh as she returned the smile near to tears and wrapped her arms around me. She buried her face into my chest. I held her. I wasn't sure what else to do. I felt completely lost not knowing her language but I could only imagine how lost she must feel so far away from everything she knows. I found myself envying her ability to travel the galaxies, getting into as much trouble as Crichton proposed she did. It was difficult to imagine she wasn't human.

"C'mon, we'll get something better to eat than chocolate donuts for the night," I spoke as gently as I could as I urged her to come with me. "Maybe we should run through some simple words for you to know while you're here, like no, yes, Mulder is a sexy boy."

She snorted a laugh with a twist of her head as she wiped her eyes. I couldn't believe it. The reaction alone swept at my finer sensibilities to remain objective but it was my first real glimpse at the Nebari behind the state of shock as she gave me a wry "oh really" cut of her eyes. I felt like I was ear to ear with my smile as I gazed into those dark eyes smiling with childlike laughter.

"You just understood me didn't you?"

She cocked her head with a shift of her shoulders, reflecting on the roof top again before she looked to me. The wind seemed to pick the perfect moment to whisk at her hair and send it flying around her eyes accentuated by the darker ash of her lids to brow.

"Earp," she nodded slightly as she indicated this place. "Wormhole ri'earp."

She gazed down at the alley below as she lightly hit the rail to the fire escape with the palm of her hand and let out a disappointed sigh with a tilt of her head.

"Eli Kimlar," she cooed her knowing and turned to me with a solemn question I felt I knew but just couldn't answer. I took her shoulder, looking into those eyes again hoping at least the determination I felt could assure her.

"Let's get some rest first. You wouldn't believe how bushed I feel."

"Yes," She up turned her head with a curve, her broad smile tantalizing as she sighed at me.

I just shook my head. Crichton was right about one thing, she was a ball of life... and full of suprises.

******************************
 
I rolled my eyes as I opened the door. Of all things Jack Crichton had lead me into a basic hotel room. I sat down with a heavy sigh, disappointed in the lead as Chiana plopped down on the bed and stared up at the ceiling, lost in her own thoughts. I leaned forward in the seat, resting my lips to my fists as my eyes rested on the large brown folder on the night stand. It took a moment to register in my tired brain as I stared at it wondering what it was doing in here with such an immaculate cleaning service that went so far as to crease the bed cover and leave a novel soap in the center of them. One which Chiana pulled from under her back and tossed over her head at the wall with a bored sigh.

I changed to sitting on the bedside and took the folder, opening it to find a picture of John Crichton, or at least, I thought it was. Shadows surrounded the disturbing picture of the man leaning forward in a chair with his head down, his hands behind him like he was tied. With it was what looked almost like a ransom note threaghtening Jack Crichton not to pursue an "interest" in his son and further endanger his life. It was actually signed, Eli Kimlar, a man or woman with no federal records, no sense of any identification that I or my resources could get their hands on. It wasn't like Kimlar was a common last name. It would seem that all the evidence of his nonexistence suggested it was fabricated - or alien. I turned the envelope upside down and a small tape slipped out.

My cell phone rang. I picked it up, gazing to Chiana beneath my brows as she observed with mild interest. Now that I knew she could at least understand perfect English I considered choosing my words carefully.

"Mulder," Scully spoke without waiting for my response. "I'm looking at a report on your desk. This, ship, it's made out of some kind of material that is vaguely genetic material."

"Bio-mechanoid?"

"Not entirely, that is, not specifically... but hypothetically it could be biological technology."

"What are they doing with it now?"

"It's being moved, I-" She sighed as I heard the sound of papers being slapped down. "This report has satellite pictures and a brief description of a company called CyberGen but there's nothing here telling me who did this report to check their references."

"CyberGen?" I looked to Chiana again but she shrugged her shoulders. "I've never heard of them."

"Well, they're claiming ownership of the crashed vessel. Everything seems like it's being handled discreetly but I'm standing here with a very large information leak in my hands. I even have a satellite picture here of the truck shipping the vessel in your investigation to Canada."

"That was fast," I blinked slowly at the irritation that began to rise. I knew the ship was lost to me now but I had to rely on the remote chance Crichton would at least be some where in the vicinity of where this ship was being taken. "Does it say anything about where CyberGen is?"

"Well, no," she snorted. "But I do have an address for HollowTree estates ranch. Would you like to call them and ask them if they have a UFO distantly related to biological matter?"

"Oooo, snooty." I smiled slightly as I tossed the envelop next to my lap and searched the desk tops drawers. "That's an unusual name for a company apparently conducting scientific research. Why don't you give HollowTree a call and find out what they do before I get there."

"What are you going to do with Chiana when you get there? She can't just follow you around, Mulder."

"Maybe I'll just cuff her to the car door and let her hold out on beef jerky and rootbeer until you come flying to our rescue."

"Skinner is asking for your report."

"I'll break out my crayons and mail it to him."

"Mulder."

"Your right," I gazed at Chiana plain faced as she creased her brows and gave me a curious look as she rolled over on her stomach. "I'll stick with the invisible ink and staple it to a carrier pigeon."

I hung up the phone and rolled my eyes. I was tired enough to actually feel high as I carelessly laid back and let my eyes close. It was an incredibly stupid mistake. I couldn't even remember falling asleep when my eyes popped open again five hours later to the sounds of cheap sex being conducted on the television set. Chiana was sitting cross-legged on her still made bed, her head turned to a shoulder as she gawked at the X-rated intertwining of bodies and gasps. I made a drogged escape to the shower, finding white hairs everywhere amidst left over shampoo suds as I turned the hot water on. At least there was some left. My morbid curiosity of what it must be like to actually have sex with an extraterrestrial seemed to captivate my mind over the more serious issue of CyberGen with its proposed ranch front of HollowTree. I could scarcely believe Jack Crichton lead me here just to pass me a ransom he had received but five hours seemed a long enough time to assume nothing else was here to give me some kind of lead. Right now any clues that could be a little more specific would have made me click my heels together and jump for joy. Maybe just a little.

I turned around in the fold of steam, feeling relieved by the hot water pouring over my tense muscles when I saw her slipping in as quietly and with as much stealth as a feline. I felt my jaw give way, at first I couldn't even comprehend that this was someone who wasn't human. Her naked form a creamy whitish gray. She smiled tentatively, her hands coming to my hips as her head drew to my neck and she sighed into my ear. She took my hands in the long sigh that sent spindles of pleasure down my torso and into my groin. I became hard almost instantly at the seductive sound as her hands placed mine to the insides of her thighs just at the crease of her buttox. My lips searched her neck, breathing in her wonderous scent of flesh as I felt my self responding, my fingers delicately searching her moist warmth as her sigh turned to a moan of pleasure as I traced my fingers along her clitoris. It had been ages, too long perhaps. I pulled away to gaze into her eyes, gaping like the boy I felt verging on the fringes of his first discovery. I shook my head slightly, willing myself to speak when she turned her head into my chest, her hand slipping just behind my testicles to a spot I didn't even know I had as a point of sheer sensation as she caressed it. Oh god.

I bent over her, my hands finding her hips. I grasped them and pushed her back against the wall out of the steady stream of hot water. I was awkward in the slippery surface. She hit the wall roughly. I searched her eyes in alarm but she didn't seem to mind the rough treatment. She smiled and began searching my neck without actually touching until her tongue traced across my lips and then she kissed. Her leg came around my hip as she rested an arm over my shoulder, her other hand finding my erection and massaging it. I bit my lip, my eyes searching the ceiling blindly as I pushed myself into her. She groaned deep within herself, her sigh of desire warm in my ear as her head rocked back and then came forward again in a tilt as if she were daring me to be rough with her. I pushed roughly as my hand planted against the wall for balance. Her body responded, the dark nipples of her breasts brushing against my chest as she moaned out a sigh that I could only say turned me absolutely on. Her hands reached for my throaght and I gasped as she tightened the grip as if she knew exactly what I was into. If I was going to die of a strangling affixation as someone once predicted and this was it, I didn't care. She gasped, her body contracting so close to mine I could feel her muscles tensing and spasiming from the smooth flesh of her abdomen. She was climaxing before I had, her own orgasm causing me to come inside her, hot near to a point of pain. I groaned deeply as I thrust into her and felt as if I were exploding, expanding, so complete in the ecstasy that I hadn't even realized she had come again. It was like a tidal wave the way her orgasms washed again and again through her own body. I felt as if I were experiencing each one of them with her. I sighed deeply as I held onto her and we stood for long moments in exhaustion or elation I couldn't fathom. It was the most incredible climax in my life, but to tell her that sounded so much like a cliche I didn't dare.

I stepped back into the room to a completely unpredicted scene I'm sure must have looked exactly as it presumed in a hotel. I in my towel, Chiana coming from around me completely nude to gather her clothing and dress as the door creaked open and agent Gemini Curtis stepped in. I raised my brows, unsure if I should dress then or try to make a quick narrative as he nodded to me and then creased his brows at Chiana. Perhaps the most disturbing part was he didn't seem to care what it looked like and Chiana did not appear to be at all embarrassed in the buff though she moved to dressing in the bathroom. Maybe I was just feeling a little prudent.

"Curtis," I nodded lightly as I picked up my fresh clothes out of my pack. "Want to tell me how you found an undisclosed location?"

"Jack Crichton," He stated.

"You said you asked for a transfer to Skinners department."

"I did at Crichtons request," he sighed lightly as he sat down. "I won't get into allot of details on it, I'm just here. I trust you're going to Canada?"

I looked at him as I dressed, wondering what exactly was going on and what it was I wasn't being told. Curtis had a specialty for undercover work. He was pretty good at it but the Curtis our agents had found only five months ago had been a traumatized wreck chained to the floor of a basement. He wasn't exactly the man I would have pictured Jack Crichton going to for help on the possibility his son was alive.

"Maybe," I blinked as I stole a glance at Chiana as she came back into the room and then sat to tie my shoes. I absently wondered if I was perhaps blushing as she sat behind me and turned the television back on. My cheeks defunatley felt hot as I smiled at the sounds of the porn. "I'm not really sure I feel like it."

If this was some kind of game with Eli Kimlar to distract me I sure didn't want to play. Maybe what I should be doing was exactly the opposite of where things were pointing. HollowTree sounded like one big dead end, but maybe it was supposed to. I felt too contented at the moment to really care.

"Any other leads?" He asked.

"I think so," I smiled, expecting a reaction I wanted out of my next statement. "I think I'm going to pay Jack Crichton a visit as I had originally planned."

Indeed, his reaction interested me but it wasn't the one I had hoped for. It was one of suprise and worry, something basically very normal. What I had hoped to see though was some sign to give me reason to suspect Jack Crichton may not even be aware of his son on earth.

"It may not be wise," He stated with a slow blink.

"I think I have something that would interest him." I replied calmly as I kept my eyes steadily on him. "Besides, I'm not completely convinced of our leads."

"You're wasting time," Curtis shook his head as he stood. "I'll go to Canada myself and check it out."

"Go ahead," I didn't stray my eyes from him as I stood and picked up my bag. "I won't be far behind you."

I blinked at the small, teasing smile on his face that managed to completely destroy the composure I was trying to lead. I shifted my eyes away, looking back at the door as it closed behind him. I wondered to myself though, if he had wanted to ask - because I felt like running after him to snatch him by his arm to tell him how incredibly exotic Chiana was and then backhand him for giving me protective custody of a neurotic alien. I smiled, hopelessly.

***************************************

"Dad? Dad! It's me, John Crichton."

"John? I can't believe it, it can't be you."

"Look Dad I don't have allot of time to explain. It's me okay? You gotta trust me. Listen to me, I'm in some hick town and I need your help. We - we crashed and some guy is chasing us. I need you to pick us up. Can you do that for me?"

"Sure, I don't know... you sure sound like John."

"I'll explain everything back at the base. You've got to help me. I - I've got some people with me others just wouldn't understand. Will you meet me in two days?"

"Two days?"

"Yeah, I can't find Chiana. Look, two days. Be there for me okay?"

"Yes, yes. I'll be there..."

I played the recorded telephone call over and over until Chiana clambered to the front seat and placed her hand over mine.

"Kimlar," she stated as she took the recorder and waved it at me.

"Do you think he has Crichton?"

"Yes," she nodded with a frightened look in her eyes. She turned her head to look out at the night sky, a gasp escaping her as my car died. There seemed no reason for it, everything just shut off and we began to coast in the pitch dark of the empty road. I pulled to a stop, a sudden brilliance of light blinding me.

When I opened my eyes everything was dreamy. I was laying on a table, bluish light around me as I turned my head and saw Chiana laying on a table next to me struggling to move, scared out of her mind. I tried moving but felt paralyzed. Something was holding my head and I cried out as a sharp pain pierced through my neck. Four beings came around me. They were the grays I had always heard about in countless accounts of alien abductions, slender and grayish with large, oval shaped black eyes.

I heard myself scream in the surreal essence of my surroundings, fighting for my consciousness when the face of a woman appeared before me. She was blue, exotic, her eyes lavishingly outlined in the gold's that speckled her mystic blue flesh.

"Attinesh ni'makrelin," she spoke softly as she caressed the side of my head and looked up as the pain I felt began to dissolve. Chiana was beside me, holding my hand.

"What's going on?" I asked. "Please, Chiana."

"Mulder," the blue woman coaxed at me as she made a shushing sound to try to calm how terrified I felt. "Sestrin a'rune kosan jelar' interpretation."

"What?"

"But they're temporary," Chiana spoke quietly as she glanced at the blue woman.

"Yes," she nodded solemnly as she removed some kind of devise from my head. "You must move swiftly agent Mulder. There is not much time."

I felt drugged, swallowing hard as I struggled to keep my eyes on her.

"It is too much to explain," she spoke with a calming gentleness, looking to Chiana again. "The Sentients are trying to help us. This worm hole Kimlar created is tearing at thier dimension. Mulder, Crichton must go back through the worm hole. He must get Kimlar to chase him back through so the Sentients can destroy it. Please hurry I implore you. Tell him he must do everything exactly as he had before Kimlar initiated the Tirithinite."

"Tirithinite," I barely managed to mutter.

"Chiana, come with me."

"No!" She shouted in protest. "I told you, I'm staying with Mulder. Zhaan, you - you don't understand. You didn't see what Kimlar did! I have to help him find Crichton."

"Chiana it is by the sheer graces of the Goddess the Sentients allowed me to come this far for the sake of your lives. If you don't come with me now you may never get another chance. Crichton may not be able to pull out on his own, Kimlar is far too dangerous to trust you can portal through with him."

"Why should Crichton risk it alone?" She protested as she cocked her head at Zhaan. "I was with him when it happened and I'm going to help him get out of it. Who - who's going to fly the ship if he can't?"

The blue divinity touched my chest, looking into my eyes profoundly as she traced her long fingers across the sides of my head. I began to feel some kind of connection to her, like I was inside her thoughts or her dreams. I couldn't tell what anything was anymore.

"We'll use him to get inside," another woman's voice stated. "I will do the rest."

"How?" Chiana asked. "What do you think you're going to do like that?"

"You're just going to have to help me aren't you? Get him up, I know where he is."

"Perhaps we should just leave Mulder out of it now," Zhaan suggested.

"Believe me I would like to," the other woman's voice stated heatedly. "But who else can speak Crichtons language? Besides that, he's the only one who knows what's really going on among the humans."