| Primary Characters: | Byers, Jimmy, Langly, Frohike, Mulder, Scully |
| Rating: | T |
| Spoilers: | Some |
| Warning: | serious topics |
| Description: | Frohike, Langly and Byers get a message from a contact telling them to expect someone. That someone turns out to look very familiar, but is supposedly dead. Who is the newcomer? |
When the alien invasion didn’t seemed to be happening, some of them, notably Langly, but also Frohike, decided they were going crazy sitting around in the abandoned mine, no matter how well equipped and furnished it was. Many of the others living there agreed, for partly the same reasons, though perhaps their reasons had more to do with Langly and Frohike going crazy nearby, than actually being bored.
They solved the problem by getting an office in the nearest larger town and spending the weeks there.
It was agreed that if they didn’t draw too much attention to themselves, it would most likely be ok. None of them had arrived at this point in life by being cautious.
So they set up their computers and did their surveillance, but didn’t travel around anymore.
One day, one of their contacts sent a cryptic message that led them to believe they should be expecting someone. It turned out their guess was right. Late one evening, just before they were going to go up and go to bed, they heard a slight noise from the backyard and sent Byers out to investigate. Jimmy went along to provide a more muscular backup. Yves had opted to stay in the mine.
At first the two men didn’t see or hear anything and Byers concluded that Frohike and Langly might have sent him out there as a sort of farfetched joke, but then they heard the noise again and went to investigate.
In the weeds close to the trash cans, a man was lying on the ground. He appeared to be in an almost catatonic state, but on closer inspection, he was at least alive. Neither Byers or Jimmy were expert enough to be able to tell what condition he was in. They debated whether it would be safe to lift him, and in the end decided it might be even more unsafe to leave him outside. So Jimmy picked him up and carried him inside.
In the much improved lighting inside, everyone, except Jimmy, immediately tensed up, staring at the unconscious man.
”Hey, isn’t he a lot like Max?”
”Max Fenig? No, can’t be. According to Mulder, he’s most likely dead.”
”Yeah, everyone else says so too.”
”It does look like Max.”
Byers bent over the man and studied his face closely. It wasn’t likely that the others would listen to him, with the exception of Jimmy, where the difficulty lay more in lack of understanding than lack of respect, but he was sure of his facts.
”Maybe he isn’t dead. Did anyone see his dead body?”
”Mulder -”
”He did not. He said he thought he was dead. It’s not like he could examine the body.”
”Anyway -”
Byers didn’t know why he bothered raising his voice, but this time for some reason he wanted to have his say.
”To me he looks exactly like Max. I’ve met him once so I know.”
”We’ve seen him too, you know.”
Langly didn’t like to let Byers hold everyone’s attention for long. Frohike might have agreed with him about that, but also didn’t like Langly holding the others’ attention for long either.
”In photos, yes.”
”I saw him once at a UFO convention.”
”You think you saw him. Wasn’t it just from the back?”
Langly made an ugly face at Frohike, who replied in kind. Byers shrugged and gave up. Those two would come to an agreement about something and then he’d most likely find out what that was about. In the meantime, he returned to his computer screen. He had work to do, and now it seemed they weren’t going to call it a night yet, so he might as well continue.
”We should probably make sure he gets medical help.”
”What? At a hospital? Are you insane.”
”No. We have a doctor, remember? The lovely Dana. Let’s just take the poor guy back to – home base. She can take care of him. And that nurse. Problem solved.”
To Byers’ surprise, Langly agreed. They began packing up their things and fifteen minutes later, they were all packed into the van heading back out to the mine. Byers sat in the back, keeping an eye on the unconscious man who looked so much like Max Fenig.
The trip out to the mine took close to two hours so they rarely returned on an ordinary week night.
When they arrived, Langly and Frohike pushed and shoved each other, to get out first and to be the one to use the signal they’d agreed on. Byers thought it was ridiculous, but no one asked for his opinion, so he didn’t bother trying to let them know about his feelings.
Once they’d both finished hooting and making exaggerated hand gestures, that made Byers glad he was still sitting in the car, they all waited. Jimmy was walking around, stretching his legs.
After a while, Mulder came outside, still fully dressed, but looking a bit bored. Byers was guessing that while he often depended on his friends for information, he also frequently got tired of being at Frohike’s and Langly’s beck and call out here.
”Hey, guys, what’s up?”
”We found someone. He came to us through someone we trust so don’t worry. It’s just that – when we looked at him – we kind of – it doesn’t make sense. You look at him.”
”Ok. Let’s get him inside then. Where is he? Still in the car?”
Langly nodded to Jimmy, who opened the back door of the van and picked up the unconscious man and carried him towards the entrance.
Mulder and the others followed him inside and watched him get into the elevator, with his burden. Not even Jimmy wanted to carry someone three flights of stairs down. Especially steep stairs like that.
The others took the stairs, though Frohike stared longingly at the vanishing elevator.
”Hey, he could have waited. What’s the limit? Six people?”
Langly fixed him with a disgusted stare.
”So you can’t walk down three flights of stairs anymore? Admit it, old man, you’re getting old.”
”I’m admitting nothing.”
They almost got into a fight, but when Mulder coughed meaningfully, they stopped.
”Guys. If you have to do that, take it outside.”
”Never mind. Later.”
They kept glaring at each other, though they had great difficulty walking straight while doing that.
Downstairs, Mulder directed Jimmy to one of the empty bedrooms in the first corridor. He stared pensively at the long blond hair.
”You can put him down here. I’ll send for Dana and nurse Ray.”
Once Jimmy had put his burden down and left the room, Mulder stared at the man’s face. Now he knew what Frohike and Langly had been getting at. That guy looked exactly like Max Fenig, but the last time Mulder had seen him, he had been sure that the guy was dead. Nothing that had happened since, had convinced him otherwise. Until tonight. Dana would have to make sure this wasn’t a clone. He had an idea, that she might even be able to tell if someone, for some reason had wanted to create a copy of Fenig by using plastic surgery. On the other hand, why shouldn’t Fenig be alive? He’d returned before, so it was definitely possible.
”Hey. What’s going on?”
”Hey, Dana. Look at this guy. Doesn’t he look familiar?”
Dana studied the man silently for almost a minute.
”Yes, of course. What do you think?”
”I’d like you to tell me that. Do you have protective gear so you can find out if he’s a clone?”
”Sure. I’ll send someone for all that and then we can get started. Nurse Ray is on her way. You can assist me and – anyone who volunteers. Within reason. No matter how many alien autopsies Frohike and Langly claim to have participated in, I still don’t call that medical or surgical experience.”
”So who do you want? Me?”
”Yes, if you would. Then we won’t have to get Missy or Alex out of bed, and I’m not sure Walter or – Kerch -”
”Enough said. I’ll do it. No problem.”
”You won’t have to do much. Just hold a few things for me.”
”You don’t think we should get someone down here to just – supervise? In case he comes to and is aggressive?”
”I doubt he’ll be aggressive. He’s completely out. It will be a long time before he regains consciousness. Hold on a sec.”
She bent over her new patient and pressed her fingers to the side of his neck.
”Yes, it will be a while, but if nothing else comes up, I’m sure he will regain consciousness eventually. He’s been traumatized somehow, but I can’t see any obvious injuries, and of course, I’ll have to do a tox screen.”
”Ok. Do you think you’ll be able to see if he’s had plastic surgery? You know, to turn him into a Fenig-lookalike.”
”Wait a minute.”
She gently turned his face over in her hands, then bent one ear back and looked at the skin behind it, then did the same with the other.
”As far as I can see, no. He hasn’t had plastic surgery.”
”Ok. Interesting. Of course there’s no reason he must be dead. He came back before.”
”Exactly.”
The sound of soft footsteps from behind them made them turn and found that nurse Ray was there. Behind her Jimmy was standing, his arms full of protective gear for at least three people.
”There you go. Do you need me more here tonight?”
”Well, if you’re tired you can send for Alex or Walter, but if you could stick around for a while longer, just in case, it would be great.”
”No problem. I’ll stay. Are you expecting any trouble?”
”No. Not at all, but you know, better safe than sorry.”
”Ok.”
A while later, Scully, nurse Ray and Mulder had suited up and were standing around the patient.
Scully made a shallow cut in the man’s left upper arm and watched the blood seep out. It was perfectly naturally red. Not a trace of green. Just to be on the safe side, she cut him on the right shoulder too, but the result didn’t change. It was just ordinary red blood.
Scully nodded to Mulder to back off. He retreated out into the corridor and she assumed he was removing his protective gear.
Her continued examinations were devoted to finding out why her patient was unconscious. She didn’t find any obvious signs, but knew that the tox screen should tell her more. With nurse Ray’s help she turned her patient over and studied the back of his neck. She could have used an x-ray machine, but since she didn’t have one it was no use continuing this line of investigations. After her own experiences and the support group for the multiple abductees, dying of cancer, she’d had an idea. Why remove the little cylinder if there was some way of turning it off, without triggering the cancer? She’d given that idea a great deal of thought and had come to the conclusion that a short directed burst of radiation might do the trick. The only problem was finding a hospital where she could have this procedure done without drawing attention to their group.
After a few more minutes she decided they’d seen enough and began to finish up. She and nurse Ray put away the blood samples and placed the patient back on his back, making sure he was resting comfortably. They backed out of the small room and began removing their protective gear.
”Nurse Ray, I think we need to keep watch over him. Would you be kind enough to start? We’ll all take turns. He’ll probably come to eventually. If the tox screen comes back negative, I’ll try to wake him up.”
”Yes, Doctor.”
”Thank you. Mulder – we can go up now. I didn’t find anything, as you might have guessed. Now we just have to wait for the results of the tox screen.”
”Ok. Would you like to guess who he is?”
”Yes, I’m betting it is Max Fenig. We just assumed he was dead, but what did we base that on? That he didn’t come back as soon as the last times? For all we know, he did come back but didn’t resurface until now. Also – I guess I don’t need to say this, Mulder – we don’t know where he’s been or what they’ve done to him. You believe he’s been taken to a spaceship or other planet, but he could easily have been held in a lab here on Earth.”
”I know that. It could still be related to the alien conspiracy.”
”I know that too, but, well -”
”Exactly. There’s still a lot we don’t know.”
Scully sent the blood samples off to the lab and received the results back within the week. As usual, in these cases, the results were inconclusive. In any case, there was no physical reason that Max Fenig – because she was going to assume it was the same guy until it was proven otherwise – still remained unconscious.
Since he should at least be in relatively good health – physically – she decided to wake him up, because prolonged unconsciousness would most likely cause him more harm than waking up.
She injected him with the substance, then waited. Behind her, Mulder, Krycek and Jimmy stood watch, prepared to protect her if Max turned out to be aggressive. Which he wouldn’t be, it was ridiculous to suspect that. This thin, pathetic-looking man wouldn’t harm her, at least not physically. She was still mulling over the idea of having that cylinder in his neck zapped by radiation. Assuming it was still there.
The man’s eyelids began to twitch and a few minutes later, she could see them open. She noted that the breathing was normal and that the man’s color was returning to normal as well. His pulse too, felt normal. The man didn’t react in any discernible way to her touch. Just as she had thought. He wasn’t physically aggressive.
”How do you feel?”
No reply, though she could see his eyes following her, leading her to believe that he knew she was talking to him. Remembering that the guy might have a hearing problem, she raised her voice.
”What’s your name?”
She could see his eyes moving, as if he was pondering her question, but no reply came. Eventually, her patient shook his head slightly, so slightly she almost missed it.
”Can’t you speak?”
A long pause, then a nod. So he was mute. She hadn’t looked inside his mouth or taken a look at his throat, so she did that now. The guy didn’t try to stop her. He calmly accepted her touch once again. There was nothing in there that spoke of injuries or illness. His tongue was there and looked unharmed. He didn’t seem to be in pain, though she pressed her fingers to the glands underneath his ears. They were not swollen.
”Ok, I understand. Do you know your name?”
This time, she thought she could detect a glint of fear in his eyes. Was he afraid to reveal his name or – didn’t he remember it?
”Do you?”
This time he shook his head. The look of fear stayed in his eyes.
”There’s no need to be alarmed. Amnesia is rarely permanent. Eventually, you should start to remember. In other ways, you seem to be healthy.”
She began to examine his head again – though the hair was quite dirty. It was time they gave this guy a proper bath or a shower if he could stand – and she saw no reason why not. There were no lumps or other abnormalities on his skull, so no clue to why he’d suffered amnesia in the first place.
”Ok, nothing seems to be wrong. Does the name Max Fenig mean anything to you?”
After a long pause, the guy shook his head. It was hard to guess if he was telling the truth, but she suspected he did.
”Don’t worry about it. You’re safe here with us. Are you hungry?”
No reply, but she wasn’t going to wait for one. She would get him something to eat and drink and she’d get someone to give him a bath or shower. Jimmy would probably be best. That was a nice guy, if a little slow. Though with hair this long – maybe she or Missy should do the hair. Or – perhaps Yves. Scully suspected the woman who had arrived at their farm house a few years earlier had a background as a model. On the other hand, Scully didn’t trust her completely. There was no threat there, but the woman was a former jewel thief. Her former colleague Monica Reyes might be an alternative as well, but she would rather work with Missy if she could.
As it turned out, Jimmy had no problem helping them with the cleanup of the patient and Missy, as Scully knew, was very clever with a pair of scissors.
”But Dana, if this is the way he likes his hair, we shouldn’t cut it short for him.”
”I’m not sure that’s how it is, but why not? Let’s just trim it a bit. Once you got the tangles out, it looks quite nice. What do you think about the beard?”
”It will have to go. Unhygienic, right?”
At that, both women giggled together. It was so wonderful to have Missy back again. For years, Dana had believed her sister dead only to find her alive under very unusual circumstances. They were laughing because they thought the long hair looked cool and the beard was disgusting. Their talk about respecting the patient’s needs was just – window dressing. But Dana still agreed with Missy. The beard was unhygienic and would have to go. She still remembered how she’d hated seeing Mulder wearing one. That had had to go as well. She was wondering who she would get to shave Max. Mulder was probably the best choice if he would do it.
”Mulder -”
He was in the corridor nearby. She wasn’t sure if he was there to protect her from her weak and apathetic patient or if he just liked waiting around for her. Hopefully it was the latter.
”Yes?”
”Do you think you could shave Max?”
”Shave? Oh, ok, why not?”
Half an hour later, Max sat in a chair beside his bed, looking far more trim and well groomed than Scully suspected he had in years. Without a beard he really was kind of cute, and the long hair suited him, though she suspected a shorter hairdo might have suited him just as well. He had the bones for it. She knew Missy agreed. They always felt roughly the same way about male appearances.
”There. Feeling alright?”
As usual, there was a long pause before the patient, who might have been Max Fenig, replied by nodding or shaking his head. In this case, he nodded.
”We’ll get you something to eat in a while and some new clothes.”
No one had any clothes that would fit him perfectly, but Jimmy had promised to buy some in town the next time he went in. In the meantime, Mulder’s and Krycek’s clothes would have to do – or – Scully frowned a little – wouldn’t Byers be the closest match? She decided to ask him. As it turned out he actually owned a few sets of workout clothes and other leisure wear, that he was happy to lend to Max. Scully had thought he only owned suits, but clearly no one was that strict.
When he came to drop off the clothes, he sat down on the other chair and began to talk to Max.
”I don’t know if you remember me, but we met once, years ago.”
As usual, there was no reply.
Scully encouraged Byers.
”That’s great. Talk to him about – things he might eventually remember. You know, just simple things, nothing upsetting. Computer games are good, if you think he used to play. Whatever else you can think of.”
”Ok, I’ll stay for a while and see if it sparks any memories.”
”If it does, please let me know.”
”I will. Oh – just a moment. I just found something out that you might find interesting. Excuse me, Max. I’ll be right back.”
Byers followed Scully out into the corridor, then closed the door behind him.
”We just heard from our contact. They’d found Max wandering around in the woods.”
”Where?”
”Hundreds of miles from where he was last seen.”
”Oh. Nowhere near any – military installations or scientific research institutes, that sort of thing?”
”No, miles from anything significant. We think he must have been dumped there on purpose.”
”That makes sense. Thank you. That’s good to know.”
Scully thought long and hard on her case and in the end, she was able to arrange a treatment that could turn off the cylinder in Max’s neck. First she was able to have the x-ray done, revealing the by now familiar cylinder where she expected it to be. Secondly, she had it radiated. She knew that there was no sure way of telling if she actually had had it turned off, but short of removing it, there was nothing else she could do about that. However, she did have Max undergo a hearing test. Surprisingly, he turned out to have normal hearing.
After that, she considered Max’s mental status. He was still mute and appeared apathetic, which pointed to some kind of trauma, but the amnesia made it impossible to tell what had caused it. She was hoping that staying with people who were treating him well would eventually improve his condition. That was more or less all she could do, short of finding a psychiatrist for him.
When his physical condition improved, he was included in the daily work – simple jobs, like kitchen duty or laundry room work. It seemed to Scully that he was looking a little better. He put on a little weight, for instance and stopped looking as if he was expecting everyone to physically attack him. Langly, Frohike and Jimmy enthusiastically welcomed him to their group. So did Byers, if only with a little less ostentatious enthusiasm. It didn’t appear as if Max remembered anything about their work, though, so he couldn’t actively participate.
After a few months, Jimmy found out that Max had regained the power of speech. It was quite by accident, since Max hadn’t thought to tell anyone, if he had even noticed himself.
Jimmy was going through their storage room and ended up dropping a box.
”Look out. Could you pick that up for me?”
”Ok.”
Jimmy put the box back on the shelf, then turned around and stared at his normally silent companion.
”What did you say?”
Max looked at him, as if he didn’t understand the question, then he repeated his one word.
”Ok?”
”That’s what I thought you said. So you can talk now?”
After a moment, Max shrugged.
”Oh, come on. Say something then. How are you?”
”Ok.”
”Good. Can you say something else?”
”What?”
”Do you remember your name?”
Again, there was a long pause, then Max began to look around the room, as if seeking a way out.
”Oh, please. There’s nothing to be afraid of. You’re safe here. We’d just like to know who you are and where you came from.”
”No?”
”You don’t remember your name?”
He shook his head.
”Ok, no problem. What do you remember?”
This time Max was quiet for so long, Jimmy was beginning to think there wasn’t going to be a reply. He excused himself and called for Mulder.
”Sorry about that.”
”I – don’t remember anything. Just – being here.”
”Ok. Listen, I’m going to keep stacking these boxes and crates. You don’t have to help. Just wait here.”
A few minutes later, Mulder and Scully arrived, looking expectant.
”Max?”
No reply.
Jimmy put down the box he was placing on a shelf and turned to face them.
”I’ve been through that with him already. He doesn’t remember his name or anything else, apparently.”
”Ok, thanks. Would you come with us, please? There’s nothing to worry about. Dr Scully will just examine you a little and we would both like to ask you a few questions.”
He shrugged again, then followed them docilely to another, smaller room, where Mulder gestured for him to sit down. In this room there was a table and a few chairs, so they all sat, after Scully did a quick visual examination of Max.
”So, you can talk again? How long has that been?”
Again, he shrugged.
”How do you feel?”
”Ok.”
”Is it true that you don’t remember anything? Can you be more specific?”
Max’s eyes roved around the room, as if seeking an answer, but it might just as well be the way he looked as he was trying to remember.
”What is the last thing you remember before tonight?”
”I don’t know. Being here. Helping out.”
”That’s all?”
”Yes.”
”And you don’t remember your name?”
He shook his head.
”Does the name Max Fenig mean anything to you?”
”No. Is that my name?”
”We think so.”
”Ok. Who am I?”
This time it was Scully’s turn to be quiet. How much was she going to tell Max about his past? There was nothing there to help an apathetic, potentially traumatised patient to feel better.
”You’re a friend of ours. We lost touch and then you showed up here – mute and suffering from amnesia.”
”Ok. Had I been in an accident?”
”I have examined you and found no apparent injuries, so I don’t know. If so, it must have been some time ago. We were told you were found wandering in some woods, quite far from here.”
”Oh.”
”If you’re feeling well, then we won’t keep you. You can go. I hope you know, that you’re welcome here and you are safe.”
”Thank you.”
He got up and left, presumably to continue helping Jimmy in the storage room. Since he’d closed the door behind him, Mulder and Scully remained sitting together.
”I guess that didn’t help much.”
Scully nodded slowly.
”No. The trouble is, I don’t have anything else I can try. Maybe he will get his memory back on his own, maybe not.”
”Ok. Let’s just hope he can stay here and won’t be abducted again.”
”Yes, I don’t even know if that radiation helped. So far he seems healthy. No signs of cancer. Usually, that shows up pretty soon.”
”I guess that’s it, then. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
”Yes, we couldn’t very well throw him out. I think this is probably the safest place for him.”
”It should be. At least that closes that X file. As far as it seems now.”
”Yes. It’s always good to be able to close a case. You know, I’m pretty sure this really is Max. Who else would it be? Why would anyone want to send in a copy, that isn’t a clone? And how would they have achieved that? He hasn’t undergone any plastic surgery, I’m sure of that.”
”Then I guess it is Max. Case closed.”
”I’d better get back upstairs.”
”Me too. Interesting though, that he can talk now. Maybe he’ll continue getting better and then we really will find out more.”
”I’m just concerned that he’ll deteriorate if he remembers. At least right now he’s quite calm.”
”Yes, that’s a thought, but since we can’t do anything about it, I guess we just have to -”
”Yes, wait and see. Ok, I’m going. Are you coming?”
”Sure.”
They returned upstairs, passing by the open door into the storage space. Jimmy was still talking to Max and occasionally, he replied. That did seem to be a good sign. Scully felt good about the poor guy finally being in a safe place. In the past, she’d always felt dreadfully sorry for him. He’d been through a lot. She was even half-hoping he would never recover from his amnesia. At least this way, he was allowed to feel safe and have a reasonably good life.
FIN
© Tonica