The X-Files: The Truth Revealed

Chapter 22

Underground Facility 

There was no way Scully would have been able to comprehend the complexity of the facility without having seen it with her own eyes. As they stepped through the stairwell door, the enormity of it hit her in the gut, and she instantly realized the scope of what they were up against. Everywhere they looked, there was motion. 

Looking at an expanse of what appeared to be some miles across it, Scully was awestruck. Above them lie story upon story of glass and concrete; a giant rotunda of sorts. From where she stood, Scully saw a number of stations with hazardous material tankers. Within each station, personnel in protective clothing loaded large bee apiaries into the tankers. Scully knew their purpose - a delivery system to distribute the alien virus to an unsuspecting population. 

On the far side of each station, an elaborate roadway system led in and out of each station. It reminded Scully of a rotary system where traffic flows in, out and around a central point. Her curiosity prompted her to seek that central point. At her insistence, they walked forward to the glass wall. Looking down, the space was completely filled with a dark metal mass covered with strange markings. 

"Oh shit," Scully said. "He was right. Mulder was right all along," she said, grabbing Grant's arm and pulling him back  into the stairwell. 

"What the hell was that?" 

"I don't have time to explain, but trust me when I say we have to get the hell out of here and fast. This is huge," she paced. "This is so much bigger than what we stumbled onto before." 

"Before?" 

"Crash course here, and you're just going to have to take my word for it," she paused, wondering where to start. "Several years ago, I worked for the FBI as a Special Agent assigned to the X-Files, investigating unexplained phenomena - things that weren't your typical day-to-day surveillance and terrorist related activities; things the powers that be didn't publicize. In our research, Mulder and I stumbled onto an elaborate government cover-up regarding the existence of extraterrestrial life." 

"Aliens." 

"Yes, aliens. And long story short, Grant," she said, pointing past the door, "That ship is the mother lode." 

"Aliens?" 

"Look, there's no time! You're going to have to trust me on this. Aliens are real. There's a secret government syndicate made up of super-soldiers working to help the aliens take back what they believe is rightly theirs!" 

"Take what back?" Grant questioned, trying to make some sense out of what Scully had told him. 

Scully hesitated. Ready or not, here it comes. 

"Earth."  

Democrat Hot Springs, GA 

In the low candlelight, Skinner sat across from Mulder, waiting. The solemn look on his face spoke volumes, revealing the concern for his friend and the future that awaited them both. He wished it hadn't come to this. 

How many times had he hindered Mulder and Scully when all they ever wanted was to reveal the truth? How many times had he dismissed them because of his own selfish interest in career advancement or because he feared the Syndicate. 

Scully and her scientific findings were usually dead on, although they were often swept under the rug as speculation. Even when the facts were indisputable, they would be filed in some report, stamped confidential and moved to a secure location where they could no longer be accessed - buried where the truth couldn't be found. 

And Mulder - he'd withstood all of the sneers and jeers of his fellow agents, remaining true to the mission and standing strong against incredible odds. It had earned him nothing more than a childish nickname, Spooky Mulder and a string of misconduct entries in his personnel file. Rarely had anyone in the FBI ever taken him seriously and yet, he was the one man Skinner knew who was willing to die for the truth he believed in.