
By: Richard Smith
Re: The X (mas) Files

 by Frank Cammuso and Hart Seely



    We're too late! It's already been here.

    Mulder, I hope you know what you're doing.

    Look, Scully, just like the other homes: Douglas fir,
 truncated, mounted, transformed into a shrine; halls decked
 with boughs of holly; stockings hung by the chimney, with
 care.

    You really think someone's been here?

    Someone, or something.

    Mulder, over here-it's a fruitcake.

    Don't touch it!  Those things can be lethal.

    It's O.K.  There's a note attached: "Gonna find out who's
 naughty and nice."

    It's judging them, Scully.  It's making a list.

    Who?  What are you talking about?

    Ancient mythology tells of an obese humanoid entity who
 could travel at great speed in a craft powered by antlered
 servants.  Once each year, near the winter solstice, this
 creature is said to descend from the heavens to reward its
 followers and punish disbelievers with jagged chunks of
 antracite.

    But that's legend, Mulder-a story told by parents to
 frighten children.  Surely you don't believe it?

    Something was here tonight, Scully.  Check out the bite
 marks on this gingerbread man.  Whatever tore through this
 plate of cookies was massive-and in a hurry.

    It left crumbs everywhere.  And look, Mulder, this milk
 glass has been completely drained.

    It gorged itself, Scully.  It fed without remorse.

    But why would they leave it milk and cookies?

    Appeasement.  Tonight is the Eve, and nothing can stop its
 wilding.

    But if this thing does exist, how did it get in?  The
 doors and windows were locked.  There's no sign of forced
 entry.

    Unless I miss my guess, it came through the fireplace.

    Wait a minute, Mulder.  If you're saying some huge
 creature landed on the roof and came down this chimney,
 you're crazy.  The flue is barely six inches wide.  Nothing
 could get down there.

    But what if it could alter its shape, move in all
 directions at once?

    You mean, like a bowl full of jelly?

    Exactly.  Scully, I've never told anyone this, but when I
 was a child my home was visited.  I saw the creature.  It had
 long white shanks of fur surrounding its ruddy, misshapen
 head.  Its bloated torso was red and white.  I'll never
 forget the horror. I turned away, and when I looked back it
 had somehow taken on the facial features of my father.

    Impossible.

    I know what I saw.  And that night it read my mind.  It
 brought me a Mr. Potato Head, Scully.  It knew that I wanted
 a Mr. Potato Head!

    I'm sorry, Mulder, but you're asking me to disregard the
 laws of physics.  You want me to believe in some supernatural
 being who soars across the skies and brings gifts to good
 little girls and boys. Listen to what you're saying.  Do you
 understand the repercussions? If this gets out, they'll close
 the X-files.

    Scully, listen to me: It know when you're sleeping.  It
 knows when you're awake.

    But we have no proof.

    Last year, on this exact date, SETI radio telescopes
 detected bogeys in the airspace over twenty-seven states.
 The White House ordered a Condition Red.

    But that was a meteor shower.

    Officially.  Two days ago, eight prized Scandinavian
 reindeer vanished from the National Zoo, in Washington, D.C.
 Nobody-not even the zookeeper-was told about it.  The
 government doesn't want people to know about Project Kringle.
 They fear that if this thing is proved to exist the public
 will stop spending half its annual income in a holiday
 shopping frenzy.  Retail markets will collapse.  Scully, they
 cannot let the world believe this creature lives.  There's
 too much at stake.  They'll do whatever it takes to insure
 another silent night.

    Mulder, I-

    Sh-h-h.  Do you hear what I hear?

    On the roof.  It sounds like...a clatter.

    The truth is up there.  Let's see what's the matter.

  --
 ________________________________________________________
 Rich Petersen                             rich@netco.com
 Manager, Systems Integration                612.204.3100
 NetCo Communications Corp             http://www.wam.net
 333 N Washington Ave, Suite 102        (fax)612.204.3101
 Minneapolis, MN 55401, USA       (toll free)800.611.9006
 ________________________________________________________

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