Disclaimer: The characters of Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, belong to Chris Carter (I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy!), Ten Thirteen Productions, and Twentieth Television, and are used without permission and with no intent to infringe on any copyrights.
"Oh no!!!"
Mulder looked up, startled. Scully's voice had been filled
with fear. She was staring wide-eyed at her laptop as if it had
just bitten her.
"What is it?" Mulder asked, crossing over to stand beside
her.
Wordlessly she pointed at the screen. Mulder looked, and
flinched. "Oh my god. How did _that_ get in there?"
"I sent it in for maintenance last week," Scully said
helplessly. "I had no idea they were going to do _this_ to it.
How could they have done this to me?"
"Maybe we can get out of it," Mulder suggested. "Here, let
me try..."
He moved the mouse pointer around, and clicked once.
"Whoops."
"What do you mean, 'Whoops"?!" Scully demanded. "Oh no!" she
cried again, staring at the screen. "It's shutting down the
entire system!"
The screen snapped off, followed by all the lights on the
power display panel.
"Those bastards!" Scully exclaimed. "What did they do?!"
"Wait, Scully. Maybe if we turn it on again..." Mulder
pressed the power button. They both watched intently as the
screen flicked to life.
Scully began to relax as the bootup sequence scrolled by.
Then she bolted upright.
"IT's still there!" she cried, pointing at the screen.
Mulder tried to calm her. "Maybe it's not that bad, Scully.
I've heard that a few people have learned to live with it."
"Mulder, you've got to help me get rid of it," Scully
pleaded.
"Scully, you know more about computers than I do," Mulder
held up his hands helplessly. "I'll end up doing more harm than
good."
Mulder, you've got to help me get rid of that thing!"
Scully's eyes were wild.
"Okay, all right," Mulder said soothingly. "I'll get the
guys at the Lone Gunman to look at it."
Scully sighed. Spending an afternoon in the same room with
Frohike was not her idea of fun. But if that was what it took to
save her computer...
"Ooo, that looks bad," Byers tsked. "What is the world
coming to?"
"Don't worry, Agent Scully, we won't rest until we've
defeated this thing," Langley assured her, beginning to type.
Under his breath, he muttered, "Damn it, when will this madness
end?!"
Scully looked totally miserable. Frohike was about to offer
her a swig from his bottle of Miller Ice, but caught Mulder's
warning look and meekly backed down. Mulder nudged Scully gently.
"You okay?" he asked.
Scully gave him a watery smile. "I just never thought it
would happen to me. I feel so... violated."
Mulder squeezed her hand. "It happens to the best of us."
"Oh... my... GOD!!!" Langley yelled.
"Insidious. Truly insidious," Byers shook his head.
"What?! What is it?" Scully was on her feet.
Langley hung his head. "I'm sorry, Agent Scully. We did
everything we could, but... it's written itself everywhere. There
isn't a single place in the computer that's free from it." He
stepped back from the computer. "There's nothing we can do."
Scully's eyes widened in horror. "No. It can't be." She
turned the computer to her. She had to see for herself.
Her lower lip trembled, and she clutched at Mulder for
support. The words on the screen mocked her, taunting her.
"Welcome to Windows 95."
© 1996 Winnie Guat-Sim Lim