Living History
by ML

=====

/Transcript of speech given at the 25th Anniversary Dinner,
March, 2018 in the old calendar

:::tink tink tink:::

Hello everyone...is this on?

Hello everyone. Honored guests, friends, family, supporters...I
guess, really we all fall into the same category: survivors.

Thank you for the special honor of choosing me to speak to you
tonight. Most of you have taken me on faith, and I hope that I
have proved, and will continue to prove, that your faith is not
unfounded.

You all know why we're here tonight. I won't spend a lot of
time on history that nearly everyone here can recount better
than I. Many of you were eyewitnesses to some of the events
that have brought us here, though in the way history often
happens, no one knew at the time that they were living through
events that would have such an impact on the future. Not just
their own personal future, but the future of all of us.

Before I go any further, I'd like to call out a few
acknowledgments: we are especially honored tonight to have
President-elect Skinner with us. Yes, please do applaud.
Thank you, Sir. We are hoping for a satellite feed from
Europe, where John and Monica Doggett are overseeing the
reconstruction projects there. Likewise, we expect John
Byers and Dr. Modeski to join us from Antarctica. That's
if Mr. Langly and Mr. Frohike can get the connections up
and running.

[indistinguishable reply from either Langly or Frohike]

Although this is meant to be a celebration, I'd be remiss
if I didn't ask everyone to take a moment to think of those,
known and unknown, who paid the price so that the rest of us
could live to fight on. As you know, we will be having the
formal memorial in a few days, but please allow me to
acknowledge just a few of those who are never far from
our thoughts.

Margaret Scully and her sons Bill and Charles were early
casualties. Bill Scully was slow to come to the Resistance
but he became one of its fiercest supporters, and his brave
service and leadership during the Battle of the Gulf of
Mexico will not be forgotten. His wife, Tara, and his son
Matthew are here with us tonight.

[applause]

Charles had actually been part of the Resistance before
there was one. Most of you now know the story of how he
found Mulder and Scully on the run, and got them to what
would become Resistance headquarters. No one knew at the
time, but that was a turning point for the human race. I'm
sorry that I didn't get the chance to know either of these
brave men, but their deeds will be forever remembered.

It is not known what happened to Margaret Scully, only that
it is likely she was a victim of the conspiracy that
masterminded the invasion. She disappeared not long after
Mulder escaped and Agent Scully disappeared.

As difficult as it is, we owe it to those who gave their all
to honor them by acknowledging how far we've come before we
continue with the fight. We are grateful to them all.
Tonight is not only a celebration for us, but a celebration
of their lives and what they did to enable us to continue.

There are so many others that I have not named. There is
not a person here who has not suffered a loss, and we honor
the memories of them all. Please, before we go on, let us
take a moment of silence to think of those who have fallen.

[pause]

Who among us would have imagined this day, twenty-five years
ago? Certainly not I. And with good reason, I know. But
those of you who have been a part of this story, or who were
there at the beginning...did you ever imagine anything like
this?

I don't think even our guests of honor tonight could have
foretold this. How could they know that their meeting,
twenty-five years ago, portended such events? Events that
eventually unfolded on a global scale, that took them and
their followers into places and into events that are beyond
the scope of the average citizen to even contemplate.

Some might say that perhaps it's a good thing they didn't
know, or we might *not* be here tonight. Who among us, when
confronted with our future, would be able to face it with
equanimity? It's a question almost impossible to answer.

So much of what Dana Scully and Fox Mulder have done has
become legendary. It's sometimes hard to separate fact from
fiction. And since they themselves often related differing
versions of the same events, we may never know the whole
"true" story.

What we do know is this: In the spring of 1993, Dr. Dana
Scully was assigned to work with Special Agent Fox Mulder
and the X-Files Division at the FBI. Dr. Scully, according
to official records, was sent to bring a scientific
discipline to the work of Agent Mulder. He admits that
he looked upon her as a spy at first. Although many of
the early files have been destroyed, we know that the most
important thing to them both was the truth.

Whatever their differences of opinion might have been, they
soon had one of the highest solve rates in the FBI. Their
partnership was often the subject of much speculation and
rumor, and their cases even more so. In their time, they
investigated a wide range of unusual phenomena. They
tackled the cases no one else wanted. And, little by
little, they began to see a pattern emerge -- one that
those responsible for bringing them together never wanted
them to see.

Over the years and many personal losses, they persevered.
Their partnership weathered separation, even death, many
times over. And yet they persevered. Even when it
appeared they'd lost their last friends, that they had
nowhere to turn, they kept on.

Their perseverance got them attention. Some of it was
unwanted. But in other quarters, they were reaching the
right people. The ones who weren't beholden to anyone
but themselves and what they believed. And, when the
time came, these were the people who came forward. Some
paid with their lives, as you well know. But together
they believed, and together they helped tip the balance.

These are the things that no one can predict. This is
the sort of thing that, if you saw it in a movie or
read it in a book, you'd think, "unbelievable." But
it happened.

Mulder and Scully, as the whole world knows them now,
would be the first to say that no one gets there alone.

It's hard to know if we were destined to meet as we
did. I know that one way or another we would have.
One of the reasons I was asked to speak tonight,
besides the obvious, was to tell a little of my own
part in all of this.

I was living what I thought was a normal life with
my adopted family in Wyoming. They'd never kept my
adoption a secret, though all they knew of my birth
family was that my mother had been trying to raise me
alone and wasn't able to continue. When I showed
off-the-charts aptitude for math and science, the
family joke was that I was the offspring of a Nobel
Prize laureate and a beauty queen. Lucky for me, it
turns out I inherited my mother's brains and my dad's
looks.

[groans and general laughter]

What, Dad? You don't want to be characterized as
just another pretty face?

[more laughter and an indistinguishable reply from
Mulder]

Anyway, I was encouraged and allowed to participate
in a number of "special programs" involving the hard
sciences. I attended special seminars and other
programs that gathered young scientists from all over.
Unknown to me and my parents, I had been under
observation for some time by both sides. The types
of tests I was given at school, even the sports I was
interested in, were carefully orchestrated. "They"
probably knew exactly who I was long before I knew
it myself.

There is no such thing as isolation in the age of
satellite TV and the Internet. I grew up in a time
of unrest. There were tales of "skunkworks" undermining
government and business operations around the country.
Oil prices climbed and there were occasional shortages.
My folks told me that the same thing went on when they
were growing up; it just seemed to be part of a cycle.
The rumors of an underground group determined to
overthrow the government got some attention due to the
24-hour news channels, but it was just one more story
in a jumble of stories. The answers to what was
happening might have been there, but you had to know
where to look.

When my parents were killed while I was at science camp
one summer, I still had no idea of my connection to the
Resistance. I was taken into "protective custody;" not
allowed to return home or to attend my parents' funeral.
For a long time I was sure that they were still alive and
that I'd been kidnapped and fed this story to keep me
from trying to escape. I was angry and afraid and
uncooperative.

When I first met Mulder and Scully, as everyone calls
them now, I already knew who they were. The stories had
become more strident, and they had been identified as
former government employees who had become disaffected
and were now responsible for a range of criminal activities.
When they appeared at the compound where I was being held,
I began to put two and two together and believed that they
might have had something to do with my parents' deaths.

[murmurs from the audience]

I know, this isn't easy to hear and it isn't easy for
me to tell. But one thing my parents taught me is to
tell the truth, even if it's not pleasant.

To their credit, they didn't try to convince me of
anything, or let their desperation show. The important
date was approaching, and though they knew I was the key
they desperately needed to save the human race, they
didn't force me to do anything. They simply laid out
the facts and left me alone to think them through.

When I asked to leave the compound, they agreed to
let me go. I don't know how much discussion went on
behind closed doors, but they let me walk out of there,
no strings attached. I remember that Mulder told me the
news; Scully was not there. I didn't know until later
why she chose not to say goodbye to me. Why she
*couldn't* say goodbye to me.

So what does a twelve year old genius do when set free?
I don't know. I tried to go back to my home. Within
twenty-four hours I'd been picked up by what I now know
as replicants, and was on my way back to captivity --
and probably this time, to my death.

It was only because John Doggett and Monica Reyes had
been tailing me that I'm here today telling you this
story. Mulder had asked them to make sure I stayed
safe on my journey home.

Agents Doggett and Reyes -- they were still agents
in those days -- accompanied me back to the ranch
where I'd lived. Seeing what had become of my home
started me thinking more clearly than I had since my
parents were killed. I demanded that Agent Doggett
tell me everything. Little by little, I began to believe
the story that he and Agent Reyes told me. Many, many
things I'd heard and thought and felt over the years
started to fall into place.

Agent Doggett is the one who told me the true story of
my birth and adoption. Monica Reyes, who was also
present for those events, contributed to the story.
Eventually, I began to believe what they told me.

You may ask why I trusted these strangers to tell
me the truth? To this day, I can't tell you in a
way that makes sense. Their sincerity -- and, truth
to tell, the sense of deep skepticism on the part of
Agent Doggett about the events he retold -- must have
helped to sway me. Maybe, too, it was what I saw in
Mulder's eyes when I left the compound. And then I
understood why Scully -- why *my mother* couldn't
say goodbye to me...again.

To make a long story short, I returned with them to
the compound, and to the people I now knew were my
birth parents. I won't tell you about the reunion --
that's personal history, not for the record books --
but what followed that, everyone here knows.

Although the date was near, once we began to work
together, there was no question that we would win.

[applause and cheers]

So in conclusion, I ask our guests of honor: overall,
can you say things turned out better than you expected,
or better than you hoped?

[indistinguishable reply from Mulder, laughter and
scattered applause]

You're right, it's a trick question, Dad. Legend has
it that you once asked Mom if she'd known what was
ahead, would she have still continued. Her answer was
"I wouldn't change a day."

[indistinguishable reply from the back of the room]

Yeah, I know, the rest of the answer is "except for
that Flukeman thing." Back to the bar with you, Langly.

[another indistinguishable reply; general laughter]

Anyway, now that all is said and done, I know you both
still feel that way. A journey is not just a means to
an end; it's what defines us, makes us who we are. You
both knew that almost from the beginning. I suspect that
all roads led to where we are now, even with the detours
we may have taken along the way. For all the hard
decisions you had to make, and the fear, uncertainty,
and doubt, you made it through to this time, this place.
Some would say it was foretold; we have seen a number of
prophets as well as what used to be called Monday-morning
quarterbacks. Regardless of the whys and the wherefores,
the legends and the facts, we know the truth.

It has been said that "when the legend becomes fact...
print the legend." We all know how subjective truth can
be, having been shown many different versions of it from
various sources. No one knows this better than my mom
and dad. One truth we all know: the people we honor
here tonight will never cease their quest for it.

This is far from the journey's end; it's a new beginning
for all of us. The future is still uncertain -- we all
know that there are no guarantees of safe passage, and
that is underscored by the people who are no longer with
us. The casualties were devastating until we could get
enough vaccine into circulation to turn the tide. We
mourn the loss of friends and loved ones. Of those who
were caught unaware, who died simply because they were
human. Who died because of the fearful secret that was
hidden from them until it was too late.

It's fitting that this anniversary should be taking
place in the former headquarters of the FBI, where it
all began twenty-five years ago. I, for one, am very
glad that my parents not only met, but continued on
their journey together. And I, for one, wouldn't
change a day -- especially one day in particular,
if you know what I mean.

[laughter, whistles, scattered applause]

Yes, you can see I've inherited my dad's sense of
humor. Sorry, Mom.

Thank you all for coming. Let's get to work.

/end transcript/

=====

This was written as an anniversary present for a couple
of dear friends, and here I share it with all of you.

Words cannot fully express the wonderful things I've
experienced over the years due to XF. I've made friends
and met so many interesting people, and most of all, it
awakened the desire to write. It may be that not everyone
who reads this will think that's a good thing, but I'm
very grateful! I tried to put the right words into the
mouth of my speaker, but I will also say that I'm so
grateful for the people I've met, and the things I've
experienced, just because I tuned into an intriguing
sounding pilot program lo these many years ago. It's
still several years shy of 25, but I won't be
surprised if the impact still lingers in some form.

4/28/2005 (12 years...or 13, depending the date you
recognize...)