No sooner have we come to the end of the “Silent Cities of The Mind” two-parter, we’re back off on a three issue run: “Feelings of Unreality”. This story arc will conclude the first year of the Topps comics series and sees Mulder and Scully finally coming up against the mysterious Project Aquarius. Find out what happens in part one, “Wheels Within Wheels”, after the jump.
Synopsis:
The story opens in New York City on a rainy October morning. Someone sits on the ground, concealed in shadow and ruminating on our place in the world, “we are the stuff of stars” they whisper. A lady passes by and hands the person a coin claiming it is all she can spare. We catch a glimpse of white eyes in the shadows and immediately the charitable lady’s eyes turn pure white too. She hands over a stack of bills repeating “for you... for you... for you...”.
Later that day we find ourselves at the Bethesda Naval Hospital terminal ward, looking down at Dr Enoch whom we met in "Silent Cities of The Mind Part One". Enoch is lying unconscious in a bed hooked up to various monitors. A voiceover tells us the story of a gangster who, as he lay dying, spoke eloquently about the nature of life; surprising for a man “who seldom spoke in words of more than a syllable”. The narrator is soon revealed to be a disheveled and unshaven Mulder who has been recording everything Enoch says in the hopes of discovering the secrets the man learned when he consumed the brain of General Shadenfreud. Even Mulder recognizes that the notes he has taken are unusual, and he wonders if his nickname will soon be “changed from ‘Spooky’ to ‘Mad’”. This does not deter him however - does anything? - and we watch as Enoch begins to once again mutter in his sleep, “for you… for you… for you…”
Several days later a weary looking Scully in her classic long brown trenchcoat trudges into a local high school at 10pm where she is met by one of the most worrisome types of Mulder there is, one low on sleep and high on frantic energy. Mulder has been scribbling away on a classroom blackboard and words like “Freemasons” and “Illuminati” are prominently visible. You can practically feel Scully's "Oh my God what has he gotten into now?" thoughts emanating from the page. Mulder begins spinning Scully a tale of conspiracies within conspiracies, an intricate web that links all their cases so far this “season”: the Neola Incident, the Fatima Prophecies, the Firebird, and more, to a “meta-cabal” known as Project Aquarius. According to Mulder the two of them have been used (not exactly new territory for them even at this point) and he now believes Aquarius has stumbled across “a mind-control substance”. Finally given a chance to speak, Scully stares Mulder down and dryly asks when this group had time to kill JFK - earning her a hard glare in return. Mulder begs for her help, admitting that he knows “how strange it always sounds” but convinced he’s “got something here”. Scully asks for a minute to process the information, professing that her mind simply can’t work as fast as his. She assures Mulder that she has faith in him, she trusts him with her life, but that she could draw “a hundred different conclusions” from his blackboard notes. Frustrated Mulder walks out, coldly telling Scully to give him a call when she’s caught up.
Back at his apartment, Mulder spots a blonde woman waiting outside his building. Jacket flung over his shoulder in a catalogue pose reminiscent of THAT scene in “Shadows”, Mulder confronts her. He recognizes her voice as the person who told him about the Firebird’s links to cold fusion, and demands to know more about Project Aquarius. The woman laughs it off, calling Aquarius a myth designed “to keep pathetic conspiracy theorists awake”. Mulder dismisses her in turn and goes to leave but the woman changes her mind, telling him to leave any electronic equipment behind and come with her. Mulder being Mulder, we all know what he’s going to do. The next day, while Scully eats her lunch by the Reflecting Pool in a fetching purple coat and mini skirt combo, she suddenly recalls the name Jonas Kent asked her to remember way back in issue #2. “Colleen Kent. Maiden name Dunne”.
Scully goes to Skinner with her new information. He gives her priority access to “any resources necessary” to investigate what she believes to be a breach of National Security. Her searches bring up the current whereabouts of Colleen Dunne who is now living in a homeless hotel in New York and is listed as a chronic schizophrenic. Scully calls to book a flight to the Big Apple, not realizing she is being tailed. Meanwhile Mulder and his new female friend are doing a little trespassing dressed as cleaners. They use some noxious chemicals to render the guards unconscious and enter a room containing file cabinets, one of which houses the ilbal. Just why an ancient crystal helmet is being kept inside an unlocked filing cabinet is never explained, but then on The X-Files that's a minor point at best! The woman hands the ilbal to Mulder and shows him an entry into the sewage system. She refuses to follow him, claiming to have her own exit planned. Once he is gone, she takes off her sunglasses revealing pure white eyes which suddenly jolt back to normality, their owner wondering where she is.
In New York, the mysterious figure in the shadows is revealed to be an old woman whose eyes also jolt back to normal. Spotting two men in suits headed for her, the old woman bolts into “The Gothic Arms” hotel - the address Scully found for Colleen Dunne in her computer search. The men enter and demand to know her room number but the receptionist refuses to give it away unless offered “some persuasion”. His persuasion comes in the form of machine gun fire. The men find the room number and head up, guns drawn. Outside Scully pulls up and also heads inside, discovering she murdered receptionist when she does. She calls for backup and heads upstairs following in the footsteps of the men in suits. As she does so, somewhere else in the world, Mulder exits the sewers clutching onto the ilbal. Having waited for her backup and now wearing a bulletproof vest and FBI flak jacket, Scully and several other FBI agents burst into the hotel room belonging to Colleen Dunne. They find the old lady sitting on her bed, with the bloodied bodies of the men in suits strewn across the room.
Letters:
Most of this month’s letter refer to "The X-Files Annual #1" which was published between issues #9 and #10, and which we will be covering in a future post here at XFN, however there are still a few points worth noting. First up is a notice from author Stefan Petrucha apologizing for any incoherence in his replies as he and his wife were awaiting the arrival of their first child. The sonogram image of the baby is included in this issue’s cover art by Miran Kim, if you take a look you should be able to spot it. Friendly reminder that the baby pictured will soon be celebrating her 20th birthday…
Two other letters of note are one from Jeff Allan in Ontario who worried that the market might become over-saturated with X-Files comics (is that even possible?), and another from Adam Young in Nova Scotia who discusses real life UFO mysteries at some length. Young asks for Stefan’s opinions on the matter and he answers that while he believes there are certainly unexplained mysteries, that as far as he is concerned there is no evidence proving anything. The Roswell Autopsy special had just aired on FOX and Stefan expresses his disappointment with the footage, claiming it “just plain looked fake to me”. Well he wasn’t wrong...