Closed Colony, Special Stock

Fanfiction
Title:	Closed Colony, Special Stock
Author(s):	Branwell
Date(s):	2001
Length:
Genre(s):	X, A, M/S friendship, casefile with mytharc connection
Fandom(s):	The X-Files
Relationship(s):
External Links:	online here
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Closed Colony, Special Stock is an X-Files story by Branwell.

It was written for I Made This Productions, Virtual Season 8.

This story was the first one reviewed at xf book club.

Summary

"Summary: A body is found in a top secret area on an Air Force Base. No one knows the cause of death, or why the dead woman was in a secured area. The Air Force officer in charge makes a last ditch effort to prevent the project from being closed down. He uses his clout to get the FBI to send Mulder and Scully to investigate. Scully finds she knows the right questions to ask–but how?"

Reactions and Reviews

It's a gen supernatural casefile! Not a kind of story that I usually read, so you know that if I'm recommending this, it has to be good. While it's set as part of the Virtual Season 8, and the character interaction bears that out, the plotline bears comforting similarities to a lot of season one episodes. You know, the government base, the hazy conspiracy, the way that all of the evidence is snatched away again at the end. The nostalgically predictable nature of the plot frees the reader up to pay attention to the things that are different. And yes, things are different. Like "Bone of Contention," this story really brings home the human toll of all these shadowy experiments that we are always hearing about. It gives a sense of agency to the victim, and that is something that the show could have stood to do more often.

This was a good story. In general I don't read a lot of casefiles that don't accomplish any M&S character development (heck, if I want that, I can watch the show ;) ), but this was still well written and had an interesting narrator.

Personally I'm also a big fan of the M&S dynamic, whether romantic or otherwise, but I wanted to choose a first story that everyone could identify with so I intentionally steered clear of anything that could be interpreted as "shippy." Having said that I do think there are some nice little details in this story, just that there are very subtle. If you can think of a good character development story that you'd like to discuss next time, then recommend away! I wouldn't want to impose my preferences on everyone else.

This was written for virtual season 8, so I suppose this is AU from the outset. Mulder hasn't been abducted, so I am guessing they threw out Requiem altogether. I can play this game. I like Mulder/Scully partnership stories and I like casefiles so I guess I was predisposed to like this story. Having it written from a first person point of view was an interesting choice. I think first person is hard to write well, but I think that it worked here. Initially, I thought this was just being told from a first person outsider viewpoint. The first clue for me, that this story was going to be a little bit different, was when the character started overhearing things, like those individual interviews in the closed office. Then the chewed lead pencils turn up in the desk of someone who doesn't bite on their pencils. Then the spirit's thoughts start bleeding into Scully's brain. That was a surprise, although maybe it shouldn't have been. Scully has exhibited signs of paranormal ability in the past, she has just always denied them.... [snipped] ... I really like that description of Mulder's thought processes. It gives a unique but I think accurate assessment of how differently he thinks. Even the spirit world is impressed. I liked this story, and hope other people will give it a chance, despite its lack of overt MSR. This had all of the elements that I loved about the show. It was a lot of fun having a new episode to enjoy.

Like frey_at_last, I usually read stories that are all about the Mulder and Scully character development. However, this is one of my very favorite supernatural-casefile stories. While it's set in season eight, and the character interaction bears that out, the plotline bears comforting similarities to a lot of season one episodes. You know, the government base, the hazy conspiracy, the way that all of the evidence is snatched away again at the end. The nostalgically predictable nature of the plot frees the reader up to pay attention to the things that are different.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about the story was the vividness of the original characters. From the very first sentences you know that they aren't ciphers... with a few choice details, the author builds them up into real, breathing people, with their relationships to one another detailed as well as their interactions with Mulder and Scully. (Another story that does this well is Neurotic Need for Validation by Kel.) Little things like the way everyone calls the Colonel "the Birdman".

I love the subtle reveal of the narrator, who she is and what role she plays in the story. It was artfully done and offered us something that couldn't have been done in the series. (Well, on reflection I guess they did it in "Desperate Housewives," but maybe not this well.) Like wendelah1 says, having our narrator along for the ride really brings home the human toll of all these shadowy experiments that we are always hearing about. It is also a refreshing change from the fact that we usually know that anyone we see in the teaser is doomed to be out of the picture by the first act. It gives more agency to the victim, and particularly to this victim, given that in real life it seems that she was controlled and belittled by both father and husband.

The writing style is generally fairly simple--the narration suited to the character who is providing it. Having said that, there are some nice poetic touches that explore the nature of being a ghost and show that being dead might not be such a terrible fate after all.

Like you, I enjoyed the narrator's musings about being dead. They stood out to me in particular since I wrote a post-col piece for an XF Lyric Wheel (Through Walls) that, while principally about Mulder trapped in a colonist holding pen, involves the ghost of Krycek. Writing K's part became an intriguing exercise because of his non-living status, and I'm really glad I was pressed to explore that. I found this story to be well-done and engaging. While I enjoy the mysteries inherent in the XF universe, I often find case file fics to have less character development than I'm looking for, which would include this one (though that's just my personal preference and not a reflection on this story or the author.) However, I really did like the ghost-as-narrator, the gradual revelation of who the narrator was, and the fact that it wasn't one of those formulaic case files that seem only to be a set-up for MSR. And I liked that Scully was the one to have the premonitions this time. It's not common, but it's plausible and gives the realm of XF cases a nice, fresh spin.