"The Day the Earth Trembled"

     "Mulder, are you almost ready?" Special Agent Dana
Scully called to her partner, Fox Mulder, through the
connecting door of their motel rooms.
     He opened the door.  "Yeah.  Once we load up the car, I
just want to visit one more place before we head to the
airport."
     "Where could you possibly want to visit?" Scully asked
him, stepping up to him.  "Area 51 is in New Mexico, not
California."
     "Ha, ha.  Very funny, Scully.  I actually wanted to see
an exhibit in the San Fransisco museum.  It's only going to
be there for a few more weeks, and I doubt I'll be able to
get away from work while it's here.  It's the last stop in a
national tour, and from here it goes to England."
     Scully shrugged.  "Sure.  I guess it'll be okay.  I just
don't want to miss our flight.  What is this exhibit anyway?"
     "It's an exhibit on alien astronauts, and some
archaelogical evidence that some archeaologist found on the
subject."
     Scully sighed, then picked up her bags and headed out
the door to the car.
*****
     Scully waited near the exhibit impatiently, while Mulder
talked to the guide.  She peered at the glass, and seeing
nothing that proved anything, turned to her partner.
     "Mulder, are you almost ready to go?  Our plane leaves
in forty minutes, and we need to be there in ten."
     Mulder turned to her.  "Yeah, sure.  I'm almost ready.
Just hold on a minute.  I've got one last question."  He
turned back to the guide and began to ask his 'one last
question'.
     But Scully was ready to leave <b>now</b> and didn't feel
like staying any longer.  "Mulder," she warned.
     This time he turned all his attention from the guide and
got the message.  "All right, Scully," he replied rejectedly,
casting his head down and following her lead out of the
exhibit room.
     Before they could get very far, however, the room shook,
the floor tossed up, and the ceiling began to crumble
overhead.  Scully turned to Mulder, only to see a column fall
between them.  She heard a noise overhead, and glanced up.
The last thing she saw before she blacked out was a huge
chunk of the ceiling fall on her.
     "Scully?" Mulder called after he was sure the tremors
were done.  "Scully?  Are you okay?  Talk to me, Scully!"
     No answer.  Mulder's instinct took over, and he began to
scramble through the wreckage to find her.  If she wasn't
answering, there was a possibility that she was hurt and
unconscious, or even dead- but no, he wouldn't let himself
think about that possibility right now.  He had to find her
and get her some help.
     He finally came to an obstacle that he couldn't get over
or around.  The column that had separated them before now lay
in his way, unwilling to move.  It was huge, and it was too
big for Mulder to climb over.  He sighed, then turned back
the way he came and saw the emergency exit sign.  If he could
get out of the mnusuem and find help, he might be able to get
the pillar moved.  Or he could just double back around to the
front and go in and get her.