Story 181: "The Waterskiers" by Khyber

[amyhit.livejournal.com]

Well everyone (I'm not sure how numerous you are at the moment, but I'm going to be bold and say 'everyone'), we've reached the end of the road - the point where the narrative pavement turns to gravel turns to a beaten dirt path trailing off narrowly into the uncharted wilds of the great and sometimes terrible WIP territory.

By waybacking Khyber's website we get what seem to be conflicting accounts of what the future of KvsS7 was to be. In early 2008 there were five fics meant to follow "The Waterskiers," three of which were to be "full episodes" and two were to be vignettes (as seen here). This outline complies with Khyber's notes for "Amnesia" which he judged to be the "late beginning/early middle" of the story. Yet by late 2009 the titles of four of these five fics had vanished, and only the one titled "Parabola" remained. It was initially indicated to be planned as a vignette, but later seemed intended to have been a full episode.

In summary, the fate of the KvsS7 universe remains largely a mystery, and anyone participating in the comments thread should feel free to speculate on the future of the story, as well as share their thoughts about the fic itself.


TITLE: The Waterskiers (Mod note: You may have to c/p the URL, or find the fic on Gossamer.)
AUTHOR: Khyber
E-MAIL: khyber@khyberfic.net
DISTRIBUTION: Ephemeral, Gossamer, please ask for anywhere else.
RATING: R for mature content.
CATEGORIES: XR KEYWORDS: Withheld.
SPOILERS: Pbbblffft.
SUMMARY: Missing scenes... okay, a LOT of missing scenes... from "Hollywood AD."

Author's Notes: This story is part of "Khyber Versus Season Seven" and takes place during "Hollywood AD," specifically, following the end of the famous bathtub scene. The rest of the episode takes place a week or more after the end of this story.
Remember that the premiere of "The Lazarus Bowl," according to the episode, is "eighteen months later," sometime in late 2001.


Sadly the summer is over. That does, however, mean a return to something resembling a normal posting schedule at some point in the near future. Remember the old days (July) when a new week meant changing up the plot, style, and characterizations with an all new fic? Well those days are returning along with coats and scarves, so if you have any suggestions for fics you'd like to read this fall the recommendations page is always open.

Comments

That was then, this is now

[wendelah1]

Well, obviously he didn't finish the series this time around, although I do think he had intended to do so. It is perplexing to see how much the plan had changed.

Frankly, I found this story a tough one to get my head around this time through. I'm having a hard time keeping the timeline straight, I don't even remember why they're suspended.

I still like the scenes with Thomas and Katja. I believe they're meant to remind us (and Mulder and Scully?) of the dream scenes of domestic life from "Home from the War" and WIEAYB. There is one false note. The awkward scene in the kitchen, where Scully is talking with Katja and finds out she's from Bosnia. Katja calls herself Thomas's "refugee camp Cinderella," and Scully never asks how they met. It seems like such an obvious question for one woman to ask another.

I don't know what to say about Skinner in this story. He bangs a Maxim Cover model who's snorting coke, and looks the other way because he'd "gotten the idea that laws ranging from possession of narcotics to gravity were different here, and he didn't really have jurisdiction. He'd waved off the Colombian and sipped at his whiskey again." He's put in for a transfer to Tactical Support (!?) He's working with the CSM. They're practically best buddies! Talk about a midlife crisis. The description of their trip to pick up the "immigrants" was creepy and heartrending.


I liked this bit of analysis:

"Yeah, I used to get out now and then." Skinner hadn't needed to
ask. The two dead men in Marjorie's back yard had been soldiers, he
could tell, probably Army from their youth and lousy shooting. He
remembered a counterintelligence briefing from fifteen years ago,
something about the Soviets. Iron triangle, they called it. That was
how the system worked in a totalitarian state. Party, armed forces,
KGB, the system remaining in equilibrium by the three sides
jockeying for advantage against one another. The KGB were always the
baddest bad guys. You never heard about the 'moderate' wing of the
KGB. "Bass, though, not water like this. Imagine this is probably a
good night for it," he said, nodding generally at the steady rain.

"That's generally the rule. Why did you stop?"

"Long drive to any good fishing from DC." He'd met the Party.
Senator Matheson, and the others who sat at the front of the House
committee rooms. Army was fairly self-explanatory. That only left
one side of the triangle for the smoking man.

The Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, Camelot, Morning in
America-- these didn't figure into the equation at all. Survival,
then power. Always about power.

This story gives us a lot of information about who the players left on the field are. But it's now up to us to figure out where this was all leading.