【英文文学】The X-Files Squeeze X档案之突变异种.docx

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1、【英文文学】The X-Files Squeeze X档案之突变异种Chapter 1 Working Late At seven thirty p.m. the Baltimore sky was striped with a bloodred sunset.Hundreds of workers crowded the streets, hurrying to get home.On the contrary George Usher, a middle-aged businessman, was returningto his office for a long evening of w

2、ork.When Usher left the elevator on the fifteenth floor of his office building,he looked at the long, silent hallways, lit with Exit signs that shone in thedark.The office felt different at night. Usher reminded himself, Nobody can getin unless they work here.He walked into his office, turned on the

3、 light, and dialled a number on hisphone. An answering machine clicked on and his wifes voice asked callersto leave a message after the beep.Hello, darling, he said. Its about seven thirty and it looks like. Ill behere for a while. Call me back. I love you. Bye.After hanging up, Usher looked at the

4、dark hallway outside his office.Suddenly he felt an odd tremor: it was fear!He thought that a cup of coffee would help him, so he headed for thecoffee machine.A tiny noise broke the silence the moment he left his office. High on thewall, the cover of an air vent began to move slowly. The two screwsh

5、olding the vent in place started to turn. First the right. Then the left. Then,very slowly, long, skinny fingertips came out from inside the vent,pushing the cover to one side.When Usher came back with his coffee, he stopped outside his office door;he was sure that hed left the light on inside. He w

6、ent in and tried to switchon the lamp on his desk. Then, all of a sudden, the door slammed shut withan unearthly force. And Usher suddenly realised that he wasnt alone.Frantically he reached for the door. He got hold of the knob and triedto open it. But someone or something had hold of him.Usher fou

7、ght in the strangers grasp and slipped free. He rolled acrossthe desk only to feel powerful hands lock around his throat. He couldntbreathe. He couldnt make a sound as his body was raised into the air withinhuman strength.For a moment the hands left his throat and his desperate scream rangthrough th

8、e office as his body slammed into the door with enough force tosplinter it.And then there was only silence.An hour later Ushers office was a mess and the carpet was drenchedwith blood.Directly above Ushers body, one of the screws in the cover of the air ventbegan to turn. Something inside the vent w

9、as screwing the cover back intothe wall. Slowly. Victoriously.Chapter 2 The Fingerprint Scully was having lunch with Tom Colton, an old friend from the F.B.I.training academy, who worked for the Violent Crimes Section. He wastelling her about a strange case: three murders over the last six weeksvict

10、ims varying in age, gender and race, and no known connections toeach other. The only thing in common was the lack of entry.One victim, Colton said, was a college girl. She was killed in her roomand when she was found, the windows wore locked and the door waschained from the inside. The last incident

11、 was two days ago in a highsecurityoffice building. It was evening and everybody had gone home. Theguy parked in the garage and took the elevator to the fifteenth floor. No oneelse came into the building. The guy never came out.Could they be suicides? asked Scully.Colton shook his head and handed Sc

12、ully a photograph. All the victimslivers have been removed - without tools.This sounds like an X-file, said Scully. An X-file was what the F.B.I.called a case that involved strange happenings and unexplained phenomena.Well, I dont know about that but Id like you to look at the case historiesand see

13、the crime scene.When Scully went to Ushers office, Mulder was already there. The officewas a mess and blood was splattered everywhere.Morning, Mulder said to Scully.Fox Mulder looked incredibly young for an agent with so muchexperience. He was a tall, thin man who wore his hair unusually long for an

14、F.B.I. agent. Scully thought there was something a little deceptive aboutMulders appearance. He appeared so innocent, almost boyish, until youlooked into his clear hazel eyes. That was when you realised that FoxMulder had seen more than most people. And it had cost him.Mulder was concentrating on so

15、mething shining on the carpet: herecognised some tiny metal filings .Using tweezers , Mulder lifted a filing and thought for a second, thenlooked up. High above on the wall was the metal grille that covered theoffices air vent.He stood up and went to his forensic kit. He took the fingerprintpowder,

16、tape and brush. Then he began to powder the area surrounding thevent.A long, thin print was emerging, bit by bit. It had some of the qualities ofa human fingerprint, but it was certainly not human.Mulder was sure that hed seen those prints before.Some time later, in the basement of F.B.I. headquarte

17、rs, Scully focusedher attention on some slides that Mulder was showing her. There were sixand each of them showed an elongated fingerprint. The prints were toolong and thin to be human.Mulder pointed to one of the slides. This is the print I took yesterdayfrom Ushers office, he said. All the others

18、are from the X-files.How many murders are we talking about? Scully asked.Eleven, counting Usher, Mulder replied.Ten murders before him. All in the Baltimore area. No point of entrancein any of them. Each victim was murdered the same way. These prints arefrom five of those other ten crime scenes.Ten

19、other murders? Scully still couldnt believe it.Then Mulder pointed to three of the slides. These three prints were liftedin 1963, and these two were taken in 1933.Scullys eyes widened . Youre saying the same murderer was fit workthirty years ago and sixty years ago?And ninety, Mulder said. Unfortuna

20、tely, we dont have prints for thatone. Fingerprinting wasnt too common in 1903. And police records werentvery complete. But there was at least one similar murder at that time.Of course, Scully said sarcastically . She thought, If you leave it toMulder, hell come up with an absolutely unbelievable ca

21、se history.Mulder ignored her tone and added: Five murders, every thirty years.Thatmeans hes got two more to go this year.Scully stood up and turned away from her partner.There must be a more rational explanation, she told herself. She was ascientist, a doctor. There was no way she could believe I h

22、is.Chapter 3 A Profile of the Killer At 10:00 p.m. Scully was in her apartment with her eyes fixed on thecomputer screen. Her notes from the case were on her desk. Shed readthrough Mulders X-files and now she was writing a profile of the killer.Once again she carefully thought about Mulders theory.

23、And then shewent ahead with her own.After a careful review of the violent nature of these murders, she wrote,I believe the killer to be a male, twenty-five to thirty¬ five years old.He has above-average intelligence. His method of entry has so far beenundetermined. This may be due to his great k

24、nowledge of the internalstructure of buildings and ducts .Scully studied the slide of the elongated fingerprint. Then she put it down,feeling puzzled .She couldnt explain the odd print; instead, she dealt withanother aspect of themurder.The removal of the liver is the most important detail of these

25、crimes. Theliver possesses restorative qualities. It purifies the blood.The next morning Scully presented her report to Colton and other agentsat the Violent Crimes Section.The taking of the liver may allow the killer to believe hes cleaninghimself of his own impurities, she said. I think hes acting

26、 under the classicform of obsessive-compulsive behavior.since the victims are unrelated, she continued, we cant predict whowill be next. But we can use the fact that when serial killers dont succeed infinding a victim, they sometimes return to the site of the previous murder torecapture the emotiona

27、l high . So I think we should target those siteswhere hes already killed.The stakeouts of the murder sites began that night.Three days later Scully parked her car in the garage below George Ushersoffice building. Mulder was already there. He was examining the ductsystem because he had heard some ban

28、ging sounds.Mulder shone his light around the area and realised that the gate wassufficiently open for someone to slip through. He paced through the opengate. The ventilation duct flexed from the inside, almost as if it werebreathing.Something was scaling the duct from inside.Scully! he shouted, rac

29、ing towards her car. Call for backup and getover here!Scully made a call on the radio and went up to him. In there, saidMulder pointing towards the ducts.Scully drew her gun. Federal agent! she shouted. Dont move! Imarmed!She could just distinguish a man in the darkness of the opening. Hehesitated b

30、eyond the glare of the agents flashlights .Then he crawledout feet first .He looked about twenty. He had a childlike face with a high forehead. Hewore a tan uniform with an emblem that read ANIMAL CONTROL.His face glistened with sweat. He raised his hands over his head, lookingscared to death, like

31、a rabbit caught in handcuffed.The agents handcuffed him. you are under arrest, you have the right toremain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in a courtof law. Chapter 4 The Lie-Detector Test The following day Scully was sitting behind a two-way mirror in theBaltimore Police h

32、eadquarters. Mulder and Colton were with her. A womanwith short blonde hair was getting ready to give a lie-detector test to thesuspect.The suspect wore fluorescent orange prison overalls . He was sitting ina chair, facing the two-way mirror. Scully knew that though they could seehim, he couldnt see

33、 them.One of the suspects arms was tied with a blood-pressure cuff . Wiresconnected the machine to sensors on his fingertips.Scully knew that his blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing-rate weregoing to be measured. A change In anyone of them might testify that he waslying.The woman calibrated th

34、e machine so that the ink ran through thestylus and the graph paper moved, then she started the test.Is your full name Eugene Victor Tooms? she asked.Yes, the suspect answered. Do you live in the state of Maryland?”Yes, Tooms said.Are you employed by Baltimore Municipal Animal Control?Yes, he answer

35、ed again.The examiner observed the graph paper and marked 7+ next to theresponse. So far, Scully knew, the suspect was telling the truth.Eugene, is it your intention to lie to me about anything here today? thewoman asked.No, Tooms answered. He spoke in a monotone, and his eyes seemedglazed, as if he

36、 were in a trance .Were you ever enrolled in college?Yes.Were you ever enrolled in medical school?No.Have you ever removed a liver from a human being?No, rooms answered. Have you ever killed a living creature?Yes.Like his voice, roomss face was absolutely neutral, empty of all emotion.Have you ever

37、killed a human being?No, he replied.Have you ever been in George Ushers office?No, rooms answered.Did you kill George Usher? No, he replied again.Are you over one hundred years old?Tooms hesitated, looking astonished by the question. Then he answered,No.Have you ever been to Powhatan Mill? asked the

38、 examiner .Yes, answered Tooms.In 1933?Again the suspect hesitated before saying, No.Some time later the examiner reached Scully and Mulder and said: As faras Im concerned, the subject did not kill those people. Tooms lied on questions twelve and fourteen, said Mulder pointing tothe graph paper. Hes

39、 our guy.Colt on stood up and went to the door. Scully could see that he didntbelieve Mlilder. Well, even if he is, Im letting him go!” The door slammedbehind him.The next day Scully sat with Mulder at a computer puter in the Baltimorepolice station. Mulder had called up Eugene roomss arrest report.

40、Here, Mulder said, are Toomss fingerprints. And here is an elongatedprint taken from Ushers office. It matches the old ones from the X-files.This print is from the 1933 murder at Powhatan MillScully looked at Mulder and shrugged , Theres no match.No, admitted Mulder, but what if.He punched in a comm

41、and and the computer stretched Toomssfingerprint until it was as long and narrow as the one taken from Ushersoffice. Just look, Mulder said while running the mouse across its pad. Thetwo images moved towards the centre of the screen until they overlappedand the computer beeped.Match 100%, it read.Sc

42、ully asked: How could Toomss print be exactly the same as a printtaken from a murder committed over sixty years ago?The only thing I know for sure, said Mulder, is that they let him go.Chapter 5 Another Victim It was dark when Thomas Werner drove into his driveway . He openedthe car door. He stopped

43、. Something was different tonight. It was so quietthat Werner could hear the wind in the trees and the sound of his ownheartbeat. He stepped out of his car and the sensor security light at the sideof the house flashed on as he approached. Werner looked around tryingto get rid of the strange idea tha

44、t something was wrong.Evelythings fine, Werner told himself. Youre imagining things.Tooms crouched in the hedges on the other side of the street -watching, waiting. When Werner had gone inside the house, Tooms stood upand moved swiftly across the street like an animal following a scent .Hestepped in

45、 front of the sensor light but it didnt turn on.Werner hadnt been imagining things. Something was wrong- terriblywrong.Tooms began to search for his point of entry. Before him, going up theside of the house was a brick chimney. Hed found his way in. He startedto pull himself up like a lizard scaling

46、 a wall, and with incredible strengthlifted himself up onto the roof.Werner was reading his mail in the kitchen when he heard a noise - like aman grunting with effort. No, he told himself, Its impossible. He began tomake himself a drink.Tooms stuck one arm deep into the chimney and stretched and str

47、etched.He stretched until his hand reached down three floors, until his hand reachedthe bricks at the bottom of the flue. Carefully Tooms lowered his head intothe chimney. With a sickening dull pop, he dislocated first his left shoulderfrom the socket and then the right. He could smell Thomas Werners sweatand feel the heat of the blood in his veins.Slowly he began to squeeze himself down the narrow chimney.In the living room Werner decided to light a fire. He took a log and lit thekindling . A bright fire began to flicker . But suddenly the fire died.Werner wondered if something w