ALIENS: EPIDEMIC
Disclaimer: The ALIEN Franchise and all related characters wherein are the intellectual property of 20th Century Fox.
CHAPTER 01: LV-475
DATE: SUNDAY, MAY 04, 2183
United States Colonial Army Base A-001, Diamond Valley Province, Continent of Rosewind, Colony of LV-475 aka "Blue Gemini", The Palvero System
In the deepest reaches of the outer rim territories, a small blue and green dot orbited a large star. It was one of many rocks that orbited the star Palvero, and the only one in the habitable zone. The planet had oceans and continents, islands and streams, grassy plains and harsh deserts. It was very much like the planet that its current inhabitants hailed from, or at least their ancestors did. LV-475 was known affectionately as Blue Gemini, as it was a lone oasis in an otherwise desolate planetary system which, despite having other bodies filled with valuable materials and elements, was otherwise a dreary and dark void.
Nearly all of the other planets and moons in the system had been given small colonies, although they were mining colonies, with enclosed habitats and perhaps a few atmosphere processing stations scattered about to provide breathable atmosphere on what were otherwise barren rocks. The grassy green hills of Blue Gemini were a stark contrast to the lifeless and sometimes ominous curved rocks and plateaus, rising high with shadows as great as their peaks, found on the desolate wastelands that comprised the surfaces of the other moons and planets in the system. Space was vast and infinite, yet life could only be found in small pockets, or had to be taken from one place to another.
Dotting various parts of the system were orbital stations, gateways and commuting stops that served to both welcome visitors and usher out denizens who finally were able to leave. Some stations were mining stations, processing and refining the various elements and minerals retrieved from the asteroids and moons littering the system, housing dozens, if not hundreds, of workers and their families, in addition to company staff. Other stations were simply relay locations, where the only personnel needed were the handfuls of synthetics who maintained both the stations and each other.
One orbital station, however, was unique in that it was tethered to the planet below via a space elevator. A large shuttling structure that extended far beyond the various spheres of the planet and well into orbiting distance itself. This station was used for ferrying automated shuttles full of cargo and people both to and from the planet and elsewhere.
The elevator fed directly from the station all the way into the city of Diamond Bay, a moderately-sized city that was undergoing constant expansion each year as its population continued to grow. It currently held over four thousand people, although the outlying farms and small suburban "islands" that popped up between stretches of road, forests, and plains certainly added a few hundred more people to the greater populace.
The farms that filled up the continent, both within the valley and on the other side of the mountain range, were a mix of dairy farms and meat farms, with the dairy farms being the only ones with cows, while the meat came from poultry farms (which bred chickens, turkeys, and ostriches), and pig farms. There were also a handful of sheep farms as well, for wool. In addition to those, there were various farms for vegetation, and a few vineyards. There were also a handful of rice paddies spread throughout the continent, with artificial waterways and controlled irrigation routes for the crops.
The continent also had a population of "wild" ostriches, chickens, and turkeys, which helped feed the wild population of predators that had been introduced to the planet, including coyotes, foxes, and cougars, to provide a balanced ecosystem alongside the other prey animals such as deer, rabbits, and various rodents, including squirrels and chipmunks. In addition to these creatures, there were also snakes, turtles, bugs, and a variety of fish that had been introduced as well. Humans were never alone when they colonized other worlds. There were always other creatures to accompany them and provide companionship, food, and other resources.
There were also several "pioneer" homes, settlements built into the mountains with self-sustained power generators that cropped up from place to place. The Rossfield Mountains were what separated the Diamond Valley Province from the rest of the continent, with only two small rocky pass to allow travel in and out of the valley. One pass was wide enough that a rail system had been developed to allow relatively quick passage from the valley to the other colony settlements on the continent. The other pass was much smaller, and could only allow a few vehicles through at a time. It was also located at a much higher elevation than the train passage, and was more difficult to reach. Of course, the city of Diamond Bay had several ports for boats and barges, which also provided a means of transportation.
The mountain range, great in both height and length, was also large in width, as certain sections of the mountains seemed different geographically from one another. On the West side of the mountain range, at least three atmosphere processors had been built and were lying dormant until needed, a precaution for the only habitable planet in the system, to ensure that any catastrophes would be cleaned up or offset as quickly as possible. Theses facilities were fully automated, but they still had some synthetic staff performing routine maintenance, along with a few human inspectors who would check on the machines now and then to make sure that everything was in working order.
On the East side of the mountain range, aside from the farms and suburban pockets, the only other major population center in Diamond Valley was a lone military compound, located a little over 100 kilometers, or 62.14 miles (rounded) from Diamond Bay. United States Colonial Army Base A-001 was the home of the LV-45 A-Company, with bases A-002 and A-003 containing B and C-companies, respectively. A single battalion was all that protected the continent, but each company was spread out to ensure maximum coverage of the continent.
Currently, the companies at each base were comprised of recent graduates from training centers located on the West side of the continent, as well as older personnel transferred from other bases throughout the core systems. Most military bases throughout the systems were Colonial Marine bases, but every few dozen colonies there would be at least one with an Army center or collection of Army bases.
The Colonial Marines were often shipped out from their bases to deal with problems occurring far away on other worlds, while the Colonial Army primarily stayed in a fixed location, i.e. on whichever colonized world the base was located. Because of this, many colonists usually chose to join the Colonial Army if said branch had an available location on their world, even though the Colonial Marines were far more widely recognized and well known. Almost all colonies had a minimum of three squads of Colonial Marines stationed around the largest population center(s) for security purposes, even those with Army bases, occasionally sharing resources if necessary until resupply shuttles arrived at their location.
In orbit around Blue Gemini at any one time, however, were at least two Conestoga-class troop transport ships, used primarily by the Colonial Marines, but often loaned to the Colonial Army in order to transport cargo and supplies, in addition to various personnel who were being transferred to and/or from the bases on the planet below.
Presently, LV-475 A-Company was comprised of six squads, all named after various animals, with a staff of up to 87 personnel, with six human Commissioned Officers, one synthetic, and 73 enlisted personnel making up the six squads, with an additional 4 personnel as drop-ship pilots. The six squads that made up A-Company were Wolf Squad, Hornet Squad, Eagle Squad, Bear Squad, Cougar Squad, and Python Squad. Each squad had between 12 and 13 soldiers, with at least one squad leader and 3 or 4 fire-team leaders, with the squad leader functioning as one of said fire-team leaders depending on the size of the squad.
Presently, A-Company was undergoing a change in personnel, as some enlisted personnel had been promoted, others remained stagnant, and a few were being transferred off-world to other locales for further training to accommodate their new ranks. One of the few recently-promoted individuals not being transferred was one Captain Burt Rosenthal, formerly 1st Lieutenant Burt Rosenthal a few days earlier. He was replacing Captain George Stevens as the ranking CO of the base and company, as Captain Stevens was being transferred off-world to another post located in the Sol system. Three other high-ranking officers were being transferred as well, including Chief Warrant Officer 2 Thomas Macrosky, 1st Lieutenant Barbara Sternwell, and Master Sergeant Carl Simmons.
For the next 24 hours, the base's personnel were throwing a going-away party for their comrades, albeit with stern supervision from the highest-ranking CO's still remaining, such as 2nd Lieutenant Mathew Dent, a somewhat lazy officer who had lost all ambition to move up in rank after achieving his current position. That being said, he was still quite cunning and sharp when it suited him, and he was, despite being a bit of a slacker, one of the more responsible personnel at the base. He usually just preferred to play lazy and stupid to make people lower their guard around him.
Also being promoted was 1st Lieutenant, formerly 2nd Lieutenant, Kimberly Hargrove. Unlike Dent, Hargrove never slacked, and always maintained a responsible air about her. She still had ambitions to move up in rank if the opportunity presented itself, but was otherwise content with where she was.
The other high ranking officers at the base, Warrant Officer George Jonas, Staff Sergeant Verl Williams, and Technical Officer Michael Rook, were all staying in their current positions, as no other promotions were available to them at that time. Technical Officer Michael Rook was the base's synthetic, and while Technical Officer was a position created specifically for synthetics that served alongside military personnel within the Colonial Army, Rook also served as the base's main physician and a backup medical officer.
Inside the main office that George Stevens was vacating, Captain Stevens and recently-promoted Captain Rosenthal looked over logistic plans. Lieutenant Hargrove and Dent were also both in the room with them. After stepping away from the desk, Stevens looked at the three officers in the room with him and smiled.
"So, what time is this party supposed to happen?" Stevens asked them. Rosenthal smirked and rolled his eyes. "Well, that's classified, Captain. However, I do think it will happen sometime... today, I believe," Rosenthal responded coyly.
"Do you want me to act surprised when I show up to it, or... I dunno, just go along with whatever's happening?" Stevens asked them as he adjusted his cap. "Well, you should probably wear your mess uniform," Rosenthal replied. Stevens mulled this over in his head.
"If I wear the mess uniform, I can't exactly act surprised, can I? Ah, oh well. I guess I'll just waltz in an have a good time with the others," he said with a sigh. Stevens glanced over at Dent, who was sitting backwards in a chair. "Dent, you really have no aspirations to move up, do you?" Stevens asked him in exasperation.
"No sir," Dent replied curtly, his brown eyes locking with Stevens' blue eyes. Letting out a resigned sigh, Stevens slowly shook his head. "Boy, you're a disappointment," Stevens said candidly, knowing that he wouldn't have much more time around these people. "I'm aware of that, Captain," Dent replied with a wry smile.
"Stand up straight, Lieutenant," Stevens ordered crisply. Dent recognized the tone that Stevens was using, and he immediately shot up from the chair and saluted the man in front of him. "At ease, Dent. At ease," Stevens said with a snicker. Dent smirked at Stevens before lowering his arm. While Dent may have been lax in his casual attitude around others, he still had great respect for his superior officers, especially Captain Stevens. He only acted in a candid manner around the man because he expressly allowed it.
"Well, all of you get on out of here and go about your normal duties. I'll see you all later today at... what time is this party supposed to start again?" Stevens asked once more. "Um... around fifteen hundred, sir," Hargrove said. "Fifteen hundred? Huh. Kind of early for a party, isn't it?" Stevens asked her.
"Well sir, you aren't the only person who's leaving," Hargrove replied. Stevens nodded his head in response. "Yeah, that's right. Who else is leaving? Sternwell? Macrosky? Simmons?" Stevens asked her. "Yes sir. They'll be leaving alongside you as you head to Sol," Hargrove replied.
"I'm gonna miss the lot of you," Stevens said with a tinge of regret in his voice. "We'll miss you as well, Captain," Dent said in response. "Good. If I come back and catch you being happy about my absence, I'm gonna kick your ass," Stevens said jokingly. Dent rolled his eyes and grinned playfully in response.
"Please, Captain. We both know that you'll just force me to clean all of the toilets in the base with a toothbrush," Dent said, remembering the punishments that Stevens had given him for major infractions several years earlier in their careers during their time at Army Base A-001. "Please, a toothbrush would be too lenient for you at this point," Stevens responded with a grin, causing the others to chuckle.
The group soon disbanded as Hargrove and Dent left the office. Rosenthal stayed behind with Stevens in order to catch up on learning his new responsibilities while he still had the older CO around to help him. It was a somewhat bittersweet experience for Rosenthal, as he certainly appreciated his new position, but he also knew that it came at the price of his senior officer soon leaving. He was hopeful and worried, all at once.
MEANWHILE, AT THE ROSSFIELD MOUNTAIN RANGE...
Professor George Ladd aimed his flashlight at the curved ceiling of rock and dirt above him. Taking out a map, he gestured for his assistant, Sarah Wertzog, to come over and help him unfold it for a better look. "Yes, this is the one," Ladd said as he pointed to a small red line drawn on the map himself.
"Hey, Ladd! With how early we got here, I think we can slow down a bit. Let the others catch up before we move on again," Professor Frederick Bardem said as he walked up alongside his companions, gesturing for them to look behind him. Trailing behind the trio were at least seventeen other people, all members of a scientific research party funded by Weyland-Yutani to scout the mountain range for deep pockets of valuable elements and other minerals that could potentially be mined. Among the group was at least one synthetic, an old Harold 6 model from the late 2160's, designed for heavy labor in dangerous environments. Harold was carrying most of the heavy gear as the group entered the cave that stood before them.
"I think we should we set up camp and rest for a bit before we continue. I think we can spare an hour or two. Don't you?" Bardem asked Ladd. Ladd looked back over his shoulder at the men and women who were just now entering the cave and panting in exhaustion. They appeared to be tired from all of the hiking that they had been doing since before sunrise.
"Yeah," Ladd said before handing the map to Sarah and turning around, feeling a little tired himself. "Okay, everyone! We're going to stay here and rest for about an hour, and then we'll continue further into the cave," Ladd called out to the other researchers. With waves of their hands and grateful nods of their heads, everyone began unstrapping their backpacks and looking for spots to sit down and rest.
TWO HOURS LATER, DEEPER IN THE CAVERN...
Carefully climbing down the short but steep cliff, Ladd stepped down onto flat ground. He aimed his flashlight at the ceiling above him, expecting more dirt and rock, only to notice that the cave seemed different now. There was no brown earthy rock or dirt, only a strange black and grey bony appearance. As several other members of the team set down alongside him, they began checking their equipment.
"Bardem, look at this," Ladd said as he shone his flashlight around at the strange surface of the walls and ceiling. Bardem followed his example and shone his flashlight around as well. "This... doesn't look right," Bardem commented as he noticed a distinct change in the appearance of the cavern around them.
The walls of the cavern were no longer recognizable as rock. The walls curved and protruded inwards and out as they rose above them, akin to the rib-cage of some great animal. "What is this?" Ladd asked rhetorically as he scanned the walls. Looking further down, he began moving closer to the walls, following them down a tunnel, a passage into the unknown. The rest of the team followed him with whispers of surprise and alarm as they paid notice to the change in surroundings.
Deeper and deeper they went, following the path that lay before them, taking heed to to mark their journey with small blue glow sticks every few meters, illuminating their way back to the safety of that which was known, away from the unknown that lied in the seemingly never-ending darkness ahead of them. Silently, the group eventually came upon what appeared to be a new wall. Unlike the bone-like structure of the walls around it, this wall had murals on the side of it, hieroglyphics, symbols... signs. Signs that were in an alien language that no one among the team could decipher, yet curiosity begged them to continue their trek and uncover their meanings.
Crouching down near the floor, Ladd illuminated the ground in front of him with his flashlight, scanning the wall and the floor for some kind of marking, anything to let him know that this was not the end of his journey. Reaching a gloved hand to the ground and feeling around, eventually moving his hands up the wall, Ladd frowned in frustration until he felt something round and firm. His eyes widening in surprise, he aimed his flashlight at the spot covered by his hand.
Moving his hand over the object and brushing dirt off of it, Ladd uncovered a pale orb. He called for his colleagues to join him. "Look at this!" he said in excitement. Bardem adjusted his glasses as he took a closer look at the object on the wall.
"What is that?" asked Melvin, a graduate student who was studying under Bardem.
Ladd and Bardem both studied the object closely. "I don't know," Ladd finally said, shrugging his shoulders. Ladd cautiously reached forward and pressed his gloved hand against the orb, feeling it once more. He slowly gripped his hand around it and tried to pull, only for the orb to lift ever so slightly before resetting itself in its hold. Releasing the orb, Ladd brushed his hand over the slightly raised circular ring around the orb, forcing dirt and dust off and onto the ground below.
Shining his flashlight on the ring, he saw small notches and geometric shapes. They were triangles, or arrows perhaps, but their meaning did not escape him. Ladd grabbed the orb again and gently turned it counter-clockwise, seeing it glow with a green hue before hearing a strange noise emanate from the wall. The wall soon began to raise itself from the ground, confirming Ladd's suspicions about the orb.
It was an alien doorknob.
Quickly covering his mouth, he gestured for Bardem to instruct the others in copying him as the door continued to rise into the ceiling, a low groaning sound filling everyone's ears in the process before it stopped and locked into place. Ladd aimed his flashlight up at the bottom of the door, seeing that it was a good half of a meter in width and two meters wide. The bottom itself also appeared to be the only thing made from some recognizable substance, as it looked like a cement mixture in terms of its outward textural appearance.
"Bardem," Ladd said after smelling and tasting the somewhat stale air that expanded out from beyond the door, "I think we've found some kind of relic."
Bardem nodded his head before glancing into the dark hallway that laid before them, its sides once again resembling the skeletal remains of some great behemoth. A chill ran up Bardem's spine as Ladd cautiously began venturing forth into the tunnel. Above them, small green orbs shone brightly along the ceiling.
Marking their path with another set of glow sticks, the group continued onward, with three of them electing to stay behind with their hiking gear and safety equipment. The other sixteen people continued onward, moving quietly into the dark cavernous hallway, illuminated only by faint green orbs on the ceiling. Eventually, the group reunited with Ladd, who had found an intersection of three other hallways, each ones having different colored orbs on the ceilings.
One tunnel to the group's left had an amber glow to it, while the one to their right had a bluish glow from its ceiling orbs. The one in front of them had a reddish glow. Glancing around, the group noticed that the hallways were not straight, but curved. There was no doubt that the hallway in front of them led to the center of the mountain, and that the other tunnels eventually reached the other side, as evidence by their curvature.
"Well, which way do we go?" Ladd asked as he glanced around at his team. "I say we keep going straight," Bardem suggested, although inside he wanted to leave. Something about the structure they had entered screamed danger to him, and with each passing moment, he felt more and more uneasy. He had seen alien relics on other worlds before.
During an archeological dig on LV-517, he'd seen structures made of granite, marble, and an unknown carbon alloy, mixed together to form structures that had withstood the biting wind and sands of time itself. Those structures had been made with clearly defined geometric shapes purposes. Everything on LV-517 had been built by the beings who had once lived there.
But this place; it felt as though it had been grown. It felt as though it were natural and unnatural both at once, living and artificial together. It disturbed him to no end, but despite his unease, his natural curiosity eventually won out over his fear.
"Forward?" Ladd asked him. "Okay. Sounds good. Someone leave a marker here," Ladd said as he resumed walking forward through the tunnel. Santini, a mineralogist, set down a blue glow stick on the floor before catching up the others.
In front of the group, the floor began to slope upwards, narrowing as well, leading to a door at the top, with more orbs on the side. Remembering the orb from the entrance to the structure, Ladd grabbed the largest one and turned it, only for it to become stuck. He glanced at a smaller orb underneath the large one and turned the large one back to its original position. Pressing down, the small orb pushed inwards, acting as a button. Keeping it depressed, Ladd then slowly spun the other orb again, this time achieving the desired results.
The door opened with an odd sliding sound, and before the group was a large circular room, domed almost. As soon as they entered it, small white orbs dotting the walls began to glow, illuminating the interior of the room. At the top of the doorway, there was a room of some kind, with what looked to be some manner of control panel. There were windows of some kind, with some kind of thin transparent membrane filling them, almost akin to a flat bubble. It seemed to be an observation chamber.
To their left and right, there were slopes that led downwards, curving along with the room as they reached their respective landings. In the middle of the chamber was a set of narrow walkways, with guard rails on them as they led to a circular platform in the middle of the room that was suspended nearly two meters over several depressions, organized in blocs throughout the chamber, each holding some kind of blue mist in them, with small objects visible just beneath the surface of the mist. They almost appeared as three dimensional shadows under the mist, with no visible details. It was almost like looking at an indoor farm, with plowed fields sectioned up and organized into columns and rows.
Looking around at the sheer size of the chamber, Ladd opened his mouth in awe. "This... this place must take up half the mountain," he said as he looked at how high above them the curved ceiling of the room was. Looking back down at the center of the chamber, where the indoor alien farm was located, Ladd walked forward into the observation chamber, his team following him quietly.
"Harold," Ladd called out as he looked down at the fields of blue mist below. "Yes, Professor?" Harold asked in a demure fashion. Ladd gestured for the synthetic to join him in looking down at the misty fields below. "Harold, can you test the atmosphere down there? Can you... make sure that it's safe for us? I want to take a closer look, but... I want to make sure that it's safe first," Ladd said.
Harold nodded his head. "Yes, Professor. Just let me get some equipment ready and I'll head down there shortly. I have some instruments in my backpack for testing air quality," Harold continued. Ladd nodded his head in appreciation.
A few minutes later, the synthetic was making his way down the ramps and onto the walkways above the blocs of mist. Crouching down and reaching an arm through the guard rails of the walkway, Harold held out the air testing instrument and began to gently lower it into the mist, holding it by a thin metal wire as it descended.
When the instrument was fully beneath the surface of the mist, he held it in place for five minutes before pulling it back up and placing it in a small device he had set down next to him. He waited for the results to show up on the small LED screen on the front of the device, occasionally glancing around at the misty fields around him. While he did not feel the unease of some of his human teammates, Harold did notice that the facility in which he was located had some unusual physical attributes.
He raised an eyebrow as he saw how the walkway lacked the... biomechanical feel of the rest of the chamber. Biomechanical; that was the word. A term first coined by a Swiss artist in the mid-to-late twentieth century, Harold recalled as he accessed his memory banks.
It was a disturbing blend of organic and mechanical physical attributes.
A small beep soon alerted Harold to the conclusion of the air testing devices scan. The atmosphere under the mist was breathable. It was now time to send himself into the mist. There, his systems would be able to test for strains of bacteria, viruses, and other recognized microbes that were considered harmful to humans. It was a feature that Weyland-Yutani had built into many of the industrial model synthetics, especially those who operated in places with hazardous environments.
Testing the guard rail to see if it would hold his weight, Harold carefully bent down on it. When he was satisfied that it would hold, he began to climb over it, before glancing over at the main circular platform and noticing a ladder that descended into the chamber. Chastising himself for not performing a more thorough scan of the area, Harold stepped back onto the walkway and marched over to the circular middle platform, carefully carrying and then setting down his equipment before grabbing the ladder and descending into the mist below.
Because Harold's body was synthetic, and he did not contain any true red blood cells or other parts that could be negatively affected by diseases and other bacterea, Harold was able to safely analyze the contents of the air under the mist, which reacted when he broke its surface tension. There was a strange noise as his first foot went through it, although the whine eventually died down as he stilled himself.
Slowly, he descended further, until only his head was above the mist. Harold was at least six feet in height, not counting the hair on his head. Crouching down into the mist, Harold allowed his sensors to begin collecting data, staying in place for several minutes as his systems ran numerous scans and cross references.
Glancing at the strange pods on the ground around him, Harold began to study them. He shifted himself slightly so that he was facing one of the pods directly. Looking at it closely, it resembled an egg in its basic oval outline, but unlike any egg he had ever seen, this pod had four petals at the top of it. All four rounded tips of the petals were touching each other, like a flower waiting to bloom.
Reaching forward, Harold gently ran one of his hands against the side of the egg, allowing his tactile sensors to gather information about the surface of the pod. He was also able to gather data on any potential bacteria when he brought one of his fingers up to his mouth and sniffed it before licking. For a normal human, this would be incredibly stupid, but because Harold was a synthetic, he had nothing to fear. His body was artificial, with no sensitive organs or blood vessels to get infected by any harmful diseases.
He could not even carry diseases on his person, and he did not have a body temperature warm enough to allow any bacteria to thrive. His body temperature was not regulated by intricate and delicate organs and blood flow. His temperature was solely the result of his internal mechanisms performing their job, and even that was only truly residual heat produced by active atoms as the white pressure fluid flowed through his synthetic veins. It was paltry in comparison to the internal body temperature of a healthy human being, a dim candle in comparison to a camp fire.
When his systems could find no trace of any recognized illnesses, bacteria, diseases, viruses or dangerous gases, Harold emerged from the mist and climbed back up the ladder. He looked up at the observation chamber and waved, closing his fist and leaving his thumb up to give the 'okay' to Professor Ladd.
Grinning with satisfaction, Ladd began making his way down the ramp to the nearest walkway. Sarah and Bardem followed him closely, while other members of the team began making their way down the right-side ramp, heading onto small platforms that branched out over the misty fields. "Everyone begin collection samples. Nothing too large, though. And take pictures!" Ladd called out to his team as he approached the center platform where Harold was now waiting.
"Harold, can you make your way back to the entrance of the cave and find a way back to Diamond Bay? I want you to send a message to the campus, and maybe to the nearest Company office, about what we've found," Ladd said eagerly. "Do you wish for me to... repeat something that you have written, or should I use my own descriptions when giving them details?" Harold asked him as Melvin walked by him and began climbing down the nearest ladder. Two other men, both geologists named Lopez and Spencer, followed the grad student into the misty bloc to begin studying the pods.
"Wait, we don't know how those things react to organic material," Harold warned as he heard the whining beep of the mist reacting to Melvin breaking through it. "Hey, it should be fine," Ladd said reassuringly. "It didn't react to you, right?" Ladd reminded the synthetic.
"Well, no. But-" "But nothing. Don't worry about it," Ladd said as he walked over and began climbing down the ladder after the other three men. "Very well, Professor. There aren't any recognizable toxins or harmful bacteria within the mist or on the pods. But do be careful when analyzing them," Harold asked. "We'll be careful, Harold," Ladd said.
Meanwhile, as all but one of the researchers entered the fields below, the lone stray, a physicist named Malcolm, was studying the controls of the observation deck. He retrieved a camera from his backpack and began taking pictures of the array of orbs, dials, and other seemingly organic components which lined the control panels. He took pictures of the windows before looking down and seeing something on the floor.
Crouching down, he carefully reached forward and touched the object with a gloved hand. He encircled his fingers around it and pulled it back, bringing it into the light. Malcolm looked at the object carefully. It was circular, in the shape of the letter 'C' or a lower case 'e', with a defined trigger guard and some kind of thin globulous trigger mechanism. The object was possibly some kind of weapon, with an odd greenish hue and a very clear metallic feel and texture, standing out from the organic look of the rest of th environment, which very much reminding Malcolm of the carcass of a rotisserie chicken he had eaten the other day.
Standing up while holding the potential alien gun, Malcolm opened his backpack and retrieved a large plastic zip-lock bag in which to place it. As he bent over, he saw something else on the floor. It looked like the fossilized remains of some animal. Crouching down, Malcolm reached forward and pulled back the fossil, inspecting it. It had a curled tail and eight finger-like appendages attached to a thin middle section, with two flaps behind the rear limbs and on either side of the tail. On the top of it was a singular black eye, along with a series of quills running down the middle of its back.
"What the hell are you?" Malcolm asked rhetorically as he inspected the (unknown to him) ancient prototype facehugger. Standing up, he knew he had to tell Professors Ladd and Bardem about his discovery, and so he placed a hand on the control panel, depressing a long rectangular prism made of soft material. His hand only pressed down on one side, and the bar glowed brightly under the hand, but the open section was faint.
Glancing down at the prism, Malcolm set down the dead alien and cautiously pressed his other hand down on the open end of the bar, holding it in for several seconds until a small green light began to shine from the top of the console. Not knowing what to do, Malcolm took his hands off of the bar. The door behind him began to slide shut, causing him to turn around in a panic.
"Shit!" he exclaimed, loud enough for Harold to hear him as he was making his way up the ramp. "Malcolm, what's wrong!?" Harold asked in concern as he began jogging up to the observation chamber. "I-I... I think I closed us in!" Malcolm panicked. "It's okay. We'll get through this. Remember, the door has controls right there on the wall. See them? Right there," Harold said as he pointed to the small orbs on the side of the wall next to the door.
Malcolm began breathing easier. "Oh. Right," Malcolm said in embarrassment. "You probably just activated a remote door control. If it's locked, do not panic. I have a crowbar in my pack with me, as mandated by my previous handler," Harold said, referring to the manager at the space elevator in Diamond Bay where he and many other synthetics were used for loading and opening various crates of supplies.
Setting his backpack on the floor, Harold retried the aforementioned crowbar before walking up to the door and turning the orbs, causing the door to slide open again. "See? Just a remote control," Harold said humorously. Malcolm let out a nervous chuckle in relief.
Meanwhile, down in the field blocs, all fifteen of the other researchers were descending into two of the many field blocs and moving close to the pods, preparing to collect samples and photograph their discovery. When one of them, Santini, placed his hands one one of the pods, he saw the opaque shell slowly become transparent, glowing almost. "G-Guys! Look at this!" Santini exclaimed in fascination as he pointed to the translucent section of the egg, where something could be seen fluttering within.
A similar phenomenon was occurring in the other field that had been entered. Up in the observation chamber, a small red orb began to glow ominously, catching the attention of Harold and Malcolm, who looked down at the field blocs. "Red lights are usually a bad sign, right? Or, maybe it's a good sign in an alien culture?" Malcolm asked optimistically.
Harold, however, paused to ponder Harold's query. "That is... an interesting perspective," Harold admitted thoughtfully. The membrane in the windows soon came to life, showing blue 3D outlines of the eggs in the field blocs as they began to hatch, their top petals opening like flowers. "Okay, that's definitely not good," Malcolm muttered in realization.
Harold glanced down at the fields and began jogging down the nearest ramp.
Meanwhile, in one such field, Ladd was studying one of the eggs when the top opened with a creaking noise, much like a prolonged frog croak. Stepping back in surprise and hesitation, Ladd aimed his flashlight at the opening of the egg, slowly stepping back before bumping into his assistant, Sarah.
Looking over his shoulder, he saw that another egg had also opened its petals. "Guys, come on!" he heard Bardem call out as he climbed the ladder onto the main platform. Bardem then turned around and held out his hands, gesturing for his comrades to join him. "Yes. Perhaps this is best viewed from a higher vantage point," Ladd said nervously as he pushed Sarah towards the ladder.
Meanwhile, Melvin was quickly weaving his way through the throng of pods, each one beginning to open as he walked past them, stepping on the tendrils around them. "Melvin, hurry up," Bardem hissed at the college student. Behind Melvin, Lopez and Spencer were attempting to crawl out onto the side ridges of the bloc, as two eggs opened up behind them.
Glancing back, Melvin first saw three, then five, and soon eight pink finger-like digits loom up and curl around the opened petals of an egg, he glanced around and saw more sets of pink fingers around the edges, with yellow bands on the knuckles as the creatures they were attached to began to rise up out of the eggs.
The creatures resembled hairless spiders, but with no eyes and pink skin, with yellow dots and bands running down the back and the tail. Melvin gulped as one raised up two of its digits into the air. It was almost cute, in a strange way, Melvin thought.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another creature rise up. This one was less fleshy, however. It had an armored section in the back of it, solid grey over purple flesh. There were also small quills running the back of its possible spine, along with a tail that whipped in the air, ending in a sharp black barb on the very end of it. The digits also had sharp nails, almost claw-like, on the end of them, and there was a thin web-like membrane between each digit.
Hearing a skittering sound on the ground, Melvin looked down and saw another of the tailed pink spider aliens approaching his legs. It held out its front digits to tap against Melvin's jeans, before Melvin raised his leg and stepped away from it. The creature then leapt forward and crawled up Melvin's leg, causing him to cry out in fear as he fell back against the ground, reaching down to swat the animal away.
"Melvin!" Bardem cried out in concern.
He didn't see a mouth on the alien, but when it raised itself up and sat back, he could see something else on the underside, something... odd. Melvin had almost no time to think about it, however, as the creature shot forward, leaping up onto his chest and scurrying forward to thrust itself onto his face, wrapping its tail around his throat and clamping its legs around his head. It then shot a long tube out of its underside, parting Melvin's jaws open and beginning the process that constituted the facehugger's purpose in life.
This same process, of course, began occurring with nine other researchers in the other field bloc, who had been attacked by tan-colored facehuggers. "Professor, get out of there!" Harold shouted as he jogged over to the platform. As Ladd climbed up the ladder, he felt a stinging sensation in his neck and reached up to find a quill protruding from it.
"Ah! Ow!" he muttered as he pulled out the quill. He pulled himself up onto the platform and looked back to see the armored facehugger, its quills now facing forward instead of back, and its tail poised as if to strike like a scorpion's tail. "We-We have to get out of here," Ladd urged as he stood up. He then glanced over at the side ridge of the field bloc after hearing Lopez and Spencer scream in terror, seeing both of them clutching at the pink and yellow-striped facehuggers attached to their faces before falling over back into the misty field.
"What is this place!?" Ladd asked fearfully as he began running across the walkway, Bardem, Sarah and Harold joining him. After reaching the ramps, Ladd began to feel dizzy. He grabbed his head and blinked several times.
"Professor!" Sarah cried out before she saw the group of pink facehuggers running across the walkway towards them. She bent down to help Ladd as he kneeled on the ground, only to yell out as she felt a quill hit her in the shoulder, piercing through her shirt. "Ah!" she cried out before seeing a pink facehugger jump up at her. She raised an arm to block it, but it merely wrapped its tail around her arm as she fell back. The creature soon overpowered her, and she too fell victim to the beast.
Harold urged Bardem to join Malcolm at the top. "Seal the room! Don't let them escape!" Harold called out to the two men as he reached down to help Ladd stand up, only for the armored facehugger to leap onto the man's back and lash out at the synthetic with its tail, cutting into his arm with its barb. Harold flinched in surprise before the royal facehugger ran down Ladd's front and then forced itself on him.
"Professor!" Harold cried out, just before a facehugger launched itself at him. The creature tapped him with its digits multiple times, before eventually leaping away and scurrying off. Harold blinked in confusion at this development, before hearing a cry of fear from above. Looking up, he saw Malcolm grasping at the tan facehugger that had attached itself to his face, while Bardem was trying to close the door from the other side.
Harold watched with dismay as one facehugger leapt through the door, followed by Bardem's shout of terror before he too was subdued. Bardem's efforts did payoff, however, as the door soon closed shut. Harold was now alone in the chamber, the sole conscious member of the expedition still inside the room.
ONE HOUR LATER...
Sitting out by the entrance of the facility, the three remaining humans, a geologist named Mancini, a mineralogist named Howard, and a seismologist named Norman, were sitting down on the ground. "It's been a while now, hasn't it?" Mancini asked with concern as he looked at the entrance of the disturbing structure in front of them. Norman took a bite out of a candy bar before nodding his head in agreement.
"Over an hour now," Howard said as he checked his watch again. Leaning back against the rock wall, grabbing at one of the climbing ropes and tugging it gently, Norman took another bite out of his candy bar. "I'm gonna go check on them in there," Howard said as he stood up. Norman stood up with him, stuffing his candy bar into his pocket.
"I'll join you," Norman said as he grabbed a handful of glow sticks. "Mancini, stay here and wait for us. If we're not back in less than one hour, leave the cave and call for help. Something may have happened to the rest of the team," Norman said as he turned to look at Mancini. Mancini ave him a quick thumbs-up.
"You got it," Mancini said. As Norman and Howard departed, the geologist soon found himself alone in the dark, with only a data tablet to keep him company. Deciding to stave off boredom, he began accessing the various books he had downloaded on his tablet, searching for one to read as he passed the time.
TWENTY MINUTES LATER...
The silk dress that Margaret wore hung limply from her shoulders, exposing her modest cleavage to Charles. The man was known for his stoic personality among his peers, but in that moment, all restraint was thrown to the wayside. Margaret held out a hand and beckoned him forward, slowly backing up towards the bed, her eyes half-lidded and lips pouting. At last, their desires could be fulfilled.
Slowly, Margaret began to shrug off the dress, letting it fall limply to the floor, exposing her transparent bra and panties for Charles to see. Trailing her eyes downward, Margaret noticed that her actions had had the desired effect on Charles. Smiling and licking her lips at the prize that lay hidden behind his pants, Margaret reached back and removed her bra, letting it - "Aah!"
Mancini was interrupted from his heading by a faint cry in the distance. Glancing up from the tablet, he heard the sound of boots on the ground. "Howard? Norman?" Mancini asked with concern as he grabbed a flashlight and shone it down the tunnel. "Run!" was the faint response that he heard. "Norman?" Mancini asked, recognizing his colleague's voice.
"Mancini, run! Get the hell out of here! Run!" Norman shouted as he cam closer. Mancini saw the man enter his line of vision, sweat pouring down his face as he huffed with each stride. "Start climbing!" Norman shouted, his voice filled with fright.
"Where's Howard?" Mancini asked him, before he heard the strange scuttling sound on the ground. Shining his light on the ground, he looked behind Norman and saw several spider-like creatures with tails running across the ground, chasing the man. "What the hell are those!?" Mancini asked in alarm.
"Mancini, fucking go!" Norman shouted as one of the creatures caught up to him and leapt onto his back. Norman cried out in terror as the creature ran up onto his shoulder and onto the back of his head, causing him to cry out in alarm as it whipped its tail around his throat and swung itself around to align itself with his face. Norman reached up to grab at the creature before he fell forward onto the ground, his struggling soon ceasing.
Mancini watched the scene in terror and fascination before quickly turning around and grabbing the rope to start climbing. He quickly began pulling himself up onto the short cliff, before he heard the scuttling draw near, seeing a pink creature with yellow dots and stripes racing past him through the cave, followed by at least three more like it.
And then he felt the faint pressure on his back, and he reached behind to grab at the creature, only to loose his grip on the rope and fall back onto the ground. A loud squeal was produced by the creature as he landed on his back, crushing it underneath him. "Ah!" Mancini cried out in pain as he rolled over, glancing at the creature as it flailed about on the ground. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw another creature, this one tan in color, race towards him.
He had no time to run as another pink creature raced towards him as well, leaping at the tan one and knocking it aside before leaping onto Mancini, who struggled to get it off of his chest as the tan one returned and ran up his side. A third creature, this one also pink with yellow stripes and dots, ran towards him as the other two creatures tried to knock each other aside, and it quickly became the victor as it reached the finish line first.
Only a handful more of the facehuggers, tan and pink alike, raced out of the tunnel and into the cave, eventually making their way into the wilderness, catching anything large enough to be prey. Predator and prey alike would soon find themselves under assault from these parasites, and none of their natural defenses would be able to account for something they had never evolved alongside. The epidemic had begun, and no one, save a single synthetic, was in any position to do anything about it.
Author's Notes: And that was the first chapter of ALIENS: EPIDEMIC. As you may have noticed, the pink facehuggers from HARD HEADS have returned, along with the cool refreshing taste of Facehugger Classic.
Anyway, the next chapter will feature a montage of a time skip that covers 3 to 4 weeks between the initial contact made by the Ladd Expedition in the Engineer research facility, and the eventual widespread outbreak that our military heroes will have to deal with.
Now, a few details to get out of the way. First off, while the Ladd Expedition is indeed funded by Weyland-Yutani, it was purely for the sake of finding valuable elements and minerals deep within the mountain range. In my view, by this point in time, Weyland-Yutani, or anyone remotely involved with Burke, has realized the futility of trying to acquire the Xenomorph. This story takes place 4 years after the events of ALIENS and ALIEN 3, assuming the events of those films both occurred in the same year. By this point, Weyland-Yutani has lost the Nostromo, a recently-acquired Sevastopol Station (which couldn't have been cheap), an atmosphere processor and the colony next to it, and two squads worth of Marines on the Sulaco, which is going to raise all sorts of legal questions when their families inquire into their whereabouts.
Second, the Taros strain of Xenomorph will be referred to by me as the XX121 T-37 Strain, since the events of HARD HEADS occurred in 2137 on the moon of Taros. Thus T-37. I will refer to the Classic Xenomorph strain as the XX121 A-22 Strain, since the Nostromo first encountered this strain on Acheron (LV-426) in 2122, although the strain could have technically been encountered earlier by someone else, since Weyland-Yutani had to have known about its existence prior to the Nostromo's voyage in order to place Ash on the Nostromo and give him his special orders in the first place.
Third, there will be runners for both strains, and since they've been alive for a few weeks, they'll have ridged heads like the adults from the second film. Domed heads are found on adolescents, and the ridged heads are fully matured adults. James Cameron even confirmed this in his audio commentary for the 2003 DVD release of ALIENS.
Fourth, I will focus on the Colonial Army, which is a rarely seen, if even mentioned, military force in the ALIEN universe. This means I can call the soldiers 'soldiers', finally. Let's get some terminology out of the way. Marines are in the Marine Corps. Soldiers are in the Army. A Marine is not a soldier. A Marine is a Marine. Go ask any real-life military personnel about this, and they'll tell you so. When the Colonial Marines do show up in this story, they will be referred to as Marines.
Now, as for my posting schedule. I plan on a post every two weeks. I don't know if I'll go with my previously established one chapter per story every other week, or if it'll be two chapters, one for each story, every two weeks. It might be a mix of those schedules depending on how busy I get with work or other personal issues that arise.
So, with that being said, I hope everyone enjoyed this first chapter. Please be sure to let me know what you think of it in your reviews.