It had been a long time since the Human race had encountered such a creature. Not for one hundred years had man looked upon such a beast. The inmates of 'Fury' 161 were the last fortunate beings to see it, a century ago when the female Ellen Ripley destroyed any chance of us studying it.
Well, look at us now. I, and two other scientists, looked down at the Alien which seemed to bow down to us behind the glass. One of my colleagues took a step closer, moving his head nearer the creature; the Xenomorph did the same. Saliva dripped from its lips, the same lips which parted to make way for the second pair of jaws which extended outwards slowly.
Such a fascinating creature I thought. Over five hundred surveyed worlds and yet nothing even remotely like it had been found. Of course, it had been one of these worlds from which they had taken this specimen but they knew it hadn't originated from there. Ten eggs had been uncovered, suspended in animation in what appeared to have been an abandoned research facility. Whatever had been working there, they were long gone by the time the CFF-or Colonisation Frontline Force-had discovered the building. No carcasses or skeletons were ever found, nor were any other alien structures. It looked like the place had been some kind of remote outpost, the crew of which must have been spooked by something and taken off. This did not deter The Company from moving in to collect our prize, the prize which our predecessors had spent the last two centuries trying to get hold of. And every time they had gotten close, something got in their way, namely Ellen Ripley. But now she was dead, and we were free to do as we pleased.
After a time, the alien seemed to lose interest in the Doctor; it turned away from the glass and strode to the other side of its chamber. My superior, who had been displaying a profound interest in the specimen, turned away from it now and addressed me. "Commence the test," he said before walking past me and my other colleague and exiting through the automatic door at the back.
My nose twitched as it picked up the oily smell given off by the motion of the door. They really needed to sort that out as it presented an annoying distraction to our work. One day the doors on this ship would fail to work and it would come about at a time when we really needed everything to be functioning properly.
It was now my turn to step over to the glass. The alien was crouched down, close to the metal floor, at the back of its cell. It was difficult to make out amongst the shadows, but I could feel it staring at me with malicious intent. If this thing was given even the smallest chance to escape, it would take it. But there was no way it was going to get that chance.
I turned to the controls to the right of the room. I flicked a few switches before looking to the screen above my head. On it appeared the face of a security guard. Behind him was some kind of steel box which was shaking erratically. From inside came the cries of a manically distressed man. I felt no pity for him; he was a criminal and deserved what he was going to get. Not only was justice being served, but science too was being aided by this execution. "Are you ready up there?" I asked the guard.
"Yes sir, the prisoner is secured. It's up to you now."
"Standby!" I called out and turned the screen off.
I stared down at the buttons which stretched in all directions below my eager fingers. I tapped away at a few of them before pulling a lever directly in front of me. The execution started; no hesitation on my part.
As soon as I had done this, I averted my gaze back to the chamber and watched as a man, clothed in black and screaming at the top of his voice, fell from the ceiling towards the floor. The Xenomorph acted, no hesitation. It jumped from the shadows and grabbed the man while he was still falling through the air. The creature landed on its back, staggering it and enabling the prisoner to wriggle free. He ran to the glass and banged his fists against it. It would do him no good; it was reinforced glass. I saw him looking at me with contempt, and I looked back with an unfeeling expression. I cared nothing for him, and he knew it. So he looked to my colleague. He too remained where he was, his expression unchanged. It was at this point that a small set of jaws came shooting through the man's forehead, spraying the glass with blood. I smiled with glee and so did my fellow scientist. The prisoner's face was frozen in time; his mouth open, waiting for the cries which no longer came, and his eyes wide with fright. The teeth retracted back into the Alien and the body slid to the floor, leaving a thick line of blood on the glass.
The test had been a success. The creature displayed unprecedented amounts of violence. It was both aggressive and merciless, the perfect weapon. It would serve its purpose well. I turned to my colleague. "I shall report this to Doctor Deamen. Watched the specimen and note down what it does with the host."
He nodded obediently and watched me all the way to the door. Again, I picked up the scent of oil as I passed over the threshold. As the door closed behind me, I was plunged into near silence. The only sound I could now pick up was the rhythmic noise of the engines rumbling away somewhere deep inside the ship. First I would report to my superior, and then I would check on the other specimens and make sure they lived up to their potential, just as the first had done.
It was three days later that everything went wrong. I was working away in my office, writing up reports on the Aliens. It was getting late; the night shift would have been on by that point.
I was just finishing off when the alarm sounded. I jumped up, knocking my chair over in the process.
"All personnel are to evacuate. Biological Contagions loose on the ship. Make your way to your nearest escape pod," said the droning voice over the speakers.
I ran for my door and was almost scared to death when a guard burst in from the other side. I recognised him as the same guard I had spoken with during the test.
"Come on sir, we must get off this boat," he said urgently, grabbing me by the arm and literally dragging me out of my room.
"What happened?" I asked as we made our way down the empty corridors. "Where is everyone!?"
"During one of the tests, the panel, through which we threw the prisoner, did not close up. Before we could do anything, the Alien had climbed up and escaped the cell. Somehow it managed to release the others as well."
'Smart boy,' I thought to myself. "I knew the doors on this ship were death traps!"
The guard ignored my comment. "To answer your other question, everyone is either dead or already at the escape pods."
At that moment, another scientist came running into the main corridor from a side passage. He had his arms up and he was yelling at the top of his lungs, and the reason became apparent a moment later. An Alien was running along the ceiling, pursuing the scientist. It had been a bad idea to breed the Aliens inside dogs rather than humans; it made them faster and more agile. Consequently, the beast caught up with its prey seconds later. It pounced on him, like a tiger would a deer, and fired its secondary jaws into the man's head. This time, the gore was such that it forced me to wretch. The guard who had been escorting me now lifted the rifle he had swung over his shoulder and levelled it in line with the creature. He pulled back on the trigger and let loose a pulse of blue light. It stuck the Alien, but instead of passing through its outer skin, it impacted on the surface and knocked the creature off of its feast.
I looked at the guard with a disgusted expression. "A stun gun!" I cried. "Why the hell don't you have a proper weapon?"
He turned his head and said, "Procedure sir." This was a costly mistake.
The Xenomorph quickly recovered from the effects of the stun gun and was already back on all fours by the time the guard had finished speaking. He looked back around to see the Alien leaping towards him and taking him off his feet, no hesitation. I heard a sickening crunch as the guard landed on his back. The specimen did the same to the sentry as it had done to the scientist and within a few seconds, my escort was dead, his blood quickly spreading over the floor surrounding his head.
I had no time to lose. It wouldn't take the Alien long to realise that I too was in the vicinity. With any luck, the bodies would occupy it long enough for me to make a clean getaway. I ran further down the corridor on tiptoes to avoid making too much noise. Another two hundred metres and this would all be over. I would take a seat in one of the last remaining escape pods and watch as I blasted away from the main ship. At least, that's what would have happened, if not for the containment door which blocked my path. I should have foreseen it. In the event of a contaminant getting loose from the labs, the various parts of the ship systematically sealed themselves to prevent the contagion from spreading.
I stood trembling with my back to the metal, watching, waiting for a solution to make itself known to me. I could not see the Alien which had taken out the guard. It was either occupied with consuming the bodies, or it was exceedingly slow to catch up. I did not put much faith in the second possibility, which I suppose was a good thing.
I looked to either side and it was at that point that I spotted an open doorway to the left, leading to a thin passageway. I had been stationed on this ship for almost a year and yet I had no idea where this side route led to. Regardless of where it would take me, I decided that it would be safer than standing out in the open.
As I ran into the darkness of the passage, it occurred to me that I should have picked up the stun gun the guard had been carrying. Though it would not have done much good if I actually encountered an Alien, it would certainly have made me feel more secure. Instead all I had to make me feel safe were a couple of styluses in my jacket pocket. The oily stench which had followed me down the main corridor had now dissipated and was replaced with the smell of stale air, as if the area had not been lived in for decades. And I soon discovered that that may have been the case.
Deeper and deeper I went into the interior of the ship. It may not have been the most sensible idea in the world. The further I went into the ship, the further away I got from any escape pods which had not yet purged. Time passed me by and not once was there a break in the darkness. Still, I could hear no movement, nor could I hear growls, indicating that there were no Aliens nearby. At least I was safe, for the time being.
This had to be some kind of maintenance tunnel as even after several more minutes, all I could make out was more darkness. But it was when those several minutes were up that I saw the blackness let up a short way on. The dim light grew brighter and larger as I got closer. Passing through the barrier of light, I realised where I had been heading for the past half an hour of so. The room was circular in shape with a block of mechanical wiring in the centre; this was the engine room. The sound of the machine rumbling was almost deafening at this distance. I stepped along the perilously thin walkway to the centre of the room. I now stood right by the engine, its overwhelming warmth engulfed me. Perhaps here I would be safe, for a time.
It had surprised me that none of the Aliens had picked up my scent and followed me. Though it was an awful thought, I hoped they were preoccupied with the rest of the crew. But that would only distract them for so long. Soon they would come looking for survivors of the initial onslaught, and that included me.
I waited by the engine for many minutes. Over time the heat began to daze me, and I believed it was because of this that I saw what I saw. My eyes ventured to the top of the room and they were met with dozens more eyes. There were people, people stuck to the walls with a mucus-like substance. I had heard about this part of the Alien life cycle, but I never thought I would witness it for myself. The Aliens had taken the humans they had killed or captured, placed them somewhere warm, and readied them for the next generation of Aliens. And it was then that I realised that this was where the Aliens had nested; I was in more danger standing here than I had been anywhere else in the ship.
Looking up at the faces, suspended in moments of great pain, I began to understand what Ellen Ripley had been talking about all those years ago. This species was dangerous and impossible to control. If it was allowed to spread to other human colonies, it would kill and breed until no one remained. I was a fool. I had been fooled into believing that these creatures were fascinating and easy to tame for our purposes. And yes they were fascinating, but taming them…no way. They had to be destroyed before anyone discovered the ship and also fell prey to the beasts. The only way I was going to accomplish such a task was to make a sacrifice; the same sacrifice Ripley had made a century ago.
I looked down and turned to the engine core. I located the control panel and started tapping away at specific buttons. Even when I heard the sounds of movement behind me, I did not look up from my work. My sole purpose now was to overload the engine and blow the ship. Almost finished…just a few more presses, and…done!
I swung my body around and stared death in the face. I wondered which would come first; death by Alien, or death by exploding reactor. I put my faith in the second option; a quick painless death sounded more appealing than having multiple jaws shooting through various parts of my body. The Aliens were crawling out from the shadows of the maintenance tunnels spread around the room; they were crawling over the walls, every one of them looking me in the eyes.
The engine noise grew louder and the heat became almost unbearable. An alarm sounded, startling some of the Aliens. They began closing in. A few days ago, such a sacrifice would not have occurred to me; back then I was cowardly. But now I was willing. My life, for the lives of countless others; a fair trade in my opinion. The reactor began to implode on itself. The Aliens leapt. I closed my eyes and waited. No hesitation.