I'm trying to keep this interesting and realistic at the same time. I only just recently watch the fourth Alien movie, and saw the Newborn(that thing is freaky by the way) and I just wanna say first off that this story is NOTHING like that. And again, I've never read any of the comics, so If my story is at all similar to a pre-existing story that is completely accidental.
I DO NOT OWN ALIENS/XENOMORPHS, PREDATORS, OR WEYLAND-YUTANI.
Weyland-Yutani, the infamous corporation that founded xenomorph studies and experimentation, was once again at its' peak in existence. Weyland-Yutani spent many years basking in their imperialism, but after the vast failed experiments with Lt. Ripley and The Hive Queen, they'd fallen rather low. Now they had new scientists, and with them, new ideas on how to control the Queen and her children. Heading the staff of scientist currently was Dr. Tobias Fang, a rather narcotic, aged man with dark sunken eyes and a thin frame. He's second in command, and main assistant was a young woman named Dr. Demi Zipporah. Dr. Zipporah was energetic, but not vastly optimistic; her husband had been a marine of Weyland-Yutani and had died several months before, leaving her upon this foreign asteroid. She had a strange love for the xenomorphs, valuing their intelligence she spent many hours trying to read to them and teach them simple studies as if they were her own children. Though the others would call her mad, she thought that the aliens got lonely and enjoyed her reading to them. She wasn't fool enough to think coexistence was a possibility, she knew they were primarily predatorial creatures and trying to live among them was impossible. Dr. Zipporah was in charge of a group that concentrated on the mental study and development of the xenomorphs. They came to a few complications in surgery, considering that the aliens blood was acid and burned through anything, they eventually created a compound alloy that was impervious to the acid. From this rubbery substance they made knives and other surgical supplies to be used in brain dissections. Unlike her fellow scientists, Dr. Zipporah cared very little for the Queen and being able to control The Hive. She didn't see much reason in it; and what would they do if they could control an entire race? The whole idea just came from power hungry, narcissistic, ego maniacs; or so she thought. But when the opportunity for a new experiment, and new progress, presented it's self the natural born curiosity in her emerged and just like the other scientists, she wanted to be a part of it. So of course she was excited when her fellow scientist, and best friend, Dr. Tobias Fang told her he had an idea, a plan, to make the Queen more "controllable".
"A human hybrid." He exclaimed, a wide grin stretching his already thin lips.
Demi looked away from the xenomorph behind the glass and up at her friend, eyebrows knitted together in honest confusion.
"What?" she raised herself up from the floor and faced him, "That doesn't even make sense, Tobias. They're born inside humans, even though we've seen other variations, such as dogs and cats. They take on the characteristics of their host, so they're already hybrid-like."
Tobias was waving his hands around, as if shooing a fly, and shaking his head.
"Yes, yes, yes. But I meant a crossbred hybrid." His grin didn't fade even an ounce.
Demi cocked an eyebrow, ushering him to continue.
"If we take an undeveloped fetus from both species; xenomorph and human, and morph them together. Thus giving the Queen a human body." He threw his arms out in a grand display, like his idea was so obvious and simply at the same time. Demi stared at him in awe for a few moments before crossing her arms over her chest and dropping her posture to a more annoyed stance.
"OK. Did you dream this up one drunken night? That's impossible." She said flatly. He simply chuckled.
"And just because you said that, I'm gonna prove you wrong. But I want you to work with me on this. I need volunteers."
She had to admit she was intrigued by his idea, but it was impossible. Wasn't it?
"Volunteers? For what exactly?" she kept her voice sounded uninterested. Tobias began pacing in front of her, a habit he'd always had whenever he began planning something complicated.
"Well, a host, for one. Someone to willingly become impregnated with a xenomorph, and we'll surgically extract it when the time is right. Then we need a human fetus…" He trailed off as he stopped pacing to turn and look at her. She gave him an annoyed look,
"And what? You just intend to ask women to have a fetus for you?" she sounded incredulous. He laughed loudly.
"Perhaps. If for the sake of science! But maybe I won't need to." He grinned at her.
"Alright, listen. You get clearance for this little experiment of yours, get your…volunteers," she suppressed a laugh, "And a well finished plan, then I'll decide if I want to be a part of this." She gave him a slight smile and he nodded.
"Very well. I'll see you again soon." And with that he left the room.
Demi let out a sigh, and then returned to the viewing window with her clipboard in hand. Weyland-Yutani had built this facility around a pre-existing Hive, craftily boxing the aliens into their own home with viewing rooms around the entrances. Of course the aliens had tried to break through, but the entire facility was made from variations of the rubber alloy and thus was impervious to the aliens' acid. After a time of continually watching these creatures, Demi came to find that they were observing her in return. She was convinced these aliens were not the barbaric beasts the others believed they were. How could she, when they showed such intelligence all the time. There were currently three Xenomorphs milling about behind the glass in front of her. She wished for nothing more than to know what they were thinking and saying amongst each other. She placed her clipboard upon a computer desk and then slowly put her hand flat against the window. The alien closest to her instantly turned its head toward her and moved closer, it moved its head up and down as if surveying her and continued to do so for quiet sometime. After several minutes Demi sighed and was going to leave the room, when suddenly the alien put its hand up. It moved its hand in a slow circle around her figure, and then placed it against the glass, but not where Demi's hand was. It had placed its hand lower, where her belly was, and then tilted its head as if looking up at her. Demi was frozen in place, from excitement and terror; she just stared at this creature like a deer in the headlights. Now more than ever she wanted to know what it was thinking. The door behind her suddenly slid open as someone came inside and Demi jumped, giving a loud gasp and throwing her hand up to her throat. The other doctor looked flustered and embarrassed for startling Dr. Zipporah and quickly apologized. Demi shook her head,
"No that's alright. I think I've just been in here far too long and I need rest." She tried to keep her voice steady as she said this and then quickly left the observation room.
Officer Matthew Herman was no special man. He was a Weyland-Yutani employed marine just like any other. Today he felt most particularly "un-special" as he unloaded food crates from the docks for the fifth time that week. He did so with a heavy sigh. He thought he should be glad he wasn't on a battlefield, but he wasn't, he was just bored. When he heard that Weyland-Yutani was building another base around another Xenomorph Hive, he immediately signed on, hoping to get to kill some alien carapace. But to his unfortunate unhappiness, nothing has happened at all and now he's just like the rest of the military personnel on this asteroid, unloading docks. He vaguely thought to send a message to HQ to see if there were any wars going on back home so he could get off this rock. Another carrier ship came into the docks and Officer Herman sighed again. He finished his check list of the load in front of him, and then headed over to the newly docked ship. Men were already removing crates from the back of the ship, and Herman's eyebrows pulled together, those didn't look like food crates.
"What is this?" he asked a worker, while gesturing to the crates with his clipboard. The worker didn't even look up from his own datapad,
"Confidential, sir. They're to be taken to the labs on the east side." He answered. Herman rolled his eyes,
"Right. 'Confidential', my ass." He mumbled, but didn't say anything more as he loaded the odd containers onto a truck.
He had a good idea of what was in the containers, and it was probably best to not know all the details. He oft wondered what sort of things the scientists did here with these disgusting creatures. All he knew to do was shoot them; he couldn't imagine what else you'd want to do with them. He carefully steered the truck across the compound and to the storage cells at the east side, then proceeded to unload the truck into the cell. After this was done, he sat down in the dirt to have a lunch break, watching other people mill about. Human interaction was always an interesting thing to watch, particularly peoples body language and how you could tell exactly what was going on in a conversation just by the stance and gestures of the people involved. Currently there was a large group of people congregated around the announcements board in the courtyard, and from the shocked faces whatever Dr. Tobias had just posted there was rather alarming. This caught Herman's attention, so he packed up what was left of his lunch and drove the truck to the courtyard; though he could have walked he was lazy. He caught sight of a fellow Officer and waved a hand at him,
"What's going on?" Herman asked with a shrug. He thought he saw a spark of fear in the other man's eyes, but wasn't convinced.
"The scientists want lab rats for a new project. They're looking for volunteers." The other man answered. He continued to look uneasy. Herman noted this and asked another question,
"What are they doing with the volunteers?" he made an effort to sound kind.
"It doesn't say…" the younger man was staring at the ground now. Herman stepped closer to him,
"What are you so afraid of?" he honestly wanted to know.
"Well, the others are saying…" he looked behind him suddenly, as if to make sure no one was listening in,
"Shit, you know how things are here. If no one volunteers for whatever this is, they'll just take victims instead." He was whispering now. Herman was taken aback.
"They can't do that! Man, don't listen to the bullshit people say around here." Herman shook his head at the man, but the other still looked terrified.
"The government gets to do whatever they want! And I know what they're doing, and I don't want one of those…things…inside me!" he put his hands over his ears, as if to will some unwanted thing away, and continued,
"Don't ever forget: CREW EXPENDABLE." He exclaimed, and with that, walked away.
Herman watched him go before he turned back to the crowd, many people were still arguing in shock about the post. Herman pushed past them to the bulletin board and read the post for himself.
VOLUNTEERS WANTED
For new scientific advancement
Details will be explained in person
DR. TOBIAS FANG, DIRECTOR-IN-CHARGE
Herman 'hmphed' to himself, it was certainly a suspicious announcement. A spark of excitement stirred in him. He'd like to know the details of this "scientific advancement". After all, why not? It was probably the most excitement he'd get on this rock. He turned on his heels and headed for the entrance to the lab wings.
The science labs were a maze of numbered corridors, but after what could have been days, Herman stood outside Dr. Tobias Fang's office. The door was locked. He briefly thought to come back later, but the post had only just been put up. With a sigh, he knocked. Almost instantly the door flew open, making Herman jump. He had to look up at the man before him, a thin, frail, almost sickly looking man with greasy white hair and large sunken eyes. Herman recalled a time when he sat around a camp fire with other marines, making fun of the civilians and scientists working here. They had particular amusement talking about Dr. Fang, calling him a crazy snake man for how thin and serpentine he was, all the while being inhumanly energetic with a wide toothy grin. The man before him now still fit that description.
"Can I help you Officer?" The tall man cocked an eyebrow and didn't fail to smile. Herman now thought he looked like a snake playing with its food, right before devouring it. He cleared his throat nervously.
"Um. Yes. I saw your post. You need volunteers?" He made sure to keep eye contact. The Dr. looked him up and down, again looking especially predatorial.
"Yes. But what would make you want to volunteer?" he quipped.
"Well…boredom, to be completely honest sir." Herman answered with a sly grin.
The Dr. only hummed in approval before stepping back to allow Herman inside his office. The room was about the size of a large closet; a desk attached to the right side wall with file cabinets and computer modules all along the left side. While most people would put things up on the walls in an effort to personalize the room, Tobias' office was stark bare. The only thing that caught Herman's eye was a framed photo upon the desk. It was small, but Herman could make out a man that looked like Dr. Tobias standing shoulder-to-shoulder with a smaller, dark haired man. The smaller man was clad in a military style uniform, no expression upon his face, but an odd mustache under his nose. Herman stared at the aged black and white photo in concentrated confusion; he thought he recognized that smaller man, perhaps from a history book or something. The Dr. sat down at his desk and turned to face the only other chair in the room, then gestured for Herman to sit.
"Boredom, you say? Well then I do hope to interest you." He was still grinning again. It began to annoy Herman, making him want to slap that stupid look off the older man's face. But he focused on the Dr.'s words instead,
"What exactly needs to be done?" he meant to keep these questions short and to the point, not wanting to beat around any bushes. If he was to carry an alien around for these freaks to study then he wanted to know now.
"Eager to begin?" the Dr. chuckled, "Or are you scared?"
"Just wanna know what you plan to do with me, sir." His poker face didn't fade.
"Of course, of course. But something tells me you already know." The Dr. swiveled in his chair to face his computer, his back now to Herman, before continuing.
"I want you to be a host for a Xenomorph." He finally finished.
"That's what I thought." Herman mumbled, "And what guarantee is there that I'll live?"
"Oh we've done this plenty of times before. You'll be fine." The Dr. answered nonchalantly, as if they were talking about a common dentist visit.
"If so, then why not use one of your own staff? Instead of low ranking military personal?" Herman wasn't gonna let the matter dropped that easily. The Dr. must have caught on to what Herman was insinuating, because there was a long pause before he answered.
"We'll need all able hands available, of course." He said, still facing away from Herman.
"Of course." Herman quietly mimicked, remembering what his fellow soldier had said to him earlier that day, "crew expendable". The Dr. suddenly turned back around, with some papers in hand,
"SO, are you going to go through with it?" he was as cheery as ever, smile returning to his pale face. Herman glanced at the papers, then back at Tobias.
"Yeah." Was his only response.
"Excellent!" Tobias placed the papers on the desk before Herman,
"Now if you would just sign these. Then I'll see you a weeks' time, you'll report to lab room 237." The Dr. indicated the place to be signed; Herman placed his signature then stood to leave.
He would have said more, but the Dr. was already typing away at his computer, so Herman just left. As he made his way slowly through the bright halls, he thought about his life before he joined Weyland-Yutani. He had all intention of returning home, to Earth, someday because back on that far away planet he had a wife and daughter. Even though he spoke to them almost every day, it wasn't the same as seeing them in person. Now he had to think of what they would tell his family if he died from this procedure. He was sure the Dr. was telling the truth when he said they did it all the time, but that didn't mean he trusted them. Scientists defiantly viewed military men as lesser beings, stupid, worthless, expendable. And on the other hand he had to wonder, what did they want the infant alien for? What were their intentions for it after it's removed from Herman's chest? His gut churned with an uneasy feeling, an anxiety, that this was a bad idea. But perhaps curiosity got the best of him. That same curiosity reminded him of the picture he'd seen upon the Doctors desk. With a more determined stride, he turned a corner and headed for the library. The first thing he looked for were Doctor Tobias's records; anything to tell Herman more about him. Unfortunately every keyword he typed into the search only brought up a "NO INFORMATION EXISTS" message. Well wasn't that convenient? And suspicious. How could there be no records or information about a man who's been working here most of his life? Giving up on that search, he looked through photos of past wars back on earth. After a while a photo of that same small, dark haired man came up. Underneath the photo was only a name; Adölf Hitler. He gasped. He was right, he did recognize that man. But, why was there a picture of Hitler and a man who could have been Dr. Tobias' twin? He stored this information away in his mind for future reference.
Demi snapped her gloves on.
"Ok. How we doing?" she asked the group of surgeons gathered around the center operating table.
"Ready to begin ma'am." One of them answered.
Demi only nodded and stepped up to the table. Lying upon the cold metal surface was a Xenomorph, fully grown but slight of size, being only a little bigger than a wolf. It was the very same Xenomorph that she had had that odd encounter with, she choose it just for that reason, feeling that she was connected to it in some way. It was sedated to the point of being immobile, but still conscious and breathing. Demi gently stroked its cavernous head,
"Shhh." She leaned close, her lips almost touching its face,
"You'll be just fine." Her voice was soft and quiet, oddly full of love. The creature only hissed in response.
Demi smiled despite the looks the others were now giving her. She picked up a surgical saw and without further hesitation began cutting a rectangle out of the aliens' crown. Bright green acid dripped onto the floor, but since everything had been laced in their new rubber substance, it didn't burn through. Every few minutes she'd pause to look at the creature and make sure it was still conscious. After an exhausting eight hours of surgery, the creature was stitched up and moved to a recovery room where it would heal in solitary confinement. A hazardous materials unit came in to safely clean up the acid blood and then everything was sterilized. Demi was done for the day, so she made her way to her private quarters. This same brain augmentation had been done to three other Xenomorphs before, and each had died. So after a lot of changes to the procedure, she hoped to get a new result. Her goal was to make it possible for the aliens to be able to communicate with humans. Obviously they lacked the lips and tongue of humans, so vocal speech was impossible. But telepathy could prove more promising. They already knew that the Hive communicated through a sort of telepathy; the Queen and all the workers were connected and could hear each other even if they were on different planets. Demi was hoping to increase that capability, making it stretch to human minds. So with a little luck, and with the right augmentations and technological implants, they'll have a successful telepathic Xenomorph.
Doctor Tobias Fang finished typing his email and sent it to HQ, making sure to forward it Doctor Demi Zipporah. Now that he had a volunteer host, he wanted to move forward with the project. The egg had showed up earlier that day and was waiting in cryo containment. He spent many hours inspecting it, making sure it was the correct one, the egg that would birth the Queen. Weyland-Yutani had taken it upon themselves to make sure no Queens lived without their permission, they wanted only one alive and it was to be under their control. Until that was possible, no Queens existed. He thought of what he might do if Demi rejected his offer. Of course there were many ways to get around it, and just taking what he needed of her. The list of things he wasn't willing to do anymore had grown terrifyingly short, it's funny the things you'll do in the name of science. He also had to consider just how much of this project he's willing to involve Demi in. Regardless of their friendship, Tobias will not let her stop him, if she'll have to be removed from the facility then so be it.
Demi made it to her room before the nausea over took her. She stuck her face in the trash can and vomited. She had grown increasingly ill these past few weeks, and continually wondered what was causing it. She deeply hoped it wasn't a chemical contamination, in fear that they would remove her from the facility. She made herself some tea, before climbing into bed. She didn't even taste the tea, or remove any of her clothes, before she was swept under unconsciousness.
To say Officer Matthew Herman had lost sleep over the week would be an understatement. As the week's end drew closer he slept less and less every night, but refused to admit to himself that it was fear keeping him awake. That itching of anxiety had grown ever more persistent and he continued to will it away, refusing to be deterred. He had signed on to this and would never back down. So when that fateful day arrived he was already awake much earlier than needed; he showered, dressed, and began the long walk to Lab 237. The closer he got, the slower he walked, fighting a panic attack the whole time. How would they do it? Just let the thing latch on to his face? How will they know the right time to remove the infant? In the logical part of his mind he knew that the doctors had answers to all these questions, but fear usually won against logic. Would he be called a coward for backing out now? Would Dr. Tobias be angry? He brought a hand up to wipe sweat from his forehead, then took a slow deep breathe, willing himself to calm down. No, he had to trust them. He'd be fine. Herman finally came to the door, it was open, and he took a minute to watch the scientists and doctors' rush about making last minute preparations. Dr. Tobias was removing the egg from its cryo-container and placing it on a table. Then he looked up and smiled, that same carnivorous grin, at Herman. He stepped over to an operating table and waved Herman inside,
"Come, come. Right here." He patted the table. Herman swallowed, then stepped inside and sat upon the table. Tobias put a hand on his shoulder and looked directly at him,
"We will handle everything. You just relax. Pretend you're going to sleep, if you can."
Herman laughed nervously at the irony in that statement. He couldn't find it in him to speak, so he just laid down. A female doctor leaned over him,
"It's not going to hurt, you won't feel a thing." She smiled softly, and then stepped back.
Next thing he saw was Tobias and three others holding that eight-legged, sickly yellow, creature above him. Its' tail writhed around before finding leverage on his throat and wrapping like a death vice. Herman panicked in that second, letting out a startled gasp. But he had no moment to argue the matter, as eight thin fingers gripped his skull and everything went black. He would recall the moment he felt something slimy forced down his throat for the rest of his life, but quickly after, the tingle of paralysis began to creep into his body. He heard Tobias speaking, but he sounded far away,
"When you wake up, this will be over and you'll be safe in your bed."
Herman thought he tried to nod, but wasn't sure if he was successful. A sudden wash of calm overtook him, causing all his limbs to go slack and relaxed. He felt warm, and peaceful, and very, very tired. So he took the Doctor's advice, and went to sleep, forgetting where he was and what was going on.