Alien: Desolation
Prologue
To the outsider, the middle-aged man standing before the thick glass plate would seem crazy; after all, it was impossible for his straining eyes to pierce the suffocating darkness which seeped from the small chamber that held him so enraptured. Occasionally, he would pry his eyes away from the chamber and look to the notepad in his hands and make a few sprawls, before turning his gaze once more to the chamber. The sounds of footsteps - high heels, if he wasn't mistaken - filled the corridor to his left. He ignored them of course, choosing to dedicate all of his valuable attention to the creeping void before him. "Doctor?" Came a female voice as the sounds of heels stopped. The man paid no attention to her at first, simply glancing back at his notes as he made a few more scrapes. "Doctor Ballenfield?" As if pulled from a coma, the man turned towards the woman and blinked, his eyes adjusting to the sudden flood of florescent light which would have shortly blinded lesser men. He smiled to her and relaxed.
"Ah... Ellie." He stuffed the notepad back into his coat pocket, facing the woman completely. She was in her early thirties, her brown eyes and blonde hair framing her youthful face perfectly. She, like the man, wore a pure white lab coat over their usual uniform shirts, his legs dressed in long black slacks while hers had a knee-length pencil skirt which seemed to negate her mobility. "What brings you to my little corner of the facility?" He smiled, though the woman's grimace was disconcerting to say the least. She moved a rogue strand of blonde hair from her vision - stowing it behind her ear - as she collected her thoughts.
"I have the data you requested. It seems that it'll be the last, however..." She handed him a small datapad, which he gingerly tool in his hands. Skimming across the data presented, his neutral smile quickly faded. He looked at her, his eyes asking words his mouth could not find. "We're not sure how it happened, Doctor, but to our understandings, there were no survivors." The man nodded and swallowed hard, handing the datapad back to Ellie. He seems shocked, but in the same train of thought, rather pleased at the news. He nods and turns back to the chamber.
"See, Ellie?" He drones through lifeless lips, making scrawling notes onto the retrieved notepad. "Safety is our prime concern... That is why." He finally breaks his stare as he moves away from the chamber.
"Also, Doctor." Ellie speaks simply. "We've received word that General James Arnos has arrived for inspection. Apparently, the destruction of the USM Auriga has forced them to search out alternate means of procuring their weapons." Doctor Ballenfield, the middle-aged man simply smiled.
"Very good, Ellie. Do me a favor and see that General Arnos is situated and comfortable. Inform him that I'll be joining him momentarily, after I prepare for a moment." The younger looking woman nodded and started the direction she came, while the man went the other direction.
Small gusts of steam vented out the sides of the medium-sized military shuttle as it slowly drifted towards the extended docking clamp on the exterior of the station. The blonde woman, Ellie, stood at the station-end of the docking clamp, her legs vibrating nervously as she waited impatiently for General Arnos to disembark. Any moment now... She inhaled once as the sound of decompression filled the other side of the door before her. She watched through the small window as a man dressed in a United Systems Military uniform - flanked by two lower-ranked flunkies - strode down the ramp like a man on a mission. Entering the unlock code, Ellie opened the door and stood, arms folded at her waist like a proper lady, waiting for the General to get closer.
"General Arnos, it's a pleasure to meet you." She smiled widely and bowed crisply at her waist. Upon righting herself, she extended her hand, which the grizzled old General took with a start. "My name is Elisabeth deCarlo, research assistant to Doctor Jake Ballenfield. We're pleased to have you join us this afternoon."
"Pleasure's mine, Doctor deCarlo." Ellie smiled and gave her head a little shake.
"I'm not an actual scientist yet, General. You can call me Ellie."
"Very well, Ellie. I trust my arrival wasn't too much of a shock." Ellie shook her head with a wide grin.
"Of course not, General! We're pleased the United Systems Military decided to visit us all the way out here. If you'd follow me, General, I'll show you to a waiting area. Doctor Ballenfield if preparing a tour for you, General, so he should joining us soon." She began to walk towards the interior of the station, the three military men in close tow. She spoke little as she walked, gently testing the waters about the General's preferences. Upon arrival, she offered the trio a seat. "May I get the General a drink to tide him over?"
"I would like that, yes." Nodding courtly, Ellie opened a small cabinet and wrapped her fingers about the neck of a large crystal decanter - filled to the base of the neck with a thick amber liquid - and lifted it out. "Actual alcohol, Ellie? You don't see that often in the military. AlCaps and water make a passible scotch on the rocks but... It's hardly the same."
"Being an independent contractor, General, you may find has it's merits. The Company provides us with no shortage of entertainment and leisure devices here." She poured some of the dark Amber liquid into a small crystal glass, the gently dropped two square cubes of ice inside. With a smile and a bow, she handed the glass to Arnos. Lifting the glass to his nose, he gently swirled the contents about the glass and sniffed the gentle, yet distinct aroma.
"You are too kind, Ms. deCarlo."
"Would your men like some?" Arm is motioned the men forward.
"Yes! Anthony, Sander, enjoy yourselves." With a little smile, Ellie poured two more glasses for the men - who surely must be tired from standing board-still for so long - and placed them in their thankful hands. Once all three men were liquored a little, they began to chat. It was no secret that the research of the Auriga was almost an exact mirror of what Ellie and the others were doing. It was for this reason Arnos was here.
After a rather riveting conversation about military life, the door opened gently to reveal the brown-haired figure of Doctor Ballenfield. General Arnos smiled and stood. "If it isn't our host! Good afternoon, Doctor Ballenfield!" The man smiled to Arnos and extended his hand.
"General Arnos, so glad you decided to pay us a visit. Allow me to be he second to welcome you to the Orbital Research Station, the Hiroki Kai. Chief Researcher Jake Ballenfield at your service." He stole a glance to Ellie. "I hope Ellie's hospitality was satisfactory to your needs. I see she wasted no time offering you drinks." Arnos laughed heartily and nodded.
"Indeed she did, Doctor; but we hardly traveled so far to drink and waist the years granted to us by God upon our births. I would be very pleased to see what you and your employers have to offer the United Systems Military." Jake nodded.
"Very good, General. If you'd follow me." Placing their now-empty glasses upon the table, Arnos and his men followed Jake out of the room. Jake walked with purpose, each stride held meaning and defined the man as one of undisputed power. They only walked for a precious moment before Jake stopped before a window overlooking a rather the cage. "General Arnos, tell me. What do you know about Species Three?"
"It was first discovered about three hundred years ago by a Wetland-Yutani mining freighter, the USCSS Nostromo. After the freighter was destroyed, the creatures dropped off the map until they were rediscovered eighty years later on the planet Lunar Vacuum number 426 - Archeon, Hadley... whichever name you prefer - by the colonists of the Hadley's Hope terraforming colony. Since then, they've shown up practically everywhere." Jake nodded, satisfied.
"Then you are also aware, that previous attempts to calm the creatures - forget tame - have been met with depressing failure." He directed the General's attention to the glass. "General Arnos, I present you with the first of our specimens of Species Three. We like to call this anxious little one Mell." Arnos looked in to see a single specimen - hide of pure obsidian and beauty unmatched - crawl anxiously about the room, scaling the walls without care and walking about the ceiling as one would the floor. Four tubes protruded from it's back as a row of ridges ran betwixt the two pairs of tubes down it's back. A long, thin, segmented tail trailed gently behind it, coming to a stop in a mean looking barb on the tip. It's head resembled a rotation banana, it's eyeless face turning to look as it crawled. It stared at Arnos for a moment and hissed, opening it's mouth to expose the smaller, secondary jaw inside it's mouth. Arnos smiled.
"He's beautiful."
"Isn't he?" Jake smiled, placing a hand upon the glass. "He's one of six specimens of Species Three we quarantine here. We have multiple subspecies for study. See, Species Three has a social structure similar to ants. Hive-like. At the top is the Queen. The Queen orders all her drones in whatever fashion the hive requires, be it gathering, fighting, harvesting, you name it. The Queen also lays the eggs, which the drones carry to their destination." He paused. "Mell is a Drone, the most basic of them. Nothing special or out of the ordinary... yet important none the less to our research."
"We also house a smaller, dog-like Runner Xenomorph; a larger royal guardian we're referring to as a Pretorian; a nimble, air-bound Flying Drone as well as a rare specimen, the Baron. The Baron is fascinating. He's being fed at the moment, so we can't see him yet... He's a bit of a messy eater, don't want you being grossed out." General Arnos nodded to the man's rundown of what specimens were being housed in the facility. However, as Jake began to move down the corridor once more, Arnos stopped, thinking to himself as if something didn't add up.
"Doctor Ballenfield..." He began, stepping forward to keep pace with the other. "You said you had six specimens, but only mentioned five... where's the sixth?" Jake turned abruptly to face James, a wide grin - almost as if Christmas had come early for the man - appeared across his lips.
"Do you want to see it? Number six, I mean." James, slightly confused, nodded slightly politically as Jake walked the man further into the facility.
The pair of men passed through three separate checkpoints as they followed the corridor deeper and deeper into the research station's bowels. Arnos looked around as they passed, several squads of heavily armored and armed soldiers strode down the corridor beside them. "Quite a formidable detachment of soldiers you have here, Doctor." He muses. Jake nods and salutes to a few men.
"The Hiroki Kai has a crew size of two-hundred and twelve souls, General. Two hundred of them are highly-trained elite marines, specially trained to kill Species Three. There is one thing you shall find in supportive abundance here, General, and that is safety. The Company spared no expense in safety, and it shows. He showed a guard his badge, the pair of soldiers standing flanking a heavy door. Upon inspecting his badge, the men saluted and opened the door for the group. "This is my pet project, General... My pride and joy... and I think you'll see why."
Doctor Ballenfield lead Arnos into the room - an observatory of sorts - and brought the lights us just enough to see outlines of chairs and tables. At the far end of the room was a large glass window opening into more darkness. Standing before the window, Arnos squinted, trying to pierce the darkness. "I see... a room. A bed and some chairs... is that a - is that a cow carcass in the center of the room?" Ballenfield smiled.
"It is." Ballenfield placed a hand on a joystick on a little console and pressed a button, a spot light clicked on. "This is Subject Four's enclosure, General. Four is a little shy of lights, but it has been unable to destroy this one as of yet." He began to manipulate the joystick, which caused the light to drag across the room, bathing certain areas in a flood of inescapable light. Humming, the doctor continued to search for his target. "Where are you, Four?" He mused just as the circle of light fell upon a young girl's face, locks of purple hair falling about her face. "Ah, hello, Four." Arnos' eyes went wide.
"Doctor Ballenfield! Why is this young girl in the Xenomorph Enclosure?! What is this?" The doctor said nothing, simply pointed to her. The girl's eyes panned up to the spot light, her brown eyes suddenly turned a lucent crimson, pulsing with some unknown hatred. Opening her mouth, she lifted her tongue up, a small secondary jaw - horrifically reminiscent of the Xenomorphs - extended from the soft pallet of her lower jaw. Spinning around with a flurry of purple, she darted out of the light, a long segmented tail snapping the air behind her. General Arnos could have sworn he saw most of her body covered in a black, chitinous airspace which absorbed any light which struck it. As she retreated farther into the darkness, Arnos struggled to recover.
"Who - no... what was that, Doctor?"
"That was Subject Four. Fascinating, isn't it?"
"Doctor, the United Systems Military, and countless other organizations have been attempting to create a functioning, stable Xenomorph/Human hybrid for ten years..." Ballenfield was grinning as Arnos said this.
"And we beat you by a decade." He pressed the button to turn the spotlight off. "How does it feel, General?" He looked out the glass, his trained eye able to watch Four even in the lack of light.
"Where did we go wrong?" Arnos pursued the question. Jake turned and nodded.
"Everywhere." He watched through the impenetrable curtain of void as Four linked back to a corner of her cell, shooting daggers at the man behind the glass.
"Can she see us?"
"'It', General. It has breasts and a feminine figure... but I assure you there is more Xenomorph there then human." He let the notion set in, the proceeded to answer the question. "No, however... It cannot see us. The glass is one-sided." He smiled and turned back to James. "I do not mean to be coy, General, but now that you've seen our little project... perhaps you'd be willing to talk price...?" Arnos nodded, eyes stilled glued to the She-Xenomorph in the cage. He knows Ballenfield said it couldn't see out but... there was something nagging the back of James' head... something that told him things weren't has black and white as the good doctor painted them as.
Finished in the observatory, the pair of men strode back out and through the three check points once more, Jake talking James' ear off the whole time. "...your issue, General was not your method, quite the opposite. Your method was perfect, but it was simply reversed. Instead of injecting human DNA into a genetically modified Xenomorph Queen, we injected Xenomorph DNA directly into a human womb during the first two weeks of conception. You see James... do you mind if I call you James?" Arnos shook his head. "You see James, it has been understood for years that children are at their most vulnerable genetically during the first two weeks of life. It's in this period that the body's immune system is strong enough to fight off infection - yet still weak enough where the foreign DNA isn't destroyed by the body." He explained.
"So... You didn't create Four..." Jake smiled.
"We bred it. Now, we did notice a few abnormalities during the gestation period - accelerated growth of the fetus, womb scarring to the mother, and painful body deformations which rendered natural birth hazardous, just to name a few. Once out of the womb, Four developed and progressed physically much like a human child. We noted many of the same developmental stages associate with age... the quote 'terrible twos', it's rebellious notions between the ages of fifteen and nineteen, and it's now-adult attitude to it's two-decade long isolation."
"Wait... this thing has been sealed for twenty years?!"
"Twenty two years, three months and twelve days, to be precise." He mused as if he were counting each day. He folded his arms behind his back as he walked, head held high as though he were master of these halls.
"If you don't mind me asking, Doctor... but who's the mother?"
"I would be loath to use the term, but my wife volunteered." James looked shocked at this revelation.
"Doctor... You mean to say that that was your daughter?" Ballenfield scoffed, which turned quickly into a choked laugh of joy.
"Don't be asinine, General. While yes, it is true that my wife gave birth to it and yes, it is also true that I had done my own duties to see to the fertilization of the egg; it is not my daughter. And it never will be. In the future, when these creatures fill the front rows of your Army, and the United Systems Military is the strongest ever, I'm sure you'll see what I see when I view Four. A perfect weapon... the perfect fusion of Human Control and Xenomorph Brutality." James went quiet as Ballenfield spoke, something unknown rumbling in his gut.