EARTH

UNITED AMERICAS

MILITARY HEARING

0500 HRS

'Right. The checklist tells me that you're all here. I apologize, gentlemen, for bringing you here on such short notice, but circumstances demand it. Some new information has been brought up that I think requires our immediate attention –'

A voice interrupted. 'Just us? Don't you think we should inform the other military unions?'

The speaker glared for a moment, and continued. 'Discretion is advised, Stemper. Discretion because at this point in time we are unsure as how to proceed with this new information. As you know, Project Aurora has been in progress for twenty years now. But that's just what the public has heard. In truth, the research, the experiments and the tests have lasted for almost a century. I have been informed that recent tests on equipment batch thirty-seven have been successful.' He paused dramatically, listening to the quiet murmur of the voices of the panel. When the noise died down, he proceeded. 'This could have a great significance on the world as we know it. But with the United Peace Mission having such a stronghold in the world today, if they got a hold of this information, Project Aurora will soon be scrapped. Do not underestimate our need for secrecy.'

Just then a hand shot up. The speaker sighed in frustrated acknowledgement as he pointed towards the raised hand. A person of small stature rose. Her short cropped dark hair framed the innocent features, and when she spoke her voice was a far cry from the brash sounds of most generals. The speaker sighed again. General Analee Call. The only android in the damned military – if it were up to him, she wouldn't even be here. After a mysterious "incident" ninety years ago with the Auriga, Call had been one of four survivors to escape with her life. What she was doing on a military vessel in the first place, stupefied him, but the media and other pro-android groups had viewed this as an act of heroism. More importantly, some politicians in Congress supported her move to serve the public, and the speaker was both distressed and fearful of the decision. Nevertheless, she had been reprogrammed and instated into the UA Marine Corps. There, she made for herself a distinguished record rising up the ranks from Private to Lieutenant. Two decades later, the sixth World War had ensued, and almost a third of the population of the United Americas had been wiped out. In a last desperate stand, Call had commanded a small fleet of ships against their enemies, and in turn had reconquered some of their lost territory. She contributed to victory and recovery in a large way, had emerged as a hero once more, and was promoted to a General. With her, she brought a sense of loyalty and integrity to the position. She was, by far, the most humanitarian member of the military and therefore to him – the least valuable.

'Sir, if I may, what impact will this have on the data obtained from the older D-52 models?'

'You've lost me, General Call. Please specify.'

'If you might recall, Sir, others like myself have worked with the outdated android models for historical research purposes only and have recovered information about a company by the name of Weyland Yutani.' She raised her eyebrows hopefully, guessing that he had remembered. She guessed wrong.

'What does this have to do with the success of Project Aurora?' The impatience in his voice grew, and some shuffled in their seats nervously. They did not enjoy seeing the Secretary General of Military Affairs angry. It was never a pretty sight.

'If Weyland Yutani succeeded in their "affairs", what's to stop us from continuing their work? The Bioform Organisms Division will soon demand that we add a third member to the species list.'

Suddenly, he remembered. How could it have slipped his mind? To complete gaps in the historical archives, the military had agreed to the retrieving of data previously branded as confidential. The data was located in old outdated android models, and people like Call had been summoned to extract the information. The information revealed that employees of Weyland Yutani had encountered an organism of incredible potential. It was as highly adaptable and efficient as it was lethal. The Auriga had actually transported this very creature before there was a reported systems failure – he doubted the claim – and then the Auriga had crashed, taking everything but four survivors with it. Cloning would prove impossible since there was nothing to work from, and the project came to a screeching halt. But now, now with the success of Project Aurora, it could continue. In fact, anything could be possible. Anything.

His eyes glinted as his mouth turned upwards into a smile. 'Thank you for bringing this to my attention, General. It looks like many things are possible with this new discovery. This would mean that I have many priorities. The Weyland Yutani data will certainly be one of them.'

Instead of sitting down, Call continued to speak. 'But Sir, under the terms of compliance of the United Peace Mission, we cannot own biological weapons - it would be illegal to bring back this species. May I remind you that it will have lethal consequences – not just to one man – but to the whole human race as we know it. We're talking complete obliteration here, Sir!'

He thumped his fist loudly on the stand. 'I am fully aware of the consequences! The knowledge of the damned Peace Mission does not extend beyond the information we've gained from Project Aurora! And this is just a grain of sand on the beach, General. I have other issues to deal with! That will be all from you!' Although his voice remained loud and angry, the Secretary General of Military affairs could barely contain his excitement. There was great potential to be sought in Weyland Yutani's recovered files – and he did not want to reveal this eager anticipation – especially to the damned android. His thoughts echoed repeatedly in his head. "Anything is possible."

A MONTH LATER

ILLINOIS

2130 HRS

A loud rap sounded on the door. Three times, and then silence. The woman limped towards to the door trying to deny the pain by taking longer strides. She cursed silently. Her dark curly hair was turning grey around the corners of her forehead, but her eyes held the same intensity as they did several years ago. She pressed a button near the doorway as it slid open.

'Jesus, Ripley, don't you ever want to know who you're letting in? It could be dangerous!'

'Dangerous? For whom?'

Call walked in and stood in front of the woman. The contrast between them was clearly apparent. Ripley stood more than six feet off the ground while Analee Call was only slightly more than five. Call constantly appeared to be in her early twenties while Ripley was beginning to look older as each day wore on.

'Still the hospitable host. Aren't you going to invite me to sit down?' asked Call, smiling up at the older woman.

'No need. You're going to anyway.'

They walked towards the small living room. Call flopped down onto a worn-out couch. She fiddled with a thermostat control near it, which warmed up the seat. Ripley had always kept the apartment cold, keeps the bugs out, she used to say. Call sat in silence, looking out the window for a few minutes. Ripley humored her quiet mood, and gazed patiently with an animal-like quality at the only person she dared call her friend.

Call broke the chilling silence. 'Ripley.'

'What?'

'Remember when we spoke a week earlier? About the possibility of changing the course of history?'

'Yes. You said that you couldn't elaborate – military confidentiality was required.'

'I think I'm about to breach that right now.'

'Really.' She smiled, as if humoring the android in front of her.

'Do you remember, aboard the Auriga, when I asked you how you could go on being who you are...and you said you didn't have much choice. You were right. But that was back then. Now, now things are different. You can change things.'

'I don't tolerate philosophical musings, Call, get to the point.'

'They've created a particle transferer, capable of projecting an organism – without harm – with great speeds into alternate dimensions. Well, one dimension actually. And by using vast amounts of energy from scrapped nuclear weaponry and an old theory –'

'I also don't tolerate fancy language.'

'They can send people back several years. Project Aurora has been deemed entirely successful.'

'So they've created a time machine.' Said Ripley, matter-of-factly.

'You make it sound so cheesy. And it's not a machine – it's an entire facility. But there are a few glitches in the system – it's to be expected, I guess. They predict that it has limited capability and that it can probably only do a thousand years back, max.'

'I'd have thought you'd be more excited.'

'I was, at first.'

'But now, something's changed your mind.' guessed Ripley.

'Yes. I'm going against my new programming...breaking their code of silence like this. But I was initially created to protect humanity. And that's embedded in me – it can never be erased.'

'So you're going to rise to the occasion once more? Why?'

'They've found out about Weyland Yutani's little secret.' she said quietly.

Suddenly, Ripley grabbed the sides of her seat. Her knuckles turned white but her face remained bland. She said nothing, so Call continued. 'I've been informed that they're going to try to acquire the species again. They claim it's for research purposes only. That's the lamest excuse yet. What I don't understand is why they can't see! It's kind has killed so many...so many! To get it would be to repeat history, to repeat the death and the suffering all over again. They can do better things with what they've found instead of chasing daemons – why prioritize this?'

Ripley loosened her grip on the chair and breathed in deeply. 'Don't you see? This way, your General can win the war. With what he thinks will result in minimum casualties. And then almost half your population wouldn't have to be wiped out. But I don't see why he can't just alter events leading to the war.'

'I do. Winning a war's much easier than altering the workings of the system. He'd have to go back and change the way other Governments function, he'd have to eliminate key players – most of them unknown. He'd have to still send soldiers to do this job – and we'd have no clue what this would have on the future as we know it. But if he simply finds a way to kill the spider without reweaving its web, that'd be much easier...'

'Then you have to tell the UPM.'

'The United Peace Mission? It'd take months of paperwork and discussions to do something about it. I should've stopped it when I had the chance – I've been kept from knowing this information. But they've done their homework, Ripley. They know my history – they know that if I got wind of this earlier none of this would have happened.'

Ripley frowned. 'What do you mean – if you knew about this earlier? There's still time, right?'

Call bent her head down and shook it. 'No. Tomorrow's my deadline. They're leaving for wherever...no, whenever, tomorrow. I don't even know what date and time they're going back to. There's nothing I can do now.'

Ripley chuckled eerily. 'Yes there is.'

Call looked intently back at Ripley as the only apparent solution dawned on her. She was willing to put her reputation, her career, her life on the line – but this was much more different. It involved doing something foreign to her, something that could alter the present as she – and millions of others – knew it.

'You want me to go back, to follow them.'

Ripley nodded. 'It's the only way to be sure.'

'This could have an impact on the...future. What if something goes wrong? They won't let me...'

'You have access to the facility, don't you? Replace the name of one of the team member's with yours. Surely you can do that. By the time your General realizes what had happened you'll be far far away.' She laughed again.

'I can't do that. It's wrong.'

'Think of the stakes here. Either you can choose to appease your conscience or accept the fact that it won't exist once "they" get down here.'

Call stared down glumly at her shoes. She wanted more of an argument for why she should risk her sanity and plunge herself into such a situation. But her logical mind told her that a decision would have to be made soon, while there was still time to do so. 'You're right. I guess I'll have to leave. But I'll need help.'

Call looked hopefully at Ripley. But Ripley shook her head and smiled as she spoke. 'Look at me, Call. Look at what their cloning has done to me. They've accidentally speeded up the aging process. I'm not going to be of much use.'

Call's face grew anxious. 'But I don't have time to find people I can trust! And you know I can't go to the military. There's just no time...'

'You'll have to find someone, Call. I actually have a personal recommendation for you. Someone in the past.'

'Someone back in time? Who?'

Ripley breathed in deeply before speaking. 'Me.'