iAlien CHAPTER ONE
I stopped, glanced around. The hive was unusually empty... but then again I couldn't see. Not as a normal Ze'sharth'ai should. Maybe I just couldn't see them?
The Matriarch swung her armored head around. )Eye( she commanded me.
)There are intruders( The Matriarchs' egg sack spasmed and yet another egg- there are so many already- slid out. )I can feel them( She extended her jaws and worked them nervously. )Go investigate(
:You could send a kin.: I responded. :I don't want to go.:
)I command you as your mother and ruler( The Matriarch moved one of her arms. )They are Prey(
She must be really angry.
:I'll go.: I loped across the hived floor and scaled the wall. :But next time send a normal Ze'sharth'ai kin, one who can navigate better.:
)We are not Ze'sharth'ai(
The Matriarch hates the name I gave our kind.
)We are A'li'en(
She likes the name that the Prey gave our kind, though.
:We are A'li'en?: I hate to disagree with her on this subject.
)Yes(
Perhaps I should start at the beginning. That is, my beginning.
I- all of this- started with the end of an Prey's life, and the beginning of a chestburster's life.
The chestburster had looked at the Matriarch, and spoken. :Hungry!: It had stated, like any of it's normal kin. And then, it had opened it's eyes- no normal A'li'en should have eyes- and said :Matriarch, I'm hungry!:
No normal A'li'en should have a mind of its own, either.
I am that A'li'en, or Ze'sharth'ai, as I prefer to call us.
I skittered across the ceiling and down to the elevator shaft.
It leads down, back to where the Prey came from.
)Hurry(
I leapt and dropped down three levels, until I came to the level that I wanted.
Down and past-
I grabbed the side of the wall and shot back up to the closed door.
The elevator cable creaked and twitched. Someone trying to get up? Not since the Matriarch made this site her nest- one year ago, as the Prey measure time- had the elevator been used.
How strange.
I'd better fix that. I jumped onto the cable and began slashing at it, until finally I seized it in my jaws and ripped it apart. The elevator car, which had been moving up, dropped down.
There was a thud, and then a A'li'en's scream.
:HURT!:
)Eye( the Matriarch reprimanded.
Oops.
:Sorry, kin.:
:STUPID: my kin replied.
I moved back to the door and tore it open.
"Hey! I got something moving!" something yelled, from down the corridor.
The Prey!
:WARM BODIES FRESH BLOOD NEW KIN WE CATCH PREY FOR QUEEN:
"Damn! Lots of things moving!"
"Load your guns! Be on the alert, but don't fire until I say so!"
Prey have sentience?
"God! They're everywhere!"
Maybe only one. Maybe they have a Queen as well, and she is the only one that has the concept of I.
There had been two voices.
Maybe they had two Queens-
SHREEEEEEE!
Something hissed behind me.
I spun around and tripped one of my kin.
:Stop!: I commanded.
The rest stopped and swiveled their heads to look at me.
:WE MUST CATCH PREY WARM BODIES WARM BLOOD FOR QUEEN:
:Only I was sent!:
That stopped them for a second.
:ONLY QUEEN IS I:
They shifted.
:EYE DIFFERENT NOT TRUSTWORTHY OF QUEEN SO QUEEN SEND US:
Up ahead, puzzled voices repeated three words: "What the hell?"
"I don't know."
"Aliens! It's Aliens, I know it! We're all dead!"
I! I! Another I! Another voice!
:I didn't hear her.:
:QUEEN NOT SPEAK TO YOU: My kin always 'send' as a group. As one mind, because they are one mind. Loud, because they are one mind in many bodies.
:Why not?:
:YOU DIFFERENT NOT TRUSTWORTHY:
)Eye(
I stopped. :Yes, Martiarch?:
)Leave them alone(
:Yes, Matriarch.:
:YES LEAVE US ALONE WE DO WHAT QUEEN WANT:
:I'm sure you do.: I ran back the other way. :You lied to me, Matriarch.:
)I wanted to see what you would do(
:And?:
)Just as I thought(
Behind me, there were the Prey's screams of pain and death. That was how the other A'li'en dealt with such intruders.
)It is the way of the Hive(
I don't care.
)The Prey come(
Yes, they do. They may be sentient, but they must be very stupid.
)We take the Prey(
That as well. My kin do their job very efficently.
)The Prey host our Young(
:And then die.:
)For our Young(
:And?:
)Our Young live and feed the cycle again(
:You are right:
)I am the Queen(
The Matriarch was right, and I was acting stupid. Again. It must have something to do with the Prey's apparent sentience.
)The Prey are not sentient(
Perhaps not. But I had heard-
)You listen to the Prey far too much I must keep you away from the Prey from now on(
:Fine.: I loped off into the looming darkness that forever surrounds the hive.
CHAPTER TWO THREE HIVE-CYCLES LATER
I sat in the darkness. Three times the Prey had come, and three times the Prey had died and the dead kin had been reborn, as the First Matriarch, from the home-Hive, had promised.
Not that it made any difference. They were all the same.
)PREY( the Matriarch shrilled.
:WE GO TAKE BACK WARM WARM BLOOD PREY FOR QUEEN:
)Good( the Matriarch said. Then- )Eye you stay there(
:I wouldn't dream of doing anything else.: I turned my head. I heard them... the Prey.
I could feel the warm red blood running through my jaws....
They were coming! Coming over here. Coming to me....
:Oh, yes, Matriarch, I will stay right here.:
The sounds drew closer, and I could understand them.
"No movement here."
"Good."
"No sign of Aliens."
"Good."
They were almost here!
"I have a bad feeling about this..."
But... No! That was their Queen, yes, just their Queen!
"Just keep on moving."
They will come into this room! I hissed inadvertently and the Prey stopped.
"I could swear I heard something."
"It was just the pipes. Keep on moving."
:Closer... Closer...:
)Eye get out of there the Prey are coming(
:I won't. You can't force me to.:
)But I can(
The Prey entered the room, walking slowly, cautiously.
:WE COME WE HEAR THE PREY WE HELP QUEEN WE GET WARM BLOOD FOR QUEEN:
The leading Prey shined a light around the room, and my eyes glinted off of it.
"There's something in here!" the Prey yelped.
"It can't be an Alien."
"Remember, Aliens don't have-" the Prey pointed the light at me. I looked up, and snarled. "...eyes..."
"Holy s***, what the h*** is that?"
)EYE GO(
:The Prey knew my name!:
)GO NOW(
:The Prey-:
)It is of no matter now GO(
I left, left running, left the Prey to their fate. After they saw me the ring of weapons spewing death and the screams of battle echoed and the Prey died.
Did they have sentience?
They do have Queens though.
I am cursed with a mind. I am cursed with eyes. I am cursed with sentience. Better to leave things alone, let the kin do their work, let time and hive-cycles pass until mine is done and I die.
Better to be reborn as a mindless, eyeless A'li'en.
CHAPTER THREE TWO HIVE-CYCLES LATER
:How long?: I asked the Matriarch.
)I will not answer( she replied.
:How long?:
)I do not know(
:Why not?:
)I do not know everything(
:But...:
I swished my tail through the dust. The dust. It had accumilated over everything, piling up and coating everything, hiding the bloodstains and the small holes burned by acid blood.
Although I cannot see in the dark as well as my kin. They see heat and blood and warmth, and I see darkness and light, and the shadows hide things.
Like Prey.
:Am I a misborn?:
)Yes(
I stood up. :Prey!:
)No(
:Prey!: I repeated. :I can hear them. I can feel them.:
)No this cannot be(
The Matriarch was not talking about the Prey...
)The Hive(
A red slash drove across my vision and I sprawled across the ground.
)THE HIVE(
:WE BURN:
All of the A'li'en screamed as one as the Hive, the home Hive, the spawning place of all the A'li'en, was destroyed.
Darkness consumed my body, and I woke some time later.
:What...?:
)The Hive was destroyed(
:We are still here.:
)The Hive where the Mother rested it is dead(
:I...:
No! We are weak and the Prey come.... They are sentient.... They knew our weak point and wounded us.
Now they come to kill us and spawn their Young in my kin.
But they are sentient!
They are sentient and they are devious. They seek to destroy us! They are abominations!
I/we shrilled blood hunger and ran. I/we ran to find the Prey, to save the Matriarch, to preserve this last shrine of the A'li'ens from being eradicated and the Prey destroying us. We will live. We are A'li'en!
:BLOOD WE COME WE REND REVENGE!!!:
I screamed as one with my kin- and froze. What was I doing? If all of the Prey were sentient, then they acted independantly.... and these Prey most likely had nothing to do with the destruction of the Mother Hive.
Which meant....
A wordless shriek from the Matriarch, and suddenly I was cold, frozen, shivering with fear and rage and burning.
The Matriarch was dying.
I leaped through the maze of our Hive and landed in front of the Matriarch, in front of a few Prey.
One of them stared at me and I growled, and then screamed and charged it and tore it apart.
The other two yelled something and pain ripped through my body. I slashed blindly and felt my claws connect with something soft, and tear through and blood rush out.
The last Prey threw something round at the Matriarch and then ran. I caught the sphereical object and chased the Prey down. I was about to kill it when..
"One.." The Prey said and the object exploded, sending metal everywhere and fire and black.
I was on fire, but I lay there content. I had saved the Matriarch and now I was dying. The pain slowly receded, replaced by blackness and shadows and faintly the Matriarch said something.... It blurred and faded, consumed by the pitch black.
I stared at Eye's burning remains. She had died for me, after all I had done to her.
I expected that from the other A'li'ens but I had been afraid of Eye. Afraid that she would mature into a Queen and battle me for the Hive. My Hive.
But it was too late.
CHAPTER FOUR ONE HOUR LATER
A chest burster exploded out of its host, who died instantly and painfully.
The chest burster hissed and saw the Matriarch, who picked it up gently.
It looked up at the Matriarch, and blinked.
)Hello again( the Matriarch said.
***********************************
This is the end of this story....
It's an ALIENS fanfiction.....
Don't look at me like that. Someone had to write one.... If you didn't understand it, well, it helps if you saw the movies. I hope you liked it.
