Bows In Her Hair
Within USCM space was the small a small world with the serial number XL-34, and in one of many frigid zones there was a small colony by the name of Destiny Valley. The settlement, founded by multi-billion dollar enterprise Weyland-Yutani, had now existed in this arctic region for roughly six years. Counting workers and their children the population was a reasonable two-hundred-thirty-seven and everyone knew the other by name. Yes, Destiny Valley was one of those types of communities- the type that one could no longer fine within inner planetary systems where industry and terraforming had been completed.
The landscape was an endless stretch of snow and ice that stretched one-hundred miles in every direction. The colony itself was a series of block-shaped structures intended more for practicality than their looks.
Among the colony's inhabitants was one Lucy Nichols- a girl who at this time was of the tender age of thirteen. Everyone had grown to love this girl. Lucy was a kind soul, and everyone knew of her penchant for questioning and pressing for adventure in their dull isolated home. She always kept her golden hair tied back, and she kept three bright bows within her hair for some unknown reason. No matter how cold the wheather outside was she would always be wearing flowered dresses, and her blue eyes and angelic smile was enough to lighten up any room, and her laugh was almost as pure as a crystal bell.
As far as any of the colonists were concerned Lucy Nichols was an angel.
She was a Spring child, but not because of her birthday – which was August 23rd- Lucy Nichols had dreams of flowers and animals far away from the frigid setting of Destiny Valley. The previous year she had performed a ballad of Springtime on Earth and had been met with a standing ovation – her mother went so far as to weep publicly - and this year she was prepared to repeat the performance. She didn't understand that she was in any way gifted, but the thought that her voice could bring joy to the dreary community of Destiny Valley certainly made her smile and try even harder to entertain those around her.
Danielle Nichols was so proud of her baby. The female tailor had married an army veteran by the name of Sergeant Allan Nichols, who they met as kids and became a true homestead couple- something that was rarely seen in this day and age. Money was readily available due to his profession – Allan was a technical advisor for the colony – so they were building a rather large saving account due to the fact that the company provided all meals and clothes for the inhabitants of their terraforming communities. This saving account was split between raising Lucy's college fund and the young couple's eventual retirement.
Every week Allan got a week off and the former marine would take his daughter to the facility's heated pool. There she had learned how to swim and she did enjoy swimming almost as much as she loved to sing. Every time she went she would ask her father "Can we go to the beach next summer, daddy?" and he would reply "Someday, someday my love."
It was towards the end of Winter when she was preparing for the Spring. This year her mother had helped her sew her very own Spring-Time Dress which she planned to wear for her performance at this year's Destiny Valley Spring Welcoming. She was just such a miniature star- so much talent, such a future was in store for her. "I never do anything that I don't think would bring a smile to someone's face," she would often say. "It is just my pleasure to see that I can make so many adults happy- when you live in Destiny Valley you don't see many smiles."
Finally that year's Spring came and Lucy was moving about, taking in a plethora of exciting feelings as she spread her wings and prepared to enter the contest. She would move through the compound's halls and corridors, singing lightly under her breath, occasionally stopping to give a spin and show off her dress with a cry of "I made this!" Needless to say everyone one was looking forward to this year's celebration and everyone knew that this year was set to top the previous.
One day a shipment from the company was arriving and Lucy was allowed to help her father as he assisted in unloading the multitude of crates which ranged from computer processors, food, to heavy machinery parts. She sat on a bench, over viewing the process when her father accidently dropped one of the crates he'd been lifting. Lucy, of course, was quick to help him pick it back up and add it to the top of the stack. Neither of them noticed the locked seals on the side had been cracked.
It was days after this that her parent's went to a Workers Ball of which children were not allowed to attend and Lucy was left alone within their five room living quarters. A living room, a kitchen, two bed rooms, and a spacious bathroom- this is what made up this entire section and Lucy by far had the most intricately designed living space. She had several posters of various natural scenes of various exotic rainforests, a pet rat, a frilly blue bed spread, and the entire right corner was dedicated to her canvas and painting supplies. The music of Mozart gently echoed across the room from the small radio she had on a short stool next to the canvas.
Lucy was on her canvas the last her parents saw of her before they left for their social commune. She had been working on a painting she had started a week ago- one of a girl standing in the middle of a field of sunflowers. On the side Lucy had always been an artist and she loved using a wide range of colors, and for some reason flowers she had never once seen in person fascinated her.
For over an hour after her parents had left she must have been working on that painting- making sure it was perfect. She must have gone over every inch of it and added a few new spots of paint here in there, but she had no doubt finished the piece for in red ink her name was signed in the bottom right hand corner in the elegant, curvy style of cursive she enjoyed using so much.
She got up to get a glass of water, but whether or not she noticed a growing hole beside her dresser shall never be known. Could she have known that she was being carefully watched- stalked by a silent predator? What would she have done if she knew what lurked in the shadows?
One thing is clear, and that's the fact that the creature took flight and latched onto her fair skin with a tight grip, and that she fought it for as long as she possibly could. Manically she flailed, her cries for help cut off as she ran into walls and slammed her head into various objects, but there was no escaping that iron grip. Lucy was strong and she lasted three minutes before finally collapsing, the creature beginning its task.
Her mother was the first to find her there on her bedroom floor and at the sound of the screams that ensued; her father was to be the second to see. Neither parent could explain what it was that had latched itself onto their daughter's face so while Danielle cried Allan ran for help, which in this community was never too far away. It appeared as if a pair of skeletal hands had clamped themselves around their daughter's face- these hands merging into the body of some sort of crustacean, which in addition to these long, spindly fingers had a tail coiled tightly around Lucy's throat like some form of snake. As for the rest of her body she seemed limp, yet peaceful- almost as if she were simply sleeping through a pleasant dream as the colony erupted into chaos. Allan had soon returned with paramedics, who promptly strapped Lucy to a stretcher and rushed her off, parents running close behind.
It is questionable how her father would have reacted if he had known that this species was not of this planet's native fauna- or even of the five surrounding human colonized planets. It originated from a crate, one that he and Lucy had been handling not too very long ago. How would he react if he was told his actions could have lead to this? Could he handle that truth?
Lucy was strapped down to an operating table within the quarantined section of the colony's infirmary. Nurses in Hazard suits hooked her to various pieces of equipment. The Hazard suits were large contraptions meant to keep any form of contagion breaching the personnel who had yet to come in contact with unknown organisms or diseases.
From an observation window above Allan overlooked his daughter's containment and tried to keep the stiff upper-lip as Danielle cried against his shoulder, incapable of looking in her daughter's direction. His veteran status as a marine was not earned lightly, for he had seen a lot during his time in the corps. He'd had two men die in his arms –close friends – and he had left twenty behind to die in order to complete a mission that meant the survival of thousands.
Across from Mister Nichols stood Doctor Vieth- a middle-aged doctor at the age of forty-three, but his relatively young age was betrayed by a grey streak down the center of his short-cut dark hair, and his chestnut eyes seemed much older than the man behind them. For these last six years he and the entire Nichols family had become quite close and he didn't want to disappoint them. Lucy was the world to them and they had trusted him over the other two doctors present for removal of this…thing.
"What is that thing doing to him, Kenneth?" Allan was the first one to break the silence.
"For the moment nothing," Vieth replied, knowing they should be told the situation in full. "I don't even know why this thing is on her at all, quite frankly. It seems to have some sort of natural sedative that it's pumping throughout her system which is why she's in an unconscious state. It also has what seems to be a…proboscis running down her throat, but we're pretty sure it's providing her air and not taking anything from her." The doctor sighed. "For a parasite it doesn't seem to be taking anything from her other than our time and the expense of our currently rising blood pressure."
"Why aren't you getting that thing off my daughter?"
"Allan, you have to understand that we are doing our best to try and not disturb this organism. It is giving no sign of hostility and perhaps the best course of action would be to simply and see what it does next."
Allan's face pumped red. "What the hell kind of answer is that? Why don't you yank that thing off of her?"
"It's got itself dug into her face that simply yanking it off would kill Lucy, that's why!" Vieth responded. "The only way to get that thing off is with a careful, meticulous surgery which could put Lucy at great risk of injury or even death."
This put a long pause between the two friends. The men's eyes locked and they stared into each other for several long moments, neither knowing exactly what their best option was.
"Just get that thing off of my daughter," Danielle finally said. "Just bring me my baby back."
Vieth nodded, handing them a data pad. Two yellow bocks on its touch screen flickered indicating that this was where the couple had to sign if he was going through with the procedure. They both didn't even bother reading it before signing and Vieth didn't wait for them to return the pad. He was already making his way down the hall to get on his Hazard suit.
Forty-five minutes later Vieth stood over the dormant Lucy, his hazard suit fitting snugly around his somewhat portly exterior build. Carefully he began to probe various parts of the organism, but he pulled his hand back when he noted the tightening of the tail around the young girl's throat. Later he would say on record : "I didn't know what this thing was, but in those first few seconds I had a relatively good basis for believing that this was far past my knowledge and expertise. I was a major in Biology and Xenology for that matter and…I can tell you I had never heard about anything like this thing prior to the moment Lucy Nichols was brought into my clinic."
Moving to his next instrument the doctor made his first and last mistake as he chose the scalpel and lined it up with one of the organism's several fingers. Sweat was collecting on his brow, the doctor afraid the moment that he cut into it the creature would leap and attack those in the quarantine zone. There were just so many things that could go wrong when dealing with unknown species. The one thing he didn't think of was what wound up occurring.
As soon as his blade met the creature's flesh a fine, pressurized stream of green fluid spurted forward, catching the center of his glove. Instanipously it began to smolder and smoke.
Acid!
Quickly he detached the glove from his suit and tossed it across the room. As soon as this immediate threat had passed he retreated to the changing room and held his exposed forearm and hand under a cool, cleansing fluid that killed any pathogens he could have been exposed to during that short period of time.
"The damn thing had acid for blood! Highly pressurized too!" Vieth shouted, still shaking, adrenaline pump swiftly through his veins. "I don't dare go back in there at risk of killing Lucy, myself, or a member of this staff…I'm sorry, Allan- but we just can't go and do this with the tools we have. What we need is company support."
What seemed lucky for them was that such a Company unit was only twelve-hours away. It was during this time that the entire community of Destiny Valley assembled outside the infirmary to show their support to the Nichols family. Not a single man woman or child hadn't come by to wish the best of luck; but of course no one had been allowed direct contact with Allan or Danielle, who had finally fallen asleep after an exhausting night.
Alone in his office Doctor Kenneth Vieth was incapable of the mere thought of sleep. For the first time in his entire career in this profession he was without a clue and had to call in for back-up. A young girl's life was at stake and he didn't know a single damn thing that could help her.
When Allan Nichols finally awoke he couldn't believe his eyes. Beyond the glass there was his daughter without alien to be seen or found. She seemed groggy, but she was Lucy and she was safe. Quickly he nudged Danielle awake, and they both ran to the window in unadulterated joy.
The thirty minutes that followed would be the last anyone ever saw of Lucy.
The funeral that followed was one of much despair. No one was allowed to view the body, for it was mangled beyond recognition – or so the guests were told by the parents. What was told by the coroner was a tale of how the girl's face had been fixed in a state of horror and pain…deep, immeasurable pain the likes of which no one had seen before.
As for the specimen that killed little Lucy? Weyland-Yutani made sure to receive the parasite that had nestled within the young girl's flesh. The one that had burst from her body, stealing her life before it ever had the chance to flourish.