Despite his earlier outburst about Xenomorphs, I don't think Delhoun is dangerous, nor do I think he's working because Weyland-Yutani forced him to. In fact, Delhoun is just about the most harmless scientist I've ever met.

He's just . . . you know, out there, but a harmless out there.

He explained that he had been collecting and studying (and domesticating) mammalian aliens since he was sixteen, taking a particular interest in the Annexers. He didn't seem at all bothered by the fact that I referred to his lab as a zoo. In fact, he thought that was "rather sweet."

When I referred to Winnie as a bitch, however, Delhoun said, "A male Annexer is a buck. A female is a doe, not a bitch."

Delhoun never really gave me anything to do. In fact, he seemed keen on allowing me to sleep most of the time, and he had no limits on food, basically allowing me to eat whatever I wanted and however much I wanted. Whenever we sat down for a meal, though, he talked, asking me all sorts of questions. He asked me about the Marines, the places I had been, and my past, all while offering me food until I felt like I would burst. It was as if he wanted something out of me, and the way he was going to do it was by pampering me.

Now, I didn't have a problem with Delhoun, but I did have an issue with Winnie. I think whatever scent Little Shit put on me was making her horny, because she was acting strange around me. One morning, I made the mistake of leaving my door open, because I returned to find a puddle of urine on my bed, and Delhoun (the smartass he is) cleaned it up and said that's how Annexers mark their territory when they live alone.

I also realized Winnie is smarter than she looks. I locked my door at night, hoping that would keep her out, but I woke up around midnight to feel her nosing around my bed, under the blankets. I stayed as still as possible, knowing that I had a lot of exposed skin she could scratch up. At one point, all I could hear was her breathing in my face and I could practically feel the filter of her gas mask touching my face. Her tail was draped over my stomach and I could feel laying on me, watching me pretend to sleep.

Yeah, this is singlehandedly far worse than Little Shit. At least he didn't watch me sleep.

I couldn't even pretend to sleep anymore. I opened my eyes, seeing the big red glowing eyepieces of the gas mask right in my face. "Hey," I said, calmly, "it's not nice to stare at people when they sleep."

Winnie snorted, not moving.

"Can you leave? Please? I'm asking nicely. How'd you get in my room?"

No answer.

"Look, I'm not gonna put up with you in here. Either get off me, get off my bed, and leave, or I will push you."

Winnie stayed put, like she was taking this as a challenge.

"Alright, that's it." I sat up, throwing my arms around her and pressing her to my chest so she couldn't scratch me. I may've succeeded in that department, but nothing could stop her from screaming. She screeched and screeched until a furious-looking Delhoun stormed into my room with messy white-blond hair and wearing a pale-blue bathrobe. He groped around for the lights, and after flipping them on, he glared at me and Winnie with bloodshot eyes.

"What the bloody hell is going on in here?!" he hissed.

"Your little pervert was watching me sleep," I said.

"Is this true, Winnipeg?!"

Winnie shrugged.

"Oh, no, there's no 'I don't know,' here, you little brat! You didn't just magically appear in Drake's room, now, did you?!"

Winnie shook her head. She had stopped squirming in my arms, and looked as though she wanted to slink away, ashamed.

"Alright. Let her go, Drake. I'll make sure she doesn't bother you again." Delhoun took her from me, turning the lights off as he left the room. When the door was closed and locked, I heard Delhoun say, "You're a very naughty girl. Stop trying to hump our guest."

Winnie screeched at him.

"Don't you scream at me. Go to your pen and stay there until morning."

I awoke to the smell of bacon frying, and after throwing on a pair of pants, I walked out into the corridor to see Delhoun in his quarters, making breakfast. Winnie was in the kitchen, too, but she was wearing a red harness. I saw the loop of a leash around Delhoun's wrist.

"Good morning," Delhoun said without looking up from what he was doing. "Have a seat. I'll have breakfast ready in a minute."

I sat at the little table, taking a cup of coffee already there and sipping it. I thought for a moment about how Delhoun had been asking me a lot of questions the last several days, and decided it was my turn to ask him some questions.

Delhoun set plates of bacon, eggs, pancakes, and biscuits on the table, and poured both of us a glass of orange juice. He gestured for me to take what I wanted before he opened a microwave and pulled out a small jug of maple syrup.

All this was so much better than the powdered rations I got in the Marines. I wouldn't miss that, but I knew I'd miss the fresh food I was getting here when I went back to my squad. I shoveled pieces of pancakes dripping with syrup in my mouth while Delhoun sat across from me.

"So," I said with my mouth full, "where're you from?"

Delhoun glanced at me, his coffee mug halfway to his lips. "Me?"

"Yeah, you. I'm not talking to your little pervert, am I?"

"Oh, don't worry about Winnie. Now, where am I from? I'm from Winnipeg, Canada."

"Is that where Winnie got her name from?"

Delhoun nodded. "Yep. I named Winnie after my home city, given the fact that it's unlikely I will ever return unless I decide to retire."

"And you've dedicate your entire life to animals?"

"Maybe not my 'entire' life, but definitely part of it. I've spent many, many years going to newly discovered planets and studying their wildlife. It's a lonely task, to be honest with you, but it's been working out wonderfully." Delhoun set his mug down, picking up a fork and cutting into a pancake.

"You don't have coworkers?"

"I choose not to. I've worked hard enough to where people come to me for help instead of the other way around."

I wiped my mouth with a napkin before taking another two pancakes.

Delhoun frowned while watching me. "Slow down, Drake, you'll make yourself ill."

"I probably won't get to eat like this again," I said.

"Oh." Delhoun grinned. "Well, maybe you could quit the Marines and come work with me. You had some experience with Annexers."

"No," I replied, "I thought they were irritating. Besides, I've got friends in the Marines, and they don't have perverted, gas mask creatures as pets."

"Your choice." Delhoun picked up his glass of juice.

"What exactly do you do here, anyway?"

"I care for alien specimens and study their ways of life."

"Why in a hospital?"

"This isn't just a hospital. There's the hospital and then there's the research station attached to it. The quick access to new methods of treatment for various injuries and illnesses is very convenient." Delhoun gave a quiet sigh. "There are times where I wish I could leave more often."

"Can't put in a request?"

Delhoun shook his head. "I can, but it takes awhile before someone verifies it, usually because I'm not trying to collect Xenomorph specimens." He set down his glass. "I try to have some sort of adventure when I do get the chance to leave. Last time I got to leave was my birthday."

"That had to be nice."

"Well, it was six months ago, so . . . yeah, it was. I got one of the best presents I could possibly get. A friend I know has a relative who owns surplus from the failed Seegson station Sevastopol. He got me one of their Working Joes."

I frowned. "What?"

"Oh, yes, you're too young to have known about this. Seegson was a rival company to Weyland-Yutani, but they didn't exactly last very long. They built their own androids, but they were nothing like the magnificent beauties we have. They were designed to be distinguishable from humans and connected to a single core computer. Unfortunately, when Sevastopol was scheduled to be decommissioned, the Working Joes . . . malfunctioned and began attacking people. My friend's relative-I think it's his uncle, but, I could be wrong-anyway, he was able to deactivate the ones he owned by cutting into their heads and tinkering with some chips." Delhoun grinned. "I didn't believe it until I was given one. Now, I was a little nervous at first considering these things became hostile easily, but then I learned that because they were deactivated and their central core no longer existed, I could do whatever I wanted with it. I hooked mine up to the core of the laboratory, and he's completely obedient to me."

"Doesn't the lab belong to Weyland-Yutani?"

"It does, but my Working Joe is my property. I can disconnect him from that core whenever I want. I tried getting my own android from Weyland-Yutani a few years ago, but, I didn't have the funds and it would've been loyal to them instead of me."

"How'd Winnie take to this?"

"Oh, she hated the Working Joe for about a month. She urinated on it, she scratched it, she hissed at it, she was absolutely pissed off." Delhoun shrugged. "I guess she got used to it after awhile."

"Gee, sounds like all the things she's doing to me," I snorted. "How do we know she's not humping your android?"

"Because Annexers are smart enough to know the difference between a living thing and a synthetic." Standing up, Delhoun began placing the dishes by the sink, and gestured for me to follow him. "I'll show you my android. Surely, this'll be better than lying around and digesting all day."

He wasn't wrong. I had spent the last three days just eating and sleeping. Hopefully, I'd find something active to do before every piece of real food I had missed out on for the last several years turned into useless padding on my belly. Hudson would never let me hear the end of it if I returned heavier than when I left, and I think Vasquez would just encourage him instead of stop him.

As I thought about the real possibility that my pants wouldn't fit in the morning, Delhoun led me down the corridor to a small room, locked by a door that required a passcode. With Winnie on his shoulders, Delhoun typed in the passcode, and the door opened to reveal one of the creepiest androids I've ever seen. It was bluish-white in color, but instead of human-like skin, it had rubber. The eyes were like those little white Christmas tree lights, and it was wearing a simple brown and orange jumpsuit, which was torn in some places from when it was attacked by Winnie.

Delhoun was clearly proud of himself as he activated his android. It walked from its post, and spoke, with no facial movement. Its voice was clearly robotic as it said, "Good morning, Doctor. How may I serve you today?"

I sighed. "I can see why Seegson went out of business."

"These things can be mildly unsettling, but at least this one is mine." Delhoun smirked. "I can assure you that it's safe."

"You assure me a lot of things." I honestly wasn't interested in his creepy robot. "Is there someplace where I can . . . I dunno, do a workout or something?"

"Yes, there is." Delhoun patted the shoulder of his android. "Show him where the gym is." He then looked at Winnie. "Will you behave if I let you off your harness?"

Winnie grunted at him.

"Good girl." Delhoun unhooked her leash and harness. "I'm going to get some work done." He patted her helmet.

So, the creepy-looking android was leading me toward the gym, and Winnie was stealthily following me. This was probably going to be the worst gym experience of my life.

Just when I thought the creepy android and horny Annexer would make everything worse, I entered a gym that looked a lot more like a medical laboratory than a gym, and that's because it basically was a medical laboratory. The room was completely white, and there were people walking around in white coats and surgical masks, observing people in skin-tight black jumpsuits running on treadmills and working on machines.

I was uncomfortable just looking at this. All I wanted to do was run and bench press with no interruptions, but it looked like I was going to have plenty of interruptions here.

One of the doctors approached me, holding a folded jumpsuit. She didn't say a word as soon as she saw the tracking collar, and simply handed me the suit, directing me to a bathroom where I could change. There were about four or five other guys in there, changing in or out of their jumpsuits. Based on their conversations, they were part of a group testing a new sinus medication.

A tall, well-built man saw me, and said, "You part of a test group?"

"Nope," I replied, not making eye contact as I removed my clothing. I was about to put one foot in the jumpsuit when the guy added:

"Underpants gotta come off, too, dude. Sorry."

I took a deep breath and turned a deep shade of red as I removed my underwear, trying to get the suit on as fast as possible.

"You just visiting or something?"

"No. I'm a Marine on punishment," I muttered. "Can't you tell?" I gestured to the collar.

"What'd they do, give you to Delhoun?"

"Yep."

The guy laughed. "He's weird, isn't he? More like a zookeeper than an actual doctor."

"Sure is." I hung my pants in a locker while still trying to pull the cold jumpsuit over my body. Once my private parts were covered, I glanced at the other guys, hoping no one was staring.

"Here to get away from him?"

"Yeah, you could put it that way." Honestly, I felt that was a better response than "I feel fat." As soon as I had the suit zippered up, I left the room, only to have that same doctor from earlier come up to me and strap a monitor on my right wrist, before sending me off to a treadmill.

I get it. There's a set program here that I have to follow. There's no doing it your own way, and that sucks.

I got on the treadmill and I was greeted by Winnie perching on the monitor. She cooed at me, watching me press buttons before actually starting my run.

"What? You here to make fun of me or something?" I asked.

She waited until I was running at top speed, and then shut the damn thing off. I came to an abrupt stop, falling flat on my face. The heartrate monitors on my wrist and the treadmill were beeping furiously, and Winnie was looking down at me.

I stood up, giving her a dirty look. "I hope Delhoun keeps you in your pen for a week when I tell him what you're doing in here, young lady!"

Winnie screeched at me, and the entire gym was looking at us.

I turned the treadmill back on. Winnie turned it off. On. Off. On. Off.

"I just want to know why," I groaned. "Why are you doing this?"

Winnie shrugged. Thanks to her, I only had ten minutes to actually run, and then I had to move on to another station, which was bench pressing. I hoped Winnie didn't try any shenanigans here, because one wrong move and I could shatter my ribcage.

Laying on my back, I gripped the bar before slowly lifting it off the rack. Winnie then slunk over to hop onto my stomach, pressing herself flat against me. I was about to yell at her when I realized she was serving as a good point for where I lowered the bar. When the bar was right above her helmet, I raised it back up again.

I had to smile. "Wow, you're actually doing something useful. Thanks."

Winnie made a snuffling noise, stretching her paws out until she was touching the base of my neck. She didn't move until I received the signal to move on. Instead of being distracting and annoying, she watched me, quietly. I sat down to use a shoulder press machine, and she let out a sad squeak.

"What?" I said.

She stood up, continuing to whine.

Maybe I made a mistake in being nice to her when I was bench pressing, or maybe she had some kind of realization that I'm not a male Annexer. I kept watching her throughout my time in the gym, and I had a moment of epiphany.

Winnie's bored. Not just bored, but insanely bored. Bored to the point of restlessness and destructive behavior. She thought things were going to change when dumbass Drake came in, reeking with the pheromones of a male member of her species. She must've thought I brought that male with me, and she was realizing that simply wasn't the case.

I felt sorry for her, being cooped up in this station for five years of her life. That's why she's been hanging around me and being irritating. She's doing things to get my attention because I'm someone completely new to her.

I returned the black suit and the monitor to the doctors, and they gave me a sheet containing the data collected on my heartrate for the duration of my stay. Needless to say, I'm healthy. Winnie followed me out of the gym, trotting alongside me as I made my way back to Delhoun's lab.

After taking a shower, I was about to take a nap when Winnie entered my room yet again. She lay on my stomach, and let me touch her helmet. We remained there for a long time. I was lazily stroking her helmet, and she was purring contentedly.

"Jesus, all it took was me saying a couple of nice words to you and you melt like butter in an oven," I mumbled.

Winnie snorted, keeping her head rested on my chest.

Alright, so the gym experience wasn't the worst. It was invasive, though, and a little weird. I would later learn it wasn't really for recreation; it was for medical test subjects and recuperating patients, but our good buddy Delhoun gave me a pass to go in there-didn't make it any less uncomfortable.

I was still lying on my bed when Delhoun peered in. He looked puzzled at what he was seeing, and said, "Is she sleeping?"

Winnie answered that question by looking over at him. She stretched, giving a squeaky yawn.

"I see you two have made up?" Delhoun asked, walking over to pat Winnie's helmet.

"I think she's really bored," I said. "You gotta get more chances to get out of here with her. Or get her a friend."

"Well, Drake, I told you this morning that's not easy. I try to get as many chances as I can, but, not all my requests go through." Delhoun looked at Winnie. "My research has concluded that it's not a good idea for one human to have two Annexers. Only one Annexer can bond to a human, and having two would lead to issues regarding favoritism and jealousy and a lot of fighting between the two animals. Doesn't matter the sex or age or even if they're related; they'll fight for their human's attention."

I nodded. "I guess that . . . makes sense."

"Yeah. I know she's bored. This isn't the best of living conditions for her, mentally, but she wanted to come back with me when she bonded with me, and I took her."

"I told Little Shit to stay."

"I figured you would. Your occupation would make caring for an Annexer difficult. It takes time for them to be trained and housebroken, and there's also the issue of how they would respond to the rest of your squad. They could develop an aversion to someone for any number of reasons that could lead to complications, and we don't want that."

I snorted, thinking about an Annexer screeching at Hudson while he hollered, "All I did was breathe in your direction, man, no need to yell at me!" or "You're not my mom, man! I will eat my chips as loud as I want!"

I couldn't believe I was missing him. My thoughts were turning to Hudson and Vasquez and Apone and Hicks and every other Marine I've served with. A dull, heavy ache started in my stomach, and I began wishing I could go back in time to change my behavior.