Chapter 3

Two days later, as Nicolette had promised, she and the research team (along with six Colonial Marines, a xenomorph, and the "rabbit") left the airfield at 0700. Greg and Tina boarded the USCSS Excalibur, then made their way to the passenger deck and strapped into their comfortable seats. The large ship lifted off from the airfield at Weyland-Yutani's satellite headquarters on Mars, Leo Colony, and headed for Earth.

A half-hour later, they were there. This time, though, Greg and Tina were restrained by yoke harnesses, in far less comfortable seats (but thankfully, the xenomorph was on another ship). The Excalibur was holding steady in orbit, prepared to deploy a UD-4L Cheyenne Dropship from its hangar bay.

"Ready for this?" Greg asked Tina, who was strapped into the seat on his right.

"As I'll ever be," she said, not meeting his eyes. Greg was sure that was due to her nervousness, because he could see droplets of sweat beading on her face.

An intercom crackled, and a male voice said, "Dropship is a go for deployment. Ready to release in 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 …"

Greg heard a loud clunk, and then they were falling. The intense G-Force cemented him against his seat, and it felt like an enormous weight was about to crush him; his flightsuit clung to him like a second skin. He grimaced and groaned against the overwhelming pressure on his body. Thankfully, the discomfort was brief. The dropship seemed to level off, and soon they were gliding through the sky above what he imagined was Afghanistan. He didn't know for sure, since this ship didn't have any windows. It was an older model, yes, but they didn't need anything fancy. After all, this was Earth, and its atmosphere was mild compared to some of the planets he had visited. Its climate was another matter.

Located in Khost province, Zhawar Kili was a region dominated by gray and white rock, and its terrain was rather mountainous. Two hundred years earlier, it might have been dotted with low vegetation, but that was long since dead. Even in May, the temperature was brutal, topping out at 105° F during the day. That might have been bearable in a first-world metropolis like San Francisco or London, but Afghanistan lacked urban comforts like air conditioning and insulation. Consequently, hundreds of its poor residents died each summer, and now the country's population was quite sparse. It was a grim testament to the terrorists' commitment that they were able to survive the harsh climate. Then again, they could afford the apparel and equipment necessary to combat its deadly effects. Thankfully, so could Greg and his companions.

Now decked out in radiation suits, they made their way to a cave entrance—a red brick archway set into the rock face. Nearby, two men from the research team pushed a wheeled crate that held the xenomorph. A woman led the "rabbit" by a leash hooked to his neck. Greg felt bad for the guy, knowing his impending fate. Through the facemask of the clone's radiation suit, Greg could see that he was confused and afraid, and his handler had to constantly tug on the leash to get him to walk faster. Clearly, the guy didn't want to be there. Who would, in that situation? Maybe it was best not to think of the "rabbit" as human, but Greg couldn't bring himself to do it. It would just be too cruel.

The team stopped right in front of the cave entrance, and one of the men turned to face the assembled group.

"Hi, I'm Mike Turner, team lead," he announced, giving them a little wave. "My colleagues and I have implanted subdermal tracking devices in both the xenomorph and the 'rabbit'. They're right along the spines, so neither of them can claw them out. We've also fitted tiny cameras into their right eyes, so we can see what they see as they navigate the caves. If all goes as planned, we'll retrieve the 'rabbit''s camera from its corpse, while the xenomorph's camera is linked to a handheld monitoring device that transmits the footage that the camera records."

Nicolette raised her hand.

"Yes, Ms. Fletcher?" Mike asked.

"How will you track the predator and prey while they are in the caves?" she asked coolly.

"With this," Mike replied, pulling a miniaturized M314 Motion Tracker out of his pants pocket. "The caves should be empty, so we won't have to worry about background noise."

"Of course," Nicolette said, darkly amused. "So, shall we begin?"

"Right."

Mike gestured to the men who accompanied the caged xenomorph, and they positioned the cage in front of the cave's entrance. The woman handler led the "rabbit" to the entrance, then placed her hands on its shoulders and stared into its eyes. She snapped her fingers, and it froze. After stepping away from it, she pulled a small cylinder out of her pocket, and pressed the button on top. The device emitted a sharp whistle, and the "rabbit" dashed into the cave.

"We'll give it a ten minute head start," Mike said. "That should be enough time for it to travel deep into the cave, but if not … well, we tried."

Mike chuckled, but Greg didn't find his statement very funny. Clone or not, this was still a life he was talking about. As the minutes passed, the xenomorph seemed to grow restless, as Greg could hear it hissing and banging against the bars of its cage. Finally, the allotted moment arrived, and the xenomorph's handlers stood to either side of the cage. One of them pushed a button on a remote, and the cage door swung open. Immediately, the xenomorph dashed into the cave, and out of sight.

Tina jumped at the sudden motion, and put a hand over her no-doubt beating heart. Every else simply stood and stared, as if all of it was perfectly normal.

"Can I ask a question?" she asked, both startled and confused.

"Sure," Mike said, turning to her.

"Why didn't the xenomorph attack us just now?"

"We've trained it to fixate on the 'rabbit''s scent," he explained. "That scent is like catnip to the xenomorph. The bug craves it, and won't stop until he kills the creature that produces it."

"An apt metaphor," Nicolette said, still amused.

"Thank you."

Greg, Tina, and Nicolette gathered around the man who held the motion tracker, while the rest of the research team watched the monitoring device. Meanwhile, the Marines kept lookout. No one was supposed to be living in the mountains around Zhawar Kili, but Nicolette wanted to be cautious. Greg couldn't blame her. From time to time, he looked up from the tracker to make sure no was approaching. Then he looked back at the tracker. The two test subjects appeared as white dots against a deep blue background. For the first few minutes, the "rabbit" appeared to slowly venture through the cave's tunnels. Greg imagined that its surroundings confused and frightened it. Hell, who wouldn't be frightened in that situation? Then it seemed to gain confidence, and moved more quickly down one of the paths. Meanwhile, the xenomorph sprinted down the tunnels, following the path that the "rabbit" had traversed. Soon, it had almost closed the distance between them. Fifteen meters, then twelve, then ten. The "rabbit" had moved down a passageway, but appeared to stop at a dead end. Maybe it thought itself safe from danger. Well, it wouldn't be safe for long. Sure enough, the xenomorph dashed down the same passageway, while the "rabbit" remained motionless. Five meters … four … three … two. Then the xenomorph was upon it, and both dots remained fixed for several minutes. Eventually, however, the xenomorph began to make its way back to the tunnel entrance, along the same path as earlier.

As it suddenly came into view, the woman handler pressed a button on a different cylinder, and the device emitted a lower whistle. The xenomorph stopped in its tracks, then ambled into the open cage. One of the men pressed the button on the remote, and the cage door swung shut.

"Wow, how did you train it so well?" Greg asked, amazed at the creature's obedience.

"Years of work," Mike said proudly, "and electroshock therapy."

Greg stared at him in surprise, his mouth agape.

"Hey, we're not saints here," Mike said defensively, but in a jovial manner. "We do whatever works."

Greg nodded, not happy about the Company's cavalier cruelty. He silently vowed to do better by the xenomorphs, whatever the cost.

As two of the researchers dashed into the cave to retrieve the "rabbit"'s camera eye, Nicolette turned toward the group. Smiling, she told them, "Excellent field test, ladies and gentlemen. Now let's return to headquarters and review our data. If Weyland deems it to be useful, we'll share our protocol with the Colonial Marines, and they'll implement it in a strike against a terrorist compound. I'm confident he'll say yes, but I don't count my chickens before they hatch. And neither should you. Let's go."

Greg, Tina, the remaining research team, and the Colonial Marines followed Nicolette back to the dropship. Once the other two researchers returned with the camera eye, they lifted off and returned to the Excalibur, which was waiting for them in low Earth orbit.