But once she got back to the orphanage, Ali's sense of fun evaporated as she started pacing impatiently back and forth in front of her daughter. She was really worried about the possibilities of the lesser Queens becoming strong enough to destroy her daughter. She was also surprised that the creatures in the spaceship hadn't made an appearance; she would have thought they would have attacked by now. TJ had recovered enough to be able to walk next to Ali while she paced and she was silently grateful for his presence.

"How much longer?" Ali asked after her fifth pass in front of the Queen.

As long as it takes, The Queen said for the third time.

"You never really explained to me what you're about to do," Ali said as she began her pacing again.

I do believe I did; but I will tell you again if it will calm your nerves, The Queen said, I recall, from your memories, that you found out how a Queen can control what sex the facehugger is before it hatches from the egg. She, that is to say, I, will keep the eggs at a warm to create males. But if I wanted to create females, the egg casing needs to be made differently so that the temperature will stay cooler and result in the facehugger becoming a girl. It takes longer to make just one, and since I need to make two, it will take even longer. So please just be patient.

"I'm trying, but thoughts of things going wrong keep popping into my head and I'm really worried about those things sitting on our doorstep," Ali said.

Would you rather competitive Hives or mass extinction? The Queen asked.

Ali gave her a withered look and asked, "What kind of question is that?"

Just a question; interpret it as you will, The Queen said. At that moment the Queen's egg sac began shaking and the opening at the end grew wider as a white egg slipped out of the opening. Two aliens picked it up and carried it over to the wall where the first woman Ali had caught was. She was fully awake by now and was staring around the room in fear. She had started screaming when she had first awoken but her screams had died down as she began losing her voice. But she started screaming again as the egg was set in front of her.

"Be quite!" Ali screamed as she spun around to stare at the woman. The woman went quiet and stared at Ali in fear.

Do not take your anger out on her, The Queen said, She is about to become the host of my very first daughter.

There was a sickening sucking sound as the egg blossomed open and revealed the facehugger inside. The facehugger's digits slowly stuck out over the edge of the egg as it crawled out of the egg. It swung its long, flexible tail back and forth. Before the girl could scream, the facehugger leapt at her with a screech. It landed in the middle of her face and its digits grabbed her head and held her tightly as its long tail wrapped around her neck. Ali watched as the girl shook her head as she tried to shake it off. But Ali knew it was too late; the facehugger had already inserted its long tubing down her throat. The woman went still as the facehugger pulsed over her face.

Ali returned to her pacing as the Queen began making the second egg.

Something else on your mind? The Queen asked as Ali stopped to gaze around the Hive.

"Yeah," Ali said, "That Warrior alien that came with me on my hunting trip; is there a chance that it came out of Jordan?" Ali asked.

The Queen tilted her head and a Warrior alien stepped forward. Ali recognized it as the one that had come with her.

Yes, this is the one that came from Jordan, The Queen said, How did you know?

"I don't really know," Ali replied, "He just reminded me of Jordan. But you already told me that only a Queens recieve memories from their hosts."

That is true. But there is a chance that he inherited some of Jordan's actions or habits that reminded you of her. The Queen said.

"Oh," Ali said.

Suddenly, TJ looked up at the ceiling and hissed. Ali paused and looked up too. She listened for a moment and then heard it; the sound of faint footsteps. Terror struck her; had the creatures finally come to attack? But then she realized that the footsteps were too soft; the creature she had seen come out of the ship was too large to make footsteps that quiet. There was only one other thing Ali knew of that could make that noise; humans.

"TJ," Ali said. TJ hissed happily and swung his tail back and forth in excitement. Ali went to an air duct and climbed in; TJ following behind. The sounds of the footsteps seemed to echo within the ducts and it was hard for Ali to hear which direction it was coming from. So she stopped and allowed TJ to pass. With his keen sense of sonar he was able to locate the humans with much ease. TJ tilted his head and turned back to Ali and hissed.

"But, it sounds like there's at least four men," Ali said with confusion. TJ shook his head again and hissed once. Ali shrugged and said, "Okay, whatever; just try and locate him then." As they walked Ali pondered the reason why a single human would wander into an alien Hive.