If Bishop were human, I would feel as if he was lying and hiding something from us (with malicious reasons) about Weyland-Yutani's intentions with LV-400. I've already mentioned that my position doesn't entitle me to any kind of knowledge he or the company has, but the feeling of this mission being a failure from the start was beginning to piss me off.
I don't want to fail. I don't want to fail at being a Marine. I don't want to fail at simply living. I already did that. Whether or not I'm turning myself around or just channeling my emotions into something more healthy is a different question that I don't know how to answer, and probably never will.
I know where my boundaries are, and I can't cross them, or else I could get a dishonorable discharge. I could get sent back to prison. Something worse could be in store for me. Hell, if androids are being perfected, there's a possibility some scientist out there figured out how to wipe human memories, and I don't want that.
I stared into the hollow sockets of one of the hare skulls on the table, feeling full and sleepy from the food we were given by these gas-mask creatures. There were so many questions I had about them, mainly about what was under their helmets, but each time the one we encountered in the forest sat on my lap, and I put my hand near the base of where the helmet and gas mask were connected, the little shit squirmed and pushed my hand away with an annoyed coo.
Bishop said the only thing he really knew was that these creatures bond with humans through touch, and once one bonds with you, this thing is your friend for life. They will not allow another human to touch them, and they can quickly read your emotions and act on them. I found that out the hard way when I was getting frustrated earlier; the little shit climbed up my legs and wrapped his arms and legs around my torso, thinking hugs solve everything.
It's not his fault he doesn't really know what's going.
There was no way we were going to get back to the dropship before sundown, and so the gas-mask creatures showed us some tents we could sleep in. Each tent had a small bed covered in thick furs, as well as a pillow full of feathers. I set my weapon on the ground, laying in the bed and hoping to get some sleep.
I did sleep for a few hours, until I could hear something walking around in my tent. My senses were still fuzzy when I sat up, making out the gas-mask creature squatting next to my smartgun and touching it. He looked at me, and made a squeaky chattering sound before rubbing the barrel of the weapon.
"What the hell are you doing in here? Shouldn't you be in bed?" I asked.
I think I'm going to call him Little Shit, because even though he's been nice, he's irritating. So, yeah, his name's Little Shit now.
Anyway, Little Shit kept staring at me. He then stood up, and hopped on the bed, expecting me to cuddle him or something.
"I'm trying to sleep," I said. "Get out."
He knocked on my chestplate.
"I don't know what you want, now, shoo." I tried turning away and laying my head on the pillow, but I could feel him staring at me, and it's really uncomfortable considering that he's wearing a mask and I can't read his face.
He finally left, but about twenty minutes later, as I began drifting off again, I could smell peanut butter. Again, I sat up, and saw Little Shit standing in my tent, holding a plate with toast covered in peanut butter.
"I'm still full from dinner, stupid."
Well, he didn't seem to care. He took my hand and pulled on it, gesturing to go outside. I figured this was the only way to get him to leave me alone, so I followed him.
The whole camp was very quiet. I knew the only other person not sleeping was Bishop, but God only knows what he was doing at this hour. I mean, what do androids do when they're bored and it's two o'clock in the morning? Can they get bored? Maybe they ask themselves dumb questions and then try to answer them.
Anyway, I followed Little Shit around the campsite, until we came to another tent. He opened the tent flap, and I saw a large hole in the ground. He then pointed to the hole, and crawled in.
The hole was a claustrophobe's worst nightmare. I got on my stomach and crawled into it, seeing the tight part of the tunnel didn't last very long. As I pulled myself out of the small part, I found I could stand, or at least hunch over, and continued following Little Shit.
The tunnel continued to expand as we moved deeper underground. Soon, the walls were no longer dirt, but stone, and there was artwork covering them. I saw what I guess was the history of these little creatures, as well as symbols, faces, animals, trees, and snow.
I also figured that these creatures knew that humans would be down here, so there was not one image of what they look like with their helmets off.
I paused a bit to really examine what I was seeing, because a lot of this artwork was getting gradually stranger as we got further underground. I saw paintings of these creatures gathered around two humans, then I saw one of those humans was actually an android. The android must've been one of the earlier models, because the gas-mask creatures didn't respond too well to it. They seemed afraid, the complete opposite of how they responded to Bishop.
Slightly above the interactions with this human and android was an image of three of the creatures gathered around a green egg-like object. The next image showed the egg was opened, and one of the creatures being attacked in the face by a flesh-colored spider-like thing. The next several images that followed showed a worm with teeth bursting bloodily from the gas-mask creature, and changing into a hulking, black monster with a long, smooth head, razor-sharp teeth, and a long tail with a sharp tip, which it used to slaughter the gas-mask creatures, one by one.
The sequence of images turned out to be a whole story in the past of these creatures. The human they encountered was also attacked by one of the spiders, and, subsequently, had one of the monsters come out of his chest. The android . . . well, the android was brutalized by the gas-mask creatures. Violently ripped apart, white blood covered the stone wall, his parts strewn across the landscape. He did something that set these things off.
On the ceiling, I saw a war break out between the monsters and the little creatures, with the creatures emerging victorious, but at a terrible cost.
Honestly, it didn't look like they had a choice.
And I was beginning to regret naming my friend "Little Shit." The name still fits because I'm pretty sure he's going to do something that's going to piss me off. I followed him into a massive, hollowed-out chamber, and saw hundreds, maybe thousands, of these gas-mask creatures, going about their lives. There were several floors below us, and every single floor was surrounding a large fire, set at the deepest level.
I leaned against the railing, looking at the fire, thinking about the artwork and the food we were given and the explorers and how we couldn't find them. I didn't realize tears were beginning to roll down my face, until Little Shit was holding a small vial to my face.
Collecting human tears. There's a part of me that thinks they don't collect tears for malicious purposes. I was too exhausted to get mad, so I stood there, crying and letting Little Shit gather up my tears in his vial. When his vial was full, he put a stopper in it, and began trotting away. Again, I followed, feeling myself want to give up. I can't give up. I have no reason to give up.
Little Shit went into a small room where another gas-mask creature was sitting at a wooden table with red gems scattered all over it. He held the vial out to his companion, and his companion took it, examining it before pulling out a small chest. A few minutes later, I was presented with a heart-shaped gem the size of a baby's hand, and inside of the gem were my tears.
I turned the gem over in my hands. "I have no idea what this means, but . . . thanks."
The two creatures purred. I felt like this was one of their ways of "inducting" me into their society. Lets me know that, yeah, there's life out here, and it's not all bad.
I heard a whistling behind me, and turned around to see one of the creatures holding Bishop's hand and seemingly dragging him along through this massive underground chamber.
"So, your little friend brought you down here as well," Bishop said upon seeing me.
I nodded, glancing back at the gem in my hand.
"It's almost like they're selective when it comes to how advanced they are."
"They've been left alone for a while, I guess. Nothing except some parasitic monster has tried to destroy them."
"Parasitic . . . monster?"
"You didn't see the cave paintings?"
Bishop sat in the tunnel for what felt like an hour, poring over the images of the war and the creatures' previous encounter with a human and android. He occasionally glanced at me, and at one point said, "Those explorers . . . may have met a fate worse than death."
"Explain," I replied.
"If this monster still exists here, it may have taken them and used them as hosts to produce more."
One of the gas-mask creatures shook his head, pointing to one of the images on the wall. It depicted ten of them taking apart the carcass of a large version of the monster seen earlier.
"Even if you kill the queen, another one can be born."
"You're not making any sense, Bishop," I said.
"What I'm trying to say, Drake, is that if this monster alien is still out there, those explorers might be dead, or presently being used as hosts."
"But we don't know that." I felt the muscles in my body tense. "We've gotta look at everything like it's doomed, don't we? Why can't we think those explorers are hunkered down in a cave somewhere? Why can't we find out that they're closer than we think, and we can go find them and go home?!"
"Drake, we don't know-"
"You don't know shit, do you?! You know absolutely nothing about where we are, or you're hiding it from us because that's exactly what you were fucking programmed to do! We could've gotten more done with one of those Weyland-Yutani executives! At least I coulda beat the shit out of him to get him to talk! With you, I don't know what to do! You just stand there and stare at everything and act like you don't know anything and somehow you know that these things-" I pointed at the gas-mask creatures, "can sense our auras and bond with us for life! Goddammit, Bishop, why can't you just tell us that you know about this mission being a failure?!"
"Because I don't know that this mission is going to be a failure." Bishop didn't look at all angry with me; in fact, he looked sorry for me. "Drake, no one knows if anything is going to be a failure. I know what has been programmed into me, and what I experience. Right now, I'm experiencing a man having a frustrated breakdown because things aren't going his way."
I couldn't swallow past the lump in my throat. Slumping against the wall, I struggled to resist the urge to sob. Tears began streaming down my cheeks, and I choked, "Bishop?"
"Yes?"
"Am I . . . Am I a failure . . . as a human being?"
"You're completely healthy. You're not over- or underweight. Your vision is excellent. You're not ill. You're-"
"Not physically!"
"Are you satisfied with yourself?"
"No."
Bishop hesitated before speaking again. "I would like to know how to answer your question without upsetting you, as you seem very upset already."
The gas-mask creatures began chirping and looking up at the ceiling. They crouched low to the ground, and then I heard what sounded like something or someone walking overhead, followed by an inhuman screech.
