Chapter Four
The Real 'Plan'
"Are you gonna be all right?"
Riley glanced away from her sister as she opened up the walkway to Mother. "No, but I'll survive."
"Anora, I'm sorr-"
"Let's just leave it where it's at, Eleanor." Riley told her sister before moving through the door. She took a seat in the chair; Dallas' chair. She was still for a moment before she took a deep breath and began to do what she and her sister had come in for. She had to find out what the hell was going on before she got revenge for Dallas against that creature. Mother's light began to go off as she typed at the keys.
INTERFACE 2037 READY FOR INQUIRY
REQUEST CLARIFICATAION ON
SCIENCE INABILITY TO NEUTRALIZE ALIEN
UNABLE TO CLAIRFY
"What do you mean unable to clarify?" Riley repeated it.
"Let's try this," Ripley leaned over and typed her own part into the computer.
REQUEST ENHANCEMENT
NO FURTHER ENHANCEMENT
SPECIAL ORDER 937
SCIENCE OFFICER EYES ONLY
"What the hell does Ash have to do with this?" Ripley asked her sister.
"The soup is thickening, it seems." Riley replied, taking over the keys of the computer again. "I have a feeling that we're gonna kill that bastard for hiding this from us."
EMERGENCY COMMAND OVERIDE 100375
WHAT IS SPECIAL ORDER 937?
NOSTROMO REROUTED
TO NEW CO-ORDINATES.
INVESTIGATE LIFE FORM. GATHER SPECIMEN.
PRIORITY ONE
INSURE RETURN OF ORGANISM
FOR ANALYSIS.
ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS SECONDARY.
CREW EXPENDABLE.
Riley felt her mouth droop open as everything just seemed to shatter. Ash knew about all of this? He was behind it all? That meant that Kane and Dallas were both dead because of him. Dallas was…
"There is an explanation for this, you know."
Riley jumped at the voice, not knowing that the Science Officer had joined them but her sister let her anger out and grabbed him, slamming him against the wall.
"There is?! I don't want to hear your goddamn explanation!" She threw him away from her, fighting back the pain and tears. Riley slipped an arm around her shoulders. "I don't want to hear…I don't want to hear…I…"
"Come on," Riley began to lead her sister away from the room. They needed to go and tell the others, now before something else happened. She had no doubt in her mind that Jack and Parker were going to be extremely pissed; she didn't want to think about what the two men were going to do to the other man. Riley led her sister back into the kitchen and jumped on the radio.
"Parker. Jack. Lambert?" There was no answer.
"You don't think…"
"No," Riley shook her head. "The three of them are fine. Don't worry."
Ripley went to move through another door but it closed on her. They both knew who it was. "Ash. Open the door." She went to move through another door but he closed that one, too.
"Ash," Riley felt her anger rising even more. "Open the damn door. You're caught, you moron. Face it."
"No I'm not," The man replied. "Not yet."
"Will you open the door?" Ripley asked. No answer. That was when Riley noticed the strange, white liquid pouring down the man's forehead. Her eyes narrowed. She had seen that before. She knew what it was.
"Ripley! Get away from him!" Riley told her sister before jumping on the intercom again. "Jack! Jack! Get in here!" She was cut off by her sister's cry and turned to see that Ash had ripped some of her hair out. Ripley was crawling away but Ash grabbed her and flung her against the wall. Riley was frozen, unsure of what to do at the moment, but when he went to grab her sister again, she ran forward and jumped on Ash's back. She was expecting him to crumble beneath her, or at least stumble, but when he stayed up straight, like nothing had happened, her suspicions came true.
Ash was an android.
Riley grunted in pain as Ash slammed her against the wall before tossing her across the table. The impact made her dizzy and lose consciousness for a moment, before a pair of hands settled on her face. She gave a cry and tried to pull away but Lamberts voice calmed her down.
"Ash," She gasped.
"It's all right," Lambert shushed her. "We got here in time. Everything's all right,"
Sitting up, Riley took in Jack holding his wife as she settled her breathing and Parker was standing over a decapitated Ash. She had been right; the man was an android.
"Can you fix this thing so we can talk to it?"
It took a moment for Riley to realize that Jack was talking to her. She blinked. "I might be able to. Just the head though. I'm not chancing the rest of the body."
"Are you all right?" Lambert asked her. Riley nodded before helping Parker pull the body up from the floor. Ash's attack had hurt, and the table wasn't comfortable at all, but she wanted damn answers and by God she was going to get them.
"How come the Company sent us a goddamn robot?" Parker hissed.
"All I can think of is that they must've wanted the alien for their weapons division." Ripley answers as they all watched her sister work. "He's been protecting it right along."
"So he knew all about it and still sent Kane down there to bring it aboard?" Jack growled, still holding onto his wife. "I'm gonna kill all those bastards."
"Parker, plug it in, please." Riley called out. "Hopefully this bastard knows how to kill it."
"He'd better." Jack growled.
Ripley moved forward as her sister set the head up. "Ash, can you hear me?" No reply. She slammed on the table. "Ash!" The eyes popped open.
More of the white liquid poured from his mouth. "Yes, I can hear you."
"What was your special order?" The woman asked him.
"You read it. I thought it was clear."
"What was it?" Ripley demanded.
"Bring back life form. Priority one. All other priorities rescinded."
"That damn Company!" Parker roared, jumping to his feet. "What about our lives, you son of a bitch?"
"I repeat—all other priorities are rescinded."
"All I care about is how we kill that damn thing," Jack commented. "So do me a favor and tell me."
"You can't," Was his answer.
"What do you mean we can't?" Riley asked him.
"You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you?" Ash asked them. "The perfect organism. It's structural perfection is matched only by its hostility."
"You admire it." Lambert commented.
Ash glanced at her. "I admire its purity. A survivor—unclouded…by conscience…remorse…or delusions of morality."
Riley stared at Ash in a new sort of light. She could see that Ash hated being controlled by the Company to do this. He hated being given orders and whatever else he had been given. He wanted to make his own choices, like the Alien; like them.
"Ash, you could have told us," She said. "You could have told me."
"And what would you have been able to do?" He asked her. She didn't have an answer for that at the top of her heard but when she finally decided to respond, Parker cut her off.
"I've heard enough of this. I'm asking you to pull the plug." Riley gave a sigh and reached forward.
"Last word, Anora," Ash froze her hand. "I can't lie to you about your chance, but…you have my sympathies." Riley gave a frown before cutting the cord and letting Ash fail again.
"We're going to blow up the ship." Ripley told them. "We'll take our chances in the shuttle. Blow up the ship."
"Good." Parker nodded.
"I'm down with it." Jack agreed, leading the way out the door. Riley watched Parker set Ash's body on fire for a moment before following her sister out into the hall.
"When we throw the switches, how long before the ship blows?" Ripley was asking.
"Ten minutes," Jack answered her. "So we'd better move fast."
"If we ain't out of her in ten minutes, we won't need no rocket to fly through space." Parker commented.
"We're gonna need coolant for the air-support system," Riley announced, keeping her eyes opened as they moved.
"Parker, you, Lambert, and Riley go and gather all the coolant that you can carry," Jack told the trio. "Ripley and I'll get the shuttle ready."
"We'll give you about seven minutes," Ripley announced, glancing at her watch. "Come back up here, I'll shut the switches off and we'll blow this fucker off into space."
"Ok." Parker breathed. "Come on." He led the way down. "Take care of yourself."
"Seven minutes." Ripley told them.
"We'll be done faster than that," Riley told her, following the man down. She was scared out of her mind, no doubt about that, but they had to get out of there and fast. Jack would take care of his wife, no doubt in that either. She just had to worry about the three of them for the moment until they got to the shuttle.
Lambert entered the room pushing the cart and set up the light before the three of them began to collect the coolant tubes.
"Keep your eyes open," Riley called to Parker as she placed the coolant on the cart. "We can't let ourselves get caught now, you know."
"Don't worry," Parker told her with a glare as he looked over the room sharply. "I got it."
Setting the last coolant onto the cart, Lambert began to push it back out of the room. Riley took another look around it, and followed them out. Parker told Lambert to check the bottles. Riley went to help but something caught her attention. She instantly placed a hand on Parker's shoulder and the man jumped, grabbing his gun. "What is it?" He demanded, glaring around. Lambert paused.
Riley was silent. "It's nothing…"
Parker glanced at her before turning back to the area around them. Riley then found herself worrying about Ripley and Jack. The two of them were still okay, weren't they? She had to keep her thoughts clear that her sister and brother-in-law were going to be fine and just be waiting for them in the shuttle. She had to keep thinking that they were all going to get out of this alive, or else they wouldn't. She had to keep thinking that-
"Oh, my God!"
Parker's pulled Riley out of her thoughts. Whipping around, the sight of the alien cornering Lambert against the wall made her breath stop. "Oh no."
"Get out of the way!" Parker cried, picking up his gun.
"I can't!"
"Lambert, you have to move!" Riley told her, clenching her fists.
"Get out of the way! It's going to kill us!"
"No, I can't!"
"For Christ's sake, get out of the way!" Riley's brain was moving, but she couldn't get her legs to move to grab Lambert and make her move. Her feet were frozen to the ground in fear as the large, black life form, drool oozing from its mouth, lifted itself to its full height and stared down at the woman before it. Ripley's voice called out to all three of them but all of them were stuck on the sight before them.
"Get out of the way, Lambert!" Parker called again, his finger ready to yank on the trigger. Lambert just stood there and cried.
Riley was left to watch as Parker ran forward to save the other woman and was thrown aside by the creature's tail. Her eyes widened in horror as she watched the mouth opened, more drool seeping from it, and a tongue shot out, with a second head on it, and stabbed into Parker's chest. Her hands rose to her mouth in fear before the creature took care of Lambert. She stepped back as the alien took its prey. She had to get out of the room and now. She was an idiot for just standing there as long as she did.
Sliding back in her steps as slowly and silently as she could, she had almost reached the door when the Alien's head turned to rest its sight on her.
