"A once-great house has fallen into the grips of an abiding curse. It is haunted by a gigantic night-stalker, who emerges after dark to feast on human flesh and drag the corpses back to a lair somewhere within a foggy bog. The creature itself is never fully seen or comprehended, momentarily glimpsed only at distance in the mists beneath the moon or up close where its massive teeth, capable of biting through bone and joints, and its long claws capable of rending flesh, are briefly glimpsed in its frenzied rush on the hall."

Nickolas Haydock. In Beowulf on Films.

November 14th, 2137. Earth Central Time. San Cristobal Medical Facility, Sevastopol station, KG-348.

Autopsy Report

Examiner: Lindgard, Karen Date: November 14th, 2137 Coroner's case# 11/14/2137

Name: Foster, Catherine

D/O/B: 01/20/2098 Age: 39. Sex: Female.

Origin: Crew member of the Anesidora.

Body identified by: Marlow, Henry –Anesidora captain

Case # 001794-26B-2137 Investigative agency: Sevastopol Colonial Marshal Authority.

Evidence of Treatment:

The patient was reported to had a decompression accident, caused when an object, later identified as an unknown xenomorphic organism, shattered her suit's visor. Crewmembers patched the hole and stabilized suit's pressure. The patient didn't show evidence of bleeding product of decompression. Also she lacked usual petechia associated with asphyxia. The parasite died sometime later. Its remains are presumably aboard the Anesidora and its examination is pending.

External examination:

Prior to the decease, a test battery was made including X-Rays, MRI, EKG, etc. (Attached file: #0472-03-111137), the scans detected an unknown life form inside the thoracic cavity. Procedures for extraction were initiated when the creature (Classification unknown) erupted.

Post-mortem external examination of the body revealed the cause of death is a massive perforation of the thorax caused by the emergence of the creature. Wound's edges are torn, caused by the creature's fangs. Ocular witness described them as piranha-like teeth.

Internal Examination:

Examination of thorax revealed the creature cut through the victim's esophagus, sternum and bent the ribcage outside. Victim's heart shown a perforation in right ventricle caused by the creature's tail in its attempts to escape the victim's body. The placenta-like organ in which the creature was contained remained inside.

Further examination showed tiny pre-mortem lacerations on the esophagus' walls. Traces of foreign tissue embedded in those lacerations, indicate the original parasite introduced (or forced) something down (parasitoid embryo?).

Evidence collected:

Samples of foreign tissue traces and the placenta collected and sent to laboratory.

Blood sample from the victim for analysis.

Slime from the blood trail left by the creature.

A shredded skin left by the creature inside the air duct.

Laboratory data:

Foreign tissue found in esophagus walls are protein polysaccharides covered skin cells, similar to the chitin of insects, albeit different. The original parasite skin must be though, given it was found in a non-earthlike atmosphere.

The placenta had a thin layer of the same compounds found in the traces. Its function was to keep the embryo until it was ready. Its "blood vessels" connected with the host's blood vessels, presumably drawing organic material for the fetus to grow. Traces of silicon and chlorofluorocarbons of unknown function are found.

The slime was interesting; it contained an enzyme of unknown function, after a few minutes the exposed slime hardened. Traces of inorganic material contained in the slime shown a composition not found in nature.

Blood samples analysis reveals no traces of fungi, bacterial, viral or prion infection.

Opinion:

Although the parasitoid creature it's not a carrier of fungi, bacterial, viral or prion infection, it must be considered dangerous. It caused the death of one person at birth, and the fact is it has passed from one stage to another and increased in size in a few hours, we don't know if it is the final stage or how much it's going to grow. The creature needs to be contained for further study.

We don't have enough data. Recovery of the original parasite from the Anesidora is recommended.

- o -

Loneliness, Fear had gone, and now the fully developed creature only felt loneliness. As member of a gregarious species, part of a complex group mind which shared thoughts and memories, it needed others. Without others the creature became an instinctive, feral, aggressive creature. Its only goal now was to find another members of its species, but, as there was none here, it has to reproduce.

The room was perfect, warm, secluded; few entrances and it had access to the tunnels. And now it had grown, its senses have amplified. It can hear multiple signals 360°, and track pheromones trails left by any organism. It can crawl through the walls and ceiling if needed. Its long, segmented tail was armed with a sharp, scorpion stinger-like barb capable of puncture trough metal. It was time to hunt.

Concierge Gyakusa Hajime came out of the elevator and stepped into the darkness. He was in the Hospital's sewer pumping station. All the hospital drainage must be pumped to Sevastopol water treatment plant in the bowels of the station through a series of large pipes. Usually there was a Working Joe assigned to check the pumps, but the decommissioning has the android relocated and Hajime must do the job himself.

-"Something smells bad here" He said, "I hope there's no methane leaking from the pipes."

He recognized the smell of decomposition, it was common in places like this, but a leak could cause an explosion if a short circuit ignited the gas. He continued sweeping the flashlight sideways looking for fumes, and then he stepped in something wet.

-"What's this?" He touched the jelly-like liquid, it was warm. He felt his fingers itch "What the hell?"

He wiped his hand in the clothes. He kept searching and in a corner, he found some kind of organic material, to Hajime it seemed like a monstrous butterfly's cocoon, but what kind of bug did that thing. Suddenly, he realized he hasn't heard any rat since he entered; usually the rat's squeals were a background noise, but there's nothing, not a single sound. Drops of the jelly-like substance fell in Hajime's shoulder.

The creature was hanging from the ceiling, it had detected the man's pheromones and now it can "see" him. When the man was below, the creature let itself drop right behind the man.

Hajime sensed a presence behind and turned around. He hadn't chance for anything. The large, eight feet tall, greenish black, eyeless monster hissed and grabbed the poor man with long clawed hands by the head. It put man's head front of its mouth, and a second teethed jaw came out from it, piercing the skull.

-"Aaaaaaaaaggggggggh!" the scream was cut short.

The creature grabbed the lifeless body and raised it against the wall. From its mouth, it covered the body with the same jelly-like resin. The resin was not only an acidic enzyme but also in contact with the air became powerful glue, its purpose was to degrade any organic tissue and then, nanoparticles inside transform it into nucleic acids that would start a new zygote or egg. Once the egg was ready, a new host could be placed for implantation of a new creature.

Once the body was glued and the mutation process started, the alien started the search of its next victim.

- o -

Officers Ross and Laroque were patrolling the hospital; Ross had the motion tracker and Laroque held an electric riot baton. Waits had ordered the medic staff to evacuate the ward, only intensive care unit patients stay there because they can't be moved. Doctor Morley refused to leave and was in his office in room A-029.

The plan was to patrol Hospital hallways one by one, level by level until they detect the creature moving inside the air conduits, then Laroque will enter and stun it with the baton and capture it.

The motion tracker beeped, indicating it picked up something. Beep… beep… beep… the device's display located it somewhere 27 meters in the air duct ahead. They proceeded to the next room and closed the door, the signal was gone, and the little creature must have heard them and stopped moving. At the other side of the room was a ventilation grate in the ceiling.

-"It's over there" said Ross quietly, pointing the grate.

-"I'll catch it." Laroque told him. "Keep watching."

Laroque moved silently towards the grate, he lifted it using the baton, jumped and hanged himself and peered inside. Ross checked the device, maybe it was malfunctioning. Suddenly, the beeps returned and he heard a scream, Laroque's legs hanged and kicked frantically from the grate, and then was pulled inside the air duct. Ross ran, the point in the screen was moving away fast and soon it was out of reach.

-"Jesus! Laroque?, Laroque?" Called Ross through radio, he received only static.

Ross peered inside the duct but he couldn't see Laroque anywhere. An object shone ahead in the duct, the baton, covered in a jelly-like substance.

-"Waits, it is Ross. Laroque's gone. Something pulled him inside the ducts. Come quickly!" Ross called the marshal on radio. He was scared.

Marshal Waits and the team arrived minutes later. They searched inside the air conduit but there wasn't a single clue. Laroque had vanished.

-"What happened, Ross?" Waits asked the cop.

-"I detected a signal, but disappeared from the screen. We believe the creature stopped moving and Laroque took a look. Then he screamed and disappeared like he was pulled by something." The officer answered.

-"A creature size of a cat can't drag a man, it must've grown." Waits assumed. "Game has changed."

- o -

The creature dragged Laroque's unconscious body through the vents towards the pump room; the effects of the toxin it has injected with its tail will pass in an hour or two, enough time to transport and glue him to the wall where the egg was being developed.

Lower half of Hajime's body was unrecognizable, the enzyme was working well. Soon the egg will be finished. It encased Laroque next to the cocoon and climbed the ceiling. Few minutes later, the creature heard voices approaching from a hallway.

-"You sure Hajime came here?" one woman in overalls told the other, a bearded man in a hazardous material suit.

-"Yes, I sent him down here to check the pumps, sensor had registered rise in Methane and Ammonia traces, could be a leak." The man told her. "It has been hours."

-"Maybe he's sleeping inside some clerk storage room." The woman continued.

-"the old man is a hard worker, Wife and three kids. Not the procrastinator type." The man continued.

They opened the hatch and entered. There was a foul smell.

-"Ewk, is a dead animal here?" the woman commented, disgusted.

-"A methane leak for sure, one spark and we blow." The man pulled a mask and passed another to the woman. "Hajime, are you there?"

He held his flashlight high and saw the two corpses stuck to the upper wall. He recognized Hajime's mangled face covered by some resin; and other unknown man, a badge shone as it reflected the light.

-"Oh my…" The woman's sentence was cut short. A huge, horrible monster appeared in front of them.

The creature dropped from the ceiling and rose in front of the pair; the man and woman turned and ran for the exit. The creature knew it doesn't have let them escape or the nest location will be compromised. It hissed and shrieked, and then it chased after them.

They kept running turning left and right trying to lose the beast. A hatch sealed behind them and the monster was left behind. They didn't see it anymore and slowed pace.

-"I think we lose it." The man said.

Behind the man, from a ventilation shaft, a long, segmented tail emerged, slashed in the air, decapitating the man, splashing blood on the woman's face. The woman backed and saw the creature climb down the hallway. Quickly, she pulled herself inside a locker and closed the door.

The alien walked around hissing and growling. "It's hunting me" the woman though. After a few moments, it shrieked and climbed up the vent. The woman waited a moment before came out and then, silently she walked towards the elevator. The doors closed and she pushed UP. She was safe.

The creature searched the woman around but she must have hide, gas and vapor plus machinery noises made her difficult to track. It climbed back to the vent and waited, maybe she came out her hiding place. Few minutes later the woman walked towards the next door. Sounds indicate the creature the woman was going up so it climbed through a shaft.

At the hospital level the elevator opened and the woman came out in front of Waits and Ross, the later held a motion tracker device and Waits pointed a gun at her.

-"Jesus ma'am," Ross exclaimed when he saw the blood covered face.

-"What happened?" Waits asked.

-"A monster… It killed Hajime… Cut off McKenzie's head…" The woman stuttered.

-"Get back, lady" Waits ordered her.

The woman place herself behind the officers. The tracking device beeped, something was approaching, and Waits draw the gun.

This time, the creature surged from below, from a crawling space beneath the floor plates behind the woman, it grabbed the woman and was about to bite her when Waits fired.

The low velocity, hollow point .357 bullets impacted the creature's head, splashing its blood over the woman. The woman screamed as the acid ate her skin and bone. The creature growled but it wasn't dead. It grabbed the corpse and got back from where it came. The bullets didn't made it damage, as they penetrated the exoskeleton, the acidic blood dissolved them, Pain was temporary, but most important was to kill the woman who had seen the nest. It will deal with the others later.

It picked up the bodies and started to turn them into eggs.

- o -

-"Son of b#$% is big, tough and bleeds some kind of acid. It cut through three decks and it was only a few drops!" Waits informed Lindgard. "I need a complete lockdown of the hospital."

-"We can seal all the exits, but we need to evacuate. Can we move the intensive care unit patients?" Lindgard answered.

-"I'll do it." Morley offered.

-"Doctor, you need to move the clinic outside medical to the mall, and set up another in the Apartment's lobby, I didn't want anyone around this area until is secure."

-"Yes, Marshal."

- o -

November 15th, 2137. Earth Central Time. Courier ship Torrens, in orbit above Porrima colony, Gamma Virginis.

Diane Verlaine stood outside the main hatch of the courier ship Torrens, the thirty-four years old redhead woman sang as the pressure inside the airlock matched the pressure inside the ship. When done, the hatch opened and three people came inside, Verlaine quickly examined her passengers.

The first was a black haired young woman who used glasses, she was dressed with a clean white jumpsuit with dark blue strips on her shoulders, the attire for an office, not a spacecraft. Verlaine guessed she was the company attorney. The woman looked dizzy by the trip on the shuttle, maybe she could make fun of her.

-"Welcome aboard the Torrens." She greeted them. "I'm Captain Diane Verlaine."

-"Nina Taylor" she was about to give Verlaine her hand but she lifted and covered her mouth instead. "Forgive me, it was long time ago I got up in a shuttle."

The second one was a tall man in an olive green coverall, his brown, short hair and shiny skin revealed him as an android. He extended his hand in a polite gesture.

-"Christopher Samuels, nice to meet you captain."

She smiled at the synthetic, Verlaine was one of the few people who don't mind treating an android as people. Then she looked at the third passenger, a young woman in her late twenties with dark brown hair tied up in a ponytail. She wore a brown coverall with some patches and carried a duffel bag which identified her as an engineer. Despite the young age, she had the angular facial expressions of a tough woman.

-"Amanda Ripley, nice to meet you." The young woman said.

-"Ripley, Samuels, welcome to the Torrens" Verlaine responded.

There was a clank and a tremor as the shuttle detached from the ship and flew back to the colony. Verlaine guided the passenger trough the Torrens towards the crew quarters, where they could wash and prepare for hypersleep.

-"We are at the A-deck, this is junction A, to the left is the ship's medical bay, to the right is the bunk room and the hypersleep chambers." Verlaine explained. "In front of us are the galley, and beyond the bridge."

Verlaine guided the trio to the right, in a curved corridor, then she opened a door in the right wall with the indication BUNK ROOM. There was a nice, well lit rectangular room with bed bunks embedded in the wall, at the center there was a rectangular table with screens over it. At the left there was a shower and a toilet, and right them a series of lockers, two of them labeled as VERLAINE and CONNORS.

-"Make yourself at home, we'll depart as soon as possible." Verlaine explained, and then she headed for the bridge.

- o -

Samuels inspected the accommodations, it was comfortable, roomy, not too warmth or cold, the locker labeled CONNORS opened and pasted in the inside of the door, Samuels saw a poster of a naked woman, undoubtedly from a men magazine. "There are things which never change" he thought, across the room Taylor was reclined over the toilet.

-"Are you OK, Taylor?" he asked.

-"I'm fine now" she rose, wiping her mouth with a paper towel.

-"I'm gonna take a shower, if you don't mind. I came right from work, maintenance jobs let you a little filthy." Amanda announced

She unzipped his coveralls and stripped in front of them. Samuels saw Taylor look down, embarrassed, she must have noticed because she said.

-"I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with long term trips, you know, the part getting naked in front of strangers." She excused herself.

- o -

Diane Verlaine sat on the captain's seat at the bridge. To her right, Connors, acting as navigator and comms officer was talking with traffic control.

-"Porrima traffic control, this is commercial ship Torrens out of Saint Clair, we are ready to depart." He said trough radio.

-"Torrens, this is Porrima traffic control, you're clear, proceed to vector 2-1-0" a voice responded.

-"Take us out Connor." Verlaine ordered.

The four main engines at the end of the ship came to life, in space there was no sound but on the bridge, it was like a tremor. The sleek shape of the Torrens rushed forward and, a few miles away from orbit, the ship's computer took control and followed the destination Connors had typed on the console. Verlaine relaxed and played Space Tuckin' by Deep Blue in the bridge's AP.

We had a lot of luck on Venus

We always had a ball on Mars

Meeting all the groovey people

We've rocked the Milky Way so far

We danced around with Borealice

We're space truckin' round the the stars

Come on let's go Space Truckin'

After the song ended, she rose from the seat and headed for the bridge's access door.

-"Let's get some food. I invite, Connors"

-"That's music into my ears, Captain." Connors exclaimed cheerfully.

They walked down the hallway to the galley where Samuels, Taylor and Ripley were drinking some coffee. The ship's autochef served them some snacks from the meager menu, a protein sludge shaped as a steak and mashed potatoes. Long journeys couldn't afford any perishable food inside the machine, even frozen, as the crews passed most of the time sleeping and only awaken when reached their destinations.

After the dinner, Verlaine commented.

-"Ready for the cold storage?"

-"Yeah, the best part of this job is you pass most of the time asleep." Connors said "And I have a very good dreams. A-men"

-"Judging by your kind of literature, I can imagine what kind of dreams you have" Verlaine said in sarcastic tone, then added. "And we didn't want a detailed account of those this time, Connors."

The allusion to Connors not so scarce cache of adult magazines and a reluctant Verlaine obliged to hear the nastiest dreams the officer told her made Taylor blush.

The five people then got back to the bunk room and prepared for cryo. Verlaine checked her messages on LM-Link, an internal messaging system for ships, there was one from Blaine, a fellow freelance captain.

-"Verlaine, you on the lookout for a navigational officer? I have a friend that's just lost his ship and he's looking for work. I can vouch for him, he's got good papers.

Same old story — the megacorps undercut him, picked up all his clients. Contracts are getting harder to come by for the smaller companies and I'm thinking of getting out myself while I still have something to sell. Sounds like you're doing okay though. Dropped by the docks and heard you just shipped out. Sevastopol Station — what a shithole. Still, I hear Weyland-Yutani pay well. Good luck to you — if you can't beat them, right? Let's catch up when you get back. Blane."

When she get back to Porrima she'll probably hire the officer, W-Y usually paid well and she needed the navigator, Connors can't do all the job all the time.

Diane could see Taylor was still uncomfortable about getting naked in front of others. Ripley, otherwise, already have undressed and Samuels, he don't really needed. Other androids had an anatomically correct bodies but he was programmed as a psychologist assistance so the only feature really detailed was his mind and facial features, the rest of his body was covered in a spandex jumpsuit. Verlaine and Connors stripped without any ceremony, for them it was routine.

-"Did you plan to get freezer burns, miss Taylor?" she questioned the hesitant lawyer. "Those marks will let your perfect little body scarred."

-"No, I…" she started to unzip her overalls, revealing a good shaped body, as her curves suggested. "I… I am not accustomed to do this, that's all. I'm naïve because I was the typical ugly duckling at high school. Not the perfect high school American girl."

-"You see, imperfection is the key. Imperfections make us individuals, that's what makes us unique." Samuels quoted.

-"My ass, if you tell that to the prom queens, they'll bite your head off, in fact those biatches will bite your head off just for wearing something they didn't like." Verlaine exclaimed.

-"I doubt those girls understand what Asimov were trying to tell" Samuels "The quote is from an old 20th century movie based on one of Asimov's works, it refers to the fact physical differences between humans is what made us unique, but is our values what make us better human beings."

-"You're an admirer of Asimov?" Verlaine asked, impressed.

-"Shouldn't I?" Samuels responded with a smile, Verlaine smiled back.

The cryotubes were machines which could sustain human life in a state of hibernation, the five coffin-like machines were at the center of the circular chamber in a star disposition, with each individual lying facing outwards with their heads pointing to the center. Verlaine and Samuels were the last, they continued their conversation.

-"Are you sure you want to get in cryo, Samuels?" Verlaine asked.

-"Technically I don't need to, getting into cryo is part of the acceptance process by you, Humans get uncomfortable around a machine with a non-aging, physically perfect body, first androids as the David and Walter series were anatomically correct, like humanity's perfected vision of itself, bodies which last for a very long time and young, handsome features as if they were some kind of Olympian gods. Those false immortality and alleged perfection could develop a god-like status in a fully sentient A.I., it's dangerous, so the newer series as myself were created to look older, with wrinkled faces or something like that, "imperfect" you'll say, our artificial muscles degrade over time if not properly maintained so after a time we effectively cease to function, a theme treated on that movie I quoted earlier." Samuels explained.

Samuels gained Verlaine's respect for that, the android were more human than some of the corporate backstabbers, assholes and black suits she had met before. The lid closed and soon she was sleeping. Samuels entered at the final cryotube and put himself in standby mode. The lights on the chamber turned off and the ship continued its travel to Zeta1 Reticuli at faster than light.

- o -