Chapter Eight: The Games

They had come together just one day before and, as was their genetically modified predisposition, bonded immediately. Solidarity and altruism towards their own kind had been programmed into them billions of years before. Flicking on the right genes; flicking off the wrong genes; manipulating genes that were congruous to a harmonious, singularly focussed, interstellar society. Simply put: they altered themselves to be kind to each other.

Yesterday, along with their Followers, they had been transported inter-dimensionally from their home planet to the weapons moon many thousands of light years away where The Games would take place as providence for their mission. These silos of stockpiled weaponry were strewn liberally across the galaxies- the living biological arsenal was not allowed within the inner quadrants. Though they considered many worlds now their home worlds, the planet where their DNA had first spawned was sacred and defended jealously.

The Games were tradition. There would be a victorious entity by the end of the day. This animal would be delivered, along with many hundreds of its brethren, to Sector 13-80 where Earth and its hybrid abominations awaited, unaware of the machinations of the more powerful race.

Aboard their ships, the Engineers of the living universe were aware of a threat from alien species, but feared the ingress of none. Security within the ships was considered unnecessary and a waste of resources, even though resources to them were infinitely recyclable. It was a sign of the species' hubris. Any security they had was pointed outwards. The possibility of attack from within was absurd. The animals onboard ship were safely locked away in their 'cages'... but the keys to these locks were readily available to anyone who wanted to let them out, were they so inclined. Sabotage was an alien concept. It never occurred. Security was lax.

Now David was on the inside. He had a key. He just needed to find the right cage to unlock.

"The baby wants orange juice." Said Charlie. "Do we have any in the fridge?"

Elizabeth went to check. "Damn. I thought I picked some up from the shop, yesterday. We've got apple juice." She screwed up her nose as she turned to her husband.

They both spoke as one: "But I don't like apple juice. I want orange juice."

They laughed and shook their heads as their three year old son walked into the kitchen. "Can I have some orange juice, mummy?"

Elizabeth allowed Charlie to sell the idea of the hated apple juice. "Hey junior, we got something better than orange juice. It's full of vitamins and goodness and-"

Charlie interrupted him before his father got carried away with himself, "But I don't like apple juice, daddy. I want orange juice."

The two adults laughed while Charlie looked on resolutely. Unfazed.

"You got two choices then, kiddo: milk or water." Said Elizabeth.

Charlie jnr. considered his options. This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. It would not do. "Mummy..." He said seriously.

"Yes, darling." She said mirroring his stern tone.

"Can I have coffee? I know I'm only three, but I think I'd like it." He made a good case they both thought, their eyes meeting across the room.

Elizabeth took a glass from a wall cupboard and went to the fridge for the milk.

"Elizabeth," Said Charlie, "Elizabeth..."

"He can have milk." She responded. "It's got calcium in it for strong healthy bones, remember?"

"Elizabeth..." He repeated, his face serious.

"Yes?" She poured the milk into the glass.

"Elizabeth?" The same voice. The same dry pitch.

"Yes, Charlie?" She turned to look at him, a little bit nervous.

"Elizabeth. Can you hear me? Are you asleep?"

"Asleep? What do you mean?" She replied quizzically, "I'm..." Her senses returned as her dream melted away. She had fallen asleep on the floor as she thought of the man who had been taken from her two weeks earlier. She felt a hole open up in the pit of her stomach.

David was trying to get her attention.

For a few seconds, Elizabeth just wished this was all over. The vision had lifted her up high: the fall was hard and jolting. She eschewed the dream as her thoughts tried desperately to return to the utopia of it. "Yes, David?"

"It seems I have full access to the ships controls."

Elizabeth didn't comprehend the absoluteness of his words at first. "Full access? What do you mean?"

"I assumed the statement was self-explanatory." Said David with no signs of sarcasm in his tone. "The ship's security systems are on hibernation, so to speak. I have the means to over-ride the captain."

Elizabeth's attention was piqued. The adrenaline was being released causing her heart to beat faster. More eagerly. "Do it!"

"I took the liberty." Said David proudly.

"Where are the crew now? They're congregated together, right?" Asked Elizabeth excitedly.

"Yes. I believe they are attending an event they call The Games."

"The Games?"

"I believe it's the most apposite translation. It could also mean 'The Congregation'; 'The Chosen'; 'The Race'; they use it as the name of a galaxy; a meal-"

"Thank you, David. We don't have much time." She reminded him.

"The creature that was to be seeded in you, would be fighting in The Games if we hadn't taken steps. It seems there are three life-forms remaining in the mix. We should move quickly before Yeshua feels the urge to return."

Elizabeth looked at the floor and considered the information with which David had provided her. Her eyes moved from side to side as if reading the printout of her thoughts. "Is there a chance we can get off the ship without them noticing, do you think?"

"'How far would we get?', would be the follow-up question." Replied David.

"Then we need to take them out." She knew it was kill or be killed, but it was not a paradigm she was used to. She looked over at David. "Any thoughts on how we do that?"

David began speaking to the computer again, his words fluent and clear, but of a language Elizabeth didn't understand. 'Restaurant' level French; 'direction' level German; and passable Spanish were the only pools of reference from which she could pull. She could do nothing other than wait while David worked.

She thought about the crew being eviscerated and devoured by creatures like the one that had grown inside her. Maybe the Xenomorph would look something like that. She wondered if Yeshua, the giant that mocked and threatened her would feel pain when the Xenomorph reached maturity and wanted out. His major crime against her was, he had forced something upon her she had wanted all her life: to be a mother. She felt guilt pull at her and there was a sense of regret about what she and David had done to him: what they had put inside him when he drank the water. Yeshua had laced it with a substance that contained the power to create new life within her. In return, David had deposited the seed that would create a more destructive form of life.

But he was cruel and sadistic, thought Elizabeth. What was coming to him was nothing less than he deserved. And maybe what they had done would make no difference. Maybe he would already be dead by the time the Xenomorph emerged. Maybe he would be killed by one of its cousins currently fighting in the pit during the chaos she hoped to induce.

"The Games have begun again, Elizabeth. We should act now."

Elizabeth took a breath and walked briskly over to David, lifting him up from the surface of the table from which he had been working.

As she lifted this head up, it suddenly hit her just how unusual her life had become and a mild euphoria washed over her.

"You seem giddy." Said David as Elizabeth held him to her.

"Don't worry about me, David;" Said Elizabeth, "I do this all the time. This is like spring training for archaeologists."

"Your courage is commendable." Complimented David.

Elizabeth smiled. "Shut up, David and show me the way off this boat."

"Es tut mir leid." Said David mischievously, his playful intellect still prominent.

"Hey, I understood that one. Now open the door." She said flatly.

It was the moment of truth. David gave a command to the computer to open the door.

"I've disabled communications on the ship, including holographic mapping and location. They are as blind as we are."

"Time then, to set the lunatics free from the asylum."

The corridors were clear and Elizabeth moved swiftly, turning when told to do so. In between his directions, David spoke to the computer.

"It's done." He said.

Elizabeth stayed quiet...

In the arena, unnoticed by the crew, a presentation duct opened. As the third stage of fighting reached its climax, they were also unaware the transparent dome separating them from the biological killing machines had deactivated.

The change to their mission priorities would be emphatic. Their participation in The Games would no longer be just as spectator.