CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER EIGHT

Presario and Ryder got to work immediately on the ship. They had marines mass producing the disinfectant spray, getting it ready to be placed on the ship. This was their last hope. If this didn't work, they would lose Earth to an alien invader.

They were on radios to military fortifications all over the world, organising and coordinating their efforts. Presario hoped that Ryder was right, that this disinfectant would indeed actually kill the aliens.

Ryder finished making a radio call and turned to Presario who walked into the room behind her. 'Well that's it,' she said, 'we're all set.'

Presario nodded. 'Great. Let's go tell the General.' Just then the General walked into the room. 'Tell me what?'

Presario turned around. 'That we're set to go General. We have coordinated with the military fortifications that are left and we are ready to start spraying the surface.'

For the first time in a long time, the General smiled. 'Good Presario. First though, Franks has finished with Perry. We'll go there first.'
'Certainly General.'

'I want to remind you Presario,' the General began, 'and you too Ryder that this may not work.'

Presario nodded. 'We understand that General, but it's worth a try.'
'Yes but these things aren't even affected by radiation. Hell the only thing that we know of to kill these things is to blow them apart.'

Ryder spoke up. 'It's going to work.' The General looked at Ryder seeing not anger, fear or sadness. What he saw was assuredness. 'I hope so Ryder.' Ryder just kept staring at him with that same confidence.

The three of them were seated at a table. Franks was standing in front of them, a whiteboard behind him. Perry was also there but was sitting away from everyone. Ryder had her daughter's necklace in her hand and she was rubbing the dove with her thumb.

'Hello everyone. What I've been able to get out of Perry here,' Franks said acknowledging Perry with a wave of his hand, 'was rather interesting.' The General looked annoyed. 'Cut to the chase Franks, we don't have time for this.'

Franks looked a little hurt by the statement but continued speaking as if he was an expert on the subject matter.

'Well, Perry was able to remember quite a bit. He could recall what I believe was the birth of the species.' The three of them looked at each other in surprise. They then turned and looked at Perry. 'I believe these creatures did not evolve naturally.'

'Excuse me?', the General said.
'It is my belief that these creatures have been genetically engineered by an alien species far more intelligent then us.'

'The space jockey,' Presario said.
'What?', the General asked.
Franks answered for him. 'The space jockey that was in the derelict spacecraft on LV426.'

The General just nodded his head in recognition. 'What makes you so sure that they were genetically engineered?'
'Well, under hypnosis, I was able to get Perry to remember quite a lot. The first thing Perry remembers from the bugs is waking up in a lab. I think that was a pretty good indication that they were genetically engineered.'

'Ok. Do we know why they were engineered? I mean who engineers a creature like that?'
'Why do you think we've been trying to capture one for over two hundred years. It's the perfect bio-weapon.'

Look of realisation swept across all three faces. 'Of course,' Ryder said, 'you guys went after this thing because you wanted it for a weapon. What you didn't realise was that they already were a weapon. Engineered that way.'

'That's right,' Franks agreed. 'Look at their characteristics. Acid for blood, their ability to affect DNA and everything else we know about them. These creatures have been designed specifically for one purpose, to kill. I mean when you think about it, there's no way these things could have evolved naturally, they're just too perfect for their purpose.'

Presario spoke up, traces of fear in his voice. 'Do you know if these things were engineered to kill something specific?'

Franks said, 'I think they were designed to kill the humanoid predators we now have roaming around out there.'
'What makes you say that?'
'Because most of Perry's memories have to do with those creatures. It kinda makes sense if you think about it.'
'Perhaps you could enlighten us,' Ryder said sarcastically.

'Well look at their individual characteristics. The bugs can not be seen in infrared, these predators see in infrared. The bugs have acid for blood, the predators have a weapon that fuses and quarterises the wound minimising the spray of blood. The predators have a camouflage defence mechanism that somehow bends light making them virtually invisible, the bugs don' t have eyes that we know of so they don't rely on eyesight to locate their prey. The bugs have…' he was cut off by the General.

'Yeah ok we get it Franks. Ok now that we've established this, can someone tell me why they've decided to fight it out on our planet?'

'These space jockeys,' Presario said, 'were they at war with these predators? Is that why they created the bugs? To kill them?'
Franks answered. 'I don't know. Perrys memories couldn't tell me that. I think it's safe to assume that they were at war with each other.'

'Ok, so these predators have come here to kill the bugs.'
'But why?', the General insisted.
'They can't let the weapon that was designed to kill them survive. Whether it's here on Earth or on a derelict spacecraft they can't afford to let them live. These things are probably all over the universe. We've already found two sites for them, goodness knows how many more are out there.'

'The space jockeys couldn't control them,' Franks said. 'They made them too perfect. They fled their world as the bugs took over their planet, unfortunately taking a few with them.'
'That would explain how we came across them,' the General surmised.

The three of them sat there thinking. They were having a little trouble taking it all in.

The General leaned forward. 'Right, now can you tell me anything else, like how the fuck do we get them off our planet?'

Franks sadly shook his head. 'Unfortunately no. Perrys memories couldn't tell me anything like that.' The General swore. He had been hoping for a little miracle.

'What I can tell you is that there is another link in their breeding cycle.' The three of them looked surprised. 'What do you mean, another link?'

Franks looked a little scared. 'Another link. I call it the Queen Mother.' The General, his eyes closed, waved his finger no. 'Wait a minute. We already know about the Queen. She lays the eggs.'

'I didn't say Queen, I said Queen Mother.' Franks got up and went to the whiteboard behind him. 'Perhaps it's better if I illustrate,' he said picking up a whiteboard marker.

'According to Perrys memories, and from my own theories, I believe that the Queen Mother stage of the alien life cycle very rarely occurs.' He wrote on the top of the whiteboard in the centre two letters. QM.

'Now we know that the individual Queens control their drones. How, we don't know.' He wrote several Q's in a straight line, horizontally across the board. There was a space of about ten centimetres between them. He drew connecting lines from the letters QM, to the individual Q's.

'Let me ask you a question. How come we have never seen alien drones fighting amongst themselves.' Presario started to say something but was cut off by Franks. 'I'll tell you why. It's because they are all ultimately controlled by the one Queen. That being the Queen Mother.'

He wrote on the board D's all along the bottom. He did not space them out but rather had them scrunched up together. He then drew lines from the D's back to individual Q's.

QM

Q Q Q Q

D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

'The Queen Mother controls the Queens while the Queens control the drones. We would really only see a Queen Mother when there are multiple nests with multiple Queens in close vicinity to each other.'

Presario was trying to get as much information as he could. 'So this Queen Mother, does she lay eggs?'
'Ah, no I don't think so. She would probably share a nest with another Queen,' Franks answered. 'Would that mean then that she's mobile? The other Queens just sit in a nest all day and lay eggs.'

Franks shrugged. 'I guess that would be a fair assumption to make.' Ryder spoke up next. 'That would mean that we have another bug out there that is quite ferocious. The Queens themselves are far stronger then the drones. This Queen Mother would have to be at least as strong as a normal Queen.' The four of them sat silently, contemplating what they had just heard.

Perry who had been quiet throughout the entire proceedings spoke up for the first time. 'She's coming.' They all turned to look at him. He sat there with no emotion on his face.

'Who's coming?', Franks asked.
'Why don't you ask Golding?', Perry replied. Just then, Golding came bursting into the room. 'Sirs, I think you better come take a look at this,' she said before rushing out of the room again. They all jumped up and ran out after Golding, Ryder leaving her daughter's necklace on the table.

They raced into the command centre and what they saw scared Franks out of his mind. The bugs were attacking the base. Not just in ones or twos but in thousands. The marines were losing the battle even though they had the sophisticated technology that 'theoretically' should be able to deal with the threat.

'I want those dropships in the air,' the General commanded. One of the radio operators yelled across the room. 'We're trying sir but they've breached the outer defence. We throwing everything we've got at them and we're losing ground.'

Presario watched the chaos. It was now or never. He turned towards the General. 'Sir, we've got to go. It's all going to # here. We need to leave.' The General ignored him but kept yelling orders.

Presario stepped towards the General and grabbed his arm and spun him around. 'General!' Presario stood back. Fear. Fear was written in the eyes of the General. 'General!' Presario screamed again. He got a scared look from the General for a reply.

'God damn it. All right everyone,' Presario commanded attention by holding up his hands. Most people looked over at him to hear what he had to say. The ones that didn't were on radios. 'We're leaving. Do what you have to do and get to your evacuation points.'

The room started to clear out as the marines all understood the command. Leave or die. Presario turned towards Ryder. 'It's now or never.' They turned picked up rifles and helmets with radio mikes and took off through the hallways, the battle that was looming outside was getting closer and closer. Perry loped alongside them.

They were on their way to the ship they had rigged up. All of a sudden Ryder stopped running. 'Wait.' Presario and Perry turned back to face her, waiting to hear what she had to say. 'Rebecca's necklace. I can't leave without it,' Ryder said. Presario looked shocked. 'What! We don't have time for this.'

Ryder looked up at Presario. 'I will not leave without that necklace. It's the only thing I have left of her.' Presario stepped forward and grabbed Ryder's arm. He was scared she was going to go back for something as little as a necklace. 'Ryder god damn it, we've got to go now! That necklace is not Rebecca!'

Ryder stepped back away from him. 'David, I will not allow myself to leave without her necklace. Go on to the ship and get her ready. I'll catch you up.' And with that Ryder turned and ran back down the hallway.

Perry leaned forward and spoke to Presario. 'Let's go. She'll be alright, she can handle herself.'
'Yeah I noticed,' Presario whispered, watching Ryder's retreating back.