ALIEN: HARD-HEADS Chapter 10: SITUATION UNDER CONTROL, an aliens/predator fanfic

ALIEN: HARD-HEADS

Disclaimer: The ALIEN Franchise and all related characters wherein are the intellectual property of 20th Century Fox.

CHAPTER 10: SITUATION UNDER CONTROL

DATE: AUGUST 19th, 2137

TAROS STATION #04, MOON OF TAROS...

"Alright, we're going back up," Burns said angrily as she began leading Brown and Bowman through the corridors to the nearest elevator. There was a beep on her headset. "This is Burns," Burns said. "Burns, I have some very bad news," Hansen said over the headset.

"What is it?" Burns asked him. There was a moment of silence on the line. "Hansen? What's the bad news?" Burns asked again.

"I've lost the video feed from four different cameras on Level Three. I don't know if it's taking them out by accident or on purpose, but I can't track it properly now. Burns, you and the others need to get out of there now!"

Burns glanced around the hallways as Hansen continued speaking. "Hansen, is there a specific order in how the cameras are being taken out? Any areas of the station in particular?" Burns asked him.

"What? Uh, just hold on," Hansen replied over the headset. "Yeah, Section Three-A. Most of the cameras are going dark. Which section are you in right now?" Hansen asked in response. "We're in section-three-A," Burns replied as she gripped her shotgun.

"Burns, get out of there. Get out of there now!" Hansen urged. "Understood," Burns said as she furrowed her brows and glared at the corridor ahead of them, seeing the elevator doors with red lights above them. "Hansen, we're almost at elevator three-A-two. Can you unlock it for us?" Burns requested as the trio got closer to the elevator.

"Just give me a few seconds," Hansen replied over the headset. Burns, Brown, and Bowman quickly converged on the elevator, waiting for the doors to open. The light above the doors was still red when they arrived. "Hansen, we're still waiting," Burns said into the headset.

"It's unlocked," Hansen replied over the headset. Burns looked up at the red light above the doors. "Like hell it is. Hansen, the light is still red," Burns said as she pressed the button to retrieve the car. "It's unlocked, Burns. The light should be green," Hansen reiterated.

"Hansen... which elevator did you unlock?" Burns asked him. "Elevator three-A-three. That's the one you said you were heading toward," Hansen replied. Burns scrunched up her face in anger. "Dammit, Hansen! I said THREE-A-TWO! T-W-O!" Burns shouted into the headset in anger.

"Sorry! Just let me lock the other one before unlocking that one," Hansen replied over the headset. Just then, there was a beep on the motion tracker. All three of them glanced down at the device in Bowman's hands.

BEEP... ... ... BEEP... ... ... BEEP...

"Maybe we can lure it back to the garage? We can lure it back there and shoot it again," Brown suggested. "We're already at the elevator," Bowman protested as the motion tracker continued beeping.

BEEP... ... ... BEEP... ... ... BEEP...

The lights above the elevator doors soon changed from red to green. The elevator doors then slid open and the trio entered the car. Burns quickly pressed the button to close the door as the motion tracker's beeping continued.

BEEP... ... ... BEEP... ... BEEP...

BEEP... ... BEEP... ... BEEP...

BEEP... ... BEEP... BEEP...

Burns quickly selected level two before standing back from the doors. "Hansen, we're in. You can lock the elevator down once we're out," Burns said into the headset. "Understood. I'll be waiting for confirmation," Hansen said over the headset. The elevator began moving up with a ding, allowing the trio inside to collectively sigh in relief.

"Can anything else go wrong today?" Burns asked rhetorically, before the elevator stopped moving. Brown and Bowman both looked around before focusing their attention on her. "Uh, Burns? Please tell me that we've arrived on level two already," Bowman requested. Burns looked at the floor indicator on the elevator. The light for level three was still lit. "Uh, no," Burns finally said.

"Hansen, this is Burns. Something's wrong with the elevator," she said into the headset. "I know. I'm getting an error message on the screen. I'm working on fixing the problem," Hansen replied over the headset. "Okay," Burns said as she leaned back against the wall.

A few minutes passed before Hansen spoke through the headset again. "Burns, I've figured out how to fix the problem remotely. Unfortunately, I don't think you're gonna like it," Hansen said. "Okay, why's that?" Burns asked him. "I have to make the elevator go back down, open the doors completely, and then close them again. Something didn't catch when the doors closed on level three, and one of the fail-safes went off," Hansen explained.

A false smile appeared on Burns' lips as she inhaled and then exhaled. "Is that so?" she asked with restrained anger. "Uh, yes. Look, the elevator stopped halfway between levels three and two. I can't remotely take it up any further to let you out. It has to go back down to three in order to be fixed. I'm sorry," Hansen said over the headset.

"Hansen, the door below us is still locked, right?" Burns asked him. "Negative. Until I send the elevator car back down and open the doors and close them, the doors on level three are gonna be unlocked. All of the doors connected to that elevator are currently unlocked right now. It's part of the fail-safe to allow maintenance workers manual access," Hansen replied.

"Shit," Burns swore in frustration. "Okay, we're gonna find a way to open the doors from inside and crawl out onto level two," she said into the headset. "I don't know if that'll work, Burns. Are you guys armed?" Hansen asked her. Burns glanced down at the shotgun in her hands before looking at Bowman and Brown, each holding a long-arm taser and a shotgun, respectively. "Yeah, we're armed," Burns replied.

"Then just hold tight while I send the elevator back down and open the doors. The only way to fix this is to open the doors completely and then close them before sending the elevator car back up to level two," Hansen explained. "That's no good. That thing could be waiting right outside the doors for us," Burns replied.

"I'm sorry, but that's the only safe solution. Opening those doors while the elevator is stuck between two levels isn't a sound option unless you've got something to hold them in place while you crawl through. Even then, the doors could still try to close themselves automatically if you activate further fail-safes by accident," Hansen warned over the headset.

"Give us ten minutes, and then we'll go with the remote procedure," Burns said. She'd seen how quickly the alien had moved in the maintenance garage. Despite wanting to kill it, she knew that the elevator was not the place to do so.

"Alright. Ten minutes. But you'd better be out of the elevator by then, or you're gonna be inside when I send the car back down," Hansen said firmly. "I know. Just give us ten minutes to try to get out of here, and then you can do what you have to do," Burns responded.

"Understood. I'll contact you when the ten minutes are up. Good luck," Hansen replied, reluctantly agreeing to allow Burns to proceed with her plan. Burns nodded her head and tapped her headset. "Thanks. Burns out."

Burns then looked around the room for something to pry the elevator doors open. "Okay, we need a crowbar or something," she said. "We're actually going to try crawling out of here? what if the doors close on us?" Bowman asked her.

"Bowman, do you want to be in here when Hansen sends the elevator back down?" Burns asked him. Bowman shook his head in response. "No. I really don't," he said negatively.

"Brown, can you help me open the doors manually?" Burns asked the new head of security. Brown nodded his head and set his shotgun down, leaning it against a corner. "Bowman, keep an eye on that motion tracker," Burns said as she glanced at the man. Bowman nodded his head in response.

Browsing the buttons on the control panel next to the doors, Burns searched for a manual release for the doors. "Come on, where are you?" she muttered as she went down row by row. "Come on... there you are!" Burns exclaimed with a grin as she pressed and held the button in for three seconds.

There was a clicking noise as the interior elevator doors parted ever so slightly. "We're in business. Brown help me push these open," Burns said. Brown quickly helped Burns to pry the doors open, inch by inch. The motion tracker soon began to beep, and both of them paused their actions.

"That... was the door, right?" Burns asked as she glanced over at Bowman. Bowman looked up at her and held his hand in the air. "Just wait a second," he said. The trio became quiet as they waited for another beep, but the device remained silent.

"It was just the door," Bowman said with a relieved sigh. Burns and Brown both resumed prying the doors open. Eventually, they were able to open them to the point that Brown was able to fit himself between the doors and press himself against one in order to push the other with his legs, revealing the thick floor and outer doors ahead of them, as well as the outer doors beneath them on level 03, which were partially opened.

There was more space opened for level 03 than for level 02. Glancing back up at the doors of level 02, Brown and Burns resumed their attempt to open them. "Hansen, this is Burns. We've gotten the inner elevator doors opened. How much time do we have left?" Burns asked into the headset.

"You've got three minutes left on the timer. If you can get the doors open in that time, I'll give you the time you need to get out, but if you can't, then you gotta close them and let me do the proper procedure," Hansen replied over the headset. Burns nodded her head in understanding.

"Three minutes. Got it," Burns said before turning to look back at Bowman and Brown. "We got three-" "We heard you," Brown said. "Come on," he added as he moved to begin trying to pry open the outer doors on level 02.

The motion tracker beeped.

Glancing back over at Bowman, whose eyes were glued to the screen, Brown and Burns waited until they heard another beep, and another... and another. Bowman glanced up at them in concern. "Guys? Get that door open," Bowman said as he reached up to remove the rubber cap from the tip of the taser. He then angled it and held it so that it was aimed at the opened doors on level 03.

BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...

As Burns and Brown both struggled to pry open the doors, Bowman held the taser steady, waiting with baited breath as the small white dot on the tracker moved closer to their position. He gulped as he glanced between the tracker and the crack in the doors, waiting to jab the taser at whatever moved into his line of sight.

BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...

"Come on, get it open!" Burns grunted as she and Brown continued their attempt to open the doors. Unfortunately, the doors were shut tight. "I thought Hansen said these doors were unlocked," Burns muttered. "That doesn't mean they're gonna open for us," Brown retorted as he tried to pry the doors open.

BEEP... BEEP... BEEP...

Bowman took his eyes away from the doors on level 03 for only a second, but when he returned his gaze to them, he saw it. The alien was standing there, motionless and silent. "It's here," Bowman said fearfully as he gripped the taser tightly.

The alien tilted its head up before parting its lips to reveal its teeth in a horrific smile. It then placed both of its hands between the two level 03 doors and began to part them, moving its head forward as drool dripped from its lips. "Get back!" Bowman yelled before jabbing the taser forward and hitting the alien in the head. This time the prongs made contact with it and produced a zap, startling the beast before it let go of the doors with a shriek and backed away.

Burns and Brown both stepped over to the side to avoid touching the taser as they heard the commotion. "Burns, this is Hansen. I'm sorry, but time's up. Do you have the doors open?" Hansen asked over the headset. "N-Negative. We couldn't open them," Burns replied as she walked over and grabbed her shotgun from the floor. Brown grabbed his as well.

"I'm sorry, Burns, but this is the only way to reset that elevator. I have to close the inner doors by remote and send it back down to level three. I'm sorry. I wish there were another way," Hansen said apologetically. Burns backed up against the wall of the elevator and held her shotgun tightly, aiming it at the doorway. "I know. Just... just do it. Get it over with already," Burns said worriedly into the headset.

There was a loud ding from a speaker and the elevator's inner doors began to slide shut. The elevator car then began to descend slowly before coming to a stop at the bottom of level 03. Burns, Bowman, and Brown all held their weapons at the ready as they waited for the doors to open.

There was a ding as the elevator doors began to slide open. Their hearts pounded away in fear and anticipation as the doors continued opening, soon parting all the way to reveal... an empty hallway. Everyone blinked in confusion, relief, and trepidation.

"W-Where is it?" Burns asked quietly as she scanned the hallway. Bowman glanced down at the motion tracker. There was no movement around them. The only noise it produced was its faint pulsing hum.

"Hansen? Can you close the doors now?" Burns asked through her headset. "I just gotta wait a few more seconds. Then you guys will be home free," Hansen replied over the headset. Burns nodded her head. They only had to wait a few more seconds until they would be safe again.

"Okay, the elevator's been reset. One of you just needs to close the doors and select a floor," Hansen said over the headset. Burns let out a sigh of relief as she slowly edged over to the control panel and hit the button for the second floor. Just as the doors began to close, the motion tracker beeped.

Burns looked up just in time to see two six-fingered hands reach into the doorway and grab both doors to halt their progress. "Son of a bitch!" she yelled as she aimed her shotgun at Yellow Bill and fired. The rubber bullet slammed into the alien before bouncing back and hitting Burns in her left leg, causing her to hiss in pain before stumbling back against the wall and sliding to the floor. Bowman quickly rushed to her side and pulled her back away from the doors.

Yellow Bill quickly stepped forward into the elevator car, only for Brown to rush it and slam into it, stunning it briefly as it was pushed back, falling over onto the hallway floor with Brown on top of it. Brown quickly got up and ran back into the elevator as the doors resumed closing, only to yell out as Yellow Bill grabbed his left leg, tripping him. "Brown!" Burns called out worriedly.

Brown quickly crawled forward, getting his torso into the elevator, expecting the doors' sensors to stop them after detecting him. He breathed in relief as the doors stopped in their tracks. Behind him, Yellow Bill stood up and walked over Brown before grabbing the doors and pulling them open. Brown glanced up at the alien in confusion before Yellow Bill looked back down at him and curled its lips into a cruel smile. Yellow Bill then pulled the doors back inward, slamming them into Brown's sides and causing him to scream in pain before the alien pushed the doors open again and repeated the action.

Bowman quickly let go of Burns before grabbing his taser and jabbing it forward. Yellow Bill shrieked in surprise and anger as it was shocked by the device, before it lashed out and grabbed the taser, pulling it from Bowman's hands with great force. Bowman fell forward as Yellow Bill pulled the taser out of his hands and tossed it in to the hallway behind it.

Bowman quickly crawled over to Brown's side in an attempt to pull him into the elevator, only for Yellow Bill to backhand him. Bowman cried out as he rolled onto the floor, holding his face in pain. Meanwhile, Burns quickly tried to move forward to help Brown, hissing in pain each time she put pressure on her leg, only for Yellow Bill to notice her as well. Yellow Bill hissed at her, only for Burns to keep moving forward. Curling its lips, Yellow Bill reared its head back before opening its mouth with a gurgling noise and spitting drool into Burns's face, surprising her and causing her to stumble back.

Brown quickly tried to pull himself forward while the alien was distracted, only to cry out again as he felt the doors slam into his sides with tremendous force. He felt intense pain shooting outward from his midsection, and he soon felt copper in his mouth as the alien repeated the action a third time. Yellow Bill kicked Brown onto his side after opening the doors again, and then it slammed the doors into him a fourth time, breaking Brown's spine and cutting into his gut.

Brown coughed out blood and screamed in pain before Yellow Bill pushed the doors open and knelt down to grab him, pulling him out of the elevator as the doors finally resumed closing shut. Burns and Bowman listened helplessly as Brown screamed in terror from beyond the door, before his cries were cut short after a faint but sickening wet crunch was heard. The elevator soon began to ascend.

THE INFIRMARY, LEVEL 02...

"Well, it's nothing permanent," Elliot said as he examined the CAT-scan of Burns' injured leg on a nearby screen. Meanwhile, sitting on a chair nearby, Bowman sported an adhesive medical strip across his nose. Garfield was standing nearby, leaning back against the wall. Hansen was still in the security center, and everyone else had regrouped in the recreation room.

Burns let out a sigh. "There's a little bit of inflammation and swelling of the tissue, but nothing that can't be taken care of with an ice pack and some heating gel. Thankfully, your bones are intact. No fractures to be found," Elliot continued. Burns simply nodded her head quietly.

"Now," Elliot began, "I need to know more about what happened. Talk to me, Burns. What happened down there?" Burns looked Elliot in the eyes before letting out another sigh.

"It... it just... it's smarter than we thought," Burns finally said. "How did Brooks die?" Elliot asked her. "Kendricks... he shot him by accident. They were supposed to take turns. Brooks was supposed to shock the bastard and then duck behind a crate. Kendricks would rise up and shoot it before ducking for safety, and then Brown would get up and shoot it too," Burns explained.

"The alien... it got out of the way when Kendricks was about to shoot. It just... it happened so fast," Burns said, remembering how quickly things had gotten out of hand in the maintenance garage. "We should've gone with the airlock plan," Elliot said bluntly. Burns glared at him in response.

"The only person who would've gotten hurt would've been me," the droid added. Burns snorted in response. "This thing isn't a simple animal, Elliot. It waited for us to open the doors and close them. It grabbed the doors and deliberately slammed them into Brown! It knew what it was doing!" Burns snapped.

"Could Sergeant Brown still be alive?" Garfield asked from where he was standing. "No. Not after what it did to him," Burns replied tiredly. The adrenaline was almost out of her system and she was beginning to feel exhausted, physically and emotionally.

"So, what do we do now?" Garfield asked. Elliot looked over at him with a curious expression on his face. "Well, Garfield, perhaps you would like to come up with an idea of your own? I mean, surely a company executive such as yourself must have some brains in that head," Elliot responded.

Garfield narrowed his eyes at Elliot. "Okay, give me a minute to think of something," Garfield said carefully before looking down at the floor. A minute later, Garfield lifted his head up to look at Elliot again. "Alright, have we tried using fire against it?" he asked.

"Fire? Like... setting it on fire?" Bowman asked him curiously. "Sure, why not?" Garfield replied. "And what would we use? This is a mining facility," Elliot stated. "We don't exactly have the luxury of being on a colony with limitless air," the droid added.

"He's right," Burns chimed in. "We have a lot of gas canisters and other flammable substances in this place. If we aren't careful, we could end up blowing ourselves up. Setting the alien on fire could be just as dangerous as letting it roam free," she added. Garfield rolled his eyes in response. "Right, because running around with shotguns isn't dangerous," he said sarcastically.

"At least shotguns won't burn up our air supply," Burns countered. "No, but they can blow up canisters of compressed gas, not to mention they've already caused the death of one of our-I mean, your own," Garfield shot back. "That was an accident," Burns retorted hotly.

"Okay, both of you need to calm down," Bowman said as he got up and walked over to stand between Garfield and Burns. "Look, we're all under a lot of pressure, and... um... look, things are bad, but if we let ourselves get... riled up, then we'll just end up getting ourselves killed," Bowman said, improvising half of his statement on the fly. Garfield and Burns both looked at him skeptically. "Bowman? Please think before opening your mouth. You'll sound a lot more convincing in the future," Garfield said.

Running his hand through his hair, Elliot let out a breath. "Okay. Garfield, do you know anything that could help us?" Elliot asked. "Like what?" Garfield asked him in return. "Anything at all. Have there ever been any reports of encounters with other life forms encountered by Weyland-Yutani personnel at some point?" Elliot asked him.

Garfield raised an eyebrow at Elliot curiously. "Well... we've occasionally found remains and artifacts near sights with Engineer technology," Garfield admitted vaguely. "Engineer?" Burns asked him. "It's... what we call the beings who made various ships and structures that we've discovered and reverse engineered," Garfield explained.

"Is that ship in the mine an Engineer ship?" Elliot asked him. Garfield closed his eyes with a sigh. "Yes. Yes, it's an Engineer vessel. Juggernaut class," Garfield admitted hesitantly, knowing that he was violating company policy by discussing this information with unauthorized personnel.

"What about the alien? Have other organisms like it been found before?" Burns asked him pointedly. Garfield looked away and bit his lower lip. "Well? Garfield?" Burns asked him again, more aggressively this time. Garfield looked away and saw Bowman glaring at him.

"What are you hiding?" Bowman asked him. Garfield looked away from Bowman and back over at Burns and Elliot, both of whom were looking at him expectantly. "Dammit," Garfield muttered in frustration.

"Okay, I'll tell you what I know. But first, let's make sure that everyone is around to hear it. I don't wanna go over this twice," Garfield said. "I'll also need to get my laptop from the guest quarters. It has company files on it regarding the... organism," Garfield said.

Burns and Elliot glanced at each other before looking back at Garfield. "Alright. But I'm going with you," Elliot said. "Bowman, please escort Burns to either the recreation room or the operations center," he added as he shot a glance at Bowman. Bowman nodded his head in agreement.

"Can I have one of those ice packs or some temperature gel packs?" Burns asked the droid. "Oh, right. Just hold on," Elliot said as he walked over to a medical cabinet and retrieved a thermal gel pack, before going over to a small fridge and pulling out an ice pack from the freezer portion. He quickly strapped the gel packs around Burns's leg and gave her a crutch to help her walk before Bowman walked over and let her put an arm around him for balance.

The duo soon made their way out of the infirmary, before Elliot glared at Garfield and quietly marched over to him. "Garfield? How much information is on your laptop that you don't already know?" Elliot asked him. Garfield raised an eyebrow.

"Does it matter?" Garfield asked the droid. Elliot frowned and then shot his arms forward, grabbing Garfield by his shirt and hoisting him into the air, slamming him back up against the wall. "Yes, it fucking matters!" Elliot hissed into Garfield's face. "If you know anything, anything at all, that could have saved the others, you'd better hope it isn't on that laptop when you show us the files, because I swear I will break your fucking neck if I find out that you deliberately withheld vital information from us," Elliot added threateningly.

"Understand?" Elliot asked the man. Garfield nodded his head before Elliot let go of him. With shaky breaths, Garfield watched Elliot walked away with nervous eyes, before the droid glanced back at him. "Come on. We need to get your laptop."

THE OPERATIONS CENTER...

Gently placing his laptop on the flat metal table near the printer, Garfield pressed the power button and waited for the machine to boot up. He checked the charger and power cord before setting them on the empty space next to the laptop. Everyone had been called into the room, with the exception of Hansen. Hansen had elected to stay in the security center to monitor the remaining security cameras on level 03. He did, however, have the security systems set up so that he could listen in on what was being discussed in the operations center, along with a walkie-talkie system. One walkie-talkie was with him, and the other was in the operations center, as a precaution in case something were to happen to the intercom system.

Burns was sitting in a chair nearby, while Bowman was standing next to her. Everyone else was sitting in a chair or standing up around Garfield. "Okay, what are we here for again?" Rains asked curiously as Garfield's laptop finished booting up.

"Mister Garfield is going to tell us everything he knows about the alien," Elliot explained. "Um, what?" Milo asked in confusion. Burns glanced over at him. "He already knew about the creature before Eastman was attacked. He knew what would happen the whole time that thing was on Eastman's face, but he kept his mouth shut," Burns said coldly with a frown.

"You son of a bitch!" Torres spat angrily. "You knew the whole time!?" she yelled as she marched over and tried to attack Garfield. Rains quickly jogged over and pulled her back.

"Just... just hear me out!" Garfield pleaded as he accessed the hidden folder on the laptop's hard drive. "There we go," he said as he clicked on a folder that was labeled 'DEFINITELY NOT PORN'. Inside the folder were several other folders. Clicking on the one with three X's on it, Garfield opened the folder and clicked on another folder inside titled 'LIFE CYCLE'.

"Alright. Here we go," Garfield said nervously as he glanced around at the remaining administrative staff and lone miner that surrounded him. He clicked on the first file inside the LIFE CYCLE folder and opened it using a word processing program. "The alien is... it's called a Xenomorph," he said, trying to look anywhere but the faces of the people around him.

"Xeno...morph?" Green asked him. Garfield nodded his head with a sigh. "Yes. It's a Greek word meaning strange form. The official designation of the species is... Xenomorph XX-121," Garfield admitted reluctantly.

"And you knew that those things were in that ship before we even went inside, didn't you?" Green asked him. "I... suspected that there could be some Xenomorph presence inside, but I had no way of confirming it," Garfield said. "At least... not until Eastman was attacked," he added.

"Why didn't you warn us?" Burns asked him. Garfield scoffed in response. "Warn you? Please, like you people would've believed me," he said. "Well, what about Bowman? Why didn't he say anything?" Elliot asked him. "Hey, wait a minute!" Bowman protested.

"Bowman doesn't know shit," Garfield stated, glaring at Elliot. "What do you mean he doesn't know?" Elliot asked him suspiciously. "He's not high enough on the company ladder," Garfield explained simply.

"Alright, that's enough. I think it's time we returned our focus to the alien," Burns insisted as she glanced at the screen of the laptop. "How do we kill it? What are its weaknesses?" she asked Garfield.

"Your plan to attack it in the maintenance garage would've worked if the Xenomorph hadn't escaped," Garfield replied. "So, conventional weaponry can kill it?" Burns asked him, for clarification. "Yes. But its blood makes that sort of solution very dangerous in an environment like this station," Garfield admitted.

"We already knew about its blood, Garfield. Are there any other weaknesses? How many times have these things been encountered in the past? How have others killed these things?" Burns asked him again. Garfield sighed and looked Burns in the eyes. "Fire seems to work rather well at deterring the Xenomorph, but since you've made it rather clear that using fire in this place is a bad idea, we obviously can't go that route," Garfield said.

"What about the airlock? Would it suffocate to death in space?" Elliot asked him. Garfield glanced over at the droid thoughtfully. "Well... according to most reports, no one's ever observed one after shooting it into space, so there's no data to confirm that. It could just as easily survive in a vacuum as it could die in one. I honestly don't know," Garfield said gloomily.

He noticed that everyone was looking at him skeptically. "Don't believe me? Look at files on the computer," he said, pointing at the laptop. Elliot walked over and accessed the device, minimizing the window with the life cycle report and opening one of the encounter reports. He slowly began scrolling through all of the reports, listening as Garfield continued answering everyone's questions.

"Garfield, just how smart are these things?" Burns asked Garfield. "It varies from specimen to specimen. Nearly all encounters have been different from each other and under different circumstances. We've never been able to capture a live one, however, so we've never been able to study one in captivity. All documented encounters make it clear that contact with the organism has always been done without prior knowledge of the creatures' existence. The company likes to keep this kind of information quiet and locked away from those without clearance," Garfield explained.

"Well, we don't have clearance, but you're sharing this info with us," Green pointed out. "Yes, because there's no point in hiding anything anymore. Of course, if someone hadn't left the damn doors to the medical lab open, we could've killed this thing before it got larger," Garfield said angrily as he glared at Bowman.

"Hey, screw you, Garfield! I already said I was sorry! I didn't know what was going on! And I sure as hell didn't know anything about this xeno-whatsit or its lightning fast growth rate before now either," Bowman retorted angrily. "Cool it! Both of you," Burns snapped.

"Now, just how smart is this thing?" Burns asked him again. Garfield sighed and ruffled his hair with one hand. "I don't know. I already told you that it varies. Some specimens have shown to use stealthy hunting tactics and small displays of minor intelligence, while others have been reported as being totally animalistic, with no sense of strategy or displays of intelligent behavior of any kind," Garfield said.

"I mean, you yourself have already observed this thing opening and closing doors, right?" Garfield asked Burns. Burns quietly nodded her head in response. "And we know that it understands how to open the hatches in the maintenance shafts. So, I'd say that the Xenomorph we're dealing with right now is pretty damn smart," Garfield concluded.

"Do they all look the same?" Green asked him. "I mean, when this thing entered the mining lobby, I saw a smooth-looking dome or covering on its head, with no eyes. The fossil inside the ship had a ridged head. What's up with that?" Green asked him.

"I don't know. Like I said, every recorded encounter has been different. Some of these things have been recorded as being alive for nearly a week before being killed, while others have been alive for only a day before being killed. We've never been able to capture one and study it in captivity," Garfield replied.

"Are you sure about that?" Burns asked him suspiciously. "To my personal knowledge? Yes, I am personally unaware of any incidents where these things have been studied in captivity for any extensive period of time. And I don't think that someone taking notes on another person being locked in an infirmary with a facehugger attached to them counts as being studied in captivity either," Garfield replied.

"What about its reproduction? We know that these things come from eggs, but where do the eggs come from?" Burns asked him. Garfield inhaled before looking her in the eyes. "I've never seen any reports that actually indicate the source of the eggs found in each encounter. However, inside that ship, you guys saw what looked like an Engineer being cocooned or something on the wall of that room, right?" Garfield asked her.

"Yeah. One of them was cocooned as though they were stuck in some kind of webbing or resin, but the other one... looked like it was mostly inside of an egg, or a partially... developed one," Burns said in realization. "That's how it reproduces," she concluded in horror.

"Whoever it kills gets turned into an egg, and whoever it captures alive... gets to be the host for whatever comes out of the egg," she said. "Well, congratulations. You've just won a prize," Garfield said sarcastically.

"Where do they come from?" Milo asked him. "Huh?" Garfield asked in response, caught off guard. "The... xeno...morphs? Where do they come from?" Milo asked again. "Didn't we just figure that out?" Rains asked, having paid attention to Burns and Garfield. "That's not what I mean. I mean, where do these things come from? Are they a science experiment, or some natural thing taken from their home planet somewhere?" Milo clarified.

"I don't know," Garfield said. "They're an extremely old species; I can tell you that much. But even though we usually only find them near Engineer structures or vessels, we still don't know if they were something that the Engineers created themselves or if the Xenomorph is a natural life form that the Engineers found somewhere. It could be both, for all we know," Garfield replied.

"Both?" Torres asked him. "Sure. I mean, they could be an animal that the Engineers found on some distant planet and then modified through genetic engineering. But, like I said, I don't know. No one really knows," Garfield said with a snort. "At least, no one currently alive," he added as an afterthought.

THE SECURITY CENTER

Mick Hansen listened to the discussion being held in the operations center on one of the cameras. He quickly glanced back over at the set of monitors displaying the video feed for Level 03, and saw that another one had gone dark, with an error message on the screen. Checking the camera next on the line in that area, Hansen saw the biomechanical monstrosity that was the alien as it approached the camera.

The creature was crawling on the wall as it approached the camera in a slow and methodical fashion. Hansen watched in both fascination and fear as the creature moved closer to the camera, before reaching a six-fingered hand forward and grabbing at the device. The creature's hand covered the screen. The hand soon moved away and the creature's face was now in front of it. The footage soon became jerky as the creature did something with its hand behind the camera, and then Hansen saw the screen go dark before an error message was displayed.

Hansen slowly shook his head in disbelief as he realized what was happening. "No. This is not good. This is not good at all," he muttered before he grabbed a radio sitting on the table behind him.

BACK IN THE OPERATIONS CENTER...

"Guys?" Hansen asked over the walkie-talkie on the table. "Yes, Hansen. What is it?" Burns asked as she grabbed the hand-held radio. "I'm starting to lose more cameras on level three," Hansen reported.

"Are you sure?" Burns asked him incredulously. "Look, I'm positive. The alien is taking them out one by one. We're not gonna have any video on that floor soon. Either you guys need to come up with a plan to kill it before it gets all of the cameras, or you're gonna have to find another way to get into that level, because without any cameras watching the elevators, I won't be able to tell which ones it's waiting at," Hansen replied.

"Hansen, this is Burns. Just keep monitoring the cameras and keep us updated. We're gonna start working on another plan soon. We'll keep you posted. Burns out," Burns said into the walkie-talkie before setting it down on the table.

"Understood, Burns. But you'd better hurry. At the rate this thing is going, we're gonna be blind on Level Three in less than an hour. Hansen out," Hansen said over the walkie-talkie.

"Shit!" Burns then hissed angrily. "We should've stayed down there when we had the chance," she added bitterly. "W-What?" Bowman asked her incredulously. "We should have... stay-are you out of your fucking mind!? I mean, have you already forgotten what happened to Brown!?" he asked her.

"Bowman, if we had stayed down there, then we wouldn't have to worry about this thing waiting in front of an elevator without cameras to watch for it. Now it could be waiting outside of any of them and we'd have no idea when we go back down," Burns explained. Elliot and Garfield both silently nodded their heads in agreement with Burns' statement, while everyone else was rather... skeptical.

"This is horse shit," Milo muttered under his breath.

"Amen," Rains said in agreement.

"Hold on. What do you mean 'when we go back down'?" Green asked her. Burns looked at him sternly. "We have to go back down there at some point. We have to kill it," Burns replied.

"Burns, come on! Haven't we lost enough people already!?" Torres asked her. "If we don't kill it, then we're going to lose a lot more," Burns retorted firmly, glaring at Torres. "Burns, we can't keep trying the same plan over and over again," Elliot said.

"Well I don't hear anyone else coming up with a better idea," Burns said. "Uh, okay," Martin said, "I have an idea." Everyone turned to look at Martin. "Alright, let's hear it," Burns said.

"I say we call for military support. There's a military base posted on the colony of Dalia, full of Marines or Army personnel. We call them to come up here and help, and we just stay out of the way," Martin said. "No one else needs to die. Let the military handle this," Martin continued.

"Okay, but what do we do in the meantime?" Burns asked him. "What do you mean? It's trapped down there on Level Three. As long as we keep the elevators locked down and the dead bolt in the maintenance shaft is left in place, we're fine. We can just wait it out," Martin replied.

"And what about when the rest of the miners return from Dalia? What if the military doesn't get here before they do? They're going to dock on Level Three, Martin. That's where the docking pad is located. That's where the secondary shuttle is going to dock when they return," Burns pointed out. "They have no idea what's going on, and that thing will tear into them the moment those bay doors are sealed," Burns said.

"We can't let it roam free. We have to kill it," Burns stated firmly. "Alright, we have to kill it. But can't we at least get some better weaponry in here first? Can't we call the military?" Martin asked her in response.

"Please, like they'll believe us," Garfield muttered. "Show them the data on this computer and they might," Elliot said. Garfield turned to look at him incredulously. "That's not public information, Elliot! That shit is classified!" Garfield protested. "Then why the hell did you share it with us!?" Rains asked him.

"Because you already know about the damn thing! Besides, if we tell the military, then they'll try to contact someone else working for the company. This information isn't shared freely, not even among our own employees! There won't be anyone to vouch for this, and anyone who does know will keep their mouth shut about it," Garfield explained.

"You know, considering how catastrophic each recorded encounter has been, I'm surprised that Weyland-Yutani isn't more cautious when sending people out to investigate Engineer technology, especially since, as you've said, where there's Engineer tech, there tend to be xenomorphs," Elliot said. "I don't quite think you understand the stupidity generated by corporate greed," Garfield said condescendingly. "Right, well since you're such an expert on stupidity and corporate greed, why don't you explain it to us?" Elliot suggested in response, smirking at Garfield.

"Oh, wait. I think we already have a perfect demonstration of it right here and now," Elliot spat as he glared at Garfield. "Yeah, and even if I hadn't insisted on checking out the interior of the ship, someone would've found the eggs eventually," Garfield retorted. "A Xenomorph was going to be born from that ship at some point, Elliot! An incident was going to occur after this ship's discovery, no matter how long it took," Garfield added.

"Then your knowledge on this matter should allow you to come up with a plan to defeat this particular Xenomorph," Elliot replied. "Well... I think we've already gone over this," Garfield said. "Yes, we have. So, our options are to either stay holed up on levels two and one, tell the other shuttle to turn around, or find some way to kill this creature before time runs out," Elliot said.

"That sounds about right," Burns chimed in. "So, given what we've seen from inside that ship, we know that this thing will probably cocoon some of its victims while transforming others into eggs to create more parasites, right?" she said, glancing at Garfield and Elliot. "Well, the thing is that no one has ever really bothered to find out just where the eggs come from in prior encounters," Garfield admitted.

"But we just figured it out, didn't we?" Burns asked him. "Maybe for this particular breed. I mean, all previous Xenomorph specimens have been described as sharing a dark singular color scheme, like gray or dark brown, or black. This one... Green, you said that it was black with yellow stripes, right?" Garfield asked the sole remaining miner. "Uh, yeah. Like a giant bee or something," Green replied.

"That's never been described before," Garfield stated. "And Burns, you've already told us about the behavior it displayed earlier, right?" Garfield asked the woman. "Yeah. It waited until we had begun closing the doors on the elevator before moving in on us, and Brown... it wasn't a wild animal. A wild animal doesn't know how to open and close doors. And a wild animal definitely doesn't grab doors and repeatedly slam them into someone's sides like that," Burns said somberly.

"And now we have Hansen telling us that it's deliberately going after the security cameras on that level," Bowman said, adding his two cents. "So... if we try to kill it again, we can't use the elevators. It could easily wait outside any one of them and ambush us," Garfield said.

"I'm pretty sure I already made that clear a few minutes ago," Burns said pointedly. "Right," Garfield said in acknowledgement, nodding his head. "So, what do we do?" Green asked them.

"To hell with it," Martin said. "Let's just grab the other shuttle or get in the tractor and make our way to Station Five," he continued. "I'll send a message to the other shuttle and tell them set down at Station Five and then we can let the military handle this," Martin said.

"John, the shuttle is still docked in the maintenance garage," Burns said. "What about the tractor?" he asked her in response. "It's in the vehicle garage. Both of those garages are on level three... where the alien is roaming around," Burns said.

"Oh... right," Martin said, hanging his head in defeat. "Well, what else can we do?" Torres asked. "I mean, we can't keep fighting this thing. Every time we try to go after it, people keep dying. We've already lost eight people. We can't fight it any longer. We outnumber it right now, but if we keep proceeding with a futile plan, we're all gonna die," Torres said.

"Anna, you heard Burns. The shuttle and the tractor are both down on level three. We can't get to either of them without the risk of running into that thing," Rains said. "Well, we can call someone for help!" Torres replied. "We can call someone from Station Five to send some more security officers. They have a Colonial Marshal over there. They can send him and some other officers over here with guns and they can help us take care of this thing," Torres suggested.

"Wait... Martin, can you call the USCSS Benthic?" Garfield asked. "Who?" Elliot asked him. "The Benthic. That's the ship that brought us here. It should still be docked with the Malvo supply station," Garfield said.

"Do they have weapons that we can use against this thing?" Torres asked him. "I don't think so, but we can call them to land outside of the station. We can put on some pressure suits and leave through an airlock to go meet up with them," Garfield said eagerly.

"An airlock... Garfield, you've just given me an idea," Burns said. Garfield looked at Burns quizzically. "I... what?" he asked her, confused. "That's how we'll re-enter level three. We'll exit an airlock on this level and then we'll enter from the E-Section airlock on level three," Burns explained.

"You... You're still trying to kill that thing?" Milo asked her incredulously. "Guys, if this thing has cocooned people and is turning others into eggs, then we need to find them. If we don't find its nest, then we're gonna have more of these things running around. We can't abandon the station yet," Burns said firmly. "We have to kill the alien and destroy its nest. If Marcus and the others are still alive, then we can rescue them. And... we'll have to destroy the others if they've begun turning into eggs," she added.

"Burns, that's suicide," Milo protested. "No, she's right," Rains said. "If this thing can reproduce by turning its victims into eggs for more parasites, then the people that it's captured are gonna end up just like Eastman, and we'll have more aliens running around. We have to find this thing's nest and destroy any developing eggs, in addition to killing the fucker itself," Rains said.

Rains glanced over at Burns, who nodded her head at him gratefully. "If we wait around and do nothing, then we're gonna have more aliens to deal with eventually. If we run away, then someone else, someone with no knowledge of this creature and its abilities, will have to deal with it," Burns said. "We have to kill it and destroy its nest," she reiterated.

"What about the ship? Even if we kill the alien and destroy whatever nest it's set up in the station, that ship still has dozens of eggs in it. What do we do about those?" Elliot asked.

"We take whatever weapons we can find and we destroy them. We destroy each and every egg we can find in that ship," Burns said firmly. "So, the first order of business is killing the alien. We'll proceed with the original plan to lure it into the maintenance garage, where we'll kill it with shotguns loaded with metal slugs," Burns said.

"Burns, we've already tried that and it didn't work! You said yourself that this thing is smarter than we expected. What if it remembers what happened the last time it went in there and just turns around?" Milo asked her.

"We'll have somebody waiting to push it into the garage. If it tries to back away, two people will flank it from both sides, using tasers, and force it into the garage," Burns replied. Bowman coughed to get her attention. "Uh, Burns? This thing has a tendency to grab our tasers and play tug-of-war. That may not work," Bowman said.

"Well it's what I've got," Burns retorted.

Everyone was silent for the next few minutes as they thought about Burns' plan. "Alright," Elliot said. "Let's do it."

"You actually wanna go through with this suicide mission!?" Torres asked him in disbelief. Elliot turned to look at her. "Burns is right. We have to kill this thing and destroy its nest. Otherwise, this thing will spread, and more people will die," Elliot said.

"Okay, so, who wants to be the one to lure the alien into the maintenance garage?" Milo asked nervously. "I'll do it again," Burns said. "No," Garfield objected.

"Excuse me?" Burns asked him.

"I said no, Burns. You won't be able to outrun this thing with your leg injury," Garfield pointed out to her. "Well then who else is gonna do it?" Burns asked him snappily.

"Considering how dangerous this plan is, I'll do it in your stead," Elliot said.

"No. I'll do it," Garfield said in objection once more. Everyone turned to look at him, surprised that he would volunteer. "Garfield, are you serious?" Bowman asked him.

"Honestly, I'd rather not. But... I am partially responsible for this mess. If anyone's gonna risk their safety to lure this thing into the trap, it ought to be me," Garfield replied, bewildered at his own words. "And besides, Elliot here is an android. There's no guarantee that the Xenomorph will even care to go after him if it realizes that it can't use him for anything," Garfield added.

Elliot looked at Garfield curiously. "What makes you say that?" the droid asked the corporate suit. "Well, think about it. It can't use you as a host for more parasites, and you can't exactly be used for food either. Unless you directly antagonize this thing, it'll probably leave you alone," Garfield said.

"Wait, Elliot is a former sexaroid. His body is designed to be as human as possible," Burns pointed out. "True, but he's still a machine. He's useless to the Xenomorph, which is why he'll be the person who pushes the alien back into the maintenance garage if it tries to escape," Garfield explained.

"Well, I... see your point," Elliot said, slightly annoyed. "Alright. I'll wait outside the doors with a taser and push it back into the garage if it tries to get away. However, we have to avoid what happened to Brooks," Elliot said. "We need to retrieve some body armor," he added before grabbing the walkie-talkie from the table.

"Hansen, this is Elliot. We've decided to proceed with Burns's plan again. Can you retrieve some body armor from the security center for us?" Elliot asked. "Um, body armor? Yeah. Yeah, I'll see what I can find. But, uh... look, we only have four cameras left on level three, and none of them are near the elevators. I don't know how you're gonna figure out which ones are safe to use," Hansen replied.

"We're gonna use the airlocks," Elliot said. "The airlocks? Okay. I've got one functioning camera near the Section-E airlock on Level Three. That's one of only four cameras that haven't been taken out yet. So, I'd get moving if I were you. I have no way of tracking the alien now, so I don't know where it is at this point. I'll keep monitoring the remaining four cameras, but don't bet on them staying intact for much longer. Hansen out," Hansen said over the walkie talkie.

Elliot set the walkie talkie back down on the table and looked around. "Alright, people. We only have four cameras left on Level Three, and they might not be there much longer. Let's get started," Elliot said. With some reluctance, everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

Author's Notes: And that was chapter ten. It isn't a very action-packed chapter, but I will certainly make up for that in the next chapter. As you can all finally see, Yellow Bill is a much more anthropomorphic Xenomorph than what has been seen in movies. Now, I won't lie, I have certainly read various Alien fan fiction with much more anthropomorphic aliens in them, even though those were all found on the now (sadly) defunct Planet AVP and The Alien Experience websites. Planet AVP had some of the funniest Alien vs. Predator stories I've ever read, especially the ones written by Shoot Me I'm Dumb. Seriously, that was the writer's pen name, and his take on AVP: Extinction was one of the funniest fan stories I've ever laid eyes on. Too bad it's no longer accessible.

Of course, the aliens in those stories were all given thoughts and feelings and could talk in those stories. I am not doing that. Yellow Bill, despite its anthropomorphism, is still a deadly bio-engineered killing machine, with no remorse or any sense of morality. It plays with its food and torments it for fun.

Kane's Son, or Big Chap, from the original ALIEN, was a murderous rape monster. Yellow Bill, on the other hand, is a sadistic murderer. It gets a thrill from scaring its prey before killing them or capturing them. It has a degree of intelligence, but nothing that would put it on the same level as a primate or a dolphin. Its intelligence is more like that of a dog or a cat, or perhaps an alligator.

I also already have Yellow Bill's death planned out for the final chapter. The question is, how do you, the readers, think it will die, and who among the humans will actually survive through to the end?

Anyway, be sure to let me know what you think of the chapter and/or story so far in your reviews.