Sorry it took me so long to write this, I was working on a little one-shotter instead. I hope that you enjoy it and don't forget to leave reviews. If you have any questions or ideas feel free to PM them to me.
Cheers: bullittstang6897
CHAPTER 10. SICK CRUSHER
Everyone waited anxiously for the queen to show herself, but she never did. Hudson sighed in disappointment and slumped back down onto his seat. Meanwhile Newt and Tim waited in the other car with Gennaro. Newt gasped when she saw the goat appear for the Queen.
"She's not going to eat the goat is she?" Newt asked, she didn't want to throw up again.
"Excellent..." Tim commented.
"What's the matter kid? Never had lamb chops?" Gennaro said sarcastically.
"I happen to be vegetarian." Newt said and sat back down in her seat normally.
Eventually everyone got tired of waiting and Arnold had no choice but to make the tour move on. Hicks sighed as he felt the cars start to move again. Meanwhile Hudson had reached up and was talking to the security camera.
"Hey Mr. Hammond! I do expect that actually have some aliens on your alien tour right?" Hudson said sarcastically and breathed on the lens so it would fog up. Meanwhile Hammond had been watching the whole thing from a security screen. I really hate that man. Hammond thought about Hudson.
Hudson then sat back down on his seat next to Vasquez and started rambling on about his chaos theory again.
"You see the queen doesn't follow any park schedule or anything like that, the essence of chaos..." Hudson started drumming a rock tune on his knees as he spoke.
"I'm still not clear on this Chaos theory of yours..." Ripley said to him from the front seat.
"Oh it simply outlines the unpredictability of complex systems like this park. The shorthand is the butterfly effect." Hudson said while Vasquez just shook her head.
"Bullshit...bullshit...bullshit." Vasquez whispered under her breath and Hudson glared at her.
"Here I'll give you an example, pass me that glass of water of there will you?" Hudson said and dipped his finger in the water.
"Vasquez give me your hand." He said.
"Why my hand?" Vasquez complained.
"Because I want to show Ripley something and you're the only one here who I'm certain has never touched a man's dick." Hudson joked and grabbed her hand.
"Now Ripley I'm going to put a drop of water on Vasquez's hand, which way do you think it'll roll off?" Hudson asked Ripley and she motioned to the right.
Hudson put a drop of water on Vasquez's hand and it slowly rolled off the front. He then looked up at Ripley.
"Okay so you saw that right? Now I'm going to do that in the same place again, which way will it roll off?" Hudson asked again.
"Same way." She said and Hudson put the drop of water on Vasquez's hand again, but this time it rolled off to the left.
"You see? It's unpredictability. Tiny variations, such as the hairs on her hand or slight imperfections in the skin..." Hudson started but Vasquez cut him off.
"Imperfections in the skin?" She said as she raised an eyebrow.
"Aw c'mon Jen you know I didn't mean it like that!" Hudson said but Vasquez's fist still rammed into his stomach, winding him.
Meanwhile Hicks had noticed something strange in the long grass next to them and jumped out of the moving car to get a better look. Hudson pointed at him.
"You see what I mean? Nobody could have predicted that Hicks would just jump out of a moving vehicle." He explained but Ripley was more concerned with what Hicks was doing. She jumped out of the car after him.
"Dwayne what are you doing?" She called out after him; Vasquez soon followed her out as well.
"And there's another example...Now here I am by myself in the car...Talking to myself." Hudson said to no one and sighed.
Meanwhile at the control center Muldoon had noticed they had gotten out of the cars.
"I've told you how many times...We need locking mechanisms on the vehicle doors! Ray stop the tour for the moment." He said and Arnold stopped the tour program from his computer while their guests were sidetracked.
Hicks pushed the long grass out of his way and continued towards what he had seen. He noticed everyone else had gotten out of the cars and were following him; including the kids. Tim ran up next to him and started rambling on again.
"Hey Mr. Hicks you never answered my question before...Anyway I read your book and my teacher told me that..." Tim started and Hicks rolled his eyes. Great, here we go again. He thought as Tim spoke. Tim continued to follow him through the grass and pester him.
"Wait...everyone stay here." Hicks suddenly said and pushed through the grass alone. Tim eventually got fed up of waiting and followed him out, Ripley tried to restrain him but it was no use.
Hick carefully entered a clearing and what he saw astonished him, a huge four-legged Xenomorph lay on the ground, groaning. A man with an XP uniform was attending to it when he saw Hicks. Hicks had never seen this kind of alien before, and it was as big as a rhino.
"It's okay...She's sick." The man said and Hicks cautiously approached, the pattern on its huge armored head was extremely beautiful, as if some indigenous carpenter had done it.
Hicks gently placed his hand on the huge animal's head and stroked it; it was unusually warm. He couldn't help but smile, as scary it was it was still very majestic.
"What type is this one?" He asked.
"It's a crusher type, they're pretty rare and they're definitely my favorite." The vet said and let Hicks pat it. Hicks had never heard of that type, but from what he could see it was big, tough and that massive crest on its head looked to be for charging things.
The alien moaned on the ground and breathed heavily. Wow. Hicks thought as he rubbed it's head. Eventually everyone else caught up with him, and Tim showed no fear in confidently patting the magnificent animal. Even Ripley thought it was amazing, maybe it was experiences like these that would slowly take away her nightmares about Xenomorphs. She couldn't deny that this animal was definitely different to the nasty, slimy monsters she had previously encounters; in a good way. This actually looked like a genuine animal rather than something from a nightmare.
She put her hand on the Crusher's belly and felt it rise and fall as it breathed. She couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with the it and asked the man who attended to it; his name was Dr. Harding.
"What's wrong with her?" She asked him.
"We're not sure, Hammond told me that you were biologist so maybe you could help?" Harding asked.
"Sure, can I see her droppings? Maybe it has something to do with what she's eating." Ripley suggested and Harding handed her a pair of rubber gloves.
Who would have thought I'm actually trying to do something to save a xeno's life rather than take it. Ripley thought as Harding led her to two huge piles of brown excrement.
"That's one big pile of shit." Hudson exclaimed in amazement.
Ripley stuck her gloved hand into the dropping and began searching for chunks of food that may have been responsible for the crusher's sickness. Hudson scrunched up his nose in disgust and looked away as Ripley worked.
"You will remember to wash your hands before eat anything man." Hudson said and turned to Hicks, who wasn't impressed either.
"She's tenacious." He said and Hicks nodded.
"You have no idea." Hicks agreed and looked at his wife helping the alien vet. She was the last person he would have expected to help him.
Meanwhile at the command center
Muldoon, Arnold and Hammond were all crowded around their weather radar. They had just received a phone call that a large tropical storm was headed towards the island. Muldoon tried to reassure Hammond, who was disappointed because his first tour might have to be cut short. What a way to start off, two no shows and one sick crusher. Now we might have to cut the tour short.
"I'll keep an eye on this storm, it may swing south like the last one but we can't be sure. We may have to cut the tour short I'm afraid." He said and walked away from the radar screen.
Hammond sighed and walked away by himself.
"DAMN!" He shouted in frustration. He had put so much effort into trying to impress his first guests, but nature had decided to ruin it for him. The aliens wouldn't show themselves and now a huge storm was headed their way.
Back at the site of the sick crusher, Hicks heard lightening crack above him and thunder roll. A storm? Where'd that come from? He thought and put his slouch hat back on. He tapped Ripley on the shoulder and flicked his head in the direction of the tour cars.
"I'll think stay with Dr. Harding if that's okay." She said and turned towards Harding.
"Sure, I'll drive her back to the visitor's center when we're done." Harding said.
"I'll stay too, I don't think we're going to be missing a lot anyway." Vasquez said and leant against Harding's jeep.
Hudson then turned to Hicks and sighed.
"I guess it's just you and me buddy." He said and started back towards the Land Rover.
"I guess it is."
Hicks, Hudson, Gennaro, Newt and Tim all got back into their cars and they started their way back to the visitor's center because of the storm.
What do you think? The chapter after next will be the famous T-rex/Queen breakout and I'm really looking forward to writing it. Now Review!