Discovery
He woke up into a wind brushing against him. He blinked few times to wake himself properly. The window was open, for some reason, and the wind was blew in. He yawned and stretched. He hadn't slept well, as he didn't feel Sheeta next to him. HE looked where she was. Or should had been but there was nobody.
"Downstairs, my mate." She said to him softly. Or well, send him. They had a mental bond which they were able to talk to each other. He smiled and lied there for some more time until he felt like he had to face the day. He sighed and stood up. He didn't even remember that they had a visitor as he came downstairs wearing only his underwear.
"Next time please put at least pants on when you wake up." He heard Jon say from the living room. He looked at his almost naked body and quickly grabbed his old trousers from the floor. He could feel the amusement the scene produced on Sheeta. He was too tired to think more of it. HE walked to the kitchen to make some coffee, but was surprised to see Sheeta's tall, dark form standing there, doing something. He heard a voice of a knife as it hit something wooden. Was she making a breakfast?
"Oh yeah, forgot to tell ya, she woke me up and asked me if I could teach her how to cook." He heard Jon's voice come from the room behind him.
"What? I was interested. It seemed fun so I had to try it. By the way, it is fun." She said as she turned around to see him. She was holding a plate with a delicious looking breakfast on it: A sandwich with some cheese, ham, cucumber and other dressings and a glass of juice.
"You are going to need it today, for I'm going to get you into shape!" She said and put the plate and the glass on the table.
"She got it fast! I think she likes it." Jon said to him as Nick began to eat. He soon finished the meal and drank the glass of juice. She was doing something again, what, he didn't see.
"What are you doing?" He asked her as he felt her confusion. She stepped aside and he saw that he was trying to understand how the coffee machine worked.
"Oh that? You don't need to do anything else but to press that button there. It's already set." He said and pointed at a big button. She put a cup at its slot and pressed the button and soon she was holding a cup of fresh-brewed coffee. She handed it to him and walked to the living room. HE took the cup and followed. She had sat on a sofa and Jon was reading the news from his tablet.
"I don't know about everything else at her, but she damn well knows how to cook!" Jon said to him as he noticed Nick. He smiled and sat next to Sheeta who was waiting for him.
"Well? tell him." She beckoned him after a while. Tell him what? Oh, right. They were going out.
"Jon, Sheeta has chose to take care of my health recently, actually she chose to do so last night. She wants us to go outside jogging, and we don't know how long it may take. She's the one in charge, I believe." He said to him. He looked at him amused.
"I know, my girlfriend did the same to me some times. Not wanting to be in your boots, brother. Human woman's "jogging" I bad enough. Wonder what a female xeno comes up with." He said and smiled knowingly before returning to the news. When he had finished his coffee, during which Sheeta had shared some memories of her life out, he stood up and went upstairs to change clothes.
They left the house like they had done before; Nick first from the front door, and Sheeta then from the window. They didn't want anyone see her. The ran to the edge of the forest before looking for the path. Sheeta didn't seem to be even panting from the 200 meters run they had done. Well, she was made for that. They found the path soon and began walking it. Just couple of minutes later, he saw Sheeta quicken her pace and he had to start walking faster to keep up with her. Again, after some time, she quickened her pace again, and this time, Nick had to start actually jogging.
They jogged along the path for a long time, but eventually Sheeta turned and ran off the path and into the forest. He ran after her. He lost her quickly, but wasn't scared; he knew this was what she had been planning on. A hunt. And he was the prey. She could be anywhere, even behind him. He quickly glanced behind him just to make sure, and began running back.
She had in some point send him the rules of this game: He was to try and run from her as long as possible, using any techniques he had, and she was to catch him. She had ran away from him so it was fair. After that, she had blocked all communications became mute. It was fine for him, he needed to concentrate. He knew that xenos had thermal vision, so hiding wasn't and option. His only way winning was running back, just like she had planned and to reach the path before she caught him. So no any usual boring running. He took a deep breath and began running.
He was good at running, yes, but somehow he was faster than ever, even if Sheeta seemed to think that he was at bad shape. In fact, he didn't even feel like he could get tired! He ran through the forest, dodging plants and trees that came on his way. She had lead him far from the path, but Nick had remembered the way to go. It would still take some time to get there, and he could already feel slightly her mind's presence as she was closing. He passed the feeling and kept running.
He was stopped by something big pinning him down, but doing it gently.
"I won." She said triumph in her voice. He smiled the weight left and he turned to meet Sheeta's face. She was smiling too and he could feel, now that she had opened her mind again, that she had had fun. He stood up and looked around. It seemed that he had in some point took a wrong turn; this place didn't seem familiar.
"You ran better than I expected, though." She said to him smiling. He smiled back.
"Any idea where we are?" he asked her. She looked around and gave positive. Then she stiffened quickly and went into an alarmed pose, defending him. He could feel both amazement and worry from her mind.
"What is it?" He asked and looked around expecting to see something dangerous jump on them any second. Nothing came.
"I sense others. Others of my kind. And... she's close by." She answered and slowly began creeping forwards. He followed her looking past her shoulder. Then, they became to a clearing. And in the middle of it, there lied a little girl by the look of the dress she wore.
"Oh no." She said and ran for the girl.
"Be careful, Sheeta! She may get scared if she sees you!" He said to her as he walked behind her. He felt how she radiated sadness and happiness at the same time.
"I think she's not able to see me nor you at the moment." She said and leaned over her. Nick finally got up to her, and saw that there was a skin-colored creature on her face. He saw how to flaps on the creature's both sides slowly rose as it breathed. She was not moving.
"Is that... facehugger?" He asked her and studied the creature. It had ten finger-like limbs which took hold from her face and a long tail which was curled around her throat. The creature had no eyes nor any visible facial features.
"Yes, we call them Seekers, and this is no any Seeker; it's a Seeker which hold a Mother." She explained sorrow in her voice. So this girl, whoever she was, was going to be... killed when that embryo inside her was ready. He gulped. Of course Sheeta was happy, as there was other like her, but she was also sad because this young girl was going to be dead in a day or two. They stared at the girl for some time.
"Is there anything we can do?" He asked. She looked at him, and if she had eyes, he could swear she would be crying. From happiness or sorrow, he didn't know.
"We should take her away from here. We can explain things to the Mother as she emerges. But, I think the girl is lost." She said as she carefully lifted the girl from the ground. He couldn't see the girls face, but he believed her to be about 11 years old, and she had dark, almost black hair. Her skin was very pale, like she hadn't been in sunlight for a long time. She seemed to be totally lost, she didn't belong here. She wore a long white dress, almost like a lab coat.
"What if we take it out before it can kill her? We could surgically remove the chestburster, and she could survive." He suggested. She carried her gently as they walked backwards. They couldn't just leave her there, die alone- No, she wasn't going to die! He had seen so many innocent children die in war, he couldn't stand to see another one die.
"It could work, but who would do that? Not a single human would volunteer to help a xenomorph." She replied and turned her gaze towards the little girl. Sheeta didn't want to see an innocent human die, even if it was for a Mother. She didn't loathe humans, like many others of her kind, mainly because of Nick. Still, she felt an urge to hide her so the Mother inside her could come without problems. She shook those thoughts out.
"I know! Jon! He's a medic, or was, and he could remove the embryo when the time comes!" Nick said hopefully. She didn't say anything. She felt how much Jon loathed her, but didn't show it, not in front of her nor him. He wouldn't help, even if they forced him to. She looked at the Seeker; its job was done, the seed was planted. Even now she felt the growing Mother's mind grow with her, and by the size of her mind, this Seeker had found her some hours ago. She would live day or two, three max. She wouldn't usually care of this human, but it seemed that being with Nick had made her more accepting towards humans. Not that she yet trusted them; she just didn't think them as cattle anymore.
They reached the path in half an hour, and began their way towards home. It was past midday, and it was surprisingly cool for the sun hang high above them. She carried the limp body gently; she thought herself mad, because somehow, she felt a motherly feelings towards this girl. She shouldn't be able to do so, as she wasn't a Mother. Warriors were only able to feel friendship and love, not motherly love. They didn't talk much during the walk.
He was deep in his mind, thinking what had happened. For her, it wasn't such a shock, it was how they reproduced. For Nick, though, he was out of words. When he had seen the facehugger, or Seeker, he had almost fainted but didn't show it. That girl, whoever she was, had resembled too much something that he had seen during the Energy war. He had long ago found a girl which had been impaled by a steel rod, and was slowly dying. She had been inside a building, which had been bombed as the enemy thought it was their secret base. He had found her after the bombing, and seen immediately that she was going to die. She looked so similar to the girl they just found. She had been too weak to say anything, but he had been able to read from her lips: "Mum." She had repeated it until she let out all of the air in her lungs, and moved no more. She had barely noticed him, even when he had tried to get her out. She had known, somehow, that she was going to die. He also found out after the war that she had had a mother, but she had died just days after her death, bu enemy gunfire. That had been the point he had left the army.
-Stop remembering it, this doesn't help her at all. You need to think! Actually do something and not just sink in your nightmares.-
-What do you know? You weren't there.-
-I wasn't, and I was. I didn't exist then, true, but I have all the memories, feelings and such what you have. I'm a copy of you. I know, literally, what it felt like.-
He didn't say anything. He was right. He had to concentrate to the problem in hands. That little girl was going to die if they didn't do anything. He sighed and looked up. There was clouds forming, and most of the were dark. It would rain this night. They walked in silence until they reached the colony. They said nothing as Nick ran to the house and opened the window. Sheeta climbed in careful to not drop the child.
"Why such a hurry? and what did take so long?" Jon asked but fell silent when he noticed the girl. Sheeta lowered her gently on the bed before leaving the room. Nick and Jon followed, Jon still looking at the girl.
"Who is that, and why is that facehugger on her face? Did Sheeta do it?" He asked them. She shook her head.
"No, we found her like that. She was lying in the forest that Seeker on her. And we have a question for you." He said.
"What?" He asked puzzled.
"How much do you trust her? How much do you trust Sheeta?" Nick asked. Jon stiffened a bit but remained calm. He swallowed before answering.
"She's a xenomorph. She'll never have my full trust, but I know she won't harm us." He said looking at her. She didn't let her emotions be seen.
"We have found out that it's because she has lived with us so long. We don't want to see that little girl die, but we don't want to anyone see her. That's why we both agreed to ask you remove the xenomorph inside her when it's ready." He said and waited for his reaction. He seemed first surprised.
"I'll do it. I know how to perform a surgery, but I need to knw, what have you planned to do with that xenomorph after we do it?" He asked. Nick and Sheeta looked at each other before answering.
"First at all, we thought that she could live with us first, so she would get accustomed with humans. Other thing you should know, is that the xenomorph inside her... is a Queen." He said. Jon's eyes grew wide.
"You want me to let that Queen live, right? But that Queen is going to produce eggs, which hatch and infect humans! I can't let that happen! I'll do the surgery, but only because of the girl. If you are going to let that thing live, I'm forced to inform about it to the colony. They have to know." He said and crossed his hands. He had a point; if the Queen began producing eggs, humans would be in danger.
"What about if we, I and Sheeta, teach it so that it wouldn't harm colonists in any way?" Was it possible though? He knew that Queens were able to communicate with Seekers, as Sheeta had a memory of her Mother talking to a Seeker when she was still alive. But to order them, every single one, to not attack humans?
"I don't care what you do with it, as long as it doesn't harm these humans in any way." He said and left the room. The discussion had ended.
"I can feel her growing, Nick. It may be just a mere day before she wants to leave the girl." They had only a day to ready themselves. He looked at the clock. It was 3 Pm. Still, he was tired. Maybe because he had been shocked of their discovery.
"I think I would like to go take a nap." He said and began his way upstairs. Oh right. The girls was there. He went back to the living room.
"She is upstairs, so I have to sleep here, I think." She stood up from the sofa and then sat on the smaller one. He lied on the pair sofa and tried to gt some sleep.
"If I didn't have this annoying... thing, we could sleep here together." He said. She nodded and said nothing.
"You know, we Warriors are capable of transforming to Mothers if we want, but that requires a male. Of course, you don't count, but this transformation of yours gave me some hope for a moment. Now that we found her, I don't need to change into a Mother. When we didn't yet know about her, my instincts wanted to me to transform. Now they're ceased. In one way, finding her was a good thing and in another, bad." He hadn't known that. He shrugged and didn't answer, mainly because talking had made him sleepy again. He closed his eyes and drifted asleep. Eve in the middle of his foggy mind, he was able to hear her say:
"Sleep well, I'll be looking for you."
Author's Notes: A shorter chapter this time. Also important: I've started a new story, called "Nest Life", check it out! Had some problems writing this, hopefully it doesn't last. And a final note: this idea was given to me by an anonymous person, if someone is thinking about that. Also, I really have to ask: do you want to see more main story line plot or do you want more side-plots? Review.
Hergotzer