Chapter Twelve: Prey
The second planet they had visited on their mission was fifty-eight light-years from Earth and was covered mostly by water. The only land mass being the cluster of massive island continents that jutted out of the oceans like a mace, all five of which were rich with thick, lush vegetation and foliage. The grey and white mountain tops being the only other noticeably different colours seen from orbit. There were no icy poles, or barren sands.
And the indigenous, land-based wildlife was, to quote the late Chief Engineer Samuel Jakande, "Completely fucking mental." He continued, "A horrible set of bastards, some with teeth like ninja death stars. Makes a Great White Shark look like Winnie-the-Pooh."
This was the same planet the robot formerly known as Findley had lost his two fingers in a 'mining incident'. More accurately, it was the place where Samuel had earned six months wages by 'off-loading' one of the transit passengers into one of the local wildlife's digestive systems. The man, a Brazilian named Luis Walters, had deserved it. He had gone on a murderous rampage whilst on a 'whoring' holiday in Europe the year before. Unfortunately, one of the young ladies he decided to pick up was not a whore at all. She was the daughter of a man who had grown incredibly wealthy on whores. A combination of tip-offs and loose talk had eventually led the P.I.s of the father to Luis's door. This wasn't going to be finished off in court, however. It would not be good for business or reputation. The über-pimp - le pimp fromage - el grande gazpacho, needed to be feared. Courts were for the weak. He dealt in retribution, not rehabilitation.
Luis, however, had his own connections and they had advised him to run. To run vertically upwards and get off planet as quickly as possible. Make a new start in another system.
His exodus was immediate, taking the next ship available. Unfortunately, this was to be his undoing. Once his body had been scanned, all it took was for one large enough bribe to the right person- in this case, Chief Engineer Samuel Jakande- and Luis's fate was sealed. The order was:
'Off-load Luis Walters on LV-10978 and ensure the body is never found.'
(Body to be consumed within 12 months of stasis, basically)
And so it was, that during routine mining extraction, Luis was transported down to the planet's surface, still unconscious from hyper-sleep, and, with the assistance of a 'reduced capability' Findley, fed to one of the horrible, ninja-star toothed bastards, which, in its blood-lust, took two of Findley's fingers with it.
Justice had been served and Samuel would receive the rest of his payment when back on Earth. The ship's records had been falsified, along with the records on the OSD (the Orbital Space-Dock). Luis Walters had never left Portsmouth, had never arrived at Orbiter 'J', and had definitely never boarded Slick Willy.
Samuel put Findley's accident down to a mining incident. He knew the Captain's suspicious nature. He knew she wasn't to be fully trusted past her pay-packet and so he'd have to fuck all the questions out of her mind and tell her the droid's fingers were crushed, and if pushed, he would finally give in and say an animal had managed to penetrate the energy walls, due to some kind of atmospheric anomaly. That would be good enough. She would think she had worn him down. She had scored a victory over her subordinate. Birds had been known to avoid detection from time to time, and LV-10978 had a few particularly nasty examples of airborne carnivores. Samuel would blame the 'clicker', a sort of snake with wings that used echo-location as its target system. It was small enough and agile enough to avoid detection, and definitely vicious enough to attack a mindless robot. And ironically, it was also the creature that had enjoyed a three course meal of Brazilian. And less ironically, but more incidentally, it was in fact the very creature that had bitten off Findley's fingers. So, in a way, Sammy was being quite honest in his verisimilitude.
And just in case the Captain wanted to see these creatures for herself, a number of the little buggers were captured and stowed in the avian hold. Evidence of his honesty. With no mention of the dead passenger.
What passenger?
(1)
And so Janet had set her plan in motion. All internal doors were unlocked bar those leading to the shuttle-craft. In the bio-hold, they slowly opened outwards a few inches, then drew to the sides and along the walls of their corridors. The occupants, the imprisoned beasts of the near galaxy, turned towards the light, took a defensive posture and waited for movement. That is, all but two species. The Clickers of LV-10978 and the Xenomorphs of LV-223 & 426.
The clickers swept out from their aviary in a single line, like a display of smoke from a stunt plane, where they immediately split into two smaller flocks as they shot off in both directions; Then split again, until there were four mini-flocks of three creatures all heading off to explore their new territory. The sound was like a group of excited anglers, reeling in, all at the same time.
And they were always ready to feed.
The two xenomorphs exited with less speed, but with sleek, undeniable purpose and unity in their movement.
The search for a nest was on and a place for the queen to mature and cultivate, ready for harvest.
(2)
Janet had plenty of time to make her way to Tango. She wanted to skip her way back to her room- the adrenaline and euphoria making her feel almost weightless- then off to the shuttle, but decided to restrict her movements to a light stroll. She would have loved for it to be carefree, but as much as she was yelling at herself internally that she had won and that she was the only person on board who had any idea of what was happening, a lifetime of having her arse kicked would not allow her to feel any degree of hubris. Instead, she sang the same word from her brother's nursery rhyme over and over to try to blank out the carnage from her mind that she had prescribed for those remaining on Willy. She stared ahead and sang in the voice of a child: "Duck, duck, duck, duck, ducky, duck, duck, duck. Duckety-duck. Duckety-duck." If she had passed anyone en route, they would have merely come to the conclusion that the Captain's relentless terrorising had finally paid-off. Thanks for all the hard work; go straight to your hyper-sleep chamber; see you when we get back to Earth.
Her cabin door was open and she stepped inside, grabbed her pre-packed travel bag, and made her way to her final waypoint. "See you, room." She looked around her living space one last time. "See you, walls. Duck. Duck. Duck, duck, duck, duck, ducky, duck, duck, duck. Off we go to the shippy, ship, ship. Duck, duck, duck." She giggled a little and allowed herself to walk a little more leisurely as she set off towards Tango. "You know something? I'm completely, absolutely, and totally insane." She laughed out loud towards the ceiling. "And about time too."
Then, for a brief moment, her leisurely walk, metamorphosed like a beautiful butterfly, into a light, carefree skip.
(3)
The warrior-protector scuttled out of the door first and stopped to sense the air. The juvenile queen paused behind it, then gave a heavy hiss. A command which the warrior acceded to without question.
They moved quickly, criss-crossing up and around the corridor on their way towards a destination known only to them.
As they moved past each open doorway, the warrior made a sound, a high-pitched squeak informing his mistress it was safe to carry on.
They were alone. Their enclosure had been away from the other animals. The skipjacks, from which they had gestated, had been the only creatures on their level.
They had moved nearly one hundred metres when the queen suddenly halted, the warrior taking a few more steps and stopping to look around, silent, waiting for further announcement.
The queen stepped up against the side-wall and stretched upwards, screaming a little, her skin creaking as it expanded, her inner mass pushing out against the exoskeleton.
The warrior advanced a little further as the queen stretched out, checking out a little more of the undiscovered country.
A few more screeches from the queen told the warrior she was still occupied, giving the warrior opportunity to sortie the way ahead. The queen was safe where she was. There were no-
A sound. A rumbling sound from the level above. The Xenomorphs became as stealth. They were ghosts, making no sounds. They were receptive to all incoming information. Sounds, sights, smells...
Another rumble from above and the two shot off in unison towards the nearest stairwell, still taking turns to cross over from one side of the corridor to the other; from floor to ceiling, but always, the warrior taking the more advanced position.
The movement was like liquid, only this liquid was moving upwards to higher ground. And towards the sound.
They appeared onto the new corridor together and turned right. They didn't need sounds to track now. They could sense the animal. It was giving off a very powerful electro signal. Whatever it was, it was large. It was female. The scent it was giving off informed them it was a child carrier and was impregnated with a heavy litter. There was the strong smell of urine and faeces coming from the enclosure fifty metres ahead.
There was also another smell. A smell that told the Xenomorphs the creature could be weakened. Compromised. It was the salty aroma of amniotic fluid.
Another rumble, though this time, louder and more intense. Although the walls and the floor did not vibrate, the air inside the corridors pulsed and resonated as the molecules raced excitedly past them. It was like the sound of a starter pistol to the Xenomorphs. They were off. They were on the hunt and they were moving fast. They were tuned to feed, but also to harness for gestation of their young, but they would need a nesting ground for that.
The pungent odour grew stronger as they reached the animal's enclosure, and inside, as both Xenomorphs peered in through the doorway, one colossal animal looked at them, a pathetic expression on its face and a number of young swimming on the floor on their sides as they clambered to gain footing on the oily ground. If the Xenomorphs could dream, then this would be their perfect vision.
They wasted no time. The warrior attacked the mother, who, although still in the throws of childbirth, still had the strength to defend itself. It knew the young were gone. They would have no chance, but she could still get away with her own life and the lives of whatever number she still carried inside her.
The queen grabbed one of the newborns and penetrated her tongue deep inside its soft, pliable skull, bringing back out chunks of pink flesh.
The warrior pounced on top of the mother and clawed at the tough hide- unsuccessfully- managing to reach the summit of the creature, but not inflict any kind of flesh wound upon it. The mother craned her neck upwards and to the rear like a snake circling round a tree and tried to snap at the attacker, but only managed to taste air: the warrior was agile and wary of counter-attack.
The enclosure they were in was large, but when it came to this kind of movement, it suddenly became cramped, and the mother crashed against the wall as the warrior dropped down narrowly avoiding being crushed, which, ultimately, would've been fatal to both creatures. The warrior's body was free, but its tail was caught, trapped between the impenetrable surface of the ship and the animal's weight, jamming it and stopping any further escape. It wriggled and tried to enforce a sawing motion, to no effect. Finally, it turned its head upwards towards the softer, whiter underbelly of the beast and made its frantic attack there, both in an attempt to cause damage, but also to break free.
As it lunged upwards, claws and teeth uppermost, the larger animal dropped downwards in an attempt to crush it, or at least, suffocate it, all while fluids emptied from her rear end as the birthing continued.
There was a moment of silence as all movement stopped, the only sounds to be heard were coming from the queen as she moved from one infant to the next and fed ferociously on its soft, warm meats.
Then, it was silent too. As the newborn it had just savaged gave out its last breath, the queen looked up from the body and cocked her head to the side. There was something else she could sense. A scent. Hormones. Something that called to her. Even at this stage of her development, she instinctively felt its pull (an instinct that had been genetically introduced by the Engineers in a lab many light-years away and many millennia before).
The last remaining pup squirmed next to her and all of a sudden there was a tremendous roar from the mother as she struggled to get back to her feet, its eyes wide with terror and pain. It whipped around, its tail hitting the queen and knocking her against the wall, her hard exoskeleton cracking with the force, spraying liquid from the opening onto the other animals. Immediately, the acid began to eat through the skin. The baby squirmed as a scorched, black hole opened above its eye. Quickly, its movements became more laboured and it fell down still as the black void was filled with its own blood and then poured from the underside of its head as another hole opened up there.
Smoke rose up from the back of the mother animal as it tossed around; not from the burning sensation- its skin was too tough for it to eat through that quickly- but from another wound. The warrior Xenomorph was nowhere to be seen. It was as if it had been absorbed by the creature. Not a sign of it was anywhere, only a narrow red wound could be seen on the mother's belly.
As the queen stumbled back to her feet and took avoiding action from the maelstrom around her, the shrieking became ever more urgent and insisting. The mother hit the wall, a massive shock-wave passing through its insides forcing the birth of another little-one.
With its attention on both animals, the queen pounced on the baby and dragged it clear of the enclosure, covering its mouth with her hands causing a loss of consciousness to it for easy transit. Once unconscious, the queen left it where it was and cautiously entered the arena again. This would be a perfect nest after-all. The surroundings were large enough for her to reach maturity and extend her egg-sack... once the mother was dead.
Again, the mother stopped. It looked at the queen, though its focus was elsewhere. This time, she was looking inwardly. She was searching for the pain. The pain had ceased. Labour had ended. Two more wriggling forms were lying on their sides trying to get to their feet behind her. But there was one more birth left. With one final scream, the Xenomorph warrior burst from the chest of the gargantuan and onto the wet floor beneath it where it wasted no time in scrambling away from where the mother was about to fall. This was the second time the Xenomorph had exploded from the chest of a normally docile herbivore. It watched as the creature's pupils grew large and the life gushed out in a dark purple pool.
The queen entered the room once more and tended to the final two newborns, joined by the warrior who gave attention to the wounds of its superior; a thick, viscous saliva dripping from its mouth, onto her injuries, hardening quickly into shiny, dry shell to prevent any further dripping of acid-blood.
The queen rubbed her chin over the warrior as a sign of affection, but also as a sign of dominance, before looking out towards the doorway again. There were sounds out there. More prey. More viable life-forms for gestation of her young... but there was something else that the warrior could sense too. The doors were open. The doors were open everywhere- through the bio-hold; the aviary; the crew's decks... and also the main hangar where the derelict hung lifelessly. But only lifelessly as a ship for flying through space. Inside its hull, it was teaming. It was filled with life, and that life was calling out for a queen to release them from from the surroundings in which they had been waiting for six hundred years.
(4)
There was a sound at the door. A remote, muffled knocking.
She wiped at the tears and laughed. Oz was such a klutz. He didn't want to disturb her by buzzing and so had knocked on the door.
She sat up on her bed, her hand instinctively going to the large round bulge that was her tummy, protecting the child as it lay quietly floating in its sack. She felt her legs tingle and a shot of pain ran through her feet-
the trick, Elizabeth Shaw, is not minding that it hurts
and she pulled at it with her fingertips, trying to stretch the muscles and tendons before the pain intensified.
Which one was it I lost? I stood on a baby xenomorph- it ate through my foot- which one was it-?
She couldn't remember, but then again, it wasn't something she wanted to remember. Albert had died. Bertie had died. Kane had died. All in that final fight on the alien vessel, the same vessel that now resided just a few hundred metres away in Slick Willy's hold.
Was it my right foot? It doesn't matter. I killed the little bastard. I won.
Her thoughts managed to distract her as the pain in her feet dissipated without too much fuss and she berated herself silently for being silly enough to try to get some rest. She wanted to be active. Keep herself occupied. Hold off the dreams. Of late, they had been both dark and vivid. She wasn't enjoying them in any way.
She walked to the door and opened it knowing her eyes would still be red and puffy from looking at things from her past that were too recent to be able to deal with. But she didn't care.
It wasn't Oz, it was Heidi and Billy. Smiling. Their expressions changed as they saw her face.
"Oh," said Heidi, "you okay, Ellie?"
She nodded, trying to force a smile. "Fine. Just a bit emotional. You know the drill. What's up?"
"We're going on shift..." She said, waiting for a response.
"Yes..." Elizabeth was unsure for a second what that had to do with her. Then it came to her, "Oh! Shit. I'd forgotten. I was looking at- I got distracted." She tried a smile which thankfully helped her sound more upbeat than she felt, "What is it we're doing again?"
Billy looked anywhere but at her face as he replied, "Well, we're taking Mike to replenish the- that's Mike as in 'M'... the dropship..."
"It's okay. I know the phonetic alphabet." Elizabeth reassured him.
"Yeah, we're taking Mike for a visual inspection of Willy… and the Gamma responder in 'quadrant four' needs- that's lower-front-right section of the hull- needs servicing. It's a two man job, but you'll be able to have a look around while we're working. Planet and stars etcetera." He continued to look down the corridor as she spoke.
"That'd be great. I'm new to all this." She informed them eagerly, but her eagerness was soon replaced as the baby seemed to jolt awake. "Hush now." She implored and stroked her tummy tenderly.
"I know what you mean." Said Heidi as she watched the discomfort on Elizabeth's face. "I'd never been off planet before I came on this mission. I love watching the planets from orbit- are you okay? Are you sure you're up to this? Maybe you should go for a quick scan, or give the Doc a buzz?"
"I'm fine- I hope- just want to get a look at Slick Willy. Haven't seen him from the outside... and the planet is a gas giant, right?"
"Acheron. It's a bit like Saturn." Said Billy still trying to ignore her discomfort.
Elizabeth noticed something different about him. "What's different about you."
He looked at her for the first time. "Hmm?"
"There's something different about you. Your hair or... I don't know."
He had no idea what she was talking about.
Heidi smiled unsure, wondering what she'd seen. Surely it was her job to notice things first about Billy. He was her boyfriend after all.
"Did you..." Started Elizabeth looking at the base of his hairline at the back.
"Oh shit! Yeah! My tattoo."
As soon as he said it both women remembered what it was. Even Heidi hadn't noticed. "Your tattoo! I hadn't... it's gone."
"Yeah. The pod on the derelict." He pointed an arm towards the rear of the ship where the alien ship was stowed. "It took my dragon tat. I was quite proud of that." He rubbed his neck where the tail of the ink-ed beast had once fiercely sat.
"I hadn't noticed." Said Heidi in astonishment. "Even when we were... when..." She cleared her throat slightly embarrassed and looked at Elizabeth. "Well, you know."
Elizabeth knew what she meant and helped her out by changing the subject. "I just need to splash some water on my face and get my shoes on. Be just a minute, okay?"
"Sure." Said Heidi.
"Just ask Willy for directions to-" Billy cocked his head to the side in the traditional way as he spoke to the ship, "Willy- show Elizabeth directions to dropship Mike."
The channels along the wall illuminated in a constant green flow in the direction of the shuttle-craft.
"There. Just follow it. We need to do our pre-flights." He added. "We'll be ready for-"
"Billy, we're in no rush." Said Heidi sternly. "We can wait for Ellie. She can walk with us."
Billy wanted to tell her he didn't mean anything by it. Just wanted to be efficient to get the work done quicker. The faster they got the work done, the sooner they could get back to his bed. "I didn't-"
"We'll wait for you." Heidi said to her.
"I don't mind. I got my directions." She pointed a finger along the line of lights, but was again interrupted by a electric shock in her abdomen.
"Are you sure?" Asked Heidi, concerned. "We'll wait." She touched Elizabeth's arm lightly.
Elizabeth paused for a moment. She wanted to say how much nicer Heidi was than her sister; what a bitch her sister was and how much she'd like to put her sister in a life-pod and jettison her onto the nearest planet... but she didn't. "Thanks. One sec."
She hurried back in, there was a sound of water splashing and, finally, grunting as she put on her shoes.
It felt good to be out of the room. Chatting with the young couple was refreshing too. They seemed naïve at times. Innocent. But that gave them a charming verve that was lacking in everyone else on the ship, but Martha. Martha was unique. She was the best person to be with if you wanted to be distracted from the pain of reality.
"So how long have you been together? Before you arrived on board?"
"No." Replied Heidi. "Billy was sort of with Sammy for a while, but that was just sex, wasn't it, Billy?"
Billy nodded. "Yeah. He's got a massive cock, Sammy. Ask Heidi's sister."
Heidi swiped at him with the ball of her fist playfully. "Don't talk about my sister having sex. It's yucky. And you never said Sammy had a large penis before."
"Yeah, I'm joking... just trying to have a laugh, you know?"
"Well stop trying. If you're gonna talk about your exes, I want only bad things-" Her words were cut short as the lights along the corridor went out. She looked at Billy, who looked back quizzically.
Billy turned to Elizabeth to see if she had somehow given Willy the command to extinguish the lights. "Did you do that?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "No." She could see there was real confusion on their faces. "Is everything okay? Maybe it's just a minor glitch."
"Yeah..." Billy said slowly. "Maybe."
Heidi raised her head, "Willy- is there a fault with the lights?"
Billy felt himself leaning forward for some reason. He had been anticipating a momentary pause, followed by Willy's response. None came. "Willy- respond."
Nothing.
"Billy, what's wrong?" Asked Heidi.
"I don't know. Maybe it's the Captain. Maybe she... I don't know... she's not allowed to shut off the main computer. Not unless we're docked."
Elizabeth was unsure why they seemed so unsettled. "The main lights are still on. The power must still be okay. They're not emergency lights."
"Emergency lights?" Billy wasn't sure what she meant. "The lights flash if there's an alert. Red. Yellow. And a siren."
"No, I mean if the power goes, the back-up generator powers up."
"Back-up generator? This is the 27th century, Ellie. The ship's lights run on solar radiation. They're always powered."
Elizabeth made an 'oh' shape with her mouth and stayed quiet. Damn her 21st century brain.
There was still nervousness in Heidi's voice when she spoke again, "Billy, the EDDs won't be activated, will they?"
He didn't say anything. "I don't know. I don't think so. I think they have to be... I think the Captain, you know... the ship has be boarded, or something... I don't know... the computer activates them. Willy- are the EDD's-" He stopped. Willy wasn't there.
"Willy?" Said Heidi tentatively, maybe in the hope he would respond to a more delicate tone.
Elizabeth could feel an under-current of terror running through the moment. She had no idea what EDDs were and why they were so terrifying to the two crew-members. Also, she had no idea why this seemingly innocuous fault in the corridor lighting was such a major concern. "Can you tell me what's up? What's happening here? It's just a fault, isn't it? You can fix it? What're EDDs?"
They were both looking down the corridor in opposite directions, with the exact same look of confusion on their faces.
It was Billy who spoke, though the information he gave was interrupted and staccato, "The fault... erm, there shouldn't be... it really isn't possible for... I'm not sure why Willy isn't responding, and I don't know why- or how that can- I mean, it's never happened before. Ever. Not that I know of. Ship's computers don't-" he struggled to say the words, "they don't break. I mean, it's not something that comes up in conversation, but I don't think a ship's computer has gone down in over a century."
"Not since the 25 hundreds, I don't think." Added Heidi.
"Yeah. This is not- unscary." Said Billy.
"Could be the voice recognition units. Right?" Asked Elizabeth.
"Yeah. No, it can't be. There are too many fail-safes and back-ups and life-boats and serial systems for this to happen. If a system or a component is close to failure, we know about it. The built in test equipment check it. The droids check. The crew checks it."
"But the Captain could've done it, right?"
"No." Said Heidi emphatically. "She doesn't have clearance."
Elizabeth stroked her tummy without thinking what she was doing, but subconsciously, it gave her comfort. "And what are the EEDs?"
She got their full attention with that question. "EDDs." Corrected Billy. "Emergency Defence Droids. Every ship- every 'Starling' ship is issued with at least two. Willy has three, I think. If the ship is taken over by, I don't know, terrorists, or something, Willy recognises the danger and informs the Captain. She then gives the codes to activate the droids and they basically kill everything on board. It stops the terrorists from taking control and flying the ship into the Earth, like what happened in the- I think- twenty-fourth century, I think. It killed about fifty-million people. The EDDs kill everyone who isn't in stasis. Anyone in stasis is locked-in and can only be released in space-dock. I can't remember if they kill crew-members."
Elizabeth's expression was one of incredulity. "Shit. Will they kill me... and my baby?"
"I think so." His brow was furrowed. "I don't know."
Heidi looked at Billy, "But they aren't activated if the computer goes down, right?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "Fucked if I know?" He was out of ideas and did not have the knowledge or experience for this. He felt like giving up.
Heidi joined Elizabeth. "Shit."
They continued on towards the shuttle in order to gain access to a computer. Without any working elevators they had had to use the stairwells which, with Elizabeth in her current condition, was quite time consuming.
When they arrived at Mike, after five minutes of trying to gain access, repeatedly hitting the entry button, they gave up. There wasn't even a sound emitted as they hit the button. It was dead. The only way they could get in, would be through the forward maintenance hatch, but Billy decided it would be better to try another drop ship before going through the ordeal of crawling through access-ways.
They headed for Delta which was one deck below and about another five minutes walk after that.
The walk was quiet. There was a lot to think about. Each person was in their own world. Billy was thinking about being a hero. Heidi was thinking about her sister. Elizabeth was thinking about how much time she had before the kicks in her abdomen turned to the agonised pushes of labour. Under these conditions, it was very troubling. She thought it would be a good idea to tell the others she wanted to go find the doctor until it was over.
Their thoughts were interrupted. They heard footsteps slapping against the corridor and panting. The two lovers grabbed for each other, one each holding the other one's arm, stiffening as they waited for the unknown to reveal itself.
"What the fuck are you lot doing just standing there? What the fuck have you done to my ship?!" Although she was more than a hundred metres away, Natasha still cut an intimidating figure.
Despite Elizabeth's feelings about her, she was extremely relieved to see the woman jogging towards them. She looked red in the face, and as she reached them, Elizabeth could see she'd been through a struggle. Her uniform looked singed and she had scrapes and cuts on her hands.
Billy and Heidi were in stunned silence, tipping into awe.
"Fucking aliens on Delta. They've killed Chief Jakande. Tried to kill me. I ejected one of them into the hull. They're trapped now."
Elizabeth was stunned. "Aliens?"
"Yes. The shuttle's under quarantine and- what the fuck is happening to my ship? Where's that cunt- Janet Russo? I'm gonna garrotte the fucker with her own intestines."
"Are they the aliens from the derelict?" Elizabeth felt a wave of blood push hard into her skull blocking her senses momentarily.
"At a guess." She shook her head. "They're trapped. Delta is under quarantine protocols. It'll be another seven days before the thing can fly again and we can only gain access with a door code."
"Doors aren't working, Captain. Mike is off-line." Said Billy.
"Are you sure they can't escape?" Asked Elizabeth. She could hear the tremble in her own voice as she spoke. "They have acidic blood. It's quite corrosive."
"The shuttles outer-hull is hermesium. The only thing stronger in the universe is that derelict that had a head-on collision with a planet and only just lost. We're safe."
Elizabeth just wanted to know one more thing: "How about the EEDs, Captain?"
"What? What the fuck are you talking about? The defence droids? What the fuck do you know about them? They're off-line." She turned to the two mutes, "What the fuck have you been telling her?"
"They said they might be activated if the computer went down." Insisted Elizabeth.
"Did they now? I'm the only one who can-" But she knew it was useless to continue with what she was saying. She had to come clean. "Right... the computer... is down. This has never happened outside of- well, I don't know- movies? They're activated immediately on military ships if the power goes down, with orders to destroy the ship. Commercial ships are a different matter. They cost too much to blow up. Profit margins. Shareholders. The EDDs kill every one on board who aren't registered as part of the crew then direct the ship to the nearest space-dock. Passengers, transit-passengers, stowaways, non-registered-persons such as terrorists, anyone from the twenty-first century are all viable targets. And they're made from Hitchium, so they're damn near indestructible outside of a direct nuclear hit. Hitchium- Hermesium- Alien Ship: toughness in that order. Indestructible."
"Well, what about our droids? You know, Findley, Exeter, Harpo...?"
"What? They're not indestructible. They're like butter compared to the EDDs." Natasha had a derisory tone.
"Why aren't they indestructible?" Persisted Elizabeth.
"Are you on drugs? Make the droids indestructible? Indestructible droids with superior intelligence? That would be a great idea. Let's see how that would turn out. Well, missy, we'd be back where we were 200 years ago fighting a war against things that are twice as smart as us and really fucking hard to kill. So, no, the droids are not indestructible, no. Any more smart questions? We've got all day." Her eyes dropped to the part of Elizabeth's anatomy she was holding protectively and away from her growing scowl. "You still not had that thing? Heidi, take her back to her quarters. If she tries anything: shoot her. I'm joking, of course. We have no guns. Just tell her to keep her mouth shut."
They all continued to look at her.
"Heidi, take her to her quarters! Lock her door. Stay with her. Don't leave her!"
Heidi was unsure if she was still being sarcastic. She didn't seem sarcastic, but they were entering a new paradigm and she'd never quite seen her sister in this mood before. She seemed to be running on 110%. "Now?"
Natasha just looked at her. "Heidi." That was Natasha speak for please-don't-ask-any-more-questions-just-do-as-I-say-and-I-love-you.
"Right." She took Elizabeth's hand. "Come on, Ellie. Everything's going to be all right."
Elizabeth wanted to slap Heidi at that moment for capitulating so readily. On a different day, she would've gone toe-to-toe with Natasha and damned the consequences. But this wasn't a different day. It was today. And today was a bad day. She'd had a string of six good ones, but now she was back on the Engineer's ship and she was entering into another fight for life. She was sure of it.
"The computers are down. Captain." Said Elizabeth quite coldly. "If the computers are down and the droids are activated, how will they know who's registered anywhere? Captain?"
Natasha didn't have an answer. She just wanted Heidi to be safe. "Lock yourselves in. If the bio-hold is open too, that should keep the EDDs busy. They shut down automatically after 72 hours. If we can stay alive that long, we won't need to worry about it."
"Captain, we're in failing orbit too. We hadn't returned to orbiting speed before the engines went down." Billy reminded her.
"Thank you, Billy. Didn't know that!" Her sarcasm returned effortlessly.
"Does that mean we're going to crash? How long?" Elizabeth looked from Billy to Natasha nervously.
Natasha wanted to swear at her, but the question would need answering. "Without Martha, I can't be too sure. Seven days maybe. But if you don't get yourselves to your quarters, I'd give you about five minutes till I reach critical mass and atomise you all. Get going!"
Despite the futility of their situation, Elizabeth felt as though she'd had a victory in a perverse kind of way. Even though she needed the captain to be on top form now, it was just nice to bring her down a rung or two. As they walked away, she heard the Captain start to give orders to Billy.
"I'm going to the bridge. When you come across the others, send them to me. No fucking about. Sammy is gone- we're gonna mourn him-" she seemed to choke for a second and even though Elizabeth felt almost nothing but resentment for the woman, she felt a lump in her own throat momentarily. "- mourn him later. You've got thirty minutes, at which time, I want to see your arse on the bridge too. If I have to send out a search party for you, it'll be with orders to kill. Got it?"
"Yes, Captain."
"I'm gonna-" she turned to the two women and shouted after them, "Oi! Don't go to Shaw's quarters- go to the doctor's. Right?"
"Yes, Nat. Captain." Heidi thought about saluting, but the twitch of muscle fibres did no more than sway her arm out a centimetre or two.
"If she's gonna drop, she'll need medical attention. Do not leave that room till I come and get-" Her words halted and became more high-pitched and frustrated, "What the fuck is this shit?"
From halfway down the corridor and out of the stairwell came the face of a new individual. Elizabeth didn't recognise him. He was a tanned old man, possibly in his sixties or seventies. Her mind went to a word the Captain had mentioned moments earlier: terrorist. She wanted to grab Heidi and run back, away from him.
"Hello there! I wanted to report a problem, if you don't mind. The computers don't seem to be working on level nineteen. You are members of the crew, aren't you? Only, our chambers opened- there was no privacy in our quarter- the door was wide open. Anyone could've just walked in on myself and my wife. I don't know what kind of ship is being run here, but we paid good money, you know. My wife is downstairs. She's most cross about it."
As the man continued to lodge his complaint, the Captain closed the distance between them and was now stood face to face with him. So close, she could smell his stale, post hyper-sleep breath. She was calm and sober. "Go on."
"I mean, we don't want to be any trouble, but this is most unsatisfactory. Just look at this lady here." He gestured towards Elizabeth. "Heavily pregnant- you are pregnant, dear?"
Elizabeth looked down at her stomach. Was she pregnant? "Yes."
"Heavily pregnant and no computer. What if she needed- I don't know- a bath or a- a- a, I don't know-"
"An enema?" Natasha helped him.
"Well, I was going to say something else, but yes. In her condition an enema would be, erm..."
"Tell you what, my lovely, you come with me." Natasha put her arm around the man's shoulders and turned him back towards the stairwell. "We're going to go find that wife of yours and we're going to give her an enema. How's that?"
The man wanted to object, but Natasha spoke over him.
"But as the water's off- along with everything else- we're gonna do a dry enema, like what they used to do before water was invented. You know what we're gonna use, my darling?"
The man's mouth flapped. "Wha-wha-wha-whaa..."
"Nope. We're gonna use your narrow fucking pinhead. I'm sure she won't feel too much pain, it being so thin 'n' all, but if we ram it in there a few times, I'm sure we could clean her out. No charge. On the house, courtesy of ship's captain. Whaddya say?"
"You can't talk to me like that. Do you know how much I'm worth?"
"What I'm going to do now, is go up these stairs, and you are going to go down those stairs." She pointed him in the right direction. "The ship's computer is off-line. The main ship's computer."
The man suddenly became less offended and more apprehensive.
"I need to get us back up and running because we're very close to a planetoid and could possibly be in failing orbit. You know what that means, don't you handsome?"
He nodded.
"Good lad. Now fuck off and stay in your room, lock your door and if the power comes back on, get in your hyper-sleep chamber and stay the fuck asleep until we come get you. You're cargo. You're not passengers. Got it?" She pinched his cheek playfully and he hurried off down the stairs and off to the relative safety of his accommodation. As a final order, she shouted after him, "If you see anyone else, tell them what I told you. The defence droids have been deployed."
His response could just be heard in the distance: 'oh fuck, no'!
Natasha looked back at Elizabeth, Heidi and Billy. "Get moving." And with that, she was gone.
(5)
The journey up to the derelict was going to be a long one. The scent from the eggs was mixed plentifully with the sweet aromas of animals, all free to wander around and be picked off by any and all carnivorous travellers. It was a celebration of fluids on every floor the Xenomorphs came to. There were reds, purples, blues, greens, yellows... the blood of animals from many different worlds. There was a carnivorous biped from LV-946 devouring an eight-legged omnivore from LV-1562 on level 24. The queen took it by surprise and was now carrying it like a freakish Santa Claus over her shoulder.
As they climbed up to the next level, the blood was running down the stairs from a carcass that was now just a jumbled collection of bones, connected here and there by ligaments and flesh. They took a second or two to lap at the rich fluid and take in the fresh smell.
They emerged onto the corridor to check for anything hostile before continuing their ascent towards the derelict's access point on the upper deck. The warrior glided over the top of the doorway and crept along the wall, its tail still hanging behind where it reached it out and tapped the queen causing her to halt. There was a predator feeding on a medium sized carcass fifty metres away. Billy had discovered the species and gave them a name befitting their size and ferocity: Tyrannosaur Bear. A large, hairy meat-eater with an over-sized head that resembled a dinosaur's.
The queen dropped her quarry next to the warrior's before creeping out onto the corridor.
No sooner had she done so, than the bear raised its head and took a pace forward in defence of its kill. Then without taking its eyes from the two advancing beasts, it growled over its shoulder. A sound that seemed to bubble out from its belly.
From behind, it was joined by two more. They were at least twice the size of the queen Xenomorph- which had now grown slightly larger than the warrior. Seeing the approach of the Xenomorphs, the Alpha Bear rose to its full height, towering over the other two. They were obviously its Betas and they crept to a forward position, their teeth, of which there seemed to be hundreds, bared.
The warrior hissed, followed immediately by the queen and they continued on, both moving diagonally across each other to cause confusion to the others.
The Betas took a step back as they looked from one to the other, not sure what was happening. Nothing on their home-world ever would advance on them. Everything fled. This was unnerving, and it was only due to the sounds coming from the Alpha that they themselves didn't turn and run.
Then the Alpha took three paces forward and roared at the Xenomorphs.
They were unfazed. They were shaping to attack. These creatures could not be allowed to live as a constant threat on this new world. They had to be neutralised. They were not so big that they could crush the Xenomorphs, like the enormous herbivore they had slaughtered whilst giving birth. These were large carnivores, and they were predictable. They had teeth and they had claws and they would try striking with both. But they were cumbersome in comparison. The Xenomorphs had speed, agility, teeth, claws, a tail like a chainsaw... and blood that could eat through all living tissue... and now they had discovered that the Betas would crumble without their Alpha. That was good to know.
The queen made a high-pitched sound and they both stopped. There was a distance of about fifteen metres between the two species, but she had decided there would be no fighting right now. Soon, their number would be greater and their future more secure.
They both slowly backed away, hissing all the while until they reached the stairwell, then disappeared and carried on up, wary of an attack from behind that didn't come.
One of the newly born herbivores started to come round, but was quickly subdued again by the warrior carrying it.
They moved quickly now. The derelict was close. Soon the queen would have her army.
(6)
Heidi was holding Elizabeth's arm evermore more tightly as they made their way. They had had to climb hundreds of stairs it seemed to Elizabeth before they reached the doctor's level. In reality, it had only been four levels and just one more to go, but she was feeling fatigued and the pain from her centre was becoming more insistent as the baby battered her internally as though in some kind of maddening frenzy.
"Is it still kicking?"
Elizabeth nodded and exhaled through pursed lips. She remembered seeing that in films and documentaries when women went into labour. You pursed your lips when you breathed out.
"Almost there, sweetheart. You can have a sit down." She looked behind them at the floor and then to Elizabeth's derrière. "Your waters haven't broke." She was almost asking her, not knowing herself if the quantity of fluids on breakage is vast, or just thimble-full.
She shook her head. "Don't think so. I'm tired. My legs are feeling weak. Need to eat."
Heidi hadn't thought about that. None of them had. Without a computer, food was an impossibility, unless they were prepared to venture into the bio-hold and hunt down something 'fresh'.
As they approached the 180 in the final stairwell, they could hear the light patter of footsteps coming down on the other side of the semi-partition, but before they saw who it was, there came a familiar voice that made Elizabeth want to scream for joy. It was a voice that meant she was going to be safe.
"Good evening, Elizabeth. Good evening, Miss Chan." David turned the corner, revealing himself, and immediately offered his hand to Elizabeth to ease her ascent. "May I?"
Elizabeth reached for him, Heidi helping her up, passing the baton on to the robot. "David. I need to get to the doctor. The baby is going crazy. I need to eat."
David ignored her request for the moment, and informed them of a greater dilemma. "I believe we have a problem. There is no power."
"Yes." Said Heidi. "Power's down ship-wide. Even the shuttles."
"Your sister, the Captain was headed for Delta. I believe she may be in danger. If she gained access before the power-"
"We found her. She's okay. There are aliens on Delta. Three of them."
"Two." Elizabeth corrected. "She said she ejected one into the hull."
"Ah, how very resourceful she is. We are most fortunate to have a person of her capabilities on board. I must warn you, however, it would be in your best interests- I must insist that is- that you do not seek the aid of Doctor Felicetti. She has a nefarious scheme and must be held accountable for it... at the Kangaroo Court level only, I must add. I recommend capital punishment."
"Capital? Kangaroo?" Heidi was confused.
"I shall explain all in due course. First we must assess the situation. We should walk and talk." He guided them to the top of the stairwell and onto the corridor, heading for the quarters. "Slick Willy is without power. Ship is in degrading orbit and will enter the atmosphere of LV-426 in 171 hours and 56 minutes. Just over 7 Earth days. First Officer Russo is the cause of the power loss, though this is merely an educated guess on the data available. It seems all doors have been opened, but there is the ability to shut and lock them with manual over-ride. It is my recommendation that we get Elizabeth to her quarters, induce labour and lock you in for your own safety. There is no food, but as the doors separating the main ship to the bio-hold must be closed immediately to deny the intrusion of predators, I feel I must capture a suitable animal for consumption."
"I can't eat anything raw, David."
"I believe I have the necessary skills to create fire, Elizabeth. I'm quite the genius, you see." Said David proudly.
"I keep forgetting." Elizabeth joked.
"You're only human." David's smile looked sinister, but Elizabeth had gotten used to it on both of the faces he had worn. Findley, after all, was not designed to have working emotions, just the facsimile of such. David was doing the best he could. "Predators will most likely be on the hunt. Do not open your door unless you hear a calm voice on the other side. It may seem callous, but if they are fretful, they are most likely about to be eaten. As long as the door stays shut- oh dear, I see from your faces you are going to completely disregard my recommendation."
"If someone wants to come in, David," said Heidi, "we're going to let them in."
Elizabeth seemed to be in agreement.
"My final recommendation is that you get rid of Miss Chan. All in favour:" David lifted his hand.
"David, Miss Chan is staying with me." Insisted Elizabeth without humour.
"You have my commiserations." Smiled David.
Heidi turned to Elizabeth. "Is he joking now, or being serious?"
Fighting through the pain, Elizabeth spoke with a scrunched up face, "You know what- I've given up trying to guess."
"You're most wise to do so. I exist in flux. It's most invigorating."
For some reason, that was the first disconcerting thing David had said since LV-223. That David gave her the willies. She wanted the David who had helped her escape the Engineers.
They arrived at Elizabeth's door and entered. Elizabeth walked over to the sink. "Cold Water." As she said the words, she realised there would be no water. "Damn."
"This is going to be hell." Observed Heidi and she guided Elizabeth to the bed. "There you go."
"Thank you."
"We need to be quick." Said David.
"Yes." Heidi didn't know what he was referring to exactly, but everything needed to be quick.
"Elizabeth, may I just cover your eyes for a second?" Said David leaning in to her.
"What? Why?" She allowed him to do so as he lay her down slowly and position her on her side. "What are you doing?"
He spoke as he carried out the action: "I'm rendering you unconscious. I must apologise." He calculated the severity of the blow and struck her at the base of the neck.
Without a sound, not even the exhale of breathe, Elizabeth went still.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Shouted Heidi.
"You must forgive me, Miss Chan. This is the only way. There are no suitable medical instruments I can use. There is no way to sterilise any equipment. There is no food. Unfortunately, there is a Findley protocol which I cannot over-ride. I must ensure the safety of any human child over all other life."
"So you knocked her out?"
"I need to relocate her temporarily to the derelict ship. We need a chamber to regenerate her after birth and to ensure the health of the child before returning. The derelict itself is not a closed environment. There may be predators, and very soon, there will be Xenomorphs. It is inevitable one of the animals from the bio-hold will wander into the cargo-hold and stumble upon the eggs. Inevitable. The only thing that will save us then are the Emergency Defence Droids."
"Save us?"
"The loss of power will have activated them. They are patrolling the ship as we speak, no doubt. As long as I am stationed at your door, you will be safe. I am part of the ship. They will not perceive me as a threat and will continue on their way. But 72 hours is not enough. I believe the Xenomorphs will multiply. There are 294 viable eggs in the derelict's hold. Seven queens. There are more than 500 animals in bio-hold. Although they will be, for the foreseeable future, devouring each other, I believe the majority of those eggs will still realise their purpose. Then there are the cargo-passengers. With luck, the EDDs will terminate them before they are taken for parasitic incubation."
Heidi felt like she was going to faint.
"Now if you'll excuse me. I shall be thirty-four minutes and I will return with mother and child doing beautifully. Lock the door."
And he was off at full speed with Elizabeth in his arms heading for the most dangerous part of the ship.
(7)
The hubris had lasted all of seventy-four seconds. Now she just felt the usual dread and impending doom she had been conditioned to feel after so many years of relentless barracking by Natasha. She knew everything was going to be okay, but she also knew she was going to fail miserably. But she couldn't see what that looked like. She had never really been in trouble in her life. She had never broken the law, been in trouble with the police, or, indeed, been responsible for the deaths of almost four-hundred human beings. If she was going to be locked away, it was not something her mind would allow her to recognise.
The journey from bridge, to room, to shuttle was taking far too long. While she was enjoying the high times, she felt as though she could fly. Now those feelings were gone, it felt like she was wading through treacle. Once she was on board Tango, it would be fine. She could ponder everything in the safety of her very own shuttle-craft. She could sit back, relax and wring her hands to her heart's content.
She reached the perimeter concourse and began to relax. She was there. She could see Tangos entrance and the open door. The entry button wasn't illuminated, which was a peculiar sight, but was just another sign of the corpse that had once been Slick Willy. All the same, she did think it would have been more reassuring if the light had been green.
'Come on in'. 'Make yourself at home'. 'Off you go, you murdering sow'. That kind of thing.
Once on board, she quickly headed for the cockpit so she could get the party started. The cockpit on Tango was on the central level. The compartment above it was for extra fuel storage, as was much of the upper and lower levels. Tango was a long range shuttle. Cumbersome, but practical. If she was to be attacked like the Captain had been on Delta, there would be no option to eject the creature, whether it be into deep space, or into Slick Willy's hull. She would have to open the maintenance hatch and try to persuade it to just make the final leap itself.
On sitting down in the pilot's seat, she was suddenly overcome with a feeling of power. This was hers. Her ship. She was boss. She was Captain. "Captain Russo requesting permission to disembark, bitches."
She answered herself, "Good evening Captain. Yes, permission granted. Have a safe trip and all that."
She continued the start-up procedure as she replied to her other self, "Very kind of you. Hope you don't suffer too much. By the way, there are a couple of Xenomorphs in the bio-hold which are currently making their way towards you. One of them's a queen."
"A queen you say. Well, that's most dispiriting, I must say."
"Yes. She's an egg layer. She's probably got an egg inside her just for you."
"Oh dear."
"Yes, dear." Her mind showed her the face of the Xenomorph queen which distracted her from her conversation and she was overwhelmed with a feeling of urgency. She needed to get the doors closed. It hadn't been five minutes since she instigated the computer failure, but she didn't want to entertain the fear that one of the beasts was on board her ship. She hit the button to seal outer-doors without further delay, then, just to make sure, got up from her seat and leaned out of the cockpit to check.
They were closed.
She returned to her seat, which creaked as she sat down and continued to creak as she moved towards the control panel. "That's weird..."
"What's weird, Captain?"
"The seat creaked."
"Creaked? Are you sure?"
"Quite-" She was cut off as the sound came again, but this time, she hadn't moved at all. "-sure... I... don't know what that sound is. Willy, investigate-"
The other voice spoke more quietly in a tone that told her she was still making mistakes, "Willy is dead, Captain."
"Yes, I know. Give me a chance. It's all new." She implored, "Tango, investigate-" the noise stopped her again and she waited to see if she could pinpoint it. It definitely wasn't coming from the chair. "-investigate that noise."
Tango replied with indifference. "The noise is that of the avian Clicker species indigenous to planetoid LV-10978 emitted as ultrasonic echolocation used for reconnaissance and hunting."
Janet needed more information, but felt uneasy about asking. "Clicker?"
"'C', 'L', 'I', 'C', 'K', 'E', 'R'. 'Clicker'. It is a carnivorous creature with the ability to fly at speeds of up to seventy miles per hour in straight and level flight. It has poor eye-sight and prefers to use-"
Janet spoke tentatively, "Clicker? Tango, why is there- tango lock cockpit door and disable manual entry button! Open only on my voice command!"
"Yes, Janet."
"DON'T CALL ME JANET. CALL ME, CAPTAIN!" She screamed at the console. She didn't even know she had the words in her. It was more adrenaline. She was surprised she had any left in her body.
The heightened volume of words seemed to excite the sound of clicking and there was a rapid increase, this time, sounding less like creaking, and more like the loud clicking of dolphins.
"Cannot assign new designation of Captain for position of First Officer."
Janet was silent. She didn't want to move, or make a sound for fear of causing further reaction from the animals that were quite obviously inside the cockpit. She was imagining, and she could see them now flying at great speed down Willy's corridors, scanning the territory. They had swooped in through tangos doors after Janet had commenced start-up sequence, then, sensing, or hearing her conversation with her stupid self, had headed for the cockpit before the unsettling feeling had grabbed her.
"Tango," She spoke slowly and calmly, "with relation to my position, where is the Clicker?"
Tango spoke immediately and at a volume which said, 'I really couldn't give a damn about your safety. I'm quite fine'. "There is one animal at your five o'clock position, sat on the starboard engineering console."
Janet felt some relief that there was only one creature.
"There is a second animal which has placed itself at your six o'clock position, high on the back-wall of the cockpit."
Two. This was not good.
"There is a third animal flying around the lower deck. The third animal had entered the lavatory. The third animal has left the lavatory and entered the hyper-sleep nest. The third animal has-"
"Stop talking." Said Janet softly. She didn't want to look round. Avoid eye-contact at all times had been her motto- well, not motto, more of an inevitable consequence of abuse. But it had saved her from savage beatings in the past, she was sure. Or maybe that was what had drawn the abusers to her. Her timid, retiring, some would say skittish cowardice. Maybe if she'd shown more forcefulness and latent aggression, things would have turned out differently. Maybe she wouldn't be at a point in her life where she had shoe-horned herself into a scenario where three carnivorous flying snakes were tracking her position by sonar.
There was another click. She could feel it bounce of her neck, but also flow through her throat causing her to stifle a burp. It was from the creature directly above and behind her.
Another click from the back-right.
"Tango," very gently, "am I in grave danger?"
"Yes, Janet. All data would conclude attack is imminent."
"What should I do?" Janet could feel a tear build in the corner of her eye, then run down her left cheek. She blinked and another one fell down her right cheek.
There was a moment of silence. Always bad news in these situations. "There is no calculable avoiding action you can take. They will wait for your next movement then focus their attack on your neck, eyes and/or abdomen hoping to sever arteries, blind you and/or spill out your vital organs causing intense pain, confusion and debilitation leading to death and consumption."
She heard her other self- the self that was on the bridge of Slick Willy- in her head. 'Well, Captain... looks like you've really fucked it now. All flights today have been cancelled. Please return to the ship where you will be detained and sentenced to execution at the nearest opportunity.'
"Can I run?"
"Running would extend the time it would take for the animals to kill you. May I suggest opening the cockpit door and trying to make your escape?"
Janet felt a moment of calm, followed by a moment of clarity.
There were two more clicks.
She spoke clearly. "Remove all safety protocols from door mechanisms, identification: First Officer Janet Russo, Access: India Five Nine, erm..." There was a problem. Her access code was in her mind, she was grabbing for it, but it just wouldn't show itself.
"Access code: not recognised. Please try again, Janet."
"Identification," These birds are going to attack. Be quick! "First Officer. Janet Russo. Access: India. Five. Nine... erm Kappa...?"
The response was immediate, but Janet could feel herself ageing in the time it took to hear Tango's reply, "Safety protocols removed from cockpit door mechanisms Please take utmost care when using doors. Danger of crushing, severing and/or death."
Janet whispered her final command. "Open cockpit door and sound all alarms at full volume." She braced herself. "Now!"
The noise was deafening and her hands came instinctively to her ears. She slipped off the seat down into the foot-well, then pushed herself back, towards the doorway. The Clickers were flapping uncontrollably, and through the sound of fire, smoke, bomb, red and yellow alert sirens, she could feel their clicks pierce her as she ran past them.
The one on the back wall dropped down and, as its sense of smell took over, leapt towards Janet as she scampered in crouched position close to it.
The pain did not hit her immediately. All she wanted right now was to be out of the cockpit with door closed behind her and all sirens off.
The Clicker that had been perched on the engineer's console had fallen off as if stunned by the wailing. It had become disoriented completely by the cacophony.
She stood tall as she exited the door and threw a hand at the close button, but missed. She slid to the floor as she tried to stop and slipped again as she tried to get purchase with her feet. Very difficult with legs shaking and feeling weaker than she had ever felt them before.
It was like a dream now. The sound had blocked out every thought. She didn't exactly know where she was, but her body was moving automatically. Even the sight of the Clicker as it crawled and slithered drunkenly towards the doorway like a pub landlord's dog, teeth dripping saliva, ready to tear into her flesh, even that sight would not cause any cogent thought. Her mind was free-wheeling, but all the while, her body moved towards the button. The Clicker raised its snout in the direction of Janet's extended hand and it flared its nostrils as it sniffed madly at the air. She could see its mouth open, showing the full length of the jagged incisors and she saw Chief Jakande briefly describing something, pointing to his teeth; hearing the words 'horrible vicious bastards'.
The animal finally sprung up and bit into her forearm. Janet screamed, and her hand hit the wall above the button. Then as a consequence of the added weight on her arm, her hand slid downwards onto the button, closing the door, severing it at it middle at the base of its long neck, leaving a head, neck and upper thorax dangling lifelessly from her arm.
Janet let out another shriek as she pried the mouth loose, the teeth cutting more flesh as she did so. "Tango, turn off all alarms."
The sound ceased and Janet slid to the floor, her back against the outer-cockpit wall, blood pouring from the dead Clicker, but also from the wounds on her arm.
"Where is the animal-" she belched as nausea hit her. "Oh god. Pardon me. Where is the other animal that was on the lower deck?"
"It is currently flying down the port side corridor of the upper deck. It is now flying into the recreation area- it is leaving the recreation area and heading towards the central-"
"Close all access-ways from the upper deck."
"Yes, Janet."
Through the agony, she wanted to cheer. She was safe. Even the computer had given her no chance. "You said I was going to die. You idiot. Why didn't you think of the sirens?"
"There was insufficient data with which to-"
"Shut up... and call me Captain."
"Cannot assign new designation of Captain for position of First Officer." Tango repeated.
"Capitano?"
"Impossibile assegnare nuova denominazione di capitano per la posizione di Primo Ufficiale." It was difficult to fool a polyglot.
"How about 'skipper'?" Prodded Janet.
"Cannot assign new designation of Skipper for position of First Officer." He would not be fooled by the slang term.
"Skippa, with an 'a' at the end?"
"Please confirm new designation as being 'Skippa':" Came Tangos reply.
Janet thought about it for a moment. She could hear her mother's words in her head- 'We only want what we can't have, pumpkin'.
But the computer has just said I can.
Her mother had no reply for that.
"Are you sure I can't have Captain? Okay- First Officer. Janet Russo. Confirmation: India. Five. Nine. Kappa." So easy when there's no pressure.
"Thank you, Skippa."
"Thank you, Skippa." Janet repeated breathlessly and she winced as she felt the wound open as she moved her arm so she could get to her feet.
She stood and gained her bearings for a moment while the dizziness abated before looking at the lacerations. "I feel sick. Are there any toxins or venoms in the- are they venomous?"
"Their bite can lead to complications regarding blood loss as there is a powerful anticoagulant in their saliva, Skippa. Please go to the accommodation area on the lower deck to administer medical treatment."
After using the Insta-Care Artificial-Tissue Applicator and bandaging her arm with a hermetic tube, she downed 5mls of antiemetic medicine to combat the growing feeling of nausea. She sat down at a window seat and looked out at the stars while she tried to calm herself and decide what to do with the animal in the cockpit. She needed a droid, but with the mothership's main computer off-line, she would have to effect a direct boot sequence with the droid itself to gain remote communication from tango. Remote communication always went through the ship's primary command centre to avoid priority conflicts.
But there really was no rush. She had a week. Maybe it would starve by then. The Caretaker Droid was of little use in combat situations. It could clean and repair. Little more. Maybe if she told the computer to open the maintenance hatch above the pilot's seat, it would fly out just out of curiosity. It didn't matter. She had time. She was sleepy. She just wanted to rest.
As her eyes closed, Acheron, the gas giant came into view and she smiled. "That's nice. Nice planet. Tango, recline seat fully horizontal." She settled in as the seat angled itself back and she closed her eyes.
She rolled onto her side and lifted her damaged arm, shaking it out, as a burning sensation began to surround it.
"My arm's burning. Are you sure the bite isn't venomous?" Asked Janet inquiringly.
"There are no toxins or venom in the saliva of the Clicker, Skippa. Please make your way to the central hyper-sleep nest for full medical scan."
Medical scan. Always leads to bad news. She was dying. She knew she was dying. There was no way a bite from an animal from another world could not be fatal. She was living on borrowed time. It was obvious.
And the name 'Skippa' was beginning to annoy her.
The scan took five minutes and as Janet was hearing the bad news that an alien bacteria was spreading throughout her body through her bloodstream and would kill her in less than three days, Natasha, Elizabeth, Heidi and Billy were bumping into each other not far from Delta on the other side of the ship.
"Radiation therapy?" Asked Janet in vain hope.
The computer had begun trying to investigate an antidote as soon as the foreign bodies were discovered, but it wasn't a miracle machine. "No, Skippa. There is no known cure. I am working on a remedy, but without the suitable diagnostic equipment, it is doubtful I could effect a satisfactory treatment."
Janet laughed wryly. All this time, she knew she would never win. She never won. And she had been so close. "Can you access Slick Willy's data-banks?"
"No, Skippa." To her ear, Tango had begun to sound exasperated with her constant mithering. Just leave me to it, will you? I'm trying, god damn it!
"Do you have and suggestions?" Asked Janet, but without much hope.
"Stasis." Came the blank response.
"That's no good. Slick Willy is in degrading orbit. It's going to crash in seven days."
"Separate Tango from Slick Willy, set course for the colony on Desdemona and place yourself in stasis. There is a medical-"
"No!" Colonies were out of the question. This had to be done here and now. No stasis. No other people. Just her. "Anything else?" Something. Anything.
"There is only one alternative, Skippa-"
"Call me Janet."
"Please confirm new designation as being 'Janet':" Responded Tango.
"Never mind." She said abruptly. "What's the alternative?"
"Chances of successfully-"
"Never tell me the odds!" Said Janet forcefully and smiled lazily. "I don't care about chances- I'm going to die. What is it?" She was expecting a long drawn out explanation as to why she should not do it with pleas and offers of rewards if she didn't do it. But it was a computer. There would be no prefixed appeals to her good sense.
"On board the derelict alien craft there are five stasis chambers with a regeneration function, and which also have the ability to purge the body of contaminants."
The derelict. Not the derelict. Anything else? Something? Anything?
"The assistance of a service droid to operate the chamber will be necessary." Continued Tango, unaware of her anxiety.
Give me another option. Anything. Please- anything at all.
"The endeavour will be highly dangerous, Skippa-"
Yes, I know. And it's all my fault... you haven't even mentioned the hundreds of hostile animals loose in the bio-hold set free by yours truly...
Xenomorphs...
and Clickers...
and Bears.
Oh my!
