XIV

"What?" Kelvin demanded. His facial expression was totally unreadable now, somewhere between confusion and outright disgust.

"It's Xanthus, my son." I said again, nervous as to how Kelvin would react to this revelation. "He's the killer."

"But…" Kelvin murmured, looking around at the bloodbath before him. "Your son's a newborn child. A full-grown human couldn't do this."

"That's just it." I told him. I locked eyes with Kelvin and stared, almost coldly, into his eyes. "He's not human." Kelvin furrowed his brow in disbelief. But before either of us could say anything else, a door near the end of the corridor burst open, and several security operatives stormed towards us. As they marched over, they too looked around in horror at the bodies which completely littered the corridor at this point. I was thankful for the brief distraction as one of the operatives asked to have a word with Kelvin. Sadly, though, their conversation was very short.

"Matthew?" He asked suddenly, dragging me to one side so that we were out of earshot of the security operatives.

"What the fuck do you mean, 'he's not human'?" He snapped, being careful not to raise his voice too high.

"W-well…" I tried, considering the best way to phrase this so that Kelvin might at least try to understand the situation at hand here.

"He's a Xenomorph, isn't he?" He finished for me. Clearly, he'd already gotten a pretty good grasp on things.

"Yes." I replied honestly. There was no use me trying to deny it now. I'd already blurted the truth out like a complete moron.

"So that means…" Kelvin continued, his anger growing with every syllable. "Your patient… 'Xena'…"

"Yes," I sighed, nodding weakly as I spoke. "She's his mother." Kelvin did not reply at this point. He simply shook his head in disgust.

For several moments after this, Kelvin remained silent. He appeared to be lost in deep thought, although his facial expression remained one of disapproval throughout. When he finally did speak again, his voice was laced with masked anger.

"So let me get this straight," He began, looking me dead in the eyes once again. "You knew all along that your son was the killer? From the moment you found out that Professor Oldman was dead, you have been lying to my face? And now you think it's an appropriate time to tell me?" I wasn't sure how to respond. When he put it like that, it was hard to defend myself. I mean, yes, I had suspected all along that Xanthus was the killer, but even I hadn't known for sure until hearing that recording. Was I wrong to have kept quiet up until now? That would depend on one's own point of view.

"Well?" Kelvin demanded once more.

"I didn't know." I told him truthfully. "I didn't know that he was capable of doing anything like this."

"Oh, you didn't?" Kelvin replied angrily. "You didn't know that an eight-foot tall, heavily armored creature that was literally born to kill people was capable of this?" Again, his argument was valid on the surface. But he didn't know Xanthus like I did. I really didn't think he'd do this.

"Look, it's not my fault that he's turned out the way he has, is it?" I muttered. "I haven't trained him since birth to kill anyone that crosses his path."

"That's not the point." Kelvin said sternly. "You were aware of the risk that he could pose, and you brought him here anyway."

"Oh, really? 'The risk that he could pose'?" I asked sarcastically. "You're talking as if I've planned for this to happen."

"I'm not being funny or anything, Matthew, but that's certainly what it looks like!" He shouted. The attention of the team of security operatives had been caught by this point, and they were now stood listening to Kelvin and I as we argued.

"It's not my fault that he's a murderer, is it?" I told Kelvin angrily. "I can't be held responsible for somebody else's actions."

"Alright, then." He replied, sweat running down his face at this point. "Who do you think's to blame for this, eh?"

"Well, call me frank," I shouted, "But perhaps your security forces could have done a bit better a job, don't you think?"

"Leave." Kelvin muttered under his breath, almost completely inaudible.

"I beg your pardon?" I asked, wondering if I had misheard what he had said.

"I said leave!" He repeated, louder, and significantly angrier, this time. "I want you off this station."

"Wait, what?" I asked again. "You can't just-"

"Listen to me, Jones!" Kelvin snapped, his face as red as a beetroot now. "You have a problem with the way security is managed around here. We have a problem with the way that your son is murdering people around here. I want you gone first thing in the morning."

"But what about Xena?" I pleaded. She was so close to recovery. This couldn't happen right now.

"It makes no odds to me what happens to that freak now." He muttered in reply. "Take her with you, for all I care."

"What did you just call her?" I asked, suddenly becoming more defensive.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I not make it clear enough for you?" He said patronisingly. "I said freak, F-R-E-A-K, freak. And to think, you actually had a child with that thing. There go my chances of handing it over to Weyland-Yutani. They don't take used goods." He practically spat those last words at me.

"How dare you?" I whispered, although it soon became an enraged yell. "How DARE you speak about her like that!" I suddenly found my temper uncontrollable. Without warning, I lunged at Kelvin, pushing him to the ground in anger. Of course, he instantly began crying out for help.

"Get him off me!" He bellowed, prompting two security operatives to jump into action. They grabbed me by the arms, ragging me away from Kelvin as he continued to thrash about under my grip. I relinquished him immediately as I realised what I had just done. I hadn't meant to lash out at him, honestly. But he had crossed a line. Nobody, and I mean nobody, spoke about Xena like that.

"Take him away." Kelvin announced, dusting himself down as he got to his feet. The security operatives immediately began to pull me away down the corridor. I tried to resist, but these people were much stronger than I was. All the while, Kelvin simply looked on in disgust.

"You can't do this to me, Kelvin!" I tried, still desperately fighting to break free from my captors' grip. "He's still my son, I can't just abandon him!"

"You have until seven o'clock in the morning to leave this station." He called after me, ignoring my previous remark. "After that, I don't want to see or hear from you ever again. Got it?" And with that, the guards led me through the door at the end of the corridor, slamming it behind them as they went.

As I was silently escorted back to my quarters by the two full-armed security operatives, I began to come to terms with what I'd just done. The consequences of me telling Kelvin the truth about Xanthus had been far worse than I'd hoped. He couldn't just evict me like this, could he? Well, he was, questionable as it may be. But I didn't care about that right now. There were bigger things on my mind. Xanthus, for a start. He was still wandering the station at this very moment, and I was just going to leave? Do you know what that does to a person, to know that their own flesh and blood was out murdering people, but being totally unable to intervene in any way? Perhaps if I stayed, I could at least try to reason with him. Get him to see sense. The chances were remote, but I had more chance of reasoning with him than any of these people did, didn't I? This wasn't the only thing on my mind, though. Oh no. There was something even bigger. Something I'd been waiting for since I first left the Archimedes.

'Tomorrow'. That was what Hinkonnoshi had told me. Less than 24 hours, and she could have been back by my side. Living, breathing, walking, talking… well, not talking, more… screeching, I suppose. The point was, the one thing that I'd come here for in the first place had now been taken away from me. All hope of me seeing Xena alive again was lost. These were perhaps the only people in the galaxy that could help me, and now they wouldn't. All because of Xanthus. All because he couldn't control his deep-seated killer instincts. To resent one's own child so bitterly was a horrible feeling. But I couldn't help it. It was his fault that I'd never see Xena alive again. And I'd never be able to forgive him for that. Not that I could ever forgive him for everything he'd already done, of course. Then again, was it really his fault? All those people he'd killed, yet I still found myself feeling guilty for it. How different things could have been if Xena and I had never met at all. We wouldn't be in this mess right now, would we?

As I continued to dwell on this thought, as I continued to blame myself for my son's mistakes, we reached the corridor on which my quarters were located. The security operatives marched me down the corridor towards my room in complete silence. One of them relinquished his grasp on my shoulder to open my door, then nodded to the other, who simply pushed me in to the room without a second glance. The door slammed shut behind me, and I heard an audible 'beep' as it was locked. As the two men marched away down the corridor, I slumped down on my bed. I had no idea what I was going to do now. Everything was falling apart around me. Everything I'd worked for, everyone I cared about was being taken away from me in some way or another. I had nowhere to go and no-one to go with; no home, no job, no money. And so, I did what any perfectly rational, mature adult would do when their life had unexpectedly hit rock bottom. I layed down in bed and silently cried myself to sleep.