Author's note: Thanks for all the love people. It's so great to have so many views and kind reviews.
"A Queen? Here?" Lex demanded, looking up at Scar. His expression wiped away all doubt; there was a Queen and she was close. That cry hadn't come from far away.
"Professor," She turned "We've got to get the shuttle quickly, which way is it?"
Iversson's face was ghastly pale but she swallowed down her fear "Up the stairs, we have to get to the top deck!"
"I'll take Isaac," Lex told her, then turned to Scar "You'll have to carry Iversson – don't argue!" She hissed, sensing his objection before he made it "She's injured, she can't run!"
He snorted but snatched up the Professor and threw her over his shoulder. As Lex hoisted Isaac in her arms the cry came again, seeming to emanate from all directions at once.
As one, Lex and Scar began to run. They were already pounding up the steps, when suddenly the staircase shuddered.
All four of them looked down to see the Queen's blind muzzle emerge from the darkness two floors below. Her head turned in their direction and she gave a chilling hiss as she sensed her quarry at last.
Then she began to climb, dragging her huge body awkwardly up inside the stairwell. The staircase started to shake alarmingly; metal supports groaning and buckling under her weight as she pulled herself up.
Lex leapt up the stairs, taking them two at a time, feeling like her lungs were about to burst. They reached the top floor to find another metal door and Lex pressed her face to the tiny window. Through the glass she could see the stormy top deck and the smoking wreck of the Boeing Vertol, but the Chameleon was nowhere in sight. She pushed with all her strength but it didn't budge. Then she realised; now the power was back on, all the electronic security mechanisms were back online – they were trapped!
"Iversson, it's locked!" She yelled "You have to open it!"
All at once Scar was beside her. He dropped Iversson lightly onto her feet and darted back to the railing, watching as the Queen climbed, hauling her giant, unwieldy frame up towards them.
Lex waited tensely as Iversson pressed her palm to the sensor, held her eye up to the biometric scan, having to do it twice because the first time the power failed at the crucial moment. As the door swung open she turned to see Scar pull one of his incendiary grenades, flipping the activation switch with one talon.
Iversson followed her gaze "No!" She screamed at him "The structure's too unstable!"
"Shut up and run!" He bellowed and Lex, still clutching Isaac, bolted through the door, dragging Iversson with her.
Scar heard Iversson's warning but he ignored it; the Queen was only a couple of floors below them, in a matter of moments she would be on them and explosives were the only thing he could think of to even slow her down.
He threw the grenade, aiming at the flight of stairs just below, not waiting to see if he had hit his target. If he had, the bomb would destroy the floor he was standing on. If not, the Queen would reach the top. He ran, bursting through the door Lex had just exited onto the rainswept deck.
He spotted them through the grey curtain of drizzle and sprinted towards her, catching up just before the explosion knocked them down. He threw himself to one side as he fell, trying shield Selim from the blast without crushing him. His shoulder hit the ground hard but he pulled himself upright almost immediately to see orange flames and smoke billowing from the ravaged stairwell. The metal door lay nearby where it had been blown out, must have missed them by inches. He quickly checked Selim but his son seemed to be unhurt.
To his left, Lex pushed herself upright from where she had thrown herself across Isaac. On his right, he heard Iversson moan.
Scar pulled himself to his feet, scooping up the Professor as he did so.
"What happened?" She asked blearily "Did you kill it?"
He didn't answer her right away, scanning around for the Chameleon.
"Where is our ship… scientisssst?"
"You mean you didn't kill it?!" Her eyes went wide with alarm.
"Tell me where is my… ship or we will all find out… together!" He growled.
She shook her head "The tech team couldn't work out how to decloak it!"
"It's right there, Scar!" Lex pointed at where the big metal dome stood half open. Through the driving rain, they could dimly make out the shape of the Chameleon, like an answer to a prayer.
"But that's not right," Iversson said "Weyland told me it was invisible – "
At that moment, the smoking debris at the top of the stairwell bulged; then burst apart as the Queen dragged herself upwards. She erupted out of the ground, shouldering pieces of the wreckage aside like a storybook monster. Then suddenly she stopped, trapped in the twisted metal framework of the stairs which had become tangled around her body. As she snarled with fury, struggling to get free, Lex snatched up Isaac and fled towards the dome, Scar running too, carrying Iversson and Selim.
Lex pressed the controls on her wristcom as she ran and the hatch in the Chameleon's belly slid open. They piled up the gangway and through the airlock, gasping and skidding on the metal floor, racing straight for the cockpit.
Scar reached the console first. Dropping Iversson onto her feet, he unsheathed his blades and cut the bonds that held Selim to his chest. After placing his son in the co-pilot seat, he began rapidly pressing buttons to start up the engines. As Lex came in behind him, she heard the familiar whirr as the turbines kicked into life.
Then, to her utter horror, the drone of the turbines faltered, stuttered… and died.
"Scar," She hissed "What the fuck is going on?"
"I am not sure," He rumbled unhappily "But if the stealth generator has been running all this time without the engines being activated… it may have drained the power cells so much the turbines will not start."
"Can you fix it?"
"I have one spare power cell in reserve from my last raid, stored in the hold. We could replace one of the cells. Now the cloak has been deactivated we could probably start the turbines, but it will take a little time. Maybe half a unit."
Hurriedly, Lex set Isaac down next to Iversson and brought up the display screen, so they could see the enraged Queen, snapping and thrashing as she fought to get free.
"We may not have that long!" Lex swallowed hard "Could she get into this shuttle?"
Scar's gaze was also fixed on the Xenomorph "This ship was built for deep space travel and attack by enemy ships but…" He didn't need to say it, Lex knew exactly what he was thinking – neither of them wanted to find out if the Chameleon could withstand an attack by a vengeful hard meat Queen. Not when it was their only hope of escaping this disintegrating fortress.
"We have no time for this!" He tore himself away from the view-screen "I must replace the cell!"
As he disappeared down into the hold, while Lex gazed around desperately, then an idea struck her and she turned to Iversson "Are we able to close the dome over the shuttle?"
The Professor started in surprise "If the power's still back on yes, I don't see why not."
"How much punishment can it take?"
"It's pretty tough," Iversson grimaced "It was originally meant to shield our planes from airborne attacks."
Lex didn't waste time asking who would be shooting at a research unit – she thought she could guess why they were worried about coming under attack. Instead she asked quickly "How do we close it?"
"Usually the control room would close it remotely but … there's a way to do it manually," Iversson pointed it out on the view screen and as she touched the screen, the picture zoomed in on the control panel "There, the largest switch on the panel but you'll have to hold it all the way down until the dome is sealed. This green button locks it but – "
"Does it require biometrics?"
"No, just my pass-key card, but Lex," Iversson looked up at her worriedly "If you close it, we'll be trapped!"
Both women and Isaac turned as the Queen let out a furious shriek.
"Do you have a better idea?" Iversson shook her head and wordlessly handed her the card.
Lex took it, pushed her mask onto her face. The Professor could see her taking a deep breath. Then she darted out into the rain.
The downpour was so heavy Lex could hardly make out the Queen as she sprinted for the control panel, but she could hear her screams. She switched her mask to thermal vision setting as she ran. Suddenly she could see the enraged matriarch, a flaming beacon of heat and light and wrath.
Reaching the control panel, she slammed the key-card into its slot and hauled on the lever. It was stiff and it took all her strength and both hands to push it downwards. The dome began sliding over them with a grinding noise, loud enough to be heard even over the rain and the unearthly shrieking. When she'd forced it all the way down she tried to let go but the moment she released the pressure the lever began to slide back up and the dome cover stopped moving.
At the noise, the Queen caught sight of her intended prey and redoubled her efforts to free herself. She began tearing at the metal and herself with her enormous clawed hands in her frenzy to get at the intruders who had destroyed her nest. As Lex stood willing the dome to close faster; she could see wisps of steam rising up through the rain where the Queen's blood had begun to eat away at the metal that imprisoned her...
Iversson sat in the pilot seat clutching Isaac tight, both of them mesmerised by what they could see on the view screen. She heard a noise behind her and turned to see the exotic re-enter the cockpit, even filthier with oil and grease than when he'd left it.
He opened his mouth to speak and then stopped, his intimidating, yellow gaze sweeping the room before finally coming to rest on her.
"Where is Lex?" He said sharply.
Before Iversson could answer him, her own eyes flicked involuntarily to the view screen and he followed her line of sight to where Lex's slender figure was dimly visible. Only a short distance away from her and fighting to get free… the maddened Queen.
"No…" His jaws fell open in disbelief "No! No! NO!" He banged his fists on the console in fury "What is she doing?!"
Iversson started at the rage in his voice, felt Isaac jump too.
"She's trying to buy you some time," She said, trying calm him, frightened by this sudden explosion of temper "She went to shut the dome cover to keep that creature out! She can't let go of the switch or it won't close – "
He wasn't listening, already grabbing weapons and explosives, snatching up his mask and pushing it onto his face; spitting filthy sounding curses in his own language. She couldn't understand what he was saying but she didn't really need to, she could tell how angry and agitated he was.
On the view screen, the dome was now three quarters shut but it moved so slowly, the sporadic power-outs making it even more halting than normal….
She watched as the exotic strapped a huge piece of equipment across his back. It could have been a weapon or maybe some sort of mechanised tool. Whatever it was, it would certainly have been too heavy for a human being to lift.
He turned towards her "When the dome is shut, is there any other way out?" He snarled.
"Way out? N-no," She stuttered "The shuttle will be sealed inside - "
He cut her off "I mean for me to get out!"
"Well, there are vents higher up – "
Before she could say any more he was at the airlock and through it.
Then there was an awful noise and Iversson's gaze was dragged back to the view screen as if magnetized.
"Oh God…" She whispered.
The Queen was loose...