::Outside Perspective::

Ripley's eyes widen at what she sees. For a moment she thought she was seeing Amy…the daughter that she lost. "Hey, shhhhh. It's alright. Come on." She coaxes softly as the little girl just stares like a scared rabbit hiding in a hole.

Hicks begins reaching under the cabinets to grab her. Newt inches away each time he comes too close. Onyx decides to come into play and slides up next to Ripley, catching Newt's attention. The little girl, who's obviously been through an eternity of horror in a very short amount of time has this gaze that reminds Onyx of a wild animal, looking at humans for the first time. Just Onyx's presence gives Hicks enough time to maneuver himself into a position where he can grab her.

"Just grab her, Corporal." Gorman says with little to no compassion in his voice. Onyx turns toward him and growls, catching him off guard and causing him to just stand still, completely silent.

Ripley is still focused on Newt, trying with her softest voice to get the little girl to respond. "Don't be afraid. Come on. We won't hurt you. Shhhh, it's alright. It's okay. Come on out. Come on. Easy. Easy…"

Newt finally gets herself jammed in a corner and Hicks is able to grab her wrist. "I got her!"

Newt bites him on the hand and bolts like a shot, scuttling along beneath the floor grilling. Hicks yanks his hand back in pain. "Owwwwww! Damn!"

"Watch her!" Gorman calls out from behind and makes a point this time to stand back, keeping distance between himself and Onyx. There's something about her he can't place, and he's not all that comfortable with it either. The fact that she just growled at him wasn't what bothered him the most…it was the way her eyes seemed to glow red for a split second that caused his skin to crawl. Maybe he was just seeing things…

Everyone is up on their feet, following Newt as she crawls under the panels beneath them, close to the wall. Ripley is the first one in line, keeping herself locked on the little girl at all times. "Don't let her go!"

"She's under the grill!" Hicks exclaims and keeps his light on the deck.

"Frost, use your lantern." Gorman calls when Onyx cuts him off by stealing the words right out of his mind.

"Frost, get your light up here!" She barks and moves back, allowing Frost to get to Hicks and Ripley.

Frost passes Onyx and focuses his light. "Right here!"

"Where'd she go?!" Ripley asks in a heightened voice and looks frantically for Newt.

"She's on the other side of us!" Hicks replies and tries to keep his light on the small moving form under the panels.

"Shine your light!" Ripley is becoming more determined to keep her focus locked on the little girl that's trying to get away from all the light and sounds of the group.

Bishop moves ahead and spots the agile little Newt. "Down here! Here, here!"

Frost adds on to Bishop's statement, his light also locked on the same spot. "Here, here!"

Gorman has also become immersed in the excitement and sees what they see. "There she is!"

Ripley's maternal instincts kick in to full gear. "Keep back! Keep back! Don't scare her!"

"Grab her, man! We're going to loose her!" Hicks exclaims as Newt reaches an air duct set in the baseboard and scrambles inside.

"Damn it!" Ripley snarls and grabs Bishop's light and dives, squirming her body into the duct without thinking.

Frost says, "She can't get out!" But everyone is too busy focused on if Ripley can reach the little girl before she gets away.

-Inside the Ventilation Room-

Newt enters the room and quickly turns to lock the duct's grille door. But Ripley, being much stronger, pushes the grille open before the child can latch it, and crawls in after her. "Wait! Wait!" She calls out to the little girl and watches as her small form backs into a cul-del-sac in the tiny steel chamber. Ripley shines her light around in amazement. It is a NEST. A nest built by a child. Wadded up blankets and pillows line the space, mixed up with a haphazard array of toys, stuffed animals, dolls, cheap jewelry, comic books, empty food packets, and even a battery-operated tape player. She looks up, hearing a soft thunder and peers at a rotating fan drum above her head. She keeps her eyes above and then looks down while moving silently forward.

"It's okay. It's alright. Don't be afraid." Ripley says softly and picks up one of the cheap jewelry pearl necklaces and holds it up in front of Newt as she moves forward. "See?"

Newt's not buying it and is trying desperately to back further away, but the wall behind her is stopping her. Nowhere to run. Nowhere, except another air duct right beside her. She dives for the hatch.

"Wait! No you don't!" Ripley says and grabs her, controlling the girl in a bear hug. The child struggles wildly, hands and feet flying, like a cat at the veterinarians office. "It's okay! Everything is going to be alright now! Shhhhhh! Easy, easy...it's going to be okay. It's alright, your going to be okay." Newt squirms and makes soft whimpering sounds, slowly calming down. "Shhhh, shhhh, shhhh...easy...easy." Newt finally stops struggling and goes limp, almost catatonic.

Ripley looks over to her side and notices something amidst the debris...a framed photograph of Newt, dressed up and smiling. In embossed white letters underneath, it says: Second Grade Citizenship Award, Rebecca Jordan.

Looking back down at Newt in her arms, Ripley strokes the girl's hair in a motherly fashion, keeping her calm. Newt is lost somewhere within the depths of her mind, staring ahead of her…out into nothing…

-Operations - Manager's Office-

::Her Perspective::

I stand back as Hicks opens the storm shutters on all the windows. I can see that a thick, billowing fog has rolled in and covered up the landscape outside, as though it were some kind of unearthly veil. Holding in the secrets of what lies ahead…

"Hey…" I hear the familiar voice and turn to my right. It's Hicks. "You doin' okay?"

I think for a moment, look behind him and see Riddick watching me, his goggles covering his gaze. I look back to Hicks and give a nod. "I'm fine thanks."

He his brows furrow curiously and gives a smile of understanding before walking off, leaving me to look out into the landscape. No more then a few seconds pass by when Riddick is suddenly to my left, his body emitting waves of dangerous heat, causing the fine hairs along my spine to stand on end.

"You're awfully quiet." He growls out in a low tone and I'm forced to swallow the lump that just formed in the back of my throat.

"Just thinking…" I reply softly and try not look at him. I know he wants to have a conversation with me, and there really isn't anything I can do to avoid it. "You want to talk me don't you?"

He nods, facing forward just like me. "Sure do…" Riddick pauses to turn toward me, and even though his gaze is covered in those pitch black goggles, I can feel his eyes burning into me. "You want the sugar coated version or the truth." He states in a voice that makes me even more uncomfortable.

I take a deep breath and hold my arms tightly across my chest. "The truth." I say and let my eyes fall on his… I can't tell what he's thinking, he's blocked me out and his face is a portrait of stone. A cold, emotionless expression giving me no hint as to what he's about to say.

"This whole time, going to find you, finding the wormhole, chained up by an evil twin brother whom I never knew about. We managed to get through it, then fought each other, made it through that, and then headed toward the rift, which you from day one, instinctively knew what was beyond the wormhole. Yet you only told me so much and we end up here with this squad and now we're stuck in the bowels of hell." He pauses in his speech and brings his face closer to mine and I feel my little bubble of safety pop out of existence, leaving me completely vulnerable. "And then, you spring the information to me via mental link, right after we've already touched down. You kept all of this from me until we landed…and you want to know something?" I bite my bottom lip as he lifts his goggles just slightly, letting me see his silver gaze and grins. "This sure as hell beats Mercs and going back to Slam."

I blink a few times as he slides the goggles back down, the grin becoming larger on his face. "Wait…you're not mad at me?"

"Not mad, can't be." He says and the grin becomes a softer smile, one filled with appreciation. "Yea we're about to be overwhelmed with Aliens but, here…because of you… I have my life back. You've given me a freedom I would never have known if I had never gone out to find you."

"Oh…" I'm completely stunned… I don't even know how to answer that.

"The answer to your question is we're even. So don't worry about me being angry. Just don't keep anything from me again, understand?"

I nod, a wave of relief washing through me, devouring the tension from my nerves. "Well I can't keep anything from you now that we really have a mental link from hell."

"Yea, so stop checking out Hicks and Hudson. Hicks, I can deal with, he's a good man… But Hudson?"

My jaw hangs loose and a swell of heat rushes into my face out of embarrassment. "I wasn't checking him out." I say softly, hoping no one heard that.

He gives an unimpressed smirk. "Like hell you weren't. You know it, I know it, so stop trying to play it off."

I narrow my eyes at him. "Oh and you're innocent? I know you've been checking out Vasquez since we hooked up with these people."

"Can you blame me? Have you seen her ass?"

I growl and slug his bicep causing him to chuckle at my reaction. "What? You were doing it too."

"Shutup Riddick." I snarl and turn away from him, trying not to smile. "I was admiring her physique purely out of an artist's perspective."

I hear him grunt and feel his breath on the left side of my neck. "I bet there's a part of you that's dying to see her naked…"

Before I can even think to blink I spin around and clock him square in the chest, damn near knocking the wind out of him. Riddick steps back and balances on his feet, a devilish grin on his lips. "Damn baby, I might actually bruise from that one." He muses hoarsely and rubs his chest.

As soon as the moment passes, my eyes are wide with surprise and I feel like a spotlight has just drenched over my body as Hicks, Apone, Drake, Vasquez and Hudson are all looking at me with surprise in their brows. "I…need to see how Ne…" I trail off and correct myself. "See how the munchkin's doing." I try to keep my gaze to the floor as I pass their eyes peering at me, trying to get myself to Ripley as soon as possible.

Right as I pass the group I hear Hudson crack at joke. "Hey Vasquez, looks like you've got yourself a twin."

She retaliates with a sigh. "Why don't you do everyone a favor and find something useful to do, as in…shut up." Vasquez says with a slight Hispanic accent to her voice and I get passed them without hearing anymore commentary.

I finally make my way up to Ripley and see that Newt's sitting on a desk, legs dangling over the side, looking at a point in space. Ripley enters first, carrying a coffee mug. She and I stand and watch Gorman trying to talk to Newt. Of course, when it comes to kids, he's got about as much communication skills as peanut. Holding in the smirk just thinking about Gorman being a peanut, I glance over and notice another female Marine, think her name is Dietrich, standing next to Gorman. I let my brain process the information and I remember that it is Dietrich and she the med-tech for the squad.

"What's her name again?" Gorman asks and looking at Newt.

Dietrich replies, "Rebecca."

Gorman leans in front of Newt while Dietrich watches her readouts from a portable Bio-Monitoring terminal in her hand. "Now think, Rebecca. Concentrate. Just start at the beginning. Where are your parents?" Newt gives him no response. "Now look, Rebecca. You have to try and help…"

Ripley and I share a look and she steps forward, cutting him off. "Gorman! Give it a rest why don't you."

Gorman straightens up with a sigh of dismissal. "Total brainlock."

"Physically, she's okay. Borderline malnutrition, but I don't think there's any permanent damage." Dietrich explains to Gorman and he appears annoyed.

"Come on. We're wasting our time." He says with irritation in his voice and goes to exit the room with Dietrich when he catches my gaze and looks visibly nervous for moment. I narrow my eyes at him as he clears his throat and walks off.

Weird… I think to myself and stay at the door, watching as Ripley kneels down beside Newt. The poor little thing continues to stare ahead blankly.

"Try this. It's a little hot chocolate." She says and wraps Newt's hands around the cup. Slowly, Ripley raises it to her lips for her. The girl drinks mechanically, spilling some down her chin. "Here you go… Ooop, that good, huh?" Ripley wipes away the spilt coco, causing some of the dirt on Newt's face to come away.

"Uh oh. I made a clean spot here." She announces while wiping the dirt away and pauses. "Now I've done it. Guess I'll just have to do the whole thing." She pulls a small water canteen away from her person, pours some of its contents inside the empty cup, she then dips the cloth into the water and gently washes Newt's face. "Hard to believe there's a little girl under all this." She says and gives Newt a warm look. "And a pretty on too."

Newt doesn't seem to know she's there. "You don't talk much, do you?" Ripley adds softly and I feel my chest tighten. Just thinking about what that little girl has gone through really gets to me. Apparently the feeling is mutual as Ripley looks to me with the same expression on her face.

-Operations-

::Riddick's Perspective::

I've managed to keep out of sight for most of this trip, but I think I should join in and see if I can be of any help. I didn't want to leave Onyx back there, but she's alright with Ripley. She's taken to her very well. They have this Mother and Daughter thing going on, and with Newt coming into play, it makes their bond stronger. That's why I'm going to busy myself with the technical shit and leave the emotional stuff to her. That's definitely her field description. I should know, she's brought emotions and feelings out of me that I thought I had lost a very long time ago.

I bring my eyes over to a Monitor Screen. It looks like an abstract of the main-colony ground-plan. I silently make myself comfortable as the ground team gather around a terminal in the computer center. Hudson has the main computer's CPU on-line.

Hudson operates a joystick controller, which moves the ground-plan around. "Smoking or non-smoking?" He asks sarcastically while smacking his lips on a piece of gum.

Here goes Gorman, or as Onyx likes to call him Corn-Holio. "Just tell me what your scanning for private?"

"PDT's." Hudson replies still scanning the monitor.

Corn-Holio himself gets a confused look on his face. Heh…Onyx has a great sense of humor. "Huh?" Gorman chimes and Burke informs him.

"Personal-Data Transmitters. Every colonist had one surgically implanted."

Hudson adds in to the conversation. "If they're within twenty clicks, we'll read it out here...but so far, zip."

-Operations - Manager's Office-

::Her Perspective::

I've maneuvered myself into the room next to Ripley as she washes Newt's tiny hands with the cloth, pink skin emerging from the black grime. "I don't know how you managed to stay alive. But, you're one brave kid, Rebecca."

Newt's voice is all but inaudible. "N-newt."

Ripley leans closer. The single syllable was incomprehensible. "What did you say?" She asks softly and peers into the little girls blue/gray eyes, which seem to be slowly coming back to life.

"Newt. My n-name's Newt. Nobody calls me Rebecca, except my brother."

Ripley grins. She speaks quietly, not wanting to break the spell. "Newt. I like that. I'm Ripley. It's nice to meet you. And who is this, huh?" Ripley lifts Newt's filthy left hand up which still clutches the disembodied head of a doll.

Newt looks at the head. "Casey."

Ripley looks to the doll's dirty face. "Hello, Casey." She stops and looks back into Newt's eyes. "And what about your brother, what's his name?"

"Timmy."

"Is Timmy around here too? Maybe hiding like you were?" Ripley asks and I can see the look on Newt's face. I feel my heart bleed as Newt seems to close up, staring away from Ripley, not making eye-contact.

Ripley keeps trying, "any sisters?" Newt shakes her head 'no' barely moving. "Mom and Dad?"

Newt nods once more, almost imperceptibly. Ripley gently takes her face in her hands. "Newt...look at me. Where are they?"

Suddenly a strong voice pours out of Newt. "They're dead!" Ripley drops her hand. "All right?! Can I go now?!"

"I'm sorry, Newt. Don't you think you'd be safer here with us?" Newt shakes her head "no" with chilling certainty. "These people are here to protect you. They're soldiers."

Newt cuts her off with a soft, and chilling response that causes my blood to run cold. "It won't make any difference."

-End Chapter Thirty-Seven-