Chapter 13
Royal Pleasure
1
There was no final, grand moment that saw the disappearance of the cannibals from Amaya and Maddox's lives. After the machine was defeated, the cannibals faded from existence. Their trench, their sanctuary against the Fall's other dangers, was now battered, broken and filled with the dead. Dozens, no, hundreds of bodies left in their wake. The landmark would become just another place to be picked over by survivors and wildlife. Amaya was more than happy to put it behind her.
After the massive crater at the end of the trench, where the battleship had first impacted Solaris, the barren earth gave way to suburbs dense with structures. This province was left much more intact for whatever reason, the houses refusing to topple in on themselves, despite most of them being slanted off to one side.
Can you recognise any of these streets? Amaya asked, flicking a claw at a post standing on the next T-intersection. The letters AVE were still visible on the metal sign, and she was struck with old memories.
"No," Maddox said. "I didn't really come up this way before. I was too busy with school and…" He grinned sheepishly. "and kissing pretty girls. W-Well, girl, singular, but… you know what I mean."
Oh my, consider this Queen flattered, human. She bumped him with her hip, sending his smaller form stumbling away. Ever since their minds had melded further than they ever had the other night, she was always finding excuses to touch him. I'm lucky none of the human females got to you before I did.
"I think you've ruined me for humans, Amaya." He was staring right at her dark blue ass as she walked past. Just for kicks she went to all fours and added a sway to her hips as she strolled on, and laughed when Maddox almost tripped over when she called his name, telling him to keep up.
The whole day was spent trudging along through these northern ruins, stopping frequently to rest their aching joints. By now, the storm consuming the lands had spreads its horrific girth across the southern portion of the city. If it wasn't pouring its wrath onto the Bunker's entrance by now, it would be very soon. Lightning strikes turned the world white in sudden instances, some of them soon followed by a chorus of thunder.
"Please tell me it won't be acid rain or something," Maddox said that afternoon, as they rested in someone's half-destroyed residence.
No, it's not acid, at least. She shared her memories of all the other times she'd stood in the rain of this planet. One of them was of her sitting in a clump of forest far from here, waiting for a schoolboy to come back to her. Know something?, she said, draping an arm over his shoulders and tugging him to her breast. For a world called 'Solaris' as in 'sun', it sure does rain a lot here.
"… Huh. I never noticed that before." He reached over and helped deepen the hug, letting the Link fill with warmth. A soft, almost purring sound rumbled from his companion. "We get out of here, I'll take you to a nice big planet that's always sunny. How's that sound?"
I'd like that. As long as you're there with me, anywhere would be perfect.
The Link was cozy with their combined affection, like their minds were wrapped in soft blankets. Maddox let his mind wander in the emotions they shared, his metaphysical presence conecting with her own. She was a solace for Maddox, and he a source of strength for her to draw from. Every second awake in this world was like living in a nightmare, but with her human around, it made living just a little bit easier.
She fell asleep much easier than Maddox that night, for he was still trying to contemplate what his admission to her had done to him. His only friend was the thing responsible for the world dying, and he loved her. Naturally his feelings were conflicted. But out of his home or his friend, only one of those things could ever recover, and from all these new sensation – the dreams, the Link – no matter how foreign they were, he'd never give up on them again, and certainly not her. Out of his love for his home and his friend, their was a choice to make, and it was obvious one held more power over him than the other.
The amount of guilt inside him was immense, birthed from having waiting to confess for so long. But with Amaya around, things would be easier, and as long as he tried, even just a little bit every day, perhaps he could learn to never repeat his wrongs.
And with that, perhaps try to start living again. If there was any sort of goal to go for anymore, that seemed as good enough a reason as any.
With that, he slipped into the dreaming world, and relished in its memories and illusions.
2
Amaya had mentioned once or twice before, the horrors that had been born out of the ashes of the Fall, and a few days after escaping the trench, Maddox got his first taste of what she was talking about. They had not physically seen whatever it was, which at the time was as horrible, because the imagination let fly on the threats one could not see.
Maddox had sensed something was wrong, just a moment before Amaya did herself. They'd quickly run off the street they'd been walking down and hidden in an alley laden with trash and rubble. They'd ducked into the shadows and waited, arms wrapping protectively over each other as something loud and very big slithered just a couple meters beyond their hiding place. Maddox brought up the mental image of a gigantic snake worming its way through the suburbs, as every couple of moments he'd hear something rattling, accompanied by a tremendous sloshing sound. This wasn't mentioning the fact Amaya felt like prey, with reflected her terror into him.
Amaya hid their mental presence in a shield of her making until the thing passed, only managing the will to speak fifteen minutes after it was gone. Maddox was sure the creature had sensed them. Whether it just wasn't hungry or wasn't interested was hard to tell, but either way he had his friend to thank.
They soon passed through the hub of the suburbs, where the residences gave way to a few strips of commercial buildings. It was Maddox's idea that they split up to search for any supplies.
Obviously Amaya wasn't so keen on the idea.
"It's okay," he said. "I'll be fine. I don't need you to…" He was going to say watch over me the whole time, but cut himself off in favour of a moment to think. "Look, I know you're just trying to help. Just trust me. I won't go far."
I… Okay, Maddox. But anything happens, and I'm never leaving your side. Keep in touch with me.
"Always." Amaya leaned down and kissed the glass separating his face from hers, mindful of the cracks running down the side of the visor. An experimental lift of the mask this morning had assaulted his nose with a horrible stench of rotting meat. A smell that could only belong to the millions of corpses melting in the sun, laying in the alleys, on the roads and in the buildings.
Amaya went to one side of the street, Maddox the other. He picked through a fast-food place, finding only loose plastic wrappers and a whole mess of friers and ovens that had once been a kitchen, now rusting and empty.
Walking over to the drive-thru, he saw something on the road that separated this building from a nearby parking lot. There were a pair of soldiers lying behind a small gathering of sandbags, dead faces staring up at the sky. One of them was carrying a sidearm with the same design as Maddox's own pistol, the one he'd gotten from the Bunker. He ejected the soldier's magazine and put it in his own gun, putting his two spare magazine's into his waistband. He scrutinised the pistol for a moment, remembering its original intention now that it was loaded once again.
There was no other word than sick to describe how it felt holding it like this again. How selfish he had been to even consider shooting himself and make Amaya's world fall apart all over again! He'd toss it away right now if he thought its presence wouldn't soothe him as he crossed this totally destroyed world.
He promised himself he'd throw it away if he made it out of all this.
Mumbling an apology to the soldier, he fished his hands into the army vest for any spare ammo. He stopped his apology halfway through however, as he remembered this man was working for the very people who had brought down the apocalypse. Even the thought that he shared the same flesh and blood as these murderers made him feel like shit all over again.
He grew impatient after a while, and after finding nothing useful, left the corpse alone to continue his search. The next building was a gas station, but there was a strange scrap set of stairs leading to the roof of the main structure, some survivors handiwork no doubt. After testing the weight of the rigging, he made his way up one slow step at a time, keeping his pistol at the ready.
He wasn't sure if the cannibals had migrated from this area, or the camp on this roof was of someone else's doing, but either way he felt his stomach drop at what he saw when he got to the roof. Something resembling tanning rocks lined the northern side of a ring of moldy sleeping bags. The sleeping rolls were clustered around a barrel that was still cackling with a small flame inside. Skin was stretched like a splayed hand across the racks, hair and organs dripping out from a once-pursed interior. By the way the organs looked, and the shape of the hide, it wasn't a matter of what was on the racks, but who.
Maddox gagged behind his mask and turned away, his breakfast contemplating on whether to empty itself or not. In the end, it didn't, because maybe Maddox was starting to get used to seeing these things, and that was somehow the worst thing he'd ever thought of since leaving the Bunker.
Maddox? came a soothing voice. Has something happened?
He blinked. The Link had sent Amaya a message of panic, but he quickly corrected it, using his own telepathic voice. No, I'm fine. Just saw something pretty fucked up. He glanced over his shoulder at the camp. You know, the usual stuff.
Oough, Amaya said, seeing through his eyes from wherever she was. Have you found anything else? Useful, I mean?
Nothing so far. Maddox gave the 'tanning racks' a disgusted look before coming back down to the street. The wind rustled a plastic bag out of the gutter nearby, floating across the street like a tumbleweed. What about you?
One or two things. I… Hmhm…
What?
Oh, nothing, just that no one has spoken to me like this in a long time, and it coming from you is... I like it.
Well, he telepathically said, passing a fuel pump and drawing his eyes to the south. I'll have to talk like this more often then. Or is it technically thinked? Thunk? Thoughted?
Amaya amused herself by letting him ramble on for a few moments, before gently pushing her phantom-presence in front of him. If you're done, come over here. We'll eat before movingon.
He didn't need to ask where she was, simply letting his instincts guide him. They dined on what few scraps they had left, talking with their minds, becoming more linked with each passing moment. The afternoon was fading away into a darkness neither of them had seen the surface world fall into before.
Broiling thunder murmured from over their shoulders as they pressed into the night, confident they could make some more progress before true darkness descended. They passed a few crude totem poles erected high up on hills or roofs of structures, like how one would set up statues to ward off evil spirits. Skulls of humans and/or animals on top of horns and spikes skinned from God-knows what else had spawned in the apocalypse.
The cannibals doing, no doubt, Amaya observed.
Maddox hadn't known true human madness could lead to such things, and his loathing of his own species dug a little deeper into himself. All those tales of banding together when the worst comes to worst were just more fantasies his younger self had been naïve to believing. Though he wasn't putting himself above the rest of humanity, of course. He'd fallen into that same trap of madness, resenting the one person who knew him for who he was.
They walked on until even Amaya was having trouble discerning the path ahead, and they stopped on top of an incline in the earth, beside a concrete walkway that cut through a park, the once green grass now brown and dead. Children-sized swing sets creaked over the lonely atmosphere to their left, as they took shelter in a cabin painted in bright reds and yellows. Amaya remarked the children's playground with a sad smile, disappointed that she was too big to fit in the little cubby houses.
"You're missing out, girl," Maddox goaded, on his hands and knees as he crawled into the main structure of a playset. All sorts of childish scribblings and patterns lined the damp interior. One particular drawing caught his eye: a blue dragon with a yellow star on its snout.
Oh, don't tease me. She poked her head through one of the comically small windows, her gaze drawing to a pile of oversized shapes. What's that?
She was looking at a bunch of building blocks and pieces. Toys for kindergartners and children, and Maddox suddenly felt like one.
"Ah man, you can build forts out of these things." He lifted up one of the big, rubber pieces, and a spider as big as his hand scurried out from underneath. Maddox screamed like a girl and hit his head against the ceiling. Amaya just laughed at his peril as he tried to outmaneuver the little arachnid.
Eventually he was able to crawl out of the cubby house, wiping down his limbs for any more spiders nestling on his skin. That's what you get for teasing, she said, brushing a lock of his overgrown hair from his face.
"Yeah I know." Once he calmed down, his eyes lit up as he examined the area. "Hey, I know something we can do. Over here."
Head cocked in confusion, she followed him to a set of bars, with two chains suspended from the middle of its length, which ended in a rotund shape of rubber. A word came to her mind as she looked the thing over: swing set. He wiped down the seat of the swing and gave the chains a tug. "Alright, hop on."
This thing? She seemed to make the seat appear smaller just by standing next to it. She didn't know what the hell this contraption was beyond its name. I think I'm too big for this.
"Your ass is fine, now just squeeze in those cheeks and hop on."
Amaya growled and slapped him with her tail, sending him flying a few meters away. He landed not with a grunt of pain, but a gasp of laughter.
Dirty human! Anyone else said that to me and I'd… You don't know how lucky you are.
"No I think I do." He sat up on his elbows, and watched as Amaya turned around so she was facing away from the swing. His prior comment held some shred of truth, for her buttocks stretched out the worn rubber as she slowly brought her weight back. The metal creaked out a complaint underneath her added bust, but she seemed to fit, just.
Amaya crossed one leg over the other, the toes of her high-heel feet pointing up. She looked ready to jump out of the thing at any moment, confused about just what Maddox was planning, as he got up and moved behind her.
"Relax, it'll be fun. Feet off the ground."
'Fun'? she echoed, but obeyed, the chains now straining to their max. Woahwoahwoah! Maddox had pulled the seat back so that she was slightly further from the ground. Her tail went and coiled around his thigh. Maddoxwhatareyoudoing?!
He laughed at her sped-up voice in his head. "It's fine! Let go of my leg."
As soon as she did, he didn't give her a chance to latch back on, as he pushed the swing forward as hard as he could. Both Amaya's upper and lower arms clutched the chains for dear life, as momentum launched her higher into the air.
For all her girth, her intimidating body, her deadly claws and tail, the dwindling sanity, and her general blood-lust, she'd never before screamed like she did now. It was in fear, but the general thrill of a new sensation was overpowering, that even Maddox felt the proverbial rope that bound him to her tug his consciousness one way, just as if he were the one in her position.
Gravity pulled the swing back, right into Maddox's waiting arms. She expected him to stop her. Instead, he did the exact opposite, and pushed her, this time harder than the last.
She was only less than a meter off the ground, yet still she was consumed with thrill and fear. Maddox laughed and Amaya cried, but the latter was slowly coming to terms with the whole ritual, and the sound of her Host laughing, something he'd rarely done, if at all in years, was somehow contagious.
On the fourth 'swing', Amaya extended her legs out with the movement, gaining more height and speed. "That's it!" Maddox encouraged, having to back up when his friend came flying towards him. Fifth time was the charm, apparently, as now Amaya was openly laughing, her tail piled in her lap as she immersed herself in the activity.
More, Maddox! Higher!
The crease lines in Maddox's cheeks were starting to burn. It occurred to him how perverse this was, them surrounded by so much death and decay, having added their own share to the Fall, and here they were actually having fun, acting like children.
It brought back some sense of normality, a concept this world was foreign to. But a part of him didn't care. His friend, or girlfriend, or lover or whatever one called it, was enjoying herself, and that was a concept she was foreign to as well, and he'd oblige her for as long as they had left.
Half a dozen swings later, and she was going too high, too fast for him to help. Not like she'd need it, by the way she was propelling herself, now immune to the panic that had struck her on the first swing.
He remembered always imagining as a kid, using the swing so hard he did a whole revolution around the metal bar. He didn't know if Amaya took that idea from his mind, but he was shocked nonetheless when she pulled off that exact maneuver half a dozen swings later, launching up high off the ground, a dark ball resembling the hand of a clock going wild.
Maddox's jaw hit the flaw as she did it not once, but twotimes, his head tracking her as she spun round and round. It looked like she was making for a third full circle, when on the way up she leaped from the seat and flipped through the air.
Maddox felt himself becoming concerned as she hit the ground in a roll, her exoskeleton smacking into the ground with a loud thump. "O-Oh shit Amaya are you-?"
His worry was in vain, as Amaya sprang to her feet like an energetic cat. In less than a second she was upon him, lifting him up in the air in her arms and crushing him to her breast.
Oh, Maddox! she gasped, outwardly struggling for air as her voice filled his thoughts. I've… I've never felt so…
"It's great, huh?" He clutched her round the neck with one hand and caressed her crown with the other. "I can't believe it's still standing after all the years…"
He stopped, as he realised the reason Amaya was struggling for air, was not because she was laughing, but crying, and a look of concern passed over his face.
I cannot remember the last time I felt so… exhilarated. A whimper slipped from her throat. I've been so empty inside, after I lost you. Only now do I realise how much time I have wasted…
His concerned morphed into bitter sweet amusement. "Oh come on, Amaya. It's alright." He scratched the spot beneath her chin, the way she would always like it. "It wasn't wasted, just… uh, postponed. We're still young!"
He wasn't oblivious to the irony. He never would have been so optimistic one week ago. Strange what the apocalypse could bring out in him, the best but also the worst.
I could never live like that again, Maddox. I don't have the will. Don't let go of me. Please, don't you let go of me…
"I'm not going anywhere. Promise." He planted a kiss on her trembling forehead. "But you better stop crying, cause if you don't I'll start crying too, okay?"
A ghost of a smile broke through her features, and soon the Link was afire with their combined feelings for the other. It was a long time before Amaya put him back on the ground, but Maddox didn't mind one bit. Just like anyone, Amaya was still vulnerable, but he'd be there.
Whenever you need me, girl, he added.
She couldn't express through words how much he meant to her, so she didn't, and yet he still knew anyway. Whatever representation he made of the Link, be it a door, or a bridge, it was coming to the point it would bloom into something neither of them could expect or understand.
But they knew it would be good, and well worth the effort.
When the excitement, followed by their bonding, passed, they took shelter in the park beneath a tree. But Before Maddox could lay down for the night, a soft hand cupping his shoulder stopped him. He blinked up at the crowned head of his friend, her body silhouetted against the thin arcs of lightning in the sky. "Amaya? What is it?"
I saw something while I was flying on that swing. Come see.
She took him by the hand and pulled him up, then they walked to the northern side of the playground. A sea of trees blanketed the slope beneath them, a handful of red, dying leaves still clinging on to some of the branches.
He examined the grass swaying silently before them, and raised an eyebrow. "I don't see anything…?"
Beyond the trees. There. She pointed a claw. I'll give you a boost.
He straddled over her shoulders, clinging on to her crest as she angled it down and lifted her knees. Her exoskeleton was soft under his palms, with just a hint of friction. He could feel her tendons rippling beneath his thighs and buttocks.
Gripping the edge of her crown, he stood as high as he could go. He trusted his powerful companion despite the wind and the vertigo; she would never let him fall. He peered into the decaying forest, and then he saw it.
A dark ocean of ink, highlighted all over in strips of white even though the moon's light was absent. It was a glossy mass that stretched from the coast to the east, all the way to the west, to lands he'd never known and never would. It was bumpy, like dunes of a desert, but he knew those were orderly and with purpose, every angle and turn designed in a way to support the core of the whole thing.
Maddox was gently ushered to the ground once more. He slipped an arm across Amaya's waist, and held her close as his tired features were reinvigorated. Both their weary gazes looked towards the Hive, of which they were at last standing at its doorstep.
3
Maddox expected that, like many others before him, he would see the Hive as an abomination. A blight upon the world no matter how used to the presence of the Queen he was. And deep inside him, there was a measure of disgust as he stepped one booted foot onto the fleshy material, which seemed to squelch ever so slightly under his weight.
But on the whole, he deduced it was just... different. And judging by the sheer size of the Hive he'd seen from higher ground last night, it was a difference he'd get used to eventually. He didn't think of it in terms of good or bad, for those words didn't seem to have a place on Solaris anymore.
Much like Amaya's own body, the material the Hive consisted of was dark in colour, with all sorts of strange, ribbed contusions spread throughout the mass, but throughout the Hive there was a certain orderliness to all the shapes and lines.
His proper 'entrance' into the Hive resembled the mouth of a cave. It was difficult to tell what had once stood there, only the ghosts of brickwork could be vaguely seen behind the Xenomorphic material. He felt a sense of honour at having been invited in personally by the Queen, and unlike Mattias Cohen, would do so willingly and without selfish intentions.
"You put of lot of effort into this place," he said, reaching out a hand to touch the lip of the cave mouth. The resinous texture was smooth, a touch damp, like that of a seal or some other aquatic animal. He felt something an inch below his fingertips reverberating under the pressure of his hand.
My daughters put their hearts into making this their home. Amaya paused just inside the entrance. From this angle against the walls, Maddox had to focus just to make out her body, even though she was just a few meters away from him, and slightly more blue than the resin.
"You must be proud of them," he said, then immediately saw by Amaya's face, that proud was the last thing on her mind.
I never once thought of this place as a 'home'. And with my memory returning, along with my Host, looking back on all that had happened now… I still don't. Her head inclined towards him. Does that make me a bad person?
"No," he said, walking over. "I can tell there's a lot of bad memories here. Maybe… maybe this planet wasn't for you. It might have been at one point, but... not anymore."
And when we leave, and go to one of these… other planets, what then? What if they aren't for me, either?
"I… I don't know. But you can't know that either. But what I do know is, that things will be different. Because I'll be here." He lifted her chin up so he met her gaze. "And I'll make it work, because you're mine, and I'm yours."
She leaned down and connected their foreheads, and the two shared a moment together. It hurt, Amaya said, her chest hitching as she lost her breath. It hurt so much that day. I thought I would never see you again. I thought the pain would never go away.
"I know," Maddox said, enveloped in his companions arms. He lifted a hand and drew random shapes across her crest, letting her take her time. "I know," he said again.
When she'd recovered, Amaya gently pushed him away with her smaller set of arms. Without words, she thanked him, as though his mere presence was something to be beholden.
Together, they made their way inside the Hive, into the beginnings of the vast, sprawling tunnel networks making up the guts of the Queen's old home. Maddox tried not to think about the hundreds, no, thousands of other humans in a similar position to his, wandering into an alien world. A part of him was naive enough to wonder how one could fear beautiful creatures such as Amaya.
Beauty, as in deadly, he reminded himself, eyes unwillingly drawing over Amaya's athletic form. He was glad she was on his side, and in some ways, thankful his parents had sold him off so she could be his. That harsh truth still made him swell up with a lot of anger, as well as confusion. This whole mess with Rose and Stu was so screwed up, the best he could do was just try not thinking about it until another day, when Solaris was just a dot in the sky.
This here was one of my earliest staging grounds. Amaya led the way a little into a wide chamber. Maddox was reminded of an ants nest when he looked up and saw several small holes in the ceiling, leading into other parts of the Hive, similar to vents. He could imagine the young Xenomorphs scurrying about to prepare for attack, or defence. My young would… gather here under my orders. Weyland would often choose these southern entry points to invade, and I'd send them off from here where reinforcements were needed.
The Hive got darker the deeper they went, the outside light fading behind them. An occasional strip of light would find its way through a crack above, but Maddox had to wait for his eyes to adjust before proceeding. Look at me, Amaya said. talking about my own young like they were soldiers.
"You don't have to do this," Maddox said, gesturing around them. "If it hurts too much to remember, you should stop."
I know, she said. But no matter how hard it gets, I need to learn. So I don't do it all over again.
"I… Okay. I'm right here, Amaya, if you need anything."
Thank you.
The tunnels split off into several forks every couple of steps, but Amaya was confident in her decision, as to which way they needed to go. She'd explain as they went, what chamber served what purpose, and Maddox began to question whether he was the one that would eventually need comfort.
They came across the body of a Xenomorph at one point. In its last moments it had been lying on its back, limbs curled up against its torso, and Maddox didn't know how he knew this, but he was certain its last moments were spent in agony. He had a brief image of flames come and go from his mind, and wondered if Amaya had seen the same.
Maintaining the brood demanded so much, Amaya explained, kneeling before the alien corpse. I needed more area to expand my reach, and that demanded more drones, and that demanded more sustenance… There came a point my young began to blur together into just one mass that I could use to fulfill those needs. No matter how much I try, I cannot remember this one, or her last moments.
Maddox was silent as she sat for a while before the skeleton, for once taking a step away from his mind, when she stood at last. He didn't offer her comfort, knowing that sometimes it was for the best one let themselves dwell in private, and she would come to him if she wanted.
She took him into a large, vaulted chamber next, telling him it had once served as the main terminal for the spaceport. Some parts of the world before the Fall still remained. A pair of escalators leading up to the second level, the front desk with the Solaris flag painted behind the vacant desks on the wall, even a section of glass that had once offered a view of the runways. Now the view was of a translucent roof of the Hive, the ribs of the resin highlighted blue by the coming lightning strikes.
After the terminal building, they went east, and here a large portion of the Hive was missing. That Cyclops ship had dropped much of its ordnance here, Amaya explained as they briefly returned to the outside world, covered by all sides except for the roof by walls of resin. It was like they were stood in the middle of a hedge maze, with the broiling clouds looming over them.
It had just began to rain when Amaya plunged back into the Hive. Maddox felt a drop hit his head, then his left arm. The sensations of freezing cold gave way to a warmth that was entirely alien, and suddenly he wasn't so comforted by the coming rainfall, despite Amaya's prior warnings about what horrors the storm brought forth, a part of him still missed sleeping away listening to the rainy nights.
Amaya helped scoop him up out of the open, and brought him deeper into the Hive before settling him back down. It was then his breathing filter began to sputter its last supplies of clean oxygen. As he lifted the mask briefly to fish out another filter, an experimental breath filled his lungs with something strange, and he frowned.
Amaya, ever vigilant on whatever he did or felt, held his hand. Is everything alright?
"Uh… yeah. Yeah, I can… I can breathe in here?" He was more asking himself than her, as he took another lungful. The air was just a tad stale, but it was just as clean as it had been back in the Bunker. Perhaps even more so.
Really? Her tail waved up behind her. That's wonderful! You don't have to wear this silly thing anymore.
Plucking the mask out of his hands, she let it fall to the ground and pecked him on the cheek, her tongue wetting his skin. Maddox's expression was of both surprise and confusion. Maybe it was something to do with the resin, filtering out all the shit that made him gag otherwise? It was as close to an explanation as he could get, but he was happy whatever the true reason was.
And he guessed Amaya was too, by the way she was rubbing up against his face like an attention-seeking housecat. He was more than willing to reciprocate the intamacy, scratching just under her chin, how she used to like. Or does like, rather, by the way a purr elicited from her throat.
They listened to the sound of the rain tapping the Hive's roof as they walked onward through the developing night. Maddox was not blind to the safety the resin provided. There was not one instance where another life could be felt or detected. The walls, weird and alien as they were, were not claustrophobic or oppressive, instead acting as bastions against the corruptions of the Fall he'd seen much of. Maybe the Hive was not a blight upon the world, but a purity. A time frozen in place by Amaya and her brood's doing. Silent and dead, but still a harbour of safety, the very opposite of what Weyland and the rebels had thought of it as.
The vessel is down that way, a few hours travel. Amaya pointed a claw down the tunnel to their left. But there is one thing I want to see, down there. She gestured to the tunnel on the right. It shouldn't be much of a detour. If you wouldn't mind, my friend.
"Sure," he said. "where are we going?"
The core of this place. Amaya's tail came forward and moved a few loose strands of hardened resin out of their path, gesturing Maddox to go first. Despite the name, it was perhaps the most unstable part of my Hive. Go straight through the next intersection.
Maddox used the protruding ribs of the resin to support his weight, as the tunnels took steep descents and rises through the Hive. Soon they made it through to the core.
A sliver of light shone through the great domed ceiling, to illuminate an upraised section of resin, which was vaguely shaped like a throne. He could almost see the old Amaya laying up there, a Queen before her kingdom, fighting the battles outside of this place, as well as in her own mind as madness chipped at her mentality.
The antechamber was thirty meters wide from end to end, its oval-shaped interior having only three exits, including the one they'd just entered through. Amaya's moving towards the throne brought him out of his examinations, and he followed her with a concerned frown.
I ruled from here, she explained, sinking to her hands and feet as she crested the shallow slope towards the throne. Sometimes I never left this chamber for months at a time. I neglected my duties to my Hive, and my daughters paid the price for it.
Maddox crested the throne, one leg up on the lip of its bowl-like shape as he sat. Inside the throne, several objects were scattered about, and he knelt down curiously to pick one up.
Oh, those. Amaya sank to the floor, crossing her legs beneath her in one smooth movement. I used to go out and collect things from thisworld. I can't remember when I stopped, or why.
Maddox glanced at her as he examined a rubicks cube, before putting that down in favour of lifting up a set of keys. There was also a little model plane in the collection, some sort of circuit board he couldn't discern what it had once been a part of, and even an assault rifle, a fully-automatic one with a few magazines resting beside it.
Maybe it was a way of reminding me of you, Amaya pondered, her smaller hands resting on her knees. My concience telling me that there's a part of humanity that doesn't despise me. Still couldn't fix my broken mind either way.
Maddox sat next to her, the Link coming alive with his guilt and pain for her. There was one particular trinket in the large collection that caught his attention. A little rectangluar piece of plastic and metal that fit snugly into his palm.
"My phone!" he said, his voice a mix of shock and surprise. "I gave this to you that day, remember? I wanted to call you on this after we got separated, so we could talk. But I never even... You're not the only one who forgot, girl."
That's what that is? She took the device from him, holding it out before her, as she had done a hundred times before. I used to stare at this thing for hours, or was it days? I couldn't even manage to turn it on, much less use it.
But I still gave it more attention then I should have. And when… when the consequences came, look what I did.
The smartphone fell with a click and was forgotten, and Amaya nodded her head to their north. Maddox knew that he was perhaps the only exception to the violent births of the chestbursters, and had spied one or two corpses on his treck through the Hive today. But he felt no pity for the humans. He did, however, feel the weight of guilt in his chest when he saw a dead neonate crumpled up near the corner of the room over there.
And the creature wasn't alone. Smaller Xeno's, the size of children, came apparent once he took a moment to look. There were maybe a dozen in the chamber, but God-knew how many others were scattered throughout the Hive.
Stillbirths, he thought. A harsh feeling only a female could experience, and Amaya being who she was, the only Xenomorph capable of repopulating her species, the pain she must feel would be excruciating.
And the ones that lived through the birth, soon lost their minds anyway. A prolonged death. Images of her brood, old and young, flicked from her mind to his. I took it upon myself to end them when they went feral. Amaya's right leg, pressing against his left, was trembling as she began to hyperventilate. And they turned feral because of my actions. I can… I can still hear the screams. Still feel their blood clinging to my hands.
She buried her head in her hands, and started sobbing. Every time one of them died, I could feel a part of me vanish forever. Why? Why was I so stupid? A parent should die before the child, no the other way around, and not by my own claws...
"Hey," Maddox said, trying to sound as soothing as he could. "Hey, come here, girl."
Maddox was close to tears himself when Amaya threw herself into his open arms, and planted her face into his shoulder, to cry against his stained clothes. "You're not stupid," he said. "You gave it all you had. So much was thrown at you, and you handled it as best you could."
My best wasn't enough. You were being tortured because of me, and I tortured my own brood with my very existence. How could I raise my young like I am? What kind of mother does the things I've done?
"I… I don't… Don't blame yourself because Weyland, and Mattias, and everyone else has tried to destroy you. Anyone else would have given up right away if they had to deal with what you had to go through. It's not your fault for what happened to me, don't you say that. Back then, I chose to get myself captured. And now… now we're so close to escaping from it all."
… I don't deserve the title of Queen. I cannot raise a brood. And I don't think I ever should again.
"No, you're wrong. Don't-Don't think of it like a brood, Amaya. It's family. And families are hard, we both know that. I know that you can do it, if you just tried again. I know that you'd make the best damn mother, if you had a fresh start."
Amaya looked up at him. Do you really mean that?
"Sure I do. You're the one who made me realise that… that even in this crazy, fucked up world, and how even more fucked up I am, that I can still love, that I can still be happy even with everything that's happened. Nobody except someone really special could do that. Nobody, except you, can make me feel that way."
"A-And I'm willing to help you, if you want to try it. As your Host, and as your friend, I feel like we could make it work."
Maddox… She cupped the back of his head, and brought him so that they were eye-to-snout. Are you saying… you would father children with me?
Maddox smiled. "W-Well, I don't know much about being a dad. And honestly it kind of scares me. But… yeah, eventually. Ask me again when we're far from this place."
She put a hand around his neck and pulled him into a deep kiss. I will! I love you so much, Maddox. You are everything to me.
He grinned through the duel they were having with their tongues. Soon she pulled away when his lungs were empty, nibbling playfully at his lips and cheeks, letting him know how much his words had meant to her.
He mock-swatted her away, smiling as he got to his feet. "Come on, Amaya. Let's put this planet behind us."
Purring, she put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. There was something about her grin that was different. There's a shortcut, through that tunnel over there, she said.
"Okay." She'd pointed on the tunnel to the right. It seemed to go in the other direction to where the ship was, but he left his suspicions unspoken, leading the way through to the darkness of the tunnel's mouth.
A strange scent permeated the air when he reached the exit. It was a spicy but pleasant smell, and made him pause as his senses digested the area ahead. From here, he could see no other exit inside, and opened his mouth to ask where this way led, only to be interrupted by his companion.
It just occurred to me that no male has ever entered my chambers before.
One of her primary hands grabbed his arm. Maddox felt his heart skip a beat, as he looked down at the hand, and was reminded of a memory long ago. One of a black, slim arm reaching out of the brush to hold him in place. It was the exact same limb as it was today, only this time, as he was turned around to face his lifelong friend, her features were not that of a strange, isolated alien levered with timidity, but of a deep lust, and want for him. Her lips had peeled back to reveal those razor-sharp teeth, to reflect the animalistic desire buried within her.
-Because my chambers are private. Her other, primary arm took his other bicep, and she lifted him up off the floor without effort. Maddox was left helpless as the Xenomorph Queen carried him off into the dark.
"P-Private, huh?"
Very.
There was a small bedding nest in the resin inside the Queen's personal chambers. Amaya placed Maddox gently inside the bowl-shaped indent, where she had spent many nights reaching her own climaxes, and Maddox could tell by the smell of pheromones assaulting his nose. He grunted when he felt Amaya's weight splay across his waist.
I've always dreamed of sharing my nest with another. Four slender hands gripped at his shirt and sleeves. Take this off, please.
Maddox didn't need any more incentive. His shirt was stained with blood, some of it his own, as well as dirt and dust, and it clung to his skin as he peeled it away, as well as his weapons, to expose his sensitive flesh.
Amaya ran her smaller pair of hands through his hairy chest, her core burning as she finally explored the male's flesh after many nights fantasizing. Her claws drew up his neck to his face, and she gasped when he put his hands on her hips, the ebony flesh smooth like leather under his palms.
Leaning back, she brought her weight down on his waist and the unmistakable bulge growing there. There was a mental -Ah! -from her as their genitals made contact through the fabric of his pants.
She balanced on her high-heel feet, raising her hips high, before dropping them back down again, her generous cheeks slapping against his thighs. Maddox thrusted his hips up to meet her halfway, and her lilting voice filled his head with a loud moan.
"I… guh, I have an idea." Maddox grunted when she dry-humped him again. He hooked his hands under her healthy thighs, and shimmied his body down, her ass now resting on his torso.
What idea- A-Ah! OohhhhhhhhMad… Maddox-!
He had realigned so his head was in line with her waist, and then stuffed his face into her crotch. With his thumbs he pried apart the tight folds of her exoskeleton hiding her nether-regions, exposing her most vulnerable part. Her obsidian hide down there was softer than the rest of her, and slightly discoloured around the lips to; a treasure Amaya would expose to no other.
He plunged his tongue through her green-rimmed entrance, and Amaya squeed on top of him, lifting her head to the ceiling and letting loose something between a screech and a moan. Her insides flexed and convulsed against his tongue, and he lathered every bit of it he could reach. Her privates smelled and tasted of something most akin to licorice, of all things, and he hadn't ever really been a fan of that flavour. Until now.
Amaya had to bury her claws into the resin on either side of her from all the bombardment her senses were getting. There was a measure of pain, but that was overwhelmed by all the new sensations her Host was giving her. Her muscular back arced as she squeezed her thighs against Maddox's hairy head to deepen his penetration.
So this was what it was like! Her own claws had nothing on what his flexible little mouth could do down there, and this was obvious by the way she couldn't bite back all the lewd noises she was making in his head, on top of the one's she was actually voicing.
Madodox tapped one of her ass cheeks after a few heartbeats, and she was very reluctant about lifting her waist, but when she did, and Maddox blinked to clear his vision as well as fill his lungs, he saw her labial hide had puffed from all his work, and he could see deep into her love tunnel, all the ridges and bumps lining the way to her alien womb. Lines of her fluids were running out and dripping down the insides of her thighs. All sorts of crazy imaginations conjured up as he wondered about the texture inside.
Amaya gripped the back of his head, giving him only a second to catch his breath before she sat on his face again. He heard something slap wetly, and her fem-nectar washed over his mouth and dribbled down his chin as he worked every surface his tongue could reach.
She rocked up against him, her inner cravings begging to be satisfied. Her pussy squelched violently as more of her juices came flooding out, greedily drawing Maddox's face further into her cunt. She was addicted, but if there was anything she hated about humans, it was their insignificant lung capacity! Because it wasn't long until Maddox clapped her but to signal her he needed to breathe again.
Her crotch lifted away, and Maddox's warm breath washed over her entrance as he gasped. Her mind began to twist into something more primal. Wasn't she a Queen? How could this human bring her so close to climax without her putting up resistance?
She had an idea.
Amaya's vagina, cold without her human in there, was reversed as she crossed her knees above him, putting her calves alongside Maddox's shoulders, until she was facing down the length of the human's half-naked body, her lithe back to him. She slammed her heavy buttocks down on his face again, tail arching up into the air as he went back to work without so much as a word.
Maddox clapped her cheeks with two slaps of his palms, and cored her out like there was no tomorrow. The way he traced the ridges of her ass and upper thighs with his nimble fingers, almost brought Amaya to the edge then and there. A part of her would have liked to have just laid there and came all over him, but she couldn't be taken down without a fight! Her royal pride, something she'd had no use for so long, was resurfacing.
I'll- Ohhmy… I'll show him.
Leaning her chest down on his stomach, her smaller set of arms supporting her on either side of him, she used her larger hands to undo his pants. She tossed away his satchel, pausing briefly as she wailed the world's loudest moan, her vent being ravaged away, a river of her own liquids washing over her Host. She managed to hold back the coming climax, just barely.
She knocked aside his shoes, and pulled the waistband down until his own genitals were exposed to the air. His organ popped free and stood tall inches before her snout. An experimental poke caused it to flip away, and she heard Maddox grunt against her vagina. It looked so floppy and… weird.
But as always when it came to her and Maddox, weird was good.
You always were a big boy, she thought to him, grabbing his cock tightly in her left hand. That made him grunt louder, so maybe he was just as sensitive as she was. After all, he had never taken another to bed, because just like her, no one else could match up to what they had together.
Peeling back the foreskin, she gripped his organ and took him into her mouth. Her lips met the bush growing round the base of his member, hilting him in a second, and her glands instinctively flooded her mouth with saliva.
With this added lubrication she easily slipped her head up until just the tip of his dick was inside. She let him tremble beneath her for a second, her drool spilling over his rod and pooling over his slim thighs to add just a hint of teasing, before coming back down and engulfing him again.
Her inner mouth came forward and nibbled on the head, her teeth just grazing by his erect flesh. The reaction was immediate. His hips gyrated as he pushed up into her, and she smiled, knowing that she wasn't completely at his mercy now.
Down south, Maddox caressed the base of her tail, which was swishing happily from left to right as they pleasured one another. He picked up his movements to match her own, letting her walls pull him deeper in, while his cock continued to be drenched and abused. Amaya didn't breathe exactly like a human did, because somehow she took him in all the way to the hilt, and began to repeatedly swallow again and again. Her second mouth engulfed him, and the double-blowjob was drawing out his own climax faster than he could help it.
But she'd always slow down when he was getting close, just to keep him on the torturous brink where he had no control, bringing him as deep into her mouth as he could go, swapping between the warm insides of her mouth and the chilly room temperature as she bobbed and sucked him off. In this act of long-denied interspecies taboo, the Link was burning with a newfound desire. Their pleasure was shared among the telepathic tethers, and in their competition to out-please the other, both parties were lost in a wave of joint bliss.
Maddox felt almost angry when she popped his dick out of her mouth, exposing him to the cool air. Likewise, her waist was moved away, and his flushed face, covered in alien juices, was allowed a moment of rest.
He grunted a question, however, as he wondered just why Amaya had stopped.
I can't wait any longer. Amaya moved around to the back of the nest, before putting on a show and crawling on all fours towards him, like some dark beast of the night approaching her prey. I need you, Maddox. Inside.
She hung over him, their genitals lined up, her entrance like a magnet for his cock as she moved to connect them. "Maya I-" She cut him off with a kiss, her inner mouth darting in and exploring all the right places to make him breathless. Pinned underneath her great weight, though not as hard as to be uncomfortable, he was left completely stunned by this magnificent creature, feeling like he could melt into the nest.
Not that I don't mind, he thought, his dick brushing so very close to her vent.
Make me your Queen, Amaya moaned in his mind, like the ultimate fantasy come true. Come inside me and give me all you have.
He reached down and guided his rod inside, a little nervous if he was honest. The head was just breaching her entrance when Amaya decided things were moving too slow, and she dug her knees into the resin, slamming her hips down on him. Her slit spread wide around his cock as he plunged inside.
Maddox and Amaya both made embarrassing noises they would never let anyone else hear, as a desire they'd both wanted, and had been denied for years, was fulfilled. Her love-tunnel angled up and curved away, so the positioning was a little awkward at first, but that was nothing compared to her moving and flexing walls massaging his dick.
Amaya covered his torso with hers, sinking her hips until he was deep inside her alien cunt. Her lower set of arms rubbed over his sides as she trembled against him, all sorts of new and feelings washing over her. A sudden squeezing on her end contracted all her insides, and he grunted against the new constrictions.
"Shit," he breathed. "You're tight as…" His words were lost to another grunt, as Amaya lifted hereslf back up until just his head was inside her. Then she began rocking his tip, seeing her human squirm beneath her.
Take that, Maddox, you- Ohfuckme!
Just as she was lowering back down, Maddox had met her halfway with a thrust, and he went deeper inside, all the way to the walls of her womb. Spreading her legs wide apart, she revealed to him their joining. Seeing her juices spill out of her and pooling over his balls, her abdomen stretching up and back as Amaya dug into the pleasure, was the most erotic display of her he'd ever seen, and he was so erect his dick started to ache.
The green bulb of her cliterois came peeking out of her royal treasure as she gyrated her hips, pulling out and slamming back down with increasing vigour each time. Breed this Queen, she said, hands on his chest so she could raise her hindquarters higher into the air. Breed her and give her your children.
Her original intent to take things slow, was pulled away by her animilistic craving to fuck his brains out and sate her needs. Their hips slapped together, loud and wet as Maddox met her weighty hips with thrusts of his own. Her insides quivered against him, and he trembled under the pressure of her insides contracting.
"A-Amaya I … shit, I'm co…" Trying to match Amaya's stamina was useless. He felt like an exhausted piece of meat as Amaya rode his cock with a violence teetering on being painful. His hips were numb with all the slamming she was doing to him.
No! she said. Don't you dare! I'm so close!
Maddox held on to her hips for dear life, feeling Amaya's tail coming round and slithering over his thighs. His whole world was of Amaya as he focused on holding the building pressure growing in his loins. Faster and faster he plunged in and out of her dark, green hole, and watching her flesh coming out of her entrance with each pull only made his resistance fleeting.
Th-There. Amaya lowered her head to his, biting and kissing the joint on his neck – a sensitive spot. Come in me, my King. Give me your young.
Maddox didn't think Amaya could dirty-talk, but that was all he needed. Growling out a curseword, he lifted his hips one last time, and emptied his balls into her hungry entrance. Amaya pulled him up and hugged him to her breast, both of them holding each other as one, two, three loads of his cum shot up into her waiting womb.
Amaya's insides were so filled to the brim with his baby-batter, that some of it spurted out of her lips, tracing down her groin in web-like patterns, to pool beneath their joining in a stain of white.
A fourth, and final spurt made Maddox grimace, as all his strength faded from his body. He shrank inside her as Amaya's alien entrance milked him for everything he had left. She held his limp body in all four arms, and rested him back against the rim of the nest like she would a tired youngling.
An expression of feral smugness overcame her features, as she leant down and nibbled his neck, face, and finally his mouth. They shared a long, hungry, and wet kiss, the Link alive as a new level of connection formed between them.
When Maddox opened his eyes, he was looking in two different directions with a comical expression. He fixed his vision with a blink, then lifted a hand to trace the side of Amaya's jaw. "So… So much for a shortcut, girl. Was this part of your plan all along?"
Amaya giggled, a soft sound as she snuggled him deeper into her nest, burying him in Xenomorph flesh. "M...Mmmay… mayyybeeee…" she croaked, her voice box rasping out the word.
The human leaned back, closing his eyes. "That's pretty cheeky. Not that I'm complaining."
You're a King now. Amaya straightened up, wiggling her hips, with him still inside her, making him grunt again. My beautiful King. At last. Oh, handsome, I mean.
"H… Ha. 'King Maddox'. I could get used to that."
You have duties now. She caressed his cheek with the tip of her tail. We both do, to each other. And I think we should start them now. She bucked her hips.
"Shit. I-I'm not ready for round two, girl."
No? She leaned down, lips pulled back in a hungry smile. I'm no stranger to asserting my will over others. If you don't fight it… you wouldn't be able to say 'no'. She nipped his cheek and laughed.
Maddox swallowed.
4
She had always been fascinated by the moon. It was the one servant against the darkness that, once the sun came up, was removed from sight and, if one thought about it long enough, entirely unneeded.
After the metal machines came and blotted out the sky, the removal of its pale surface came as a shock as well as a realisation. It's waning influence could still be seen through the smog, but what had its original purpose been? Just to be there? That was what her purpose had been. Just to be there, to add to the illusion that progress was being made if one through enough souls at it.
You think too much.
She turned to the speaker, her sibling, stood proud against the dark backdrop of the city. Those four words had always been her staple for criticizing her kin, but deep down she knew it was just her sister's strange way of showing worry.
An accurate assumption,the moon-gazer replied, shifting on her haunches. But one must think to survive, as we both have done several times in the past.
'Thinking', put us in this situation. Huffing, her sister kicked a stone down the slope as she paced. Living is very simple. We eat, we drink, we clear the pests, we sleep. Repeat.
Would you call that 'living', sister?
Yes! It's all we can do now that everything's destroyed.
So according to this logic, one must live because it is the only path left, and one must enjoy this sensation through uncontested belief?
I… Yes? Yes. I didn't choose to live, and neither did you. But 'enjoy' is a bad way to put it. I certainly hate my life right now.
Only because you think you do. Therefore, it is you who is thinking to much. Perhaps I am not alone in my desire to seek more in life.
My 'desire' is to plunge my head through a wall. I'd get farther than talking to you, sister.
The aforementioned list of life goals had been the one and only priority in either of their lives for a long time. Long enough that neither could even remember why they were doing this; keeping away the occasional beast or alien from picking through the ruins of their former kingdom. It had become something of a hollow purpose, at least to the moon-gazer. She was also known as 'drone', a word used to label one who's cognitive levels never go higher than total obedience to a looming will. What irony the Fall was capable of.
What I am saying is, her older sister continued. Is that right now, there's nothing more to life, and looking, as you seem so fond of doing in your spare time, is just a waste of time and willpower. It's easy to admit, really. Our home is in pieces, and we clean up whats left because there's nothing else to do. There are three points to life. One: humans are evil. Two: our Queen was a fool. And three: we are survivors. That is that.
The straight-forwardness of her sister had something to do with her original role. As a praetorian guard, all her life had been just one task – defend. Being a drone herself, she was a bit more receiving of more complex perceptions, something she'd acquired through hours of meditating (and many insessent questions, the sister would add) but the siblings duality of persona's never reached far beyond a simple compromise that they were both right.
It was always routine. Home was a big place, and there was a lot of ground to cover. Over the years the intruders had dwindled to the point where the drone was convinced she and her stalwart sister were the last alive on the whole world capable of thought. There was always the possibility something was hidden in the inaccessible parts of the kingdom, but only a Xenomorph could find her way through those winding paths without losing their way.
And with this belief held firm, it came as quite a shock when she felt vibrations through the resin, coming the center of the Hive.
Sister. I can detect movement.
The praetorian gave a dismissed thought to her sibling. Probably another pest. I'll deal with it later.
The movement corresponds with erratic gestures. They are human.
What?!
The praetorian practically teleported beside her, one palm out on the fleshy substance. Such a disturbance hadn't been felt in years, and she was convinced her drone sibling was going senile until she felt the walls bounce back through her arm, the vibrations unmistakable.
You're right! The larger sister moved her armoured limbs to her sides, turning towards the chamber on their left. Rain was thundering down just beyond this entrance, and strikes of lightning were smashing down on the Capitol a few kilometers away. No wonder an alien had wondered inside to escape the coming calamity.
For what reason would a human walk into our home? The drone came up beside her sister on all fours. How did it avoid detection?
I don't know, and I don't know. Let us go and deal with it, quickly now!
The praetorian led the way as she crawled like an ant up to the ceiling of the tunnel, and slipped between a crack up there. The drone was right on her tail, following.
Within these smaller passages one could drop on many points of the Hive, a perfect array of ambushes, as long as only a few passed through at a time, so the networks didn't clog up. The siblings remembered using them to travel quickly to other parts of the Hive too far out of the Queen's telepathic range, which itself had faultered, curiously in line along with the deterioration of the world itself.
Speaking of which, as the sisters covered ground towards the source of the disturbances, they zoned-down in their minds-eye where the ruckus was coming from. Following the vibrations through the resin was like tracing a web of lines, of which all came to a single point.
The Queen's chambers? the drone asked herself. That is the deepest location within. This human infiltrated, how?
Stop thinking about it and move! We can't let it go far. The preatorian chewed her lips as she crawled.Sneaking past us put aside,it's been a while since we've eaten, hasn't it, sister?
Yes. Fifty-two hours without nutrition is unwise for our diet. The sustenance from a human body will provide minimal nutrition value for us both. This course is just as unhealthy as if no human had revealed itself.
You just made a human breaching our home sound boring. I don't know how you do it, sister.
Soon it became apparent that there wasn't one intruder, but two. The drone was convinced it had to be more that two, just by how much noise was coming from over there. Her curiosity grew the more they closed in on the chambers.
Within the next ten minutes they reached the royal antechamber, twenty meters up from the floor. The drone dropped the whole way down and landed in a roll beside her sibling, and the two scurried over to the private chambers. The younger of the two gave the Queen's throne a curious sniff as she passed, and was attacked by a heavy, musky smell...
The stench was undeniably male, since the Hive's members used to be predominantly female. The musk was like a cloud of vapours, and it was pouring out of the small chamber of the Queen's late private area like a cloud of gas. Intoxicating gas, the drone realised, as she'd never before smelt such a thing, and was surprised by its unusually pleasing taste.
There were some very strange noises coming from within the chamber. A grunt, overlapped by a screech, paired up by a rythmic slapping of flesh. These three things kept on repeating over and over.
In there! The praetorian bounded inside, her claws out and ready. The drone likewise readied herself for combat, though she was less than experienced than her older sibling.
They came to the mouth of the chamber, and found themselves stunned, their jaws hitting the floor at the scene inside.
There, laying on her back in her nest, was their lost Queen, and she wasn't alone.
Sitting atop her waist, pistoning his hips back and forth, was a human with this dazed, stupid expression on his face. The drone lowered her gaze, and saw a part of his flesh spearing into the Queen. The organ went all the way up to the hilt, and the Queen leaned her head back and cried.
Having never heard the Queen in pleasure before, the preatorian mistook this cry for one of extreme, somehow erotic pain. The Queen! She's under attack! the praetorian yelled, and resembled a black comet as she launched herself across the ten-meter gap towards the nest.
The naked human registered the flying guard like she was an errant fly. That was, until she tackled him across his chest, and his eyes flew open in alarm, like he was coming out of a dream. With a pained "Oof!" -he was sent tumbling out and over the nest, a little popping sound bouncing off the walls as his weapon sprung free from the Queen.
Human and Xenomorph rolled twice over, until the preatorian pinned him by the wrists and rolled on top of him. Her mouth opened up to reveal her deadly, secondary jaws. She was paused for a second as she registered something bulging against her abdomen, and looked down to see his spear rubbing up her flesh.
What is that thing? The usually iron-willed guard sounded almost… girlish, even to herself. She'd hardly paid much attention to males before, and the organ was alien, flopping about like some sort of antennae. Is it probing me? Don't you dare probe me, human! Your life is-!
Stop! commanded a booming voice, a heartbeat before the praetorian could finish this human intruder off. Man and Xenomorph both turned their heads to the royal presence, standing taller than any of them, her crotch a mess of dripping fluids.
M-My Queen? the preatorian asked, a million questions racing through her. This human was-
Leave him alone, he's mine. A strong willpower pressed against her thoughts, commanding her to put aside all hostility.
But he was… the praetorian trailed off, and met gazes with the human, who grinned sheepishly up at her.
"Uh… Uh, hey. Maddox. I'm with her." He pointed a tentative finger at the Queen.
Behind the Queen's leg, the drone came forward, her gaze turning from the human, to the Queen, to the human again, and a final double-take back on the Queen. My Queen? This is… an unexpected revelation.
Amaya turned to the smaller alien, smiling wide after seeing a being of her own flesh and blood after so long isolated. She didn't even hesitate before scooping up the little drone and enveloping her in a strong embrace.
Daughters! My lost daughters! I… I thought all of you were gone!
If the drone had eyes, they would have bulged by how tight Amaya was crushing the smaller alien. The human watch this sight with a grin, which confused the praetorian, on top of everything else that was clearly against logic.
Highness? The praetorian lifted herself off from Maddox, who smelled, behind all of his musk, so much like the Queen herself. Amaya registered the praetorian with a slight nod, still clutching the poor drone like she were a lost toy finally found. Highness, you've got a lot of explaining to do.