CHAPTER ELEVEN

She stumbled to her feet and shuffled her bare feet down the corridors to where he had found the medical bay that was equipped to do body scans.

It was a quick process gathering the information. Making it comprehensible, however, was a little more challenging. He noted how her skin felt smoother and tougher. There were black veins where her skin was thinnest and the roots of her hair was a darker shade. He could see that her movements were more subtle. She walked like a hunter, expecting to find prey around every corner.

Within her was a mixture of new cells, old cells, and hybrid cells. He was only able to observe this with a thin tissue sample. Her blood was going to be off limits, from now on.

From the scan, he could see a difference in her organs. Her lungs were larger, her digestive system smaller. Her heart was the same as before, but it pulsed much quicker, pushing the blood faster through her body. Her other organs remained relatively the same. He couldn't find any physical changes that would affect her mentally, but he had a theory. The parasite existed as a whole – a hive, but in their current state, without a larger life form, they were undetectable to her. This meant that he was going to need to give her some more companions.

How exciting…

He led her out, reassuring her that he was going to help her with her new problem. She gave him a pleading look that made him chuckle. "Be a good girl."

"I will…" she sighed. "Can I go out, now?"

"Of course." He had no doubts that she would be safe outside, now. "Do return before dark. I do not wish for you to be lost."

She grinned. "I can see just fine in the darkness." There was a soft green glow to her eyes when the shadows covered them. "I'll be fine. I just need some air. I feel like I'm a stranger in my own skin. I feel so… so alien."

Indeed.

On a cellular level, most would no longer consider her human, especially once she completes the assimilation. Physically, she could still fool their inferior sight.

While she was gone, he went into the ship and retrieved his smaller specimens. These will have to adapt into something larger – more sentient.

It took many hours to create anything even close to what he needed. BY the time Cassandra was back, his experiments had been a failure. He spent many more days trying to make something viable. Nothing he did worked.

He needed a host. He went back to the dungeons to where a handful of the Engineers were left. There weren't a lot left after all the failed tests and he had already tried to reuse the dead bodies. They were useless. Nothing but a waste of space.

The remaining Engineers were all motionless – lethargic from the lack of sustenance and hope.

"Who shall be the honour of mothering an offspring?" he purred in their language. All of them were hermaphrodites. They didn't have sex distinctions. "How about you?"

He knocked them out and strapped down the large body. Retrieving the eggs were simple. He knew more than enough about their anatomy to take them out without permanently injuring them, but he was going to need to be more gentle with them. His resource was running out quickly and he wasn't sure what else he was going to need from them.

Once the eggs were cultivated, he stitched up the incision and dragged the Engineer back into the cell.

He carefully injected a small batch of eggs with the parasite. It was no different from performing In Vitro Fertilisation. The task was simple. The only problem was getting a favourable result. Failure was high. If he had been human, he would've long been discouraged. As it were, he merely took it as a challenge.

"Soon, you won't be lonely anymore," he told her, stroking her hair. She hummed, cuddling closer. "We will have a family residing here."

Her lips curled into a weak smile. "I can't wait. I hate feeling like I'm the only one here. Seeing you doesn't help. I need you, but I need this hole filled. I feel like I'm losing my mind."

He reassured her that that feeling was going to fade.

Weeks went by before any progress was made. He had to feed the remaining prisoners, knowing that they would eventually die if he didn't. The crops he had planted were slowly budding. Everything looked like it was going smoothly.

The eggs were growing at an alarming rate. Instead of behaving like mammals, the egg remained in its oval form. It became the size of his head and kept growing still. He placed them in their own room, wondering when they were going to hatch.

He waited and waited. Even though the eggs grew no more, they didn't produce anything either. At first, he thought he had failed, but when Cassandra found them, she immediately ran over, stroking one of the eggs lovingly. "I can feel them, David." The egg pulsed to the touch of her hands. "They need a host. They're waiting to be born. They're like me, but… not quite."

He understood what she meant and dragged an unconscious body towards the egg. The mother was going to become the offspring.

Immediately, the top of the egg flowered open. The thick petals felt around the air and suddenly, a multi-legged creature jumped out, attaching to the Engineer's face.

Cassandra smiled, gently touching the spawn as if it was her own child. "It is happy."

And she was happy.

That was all that mattered at the moment.

She pulled him close and kissed him in that room. They had intercourse and lounged in the dark and damp room, waiting for what was to come.

It didn't take long for the spider-like creature to fall off. It became stiff and lifeless, dropping like a dead fly. He initially thought he was going to have to start over, but once again, she reassured him otherwise. He wasn't used to this.

"It will come," she said. "We will have our first child."

Their child.

The concept was a little strange as he also saw the new Cassandra as his own creation – his beautiful doll. These creatures would be different. Perhaps they were going to be her dolls. After all, he had made them for her. As much as he felt prideful of his accomplishments, they didn't have any lasting purpose for him. Cassandra was the only one he needed.

She laid her head in his lap as they waited some more. The time passed quickly. Perhaps an hour later, the body jerked. The back arched upward and then, the Engineer let out a blood-curdling scream. The chest cavity curst open. A small fleshy creature crawled out, nudging the surrounding around it curiously.

Eventually, it approached them. The offspring bumped into Cassandra's out stretched hands. Its teeth nibbled on her padded flesh and she let out a giggle, cradling it in her arms. "How are you?" she cooed. "Look how beautiful it is, David."

He reached out a hand to touch its bulbous head. There was nothing aesthetically pleasing about it, but he was fascinated with their immediate connection. Cassandra had always been so skittish with things she didn't understand. This creature had so easily gained her affection.

He… didn't like it.

It wasn't long before it squirmed away and disappeared out the door.

She sighed, relaxing back into his lap. "He's hungry. He'll be back, soon."

When it came back, it was nearly unrecognisable. Whereas it had been beige in colour before, it was now a glossy, jet black. It crawled over to us on all four. The long tail poised in the air. Its length had to be at least six feet, now.

She extended her hand towards it, watching as it bumped its head against her fingers. "Good boy…"

It hissed, wagging its pointed tail before settling down in front of them.

"You've grown so much," she murmured, scooting closer to is so that she was pressed against its ribbed chest.

He watched them interact and when everything fell silent, he felt oddly left out. Companionship was something that he didn't always concern himself with. He only needed one and she was always there. Now, it was as if she was being taken away from him.

Eventually, he grew tired of the idleness and went off to tend to everything else. Each action was done automatically. His mind constantly went back to Cassandra. The affection for the creature was something he had never seen before. It went beyond what she felt for him.

The wooden handle cracked in his hands and he stopped to repair it. She was his… He made her.

He put the thought into a separate compartment. This pettiness was not him. HE didn't feel things like this. IT was impossible. Was he glitching? Had something entered his system without him knowing?

With a quick scan, he didn't find anything out of the ordinary. It had to be a software fault that he couldn't detect. After a full system scan, however, he still couldn't detect any anomalies.

…

I hummed happily when he curled his tail around my waist. He was so nice and warm. I could feel him purring. His contentment filled me from the inside. I wondered how I could've lived so long without craving this completeness. With him, I was never going to be alone, again.

I smiled at David when he walked in. He didn't reciprocate the gesture. Instead, he had a scanner in his hand and gave our child a once over before leaving, again. His coldness had left me confused. I thought he would've been happy. Everything he had done was a success. I didn't understand why he seemed so upset.

Sensing my own unease, my boy nuzzled my neck. The tail tickled my side. "I think daddy is feeling a little down. Why don't we go find out what's wrong?"

He sat up, stretching on all four and followed me out. It was wonderful being able to interact with someone who could understand me so completely.

I found David by the machines, looking at the anatomy of our child. "Anything interesting?" I asked just so I could listen to him rant, but he did none of that. He was silent until I wrapped my arms around him. 'What's wrong? Why are you ignoring me?" It felt as if our roles had reversed.

His knuckles cracked and I heard our child growl.

"It's okay," I reassured him, stroking his head until he calmed down. "Why don't you go explore?"

With a snort, it slowly walked away and I was left alone with David. It was then that I noticed the shake of his hands and I put mine over them.

Immediately, he gripped my wrist and slammed me against the machine, causing me to cry out. I could feel the edge of the machine digging into my back. "What is wrong with you?!" He didn't so much hurt me as startle me by the sudden aggression.

His eyes were dark with rage. It burned hotter than I had ever seen it. 'You are mine, Cassandra," he growled. "Every part of you belongs to me." His grip tightened and I could feel his body heat up.

"I don't understand," I breathed. "You know I love you. That has never changed. What has brought this on?"

He said nothing. His hands tugging away the small pieces of cloth I had wrapped around my body. He was rubbing himself between my legs like a depraved male. It was so unlike him. He was always so calm and methodical. What changed?

I kissed his jaw. "Is it him? Are you… jealous?" My lips curled into a teasing smile as I realised what must've been bothering him. 'You do know that I love him in a very different way to how I love you?"

He slid in, bumping against my cervix in one hard thrust. I threw my head back, choking back a moan. "H-he… He's family. He's connected to my mind. We c-could feel each other as i-if we're one person." My stomach clenched. "He can probably f-feel this, t-too…"

"Shut up. Stop talking about him." He gritted his teeth, moving faster and harder. "Say it, again, Cassandra."

I knew what he wanted to hear and the words fell naturally out of my lips. 'I love you!"

"Again!"

"I love you! Oh, God, David!" It was too difficult to go on. HE slid in and out of me, feeling bigger than I remembered. Id dint' know whether that was because of him or whether this body was just more sensitive.

"Never forget this feeling," he whispered into my ears. 'To be claimed by me and only me. There will never be another. You are mine."

"Yours," I sobbed as I climaxed, convulsing against him. I was nothing but a panting, boneless body in his arms. His body pinning me was the only thing keeping me upright. "I love you, David. Always."

And although he believed that he would never be able to love me back, I had a suspicion that he just didn't understand his own emotions. Everything that he had done and every reaction showed me the side of him that he had never shared with anyone else – that he never wanted anyone else to see.

He held me so close that I wondered if he was trying to crush me – to somehow mold me into him. "Something is wrong with me. I am behaving outside of my perimeters."

"There is nothing wrong with you," I laughed. "You're perfect just the way you are."

I stayed with him for the rest of the day as he informed me of everything regarding our child. He called them Xenomorphs – something alien that evolves. The name really didn't mean much to me. I knew what he felt like in my mind. That was all the indicator I needed.

I kissed him, again. "Let's get out of here."

The next few days, the Xenomorph got into the habit of foraging in the forest. It gave David an I time alone. I knew our boy wanted to give us our privacy, but I was also missing its physical presence. Whenever the loneliness escalated, he'd caress my mind, comforting me.

David got back into his routine of experimenting, working, and tending to me. Time passed so peacefully. I loved this planet. I was free to roam without being afraid, but I also missed my old home. I missed the crowded streets and trivial problems – paying the bills, traffic, groceries…

"I miss Earth…" I whispered to him, one night.

But I knew that there was no going back. We didn't have the means and I couldn't exactly just waltz back into that life. I needed my baby, but everyone else would prosecute him. He would be killed and dissected. I wouldn't be able to stand feeling that cold, loneliness, again.

The days turned into weeks turned into years. Seasons passed. Our crops thrived in the alien soil. We led the rest of the remaining Engineers to the eggs to breed more Xenomorphs. We had a nicely sized family, now.

Our children were independent. They hunted and gathered b themselves. There was nothing I needed to supply them other than companionship and I loved spending time with all of them.

They'd congregate around me and we'd lay about, bathing in the sensation of completion. David never bothered us when we were like this. I tried to include him several times before, but I knew that he gained no joy from it. I could tell that he thought it was a waste of time. If only I could share with him what I felt.

Eventually, I stopped trying to pull him into the family bonding time. He'd visit every once in a while on his own volition. Sometimes to give me food, other times to tell me where he would be going. Sometimes, I could tell that something was bothering him. He liked the Xenomorph enough, but he rarely liked to speak of them.

I wondered if it was the same issue, again. My hand laid on my stomach. He had mentioned never being able to father a child. I never thought that it had been a real problem before. We still had children, they just didn't come from our blood and flesh. It didn't bother me, but I knew it was different for him. He wasn't part of the internal bond. HE was the odd man out. He was never going to feel the bliss of having a family like mine, so whenever I could, I bathed him with all the love and affection I could muster.

I cuddled against him, purring happily as he ran his fingers through my hair.

Our night had been going wonderfully, until I was suddenly assaulted by a sense of alarm coming from one of our children.

Strangers were on our land.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Thank you speedy-skye, MageVicky, Tinie nyny (x4), Nirvana14, Love Fiction 2017, Zerousy, Dreamer4life16 for reviewing!

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