Everybody froze as Control Room South went black.
"What the hell's going on?" spat Weyland.
"Should just be temporary, Ma'am," Rathbone said in the darkness "The backup power will kick in any second."
Almost as he finished speaking the lights burst into renewed life and the monitors flickered on.
"What's causing it?" She demanded.
"I'm sure the power cut is just a blip." He reassured her confidently "And we've got our own backup generators over here."
"Ma'am?" Himura, one of the security staff, looked round from one of the monitors "The power on Island North isn't coming back on. Something's happened to one of their backups. They've got emergency lighting but that's about it. No heat, no power."
She looked up at the security chief again "How bad is it?"
Rathbone suddenly looked a lot less sure of himself "Well Ma'am if the power on North doesn't come back on that means the containment systems won't be operational. The electronic locking mechanisms, the other deterrents – they will no longer be working."
She knew better than he did what that meant. The Hive… without the artificial heat they'd start coming up here, drawn to the warmth… and the food.
"Ma'am, my guys are on their way down to the South Terminus armed with automatic weapons and flamethrowers as extra insurance, to make sure nothing gets through. They're under orders to seal and barricade the doors."
"Well then why aren't you with them?"
Himura looked round from his screen again, clearly very unhappy to be the bearer of bad news once again "Ms Weyland? It's the feed from Woods' room, she's gone!"
"What?!"
Take a look Ma'am."
She stared over his shoulder at the screen that showed the room from above. It was obviously empty, the bed vacant apart from the rumpled bedclothes.
"No,"She whispered "I'm not letting her go to join forces with the exotic so they can escape with those boys; I won't surrender any of our assets!"
She spun round to her chief of security "Get down there right now! Find her and bring her back. Kicking and screaming if necessary; get this situation under control!"
Iversson's breath caught in her throat as she and the alien were plunged into stygian darkness.
For a moment she squeezed her eyes shut in terror, trying unsuccessfully to blot out the mental image of thin shapes rising up behind her in the pitch black, clawed hands reaching out to grip her ankles…
Then the crimson glare of emergency lighting blinked on, lighting up the exotic still stood in the doorway. He hadn't moved a muscle. She found him fractionally less awful to look at now he'd got his mask on; she just tried not to think about what was under it.
"Come." He said, jerking his chin at her again as he turned to go. It was clearly not a request. She swallowed hard and followed him out into the corridor, not wanting to get left behind. In the dim light Island North looked worse than usual, even more dank and inhospitable.
"So where … are they? Lexssss and my son?"
"We have to get to the elevator," She said "Or the stairs," He turned to look at her "Get to the upper levels. It's further down this corridor."
They carried on in silence for a few minutes. It was a long way to the elevator. Iversson noticed the exotic made absolutely no noise as he moved. She felt an idiotic rush of relief she'd chosen to wear trousers and flats today rather than a skirt and heels so she wasn't freezing cold or clicking foolishly along, advertising their presence. She stayed as close to him as she could.
She wondered if she dared speak to him. Though he was a menacing presence the scientist in her had many questions. She had been astonished to hear him speak and even more astonished that he seemed to be so articulate, even to have some grasp of human idiom and even a sense of humour (better than some humans she knew of).
"I suppose six years of living with someone would be enough to learn their language and mannerisms," She mused "But they must talk to each other a lot! Much more than I imagined. Alexa gave Weyland to understand he could barely speak at all."
There were a million and one things she wanted to know, but top of the list was whether the accusations Lex had made against him were true.
If he really was a sadistic maniac then she needed to somehow keep him away from Isaac but if he and Lex did have some sort of understanding… then maybe he was capable of being reasoned with.
"I don't think I believe he's been holding her prisoner." She thought, as they crept through the maze of tunnels "Of course it's possible, but somehow it just doesn't ring true. In Nevada she virtually admitted they were lovers!"
As she stared at the huge wall of muscle and armour that was his back the words congealed on her tongue "If he's such a sadist why didn't he hurt me earlier? And why would he be so enraged by her distress? Now I come to think about it, I can't imagine Alexa remaining anybody's captive for long, not even his."
When Rathbone reached the corridor outside the prisoner's room he motioned to Vincent to get on the other side of the doorway. Hefting his dart gun he peered through the little window in the top of the door trying to see into the room. All he could see was the floor and the messed up bed, tangled sheets hanging down onto the floor.
He unlocked it using his pass card and biometrics and, holding it ajar with his foot, nodded to Vincent signalling for the other man to cover him. Then, kicking it wide he went in, swinging round instinctively to check the corners, moving backwards to check under the bed: Rathbone and Vincent were both ex-CIA so they did all these things by rote.
Then he noticed the vent was open, the cover sitting on the floor underneath. His brow crinkled in puzzlement. There was no way that she should be able to reach up there, let alone climb in. But then he remembered, she was a climber wasn't she? And the covers on South weren't all that securely fastened. North was where the tight security was, but surely the vent wasn't wide enough to admit an adult body?
He approached the bed, the hanging blankets obscuring his view underneath, eyes still flickering back to the dark opening of the vent. He ripped the sheet back out of the way.
At that moment her leg lashed out from under the bed, hooking his ankles out from under him. He was taken by surprise and fell hard, hitting his elbow on the floor as she threw herself at him, snatching his gun out of his holster; not the dart gun which had skidded away across the room, but the semiautomatic. Wrapping one arm around his throat she pressed the barrel to his chin and clicked the safety off. The whole thing took just a couple of seconds "Holy fucking Christ, she's fast!" He thought redundantly.
"Drop your weapon." She said flatly as Vincent came through the door "Or I'll redecorate this room with blood splatter."
Rathbone's CIA trained brain was rapidly calculating his chances "There's two of us and only one of her. Vincent's a decent marksman; he's got a good chance of hitting her, but not before she can kill me! It'd take a few minutes for the sedatives to work anyway."
"Vincent!" He said sharply "Back off, put your gun down!"
The other man hesitated for a moment and then lowered his weapon.
"All the way down," She said "On the ground and slide it over to me, both of them. Come on hotshot – hurry up!"
Vincent dropped both guns and slowly raised his hands.
"And don't even think of going for your radios either of you," She added "Drop them on the floor and kick them away. Now, get over there, in the corner."
Vincent moved back warily, standing with his back against the wall beneath the vent shaft.
"Whatever you're thinking," She said next to Rathbone's ear "Forget it. Because I will kill you."
Rathbone considered this. He had been thinking about trying to overpower her but it was clear she wasn't grandstanding – she was just telling him honestly what would happen if he didn't comply.
The only option left was negotiation "Ms Woods, think about this for a minute." He said "Once we get out of this room there's a whole staff of guys like me, are you gonna fight them all by yourself?"
"If they're all like you then it won't be a problem." Her voice was like velvet rubbed the wrong way, supremely confident.
It gave him the biggest hard-on possible in this suit.
"But just in case…" She pointed the gun up at the security camera and fired – the barrel was back at his throat before he even realised she'd moved it.
"Where's my spaceship tough guy?" She said as she pulled Rathbone backwards to the door "I know Weyland must have brought it here, she wouldn't leave it to be pillaged by someone else when she could make a profit!"
"Your spaceship?"
"Big, metal thing? Wings?" She gripped him rather harder than was comfortable "Stop stalling and just tell me where it is."
"It's over on the landing deck of Island North," He gasped "But you'll be captured before you ever get there – "
"I didn't ask you for advice, just information, so shut your trap and keep moving!"
There was a grunt from Vincent. As both their heads swivelled to look at him they saw him raise his hand, covered in something that looked black in darkness. His lips opened but no sound came, only a string of bloody saliva.
Before their horrified gaze a red flower appeared on the front of his white shirt, then blood blossomed as a thin spike emerged through his chest. Vincent spasmed, his eyes rolled around desperately.
Any residual arousal Rathbone felt fled as the other man twisted and writhed in agony. Then suddenly Vincent went limp and was thrown to one side as the creature emerged from the vent.
He felt Lex's arm tighten around his neck as she hauled him backwards, his feet stumbling. Then she released him and at the same time her hand came up holding the gun. Without even a flicker she shot the thing right in the forehead. Once. Twice. Three. Four times. There was a momentary pause – a rain of liquid poured down, tracing a sizzling pathway across the floor. Then it bared its teeth and lunged again. He just had time to be surprised that it could take four bullets and still keep coming, before she snatched up Vincent's gun and grabbed him by the arm, yanking him backwards out into the corridor and slamming the door shut, the automatic lock clacking closed. They both saw the heavy door shudder as the creature began to fling itself against it from the inside.
Rathbone gaped in horror, he'd seen these creatures before but only inside their huge secure, cell – he had no idea they were so tough.
"You put four bullets in that thing!" He said, aghast.
"Yeah, well you took my real weapons!" She looked at the semiautomatic in disgust, Vincent's gun she stuck in the waistband of her trousers "These aren't any damn use against them!"
As she turned to go but he grabbed hold of her arm "Woods, you're still a prisoner!"
She tore free of his grasp and punched him in the face. It wasn't like the ineffectual blows he'd come to expect from women but a solid roundhouse to the jaw that made him see stars
"That's funny," She said, keeping him covered with the semi-automatic "I was going to say the same to you! Now get up and start moving. I'm armed and you're not."
He pulled himself to his feet, his gaze being dragged back to the door; the metal was beginning the bend and bow under the weight of the bombardment from within. "Come on tough guy!" She gestured with the weapon "I need you to open doors for me, unless you want me to just cut off a hand and an eye to go with your pass card?"
"Where are we going?" He panted.
Her eyes were black on black.
"I have to get my boys."
Isaac was having a restless night. Ever since the night of the monster he'd found it hard to sleep. All he could think about was the creature getting loose and coming over here. Even when he did get to sleep his dreams were plagued by nightmares.
He'd also recently become aware of something else that had disturbed him; the monster had looked like Selim. Not his strange, horrible jaws but the rest of him … even though Isaac tried to forget, he couldn't. The monster's eyes, the shape of his face, the markings on his skin; all of these things Selim had just the same. Not only that, but it had been speaking the language that Selim spoke.
He had also come to another horrified realisation; "I look like Selim … so I must have those things just the same as the monster as well!"
Isaac was an intelligent boy, he knew all of this was significant somehow – it pointed to something but he couldn't think what.
"Maybe it means I'm a monster too." He thought miserably. "That's what Farrell says; that I'm a horrible freak."
Not having any real understanding of genetics he wasn't able to make the connection himself. Iversson had told him before about his "special DNA" as she called it, but she had never really explained to him what this meant. Isaac just thought it was some sort of natural gift he possessed, like being able to run fast or jump high.
Now he was lying in his bed thinking it all over. He wanted to go and see Selim to talk about all of this, but he was too worried and upset. The waves were very big tonight and he hated it when the sea got angry. He always thought it was a sign that something bad was going to happen.
He almost jumped out of his skin as the cover on the vent above his bed swung open with creaking slowness. He had a terrible vision of the monster pulling itself out of the dark opening, seizing him in its huge claws...
To his utter terror a pair of yellow eyes gleamed in the blackness. He waited, frozen, his heart fluttering, not daring to breath.
Then Selim's grinning face emerged from the shadows.
"Isaac!" He said "Where have you been? I got bored waiting for you!"
Isaac gasped "You scared the hell outta me!"
"Yautja should never admit to feeling afraid." His friend frowned.
"Well then I guess I'm not a … a … one of them!" Isaac said hotly "That's what you are! I never said I was!" The fright had put him on the defensive. Even though he'd wanted to see his friend he found now he was losing his temper with him.
"You said you wanted to learn to speak it!"
"I changed my mind! I don't want to make that horrible noise!" Isaac turned around in bed and pulled the covers around himself. He didn't want anything to do with that monster. If that was the language it spoke, he didn't want to learn it.
"It is not horrible noise!" Selim said angrily.
"It is!"
"Take that back!"
"Oh - leave me alone!"
Selim looked bemusedly at the lump under the blankets. Now that his head was better he'd started to regain some of his confidence. He had climbed through caves and up tall trees and along cliff faces. His father wouldn't expect him to feel scared about going through some little tunnel. He'd been so pleased with himself for climbing through the vent and now Isaac was ruining it all.
He frowned and sat down on the bed, facing away from the other boy. If his friend was going to say nasty things about his other language then Selim didn't see why he should be the one to apologise.
Finally he said "Well if you're not yautja, then what are you?"
"Just a… a …human! A normal person!"
"No you're not!" Selim said indignantly "Can't you tell the difference? My mother's a human! All the others here are humans, but you're not!"
"Yes I am!"
"You are the same as me."
"No I'm not! I'm just like everyone else!"
"I thought you liked us being the same!" Selim said, puzzled and hurt.
"Well you thought wrong!" Isaac shouted back at him.
At that moment the door burst open and Farrell was suddenly in the room "I knew you two little rats were sneaking around!" He bellowed, seizing Selim by the arm "I don't care what Iversson or your loopy bitch mom says, you little mongrel bastards don't get to fuck around on my watch!"
