The mess hall aboard the Hercules was not as loud as it used to be. When you went in there to eat you could always expect to hear loud conversations that contained insults and bad language – but as Hicks entered there to eat his meal, the members of the Rawhides were for once dining in silence. That would be a mystery for any outsider, but Hicks knew quite well the reason for the lack of excitement: the absence of Private Dagger and Corporal Dixon spoke volumes in the group.
It wasn't the men themselves that were missed. The first thing you had to learn about the company of the 'Rawhides' was that no one particularly liked the other, no exceptions made. The fact that the two men were dead didn't concern the ones who had survived them – the death of Dagger especially pleased everyone. The man had always been in the way and had been as annoying as he'd been useless in combat. His death would only be an improvement to the unit. What truly bothered the soldiers was the way Dagger and Dixon had perished. Had the two died in combat falling by the mercy of bullets, then it would have been considered the most natural thing in the universe and the rest would've gone on without much concern. It came with the job. Despite knowing that there was a bullet out there with their names on, the Rawhides always considered themselves invincible as they have always felt secured behind their guns squeezing the triggers - but that feeling of security was now gone; the xenomorphs were experts in taking that away from an adversary.
This mission which at first had started out to look like it would be incredibly boring and uneventful had proven to be something else altogether. Those disgusting blobs that for some reason were called eggs were a lot more dangerous then what they appeared to be, and the fact that those were only a first stage of something a lot more menacing made the situation even more disgruntling. The Rawhides had all been nonchalant about the creatures in the beginning and had refused to listen to the three prodigals' warnings of how deadly they were. But now that they had witnessed it firsthand – first with the three mature ones that had guarded the cargo-hold of the derelict, and then after Dagger had been attacked by one of the parasites from within the egg, the rest of the reports of the aliens' lifecycle didn't seem so ridiculous anymore.
And now there was a full-grown creature aboard. None of the remaining members of the Rawhides would ever be the first to admit it, but they had all suddenly become painfully aware of their own mortality. None of them, not even Sgt. Hurst whom always was willing to carry out his orders wanted anything more to do with the eggs or with the mission, but they were uncomfortably stuck with it. That's why they just sat and simply digested their supper in silence, trying not to think of the horror they brought onboard.
For Hicks it was actually a welcoming change - now he could for once sit down and eat in peace without anyone bothering or taunting him. He was alone at his table: because of the pain-killing drugs and antibiotics, the simple trip to the quarantine-level had been enough to wear Newt out and she had fallen asleep in Hicks' arms. He knew that she would be out for a while; therefore after he had put her back in her hospital bed, he took the opportunity to re-nourish himself. Bishop had gone back to the science-lab to continue with what he was doing. To hell with him, Hicks thought, thinking dark thoughts about the android.
"May I speak with you for a moment, Corporal?" From out of nowhere, Robert Morse suddenly appeared by his table. There was right now not a single person aboard the Hercules that Hicks wanted to socialize with - the sole exception lay asleep in sickbay. But as for the rest of the crew, they were all his enemies. Since he had no friends aboard, he had to sort the people of his surroundings into a category of which ones he considered were the most tolerable to be around with, and the prisoner Morse was not on his top-five list. He still didn't know where he had the felon on this matter.
"Actually, I'd rather…" Hicks started, but Morse sat down on the opposite side without waiting for an approval of his request.
"Are the rumors true?" Morse asked.
"What rumors?" Hicks asked, unable to guess what there could be for story circulating around the ship now.
"That the creature that's held captive in quarantine is of a whole new brand? That it's an entirely different species?"
Hicks snorted loudly. "It's not a 'new' brand, it's a retard!"
"Are you sure?" Morse asked. "You don't think that this might be a new step in the evolutionary chain?"
"Don't be ridiculous, I've seen the creature! I'm not a biologist, but I definitely recognize a case of devolution when I see one!"
"Too bad," Morse said, looking thoughtful. "Can't help to wonder though what the reason behind it could be. God must have an agenda…"
"God?!" Hicks couldn't believe what he was hearing. "God has nothing to do with these monsters! They're an abomination! They've destroyed an entire colony, and it took just one to wipe out every inmate of your prison. You're lucky you got out of there alive!"
"Luck had nothing to do with it. I've made a deal with God to live forever. That's the only reason for my survival." Morse explained this as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Hicks had to summon all of his self-control to not lash out at the felon for such ludicrous superstition. Hicks was not an atheist, but he didn't exactly embrace religion either. He respected the belief in God, but only to the extent of Sunday schools, church work and other services conducted by people whom has decided to work under the name of their lord. But he did not believe in direct conversations with the lord and he completely abhorred the idea of people doing acts of terrorism or 'holy wars' in the name of their gods because they had decided to interpret something that had been said in a book all the way to the letter. There was so much he wanted to argue against it, but he didn't. Hicks was after all a soldier; it was his duty to fight for the right of every human to believe in whatever they wanted to even if he didn't agree with it… provided it didn't hurt anybody else.
"Is there a chance that I might get to see it?" Morse then asked the other.
"No chance at all," Hicks said, completely surprised that the felon had even voiced such a wish. "It is strictly held under military supervision, there's no way they will let an unauthorized person near it unless there's a specific reason."
"Then would you mind describing it for me?"
"Why so interested?"
"It's for my book," Morse answered and Hicks saw now that the former prisoner of 'Fury 16' held an electronic notebook in his hand. "I want as good descriptions as possible to give my readers all the exact details concerning those creatures. It is expected of an author."
"Maybe so, but still… God or no God, you barely escaped with your life from one of those things. Don't you hate them?"
"Let's just say that I got a healthy respect for them, and I want to prepare humanity in advance should a disaster occur by giving them all that I can provide. That way they won't be taken by surprise like we were in the prison, or like the poor people of the colony down on the surface. May God have mercy on their souls."
Somehow that was a logic that Hicks couldn't argue against and since the military would not divulge any information about the xenomorphs, then perhaps a warning should be provided to humanity by unofficial channels. So Hicks gave Morse what he wanted – quietly so that the soldiers from the other table wouldn't overhear him.
"Thank you, Corporal," Morse said with a tone of satisfaction as he put the last digit on the screen of his padd. "This will be a preview going out on the net presenting my next book, together with a eulogy for Private Dagger so that the people will know what he died for."
Morse's banned books; the forbidden stories of the alien massacres that the felon had written to inform anyone who reads them of the horrors that exist out in the universe. It was a tribute to those who had fallen victim to the xenomorphs, and as what he said earlier: to honor Ripley's memory.
"What do you say about us three?" Hicks asked. "You said that you were going to write a whole new chapter concerning our survival."
"No offence, Corporal…" Morse said as he got up from his seat with his eyes fixed on the padd. "…but in the end I've decided to exclude the three of you all together." He just left without giving any further details as to why, leaving Hicks both dumbfounded and concerned at the table. In any other situation Hicks wouldn't give much thought of not being included in the memoires some person wrote – but in this case it meant that by not being included even in those banned stories, the resuscitation of the three prodigals would still be known only to the people aboard the Hercules and to Michael Weyland back on Earth. To anyone else, they were still dead and they would most likely remain so even after the mission was completed. In the end it all came down to money. Hicks had grown quite sure that Michael Weyland would not risk bankruptcy to his company by allowing three survivors to tell the world how a worldwide corporation had deliberately sent so many people to their deaths in order to get their hands on such a deadly organism. Hicks had not told either Bishop or Newt, but there was no doubt that there was a plan set to make sure that no witnesses ever returned with the true story. The crew of the Hercules and the three prodigals had without a doubt been doomed from the start.
This has all been doomed from the start! From every perspective, Bishop had just made the breakthrough that would earn a man the Nobel-price. Under his guidance, the computer had managed to analyze and categorize the energy that was used within the derelict ship on the surface into a basic composition. Using that proto-formula, Bishop had with the help of his own RAM-interpretive capacitated mind been able to calculate the way to harness that power and to use it most effectively. He now knew how that power was supposed to be used to best seize control the alien monsters – it would be quite easy to do, if the data hadn't turned out to be so worthless!
It just couldn't be done!
The race that had created and harnessed this energy-source was more advanced then Bishop had first believed. They were way ahead of human-kind, so much that this age of technological development on Earth could still be in the stone-age compared to those. No matter how high-leveled the technical ingenuity of humans were, there was no way today to duplicate this alien technology. Not for years. Not even in this lifetime. He couldn't remove and adapt technology from the derelict to use either: those were integrated to the ship - it would just be rendered to hunks of junk if somebody were to take the parts out. And without this defense, there would never be a way for humans to be able to control the creatures – any attempt would be completely futile. The original message transmitted from the derelict that the Company intercepted sixty years ago had been true to its words. There was only one logical course of action to take where the aliens were concerned: Stay away from them no matter what!
The message had been a warning, but unfortunately the curiosity and the arrogance of the Company had been far too great: greed exceeded reason, which meant that it wasn't likely that they would listen to Bishop's recommendation to let the whole mission drop. Michael Weyland was too obsessive with getting his hands on the aliens, and he would stop at nothing until he had gained success. Hundreds of people had already died in this hopeless quest – how many more was the Company willing to sacrifice? When were they finally going to give up? They probably never would. With billions of Dollars at stake, the chairmen would always overlook the risks involved. Considering the substantial rewards offered, there would always be unscrupulous men willing to continue to undertake the risks of completing the task to obtain the specimens, never understanding until it all becomes too late that they would undertake a suicide mission. Newt had been right: They don't understand… none of them ever will, because they don't want to. They won't survive. They will all die.
Bishop sat slumped into the chair in front of the computer, feeling loss for what to do. It wasn't a real feeling of course – it was just electronic pulses rushing through wires and circuit-boards within his artificial body, sending data to different memory-chips to be analyzed and coordinated with stored information and instructions. And right now none of those data were compatible. One instruction was overridden by another, which in turn was overruled by yet another directive that clashed with the first instruction; and round and round it went without being able to reach a conclusion. It was only natural to describe it as confusion, even though it wasn't a biological feeling.
Bishop's main concern was that he wanted to save the lives at stake of those involved in this expedition, but that option was no longer available. That meant that the uploaded prime directive to obey the Company to accomplish the mission and bring back the specimens took precedence, but that went against his programming to not allow a human being to get hurt. His implanted behavioral inhibitor strictly forbade that outcome! Bishop's processors almost became overheated with all that circulating data that clashed with each other, but fortunately his other protective systems took over to save his hardware. It shut down the current program running within his mind and halted the analyzing processors, storing the information within separate memory-chips and kept them isolated. It was a relief for Bishop (another faked feeling) because now he was able to deal with each directive separately.
As it was, to avoid a mental shutdown he couldn't allow himself to become obedient to any of the directives he were programmed with at this point, which meant that he had to stall for time. He required another option, and perhaps the dissected body of the worker-drone could present him with that. Bishop went over to the examination table where several of the alien's extracted organs lay displayed in a row. Many of the pale yellow-colored lumps of flesh were still a mystery to what the purpose of those were, but there were also those who did present some remarkable discoveries. One of them was meant to produce a jelly which Bishop had managed to reproduce in the cultivator he had borrowed from the sickbay's laboratory and it was now poured into a test-tube. However that jelly was a terrible compound - it would be unethical to use it. And yet he couldn't escape the feeling that this was the answer he needed.
Bishop was an artificial being - premonition was not part of his programming… but with the way things were developing, the android knew that disaster was about to come up any time soon. Newt had been right about that too: it was inevitable. Bishop had to make peace with the fact that the crew-members of the Hercules were all going to die - there was no way to save them. But perhaps there was a way to change the outcome of the mission… it all depended on what was going to happen next…
The three observers watched the misshaped drone through the Plexiglass – the drone in turn watched them from the other side. But while the observers remained still on their respective spots, the drone paced around alongside the viewport. The three on the side of the observations lounge were grim-faced while the caged one was grinning maniacally at them as it always had done. It was a disturbing situation.
"What are we supposed to do with it?" Arnolds asked carefully, feeling a little afraid for speaking out of turn.
"It's still our first live specimen," Dr. Roman spoke determinately. "We can still use it for our tests, so it goes back with us!"
"But it's crazed!" Arnolds argued, shivering as he saw how the grinning alien was watching him hungrily through the glass.
"Do not use the corporal's lies around me!" Roman scolded her assistant. "That's his hate for the creatures talking. But that fool doesn't understand: he doesn't see the marvel of these specimens – the perfect organism!"
"Be quiet, both of you!" Colonel Decker barked at them. He stood in the middle between the two scientists and he didn't like having the pair screaming in his ears. Decker too was a little at loss of what to do about the misfit alien. Naturally the Company wanted prime specimens, which would favor for terminating this creature. It also would solve the potential danger of keeping this creature alive in quarantine during the journey home, he'd prefer all the subjects subdued just like with the eggs. But then again, some mutant specimens have proved to deliver scientific breakthroughs that would not have been found with the ordinary creatures. Decker was of course not a scientist – as a matter of fact: he usually resented those people. Weapons and military strategies were his tools of choice in his line of work, not scalpels or microscopes. But he was also aware of that some things should never be thrown away as it could prove to be useful later. For the success of the mission, it never hurt to bring back some bonuses. But as Decker watched the alien focus its attention on him through the viewport, he could not for the world imagine what kind of scientific advantage this freak of a creature could deliver.
"It has to go back with us, Colonel," Dr. Roman insisted. The alien shifted its focus on her as she spoke. Obviously it could hear everything being said through the speaker systems and as it could see her lips moving, it was intelligent enough to understand that it was her emanating the sounds. The mutant alien put its own mouth against the Plexiglass, getting as close to her as it could. The woman also moved closer and rested her forehead against the window. It almost looked like she leaned in for a kiss. The alien moved back slightly from the glass, its mouth opening widely – and then its teethed tongue shot out and struck the window right at Dr. Roman's face. Clear mucous smeared the glass and the woman jerked back quite startled.
"You should have expected that," Decker told the woman, unmoved by the action the alien had done. Roman gave the colonel an angry glare. The creature only grinned widely and moved slowly past Decker and stared at Arnolds instead. The assistant cringed back, unsure of what to do.
"Stand your ground!" Decker hissed at him. "Don't show any weakness to the hostility, that's when it gets the upper hand!" Arnolds gulped and moved slightly closer to the alien. This was all a challenge. If the creature could intimidate its captors, then it would know that the soft preys were not in total control and that could become a dangerous development. Human and alien stared at each other for a short while through the port, challenging the other to back away. The alien opened its big maw again and repeated its action with its tongue. Arnolds jumped as it happened.
"Weakling!" the colonel snarled at him. The assistant turned away in shame. The alien now moved to Decker. The C.O. of the Rawhides stood completely still and did not change his expression even the slightest. This creature would not be allowed to intimidate him! The alien tilted its head, grinned, observing the last human. It could tell that this one would not give in to fear and the fact was: it didn't matter to it. For the third time the creature opened its mouth widely – the colonel stood firmly on his spot, ready for anything. The other side of the glass was smeared with a yellowish fluid in front of Decker's face, but there was no 'thud' heard. The creature hadn't struck the window this time – it had spitted on it. The colonel only cooked an eyebrow at this weird action and turned away. He thought no more about it – until an alarm exploded in their ears while the corridor of the observations lounge was filled with a red light.
"Warning! Structural integrity of security glass in quarantine level has been compromised!" a computerized voice in the P.A. systems was heard. "Warning! Structural integrity of security glass in quarantine level has been compromised!" The colonel's eyes flew back to the viewport. The spot where the alien had spitted was smoking, bubbling and sizzling and a vertical pit had formed underneath the fluid that became bigger by each passing second. Decker stared at the alien as it dawned on him what had happened, and the creature's grin seemed to become even wider. The alien had spitted acid on the window!
"Nobody said anything about them being able to do that!" Decker roared. The acid had now eaten through the whole pane; a small hole now exposed the sealed area to the observations lounge.
"Warning!" the computerized voice sounded again. "Quarantine containment breach! Evacuate the area immediately! Engage emergency lockdown! Warning! Quarantine containment breach!"
"COLONEL?!" Arnolds shouted in fear as they all saw how the creature took a few steps back and seemed to take a charging position.
"Get out of here, now!" Decker ordered. They began to run at the same time as the alien did. With an inhuman velocity the creature jumped at the window and since its structural strength had been severely degraded because of the hole the acid had made, the alien broke right through it and into the observations lounge, spreading shards of glass everywhere. Arnolds didn't have time to get away – the crazed alien caught him and made the assistant face the grinning victorious mouth of the behemoth. Arnolds screamed in a desperate plea for help but there was nothing to be done for him now. The colonel rushed towards the exit with Dr. Roman slightly ahead of him.
Colonel Decker was actually deaf to the screams of death as the alien ripped the man apart – what instead concerned him was that with the speed and agility the creature possessed, the colonel calculated that the alien would most likely be quickly done with its victim and still be able to catch up to the two fleeing persons before they would have a chance to close the door and engage the emergency lockdown protocols to the quarantine. He couldn't let it escape! For the sake of the success of the mission – the mission always came first – he needed to distract it to win just a few more seconds, even if it meant certain sacrifices. Dr. Roman had reached the door and was about to rush out when Decker caught hold of the collar of her lab-coat.
"He's your assistant," Decker told her. "Now you help him!"
The color fell from her face as the woman realized what the colonel was about to do. "Colonel, Nooooooo…" she protested in a high-pitched voice as Decker hurled her towards the already waiting arms of the alien. As deaf as he had been to Arnolds' death-cries, he completely ignored Dr. Roman's last horror-filled scream as he rushed out through the door, slammed it shut and hit a big red emergency button to seal the breached areas of the quarantine. Hidden pistons within the walls locked the door into place and rubber-hoses inflated to cover all ducts and frames where air could escape. The observations lounge of the quarantine area was sealed like a vault – the alien was once again locked up. The fact that two of the chief scientists had just lost their lives in the process didn't concern the colonel the least. The creature was trapped and that was all that mattered.
The first time the alarm had blared, it jerked Hicks awake from his slumber in the chair beside Newt's hospital bed. The girl also awoke with a start and became wide-awake instantly. They didn't even need to hear the message that was about to sound over the P.A. systems: they both knew that this had something to do with the aliens! Their worst fears were confirmed when the computerized voice reported of the structural integrity failure of the safety glass in quarantine. When the report came of the containment breach just seconds later, they knew that the crazed alien had escaped its confinement and was loose on the ship at this very moment. Feeling the cold claws of terror gripping on to her, Newt crawled over to Hicks, threw her arms around his neck and began to sob. Hicks responded with hugging the child tightly to him while he continued to listen to the reports that came over the P.A. systems. To their relief, the report came in that the emergency seal around quarantine had been activated and nothing else was said about the alien roaming around the ship afterwards. They had made it – at least this time. But for how long? Hicks knew that there would only be a matter of time before something else happened. If they didn't act now, they wouldn't be so lucky the next time. Hicks knew what had to be done – to try to convince the other people aboard the Hercules though, that was something else entirely.
The ball was on the roll! That was what was going on! The first escape of the alien was the sign that had been awaited; now it was the time to take action! The lone figure moved carefully along the corridor so that he would not attract attention. The risk of that wasn't so great though – when the first alarm of quarantine breach had sounded, every crewmember was to report to a specific post to await new instructions. It was a rule, and since the soldiers aboard the Hercules were led by a man who strictly followed military regulations, there would be no exception this time. That meant that the destination the figure was headed for would be unoccupied – he should not be discovered, but he was still nervous. He was after all on a mission and he dared not fail.
As expected, the corridor was deserted and there was no sound or any other signs of somebody approaching. The way was clear. Stopping in front of the heavy door, he reached out to the keypad that kept the room behind it sealed. Tapping the right sequence of numbers on the pad, the machinery accepted the code and made the heavy door to roll aside. The figure entered the storage-room for toxic disposal where the alien eggs were stored. The eggs were for once calm despite the presence of a human, which was unfortunate. Had the eggs rattled as they had done before, the intruder might have gotten too discomforted and escaped the area. But the eggs made no sound now and that brought a false sense of safety into the figure – he actually figured that he had nothing to fear here. That meant he could do his task without danger. Reaching out with his hands he took hold on one of the claws that sealed the egg – and removed it! And then he removed the next claw… and the one after that! As the intruder continued to remove the claws, several of the now released eggs twitched and then the top on each one of them opened up like a flower…