'Vasquez? You alright?' asked Hicks, as he kept his finger pinned down on his trigger, letting off shot after shot.
She gritted her teeth and moaned, trying desperately to ignore the excruciating pain in her leg. 'Don't worry about me! I'll- TO YOUR LEFT!' she suddenly shouted.
He swung his gun just in time to shoot an alien he hadn't noticed earlier. It let out a high-pitched sound as it writhed on the ground, dying. Hicks drew in ragged gasps of air – there were far too many of them. Soon, they would be overwhelmed, and after that...he didn't want to know what would follow. How much longer now? Jesus, how much longer?
'Vasquez! You can't do any good with your leg! Get in between us!' shouted Ripley. She saw Vasquez hold tightly onto her wounded leg while fending off the advancing creatures with her weapon. Vasquez shot Ripley back a look immersed in both pain and anger, but devoid of fear. She wasn't going to quit now.
'DO IT!' said Hicks to Vasquez.
'No way man! No way in hell!' she paused to gather up her strength. 'We go down fighting!'
Hicks didn't stop to argue. He felt simultaneously exhausted and on edge. He looked around him, wide-eyed. Where one alien fell, it would be replaced by yet another soldier who seemingly crept up from nowhere. But Hicks noticed that the mass of creatures hadn't charged the three of them like a swarm of wasps would. No, it was apparent that they wanted as minimum casualties as possible. This was what held them back and this was what gave him a glimmer of hope. Keep fighting, he told himself. Just keep fighting.
Ripley looked repeatedly towards the direction of the main stairs. It seemed further away than ever. She noticed that the three of them had given up heading in that direction. It looked as if a moving black wall had taken shape there, blocking their only chance of escape.
'Hicks,' said Ripley.
'I know! I know!' he shouted back.
'It doesn't have to end this way...' she said, almost to herself.
'I'll make sure it doesn't.' he replied.
'There isn't much time!'
'Give Call a chance...we gotta hold on a couple more minutes!' With a sinking feeling, he knew what it was that Ripley wanted him to do. But he was too afraid to do it.
Ripley didn't answer. They didn't even know where Call was or what she was doing. She didn't think Call had a chance. And neither did they.
* * *
Velko paused at a fork in the tunnel. Call glanced at him for a second and said, 'Which way?'
'I'm not sure.' He looked down the right hallway and took in a deep breath. 'It's this one.'
'You're positive?' she asked.
'Yeah...' he swallowed. '-smell. It's the smell. I'll never forget it.'
She started walking into the tunnel. It took her a second to notice that Velko wasn't at her side nor was he behind her. She turned around to see him still standing at the tunnel's fork. Call beckoned for him to follow and he shook his head. She walked back towards him and spoke in a fierce whisper. 'Listen to me! Our friends are out there,' she stuck her index finger out and pointed behind him, 'and with every minute we waste, we're gambling with their lives. I know you're afraid – I'm feeling the same fear so badly that I'd rather set off this bomb right now. But I can't. And I won't. Because we have a chance to live, and I'm not gonna give that up. And I'm not gonna let you give it up too. Pull yourself together and let's get this damned thing over with.' She looked him steadily in the eye. 'Please, Velko. I'm begging you.'
He looked back at her and shut his eyes tightly. Saying nothing, he continued down the tunnel with Call.
She held her hand out to him, indicating that she wanted to have the explosive device. He bent down to unzip his bag pack when he felt that old familiar fear come over him. He looked behind him and shuddered at what he saw. It was crawling on all fours making its way towards them steadily. And what made Velko so afraid was that the creature seemed as if it was taking its time in hunting them down. It was in no hurry. This was its own territory and there was nothing for it to fear.
Velko felt his something tighten around his arm as Call yanked him up off the ground and onto his feet. They both started running, and Call began to shout something that Velko couldn't hear at first. Other thoughts flew through his mind. How far behind the two of them was it? Was it gaining?
'-how much further?' repeated Call.
'Not too far!' he almost slipped while he was running, but caught himself. 'I think we're going in the right direction...'
He panted heavily, not just from tiredness but from fear itself. At the moment his world was swirling with madness that kept sucking him back in every time he imagined that he had escaped. Running back to the source of all this madness made him nauseous, he didn't – he couldn't – face it again. But he trusted Call, and he drew all the strength he needed to do what he had to do from this belief that she would see things through. He felt ashamed for being so afraid – in normal combat situations he'd felt fear – but it was nothing like this. And he'd had enough pride to try to maintain his calm, without betraying his fears, which helped him to think through a tough predicament. But here, now, he didn't care what anyone thought. He didn't care if he died quickly. He just wanted never to see those things again. He wanted it to end.
Velko turned slightly while running, to see if it was still chasing them. He saw nothing, but kept running. It felt as though his legs had a will of their own and would go on forever. They passed several more bodies, but Velko didn't stop to get a good look. He didn't want to. Where was the bloody nest, he asked himself? It wasn't-
He skidded to a halt.
They reached the end of the darkened hallway which immediately opened up into a large space. Velko and Call looked about them, their awe bathed in dread. The area was filled with eggs. Each egg was about four feet tall, with its tip folded up, closing its opening, like the mutilated petals of a flower. They could vaguely discern something moving or floating about within each of the eggs, but they couldn't bring themselves to look harder. Call looked around, trying to take in the population of the eggs when her eye was drawn to some kind of large flexible pipe. Its walls were thin, membranous. She noticed that something large and round was moving within, reaching the end of the pipe. It slid out, covered in a sticky slime-like substance, onto the ground. It took Call a few seconds to realize that what she was looking at was no pipe. It was an ovidepositor – an extremely long one. Her eye followed its length to the body it was attached to...the Queen. She was massive, and her body was such a strong color of black that it seemed as if to dominate the entire space they were in. The back of her head fanned out into a heavy black crown, like the corona of a dark star. She cocked her head to one side as she spotted the intruders, and hissed at them, baring all of her teeth.
Several aliens, many that Velko hadn't noticed before, advanced towards the two people.
'Call...' whispered Velko.
'Okay...here goes nothing. Let's see if she remembers this.' her thoughts were no longer contained. She held up the nitrogen-based explosive pack in the air and waved it about. 'Take a good look at this! Take a good long look!' she shouted.
Velko looked around him. The creatures hadn't stopped advancing.
'Call...' he repeated, with a greater degree of urgency in his voice.
'Take my weapon and fire it at one of the eggs.' said Call, not once taking her eye off the Queen.
'Jeez – that's suicide!'
'Just do as I say!' snapped Call, still continuing to stare at the Queen.
Velko grabbed her laser blaster, and shakily took aim at the nearest egg. He fired a shot.
The Queen immediately stopped hissing, but kept her teeth bared. She then let out a sound, barely audible, weren't it so quiet.
Velko opened in mouth slightly as he watched the alien soldiers slink back – not retreating, but not advancing either. They seemed coiled, tense. Ready to spring at any second if ordered to by the Queen. He looked back at Call, whose eyes were still fixed on the large creature before them.
'Shoot another one.' she instructed.
'Wha-'
Call shot him the briefest but most meaningful of looks – she knew was she was doing. He raised the weapon and fired again. This time it appeared as if Velko hit a sensitive spot of the egg, it burst open, releasing its fluid contents all over the floor.
'Let's hope she understands that we mean business.' said Call, determined.
* * *
'Dammit! That's my last cartridge of ammo...Ripley! Don't waste yours on the ones at the back, fire at the closest ones!' shouted Hicks. He winced as he looked down at his right arm. An acid burn had begun to eat away at his skin, and was working its way towards the center of his arm.
'I've got to do it now Hicks – now, before they take us!' Ripley shouted back.
He looked at her, and then at Vasquez. Maybe she was right. Any chance they had at escape was long gone. Call was dead. Velko was dead too. And now it was their turn. Only they had the luxury of going out the way they wanted to.
'Okay...let's do it!' he said, taking in a deep breath and closing his eyes.
'Holy shit...' spoke Vasquez quietly, almost in reverence.
Hicks opened his eyes to see what she was referring to. He couldn't believe it - they were backing off. One by one, the aliens slid away, back into the shadows. The area before them was empty. It was almost as if they had never even been there.
'Madre de Dios, I will never smoke again...it's a fucking miracle!' shouted Vasquez, smiling.
Ripley and Hicks couldn't keep their immense relief from spreading; they looked at each other and smiled.
* * *
'Velko.' said Call, 'The nitro-pack has a socket that connects to the timer. Where is it?'
'I told you – the timer's smashed in. The computer in it doesn't work.' he looked at her nervously.
'But the computer chip inside the pack, connected to the fuse, that works fine...?
'Yeah, but I don't see how...' he paused for a brief second, as if considering something and then stared at Call. He spoke slowly, taking in what he was saying. 'You're going to set it off. You're the timer. You'll let us leave while you stay here and...blow everything up.'
She took her eyes off the Queen for the first time in a few minutes. 'Who better than me, Velko?' her voice cracked, as if she regretted what she was doing, but was seeing it through anyway. 'Created to protect humankind. That's what I'm supposed to be doing... No, that's not right,' she shook her head emphatically. 'I want to do this, Sebastian. And believe it or not, I know it's not because of my programming. I want to help you. And I want to stop this nightmare for good. Because it's my nightmare too.'
'There's another way!' Velko's voice started to break as felt a tear roll down his dirt-stained cheek. 'There's got to be another way!'
'There isn't.' spoke Call, a-matter-of-factly.
She's lost all her sense, she doesn't see... Velko tried to convince her. 'But what makes you think that thing's going to listen to us?! She's gonna kill us the minute we turn our backs and run out of here!'
'Which is why I'm staying behind. It's the only way. I'm giving you fifteen minutes to leave. Take it.'
'NO!!!' shouted Velko. He let the tears run freely now. His face contorted in pain. But it wasn't because of his wounds.
Call was trying her best to ignore him. She bent her head down to pull a thin wire out of her arm. She continued to look engrossed in what she was doing, all the while trying to choke back the cries welling up within her.
'I won't let you!' He sprang onto Call, and tried to wrestle her wire away from the nitro-pack.
She grabbed onto his wrist with surprising strength and wrenched his arm away, not painfully, but forcefully. 'Take this chance to live, for me. Get out of here while you can.' she inserted the wire into the socket and continued to talk. 'Please. Otherwise what I've done would have been in vain. You're a great soldier; did I ever tell you that? Better than I ever was. I could never think clearly in a tight situation...until now. Everything's much clearer now.' She stopped talking and looked at him. 'WARNING!' rang a loud automated voice that seemed to emanate from Call. 'YOU HAVE T MINUS 15 MINUTES TO EVACUATE THE PREMISES BEFORE DETONATION.'
He looked at her, tilting his head to one side, not saying a word. But his eyes were filled with pain and tears.
'Go.' said Call, in her voice again.
He shook his head 'no', as voice that wasn't Call's echoed around the tower. 'YOU HAVE T MINUS 14 MINUTES AND 10 SECONDS BEFORE DETONATION'.
She gave one last look at Velko and then turned to set her attention on the Queen.
* * *
Sebastian Velko stumbled through the darkened hallway, trying to find his way towards the main stairwell. His eyes were blurred with tears and his head with confusion. He didn't seem to pay much attention to getting out, he had a vague idea of where he was going – but at the same time, he didn't seem to care. Everything he ran past, rushed by him in a torrent of blurry images. He could hear Call's voice – no, that wasn't her voice, he corrected himself – sounding behind him, growing slightly fainter as he ran further from it. He could hear it, but he wasn't listening. He didn't know how much time he had left.
And he didn't care.
* * *
'What the hell is that?' said Vasquez, as she heard Call's automated voice echo around the tower. The three of them were climbing the main staircase, there were only two more floors to go.
'...It's Call.' answered Ripley. They all stopped in their tracks.
'She's alive – c'mon!' said Hicks, as he started to turn around without hesitation, to go back down.
'No, wait!' Ripley held him back. 'She's managed to set the timer for the bomb. That's the warning response system message. She's probably on her way right now!'
'There she is!' pointed Vasquez – towards a shape scrambling up the stairs.
They squinted their eyes in the dark, trying to make out whether Call had been injured.
'Oh my God...that's not Call, it's Velko.' spoke Ripley. 'I think he's hurt.'
Velko ran up towards his friends, and stopped momentarily, panting and brushing something away from his eyes as he spoke. 'Call...Call's not coming. She told me to go. We...we don't have much time.'
Hicks looked at Velko intently. The kid looked like he only had minor injuries, but there was something else. It took him a second to realize that walking away, and leaving Call behind was what was weighing down on him. And why shouldn't it...thought Hicks.
'Please...there's not much time.' pleaded Velko. And to himself; not much time before I start to change my mind and go back.
Nobody replied. Instead they started running up the stairs, two steps at a time, willing their bodies to work harder, faster.
They reached the main level, and ran towards the large entrance, through which they had come in before. Their shoes clinked in succession on the metallic floor and they were breathing out rapidly and loudly. They could hear the wind howling outside, and soon they were in the midst of it, running towards the dropship from the Amadeus.
* * *
'WARNING! YOU NOW HAVE T MINUS 3 MINUTES TO REACH MINIMUM SAFE DISTANCE'
Call looked back up the Queen, thinking. Did she have any idea of what Call was doing? If she did, she didn't let on. It was obvious that the survival of the Queen's colony was much more important than the elimination of a few humans, thought Call. That's why she had somehow summoned more soldiers to her – for added protection. As long as Call stood where she was, the Queen wouldn't do anything rash –anything to her disadvantage.
Call smiled. It's the first time she'd felt at peace since she had decided to leave her world, her time. Just a few minutes before she would have completed what she had set out to do. And Ripley...Ripley would not have to go through all that pain of living someone else's memories, and feeling someone else's nightmares. It was going to be over.
They say that before you die, you see images of your life flash before your eyes. But the only memory that Call could picture vividly – that she wanted to picture vividly – was that of something that had happened a few years after she was newly created. She had been programmed to dispose of the alien and Ripley 8 herself, and to do so, she had to pose as a crew member aboard the Betty – a pirate ship if there ever was one. It was run by a mercenary group of individuals, led by Elgyn and Hillard. She had made fast friends with Vriess – one of Elgyn's crew. They had spent some good times together – and it was one those times that Call remembered.
Vriess was crippled from the waist down, and he moved about with the help of his well-equipped mobile chair. Call could almost see it before her now, and smell the acrid metallic scent it emitted. Vriess was showing her how to assemble a taser weapon in less than a minute, and Call was being a very difficult learner. She despised weapons, and had told him so. He had replied by saying that she was no longer in the florist industry, and that one did what one had to, to survive. Call was too much of an idealist, he had said.
"What's wrong in trying to make things a little better? If everyone did..." she told Vriess, before she was interrupted.
"I think what you gotta do is face facts. It's dog-eat-dog, kid. The world's spiraling out of control – there's gonna come a time when humankind isn't going to get any more chances. Because there's not much good left in the world anymore. You see, we're too selfish to give up something that we can rather keep for ourselves." He shook his head. "No way that's gonna change."
Call smiled, remembering. She would see him soon, she knew. And she would prove that there were such things as second chances.
She looked away from her memory, and breathed in while closing her eyes. She was trying to remember something, a place she had visited once on earth with Ripley...she had never gone back there.
Until now.