Disclaimer: I don't own Aliens, but the characters Anthony, the Queen, Half-Jaw, Sonar, Xena, and others are mine. Duplication on anyone's part will result in decapitation.

Chapter 4

Seeds of Despair

Anthony sat in the corner, wallowing in a pit of despair. He could have been sitting there for an hour or maybe only a minute. He had lost track of time and he didn't care anyway.

The praetorian got up from her sitting place on the other side of the room and approached him. (Get up,) she growled.

(Go away,) Anthony replied.

Xena's tail swung forward and struck the wall next to Anthony, shattering some of the excretion that covered the walls. Anthony climbed to his feet as Xena lunched another strike.

(Defend yourself!) Xena said as her tail struck where Anthony had been sitting only a second ago.

(What is wrong with you?) Anthony asked as he dodged another tail strike. (Fine have it your way,) he lunged and sank his claws into Xena's side. Four green cuts oozed acid blood. Xena backhanded him and set him flying through the air a few feet to land on his back.

She jumped forward and pinned him to the ground. His tail and front claws were useless. He could have scratched up her belly with his back feet, but she would have killed him, before he could do any real damage. He lunched his tongue out at her face, but it couldn't reach her.

She snarled threateningly and then got off him and stood back a few feet. He got back up.

(What was that for?) He shouted.

(The Queen wishes for you to learn to fight,) Xena replied. (And she doesn't want you to just sit against the wall and waste away.)

(Just let me die,) Anthony growled and sat back down.

(If you want to die, why did you fight me?) Xena asked. (Wouldn't it have been easier to let me kill you then wasting away? I think you want to live.)

(Oh, look at this. The homicidal bug thinks it's a psychiatrist,) Anthony said sarcastically.

(I don't care whether you live or not,) Xena said. (Just so long as the Queen gets what she wants from you, I'm going to make sure you stay alive and after that, if you still want to be dead, maybe I'll kill you myself.)

The Queen waited as Xena escorted the human back down to the throne room. She had gotten rather anxious when the human had thought about killing himself, or just dieing of starvation, but so far those thoughts had vanished from his mind. He had even eaten one of the chunks of meat a drone had brought him, which means he was used to eating raw meat.

Xena and Scar, as the Queen was calling him, entered the chamber. Xena stood at the entrance while Scar sat in much the same place he had the day before.

(Now, what happened after you left your home?) The Queen asked.

(I hid out in a haulers' ship,) Scar replied.

Shaver muttered angrily to himself as he stomped into the cargo hold. In spite of his name, Shaver had a light beard. He also looked like some kind of body builder.

"My stupid fan isn't working. Go get me a tool kit," he said in a whiney voice. That Perkins idiot thought he could order him around. That guy would have to be reminded that he was the new guy on the ship.

If he kept bossing people around he would probably get thrown out into the void. In fact, Shaver would relish seeing the whiney little wimp go pop.

He grabbed the tool kit off of its table and turned to leave the room as he heard a rustling sound. He glanced to where the sound was coming and saw an empty storage bay with its door closed.

Shaver picked up a wrench out of the tool kit and cautiously approached the stowaway's hiding place. He set the kit down as he approached. Grasping the handle, he yanked the door open and found a teenage kid squeezed into the small compartment.

"Well, well," Shaver said tossing the wrench away. He reached out and roughly grabbed the kid's shirt collar. He yanked him out of his hiding place. Shaver then dragged him off down the hall. The kid struggled against his grip, but only managed to slow him down.

Anthony was thrown to the floor by the big gorilla of a man whose uniform had the name Shaver on it. A muscular man whose name was apparently Hardell and a woman with spiky black hair and way too much eye shadow looked at Anthony. They had previously been studying multiply maps that were laid across the table in front of them.

"Hey, cap," Shaver said as the automatic door closed behind him. "Look what I found."

Hardell stared appraisingly at Anthony, as though he were assessing his value. "Good work, Shaver," Hardell said. "Kid should fetch a pretty penny. Hailey, change the auto pilot's destination."

The woman who was Hailey went off to accomplish her task. Anthony stood up.

"Look, could you just let me off at the next stop?" he asked.

"Should've read the sign," Shaver said. "Trespassers will be sold." He chuckled at his own joke.

"Sold?" Anthony asked. He hoped that Shaver was joking, but apparently not.

"Get him to a cryotube," Hardell said, looking back down at his maps.

Shaver roughly grabbed him again and started to haul him somewhere. Fear gave Anthony new strength, but he still couldn't break the ape's titanium grip. Another door opened and Anthony caught site of a silver-white cylinder.

"No, let me go!" Anthony cried wriggling even more furiously.

"Oh, shut up!" Shaver said and hoisted Anthony into the cryotube. He slammed the lid down, which automatically locked in place, trapping Anthony inside.

Shaver tapped on the keyboard attached to the pod's side and Anthony felt himself lose consciousness.

General Mavius watched as the soldiers moved cautiously toward the civilian haulers. Both sides were armed and Mavius didn't trust this band of outlaws, thought they were very good at rounding up subjects for his scientists to play with.

The haulers were paid and the troops were hauling the cryotube out of the dock on a hover cart. The heavy doors opened and Mavius looked at the latest science experiment.

"A teenager?" Jane Florien asked as she looked at the figure. "I don't like the idea of-"

"Who cares?" The general said. "Probably just some runaway brat. Let's get him to the cell."

The hover cart advanced down the hallway. Jane shot the general an angry glance and stomped off.

Civilians, the general thought shaking his head. So soft and weak, they couldn't see that the ends justified the means. Mavius smiled.

It was rather sad recalling all these memories, but at least it was something to do to keep from getting depressed.

-Anthony

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