And so the holidays are over... Hope everyone had good ones! Now I'm back at uni should get back to updating more regularly.

miikaawaadizi: wow I can't beleive how much you've written since I've been away! Must get round to reading it all. Hehe... caring and feeding chestbusters guide, for first time Queens who want to make the best of their broods! lol.

enjoy...


Kelly rubbed the back of her neck, arching it until the bones clicked. She was still holding the gun in her other hand, but her grip was loose now, the passage of time dampening the alert and cautious attitude she'd assumed when the worm had first gone to the dead furry aliens to feed. How long had they been here, waiting around while that thing gorged itself? It was a wonder that nothing else had tracked them, or stumbled across them, yet. Occasionally they did hear echoing roars and screams but every time they had been from far away. It seemed nothing was interested in this part of the ship.Had Kelly studied skliths, she would have know that the fast creatures patrol their territory regularly and viciously, killing anything they come into contact with. This creates an empty area, which creatures either learn to avoid or die. But Kelly had not studied skliths, indeed she didn't even know they where called that, so the absence of other life was making her suspicious. It all seemed too perfect, here they where, defenceless, staying in one place for God knows how long and nothing had approached them. It was almost like they were being set up, but she couldn't think of any reason why.
Her thoughts were disrupted by the worm, emerging from the remains of its fourth sklith. It was hugely bloated from when it had first emerged from the hunter, yet this did not seem to impede its progress as it slithered along the grid floor to another body. It started to eat and Kelly averted her eyes, not wanting to watch the gory mess it would create. She looked at Joanne, sitting next to her, and was surprised to see a faint smile on her lips.

"What's up?" Kelly asked, and Joanne dragged her gaze from the feeding alien to focus on her companion.

"Hmm?" She replied, "Sorry I didn't catch that."

"What's up with you? Why are you smiling?"

"I am?"

"Yes!" Kelly said, slightly annoyed, "Why on earth would you be smiling while looking at that ugly thing? I honestly don't know how you do for so long without feeling sick."

Joanne looked at the floor, her fingers knotting and fiddling in her lap, "Its just its so, so innocent."

Kelly looked at her, eyebrows going up. "Innocent?"

"Yeah."

"Joanne, we've watched that thing rip its way out of one body, and rip its way into five more! How the hell can it be innocent!" Kelly said.

"It's just hungry." Joanne replied, "it's not doing it because it hates them or wants them to be in pain. It's just doing it because it's hungry. And its so trusting, before when it went for you it thought you where a threat or something, but I've told it you're ok and now, well that's it. Its own opinion doesn't come into it. As long as I think its ok, it thinks the same. And it feels so, so content, and safe. Like while it's with me, nothing can hurt it. Just complete trust and faith."

Kelly considered this for a minute. "Joanne, once again. Its nursery was in somethings chest!"

"That's not its fault. Its like, you know, fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly…"

"And weird alien worms gotta arrive by exploding ribcage?" Kelly finished, the pitch of her voice going up in disbelief. "You know you've been a little strange since you 'linked' with this thing, are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah its just like nothing I've ever done before…"

"Remember when you where shocked and repulsed by the thing? Go back to that, this whole 'its sweet and innocent' stuff is a bit freaky. Its like you're getting attached to it." Kelly said, squirming to try and find a more comfortable position to sit in.

Joanne said nothing, still looking at her hands as they played with a tear in her trousers.
>Its hard not to like something that adores you. She thought to herself.

One of the huge monsters was thrown violently against the far wall, it's crashing impact making Michelle jump, whimpering. She had been trying to block out the fierce battle, to ignore the terrifying fiends that hammered and slashed each other, she had to get David to safety!
She heaved at his limp body again, pulling him closer to the open door she'd activated. It was the nearest one to them, so the least distance to drag her son. She worried about what further damage she was doing to his already injured body by tugging him around like this but she had no choice. She was barely strong enough to drag him let alone pick him up. She pulled David a few more inches towards the doorway, knowing that while they might be safe in a room with only one exit they would also be trapped (She'd snatched a quick look in the room when she'd opened the door, as she'd already paid for entering a room she'd known nothing about). That didn't bother her greatly; as they would be safe once she'd locked the door behind them. Then they could wait until the police came and sorted all this out and then an ambulance would come for David and everything would be alright…
She pulled once again, repeating that to herself, everything would be alright…
>God damm that stupid human! Cth'ctchi thought as he saw how close she was to the door since he'd last looked. D'ran swung at him and he dodged, the blow missing and allowing him to get two quick jabs in D'ran's stomach. While he may be out of practise, Cth'ctchi could tell this fight was not about to finish, and certainly wouldn't finish it time for him to get to the humans before they locked him out of the control room! His chain of thought was broken as D'ran launched a rapid series of punches that made Cth'ctchi only focus on blocking them. He was doing fine until the wretched Queen twisted in his head again, pain shuddering through his frame and then BAM D'ran landed a punch and sent Cth'ctchi sprawling, dazed. He shook his head violently to try and clear the stars in it and blearily saw D'ran bearing down on him. He kicked out, catching the other Predator in the stomach and using his forward momentum threw D'ran over him, then flipping himself to his feet. D'ran got to his, and bellowed at Cth'ctchi. He was still between Cth'ctchi and the humans. Cth'ctchi snarled back as a sudden idea hit him, so simple he wondered how he'd not thought of it before. He grinned as he charged at his adversary.
>Almost there now… almost there David…
'BAM'
Michelle jumped backwards as one of the battling creatures slammed into the wall in front of her, an huge bloody tangle of armour and limbs. Michelle couldn't move, frozen like a rabbit in headlights as its head snapped around to look at her, vivid eyes burning into hers, focused on one thing. Time seemed to slow and she was vaguely aware of the other creature running towards them but her gaze was fixed on the one before her, pulling back a fist almost in slow motion… a fist with blades on it…
Time snapped back, and Michelle knew no more.
D'ran crashed into Cth'ctchi, pounding on any parts of his body he could reach.

"YOU WORTHLESS," 'SMACK' "PATHETIC," 'SMACK' "COWARDLY" 'SMACK' "SCUM!"

Cth'ctchi somehow managed to get purchase on the furious D'ran, heaving him off. He made no reply to the torrent of insults D'ran was screaming in his righteous rage. Now no humans where going to lock him out of the ships controls, he could focus everything on the fight. The Queen spiked through his mind like a hot nail and Cth'ctchi fought to dampen her efforts while trying to plan his next attacks. D'ran was furious that he'd broken the hunter's code, killed an unarmed female but he didn't care.
Plus D'ran's unfocused rage might give him the edge he needed to end this fight his way...

Eat, eat, eat… DON'T EAT.
The little chestbuster froze mid chew. The overpowering desire to eat had vanished, gone, in an instant. It raised its head upward, supporting itself on its chubby coils to look vaguely around. What should it do now? It left the half eaten remains and tried to crawl towards its Queen for instructions.
She would know what it must do now.
But it was finding it hard to crawl, and it chattered in frustration as the further it crawled the harder it was. It stopped to lift its head up again but found that this too had become extremely difficult! The slime coating its body joined it to the floor in long strings where it had pulled away from the surface. It had never done that before! It was normally, well, slimy so it could crawl more easily but now it felt sticky more than anything else.

Then another set of reflexes, activated by the full belly the chestbuster had amassed, kicked in, telling it exactly what it should do now…
GET UP HIGH, HIDDEN, SAFE…
It struggled to the nearest wall and laid its tail onto it, where it stuck.
UP HIGH
More coils followed, and the young one began a slow journey up the wall.
HIDDEN
It hit the ceiling with its blunt nose and paused. It was as high as it could go, it though sleepily.
SAFE
The Queen reached out to it, questioning. Despite this the chestbuster, tired after the difficult journey, fell asleep. Its last thought was that of course it was safe, with the Queen watching near by...

"So?" Kelly asked, nudging Joanne, "Whats going on?"

"I don't know, its just fallen asleep…" Joanne replied.

They both looked at the fat creamy worm that was defying gravity at the top of the far wall. Some of its body was sticking to the ceiling. Both the girls where quite confused.
Suddenly the soft looking, off white, gently pulsating worm stiffened and the slime coating it turned hard and black in a wave radiating from its head downwards. A crisp, crinkling sound accompanied the transformation. The black mass had no distinguishing features, and certainly blended in well with the corridor. If they hadn't know were to look Kelly and Joanne wouldn't have seen it at all.

"So is this the pupae thing you said would happen?" Kelly asked, a nervous tremor evident in her voice.

"Yeah, I guess so." Joanne said peering at the thing.

"When it comes out as a crab, you gonna be ready to control it?"

Joanne considered repeating what she'd already told Kelly about how it wanted to be told what to do rather than needed restraining but decided against it.

"Yes Kelly." She simply said. "I'm ready."