"Welcome back, Dr. Kail."
Spiketail slowly rose, unharmed.
And saw her surroundings.
"You never answered our question, Dr. Kail," said Haines.
>NO! Not this again! I already told you! I HAVE NO REGRETS!>
"Once again, you do not answer the question. Are you Spiketail? Or Kail? Who represents you really? Why did you choose to return to this little corner of your mind?"
>But I didn't choose!>
"If you have no regrets," piped up one of the dead soldiers, "then you have nothing to fear from us."
>You think I'm scared! Don't delude yourself. It takes more than a bunch of ghosts to scare me.>
"Deluded? Us? We can hear the disturbed tones in your voice…"
"And why would you return to face our accusations," said another, "if you didn't believe that you deserved every one?"
>I DIDN'T WANT TO COME HERE! Facing down a bunch of spectres is not my idea of fun! Now let me go!>
Haines shrugged. "We're not stopping you. Your mind had to come somewhere, Dr. Kail. Your body is dying."
>What do you mean, 'you're not stopping me'? The door is gone!>
"Is it?"
Spiketail turned, and saw that the door that she had entered through the first time had returned.
In the doorway was a black shape. The same black shape she had chased.
Talon.
And then it vanished into the darkness of the corridor, and another shape moved into the doorway. Her Cytheran attacker.
Spiketail ran, partly to escape her accusing ghosts, partly to chase after Talon, and partly to deal with the Cytheran.
It reached out a set of claws, and began pulling the door shut.
Spiketail felt something slice into her, and saw on the edge of her vision blood leaking from four fresh puncture wounds.
The door was half closed. The Cytheran looked at her gloatingly, and she felt a jolt of agony as her chest was ripped open in four great gashes.
She tried to cut off the pain as normal, but it wormed its way in anyway, and she slowed.
The door was almost shut.
Fury overtook pain. How dare this alien end her existence now? After all she had faced?
She leapt for the door, screeching in pain as blood and entrails spilled from her wounds.
Then she was at the door, and there was a hairline crack left. Again fury gave her strength, and she jammed her claws into the gap, levering it open.
Fatigue, an odd sensation for a xenomorph, assailed her, but she kept up the pressure.
She could now see the Cytheran, looking at her with that expressionless eye-slit.
The door ripped open…
She leapt at the Stalker…
…and woke to pain.
Her senses slowly returned. The door, the corridor, and room, the spectres, were all gone. She was in the Chamber, and there was the Cytheran standing over the limp body of Elysa.
She filtered out the pain as best she could, and pulled a 'damage report' from her nervous system.
Blood loss: heavy, but not fatal. Xenos couldn't die from blood loss, anyway; it just weakened them.
Exoskeleton: ribboned.
Primary heart: reduced to little more than acidic sushi.
Exuryllium gland, which rendered blood and organs so acidic: damaged.
Assorted other organs: bad shape.
Chest muscles: torn in four places.
Another mano-a-mano fight with the Stalker would be fatal. It was miraculous she was alive anyway, without taking more damage.
The Cytheran turned, and moved to the centre of the Chamber, interest in the two corpses gone.
A surprise attack, though…
It tapped several controls on one of its arms, and a panel opened in its armour.
Spiketail stealthily raised herself up, thanking any local deities that her wounds had stopped bleeding already.
The Cytheran took out a small conical cylinder, and crouched down to place it on the floor.
Spiketail got onto her feet, and started moving towards the creature.
It got up, and turned around.
She struck. With a wild screech, she lunged and slammed into the Stalker. Off balance, they both smashed into the floor.
"You were dead!" said the Cytheran in protest.
>Not as dead as you would like,> she replied, and bit the helmet off. The alien's arms jerked reflexively, then fell still.
At that point, her body recalled its debts, and both pain and fatigue hit her like a sledgehammer. She managed one word before slipping into unconsciousness.
>Shadow…>
>Spiketail? What is it?>
"Something wrong?"
>I heard Spike calling. Something's wrong – I'd better go and check.> Without another word, he left.
"I'd better go too," said Othar'a anxiously. "If the Cythera managed to get in there, Shadow will need help."
>Oh my…>
The scene was not a pretty one. Elysa lay spread-eagled against the wall, her newly healing stomach wound ripped open afresh. The Cytheran and Spiketail lay in a jumbled heap in the middle of the Chamber. The floor was pitted with acid all over, and there was a huge melted area in the floor where Spiketail had fallen.
"Pauk, what a mess," breathed Othar'a. "Are they still alive?"
>Barely, apart from the Cytheran.>
"I'm no expert in Kainde Amedha physiology. Will Spiketail recover from her injuries without help? I suspect that our technology will be of no help here."
>I don't know. See to Elysa, I'll have a look.>
"It would seem that our worries about the Cythera having teleportation abilities were not unfounded," said Othar'a grimly. She gently felt the human's wound, and growled. "Not just ripped open, but burnt. That pauk-de must still have had Spiketail's blood on its claws when it attacked her. If there weren't still some regenerative fluid in her system, Elysa would be dead. I'm not sure that even with that she'll survive. Not to mention side-effects…"
Shadow looked up sharply from inspecting Spiketail's wounds. >Side-effects? What side-effects?>
Othar'a looked uncomfortable. "The regenerative fluid absorbs DNA information from surrounding tissue, and works out what's supposed to go where. As far as I know, I'm no expert. To my knowledge, there has never been an incident where there was DNA from something else in the wound. Who knows what will happen?"
>Wonderful.>
Othar'a pulled out a variety of medical instruments, and got to work trying to heal the damage. "How is she?"
>She should be dead. There's so much damage here that she shouldn't be alive, yet she is. I've never seen anything like it.>
>Can't you be grateful?>
>SPIKETAIL?>
Spiketail flinched slightly. >No need to shout.>
>You're ok? But your injuries… you shouldn't be alive!>
>Thanks a lot,> she replied dryly.
"What happened?"
>Can't you guess? It was just the one, though. I wonder why…>
>Where did it appear?>
Spiketail ran through her injuries, and decided to try getting up. >There,> she pointed.
There was a small discolouration at the location she indicated. Shadow moved to look at it, and saw what it was.
A thin panel lay on the floor, giving off a dull green glow. It was so flat that it was easy to see why they had missed it before.
>Some sort of homing device, maybe? Perhaps their teleporters rely on something to home in on,> suggested Spiketail.
"So… there must be another homing device outside the ship for that one to have escaped."
>If we could work the teleporter system, we could go anywhere,> breathed Shadow. >Off the ship… to the Cytheran's base… maybe even to Tartarus itself!>
"Think! How did the Cytheran activate the teleporter?" said Othar'a urgently. "If we can use it, we can escape this trap!"
Spiketail thought, and tried to remember what had happened.
Left lower arm.
Second control panel.
>Hold on,> objected Shadow. >That teleporter only moved one of them. If we switch the thing on, it'll just take the body away.>
"The flash was much bigger than just the one," said Othar'a. "Maybe it affects an area instead of just one thing."
Second button on the left was first, thought Spiketail.
>You're riding an awful lot on that assumption.>
Othar'a growled in anger. "Do you have any better suggestions, Kainde Amedha? If this does not work, we will die."
Press the small screen on the right.
The argument was swept aside by a small moan from Elysa.
Her eyes flickered open.
"Am I dead?" she asked.
"Far from it, yeyinde," said Othar'a affectionately. "Quite the little fighter, you are."
>Good to see you're all right,> said Shadow.
Elysa winced. "No need to shout, I can hear you fine."
Third button from the left activates.
Shadow looked puzzled. >That's how I normally speak to you.>
She winced again. "It seems… louder, somehow. I presume from the mild agony… that my stomach's in, you've been playing doctor again?"
"Yes. Your healing may have had side-effects, though, due to the Kainde Amedha blood in your system. This may be one of them."
Healing. Side-effects. The realisation hit Spiketail, flushing aside all thoughts of the teleporter.
>I think I have an idea of why I'm still alive,> she said to Shadow.
"I'd like to know as well," said Elysa.
Both of the Xenomorphs froze. >You heard that?> demanded Spiketail.
"Heard what?" asked Othar'a. "Did you say something?"
"You said you had an idea about why you're alive," said Elysa.
>But… that's impossible. That was a hive link! Nothing apart from other Aliens should be able to hear that!>
>If you somehow… are now connected to that,> said Shadow slowly. >We have to put more force into our thoughts to make them heard by you. Maybe that's why you thought I was shouting…>
Othar'a sighed. "Let's hope that the side-effects stop there. You know have some Kainde Amedha DNA in you, Elysa. How much and what effect it will have, only time will tell. What's your idea, Spiketail?"
>Nothing,> she said. >Not important. I've remembered how the teleporter was activated.>
>We should test it –> began Shadow.
>How?> Spiketail asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. >The moment we press that switch, it'll take us away with no way back. We get one shot. Do we take it or not?> She struggled to her feet, feeling the pain lessened already.
"We take it. No other choice. Call the others up."
REPORT RECEIVED AND ACKNOWLEDGED, ATTACK GROUP 928
SENSORS CONFIRM NO CASUALTIES IN AYH-1
ALL MEMBERS OF AYH-1 HAVE LEFT GUARD POSITIONS
LIKELY CAUSES BEING CALCULATED
MOST LIKELY CAUSE CALCULATED
WITHDRAWING ALL GROUPS TO HOMING BEACONS
ATTACK GROUP 928 NEW DIRECTIVE: ADVANCE ON YAUTJA VESSEL
CALCULATION ENDS
ORDERS TRANSMITTED
AWAITING NEW INPUT
"I hope you remembered correctly, Spiketail," said Kal'Arak'e anxiously.
>Get as close to the body as you can,> Spiketail ordered. >Anyone too far away will probably get left behind.>
She pressed the first control. The panel lit up, and several glowing circles with a symbol next to each appeared on it.
Presumably a targeter. Go for something a good distance from the centre; that would take them a long way away from this ship, with any luck.
She pressed a circle with the symbol '¬', and then pressed the final control.
The panel hummed for a moment…
A green flash…
A horrible sensation of falling…
Being stretched…
Compressed…
Cold…
Green flash…
And then it was over.
She looked around, and to her relief saw that everyone was there. The hunch about 'area of effect' had worked out.
She took another look around, at their surroundings.
It was the Raphael. The huge skeleton of the Queen, and of her guards, still lay where they had died.
Othar'a tensed as she saw the body of the Queen, the sight bringing up the unpleasant memory of one of the toughest fights of her life.
>We're safe, I think,> said Shadow. >I don't see anything living inside the hive. Not many creatures like to enter a hive, even if it's empty.>
>We'd better make sure,> said Spiketail. >Come on, Shadow, we'll check the entrance. You four, make yourselves comfortable and get some rest. We won't be able to stay here for long.>
The two moved off through the resin coated corridors of the ship in silence for a while.
>I take it that you wanted to get away from prying ears?> said Shadow eventually.
Spiketail chuckled. >What does one have to do to get privacy nowadays? You think you have a foolproof method, and then someone goes and gets the ability to tap in.>
Shadow laughed too. >What was this revelation of yours?>
Spiketail was silent.
>If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. I'm not exactly an ideal confidant on Alien matters, I know – you've told me that enough – but I'm here if you need to talk.>
>It's begun.>
Shadow stopped, puzzled. >What has?>
>The Transformation. Within a week, I will be ready to enter my cocoon and become a fully-fledged Queen.>
Shadow remained silent, waiting.
>It's odd. Almost since I was injected with the retrovirus, I've wondered what it would be like to have the power of a Queen. And when I got glimpses from the old Queen, and even from that bitch Spineback, I knew that I wanted it. And soon, it's going to happen… I've been thinking about it a lot recently, expecting the Transformation to come soon, but… I don't know. Maybe I didn't really believe it somehow.> She laughed mirthlessly. >Bit of a change, really. A year ago I was just an ordinary scientist, looking for the next job. A nobody. Now, I'm about to turn into one of the greatest beings in the galaxy.>
>And are you happy?>
>I don't know. I'm having… dreams.>
Shadow looked at her quizzically. >Another Queen?>
>No. I'd know what another Queen's touch would be like. This is… different. Coming from me.>
>But we can't dream. I haven't had a single dream since the change. It just doesn't happen.>
>Exactly. Dreaming takes up brainpower, and when we go into dormancy, everything shuts off, including all but the most basic functions to maximise regeneration. But…>
>Was it a dream that made you so vicious before we got the Yautja ship?>
>Yes. And… I had another while I was fighting for life after the Cytheran almost killed me. In them… forget it.>
Shadow almost pushed her to continue, but decided better of it.
>What a strange set we make,> he said. >I've stayed constant, always trying to stay moral and ethical despite the change and the constraints that came with it. You started as pretty human, then became a psychopathic killing machine, and then you changed again. I think you tried to submerge it, and it's beginning to come through now.>
Spiketail said nothing.
>What's the next step, do you think?>
>Head towards the place the shot that destroyed the Asphodel came from,> replied Spiketail, relieved at the change of subject. >Going back to the Pred ship would be suicide. We're running out of options.>
>We could try to navigate the teleporter network,> suggested Shadow.
>They'll probably know that we used it to get out, and will be watching all the homing beacons. No, we'll have to do it on foot.>
>Let's get back to the others. And Spiketail…>
>Yes?>
>I'm always here, if you want to talk.>
>You already said that,> said Spiketail, but there was gratitude in her voice.
Many many apologies for leaving you all on such an awful cliff-hanger for so long. I had a touch of writer's block. No doubt you'll be relieved that it's not another cliff-hanger. I'll try to keep them to a minimum, so you can come back now, Miika…
I'm curious: how many of you guessed that Spike and Elysa hadn't actually died? Anyone?
