Chapter Seventeen
Amelia stared at the blank screen of static for a few long moments as she processed everything. Suddenly, everything made perfect, horrific sense. This was all corporate sabotage by Weyland-Yutani against CEC, who was their biggest rival. Amelia and the rest of them were poor pawns, caught in the crossfire. No, they were worse. They were human test subjects, to test a deadly weapon on. She then headed out of Comms, towards Medlab. She had to find out. Amelia headed down the halls, careful, but more quick than before. She turned down corridors, some of which were totally dark, now. She knew Medlab had its own emergency power source in the event of an emergency. She wound down and through the halls, to and fro, hither and thither. The only movement she saw was the rotating emergency lights and a few sparking wires. In some ways, that concerned her even more. Where were the Aliens? Her mind now turned to them in earnest.
Where had Weyland-Yutani found such creatures? She would have thought the discovery of alien life of any kind would have been something they would have crowed about from the highest ivory towers and lord over their rivals. She shook her helmeted head as she moved. She knew she could no more understand the mindset of the corporate executives than she could that of the Aliens. Both were strange and inscrutable, but in very different ways. However, she had to admit, at least from what she had seen, the Aliens seemed to work together, not against each other.
She came at long last back to Medlab, and was somewhat relieved to be back in her element. She hurried inside, and over to the scanning machine. The empty pod still lay beside it, the strings of mucus from inside having solidified into a clear substance. She would have been more fascinated, but she had a mission. She swung her legs up and herself into the machine, and activated it. The sensors whirred to life, and it scanned her. She looked at the remote display, but, once again, it displayed normal, healthy lungs and heart. Nothing at all out of the ordinary. She frowned as the machine stopped and logged the results. She got out, and walked back to a desk. She grabbed up a discarded rock saw, engaged the plasma blade, reared back, and slammed it into the side of the machine, just above where the pod rested. The casing of the white metal dented and cut. She hit it again, and again. She was a bit surprised when air hissed and a blue glow was seen through the crack. She whacked it again, then pulled the panel open. She glared at what was inside.
It was a Stasis crate, not unlike the ones they had used to store foodstuffs and the specimens of the creatures.
"Clever. Very clever," she snarled as she dropped the saw with a clang. She looked at the pod and kicked it, the organic pod rolling away, roots flopping. She stood, quivering with anger. Everything made perfect sense, now. It also explained why they never found where the pods came from, why they seemed to suddenly appear out of nowhere. She whirled, grabbed a few spare plasma cells for her plasma cutter, and headed for Engineering, now furious. Amelia kept her flamethrower ready, but still moved as carefully as she could. She followed the path from her memory, back to Engineering. When she came to the hall outside, she saw they had constructed more barricades to slow the creatures down more and reinforce the area. She almost stormed up to the door and knocked as she messaged Sammers. "It's Amelia! Open up!" It was silent for a while before the doors unlocked and slid open, Tom surprised and relieved to see her.
"Doc! You're alive!" he exclaimed as she strode in.
"I need to see Sammers," she said as her helmet retracted and she headed inside without another word, not stopping to pay attention to anyone else. Sammers looked up as Amelia came in, looking shocked, and relieved.
"Amelia! Thank god you're okay!"
"We need to talk, Sammers," she said quickly, others looking surprised.
"What's happened?" he asked. Amelia tried not to be frantic.
"They knew! They knew all along, Sammers!" she said, and his eyebrows shot up.
"Who?" he replied.
"I managed to-" the lights suddenly flickered, and they all looked up, alarmed. The lights did it again, far more than was normal, even with what had been going on. Dread gripped Amelia.
Are they smart enough to cut the power? she wondered as people began to murmur in alarm.
XXX
Tom was at the door to Engineering, when he noticed someone. He glanced up at the young man, who looked familiar. He was hanging around one of the vents they had riveted panels over.
"Don't stay too close to there. Don't want a nasty surprise," Tom warned. The young man with black hair didn't look at him.
"Life is full of surprises," he said as, to Tom's shock, he raised a rivet gun and began to undo the rivets.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Tom gasped as he lunged at the young man. He turned to look at Tom as he raised the rivet gun.
"God's will," he said as he fired. Tom raised his plasma cutter and fired as well. The heavy rivet hit the old man right between the eyes and went right out the back, trailing blood and brain matter. However, the old man's last shot caught Ethan in the left shoulder. The young man gritted his teeth as he undid the rivets as he heard yelling, then scrambled for the door to unlock it.
XXX
Amelia and Sammers looked up as they heard a plasma cutter and rivet gun go off.
They came running, and were shocked when they found Tom's body laying by a vent that was now open.
"What the fuck are you-argh!" yelled someone in the next room, followed by a yell and the sound of a weapon.
"Fucker's opening the vents!" someone else screamed. Amelia's pupils became pinpricks as Jessica ran up to her.
"Amelia!" She barely had time to turn to her before she heard a familiar screech, her blood chilling.
"They're inside!" someone yelled and a Pulse Rifle roared to life. People began to scream and flee. Engineering quickly descended into pandemonium, people screaming and running, some climbing over others, crawling under tables or benches in a desperate bid to escape. Amelia heard vents being torn open with metallic screeches, along with the shrieks of the Aliens.
"Fuck!" Sammers swore as he grabbed up a plasma cutter and ran to help. Amelia was close with him, when people ran into her, sending her sprawling as people fled like a wave of flesh. She turned over and searched for her flamethrower. She hard shots and looked up as she saw Sammers shooting at the Aliens, when the panels of the floor burst open and one of them grabbed him with its long, black fingers, claws digging into his flesh, tail wrapping around his arm and twisting the plasma cutter from the man's hand.
"Michael!" she yelled as she watched him be pulled under the floor, and was gone. Amelia stared with wide eyes, and saw other people captured and pulled, screaming into the vents, their cries echoing like tormented souls being pulled to Hell. She turned back to the others. "Out the back! Now! Go! Go! Go!" she yelled as she got to her feet and looked for her flamethrower. The lights flickered, almost like strobe lights, disorienting her, as well as others. A few ran quite literally into the arms of the Aliens in the confusion. Screams and screeches filled the room, making Amelia's head pound. She saw a P-Sec officer grabbed by one of the black creatures, tearing his arm off and slashing its claws up and tearing his whole front off. Another fired at one of the Aliens with his Pulse Rifle, only for a tail to lash out and cut his lower jaw completely off, the man staggering and falling down, his neck clearly broken from the sheer force. Amelia looked around, and fled with the other people, who were heading into the back of Engineering. People screamed as they ran. More vents smashed open, more floor panels flew up, revealing dark, chitinous nightmares that rose up to grab anyone they could and then dive back into the abyss.
"Oh my god!" a woman screamed as she ran, only to be grabbed by one of the tall, thin, skeletal demons. She shrieked as she was carried with it back down the hole, her screams echoing back. Amelia ran, trying to dodge and move. She couldn't find her weapon, but she did find something more important. She saw Jessica. Amelia ran towards her, just as the vent behind her smashed open, and a large, black hand grabbed the young woman around her legs and yanked.
"Jessica!" Amelia screamed as she lunged, the young woman holding onto the edge of the vent with her white knuckled fingers. Amelia dove and grabbed her hand. Jessica looked at her, her face almost blank, but she could see the pure terror in her eyes. "Jessie, hold on! Someone fucking help me!" Amelia yelled as people ran and yelled. She felt Jessica's hand slip a tiny bit. She looked into her eyes, and suddenly, she vanished into the darkness with a final yank. "No!" Amelia screamed. People crashed into her, pushing her along as Amelia screamed in anguish and agony. She managed to stumble loose, and looked around. She saw a room with some tools and ran for it. They're taking people alive, she thought as she hurried to grab something. Maybe it wasn't too late, after all. She was startled when something tackled her. She yelled, thinking it was one of the creatures. She saw a knife, and grabbed the hands that held it. Her eyes flicked down, and she was shocked. "Ethan?! What're you doing?!" she grunted as she tried to shove the knife back. He gritted his teeth, tears in his eyes as he tried to shove the long butcher's knife into her eye. She would have activated her helmet, but she dared not move one of her hands. She was barely holding him off with both hands as it was, and failing rapidly.
"I love you, Amelia! You're like a Mom to me! I can't let you go to Hell!" he screamed as he tried to push his whole weight down on her, knife slowly moving closer.
"Wh-what are you talking about?!" she asked through gritted teeth.
"Don't you understand?! I'm trying to save you!" he yelled. Amelia grunted as she tried to push him back, the knife less than an inch from her eye.
"Why, why are you doing this?" she asked as she tried to kick him off.
"One mind, one body!" he screamed, and her blood chilled.
Ethan was startled when something grabbed him by the arm and lifted him up as if he weighed nothing. He yelped as he was brought up and stared into a dark, eyeless face. His eyes were wide as the face shook, lips quivering as they peeled back from shiny, metallic teeth, long strings of clear slime dripping from the long, curved head as the jaws opened to reveal a second, smaller set of teeth behind the larger ones. The second set of jaws launched out, attached to a long, white tube-like tongue. The tongue smashed Ethan's head with a sick, wet crunch, the silvery teeth punching right through the back of his skull, blood and brain matter splattering Amelia as she shook. She scrambled back, but was trapped.
The creature dropped Ethan's body, which twitched, and turn its attention to her.
She scooted back until she was pressed up into a literal corner. It moved forward slowly forward, still graceful as ever, even though it was missing its left arm. A missing arm that seemed to be in the process of regrowing, judging by the extending tendrils that seemed to be reconstructing whatever internal anatomy it possessed. It came closer and lowered until its face was right next to her. She whimpered and cringed as it opened its mouth, that long, toothed tongue extending. She turned her head and closed her eyes. She hoped it would be quick. She heard strange sounds, that almost sounded like a wet breath. She opened an eye, and she saw the teeth flex on the tongue. A tongue that was white like ivory, almost contrasting with the midnight-black of the rest of the creature. It was so close, and her helmet open, she could actually smell it. It was a strange, musky scent, but not unpleasant, strangely. She was almost hyperventilating as she trembled. Then, to her complete and utter shock, it retracted its tongue and rose, whirled and flowed out of the room. Amelia whimpered, trembled, but she stayed where she was, backed into a corner. She dared not move, but could hear as screams and screeches fell into silence.
Amelia slowly uncurled and gingerly crawled to the edge of the doorway and peeked out. It was silent. No more screams, no more screeches. She could smell a hint of that acrid smell from acid, as well as the heavy scent of blood. She glanced around. Engineering was totally empty. Whether the Aliens had killed everyone, captured them, or people managed to escape, she didn't know. She rubbed her face as she tried to process everything.
They're taking people alive. They're not killing everyone outright, she thought. Her mind raced as she tried to think, and piece everything together. She was also alarmed to see the same Alien who Russel had cut the arm off of not even a few hours ago, regrowing its limb. They have acid for blood, can breathe without oxygen, can regrow limbs. How tough are these things? she wondered. She slowly rose to her feet, using the wall to steady herself. She took a few shuddering breaths, managed to get her shaking under control. Amelia glanced around, looking at the damage. There was blood everywhere, vents torn open and floor panels smashed. She looked and her heart sank. Somehow, they had found a way under the subflooring. How something that big could squeeze into such small spaces was something she didn't want to think about. She swallowed, her throat tight and dry. She looked where she saw Sammers dragged down. She saw his plasma cutter, laying there. She stooped and picked it up, backing away from the hole, just in case. She looked at it. It looked like he was able to shoot it a few times, as most of the plasma was still loaded. She glanced around. She saw a broken, discarded Pulse Rifle, some saws and other weapons that had done the defenders little good. Amelia felt a weight on her chest and neck. The weight of hopelessness.
Weyland-Yutani was blocking all outgoing transmissions, and had disguised their ships to look like ordinary supply ships, when in fact they sounded like small attack carriers. Even if she could find a way to get people off, they would be shot down as soon as they tried to leave. Worse, even if anyone came to help, they either would be shot down as well, or would meet the same fate, as the Aliens would be there, waiting for more prey. Even worse, they might spread them, take one home, or have someone implanted, and never know until it was too late. The thought of these creatures loose on the Sprawl, Mars or even Earth terrified her. Amelia leaned against the wall as she thought what to do. For what seemed like an eternity, she was silent and still, before she straightened up.
She was Senior Science Officer, a Doctor. Her first duty was to protect and preserve life. She couldn't let these things get off the planet. She also couldn't let Weyland-Yutani have their wicked way. Rather than let them have the opportunity to pick these things and their eggs back up, or gather data about what they did, she would rather destroy it all. She stopped, though, as she thought how to do that. It wasn't like the colony had an emergency self-destruct button she could just press and blow it. Even ships like the Castle had a specific scuttle procedure. However, she might be able to do something similar. If she could reach the primary power core, she could cause an overload, and, with any luck, destroy the whole colony, and maybe the Castle as well. Her throat tightened, as she knew doing this would mean certain death for her. Then again, perhaps not. Some part of her mind was still optimistic. The destruction of the colony might not destroy the whole planet, and if there were any survivors, she could maybe get them into ground vehicles, with enough air and supplies to last maybe until help may come. Even with Weyland-Yutani blocking comms, she knew CEC would not ignore losing contact with such a big investment. They would send someone out to check, and if they lost contact with them, too, it would almost certainly draw attention, maybe of Earthgov. Even Weyland-Yutani would be no match for the likes of the USM Valor or the USM Auriga. She couldn't just give up. With that, she set to work, grabbing what she could and gearing up.
She managed to find another flamethrower, checked it, filled it up and packed several spare canisters of fuel. She packed as many spare Medkits as she could. She also grabbed up a Maintenance Jack, a heavy combination tool of large wrench, hammer and spike. Not so much as a weapon, but in case she might need it along the way. As she gathered tools and supplies, she kept thinking back to the huge question: Why had that Alien spared her? It seemed to go against everything she had seen about them thus far. Something wasn't right, every fiber of her being said so. It made absolutely no sense. Once she was satisfied she had everything she needed, she turned and headed back out into Engineering, towards the door. As she moved to the door, she saw the body of Tom, laying to the side. She knelt and gently touched his shoulder. When she saw the wound in his head, she felt sick. She had seen a similar wound before, and knew what did it. It was no Alien.
"Ethan, you vile little fucker," she hissed. She looked at Tom's left arm. The Stasis module was broken, but the Kinesis module seemed intact. She removed it and clipped it into her own left RIG gauntlet. She tested it on a crate, lifting the heavy metal box. She looked at Tom, one last time. "Thank you Tom. I'm so sorry," she said as she left.
In order to get down the the power core, she had to go down. She headed to the elevator as her helmet activated and snapped together. Fully armed and ready, Amelia Kyne entered the elevator, pressed the button, and doors closed.
