Chapter Nineteen

Amelia couldn't help but think on the ironies of her life up until that point. So many things swirled in her mind. Things she might have done differently, or not at all. Then, she wondered if everyone who knew they were going to die did so. She knew she was not the only person to regret things undone or unsaid, but that made it no easier. Her breathing was more difficult now, and she knew she had to hurry, and yet she also knew with her condition, running would exhaust herself. She walked briskly, flamethrower held tightly. Amelia wound her way through the tunnels, and once again, the resin of the hive began to thin into small tendrils. She was surprised when she came to a working elevator, and she couldn't help thinking of some poor miners and engineers who might have walked out and into a literal nightmare. She walked in and pressed the button, riding it up. The buzzer sounded as it stopped and the doors opened. She came out into a tool room. Various tools sat on the desks and tables in various states of repair and disassembly. She stopped and noticed one. She came up and looked. It was a Javelin Gun, but this one was modified. Attached to the spike was a line of cable with a mechanical reel. It was a Zipline gun, used by miners when they had to repel down sheer walls to place charges or other such work. Amelia picked it up, looked it over, and slung it over her shoulder. She then headed into the Megavent.

The Megavents were large, open areas that formed a huge network of tunnels meant to house the gravity tethers used to lift the loads of rock a Planetcracker like the Castle would haul up. As huge as the one she was currently in was, it was just one of twenty-five. Amelia looked around, and found the signs for directions. The nearest gravity tether was number thirteen. She chuckled darkly. How fitting. She headed in the direction indicated, to the right.

As she moved, she saw more signs of struggle, but these were different. She saw a few bodies, wounds from plasma cutters and bullet wounds. The Aliens didn't kill these people. Amelia was disgusted. Amelia knew very well Unitology had more than a few crazies, but she never would have thought they would turn to outright murder. While Amelia was technically a member of the Church, it was mostly Terry who was involved. However, Amelia always reminded him to think rationally, and not just accept what others said. "There's a big different between spirituality and religion," she had reminded him.

As her mind drifted to her distant husband, she thought about how once, they had talked about having children, before they learned she was sterile. She had even thought about lullabies. Now, that she was "pregnant", she couldn't help humming one, slowly beginning to sing.

"Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wonder what you are,

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky."

Amelia's voice echoed in the silent Megavent, her tone tired, the song far from cheerful, the tone eerie and haunting.

"When the blazing sun is gone,

When there nothing shines upon,

Then you show your little light,

Twinkle, twinkle all the night."

Amela walked along the catwalks, her boots softly clanging, which she now didn't try to muffle or reduce. She turned at a junction, the bodies of several dead miners and engineers laying where they had been shot.

"Then the traveler in the dark,

Thanks you for your little spark,

He could not see which way to go,

If you did not twinkle so."

Amelia came to a section of catwalk that was heavily damaged, the damaged portion dangling from what looked like explosive damage. She looked down into the black abyss below, then back up. She didn't have time to go around. It could take hours to get to another gravity tether, and she wasn't sure she had that kind of time. She hefted up the Zipline gun, aimed the laser at the far wall, and fired. The spike sailed, hit the wall and stuck there. She gave the line a small tug. It seemed secure. She attached the heavy sling and harness around herself, and took a deep breath before diving off. Amelia swung like some movie action hero down and across the gap. She put her boots out and cushioned her swing into the rock wall. She looked up, and the spike was secure still. She looked down, and the rest of the catwalk was below her. She slowly let out the line, walking down the wall. She grunted softly as she stepped onto the catwalk. She pressed the button that released the cable from the spike, the line reeling in. She pulled the handle that loaded another spike and attached the line in one motion. She pulled off the harness and slung it over her shoulder once more.

"Though I know not what you are,

Twinkle, twinkle little star."

Amelia walked through a door in the rock wall, heading for the gravity tether. Her chest felt tighter still, her breathing more difficult. She retracted her helmet, breathing harder than she would like. She touched her face, and saw a drop of blood on her glove. She wiped her nose, and saw more blood. She sighed. She took a few moments to steady her breathing, but knew she had precious little time. She swallowed, and continued on, wandering down the empty, silent halls. As she did, she once more thought about the Aliens. While they were terrifying, they also had a certain beauty to them, albeit a deadly one. She never would have imagined something like them could exist. Humans had wondered for centuries what kind of life was out there, and many had been surprised and disappointed to not even find bacteria. Amelia wondered what kind of world they came from, and just where Weyland-Yutani had found them. Perhaps it was a coping mechanism, but the scientific part of her mind wondered on these things, drifting to the dark shadows that seemed to drift in and out of her mind, of these amazing, horrible, magnificent nightmares.

It was then that Amelia felt a strange sensation, like an odd tickling in the back of her head. She whirled, and three of the Aliens were right there, not even twenty feet away. They were on all fours, like cats, sitting. Her breathing and heart rate increased, but, at the same time, she just felt tired. She regarded the dark creatures for several long, silent moments. "You know, don't you?" she asked. They just sat there seeming to look at her, even though they did not have eyes. One of them was rubbing its head against a wall, and Amelia saw the once smooth dome was now wrinkled and seeming to be loose. Another one reached up with their long fingers and seemed to help scratch, the remains of the dome coming off and revealing a hard, ridged skull underneath. Amelia blinked, seeing the change, and noticed the other two seemed to be starting to go through the same process, their smooth head coverings beginning to distort and shed. The scientist in her was fascinated, wondering what such a change meant. She flexed her fingers on her flamethrower, but she noted they were not acting aggressive, and their teeth were not bared. As she looked at the great, dark space-beasts, she couldn't hate them. Yes, they were dangerous, but they didn't do what they did out of some ghoulish delight. They were just animals, following instincts. At least, she hoped they were. Amelia turned, and began to walk down the hall. She glanced back, and saw, to her surprise, they were following her, on all fours, moving with unearthly grace. I wonder if maybe they sense the world through pheromones? she wondered. It would make sense, and how they could sense the one inside of her. It also confirmed the importance of it to them.

As she walked down the empty hallways, she thought more on why Weyland-Yutani did what they did. It was this thought, that led her to think further. If CEC got a hold of these creatures, it could be just as bad. While CEC might not have military contracts, she had little doubt they would see profit in the Aliens. Then, there was Earthgov, who Amelia had little doubt would salivate over something so deadly. A horrible image came to her mind of an Earthgov ship dropping Alien pods on a planet, and she shivered. It convinced her even more than what she was doing was the right course of action. These creatures were too dangerous for anyone to get their hands on.

Amelia thought she hard a voice, and stopped dead in her tracks. She listened, but heard nothing. It almost sounded like an echoed, distorted whisper. She looked back, and the Aliens were still following her. To her, they seemed almost . . . curious. She watched them for a moment, as they sat and watched her. She noticed the tubes on their backs flexing subtly. They were so strange, but also fascinating, in their own way. She never could have imagined alien life would look like they did. The way they looked skeletal, but almost as if they were mixed with machine parts, or organic replications thereof. Just what had given rise to such a supreme species of predators? What was their home planet like? She turned back and continued. Amelia stopped to take a few deep breaths and looked up at the digital sign for the gravity tether, down the hall. Wiping some blood from her nose, she continued her brisk pace, until at last she came to a large, locked door. Amelia stopped and looked around. She saw an access panel to the side, and smiled as she brought up the Maintenance Jack. She used the cutter portion to break the bolt to open the panel and pry it open, then placed the wrench end on the internal mechanism, and turned it like a large lever. The hologram turned from red to white, with the word "unlocked" glowing. With a tired smile, she pressed the hologram and the door cycled and then opened. Amelia stepped into the chamber and stared up at the three massive rotating machines that were the gravity tethers.

Each of them was twenty feet in diameter, and slowly rotated in opposing directions, glowing, rippling beams of gravitons distorted the air as they flowed to the tectonic load that hovered miles above. She looked at them and thought.

She couldn't just start blasting, as that was not what she wanted. Blasting them would only disable this one. She had to do something specific. She had to create a feedback loop. Her eyes flicked around, and she had the perfect idea. She looked at her hand, and the built-in defibrillator of her E-T RIG. She smiled thinly. She marched over to the console and checked the readout. Everything was normal. She looked up, and thought. She had to create an unevenness in the gravity of three devices in order to cause the desired effect. While disabling one could work, that might take more time than she had. She needed to trigger a Black Hole quickly. While Quantum Physics were not really her strong suit, if she disabled one, then overloaded another, then it should do what she needed. She paused, and tapped her RIG, a holographic picture of Terry appearing one last time. She blinked tears away as she looked at his face, and then shut it off. Amelia was barely holding her emotions together. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she walked over to stare up at the massive machines. Amelia wished she had a Stasis module, but wondered if the Aliens would have attacked her, even with one inside of her. Would they? She turned back, and they had come into the room with her, seeming curious about the room and the large machines. She turned back and walked over to the first gravity tether, the one on the left. She got as close as she could, stood on her toes, and primed the defibrillator, set it to maximum voltage. She had to set, prime and charge it every single time. It was a safety precaution to prevent accidental use. She placed her gloves to the tether, and fired it. She recoiled as electricity crackled over the large wheel, forming large blue bolts, the smell of ozone heavy as an alarm sounded.

"Warning! Gravity Tether Thirteen compromised. Emergency maintenance teams to Gravity Tether Thirteen immediately," announced the automated voice of the colony. Amelia hurried over to the next tether, primed the defibrillator again, waited for it to charge as she felt her chest tighten, and felt the nausea return with a vengeance.

"Come on! Come on!" she growled through gritted teeth. As soon as the light was green, she hit it. Once more, the tether sparked and crackled with electricity, more fiercely. She was almost thrown back, stumbling as the warning klaxons blared.

"Emergency! Gravity Tether Thirteen graviton levels exceeding safety limits. All emergency crews to Gravity Tether Thirteen immediately," said the automated voice of the colony. Amelia staggered back upright. She moved over to the third and final one, but when she went to prime the defibrillator, she was horrified to see it had overloaded. The circuits were fried.

"No!" she yelled. She felt her stomach turn, retched, but stayed upright. She panted, but she wasn't beaten yet. She pulled up Sammers' plasma cutter. She looked up at the last tether machine. Hitting the Graviton emitters while the machine was moving would not be easy, but she hoped she could do it. She raised the cutter, aimed, and fired. The first shot missed. She growled, tried again. Another miss. Five shots left. She fired again, and a graviton emitting pylon exploded in a shower of glass, metal and microchips. She let out a heavy breath. She aimed and fired. Another miss. She aimed again. Four shots, two emitters. She waited and fired once again. Hitting a spinning target would be a challenge for a seasoned marksman, but Amelia managed to hit the second pylon, shattering it and making the room hum as the air began to distort with increasing gravity at the last tether. Amelia felt the Alien inside of her move, now for certain. She groaned and aimed.

She stopped when she hard something. She thought she heard a voice. A whispered voice, echoed and distant. That should have been impossible. With all the noise, the alarms, the sounds of the machines, she should not have been able to even hear her own breathing. Amelia clutched her chest, now gasping. She turned, and saw the Aliens, now only a few feet away from her. They were looking at her. One was sitting, one was crouched, the last was standing. They were not aggressive. She had the most bizarre feeling come over her. Like a feeling of . . . peace. Then, she heard it again. Not one voice, but three of them. Amelia's eyes widened. They were female voices, seeming to echo, as if inside of a cave. Or her head. Amelia's jaw dropped, mouth quivering. "N-n-no . . . that's not possible," she said in a shaking voice. She felt the same peaceful feeling, so peaceful, it brought new tears to her eyes. Her whole body was shaking as the voices spoke louder. They spoke a single word, clear as day:

Mother.

Tears flooded her eyes, as the horrible realization hit her like a tectonic load from the Castle. Amelia looked at them, eyes flooding.

"I . . . I'm . . . so sorry," she said, voice shaking. They tilted their heads as they looked at her.

Mother, they repeated, all of them. Amelia realized, they were not speaking to her, but to the one inside of her. Even still, she wept. She felt her body weaken, fell to her knees. She clutched her chest as it all hit her at once. She smiled sadly, shaking from head to toe.

"I . . . I'm sorry, baby. It looks like it's time for us to go," she said as she raised her hand and aimed the plasma cutter. She felt her ribs crack, gagged as the shot went wild, hitting the side of the machine. She could feel blood in her throat, pain lancing through her. She looked to her left as she aimed the cutter. One round left, seconds of time left, if that. She aimed, closed her eyes, and pulled the trigger. The last plasma discharged hit the pylon as the chest of Amelia Kyne erupted in a shower of blood as a shrill screech echoed into the room, quickly drowned out by the huge explosion that then pulled back into itself and the perfectly round black spot that formed and began to grow in the place of the last gravity tether.

XXX

Until that point, no human beings had ever witnessed the actual forming of a Black Hole, so the hovering ships above the Aerodyne colony were taken by total surprise when the colony complex began to swiftly collapse in on itself, like something out of some ancient horror movie. Before they could react they were also caught in the inconceivably powerful gravity well and pulled in. The black disk of total destruction expanded, engulfing the whole of the colony, then the plateau and excavation crater. The singularity expanded and consumed more and more, slowly destroying the planet itself, and even began to pull in the tectonic load and, eventually, the USG Castle itself.