Chapter 7: The Game-Changer

While everyone else was celebrating the capture, things had a much darker mood with Ripley, Jake, and Hicks.

Right after they had captured the thing, with not a moment to lose, Ripley ran off. Jake knew where she was going. He ran after her, trying to keep up. It seemed though, that Hicks just wouldn't leave them be, and decided to follow them.

They arrived at the infirmary, Ripley a few minutes ahead of them, already down to her underwear, assuming a position on the scanner. She motioned for Jake to start to work the machine.

Jake followed her instructions, setting the scanner into motion, and stopping it over her abdomen.

There, staring right at them from inside her solar plexus, was a Queen embryo. It seemed to be just staring at them, almost grinning with delight.

"You know how long I have until it's out?" Ripley asked as soon as she got a look at the screen.

Jake thought for a moment. His father had been the poor soul who hosted the Queen in him back on Archeron. He'd seen the process from start to end.

The Queen embryo always took slightly longer. Yet Jake had no idea at the time Ripley was impregnated. He wished that Bishop was here.

In fact, he hadn't seen Bishop at all since he'd arrived here. Whatever happened to Bishop, it seemed that the time was now to look at it.

Jake took a good long look at the monitor, looking at the essential development details. The Headcrest was just starting to become elongated, which usually happened a third of the way through. His estimate, roughly two days. His precise guess, about 45 hours.

He looked at Ripley; "This is only an estimate," He answered "but you have about two days. However, if you want hours, you have about 45. All we really can do is tell the people on the ship, and hope that they can cut it out of you."

Ripley looked at herself, and then back at Jake, and then at the door. Jake turned around to see what she was looking at, and noticed that Hicks had been standing there the whole time.

Hicks started to walk into the room, a look of apprehension on his face. Ripley got up, and walked over to him. It seemed that the game had changed. Ripley wrapped her arms around Hicks and started to cry.

Jake was wondering what to do next. Maybe if he could contact the company ship that was supposed to come, he could have them cut it out of her. That was about all they could do.

Jake walked out of the Infirmary, and started to think. He'd been walking for a good thirty minutes before he bumped into a familiar face. He looked up, and said "Bishop, Where have you been this whole time?"

Bishop just looked at Jake, before he answered "I was in Aaron's office. I also have been working on trying to contact the company ship. It's on schedule, and should arrive within 45 hours."

Jake just looked at him blankly. He then looked at the time on his cellular.

It had been a good thirty minutes since the diagnosis. "When did you contact them?" Jake asked.

"Just thirty minutes ago." Bishop answered as soon as the question was out of Jake's mouth. "Why?" Bishop inquired.

"Because Ripley has a Queen embryo inside of her, and She only has 45 hours until it bursts out of her!" Jake shouted. "If they don't get here in time to be able to cut it out of her, then she'll be dead from it's emergence, and we'll have a queen to worry about taking over this place."

Bishop stared at Jake for a moment, before answering in his usual calm way "I have a call to make. I personally talked with the crew of the company ship in question, and I can easily have them get here faster. If you want, you can come with me as I tell them."

Jake was dumbstruck yet answered "Alright, let's go talk to them." They started walking back to Aaron's office.

When they arrived, he saw Aaron talking to Newt. Bishop walked up to Aaron, and whispered something to him. As soon as he was done, he started to work the terminal.

He said something to Newt, and asked that she run as quickly as she could to the Infirmary, which she did.

Jake just looked at them, watching them establish the connection. A few seconds later, an image of a man who looked something like Bishop appeared on the monitor. The only difference was that this man had facial hair. Bishop the Android wasn't able to have any.

He let them start to talk. The conversation was brief, and they tried their best to keep Jake out of the conversation. Jake heard the man on the other end say that he'll put some more speed into their flight path to make it there faster. They said that it would only be two hours worth of difference, and that Ripley would have to let them put her under.

At the end, the trio walked back to the Infirmary to tell Ripley the news. When they arrived, it seemed Aaron made a mistake in telling Newt what was going on, because she was crying, yet this time, it was on Hick's shoulder.

Jake looked at Ripley who was shocked at the whole scene. Jake walked up to them, and started talking. It would be like talking to a rock, but he had no other option. He'd have to talk his way into keeping his new family together.