History
"How did we humans come here? We are so different from other living creatures that one could call us alien."
He had strange dream of being inside a dark maze and having a feeling that something was chasing him. He didn't know how the dream would had ended as he woke up. It was warm and cozy. He opened his eyes and first thought he was still inside that maze, but then remembered where he rally was. He didn't see much, the silky blanket was in the way. But he could feel that Celeste's arms were still around him, and by the sounds next to him, asleep. Did xenos snore? It seemed, or more like sounded, like it. He carefully moved the blankets so his head was out. There was no one in the chamber in addition to them. They were alone. Not that he minded, he enjoyed to be with her. Even if she wasn't awake. He looked at her; she seemed so peaceful from the her usual self. Wonder if she dreamed? And if yes, about what? Probably hunting. Or running. Or creeping in the forest. He stayed there staring at her for some time before she moved a little. And them a little more.
"Good morning, Celeste. Had a good night?" he asked her as she began to wake up.
"Very well, thank you. It's fun to sleep with you. Or something like that. You're so soft, unlike me, or anyone like us."
"Did you dream?" She was surprised from his question.
"Yes, but I don't remember about what. Why do you ask?"
"Nothing. You just seemed so happy when you were asleep. Had to be a good dream." She nodded slowly.
"I guess so..." He could see that she was lying about her dream. She knew what it was about, but if it was so personal, he wasn't going to question her. She lifted her arm so he was able to stand up. He dressed up and looked around.
"Well, I think we should try make something to do. I can't just sit here all day, pardon me. Could I explore the nest?"
"You should do that. I have also some things to do, mostly usual Queen's stuff that you don't need to know nor understand. If you need to ask anything or can't find a way back, just ask any of my daughters. They'll help you. I hope to see you soon again, though." With that, he left the chamber.
The nest was pretty boring. There was just a lot of tunnels and chambers, most of which housed a lot of xenos. Some of them were asleep, some of them were doing something important for the nest, some of them were playing, and by playing, I mean chasing each other. But for him, there wasn't much to do. Until he found the end of the nest. It seemed that the nest was built in some kind of cave system, and they expanded when needed. Here, the walls were bare stone and it became fast too dark to see. He took his multitool and switched the lamp on. The tunnel where he was was straight, almost too straight for a natural formation. He looked at the walls. No, this tunnel was no natural. The walls were now perfectly smooth, like they were honed. He pointed the lamp to the tunnel. He couldn't see far, but he was able to see that the tunnel curved slightly downwards, but not too steeply.
He walked the tunnel for some time until he saw the light hit something. And it wasn't just some rocks, they were something artificial, but the amount of dust on it told that it was old and abandoned. His heart quickened its pace. Guess I wasn't the first advanced life form on this planet after all. He walked to the structure. Whatever it was, it was mostly buried under stone. There was just some square meters visible. He swiped off the dust. It was made out of something ceramic-looking, but its color was like brass, if its color was dimmed and then darkened. There was many weird shaped everywhere on the thing, some of them seemed to have a function, but most of them looked useless. He studied the object more; it was metallic, and certainly it was something mechanical. Then he noticed a different kind of pattern. It was a circle, and its coloring was a lot brighter that the rest's. He tried to swipe off the dust from it, but when he touched it, it began to glow bright yellow. There was a small hiss and a door what he hadn't noticed before opened. Without thinking it more, he stepped in.
Surely there's nothing inside here. This thing has to be hundreds of years old to have that much dust on it. He was in a corridor on which's walls there was a lot of the same patters which he had seen on the outside of the object. The corridor curved slightly and he wasn't able to see far, even in the bright light of the place. What was this thing exactly? He continued on until he came into a large room. And the scene made him speechless. Not that there was anyone to speak to.
The room was circular, and in the middle of it, there was some kind of a control surface. This was certainly alien, and even more, advanced alien stuff. He walked to the panel in the middle of the room. There was a smaller circle in the middle of the room. He stepped inside of it. Immediately the room hummed to life. He had seen a lot of sci-fi movies when he was young, but this was even better. After some humming holograms began to appear all around him, and then one closed in front of him. It was a simple circle with a weird, non-human hand's silhouette on it. What bad can happen? He put his hand on the hologram. He felt some tinkling but nothing else. The hologram disappeared and then nothing happened. The other holograms stayed, but there was nothing on them. They were blank.
"Ok... so what happens now?" he asked himself. Immediately after he had said this, one of the holograms moved in front of him and displayed some alien, pointy symbols and then became blank again. Had it acted because he had made a question?
"Umm... What is this place?" he asked. The same window again made some symbols and then cleared. So this thing understood him but he didn't understand it. Great. He looked around until he noticed a small hone on the floor. Some kind of a socket for... something. He smiled. Something where humans had been more advanced, it looked like. Just some years ago they had still used USB-ports and things like that, until there was an idea. A crazy idea, but an idea. He looked at his multitool. After he pressed few buttons on it, it extended a small tube of something slimy and green. It was really some insulating jelly, in which there was nanites which would connect to any port the tube was put into. Those nanites would then work like any wiring. He plugged the tube to the slot and waited. The multitool showed an error; whatever information there was, his multitool was unable to read it. He chose to download the data and read it later. There really didn't seem to be much else. There was no other doors nor buttons. And he didn't want to stay here for long. This place gave him creeps. It felt somehow just... evil.
He was back at the main chamber soon. Celeste was deep in thoughts and didn't first notice his return.
"What are you thinking?" he asked her. She looked around surprised and then saw him.
"Nothing much. You were fast. Did you find anything?"
"Yeah, I did actually. Did you know that at the end of one of the tunnels of your nest there's this weird structure? I went inside it. I found out that I'm not the first one on this planet who has advanced technology. But not that now. What happened when I was gone?"
"I just lead my nest, nothing else. I just love my children. It's just a shame they don't have any real free will. Actually, one of my daughters told me that she had seen weird lights, like stars but it isn't day right now. Those lights disappeared later. But nothing else."
"Well we have nothing to do now. What now?"
"You haven't yet told me your story. What has happened to you?"
"Hmm... I guess that's a way to spend some time. Ok... where should I start..."
"Where did you born?"
" I was born in USA, one of the biggest countries of Earth. Earth is my home world, the planet I come from. Once it was a wonder of nature, but we humans have destroyed it long ago. Anyways, I had pretty decent life, until Energy war broke out. Some of us call it the World War III. It was a huge war, and it opened my eyes, what humans really were. After the war I had had enough, and left. There isn't much to tell you. I had a usual life until... all this happened."
"Well I don't know what a "Decent human Life" is like."
"I explained the usage of money, didn't I? Well, my parents had good jobs so we had always enough money, I went to a good school, I had friends and so on. I moved out when I was 20 and got a job at the military. I went to war and lost many buddies, my family and almost my own country."
"Who would be that stupid? What had those people done to you so you had to go to war?" She didn't seem to understand the politics of humans.
"Well, our home was threatened, if we lost the war, I may had become homeless, so that's the reason I went to army. But I understand your point. I don't know why we fight like we do. During this war I understood that in the end, humans are selfish creatures. When I almost died, my best friend, the one who I trusted most, abandoned me and saved his own skin. Too bad he was shot to the head just mere seconds later. Had he helped me, that bullet would have never hit him. Our leader didn't care about us, he only cared of winning. He sent us to die out there while he sat safe underground sipping some wine."
"What was this your friends name?"
"Zarich. He was from somewhere else, I don't even remember where. I don't want to remember this, could we go on?"
"Sorry, but I never understood how much you have actually seen death."
"I know. We perceive you as monsters, but we are the killers. Anyways, the war ended, we won, but nobody thought it was any good. Everyone had lost friends, most of them also someone of their family. I was done. I left. There's not much to it. I thought that I could live alone for the rest of my life. Guess Miss Faith didn't agree with me."
"And I'm glad about that. I'm here because of you, and you are my friend. I, like you, don't have any other friends. I have my family, but they don't count. They love me because they are my children. You like me because I am who I am. If I had no nest, we would have only each other. If you haven't understood it already, you're important to me. You're my only friend." He had never thought it that way. She did indeed have a family, but no real friends. He had nothing, neither would she if she had no family. They were each other's only friends.
"Thanks, I guess."
"You're welcome." She hugged him very carefully, barely squeezing him. But it was a loving hug nonetheless. It persisted for a long time.
"Okay, this is getting awkward now." he said finally. She let him go and smiled.
"I didn't think it that way. I think it was... good." They looked at each other, or well, Will looked where he felt she had eyes. Finally his stomach interrupted the moment. He gave her a apologetic face.
"Oh no you don't! This time you'll not go alone. I don't want that your "friend" to lock you up again." Two xenomorphs emerged from the tunnel from the right and stood up. They looked usual, except other one had more spiky look.
"I've instructed them to follow you and rescue you if you get caught."
""He won't do it again, I promise. And you don't need to protect me, I can actually take care of myself. Just remember I'm tens times older than you."
"And still weak. They come with you or you don't go." he sighed and left the chamber with the two xenomorphs. They didn't do anything during their walk to the house. When he opened the door, there was no Rick's mocking voice.
"Rick? You here?"
"You came back already? Oh well, I hope you had some good time, although I still don't understand how you can stand these-" Rick had walked downstairs and went quiet as it noticed that he had company. They both hissed at the android, but it didn't even flinch.
"I'm sorry if I insulted you. Anyways, I thought that if you came home only to eat, I could just make you lunch so you could be off faster. Even if I don't like this, I care about your happiness. And if you are happy with them, then I have to make sure you stay happy. You came soon this time and I hadn't even started! Sit down, and let me go and get something to eat." And it left the room. Both of the xenos stared at the kitchen for some time before understood it was no threat and began to explore the house. They were amazed from all the lines and perfect shaped of the house; nothing like what they had seen before. It was fun to watch them try to figure out what the television was for. After about half an hour, Rick appeared from the kitchen.
"Lunch is ready. Go on, it's not poisoned or anything."
"It's not that. I need you to do something. Look." He showed him the multitool.
"I found some alien structure. You can't go there, it's inside the nest, but I was able to download its data. It's not coded in any known human language, and I think you are the only one around here capable of translating it." It took the small device and looked at it.
"Any chances I could be allowed to visit the nest some day?"
"Not so much. The Queen didn't like it when you didn't let me go."
"You shouldn't wait me to say sorry. I did what I thought was the best. In Well, in that case, I have to get her trust some day, somehow. But it's not today. Today, you are going to eat what I have done for you." Even though it was an android capable of doing almost anything better than a human, it had no imagination. And no cook book. So the food was simple. He didn't want to insult it and ate quickly.
"I hope she'll let me inside one day. And have good time, I think you are going to have it."
"What do you mean?"
"Oh you don't know?" Rick smiled widely.
"If I had emotions, I would be most amused right now. I'm not going to spoil anything, just go." He didn't still understand but nodded and left the house. They were quickly back at the nest. He didn't know why, but he felt better when close to the nest, it felt... safer. And he was right about safety. How much saver could one be than surrounded with xenomorphs? Okay, not much safety there, but if those xenos were your friend? No harm was going to happen to him. His escorts went to their own ways and he went towards the main chamber.
"I'm back, Celeste! I hope I wasn't away too long this time." She smiled and hugged him.
"Not at all, but still, try to be faster. Did this "friend" hurt you? Or annoy you?"
"No, calm down. It's not a threat for me. It just wanted to protect me, it thought you were the dangerous ones."
"It?"
"Oh yeah, it isn't a living object. A robot actually. It's a human-looking machine, which can talk, think and speak. It's name is Rick. And he didn't apologize, but it hopes to get here some day." She hissed slowly.
"It locked you away! Why should I let it come here?"
"Because it was just making sure I was safe! It didn't know nor believe that you weren't dangerous."
"But it still did it. It's not coming here. The end."
"Oh, and another thing it said was I was to have "good time". Any idea what it meant?" She shook her head.
"Maybe it is a fortune-teller?"
"No, I don't think so. But it was able to find out somehow that I was seeing xenos, so maybe it has some kind of ability to see things. I don't know." She thought about something before she nodded.
"Well, it's not our problem right now. It happened again. Those lights on the sky, they appeared again, and they stayed there the same time. Do you really have any idea what they are? I don't want any bad surprises anymore." He thought about it. No, he had never heard of any "Lights on the sky".
"Did they move? Or do anything else weird?"
"They did move slightly all the time to the north-west. Slowly, but it was noticeable. Nothing else really." So not a star. What could it be then?
"Actually, now that I think of it, those lights are very similar to the day you came here. I saw same light just a day before you saved me."His heart sunk. It was possible. When his ship slowed down, the engines' light was possibly visible down here. And if that was the case, it meant that they were seeing humans' ships slowing down.
"I think I have an idea what they are, and it's not a good thing. They may be... ships. Things we use to travel. I got here with one. And if they are human ships, that means that they are planning to land here." Had she had eyes, they would had widened a lot.
"Are you saying there will be more humans?" He nodded. This planet was perfect for living. Why had he thought no humans would come and colonize it? Of course it was distant planet, but when had that stopped humans?
"I don't know when they choose to land, but it's somewhere near. We are now on the biggest continent of this planet, and I chose to land on the best-looking place. I think they'll choose the same spot.
They spent the whole rest of the day thinking what this was going to lead. At the end, they agreed to try to get them trust the xenos. How, they had no idea. It would be hard to get them accept xenomorphs living next to them, but Celeste promised to him that they would be safe. It would be even harder to get them believe that. He sighed.
"I think we should not just jump to them. I think, we should make it a game, to make us seem less dangerous."
"What do you mean "a game"?"
" Like this: we won't first show them that we are here, but leave small hints. Then, we would finally get them to know us, but not see us. Leave messages, for example. They couldn't just get scared of us: they are going to be curious and a bit skeptical, but not scared. We should proof them our good meanings. Like telling them where's the best places to build and where's most food. Then we could later, when they trust us enough, to tell them who we are. But it's just an idea." She smiled.
"I think that's a much better idea. And funnier. But I still don't know... how are they going react when they are going to find out? "
"We can't be sure so we just have to... find out I guess." They continued their conversation for a long time, during which he felt his feet to go numb. He had to stand up few times to stretch and walk around a little.
"So now there has been those lights for two days, right? So that means they are close already. It has to be also a huge ship, otherwise it would be already here. I think I should go and find out more about it with my own ship. I can scan it, at least." She nodded.
"Eat something too, but don't take too much time. I'll send you your... "Guards". They'll catch you on the way."
"Why are you now so eager me to go?"
"I'm not, but why let it wait? And you really need to eat too. And tomorrow, you are going to get some exercise, you haven't done much else that sat here and talked with me." That was true. He sighed.
"In that case, see you soon." he said and left the chamber. She waved at him as he left. She had made a small lie, but she had to be alone for a moment. There had happened so much in just few days. And that... machine. Rick. She knew exactly what it had meant. Good time? Did it have feelings? Really? Because she knew that only one who had emotions could understand. She cursed her body. Why it had to emit her feelings around? And why did those... smells have to stick to Will? That thing, Rick had smelled it. She hoped that Will won't find out, not yet. Not that it was hard for her, but for him, it may become as a shock. And she had no idea how he would react. She had to make that machine shut its mouth, if it had one.
He arrived to the house. He had met the same two xenos half way to the house, and they had signed nothing, just began to follow him. He opened the door and Rick was already standing there.
"Hi. Any progress with the code?" he asked. It shook its head.
"No, but I did understand that it was some kind of file about something. It was no program, a file. It should be easy to decode. But it may take few days."
"Okay, also, what did you mean with that "good time"?"
"I'm not going to tell you. But it's a good thing, an a way, and a bad thing in another way. But trust me, it'll be mostly a good thing."
"Okay. I have to go and check one thing in the ship, and then I have to eat." It nodded and walked to the kitchen.
"You're free to do what you want, as long as you don't break anything." he said to the two xenos. They began immediately to look around and study what they hadn't been able to yesterday. He smiled and walked outside. He hadn't used the ship at all after he had finished his home. He opened the hangar door and stepped in. Yep. days with no use was visible. There was dust everywhere. He walked to the control panel and searched Scanner. He ran it and waited for its results. It beeped few times and then showed a picture of a large colony ship. Yes, they were coming. And by the look of its speed, at some time at the afternoon tomorrow. He didn't want to go and read its computer; that would cause some attention, something he didn't want to do right now. He sighed. They had to take care of it tomorrow, see what the people on it are like. This was exactly opposite what was in his mind when he left Earth. He read what else the scan had been able to find out; 750 humans on board, a lot of ships and machines, stuff like that. After he had read it all, he shut off the ship and went back to the house.
"What did you do there?" Rick asked from the kitchen.
"I have news for you: there's a ship coming. A colony ship." he answered. Rick looked out of the kitchen with a blank face.
"And how did you exactly plan to hide the xenos?"
"We're not going to hide. We are going to make friends."
"You really are mad, Will. But I help you if I have to. I just wonder how you are going to make them at least accept them..."
The food was, again, simple. And tasteless. He didn't complain though and left the house without saying a word. They hurried to the nest and when they arrived, Will continued to the main chamber. Celeste was again in her thoughts when he arrived but she noticed him this time.
"Well? What did you find out?"
"It is a ship. A colonizing ship. Meaning those people on it are coming here to stay. And there's about 700 humans on that ship."
"When does it land? And where?"
"Tomorrow afternoon, but I don't know exactly where. I still believe somewhere close to my landing spot. Good thing I moved my ship away." She nodded and then smiled.
"I know that you don't want to have humans here, but I think they are different. There is no "country" in here to protect, there is no government either."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome."
"So, tomorrow's going to be a busy day, huh? I think we both need a lot of energy for that."
"Meaning... It's time to go sleeping. And you need it even more. Don't forget I'm going to make you exercise.
"And how are you going to do that? You're stuck here, don't you remember?"
"I'm not going to look after you, but one of my daughters will."
Oh. Well it was going to be interesting, at least. She lowered again, like before, to the "Lying" position on the floor. He smiled and then took off his clothes. This time he forgot to leave his shirt on, which she noticed immediately, but didn't mention it. He seemed to trust her enough to be almost naked in front of her, a thing she appreciated. He didn't even still notice anything strange and lied down next to her. He covered himself with the silky blanket she had made and thought about the situation. If someone had told him that he was going to sleep with a xenomorph Queen few years ago, that person would had got a punch. Just before he fell asleep he understood something: He was wearing only his underwear.
Author's notes: Ok, a new chapter! I've got this again, fortunately, and there's going to be updates again! Just one thing: I need your opinion. Without them this feels like I'm writing to no one. Reviews! I need them to know what you think! Anyways, things are going to go down during the few next chapters, and I hope they don't go down too fast for you. I hope you have a good day!
Hergotzer