"I want to name him."

The third stage looked up at Ali and cocked its head to the side. It had already shed for the first time and now had a unique brown body with four legs instead of two.

"Why?"

"Well, I gave Timothy a name."

"Of course, how could I have forgotten?"

"I don't want to name him Timothy though; that name belongs only to Timothy."

"Right. I think you should give him his own name."

"Something that's unique."

"Hicks."

"What?"

"What about Hicks? You liked him, didn't you?"

"Yeah, until he found out whose side I was on."

"Well, it's your decision. You can name him whatever you want."

"I guess I could name him Hicks."

"You better make sure he likes the name; it would be pointless to name him something he doesn't want to be."

"Yes, you're absolutely right!"

Ali looked down at the third stage. "Do you like the name Hicks?"

The third stage seemed to think about the name for a minute before screeching and rubbing Ali with its head.

"He likes it!"

"Great! So, Hicks, are you hungry?"

Hicks hissed desperately and bobbed his head up and down.

"I'll get you something to eat," Ali said and she stood up.

Hicks stood up too, already as tall as Ali and still growing, and pranced around eagerly. Ali smiled and led the way down the hall.

"Where should we start?"

"I don't know; we need to find a place where there are some prisoners."

"Well, we can find where they're cleaning or something like that."

"Hicks would be able to use his sonar to track down humans better than we can with our noses."

"You're right!"

Ali turned her attention to Hicks. "Try to see if you can find some prisoners."

Hicks hissed eagerly and lowered his head slightly. He moved to the left but then doubled back to the right. He paused before talking two steps forward, then moving to the right. Finally he hissed and bobbed his head.

"Three of them you say? Well, that shouldn't be a problem for the three of us."

Hicks hissed and pranced around Ali until she started walking forward. He was so excited that he would occasionally run ahead before doubling back and walking with Ali for a while.

Finally the sound of voices reached Ali and she slowed down; Hicks doing the same. Hicks crouched down eagerly and looked at Ali.

Ali smiled and nodded. "Leave one of them alive. There always needs to be a witness."

Hicks hissed happily and ran into the shadows. It didn't take long before Ali heard one of the inmates scream. She peeked around the edge and saw the inmate getting pulled up into an air shaft in the ceiling and splattered the other inmates with blood. The remaining two men started screaming and ran off in opposite directions. As the inmate neared Ali she stuck her foot out sent the man sprawling on the floor. He flipped over on his back and looked up at Ali; his eyes only held fear now.

"What should we do with him?"

"You gave Hicks the duty of leaving a survivor."

"You're right!" Ali bent down and grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt. "So, who's hungry? Timothy?"

"I think you know the answer to that."

"You're right. Timothy doesn't need to eat. Not now, not ever; he's gone. Dead. Never coming back."

The prisoner was staring at Ali with a confused look. Suddenly, Hicks appeared behind Ali and jumped at the man. The man let out one scream before Hicks sent his second mouth through his head.

"So the witness is alive?" Ali asked Hicks.

Hicks responded with a hiss.

"Good. What should we do now?"

"Ripley is going to want to blame us for this."

"Yes, that's why there needs to be a witness. Someone to raise Ripley's suspicions."

"To make her believe she is being hunted again."

"Does she know what's inside of her chest?"

"No, I don't think she suspects anything, yet."

"But she will eventually, right?"

"Right, with your help of course!"

"Should we try to find her now?"

"No I think we should wait."

"She will try to convince the prisoners that they are being stalked by an alien, right?"

"Yes, and they won't believe her so she will also start to doubt if she's completely sane."

Ali giggled to herself again and turned away from the dead prisoner. "Come along, Hicks."

Hicks looked up and then back down at the prisoner. He hissed grudgingly and followed Ali out.