"Morning, sleepyhead." He woke to Deneve's soft voice.
She was still naked and her very short hair was mussed.
"Hey, Deneve." He whispered to her. She was under the covers with him still and on the other side.
"I've got to say…three times in the last day. You'd think we were going soft or something." She giggled jokingly.
"I'd say. Who was the one who wanted me to touch her to sleep?" Marc joked back.
"Heh…I'd say we have a lot of stamina. Certainly you." She retorted playfully.
"I meant to ask, but I never got the chance. Where did you receive that scar?" Marc suddenly asked.
She suddenly looked uncomfortable. The scar in question was a very noticeable one that stretched across the top of her chest.
"That…that was a…I don't want to talk about it." She sighed.
"Why?" Marc asked.
"Because…because…I don't know. I honestly don't. It's been there for as long as I can remember, and I don't recall being injured there." She finally answered.
"That's unusual. Most would remember getting something like that." Marc noted.
She smiled suddenly.
"Which reminds me, why are you over there?" He asked.
She smiled wider before slipped under the covers.
"Okay, where are you?" He sighed with a smile.
A moment later he found out where she was.
"I wouldn't advise you meet with the Mojin with her. Their kind and the Yautja have been fierce enemies for generations." Volcarona advised slowly.
"Thanks. What about the Arachna? What do you know about them?" Mat nodded, having gotten up early to discuss their plans with the hive queen.
Phoeba had pushed him harder than he thought he could take last night after the party ended. Rather than disturbing her, he let her sleep while he got up quietly.
"Bleah. They were bio-weapons research, like us. The difference is that we were designed to terminate large forces of unprepared soldiers that did not have fire-protective gear. In scientific and militaristic terms, we were a failure. If the enemy had something to protect themselves from fire with, our effectiveness was completely nulled. They were designed…for other purposes. Not all were weapons research." She noted disdainfully, but he noticed she was dodgy about the end.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Let me say this. The director for the project was a man named Steven Urlen. He was determined to outperform reports of recent success developing us. His original intention was to bioengineer a giant spider that was capable of surviving in most environments that could be controlled, unlike us. Call it envy, but they were vastly more successful in the early stages. That has caused tensions between us. They are the only ones, aside from the Xenomorphs, to know of our existence. Tensions quickly reached the breaking point not long after the humans fell. Due to their biology, they found our dependence on sperm weak, and were determined to exterminate us to show their superiority. Our fire easily destroyed their initial attacks, and the entrance they came through was sealed. Without any way of gaining entrance, they quickly forgot about us. Self-righteous bitches." She finally explained, although with a disgusted tone.
"Do you have a file on them I could see?" Mat nodded and asked carefully.
"Yes. Check the lab computer for file #569. It contains all information we have." She answered and gestured with some difficulty towards a computer.
He typed in the file number and waited.
"Here we are…" He thought and began reading.
Steven Urlen was curious when he heard about the Volcarona project, and desired to see it. He was greatly disappointed with our constant need for sperm, and lost interest. Another idea formed in his mind, instead.
Spiders, not moths, were the apex predators in habitats.
He began working, using a modified wolf spider embryo as the experiment. More and more modifications were made to the DNA, enhancing the spider's speed, agility, strength, size, and sheer stamina to massive levels.
He accidentally replaced DNA involving reproduction with human DNA, causing the disaster.
It took a week for the spider to grow to full size, being the equivalent of a German Sheppard.
It took entire cows to sate the monster's appetite, and eventually the unforeseen breeding complications arrived.
During the Autumn months the subject became increasingly hostile and easily provoked. Several male staff members were killed when they were cleaning the cell, seemingly for no apparent reason.
It seemed to become extremely interested when the only female scientist on the project, a Dr. Mary Duvall, entered the complex.
Noticing this, Dr. Urlen sent her inside and alone, hoping to discover what the dilemma was.
It shocked them to no end when the moment she was locked inside it forced itself upon her and raped her. By the time security got there with the proper equipment to knock the subject out, it had pumped three liters of semen into her.
Within a week, she was declared pregnant.
Within a month, her belly grew large to the point which is generally reserved for those who near giving birth.
Only a week later in the cafeteria area Ms. Duvall's belly completely burst, and several dozen small unidentified creatures escaped through vents and other exits. Mary Duvall died instantly, her entire lower torso ripped open. It appears that the offspring had slowly been feeding on her organs, eating her from the inside out.
None of the offspring were caught or seen again.
Until two months later when two maintenance officers were ambushed.
By this time, the original subject had died of unknown causes until it was discovered the case which held its sperm was directly connected to the heart. Mating killed it, in literality.
The first was apparently dragged away, a twenty-three year old man.
The second, a twenty-year old young woman, was attacked brutally. She later described them attempting to "get into her blouse".
Several squads of security officers were sent and eventually found the first officer's mutilated corpse.
His on-helmet camera managed to record half-human, half-spider creatures brutally raping him and eventually killing him and eating him.
All that were visible were female.
Reports continued once every couple months in which a male would be kidnapped and the same result.
One female was taken away. She was recovered by a squad of security detail who had heard her screams. She claimed that they had "played with her". Medical examinations showed that she had experienced multiple orgasms and such pleasure during her disappearance. A week later she was discovered in her bathroom, the vent ripped open and her intestines used as ropes to hang her from the ceiling.
After three years if this, finally they attacked.
All female creatures, with human torsos and the rest above. Lower, they had spider bodies. It was discovered later that they had two vaginas, side-by-side.
It was obvious that the combination resulted in both reproductive places being added.
It took weeks for security detail to beat them back, and almost won.
When the humans fell, however, they were surrounded.
Cocooned in webs not unlike the Volcarona's, albeit less shiny, less elastic, and not as fine, the males captured were mated with and the females simply were eaten alive.
Their reproduction seems to consist of them giving live birth through their vaginal areas, giving birth to two or more offspring (no instance of one has occurred so far).They took over their section of the station, and have steadily increased their numbers since then by repeat breeding (using their captured prisoners to mate multiple times).
They encountered us not long after. Mocking our need for sperm, they attempted to attack us. We fought them off easily. They are fatally weak against fire.
We sent their corpses back as a warning.
Since then, they have chosen to forget about us and their defeat.
Another file caught Mat's attention. One about a certain "Xenomorph rogue".
It was in pieces, but he discovered that a rogue and feral Xenomorph hive also existed, led by an insane Predalien. They were apparently isolated but extremely dangerous.
"That's classified, Mat. We haven't exactly narrowed down that fact, so it may not be even true." Volcarona switched the monitor off suddenly, and Mat had no idea how.
"Sorry. It's just…how many species are actually living on this ship? We thought there were only a few, but who knows how many like yours could be hiding?" Mat sighed.
"There is one way for you to know. The Xenopopulation center. It will give you the exact amount of species that were being developed and/or researched aboard the Interceptor, and there is a Lifescanner there. That will tell you what is aboard." Volcarona suggested slowly.
"Thank you. Where is it?" He asked.
"Deep in the Sea of Blood. It is where the Hybrid was disposed of…the result of our kind and the Xenomorph's breeding together. You will have to travel through it in order to get to the Xenopopulation lab. It is right in the middle of the Sea. It is also the exact midpoint of the space station. Which is what I need to request of you. A terminal there controls the triangulation system for the superlaser. You need to destroy it. Elijah is obsessed with activating it, and he cannot be allowed to fire even once." She explained urgently.
"I see. We'll do it. The map says we need to pass through it anyway to reach Mojin territory the fastest." Mat nodded reluctantly.
"Thank you. Once you have completed your task and have time…have Deneve talk to me. There is something she has to know about…never mind. Just come here when you have the chance." Volcarona requested cryptically.
Mat decided not to ask. The Queen wasn't going to answer.
"Thank you. We should probably get going. Phoeba and the others are just getting ready." He nodded before leaving hastily.
"Good luck, sera. Dark times are ahead. It will not be long before you find Elijah's shadow consuming all of us." Volcarona whispered unheard.