Chapter 7

Greg and Tina were halfway down the hallway when Nicolette called out to them.

"Stop right there!" she yelled furiously.

They did so, then slowly turned around, only to find her wide-eyed and fuming.

Jabbing her finger at them, Nicolette added, "I want to see you both in my office, right now! Follow me!"

With that order, she strode past them, then shot a glance over her shoulder to make sure that they obeyed. Taking deep breaths, Greg and Tina quickly strode to catch up with her, then followed her through the twisting hallways until they reached a large set of oaken double doors. Nicolette angrily pulled them open, then marched to the third door on the right. She was gentler in opening that one, but not by much. Respectfully, Greg and Tina stood by the door as Nicolette sat down at her large, black desk.

"Please, sit," Nicolette commanded with restrained anger, gesturing toward the leather chairs in front of her.

The two of them did so, as Nicolette straightened her navy-blue jacket and clasped her hands atop her desk.

"Now," she said with a cold smile, "would one of you please tell me what the fuck that was all about?"

"What … what do you mean?" Greg asked nervously.

"Don't play dumb with me," Nicolette said. "I know it was you. Mike Turner told me all about your xenomorph swap. I'll bet you thought you were being clever, that you could pull a fast one on us. Clearly, you were wrong. So, I want some answers, before I get really angry."

"We only wanted to prove a point," Tina said quickly, taking Nicolette at her word. "That xenomorphs weren't just killing machines. That we could train them to help people."

"And why would you want to do that?" Nicolette asked, with false politeness. "Hmm? You know why Weyland wanted control of them, and yet you still decided to deviate from the project. I should fire the both of you right now. But I won't, because the big attack mission was still successful—despite your meddling. Still, I can't let you leave here without punishing you. What will it be, Greg?"

"Me?" Greg asked, surprised. Not that he should have been. Nicolette interacted with him more than Tina, and probably assumed that he was the point person on the unofficial experiment. If so, she was right. "I guess you can demote me. I'd even be willing to work in Janitorial. Just please, let me continue to work for this company. I've put in so much time here, I don't want to start over."

Nicolette tapped her chin thoughtfully as she looked at him askance. "Nice try, but we still need your expertise. However, you are right to want to debase yourself, and that has given me an idea. Since you've effectively neutered one of our xenomorphs through your little stunt, how about I neuter you? And 'spay' your partner, as well?"

"What?" Greg asked, horrified. "You can't do that!"

"No shit!" Tina exclaimed, incredulous and equally horrified. "That's torture!"

"Well, you're right that I can't do it myself," Nicolette said with a cruel chuckle. "But I can order a doctor to sterilize the both of you. And that is just what I'll do."

Before Greg and Tina could protest further, she quickly dialed a number on her holophone, and the foot-tall image of a bald, fat man sprung up from the projector. He was dressed in a doctor's lab coat and slacks, and his posture was immaculate.

"Dr. Olmstead, I'd like to schedule sterilization appointments for two of my underlings," she said briskly. "First thing tomorrow morning."

"How about 7:30 a.m.?" the doctor asked.

"Perfect," she replied emotionlessly. "They'll see you then."

Nicolette pressed a button to end the call, then folded her hands on her desk and stared at Greg and Tina. The latter looked furious, her face flushed and her lip trembling as her eyes looked to be on the verge of tears.

"You bitch!" Tina shouted at Nicolette. "You won't get away with this!"

"I already have," Nicolette replied, seemingly amused by the other woman's distress. "And don't think about running away. If you try, security will shoot you on the spot. I'm sure that none of us wants that to happen, so it would be best if you quietly suffer your fates. I'll see you tomorrow."

Greg and Tina sat frozen in shock, so Nicolette made a little brushing-off motion with her hand. Finally, they both stood, then shuffled out of her office.

Out in the hallway, Greg turned to Tina and said hopelessly, "I … God, what do we do now?"

"Just what that bitch ordered us to do," she said morosely. "And then we get on with our lives."

"So we just surrender?!" Greg exclaimed in disbelief.

"You heard what she said!" Tina replied, her voice cracking with sorrow. "Security will kill us if we don't! Let's … let's just go to our lab."

"And do what?"

Tina shrugged. "I don't know. Dissect a xenomorph head, or something. I'd still like to study its electroreceptors, as well as the dorsal spines."

Greg nodded. He'd always been curious about those physical features, too. With a sigh, he said, "Okay. At least it'll take our minds off tomorrow's appointments."

So, without waiting for him, Tina walked on ahead, and Greg trotted to catch up with her before falling into step alongside.

The next morning, bright and early, Greg lay on the operating table, naked from the waist down and with an IV stuck in one arm. His mind drifted as the medicine took effect, while the nurse shaved his testes and wiped them down with an antiseptic. How did I get here? he thought helplessly. And where do I go now? Deep down, he knew that the vasectomy would not ruin his life. In the moment, though, he felt like his life was over—and in a sense, it was. He could never be a father, with Tina (if she was even interested) or any other woman. Still, he had his work, so perhaps that was for the best. And he could always adopt a clone, if his bosses would let him. Lord knew there were enough of those poor souls to go around. Distantly, Greg felt a sharp twinge as the nurse injected a local anesthetic into his scrotum, but little pain. Likewise, his scrotum merely ached as she cut it open with a scalpel, followed by the two vas deferens tubes. The microlaser would have felt mildly warm as the nurse sealed the ends of the tubes, if Greg had been aware at that point of the procedure. As it was, his mind was almost clear by the time she put the tubes back in his scrotum and stitched the sac closed. While she draped a cloth over the lower half of his body, he fell asleep.

Hours later, after he had awoken and dressed himself, Greg walked to the waiting room to look for Tina. There she was in a white plastic chair, her hands upon her belly. She smiled as she looked up to see him approach, but it was a wan smile.

"Guess this means we can't have kids," she said to him, with a mirthless chuckle.

"Did you want to?" he asked, mildly hopeful.

"No, I was just joking," she replied, shaking her head.

"Thought so."

With mild regret, Greg gazed at Tina as she softly rubbed the spot where the gynecologist must have made an incision.

"Does it still hurt?" he asked with concern. "You know, you shouldn't be doing that."

"I know," she said. "But don't worry, I'm not touching the incision point. Still, the pain's gonna be killer for a while, and I won't be able to work for a week. Hope you're okay with that."

"I'll manage," he said, then walked over and sat down next to her. With a sigh, he looked over and asked, "The question is, will you? Do you really still want to work here after all that's gone down?"

Tina shrugged. "What choice do we have? No one else is going to hire us once the Company tells them what we did. Let's face it, they've got us by the balls—no pun intended."

She winced as she realized her mistake, but Greg smiled and shook his head. "None inferred. And anyway, I agree with you. We're stuck. From now on, we'll have to toe the Company line. But maybe we inspired someone else to take up our project, if they realized what we had done."

"They wouldn't know it was us, though," Tina said, frowning.

"True," Greg replied, "but it wouldn't matter. The message. That's what's most important. And that's what came across loud and clear."

Tina smiled more brightly, then clapped him on the shoulder. "You always know what to say to a girl."

Greg laughed at that, then stood up and cocked his head toward the exit. Following his cue, she walked alongside him as they left the medical center—heads held high.

The End