More than two hours had passed since Santos had released an enhanced Xenomorph into the base. He was finally beginning to stir from unconsciousness. Finley, who'd been pacing up and down the lab room the whole time, was now standing still and listening intently to his radio. His eyes were still locked on Santos in anger.
Harlan's voice was haggard. "He's in intensive care. We've managed to stop all major bleeding but he's in a coma and not breathing on his own. His ribs and several bones are broken."
There was a silent pause.
Finley's hand, holding the radio, wavered. Tom, Baseer and Hartwell were distressed at the news. After a long while, Finley activated it.
"What are his chances?" his voice faltered, anger obvious in his expression.
"We should be able to keep him on life support indefinitely. I can't say anything about recovery yet. Listen, I've got to get back but we've got another problem too."
"What problem?"
"We can't move him to the evac point if this all goes down as we expect. The equipment can't be moved with him and he can't move without it. Moving him might kill him too."
Finley replied without hesitation. "I'll take care of it."
Harlan, not sure of Finley's meaning, went back to the intensive care room. He needed to monitor Caley closely along with the two other medics. Patia had been there the whole time, holding Caley's lifeless hand.
Finley glanced at the others then watched Santos slowly open his eyes. He woke groggily. Looking left and right, his eyes widened in surprise as he tugged at the restraints. He tried feebly to break free. His surprise turned to confusion.
The others watched quietly. After a minute of this Santos stopped struggling then appeared as if looking for something. His eyes darted up and all around as his head followed.
"They're gone," he said in relief. "They're finally gone!"
Finley took a step forward but Tom put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him. "Let me speak to him."
Finley thought about it, nodded vaguely. His hands down at his sides were slowly opening and closing into clenched fists. Tom moved forward. Santos's eyes locked on him and his expression changed once again to one of confusion mixed with surprise.
"Tom! What...what's going on?" Santos asked.
Tom ignored his question. "What's finally gone, Santos?"
Santos's eyes darted around followed by a relieved smile. "The voices, Tom, the voices have finally gone!"
Tom kept his expression blank. "Whose voices?"
A worried look took over his face; again he looked at his restraints. "They told me to do things. Oh god! Did I do something bad?!"
"Tell me about the voices, Santos." Tom said.
A pause. It seemed as if Santos was struggling to work his brain. The large bump on his forehead was now a strong dark purple.
"There were two of them. They...they told me to do things." Santos spoke solemnly now, looking down at the ground.
"What did they tell you to do?" Tom continued his questioning.
A few moments of thought.
"Err...the...they told me to. Oh god!" a look of guilt. He looked at Tom, "they told me to free them. That they deserved to be free. They just wanted to go home!"
Tom frowned slightly. "The enhanced Xenomorphs?"
The look of guilt was stronger. "Did...did I?"
"I'm afraid you did. Now-"
"Did they hurt anyone?" Santos cut him off.
"No" Tom lied. "We stopped it before it could."
"All..all four of them?"
"You only released one. Our security protocols stopped you from releasing more."
Santos looked relieved. Tom didn't give him any time to think it through.
"Tell me about these voices," Tom demanded calmly.
Santos seemed to pull himself together. "I..I started hearing them about two months ago. Just after you gave me leave because there was nothing more to do until we left this place."
Tom waited silently.
"I heard them in my room first. It was weak. I thought I was imagining things but then it grew stronger. They...they were telling me things. How the caged ones were suffering. They deserved to go home. It was just a nuisance first but then it started becoming more than that. I felt I had to listen. I had to do what they told me. The-"
"Did they sound human?" Tom cut him off.
Santos thought about it. "N...no. They sounded strange. Not human. It was more than just the voices. I started feeling compelled to do what they asked. Like I had no choice. The voices grew so loud. So strong. I couldn't ignore them. But they told me to keep it a secret. I...I did."
Silence filled the room. Tom frowned again, deep in thought. The others watched and waited.
"Describe the voices."
"They were...almost female?" Santos seemed to ask, rather than state. "Yes! That's it! It was...it was like a mother calling for her child. They just wanted their children back."
Tom drew back. Santos's voice had changed in that last statement: it wasn't him talking.
With no further questions coming from Tom, Santos spoke again, this time in his own voice. "Will you let me go now?"
It seemed as though Santos wasn't aware that he had just spoken in someone or something else's voice.
Tom took a step forward. "Not for the moment. We need to ensure that everything is secure first," he reassured.
Santos looked satisfied to accept that answer for now. Without another word, Tom moved back towards the silent group and gestured for them to follow him further out of earshot of Santos.
"What the hell is going on?!" a now perplexed Finley asked.
Tom, arms crossed with one fist held in front of his chin, was thinking through something. Finley chose not to press him. A moment later Tom uncrossed his arms, looking at Finley uneasily.
"A Queen. An Alien Queen was talking to him." Tom concluded.
"What?! How the hell-" Baseer responded.
Tom cut him off with an abrupt gesture. "We know that the queens communicate with their soldiers using some sort of telepathic link. It's been the basis of our research here for the last two years."
They listened intently.
"But I've never come across even a hint that the queen could communicate with humans. Not only has that happened but they made Santos do something against his will. It's possible that our own work here could have caused this."
There was a small hint of scientific excitement coming through with Tom's rapid speaking.
"How can you be sure?" Finley asked.
"What other explanation is there?" Tom asked the group.
"The...other base?" Baseer suggested.
"You may be right. We'll have to wait and see." Tom agreed.
They stayed silent.
"We have bigger problems now." With that, Tom left the group and went back to Santos who looked to be daydreaming.
Tom snapped him out of it. "Santos, did the voices talk to anyone else here?"
Santos thought for a moment. "Th..they never said anything to me. I...I don't think so."
"What do we do?" Finley asked the returning Tom.
"I'm not sure what we can do. If someone else is hearing these voices, they must be keeping it a secret too. The best we can do is lock down everything that could be used to harm us. I'll need to reconfigure the cages to prevent anyone from being able to open them, including myself. We'll need to ensure no one can access the gate controls too. The armoury too."
"We'll secure the armoury," Finley confirmed. Baseer and Hartwell agreed. "How do you want to tell everyone?"
Finley was referring to the policy of open communication and not withholding vital information from others that had quickly become the foundation of Endora Prime. This trust was vital to the successful cooperation of everyone at the base.
"We shouldn't mention the voices. It could cause a panic and make any number of us paranoid and untrusting of one another. With the tension that everyone is feeling now, we really could do without the added stress. Tell them that Santos was suffering from mental problems that we didn't know about and it caused him to do this."
"Won't that cause a panic anyway?" Hartwell questioned.
"It's better than telling them about the voices in his head. I did note that he was keeping to himself, staying on his own a lot recently, so there were signs of a sort." Tom replied.
"Ok. We'll do that on our way to the armoury," Finley decided.
"Good. I'll radio the gate towers and tell them to make sure no one tries to open them without going through protocol. I'll stay with Santos and go through our logs, see if I can find any hint as to how this happened and if anyone else could be affected."
Finley moved towards the exit, assault rifle in hand, glad to be going outside away from Santos to clear his thoughts and try and calm his emotions. Baseer and Hartwell followed at his flanks. Behind them Tom opened a cabinet, took out a number of snacks and went over to Santos.
On the way to the armoury, Finley radioed all soldiers and told them what had happened, leaving out the part about voices. The three of them then checked the armoury. They warned the two soldiers stationed to be extra vigilant. The looks on their faces told Finley that they would.
Leaving the armoury, Hartwell quietly spoke. "You alright?"
Baseer turned to Finley, watching his expression. After a short while Finley answered.
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
"This whole thing's fucked isn't it?" Hartwell continued. "Those things that killed Duante, Joe, Tyler. Santos killing two of us. Now this. And them out there. How many more before we get off this damn planet?!"
Finley said nothing.
"We'll get through this, man." Baseer replied. "We will. It's what we do."
"I hope so." Hartwell responded.
"Go back to your posts. Keep an eye out. With what's happened today it looks like the attack will be soon." Finley ordered.
Baseer and Hartwell split off and Finley made his way to Turret 3A. Inside, Hurst was keeping watch, a half eaten bar of food set on the concrete sill beside him.
"Hey. How you feeling?" Hurst asked sympathetically.
"Shit." Finley stated. "But I'll deal with it. I'll take over watch."
Hurst picked up his half eaten food bar and sat on the bunk. Finley took out some food from a shelf, set down his gun, took up a position on the sill and gazed out at the clearing and forest beyond. Hurst contemplated asking further questions to the back of Finley, decided against it, and chose instead to sleep for a little while.
Heather, having been mentally drained from the last few hours, had resumed and was now finishing a tour of the outside perimeter. The group, knowing what they now did, were acting far more cautiously than earlier.
Kra'tak had suggested that he and Tol'din carry out a more extensive search of a larger area outside the base. Heather and Adams had agreed. Kra'tak had been taught how to use the radio properly and would radio if they found anything.
They hadn't radioed yet.
The group headed back to the main building. Heather looked out past a broken part of the wall, thinking over the fact that there were a number of large facilities close by and the stories each contained. People had lived and worked here long before they had come to the planet two years ago thinking they were the first.
"What're we gonna do once we get off this planet?" Hale asked.
"What do you mean?" Callum asked back.
"Don't be dense," Gustav told him. "He means how we've been lied to. We've always known the Company is full of secrets and lies..."
"But this isn't just about that. They purposefully put us here, knowing full well how dangerous it was. Dangers they themselves created." Heather finished Gustav's sentence.
"Yeah." Hale affirmed. "I don't want to work for them anymore once we get off here."
"That will be difficult." Gustav said.
"I know." Hale agreed.
"Especially now that we know things we weren't supposed to." Heather added as they came to the main entrance. The door was kept unlocked and they all filed in. "I really hate this place now."
"You didn't before?" Callum asked.
"Not as much." Heather answered. "Let's go see Arthur."
They arrived to the sounds of Arthur working away at one of the ships in the vehicle hangar. Smith was sitting inside the cockpit, looking over the controls.
"What do you think?" Heather asked as they approached.
"If we can get this thing to work, we can fly out of here."
"Well, some of us can." Heather referred to the limited space for passengers.
Arthur stopped his work and looked grimly at Heather. She didn't like his expression.
"What?"
"Even between the parts of two ships here, the store rooms and the ship on the roof, it's going to take a lot longer than I thought." He paused. "If I can do it at all."
Heather frowned. "You said that you should be able to get at least one of them working?"
"I did, and I thought so too but someone didn't want any of these ships to be usable. The further I dig, the more problems come up." Arthur detailed.
"What does that mean then?" Heather wanted it spelt clearly.
"Look, whoever disabled these ships did it elaborately. I could get it working but it's going to take some time."
"How much time?" Heather was becoming impatient.
"Two, three days." Arthur replied.
"Can you guarantee that?"
"N..no" Arthur admitted reluctantly.
"Shit!" Heather exclaimed.