XI
For a moment after asking the question, there was no reply from the creature. I was unsure whether an alien being like this would have any concept of gender. What was I even thinking? You don't just run up to a killer and ask it to confirm its sex! The whole scenario was increasingly bizarre. I was stood before an ungodly, unforgiving and unpredictable monstrosity, and yet here I was, asking it if it was female. Eventually, the Xenomorph became more confident, and even began to approach me slowly. I was still cautious, though, and stepped back when it got within a few feet of me.
"Are you a woman? Female?" I asked again, this time slightly more confidently. The Xenomorph looked down at its own body, feeling the shape with its long, black fingers. It seemed to look over at me, despite a distinct lack of discernable eyes.
"I'm a man." I said, pointing a finger towards myself. "You're not a man, are you?" The alien eventually shook its head, although that could have simply been an acknowledgment of the fact that it wasn't a human, rather than the fact that it wasn't male. For now though, I took the answer as confirmation that the Xenomorph was indeed female.
As I continued to wonder about the improbability of the existence of the creature before me, I suddenly heard the sound of footsteps. Several of them, evidently from multiple sources. I knew at once that they belonged to Ryan, Alan and Nathan.
"Shit!" I snapped, looking towards the frightened Xenomorph which still stood before me. I fumbled around with my energy-burst cannon, picking it up from the ground and turning it to the highest voltage possible.
"So, I guess I'm supposed to shoot you now…" I said, looking down at the weapon in my hands. I aimed the barrel directly towards the creature's chest. She trembled as I readied the gun to shoot. And then…
"I… can't." I whispered, lowering the cannon slowly. The alien relaxed herself as I flicked on the weapon's safety catch.
"Look, you haven't done anything to hurt me," I said, hearing the footsteps of the other crew members draw closer. "So I'm not going to hurt you. But they will, if they see you." The Xenomorph nodded slowly, and began to back away. The footsteps were even louder now, and I heard Alan's voice as he shouted my name from behind.
"Run!" I said, in an uncertain half-shout. The alien turned around and ran off down the corridor just as the footsteps reached their climax. I turned, and saw the other three remaining crew members stood behind me, guns in hand.
"Jones?" Alan asked, peering down the corridor in the direction the Xenomorph had just run off in. "Everything alright?"
"Uh, yes. Sir." I replied, in a desperate attempt to conceal what had just happened.
"We heard you talking," Ryan announced. "Did you find one of them?"
"No, no." I continued, avoiding eye contact with my suspecting colleague. "I just, uh, talk to myself, occasionally." Ryan looked at me with one eyebrow slightly raised. If any of these three men could see past my lies, it was him. However, much to my relief, he eventually nodded, seeming to accept that my word was the truth.
"This is becoming hopeless." Nathan said, breaking the tension between myself and Ryan. "We've spent the last hour searching for two huge aliens on a ship that only has twenty rooms. These things are clearly hiding from us, and they're not going to show their faces again in a hurry."
"So what do you suggest, Smith?" Alan asked, shaking his head. "That we give up and wait until they come for us?"
"I'm suggesting, sir," Nathan replied coolly, "That we return to our vital duties, with every room in full lockdown, and carry our cannons with us at all times when moving between rooms. That way, the ship can run smoothly, and we'll be a lot safer."
"That's… actually not a bad idea, Smith." Alan agreed. "After all, these doors on lockdown are virtually indestructible." He walked over to the nearby mail room door, and smacked his hand against it to indicate its rigidity.
"Alright then, men," He continued, nodding as he looked down at his weapon. "From now on, we shall follow Smith's plan. Return to your duties and ensure that any room you enter is locked down before leaving your weapon." I agreed that Nathan's suggestion was ideal, but Ryan took a little more convincing. He was adamant that if we let out guard down for even a second, the Xenomorphs would come for us and kill us. Even so, he soon realised that no-one was listening to him, and gave up trying to convince us. So it was decided. We would return to work, effective immediately.
Ten minutes had passed by the time I had proceeded downstairs into my living quarters. When I arrived, I discovered that Archie, efficient as always, had already printed me a new roster, with the ship's duties now distributed evenly among the ship's four remaining crew members. This seemed futile, given that the ship's population could drop down to three at any moment, if we weren't careful, but it would do for now. After all, none of us were really in a position to complain right now, were we? There was a nightmare-ish, murderous alien on board the ship, wasn't there? A few sacrifices would have to be made if we wanted to keep things running smoothly.
As I studied the new timetable, I thought about the female Xenomorph which had ambushed me in the corridor earlier. I wondered whether it could even be true. According to Ryan, the entire Xenomorph race existed for no other purpose than to kill and reproduce. So why would one of them, for no apparent reason, be… harmless? What benefit would the Xenomorph genus gain from a specimen which did not kill, or at least try to kill, other living creatures? In fact, the Xenomorph which I had encountered had even displayed a range of emotions. Surely a creature which was literally 'born to kill' would have no need for any emotion, except perhaps hatred? Questions continued to circle in my head.
After a while, I looked up at the clock, and realised that I had just spent the last fifteen minutes lost in deep thought. I wondered if there was any way that I could get some answers to my questions. Then, I realised that there was a source of information on the Xenomorphs right here on this ship. Ryan. Of course, I couldn't ask him personally, because he was such an insufferable moron, for whom we all shared a mutual hatred. 'But he may have given someone else the information I need,' I thought to myself. That someone else was, of course, Nathan. Surely Ryan must have given Nathan at least some information on the creatures? How else could he have understood the Facehugger that had attacked Cara? I knew that the only way to know for sure how much Nathan knew was to ask him. So I decided to go and do just that.
Picking up the energy-burst cannon from beside my desk, I wandered over to the door and disengaged the lockdown mechanism. Stepping out into the corridor, I pointed the gun around, just in case anything had been alerted to my presence. Seeing that the coast was clear, I proceeded to slowly walk around the curved corridor towards Science and Medical. Inside, I would find Nathan, a conduit for knowledge between myself and Ryan. If anyone could truly help me understand these creatures more, it was Nathan. When I reached the door, I was reluctant to knock, worried that it might attract the attention a Xenomorph lurking nearby, but I realised that it was the only way to attract the attention of the human in the room behind it.
As I knocked on the cold, metal door, the sound rang out across the corridor. Solid steel, these things were, and this one was almost two inches thick, in order to create perfect quarantine within the medbay. My hand fell numb from knocking alone, but I still clung desperately to my gun as I stood in solitude, out in the baron corridor. Eventually, I heard a call from inside the room. It was Nathan's voice. I heard his footsteps as he approached the door, and flicked the lockdown mechanism into the 'off' position. The door slid into the floor below with an unpleasant grating noise, revealing the oddly cheery-looking Science and Medical Officer who had opened it. He did not speak to me as I walked into the dimly-lit room. Instead, he simply gestured towards a seat against the wall, which I went and sat down in.
"So, Matthew…" He eventually said, after locking the door securely behind me. "What brings you here?" He sat down at his desk, and fondled a huge bundle of paperwork. I wondered again whether this man could really provide the answers that I needed. Did he himself even know? I knew there was only one way to find out.
"Well, Nathan," I began, looking around the room awkwardly. "If you don't mind, I'd like to know a little bit more about these Xenomorphs."