XXII
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Did Ryan really know what had been going on with me and Xena? I mean, I know he'd had his suspicions all along, but how could he know? 'Easy, Matthew,' I thought to myself. 'Just play it cool…'
"I don't know what you're talking about, Ryan." I said calmly.
"Oh, I think you do, Matthew." He replied slyly. "I'm not an idiot, you know. And I know that you know about the money."
"Money?" I asked, now genuinely confused. I'd heard nothing about any money. What on Earth was he on about?
"Don't play dumb with me, Jones." He snapped, folding his arms. "There's only one logical explanation that I can think of for your reckless actions: You know about the money."
I sat down at my desk, still legitimately dumbfounded by Ryan's words. Whatever he thought he knew, he was wrong. But what did he think he knew? And furthermore, if he knew that I knew about the money, then he must have known about it, too.
"Ryan, please," I began, leaning forwards and staring down at the floor. "Just tell me what's going on."
"You really haven't figured it out, have you?" He chuckled, shaking his head at my apparent stupidity. "Very well, then, I'll tell you. You remember how over the years that I've know you and the others, I've told you on several occasions about how I used to work as a low-ranking science officer at Weyland-Yutani? Well, that's not strictly true…"
"Not true?" I asked, puzzled. "You mean you never worked for Weyland-Yutani?" Ryan shook his head again.
"Oh, Matthew…" He grinned. "Sweet, naïve Matthew. Of course I worked for Weyland-Yutani. But a low-ranking science officer? Me? Try 'Chief Scientific Officer of Biological Weapons – Thedus Division'."
My face suddenly fell as I took in Ryan's words. Chief Scientific Officer? Biological Weapons? The shock of this new information made my head spin. It was just as well that I was sitting down.
"That's right, Matthew," He smiled sinisterly. "I know anything and everything there is to know about the Xenomorphs."
"You knew, didn't you?" I asked, casting my mind back to when we'd first received the distress signal from the XH-12. "You knew that there was a nest on the landing craft. You knew that they'd kill Cara."
"Oh, I didn't just know they'd kill Cara, Matthew…" He sighed, walking right up to me and whispering in my ear. "I made sure they killed Cara." My heart raced as he stepped back, grinning inanely. He knew?! HE KNEW?!
"I expect this has all come as a bit of a shock." He continued, his expression more serious now. "Allow me to explain. You see, Matthew, I worked for Weyland-Yutani year in, year out, each as long as the last. I studied these creatures in such depth that there wasn't anything you could tell me about them that I didn't already know. But the pay I was getting? It was nothing. The contributions I made to that company, and for what? I lived in a hotel just down the road from the research centre. I survived on fast food and microwave meals. That was until I learned about the bounty hunters."
"Bounty hunters?" I enquired, intrigued by Ryan's tragic backstory.
"Yes," He replied, "bounty hunters. You see, we'd been having a difficult time with our research on account of the fact that so few Xenomorph specimens were being brought to us. Captive populations were so low that Weyland-Yutani decided to start hiring mercenaries to bring them live specimens. And let me tell you, Matthew, they were willing to pay a pretty penny."
I was beginning to understand now. Ryan had obviously seen the haul that the bounty hunters were bringing in, and wanted some of it for himself. After all, it was better than what they were paying him as a science officer.
"So you retired from Weyland-Yutani to become a contracted Xenomorph hunter?" I asked.
"That's right." He nodded, almost no emotion in his glassy eyes. "The SS Lockley-Lockley? The Hippopotomonstroses? The USCSS Copernicus? All ships that I've served on over the years. All ships that ran into Xenomorph-infested derelicts. The XH-12 presented a bit of a problem, though. Archie received the distress call not long before we went into hypersleep. I made sure he didn't tell the rest of you until we were less than a day away from the wreckage. That way, none of you could protest against going aboard." He was right, there. Off-World Association Regulations dictated that if a distressed vessel was within a day's journey of a passing ship, it was mandatory to provide help to said vessel.
"After I got you aboard, it was simple." He continued, each word more menacing than the last. "I just had to make sure that one of you got attacked by a Facehugger. The unlucky victim, of course, was Cara." He grinned villainously at this statement. I found myself quickly developing a deep-seated hatred for Ryan's true personality.
"Once you were back aboard the Archimedes, I made sure the Facehugger didn't cause too much panic amongst the crew." He explained. "As long as you all thought that Cara was fine, we'd have gone back into hypersleep by the end of the day."
"It was you, wasn't it?" I gasped, suddenly realising just how much Ryan had been hiding from us. "You told Archie to fake the scans. You tried to trick us into thinking that Cara was fine." He didn't reply to this, but continued to grin evilly.
"The twins were a bit of a shock, though." He eventually said, leaning against the wall with his arms folded once again. "I must admit, in all my years working at the research centre on Thedus, I never once encountered embryonic duplets. Seemingly, they were responsible for the shorter incubation period. Meaning-"
"Meaning she gave birth before you had a chance to dragoon us back into hypersleep." I interrupted.
"My, my, we are getting it now, aren't we, Matthew?" He chuckled. Then, his face suddenly stiffened. "But you listen to me, Jones: Money is one thing, but I don't have a death wish. Now that these things have been born prematurely, any hope of getting them back to Weyland-Yutani is gone. You don't seem to understand that, though, do you?"
"What do you mean, I don't seem to understand?" I asked, still confused by what all this had to do with me.
"Look, Matthew." He sighed. "You may have pulled the wool over Alan and Nathan's eyes, but I know you're up to something. You've been defending these things the whole time, and the only reason I can think of for that is that you were hoping to sell them to Weyland-Yutani, too. But I'm telling you, Matthew, you can't win this. It's too late. Either they die, or we die. The only way out is for us to kill them." I almost wanted to laugh at Ryan's stupidity. Did he seriously think that I was only interested in selling the Xenomorphs for money? It was absurd. It was insane.
"Ryan," I said, as calmly as possible. "You've got it all wrong. I'm not-"
"For fuck's sake, Matthew!" He yelled erratically. "Stop playing the fool and admit that you've been defending these things!"
"I will do no such thing!" I replied, also raising my voice angrily. "And how DARE you speak to me like that!"
Ryan's face turned to a look of true anger now. His face was flushed red, his eyes glaring murderously. But I wasn't done yet.
"In fact, you know something, Goddard?" I shouted, walking over to the door and unlocking it swiftly. "I'm sure the others would love to know all about your little scheme. About how you deliberately cost the lives of two crew members!"
"Don't you dare." He said forcefully. He came towards me with clenched fists, sweat now running down his irate face. I hardly had time to react before it happened. He stepped forwards and raised one arm into the air, before bearing down with great force. Before I even knew what was going on, his knuckle made contact with my jaw. I stumbled, falling against the wall as he came in for another hit. Again and again, he punched relentlessly, until I collapsed to the floor, blood trickling from my mouth.
"You still going to tell the others?" He asked, leaning down to stare into my eyes. I was too weak to reply, although I tried desperately to move my body. He laughed, and gave me one last hard kick, before turning to leave the room.
"Don't worry, Matthew." He chuckled as he walked out. "I'm sure one of your Xenomorph friends will come along soon." And with that, he was gone, leaving the door wide open. Once again, I tried helplessly to get up, but found my body totally and utterly numb. All I could do was lie there, crying in pain, waiting for a Xenomorph to come along and kill me. So that's what I did. I lay there, and I wept, blood still pouring from my lip and my gums. It was barely a minute later that I began to lose consciousness. My eyelids felt heavy, and my brain felt tired. As I slowly began to drift away, the last thing I saw was a dark figure barge into the room, which came and crouched beside me. I didn't know if it was a person, a Xenomorph, good or bad, and frankly, at this point, I didn't care. I was unable to hold onto consciousness any longer, so I finally let myself slip away…