Alien: Isolation

Chapter Sixteen: Threat Level Omega

The emergency lights allowed her to see the outlines of some of the things in the corridor, but not enough to keep her from clumsily tripping over the others, so Ripley moved against the wall, keeping her hand running along it in case she tripped again, while taking a little extra time with each step. She kept forgetting that the creature was gone, and that now she didn't have to carefully watch the vents, but the last thing she wanted to do after defeating the creature, was to break her neck falling into a hole like when she had first arrived.

The space-walk between the Torrens and Sevastopol seemed like such a long time ago, given what she had managed to survive through since then, but even though she had continually come out on top, Ripley still had not found what she came all the way out there for. The Nostromo's flight recorder had been empty, and Marlow claimed that he had never found the ship itself, so now it was starting to look like she would never find out what happened to her mother.

"I'm glad you made it back, Ripley." Ricardo's voice said, jarring her from her thoughts. "You aren't hurt or anything, are you?"

"No, I'm fine, Ricardo." She replied, nearly tripping over something again. "No thanks to Waits, that is. Hey, I'm not sure where I am; might need some help finding my way back to the Bureau… hold on, there's a sign… it says: Solomon's Galleria. Please tell me that I'm somewhere close."

Hopefully this place was at least in the same tower as her destination, since after everything that happened, she was really not in the mood for another long trip. Continuing down the corridor during their conversation, Ripley noticed that there were a few more emergency lights on, allowing her to see enough to not need to hug the wall so much.

"Yeah, Waits is a ruthless bastard, always has been." Ricardo continued. "I'm so sorry all this happened, and I promise you that if he ever listened to me, it wouldn't have gone this far. But hey, you're in luck; Solomon's Galleria is actually just down the corridor from the Bureau. The place is pretty big, but just follow the signs, and I'll see you soon."

It was comforting to know that there was a good man like Ricardo watching her back, instead of having to just rely on an asshole like Waits. Of course, if she had the choice, Ripley would have preferred to have Samuels there, and that made her wonder about him. Waits had sent him to a place called Android Processing in an attempt to access the station's Apollo computer, and she hadn't heard from him since. Sure, he was a big, tough Synthetic who could take care of himself, but given the track-record of Waits' plans… she was really starting to worry about him.

And Taylor as well, come to think of it. As the area around her became better and better illuminated, Ripley remembered that the last time she had seen the Weyland-Yutani Executive, was after finding the trauma kit for her in San Christobal. She would be sure to check on both of them once she got back to the Marshal's Bureau, but now she had to focus on getting there, since now the corridor was ending at the entrance to a big open area. All of the lights were on, allowing her to see that two levels of what looked like small shops and restaurants, most of them with shutters down over the doors.

This must've been Solomon's Galleria, judging by the layout, as well as the large painted sign above the second level that read: SOLOMON'S GALLERIA. Now all she had to do was continue on to the Marshal's Bureau, but to do that she would need to find a directory sign, being that this place was huge, with many exit points. Passing through the entrance, and starting to walk across the upper level, she was so focused on finding the directory sign, that she nearly didn't notice when a figure stepped out of the shadows in front of her.

"Who are you?" He demanded, aiming a pistol at her. "How the hell did you even get in here? Hey, everyone, we got an intruder!"

Ripley started to protest, but stopped, and her mouth ran dry as more people started coming out of the shadows. They exited the few opened shops, came up from the bottom level, and all of them were armed as they surrounded her. Spinning around to see if there was any possible way to escape, she was then confronted by a big man who wielded a shotgun, and she could only hope that this group wasn't crazy like the others she had met.

"An intruder, huh?" He said looking her up and down. "Probably a thief, come to steal our supplies. Get on your knees, thief, and put your hands behind your head."

"I'm not a thief." She argued. "Look, I'm having a really, really bad day, and I promise you that I'm not looking for trouble; I just need to get back to…

Her words became a groan of agony when he suddenly turned the shotgun around and rammed the stock into her stomach, making Ripley stumble backwards into the guardrail before collapsing to her hands and knees. The man then grabbed her by the hair, making her cry out as he yanked her up to her knees, before pressing the shotgun's barrel up under her jaw.

"What you need is to talk only when I tell you." He continued. "Okay now, thief… you're going to quickly tell me how many of you are here, and who sent you, or else I'm gonna blow a fist-size hole right through your pretty little head, do you understand me?"

"I understand." She quickly replied. "I understand, just please don't shoot me, all right? My name is Amanda Ripley, and…

"Hey, look at this." Another man said, looking away from the group. "What the hell are they doing here?"

Keeping his grip on Ripley, the big man joined everyone else in looking down the corridor to see that several Working Joes were entering the galleria. This in itself wasn't normal, since service Androids like them were never allowed in public areas on any of the stations that she had been on before, but after seeing what these things were capable of before, hardly anything about them seemed normal.

"Hello." The nearest one said as they approached. "By order of Apollo, the hazard threat level has been raised to… Omega. We are experiencing a heightened hazard level today… come with me, please."

"Hey, hey, you guys aren't allowed in here." Another of the group said to them. "You have…

He was interrupted as the Working Joe grabbed him by the throat, making him drop his pistol as the Android started to strangle him, but then the first shots rang out as the armed men retaliated. White blood sprayed out of their bodies as the first three Androids were gunned down, along with the man who was being strangled, but there were more coming. The men reloaded and continued to shoot at them, but then more Working Joes appeared from behind, quickly grabbing and subduing the men that they reached first.

"This is a safety breech, and will not be tolerated." One of them said while tossing a man into the wall. "It seems you and I have a problem."

A few more of the Androids fell, but it took a lot of bullets to do so, and the men were quickly overwhelmed until only the big man was left between them and Ripley. He fired his shotgun into another one's head, making it collapse, but then his weapon clicked empty, and the Working Joe grabbed him. He tried to overpower it, but failed, and then the Android punched him in the face hard enough to send him reeling backwards; taking Ripley with him as he fell over the guardrail.

The big man broke her fall, but he had landed on his neck with a loud crunch, and was no longer moving. Thankfully they had landed in a semi-hidden area behind the staircase on the lower lever, so Ripley scooted back into the shadows as the battle between the armed men and the Working Joes continued.

"Waits, what the hell is going on with the Androids?" She whispered into the radio. "Apollo's let them off the damn leash; they're killing on sight."

"I don't know, Ripley, I don't know." The Marshal's voice replied. "They aren't just responding to trespass violations anymore, it's like… it's like they're hunting. I've been trying to reach Samuels; see if he can figure out what the hell Apollo's playing at, but…

The Marshal's words became an outcry of surprise, and in the background Ripley could hear what sounded like screams. Then there was more gunfire, not in the galleria, but on the radio… gunfire that slowly stopped until all she could hear was what sounded like someone being choked.

"You are becoming hysterical." A Working Joe's voice said as the choking got fainter. "Hold still."

Then there was silence over the radio, and Ripley became even more frightened when she realized that the galleria had fallen silent as well. There were no more gunshots or screams to be heard, and when she peeked out, she saw that a few of the Androids were still walking around… likely looking for any survivors. This meant that they would find her eventually if she stayed where she was, but she needed something to defend herself with, and that was when she noticed that the man's shotgun had fallen in there with them.

Quietly picking up the weapon that had once been used to threaten her, she was about to try sneaking away, when she remembered that it was empty. Ripley did not enjoy having to rummage through the dead man's pockets, but it was better than being defenseless against the Working Joes, and she managed to find eight of them; just enough to completely load the weapon once.

"With Seegson, there is someone behind you every step of the way." One of the Androids said, making her jump a little as it walked down the stairs. "Seegson and Working Joes; working together for a safer, better connected Sevastopol."

Thankfully, it didn't stop her as it reached the bottom of the stairs and continued on its way toward one of the open shop doors, giving Ripley a chance to get away once it vanished inside. Slowly coming out of hiding, she tried to stick to the shadows and make as little noise as possible, while looking for a directory sign. She found it quickly, but was disappointed when it said that she would have to go all the way across the galleria in order to get to the Marshal Bureau.

Two gunshots came from inside the shop where the Working Joe had gone into, and then there was silence, motivating Ripley to get moving, since at this rate, she would soon be the only thing left for the Androids to hunt.