Alien: Isolation

Chapter Eighteen: Seegson Synthetics

The elevator ride lasted a bit longer than she had expected, meaning that Ripley was being taken almost all the way down to the bottom of Sevastopol station. This made since, being that the Apollo computer that controlled, well, everything, would need to be located near the reactor core of the station in order to stay online no matter what happened. However, the elevator could only go as far as the entrance to a place called Seegson Synthetics, and it was through there that she could get to Android Processing… where Samuels had gone.

"Okay, I'm reading your arrival." Ricardo's voice said through the radio as the elevator stopped. "I'm showing recent activity and computer access logs; probably Samuels making his way toward… but that doesn't make sense. Apollo's core is located on the lower levels, and I'm only showing activity toward the top… am I reading something wrong? Ripley… I'm not sure I can do this."

"Ricardo, I know you're scared… so am I." She replied as the doors opened. "But right now I need you to focus on what we're doing, okay? Waits is gone… you're the Marshal now."

The first thing she saw was a big SEEGSON logo on the wall above the room's reception desk, but hey, at least the lights were on inside this area of the station. There was also a directory sign on the wall, and she was walking toward it, when Ripley gasped as she saw that someone was sitting in the chair behind the desk. Obviously the person was dead, but the strange thing was that their head was tilted all the way back, and there was… what looked like a rolled up magazine… showed halfway down their throat.

"I'm the Marshal?" Ricardo finally continued as she stared at the body. "The Marshal of what, a room full of dead people? Ripley, do you realize how fucked up this is?"

"I have a pretty good idea." She replied, turning away from the body. "But if Samuels can talk to Apollo, he can tell it to have the Androids stand down… and then this will all be over… now how do I get to him?"

According to Ricardo, there was a service elevator nearby that would take her up, and she found it after going behind the desk and around the corner. It was locked, but this was nothing that her access tuner couldn't handle, so a few seconds later she was inside, but nothing happened when she pressed the button.

"What's going on with the elevator?" Ripley asked, pushing the button again. "There's power, but it won't start up."

"Hold on, let me see." Ricardo replied. "There's some kind of security alert firing off in the nearby labs… elevators are temporarily locked down. Looks like the Working Joes aren't taking too kindly to a Weyland-Yutani model poking around. Let's see… you'll have to go all the way across Seegson Synthetics to get to an elevator that's outside the lockdown… unless you want to climb up the shaft, that is."

On any other day, she would have taken the long route, but with the Working Joes hunting down survivors, climbing up an elevator shaft actually seemed easier. Ricardo repeatedly assured her that he was joking when he suggested it, but Ripley's mind was already made up when she opened the small hatch on the ceiling. Jumping up and grabbing the edge, it took a little more effort to pull herself up than she cared to admit, nor would she ever tell anyone that she fell back down to the floor on her first attempt.

The second attempt, however, worked; Ripley pulled herself up onto the roof of the elevator, and once she had located the service ladder, began climbing up toward the upper levels of Seegson Synthetics. There were other elevators stopped on various levels, but the indicator lights on all of them were red, and it would have done her no good to climb onto one, since they would not help her get up any higher.

"Ricardo, tell me I'm getting close." She said.

"I could, Ripley, but I'd be lying." He replied. "Sevastopol's a big place… but you're getting there, if that helps."

Having moved all over the station with elevators, this was one of those times where she only realized how much she appreciated them once they were no longer available, because this climb was seeming to take forever. Finally the top of the shaft was in sight, but there was no elevator there for Ripley to climb into in order to access the door. The maintenance jack had been lost back in the Server Hub as well, meaning that she wouldn't have been able to pry the door open, even if she somehow could reach it.

There was, however, a maintenance hatch on the wall next to it, and it was unlocked, allowing her to climb into the vent once the circular cover slid open. This shaft apparently ran near the floor, since she could see that and not much else through the small air vents that appeared every so often, but then she heard something up ahead.

"I must have access to Apollo." Samuels' voice said, getting louder as she moved toward it. "Open the access elevator immediately."

"Apollo access is reserved to Seegson personnel." A Working Joe's voice replied. "Executives, administrator-level maintenance, and Synthetics only."

Coming up to the last vent before the shaft took a sharp turn, Ripley looked through it to see that Samuels was standing there. She was incredibly relieved that he was all right, but he was talking with one of the Working Joes, and that made her tense up. It was already known that the Androids were attacking Humans, but were outside Synthetics like him included in that order?

"Biohazard Containment Level Omega is in effect." The Android continued. "All outside permissions rescinded by order of Apollo."

"Great, I'm glad we had this conversation." Samuels replied, shaking his head as he turned away. "I'll just have to find my own way to talk to Apollo, then."

He started to leave, but the Android grabbed his forearm, making Ripley gasp since she knew just how strong those things were. What she didn't know, however, was how strong Samuels was, and it was just as big of a shock for her when he grabbed the Working Joe and bashed its head down on a nearby table. The Android grabbed at him again, and he responded by tossing it into the wall as easily as she had once seen a Working Joe toss a Human, but this time it was the Android that fell to the floor.

"I really don't have time for this." Samuels said, standing over it. "Now, if you're smart, you'll stay down."

But apparently the Android wasn't smart. It started to get up while saying its usual speech about forbidden activity, but the words were stopped when Samuels punched it in the side of the head hard enough to make white blood spray out. Again, and again he pummeled the Working Joe's head until it was almost completely caved in, and Samuels wiped some of the white blood off of himself before starting to walk away. Ripley's first thought was to cheer him on for destroying one of those fucking things the same way they had been killing people, but her second thought was that he was about to walk out of sight, and that she needed to let him know that she was there.

"Samuels, wait!" She called, putting her mouth up to the grate. "Samuels, its Ripley… I'm in the vent!"

"What?" The Synthetic asked as he came back and knelt down where he could see her. "Ripley? It isn't safe up here… what are you even doing in there?"

It was a long story, but she gave him the short version, while trying not to forget anything. He seemed pleased that they had been able to kill the creature, although not so much with the circumstances, and he already knew that the Working Joes were killing people, so all that was left was to tell him about Taylor and Marlow's disappearance.

"This doesn't bode well, Ripley." Samuels said once she had finished. "But before we can even think of trying to find Taylor, something needs to be done about Apollo. I have a sort of, um… radical idea, but I'm going to need your help. Can you see any maintenance hatches from in there?"

She couldn't, and he didn't have the strength to open a hole in the metal framework, so the only option was for her to keep going until she could find a way out. The shaft turned away from the room he was in, and went right through a wall, meaning that they would have to split up and try to find a way around to each other. So they parted ways, and Ripley once again found herself crawling around several twists and turns before an exit presented itself.

The small room that it opened to appeared to be empty, so she crawled out, and immediately readied the shotgun in case there were any Working Joes around. There was nothing in this room except for what looked like some spare parts, and of course she looked through them in case there was anything she could use, but there wasn't. The only door slid open when she approached, and she could only describe the room beyond as where Androids go to die.

It was sort of like a hospital, with beds along the wall, and monitoring equipment between each one. But it was also like a laboratory, being that all of the patients on the beds were Androids. Their eyes weren't glowing, meaning that they had likely been powered down for monthly service checks or something, but Ripley was still cautious as she walked in. There were no other doors besides the one on the far end of the room, and going back would be pointless, so she tried not to bump into anything while walking across.

"You are my lucky star." She silently mouthed as one of her mother's songs popped into her head. "You are my lucky, lucky star."

Now she was halfway across the room, and it was starting to look like Ripley would get through this place without incident, when the far door slid open. Her eyes widened, and she smiled since it could only be Samuels that was coming in… but it wasn't… he didn't have glowing eyes.

"What are you doing here?" The Working Joe asked once it spotted her. "This could require my attention."

Her first instinct was to run, but then Ripley remembered that she had the shotgun, and she cocked it angrily once she realized that the Android was alone. Aiming the weapon as it approached, the Android didn't react to it at all, at least, not until she pulled the trigger when it got close. White blood splashed out as the left side of its head was blown apart, and when the Working Joe fell to the floor, she stood over it and fired one more shell into its chest, stopping its convulsions.

"Firearms are dangerous." Another Android voice said from behind. "You will hurt yourself."

Spinning around and cocking the shotgun, Ripley stopped when she saw that one of the Working Joes on the beds was sitting up. In fact, all of them now had glowing eyes as they sat up, and she found herself quickly surrounded when they all got out of bed in unison.

"Oh… fuck." She whispered as they all turned to look at her.