Alien: Isolation

Chapter Twenty Five: Reactor Purge

Every passing second was another opportunity for those creatures to find another way out of their nest, so Ripley ran across the catwalks at full speed, stopping only when she had reached the small service lift. The continued energy buildup in the central core was causing the whole chamber to shake, and now the overload warning alarms were beginning to sound, in addition to those damn yellow spinning lights. It had never occurred to Ripley how much she hated those things until seeing them again and again on Sevastopol, but once the reactor purge sequence was completed, it would be the last of them she would have to see.

It felt like the service lift was taking forever and a day to bring her back up into the control room, and the shaking had intensified by the time she had returned into the room, with the service lift locking and sealing behind her. The monitors were all showing red warning signs, and there was an automated message being broadcast, but Ripley didn't pay attention to it as she moved up to the centermost controls.

"Ricardo, I'm about to purge the nest." She said while entering the commands. "Hang tight."

Not waiting for his reply, Ripley entered the last code, and then pushed the large red button in front of her. This caused the chamber, and possibly the whole station to rock violently to the side, as a blinding flash of crackling blue and white energy was released from the central core in pulses that appeared to be directed downwards. So that was it, she thought while sighing with relief as the energy slowly faded. No more nest, no more industrial Working Joe, and most importantly: No more creatures, like the one that was walking across the catwalks below.

"What?!" Ripley exclaimed in shock as the creature began climbing up the central core. "No! No, God damn it, no!"

She watched intently as it vanished up into the darkness of the reactor chamber, and now it felt like everything they had done was a waste. Waits' plan, Samuels' sacrifice, all of it had been for nothing, since now Ripley was in the same situation as when the lone creature had started hunting for her after taking Axel. But then she realized that the situation was much worse than before, when the creature was followed by another one… and then another one… and then another one.

"Ripley, what happened?" Ricardo's voice asked. "The whole station felt like it was falling apart… so, was that it? Did it work?"

"It didn't work, Ricardo." She could barely say as the creatures climbed toward the top of the chamber. "Some of them got out of the nest, and…

Her words suddenly became a scream as another creature leapt up onto the protective glass from below, causing her to stumble backwards and fall to the floor. It looked at her for a second, and then continued upward, followed by a few more, who also stopped to express interest in her before continuing on their way. The station had now stopped shaking, and the warning lights were off, but now a new message was displayed across the monitors.

"By order of Apollo." An automated voice said with the screen. "Biohazard Containment Level maintained at… Omega. Warning; multiple unregistered lifeforms detected throughout Sevastopol. Power levels throughout Sevastopol have been compromised… we apologize for any inconvenience."

"Oh, no trouble at all… bitch." Ripley groaned as she got up. "Ricardo, there's still a bunch of those creatures on the station… I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about that, now." The Deputy's voice replied. "You did your best, Ripley, more than anyone else did, so just… just come back to the Bureau… wait, no… no, hold on… hold on, something's happening. Ripley… that reactor purge, it's… my God, its resetting systems all across the station. I'm showing lights, transit, hell, maybe even communications. This could be our big chance, Ripley, meet me in comms."

Now, this was a surprising turn of events. Since when did Ricardo want to do anything besides cower under the Marshal's desk? Of course, this wasn't the time to question when someone got a sudden burst of bravery… nor was it a good idea to stay there for too long thinking about it. Those creatures at the window had seemed awfully interested in her, so she decided to get moving before they found a way in.

It was far easier to move back through the station now that she knew where the hell she was going, but now instead of Working Joes to deal with, Ripley had to once again try not to alert those creatures. Retracing her path back through Engineering, and back up into the Apollo Core, she was a nervous wreck as she ducked behind any cover she could find. Now that Ricardo had gone down to Comms, she didn't have him at the console to track the creatures' movements, but so far she hadn't seen any of them.

Not that she was complaining, it was just that it was easier to know where the creatures were, in order to have a plan to avoid them. Instead, she found herself reverting to the condition that she had first found Axel in; nervous as shit, and constantly looking at the vents and floors in case the killer came from the shadows. Past Apollo, and back up the maintenance elevator to Android Processing, Ripley was making good time, until she had to pass by Samuels' body lying where she had left it next to the Reformat Chamber.

"I'm so sorry, Samuels." She whispered while kneeling down next to him. "I…

Honestly not knowing what else to say, the only thing that Ripley could do was keep moving, and this continued to be easy since the Working Joes on this level were also lying right where she had left them. Making sure to step on the damn things on the way, she crawled back into the vents, and was passing the spot where she had first seen Samuels crush a Working Joe, when something moved. It was a shadow passing by the vent in the corridor, and only after looking closer, did she realize that it was one of those creatures.

It passed right by the vent, giving Ripley a clear view of its white, human-like teeth, and making her have to clamp her hand over her mouth in order to keep from whimpering like a twelve year-old. Thankfully, it didn't seem to notice her, and passed right by the vents, allowing her to continue on… once she had stopped shaking enough to move silently again, that is. She had gotten used to being able to move more freely after sending the first creature into the gas giant, but now Ripley had to re-learn how to be stealthy again.

"Ripley, hold on a second." Ricardo's voice said as she climbed into the elevator shaft. "I've got some bad news. I'm at Comms, but I didn't make it in time; Apollo must've recovered from the shock, and communications are locked down again. But I have another idea… once you get back near the Bureau, I need you to head back down to Medical."

"What? Medical?" She whispered while climbing down the long ladder. "Are you insane? Why would I ever want to go back down there?"

At this point, Ripley was beginning to doubt the Deputy's sanity. Had he finally cracked completely? Not that she would have thought any less of him if he had, since there probably weren't that many people in the galaxy who could handle a situation like this one. But then he told her something that cast all her doubts about him aside. Apollo may have locked communications down again, but the console in front of him showed a ship approaching Sevastopol… the Anesidora, in fact.

"Comms were temporarily open." Ricardo continued. "Marlow must've managed to send out his auto-codes during that window to call it in. There's nowhere for it to dock, since Waits blew up the landing bay, but its holding position nearby Medical. All transit systems are open again, so I think Marlow used one of the Ambulance Shuttles to reach it."

"And that means I can use them, too." Ripley replied, stepping off the ladder onto that first elevator. "Okay, I'll head to San Christobal, but I think those creatures are following me again, so I'll need to be quiet… and lock yourself in somewhere safe."

The Deputy assured her that he would jam the doors to the control room he was in, and now that the radio was quiet, she could focus on listening for those creatures as she dropped down into the lobby of Seegson Synthetics. She passed the reception desk where the body was still sitting with the rolled-up magazine shoved down his throat, and reached the elevator that would take her back down to the Bureau, without incident. Then as she began the long ride back down to the Bureau's Transit Hub, Ripley had some time to think.

Was Marlow trying to escape? She wondered. Of course he was, but more importantly, was Taylor still with him? She really hoped that Taylor was okay, and that Marlow had enough sense to either contact the Torrens… if it was still out there, or at least send out an emergency transmission of his own. Hell, even if all Ripley was able to do was get aboard the Anesidora, she was sure that she could get Marlow to at least stay long enough to pick up Ricardo.

"Something amiss?" A voice said the moment she stepped out of the elevator.

Having been so deep in thought that she forgot about the remaining Working Joes around the station, Ripley was forced to duck down behind a bench in order to avoid the Android's gaze. Remaining perfectly still, and not making a sound as it walked over to investigate, she knew that she was in trouble if it spotted her. So it looked around, paced a bit, and looked around some more, before remaining in place for the longest time.

"Another clear waste of Seegson's time." The Working Joe said as it walked away. "A Synthetic's work is never done."

Sighing heavily once the Android vanished around the corner, Ripley decided that a small stop was required before continuing on. The situation onboard Sevastopol was constantly worsening, and being unarmed didn't help, so she crept back into the Marshal's Bureau to find a weapon. After everything that she had seen, it was no longer so unnerving to see dead bodies scattered around a room, making her wonder if she was becoming braver… or if she was just so terrified that nothing else could affect her.

She would have loved to find another shotgun, or a flamethrower, but this was not to be. In fact, all Ripley was able to find was another pistol. There was plenty of ammunition for it, so she loaded the weapon and stuffed her pockets, even though she had seen that it was not effective against those creatures. It would, however, help her against any stray Androids that she came across, and if need be… help her to get Marlow to see reason. She hoped that it wouldn't come to that, but if she had learned anything on Sevastopol, it was that it was better to be safe than sorry.

Well, this was everything that she could take, so she left the Bureau, and headed back to the nearby Transit Hub. The elevator that went to San Christobal was still there from when they had first arrived, so the doors quickly opened, and she stepped inside.

"Please be okay, Taylor." Ripley said as the doors closed and she started down. "Please don't be an asshole, Marlow."