Alien: Isolation

Chapter Twenty Six: Shuttle Ride

Being that Ripley had been suffering the after effects of Waits' trap the last time she had been through this part of the station, she was surprised by the level of destruction she encountered near the entrance to San Christobal, after getting off the elevator. The walls were scorched black from the explosion, the few lights that hadn't been destroyed were flickering, and the main door to the facility was laying in pieces on the stairs. As for the waiting room, the reception desk and some parts of the walls remained on fire, filling the room with a layer of black smoke that was hard to see through.

"Ricardo, it's still burning in here." She said, coughing as she entered the room. "Can you do something about this smoke?"

"Sorry, Ripley, I can't." The Deputy's voice replied as she ducked down below the smoke. "Even if I was still at my console at the Bureau, the fire-suppression systems were damaged when you triggered Waits' trap. That… and restarting the air filters could cause you some… unwanted attention."

Well, he was right about that; any nearby Working Joes were sure to investigate if the system wasn't restarted by Apollo, and Ripley was sure that those creatures would come running at the first sign of Human activity. So, as much as she hated it, the smoke needed to stay. At least the lowest half of the room was clear, since heat rises, and it was still possible to read the directory signs, once she got right up to them, that is. Needless to say, her trek through the hospital was done at a slow place.

The fire had spread to other areas of San Christobal as well, creating more smoke, but also illuminating the some of the darker areas of the corridors. Unfortunately, the communications console that Ricardo was using didn't let him use the station's motion trackers, either, so Ripley would no longer be able to rely on him to track her position… or the position of anything else, for that matter. Thankfully, the only things that seemed to be inside the hospital besides herself, were dead bodies.

Yeah… maybe not so thankful on that last part, she thought to herself as she continued down the corridor. After all, these were the same people who she had used as a distraction in order to save herself from the first creature… but then again, these people had also pistol-whipped her, before strapping her to a gurney, and locking her in a room with Patient Zero. Before coming to Sevastopol, Ripley could never have imagined herself being able to just cope with so much death like it was nothing, but then again, she couldn't have imagined being hunted by alien creatures, either.

The smoke was slowly getting worse, making it increasingly more tempting to use one of the emergency Re-Wire access points on the walls to restart the air-filters, but she didn't need Androids or creatures getting curious, so Ripley had no choice but to tough it out while following the directory signs to the Ambulance Shuttle Bay. The fire had not yet reached this area, allowing her to finally both stand up, as well as take deep breaths without coughing when the door closed behind her. As for the Ambulance Shuttles, there were access ports for two, but only one available, meaning that Ricardo had been right about Marlow using one to get back to his ship.

"I'm in the shuttle bay, Ricardo." She said while waiting for the access port to open. "You were right; Marlow took the other one."

"That's actually a good thing, Ripley." The Deputy replied. "Once you start up the shuttle, just tell the onboard computer to copy the course of the last shuttle launched, and it will take you right to the Anesidora."

The access port opened a few seconds later, allowing Ripley to step onto the small shuttle. There was enough space for two gurneys if patients were present, as well as an emergency airlock off to the side, and a cockpit that was built for one. As she sat down and buckled herself into the pilot's seat, it was good to know that she wouldn't have to rely on her own piloting skills to find and dock with Marlow's ship. But then, when the access port closed and locked behind her, Ripley was allowed to do something that she hadn't been able to do since arriving at Sevastopol… she relaxed.

This was the first time in what felt like forever that she had been completely alone, and not only that, but now that the shuttle was sealed, there was also no way for anything to sneak up on her, so she sighed heavily while leaning back in the seat. Once again, it was tempting to just lay there for a while and take a nap, and she might have, too, if not interrupted by Ricardo's sudden demand for her status.

"Yes, Ricardo, I'm still here." She replied, entering the startup sequence. "Just taking a little longer than I thought, that's all."

"I don't mean to be a bother, Ripley." Ricardo explained as the engines warmed up. "I just, you know… worry about you. You and me are the only ones left… I think. And I just… well… don't want anything to happen to you, that's all. Not quite sure what I'd do if something did."

Based on his performance so far during this whole ordeal, Ripley's first thought in answer to this was that he would probably get killed really fast in that situation. But then she stopped working on the auto-pilot in mid-entry, when she thought a little more about what the Deputy had been saying to her recently, and this caused a new feeling of dread. Sighing in frustration while pinching the bridge of her nose, she hoped against hope that this whole crazy situation wasn't causing Ricardo to fall for her.

He was a nice guy and everything, but this completely not the time to look for a relationship. And even if it was, Ripley needed someone who was going to actually be there with her during the tough times, instead of just hiding in a control room where it was safe. Anyway, there would be time to deal with that awkwardness later, if any of them managed to survive all this, that is. So for now, she needed to find Marlow and Taylor, and once she finished entering the auto-pilot sequence, the engines started firing.

Slowly the shuttle moved out of the bay, and rotated so that it was facing away from Sevastopol station before beginning to accelerate. Aside from the damaged parts, the outside of the station was quiet and peaceful, illuminated in the brownish-yellow glow of the gas giant. For a moment, this beautiful view from space made her forget about the nightmare happening within the station, but then the shuttle turned a little, and there it was.

"Ricardo, I see the Anesidora." Ripley reported excitedly. "The ship looks like it's in good shape, and I should be docking in about a minute. Ricardo? Ricardo, can you hear me?"

"Barely…zzz… think you're… zzz… of range." His voice crackled through. "Don't think… zzz… much longer."

Oh great, she thought as her shuttle approached the ship. That was just wonderful… actually, now that she thought about it, there wasn't much that Ricardo would be able to do for her, even if they could still talk, so it really didn't make much of a difference. Either way, the shuttle was on a direct approach to the Anesidora's access port, and soon the shadow of the ship blocked the light from the gas giant.

It was bigger than the Torrens, probably used for repair jobs and salvage on top of hauling cargo, like the Nostromo had been used for. All of its exterior lights and indicators were turned on as well, meaning that Marlow was powering it up in preparation to leave, but something was wrong. Instead of turning away from Sevastopol to escape, the Anesidora was very slowly starting to move toward the station. But that didn't make any sense, unless something had happened to Marlow, and now Taylor was trying to fly the ship on her own.

As hilarious as that image was in her head, Ripley knew that on its present course, the ship would eventually ram right into the station, but the approach did shorten the length of her shuttle ride. Since the Anesidora was moving, it was a little harder for the auto-pilot to turn around toward the access port, and this left her with a perfect view of the slowly approaching station out the front window while the docking sequence completed.

"Ricardo, the Anesidora is headed toward Sevastopol." She said into the radio, hoping that somehow he would be able to hear her. "Ricardo, Marlow is flying the Anesidora right at you, is there anything that can be done? Ricardo? Ricardo?!"

This time Ripley was met with nothing but static, meaning that there was no way to warn Ricardo… not that she could really think of anything that could be done on his end. Regardless of whether or not she had contact with the Deputy, the ship was still moving, so she unbuckled the safety harness, and got out of the pilot's seat. For a moment, she regretted having to leave the relative safety of the shuttle, but then again, what danger could possibly be onboard the Anesidora? It had been in a parking orbit since long before the first creature appeared on Sevastopol, so there shouldn't be any lunatics, Androids, or creatures onboard.

Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, and it was really bothering her now that Sevastopol was still getting closer, when she looked out the front window again. Marlow should've veered off by now if he was planning to escape, so what in the hell was he doing. Well, there was only one way to find out, and Ripley had the suspicion that she was going to need her revolver, when the access port opened, and she was able to step inside the Anesidora.