Beep… Beep… Beep…

"Uuugh," Kirchoff groaned into his pillow. He rolled over in his bed and tried to make out on the clock blaring in his ear. 6:00 am Local-Time. Far too early in the morning for any sane human being to be awake. He rolled away from the alarm clock and pulled the blanket up over his head, trying to ignore the alarm.

In the end the alarm clock's incessant ringing won and Kirchoff begrudgingly tossed his blankets off the bed and sat up. He rubbed his eyes in a feeble attempt to wake himself up. When that failed miserably, he stumbled into the kitchen for some good old fashioned coffee. It took several minutes of blundering around to find the coffee maker, figure out how the damn thing worked, and find a mug big enough to satisfy his need for caffeine, but half an hour later Kirchoff stepped out of his room relatively groomed and ready for a long day of research. Although what kind of research he was going to be doing was still unclear.

He'd skimmed over some of the technical manuals for the equipment the night before, and those manuals did not pull any punches with the 'technical' aspect. He could barely make heads or tails of them, but he was reassured that most of the equipment was used just by tuning dials and pressing buttons. The biology reports were interesting, but didn't contain much that he didn't already know.

He sat himself down at the control panel in a very nice, plush swivel chair and fiddled around with the controls. After poking around on the panels and consulting a user manual afew times, he managed to locate the transparency controls for the wall. He flipped a switch and the wall on his side turned clear, revealing the room behind it.

The cell looked just as it had the other day, blank, white, and incredibly boring. Save for one thing. In the corner of the room closest to him, pressed up against the wall was a large Xenomorph warrior. Even though it was curled up, he could easily see that it was huge, probably over eight feet tall standing, with an impressive crest adorning his head. What made it more remarkable was that this was a male Xenomorph, an incredibly rare phenomenon that had only been documented a few dozen times.

No wonder Dr. Nigel didn't want me killing him by accident, He thought as he stared in awe at the magnificent specimen.

Valen felt the human's gaze on him. Even though he couldn't directly see the person, he could feel it. Its consciousness was like a candle in a dark void. So feeble and flickering, unaware of how easily he could snuff it out. With a small effort of will, he reached out to that light spot in the dark and felt the man's mind. His every thought and emotion were as clear and vivid as though they were his own.

Valen knew he was being melodramatic, but he was just so damn bored. The man had been sitting there for at least five minutes just looking at him. He would have expected him to do something by now. That's what all of the others did anyway.

Is he just waiting for me to do something? Valen asked himself. He wouldn't give it that satisfaction. Instead he remained curled up in the corner of the room and continued pretending he didn't know he was there.

Without warning, a loud alarm blared and pain spiked through his head. He shrieked and screamed and covered his head as best he could to try and blot out the horrible noise. The noise blared on and on for what seemed like an eternity until it finally cut out.

There was silence in the room, then a voice boomed out from all around him, "Hey, you awake yet? Ready to get started buddy?"

Am I ready to start? Ready to start what? He grumbled to himself. Ready to get my ears destroyed?

What he really wanted to do was scream at the man behind the wall for being so inconsiderate, but he fought down the urge. He knew that if he reacted the way he expected him to, it would just result in more pain, just like all the times before. Instead of hissing or screeching, he looked at the fake wall and shook his head.

On the other side of the wall, Kirchoff was looking at Valen intently. Did he just shake his head?

"Can you understand me?" Kirchoff asked, speaking into a microphone on the computer.

Valen nodded his head.

Okay, what the hell? Kirchoff thought. He can understand me.

This research project was certainly off to an interesting start. When he had sat down at his workstation he had a half formed plan of talking to Valen to stimulate some kind of response, but this was most certainly not the response he had expected.

Maybe if he can understand me… "Can you speak to me?"

Oh, I can do one better than that buddy, said a voice. It wasn't a voice per-se since. He was pretty sure he hadn't actually heard anything, but he definitely heard someone saying those words.

"What was that?" He whipped his head around, looking around to see if anyone had snuck in the room.

What? the voice snarked at him. You don't understand sarcasm?

Kirchoff clenched his ears in an attempt to blot out the voice.

What are you doing? It asked again. You look like an idiot.

"Why won't you just shut the hell…" He looked up and saw Valen looking at him through the glass, his head tilted in what he assumed was amused interest. "Did you just say that?"

Did I just say what? Valen looked away innocently.

Oh great , he thought. I've gone insane, or apparently I have to deal with a sarcastic Xenomorph that can speak to me in my head.

Insanity might be the better option, Valen remarked.

"Okay Valen, let's try this again," Kirchoff said, rubbing his temples with his palms. "I'm going to ask you a question, and you're going to give me a straight answer or I'll shock you."

Why? You've shocked me so much that I don't think it would do anything at this point, so why should I bother? Valen asked.

"Fine, then I'll gas you!" Kirchoff shouted.

I still won't tell you anything, Valen retorted.

"Gah!" Kirchoff stepped away from the panel and began pacing his room.

Nope, I still won't talk even if you 'Gah!' me.

Kirchoff let out a stream of curses, kicking his chair across the room and pulling at his hair. Nothing he was doing was working. For the past week he had tried everything at his disposal, but no matter how much he gassed, electrocuted, hosed, starved, or beat him, Valen refused to show any signs of breaking. Any questions Kirchoff had about Valen's telepathic abilities were forced to the back of his mind as he tried day after day to get any kind of reaction out of him other than snarky retorts and backsass.

The data he got from the computers was also useless. When he tried to use the monitoring software to examine Valen's mind and compare them to existing models of other Xenomorphs, nothing significant showed up. He even tried examining his own brain activity when Valen was talking to him, but that didn't produce any useful data either, at least not that he was able to see. The lab equipment was so advanced that he couldn't even make out half of what it was trying to tell him. Even the manuals weren't much help, since they were written in the same arcane, deeply technical language as the results he was getting.

Kirchoff stalked back to the panel and was about to press the button to electrocute Valen when he had a sudden idea. One thing had done in the past week was read and reread the biological and behavioural reports that he was given. Most of them contained information he already knew, but he walked over to the databank computer and double checked a report on Xenomorph social behaviours just to make sure. If his plan worked, it might just get Valen to give him what he wanted. If not, no harm done. To him anyways.

Still trying to find the best way to beat me into submission? Valen asked sardonically as he was browsing through the files.

"Oh, I'm not going to hurt you," Kirchoff replied.

Hmmmm? Valen raised his head and looked up at him in mock interest. Mind telling me what exactly you are going to do then?

"In fact, I'm not going to do anything to you. For quite some time actually. I'm sure you won't mind some alone time." He pressed several buttons on the panel, Valen's room went dark, and the wall turned opaque.

Is this some attempt on your part to be clever? Valen asked sarcastically.

"Oh, you'll see," Kirchoff sneered. Once he confirmed that the wall was completely opaque, he turned on his heel, walked into his quarters, and stalked out the door into the hall.

Kirchoff's plan was simple. Xenomorphs are eusocial creatures, they lived in a hive with a strict social order, and as such social communication and interactions were incredibly important to both for the hive and for the own well being of all of the members of the hive. If a Xeno that was raised in a hive-like environment was isolated from the hive for too long, its mental health would degrade, shortly followed by its physical health and concluded by a long, slow death. The details listed in one Dr. Nigel's reports on isolated eusocial Xenomorphs were... gruesome to say the least.

However, that social need did give him something to work with. According to reports from Valen's previously assigned researchers, Valen had been raised in a lab here on the station from birth and the only kind of social interaction that anyone had was with one or two people at a time. Another of Dr. Nigel's studies on "Atypical-Social Xenomorphs", or Xenos that had not been born and raised in a hive, suggested that these types of Xenos could go for much longer with less interaction. However, they still needed occasional contact with humans in order to stay healthy. So if Kirchoff didn't interact with Valen for long enough, then he might be able to wear him down without having to do anything.

One problem with this idea was that he'd have to do nothing. Probably for a long time. And he had a sneaking suspicion that Dr. Nigel probably wouldn't like it if reports from him stopped showing up in her inbox. More importantly, Kirchoff wanted to talk to Dr. Nigel. He wanted to find out what she knew about Valen. Did she know about his abilities? If so, how long had she known about them? Why would she assign Valen to him? So now Kirchoff was walking down the halls with the map from his fridge, trying to navigate his way through the complicated series of hallways and rooms to find the elevator he had originally come down here on.

It took awhile, but eventually he wound his way back to the elevator. It looked just the same as before, only this time there was a very muscular, and very heavily armed marine standing guard in front of the control panel.

Kirchoff approached the marine and said "Hey, can I get up to level 12, I need to speak to Dr. Nigel."

"Sorry sir," the marine replied without looking at him. "But you're not allowed to leave."

"Excuse me?" he asked, confused.

"Sorry sir, but I can't let you leave this floor. You don't have high enough security clearance."

"But I need to speak with Dr. Nigel. It's really important!" Desperation was starting to leak into his voice. He wanted, nay, needed to talk to someone about Valen. If he didn't, he felt like he would explode

"Sorry sir, you still can't leave."

"But…" He tried to argue further, but something in the marine's eyes made him reconsider pressing the issue further.

"Fine," He huffed. He started to head back to his quarters, then remembered that he had to steer clear of them for a while, at least until the next day. So he made his way into one of the communal break rooms, only stopping by his lab to quickly grab a pen and paper to write on. Once there, he wedged himself into the chair in a corner of the room furthest away from everyone else, and did his best to quickly write a report on the rough plastic surface of a wooden coffee table, emphasizing that he wanted to talk to her as soon as possible in private.

Once he was done, he walked to a vacuum tube that he had been using to submit his paper reports, rolled it up and stuffed it into a capsule, and sent it off. Then he walked back to the lounge, picked up an old magazine from the coffee table, and tried not to think about Valen.

When is that imbecile coming back? Valen wondered. He's been gone for far longer than normal. He was pacing the length of his cell, casting the occasional glance at the wall that divided him the cell. It wasn't because he missed Kirchoff, he loathed the man. He just missed messing with him. It was so much fun to watch him squirm trying to get him to do anything. Still, it was rather lonely without him. It was bothering him much more than he would like to admit.

When he briefly felt Kirchoff's mind, he was excited. Then he quickly squashed his excitement, angry with himself for feeling it, and did his best to not be disappointed when he felt it fade away again.

All I have to do is wait for him to come back, he told himself. Then I'm going to give him the sassing of a lifetime.

Dr. Nigel was sitting at her desk, examining a report from one of her many subordinates when she heard a knock at the door. She glanced at her computer and double checked her appointment bookings for the day. She looked at the time and went back to the list. 1300 Local-Time exactly, right on time.

"Come in Julianne," she called to the person on the other side of the door.

The blandest, most generic woman Dr. Nigel had ever known stepped through the door and stood in front of her desk. Dr. Nigel looked up at her from her papers, "I take it Dr. Gavin wants something."

"Dr. Kirchoff has stopped turning in reports for the past 2 weeks," she stated flatly. Right to the point, just like usual.

"I'm aware of that," She said, putting down her paper. "He told me that in his last report. He said that he's doing an experiment where he is keeping his subject in isolation. What's your point? It's not like it matters to the board."

"Why has he stopped turning in reports?" She asked in the same bland monotone. "The board has had no updates for two weeks, and Dr. Gavin is starting to run out of patience."

"Kirchoff told me that he'd report in to me when his experiment was finished. I'm in no mood to rush him," she raised her eyebrow at the woman standing across from her. "This is a very delicate experiment we are running Julianne, as Gavin and the board should know by now. We cannot risk rushing it. Especially when we are still getting them used to one another."

"This experiment has been going on for the past 2 and a half years, Dr. Nigel," she said, still in her flat monotone. "Dr. Gavin is growing tired of waiting for results."

"Tell Dr. Gavin that if he wants results faster, then he should invent a time machine," she rubbed her forehead in exasperation. "I can't rush this phase of the experiment, especially when Kirchoff probably wants to ask me some very uncomfortable questions."

Julianne stared blankly at her, then turned around and walked out of the room. Just before she exited, she looked over her shoulder and said "I'll report your progress to Dr. Gavin."

Dr. Nigel sighed, got up, and went to get a very large, very strong mug of coffee.

The past 3 weeks were the boring equivalent of hell for Kirchoff.

At first, he could keep himself occupied by watching movies in the lounges, by taking walks around the facility, reading the outdated magazines in the break rooms, or chatting with the few other scientists working down in the facility with him. However, he began to run out of new movies to watch, new magazines to read, new places to explore or new people to talk to.

The idea of doing the same things over and over again made Kirchoff want to puke. Hell, that's why he signed up for this job in the first place. Exciting new research, they said! Work at the very front of Xenobiology, they said! Generous compensation, they said!

When he wasn't thinking about how bored he was, he was desperately trying to keep himself occupied and trying not to think about Valen. If he started, he might lose control and go back and talk to Valen, just to have something to do. But he toughed it out. The only times he went back to his quarters were to sleep and to occasionally check that Valen was still alive.

Once the three weeks he had allotted were up, Kirchoff stepped back into his lab, turned on the lights, sat down at his desk, and pressed the microphone button.

Valen was starting to give up hope by the time Kirchoff returned. At first Valen had tried to convince himself that everything was still all good. He passed the time by imagining all of the terrible and brutal ways that he would kill the scientist if he ever got out of his prison. Disembowelment, strangulation, lacerations, impalement, the list went on and on. However, as time went on, he had trouble getting what little rest he needed, he rarely felt the urge to eat, and his thoughts were becoming more muddled & sluggish by the day. He felt trapped with his own head and was beginning to get desperate, reaching out and trying to feel for someone, anyone to talk to, to be with, to even feel.

Whenever he did feel someone, it was always Kirchoff, it was always very briefly, and his thoughts and feelings were muted by boredom.

By the time Kirchoff did enter his room again, Valen had all but given up. He was lying sprawled out on the floor, wallowing in misery when he saw the wall turn transparent out of the corner of his eye and the human's voice blared out from the hidden speakers in the walls.

"Hello there Valen, you're looking good today," Kirchoff said.

Valen remained silent and still. He didn't have the energy to make any attempt at making a comeback.

"What, no witty remarks?" Kirchoff asked.

No… he said quietly.

"Well now, there's a shock," he said with obvious smugness. "Are you ready to cooperate with me now?"

Yes…

"Very well, we'll start right away then. And do try to cut down on the sass."

Yeah right. Valen thought to himself. Like that would ever happen.

"So, then… Tell me about yourself Valen," Kirchoff talked over the microphone.

What do you want to know? Despite his grumpy tone, Kirchoff could tell that he was glad to have someone to talk to. Or he might have just been putting on an act so he wouldn't be put in solitary confinement again.

"Let's start with the basics," Kirchoff said, "How did you get your name?"

I thought you would have been told that Mr. Scientist, Valen retorted. Every other human I've talked with knows the story.

"I know," Kirchoff said. "But I want to hear it from you."

If Valen had eyes, Kirchoff definitely thought he'd be rolling them. The human called Nigel gave me that name. According to her, it was because I have such a lovely temperament. She probably would have called me something else if I could have spoken my mind at that time.

"Speaking of which, how did you learn to speak our language?"

Valen grinned. I thought we were starting with the basics.

"We did, and now we're moving on to the more complicated subjects," Kirchoff replied, smirking. "Now tell me, how did you learn to speak English? I didn't think that you would be smart enough to do something like that."

Valen looked indignant. Despite appearances, I am not just some dumb brutish creature. As you should know by observing me, I am rather intelligent, and I just so happen to be even more intelligent than the average... 'Xenomorph'. It was an easy task to listen in on your conversations and learn your language.

"How long did it take you to learn all this?" he asked.

A few months probably, maybe half a year or so at most.

"Wait, what?" Kirchoff did a double take at Valen. "Months? You took six months to learn our language?"

Yes, Valen said. It wasn't that hard. I did it shortly after I discovered I could listen to human thoughts. And you of all people should know that English isn't the only language you meat sacks...

"That's unbelievable!" Kirchoff exclaimed, cutting Valen off mid sentence.

I beg your pardon?

"That's incredible! You learned to speak fluent English in less than a year by simply listening? Holy shit!" Kirchoff was flabbergasted.

You… you're impressed? He sounded dubious.

"Of course I am! That's amazing!" The fact that he could even comprehend human language at all was astounding, let alone learning it at such an astronomically fast pace.

Valen stood up slightly straighter at that. Well it isn't that big of a deal.

"What else have you learned? By watching us, I mean." Kirchoff asked excitedly.

Well, I do know that you have a device that can measure the passing of time, and that you also… Valen spouted on and on for hours about the things he had discovered by watching his previous human researchers. Whenever he fumbled when trying to describe something he was unsure of, Kirchoff stepped in and helped out. Despite his little mistakes, Valen seemed unfeasibly proud of himself, and Kirchoff was dumbfounded by his observations. If he was a human, he would certainly have been a great scientist himself. His observational capabilities were leagues above his own, and he was clearly extremely intelligent.

In return for his cooperation, Kirchoff told Valen what humans knew about the Xenomorphs.

Pitiful, absolutely pitiful, he said, shaking his head. Is that all of your brilliant scientists have deduced about us over the past century?

"Yes, and I know it isn't much, but that's why you're here," he replied. "My exact job is to study you and try and find out as much about the range of emotions Xenomorphs can experience as I can. However..."

You're pretty sure that's not why you're really here, Valen finished. And it would be much easier for both of us if I just tell you how I can do my telepathy trick right.

Kirchoff nodded, "That would make my job a lot easier, yeah."

But why would I ever want to do that? Even if I did know how I can do this, which I don't by the way, why should I just tell you? he asked. Even if I did know, and if I told you all that I know right now, you'd tell your superiors, the other humans would probably kill me, your superiors will pat you on the back for a job well done, and then you would probably be out of a job. And that is the best case scenario. What happens if you tell someone flat out that I can talk to you in your head and they don't believe you? You'll be locked up or worse. That's what happened to all the others.

"All the others?" Chills ran down his spine. He had mentioned that there were others before him, but he hadn't elaborated further than that.

Fifteen others to be precise.

"What happened to them?"

They all quit or were fired because they were 'unsuitable', and I never heard or saw them again, Valen told him. I also get the distinct impression that they couldn't just leave this place with no consequences. You're lucky that you haven't gone the same way already.

"Were you able to talk to them as well?"

Maybe, He thought about it for a moment. I think some of them could get vague feelings, or a few words, but nobody has been able to hear me as well as you.

Kirchoff leaned back in his chair, digesting what Valen had just said. If what Valen had said was true, then his job and possibly his life could be at risk. Whatever Dr. Nigel was planning, he was sure of two things. There was far more to his job and this research than it had first appeared, and dropping the ball now wasn't an option. Whatever had happened to all the 'unsuitable' candidates before him couldn't be anything good.

However, if he played his cards right, he could learn so much more than anyone ever had about Xenomoph behavior, even though Valen was a bit atypical. Hell, he could do his job far more productively and easily than he could by trying to fumble around with the expensive and complicated equipment he barely understood. A talking Xenomorph wasn't exactly a common occurrence after all.

He thought long and hard about what he was going to say before he said it, "Okay, I believe that you don't know how you can do what you do, and that even if you did you wouldn't tell me. And besides that, my job isn't to figure out how your telepathy thing works. My goal is to find out the exact array of emotions that you are capable of displaying. And as you said, if I went to Dr. Nigel and told her that Xenomorphs are as emotionally intelligent as humans because I heard one talking to me in my head, I'd likely get locked up on the spot, or worse."

Valen stayed silent and still, waiting for him to go on. He took a deep breath and continued, "So what I'm proposing is that you tell me enough about your feelings and emotions so that I can write some decent reports, and in return I won't torture you. I will try to stretch out my work as much as I can. That way, we could both benefit. I would get all the data I need to keep my job, and it would prolong your life considerably. Who knows, one day you might be set free."

Fat chance of that happening, Valen let out something like a snort , But I do see your logic. It could work if you play this right. However, this is a dangerous game you are suggesting. I would be putting my life entirely in your hands. If you mess up and let something slip, or if you don't give your superiors enough to keep them interested in me, or if your reports aren't backed up by anything, then they'll know something's up. Who knows what will happen to us if they suspect that you're not telling them the truth.

"Yes, it will be dangerous, but I think the reward will be worth the risk. I can also learn to use the lab so it won't actually hurt you, but still get some numbers and data to pad my reports. Besides, it's not like either of us has an option at this point. What do you say? Want to play along?"

Valen was silent for a long time before he replied, I see no better alternative. Yes, I will go along with your plan. Let's play.