Chapter Five: Explanations
Isaac opened the door to the Captain's Nest. Hammond looked up, and was surprised when Isaac held up some energy bars and a couple cups of coffee. Hammond grinned, despite himself.
"You're the man, Isaac," he said as he took a cup gratefully as he sat on the floor. Isaac removed his helmet and sighed softly as he sat down.
"Kyne, you there?" Isaac asked. The doctor's face appeared on a video screen in the middle of the room.
"Right here. Ah, glad there's at least some civilization left," he mused. The two men chuckled softly as they sipped the cold coffee and hot chocolate. Kendra's face appeared in another window.
"All right, so, what the hell happened here?" Kendra asked. Dr. Kyne gave a soft sigh as he sat down in a chair in the video.
"A fitting phrasing. Well, as I'm sure you're already aware, the crew of the USG Ishimura have the dubious honor of being the very first human beings to actually contact alien life," Dr. Kyne said, barking a sarcastic laugh at the end. Hammond sipped some coffee.
"How'd that happen?" Hammond asked. Dr. Kyne gave a soft sigh as he rubbed his neck.
"A survey team discovered what we found to be a ship of non-human manufacture. An alien spacecraft," Dr. Kyne explained.
"Wait, so these things . . . built that ship?" Kendra asked. Kyne shook his head.
"Thankfully, no. If they had, we likely would already be dead. Though, I will say, these creatures are far smarter and more intelligent than one would think."
"Yeah, I noticed," said Isaac, making them all look at him in surprise. "One of them laid a trap in Medical to lure me and another survivor out of hiding," he said, recalling Todd's death. Dr. Kyne sighed and nodded.
"Yes. They are certainly smart. Alarmingly so. They have demonstrated obvious problem solving capabilities," Kyne recounted.
"So, back to it, what happened here?" Hammond asked.
"After we discovered the Derelict, Carthusia, the colony director, ordered a team to investigate, against all caution and procedures, I might add." Kyne paused to rub his face. "We don't have the full details of what they discovered on board the ship, but one of the surveyors found something, and was attacked." Kyne showed them a grainy image of a man in an Engineer's RIG with the faceplate melted, and a familiar creature attached to his face. Hammond and Kendra looked surprised.
"What the hell is that?" Hammond asked, and Kendra looked pale.
"The second stage in the Xenomorph life cycle," Kyne said ominously. They looked at him.
"Second? What's the first?" Isaac asked.
"Large, leathery pods, described as being about three feet tall. I apologize, I don't have an image to show you. Suffice it to say, if you should see one, run!" Kyne warned. Kendra looked visibly unnerved.
"Okay, so these things come from these . . . eggs, attach to a person's face. Then what?" Kendra asked. Isaac had a bad feeling in his gut. Kyne brought up a scan readout from the med-sci reports, showing the creature with a tube down the person's throat and ending at the lungs.
"The creature inserts a proboscis down the trachea of the host while applying an unknown toxin to render them unconscious. While attached, the creature appears to feed a mixture of oxygen and this toxin into their lungs, keeping them paralyzed and in a coma," Kyne explained as they saw the scan.
"Why?" Isaac asked, knowing he would not like the answer. He had no idea how right he was.
"To implant an embryo," Kyne stated, chilling them all to the core. They all were silent. "The eruption of the parasite is . . . gruesome, to say the least," said Kyne, looking like he was reliving his own dark memories.
"So . . . these things," began Hammond.
"Grow inside people?" Isaac finished. Dr. Kyne nodded.
"Had that fool Carthusia followed proper quarantine procedures, none of this would have happened. Both at the Derelict, and in the colony with the infected surveyor. As soon as the spider-parasite fell off dead, he let the afflicted man out," Kyne explained, and Isaac could hear the anger in his voice.
"Why would this Carthusia do that? Why would he put the whole colony and even the Ishimura at risk?" Kendra asked.
"Pride," Kyne replied simply. They looked surprised. "Hanford Carthusia was not the kind of man who took being told what to do well, no matter who it was who gave the order."
"Ah, know the type. All too well," said Hammond.
"So, what happened then?" Kendra asked. Isaac took a sip of coffee.
"Yeah. These things are tough, but I doubt just one could take down a whole colony," said Isaac. Dr. Kyne frowned in pain.
"You have no idea how wrong you are, Mr. Clarke. There was only one at first, yes. But that quickly changed. It killed the Security teams sent to find it, evading all efforts to capture or kill it. Then, people began to disappear." Isaac swore he could feel the temperature in the room drop. "One at a time, at first. Never witnessed, the victims never found." They all listened with growing apprehension as Kyne told the tale. "Panic began to start when the number of missing persons hit the thirty mark. And that was when the first major attack happened," said Kyne, and played a video file from the colony.
They watched as a grainy RIGLINK video played, people in a hall screamed as aliens screeched and attacked. A woman screamed shrilly as she was caught and dragged into a vent. A man yelled as he was tackled and dragged under a floor grate. The video was shaky, almost disorienting to watch. The man recording screamed as he was lifted up, glanced up into the grinning face of an alien, tried to grab the edge of the ceiling vent, people running underneath in a screaming panic, before he was pulled in and the video cut out. "Captain Matthias issued a no-fly order, quarantining the colony. A few shuttles tried to dock with the Ishimura, but were shot down. Then, we had our first case on the Ishimura," said Dr. Kyne, and that floored them.
"Wait, if there was a no-fly order, how the hell did they get on the ship? Hammond asked. Kyne sighed heavily.
"We're still not entirely sure. However, the end result is the same. More of the creatures were born, and soon they overran the Ishimura as well."
"So, even the Captain . . ." said Isaac. Kyne looked pained at this.
"Yes. He was found in the Executive Lounge unresponsive with one of the creatures attached to him. David White was then acting Captain, and ordered us to try to remove the parasite. The first time we did was a disaster, and ended up costing the life of one of our best doctors. But, Dr. Brennan tried one last time. We didn't expect the effects of the alien toxin would be so severe. Ben . . . didn't make it," Dr, Kyne said, finally starting to lose his composure, stifling a sob.
"Dr. Kyne, I have to ask you. Do you know where Nicole Brennan is?" he asked. Kyne sighed heavily at this.
"I'm afraid I don't. The last time I saw Dr. Brennan was in the Medical deck, trying to help survivors barricade themselves into a safe area." Isaac tried to suppress the sick feeling in his gut.
"Dr. Kyne, you said these things first come from these . . . pods, then the spiders, then adults through a host. But where did the pods come from?" Kendra asked. Isaac looked at her video, then Kyne's.
"We still have no idea. From what we gathered, there were many of them inside of the Derelict alien craft. Where they truly come from, we have no clue," Kyne admitted, rubbing his face.
"Well, somehow some of them got on board the Ishimura. Each one needs an egg, spider and host. So, how the hell did they overrun the Ishimura?" Hammond asked. Kyne shook his head.
"Again, no idea. We did have some theories, but nothing solid, or that made sense." Isaac was quiet.
"Something's missing. Something we're not seeing, something somebody overlooked," said the engineer. Hammond looked at him and nodded.
"Dr. when did they find that ship?" Hammond asked. Dr. Kyne thought for a moment.
"I believe it was when we were already on our way to Aegis VII. Why?" Dr. Kyne asked. Kendra looked thoughtful as well.
"Hmm, wait a minute," she said as she typed. Hammond watched.
"What've you got?" Hammond asked.
"Well, nothing for certain, but it's what's not there that makes me think I'm right," she said. She typed more. "There's gaps in the transcripts and logs just before the Ishimura departed. I'm willing to bet they found that ship before the Ishimura even left Earth. Which means I was right. Someone at CEC knew about this," she said, and they all were silent. Kyne gave a heavy sigh, seeming to sink into his chair at this.
"That would certainly fit. Alissa was convinced of the same thing," he said tiredly.
"Who?" Isaac asked.
"Alissa Vincent, Chief of Security for the Ishimura. She had the same feeling and theory, though was never able to prove it." They were silent for a while.
"Hey, Doc?" said Hammond. Kyne inclined his head. "There would have been escape pods, shuttles, ways for people to get off. What happened?" At this, Kyne closed his eyes, taking a sip of some drink.
"Someone launched all of the escape pods, empty. We never found out who did it. As for the shuttles, someone tried to escape on one . . . but one of the creatures stowed away on board." They all went pale at this. Kyne took another sip of his drink. "It careened back and into the hanger bay, and destroyed all of the other shuttles in one go. Bitter irony," he spat. They looked at each other at this.
"Yeah. And likely was the same person who sabotaged the engines and centrifuge," Isaac stated. Dr. Kyne huffed at this.
"No. I did that," he stated, shocking them.
"What?!" Kendra yelped. Kyne didn't look at the screen as he looked at something.
"You've seen what these creatures can do, how fast they took over the colony, the ship? I couldn't let that happen on Mars, or Earth . . ." he trailed off and sipped what Isaac thought was whiskey. "It doesn't matter, anyway. I still failed." Hammond was silent for a few tense moments.
"I don't exactly approve, but, under the circumstances, I do understand, Doctor," said the Security Officer. Kyne looked surprised, and gave a soft smile in return. "No matter what happens here, we can't let any of these things get back to Earth. Fuck the chain of command and fuck the CEC!" Hammond declared, and Isaac felt his lips tug in a smile.
Kendra typed, and looked at something. She checked, typed again, and looked surprised.
"Hey!" she said, getting their attention. They all looked at her video feed. "According to this, there's an SOS beacon in the Mining Deck," she exclaimed, excited. At this, Dr. Kyne hissed.
"Ms. Daniels, the Mining Deck was where the first cases were found. It's surely crawling with them!" Isaac stood up and came closer to the hologram.
"Lemme see," he said, and she brought up the file. Isaac hummed. "Hmm. Yeah. This might work. If we could launch it out from the Ishimura, we could signal for help," said Isaac. Dr. Kyne huffed.
"And draw in someone else to fall prey to these things?" Kyne asked incredulously. Hammond looked at him.
"Not if we're waiting at the hanger when they show up, and get out of here ASAP!" Hammond shot back. Dr. Kyne shook his head.
"I have to advise against it. We lost all communications with the Mining Deck early on. In fact, it was among the first to go silent. Mr. Clarke, you might literally be walking into the lion's den," Kyne warned. Isaac looked at him.
"If there's a chance we can get out of here alive, we should take it. Besides, I might be able to find out what happened down there. And if we don't, the CEC will send another rescue team in time, and they likely will fall prey like we did if we don't warn them first," said Isaac firmly. Dr. Kyne looked at him for a few long moments, then smiled softly with a sigh.
"Very well. I'll help and support you as best as I can, Mr. Clarke," Dr. Kyne conceded.
"All right, Isaac, what do you need?" asked Hammond. Isaac brought up his flamethrower.
"More fuel for this. They don't like fire. Don't know if it actually hurts them, but at least they're afraid of it," said Isaac. Dr. Kyne touched his chin in thought.
"Hmm. It could have to do with their acid blood," the scientist mused. They looked at him.
"Yeah. Yeah, like a battery. Set it on fire, and it goes boom," said Isaac. Dr. Kyne looked pleased.
"Yes, indeed. However, Mr. Clarke, keep in mind they are not dumb animals. They may not have built and crewed the alien ship, but they are not to be underestimated." he said with renewed energy, but also caution.
"Yeah, I know. Something that bleeds acid, can live in vacuum, take a full magazine from a Pulse Rifle and grows inside people isn't something you want to take lightly," Isaac quipped. Kyne seemed amused.
"Quite. So, I will help you as you go, Mr. Clarke. Perhaps my notes and observations will be of use," said Kyne, seeming to have a bit more hope. Isaac smiled softly.
"Thanks, Doc. I'm sure it will help," the engineer replied gratefully. Kendra typed.
"Isaac, the tram to Mining is locked down, but you should be able to get there through the maintenance ducts," said Kendra, displaying a map of the ship and a glowing path. "I've sent it to you RIG and your locator. When you're ready, just follow it. There should be a maintenance hatch at the tram station." Isaac nodded as he put his helmet on and checked everything.
"Will do. Okay, let me get some more fuel for this, and I'll head out," said Isaac. Hammond nodded and patted Isaac on the shoulder.
"Stay safe, Isaac," Hammond muttered. Isaac nodded as Kyne closed the window.
The engineer checked the supply rooms, found two extra canisters of hydrazine, reloaded his flamethrower, and headed to the tram station. At the tram station, there was a closed, heavy panel with yellow and black lines around it, and the bold legend: Authorized maintenance personnel only. Normally, a special key was required, but Isaac had his own key. He snapped the ion torch out, snapped the shield screen up, and began to cut. It took a few short seconds to cut through the massive panel with the small but powerful torch. Isaac then grunted as he lifted the heavy panel out and let it down, the heavy door banging softly as he set it down on the grate. Isaac shined his light inside. It was clear. He climbed inside, and pressed the button to open the hatch. The hatch slid open in a manner like an ancient camera shutter. Isaac grunted as he climbed through the opened hatch and into the dark.
