Chapter Six: You Don't Understand

Isaac stayed as quiet as he could while crawling through the tunnels in a low crouch. Isaac really didn't like being inside these cramped tunnels, and not because he was claustrophobic, but because it gave him almost no room to move. If he was ambushed by the aliens inside those tunnels, we was done for. Isaac kept his flamethrower up and at the ready. Isaac grunted softly as he navigated the tunnel, having to climb up to another level via a small ladder, then came to a junction. He checked his RIG map, and headed left. He didn't want to stay in there any longer than necessary. His light only lit a very narrow beam and not that far ahead. Isaac didn't like it one bit. Thankfully there were no bloodstains, acid holes or other signs of fighting and death. It seemed to go on forever.

"Okay, next left and you should be there," said Kendra. Isaac turned left at the junction. He was surprised when he felt his flow touch something. He looked down, and saw, not slime, not a body, but something else. He picked it up. It was pale, thin, almost like . . .

"Kyne, got something for you," he said. Dr. Kyne's face appeared in a video screen. The Doctor squinted, then sighed.

"That is likely a shed skin of one of the Xenomorphs," said Kyne. Isaac dropped the skin and gave a soft groan.

"Yeah, if they start out small enough to fit inside a human, they'd need one hell of a growth spurt," Isaac commented.

"Oh, you have no idea how right you are. Within twenty-four hours, they were fully grown," said Kyne, shocking them.

"That's insane!" Kendra exclaimed. Kyne nodded.

"If I had not seen it myself, I would not have believed it. Be on your guard, Mr. Clarke."

"Yeah, yeah I will," Isaac replied and pressed on.

Isaac came at last to a maintenance hatch, with the words Mining Deck engraved into the metal. The hatch had clearly been welded shut. Isaac glanced around, and brought out the ion torch and began to cut. The high-powered torch cut through the metal like a hot knife through butter. Isaac had no choice but to push the hatch out and let it clang onto the floor. Isaac extricated himself and hurried for the tram control, lifted the lockdown, and then hurried into the Mining Deck. As he closed the door, Kendra's face popped up in a RIGLINK video.

"The Mining Deck systems are running haywire, and I'm seeing lots of blackouts and power outages. Let me see if I can get the elevators working. Any idea where that SOS beacon would be?" Kendra asked as she typed.

"I'll check the mining control room, first. The launch tubes there could send out a beacon easy," Isaac replied. Kendra nodded.

"God, this whole deck's a mess. No wonder they lost contact," Kendra groused. Isaac looked around as Kendra typed. The door hologram flickered to blue. Isaac opened it and stepped into the RIG room, where miners prepared and geared up for their shifts. It was a mess, with most gear having been grabbed in a hurry, and Isaac did see some blood, but not much. Isaac checked the lockers anyway, but save for a few cartridges for a plasma cutter and some credit chits, nothing of use. Isaac walked over to the doors to the elevator into Mining Operations. He stopped. Now he saw signs of fighting.

Bloodstains littered the floor, There were deep gouges and claw marks in the metal, wrecked tools laying where they had been flung, wrecked metal, pieces of grate and vent cover, and of course, holes from acid damage. One of them was big enough two grown men could fit through it. He liked the idea of riding this deathtrap of an elevator as much as he did being trapped in those confined tunnels with the aliens, but had little alternative. Isaac warily stepped onto the elevator, flamethrower ready, glancing up and around, making sure it wasn't an ambush. "Huh. Well, this is weird," said Kendra.

"What?" Isaac asked.

"Two of the Mining decks are locked down, even though they have full power," she commented. Isaac looked around and knew why.

"Likely did it to try to seal the aliens in here," Isaac observed as he skirted around an acid hole.

"Guess that didn't work. Poor bastards. I'll see what I can do about overriding the lockdowns from here," she said. Isaac moved forward and touched the screen. He chose the Mining Deck. The heavy elevator rumbled to life and began to descend. Isaac kept his wits about him and stayed on alert. Isaac in particular kept his eyes on the broken vents, of which there were many as the elevator descended.

The elevator shook as it ground to a halt.

"Error. Power routing malfunction. Please stand by," announced the computer.

"Perfect," Isaac groaned. As if the Universe itself hated him, he heard a sibilant hiss. Isaac hunkered down and looked up. Sure enough, he could make out two Xenomorphs crawling down the wall of the shaft like giant geckos. How the hell did things so big move like that? Isaac considered blasting them, but knew that was not a good idea. Besides, the sound and screeches would likely draw others, which was the last thing he needed. He then looked down at the flamethrower, and got an idea. He switched the nozzle and feed, aimed up and fired at the wall. A flaming glob of fuel landed on the wall and exploded into flames. The aliens screeched and scurried back up the wall and into the vents from the flame wall. Isaac gave a soft chuckle as he watched. "Run, bugs," he said quietly. The elevator restarted, moving down the shaft, past a door with a red, locked hologram. After a minute or so, it stopped in front of a door which was unlocked. Isaac opened it and headed inside, hoping there weren't more aliens crawling down the elevator shaft to eat his face.

First thing, Isaac was greeted by a huge, orange sign, hastily spray-painted. It warned Beware! Traps ahead! Isaac stopped and looked. He carefully glanced down the hallway.

He could see some hydrazine tanks with their red color and warnings, in pairs by the sides of the halls, rigged with wires. There was plenty of evidence that several Xenomorphs had fallen prey to the traps. There were several large acid holes in the deck Isaac was pretty sure he'd have to hop over. He also noticed they had made a virtual net of wires that went up to the ceiling. They knew what they were doing. Isaac looked back down at the hallway strewn with traps. He picked up a crate, winced, and fired it with Kinesis. The canisters of hydrazine went off like fireworks, the explosion rocking the hallway. Isaac ran through, picked up another crate and hurled it. Another trap boomed. He turned up the ramp up to the Extraction area. The large room was bright with fire and lights from the machines, illuminating the mess. Here Isaac saw a few bodies of miners, shredded. Isaac checked for anything use, found little. He did find a holopad, but it had been doused by acid, and was inoperable. Isaac had to replace a power cell to reactivate the lift, but other than that, nothing happened. A turn down a short hall, and Isaac finally made it to Mining Control. Isaac headed over to the controls for the launch tubes, and typed at the console. An alarm beeped.

"Launch tubes sealed. Please contact Supervisor Dallas for authorization," the computer alerted him. Isaac gave a huff. Isaac saw glanced out the window, and saw one of the chunks from the tectonic load in a large bay, ready to be broken down and smelted.

"Finally getting somewhere with the systems on the Mining Deck. Any luck finding that beacon?" Kendra asked.

"No, and the launch tubes are sealed. I need a deck administrator's RIG," Isaac replied.

"Let's see. Deck administrator is . . . Supervisor Dallas. According to scans, his RIG is on the Processing sub deck," Kendra confirmed. "Also, from what I can see, looks like the beacon is somewhere on the Maintenance subdeck. Just hope you can reach it through these malfunctions."

"Not malfunctions. Traps. The miners' way of holding the line," said Isaac.

"Yes, they said they were trying to hold them back. Rest their souls," said Kyne.

"Damn. Well, I can unlock the sub decks, but just make sure that beacon's not wired to anything, okay?" Isaac chuckled, in spite of himself. Isaac gave a look around, but found nothing of note, just some notes about the initial planetcrack and first extraction, none of which was out of the ordinary, save for the yield.

Isaac headed back to the elevator without incident, and took it up to the Processing sub deck, which was now unlocked. Isaac came out into a storage room. There was a holographic message waiting. Isaac played it, and was shocked when it opened into the middle of a battle.

"Here they come!" yelled a miner, firing a plasma cutter.

"Don't let 'em through!" another yelled. The aliens smashed through a barricade blocking the hallway. The first miner was an easy pick, the Xenomorph leaping up, onto the ceiling, then to the wall, and leaped down and into the poor man, tearing him in half in a single swipe. The man screamed as the others fired.

"Lloyd!" one of the others screamed. Isaac was shocked as he watched the battle unfold.

"Jacob! Do something!" one of the miners screamed. A man in an Engineer's RIG was reloading a Force Gun.

"I'm trying! This is Processing! If anyone can hear us, we need help! Those things are everywhere!" Jacob said frantically as he finally reloaded and fired the Force Gun. The powerful blast wave sent the aliens flying, one hitting the wall so hard Isaac was sure it broke the things back. To his shock, it got back up, hissing and tail weaving like an angry cat as it stalked on all fours. One of the other miners stood up with a Line Gun, before the vent above him broke open, a large, black hand reaching down, grabbing him around the head and yanking him up into the vent.

"Garber! You fucks!" Jacob yelled, firing again. The Xenomorphs this time scattered and split up. There was no way he could hit them all. The one on the left lunged and grabbed the Force Gun, while another used its tail to lunge and pull Jacob's leg out from under him. The last one pulled the weapon from his hand as he fell, all three of them pinning him as Jacob growled. "Go on! Do it!" Jacob yelled defiantly in their faces, even spitting in the face of the one that pinned him. The aliens didn't react. They hissed, then grabbed Jacob, dragged him across the floor and up into the vent as the man yelled in anger and fear. The recording ended. Isaac couldn't help a shiver. Isaac wound down and through the Processing deck, careful to glance down before he turned a corner. It was a good move.

Three Xenomorphs were sitting down a hall. He glanced up and down, and decided going around was a better option. Sticking to the shadows and cover of the various machines, Isaac found a side room. He looked around, checked, and found the torn up body of a miner at a workbench, but it was what sat on the workbench that got Isaac's attention. It was several small devices, along with a holographic blueprint. He picked one up, and looked it over.

Acoustical decoy

Isaac looked at the details, and smiled. He pocketed them and downloaded the plans.

"Here's something useful," he said.

"What is it?" Kendra asked.

"Sound decoys. Someone made these to distract the aliens," Isaac stated as he looked at one.

"That's a very good idea. While we were never certain exactly how they see, we can confirm they do, somehow. They also have a very keen sense of hearing, as I'm sure you're already aware," said Kyne.

"Yeah. This just might even things," said Isaac, and took the decoys and headed onwards.

Around a corner, Isaac found a Security request log, played it.

"Dallas here! Security to the mining deck, now! One of our miners is hurt! He . . . I don't know! He's got some fucking thing on his face! Send Medical, too!" screamed a man's voice. Isaac blinked in surprise. It was shocking to hear the fear and frantic feeling in their voices when they first encountered the Xenomorphs. Isaac managed to make his way to Mineral Processing without any encounters, but he was sure he heard some of them nearby.

Even behind the large grating walls, Isaac could see the flickering, bright light of the smelter. Isaac headed down the hallway, and was surprised when he saw an asteroid or rock had smashed through the wall, flames still flickering on the floor. He glanced up, and saw the large, glowing beam of the smelter, and rocks floating in zero gravity. Isaac glanced down the hall, saw it collapsed, and headed out into the smelter area. He glanced up, and saw a large hologram announcing that there were anomalies detected in the room, and must be cleared before gravity could be restored. He glanced up at the large rocks, floating in the air, and disengaged his mag-boots and floated up and engaged his jets. The first was easy to grab and shoot into the beam, which caught and started to melt the rock almost instantly, drawing it into the smelter. Isaac grinned, and did the same with the rest. He was then able to turn the gravity back on. As he headed around on the catwalk to Processing Control, he saw a shadow dance on the wall. He glanced up, and suddenly flattened himself against the wall. There were three Xenomorphs on the wall above his head, about fifty feet up. Isaac glanced at the door, gauged the distance. He then recalled the decoys. He took one out, pressed the button, and threw it over his shoulder behind him. Sure enough, it emitted high-pitched squeals and chirps. The aliens noticed, and leaped down to investigate. Isaac use this time to the fullest to get around and to the door, open and close it before they saw him. He then turned to see what he was dealing with.

In a chair, was the body of a man. Supervisor Dallas. The man had short, messy brown-gray hair and a beard. He was leaned back in the chair, a look of agony on his face. In his hand, he held a knife. Both his wrists and his throat had been cut, his blood pooled on the ground around him. Isaac cautiously approached. Isaac gave a soft sigh, and scanned the man's RIG. He saw a text log in his lap, picked it up and read it.

Final log. Supervisor Dallas.

This will be my last entry. In tried my best, I guess it just wasn't enough. I'm so sorry. We tried to seal them in this deck, but looks like it was in vain. We heard they got to other decks. Since those damn things can breathe in space, they very well could have climbed around on the hull and torn their way inside.

I feel it's my fault. When they found George with that damn thing on his face. When they cracked open that fucking rock.

I've seen what happens, how they grow. I can't let that happen to me. I'd rather go out on my own terms. Please, tell Dawn and the kids that I love them, and my final thoughts were of them.

Isaac sighed heavily. These men and women all had lives, families. Each was more than a victim. Each was an individual tragedy. Isaac headed out the door and into an access hallway.

"Hey, I got the Supervisor's RIG. I'm heading back to-" Isaac began, as the power suddenly went out, the hallway plunging into darkness. "What the-?" Isaac asked.

"Hold on, let me see-" said Kendra. Isaac heard rustling, heard something inside the walls.

"Kendra . . ." Isaac said, unease clear in his voice. He brought up his flamethrower.

"I'm trying to figure out what's wrong. Strange, it looks like, if this is right, then the local wiring is . . ." she trailed off.

"Mr. Clarke, get out of there!" Kyne yelled. That was when a black arm pierced through the metal of the ceiling with a screech of metal. Isaac yelled and blasted the limb, backing up, but found the door inoperable.

"Kendra, the damn door's closed!" Isaac yelled.

"I'm trying! The wiring in the system is registering as destroyed!" she said with horror.

"Ms. Daniels, hurry! Reroute power from the other systems! Quickly!" said Kyne.

"I'm trying, dammit!" she swore.

"Reroute power to the door from the Processing Deck central matrix!" Kyne directed.

"Right! In progress," said Kendra. Isaac tensed as he saw another limb tear through, then a tail.

"Any time, guys!" Isaac yelled. The lights came back on.

"Got it! Run!" Isaac didn't need to be told twice, taking off like his tail was on fire. Isaac ran back, careful, but quick, and got back to the elevator, took it down to the Maintenance sub deck. Needless to say, Isaac was tense as a bowstring.

"W-what the hell happened back there?" Isaac asked, trying to get his breath back. Dr. Kyne sighed heavily.

"Something I have been afraid of, Mr. Clarke," said the scientist, drawing all their attention. "When we barricaded ourselves into various areas on the ship, we began to see strange patterns emerge, not the least of which was power outages. The fact they came right before an attack pointed to only one thing . . ."

"No. No way . . . No way these things are that smart," said Hammond, clearly understanding what he was getting at.

"While it could be coincidence, that the Xenomorphs damaged power lines while accessing various routes to the crew, I find it hard to discount it several times on several decks, and the colony, if some of the vidlogs are to be believed," Kyne replied. Isaac, Kendra and Hammond were all silent.

"All the more reason to grab that beacon and to get the hell out of here," said Isaac.

"Very right, Mr. Clarke. Still, be careful." With that, Isaac got ready to venture out again as the elevator stopped at the Maintenance sub deck. Isaac opened the door, and saw a body. This one, though, made him pause.

The man laid dead on the floor, body twisted in agony, his face a mask of unimaginable pain and horror. His chest was laid open, some of his organs trailing out. What got Isaac's attention, though, was he couldn't see another wound in the back. The broken ribs were bent outwards. Isaac felt his whole body shiver. He swallowed and looked to his left. A trail of blood led out and down a ramp. Whatever left it wasn't that big. Isaac kept his flamethrower raised, loped along in a crouch, trying to stay small and quiet. Isaac peeked around the corner, and the room was dark. More than that, though, he saw something dark gray, extending down from the ceiling to the floor. He had seen something similar, back in the Engineering Deck. Isaac warily ventured in.

"Kyne, what do you make of this?" Isaac asked, sending him footage from his RIG.

"My word," said Kyne, clearly amazed. "It seems to be some sort of organic resin. I had heard something about a strange substance being found," he mused.

"Yeah? There was a lot more of it in the Engine Room. Half the room was built up with the stuff," said Isaac.

"You're sure?" Kyne asked, sounding alarmed.

"Yeah. Stuff is pretty damn tough, too. What do you think it is?" Isaac asked.

"I am not certain. I would need more data. Suffice it to say, avoid it if you can, Mr. Clarke. It might well act like threads from a spider's web." Isaac looked at the stuff and made sure to stay away. Isaac made his way down the ramp, and saw a door, but, strangely, it was offline. Isaac glanced around and saw wall panels torn out and wiring shredded. Isaac knelt down, and saw the damage. He frowned as he saw wires looked almost like they had been . . . eaten. Isaac gave a soft sigh and brought up his folding tool kit, finally able to do his actual job. He used some spare wires and cables to bypass the damage. He also needed to replace a whole copper cathode plate, which, as he suspected, had been torn up by the aliens. The teeth marks in it left no doubt. Why, though, he wasn't sure, but he would ask Kyne when he could, and took a snap of it with his RIG just in case. Isaac was relieved when the door opened. He went through into the Equipment Bay. There was more of the alien substance in there. Not anywhere near as much as in the Engine Room, but enough it gained Isaac's attention. He pulled the gondola over and carefully got on. Isaac didn't fail to notice the lights in the area were either damaged, or out. Some flickered, one hung down on a wire, slowly swaying. He activated the gondola and crouched down to make himself as small as he could. He did not like this at all.

Isaac virtually laid on the floor as he rode the gondola across the gap. He could hear a hiss from somewhere, and wasn't sure if it was a machine, or something else. He was almost twitching with how alert and on-edge he was. His eyes flicked around, expecting an attack from any angle at any second. Isaac was beyond relieved when he made it to the other side without incident. Isaac stayed in a low crouch as the gondola opened. He thought he saw a shadow move, somewhere off to his right, be he didn't stay to confirm. He headed through the door into the Repair Room. Inside, there was more evidence of heavy fighting. The catwalk to the other side was totally melted by acid, and there were several large holes on his side. Thankfully, the door to the Equipment Workshop was undamaged, and had power, though was locked.

"Kendra, I'm at the door to the Equipment Workshop. If they stored the beacon anywhere, I'd bet Credits it was here," said Isaac as he messaged her.

"Hold on, I'll run the Supervisor's RIG codes and get you in," she said as she typed. Isaac made his way around the carnage, having to jump over a large hole in the grate. Isaac saw another miner's body, once again, the chest torn open. The door beeped and the hologram turned blue and unlocked. "There, it's open," Kendra confirmed.

"Thanks," Isaac replied as he headed inside. Inside the workshop, it was dim, but not out of the ordinary for such a place. There was no blood, no acid marks. Apparently, the Xenomorphs hadn't made it into the room. A fact that relieved Isaac. He found his way down and in, and found the beacon, sitting on a workbench. A metal cylinder with a red light on one end and numerous claws and anchors on the other, about the size of his thigh overall. He smiled as he picked it up. "Got it," Isaac confirmed.

"Oh, thank god," said Kendra.

"Excellent, Mr. Clarke," said Kyne, seeming impressed.

"Good job, Isaac!" Hammond crowed.

"Don't thank me yet. Still have to send it out and get us picked up," Isaac replied as he looked at the components at the bench. He had everything he needed to make some more decoys. He glanced around, listened, and set to work.

He had enough to make three more of the decoys, which he already was more than happy to have. He then left, beacon safely fastened to his belt at the small of his back.

Isaac was heading back to the gondola, when he heard a sound. He ducked down and carefully moved forward. He opened the door, looked out, and his heart leaped into his throat. There were five Xenomorphs, two in the gondola, one on the platform and two more on the track. They were sniffing about with their tongues. Oh, fuck . . . he thought. They really were tracking him. He silently headed back to the workshop and closed the door. He glanced around, and saw a service lift. He took it up and found himself on the upper catwalks on either side of the gondola. Isaac glanced down the way. He could make it to the door if he was careful. He glanced at the gondola, and saw the aliens still there, beginning to move down towards the door into the Repair Room. Isaac prepped one of the decoys, flung it with Kinesis to the far side, and then slunk along and hid behind a pillar The decoy went off, and the Xenomorphs scurried over to investigate. He took the opportunity to make himself scarce, darting from cover to cover, checking before he moved. He got back to the door without incident, but he did manage to step in plenty of puddles of alien slime along the way. Isaac headed back and got back to the elevator without any further encounters, thankfully. He took the elevator back up to the Mining sub deck. Isaac entered the deck and headed back to the control room. Along the way, now that he had the Supervisor's RIG and clearance, he was able to access the storage room. Inside, he found some more canisters of hydrazine, thankful to have more fuel for thus far the only weapon that was in any way truly effective against the Xenomorphs. He then headed back into the control room. Isaac gave a soft sigh as he stepped in and saw that same rock in the bay. He stepped over to the console and pressed it.

"Administrator access granted. Prepping launch tubes," the computer confirmed. There was a whir, then an alarm. "Error. Launch tubes obstructed," said the computer, and Isaac groaned.

"Guys, we got a new problem," said Isaac.

"Don't tell me," said Kendra.

"Something's obstructing the launch tubes. Maybe the miners booby-trapped the launch tubes, too."

"Well, that's just great! We can't just toss the beacon out a window!" Kendra groused, clearly not happy and nearing the end of her patience. Isaac couldn't blame her.

"There's gotta be something, some way . . ." Isaac said, glanced out the window at the rock. "The asteroid. The one in the Mining Bay," said Isaac, almost snapping his fingers.

"Yeah, what about it?" Kendra asked.

"I could attach the beacon to it and then launch it away from the ship. We'd get a clean broadcast."

"That might work. You would have to disable the gravity tethers holding it in place, but that could work," said Kyne. Isaac nodded.

"All right. I'll head there now." With that, Isaac headed back down and over to the Mining Bay. The entrance was across from where the lift was in the Extraction area was. Fortunate. What wasn't so fortunate was Isaac needed to pull the power cell from the lift in Extraction and use it to power the elevator into the Mining Bay. Yet another headache. Isaac returned with the power cell, and ground to a halt when he saw one of the Xenomorphs right in front of the elevator. He almost skidded to a halt and hid. He considered his options.

There was no way he could get past without it sensing him. And in such closed space, a decoy would only lead it right to him. There was almost nowhere to hide. He glanced, saw a vent to the side. He had only one option, and it was risky. He set the power cell down, lit the flamethrower and walked out from behind cover. The Xenomorph looked up, hissing. Isaac aimed the flamethrower, and loosed a gout of flame. The Xenomorph screeched and backed away, but Isaac pursued it, keeping the flame on. It shrieked and snarled, turning and tearing open the vent and fleeing. Isaac hurried back, grabbed up the power cell and installed it before more could show up. Isaac took the elevator down. He emerged into a very narrow hallway. He walked carefully down, glanced around the corner. He looked across, and saw a damaged door ajar. He looked around, then checked inside. He could see the body of a miner. Just like others, this man's chest had been torn open, seemingly from the inside. Isaac made his way down the hall, flamethrower at the ready. He came into another hall, turned up a ramp, and a large, round door cycled open. Isaac stepped out into the Mining Bay. His RIG alerted him he was entering Zero Gravity as he entered the room. Even with all he had seen, Isaac was shocked at the carnage he saw.

Bodies of miners floated, some in pieces. Drops of blood floated in the zero gravity, human and alien alike. Indeed, there were several Xenomorph bodies floating around, and globs of the yellowish-green blood. There was some acid damage to the floor, more to the walls. It looked like there had been a major battle there. Easily the biggest he had yet seen. It was also only the second time Isaac had seen any bodies of the adult aliens, anywhere. He glanced up and looked at the asteroid. The large chunk of rock was held in place by powerful gravity tethers, glowing, pulsing beams of pure gravitons. What got Isaac's attention was the fact the rock was still uneven and raw. They should have attached cutting machines to carve it into a ball shape to make smelting easier. Something wasn't right, here. Isaac shook his head lightly and disengaged his mag-boots and hit his jets, flying up to the asteroid. He was about to land, when he saw something. A dark patch on the side of the giant rock. "What the hell?" Isaac asked. He came closer, and saw it was a hole in the rock, and a large one at that. Big enough that two men could have walked in without any trouble at all. Isaac looked around, then back to the rock. He flew close, and shined his light inside. It was not just a hole. It was a tunnel. Isaac brought up his flamethrower, checked it, then headed inside.

Isaac drifted down into the uneven passage, and engaged his mag-boots. He trudged forward, aiming his light up and around at the walls. Isaac may have only been an engineer, but even he could see these walls were not natural. Not just in the fact they had clearly been carved into the rock, but the odd shape. It was almost kidney-shaped. He wound his way through the twisting tunnels for a ways, until he came to a branch. Isaac glanced one way, then the other. They not only looked the same, they even seemed to twist by the same degree. Or was he seeing things? He turned his light down, and saw footprints in the dust on the floor. At least the miners had gone inside, and thus gave him a roadmap. He followed the tracks down the left corridor, down, curving into the rock. Wait, what was that? Isaac shined his lights on the sides of the tunnels, and saw something strange. No, beyond strange, but also familiar. Something black, shiny, shaped almost like ribs, as if the walls were the inside of some organ or bone. Not a human one, either. Isaac felt a chill run up and down his spine as his eyes followed the flow of the organic forms, along the ceiling and walls, down to the floor.

That was where he saw something different.

There were clusters of them, oval, about as high as Isaac's hip. Isaac's eyes grew wide as he realized what he was looking at, remembered Kyne's words. He looked down at the floor, and could see footprints in the dirt and dust. Not all of them were human. Worse still, he saw evidence that something had been removed from the ground. Something round, with roots, if the patterns were any judge. Isaac focused his light on the other pods, and saw the layer of dust that coated them. He hurried and tapped his radio. "Guys! Guys! I know how they got on board the Ishimura!" Isaac yelled.

"What?" Kendra asked, surprised.

"The inside of the tectonic load was hollow! There were tunnels inside! They had eggs in underground tunnels!" he exclaimed.

"What?!" she yelled in reply.

"Oh my god . . ." breathed Kyne.

"Fuck . . . this whole time . . ." said Hammond. Isaac nodded.

"Yeah. Looks like they weren't confined to that ship. There's eggs inside this rock, look dusty and old, along with that weird organic stuff," said Isaac.

"Wait! Say that again. You saw eggs?" Kendra asked, shocked.

"Yeah, I can see them myself," Isaac confirmed. "Also looks like the aliens came inside and took some of them out, judging by the tracks," said Isaac as he looked around.

"Mr. Clarke, get out of there! You're in grave danger! Don't go anywhere near those eggs! Head back out the way you came!" said Dr. Kyne. Isaac looked around.

"But what about the SOS beacon?" Isaac asked.

"Get out of there first, then we'll think of something else!" said Hammond.

"He's . . . oh my god . . ." said Kendra. They all froze at that.

"What? What is it?" Isaac asked.

"Isaac, they're coming into the Mining Bay! Dozens of them!" Kendra exclaimed frantically.

"Oh, fuck!" Isaac said as he looked around.

"Isaac, get the hell out of there!" Hammond yelled.

"They're already entering the asteroid! Isaac, find another way out, quick!" said Kendra. Isaac turned and ran back the way he came. He came back to the fork, heard screeches, and went the other way. He ran as fast as he could in the odd gravity. He rounded a bend, and was shocked when he saw metal and straight lines. Isaac didn't have time to think on this, dashed forward to the door. There was no hologram, but there was a handle. Isaac pulled it out and twisted. The door hissed, opened as it slid out and to the side in an ancient, dusty track. Isaac dashed inside as the door closed behind him. He turned and shined his light around.

Judging by the layers of dust, nobody had been inside in a very long time. Tables and gear was left where it had been scattered, how long ago Isaac couldn't even begin to guess. It was clearly from a much older generation of technology. He didn't see any holographic emitters of any sort, and the doors all seemed manual. A good thing for him, since the module likely had not been powered longer than he had been alive. Isaac heard a thump behind him, hurried into the module. He saw only scattered manual tools, looking very much like surgical ones, but nothing of use, or that might tell him how old it was. As he moved forward, he saw bootprints in the dust. They looked recent. His head followed the marks to another door. Isaac held his flamethrower as he opened the door. It hissed open and into another stony tunnel. This one, though, had nothing organic in it. Isaac glanced around, followed the tunnel and path. Isaac rounded a corner, and was surprised when he saw obvious acid burns in the rock. He carefully approached, and found several dead Xenomorphs floating, and the body of a miner from the Ishimura. The man had taken out at least five aliens. Isaac saw the weapon was still in his hands. A Contact Beam. He walked over, and saw they likely had killed him when he had been reloading. Isaac took the heavy tool, and looked up. He saw a hole in the roof, not yet big enough for a man to get through. He checked the Contact Beam, and reloaded it.

"Thanks," he said to the dead miner, before aiming it at the ceiling, standing back, charging up, and letting it fire. The roof of the tunnel exploded in a shower of fire and rocks. Isaac disengaged his mag-boots and flew out of the rock. Sure enough, there were several Xenomorphs crawling across the rock, including three right above him. Isaac had no time, charged up the Contact Beam again, aimed and fired. Even Isaac was surprised at the result. The Xenomorph exploded in a violent explosion of body parts and acid blood in all directions. Isaac barely dodged out of the way, but felt a few small drops hiss as they contacted his armor. Thankfully, only enough to pit it. The other Xenos seemed shocked as well. He jetted away, aimed and charged again, and they bolted. Isaac was surprised, but guessed they had at least some sense of survival. He aimed again, and was shocked when something hit him hard enough to throw his aim off, the blast blowing apart part of the rock. He looked, and was shocked when one of the Xenos was on a wall, grabbing and hurling anything it could grab at him. He growled. Kyne was right, they were smart. Isaac aimed the Contact Beam, but didn't charge it up yet. The Xenos again scattered. He switched the function, and instead fired a constant beam. While less powerful, it was still deadly, as the aliens found out. It cut one in half, and severed the tail of another.

"Isaac! I've been able to find out what's causing the problem. The launch tubes are obstructed from the outside. Launch tubes Three and Four should be right above you, outside the ship. Clear them, and you can launch the beacon!" said Hammond. Isaac glanced over his shoulder, out past the magnetic field that held in the atmosphere of the bay and led out into space.

"Got it!" said Isaac as he turned and charged out with his jets. His RIG alerted him as he entered vacuum, and he turned up and could see the two launch tubes. Even from a distance, Isaac could see the problem.

One tube had obviously been welded shut with whatever the miners could manage. The other, though, was encrusted with the alien resin. Now he understood why they sealed them off. Isaac flew to the welded one, flipped out his ion torch, and began to cut. In the silence of the vacuum, he felt more nervous, glanced around, and could see several dark shapes crawling on the side of the Ishimura. He worked fast, pulling off pieces and hurling them away as they came free. It took him a bit, but he finally freed the last. "There. Tube Four's clear! I'll head in and launch the beacon!" said Isaac.

"Mr. Clarke, hurry! I think they sensed you near the eggs, and are reacting aggressively as a result!" Dr. Kyne warned.

"Yeah! They're like a bunch of pissed off hornets! Get your ass inside and launch that beacon ASAP!" said Hammond. Isaac flew inside, looked around, and saw the control room. With the whole deck crawling with aliens, heading back normally was risky. Isaac looked at the window, charged up the Contact Beam, and fired it at the window. The window exploded, Isaac flying in and loading the beacon into the launch tube chamber and pressing the hologram.

"Launch Tube Four payload launched," the computer confirmed.

"Great! Now, get back to the tram!" said Kendra.

"Wait! That rock . . . if there's alien eggs inside, then we need to destroy it," said Isaac.

"Yes, that would be the best course of action," said Kyne.

"What?! Are you crazy?! The whole deck is crawling with those things, and they're out for your blood now! Not to mention you'd blow off the bottom of the ship in the process!" Kendra yelled.

"I think there's enough explosives in the Mining Deck to load it up, launch it and then blow it," said Isaac.

"Isaac, they're swarming the deck, and more are pouring in every second! I can see them! Get out of there now!" Kendra growled. Isaac could hear the angry screeches, knew Kendra was right.

Isaac flew out again, saw at least seven aliens crawling up the walls. He looked at the Contact Beam. He had one charge left. He switched to beam mode, aimed, saw them stop, and fired. He cut two in half in one blaze, swept it down and made two more jump away. He cut the leg off of one more, and the last was too slow, and lost its head, the shiny, curved cranium tumbling away as the body twitched and jerked. The Contact Beam at last ran out of charge. Isaac kept it in front of him, held like a shield as he boosted though the floating asteroid field of acid. The Contact Beam began to dissolve, but held long enough for Isaac to fly down, land and hurry through the door. Once through, Isaac hurried back the way he came, back towards the elevator that would take him back to the tram. Isaac kept the flamethrower ready and primed, as he was certain there would be Xenomorphs prowling the halls for him. He had no idea how right he was.

No less then three waited for him just before the elevator. Isaac blasted a fire wall at them, which sent them screeching and scurrying back into the vents for now. Isaac ran to the elevator, closed the door, and hit the hologram for the Preparation Deck at the top. Isaac sighed and checked his fuel level.

"Guys, I'm heading back up to the tram," Isaac sighed, wiping some slime and whatever else had adhered to his RIG. Kendra's face appeared in a video window.

"Thank god. The beacon's out and broadcasting. I'm aligning the-wait, what?" said Kendra as she typed. "'Array receiver not responding'? What the hell?" Isaac felt ice in his stomach.

"Oh, shit. We forgot about the Comms Array. We never fixed it. Guess it wasn't a broken encoder," said Isaac.

"No. I did that," said Kyne, surprising them. "I didn't want to allow anyone to come and suffer the same fate. But, I was too late, it seems." They were shocked. Kendra sighed heavily.

"Let's hope that 'forty-eight hours' estimate was wrong, too. Okay, you take the tram back to the Bridge, and I'll open the door to Comms, then we-" Kendra's video filled with static and cut out.

"Kendra? You there? Kyne? Hammond" Isaac asked. No one answered. He hoped they were okay. Given what Kendra said about the Comms Array, he hoped it was related to that. He made his way back to the tram, thankfully without any further encounters. He boarded the tram, his mind burning with questions as he was finally able to sit down and rest his weary body for once.

Author's note: Supervisor Dallas is in no way related to Arthur Dallas, captain of the Nostromo. His name was likely a nod to Alien by the Dead Space writers. Funny how it now comes full circle . . .

And I want to also give a big shout out to Pyrofox117, who gave me the idea of the Xenomorphs getting onto the Ishimura from eggs found in Hive tunnels in the chunks from the planet crack.