I do not own the Aliens Franchise.
I do own a digital copy of the movie.
Alien Evolution
Of Mice and Men
There's seven now, downed soldiers left crumpled in the corridor behind.
Probably not a good idea, Xenos'll just morph with them, create more hybrids.
But this is the desperation hour.
They're too heavy to haul, would probably cause holdup upon reviving.
And the rest of them are not planning on staying around to find out.
Because there's no time.
"I thought we had orders from the Colonel."
Motion tracker beeping like a metronome.
For now.
Seems to set the measured, decided tone of the entire conversation.
"Uh, sir."
Beep.
And Ellen watches Hicks take a deep, decisive breath.
Beep.
"Alright, listen up. You can stay here and die from those things or you get the hell out of here with us. It's your choice. We've got civilian cargo. We're leaving."
Beep.
Civilian cargo.
Beep.
Ellen squeezes her daughter closer, feels Newt squeeze back.
Beep.
Dwayne is taking the smart tactic.
Beep.
Only pertinent information.
Beep.
Nothing else these strangers need to know.
Beep.
"What about the station?"
Beep.
"Station's a loss. We gotta cut and run."
Beep.
"Or we die here."
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
"I'm coming with you."
"Me too."
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
"Fuck this shit. I'm coming too."
They're on the move again.
Ellen still carrying Newt and the child weight is heavy, slowing her down but she's grateful for it because it means the child is alive.
Hicks is next to her, if she had time to stop and think, she'd love him even more than she already does for the worry and concern and relief pouring out of him at the return of their daughter.
The worry and concern and relief he doesn't have time to show because they're definitely being pursued, whether or not they can see their pursuers, whether or not the motion tracker's picking up what's ahead of them, Ellen has no doubt there's something or more than one something's behind them.
Xenomorphs, creature mutations.
Transformed humans.
Her panic's growing, it's even worse now she's found her daughter and Xenomorphs aren't the worst thing on this spacestation if people would do this to a helpless little girl-
But her anger is growing too, her rage.
She's ready to rip apart this whole station, blow every Xenomorph in her path straight to hell, along with Garrett Stevens, Floyd Schnorr, and anybody else stupid enough to stand in the way of her and her daughter's freedom out of this hellhole.
"Up ahead. Cave-in. We'll have to find an alternate route."
And they keep going, they have to keep going-
"There's something we haven't thought of yet."
The non-Bishop has spoken.
Looking furtively at Ellen before he does.
As if he knows his mere presence alone is unwelcome.
Much less the sound of his voice.
Hicks no doubt aware of the unspoken animosity sizzling in Ellen, doesn't address it in any way, he trusts her and they've got bigger fish to fry at the moment.
"Yeah? What's that?"
Instead focusing on the motion tracker, the corridor ahead.
And Bishop dares to speak again.
The syn- artificial person- who stun-blasted soldiers to protect Newt.
"What's to stop The Company from reopening this place after we leave? Release the Xenomorphs? Restart the research?"
Ellen sees Hicks flash his lopsided smile, pulling on the scars on the ruined side of his face.
Even as his eyes continue to scan the corridor for unfriendlies as they keep moving, have to keep moving.
"Who said we're leaving it?"
The non-Bishop watches him closely.
And Hicks reveals the plan he and Ellen manufactured while they waited to be voluntarily kidnapped by Weyland-Yutani.
"We're blowing this place to hell on our way out. Mainframe and power station controls just up ahead. We set the countdown, blow the bridge, take the loading dock and shove off. It's the only way to be sure."
And finally, a synthetic half-smile.
"I guess you have thought of everything."
Hicks passes a glance to Ellen.
Newt.
The motion tracker.
The corridor ahead.
"For what it's worth."
"Alright, we have to make this quick. Those Xenos'll be crawling up our ass any minute."
Mainframe.
Station Controls.
The company's halted, what's left of it anyway.
And they have to go, they have to get out of here.
But first . . .
"I'll do it."
. . . there's sabotage to be done.
"I know this system."
But someone else . . .
"I was born here."
. . . has a slightly alternated plan.
And Ellen Ripley doesn't trust so easily.
"Hang on, we don't know we can trust you with this."
Hicks glances her way but says nothing.
The synethic speaks.
"There's one simple fact that proves you can, Lieutenant Ripley."
And she barely holds back a huff.
"What's that?"
The non-Bishop smiles thinly.
"Only the three of us know what we need to do that room."
Almost.
"And of the three of us, . . ."
The next words he speaks are without self-pity or dramatic martyrdom.
Without manipulative agenda or bitter resentment.
He's simply stating facts.
". . . I'm the only one . . ."
And they're completely, absolutely, irrevocably true.
". . . that's expendable."
This strikes Ellen and she feels almost guilty for her harsh treatment of him.
If his story is actually true, he's just as much of a pawn as they are.
Used by Wey-Yu for their own purposes, discarded and dispatched when their usefulness is over.
The only reason she hates him so much is because he's a trigger for her trauma, her loss of the 'real' Bishop, her failure to save him after he saved the child that was going to become her daughter.
Saved Ellen herself.
Dwayne.
And that's no reason . . .
"What's your name, the one they gave you when you were made?"
"James."
. . . hate anyone.
Hicks steps up, they have to keep moving.
Addresses the humanoid.
"Keep comms open. Channel 3. Rendezvous at the bridge."
"Copy that."
The best laid plans of mice and men.
Yeah.
Anyway, thanks to RedHood001 for so graciously reviewing the previous chapter.
Speaking of which, we had an exchange that brought to light something I may not have brought across clearly in the story.
The reason these military side characters are being kept at bay instead of getting to know them better like we did with Apone and Hudson and Vasquez and Gorman is because 1) I didn't want to just recycle a stand-out character like Hudson for the sake of familiarity and comic relief, I mean, honestly, how often does a dude like that come along (and as teacher who likes to inspire my students and keep up the enthusiasm ((a little more gently, they are just fourth graders)), I just adore Apone but that's another rant) and 2) Ellen doesn't want to have anything to do with them, she doesn't trust them, especially with everything that's going on and the way this has gone down. There's a purposeful disconnect between her and everything Wey-Yu, not just chess pieces serving the purpose of the story.
It's her and Hicks and Newt.
Nobody else gets to matter or be human to her (except horror when they get torn apart) because she's hyper-focused, cutting that part of herself off from everyone but her family she's trying to get back.
And that's another reason why non-Bishop is scratching at her nerves so much.
He's been put there as a distraction, through no fault of his own, from her focus, he's been put there to confuse her, disorient her.
Poor guy. He didn't even do anything.
That we know of.
He was just created.
So, yeah.
Anyway, that's the end of my exposition.
Feel welcome to express your own opinion of this (and any other part of the story) if you like.
:)