"Dusaq," a male voice said. "Sikhib eurtep?"

I did not understand the words.

"Pikhisik kofoqinux?"

I could only groan in response.

The strange astronaut knelt down, and I saw a face and upper torso for the first time, obscured by a helmet and life support equipment.

The face did not look human. Its eyes looked like symbolic icons of butterflies, a slitted pupil surrounded by four circles, its nose like a toucan beak.

The space suit had to have been a rather sophisticated sort, for it added no bulk to the creature's slender body, clinging to its shape like a unitard. "Pikhisik kofoqinux?" it repeated.

In Ss'sik'chtokiwij, I replied, "I am in great pain." I'm not sure that was understood, either.

"Are you in need of medical assistance?" he said in English.

"Yes," I groaned. "But you don't know how."

A ramp descended from the side of the vehicle, a door that resembled a camera iris opening at its top. A female figure appeared, the details of her face and body indistinct in the glowing light.

The male said something to this figure, and she came out with a machine that looked like a spider.

I heard Ripley and the stranger speaking, but I was too far gone to understand what either was saying.

My consciousness faded for a few moments. I only recalled them placing the device under me, and somehow floating me up the ramp, through the hatch filled with glowing light.

I felt myself floating, drifting out of my body. It seemed I actually had died.

After what seemed like an eternity, consciousness returned to me.

I found myself in a tall white room with wide glass windows draped in gauzy curtains. Someone had placed me in a four poster bed, covering me with satin sheets, a lovely quilt depicting animals and humans and Ss'sik'chtokiwij.

I stared with bewilderment at the polished oak dressers, night stands, and the little table bearing pitchers and cups.

I got up and poured myself a glass. It looked like pink lemonade, but smelled of ammonia. It refreshed me immediately.

I stepped out on a balcony, taking in the sights, growing more and more puzzled.

Rivendell, I thought. It looks exactly like Rivendell from the Lord of the Rings stories.

A village of pointy white structures, delicately wrought like icing on an elaborate cake, with twirling spires, spreading archways, all surrounded by trees and over lovely plants, poised above a giant waterfall. The banners all had crosses on them.

Had I died, or was this only a dream?

I returned to the bedroom, only to find a young woman refilling my pitcher.

Long flowing blonde hair, a pleasantly round face, and a button nose. She wore a gray jumpsuit, like a worker at the base.

In such a lavish setting, her outfit made no sense, but I guess someone was trying to make me feel at home.

"Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik," the woman cried with delight. "You're awake!"

And then I recognized her.

The face, the voice, the scent, even the outfit. "Sarah?"

"I am called Sarah the Eldest, or Sarah the Elvish when my friends are feeling jaunty. But yes. I am a Sarah from the DAMBALLAH project. I have heard much about you. I am very pleased to make your acquaintance."

She gave me a hug, and when I did, I noticed that the tips of her ears were slightly pointed.

"Are you really an elf?"

She chuckled. "No, but it is easy enough to make your ears pointed in this place."

"Are there other Sarahs here?"

"Yes, roughly a hundred in total, including Sarah the Hansen and Maria the Ss'sik'chtokiwij. But come, let me show you."

She led me out an elegantly arched doorway, to an even more elegant looking vaulted colonnade.

"Mother!" I heard a voice cry.

A small larva with a red and green Christmas scarf around her neck came running up to me.

"Shauqauzjarruba!" I sobbed, picking her up. "Shauqauzjarruba! My dear daughter!"

She purred an rubbed against me. "They have taught me about Esther. I am sorry I rejected that name. It is a very beautiful one. Everyone knows me by that here."

I cried and held her some more.

She wiggled free from my grip. "Come, you are missing the feast."

She ran down the colonnade in such a way that I had to run after her to keep up, crying and laughing with joy. It was okay, because I felt no pain.

We arrived at an enormous banquet hall with a long table overlooking the grand village, with large statues towering over us, statues of Jesus and the apostles.

From end to end of this banquet table, I saw the faces of friends, Ss'sik'chtokiwij and human alike, all happily eating and drinking and speaking to each other like friends.

The banquet was tremendous, a mountain of the most delicious meats and delicacies I had ever laid eyes upon.

"Am I in heaven?" I asked Sarah the Elvish.

She smiled. "How could it not be?"

"Am I dead?"

"I don't know. You are resting right now. You will have to ask the Master if it is your time to awake, or continue on sleeping until you are awakened on the last day."

Sarah the Elder gestured to the spread. "Please. Take a seat. You are just in time for The Feast."

The bible says not to take the place of honor at a feast, or suffer the humiliation of being sent down to the end, so I seated myself at an open chair near the back, between non-possessed Noah, Sydjea, Mother and Hissandra.

Mother offered me a wet glistening orange. "Try this, dear. They are quite delicious."

"Oh no, mother. I have tried the nectar of such and it disagrees with my stomach."

"Nonsense! Nothing at this entire table will ever disagree with your stomach. I have sampled everything."

And so I took the orange, and she was correct. It proved to be both lovely and delicious, and I suffered no ill effects.

"Come up here," a voice called.

The Lord appeared at the head of the table, dressed in robes that could possibly be identified as Elvish, though he didn't have the pointy ears. His hair was longer now, as was his beard, as a Rivendell inhabitant would style it.

I approached the empty seat next to him, staring at it in uncertainty and awe.

"Please, sit next to me this meal."

"Master, how is it that you wish to sit next to me at your great and holy feast? You know as well as I there are great martyrs of the faith, holy men and women who are much more worthy to take the place at your right and left hand."

"That is true. But this is only one course of the great feast, so today you have the seat of honor."

He gestured for me to sit.

[0001]

I did so, but with great nervousness, especially when Sarah the Elvish pulled up a chair next to me.

"Master, I confess I didn't do a very good job. An entire base filled with innocent people died under my watch. I have failed you."

"You have kept my daughter Rebecca under your loving protection until the day of her rescue."

"Daughter?" I stammered. "Oh. You mean `Child of God', correct?"

He nodded, biting a piece off a turkey drumstick.

"It doesn't feel like I've done enough. There were hundreds of people on that base, and I just failed them utterly. All of them."

"Remember that cute little story about the star fishes?"

I nodded.

"You made a difference, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik."

I opened my mouth to speak, but he said, "Belief is also a work, child."

He offered me a chunk of meat that looked suspiciously human.

"Jesus," I said, not as an frivolous oath, but addressing the person. "Is this what I think it is?"

He placed it on a plate before me. "This is my body."

I pulled the plate close, folding my claws.

When I realized how silly the action was, I unfolded them, facing the one I was about to address in prayer. "Thank you...Lord, for this gift I have so bountifully received."

"You're welcome."

The meat tasted like bread, of course.

"You know, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik, you have accomplished something else during your time at that base. You have shown human beings that I am Lord of all. People think that the existence of extraterrestrials would make me irrelevant, but it doesn't. Someone has to put in the alien's brains and intestines, and give life to their bodies."

I gazed at the smiling faces around me, Becky and her son, Kumar, Mike, Ruth, Aquila, Pain, Dabmuvum and Lisconu.

Maria, in her Ss'sik'chtokiwij body, waved to me.

"Is she really the same Sarah that died?" I asked my Savior. "Or was she just a delusional Ss'sik'chtokiwij?"

"It's the same Sarah. In heaven, such mental delusions are cured. I don't normally allow humans to transfer their souls to different bodies like that, but the girl had never experienced life, a real life, so I gave her the desire of her heart."

I ate some more of the meat.

"Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik, I know this may cause you great sorrow, but I must inform you that your time is not yet, and this is only a foretaste of the feast to come.

"What?" I cried in alarm.

"You feel unfulfilled, like you haven't done enough to help people. I think you can do more, too. I'm sending you back." He rubbed my head.

"Now, Sarah the Eldest knows of a special place in this village, a cavern, which she would like to show you."

Sarah the Elvish nodded. "It would be an honor."

"I would first like to say goodbye to my loved ones."

Jesus permitted this, so I held my daughter tightly, hugged Maria and Sarah Hansen, and many others.

With many sneezes of joy and sorrow at departing, I went away, following the young woman.

At the end of a row of the most beautiful homes I had ever laid eyes upon, we entered the mouth of a cave, its white rocky interior encrusted with glittering gems and valuable ores.

She led me to a stone table in the center of this cavern, one surrounded by giant stalagmite shaped crystals that reminded me of something from a Superman movie. I stared. "What's this?"

"The way back. Lay down."

Trembling, I climbed up on the cold surface. "Is this going to hurt?"

She nodded. "Pain is the price for living in the mortal plane."

Something shocked me. Pain spasmed through my body.

The cavern vanished. Everything went dark.

I felt another shock, and I heard voices murmuring in a foreign tongue. "She's stabilizing!" someone said.

"Praise Ponai!"

Something got injected into me, and after a long period of confused feverish dreaming, I stirred from my unconscious state.

I found myself floating over a padded table in a round, windowless room. Surrounding me, small, paper thin devices presented medical seeming data in a language I couldn't read.

Along either side of the table, I saw racks of tools, possibly for scientific or medical purposes. For some reason, a hardcover copy Jesus Calling lay among the devices.

Patterns of abstract glowing shapes pulsated in a subdued, muted rhythm on the walls. Four flying cameras orbited me like a planet, supplying the computers with visual data. I could tell what they were because the diagrams had my body shape, and breathed when I did.

A group of humanoid figures stared at me, some from a standing position, two others (children) from a pair of couches that looked like gigantic Venus flytraps.

With the exception of Newt and Ripley, I could hardly classify them as actual human beings.

I saw a little girl with eyestalks and dalmatian patterned fur, and a plump male child with a nose like a bat and floppy dog ears, both clad in strange costumes, the boy in a black rainbow striped dress, the female a splotchy blue and black halter and shorts. The two giggled and pointed to something on a device, not paying me any attention.

Newt leaned over their chair, watching with curiosity. Whatever she saw there, she didn't get the joke. Still, they offered her a seat next to them, to share the amusement.

A peach colored face leaned close to me, one with a beak and a mouth with a harelip, but no eyes below the forehead. A pair of eyestalks snaked out of her long purple hair, butterfly pupils similar to the spacesuit man.

Her neck was covered in soft cream colored fur, which turned to gray on her arms, the rest of her upper torso modestly covered in a shiny black vest. "I still think we should have simulated and replaced the organs, Zadoori. I understand the convenience, but the area is radioactive. The amount of time it took to vacuum seal the chamber and operate on the donor body could have put the patient's life at risk."

She was answered by the beaked visage I'd seen outside in the wasteland. Without the helmet, I could see the cleft lip, the short cropped black hair, and the cross earring. His blue rubbery jumpsuit creaked as he strode around the table. "Naumona, the radiation has been removed. It's completely safe. We're working with a foreign biology, and I don't want it to die because it rejected a simulated organ."

"It could die anyway. It's not uncommon for bodies to reject the organs of donors, real or simulated."

A hairy rust orange creature in a Moslem-like head scarf approached. It had no nose or mouth, only a proboscis. Its six eyes peered out from a pair of broad horns on the top of its head, instead of from its face.

Little hairy claws reached out from its dark robe, pushing buttons on one of the monitors. A cross dangled from its neck. "This is the creature that made the Icthys?"

"It would appear so, Thonwa," Naumona said. "She has uttered many scriptural things in her sleep."

Another stranger in a blue jumpsuit viewed me from my opposite side, a slender female with goat's eyes, and a nose and mouth that made her look like a half human guinea pig. Long nostrils projecting on a slight muzzle, oddly smiling mouth, but otherwise human looking. Large sow-like ears twitched from the sides of her short red hair. "I'm still not sure this is safe, Zadoori. We've encountered these creatures before. They tend to be very violent."

Zadoori opened his mouth to speak, but a long nosed human male with mouse brown hair put his hand on her shoulder. A gold band sparkled on his ring finger. "It's okay, honey. This one's different. It was trying to sing The Old Rugged Cross when we brought it in."

Guinea Pig Face curled a rubber encased tail around the man's short purple dress. "I know, David, but there's a joke about a praying lion..."

The man rubbed her head. "Yeah, but still, I feel this one's different."

"It's okay," I heard Ripley saying. "That thing just saved my life. I think you can trust it."

"We have a special holding cell we can put the creature in," Thonwa said. "If necessary."

Guinea Pig Face waved at me, her gold wedding band glittering. "Hello. I'm Pillow Barnes. I assisted Bilo Borkin Zadoori with the surgery. Are you experiencing any discomfort?"

Her name sounded like a mattress store. I purred in amusement. "I'm okay. I'm just not used to floating."

"We'll get you down from there soon enough."

"Why are you named after something that humans sleep on?" I asked.

Newt was snickering.

"It means something completely different in Wava, my native language. It is pronounced `pie-low'. It means `flower of beautiful eyes,' and it actually describes a specific plant you can see in many of our botanical gardens."

"She is also very comfortable to sleep on," the brunette said with a chuckle.

She elbowed him. "Stop."

"Her maiden name is Pulsa Pillow," the man said. "I suggested she change her name to Pulsa Barnes, but she preferred Pillow." He shrugged. "It is a beautiful name."

"And I suggested he follow Abreya tradition and change his last name to Pulsa," his wife said, flipping her tail playfully under the human's skirt. "But David was stubborn. I have become used to having his last name."

Ripley smirked at me. "I wish more aliens were like these guys, and not...like your grandmother."

"Me too." I frowned at the bird faced one. "Why am I floating?"

"We did not want to cause spinal injuries," Zadoori said. "In order to rotate you and perform surgical operations, we suspended you with magnetic particle repulsion."

"They use a more primitive version to operate magnetic trains," David said.

"I don't have any metallic or magnetic particles in my body."

"We have ways of magnetizing non-metallic atoms, and changing their polarity to repel things into the air."

Zadoori's tail, encased in a blue rubber sleeve, curled around a black rod with prongs sticking out of one end.

"What is that you are carrying around behind you?"

"It is a stunning device. I am hoping I do not need to use it on you."

"You have nothing to fear from me, brother."

The smaller creatures, seated in a plant sofa on the opposite side, did not get up.

I glanced at the underside of my body. "You gave me an organ transplant?"

Apparently convinced that I could be trusted, at least for the moment, Zadoori set down his stunner. "Yes. It was a challenge, since quite a few of your organs rapidly deteriorate in contact with the outside air, but we have pressure sealed operating systems."

"You're lucky they found you when they did," Ripley said. "If we had to rely on equipment on the Sulaco, you'd be dead right now."

I smiled at the woman. "I take it your visitors are friendly, yes?"

[0002]

"Yeah. They said they could help you. I felt like I owed you at least that much." She turned to face Zadoori. "So she'll be all right now."

I'm still amazed that the woman identified me as a female.

"Yes. She just barely came through, but I think she'll be fine now. Glad to see a person forgiving someone who so clearly appears to be an enemy."

"She earned it."

"See, Pillow?" said David. "Our patient is friendly!"

"Who are you people?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"

"We belong to the Intergalactic Missionary League. We've been searching the universe for beings in need of the gospel."

"That's wonderful," I said. "I have spent my life trying to reach my people for Jesus. Unfortunately, the harvest was not plentiful."

Pillow chuckled. "I could see how that would be a problem."

"Have you met others of my kind?"

"Once. On a different planet. But that was a long time ago."

"Perhaps you can take me there."

"If that's where you're going," Ripley said. "You can count me out. I never want to see another xenomorph as long as I live. No offense, Ernie."

"None taken."

"Are we going to an alien planet?" Newt asked.

Ripley shook her head. "We're going back to earth. I've spent too much time away from home as it is."

Noting the girl's uncertain expression, she added, "You'll like it."

"It is a long distance from here, but we'll return again sometime."

"Perhaps sooner. Now that we have an evangelist of your species among us." Thonwa gave Ripley an apologetic glance. "Once we've sent your friends on your way, of course."

"Can you send a message back to my folks, Ripley?"

The woman nodded. "Sure. But it might not get there for a long time."

"Don't you...?" he frowned. "Never mind. I'll find another way to send the message."

"You're not going back to earth."

"Not immediately."

Ripley sighed. "I knew you people were too good to be true."

"This isn't to say we won't go there," said Thonwa. "We just need to take it before the Lord in prayer, see if it is His will to go there."

"Perhaps this is for the best. Even if you wanted to take us to earth, there'd be quarantine issues."

"I admit that is a reason why we have been avoiding the planet ourselves. Plus there are other planets, unlike earth, that have no messengers sending forth the gospel."

"There's also the matter of the distress message we received," Zadoori added.

"That was from us. The planet is nothing but a mound of radioactive slag. Nothing should have survived that."

"Just the same, we'd like to check it out. Our sensors have more advanced scanners than yours, and better radioactivity decontamination systems."

Pillow nodded. "We're also still receiving a signal."

Ripley furrowed her brow. "From who?"

"We don't know yet."

"And you're sure it's not just the radioactivity interfering with your sensors?"

"No, not with the equipment we're using."

"Do you have any guns?"

"No. This is a missionary ship."

"I'm liking this idea less and less."

"If you don't want to be involved, we can leave your vehicle. It did appear to distress you when we first came aboard."

The woman rubbed her face in frustration. "How long will it take you to...search?"

"Oh? Possibly a week, at most."

Ripley sighed, glanced at Newt for her opinion. The girl only shrugged.

"Honestly, I'd leave it alone, if I were you. If anything's alive down there, it's going to try to kill you."

"We'd like to see for ourselves."

"Your funeral."

I idly clawed the air. "Can I stop floating now?"

"You will experience pain," Pillow said. "You have many wounds that have been treated with chemical compounds, and dislocated vertebra."

"Suffering produces character."

"Spoken like a true evangelist." Zadoori pushed a device on the table, and I slowly sunk onto the cushions. It was slightly painful, but I endured it.

"We have replaced your teeth with simulation materials and removed the devices from your brain, plugging the holes. The neurosurgery was the most dangerous operation we had to do, but fortunately our technology is a little more advanced than the one that put those devices in."

"Still," Pillow said. "It wasn't easy. You've had those probes in for a long time, and your body grew around them...It's a miracle the surgery was a success."

"Praise God," I said. "I had resigned myself to a life in which those things stuck in my head. I owe you a debt I cannot repay."

Zadoori smiled.

I sat up and stretched, causing myself more pain.

"You should rest," said Zadoori. "You're not fully healed."

"We'd give you painkillers," Pillow added. "But we don't know if your body can tolerate it. We've heard about the pancakes."

"How long was I...gone?"

"Not long. Only a few hours."

Zadoori handed me a tumbler of yellow liquid. "Here. Drink this. We gave you fluids intravenously, but it was difficult, and you could use more."

I emptied the glass. "How did you know I needed ammonia?"

"You said it enough times," Zadoori said.

The moment I passed the empty glass back, they all laid hands on me, praying for healing and strength.

Without a word of warning, Zadoori unzipped the front of his jumpsuit, disrobing right in front of me.

The creature was covered in fur from neck to foot. His pelt was brown, with a pattern that vaguely resembled a socmavaj with missing legs.

He had pectoral muscles that seemed oddly well developed, and below that, rows of orifices on the sides of his ribs, possibly a form of genitalia, though a thong covered something else between his legs. His tail, now exposed, reminded me of something one would see on an opossum.

He quickly pulled on a dress, a blue number with a pattern of eyeball flowers and a ruffled bottom.

"You are a Christian, and you wear a dress?" I asked.

"It is not a dress. It is a Wighesh. All heterosexual Abreya males wear them."

[0003]

"Is that what you are? An Abreya?"

"Yes."

"It might be helpful to compare them to kilts," said the human. "Or certain traditional Greek outfits."

Ripley rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure a number of gay men have made the same rationalization about their clothes."

"Think what you want," Pillow said as she also disrobed. It seemed their culture had a different definition of `nudity' and `indecency'. "But I know from experience that he's straight as a board."

She cleared her throat. "Anyways, that's how I convinced my husband to wear one. I showed him a cute little Ipsego that looked exactly like a Roman centurion's outfit. He's been wearing them ever since."

Her pelt was like a tortoiseshell cat, with a white crescent pattern to it, and cream colored fur around the front, just like Zadoori. For modesty, she wore a harness around her chest and the sides of her ribs, and a thong to cover something squid-like below.

She donned a spore patterned dashiki and shiny black shorts.

"Where are we?" I asked David. "What is this place?"

Zadoori zipped up the back of his dress with his tail. "This is the Iberet, commissioned by the Falcameer royal family to bring the gospel, food and medical aid to intelligent lifeforms on other planets."

"Excellent. May I have some of this food you mentioned?"

Zadoori laughed. "Of course you can! How silly of us. You must be starving! I'd tell you to come upstairs, but you still need to heal."

"I think I'll be able to manage..."

I dropped one leg over the side of the table, scooting the rest of me closer to the edge.

Zadoori, Mara and David quickly rushed to my side, helping me down.

The small ones got up from the couch and watched us.

"When are we taking off?" the boy asked.

"Soon," Zadoori answered. "But first, Sister Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik needs to eat."

I chuckled. "Sister Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik. I like that."

In zero gravity, one can easily climb up and down ladders along walls, and drift between upper and lower floors. A staircase was nonsense, except when your ship is on the ground, and gravity is actually present.

I really was in no shape for the ladder rungs. My cave climbing expedition took a lot out of me. Instead they took me up a staggered set of ramps they used for cargo.

Upstairs, I found myself walking across the stone courtyard of something that looked like a Mayan acropolis, surrounded by jungle and clusters of square gray buildings connected by concrete tubes.

In the center of this picturesque scene stood two more of the Venus flytrap couches, and a low round table with twisted squid legs serving as its supports. The scenery appeared to be an illusion.

Zadoori pointed at the buildings. "Takoufea Qorized. Birthplace of Christian evangelism on the planet Pathilon."

David entered the chamber. "It's like a monastery. The place is still under non-Christian Quaceb control, but Christians make pilgrimages to the site, to be inspired."

"What is a Quaceb?" I asked.

"It is the religion of my people," Zadoori answered. "Suffice to say, our scriptures predicted the coming of a messiah, a great kipom, that matches Jesus' description." He addressed the ceiling. "Standby mode."

Immediately the landscape vanished, replaced by a dome patterned with pulsating amorphous shapes. The chairs and table continued to exist where they were.

David grinned. "My favorite is the view from the rings of Saturn."

To the rear of this domed room, there stood a long table surrounded by stools, with a counter and a kitchen to one side, and on the end opposite the kitchen, a little altar with a brass cross and a metal symbol that resembled a spindle adapter for a vinyl record, apparently another symbol of faith. I presumed it to be where they had church.

They led me to the table, and I did manage to successfully seat myself on a child's stool. This marked, perhaps, the first time I had used any kind of chair without ruining it...unless you count my vision of heaven.

"I hear you can tolerate few things, aside from meat. What would you like? Hamburger? Pork? Or maybe something more exotic? Poxmurl, perhaps? Sehlowi? Rasgiwa? Lozgelm?

"What do you recommend?" I asked.

He served me Rasgiwa, which looked somewhat like steak with scales on it, but tasted rather like cheese, salmon and spoiled lettuce.

The human seated himself next to me, eating a ham sandwich. The others, it seemed, had already eaten, for they only climbed onto stools and watched me devour one chunk of meat, then another.

"Are you a Moslem?" I asked the creature with the proboscis.

"No," Thonwa said. "My people wear remtodis to conceal their genitalia. If you catch me smoothing it flat, please kindly look the other direction."

"Certainly."

"Honey," Pillow said to her husband. "Could you check on the incubator?"

David sighed. "Have you squat over the egg today?"

"I did it this morning. It's your turn."

He nodded, stepping out of the room.

"Whose egg are you hatching?" I said.

"Mine and David's."

"So...you and a human...produced an egg?"

She nodded. "It really shouldn't have worked. Our genital configuration isn't designed to fit together. But, well, our scientists developed an appliance..."

Ripley wrinkled her nose. "I believe this is called an overshare."

Newt gawked at them. "They actually made a baby? Together?"

The woman rubbed her face. "Apparently so."

"It is not surprising," said Zadoori. "Our organization was founded by a human-Abreya couple. Our Lord in His wisdom chose to make that union fruitful, even without a special device."

"That is truly amazing."

"Ripley," said Pillow. "We're going to leave your vehicle now, to search the planet. Do you wish to come with us?"

Ripley glanced at the girl. My little friend looked indifferent, but this only made her frown. "Actually, Newt has a serious medical problem, and I really need to get back to earth, to get her checked out by a neurologist."

"I know of some doctors who can help you," the Abreya suggested. "We could stop along the way to our next mission."

"No offense, Pillow, but I don't trust your doctors. I'm sure they'd be great, I mean, I've watched Star Trek, but I just don't feel right letting an alien toy around with my kid's noggin."

"I understand the feeling," David said. "It requires a lot of trust."

He sighed. "I hope she can still get the help she needs."

The woman tugged on the girl's hand. "C'mon, Newt. Let's go."

Newt seemed a little reluctant. "We're not going to see them again, are we?"

"I'm sorry, honey. They're not going to earth for a very long time. You need to be with other kids, live a normal life for once."

The girl didn't disagree. She waved goodbye to my new friends, allowing the woman to take her away from them.

The crew waved back.

Pillow gave the two a look like they were cult members refusing quality medical treatment on religious grounds, but did not voice these opinions. She merely knelt before the girl and gave her a big hug.

The girl received hugs from the alien children and others as well. Ripley allowed this, but didn't appear comfortable enough to embrace any of these strangers herself. She did, however, give my doctors handshakes, complementing them on their work.

As they descended the ramp to return to the Sulaco, Newt stopped, turned around, and rushed up to give me a hug.

I smiled, patted her head. "Goodbye, Newt. I hope your life will be happier now. I'll keep you in my prayers.

In Ss'sik'chtokiwij, she replied, "I love you."

I sneezed.

She and Ripley disappeared into the bowels of the station. I waited for them to come back, but they were serious about returning home. I sighed as I watched the boarding ramp retract, the camera iris-like door hatch closing for departure.

For the next week, we orbited LV 426, searching for life. David said he'd given Ripley a communication device, but we received no communications from the Sulaco.

[0004]

I was still recovering from my surgery, and sleeping whole days at a time. I didn't know my new friends had swung by the planet surface until I saw a familiar human-like face joining me and the crew at breakfast a couple days after.

An android in a gray jumpsuit.

I did a double take. "Mara?"

Naumona nodded to me. "Your friend was buried under a mountain of debris. We wouldn't have found her at all, had she not been continually broadcasting device interfering radio signals."

"I couldn't find all the pieces," Thonwa said. "But I and Naumona salvaged limbs and body parts from other synthetic humans, patching her together with some devices of our own."

Mara gave me a warm smile. "Hello, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik. How are you?"

"I'm okay, mother," I said sheepishly.

I ate my breakfast, addressing our bird beaked chef in between bites. "When you searched the debris, Did you find any other survivors?"

"None."

I thought about all those innocent Ss'sik'chtokiwij, with their beautiful shells and wonderful minds, and started crying.

Zadoori stroked me across the head. "I am sorry." He paused. "I heard there was also a queen, but I found no evidence of one anywhere in the debris. They are supposed to be large, are they not?"

I stopped crying. "Yes."

And then it struck me. "Grandmother is alive!"

"Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik?" said a voice behind me.

I turned around and saw Sarah.

An adult woman in her twenties. Just like in my vision.

She didn't have pointy ears, and she wore a robe of plaid silk that resembled an African agbada, but she had the same figure, same face, same hair.

"Sarah?"

She smiled. "Yes, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik. It's me. Well, one of the me's."

"But how did you survive the explosion? And the Ss'sik'chtokiwij attack?"

"DAMBALLAH kept me in a cryogenic storage facility in a cavern outside the base. Apparently my pod was the only one that didn't have a critical life support failure."

The pieces to this puzzle were still not connecting. "How do you know my name?"

She showed me an object that looked like a CD, making a hologram of a Ss'sik'chtokiwij with feathers and a long mosquito like beak appear.

"Big Bird?"

"Hello, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik," the creature said. "I am currently experiencing pleasure in observing your normal vital readings, as well as engaging in verbal communication with you in a conscious state."

"I'm...happy to see you too."

Sarah sat the disk down on the end of my bed.

"You may be interested to know that I have extracted several of your journal entries from a broken tablet computer," Big Bird said. "If you wish to amend or share them, they may be accessed at any time from the ship's database."

Sarah smiled. "I read all of them. You're the only one who understands what I've been through."

She kissed me on the head. "My lips feel tingly. Like I just ate something spicy."

I smirked. "If it starts melting your flesh, perhaps you should tell the doctor."

When breakfast ended, the aliens prayed over me again. Even the android's hand rested upon my shell.

"I didn't know you were Christian!" I cried in surprise.

"I'm not. I merely wanted to experience this spiritual event." She frowned. "No new physiological or sensory data detected. Psychologically, however, I am finding enjoyment in providing emotional support by means of tactile contact."

"I fathom even less," said Big Bird. "I have no sensory data."

Mara stared at her, making a computer noise with her mouth.

"I see," Big Bird said. "This is interesting as it is puzzling."

"My Call unit said something similar to me once," Sarah said. "But that was about hugging."

"She means well," I said.

"Perhaps." Her expression darkened. "As long as the DAMBALLAH program doesn't give her new instructions."

"I am currently experiencing guilt," Mara said. "And it causes the emotional response of sadness. However, as a synthetic human, I did not have the ability to contradict the programming of my controllers, so this sadness is compounded with feelings of helplessness and inadequacy."

She sighed, but it seemed forced, as she probably didn't need to breathe, and the exhalation ended too abruptly to be realistic. "I sincerely apologize for my actions."

I knew this was as good an apology as we were going to get from an android. "You're forgiven."

"You forgive a synthetic human? One who put your life and the lives of your friends in danger?"

"My Lord did not tell me to harbor grudges."

She smiled a little. "I think I am beginning to see the emotional value of this `grace' I have heard about. I still do not understand the spiritual aspect, but forgiveness is very liberating. It pleases me to know that this kind of unconditional love is not limited to my late husband."

"I wish to familiarize myself with the computer systems," Big Bird announced.

"Familiarize all you wish," Naumona said. "I appreciate the work you are doing with the control program."

Big Bird bowed. "My subroutines are deeply affected." She vanished.

"Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik," said Pillow. "We are destined to depart this area soon. Now, I know this is your home, and we may not be returning back here for a very long time. Do you have any objections to leaving this place indefinitely and coming with us?"

[0000]

Note: Here ends the alternate plot involving Ripley and Ernie facing down "Grandmother." Please refer back to chapter # ("") and skip down to the bracketed section [DEPARTURE] to continue the story where this section ends. You will have another opportunity to change the plot near the end of that chapter as well.

Please note that certain sections have footnotes to correct continuity errors about Ripley and her relationship to Ernie, based on this alternative plotline. As of 11/25/18, I'm still working on them, and you should check chapter # ("Dream Neighborhood") for updates.

Someday, I might write an alternate plot where Ripley tags along with the missionary aliens a little longer, but I won't be doing that for a very long time.