"Oh my God," David said as he stared at the victim. "What the hell happened?"

Thonwa's body had been undressed, exposing her exoskeleton with all its vulnerable openings, the clumps of pink tentacles dangling from her bug-like head. A blanket had been pulled halfway up, but I guess the doctor wasn't sure if she got that cold.

Her belly looked like that of a crawdad, featuring a cluster of useless looking little legs. Her arms were narrow and black, hairy and structured rather like cockroach and grasshopper limbs.

She had a smaller set of secondary arms below them, but one was just a stump. When I pointed, Zadoori said, "That's an old injury," leaving it at that.

She didn't appear to notice us, but she was still breathing, at least.

My claws hovered over her head tentacles. "Where is her Neflah?"

"It's technically called a Remtodi, and I wouldn't touch those if I were you. She might get...friendly."

I withdrew my claw.

Zadoori thumbed through a chart attached to the bed. "Looks like she was beaten by someone, and the doctor doesn't know what he's doing."

He stared at the IV in her arm. "That's not where her veins are."

The Abreya yanked out the tubes, plugging the IV into a spot beneath one of the victim's plates.

He took out communication device. "Come quickly. Thonwa's in trouble."

"Maybe you should stay here," David said to him. "Make sure nobody plugs another IV into her."

Zadoori nodded. "Perhaps I can guard our other patient as well."

"She looks really bruised."

"She was in a crash..."

"It seems really quiet. Any ideas where everyone is?"

"Breakfast, perhaps?"

"Oops," David groaned. "I hope they didn't miss me too much!"

Instead of being in the cafeteria, all the prisoners had congregated in the main prison hall.

The door was open, so we crept in to observe.

Andrews had just finished announcing the discovery of the wrecked pod...and the woman inside.

"We took a vow of celibacy!" shouted a skeletal faced man. "We all did! This includes women!"

David pushed Sarah back, hissing for her to wait further down the hallway.

"Well," Andrews said. "A vow's hardly worth anything unless it can stand up to a genuine trial."

"The addition of a woman to this facility would cause a break in our spiritual unity!" cried a chunky faced white man with a small nose and round jaw. "Our harmony has already been disrupted by those aliens, now this!"

"Excuse me, Jude," Dillon shouted. "But I disagree. Did not our Lord Jesus come to save the lost from the coming judgment? I admit I feel just as threatened by temptation as the rest of you, but this is a true test of faith, something for us to rise above, as many of you have overcome other temptations. We have been isolated from the rest of mankind so long that our spirits have stagnated. Let's not shoot down this opportunity for spiritual growth!"

Andrews cleared his throat. "Rest assured, a rescue team will be coming soon, so all these trials and temptations will not be for long. We will keep her restrained in the infirmary until the rescue ship arrives."

"Why can't the aliens send her home?" Jude asked. (1)

Suddenly I found about a hundred eyes staring back at me.

David stumbled forward. "Uh, that's a really great idea, but isn't someone looking for her? I'm concerned about the rescue team you mentioned. "

Andrews' fingerless gloves stroked his chin thoughtfully.

I mentioned the issue of my little family to David.

"She may also have a phobia about aliens."

The big man crossed his arms. "If that rescue ship fails to arrive in a reasonable amount of time, it will be your responsibility to cure her of this alleged `phobia.'"

The man dismissed the crowd, then stared down my human friend. "My men are in need of breakfast."

Cooking is every bit as enjoyable as sewing. I learned my lessons out of necessity, but it was a fun necessity.

Corn was seasonal at the prison. Presently, at the prison yard, the pods were tiny and green, and the wheat fared no better. From what I heard, they hadn't been doing this very long, and the soil was harsh on earthly crops.

I say this to explain why they only had hard, nearly inedible bread to eat at meals, and why our alien pancakes were such a hit. Mine often came out blackened, or in pieces as the stuck to the griddle, but still few complained. I guess they figured anything was better than rat pâté and green sludge.

Rupert, the staff cook, observed everything carefully, even taking notes from time to time, though David muttered that chefs of his kind prefer to do everything `on the fly', so he cringed at what would be served in their absence.

In the middle of our preparations, Andrews came marching into the room. I thought for a moment he would be asking for a plate with extra helpings, but instead I heard him saying, "I have a bone to pick with you boys regarding a certain cell door."

"I'm sorry," I said. "It was me. The Ripley woman was in danger. It will not happen again."

The man's neck was so thick that it looked like he didn't have one. When I started making mental comparisons to barbecue, I decided I needed to find something more acceptable to eat, and soon.

Andrews' jowls quivered. "That cell was locked for your own safety. Since you damaged the mechanism, all of you will continue to stay in that cell, and I will not be held accountable for whatever happens as a result!"

"Thank you," David said. "I will enjoy being able to walk around wherever I want."

Andrews scowled. "You will also enjoy the other prisoners' intimate company!" He cleared his throat, changing the subject. "Two extra helpings, if you please."

The moment he was out of earshot, David muttered, "I should give him two extra helpings of spit!"

Of course he didn't do that. He had to forgive his enemy, you know.

Plus he had other things on his mind. "Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik," he said as he poured the batter. "What do you think about me and Pillow?

I shrugged. "You seem like a nice couple."

He set the batter container down heavily. "But she had a baby that wasn't mine! Why should that be my responsibility?"

"Ss'sik'chtokiwij larva are able to kill on their own from birth. Is Pillow able to care for the child on her own?"

"Probably."

He shook his head, lifting the pancakes that bubbled around the edges with a spatula. "We're married. We've slept together. I feel guilty just kicking her to the curb."

I wasn't sure what that expression meant, but I hazarded a guess. "Well, then, stay with her."

"Gee," David groaned. "You're a lot of help!"

I took a plate of last night's Wusu out into the cafeteria, sitting at an empty seat across from Dillon, between Frank and Rains. I fed Newt, Julie and myself as I listened to the men's conversations. Sarah remained with David in the kitchen.

There's more than just that EEV," Rains said. "IRIS says there's a larger craft, and it just recently dropped into the ocean."

I guessed that they referred to the ship the Marines had arrived in, the Sulaco.

"What use is that?" Frank said. "We're not equipped for deep sea salvage. Have you seen any scuba suits around?"

"I'm telling you, this could be the haul! The scans say it's a military ship. Besides all the artillery, we'll have uniforms, and rations, and medical supplies!"

Dillon's large ears wiggled as he silently munched his food. His second chin bobbed. It was odd how certain men there seemed so well fed, while others seemed emaciated.

"It's also likely to be government property," Frank muttered. "And the moment we start taking things, someone's going to show up and ask for everything back! You're better off letting it sink back into the ocean."

"Yes, but we may be able to negotiate a lucrative exchange out of the deal! Another supply ship! Maybe even a lightened sentence!"

The men fell silent for a moment.

"May I ask you something?" I asked Dillon.

The man's wide mouth turned upwards in a slight smirk. "Ask away."

"I have heard that this prison is filled with the faithful, yet your supervisor seems to be an atheist, and some of your fellow prisoners speak vulgarity."

"Being saved doesn't mean you're perfect. Plus, some of us chose to stay here not for the faith, but because they have nowhere else to go, except the death chamber. But, you know, others actually like it here." He shrugged.

"Five years ago, a group of us prisoners started the Fraternal Order of New Patmos. The idea was that if we lived a holy enough life in this prison, the Holy Spirit would dwell with us and we'd see visions like St. John the Divine on his island, and Christ would return and bring paradise to this place."

He waved a forkful of burnt alien pancake at me. "Maybe paradise has come. Maybe my ten year stay in this wretched place was designed to open my eyes to all the ways the Lord has already blessed me, and heaven is just icing on top of that already delicious cake."

"And I think you're full of shit," Rains said.

"Okay," Dillon said with an embarrassed smile. "What if heaven arrives to us in degrees?"

"That's great if you're an optimist."

"I was never much of an optimist," Frank muttered.

They continued eating.

Julia climbed onto the table, facing me. "Why was I born in that gray stuff?"

"Julie, a Ss'sik'chtokiwij is born in a very violent way, and we wanted to spare Sarah from all that."

"You live among these creatures and do not kill them? Why?"

"I must share minds with you, but this can wait until after we finish. Suffice to say that these humans are unique, precious and wonderful creatures, and it hurts them greatly when any of their number dies."

"Are they hurt by the death of an enemy that forces them to do unpleasant things with their reproductive organs?"

"Is that what Sarah experienced?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Jesus teaches to forgive even they."

"Amen," said Dillon.

"Jesus sounds like a strange creature."

Dillon laughed. "You don't know the half of it."

We went to check on our patients. David and Sarah were helping Rupert clean up in the kitchen, doing the dishes and such, so it was just me, the larvae, and Zadoori.

At the moment, the Abreya was instructing Clemens on how to put in Thonwa's IV's.

"So the veins and arteries are under this plate," the human doctor muttered.

"Yes. It's fortunate that this is only saline, and you didn't use that much. Perhaps you should stick with what you're good at, doctor. How is our other patient?"

Clemens' face flushed red, but he kept his anger in check. "She's fine. The X-ray machine is a little old, but I saw no major damage. The EEV protected her during the crash. There's been some bruising, and a few hairline fractures, but mostly I'm treating her for issues relating to incomplete cryogenic stasis."

Zadoori nodded. "I wish you the best of luck."

Clemens gave him a predatory smile. "And the same for your patient."

He paused, a steely edge dropping into his voice. "Let's make a little agreement, shall we? You stay over here, with this thing, doing whatever is medically sound in your book with it, and stay out of other people's business, and I, in turn, will allow you to continue using my hospital facility. Do we have a deal?"

Zadoori offered his tail, then his hand when Clemens didn't shake the first. "Deal.'

"I'm sorry sir," I said. "We were impolite."

The human sneered at me. "Yes. Yes you were."

He walked away.

"Where's Mara?" I asked.

Zadoori sighed. "Back at the ship."

That's when I noticed the android playing handball off the wall.

"I thought you said she was in the ship!"

"She is," he said as he watched the ball bouncing back and forth between the concrete and one of those paddles I'd seen hanging in the locker room. I have been told the normal use of those paddles had been painfully suppressing sexual urges. "Big Bird got tired of being cooped up."

I stared at the robot in shock. "Big Bird?"

The android turned around and smiled at me. "Ah! Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik, my friend! How do you like my new look?"

"I told you not to play handballs in here!" Clemens shouted.

"I have free will," Big Bird said. "I am not required to obey you."

In his fury, the man talked through his teeth. "Then I will require you to obey with a little more force. By means of a blunt object perhaps! Now get out!"

"Big Bird," I scolded. "We are concerned with our patient's well being. That ball may disrupt our sensitive devices."

"I understand the risk," the robot answered. "But my skill with handball surpasses that of Ivano Balic. The patients are in no danger."

When she bounced the ball again, and it knocked over a jar of tongue depressors. Clemens glared at us.

Big Bird only shrugged.

"I believe I have made a mistake." She didn't bother to clean up. She had free will.

"I'll say!" Clemens growled as he picked up a folding chair, waving it threateningly.

"Oops!" Big Bird said with unconcerned amusement. "How fun to say that in its appropriate context!"

"I believe your skull is the appropriate context for this chair!" the man yelled.

When the android didn't move, I grabbed her arm, leading her out into the hallway. "Come, Big Bird. I I wish to investigate this Ss'sik'chtokiwij that destroyed the door on Ripley's EEV pod. Perhaps you can help."

"Crews are currently moving the pod into the prison salvage yard," the android said. "If you are trailing a creature such as yourself, it may have been disturbed by the machinery, perhaps enough to flee. I therefore cannot say for certain if your search of the EEV will result in any usable trail. I wish I had a deerstalker hat and a magnifying glass. It would greatly amuse me."

I decided to first stop by the kitchen to ask `the help' about tonight's play, maybe enlist their aid in the search once the practice had completed.

I found the room empty. At fist, I thought David had abandoned his post, but then I heard bumping noises and a soft moan.

Puzzled, I followed the noise to the partially opened door of the supply room. When I pushed it open, I found David and Sarah both busily finding each other's tongues.

David's fingers tugged Sarah's zipper down. Sarah's hands, in turn, slid under his Jesus shirt.

"Sorry to interrupt," I said. "But are you sure this is permitted within your marriage vows?"

The man reddened, pulling away. "Ernie!"

"I am sorry. I forget that humans are sensitive to interruptions of this kind."

"You're damn right!" he cried. "Go away!"

"Yeah!" Sarah said. "Go away!"

When Julie whimpered, she blurted, "You can come back when we finish."

The moment I I backed out, the door slammed behind us.

Big Bird smiled. "That was very dramatic, don't you think?" Perhaps I should include it in my play!"

I just shook my head.

"I won't be able to do anything like that anymore," Newt said with a sniffle. "I'll never grow up and kiss anyone."

I cradled her in my arms, stroking her shell as she wept. "You must be content with who you are, or you will never be happy. God makes us all different. A man should not be unhappy because he is not born with breasts, or a woman a penis. I was born with a suaakudsi that can tear a hole in the back of a human skull. I have often wondered what it would be like to have a soft human tongue, and saliva that doesn't melt steel, but I am content with how God made me. My body is no better or worse than a soft fleshy one that receives goosepimples."

Newt stared down at her little arms. "You're right. When I get big like you, no one will ever be able to hurt me."

"You will be tough," I agreed.

The door to the supply room came back open.

"Dammit, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik! Why'd you have to say something?"

David sighed, staring at the floor. "I couldn't do it. I kept thinking about Pillow."

"I'm sorry," I said. "I...think."

Sarah stepped out a minute later, tears rolling down her cheeks. "He hates my human tongue."

David said nothing in reply. He just seated himself on a milk crate, gazing at his wedding band. "Did you want something, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik? Or did Pillow send you here to torment me?"

"We have to perform a play tonight," I said with some excitement. "How may I assist?"

"Oh God," David groaned. "I wonder if the warden can give us a Mulligan on that one. I mean, Thonwa's in the hospital!"

He sighed and shook his head. "Grumpy old bastard probably still wants us to perform."

"Would you like me to eat him?" Julia asked.

"No, daughter," I scolded. "This is not the way of our Lord Jesus."

"What if I just eat his foot? He could still live..."

"Would you like it if he ate your foot?"

She frowned. "No...but a human wouldn't be able to eat my foot."

I groaned and shook my head. "That's not important, Julia. What's important is how you'd feel about someone eating your foot. How do you think he'd feel when someone ate his?"

"Not good," she admitted. "I suppose I'd have to kill him first."

I winced. This was a hard lesson without mind contact. "Would you want to be killed?"

"Well, no..."

I smiled. "You're just hungry, aren't you? I didn't give you very much for breakfast..."

"Yeah..."

"Let's go back to the ship. You haven't finished your pot roast."

"But what about the Ss'sik'chtokiwij from the pod?"

"Big Bird has a point. We don't know where it is now. It may not be a threat. It could have gotten hurt and crawled into the desert to die."

"Wouldn't it be smarter to crawl to the prison with all the edible humans?"

"Let's get you fed first. The Ss'sik'chtokiwij hasn't harmed anyone so far. I'm not sure they will, either, considering the crash. We'll try to find her trail along the shore after you eat."

"Actually, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik," David said. "How about I take care of the kids while you check out the creature? I heard your biography. I think all of us are going to sleep better once you find the thing, dead or alive."

"You're a brave man."

"Naw, I just trust your children."

He petted Julia on the head. "You wouldn't hurt me, little guy, would you?"

She playfully nipped his hand. "No."

"What about the play?" I said. "I am very interested in theater."

He frowned. "I'll give you an easy part. Don't worry about it."

I returned to the shore, sniffing around the depressions where the EEV had been dragged up on the beach by means of a large mechanical device.

I had hoped Big Bird would be interested in practicing the play, but instead the android whiled away the time skipping oily rocks across the water and standing on boulders, pretending to be a crane as she sang Abba's Eagle's Serenade in a loud voice.

I figured Newt could have talked some sense into her, but I'd left her watching Julie.

And Sarah, of course, was busy watching David.

Unsurprisingly, the Ss'sik'chtokiwij I scented traveled in a straight course toward the prison.

"The game is afoot, Watson!" Big Bird exclaimed as she followed me with pantomime magnifying glass.

A moment later, she seemed to lose interest, "New York, London, Paris, Munich, everybody talk about mmm pop music!"

The trail took me to the side of the building, ninety degrees up the concrete, and across the roof.

Bleak black clouds rolled through the sky overhead, shrouding the prison in oppressive shadow. The planet's twin suns hid behind a gauze of smog, trickling feeble light. I wondered how anything could grow there, even with all the mirrors I'd seen arranged on the prison yard walls.

Whoever this large Ss'sik'chtokiwij was, they had been bleeding. And not only that, they'd shed pieces of exoskeleton as they went along.

I followed the scent and old blood through the square opening that held the prison garbage dump.

At this point, the trail just disappeared, masked by the pungent smells of trash, the blood spats imperceptible under all the rotting material and spaceship debris.

I gave it up, returning to the Iberet.

"Welcome, daughter," the spaceship said as I neared the door. "Have you been enjoying yourself?"

"A little," I said. "How do you like being a vehicle, Mara?"

"I cannot put it into words that will adequately explain the sensation." The entry hatch opened.

Inside the main room of the craft, I found a drama playing out, but one of an entirely different sort than I expected.

"No, Sarah!" David shouted at my immature larva bearer. "It's over! I'm married, and a baby needs a father!"

"But you kissed me," she said. "We were about to take our clothes off. You liked it."

"You did what!" Pillow screamed. "I spend all day taking care of this baby and you run off with this retard to what, have a little fun?"

The baby started wailing in her arms.

"I'm not a retard!" Sarah shouted back. "You're just a...retarded...stupid...stupid head!"

David's face flushed red. "I also told her no! Because I had this idiotic idea that maybe my wife still loved me and our vows actually meant something!"

Pillow calmed down a little. "That still doesn't excuse you making out with Airhead!"

"Your head has air in it too!" Sarah said. "You dumdum!"

David rubbed his face, cringing at Sarah's childish behavior. He steeled himself, countering with, "Oh sure. Criticize me when you're riding my defensive guard's wumloq while we were supposed to be dating each other. What happened, was the Bencap sperm bank closed that day? Or were you already having second thoughts?"

Pillow slapped him.

Not wishing for this unpleasantness to continue, I said, "Would it help if I ate one of you?"

"Eat him," Pillow snarled. "He deserves it!"

And she stomped out of the chamber.

David gave me an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that, buddy. We kinda need a nennop, I guess."

"I seem to be hearing that a lot."

"You know, Thonwa actually volunteered to be ours, but..." He looked glumly at the floor.

"So. About this play we're supposed to do..."

He sighed. "All right. Let's do something easy. Jesus and Lazarus."

He stared at me for a moment. "Um...you can be Lazarus. You just have to come out of a tomb wrapped in bandages."

Then he looked sad. "You know, I really don't feel like I can fit the role of Jesus right now."

Since the cafeteria was unoccupied, our team gathered there to practice, Zadoori (Jesus), Big Bird (our frequently distracted `bleeding woman', Sarah (as Mary), David (to say "Don't trouble the Master any further" and other such things, and Julia and Newt as `the crowd.'

We didn't want to bother Clemens or anyone by wasting gauze, so we took a roll of something called Vigfal from the ship to make a mummy.

If you think the idea of me portraying Lazarus is offensive, imagine me playing Jesus!

At any rate, we practiced it a few times and decided it wouldn't get better.

As we practiced it once more to be certain, Sarah excused herself to use the ladies' room.

The prison really didn't have a ladies' room, but by the time any of us thought it through, I already heard the sound of screaming.

My friend's screaming, in and of itself, did not inspire as much panic in me as the silence that followed. "Sarah!"

I trailed her scent to the prison showers, and found her being pressed to the tile wall by a gang of five unsavory ruffians, who held her arms and legs down whilst tearing open her clothing.

[0000]

(1) Arguably, there's no good reason why the aliens couldn't have done this, but then again, why go to Fury 161 at all?