The prisoners panicked and fled the cafeteria, nearly trampling me to death in the process.
As I backed into a corner, Ripley grabbed me by the arm. "Take me to your spaceship."
"It's not mine. If you want off the planet, you're going to need to speak to one of the captains."
"I have something else in mind," she said cryptically.
"Fine. Let's go see the man in charge."
On the way out the doorway, we bumped into Dillon.
The man stared at my companion, desperation clear on this face. "Ellen, you obviously know something about these creatures. What do you suggest we do?"
Ripley sighed. "Hide. Find some place that's completely airtight and stay there. Avoid any areas with holes or gaps in the walls larger than a golf ball. Either that, or go outside, where they're easier to spot."
She swallowed. "And don't cut them. Set them on fire, melt them, but keep your knives in the drawer."
The man's eyes widened. He quickly ran to Postlethwaite, relaying the information.
When I tracked David's scent up a corridor, I beheld a strange sight: Grandmother, seated on the floor before a cell, with her claws folded (1).
David sat on a bunk with his bible open, looking very pale as he explained John 8 down to the last detail, including what adultery consisted of.
The moment Ripley saw Grandmother, she gasped and pressed her back against the wall.
"It's okay." I pointed to David. "Look."
Grandmother glanced at me, then returned her attention to the reader.
I stepped around her, leaned into David's cell. "Interesting lesson choice. The adulterous woman. Struggling with guilt?"
David sighed.
"When me and Pillow first got married, we didn't have much. We'd buy...this won't mean anything to you, but they were Onxuyzo legs. They were luxury foods, but we couldn't afford the good ones, so ours was mostly shell." He shook his head, staring at the floor. "I'm a lowlife sleaze."
I didn't know what to say to that. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but the Ripley woman wants...something from your ship."
"I told you, we don't have any weapons."
Ripley pushed past me, glaring at the young man. "Bullshit. I want to see for myself."
We were a strange procession going through that prison, David and Sarah at the lead, Ripley and I in the middle, Grandmother behind us, and a group of worried prisoners behind. Ripley constantly looked over her shoulder at Grandmother, Grandmother answering with a nice smile (which looked threatening despite her best attempts) and a wave, or "Hi."
David cried continually the moment I told him about Zadoori. Sarah wrapped her arms around him as they walked, but she was crying too. This was their state when they emerged from the building.
"Hey!" I heard Aaron calling from behind us as we crossed the outside yard. "Where are you going!"
"I'm looking for tools," Ripley called back.
"I'm coming along. We can't have you running off."
"Run off?" she laughed, pointing to the Iberet. "In that? I'd have to be insane!"
Aaron gave her a look like he suspected insanity.
Grandmother spun around and hissed at the man, causing him to jump back.
Ripley laughed. "Maybe there's a use for that thing, after all."
Grandmother purred in amusement, despite the insult.
From our vantage point, I could see down to the beaches. A mile or so down the shore, there stood a massive angular looking spaceship, half submerged in water, sections of it cut open and exposed to to the elements (2).
The Sulaco, I guessed.
The EEV was nowhere to be seen, probably due to being taken to some salvage yard within the prison.
We continued on, Grandmother close at my biomechanical heels, Newt climbed over my shoulder, into my arms, looking troubled.
"What is it, dear aunt?"
"You know what it is, Ernie. Why does she have to come along?"
I held her close to my shell. "Grandmother has changed. You saw how nicely she behaved with David. She seems eager to learn all she can about Jesus, and help humans. Please, Rebecca. Forgive her. Do as our Lord commands and love your enemy."
"I can't. I hate her, Ernie! She killed everyone!"
Grandmother was crying. "I'm sorry, child. I really didn't know what I was doing. I didn't understand your people, or your ways, or how I was hurting them. Please forgive me."
"No," my little friend said coldly.
"Newt," I scolded.
"I can't forgive her! I can't! She's done too many evil things!" Newt crawled out of my arms, scampering away in the direction of the prison.
Julia gave chase, muttering something to her, but I couldn't hear what she said.
Newt fled from her, stopped a few yards away, crying by herself.
I wished to comfort her, but I had more pressing matters to attend to, lives to save, and Newt had chosen to run from me, rather than seek comfort in my arms.
I decided to leave the larva alone and come back once Ripley had examined the ship. I thought she needed time to sort things out, doubted she would go far.
"Well, anyways," I told Grandmother. "I'm happy you finally know the Lord."
As we approached the Iberet, a metal eye on a stalk popped out of a panel near the entry hatch, a loud lion-like voice growling, "State the nature of your business."
"Mara, relax," David groaned. "The prison is under attack. We're checking to see if anything onboard can help."
Silence answered him.
"Hello?"
At last, Mara said, "One of your companions is a highly dangerous xenomorph from LV 426, a queen unit which singlehandedly wrought the end of the Hadley's Hope colony."
"She said she's sorry," David explained. "It won't happen again."
Silence.
I stepped up to the eye. "I understand this is a missionary ship. Missionaries are required to follow the words of Jesus, including forgiving one's enemy."
A longer silence followed.
At last the lion voice said, "I am experiencing an emotional complication, one that cannot be rapidly resolved. Allowing the creature entry will endanger the lives of the crew-"
"And we'll endanger twice as many standing out here with our thumbs up our asses!" Ripley shouted, banging on the hatch. "Open up!"
The hatch lowered immediately.
The moment Ripley climbed onboard, her whole body tensed up, eyes bulging in nervous dread. Her head snapped back and forth, her pupils darting back and forth in the direction of every sound, as if she expected something to jump out and bite her.
"It's safe," David said as she jumped back from a humming machine.
Upon seeing Grandmother, Mrs. Barnes let out a yelp, like one would hear from a dog if you accidentally stepped on its foot. She clutched the baby tightly to hear breast as she gawked at the big Ss'sik'chtokiwij.
Grandmother smiled and waved.
"W-who's that?" Pillow stammered.
I introduced her, and she calmed down a little.
"Mara, close the hatch," David called.
The entry ramp shut behind us. With Grandma in the room, it was a very tight fit.
"This craft isn't going anywhere," Aaron asked nervously. "Is it?"
David shook his head. "Not yet."
Pillow turned to face her husband, her face blushing blue. "David, I am with egg. I did a test. This one's actually yours."
"That's...great!" The expression on his face said that it was less so.
"You...seem displeased."
"Oh no," David stammered. "I just...find it hard to believe."
"I can show you a chromosome sample if you like. Of course, in a couple weeks, we'll actually get to see the fetus developing..."
"Capamfe." Mr. Barnes placed a hand on her shoulder. "I...great. It's great." The enthusiasm wasn't quite there.
"David," she said. "Hua gazu ruhd hib gecar con foqirug yirua, chik jupe pisoqo narun moqo komua."
The young man looked like he'd just been slapped. "I know. I...just need some time to think about this, okay?"
He backed away, around Grandmother, opening the entry hatch.
"Where are you going?"
"I, uh...need to pray. About...this."
"That is a good idea, husband. Let's pray together."
David frowned. "I think I need serious guidance. I, um...I'm going to pray with Dillon."
"Serious guidance!" she cried indignantly, but her husband was already marching down the ramp.
The female's expression of puzzlement became tinged with suspicion when she saw Sarah departing a few moments afterward.
The hatch closed on its own, a safeguard against the worms.
"What's going on out here?" Naumona said sleepily from a doorway. "The hatch keeps opening and closing."
Her eyes widened when she noticed the gathered crowd.
"I was just searching your spaceship for weapons," Ripley said, tugging on a wall panel. "What do you got back here?"
"Donated clothing," said Mrs. Borkin. "I'm not sure what you think we have, but you're not going to find it." Ripley tried the next one. "Choir robes."
The woman sighed. "And the one next to it?"
Ceremonial supplies for the Lyuntaaz holiday."
Ellen pulled the panel and found little black hats, white dresses, and a tentacled creature in a tank.
She held up a leather dress, frowning at the rings and chains attached to it. "S&M is part of your holiday."
Naumona looked puzzled, but Pillow seemed to know exactly what she meant. She blushed blue again. "It's not like that. We wear the chains to remember the Todroc enslavement."
Ripley rolled her eyes, groaning in frustration. "God. Don't you have anything useful in this tub?"
Pillow let out a guinea pig growl. "Can you please explain what's going on?"
I told her about the worms.
"Your doctor friend is dead," Ripley said.
David's wife whined like a puppy dog, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"I won't believe it," Naumona whimpered. "I won't!"
"Fine. If you want proof, his remains are on the infirmary floor. If those things haven't eaten the rest of him already..."
A puppy dog escaped Naumona's lips. "What can we do to help?"
"I need something that senses motion. Cages. Traps. Flammable materials. Any sort of laser beam or microwave device you can find."
"I'm not sure I have exactly what you want," Naumona said. "But I'll try my best to find you something."
Naumona led Ripley around the ship, showing her various things.
The kitchen didn't yield much of use. Laser knives that would only multiply the worms, food, cooking utensils, alien adult beverages, dishes, a refrigerator and cooking devices that had no immediate strategic value, like a box that could cook eggs over easy, scrambled and hard boiled, or a blender that could turn noodles.
Ripley found a powerful fire extinguisher, an incinerator (it couldn't be removed from the wall), but wasn't impressed with anything, except a dusty lifeform tracking device buried under a stack of bibles in a compartment.
Downstairs, she found medical tools, but they either sliced things, were too small, or were permanently attached to the ship, like the medical scanner or the mechanical arm that made casts.
The vehicle actually did have a battle station, but it existed solely to protect the craft from space debris. When Ripley asked about the cannons ("rock crushers"), Naumona explained that they were destroyed in a brutal sandstorm on planet Ozmukwo.
They did have defensive scanners,but it was superfluous with an artificial intelligence accessing that very same data.
"Do you have forcefields?" Ripley said.
The answer was no, or they'd still have cannons.
"Is that all you've got?"
"Ma'am," Naumona said. "This isn't a Klingon Star Destroyer or whatever you think it is. We're on a mission of peace."
"What else do you have?"
Naumona took Ripley to crew quarters, and the woman ransacked Mr. Barnes' bedroom.
She only found clothing (a pretty assortment of Wigheshes), a collection of books, alien and terrestrial, incubator supplies, marital aids, entertainment devices and some picture albums.
Pillow had been watching the moment Ellen started rooting around, putting things back where they came from. When Ellen paused to stare at a saddle, Mrs. Barnes turned blue, blurting, "That's for riding animals back on my home planet...mostly."
"Your husband has some very strange ideas about what to do in bed," Naumona remarked.
"Who said anything about using the bed?"
Ripley dropped the object in disgust, wiping her hands on her pant leg.
"So you were serious. No guns. Anywhere. Period."
"Well...We do have one..." Pillow opened a panel in the floor, taking out a gray box shaped device. This she slid over her hand, demonstrating how it could be operated by squeezing a handle inside. "It doesn't shoot. We never bought the firing module."
The expression on Ripley's face could have been either disappointment or suspicion. "And yet you fought creatures like Ernie before."
"We had help. We didn't keep the weapons because they were loaned to us by the military. I thought we wouldn't need them. How would it look like if a missionary vehicle traveled around loaded with dangerous weaponry?"
Sighing, Ripley got up, stomped back to the main room.
"You want something to eat?" Pillow called after her.
The woman glared at her for a moment, then gave her a nod, seating herself. Pillow set the baby in a high chair, prepared something in a cooking device.
The entry hatch suddenly slid open, and Thonwa came marching up the ramp with Zadoori's body in her arms. She laid him gently on the floor.
Naumona let out a canine wail, dropping to her knees as she cradled the victim.
Pillow stopped cooking and rushed to her side. When she saw Zadoori, she let out a sob, and the two held each other, weeping in each other's arms.
A group of prisoners clomped up the ramp, with Dillon at the lead. "We've lost five more men. Turns out there is no safe place."
He was right.
Just a minute after he had said this, a prisoner shouted something, and a white head burst from Thonwa's stomach, spreading its toothy mouth flaps.
During Ripley's tour of the craft, she had witnessed the operation of several helpful appliances, including the fire extinguisher.
It was a strange machine, like a small black mechanical spider with a bagpipe balloon for an abdomen. The legs clamped around your wrist as you squeezed a trigger beneath the spider body.
This device Ripley brought forth the moment the worm emerged from Thonwa's stomach.
Pillow stepped in front of her. "Stop! You'll kill her!"
"She's already dead!" Ripley growled.
She shoved Pillow out of the way, blasting the Cijmabsa with a cloud of white foam. When the fog cleared, the worm looked like a scary ice sculpture.
"Someone pull that thing out of her so I can freeze the rest of it!"
No one volunteered.
"Don't everyone jump up at once!"
Out of frustration, Ripley reached for the creature, but I stepped in and yanked it out of my friend's belly.
The worm's rear section wiggled, threatening to snap off its front end and reproduce. I would have held on to it, but Ripley just about blasted me in the face, so I threw it to the floor and let her freeze it completely.
The woman surprised me by snatching it up with her bare hands and rushing into the kitchen.
At first, I wondered if she intended to warm up the stove and cook me a fantastic meal, you know, braised worm with mushrooms, cilantro and butter, but she instead dunked the creature into the incinerator, pushing the button.
The smell was disgusting, mostly because it was burned.
"Quick!" Pillow cried. "Help me grab Thonwa! It may not be too late!"
Naumona had been grieving, but composed herself enough to assist Pillow in carrying her Cijmabsa friend to the med lab.
I attempted to help, but Pillow said, "Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik, I appreciate it, but I need you to watch the baby."
"Baby?" I cried in disbelief.
Her expression was serious, so I answered, "It would be an honor!"
I rushed into the kitchen, checking on the child.
An adorable infant, like a kitten combined with a baby. His opossum tail curled around the high chair as he stared at me.
Of course, the baby started crying, even when I smiled, waved, or made monkeyshines at it.
I glanced over a counter and suddenly noticed Grandmother assisting the two Abreyas with the carrying of Thonwa's body. I had to fight the disruptive urge to applaud her.
At the front of the group of prisoners, there stood a man of distinctly American appearance, southern, by the facial features. Long face, dull heavy lidded eyes, square jaw, nose and ears smaller than his European fellows. He had a box carved in his forehead, apparently a swastika that had been corrected with additional lines. I guessed him to be an ex Not See.
It would have been nice to learn more about this gentleman, but his life ended abruptly when a worm tore its way out the swasti-box.
Ripley was quick to blast the man in the face the moment the worm showed its head. Since I was otherwise occupied, she yanked the worm out of the man's skull cavity by herself.
The worm turned out to be only half frozen, and it had a mouth on both ends.
When it emerged from the victim with a mouthful of gray matter, it soon noticed its feast being taken from it. It turned its unfrozen head in Ripley's direction, snapping at her face.
Instead of a scream, she let out an anxious cry like a cave woman fighting a tiger. The creature shrieked and bit her neck, drawing blood, but again, the woman's reaction wasn't terrified surprise, rather something like, `Damned sabertooth!'
She slammed the worm's head against the kitchen counter, making the baby scream. The incinerator came open, and in went the worm.
It seemed the machinery hadn't been designed for that kind of abuse, for this time, after the usual barbecue, the device made angry whirring sounds and a huge cloud of black smoke came billowing out.
"Shut that hatch!" Ripley shouted. "We don't want any more company!"
"I'd be glad to oblige," Dillon said. "But I don't know how any of this stuff works!"
"Allow me." Big Bird made a chirping sound with her mouth like one of those keychain car locking systems, and the hatch closed.
"Are the worms gone?" Ripley called.
"I don't see any!" Dillon said.
Ripley turned her attention to the crying baby.
She smiled, lowering herself to the boy's level. "Hey you. What's your name?"
The little ball of fur only let out a meowing Canada goose sound, flashing his split tongue.
The woman rubbed the child on the head. "Guess we'll have to work on that, won't we?" She picked him up, staring at the prisoners milling around in the Iberet's living room.
They numbered about a dozen, making me wonder where the rest of them went. Did they die, or were they all hiding somewhere, fighting off worms?
Grandmother's butt stuck out of the tunnel leading to the medical bay. I thought she would end up like Winnie the Pooh, where we'd be hanging towels from her legs, but then I saw her crawling backwards up the ramp.
Pillow squeezed around her, stomped up to Dillon, interrupting the man in the middle of his prayers for the dead. "Have you seen my husband?"
The man blinked in confusion. "This isn't your husband here?"
Pillow shook her head. "That's Zadoori. My husband is David Barnes. He went to go pray with you about some things."
Dillon smiled. "That's news to me! Of course, I always knew that once I corrected his wayward and errant theology, he'd come back to me for guidance."
Mrs. Barnes's face flushed blue in anger. "That modthwamp lied to me!"
I sighed and shook my head. "He was a fool to run out there alone. I hope his prayers include a request for God's protection. For him and Sarah."
"The moment I catch up with him," Pillow growled. "He'll need another prayer against me!"
Golic grabbed the alien. "We've got to get out of here! Isn't this a spaceship? Take us somewhere away from here! Anywhere!"
"I forbid you taking these prisoners one foot off of this planet!" Aaron protested. "There's a parole process! Many of these men haven't served their full terms! You don't want to let them loose on some random space station! Who knows what damages they could cause?" (3)
"You're not so squeaky clean yourself, Aaron," said a tall black man with a snake tattoo on his forehead.
"Maybe so, but I've served my term. I'm due to release upon the next inbound ship."
The men murmured at this.
"Right or wrong," Dillon said. "The man has a point. These worms are a sign of God's judgment. We should accept it as such, and not try to run away."
"Yeah?" Snake Tattoo Man said. "Then why don't you go back in the prison and show us how it's done?"
"You people enjoy yourself doing that," Golic stammered. "But I'm not leaving until someone flies me off this rock!"
Pillow sighed. "Not without my husband. He's still out there somewhere."
"If he's out there," said Snake Tattoo. "He's dead now."
"That's because you have little faith, Boggs," Dillon scolded. "That young man is a believer. If his faith holds true, he will live."
"And if our faith holds true," Pillow argued. "We'll rescue him instead of leaving him to his own devices like a bunch of Mennonites."
Golic slammed his fist into a wall panel and it popped open, spilling a pile of space suits, an Elric board game, and a rubbery bifurcated appliance onto the floor. The last object he picked up, chuckling as he flipped its oddly shaped tentacles. "Huh! I wonder what this is used for!"
"Give me that!" Pillow growled, blue faced with embarrassment.
The moment she snatched it out of his hand, Boggs had a knife pressed to her throat, probably stolen from some shelf or cabinet in the room. "We're leaving here. Either you will help us, or you will die."
Pillow dropped the rubbery thing at once. "All right. Fine. I'll see what I can do."
Boggs released her, but curled her tail in his fist, refusing to completely let go of her. Ripley made no move to help. I could see she wanted to leave too.
"Mara!" Pillow said. "I need you to take us off this planet immediately!"
The android intelligence had been silent all this time, but now she spoke through the speaker system. "I'm sorry, Pillow. It is against the law for me to transport prisoners."
Boggs clamped his fist tighter around Mrs. Barnes' tail, chuckling a little. "Is that really your name?"
Pillow just glared at him.
Swallowing, the Abreya addressed the ship again. "We are in danger. We must...override that protocol."
Silence answered her. Boggs traced a line across Pillow's neck with his knife.
"Mara," Pillow urged. "Time is of the essence."
"You are requesting this transportation under duress," Mara said. "As stated before, I cannot comply. It is illegal to transport prisoners in this craft without governmental authorization."
"Hallelujah!" Aaron muttered. "Someone's talking sense!"
"You fail to realize that I'll kill this bitch if you don't," Boggs growled at the ceiling.
"I understand your physical expression of emotional distress, but in order for this vehicle to go anywhere, it requires a set of authorization codes from Zadoori Borkin."
Boggs frowned. "You mean that dead thing on the floor."
"Affirmative."
He snorted. "Surely there's some sort of bypass! Who else knows the code?"
Mara paused. "David Barnes."
Boggs looked blank. "Who?"
"She's talking about our new chef," Dillon said.
Boggs glanced at the closed hatch in disgust. "Shit."
The man suddenly stiffened, collapsing on the floor.
Big Bird stuffed the taser into her jumpsuit pouch. "There. I believe this resolves the conflict."
Pillow pocketed the man's knife. "I believe it does."
"Can I see that taser?" Ripley asked the android. "I'd like to try it on those worms."
"An inefficient earth device. I doubt it would be sufficient for their destruction."
"Yes, but it could buy me some time."
Big Bird nodded, passing the item to her.
"Big Bird," Pillow said. "I need your assistance with Thonwa's surgery while I go out to look for my husband."
"Is the patient currently stabilized?"
She nodded. "The environment is hazardous outside. May I recommend the manufacture of improvised weaponry before this undertaking?"
"That's a good point," Ripley said. "I'd like some improvised weapons myself."
Pillow sighed. "All right, but hurry!"
The Abreya raced past Grandmother to the area below deck.
Big Bird offered Ripley a square black object. "I found this sonar and motion detector in the Sulaco. Perhaps you'd like to have it?"
I recognized it as one of the devices the Spacemarines attached to their weapons. Imprecise things, really. Didn't tell you if a creature lurked on the ceiling, the floor, or right in front of you.
Pillow had shown Ripley how to operate a far superior device already, so the woman eyed the little screen with its horseshoe shaped grid and blinking lights with disdain. "I've had enough experience with those things to know they aren't any good."
Big Bird nodded. "I agree. We still have a Cugciku onboard which gives a much more precise picture. Still, this antiquated device performs adequately for simple one stage lifeform sweeps..."
The android appeared to pick up Ripley's indifferent expression. "I see you are already familiar with the Cugciku. I will bore you no further."
She marched into the kitchen, opening the incinerator with a socket wrench and a whirring motorized screwdriver. Fortunately, the worms were ash, so this activity posed no danger to anyone.
"What are you doing with that?" Ripley asked.
"It may interest you to know that flame weapons can be constructed out of the ignition and fuel elements of these and other devices."
The woman smiled. "I think I've just found a new best friend."
Big Bird stared at her. "How interesting. Who are you referring to?"
"Never mind," Ripley groaned.
"Oh dear. It seems I have committed a social blunder. How unpleasant."
"You're fine...Big Bird. Just keep doing what you're doing."
The android pulled a metal cylinder out of the machine. "You refer to me as a best friend?"
"Maybe," the woman sighed. "If you can get us out of this thing alive, I'll definitely think about it."
"Ah. A conditional friendship. Very well, I accept the terms. They are not unreasonable, considering the circumstances..."
I suspected Big Bird was somehow related to the MacGyver person I heard about, for she somehow constructed an impressive blowtorch with only incinerator pieces, a sink sprayer, and some strange looking cooking tools.
The torch was a clunky weapon, bearing similarities to actual earth blowtorches, a heavy cylinder and blasting nozzle.
At about this time, Boggs had recovered from his shock treatment. I heard Dillon scolding him as the group of prisoners encircled him, glowering. They must have come to some sort of agreement, for he nodded and stood up, tidying up the room.
This included the bodies. He carried the human to the side of the hatch, covering him with his coat. Zadoori he covered with a quilt he found in a storage compartment.
As the android worked, the children came up to the kitchen, the boy taking the baby into his arms. "Mom says for me to take Logan downstairs."
"His name is Spock," Sharad said.
"Is not!" Oxana protested. "It's Logan!"
"Maybe you should take it up with your mommy," Ripley said gently.
"My mother's dead," Oxana said.
Sharad frowned. "He means Naumona."
"He's not her baby."
Ripley rolled her eyes. "So this is what I've been missing all these months."
"Still," the girl continued, oblivious. "She's right. We should ask Pillow."
The two disappeared down the ramp.
We rejoined them a few minutes later, when Big Bird built a second flame thrower out of a medical incinerator in the lower level.
Thonwa's surgery appeared to be going passably well. Naumona and Pillow had already used the mechanical arms to do some good procedures.
From what I heard, the worm tore through an important, but non-vital organ in the Cijmabsa's body, and the others could be fused shut.
As Pillow operated, the children came up and asked her about the baby's name, but she told them, rather gruffly, that they'd have to wait until Mr. Barnes got back.
Big Bird built a few more devices, another ice blaster, this one crafted from a cryogenics unit, a sort of pager that chirped when a lifeform got close, and a trap that hypothetically roasted a worm like a hot dog.
I know all of that sounds time consuming, but Big Bird moved quite quickly, assembling them all in a matter of minutes.
I soon found myself upstairs with Ripley and Pillow, arms full of devices, watching the entry hatch lowering to the ground.
Boggs, who had been observing us during the manufacture of these weapons, asked to have one. Pillow wasn't sure it was a good idea, but we had Dillon's assurances that nothing bad would happen.
"Besides," Boggs added. "What good would it do me to kill my bargaining chip?" So he got a flamethrower.
The sky outside was dark. Thunder rumbled, lightning striking in the distance.
Not a drop of water, though. The wind blew dirt and dust across the landing pad and prison grounds. I detected a fine mist from the water behind us, but it was mostly grit. Rather odd after the recent rainstorm, but I suppose it had missed a few spots.
We descended the ramp, Boggs and Ripley with the flamethrowers, I with my hot dog maker and motion sensor, Dillon and Pillow carrying the fire extinguishers.
Big Bird yelled over the storm, "Go easy on those torches! They may overheat!"
"Now she tells us," Ripley muttered.
As we marched across the landing pad, a round headed man with a face like the Shrek goblin came running out. Fat nose, plump face, pointy eyebrows, missing front teeth.
The man stopped about halfway to us, gasping and panting for breath as he glanced at us, then stared back.
When I glanced behind him, I could see what he'd been running from.
From one side of the prison entrance to the other, the worms came rushing out in a flood.
With a scream, the man once again broke into a run...straight for the Iberet.
He tripped over a rock, fell, then vanished beneath a swarm of wiggling white bodies.
The worms kept coming.
"Let's pray these things don't overheat," Ripley muttered, shifting her weapon into position.
[0000]
1. I revised the previous chapter to include the description of the queen's size in relationship to the hospital ward. I originally had it in this chapter, as an afterthought.
2. Continuity for "Peacekeeper":
From our vantage point, I could see down to the beaches. A mile or so down the shore, there stood the massive angular shape of the Sulaco. It looked much less intimidating after the wreck, half submerged in water, sections of it cut open and exposed to the elements.
The EEV was nowhere to be seen, probably due to being taken to some salvage yard within the prison...
3. This could be an interesting plot-serial killers loose on Pathilon, but again, I'm trying to stick to the rough outline of Alien 3. Plus, it seems the demand for my writing has pretty much dried up.