"What about me?" Aaron asked. "Where's my weapon?"

Big Bird smirked at him. "I'm sorry. I didn't have time to fashion any other weapons. As it stands, I had to omit certain safety features, in the interest of expediency."

"Please tell me these aren't important safety features," said Ripley.

"Very well. These aren't important safety features."

The woman shook her head in frustration. "Never mind. We're probably going to die anyway."

"That is a statistical probability. Mr. Aaron, I would highly recommend reducing the amount of casualties by keeping yourself and your men behind the weapon carriers."

The man frowned. "I don't see we have much of a choice."

The flame throwers worked astonishingly well. I admit I had been a little skeptical when I had seen the pitiful test jets, but Big Bird's caution wasn't unmerited. Boggs' blowtorch belched out flame like a dragon, reducing swaths of killer worms to blackened ash.

Julia clung to my back like a human child clutching her mother's apron strings. It's just as well, I guess, she wasn't a great fighter. She kept behind my body, avoiding both the worms and Ripley. I couldn't blame her, after the incident with the wrench.

Ripley took a few cautious steps forward, adding a little dragon fire of her own.

That being said, the worms did not die easily, for half their roasted bodies attempted to break off and kill when the first portion burned. My companions had to be quite thorough.

The worms, having some small measure of intelligence, frequently broke ranks. When they did, Pillow and Dillon would freeze them, or I would clamp down the `hot dog cooker' until the creatures stopped moving.

"I thought I told everyone in that cafeteria not to cut those things!" Ripley growled, torching a few more.

"You do know there are giant exhaust fans in the basement level, don't you?" Dillon said. "Ones with big sharp spinning blades?"

"Oh God."

Julia hung from my shell, staring fearfully at the worms, even when we burned a swath through them.

Through our combined efforts, we reduced a swarm of more than five hundred to one hundred, but that was where the trouble came.

Boggs, still intensely focused on blasting fire at the creatures, suddenly let out an anguished yell. "Hot!"

The shoulder straps Big Bird had made for the fuel tanks were difficult to remove. The man couldn't just drop the tank.

"You are overheating," Big Bird said dispassionately. "It is currently unsafe. Please remove the flamethrower from your person and distance yourself from it."

The warning came too late.

With a sudden dull pop, like a car backfiring, Boggs was reduced to a mound of bloody entrails with legs. A group of worms swarmed over his dead body, stripping it to the bone.

Ripley rushed over, blasting the beasts with fire.

Her device must have overheated too, for the next moment she hurled it at the remaining worms.

The weapon exploded, sending bits of blackened worm everywhere.

The woman shakily caught her breath, casting the android a suspicious look that made me wonder if they were still "best friends."

Dillon and Pillow descended upon the remaining worms with their fire extinguishers, freezing them all into ice sculptures, their terror obvious in the excessive use of spray. I commenced roasting the sculptures with the cooker, sincerely hoping I wasn't the last line of defense.

Big Bird snatched Pillow's device from her hands, turning a knob on the side of the device. Out came a spray of black goop.

"Tebdong has a petroleum base," she said as she coated several worms. "And the contents of these weapons share properties with liquid oxygen."

Something flashed. I had to jump back from my cooking worm-dog as a huge bonfire spontaneously burst around us. My companions cried out in alarm.

At any rate, that took care of our enemy, so we all calmed down a little. It appeared, for the time being, that we were safe.

Ripley took out the lifeform detector. "We need to check if there are any more of those creatures hiding in the prison, maybe see if anyone's alive in there." She frowned at me. "Speaking of which, you and your friends need to find...your captain and leave as soon as possible. There are men coming who would love to dissect you for their military projects."

I nodded. "Thank you for the warning."

Pillow dug a communicator device out of her outfit. "If my husband isn't dead, I'm going to kill him."

She punched buttons around the screen. "To leave me and the baby alone with all this going on! What was he thinking!" The Abreya grumbled something else in Wava.

The device showed a topographical map of the prison and surrounding area. A red dot blinked in one of the squares.

"I've tried calling him several times, but the little Wusu isn't answering! Once I get to where this blip is located, we're going to have a talk!"

"Before or after you kill him?" I asked.

She just scowled at me.

Muttering something about being tired, Grandmother curled up outside the ship's entry hatch like a very large dog.

We followed David's `blip' into the prison, Ripley walking beside me, sweeping for lifeforms.

Ripley detected no signs of lifeforms, human or otherwise. Twice she consulted with Big Bird about it, asking if the device were broken, but the android could find nothing wrong.

David's blip led us to the prison chapel, but we saw no sight of the human anywhere, live or dead.

Pillow reached behind a pew and found a second communicator. "Sneaky kavorkteb modthamp! This is just a trick!"

Casting a bored glance at the altar, Ripley seated herself on one of the pews to rest.

"Jesus Christ!" she shouted, leaping to her feet.

Despite us being in a small church, this exclamation didn't quite sound like a prayer. Still, I unthinkingly crossed myself.

Big Bird and Dillon rushed to her defense with their weapons, but they relaxed when a small voice said, "Go ahead and do it. I'm tired of living."

Dillon nodded me over there. I found a larva curled listlessly in the pew.

"Newt," I said. "I am glad you are unharmed."

She didn't respond.

Upon hearing the dead child's name used in such a way, Ripley scowled at me in disgust, hands on her hips.

"You are alone?" I said. "Why?"

"David told me to put his alien phone in here."

"You seem...troubled."

Newt only sighed.

"It's Grandmother, isn't it?"

For a moment, she appeared to stare at the bench. "Ernie, is it okay to hate God?"

"I...believe it is okay to be upset with God...hatred is more about doing evil to hurt someone."

"But that's just it, Ernie. I want him to be hurt. For what he did to me. I didn't ask to be born in this body! I don't want to be here! He took me away from mommy and daddy and forced me to live with a bunch of criminals and your evil grandmother! And you!" She started crying.

Ripley stomped away, pretending to stare at the altar.

I reached out to comfort the larva, but she shied away. "God is a meanie. I hate him!" she sobbed. "I hate him!"

"His will is hard to understand. It is like the joke about the five hundred pound gorilla."

"He sits wherever he wants?"

I nodded. "And does whatever he wants."

"Then God is mean."

"Not to our spirits."

Newt sighed.

"He does what is best for us. It is not always what we want, but it is always what we or somebody else needs."

She seemed unconvinced.

"Newt, if God didn't put you in that body, you wouldn't be here right now, to convict Grandmother of her sins."

Newt just stared at me. I couldn't tell what she was thinking.

Pillow sat next to her, stroking her head. "Do you know where my husband went, dearie?"

"He didn't tell me. Maybe Ernie can find him. She's really smart about that."

I nodded. "I can find him. Do you want to come along, Newt?"

"Is your grandmother going to be there?"

I was going to correct her, saying that she was her mother, but I decided not to. "She might be, but I'll protect you."

She turned to me, then Mrs. Barnes. "Can Pillow carry me?"

I think I saw pity in the Abreya's goats' eyes. She gave Newt a solemn nod, picking her up.

"You smell nice," the larva purred, snuggling up against her chest. "You're soft, too."

"Umuacik," Pillow replied appreciatively.

"You guys do that," Ripley said. "We'll search the place for worms...and something else to destroy them with."

Half the men followed Ripley, hoping that her lifeform detector would lead them to the captain or something of equal importance. The others trailed Pillow and I.

I traced David's scent back outside the prison, across the wasteland.

Sarah I found skipping rocks by the shore, a pretty terrible idea, considering how all that noise could attract deadly predators. "Did you stop the worms?"

"Perhaps," I said. "We're searching the prison to make sure...where's David?"

She pointed to the wreckage of the Sulaco. "It's boring. He's just praying."

"It's okay to be boring sometimes."

"Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik...Would it be too strange for me to marry both you and David?"

"Yes it would!" Pillow yelled. "You'd best forget you ever had that idea, you simple minded lidjuca! I don't mind you marrying Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik, but David is mine! Dead or alive!"

"Okay," Sarah groaned like a child being told not to play ball in the house.

Upon hearing a chirping sound, Pillow pulled out her communication device, speaking to someone in Wava, breaking into English at odd times. "Is it infected?" After listening for a moment, she said, "They would look like spores. If it's infected, you'll see them growing around the wound, and you'll need to inject a dosage of wajkojic."

Naumona's muffled voice rattled something else off.

Pillow sighed. "Give her a shot of mudlayac. I'll be back in once I locate my Wusu brained husband."

But Naumona kept talking, and apparently showing something on the screen with a type of video chat. Pillow waved me on.

The interior of the Sulaco looked like a submerged metal cave, the floating islands of furniture reminding me of archival footage of the Katrina disaster.

The control room lay in the frontmost area of the craft, a computerized sort of airplane cockpit. The computers, of course, had no power, save or one rather useless looking one with a sparking wire.

The floor near the hull breach was dry, but it slanted down into deeper and deeper depths as you neared the rear portion. Someone had left the pressure doors to the room open, creating a picturesque sort of gated harbor effect. I followed David's scent through them.

The last time I really swam, it had been inside a sewer, so traversing this submerged vehicle was a novel experience for me, rather refreshing and relaxing. Newt and Julia, however, didn't agree, for they had never swam before at all.

Newt, in fact, hadn't even swam as a human. The two rode on my back like I were a log ride, and even that was too much for them, so I ended up setting them on a projecting portion of a bulkhead.

I found David seated on a cabinet in a darkened service corridor, staring at the submerged floor with his hands folded. "How's the water, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik? Enjoying the swim?"

I treaded water below him. "Pillow sent me to find you. I thought you were going to pray with Dillon."

He sighed. "I only said that because I didn't want to tell Pillow about the affair."

I dug my claws into a storage compartment to rest from paddling for awhile. One of the drawers felt loose, so I moved over one. "Your wife still appears to love you. Although she had threatened to murder you, I believe it is in jest. If that is what you fear, I will protect you."

David chuckled a little, then abruptly dropped the mirth. "You didn't tell her, did you?"

I shook my head. "I am not familiar enough with this type of social interaction to know if it is wise to interfere. The female is quite possessive."

The young man smirked. "That she is."

He stared sadly into the water. "I...love Sarah, but I loved Pillow first. If she's telling the truth, we apparently have an egg on the way. I can't keep both of them. Who am I supposed to stay with?"

"I do not know. But the bible generally states that you are to reproduce only with the one you are married to."

"But if Pillow finds out, she'll want nothing to do with me. She'll want a divorce, and then I'll have nobody."

"Jesus didn't have a wife. He married the church. I do not know how to help you, but I suspect the consumption of something called humble pie may be required. I'm assuming that is a metaphor."

David nodded, looking a bit insulted.

"You have two children now. Pillow may require parenting assistance."

"And what if Sarah suddenly becomes pregnant? I mean, I guess it's kinda unlikely, considering how we got interrupted, but I've heard that interrupting things doesn't always equate to birth control..."

"I have no answer to that. Although I believe even Hagar in the bible received some form of material compensation before being sent away. Child support...is that the correct term?"

"Yeah. I get what you're saying, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik, but what if Pillow's lying?"

"She offered to show you something to prove it. I cannot imagine how something like that could be fabricated, or why."

"Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik, why didn't you talk to me like this before?"

"Because I didn't understand what was going on, and I didn't know that Pillow was going to bear your egg."

David was about to say something, but the moment his mouth opened, I heard a quick splashing sound, like a small highly agitated alligator, and a white body wiggled into view.

I hadn't detected the worm due to the water, and it seemed to have slipped past my larvae before they could do anything about it. Although Ss'sik'chtokiwij are shark-like in our sense of smell, my head hadn't been under water long enough to get a good trace until I got the visual.

As the creature darted hungrily towards the human on the cabinet, I leapt upon its slimy back, wrestling it in the water. "Get out of here!" I shouted to the others. "Hurry!"

The young man dove into the water, wading quickly to the cockpit. It seemed counterintuitive, but oh well.

I wrestled the creature for an entire minute before noticing how the cabinet drawer had drifted all the way out. Figuring it best to get this thing out of the way until I could find a way to destroy it, I wrestled it to the drawer as it made attempts at boring through my face plate.

I stuffed it in, and shoved the drawer `to.' Not closed, mind you, `to.' The drawer sloshed with water and the creature's head kept getting in the way.

The worm's head popped out and bit at my claws, but I slammed the drawer shut on its head, beating it down with my fists, over and over until I could at last hammer the drawer closed.

I heard a solid click, and the drawer stayed in place, impassively enduring the frenzied banging of the creature without once jostling open. I gathered my young and hurried after the human.

David had been seated in the captain's chair, staring anxiously at the pressure door. He sighed in relief when I came out. "Is it gone?"

"Yes. Why did you stay here?"

"I was afraid to face Pillow. Maybe if you came with me..."

I was a little annoyed to be included in a marital squabble, but I humored him, leading him back out to the beach, where his wife stood, arms crossed, tail angrily snapping.

David stared at his wife. "I can...okay, I can't guess."

"There you are!" she shouted. "You picked a fine time to leave! A man nearly slashed my throat! Thonwa almost died! Where were you all this time!"

David swallowed. "I was praying."

She crossed her arms. "You could have done that on the ship! Instead you tell lies and put everyone on the ship in danger! You weren't even with Dillon!"

David glanced at me for support, but I only shrugged. "Pillow, look. I'm really sorry. I..."

Before he could finish, Sarah wrapped an arm around his shoulder, proudly announcing, "Me am Dawib hab thex!"

I thought that sounded a little garbled, but David's wife got the idea right away. Her eyes welled with tears, her face flushing blue in anger. She raised her hand, slapping Sarah across the face.

With her whole body trembling, she looked David in the eyes. "Tell me you didn't. For the love of God, please tell me you didn't!"

David winced, appeared to put up his best apologetic face. "Pillow..."

The Abreya slapped him violently, stepped back, breaking into puppy dog whimpers, tears rolling down her cheeks.

David approached her, reaching out to provide consolation. "Pillow..."

"Don't!" she snapped, backing away further. "I don't want to hear your excuses! Just...stay out here and screw your developmentally challenged girlfriend and leave me alone!" Mostly to herself, she added, "I got a patient to save anyway."

Pillow turned her back to him, sobbing uncontrollably as she marched up the shore.

David ran after her. "Pillow, wait!"

"Don't talk to me!" she screamed.

I trailed the couple, sincerely hoping the worms hadn't heard all that noise.

Now, after the incident with the worm in the flour crate, the prisoners had understandably avoided the Sulaco, and even now, after seeing David emerge from hiding, the men kept their distance from the vehicle, a few of them muttering, "Let's see if he'll board his ship now" as they followed close on David's heels.

Pillow stomped past Grandmother, raised her hand to knock on the entry hatch, but then stepped back suddenly as it came down on its own.

I gasped in surprise when I saw who came hobbling down the ramp.

In addition to Mrs. Borkin and the android, I saw one of the children, looking miserable, and a figure with a red polka dotted shell.

I hurried over to see what was the matter.

"Pillow!" Naumona cried. "You must stay away from here!"

She burst into tears, hysterically sobbing something in Wava.

"Calm yourself," Pillow urged. "You're not making any sense!"

"It's Oxana! He's dead! There was one of those flesh eaters in the algae tank!"

"Show me the worm," I said. "I'll see what I can do."

The Iberet's oxygen supply derived from a massive tank filled with blue plant matter floating in a nutrient solution. In its pure state, it smelled rather like carpeting glue.

The tank resembled the interior of a clothes drier, though covered all around with tube shaped light fixtures. You accessed it by a pressure door, a set of windows and a pair of video monitors giving a picture of the interior.

A little body in a Wigesh floated on its back in this tank, his chest and face ragged liquid filled holes.

The abundant omnidirectional fluorescent lighting, so good for the plants, illuminated all too much of the dead child's carcass. I confess I was making mental comparisons to beef stew.

"I told him to check the PH balance," Naumona sobbed. "I thought the air smelled a little funny."

"Warning," Mara said over the intercom system. "The hatch to the fubalca system has not been secured."

This point was illustrated well enough when the tank door burst open, and a slime covered worm latched its fangs into my face.