Upon seeing the creature attacking me, Julia ducked down my back in fright.

I ripped the worm from my shell, bashing it against the walls.

I briefly considered eating the thing before a voice behind me shouted, "Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik, throw that thing down and get back!"

I did what I was told, and a blast of fire reduced the worm to ash.

For a moment, I feared the fire would ignite something in the tank that would reduce us to ash, but oxygen is not inherently flammable, especially with all that water in there.

I glanced in surprise at the figure wielding the flamethrower. "David?"

"I found this in the Sulaco." He squeezed the trigger to show off.

Nothing but black smoke puffed out. "Shit, I guess it's out of fuel or something."

"David! Umuacik!" Julia had picked up some Wava lessons during mind to mind contact or something, apparently.

I thought I saw some resentment in the young man's face as he looked at her. "Gutico abukos."

"Are there any more of those flamethrowers?" I asked.

David shook his head. "This one was jammed behind a bulkhead. If there's anything else down there, you'll probably have to go scuba diving. Nice trapping that worm, by the way. I think it's in there for good."

"Perhaps I should go scuba diving. But first, I believe we should check on the other humans."

The two Abreya females had been watching from a doorway.

David turned to face Pillow. An uncomfortable silence passed between them.

Naumona must have failed to notice this subtle interaction, for she put a hand on Mrs. Barnes' shoulder and said, "Pulsa Pillow Siqsari Barnes, I humbly request your husband as Nevxupa, as per the rite of Remvuaf."

Pillow appeared to be deeply disturbed, eyes widening in surprise, perhaps dismay. "Naumona, this really isn't a good time for that."

"What if there never is a good time? What if this is the last time we can talk about this?"

Pillow sighed and crossed her arms.

"Pillow Siqsari, my children, Sharad, and the one growing in my yuxhauba, they need a male to rear them. Please understand that I make no claims upon your husband sexually. I only ask to claim what you promised during your wedding in Bencap."

David was cringing, backing against the wall, trying to make himself shrink out of view.

Pillow sighed and nodded, looking uncomfortably at her husband. "I must warn you, Naumona. Having him as a father may be like having none at all."

David pressed himself further against the bulkhead.

"There is a saying in Corrovoz that goes thusly: `A child does not ask for much in a father. Breathing and a pulse will do.'"

"They also say that a Hobnora breathes constantly, and it occasionally eats children."

Naumona was not deterred. "Even the worst father can raise a great man, or woman."

"With Ponai, God, all things are possible," Pillow agreed.

I thought I heard David sub-vocalizing something about a moral high horse, but it was unclear, and the females ignored it.

Pillow put a hand on Naumona's shoulder. "Mugunumiol ticoh mugunumua, brifoquipiiol ticoh brifoquipiua. Guki ruhd remvuaf junenora venteveh de jufaeoia con alat."

"My husband is your husband," Naumona repeated. "My children your children. May this remvuaf unify our bonds of friendship and love."

The two females cried and held each other.

Gregor, that man who vaguely resembled Billy Burke, stepped up behind them. "Is the worm dead?"

Naumona and Pillow nodded.

"Is that the last one, or are other ones in here?"

"No," Pillow stammered. "That should be it. At least, on the ship."

The moment the words escaped her lips, the man grabbed her, pressing a glowing knife to her throat. The prisoners had been wandering anywhere they wanted to in the ship, so it didn't surprise me to discover one had a weapon. "This is all very touching, but I'd like to leave this planet before more of those things come crawling in. I understand you need authorization codes to fly this machine, but that's our pilot right in front of us, is it not?"

David reluctantly nodded.

Golic, of course, had kept his word and stayed aboard. "Can we leave now?"

"Shut up," Gregor snapped. "All in good time."

It seemed, in my absence, the prisoners had coerced David to let them into the Iberet, for I detected no look of surprise on the captain's face, like he expected this to happen. "Can you at least wait for my friends to get back?"

"Your friends are dead," Gregor said matter-of-factly.

David frowned at the android standing nearby. "Big Bird?"

"I am sorry, David. Martial arts are not part of my programming, and Ellen Ripley has the taser."

"Let's continue this conversation in the cockpit," Gregor said.

David had a flamethrower, but he didn't want to fry his wife, and her neck would be sliced long before the flames could burn the attacker to a crisp anyway.

From my current vantage point, I wouldn't be of any better assistance than he, nor would my larvae. I mean, I could have potentially sent my larva to attack Gregor when his back was turned, but I didn't want to teach my children to kill, or brutally injure.

At any rate, Gregor obviously didn't want to kill the female if he didn't have to, and I hoped for a change of heart.

Also adding to my hesitancy, and although I'm ashamed to say it, was my selfish desire to see the universe, with or without Grandmother and our friends.

In the control room, David set aside his flamethrower and got in a pilot's seat, typing in a series of symbols into a computer attached to the chair.

"Authorization codes accepted," Mara said. "I do not approve of this operation, but I understand the physical threat and its associated emotional implications." Then, a little unwisely, perhaps, "Please do not harm her, Mr. Gregor. She is my friend too."

Sighing, David disengaged the tail operated steering yoke and strapped himself in, activating the steering controls. Thonwa limped to the chair nearby, to serve as copilot.

The vehicle hummed to life, its screens displaying a panoramic view of the prison and its environs. David rolled a track ball on his armrest, and we slowly rose above the building.

Our view tilted skywards. I felt my weight shift beneath me as the vehicle shot over the concrete cube, soaring into the clouds.

All of a sudden, the lights went out, the screens darkened, and we felt the effects of weightlessness, on account of our rapid descent.

"What's going on!" Gregor shouted. "In case you forgot, I have a knife!"

"Primary engines are inoperative," Mara said. "Secondary systems have malfunctioned. Unable to sustain flight or continue course. Prepare for emergency landing."

"No! Not acceptable!" Gregor tightened his grip on Pillow. "You take us off planet this minute or I slash this bitch's throat right now!"

"The Iberet is currently experiencing a technical event. Slashing the throat of Dr. Pillow Barnes will not affect this vehicle's performance. Please brace yourselves for a hard landing."

Gregor's facial features tightened. "You really want me to slash this thing's throat, don't you?"

"Considering the circumstances," David said. "I think you'll be sparing her a lot of pain."

"David!" Pillow cried in alarm. "How can you say that!"

"It's true, honey. When this ship crashes down, there's a chance we'll break every bone in our bodies. He might be doing you a favor."

"Oh God," Gregor cried. "Please tell me you're not serious."

"Don't swear," Golic said.

David gestured to his console. "Look at the screen. If I were faking a malfunction, you think I'd choose to do it like this? If you guys know how to fix a spaceship engine, be my guest."

Gregor would have replied, but at that precise moment, our vehicle hit something with an earth shattering bang.

I and my larvae have hardy frames, but for my companions I feared the worst.

Fortunately for us, the ship came equipped with a sort of airbag system.

Upon impact, a substance like marshmallow foam burst from panels along the walls and floor, a mass of thick swelling cushion shielding us unseated passengers from damaging injury. It smelled strongly of naphthalene, but one couldn't complain.

"I thought you said we'd break all our bones," Golic said.

Our captain undid his restraints. "Yeah? Well, it's not like I ever tested the safety features or anything. I really wasn't sure they'd work."

"If this is a trick, someone is going to pay!"

Our vehicle had encountered a building, as evidenced by the odd downward slant, and the mostly intact front end.

The only way out of the cockpit was up, so we climbed the spongy padding, into the connecting corridor.

I used my claws, but the material was gummy enough for humans to ascend with little difficulty. We would have used the ladders, but the foam covered every surface in the entire room. The prisoners, unfamiliar with this type of situation, knew no better than to follow our lead.

Only Thonwa had problems getting up, due to her injuries. I helped her through the room the best I could, but she was just too heavy, especially when clawing through thick safety padding. I ended up setting her down on the side of a console.

If she had been human, we would have been forced to leave her there, but Thonwa had wings, and extra limbs (sort of). The back of her shell opened, ladybug-like, the large red-black halves flapping rapidly enough to propel her through the air.

A foot below the door, she let out a feeble wheezing sound, latching onto the alien airbag material with her working limbs. I tried to help her up further, but I only got her inside the door frame.

When an earth ladybug dies, a sort of black tail projects from its rear end. I thought for sure I'd see something similar pop out from behind Thonwa any minute, but she kept moving, slowly but surely, like a half crashed spider escaping a boot. Sad and pathetic, but not nearly as sad as a human with similar injuries. She could `hold her own', to a certain extent. "Go on ahead," she gasped. "I will be fine."

I did what she said, mostly because she had wings and there were pads to cushion her if she fell.

Algae and nutrients flooded the corridor above, giving it the appearance of blueberry syrup coated marshmallows. The substance made it challenging to navigate without slipping. I shouted a warning to Thonwa.

The roasted worm came down through the sludge in the form of blackened grit, like grounds at the bottom of a batch of bad coffee. The dead child was likely slumped against a wall somewhere, the stream of liquid not quite enough to carry him into the corridor, at least not yet.

Up we went through cryogenics, climbing the ladders on the walls for better purchase. The tanks looked strangely skewed from the bad parking job.

I found Sarah in the main room, holding Pillow's baby in her arms as she bounced on the emergency foam. It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland for some reason.

The baby loved all that bouncing, but Sharad, hanging from a nearby ladder, shouted, "Stop that! You're moving the ship!"

Indeed, she had. The craft had made subtle shifts the whole time we'd been climbing, but now we knew why.

Sarah bounced again. "Don't be silly!"

I heard a loud crack, then we all got shaken and jostled, enough to make Sarah and the baby cry out in fright.

Giving Sarah a look of pure hatred, Pillow snatched her infant out of the young woman's arms, placing him on her back. The child's grip was quite tenacious, especially with his growing tail, so his mother could carry him while climbing headfirst down the floor, exactly like an opossum.

David climbed down after her, also headfirst, but one could tell it wasn't as natural for him.

"I'm still angry at you," Pillow said.

"I know," he sighed. "Look, if you want a divorce, I understand."

She stopped climbing. "Maybe I don't want a divorce. Maybe I want my children...our children, to have a father."

He opened his mouth to say something, but his wife spoke first. "If we ever get off this planet, and get back home, we are getting a nennop, and we'll figure out what to do with your human plaything once and for all." She pushed a button on a bulkhead, and the exit hatch cracked open, scattering chunks of concrete as it lowered into a darkened building.

Our trajectory had taken us near the end of the prison complex, somewhere around the back of the foundry. As we stared into the concrete tunnel, the ship shuddered lower.

The corridor was warm, probably somewhere above ninety degrees, due to our proximity to the refinery. We had crashed well within the air conditioned living area, but I could still feel the sweltering heat rising up through the hatch.

The boarding ramp, oddly enough, had built in footholds. I found this strange until I noticed Pillow's glove-like shoes grasping the handles in monkey fashion, thumbs curling tightly around the interior bars to avoid slippage. I suspect those same footholds got used when walking upright in places with little traction, such as a snowy or swampy planet.

"This reminds me of our honeymoon on Qeksavu," David muttered as he gazed at his wife's hindquarters.

The blue tinge to Pillow's face indicated that she wasn't oblivious to the staring. She snapped her tail in anger. "Yes, and I distinctly remember you swearing to me that mine would be the only tail you'd ever chase!"

David sighed, falling silent.

The human made structure around us did not host as many conveniences as the ramp. Due to our terrible parking job, we didn't land next to a ladder or anything else we could easily climb upon.

This did not deter Pillow. She jumped from the ramp with her hands spread, somehow sticking to the surface like she'd applied superglue to her palms.

Puzzled, I asked David about this miracle.

"It's like sweat. Certain points on Abreya hands secrete a sticky resin. They secrete twice as much when they're afraid. It makes a lot more sense than sweating lubricant." He frowned at his own hands as he said this.

Naumona jumped across after her, crawling down the wall.

Pillow climbed onto a big metal pipe, one riveted together at regular intervals, and wet with condensation, the baby instinctively shifting his position with the mother. Pillow reached out for her husband, her tail and feet clutching the metal tightly as she stretched her arms. "Jump!"

David swallowed. "You promise you won't drop me?"

"Did I drop you at Qeksavu?"

"That was before."

"I should, but no. We both presumably share the same Lord, and my children still need a father. It's not that far to the floor, but give me some credit."

David jumped, and he almost didn't make it. Pillow's hands grabbed him, but it seemed she had trouble holding on. "You gained weight."

"It's all those delicious isgormos you fed me while I was warming your boyfriend's egg, honey." David frowned. "Oh God. No wonder you were so nice to me. It's like the Big Bouquet of Flowers."

"So where's my guilt gift?"

Mr. Barnes rolled his eyes. "Oh. I'm sorry. We're out in the middle of nowhere. I'll just drive down the street and buy you something!"

"I could drop you right now."

The ship groaned, sinking down another foot, the boarding ramp tilting awkwardly.

"Can we possibly move things along?" Aaron cried. "Before we all get smashed in this wreckage?"

Casting her husband a frustrated glance, Pillow helped him to the floor, handed him the baby. When she climbed back up, I joined her on the wall, helping Sarah and Aaron down.

Newt and Julia, it seemed, had some practice with climbing, for they managed to scale the wall passably enough to make it halfway to the floor before losing their grip and falling off. Neither got hurt.

Noticing Newt purring in enjoyment at the activity, Julia said, "See? Not everything about being a Ss'sik'chtokiwij is bad!"

I almost thought I saw Newt grinning. A little. "I guess you're right..." The smile faded.

Sharad came down afterwards. Her footing, although a little uncertain at first, proved to be nearly as good as the other females'. She only lost her grip twice as she scrambled her way to the floor like a squirrel.

The ship settled lower as I and the Abreyas helped Aaron, Golic and Gregor to the floor, pieces of the roof crunching noisily down around us as we worked. A chunk of masonry bounced off my shell, almost making me drop a prisoner.

Then the worms came.

Unsurprisingly, our passage had not gone unnoticed. We had made an incredible amount of noise.

There were only four worms, but they moved fast. Things did not bode well.

"Quick!" David pointed in the direction away from the creatures. "Into the factory!"

He, his wife and children (including newly adopted daughter), and a handful of others rushed that way. I didn't have any weapons with me, so to buy my friends some time, I resorted to picking up the worms and hurling them as far as I could down the corridor.

Julie tried to help by attacking one, but the worm tried to eat her head. This so scared her that she cowered behind me.

As a plump faced prisoner raced to join David and the others, the Iberet crashed down into the floor, reducing the lower half of his body to a bloody pulp. He screamed so loud that a person standing inside the Sulaco could have heard him.

The deafening noise and raining debris appeared to startle the worms, indicating at least a rudimentary self preservation instinct. They flinched and reversed course, stopping a few yards distance away, to safely wait out the collapse.

Gregor ran to the crippled man's side, his expression drawn with worry. "Eric! Are you okay?"

The victim's face was pale, probably due to blood and oxygen loss. It seemed that part of his lung had been pinched or crushed, for he coughed blood and could barely speak. His little eyebrows knitted together in pain. "H-help me. Help!"

The moment the rumblings and debris slowed to a stop, the worms appeared to regain their confidence, pursuing their prey once again.

Before I could stop it, a worm shot into the crushed man's mouth, emerging from his brain a second later.

"Eric!" Gregor shouted, drawing a laser knife from his pocket.

I tensed up in alarm. "Put that away!"

Gregor ignored me. The moment the worm came out, he stabbed it squarely in the middle of its head.

Although the attack delayed the creature for a moment, it soon wiggled itself free. Gregor jumped back as a thing with four dangling hunks of attached flesh came rolling out. It rather resembled a banana peel made from an old Rocky Mountain oyster.

Fighting a mangled worm wouldn't have been so bad, but to my absolute disgust, it rubbed itself against a jagged skull fragment, expanding its wound until it came away as four wiggling pieces. As soon as these came crawling after us, I threw them down the corridor with the others. They traveled further than the others, due to their lightness.

Naumona had failed to join the others before the spaceship fell, and was therefore stuck in the worm corridor with the rest of us. Looking fidgety and frustrated, she stood among the prisoners, watching me battle the worms.

In a foolish but well intentioned attempt to help, she grabbed one of the worms, attempting to toss it down the hall.

Sometimes it's best to have your palms sweat lubricant. The worm never left the female's hand. In her fearful panic, she reeled back and did a baseball throw, but the worm never came loose.

The creature drilled through her bicep, ate through her chest, and tunneled out through her skull. Her dead body dropped to its knees, as if in prayer.

"Christ," Gregor muttered. "We're fucked."

"Forgive him, O Lord," someone said.

Aaron retreated, pressing himself into a corner, between a wall and the crashed ship.

Golic crossed his chest and bowed his head, uttering a real prayer. The man with the sideways nose and cowl took his hand, praying with him. A Hispanic man with gang tattoos joined him.

Gregor, out of ideas himself, took Golic's other hand. "Hail Mary, full of grace, pray for us sinners, now in the hour of our death..."

I have never thought about praying to the Virgin Mary. I always considered her nothing more than a mortal host body for the son of God, currently too busy enjoying her eternal rest to bother herself with answering any sort of prayer, including the outcome of sports events.

For this reason, I believe the Lord must have answered Golic's prayer first, whatever it was that he said. We literally received `help from above.'

First came a noise like a finely tuned lawnmower with a tank of high grade fuel. Then, a large red and black body descended on buzzing wings from overhead, smiting our squirming foes with a rain of fire.

Thonwa had found the flamethrower.

After she'd burned two worms to ash, Thonwa's wings gave out, and she fell to the floor. A deadly worm zoomed up to her, just inches from her face.

My fellow bug alien (I'd say `arthropod', but that isn't entirely accurate) appeared to be highly fatigued. It seemed that her damaged organs, whatever they were, were vital to her movement.

Two of the remaining worms reared up to strike her in the face. I ran to her, but doubted I'd be able to reach her in time.

It was fortunate that she had some life left in her.

Thonwa had only feigned unconsciousness, like the man with the rocket launcher at the end of that one Rambo movie, for suddenly she popped up with her flame thrower, frying both worms to powder.

Seeing her job completed, and all the worms dead, Thonwa closed her eyes and slumped on the floor, as if dead.

Worried, I turned her over. "Thonwa! Are you all right?"

"Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik..." After an unsettling delay, she gave me a nod. "I'm fine."

Her ragged breathing concerned me. "Are you certain? You seem less than fine to me."

She caressed my dome with her claw. I suppose she would have smiled if she had the right facial features to do so. "I must apologize for my nudity. Am I making you uncomfortable?"

I glanced at the pink reproductive tentacles twitching around her head. "No. Not really."

She sighed. "A pity."

Hearing a slithering sound, I instinctively flinched, but when I glanced back, I only saw Big Bird wiggling through a narrow gap between the crashed spaceship and the floor. The gap was so small hat she couldn't even move her arms. The android wiggled on her belly, making silly hissing sounds with her mouth. "I'm a snake."

She squirmed into a sitting position, untied a rope from her ankle. A metal box had been affixed to the other end. "I brought a medical kit."

She carried the kit to Thonwa, examining her wound. "Your sutures are loose. Let me fix that."

"You don't know how to operate on a Cijmabsa," Thonwa protested.

The robot nodded. "That was true eight minutes and thirty five point eighty seven seventy three seconds ago, but I have since discovered an instructional chip on Cijmabsa medical care, which I have just inserted into my brain."

Thonwa only groaned.

Big Bird did appear to have the appropriate medical skills. She took out some futuristic gadgets, needle free syringes (somehow the drugs could be introduced without puncturing the vein), a type of staple that could be tightly secured without damaging the surrounding flesh, and a medical version of that sewing tool I'd been shown. I watched her work appreciatively. I really had no idea how to assist her.

I stared in surprise as Gregor knelt down beside the Cijmabsa, placing a hand on her chest. He looked like a nervous kid trying to pick up a tarantula. "Shakazulu, I want to apologize for what me and my buddies did to you. You...have an unusual appearance, and I guess...we got a little squeamish."

It wasn't a great apology, but Thonwa still placed a claw on him, gasping, "I forgive you, brother."

Golic knelt down next to her as well. "I'm sorry we called you the Demon of Pestilence. I know now that you are the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse, the Angel of Pestilence, sent by the Almighty to punish the wicked."

He placed a hand on Thonwa's shoulder. "Please spare us from the second bowl of wrath."

"You're misreading Revelation." Thonwa closed her sets of eyes. In a rasping gurgle, she added, "You don't even know what you're talking about."

"I think we should go find Dillon and the others," Gregor muttered.

I nodded, glanced at Big Bird.

"You may leave," the android said. "Your medical contributions are negligible."

Julia butted me in the side. "Mom, if Thonwa dies, can we eat her?"

"No, honey. It is not a loving Christian thing to do."

Thonwa's eyes cracked open. "It's okay, Julia. As long as I am truly deceased, I would not at all mind you consuming my lifeless carcass. It is only a physical tent for my immortal spirit." She coughed. "It would be an honor." She closed her eyes again.

"You think the others are okay?" I said.

Although the medical procedure could be potentially fatal, and one mistake could kill the patient, the synthetic human replied with the dispassionate calm of one putting together a jigsaw puzzle. "They are safe and uninjured."

Beckoning to my children, I padded ahead down the corridor, searching for human scents.

Obviously, Ripley and the others hadn't passed that way, so I sniffed around blind for a few yards, ever alert for any sign of worms.

Catching a strong familiar smell, I halted in front of a sturdy looking door, knocking below the loop on the Chi Rho. I figured I'd be well received, if only for the simple fact that killer alien worms don't know `Shave and a Haircut.' The prisoners stood behind me, waiting expectantly.

The door slid open to reveal a bald unsmiling woman and a group of men among rows of fuel drums. "Is that a flamethrower?"

Not "Hi" or "Hello," just "Is that a flamethrower."

Gregor idly flicked the igniter on said weapon.

Before I could answer, he shot a demonstrative burst in her direction. "Does it look like one?"

"Jesus!" she shouted. "First you and your friends try to rape me, and now you point a blowtorch at me in front of five thousand gallons of combustible material!"

Gregor set the weapon down. "You're welcome."

Newt stood on my shoulder, her expression reflecting an intense desire to regain that mother-daughter relationship they once had.

Ripley noticed immediately looked away, and would continue to avert her eyes from the larva every time she stared, like a prom queen shunning an unwanted admirer.

The woman and the prisoners had been `holed up' in a room that resembled a cinder block. The place had a strong petroleum smell. The prisoners rubbed their heads, as if suffering migraines, apparently from the fumes.

Ripley picked up the blowtorch. "Have you seen any of those worms?"

I told her about the attack. "I believe we are safe, for the moment."

"What about that young woman?...Sarah? Is she all right?"

I nodded. "She's with David and Pillow."

Ripley pointed the weapon far from the barrels and pulled the trigger. Only smoke came out.

"You think we can maybe pour some of that combustible material in the reservoir and...refuel?"

Ripley furrowed her brow. "I don't know..."

"Can't we just...stand around in the foundry and wait for the worms to come?" Jude asked. "Grab a few wrenches and cricket them into the molten lead?"

"And how long would we be waiting?" Aaron challenged.

"It's a nice idea," Ripley said. "But it won't work."

"Wait," said the man with the crooked nose. "Who made you the leader?"

Dillon stepped forward. "It was me, Morse. This woman knows more about space organisms than anyone else in this whole prison."

"What about that Barnes kid?" Gregor asked.

"He doesn't strike me as leadership material. This woman's actually seen battles."

"That's right!" Newt cried. "When I was human, she rescued me from the big queen!"

Newt climbed down from my back, scurrying up the woman's leg. "Ripley, I know you still love me. Can't you just look past my outside and see the little girl from Hadley's Hope? I'm still here! Please say we can at least be friends!"

The woman narrowed her gaze, kicking the larva into a wall.

With a cold, merciless expression, she picked Newt up, squeezing her carapace in her fist. "Listen, you little flesh eating parasite! You are not that little dead girl, and you are not my friend! You will never be my friend, and if you so much as touch me again, I'm going to stick you into one of those barrels and drop in a match. You got me!"

Newt coughed and sneezed in sorrow. "Yes, Ripley."

Failing to understand the display of emotion, the woman dropped my friend like a hot rock, wiping her hands on her pants. "You had better pray to God that that isn't contagious!"

"It's not," Newt sniffed. "I think you've already found a cure for loving and friendship!"