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"Nicholson?" Alan called out, foolishly. He approached the door, and pressed the locking release mechanism. The huge slab of metal slid open, allowing us to see out into the corridor. Both Bradley and the Xenomorph were now nowhere to be seen. I heard a low growling noise in the distance, as the creature retreated back to the engine bay, but no sound came from our fellow crew member. Of course, the worst was to be assumed.

"What happens now?" Alan asked, turning to Ryan, our Xenomorph-savvy technician.

"I don't know." He replied, leaning against the corridor's opposite wall. "Might use him for food, perhaps."

"If it got him." Nathan said optimistically. We all turned to him and gave him a disappointed look.

"Alright…" He continued, "Just trying to make the most of a difficult situation."

I walked over to Nathan, and placed a hand on his shoulder, thanking him for at least trying to keep our spirits up. But in truth, the probability that Brad was still alive was exceedingly remote.

"So what can we do?" I asked, examining the energy-burst cannon I held in my shaking hands. "Ryan, you said these weapons wouldn't do anything? How are we supposed to kill it?"

"The cannons might work…" He replied, fiddling with a dial on the side of his own device. "If we set them to direct current, turn the voltage up to maximum, and remove the inhibitor muzzles."

"If we remove the safeguards on the guns, they could overcharge." Alan said, shaking his head. "We could kill ourselves."

"If you don't mind me asking, sir," Ryan asked sternly, "do you have a better idea?"

Alan looked down at his own cannon, and admitted that Ryan's suggestion could be the only way. It was then decided that we should continue to the search the ship, with all of our weapons' safety mechanisms disabled to ensure maximum damage. As before, we proceeded as a group, although given what had happened with Brad, we were no safer together than we were apart. Even so, there was a sense of security in the fact that if the Xenomorph did rear it's ugly head again, there was a 75% chance that it wouldn't attack me. I realised as I was thinking this just how quick people were to value their own lives over the lives of others, particularly in such… troubling circumstances. I also wondered whether the others were thinking the exact same thing about themselves; that they might have more chance of survival if the alien had a choice of victims.

As we continued to search the ship from top to bottom, the clock continued to tick onwards (Although of course all the clocks aboard were actually digital (apart from my watch (I got that on Praxidike in 2312 (Good times (Sorry – I'm getting very side-tracked now – I mean, quintuple brackets? Really?)!).).).). Anyway, we searched the ship from top to bottom. Of course, the first place we checked was the engine bay, as that was where we'd found the Xenomorph the first time. Unfortunately, it had anticipated that we would revisit it's original spot, and so had moved on. We agreed that the next best place to search was the server room. Like the engine bay, it was a warm, dark room, which was seldom visited by anyone other than Ryan and Brad. Nevertheless, upon investigation of the server room, we found no trace of the creature.

"This is pointless." Ryan said, as we looked around the dingy little server bank in desperation. "If this thing doesn't want to be found, then there's not a cat in hell's chance we're going to find it."

"We have to try, Goddard." Alan demanded. "We can't just go back into hypersleep with a killer on the loose."

"Two killers, remember?" Nathan said, correcting him, although technically the second alien wasn't a killer yet, unless, of course, you counted Cara.

"Maybe we should split up." I postulated, thinking aloud. "After all, sticking together didn't do us much good last time. Besides, they've got to be hiding somewhere. If we're traveling as one, they can just keep avoiding us."

Looking down at the floor, apparently lost in deep though, Alan eventually spoke.

"Jones is right," He said. "We'll cover more ground separately."

"Really?" I asked, surprised by the cowardly man's sudden change of tone.

"Now listen here, all of you." Alan frowned, stepping out of the server room and into the corridor. "I know that certain members of this crew may have me marked as some kind of a coward." A resounding 'yes' came from the three of us.

"But if the Archimedes is in danger, then I will defend her." He said proudly. I felt a newfound sense of respect for Alan in that moment. I knew it wouldn't last. But at least, then, it was decided. We would 'split up and look for clues'.

For the next half an hour, I found myself wandering the corridors alone. I searched meticulously for any signs of an alien life form's presence. As I walked, gun in hand, I reflected on our experience with the Xenomorph so far. It was hard to believe that it was just this morning that Cara, Nathan and myself had gone aboard the XH-12's shuttlecraft. Now, the former was dead, leaving the latter to search for the creature she had birthed. I was still trying to understand some of the minor details of the events that had unfolded earlier. For example, was it normal that the Facehugger had implanted two embryos in Cara's stomach? Or were they of similar rarity to human twins? And why hadn't they appeared on any of Nathan's scans? The full-grown Xenomorph quite clearly had a bone structure, and indeed an exoskeleton-like shell, so the X-Ray should have returned a result. And a CT scanner was able to detect any form of living tissue, so there should have been a result there, too.

As I pondered the different explanations for these anomalies (each as unlikely as the last), I suddenly heard a noise. It was a low, scraping noise, like something being dragged along the metal floor of the ship. The noise originated from around a nearby corner. It was where the corridor reached a junction, opposite Archie's control hub, and leading towards the bridge. Readying my weapon, I slowly approached the corner. But I couldn't bring myself to go around it. What if it was a Xenomorph? What if the energy-burst cannon wasn't strong enough to kill it? Even on maximum power, Ryan had seemed skeptical on whether it would have any effect. However, as I heard the scraping noise coming closer to my position, I knew that I'd soon have no choice. With a deep breath, I lifted the cannon, and forced myself around the corner. And sure enough, there in the corridor before me, stood an eight-foot, jet black Xenomorph.

"Say there!" I shouted. "Don't come any closer!" But the alien did not advance. It simply stood there, seemingly taken aback by my presence. I aimed my weapon towards it. It took a step back, apparently worried. I heard a faint whimper from the creature, as it held up a hand in front of it's face.

"Wait…" I said, slowly lowering my weapon. "Are you… scared?" The Xenomorph simply stepped even further away. Looking down at the energy-burst cannon in my hands, I tried to understand what was going on. I kneeled down, and set the weapon on the floor. Then, I got back up, and saw that the creature had moved a little closer.

"Can you understand me?" I asked, to which the alien replied by nodding it's up and down, very slowly.

"You're not going to hurt me?" I continued. The Xenomorph shook it's head. I nodded back, and heaved a deep sigh.

"I'm not going to hurt you," I said confidently, although I still felt a little intimidated. It was hard to tell from the shape of the Xenomorph's face, but it seemed as though it was smiling, thanking me for sparing it's life. In the few moments of silence that then followed, I took the liberty of examining the creature more closely. I could see much more clearly in the bright light of the corridor. It had a long, spiny tail, several feet in length. Protruding from it's back were four or five bony spikes. And inside it's gaping jaws, there seemed to be a second, smaller mouth, in place of a tongue. I also realised that this wasn't the same Xenomorph that had attacked us earlier. There were very slight differences, particularly in height.

"You didn't take Brad, did you?" I eventually continued, understanding that if this creature really wanted to kill me, it would have done it by now. It simply shook it's head. I wondered if I was just imagining things at this point, but I found myself looking at the shape of the alien's body once more. It's waist was noticeably thinner than it's torso, and it's exterior ribcage was slightly swelled outwards. 'Call me crazy', I thought to myself. 'But this thing seems kind of like…'

"Are you…" I began, but found that I could not finish my question. Could this thing really hear me? Would it even understand my question? Still, curiosity got the best of me, and I asked anyway.

"Are you… a girl?"