Chapter six

Playing their games

She had no idea just how long they had left her hanging by her limbs in that dark, silent room. A day or two? Or had it only been a few hours? She had no idea. Times seemed to change as the only thing running through her mind was the sight of the body that was still on the floor, the gaping wound still visible from where he had been run through by her sister. She could not shake it from her mind's eye, that horrible scene of murder and blood. It was all she was left with in her solitude. Over and over it played in her mind. With each time she remebered, it turned her sister more and more into a monster. One that was willing to kill an innocent and do as she was told. However, she could not lie, she understood why her sister had done it. Astarte was not sure that if her family was being hurt in front of her, that she would not do the same thing. But she had told her, begged her not to. She could have taken the pain, could have survived whatever it was that they threw at her. But she had not been the one watching her sister be tortured in front of her eyes with a way to make it stop. Her mind was torn. Would she have killed the man if she had been in Amara's position? Would she have let her suffer in pain? She had no answer.

As she stay trapped within the restraints, she would hear footsteps approaching the door from across the room, her head would rise to see if they were coming to check on her. To see if someone would break her isolation. At this point, she would take anything. She did not like being held in place in a room with nothing. With each passing sound, so too passed her fragile hope of companionship. For they never stopped, and the door remained still and dead. Her disappointment only grew each time she had to listen as the footfalls would continue down the hall. She wished she could go back to her room and curl up within the small cocoon she had made upon the wall. She felt safe there, not like she was now. Helpless, exposed and trapped.

When she was not thinking of the horror scene that had happened before her, she would dream of a life outside these metal walls. What was the world like? What did grass feel like beneath her taloned toes? What did the heat from the sun actually feel like? Her mother had told her much about the life she had seen through her memories, but she wanted to feel it all for herself. The cold tickle of ocean water, the smell of bacon, the sight of a field of wheat that went on till the horizon. And coffee, she really wanted to smell coffee for herself. Mother always brought up the smell of coffee as one of her favorite things. Astarte could always feel a mental wave of enjoyment from her mother when she thought about it.

Astarte let out a long sigh.

One day, she would experience all of these. One day. It was during her day dreams that she felt a familiar feeling enter her mind. She could not stop her excitement when she felt the presence of her mother.

"A...Astarte? Are…y-y-you al...alright?" She asked with a large amount of concern, causing her words to stumble a bit more than normal.

"I am alright mother, what has happened to you? I have been reaching out for you." She asked.

"They…put me under…I don't…know w-why. Astarte, w-what... h-happened? Amara is…telling me something…awful happened?" Astarte was afraid to tell her mother of what had happened in the small room. If Amara had not told her yet, then she was afraid to do it herself. Jolene felt her hesitation. "Astarte?"

"Mother…don't be angry at her, please. I…understand why it happened. I am not pleased that it did…but I understand why she did it." She tried to explain.

"Who, Astarte? Who did…what?" Jolene asked, her concern rising in her tone.

"They…they forced Amara to…" It was hard to muster the courage to tell her. Astarte took a moment to gather her words. "They made Amara murder a man in front of me. They were hurting me until she did as they commanded. She did it to protect me."

There was silence from her mother for what seemed like an eternity. She could feel nothing from her as well, just a cold void. Astarte reached out for her mother's mind to see if she could fell what she was feeling. As she searched, there was something subtle in the back of her mind. Rage and anger that were not hers. However, she felt that the feelings were being well hidden from her.

"Mother?" She finally asked after another moment or two.

"Astarte, this…never should have…happened. I am s-so sorry…my daughter. Amara…just wanted… you to stop hurting."

"I know, mother...I know." She paused for a moment. "But at what cost? She murdered someone. I can't… I can't stop seeing it, playing it over and over in my head. How can I live with that on my conscious?" She asked. "How do I make it go away?" She asked, almost pleading.

"I…don't know, Astarte. I…don't know…how to take the pain away. I'm…sorry." She could tell that her mother was hurting inside, it was behind each one of her words. It reminded her of something she wanted to ask. A comment from Amara that had stuck with her.

"Mother…how…how many of my sisters are gone?" The silence that followed the question cut like a knife. "Mother? I…I want to know."

After another painful handful of seconds, her mother finally answered. "Fifty-four are… dead. Twenty-eight are… I…I don't know. They were…taken somewhere. Somewhere I c-cannot...feel them."

Fifty-four...had she said fifty-four of her sisters are gone?! Astarte was frozen within her isolated room. She was not sure how to react to that. Her emotions had been a bowl of scrambled eggs ever since she watched her sister murder an innocent. And now, fifty-four...fifty-four of her sisters that she would never meet. Fifty-four of her sisters that she would never learn their names. Fifty-four of her sisters would never be free. It hit harder than the voltage that had been used to torture her. Her mind was numb, not knowing how to feel. But she knew one thing for sure, something that she would die to make sure happened.

"Mother…we are getting out of here. I don't care how long it takes…we will be free." She said with conviction.

"Astarte we ca-"

"Yes…yes, we can." She cut the queen off. "I will find a way, no matter what. We will be free. We will be outside these walls. I will see the fields of grain; you will taste coffee again; we will feel the sun on our faces. And our… our family will never know this pain again." She sent all the feelings of determination she could across their invisible connection. She wanted her mother to know that she would die to make sure this happened.

"My daughter, I…don't even know i-if I can…fit through the doors. But…if it comes…to that, you…will leave without me."

"No, Mothe-"

"No, t-this time…you listen." Her words were stern, but still caring. "If…it's between me or escape, you…leave me." The statement was hard to swallow, but Astarte knew that she might not have a choice. She sent her mother a silent feeling of agreement.

"So, my daughter, how…do we do this?" The alien drone took a moment to think.

"We be compliant. We perform their tests, we jump through their hoops, only as much as we have to so we gain their trust. Then, when they become complacent that we are no longer a threat, we pounce. There has been one thing that I have noticed about these humans, when they think they have won, they let their guard down. Their rifles point to the floor, their hands go to their sides and they turn their backs to leave. I have a feeling they will continue to do this, perhaps even more so if we show them that we are complacent." As Astarte explained her plan, she could feel her mother's approval. "We will need everyone to know this mother, can you tell the rest of my sisters?"

"Of course, my…daughter. We will…do this as a family…or not at all." Astarte felt a comforting, warm feeling flush through her body. It was the best hug that her queen could give her considering the circumstances. A question came to mind that she felt silly for never asking before.

"Mother, just how many sisters are here? Amara is one of your first, but how many have you had?" Astarte asked, realizing that she did not know how big her family was.

"In…this lab, you have... thirty-three sisters awake and...doing their own tests. But I have… many more eggs…waiting for hosts." This was good, the more they had, the easier it would be when the trigger was pulled.

"Good, I cannot wait to meet them all." She replied, wanting to sprinkle some hope onto her plan.

It wasn't until later that Astarte was taken from her zen like state by the sound of the metal door sliding open. Her head snapped up to see only a sliver of the hallway beyond and then a small cylinder enter the room, rolling to a stop just in front of her. She let out a sigh, she really wished they would just let her go so she could walk to her next location. She was tired of being knocked out via this gas. Their caution was warranted, but she didn't have to enjoy it. Later, she woke up in her own room, which she was glad of. It was comfortable and familiar. She looked around it's resin covered surfaces and noticed that nothing had changed. No hidden objects, nothing out of place. She got up off the floor and moved to the back wall where here sleeping cocoon was upon the wall. She climbed up into its moist space and curled up into herself. She let out a huff of air. Not our of frustration, more just because the air was within her.

She stayed there, alone, for what felt like a day or two until footsteps could be heard stopping outside her door. From her camouflaged position on the wall, she watched without turning her large head as the door slid open, this time more than usual. She thanked the void that it was not another can of gas. Instead, the door fully opened to reveal Evelynn, dressed in some kind of jump suit, hands behind her back.

The excitement to see her friend took over Astarte, and before she knew it, she was off the wall and heading towards the door. She was stopped in her tracks when she noticed the two guards appear from the sides of the door, rifles up. However, they were not pointed at her, they were fixed upon Evelynn. Knowing full well that they would kill the woman at the drop of a hat, Astarte froze, not making any movements until she knew what they wanted.

A tense moment later, Evelynn was pushed inside by one of the soldiers and a doctor took her place. He was one that Astarte had never seen before. The human looked to the alien drone, smiled and put his hands behind his back.

"Good morning one-three-five, I hope you are doing well. I've been told that you should be able to understand me at this point. Do me a favor, raise your right hand if you understand." This man was throwing her off, he was almost…joyful, happy to be here. Very unlike all the other doctors that Astarte had been exposed to. So, she played along, raising her right, clawed hand.

"Excellent! Now, I do apologize about your friend here, but I do need some sort of insurance that you will behave. As long as that happens, I promise that she will be perfectly safe. Now will you please follow me?" The man gestured down the hallway out of Astarte's gaze.

She took a few steps towards the door before the man started down the hallway in front of her. With Evelynn still at gun point, the two guards moved down the hallway in the opposite direction, making sure that the alien was in front of them. As Astarte came to the opening of the door, she looked at her friend for a moment. She looked in better shape than the last time she had seen her. There were no cuts, no smell of blood coming from her. They seem to be treating her much better than before.

Interesting.

Astarte then swung her elongated dome towards the other direction to see where the doctor had gone. He was indeed only ten or more feet away from her, the smile still on his face. Astarte made her way into the hall as the man began to walk in front of her.

This was all so strange and new. The amount of room she had to move, the doors and shape of the hallway. She wished she had time to explore, but knew she had to listen to commands in order to keep Evelynn, and herself, safe. Astarte listened as the man in front of her chatted while they traveled.

"We have a nice easy day set up today, nothing to complicated. A bit of an obstacle course for you to get some exercise, along with learning hand commands. Sounds fun, no?" His excitement was evident in the trail of color that he was leaving behind him as he walked. The swirling colors of purple and white were rather pleasant to watch but had her concerned that something else was at play. Most humans were not like this around her kind, it was...off putting.

They walked for a handful of minuets, all the while the man kept chatting away about something that she was not paying any mind to. She was more concerned about memorizing the layout of the hallway they were walking in. She would most likely need it for later.

A few turns and several doors later she found herself in front of a rather large set of double doors. They must have been twenty feet tall and just as wide. The doctor was waiting for her to approach while waiting by some sort of plinth. Once she was close enough, he pressed his hand into the smooth surface of the object beside him.

Astarte was startled a bit when the double doors started to move with a metallic hiss. Slowly under the immense weight that they had, they moved like some ancient titan who had been tasked with protecting the room behind. As both of them disappeared into the walls, reviling the room behind, Astarte was assaulted with a barrage of new smells and pheromones, washing over her domed skull and reviling themselves.

The world in front of her exploded in color as items all over the large room began to be assigned their own individual color and smell.

She especially found those surrounding the small patch of vegetation rather pleasing to see. It was too bad that they were few in number, only taking up about one percent of the vast room before her. However, as she scanned the room, she noticed a few more patches of vegetation. Not many, but more than she had first thought. For the rest of the room was all steel and panels, like every other room she had known in this lab. So, she found herself fixated on the large plants that occupied their own little pockets of space. Everything else fell away and her feet, filled with curiosity, took her into the room.

Plants! Actual living plants! Her mother had described them in detail to her, but nothing compared to the real thing. She took off at a light jog to close the gap between her and the closest oasis. When she was close enough to touch the large leaves, she paused, almost not sure if what was in front of her was real. Slowly, her taloned hand went forward and gently found the soft, smooth surface of a large leaf. Happiness washed over her mind, felt pleasant to her touch. She wanted to share her excitement.

"Mother! Mother! A plant! A real, live plant! They are so soft. They are huge. What do they taste like? Do they always look like this?" She reached out and asked as her hand went to another plant, wanting to feel its texture. It too was pleasant to feel under the tips of her fingers. She could feel the familiar presence of her mother flow into her mind.

"O daughter, I'm…glad you like them. I…cannot wait to take…you to the…forest. You will…love it." Her mother's words only fed her happiness.

Astarte looked deep into the patch of greenery and mustered her courage before taking a few steps into it. The leaves tickled her exoskeleton from shin to head, brushing against her with the gentlest touch. As if someone was handling a butterfly upon their hand.

She let the feeling take over her mind, it was so relaxing, so calm. It melted away anything else that she had on her mind at that moment. There was no more lab, no more experiments. She had found a moment to truly be lost from the harsh world that she had been born into. It was beautiful.

However, like many things, it only lasted so long.

"One-three-five, come back if you please." She heard the doctors voice call to her from thirty or so feet away. Astarte turned her long head within the plants to look at the man who was standing beside Evelynn. The soldiers were still right behind her with their guns. The realization of the situation came back like a weighted backpack being put onto her. She had to play their game for the future that she so desperately wanted.

So, begrudgingly, the xenomorph drone walked back towards the scientist, back towards Evelynn. When she was fifteen feet to him, he held up a hand, palm towards her, fingers together.

"Stop." She did. "Good, this means stop as well. If you see it, please comply." He said as he gestured to his hand. Astarte looked to his hand, then back to him. It was simple enough of a command.

It was then that Astarte noticed the color surrounding Evelynn. The unpleasant yellow and black swirls could only mean that she was not happy. The xeno wanted to comfort her friend, to make her feel safe. Not thinking anything of it, she took two steps towards her. The Doctors had shot up in the same 'stop' gesture as before. Astarte froze, noticing the command, and the fact that the soldiers' fingers quickly moved to their triggers.

"So, they are not very flexible." Astarte thought to herself.

That was when Evelynn took a small step towards the xeno, wanting to close the gap between them as well. Astarte raised her hand and mimicked the hand command that the doctor had used. She did not want her friend to do anything that would get her hurt. And part of her knew that the soldiers would not hesitate to put her down. Evelynn froze when she saw the hand gesture, knowing its meaning.

"Interesting." Said the doctor. "Using our own commands to communicate, you are the first pure born xeno to do that. Very interesting." There was a strange level of excitement in his voice as his fingers flew across his data pad as he took notes. "For now, nine-zero-zero-two-eight, Evelynn, please. Don't make this harder than it must be. Stay back and let one-three-five continue, without interruptions."

Astarte had not really paid attention to the doctor, she kept looking to her friends that she wanted to get to. To protect and care for. Astarte tried to relay her concern through her body language, which she was sure Evelynn was pick up. The human woman looked from the xenomorph to the scientist, then back. Her shoulders slumped in defeat, and she took a few steps back.

"Well, for today one-three-five, I would like you to run the obstacle course. Nice and simple." The man explained as he pointed towards a rather large glass box on the other side of the room. Astarte turned her gaze to see what he was talking about and came to stare at the daunting monolith. Because of her natural gray scale vision, and a bit of reflection on the glass, she could not see what was inside very well. But with the massive size, she knew this would take a while.

"Come." With an open hand facing up, then bringing it to his shoulder, the doctor showed her the command. She led the way towards the large box, the rest of the humans following at distance behind her.

As she approached, she headed to the only obvious opening on the outside of the glass maze and heard the command from behind her.

"Stop." It was surprisingly gentle and relaxed. As if already a guarantee that it would happen. Perfect. She did as instructed, then turned to face the man.

"Alright One-three-five, from this bottom corner, to the opposite side. That's it, I'll close this door behind you."

Astarte looked behind her at the small group of humans, a spontaneous thought of making a grab for Evelynn and running for it crossed her mind, but she knew they would not make it. She looked to Evelynn who whispered at a level that Astarte could hear.

"Be careful." The woman then looked from the eight-foot alien to the maze. There was something behind her words that told her that this was no 'simple' test. She would have to be careful while traversing it.

"Alright one-three-five, in you go." The comment bought the scientist a quick glance before she turned and stepped through the portal to the inside of the glass cube. True to his word, the door closed behind her, cutting her off from any other way but forward. She looked down the seemingly normal tunnel before her. It went forward for around thirty feet before taking a turn upward. She quickly looked over every surface and saw nothing that warranted concern. Astarte took one step forward before pausing, she realized that she might be able to cheat a bit at this test. She reached out her mind for her mother, looking for that comforting presence.

"Mother, are you there?" She asked as she took another small step forward. The response was quick.

"Of course, my…daughter." Astarte was glad that she had not been made unconscious for whatever reason. It upset her when they did.

"Have any of my other sisters preformed a test in a large box? Like a giant maze? Something called an obstacle coarse?"

"Yes."

"Were there ever any surprises when they went through it?"

"Yes, but…they changed them each…time someone new…tried it."

"Were they dangerous?"

"N-no. Trap doors or...walls that...moved. Nothing d-dangerous."

"Well I guess we take this a bit slow then." She picked up the pace and made it to the end of the tunnel with no problems. She turned her large head up to see a long stretch of open tunnel going up. It seemed exactly the same as the first thirty feet.

She leapt onto the wall and began her climb; it was easy enough to do on the smooth metal surface. About half way up was when she spotted something new, something so tiny that she had almost missed it. On the wall adjacent to her there was a small hole in the middle of the panel. Not bigger than a head of a screw. She moved closer to look at it, thinking it was some kind of trap. She was almost at it when a voice cut through her mind like a knife through butter.

"NO!" She froze at the sound of her mother's voice. "It's… a trap. There is a…light beam coming from it. Don't…don't break it." Astarte looked from the small hole to the panel across from it. There was, in fact, a second small hole right across from this one. With her vision, she could not see the light was emitting from the small opening.

The xenomorph drone took care and hugged the wall tightly to move by, making sure her back tubes and tail did not cut the invisible beam. Now in the clear, she continued her climb. That was, until she placed her hand onto a section of metal that shifted under her hand.

A square of metal clicked into the wall about an inch and stopped. Then Astarte could hear a mechanical clicking from somewhere within the walls. Her head snapped from side to side, searching for whatever it was she had done. What she had not noticed was the slime-like substance that began to ooze from the seams of the shaft.

As the substance made contact with her hands, it took all grip that she had and forced her hand to slip off the smooth surface. Astarte's upper body began to fall backwards, her hands shot out for the opposite wall but simply slid off its surface. The thick, ooze still coating her fingers.

She tried to get a foot out to catch herself, but it was too late, her body became weightless as she fell backwards down the shaft. Her claws and talons not finding anything to catch on. Worst of all, she realized rather quickly that there would be no way to dodge the light beam that had been beneath her.

She fell with nothing to stop her.

The thunderous crash of her body hitting the floor rang within the confines of the small maze It took the air out of her body and a sharp pain shot through her side. She was pretty sure she had a crack in her exo-skeleton, somewhere near her arm pit. She hissed as she got to her feet, the pain growing dramatically.

That was when she heard a noise from the entrance where she had come through not but five minuets ago. She watched as two panels on the roof slid open and two objects lowered to reveal themselves.

"MOVE!" Her mother screamed. Astarte did not hesitate. She coiled her body low and readied herself to leap up as far as she could. She was not quick enough. A wave of flames splashed into her lower body as she was in the air, scorching her. It was not a lasting pain, for she was out of the fire quickly, but she now had nowhere to land due to her still lubricated hands.

So, she went up, pausing at the peak of the leap for a split second, and then gravity took over once again. Glancing down, she noticed that the flames were not there. Landing on her feet, she readied herself to jump once more. However, after landing, she noticed that the two panels that had appeared near the door were now gone. They must have closed while she was in the air.

Frozen, waiting for something to happen, her senses were on edge. Time seemed to slow as her body and mind ran at a million miles an hour. A few moments, then half a minute, went by with nothing. No new panels moved, no doors opened up to reveal a new weapon or trap. She stood to her two feet, relaxing a bit and taking in a deeper breath. She tilted her head to look back up the shaft. If it was going to be this complicated, she was going to be here for a while.

She cleaned off her clawed hands, making sure that she had the ability to wall-walk once more. Calculating distance as well as the best path to take, she decided that speed would be the winner in this test. She crouched and then launched like a rocket, landing on a wall about thirty feet up. Just under the light beam. She did not pause for long before leaping again, up higher than the pressure pad that released the slick substance from the wall. The top edge of the shaft was close, one more leap.

As she landed and took off into the air once more, fear took over for an instant as she did not know what was in the room above her. She could be jumping right into the barrel of a gun, or into another flame thrower. As she emerged from the portal, nothing happened. She quickly glanced around while still in the air for any enemies or turrets. Nothing.

She landed on the floor of a rather larger area, about twenty feet tall and twice as long and just as wide. The air within the open area was still and stale. No humidity and lacking any scent, which told her that something was wrong. There were a few random boxes scattered between her and the door on the other side. She took a moment to analyze the room.

She noticed a few small holes on more than one wall, along with a few seams that didn't look like they followed the normal pattern of the wall. The floor had the same pressure pads in a few locations as well. Brilliant.

There was no real way through the room without triggering something on the way. Light beams were cutting off paths around pressure pads and vice versa. There was also something else, it was almost not visible, but there was a translucent color floating around a few spots in the room. Some kind of pheromone she had never seen before. And something that she really did not feel like finding out. Her train of thought was broken by the sudden voice from somewhere in the room.

"Move along one-three-five, let's get going." It was a bit distorted, but she could still tell that it was the same scientist that had brought her to the room.

Something told her that if she did not comply, he would force her hand and that would not be a good thing. She chose her path and moved quickly. Going on all fours, she cut hard to the right, jumping over a few pressure pads on the floor. Screeching to a halt, stopping right in front of a light beam on the floor. Hard to the left, heading deeper into the room. She had to crouch low to avoid the beam that was cutting across the room.

Then, up to the room she leapt, landing just in front of something new. There was a small flashing light on a cone light object. She watched as a small mechanical part seemed to rotate around the outside, as if scanning the room. She did not wait long enough to test the theory. Avoiding the 'eye' of the device, she took off again.

This was and that she snaked her way forward. From ceiling to wall, from wall to floor and back again. However, there was a gracefulness to her journey that no human would have ever been able to mimic. It was rather beautiful. Before she knew it, she was falling from the ceiling and landing in front of the doorway.

It was an open frame that went immediately to the left. Poking her head through she was once again met with the image of an empty hall. At a glance, there were no traps or sensors. Nothing at all. Maybe they were giving her a bit of a break?

Not likely.

With caution, and her head on a swivel, she made her way down the hall. When she was half way down, she heard a loud noise from behind. Turning just in time to see a hidden door closing her off from the room she had just traversed, her adrenaline kicking in. A gray mist started to fill the hallway behind her.

Astarte wasted no time in sprinting towards the door frame at the end of the hall. As she did, she was meet with the sight of another hidden door closing her off from the only way out. She leapt for the open room beyond but was too slow. Her body slammed into the thick steel plate that now trapped her.

She turned to see how much of the hallway she had lost, about half. She started to look for a way out, there had to be one. The lab was not about to kill one of their pets. She was too valuable. Her gaze snapped from wall to wall, floor to ceiling and saw nothing out of the ordinary. The mist was now only a few feet from her so she took a deep, deep breath from the last of the clean air.

As the strange gas engulfed her, she calmed herself so she would not use up the oxygen she had just stolen from the room. She walked back to the middle of the hall, continuing to look for some way out.

She found nothing to the left, nothing to the right. She turned and made her way back to the first door and tested how secure it was, slamming her hard head into the metal surface. It was not about to budge any time soon. She would not last much longer in here, she would need to take a breath soon. Turning to face the hall once more, panic began to set in. Was she going to die? Just what was this stuff that was now starting to surround her? It looked different from the knockout gas that they usually used to transport her around the facility. She wasn't sure she was ready to find out.

She started looking over the walls and ceiling once more and that was when she noticed something strange. The gray gas was moving towards a floor panel about half way towards the other door. Taking a moment to watch the gas, she noticed that it seemed to be disappearing between the seams of two panels.

She didn't waste any time, sprinting towards the escaping gas. She came to a sudden stop above the two panels and watched for another moment to confirm that there was something pulling the gas through the seam. Watching it slip between the small crack, coupled with a soft hissing noise, she knew this was her way out. She started with her claws, trying to force them into the micro seam of the panels. Her hope was renewed when she felt a slight shift beneath her hands. She needed to take a breath, it had been well over a minute or two since her last one.

She brought her tail around from behind her body and started to force in deeper into the gap that she was creating. It began to move more and more as she forced her claws and tail under the lip of the panel, pulling it up and away from the floor. Suddenly, it snapped up and away from the floor causing Astarte to fall backwards. She wasted to time getting back to her feet. As she looked to the area where the panel had been, she was glad to see a large duct going down. As the world started to go dark and collapse, she half climbed, half fell into the hole.

She risked taking a short breath and found that it was not as fresh as she had hoped. The gas from the hallway above had quickly flowed into the space below. Her body become weightless as her hands lost grip on the smooth wall. She began to fall as the world went dark.