Chapter seven

I have a Dream

She was awake…or was she. She could see something in front of her, but she was seeing it from somewhere that was not her face. AS if she was outside of her own body or using someone else's eyes. It was a strange feeling that she had never experienced before. Was… was she was having a dream? Maybe, but she was not ever sure if she could dream. She never had before while in her zen like state. She had never really 'slept' like a human did, never fully going unconscious. She only knew of dreams from the stories that her mother had told her from the time she had been human. How a human mind could go wild while in its deep sleep and create rather fantastic scenarios. The xenomorphic catatonic state that they called 'sleep' never really had her fully unaware of what was going on around her. It was restful and rejuvenating, but never the true unconsciousness that humans experienced. She brought her focus back to the now.

She was somewhere warm, somewhere that felt safe, but she could not see anything around her. Yet, knew there were some kind of structures around her, large objects that towered over her smaller form. It all felt so different, nothing that she knew from the lab. Perhaps something… outside? Something kind of environment that her mind had created to represent the surface? All she knew was that there was no way this was the lab, it felt too safe, too comfortable to be in. Like, for the first time in her life, she could fully relax.

After scanning the strange landscape before her, her focus shifted down towards her own body. She could feel that she had a solid shape but could not seem to bring it into focus. Like something in a thick mist that you would have trouble making out. She did not really understand what she was, but knew it was her. She almost felt like a whisp, a spirit or ghost of some kind. Formless yet having shape. She began to explore, moving towards one of the large structures that towered in front of her.

It did not take long before she was in front of a large, dark object, reaching out with a 'limb' to feel its smooth surface. It almost felt like the obstacle coarse that the scientist had made her navigate through. However, this time, something called to her from inside the object. Something…comforting, something warm, something she wanted to get to.

She pulled away from the dark surface of the structure and looked at it for a moment. Something in her mind told her that she would be able to pass through it without issue. That it was somehow a door that she was allowed to pass through. So, she moved closer and closer to its dark surface. As she moved through its surface with no difficulty, she felt a wave of warmth rush through her spiritual form. Again, a strangely comforting feeling. She pressed on.

Now finding herself within the structure, her gaze came to see a complex maze of pillars and half walls, all of which seemed to have been created in a random pattern. Some went from the floor to a roof that had not been there before. Some went ten or twenty feet in a direction before taking a turn and heading in a random direction and connecting to a different wall. It was total chaos with no sense of purpose. As she looked upon the strangeness of the landscape, there was still something in her mind. Something begging her forward into the chaos.

She pressed into the swarm of random walls, pillars and ramps. She passed stairs that went nowhere and doors that hung horizontally in the air. She passed walls that had holes in them that looked like they connected to other rooms that should not be there. She was tempted to enter some of them, but the pulling at her mind was in a clear direction, so she would follow. She pressed on. It would have taken her ages to figure out how to navigate this maze. Thankfully that invisible force was guiding her in the right direction. Telling her which turn to take, what stairs to ascend.

Farther and farther, she traveled. For how long? Minutes, hours, days? She could not tell but something was telling her that she had been here for quite some time. Something was also telling her that she had to find what was calling her. It was something important, that much she knew without hesitation. She traveled for a while longer, floating this way and that with the form that she had. Eventually, she turned a corner of a large wall. As she did, she came to see something that did not fit within the already strange dream scape. Something very out of place.

A doorway made of pure light now stood before her like an angelic monolith of some god that she had never known. She froze and looked upon the overwhelming sight. Although the size was intimidating, she still felt the comfort that she had when she had first entered this maze. As if the warm feeling she had been feeling was the light itself that covered her. So, she approached, not really knowing what was beyond, but knowing that she had to find out. She closed the distance to the door quickly.

Stopping only a few feet from the brightly glowing surface, she let the light from the object slowly seep into her mist-like form. She stared deep into the bright void that was before her and breathed deep the comforting feeling that it was giving her. This beacon of light in the dark, vacant dream she was now in gave her hope. However, something was strange, part of her mind was telling her that it should have opened when she had approached it, but now here she was, not knowing how to open a door in her own dream.

She took a moment and tried to will it to open, nothing moved. She reached out to touch it and gently pressed, nothing moved. She moved side to side thinking that she would find some kind of opening, nothing. She moved back to the center of the large portal with no other ideas on how to open it. So, she stopped in front of it and found herself just enjoying the light that it was emitting for a while longer. It was comforting, warm and soft. It took over her thoughts so easily. She welcomed the feeling as it filled her.

Suddenly, and without reason, something moved. A split in the light formed and began to grow as two parts of the wall began to slide open. She stayed still as they continued to move apart and open the way to her. They slowly moved, without a sound and disappearing into nothingness.

She looked pasted the moving walls and into the room they now presented to her. She was surprised when she found that it looked just like the rest of this maze had. Shades of gray, strange abstract architecture. However, this area was filled with some kind of fog, not thick, but enough to disrupt anything in the distance.

Moving inside once the doors had finished moving, she noticed that there was a strange stillness to the atmosphere here that was not quite like the rest of the dreamscape. This was not as cold. Here something was comforting, like the light of the door. It too was pulling her deeper into the room, she almost felt like it wanted to care for her. She followed the feeling into the unknown space.

Weaving around pillars and climbing stairs, through arch ways and down tunnels, she had lost track of time again. She was curious just how long she had been traveling for. However, all her thoughts were taken as she turned a corner in a very large corridor. Light hit her, nearly causing her to turn away. Not that she had eyes to blink with, but it was just a sudden shock. Recovering quickly, her gaze snapped back down the large hallway to locate the source. The light faded slightly the longer she looked at it. As it did, that was when she saw it.

A woman.

A human woman.

Hovering near a wall at the end of the corridor only fifty feet away. She was beautiful and emanated the most wonderful, soft blue light. Her body was ten or so feet off the ground, feet dangling in the air, arms comfortably at the side of her body. Astarte look at her in awe. Her body was wrapped in silk cloths that were attached to the wall behind her, held in place by rather menacing looking spikes of black and gray material. Her face was limp, looking down to the ground as if she was sleeping. It was keeping Astarte from seeing just who this was. So, she approached, cautiously and curiously. The figure did not move an inch as she approached, she was starting to wonder if they were alive or not. It was not until Astarte was floating in front of the woman that she could see the rising and falling of the figure's chest. The soft, ivory skin of the woman's exposed belly moving in perfect, leisurely rhythm.

Astarte called out, nothing more than a whisper, but it seemed to echo throughout the vastness of the immense corridor.

"H-hello?" Came the words from somewhere in her vapor like form.

The reaction was almost immediate. The woman almost jerked as if someone was violently waking her from a deep sleep. Her head rolled from side to side as her eyes attempted to open. Her body flexed, but was held in place by the tight, silk sheets that were wrapped around every limb. She then opened her eyes, Astarte noticed the brilliant blue color of them as they sluggishly looked around the room, then finally coming to a rest upon her. Astarte did not move or say a word. The two just looked at one another for what turned into a minute or so. The woman quietly kept breathing as she looked to Astarte before her lips moved.

"Astarte?" She was shocked, how did she know her name? She had no idea who this was and had never met her in the real world. She would have recognized her from the labs if she had. But something struck a note in her mind, something about that voice that had her on edge.

"Who...who are you? How do you know my name?" She asked as she looked up at the slender bodied woman. The human smiled, it was a kind and happy smile. One that might have been shared between friends after a time apart.

"Ooo my…daughter, it's me…Jolene." Shock overtook her. That voice…there was no mistaking it, this was the queen that had been within her mind ever since she had come to this world.

"What? H-how? Why? Are we dead? Is this a dream?" She rattled off so many questions that a soft laugh came from Jolene.

"We are…not dead, we are in…your mind. Y-y-you are unconscious…is all. Hit your head…hard." Astarte paused for a moment. Yes, the test...the maze. She had fallen down a shaft!

"I…remember! I was in the obstacle course! I fell down a shaft of some kind after the gas." She looked up at the human before her. "Mother…you look beautiful." The scattered mind of Astarte made her mother smile once again.

"Thank you my…daughter. But this…is not what I look like now. This…is me when…I was human. But now…I am so much…more. I cannot wait…to see you…on my own." Astarte took a moment, something about that comment was unsettling.

"Mother…how many of my sisters never got to see you?" There was a hesitant pause from Jolene. "How many of them never got to meet you?" The almost unnoticeable quivering lower lip from the woman told Astarte more than words ever could. Her mother's emotions were reinforced as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

"Never again…" Astarte whispered as she averted her gaze in defiance. "Never again, Mother. This must change, here and now. We cannot live like this. It's…it's not living." She looked up to her mother whose tears were flowing from her beautiful blue eyes. "Mother, I will get you out of the labs, I will get you free. You will be in the sun and among the trees once more. We will meet father and we can hear all his stories. I promise you. I will get us free."

"My d-daughter. I believe in…you. I j-j-just…don't want…to lose anyone…else." She struggled to find the words through her stutter and emotions.

"You won't, I swear it. I have a dream of being free with you, free with my sisters, free from this life of walls and tests and pain. Free from hurting people and free from this torture." Her passion and rage were flaring in a brilliant flow of words. "I won't stop, I cannot stop until I have this dream. It must happen. It will happen….it…it has to." The last few words were more for herself than her mother.

"Ooo my daughter, we…will see…the sun one day. Very soon and w-"She cut herself off. Her head snapped up and away from Astarte. She was looking at something in the distance, something behind her daughter.

"Mother?" Astarte asked as she turned and followed her mother's gaze and saw nothing. "What is it?"

"They…they are taking…you. Astarte you...must listen…to me. You have to-"

A blinding light grew from Jolene's body and filled the corridor instantaneously. I took over Astarte's vision, dissolving everything else in the area, as her mother disappeared in the flash.

The white wall of light filled her mind along with a piercing noise that seemed to be coming from everywhere. Suddenly, something gray began to form in front of her. It was small, then grew with speed. It was starting to replace the white light all around her. Shapes began to appear and sharpen, flashes of colors surrounding things as the pheromones tickled the receptors on her head.

As she became more and more aware of her surroundings, she was a bit surprised to find that she was in something. A small room, or cage? Either way it was made with thick, clear glass on all sides, with a tough-looking metal frame. From her place upon the floor, she noticed her clawed hand upon the floor in front of her which was comforting. She was must be awake from her dream. She took a deep breath in that flowed into her body. She foudn the strength to tilt her head up in attempts to look past the glass that surrounded her and was met with something she did not expect. Faces…a couple dozen or so human faces. Rows of them, all looking back at her with a strange gaze. It almost looked like…anticipation?

She rolled to her stomach and pushed herself up with weak arms. Just how long had she been out for? She stumbled a bit once she was on her feet, but quickly recovered. Doing a quick turn, she found more and more eyes that were looking down upon her from their seats on high. She realized that she was in an auditorium of some kind.

Just where in the hell was she?

"Mother? Mother, are you there?" She called out and waited for a response. Fear grew with each second as her mind was left void of her mother's presence. "Please…Mother?" Her thoughts were cut short as a loud, booming voice cut through the still air of her container.

"Colleagues, and all attending virtually, today we have subject one-three-five. Complacence and progression assessment. We have been exposing this one to a few standard situations, and a few non-standard situations. This one, as you can see in the report, has seemed to take a liking to one of the subjects that was meant to be sustenance."

Sustenance? Were they talking about Evelynn? Having them reinforce the fact that her friend had been nothing more than a piece of meat stirred her anger. Her tail began to twitch, her gaze looking for a target. The voice continued.

"So, we wanted to put this to the test." A strange whirling sound filled the container that Astarte was within. She quickly scanned the entire area inside, and outside the glass box until she saw something moving towards her from a doorway that had not been there before. It was outside the container, which made it a bit hard to see. Three gray figures came towards her, two were armed to the teeth with armor and weapons. The third human looked as if their hands were bound behind their back, and a cloth bag was over their face. The prisoner was being pushed along by the other two until they stopped them only fifteen feet from the cage.

One of the armed men gave a solid kick to the back of the prisoner's knee, causing them to crash to the ground. There was a feminine yell from under the bag, one that was familiar.

"E…Evelynn?" Astarte thought to herself, praying that she was wrong. It still did nothing to stop the spike of adrenaline that washed over her body. She pressed up against the glass that was between them, hands pushing hard upon the smooth surface. "Evelynn!" She let out a loud hiss, jaw wide, second tongue extended out.

"My my, this is a response. Subject does not know who is under the mask but is responding in a very protective manner." The voice from the speakers explained. Astarte did not really hear it, she was too focused on the woman in front of her, wanting to know if it was her friend or not.

"Well then, let us add a variable to this experiment. Remove the head covering."

Astarte watched as one of the armored guards lifted the cloth bag from the woman's head, to reveal someone that she did not know. Even through the glass kept her from being able to see her scent, she could see that this was not Evelynn. She could feel her adrenaline settle and fade a small amount. She then turned her large head upwards, looking for the source of the voice. She wanted to know what sick game they were getting at. Her question was answered, but not in the way she had hoped.

As her gaze was lifted, a noise from the opposite side of the room caught her attention. Her head snapped to its source. She now looked at a gap within the floor where some kind of box was slowly lifting into the room.

She watched as the top of the box was empty, exposing nothing as it moved upwards. More and more of the large container moved with nothing inside. That was, until she saw a human head. Only the top at first, but more and more began to come into view. That was when she realized, this was Evelynn.

The moment that Astarte recognized her friend, she ran to the clear, glass wall between them and slammed both her fists into its hard surface. Stress took over her as she frantically looked around her cage for some way to escape. She had to get to Evelynn somehow. She had a horrible feeling that something bad was about to happen and she had to protect her friend.

Astarte quickly moved around her prison and attempted to dig her claws into the polished surface of the walls, looking for some kind of seam to pry open. Her sharp talons slid in every direction, not catching anywhere. Her tail came up and she began to thrust its blade over top of her shoulder, slamming into the wall in attempts to crack the glass. It to was having little effect on the material.

"Evelynn! I see you, don't worry! I will get you out, hold on!" She screamed inside her head, knowing full well that her friend would never hear it. She dropped to the floor, her claws looking for some place to bite into between the wall and floor. Anything that she could force to break to free herself. She crawled along the floor, searching allong the connection point. The voice came once again.

"As we can see, the visual capability of these creatures are not specific to only pheromones and have some light-based vision present. Although, we do know they see perfectly in the light or the dark. Now," The voice went on as Astarte continued to search. "We know the two have some kind of bond, as we have seen in past experiments. Today, we wish to see the depth of that bond. Let in zero-zero-five please."

The numbers caught Astarte's attention. Those were Amara's numbers. She brought her head up from the floor and looked back towards the armed men and prisoner. Except the two had disappeared at some point, leaving the woman in hand cuffs alone. However, she was not alone for long, for a xenomorph, tall and menacing, appeared in the doorway behind her.

"Amara?" Astarte asked the moment she could see her sister. "What is going on?"

No response.

"Amara" The usual warm feeling that she would get when chatting with another of her kind was somehow void of her mind. Something was not right. Astarte took a quick glance at Evelynn, making sure she was still there. Then, back to her unresponsive sister.

"Now," The voice from the speakers continued. "We have our controls in place, we will demonstrate to the subject the consequences." Astarte watched as the unknown woman in front or Amara began to convulse in pain from an unknow source. She fell to the floor in a horrid spasm that took over her entire body. Astarte panicked, not wanting this person to be hurt yet unable to help.

However, her attention was taken from the woman by the scream that came from behind her. From where Evelynn was. Her head snapped around with speed to see her friend convulsing on the ground, just as the other woman was.

Astarte ran and slammed into the wall of her cage that was between them. The glass moved a slight bit under her strength, but it still did not break. She had hit it with enough force that its perfect surface had slightly rippled. She let out an ear-piercing screech in protest.

"STOP IT! YOU"RE HURTUNG HER!" Her silent words would reach no one.

Suddenly, Evelynn stopped moving. Astarte watched as her chest continued to move, showing her that she was still alive. Astarte looked back to the unknow woman and her sister, thinking something had changed. When she looked, the only thing that had changed was that the woman was now also simply laying upon the floor, not moving, but alive. A moment or two passed and Astarte realized what was going on.

"You sick bastards. Let me out of here so I can rip your throats out!" She struck out with her tail blade at the glass once more in protest. Then, looked to her sister once more. "Amara, do something! Stop this!"

No response.

Astarte took a deep breath and let out one of the loudest shrieks she had ever made. Praying that it would get through to her sister.

No response.

Suddenly, and shockingly, the wall between them began to move, quietly sliding down into the floor. Astarte crouched into a defensive stance and waited to see what happened.

When the second passed with nothing new, she took her chance. She sprinted from the cage, rounded the corner and went straight for Evelynn. As she approached, she was glad to see her friend up and, on her feet, looking towards the xenomorph that approached her. Astarte only slowed a small amount, but still came crashing into the thick, transparent wall of the box. She watched as her human friend called out to her, calling the alien's name.

"Astarte! Astarte, what's going on! I'm scared!" She said between gasps of air.

The alien had no way of responding, to tell her friend that it would be alright, that she would get her out. The xenomorph began to scan the cage her friend was in for any sign that she could force her way in. At first glance, there was nothing, just as her cage had been. But, the one wall had moved, and she had never seen the seam. So, the alien began to climb up to the top, wanting to search the top for a crease of some kind. She had only just made it to the top of the box and begun her search when the voice cut through the air again.

"Now, we see what will happen. Will the bond of blood beat out the bond of friendship. All sensors are on and reading clear. Number zero-zero-five, kill the human in front of you."

Astarte's head snapped back to her sister and a million things ran through her mind at once. Would her sister listen? Would she be able to resist killing again? Would an outside force to the unknown woman still harm Evelynn just as the other had? If Amara killed the woman in front of her, would it also kill Evelynn?

She did not want to find out any of these answers. She leapt from the top of the glass box towards her sister. With all her power, she was going to close the gap in one motion. However, she could only watch helplessly from the air as her sister was already moving towards the unarmed woman. Her sharp claws in front of her, her second jaw extended. Astarte's panic washed over her body when she realized that she would not make it in time.

She watched as Amara's teeth became red with blood; her claws pushed into the soft flesh of the woman's shoulders. The weight of the xenomorph pushed the smaller human to the ground as she screamed in pain. Thankfully it was only a moment later when Astarte crashed into Amara, sending them both tumbling in a spiral of arms, legs and tails. Astarte attempted to hold onto her sister but found it difficult as they tossed and turned.

When the two finally came to a stop by hitting the wall, there was a pause as both of their bodies came to a rest. Astarte grabbed her sister's wrist and attempted to control the other alien drone. Amara's other hand was to far away to grab and she was able to use it to push herself up and away from the floor. She again, went right for the woman who was now bleeding on the floor, a large chunk of flesh missing from her neck and shoulder.

Amara paid absolutely no attention to Astarte who had just tackled her and was grabbing her wrist as she attempted to reach the human. Astarte struggled to hold her sister back, she was determined to follow the orders that had been given.

"Amara, don't!" She reached out to her sister, sending all the mental feelings she could to get through to her sister.

No response.

Amara ripped her hand from Astarte's grasp and ran towards her pray, claws out once more. Astarte was able to get her feet under her in time to leap at her sister's back, this time wrapping her arms, legs and tail around her body while in the air. They both fell to the floor and Astarte squeezed with all her might, pinning her sister in place. Amara did not scream and did not say a word. She only wriggled and protested Astarte's grasp as she attempted to make her way towards her target. But Astarte was strong, she was holding her sister in place.

It was in this brief moment that she was able to make a quick glance back to Evelynn, fearing the worst. And the worst was happening. She could only watch as Evelynn was once again convulsing on the floor of her cage, struggling to let out screams of pain.

"No!" Astarte said within her own mind. She then reached out to her sister again. "Amara, please! I need you to wake up! This is not you! This is not you!"

No response.

Just then, she had an idea. If she could not reach her sister's mind, perhaps there was another she could.

'Mother! Mother I need you!" She waited for a response as she held her still struggling sister in place. "JOLENE! WHERE ARE YOU!"

No response.

She let out a shriek in anger. She then rolled with her sister, away from the bleeding woman who was now crawling away from the wrestling xenomorphs. As she pulled her sister on top of herself, she retracted her feet and pulled them up and between them. When she continued her roll, and had her sister at the perfect angle, she pulled her arms and tail back and kicked out with her feet, sending Amara up into the air and towards the opposite wall.

Her sister slammed hard into the surface with a bone breaking thump, then fell to the ground in a heap. It did not do much to temper the rage of the xenomorph, because Amara was back on her feet in an instant. Astarte watched as her sister locked back onto her target and started to sprint towards her.

Astarte intercepted her and used her large, and rather hard head, as a battering ram to body check her sister in the adjacent direction. She watched as Amara, once again, took to the air. She went sideways and impacted the wall of the cage that Astarte had woken up in. This sending her into a spin as she continued to fly through the air. Astarte was also sure she heard something crack as her sister's back slammed into the corner of the opening.

Astarte did not wait to see if her sister would get up again, she instead went to place herself between the unknow woman and the alien that was trying to kill her. Astarte approached her the still crawling woman as softly as possible, which was almost impossible to do in the current situation. Nevertheless, Astarte now stood overtop the woman and now had a chance to look for her sister. It did not take long, for she was already sprinting towards her from the far side of the test area. Teeth and claws out. Still not aiming for her, but at the woman by her feet.

Astarte acted first, lunging at Amara and intercepting her before she could reach her target. They hit one another with a thud, stopping in their tracks and falling to the floor. Astarte could feel her sister scrambling to get past her and to the injured woman. She did everything that she could to keep her in place, but it was not working. Amara was almost in a frenzy, thrashing about with no manner of control. Astarte would grab her sister's arm, but Amara would rip it from her grasp. She wrapped her arm around her neck, but still Amara would tear herself free. Astarte tried using her tail, but Amara overpowered the weaker appendage.

Astarte was running out of options. Amara was getting free from her and ever closer to the woman on the ground. She flexed her hands and drove her claws into her sister's arms and rib cage. She pulled Amara in close and bound her legs with her tail. This caused both of them to lose their balance and fall to the floor once again. Amara now thrashed and shook, clawing out towards the woman covered in blood who was only ten feet away. Astarte was holding her sister in place but knew she could not do so for much longer.

She had a chance to glance back at Evelynn again, only to see the woman still writhing in pain. The woman's eyes rolled into the back of her head, her back and limbs spasming. Astarte looked back to her sister that she had pinned, knowing she would not be able to get through to her. That is when she realized the purpose of the experiment, they wanted to know if she would kill her own sister in order to keep Evelynn alive.

"No…no no no NO!" She screamed in her own head as she was now faced with an impossible choice. Amara was beginning to pull away, slipping out of her grasp once more. If she repositioned her hands, she would lose her grip and would not get it back in time. And if she did, she would kill this woman and most likely Evelynn along with her.

"DAMN IT! EVELYNN!"

Amara slipped a leg free and was gaining ground.

"Amara please! I can't!" Her sisters other arm slipped out from where Astarte had had it pinned and was now clawing her way towards the woman.

Only five feet now.

"No, please! Please don't, AMARA!"

Two feet.

Astarte looked to Evelynn one more time, her body was still twitching, but her face had gone limp. She was close to death. She had to make the choice, her sister or her friend. Who would get to live. Astarte let out a loud screech in frustration just as her sister's claws came down towards the neck of the woman on the floor.

But the weapons never found their mark.

They stopped, only a few inches away from the soft flesh that protected this woman's throat. They did not move.

For Amara now had a foot long tail blade embedded into her long carapace of a head. Driven all the way in, right to the first bone section that made up the segmentate tail of Astarte.

There was a strange silence at that moment. Nothing moved, nothing made much of a sound. The woman was breathing heavy upon the floor, but that was all. Astarte, overtaken by what she had just done, was frozen in place. In fear, anger or sadness, she did not know. Perhaps it was all three. Slowly, as her sister stayed still, her life ended, Astarte pulled her in close. Give her sister the first, and last, hug they would ever share.

"I'm…I'm so…sorry. A…Amara…" The words ran through her mind but would never be heard by the one that she had called sister. Amara's body went limp and crumpled to the cold, metal floor. Astarte held her in place, not really wanting to let her sister go.

"I…I…Amara? Please, I just…I didn't know what to do. M…Mother? Mother please, help me? I need you...what...what have I done..."

No response.

Astarte took another deep breath and began to let loose a roar, quiet at first, then it grew to an ear-piercing level. She held her sister tight as she screamed into the void, into that cold, dreadful lab that had been so cruel to her. Had forced her into this terrible situation, all in the name of science. She hoped they heard this, all of them. She hoped they would take it as a sign of their wrong doings. That what they were doing had consequences. That they were the monsters in here.

As the air in her body ran out, her gaze moved to look at her sister, her body still and silent. Astarte slowly pulled the blade from her head, the acid blood doing nothing to her exoskeleton because of the mucus that covered it. Her sister's blood, that now stained Astarte's very soul. It was something she could never get rid of. She had killed her own sister. She looked at her clawed hands, at the acid blood that also covered her sharp talons. Her sister's blood. She pulled her claws from her sister's exoskeleton and watched as they began to shake.

"No...no, no, no. What have I done… Mother? Please…"

A noise from behind her grabbed her attention, a noise from Evelynn's direction. Astarte slowly turned, praying to anyone that her friend was still alive. As her gaze came to rest upon the body inside the cube, she was overtaken by relief as she watched Evelynn pushing herself up off the floor. Moaning in painful protest.

Astarte unwrapped herself from her sister's body and rushed over to the box holding her friend, forgetting all that had just happened and now fixated upon Evelynn. As she came to the glass and placed her hands upon it, the noise of doing so caught the attention of the woman inside. Her head turned around to look at the source, to see the faceless head of a xenomorph looking in at her.

"A-astarte? You…you're alive. I…I don't feel so good." Spit and tears ran down her face and chin. She looked like she had just been heavily drugged and ran through a woodchipper. Her head wobbled; her arms twitched. She needed help.

"It's ok, I've got you." Astarte said in a panic. Fear covered her words because she knew that she had no way of entering that cage. No way to save her friend from disappearing once more. She watched as the human sat on her rump and turned her body to face the xenomorph in front of her.

"Hay... its ok big girl, they...they can't hurt me forever." She said through labored breaths. "I'll...I'll get out of here. I'll come find you." The woman said as she placed a hand on the glass, her tiny fingers spread wide. Astarte placed her hand directly in front of her friends, her much larger claws dwarfing the human hand.

That was when she heard the hissing sound. Astarte watched as the box began to fill with gas. Astarte pulled her hand back and stood to her full height. She had to find a way in, to get to her friend. She did a quick scan, hoping that something had changed. That maybe a door had opened, or a window had appeared. Realizing nothing had, Astarte turned to violence. As Evelynn slowly stood to her feet, Astarte began hitting the glass. With her claws she slashed, with her tail she stabbed. She even used her head and began to ram it into the smooth surface, leaving slimy marks where she impacted the surface. Nothing made a difference; she was not strong enough to get to her friend.

"No, no no no no! Please no, Evelynn! Not again. NO!"

As the smoke crept up Evelynn's body and began to overtake her face, Astarte could do nothing but look at the smile that her friend was giving to her through the transparent wall. It was all she could give before the gas overtook her and she fell unconscious and dropped to the floor.

"NOOOOOOO!" Astarte screamed as she began to slam her claws into the glass in frustrated rage.

She let out a loud hiss in protest as the glass began to disappear into the floor, taking away the still body of Evelynn once more. She continued to scratch and lash at the container until the very last moment before it became one with the floor.

She began to breathe quickly, not from fear, but from rage. She gave the room a quick scan, looking for anyone else that might enter, anyone else she could take her frustration out on. That was when she noticed the woman on the floor, her hand pressed hard upon the wound on her neck. Astarte had forgotten all about her.

Her mind went to thoughts of eating the woman, of tasting her sweet flesh and blood. The smell of the crimson liquid swirled around her body like a beautiful display of color. Astarte suppressed those feeling quickly, she would not be the monster they wanted her to be. With a shake of her head, she moved over to the woman and crouched to the floor. The woman, still covered in the smell of fear and blood, shook in fright as the xenomorph sat beside her.

Astarte then called forth her building resin and in a not so graceful motion, puked the substance into her hands. She moved the mucus more into one hand than the other, then used the free hand to pull the hand of the woman away from her wound. Astarte watched the blood flow forth, soaking the shirt that she was wearing. Not wanting to take too long, she then covered the hole in her flesh with resin and stretched it from her back to the chest, making sure it grabbed as much open skin as it could. Getting stuck to her shirt would do no good in keeping the resin in place.

She worked a bit more to make sure that the alien like band aid would stay in place before finally taking her hands away and moving back from the woman. They stayed there looking at one another in a moment of silence before the woman whispered.

"Thank yo-"Her words were cut short as her chest exploded in a spray of blood. Her body fell limp to the floor. Astarte looked up at the armored person at the far door that had opened without her knowing. The person's rifle was up and still smoking from the bullet it had just sent into the woman's heart.

Astarte had no time to react before another armored guard tossed a smoke grenade towards her and both quickly left the room, the door snapping shut behind them.

Astarte fell to her knees. She looked to the dead woman, then to her dead sister. Was this all her life was destined for, death and pain? She tilted her head up to the ceiling as the smoke began to creep its way up her body. Just before it reached her face, she reached out one last time.

"Mother?"

Then the world went black.

Her world quickly came back as something moved beside her, causing her to snap up quickly, claws and tail ready to attack. A man came walking towards, but there was something between them. She took a moment, the fog of her mind not completely gone, and realized she was back in the glass box she had been trapped in. She brought her gaze back to the man who had only stopped a few feet short of its smooth surface. He looked in at her from behind his protective barrier and smiled, he then turned to the audience that surrounded him. He looked from side to side with a strange smile upon his face, it almost looked prideful to Astarte.

"Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we have before us, Subject 135. All of you have been here before and know the rules, so I will get right into it…do I hear ten million?"

It was at that moment that Astarte realized just where she was and what was going on. Fear took over her body.

"O no."