** Hello all! So I do apologize about the infrequency of the posts, I do want to get back to posting a new chapter every week. I had to reformat my computer and lost my copy of Word that was on it. I'm now having to do some weird stuff though Microsoft 365 that it kind of a pain. But, I will make sure that Astarte's story get told! Thank you for sticking with it and get ready! This is another long one!**

Chapter Three

The promise

Hours passed as the two laid upon the resin covered floor. Nothing kept them company but a source less hum from a hidden source. The doors did not open, food never came through the small slot and no scientist came to retrieve the woman. Walking through her own thoughts, Astarte was not sure what to do. She did not want to leave this human alone, but another part of her thought it would be best to not interact. During the silence while the woman was still comatose, she had all the time in the world to fight this internal battle in her mind. Would she step aside if anyone came to claim her, or would she do what she had to do in order to keep her safe. She knew that if their positions were reversed, she would want to be protected, would not want to be left alone. However, she did not know what the scientists would do, especially when they always showed up with armed guards. She must not have been hiding her emotions well enough because mother's voice ran through her mind a while later.

"Astarte? What… is wrong?" There was a gentleness to her voice, as if she was worried she would harm her daughter, as if she were made of paper. The small alien drone let loose a loud huff of air and took a moment to find the right words.

"Mother…how could they? How could they do this. She does not seem like a fighter. She seems so scared when she saw me. How could they hurt her like a piece of garbage?" Her rage began to peek through her words. When her mother did not respond, she continued. "I don't even know this woman, but I want to protect her. I guess because I know no one else is going to do so. I want to hurt those that did this to her. I don't even really know why, other then the fact that they are evil." She had not even noticed that her clawed hands were now flexed with her claws ready to maul. There was a long pause of silence before Jolene responded.

"My daughter. You are… right to be angry. Humans are n-not the smartest of species. They…fight their own kind over greed, over...money, over f-food. They will kill one…another to take what they have. They…they will murder anyone… that gets in…there way. Just…just like…they did Jolene." The last statement made her rage boil. Astarte knew that her mother was not technically the human Jolene, but part of her could not disconnect them from one another.

"They murdered you to get to father…" She repeated.

"Astarte I've…told you. That was n-not m-"

"Does it matter?" She interrupted. She was starting to get aggravated and stood up to pace within her room. "You remember getting shot. You remember the times with father. You remember the life that you lived before this. The laughter, the smiles, the emotions. Does this not make you who you are? If you are not Jolene, then who are you? Something tells me that you might be in a new body, but you are the same person."

"Astarte, I am not her. I was not… murdered. I was… grown in a tube in a… lab. I'm not…even human."

"And what is human, mother?" She said sternly while looking to the still unconscious woman upon the floor. "Human, xenomorph. Does it matter? Everyone deserves the same amount of respect, the same amount of dignity, as everyone else. There is no excuse."

"And I agree. B-but the world…does not quite work…that way. It is cruel, cold and savage. Just as it was to the… woman who is at your feet."

Astarte stood and began to pace again within the small room, her rage was beginning to build and taking over her actions. Her footsteps were heavy upon the floor, her breathing changed into shallow huffs. She did not like hearing that the world outside was so wrong to the image she had built in her mind. A world that it was so… evil.

Her attention was grabbed with the sound of the only door beginning to slide open. Astarte took a few steps away, not knowing what would come into the room through that portal. Her stress did not go unnoticed.

"Astarte, w-what is it?"

"They are here again. The door is opening." Just as she finished her response, two very large figures came into the room. They did not look like humans. They were covered in some kind of thick armor that covered every inch. Within their arms were two large objects that they pointed towards her.

"Mother, they have something pointed at me. They are long, with some kind of small box on the bottom."

"Astarte don't… move! Those… are rifles, they…w-will kill you! D-Don't move!" She froze in place, the tone of her mother told her that she should listen to the warning.

So, she could only watch as two more humans entered the room and quickly made their way to the sleeping woman on the floor. Unlike the first two, these were unarmored, had no weapons, and their clothes were very simple. Astarte watched as they grabbed each of the unconscious woman's arms, they dragged her from the room like a bag of dirt, not even giving her the respect of lifting her from the floor. The level of disrespect towards the woman made Astarte let out a low hiss. This caused the men with the rifles to take a bit better aim at her, pointing the weapons right at her head.

She noticed the action and calmed her posture to look less aggressive. It did not ease the two men in front of her. They did not lower their rifles as they waited for the others to exit the room, then walked backwards out of the door. She watched as the metal slab of a door slowly moved back into place, locking her within the room once more. She moved towards the door, placing her face only an inch from its surface. She then listened intently as she heard footsteps going down the hall to the right. Thirty or so feet, then taking a left and fading away.

Good, she had learned a bit of the layout of the facility. Something that might prove important in the future. She turned back to face the room, looking down to the spot where the woman had just been. Strangely, a wave of loneliness swept through her mind. It was odd considering she had been alone for so long. having someone else in the room had been...pleasant.

"Astarte? Are…they gone?"

"Yes, mother, they took the woman with them."

"You are…are alright?"

"Physically, yes. Mother, I did not like how they treated her. They drug her across the floor like some kind of corpse. It... made me angry."

"I know…I c-could feel it. That will happen a lot in this lab. It's something we have to live with."

"But do we?" She told her guardian. The question granted her nothing but silence. It was something that she spent the rest of the evening thinking about. "…Do we?"

A few more days went by with nothing happening except the growing boredom that had firmly planted itself in Astarte's mind. Going crazy was a good starting description. The most exciting thing in her day was when a hunk of raw meat found its way to her. It was good practice to control what she was now calling 'her hunger'.

She had considered setting some kind of trap at the door so that the next time it opened, it would be jammed. Thus, causing the main door to open and giving her a chance to escape. Jolene had quickly snuffed that idea out after she had told her daughter of the multiple defense turrets that were around the facility. She would be blown away before she could make it down the hall. O well, it had been something to do to pass the time.

The one evening, while she was resting within her 'nest' upon the wall, her mother reached out to her mind. There was a sliver of concern behind the words that she was trying to hide. Astarte only caught a glance of it.

"Astarte? Are…you awake?" She was doing well to hide her emotions. Astarte decided that she would play dumb. She wanted to see where this would lead.

"Yes, mother, I am." She responded as she shifted her body before setting in once more. "What is it?" There was a bit of a pause before she heard her mother.

"They…are coming… for you. They have… told me to make sure you do… not harm anyone, or they will hurt me." Astarte snapped awake with the statement, removing herself from her place on the wall and landed on the floor. Her head snapped towards the door, thinking that it could open at any moment.

"What do they want, mother?" She asked, not really sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"I…I don't know. Astarte…if they hurt you…don't harm them. They…will probably kill you. I…I can't lose another daughter." Astarte froze, did she just hear her mother correctly? She had lost others already?

"Mother, how...how many have you lost? How many sister ha- "She was cut short as the familiar sound of the door cut the silence of the room. She watched as no one entered the room, only the wall of the hallway could be seen through the metal portal. She began to wonder if anyone was going to enter or not, so she took a step towards the door, thinking that this might be a chance for escape.

Suddenly, the flash of a hand from around the corner and the sight of a small, round canister flying thought the air, had her frozen in place. She instinctively leapt backward, trying to get as far from the door, and the canister, as she could. As she landed, she went low to the ground, her tail up above her and ready to strike.

As the small, metal item came to rest upon the ground, the door quickly closed, trapping her with the small object. She watched as it came to rest upon a small patch of the building resin that she had covered the room with. The only warning she had was the small click before the gas began to funnel out from the top of the cylinder. Panic began to set in.

"Mother?!"

"It is ok, my daughter, it will… put you to sleep. They don't like to… extract us when w-we are awake. It… won't hurt you." Part of Astarte did not believe her. She took a deep breath and began to look for a way out of the room. Desperately looking for something she had missed, maybe beneath the floor. Her claws began to rip up the resin that she had placed so long ago looking for a seam or door that she had missed so many times. "Astarte, don't! It…will be fine. Please."

The instinct to survive was taking over and drowning out the words of warning from her mother. She had to survive, she had to find a way out. The door, her large head snapped up, it was the only way out of here! She leapt from the back of the room and landed upon the metal slab that kept her a prisoner, slamming into it hard. A metal echo thundered through the room. She began to claw at the small seam that was between the door and its frame.

"Astarte...please, don't h-hurt yourself! P-please!" She continued to scratch, leaving nothing but small smudged on the surface of the hard, polished metal. She did not care, she had to do something to get free, she did not want to be taken this way! She climbed to the roof above the door, looking for some kind of panel that she could rip open.

Her mother's words slowly faded from her mind as the oxygen from her body began to deplete, her body began to slump and loose power. She fell from the wall and was able to just get her feet under herself. However, she was forced to flail and recover as her steps were awkward and weak. She stumbled and then impacted the ground, her legs giving out. As the world started to narrow, she was able to whisper one last word before the world disappeared into darkness.

"Mmm-mother…"

A few hours later.

Astarte snapped to consciousness in an instant. There was no build up, no slow transition back to the world. Just awareness in less than a second. Her body moved with a purpose and she snapped to her feet from the position on the floor she had been in. Her tail raised over her head and ready to strike any foe that might be in front of her. As she quickly scanned the room and found no one, her tail lowered and her body relaxed.

She was not in her own room anymore, they had brought her somewhere new, somewhere strange. A room that was made of all glass that she could not see through. It was a room with many walls and large bars that held the glass. The only other thing was a large pillar in the center of the room. It was square and went from the floor to the ceiling. Something seemed off about it.

Astarte approached the center of the room, wanting to know why they would place such a strange thing within it. As she did, the pheromones hit her in a wave. Something was behind the glass box that she now approached. Something…something that seemed familiar. As she got closer and closer to the smooth surface, the smell became stronger and stronger. That's when it hit her. She knew what this was! Rather, who this was.

"You?! Why are you here. They took you away from me." Astarte started to circle the box, knowing that the woman from earlier was trapped within. Rather, she could see her smell was coming from it. However, she could still not see within the large container.

As she circled, she was meet with nothing but smooth walls with no visible way in. So, she started to look elsewhere. Turning her long, domed head towards the outer wall, she was discouraged to continue her search because all she could see was the same walls that made up the center pillar. She had to try.

She walked over to the outer wall and started to walk its exterior. Nothing…more nothing…still nothing. The smooth surface of the prison showed no sign of anything that would be of use. She let out a huff of air in frustration. She looked back to the center pillar. She wanted to know if the woman was inside or not. Could someone just be playing a trick on her? Or was this some sick, twisted test that she was a part of?

Her questions were answered as a whirling noise cut through the silence and the walls of the pillar began to retract down into the floor. She watched as they slowly disappeared, her hope only grew as more and more color filled her vision, flowing from within the strange hollow pillar. As the last of the walls disappeared, Astarte was glad to see the woman from earlier, laying upon the ground, unconscious but visibly breathing.

She rushed over to the woman and rolled her onto her back. She then watched and was glad to see her chest rise and fall with ease. However, that was when she was able to see the damage that had been done to the poor woman. There were new cuts and burns on her arms and face. There was fresh blood on her legs that gave off the most pleasant smell.

That is when it hit her, that smell, that lovely smell of fresh blood. Her hunger was beginning to build and take over her mind. She wanted to feed, wanted to taste this woman's flesh. Her lips pulled back as she began to drool with anticipation.

"NO!" She yelled within her mind. Astarte leap away from the woman before she could harmed her in any way. When she landed, she turning her face to the outer wall so she would not see the pheromones that were coming off of her.

"No, no, no. Don't give in, Astarte. Don't let it take over. You don't want to harm her." She focused on her own words to distract her from the hunger that was now slowly subsiding. She took a deep breath in attempts to push the last of it from her mind and focused on her breathing.

In and out. In and out.

It took a moment, but she regained control again. There was a snapping noise from behind her, followed by a scream. Astarte turned to see what was happening and was meet with the sight of the woman writhing in pain upon the floor. Astarte instinctively ran towards her to see what was wrong, wanting to protect the innocent human.

Once she was close enough, she was able to locate the source of the problem. The snapping sound was coming from a large, metal collar that was around her neck, something that Astarte had not seen before. It was doing something, something to harm this woman. She had to get it off!

She reached her clawed hands forward to grab the strange device on either side. It proved difficult with the woman moving so much, but Astarte was quickly able to get her hands on the metal of the collar. Her strength was much stronger than that of the humans, so she was able to keep her in place as she began to pull apart the device.

Metal creaked and began to buckle under the xenomorphs hands. Her claws sinking deep into the steel, hitting something softer within. She gave one burst of strength, and the metal collar broke in two and flew away from the human. The moment it was gone, the woman was able to take a deep breath. Followed by a coughing fit while she had both of her hand upon her throat.

Astarte was not sure how to comfort the woman, so she sat on the ground next to her while she hacked and coughed violently. A moment of two later, when her coughing finally lessened, the human was able to turn and look at the large xenomorph that was sitting not two feet from her. Her eyes went wide, her lip quivered as fear took over her body.

Astarte watched as the woman was quickly covered in a thick mist of yellow. She came to the conclusion that this must be the color of fear. Astarte stood to move away from her, to give her a bit of room to relax. Unfortunately, the complete opposite happened. As she stood, the woman let out a quick scream and began to scramble across the floor, attempting to get away from the nightmarish creature that was right in front of her.

She crawled across the floor until she came to the outer wall and had no where to go. As she moved, she never took her eyes off the creature that was in front of her. Astarte froze, not really knowing what to do as this woman retreated from her. She thought it best to do nothing.

After a moment of the two looking to one another, and the human woman realizing that she was not going to be eaten, Astarte watched as the color around her changed from the deep yellow that it was, to that of a calm, ocean blue. Astarte still stayed right where she had been, not wanting to scare the poor woman who was finally relaxing, and simply watched.

Another minuet went by and the blue color had now fully taken over the yellow mist that had been surrounding the woman. Astarte came to the conclusion that blue must mean that she was calming down. So, she continued to stay as still as she could, wanting to help the woman feel better.

Astarte watched as the small human stood to her feet, still keeping her eyes locked on the ebony black creature in front of her, and took a few deep breaths. Then, to the surprise of Astarte, she began to walk across the room towards her. Taking small step after small step to close the gap between them. Her movements were cautious and slow. She was ready to run at any sign of aggression from the xenomorph.

Astarte, stood patiently as she approached, letting the woman move at her own pace. It was a bit slow for her taste, but she was not the one that was probably still nervous about getting closer. So, she would wait.

"You…you are the same one…aren't you? The one from before, in the room?" She asked as she approached. Astarte tilted her head to the side, not really knowing how to respond. Then, she thought of something that might let her know that she was indeed the same xenomorph.

Astarte slowly moved to lay upon the ground, curling up just as she had done around the woman when she was unconscious. She waited and watched the woman as she continued to approach.

"It is you, isn't it? That's why I'm alive right now and not a corpse on the floor." She said as she closed the gap between them. She slowly went to her knees right in front of Astarte, reaching two hands out as she did.

Once on the floor, her two hands found their way out and touched the smooth dome of the xenomorphs head. Astarte watched as the woman smiled and looked down upon her as she laid on the floor. The human looked her up and down, seeming to take in every detail of her body. Then, the woman let out a small laugh.

"My god…you are real. This…I thought…I thought it impossible. They told us…they said that it was all theoretical. That…that it would never work, the genetic manipulation was far to complicated, let alone mapping out an alien DNA strand!" Astarte listen to the words from the woman, now really knowing what she was talking about. Of course, she was real, had she not remembered their first meeting? She had been right in front of her.

Astarte shifted her body slightly to let the woman know she wanted to move. And as she hoped, she retracted her hands from her head and moved back a few feet, letting the xenomorph sit up. Astarte then took her clawed hand and began to scratch a question into the floor. She had been super glad that she had asked her mother how to write. It was coming in handy.

"Theory?" Was all she wrote, hoping the woman would explain. The woman's eyes shot wide once again as she watched the creature in front of her write upon the ground in English. Her head snapped from the floor, to Astarte, then back to the floor. She then smiled from ear to ear as it sank in that she was dealing with a very intelligent creature.

"Umm, yes, yes. The work that I was doing, in the labs, it was all about genetic manipulation and mapping. Basically, the idea of controlling DNA in order to control the outcome of a growing organism. But it was all ideas and dreams, nothing that I thought would ever be achievable. Yet here you are!" She let out a rather happy laugh. "I never thought my work would actually come to life. But here you are in all your beauty. Tell me, where are you from? Are you from the city?"

The last question was a bit confusing. What city? She had known nothing but the labs. Where else would she be from? Astarte wrote a response for the woman.

"Born here. Live in room where we meet." She hoped that made sense. But as the woman in front of her read the response, Astarte watched as the color around her turned from blue to a slim green color. The xenomorph watched as she shook her head from side to side.

"No, no no no. That makes no sense. You are from the city, aren't you? One of the volunteers that signed up for the program, right?" She asked as she looked intently at the xenomorph in front of her.

"No, Born here. Lived no where else." Astarte responded with. She watched as the woman read the response and the color around her intensified. She shook her head in defiance once more.

"How…that doesn't make sense. You can't have been born in a lab, genetic manipulation doesn't wipe memory from the host. It doesn't work that wa….O my god." Something cut her thoughts short. Her voice took a very serious turn. "Did you come from an egg? Were you born from the body of a person? How did you get here?"

"Came from a human. Needed a host to live." She answered. "Mother said that is how we are born."

Astarte watched as her response forced the woman to stand and retreat a few steps away from her. The green color now being mixed with yellow and black. Astarte was missing something, something that this woman knew that she did not.

"No no no no. That's not how this works. We have to have human DNA to manipulate in order for the formula to work. It can't just 'make' an alien." She started to pace back and forth within the room. "This doesn't make sense. You have to be human, that's how this works. You can't be a full alien unless you came from…" She paused and looked towards Astarte. "You said 'mother'...Who is your mother?"

"Mother is mother, she is where I came from."

"As in, your egg came from her?"

"Yes."

"O my god…They did it, they fucking did it. They made a queen." The woman's hand found themselves grasping her own head in awe.

Suddenly, a siren began to blare at a high pitch within the room that the two occupied. It was so loud that it was physically hurting both the human, and Astarte. They both had to clutch their heads and fall to the floor in pain as the noise pierced deep within their heads. The sounds continued for what seemed like forever before it stopped as suddenly as it had started.

As Astarte regained control of her breathing, and let the dizzy feeling clear from her mind, she was able to stand and attempt to locate the source of the noise. But once again, there was nothing visible within the room. She looked to the woman who was still upon the ground. Something was wrong, she was convulsing violently, her body twitching this way and that.

Astarte came to her side looking the woman from head to toe in attempt to locate the source of her pain. Was there another collar somewhere that she had missed? She saw nothing. As she looked to her face, there was a foamy bile coming from her mouth as her body began to twitch as her eye lids rapidly blinking.

She did not know what to do! She wanted to help but had no idea what was going on. She did the only thing she could think of. She kept the woman on her side and held her tightly, keeping her body from moving violently. She only hoped that this would keep her from harming herself and that whatever this was would pass soon. She held the woman for a minute or two as her body slowly began to stop moving.

It was around that time that a voice came from an unseen source as she held the woman on the ground.

"Subject was unresponsive to human stimuli. Human is still alive even with wounds to entice subject one-three-five into a violent response. Subjects both effected by sonic test with recover speed of xenomorph being ten point two seconds. Begin second stage of test."

Astarte could do nothing but listen as this voice rambled on. She looked down to the woman that was now asleep within her arms. The twitching had stopped, her eyes now stayed closed, her breathing forced and shallow.

"It's alright, I'll keep you safe. I won't let them hurt us. Not anymore." It was then that Astarte heard a faint hissing sound from all around her.

She held onto the woman as she watched the mist of strange colored gas enter the room and began to surround her. She then recognized it as the same gas that had been thrown into her room, the same gas that had sent her to sleep. She looked down at the woman, knowing that there was nothing she could do.

"I promise." Were the last words she thought to herself as the world went dark and her limp body fell to the floor.