After what seemed like an eternity, consciousness returned to me.

Someone had placed me in a four poster bed, covering me with satin sheets, a lovely quilt depicting animals and humans and Ss'sik'chtokiwij.

I lay in a tall white room. Gauzy embroidered curtains billowed around wide glass windows overlooking a beautiful forest landscape.

I stared with bewilderment at the polished oak dressers, night stands, and the little table bearing pitchers and cups.

The pitchers contained something like pink lemonade, but smelling of ammonia. I got up and poured myself a glass. It refreshed me immediately.

I stepped out on a balcony, growing more and more puzzled as I took in the sights,

Rivendell, I thought. It looks exactly like Rivendell from the Lord of the Rings stories.

A village of pointy white structures, delicately wrought like icing on an elaborate cake, twisting spires, spreading archways, all surrounded by trees and over lovely plants, poised above a giant waterfall. The banners all had crosses on them.

Had I died, or was this only a dream?

I returned to the bedroom, only to find a young woman refilling my pitcher.

Long flowing blonde hair, a pleasantly round face, and a button nose. She wore a gray jumpsuit, like a worker at Hadley's Hope.

In such a lavish setting, her outfit made no sense, but I guess someone wanted to make me feel at home.

"Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik," the woman cried in delight. "You're awake!"

And then I recognized her.

The face, the voice, the scent, even the outfit. "Sarah?"

"I am called Sarah the Eldest, or `Sarah the Elvish' when my friends are feeling jaunty. But yes. I am a Sarah from the DAMBALLAH project. I have heard much about you. I am very pleased to make your acquaintance."

She gave me a hug, and when I did, I noticed she had slightly pointed ears.

"Are you really an elf?"

She chuckled. "No, but I asked God to make my ears like that."

"Are there other Sarahs here?"

"Yes, roughly a hundred in total, including Sarah the Hansen and Maria the Ss'sik'chtokiwij. But come, let me show you."

She led me out an elegantly arched doorway, to an even more elegant looking vaulted colonnade.

"Mother!" a voice cried.

A small larva with a red and green Christmas scarf around her neck came running up to me.

"Shauqauzjarruba!" I sobbed, picking her up. "Shauqauzjarruba! My dear daughter!"

She purred and rubbed against me. "They have taught me about Esther. I am sorry I rejected that name. It is a very beautiful one. Everyone knows me by that here."

I cried and held her some more.

Esther wiggled free from my grip. "Come, you are missing the feast."

She dashed down the colonnade in such a way that I had to run after her to keep up, crying and laughing with joy. Incidentally, I felt no pain, so didn't mind the exertion.

We arrived at an enormous banquet hall with a long table overlooking the grand village. Large statues towered over us, statues of Jesus and the apostles.

From end to end of this banquet table, sat my friends, Ss'sik'chtokiwij and human alike, all happily eating and drinking and speaking to each other like family.

A tremendous banquet was tremendous, a mountain of the most delicious meats and delicacies I had ever laid eyes upon.

"Am I in heaven?" I asked Sarah the Elvish.

She smiled. "How could it not be?"

"Am I...dead?"

"I don't know. You are resting right now. You will have to ask the Master if it is your time to awake, or continue on sleeping until you are awakened on the Last Day."

She gestured to the spread. "Please. Take a seat. You are just in time for The Feast."

The bible says not to take the place of honor at a feast, or suffer the humiliation of being sent down to the end, so I seated myself at an open chair near the back, between Mother, Hissandra, and non-possessed Noah. Across from me, his wife Sunny, Calvin sat with him, along with others from his bible study group. Taylor Ferguson and Sydjea sat up a few chairs from them.

Mother offered me a wet glistening orange. "Try this, dear. They are quite delicious."

"Oh no, mother. I have tried the nectar of such and it disagrees with my stomach."

"Nonsense! Nothing at this entire table will ever disagree with your stomach. I have sampled everything."

I took the orange. She was correct: It proved to be both lovely and delicious, and I suffered no ill effects.

"Come up here," a voice called.

The Lord appeared at the head of the table, dressed in robes that could possibly be identified as Elvish, though he didn't have the pointy ears. He wore his hair longer now, and a longer beard, as a Rivendell inhabitant would style it.

I approached the empty seat next to him, staring at it in uncertainty and awe.

"Please, sit next to me this meal."

"Master, how is it that you wish to sit next to me at your great and holy feast? You know as well as I there are great martyrs of the faith, holy men and women who are much more worthy to take the place at your right and left hand."

"True, but this is only one course of the great feast, so today you have the seat of honor." He gestured for me to sit.

I did so, but with great nervousness, especially when Sarah the Elvish pulled up a chair next to me.

"Master, I confess I didn't do a very good job. An entire base filled with innocent people died under my watch. I have failed you."

"You have kept my daughter Rebecca under your loving protection until the day of her rescue."

"Daughter? Oh. You mean `Child of God', correct?"

He nodded, biting a piece off a turkey drumstick.

"It doesn't feel like I've done enough. There were hundreds of people on that base, and I just failed them utterly. All of them."

"Remember that cute little story about the star fishes?"

I nodded.

"You made a difference, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik."

I opened my mouth to speak.

"Belief is also a work, child." He placed a chunk of suspiciously human meat on a plate before me.

"Is...this what I think it is?"

"Yes. This is my body."

I pulled the plate close, folding my claws.

Then, feeling silly, unfolded them, facing the subject of my prayer. "Thank you...Lord, for this gift I have so bountifully received."

"You're welcome."

The meat tasted like bread, of course.

"Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik, you have accomplished something else during your time at that base: You have shown human beings that I am Lord of all. People think that the existence of extraterrestrials would make me irrelevant, but it doesn't. Someone has to put in the alien's brains and intestines, and give life to their bodies."

I gazed at the smiling faces around me, Becky and her son, Kumar, Mike, Ruth, Aquila, Pain, Dabmuvum and Lisconu.

Maria, in her Ss'sik'chtokiwij body, waved to me.

I stared. "Is she really the same Sarah that died? Or was she just a delusional Ss'sik'chtokiwij?"

"It's the same Sarah. In heaven, mental delusions are cured. I don't normally allow humans to transfer their souls to different bodies like this, but the girl had never experienced life, a real life, so I gave her the desire of her heart."

I ate some more.

"Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik, this is all a mere foretaste of the feast to come. I know this will cause you great sorrow, but your time is not yet.

"What?" I cried in alarm.

"You feel unfulfilled, like you haven't done enough to help people. I'm sending you back to do just that." He rubbed my head. "Sarah the Eldest knows of a special place in this village that will take you back."

Sarah the Elvish nodded. "It would be an honor."

"I would first like to say goodbye to my loved ones."

My Lord permitted this, so I held my daughter tightly, hugged Maria, Sarah Hansen, and many others.

With many sneezes of joy and sorrow at departing, I followed the young woman out of the lovely banqueting place.

At the end of a row of the most beautiful homes I had ever laid eyes upon, we entered the mouth of a cave, its white rocky interior encrusted with glittering gems and valuable ores.

We came to a stone bathtub.

Large, coffin-like, filled with steaming white fluid. It reminded me of Hadley's Hope sewer without the unpleasant smell.

Sarah put her hand on my shoulder plate. "This will be uncomfortable, but you gotta expect pain and suffering from the mortal universe until Christ takes over."

Nodding, I climbed a sort set of steps, easing into the cloudy `graywater.'

Not a Jacuzzi. The fog had issued from an ice cold bath. I shivered, hesitating to immerse myself further.

Sarah leaned over the side. "C'mon, your services are still needed. I'll stay with you until you go."

Clutching her hand, I sunk deeper.

So cold. Worse than I'd ever felt in the rain, or in a walk-in freezer. I don't think a human body could have withstood such a temperature. The chill cut straight through my exoskeleton, every inch of me resisting the numbing stab. My breath formed miniature clouds above the water. The clouds probably would have dropped snow, had my mouth moisture been one hundred percent hydrogen based.

My teeth chattered as I spoke. "Come with me."

"I'm sorry, I can't. I would if I could. I love you, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik."

The fleshy peach spider legs of a socmavaj climbed over the lip of the tub.

It rounded the top, shyly waving its forelegs at me.

It made no move to bother Sarah. Well, the bible says children will someday put their hand into a snake's den and not be harmed. I smiled at the creature. "Hello there. You coming to join me in this freezing swill?"

The socmavaj's forelegs waved, and, to my surprise, it jumped right in.

It swam expertly, paddling between my legs and over my stomach.

Sarah let go of my hand, pushing my head back into the water. "Goodbye, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik."

"W-what?" I stammered. "I-I don't understand—"

The socmavaj darted over my chest, propped its feet up on my jaw, then jumped upon my head, latching onto my face.

I let out a muffled yelp as a long tube shot out of its body, probing me so far down the throat that I came close to gagging.

The tube stopped there, venting oxygen into me.

Sarah waved goodbye as the bottom of the tub dropped out.

Like a sink full of watery kitchen debris after the drain stopper is removed, my body sank deeper and deeper below the surface.

Sarah, the cavern, and the sides of the coffin, faded from view as I descended into darkness.

[CONTINUES IN CHAPTER 145: STAYIN ALIVE]

[ALTERNATE PLOT]

We came to a stone table, surrounded by giant stalagmite shaped crystals that appeared to be borrowed from Superman's Fortress of Solitude. I stared. "What's this?"

"The way back. Lay down."

Trembling, I climbed up on the cold surface. "Is this going to hurt?"

She nodded. "Pain is the price for living in the mortal plane."

Pain spasmed through my body as something shocked me.

The cavern vanished. Everything went dark.

Another shock, and I heard voices murmuring in a foreign tongue.

"She's stabilizing!"

"Praise Ponai!"

Something got injected into me, and after a long period of confused feverish dreaming, I stirred from my unconscious state.

I found myself floating over a padded table in a round, windowless room. Surrounding me, small, paper thin devices presented medical data in a language I couldn't read.

Along either side of the table, hung racks of tools, possibly for scientific or medical purposes. A hardcover copy Jesus Calling lay among the devices.

Patterns of abstract glowing shapes pulsated in a subdued, muted rhythm on the walls. Four flying cameras orbited me like a planet, supplying the computers with visual data, diagrams of my body shape that breathed when I did.

A group of humanoid figures stared at me, some from a standing position, two others (children) from a pair of couches resembling gigantic Venus flytraps.

With the exception of Newt and Ripley, I could hardly classify them as actual human beings.

A little girl dalmatian patterned fur pointed her eyestalks at a device held by a boy with floppy dog ears. Whatever they saw on the screen made them both giggle.

Newt leaned over their chair, watching them with curiosity. Whatever she saw there, she didn't get the joke. Still, they offered her a seat next to them, showing her a few other things.

An eyeless peach colored face leaned close to me, one with a beak for a nose. "I still think we should have simulated and replaced the organs, Zadoori." A pair of eyestalks snaked out of her long purple hair to look at me, her butterfly pupils similar to the spacesuit man. Okay, so the face itself had no eyes. "I understand the convenience, but the amount of time it took to vacuum seal the chamber and operate on the donor body could have put the patient's life at risk."

The spacesuit man, now without his helmet, wrinkled his cleft lipped mouth as he navigated through menus on the thin computer screens. His blue rubbery jumpsuit creaked as he strode around the table. "Naumona, we're working with a foreign biology, and I don't want her to die because it rejected a simulated organ."

The female crossed her gray furry arms. "She could die anyway. It's not uncommon for bodies to reject the organs of donors, real or simulated."

A hairy rust orange creature in a Moslem-like head scarf approached the table. Relatively faceless, six eyes peering at me from a pair of broad horns on the top of its head, instead of from its face.

Little hairy claws reached out from its dark robe, pushing buttons on a monitors. "This is the creature that made the Icthys?"

"It would appear so, Thonwa." Naumona straightened her shiny black vest, idly brushed the cream colored fur on her neck. "She has uttered many scriptural things in her sleep."

At the opposite side of the table, a plump female with a half human, half guinea pig face narrowed her goat-like eyes at me, crossing her arms. "I'm still not sure this is safe, Zadoori. We've encountered these creatures before. They tend to be very violent."

Zadoori opened his mouth to speak, but an ordinary brown haired human being put an arm around her. "It's okay, honey. It was trying to sing The Old Rugged Cross when we brought it in."

Guinea Pig Face curled a rubber encased tail around the man's short purple dress. "I know, David, but there's a joke about a praying lion..."

"Yeah, but still, I feel this one's different." The man rubbed her ginger haired head.

"It's okay," Ripley said. "That thing just saved my life. I think you can trust it. As long as she's supervised and well fed, I think you'll be fine."

I gawked at her. This was higher praise than I ever expected from the woman, since, admittedly, I'd set the bar pretty low.

Thonwa's proboscis quivered as she spoke. "We have a special holding cell we can put the creature in, if necessary."

"That might be a good idea for a long flight." Her face flushed red as she balled her hands into fists. "Hey, speaking of which, not to sound ungrateful, but where the fuck where you guys a few hours ago when the whole planet was blowing to kingdom come and we almost died?"

Everyone stared at her.

David bristled at this. "Hey, a couple hours ago, we didn't even know you existed! We only came by because we saw the big bang!"

"What about the damn distress call?"

That earned her a blank look. "What distress call?"

Ripley just fumed in silence.

"Look. Sorry we weren't there. Like the song says `I can't go back in time, I don't have a DeLorean."

Ripley's turn to look blank.

"Back to the Future?"

"I'm aware of the movie."

"Matthew West? Gospel singer? No?"

She only rubbed her face.

"Anyway, this isn't Star Trek. We can't beam people out of things. We don't even have any weapons. I don't think we would have been of much use."

"You have medical equipment."

David blew a raspberry. "We also didn't know you needed help! That place just looked like a regular asteroid until it went boom!" Catching Newt's indignant expression, he quickly added, "Sorry. I...realize people lived there...now."

Ripley sighed, looking away.

Newt stared glumly at the floor. Naumona put an arm around her, to comfort her, but she brushed it off.

I glanced at Zadoori. "Where are we? What is this place?"

"This is the Iberet, commissioned by the Falcameer royal family to bring the gospel, food and medical aid to intelligent lifeforms on other planets."

I smiled. "How wonderful!"

The guinea pig faced female's large, sow-like ears twitched as she leaned close to me. "Hello. I'm Pillow Barnes. I assisted Bilo Borkin Zadoori with the surgery. Are you experiencing any discomfort?"

Her name sounded like a mattress store. I purred in amusement. "I'm okay. I'm just not used to floating."

"We'll get you down from there soon enough." Her ears twitched again, brushing against her Bob haircut.

"Why are you named after something that humans sleep on?" I asked.

Newt snickered.

Naumona grinned at the child's improved mood, cast Pillow a grateful look.

Pillow's elongated nostrils flared, but her rodent-like mouth seemed to be perpetually smiling. Difficult to tell her mood. "It means something completely different in Wava, my native language. It is pronounced `pie-low'. It means `flower of beautiful eyes,' and it actually describes a specific plant you can see in many of our botanical gardens."

The human brunette chuckled. "She is also very comfortable to sleep on."

A smirk crept up Pillow's slight muzzle. She elbowed him. "Stop."

"Her maiden name is Pulsa Pillow." The long nosed man reached behind the female's blue jumpsuit, toyed with her tail. "I suggested she change her name to Pulsa Barnes, but she preferred Pillow." He shrugged. "It is a beautiful name."

"And I suggested he follow Abreya tradition and change his last name to Pulsa." Pillow playfully flipped her tail under the human's skirt. "But David was stubborn. I have become used to having his last name."

Ripley's angry mood seemed to fade somewhat. "I wish more aliens were like these guys, and not...like your grandmother."

"Me too." I frowned at the bird faced one. "Why am I floating?"

Zadoori checked a readout. "We did not want to cause spinal injuries. In order to rotate you and perform surgical operations, we suspended you with magnetic particle repulsion."

David held Pillow's hand. "They use a more primitive version to operate magnetic trains."

"I don't have any metallic or magnetic particles in my body."

"We have ways of magnetizing non-metallic atoms, and changing their polarity to repel things into the air."

"Was my spine injured?"

"You are a very hardy species. We did not see any serious damage. However, you will be in much pain if we do not perform a few adjustments with our chiropractic devices."

Zadoori's tail, encased in a blue rubber sleeve, curled around a black rod with prongs sticking out of one end.

"What is that you are carrying around behind you?"

"A stunning device. I am hoping I do not need to use it on you."

"You have nothing to fear from me, brother."

The smaller creatures, busy with their electronic amusements, did not get up. Newt peered at their device again.

I glanced at the underside of my body. "You gave me an organ transplant?"

Apparently convinced that I could be trusted, at least for the moment, Zadoori set down his stunner. "Yes. A challenge, since quite a few of your organs rapidly deteriorate in contact with the outside air, but we have pressure sealed medical devices."

Ripley leaned against a bulkhead. "You're lucky they found you when they did. If we had to rely on equipment on the Sulaco, you'd be dead right now."

I smiled at the woman. "Our visitors seem very friendly."

"Yeah. They said they could help you. I felt like I owed you at least that much." She turned to face Zadoori. "So she'll be all right now?" I'm still amazed that the woman identified me as a female.

"Yes. She just barely came through, but I think she'll be fine now. Glad to see a person forgiving someone who so clearly appears to be an enemy."

"She earned it."

"See, Pillow?" David squeezed Pillow's hand. "She's friendly!"

Pillow glanced at the back of his head, frowned as she pulled something sticky out of his mouse brown hair. "Oxana!"

The dog eared boy turned around, wiggling a nose that reminded me of a fruit bat's. "Yes, Mrs. Barnes?"

Pillow put her hands on her hips. "A prank with Xoonicax slime. Really."

The boy fidgeted with his black rainbow striped dress. "It wasn't me."

The dalmatian spotted girl pulled something out of her splotchy blue-black halter, slipping it into his pocket.

"Hey!"

Pillow only scoffed and shook her head.

"Who are you people?" I asked. "What are you doing here?"

"We belong to the Intergalactic Missionary League. We've been searching the universe for beings in need of the gospel."

"That's wonderful," I said. "I have spent my life trying to reach my people for Jesus. Unfortunately, the harvest was not plentiful."

Pillow chuckled. "I could see how that would be a problem."

"Have you met others of my kind?"

"Once. On a different planet. But that was a long time ago."

"Perhaps you can take me there."

Ripley scowled. "If that's where you're going, you can count me out. I never want to see another xenomorph as long as I live. No offense, Ernie."

"None taken."

Newt stood on a chair, looking excited. "Are we going to an alien planet?"

The woman shook her head. "We're going back to earth. I've spent too much time away from home as it is."

Noting the girl's uncertain expression, she added, "You'll like it."

Zadoori stared at the middle of my face plate. I guess he'd read what I'd written about eye contact. "Wuxrinus is a long distance from here, but we may return again sometime."

"Perhaps sooner." Thonwa fingered the cross hanging from her neck. "Now that we have an evangelist of your species among us."

David nervously fidgeted with his hem. "Uh, Ms. Ripley...I, uh, probably have no right to ask this, but is it at all possible for you to send a message back to my folks?"

The woman nodded. "Sure, but it might not get there for a long time."

"Don't you...?" he frowned. "Never mind. I'll find another way to send the message."

"You're not going back to earth."

"Not immediately."

Ripley groaned in frustration. "I knew you people were too good to be true."

[IF YOU THINK THEY SHOULD TAKE HER TO EARTH, POST A REPLY]

[OTHERWISE, KEEP READING]

Thonwa gave her a consoling pat. "This isn't to say we won't go there, we just need to take it before the Lord in prayer, see if it is His will to go there."

"Perhaps that's for the best. Even if you wanted to take us to earth, there'd be quarantine issues."

"I admit that's the prime reason why we've been avoiding the planet ourselves. Plus there are other planets, unlike earth, that have no messengers sending forth the gospel."

Zadoori clicked buttons on a computer. "There's also the matter of the distress message we just recently received."

"That was from us. The planet is nothing but a mound of radioactive slag. Nothing should have survived that."

"Just the same, we'd like to check it out. Our sensors have more advanced scanners than yours, and better radioactivity decontamination systems."

Although Ripley's anger had cooled during the course of these conversations, her temper now returned to the boiling point. "Really? Bullshit! If your detectors are so fucking good, you should have detected that colony down there and saved a thousand lives!"

David's shoulders drooped. "Ma'am, like I said, `Not Star Trek.' We can't just point a laser at a bunch of asteroids (er, planetoids) and scan them for life. They block our scans. We actually have to go down to each one and do a fly-over. And that requires expending fuel and energy..."

"And you couldn't detect our emergency broadcasts."

"Exactly. They weren't pointing in the right direction, or they bounced off space debris."

Pillow nodded. "We're still receiving a signal. Despite the explosion."

"It helps to be really close to the planetoid."

Ripley furrowed her brow. "Do we know who sent it?"

"Not yet."

"And you're sure it's not just the radioactivity interfering with your sensors?"

"No, not with the equipment we're using."

"And...you seriously have no weapons?"

"No. Like my husband said, this is a missionary ship."

"I'm liking this idea less and less."

"If you don't want to be involved, we can leave your vehicle. It did appear to distress you when we first came aboard."

The woman rubbed her face in frustration. "How long will it take you to...search?"

"Oh? Possibly a week, at most."

Ripley sighed, glanced at Newt for her opinion. The girl only shrugged.

"Honestly, I'd leave it alone, if I were you. If anything's alive down there, it's going to try to kill you."

"We'd like to see for ourselves."

"Your funeral."

I idly clawed the air. "Can I stop floating now?"

Naumona's harelip twitched. "You will experience pain. You have many wounds that have been treated with chemical compounds, and dislocated vertebra."

"Suffering produces character."

"Spoken like a true evangelist." She pushed a device on the table, and I slowly sunk onto the cushions. Yes, slightly painful, but I endured it.

"We have replaced your teeth with simulation materials and removed the devices from your brain, plugging the holes. The neurosurgery was the most dangerous operation we had to do, but fortunately our technology is a little more advanced than the one that put those devices in."

Zadoori clicked through computer menus. "Still, it wasn't easy. You've had those probes in for a long time, and your body grew around them...It's a miracle the surgery was a success."

"Praise God. I had resigned myself to a life in which those things stuck in my head. I owe you a debt I cannot repay."

Zadoori smiled.

I sat up and stretched, causing myself more pain.

Zadoori noticed me wincing. "You should rest. You're not fully healed."

Pillow sat next to me. "We'd give you painkillers, but we don't know if your body can tolerate it."

"How long was I...gone?"

"Not long. Only a few hours."

Zadoori handed me a tumbler of yellow liquid. "Here. Drink this. We gave you fluids intravenously, but it was difficult, and you could use more."

I emptied the glass. "How did you know I needed ammonia?"

"You said it enough times."

The moment I passed the empty glass back, they all laid hands on me, praying for healing and strength.

"I think we don't need these medical suits right now..." Zadoori casually unzipped the front of his jumpsuit, disrobing right in front of me.

Covered in brown fur from neck to foot, the pelt was brown bearing a pattern that vaguely resembled a socmavaj with missing legs. Oddly well developed pectoral muscles that seemed oddly well developed, and below that, rows of orifices on the sides of his ribs, possibly a form of genitalia, though a thong covered something else between his legs. His tail, now exposed, reminded me of something one would see on an opossum.

He pulled on a blue ruffled dress, decorated with a pattern of eyeball flowers.

"You are a Christian, and you wear a dress?"

"It is a Wighesh, not a dress. All heterosexual Abreya males wear them."

"Abreya is your species?"

"Yes."

David idly straightened his skirt ruffles. "A Wighesh is more like a kilt. Or certain traditional Greek outfits."

Ripley rolled her eyes. "I'm pretty sure a number of gay men have made the same rationalization about their clothes."

"Think what you want," Pillow also removed her surgical suit. It seemed their culture had a different definition of nudity and indecency, probably due to the fur coats. "But I know from experience that he's straight as a board." She cleared her throat. "Anyways, I convinced my husband to wear one by showing him a cute little Ipsego that looked exactly like a Roman centurion's outfit. He's been wearing them ever since."

Fur like a tortoiseshell cat, dotted with white crescents. For modesty, she wore a harness around her chest and the sides of her ribs, and a thong. A tentacle retreated into her underwear.

She donned a dashiki with spots like mold spores, and shiny black shorts.

My stomach rumbled. "May I have some of this food you mentioned?"

Zadoori zipped up the back of his dress with his tail. "How silly of us. You must be starving! I'd tell you to come upstairs, but you still need to heal."

"I think I'll be able to manage..." I dropped one leg over the side of the table, scooting the rest of me closer to the edge.

Zadoori, Mara and Sarah quickly rushed to my side, helping me down.

Newt came close, but refrained from assisting.

The small ones got up from the couch and watched us.

"When are we taking off?" the boy asked.

Zadoori grabbed me under one arm. "Soon. But first, Sister Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik needs to eat."

I chuckled. "Sister Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik. I like that."

Ripley had this look on her face like this was the last place she wanted to be, though she still seemed curious. Not every day that humans meet friendly aliens.

In zero gravity, one can easily climb up and down ladders along walls, and drift between upper and lower floors. A staircase would be nonsense, except when the ship lands and has gravity again.

Of course, I couldn't manage ladders either. My cave climbing expedition had taken a lot out of me. They carried me up a staggered set of ramps they used for cargo.

Upstairs, I found myself in a Mayan looking acropolis, surrounded by jungle and clusters of square gray buildings connected by concrete tubes.

An illusion. In the center of this picturesque scene stood two more of those Venus flytrap couches, and a low table with twisted squid legs serving as its supports. In the corner stood a little altar with a brass cross and a metal symbol resembling a spindle adapter for a vinyl record, apparently another symbol of faith.

Zadoori pointed to the illusionary buildings. "Takoufea Qorized. Birthplace of Christian evangelism on the planet Pathilon."

David entered the chamber. "It's like a monastery. Largely under non-Christian Quaceb control, but Christians make pilgrimages to the site, to be inspired."

"What's a Quaceb?"

"The religion of my people," Zadoori pushed a button and the landscape vanished, replaced by a dome patterned with pulsating amorphous shapes. The furniture continued to exist. "Suffice to say, our scriptures predicted the coming of a messiah, a great Kipom, that matches Jesus' description."

David grinned. "My favorite is Lake Zoamdiz, where I proposed to my wife."

He me to a long table. This marked, perhaps, the first time I had used any kind of chair without ruining it...unless you count my vision of heaven.

Zadoori stepped into the adjacent kitchen. "I hear you can tolerate few things, aside from meat. What would you like? Hamburger? Pork? Or maybe something more exotic? Poxmurl, perhaps? Sehlowi? Rasgiwa? Lozgelm?"

"What do you recommend?"

He served me Rasgiwa, a scaly sort of steak that tasted of cheese, salmon and spoiled lettuce.

David seated himself next to me, eating a ham sandwich. The others, it seemed, had already eaten, for they only climbed onto stools and watched me devour one chunk of meat, then another.

Well, until Newt and Ripley joined us, then the broke out the cheeseburger mac, peanut butter and cold pizza. And I thought I had been starving!

Ripley didn't want to sit anywhere close to me, but Newt took the stool to my left.

The woman shifted uncomfortably when Thonwa took a place beside her. She clearly had a phobia about exoskeletons.

I savored another piece of meat. "Thonwa, Are you a Moslem?"

"No, my people wear remtodis to conceal their genitalia. If you catch me smoothing it flat, please kindly look the other direction."

"Certainly."

Pillow tapped her husband on the back with her tail. "Honey, could you check on the incubator?"

David sighed. "Have you squat over the egg today?"

"I did it this morning. It's your turn."

Rolling his eyes, he groaned and stepped out of the room.

I swallowed the last of my Rasgiwa. "Whose egg are you hatching?"

Pillow smiled. "Mine and David's."

"So...you and a human...produced an egg?"

"It really shouldn't have worked. Our genital configuration isn't designed to fit together. But, well, our scientists developed an appliance..."

Ripley scrunched her nose in disgust. "I believe this is called an overshare."

Newt gawked at them. "They actually made a baby? Together?"

The woman rubbed her face. "Apparently so."

Zadoori took a bottle out of a cabinet, extending a straw from its slid. He sipped the beverage a moment before speaking. "It is not surprising. Our organization was founded by a human-Abreya couple. Our Lord in His wisdom chose to make that union fruitful, even without a special device."

"Interesting."

Pillow picked up some loose objects from the floor. "Ripley, we're going to leave your vehicle now, to search the planet. Do you wish to come with us?"

Ripley glanced at Newt. My little friend looked indifferent, possibly excited about being an astronaut, but this only made the woman frown. "Actually, Newt has a serious medical problem, and I really need to get back to earth, to get her checked out by a neurologist."

"I know of some doctors who can help you," the Abreya suggested. "We could stop along the way to our next mission."

"No offense, Pillow, but I don't trust your doctors. I'm sure they'd be great, I mean, I've watched Star Trek, but I just don't feel right letting an alien toy around with my kid's noggin."

"I understand the feeling. It requires a lot of trust...I hope she can still get the help she needs."

Ripley tugged on the girl's hand. "C'mon, Newt. Let's go."

"You're not going to stay for the search?"

"I saw the place blow up. Before that, dead bodies everywhere. If you find anyone alive enough to rescue, pick them up and send them my way. I'm not wasting my time." She put an arm around the girl, herding her toward the entry hatch.

Newt seemed a little reluctant. "We're not going to see them again, are we?"

"I'm sorry, honey. They're not going to earth for a very long time. You need to be with other kids, live a normal life for once."

The girl didn't disagree. She waved goodbye to my new friends, allowing the woman to take her away from them.

Pillow gave the two a look like they were cult members refusing quality medical treatment on religious grounds, but did not voice these opinions. She merely knelt before the girl and gave her a big hug.

The girl received hugs from the alien children and others as well. Ripley allowed this, but didn't appear comfortable enough to embrace any of these strangers herself. She did, however, give my doctors handshakes, complementing them on their work.

As they descended the ramp to return to the Sulaco, Newt stopped, turned around, and rushed to give me a hug.

I smiled, patted her head. "Goodbye, Newt. I hope your life will be happier now. I'll keep you in my prayers.

In Ss'sik'chtokiwij, she replied, "I love you."

I sneezed.

She and Ripley disappeared into the bowels of the station. I waited for them to come back, but they'd been serious about returning home.

The boarding ramp retracted, the camera iris-like door hatch closing for departure.

For the next week, we orbited LV 426, searching for life. David said he'd given Ripley a communication device, but we received no communications from the Sulaco.

I was still recovering from my surgery, and sleeping whole days at a time. I didn't know my new friends had swung by the planet surface until a familiar human-like face joined me and the crew at breakfast a couple days after.

An android in a gray jumpsuit.

I did a double take. "Mara?"

Naumona nodded to me. "Your friend was buried under a mountain of debris. We wouldn't have found her at all, had she not been continually interfering with our devices with her emergency broadcasting."

"I couldn't find all the pieces." Thonwa patted her on the back. "But I and Naumona salvaged limbs and body parts from other synthetic humans, patching her together with some devices of our own."

Mara marched up to me, giving me her warmest robotic smile. "Hello, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik. How are you?"

I gave her a sheepish smile. "I'm okay, mom."

I ate my breakfast, addressing our bird beaked chef in between bites. "When you searched the debris, Did you find any other survivors?"

"None."

I thought about all those innocent Ss'sik'chtokiwij, with their beautiful shells and wonderful minds, and cried. For once, my grief did not get mistaken for a cold.

Pillow stroked me across the head. "I'm sorry." She paused. "I heard there was also a queen, but we found none in the immediate area. They're supposed to be really big, aren't they?"

I stopped crying. "Yes. No telling where she's drifted off to now."

"Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik?" said a voice behind me.

I turned around and saw Sarah.

An adult woman in her twenties. Just like in my near death experience. No pointy ears. She wore a robe of plaid silk that resembled an African agbada, but she had the same figure, same face, same hair.

"Sarah?"

"Yes, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik. It's me. Well, one of the me's."

Pillow grinned. "So we did find one survivor..."

I gaped at the clone. "But how did you survive the explosion? And the Ss'sik'chtokiwij attack?"

"DAMBALLAH kept me in a cryogenic storage facility in a cavern outside the base. Apparently my pod was the only one that didn't have a critical life support failure."

The pieces to this puzzle still didn't connect. "How do you know my name?"

She showed me an object that looked like a CD, making a hologram of a Ss'sik'chtokiwij with feathers and a long mosquito like beak appear.

"Gretchen Goose?"

The creature purred. "Hello, Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik. I am currently experiencing pleasure in observing your normal vital readings, as well as engaging in verbal communication with you in a conscious state."

"I'm...happy to see you too."

Sarah set the disk down at the end of my bed.

Gretchen's long beak pointed toward me. "You may be interested to know that I have extracted several of your journal entries from a broken tablet computer. If you wish to amend or share them, they may be accessed at any time from the ship's database."

Sarah smiled. "I read all of them. You're the only one who understands what I've been through." She kissed me on the head. "My lips feel tingly. Like I just ate something spicy."

"If it starts melting your flesh, perhaps you should tell the doctor."

When breakfast ended, the aliens prayed over me again. Even the android's hand rested upon my shell.

"I didn't know you were Christian!" I cried in surprise.

"I'm not. I merely wanted to experience this spiritual event." She frowned. "No new sensory data detected. Psychologically, however, I am finding enjoyment in providing emotional support by means of tactile contact."

Gretchen Goose just passed through my body. "I fathom even less. I have no sensory data."

Mara stared at her, making a dial-up modem noise with her mouth.

"I see. his is interesting as it is puzzling."

Sarah wrinkled her brow. "My Call unit said something similar to me once. But that was about hugging."

"She means well," I said.

"Perhaps." Her expression darkened. "As long as the DAMBALLAH program doesn't give her new instructions."

"I am currently experiencing guilt. And it causes the emotional response of sadness. However, as a synthetic human, I did not have the ability to contradict the programming of my controllers, so this sadness is compounded with feelings of helplessness and inadequacy." Mara sighed, but it seemed forced, as she probably didn't need to breathe, and the exhalation ended too abruptly to be realistic. "I sincerely apologize for my actions."

As good an apology as we were going to get from an android. "You're forgiven."

"You forgive a synthetic human? One who put your life and the lives of your friends in danger?"

"My Lord did not tell me to harbor grudges."

She smiled a little. "I think I am beginning to see the emotional value of this `grace' I have heard about. I still do not understand the spiritual aspect, but forgiveness is very liberating. It pleases me to know that this kind of unconditional love is not limited to my late husband."

Gretchen Goose pecked at a console. "I wish to familiarize myself with the computer systems."

"Familiarize all you wish." Naumona's eyestalks retreated into her hair. "I appreciate the work you are doing with the control program."

Big Bird bowed. "My subroutines are deeply affected." She vanished.

"Sh'kassk'dwuissueblik," said Pillow. "We are destined to depart this area soon. Now, I know this is your home, and we may not be returning back here for a very long time. Do you have any objections to leaving this place indefinitely and coming with us?"

I shook my head.

"We're still deciding on where to go. Hopefully we will come to a decision after worship and rest."

[0000]

Note: Here ends the alternate plot involving Ripley and Ernie meeting the Intergalactic Bible Federation. The regular story about Ripley and Ernie continues in Chapter 145 ("Stayin Alive").

If you want to read more about Pillow and her friends, please refer back to Chapter 102 ("SPIRITS IN PRISON") and skip down to the bracketed section [0020] to continue the story where this section ends. You will have another opportunity to change the plot near the end of that chapter as well.

Please let me know about any continuity errors.

Someday, I might write an alternate plot where Ripley tags along with the missionary aliens a little longer, but I won't be doing that for a very long time.