Alien Resurrection

by A. C. Crispin

  The computer voice of the Auriga, sounding just like Call, suddenly announced through the Betty’s intercom, “Warning. Procedural interruption. Ship not leveling for vertical drop. Braking system disengaged. Collision imminent.”

  “No shit,” groused Johner from behind her. Distephano was silent.

  Ripley sat back in the chair and relaxed, as if this were some kind of pleasure cruise.

  “Almost there…” Vriess said quietly.

  Everything jelled. All at once. The Auriga’s descent rate. The speed of the Betty’s ejection. Everything worked.

  “Now!” Ripley called, and hit the switch for maximum power. The Betty jerked hard and everyone braced.

  * * *

  Vriess wasn’t worried about Call right now; he had much bigger issues on his mind. Some of Betty’s systems weren’t up to par, since he’d never been able to make the repairs he’d scheduled. To get truly free of the Auriga, the ship would have to respond quickly, have to use real power. He had his doubts as to whether she was up for it. Especially without Hillard at the helm… He glanced over at Ripley, trying to figure out how she came to be there, how she knew so much about the Betty’s controls, her foibles, her abilities…

  Ripley suddenly yelled out, “NOW!” and hit the controls.

  And Vriess watched the monitor, which showed—

  —The exterior of the massive Auriga, its myriad lights winking against the darkness of Australia’s night sky, as the ship raced recklessly toward earth. Suddenly, the Betty, looking like a toy next to the huge frame of the military vessel, shot out of the airlock, nearly smashing into the bottom of the bigger ship as it ejected. Vriess thought it looked like nothing more than a tiny piece of trash hurled out of a speeding plane.

  “Look out!” Johner warned.

  “I am!” Ripley assured him, as she maneuvered the little ship in a tight arc away from the behemoth threatening to crush them.

  The Betty swerved, zigging and zagging to avoid the bulk of the big ship, until she was finally clear. She leveled out and sped away, as the Auriga continued plunging to her death. Vriess checked again, just because he knew Call would care. But this part of the Outback was all open space, no cities, no people, just dark, desolate land for miles. The crater the Auriga would leave would be the most interesting part of the landscape for years to come.

  Vriess and Ripley fought together to control the speeding Betty, pushing the ship and all her aging parts as hard as they could to save them.

  * * *

  Call hadn’t been this afraid when she’d fled the robot purge. She couldn’t think, couldn’t process, merely react.

  The monster was between her and the cockpit door. But that hardly mattered, the only thing that mattered now was escape. Anywhere. Anyhow. Escape.

  The Newborn took one step toward her but as it did, the ship jerked hard suddenly, and they were both knocked off balance. It was just the slap of awareness Call needed. Suddenly, she was motivated.

  Dodging the creature’s outstretched arm, Call ran as fast as she could move. The thing was right behind her, nearly stepping on her heels, as if toying with her before the kill.

  The creature hissed, and she felt its claws brush her leg. Swerving sharply to the right, she lunged at the last second for the crawl space under the stabilizer. As the huge Alien realized its prey was about to evade capture, it bellowed a protest and leaped, but Call had already disappeared beneath the belly of the big machine.

  Making herself as small as possible, she rolled over and over until she hit the back wall. Spinning in place, she faced out at the three open sides, searching for her pursuer, fully expecting the creature to be scrambling after her.

  But it was gone!

  * * *

  The Alien warrior had followed the Newborn out of the crèche, just to be near the young one. His Queen was dead, and the warrior was adrift. He’d thought that the Newborn would use the Ripley to center them, to give them their purpose, but the Newborn had been unable to hold the Ripley. Why, the warrior didn’t understand. Now the Newborn was gone, sworn to kill the Ripley, devour her.

  The warrior had followed the young one on its quest because he needed a focus. But the Newborn’s focus was not his and he was floundering. The last of the young had emerged from the hosts and were growing. The crèche had been completed. There might be a new Queen in some of the last young who had hatched, but the warrior wasn’t sure.

  Without a Queen to guide him, he had no focus, no ambition, no purpose. Perhaps it would be best to hibernate now.

  The ship they rode on was empty of the prey, having nothing aboard it now but warriors, dead hosts, and young. The corridors were strangely vacant. This was no longer a viable nest. Not without new hosts. But without a Queen to direct them, the warrior feared they might not ever find new hosts.

  A voice spoke from inside the ship, and the warrior lifted his head, hearing the voice.

  “Collision in six seconds. Five… Four…”

  The Newborn was no longer aboard. Yes, the warrior thought, curling into a tight ball, this would be a good time to hibernate.

  The voice of the ship said softly, “Here we go—”

  * * *

  Aboard the Betty, Distephano could see enough of Vriess’s monitor to know what was about to happen. He glanced over at Ripley, who seemed completely in tune with a ship she should have no knowledge of. Her mouth was a grim line, as her eyes moved back and forth, missing nothing. Man, you are one strange lady, he thought sympathetically. Still, he admired her ability to handle the vessel and everything else that had happened. As accustomed to space flight as he was, this was one hell of a rough ride, and it wasn’t over yet.

  Call’s voice from the Auriga said softly, “Here we go—” and they all watched the giant ship impact like a meteorite, smashing into the ground, exploding into a massive fireball that lit up the night sky for miles around.

  The Betty was safely away, watching from a very discreet distance. Not that the ship herself was safe yet, not by a long shot.

  “Wow!” Johner said for all of them, as the gigantic explosion filled the sky. The impact, Distephano knew, would be felt on seismographic instruments all over the planet. Let them try and figure it all out. The thundering firestorm raged on, consuming everything the Auriga was, everything it stood for. Too bad they were all too tired and preoccupied to cheer.

  He glanced over at Ripley. Her expression showed many things—relief, satisfaction, sadness, a bone-weary exhaustion coupled with intense concentration. So Distephano cheered her silently. You got them, lady. Once again, you got them.

  He felt pretty good. As soon as they stabilized the ship, they’d get ready to land on Earth. The Auriga was destroyed. They were safe.

  Then he realized something.

  “I only had three weeks to go,” Distephano said wistfully. “Wonder if they’ll believe my story, or if they’ll can me for telling the truth?”

  “Hey, man,” Johner called over cheerily. “You’re welcome to hang with us. We ain’t real organized, but you’re a resourceful guy. You’d fit in fine.”

  He and Johner laughed lightly, way too tired to enjoy the humor.

  “Where’s Call?” Ripley said anxiously. “She should’ve been back here by now.”

  “You’re right,” Vriess decided. “We sure could use her. We’ve got questionable readouts in half a dozen areas. If she plugged back in, she could nursemaid the old girl long enough to let us land.” He hit the intercom switch, and said impatiently, “Call, where the hell are you?” At the same time he flipped the monitor over from the smoking ruin of the Auriga back to the cargo bay.

  With Ripley in the way, Distephano had to lean over to look past the woman’s shoulder, but he couldn’t see Call in the monitor. Just then, the ship shook furiously again as Ripley wrestled with the controls.

  A panel sparked suddenly, then a hose ruptured and steam hissed out near Johner.

  “SHIT!” the big man shouted, unbuckling
quickly, and wrestling with the hose.

  “This thing is gonna fall apart!” Ripley hissed through clenched teeth.

  Vriess was doing a quick scan, and evidently didn’t like what he saw. “Pressure’s unstable!”

  Johner looked over at Distephano. “Go get Call back there, will ya? We need her up here now.”

  As the soldier unbuckled from the chair and reached automatically for his rifle, he heard Johner mutter disgustedly, “What is wrong with that chick?”

  Good question, Distephano thought, as he headed out to help her.

  * * *

  From beneath the stabilizer, Call could hear the tone chime that indicated they were free of the Auriga’s docking bay. In the cockpit, Vriess and Ripley would be totally preoccupied with getting the ship as far from the pull of the bigger vessel as they could. There was still too much risk that they could be dragged down in the crash trajectory with the massive military ship.

  She wondered if Vriess—if anyone—had seen the invading Alien in the camera, if they knew what she was dealing with back here.

  Call lay totally silent and motionless under the stabilizer, wondering where the Alien had gone. Was it lying in wait for someone to come rescue her?

  A sudden sharp scrabbling on top of the machine made her tense, but she never uttered a sound. It’s on top of the machine! she realized. Then that small bit of noise stopped and there was nothing. Call froze in place, waiting. Worrying.

  All at once the creature slammed itself against the floor, trying to flatten itself into the small space under the stabilizer. Its arm and part of its hideous head squeezed under the machine as it clawed the floor in a desperate attempt to reach her.

  Terrified, Call pressed back against the wall, wanting to disappear into it, but she could go no further. The clawed hand gouged the thick, tough, shock-absorbing flooring of the cargo bay, pulling ribbons of it up in dense, black curls. The Alien roared its rage, reaching, groping, shredding whatever part of the floor it could reach. Call plastered herself against the back wall and sucked in her gut.

  Squirming, lashing its tale, scrabbling like a crab, the creature fought to reach her, squeezing itself further into the restricted space, until the long, deadly claws were flailing right in front of Call’s face. The Alien was berserk with rage, but its head was simply too big, too inflexible to squeeze under the machinery. Still it fought against the physics of the space, convinced if it just tried harder it would finally reach its goal.

  On the next swipe, the claws nearly touched Call’s nose.

  15

  The longest finger on the Alien’s hand nearly touched Call’s face. She couldn’t breathe for fear of putting herself within reach of the thing, and didn’t know how much longer she could evade it. It was growling at her, terrifying her with its threatening sounds. And worst of all, she could smell it, with its terrible human/animal stench.

  How long could she hold out, how long could she stay just out of reach? And how long would it take before someone in the cockpit missed her?

  Suddenly, Call’s sole focus—the reaching hand of the Alien—became secondary as she saw a pair of booted feet enter her range of vision. She blinked. Military issue. Distephano!

  From where he’d entered the cargo bay, the bulk of the stabilizer would be hiding the Alien from him. Did he even know it was after her? Had he seen it on the monitor? It wasn’t like the damned thing was staying put.

  Suddenly, the Alien was also aware of Distephano’s presence. Call could tell because the claws groping for her suddenly stopped moving, and the entire body of the beast froze.

  * * *

  Distephano moved cautiously into the room, searching, not assuming anything. It was dim in here. Spooky. Equipment hid most of the floor space and the chains hanging from the ceiling created a soft jangling sound that made it hard to think. So where was his favorite robot anyway?

  “Call?” he called softly. The weird ambiance of the cargo bay seemed to call for quiet. Caution. “Call? You in here?”

  And where else would she be? he asked himself. It wasn’t like she could’ve slipped past him.

  Distephano moved on, sweeping the area carefully, methodically, like any good soldier.

  * * *

  As Distephano moved around, the Alien slowly, silently began to withdraw its hand from under the stabilizer.

  Part of Call felt tremendous relief, but that was immediately overridden by her own internal imperative. It would go after Distephano. It was a hundred times faster, a thousand times more deadly.

  * * *

  Beneath Distephano’s feet, the Betty shook hard, as he imagined Vriess and Ripley fighting the controls, manually trying to force the ship to their will, because Call wasn’t up there, plugged in.

  Finally, Distephano stopped in his tracks. He felt a chill race down his spine and found himself wondering—could one of those things be in here? Could it have gotten Call? What else might’ve stopped her from returning to the bridge? He stared disbelievingly around the cargo bay. There were hundreds of hiding places here. He felt an almost animal terror at the thought, but then got a grip on himself. He was a soldier. A member of General Perez’s handpicked crew.

  Calmly, with an almost detached air, Distephano armed his rifle.

  Distephano took another step forward, stopping near a big piece of equipment that dominated the room. With that same detached air, Distephano lifted the rifle, sighting cleanly down the weapon.

  If one of those things, if one of them is here in this hold… He considered that for a moment. Those things killed every last man on my ship. If one of ’em is in here, I’m gonna blow it to hell and back. I owe them that much.

  Then he glanced at the big piece of equipment nearest him, the piece that largely blocked his view of the rest of the bay. This has gotta be the stabilizer! he realized. This isn’t the Auriga—it’s just a small ship. There’s got to be a ton of stuff back here that’s critical to our survival. And those things have acid for blood!

  As that sank in, Distephano paused. He couldn’t shoot it. Not in here. But he might have to…

  As Distephano weighed his minimal options, he cautiously eased around the side of the stabilizer.

  * * *

  Call had just come to the same conclusion. Acid for blood. If Distephano shoots that thing—

  She stared at the nightmare vision of the grotesque face. It was smiling again. The Alien’s grinning maw suddenly dripped a glob of mucous. And then, before she could shout a warning, it struck. Desperate to do something, Call scrabbled out behind it.

  The creature lashed out, reaching with its impossibly long arm, as one of its hands grabbed Distephano’s face even as the other knocked his gun aside almost casually. His scream was a short, hoarse, “NO!” as he fell back hard. The rifle flew out of his grip, clattering away uselessly.

  The Alien’s big palm covered the soldier’s face, but it didn’t stop him from screaming now in rage, surprise, and sheer terror.

  As the gigantic creature pulled itself off the floor, dragging the flailing soldier with it, Call clearly heard the crack of Distephano’s skull as the young man’s cries rang with pain. The creature bit into his scalp, popping his head like a clamshell to devour his brain and drink his blood.

  That was deliberate! Call thought, aghast. Deliberate—and human!

  Then the Alien turned to her, the huge, lipless fangs looking more and more like a terrible death’s head grin. Then the creature laughed—a breathy, staccato laugh, as Call stood rooted in place, stunned.

  * * *

  Ripley was only dimly aware that behind her, Johner was still trying to splice together the damaged hoses.

  She didn’t pay much attention either when Vriess yelled back at the big man, “Patch it through the servo!”

  “Hey,” Johner yelled back, “this is supposed to be your job. I mostly just hurt guys!”

  Ripley paid much more attention when Vriess hit the intercom button and shouted, “Call! Get
back up here!” There was no answer.

  That was what was distracting her. Call should’ve been back long before this. She’d be able to feel the ship bucking back in the cargo bay. The robot would know she was needed in the cockpit. And Distephano had been gone way too long as well.

  Then Ripley felt it. The contact. The telepathic touch of her last living child.

  She shuddered, then unstrapped and bolted from the chair.

  Behind her, she heard Vriess and Johner both shout her name as Vriess grabbed the abandoned controls and fought the lurching ship.

  There was a part of Ripley that realized they were hurtling toward earth in a ship that was almost completely out of control, but she shut that part away. That wasn’t important to her now.

  * * *

  Theoretically, it wasn’t possible, but at this specific moment Call’s brain simply could not process. She stood in the shadow of the mutant Alien, having just watched it devour Distephano’s brain, and couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t do a single thing to save herself.

  The huge beast seemed to grow taller as it loomed over her, but all she could do was stare at its frightening face, at the brain matter speckled on its teeth, and smell the stench of blood on its breath.

  It snatched her up before she could react, before she could move, gripping her shoulders and pulling her up, up, toward its face. The huge mouth opened, the teeth moved closer.

  Can it do that? she wondered dazedly. Can it devour processors and microchips? Maybe not, but the destruction of those units would bring about her end as efficiently as if she had had an organic brain.

  Call closed her eyes, and mumbled one final prayer.

  As if in answer, there was a bang as the cockpit door shut with a slam, the loud retort deafening in the small space of the cargo hold.