Aliens vs Predator Omnibus

by Steve Perry

  * * *

  For a time, there was darkness, interrupted by brief bursts of sensation. Movement, and a hissing sound. Something shiny and slender and hard against his chest. A jungle smell, and wetness seeping through his suit, a clammy gel against his skin.

  It was the wetness that finally woke Briggs up, the cool feel of the syrupy liquid dragging his mind out of the dark. For a brief moment, he had absolutely no idea where he was or how he’d come to be there—too brief, because as his memory came flooding back, the realization of where he’d ended up came with it. Neither one was particularly pleasant.

  Some Company competitor had blown the survey station apart, and he’d apparently been knocked unconscious when he’d fallen from the platform—and then taken, and now he was—well, surely he wouldn’t actually be injured in any way, Nirasawa or Keene would come before anything could happen…

  Briggs shifted uncomfortably, his back against a tree, a thick band of resinlike substance binding his arms to his sides and holding him up. In front of him was an egg. An alien egg.

  Biotech, has to be. Their program isn’t that far behind ours, they could have transported some individual drones to Bunda, waited until one transformed, started a new nest…

  Yes, that was it. Biotech had sabotaged the survey station because—because it was Company, that was all they cared about, just some random selection of a rival’s site for their own experiments. That it happened to be on Bunda, and that the survivors of DS 949 had landed here—coincidence. They’d sent in their new synthetic breed to obtain the 949 data, because they knew the planet had been infected; it made perfect sense now that he thought about it. They wouldn’t want to risk lives when they had such marvelous new toys, invisible soldiers that could be tested against their XT nest…

  Quite a coincidence, I’ll have to get Nirasawa to calculate the odds on that when he—

  Briggs heard a hissing from somewhere behind him and tensed, turning his head as far as he could to look for the source. No good. All he could see was the bark of the tree he’d been secured to, a pasty gray blur. Really, it was too dark to see much of anything. He couldn’t be far from the station, he could smell the searing stench of burning plastics, but there wasn’t any firelight. The only illumination came from the stars, a soft, pale light that gave his surroundings a dreamy, ethereal quality.

  He looked at the egg again, smooth and unbroken, and felt the first sliver of real fear slip into his mind. What if…

  “Ridiculous,” he muttered, shifting uncomfortably. He was Lucas Briggs, upper six figures plus full WY perks, a palatial home in New Japan, only a fraction of a millimeter away from a spot on the Board. A spot that was as good as his, once he filed his report.

  Positive thinking. Like what I’ll do to that pilot, once we’re off Bunda. Like the look on Julia Russ’s face when she hears about my promotion.

  Keene was probably still guarding the trio of prisoners, so it would be Nirasawa who found him; it was better that way. Keene was good but the synth would be able to handle a few drones with his bare hands. Much more efficient, much faster.

  Briggs stared at the egg for a long moment, then cleared his throat, thinking that perhaps it would help things along if he made his position known.

  “Nirasawa! I’m here!”

  As if waiting for the sound of his voice, the top of the egg opened. Four thick, mucousy petals folded back, something moving in the shadowy center. Something pulsing, glistening in the faint bluish light cast down from above.

  “Nirasawa!”

  More hisses rose up around him, shadows moving out from the trees, but he couldn’t look away from the egg. This was laughable, he was Lucas Briggs, this couldn’t possibly be happening, think positive, think positive—

  “NIRASAWA, KEENE, GET OVER HERE NOW!”

  Like a spider, like some slick and impossible insect, the face-hugger leapt from its cold, unsealed womb. It was so fast that Briggs didn’t have any more time to consider how very unlikely this outcome was, how things like this simply didn’t happen to executives of his rank.

  * * *

  By the time Noguchi saw them, it was too late. The Shell had already touched the tops of the trees, roughly grinding through them, snapping them like twigs. Even strapped in, the ride was rough; she could hear the bodies in the dock being thrown against the walls, the ship alarms clattering and trilling that it was not a cleared landing zone, telling her that the Shell was suffering irreparable damage. As if she didn’t know.

  The ship continued its reckless half crash into the trees, the night broken by the reflected light of the giant, dying fire close by—and Noguchi saw the two humans in the viewscreen as the Shell actually touched the ground, a tremendous, dragging crunch of wood being forced into the soil, of plants and trees being chopped down by the nose of the still-moving ship.

  No!

  Noguchi saw the two figures running, pumping hell-bent to get out of the way—and then the ship plowed upward, the jerking image of the fleeing people gone from the screen. She saw shadowed green, moving, she saw a flash of dark sky, then green again—and then it was over, the Shell coming to rest.

  The second she felt that the ship had settled, she popped the seat harness and grabbed her mask, desperate to get out, to see if she’d done the unthinkable. What a cruel irony it would be, to be responsible for killing people she’d come to save from the Hunters, a Clan ship the instrument of their deaths.

  She doubted that the queen had survived the landing, but she hesitated at the hatch back into the shuttle dock all the same, listening. She’d already half slipped into battle mode, all of her senses tuning up for whatever came next. There was nothing but the clattering, hissing alarm, no sound, no feel of movement. Noguchi moved quickly across the dock, popping the air-lock door on the east side.

  The rush of air seemed cold compared to the Shell’s heated atmosphere, and she welcomed it, breathing deeply as she looked down, assessing her climb. The ship was easily twenty-five meters high, but there were trees pressed against the side, less than a four-meter drop to the closest branch; Noguchi donned her mask and quickly lowered herself over the lock’s edge, able to slide part of the way down the Shell’s curving slope.

  From the trees to the ground it was an easy climb, mostly dropping from branch to branch, steadying herself with one hand against the hull. Her ankle was still sore, from her fight with Shorty, but the rest of her injuries seemed to have melted away. As soon as her feet touched, she took off her mask, hurrying around to the front of the ship.

  Please, let them be here, let them be unhurt—

  Noguchi stepped away from the ship, searching—and there they were, standing in a small semi-clearing right in front of the Shell. A man and a woman, both disheveled and dirty, both staring at her as if she were an alien; the thought made her smile, just a little. The woman, who held a handgun, lowered it slightly. They glanced at each, other uncertainly, then back at her.

  A sudden crunch of nerves hit her, seeing two human faces, human expressions for the first time in—

  —three years, it’s been three years. What must I look like, what are they thinking? What am I going to say?

  Noguchi forced herself to relax. She’d tell them the truth, that was all.

  The woman was slender, long, reddish hair framing an intelligent and wary face. The man was dark-skinned, of African descent perhaps, and had been hurt recently; bruises covered his face and one of his eyes was badly swollen. Only the woman was armed, though the male held himself carefully, obviously prepared to fight if she were an attacker.

  Noguchi swallowed dryly, stepping closer to the couple. “Sorry,” she said, still smiling just a little, her heart pounding as if she faced an army of drones. “I’ve never had much luck with landings. My name is Machiko Noguchi, and I’m here to help.”

  22

  Of all the weird shit Jess had seen and experienced in the last couple of weeks, this had to be, hands down, the absolute mother of ’em a
ll. The crash landing of a giant alien ship that had very nearly run them down, followed by the appearance of a small, deadly-looking Japanese woman, maybe early 30s TS, with beaded hair and a scar shaped like a lightning bolt between her eyes. Wearing alien armor that looked a hell of a lot like the armor on that cloaked creature…

  …and the hair, and that mask she’s holding…

  “You’re human,” he said finally, a stupid statement but all he could think of; he wanted reassurance.

  The woman, Noguchi, nodded almost shyly. “Yeah. Um, thanks. I—you’ll have to excuse me; I haven’t—you don’t know how good it is to speak to people again.”

  They stood for a moment not speaking at all, just staring at one another, the crackling light of the ebbing station fire making it all seem even stranger, jagged shadows dancing across the peculiar scene. Jess knew that they had to find Ellis, that they needed weapons and supplies, that they had to get off of Bunda—but all he could do was stare at this woman, wondering when he was going to wake up.

  And just when I thought things couldn’t get any more fantastic. Christ, what a freak show.

  Lara finally broke their odd silence, taking a step toward Noguchi. “You said you were here to help, Ms. Noguchi—do you mind telling us exactly what’s going on?”

  Her smile gone, Noguchi looked down at the mask in her hands before answering, her stilted voice gaining strength as she spoke. “It’s kind of a long story. I heard that people on this planet—on Bunda—were in trouble, and I knew that I had to choose which side I was going to be on, the Hunters’ or yours.”

  Jess frowned, making the connection between the woman’s clothes and hair and the thing that had jumped him near the shuttle; apparently, there was more than one. “The Hunters? The invisible, uh, people who attacked the survey station? You’re with them?”

  “I’ve been with them for over a year,” Noguchi said. “And they’re not human. I thought—I learned the hard way that it was a mistake to think a human being could adapt to their culture. Their Clan.”

  She grinned, the look of it sending a chill down Jess’s spine. He’d had a hard life, and didn’t know that he’d ever seen anything as dangerous as that smile. “Now they’re learning just how big a mistake it was.”

  Jesus, who is this woman?

  Noguchi shook her head, as if clearing it. “Look, I made quite an entrance, so it won’t be long before we have company. Are there any other survivors? We’ve got to round them up and get to cover.”

  Lara glanced over at him, and he shrugged, grimacing at the dozens of aches the action inspired. If there were any people left, the chances of finding them didn’t seem so hot.

  “You aren’t the only ones, are you?” Noguchi asked.

  “There are three of us, actually,” Lara said. “There may be others, but… I guess we have a long story of our own.”

  Noguchi nodded, scanning the trees behind them with the practiced ease of someone used to battle while Lara spoke. “And I’m interested in hearing it, but we’re going to need more weapons,” she said. “Stay here.”

  Without waiting for a response, she turned and walked quickly back around the mammoth nose of the alien ship, disappearing through the dancing, smoking shadows that twined through the broken trees.

  “‘Hunters?’” Lara said quietly. “What are they hunting?”

  Jess shook his head. “Us. I don’t know. Maybe she can help us find Ellis, at least…”

  He trailed off, wondering if Lara had considered the possibility that the kid wasn’t lying in the dirt somewhere, knocked out. The way he’d acted just before the platform crashed, guilt-ridden and near hysteria—maybe he’d run off, his fragile emotional state finally hitting overload.

  Or could be he got killed by one of these alien friends of Ms. Noguchi’s… The sudden appearance of the woman didn’t seem real, even though the proof was right in front of them, twenty-plus meters high. Jess tried to think of something to say to Lara about the newest addition to their little party, feeling like they should have some exchange before she returned.

  What’s to say? She’s here, and we’re not in a position to turn away help, no matter how strange the helper.

  “You think she’s okay? Trustworthy?” Jess asked finally.

  Lara hesitated for a second, then nodded. “Yeah. My gut says yeah.”

  Jess nodded, glad they agreed on her basic intentions if nothing else. Noguchi might be certifiable, but she obviously meant well.

  Before they could talk any more, the woman reappeared, striding through the long grasses of the partial clearing. She held two riflelike weapons in addition to the one strapped to her back. They looked something like old-style machine guns with oversize grips.

  “These are, uh, burners,” she said, handing Jess one of the heavy weapons, the other to Lara. She unshouldered her own, holding it up for them to see the long, flat button on the front grip.

  “Trigger. There’s no safety, so be careful. No kick, either, but they ride high. They’re kind of—they shoot a semiliquid pulse of… explosive particles, I guess. I’ve—I’m not much of a scientist, you’ll have to forgive my lack of knowledge here…”

  Jess held the ungainly “burner,” remembering how big the creature that had attacked him had been; Noguchi handled hers easily, obviously comfortable with the overlong barrel and thick grips. Jess was suddenly extremely glad that she’d decided to show up; she was something else…

  Noguchi cleared her throat, looking between the two of them, smiling nervously again. “I’m sorry, I haven’t even asked your names.”

  Amazing. She crashes a ship, shows up talking about traveling with a pack of aliens, and still blushes when she talks.

  Lara gripped the burner tightly, speaking calmly to the anxious woman. “I’m Katherine Lara, this is Martin Jess. The third member of our group is Brian Ellis; when the platform crashed, we lost track of him. As for any others… a private shuttle and I think a couple of transports got away before the station went down, so maybe they’re already safe.”

  Jess nodded, realizing that Noguchi would need some background for their little saga to make sense. He picked the story up, trying to keep it short. “There are these creatures—aliens—that have been discovered all over the colonies. They’re extremely dangerous, they can adapt to any environment, and they breed like nothing you’ve ever seen. Lara, Ellis, and I were part of an extermination team that was sent to a space station a little over a week ago, to wipe out a nest of them. What we didn’t know was that the station had been deliberately infested…”

  Jess hesitated, feeling the same old rage rising up. “…by the company we work for. They wanted to see how long it would take the aliens to kill four hundred people. Families.”

  He suddenly wished desperately that Briggs was still on Bunda, the rush of anger blocking out all other concerns. Lara touched his shoulder gently, taking over. “We lost two members of our ground team, and ended up here. They sent a suit—an executive—to see if we had the information about the nest spread, but we don’t, it got blown up along with the station and about a thousand aliens. Bugs, we call them—”

  Noguchi had listened to them without expression, but now she nodded, apparently unsurprised by their story—and what she said next was a shock that reminded Jess of his earlier idiotic assumption, that meeting this woman was the strangest thing that had happened, that could happen.

  “I call them that, too. We have more in common than you know. To the Clan, they are kainde amedha, the Hard Meat. They are what the Hunters usually Hunt—and this world has been seeded with them.”

  * * *

  Lara and Jess wore twin expressions of astonishment. Noguchi found herself marveling at the look of them both, at the intricate, telling lines and planes of their faces. If yautja faces were capable of subtlety, she’d never seen it.

  Finish talking, there can’t be much time left.

  “There was even a bug mother on our ship,” she said, nodding towar
d the grounded Shell. “Probably dead now. The Hunters seed entire planets with eggs and Hunt drones for sport. It’s—their entire culture is built around the Hunt, it’s very much like a religion for them.”

  Noguchi sighed, shaking her head. “I thought they had rules against Hunting intelligent life. Against Hunting humans. It seems I was wrong.”

  Lara stared at her. “You mean they hunt bugs for fun?”

  Noguchi nodded. “Apparently they started their Hunt in another part of Bunda, but it’s still early. They’ll be heading this way very soon. You haven’t seen any bugs yet?”

  They both shook their heads, and she was glad to note that both immediately started watching the dark walls of jungle, alert to new danger. That they had been part of an extermination crew was good, they wouldn’t be entirely helpless against the drones, at least…

  “What about your friend, Ellis?” Noguchi asked. “You say you lost him?”

  Lara nodded, but Jess shifted uncomfortably, his bruised face set unhappily.

  “He may have lost us,” he said softly. Noguchi noticed that Lara didn’t seem surprised by the differing opinion, even though it was obvious they hadn’t discussed it.

  “Another long story, but let’s just say that he was injured on that space station, got kinda fucked up,” Jess went on. “I think maybe he took off after the platform went down. He thought it was his fault.”

  Noguchi wasn’t sure what to make of that. She hoped that they found him before any of the Hunters did—

  —except that it was already too late. The tiniest whiff of yautja musk was in the burnt air, she caught it even as she heard the soft snap of a branch underfoot, some twenty meters away, a slight rustling of leaves not far from it.

  Novices, and they won’t be alone.

  “Get behind me, now,” she said, putting the mask on, wondering how many had come. It was a Blooding Hunt, only a few should have burners—except it had been a human Hunt, too, no way to know how heavily they’d armed themselves, she hadn’t checked the weapon stock…