Aliens vs Predator 2 - Hunter's Planet

by David Bischoff

  "I think I know what you mean. But there's more to you than just money, isn't there, Sanchez?"

  He looked at her. "Is there?"

  "You fight bugs for a while, you get a sense of nobility, don't you? Like you're doing something important. I bet you haven't been doing anything really important for a while."

  "Combating an intergalactic blight. Yeah, I guess it makes you feel like something more than a pile of shit."

  For the first time something tremulous and deep crept into his intonation, something beyond sardonic monotone.

  She thought about this for a moment.

  "We may have more in common than our brilliant and wonderful personalities," Machiko said finally. "Maybe I should buy you a beer tonight and we can talk about it."

  He looked at her.

  "Sure. Can't hurt."

  "A nice beer generally helps." She looked up and saw that they were approaching Evanstonville. "And something tells me after today we're both going to need one . . . even though I generally don't drink the stuff."

  "Ms. Piezki. How are you feeling?"

  "Better."

  "Ms. Piezki, I can't tell you how sorry we are about what happened," said Livermore Evanston in his most charming and millifluous tones. "Nonetheless, you were aware of the danger involved. It was in your contract with us. And you are an employee."

  Piezki eyed them, daggers gleaming in her eyes. She said nothing, but the threat was there: I'm going to nail you if I can.

  Lawyers, thought Machiko Noguchi.

  What a lovely, lovely bunch.

  Take Brookings, for example. The bastard was sulking in a corner, clearly not wanting to be there, but waiting for the debriefing.

  Chet Zorski was there, looking awake and aware and concerned, leaning on her chair and studying the patient, clearly taking mental notes.

  And, of course, there was old Evanston himself, solid but hovering. He'd come immediately to this treatment room when he'd heard there'd been another adviser located.

  "May I suggest you settle that matter later?" said Machiko. "What we need now is information. Ms. Piezki, we've pretty much heard your colleague's story about what happened on that safari. Would you care to give your version?"

  Piezki coughed.

  "Are you all right?" asked the medtech who'd cleaned the woman's cuts and applied the bandages.

  "Yeah. Little pain in the chest. Catch in the throat. Glass of water." The medtech got her one, and Piezki drank it all down. "Yeah. Better. Thanks."

  She told her story.

  It was almost exactly the same story that Brookings had told, save for one significant strand of facts.

  The hunt. The hunters. The quarry. The invisible hunters. Massacre. The run . . . loss of memory . . .

  The change of detail was that Brookings's valor had not quite been as much in evidence as he'd claimed.

  "What happened when you tripped?"

  "Can't remember," she said, shaking her head. "Something dark. I remember screaming and hearing my own muffled screams . . . and that was it." She put her hand to her chest. "Nurse, do you have something that will settle my stomach? I seem to have developed a really terrible case of heartburn."

  The woman looked uncomfortable, but nothing that made Machiko immediately alarmed.

  Something bothered her, though.

  "And you were in the same location for about a day and a half-most of it unconscious."

  "I remember bashing about in the brush, but that was it. I'm just glad I'm"-she accepted a glass of fizzing stuff with a thank-you-"alive." Drank.

  "They let her live," said Evanston. "How curious."

  "Perhaps they didn't know about her," suggested Zorski. "If she was out in the bushes, they just must have moved on."

  A possibility. If she'd run far enough away, they wouldn't have detected her heat-image, thought Machiko.

  Then again, there were bugs in the area . . . and that was what bothered her.

  "Brookings. Did you see anything attack this woman?" she demanded suddenly.

  Brookings shook his head. "No. Like I said, I thought that she'd been killed. Truly."

  Muffled screams? Something over her head? Why hadn't she thought about this before?

  "Brookings, this is very important. Is that the absolute truth? Because if it's not, this woman could be in danger from-"

  "Absolute truth," said Brookings, looking as though butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.

  Suddenly a surprised look came over Piezki's face.

  Her face twisted.

  "Ms. Piezki," said the tech. "Are you all right?

  Piezki belched.

  She took a breath and smiled .... "Oh. That's much better." Relief was obvious on the woman's face.

  Machiko relaxed.

  Piezki fell off her chair.

  She writhed and screamed, and a sudden bubble bloomed on her chest.

  "Get back!" cried Machiko.

  Too late.

  Before any of them, frozen with surprise, could do a thing, the bubble burst. Like a gory jack-in-the-box, flaps of bone and flesh lifted off, and suddenly a wormlike thing stood up in the middle of Piezki's chest. Blood sprayed around the room like a crazy water sprinkler.

  They were all splattered with it.

  Petra Piezki got one look at the creature she'd given crimson breech birth to, and then her head fell back, holding Death in its eyes.

  The wormthing chittered at them and started sliding out.

  "Stand back!" cried Machiko. She pulled out her gun from its holster and fired at the creature.

  It slapped off to one side and skittered away.

  The two slugs slammed into Piezki's body, kicking up divots of shattered ribs and gouts of flesh and blood.

  Machiko tracked the running, slithering thing. No question. Bug-larvae time.

  If she knew one thing, she knew she had to clip its wings before it flew into ductwork or down the hall to hide in some broom closet. She was grateful she'd had pistol practice.

  Now, though, she'd have to prove she could use it in the clinch.

  The thing was at the door. Closed. It slithered quickly toward shadow.

  Machiko squeezed off three shots.

  The first missed.

  The second bit off a chunk of flesh on the tail.

  The third rammed directly into the head, exploding the ugly, bloody mass into an uglier, bloodier mass. The thing flipped over and commenced spasming, somehow still straining for escape.

  Machiko calmly walked over and put another bullet in it.

  The acid blood smoked as it ate away at the floor.

  "Better get some neutralizing agents in here, Zorski."

  Zorski got on the phone.

  Machiko put her gun back in her holster.

  Too bad Attila couldn't have seen that. He would have been proud of her.

  She turned and walked over to where Abner Brookings stood, bloodied and horrified.

  She tapped his chest. "Hello. Hello. Anyone in there?"

  "No. No, I wasn't infected. Don't cut me open .... I swear."

  She looked at him in disgust. "I was talking about your heart."

  Recovering, Evanston had somehow found a towel and was wiping off the blood. "Nurse. Have that body taken out of here and destroyed immediately."

  "The problem hits a little closer to home, Evanston."

  Evanston nodded. "Yes. That's why I hired you and the others."

  "An excellent choice, all of us."

  "You worked well this morning?" His words were strained.

  "Very well."

  "Good. I'm sure you're going to be busy very soon."

  "Fine. That's what we're here for." She found a towel herself and began to get rid of some of the blood. Funny, it didn't really bother her. After the business on Ryushi, after her time with the pack, after helping those miners, she'd experienced plenty of blood, much of it hers.

  A detail.

  "That tour of the genetic biolab," said Machiko. "I real
ly should have a look. There may be infection-"

  Evanston shook his head. "I can't-I'm in no state now for any kind of silly tour."

  "This evening, then?"

  "No. No, I'm sorry."

  "Well, tomorrow."

  "Tomorrow I want you to go out again and do what I hired you to do, Noguchi." His voice was firm. "I will advise my scientists and workers to look for infiltration into their systems. When things are down to a mild roar here, I'll be happy to show you the place myself."

  "Surely someone else can-"

  "Have you forgotten? I am your employer. I make the rules. Now leave me be. I have"-he shook his head sadly-"to take a shower and start coordinating precautions against these things." He put a chubby hand on her shoulder. "Thanks for the good work here, though. And the quick thinking."

  "Good thing you let me wear a sidearm," she said. "Better if you'd let me see that biolab."

  "No," he said firmly, and began walking away. "That's impossible."

  She looked down at the body of Petra Piezki, eyes wide-open and face frozen in a rictus of terror.

  She could sense it now.

  Something was very wrong here, and it wasn't just the yautja, it wasn't just the kainde amedha.

  * * *

  Chapter 16

  They were having that beer.

  "Too bad about Piezki," said Sanchez.

  "Yeah." She took a long, hard gulp. Grimaced. She didn't particularly like it, but sharing a beer with someone seemed important now. "I should have called it."

  "Me too."

  "We can't get everything right."

  He drank again and there was silence.

  "I guess there have been times with both of us when everything has been wrong, hasn't there?" said Machiko.

  "You know, Noguchi, you're just too damn perceptive for your own good."

  "That beer looks gone. You want another one?"

  "Helps limber the tongue, doesn't it?"

  "Sometimes."

  She went and got two fresh brews. Opened his. Set it before him.

  The beer was good and cold, a dark, yeasty ale. No label. Brewed here.

  They sipped in silence for a moment.

  "You know," the man said after a while, "back where I come from, when a woman takes a fella back to her room, orders the assistant out, pours him a couple beers, and starts talking personal stuff, the man might think she was trying to seduce him."

  "So what do you think, Ned Sanchez?"

  He shrugged. "I'd say you're not the most feminine creature that's crossed my path. But, you know, you're probably one that I could respect in the morning-so to speak."

  She smiled tartly. "Bullshit. I can tell when a man fancies me, Sanchez."

  "Sounds like you can tell when you fancy a man, too."

  "The hard head takes a little cracking-" She looked away. "I'm sorry. It's just been a while since I've felt that way, I guess. Never mind. Sorry to be so forward. Probably turns you off."

  His hand suddenly took hers. Although it was a rough hand, it was warm, and it had a firmness and a purpose to it.

  "No. Not at all. I guess I'm just used to being the pursuer."

  "Want to start over?"

  "No. I'm fine with the way it is." He took another drink.

  He slowly and solidly got up.

  Pulled her to her feet.

  Brought himself up against her.

  She could feel herself melting against him. His arms went around her, and for once her mind could just drift away into nothingness and release. The next thing she knew she was kissing him, and it was warm and right.

  When they came up for breath, he said, "I take it back"

  "Take what back?"

  "The crack about your not being feminine. You're entirely female."

  "I'd hardly get respect bug-killing in a dress."

  "No."

  "We might both be dead tomorrow."

  "But we're not dead now."

  Later, in the afterglow of a particularly satisfactory biological act, coated with an intriguing amount of pheromones and a kind of odd connection she'd never quite felt before, Machiko found herself speechless.

  "You know, I guess I should count my lucky perks," Ned Sanchez said finally.

  She put a finger to his lips. "Shh. Let me savor this.

  "It's been a long time since you've had a man."

  "No. It's been a long time since there's been any feeling involved."

  "Ah. I think I'll need some silence to think about that one."

  He took it.

  She closed her eyes and just lay there a moment. God knew what was ahead of her, but she knew what was here now, and she accepted it gratefully.

  Eventually, he spoke.

  "Maybe I should tell you something, Machiko."

  "Maybe you shouldn't."

  "No, I think it would be a good idea."

  "If you like. I'm not digging anything out of you."

  "No. And that's why I'm telling." He closed his eyes, took a breath. "What I said about quitting the bug-killing business?"

  "Yes."

  "It wasn't really the total truth. You see, I had this buddy. Let's call him Joe. Joe and me . . . well, we killed a lot of bugs."

  She was going to say something smart-ass but realized it wasn't the time or the place. She smelled an intensity, a seriousness about him now. The only appropriate response seemed to be just to listen.

  After a moment to put the story together right, Ned Sanchez said, "You know, I could tell you a long, long story."

  "If you like."

  "No. I'm going to make it short."

  "Joe and me, we went into a hive. We made a couple of mistakes, some big mistakes. Joe didn't come out. I did. Sometimes I think it should have been the other way around."

  "I understand."

  "Do you? Do you really?" He snorted. "Well, maybe you can tell me, but when I heard about another chance to prove myself, I guess I was just fed up with all the guilt that had been building up inside me. So I signed on."

  "It wasn't just for the money, then."

  "No, I guess not."

  She nodded. "I can relate. I felt that in you, Ned. Maybe that's why I was attracted to you."

  "Hmm? What-you've got a story, too?"

  She told him about her father. About the family shame. About how she was trying, in her own small way, to alleviate that shame.

  She told him about Ryushi, her first colony world, and how she had failed it. People had survived, and she was responsible for that; but the colony was gone.

  All in simple, concise terms.

  "What say we promise each other something, okay, Machiko?" he said, cupping her face in his hands.

  "What's that?"

  "Let's live long enough to tell the long version of our stories."

  "That's going to take a long time."

  "Then we're going to have to live a long time, aren't we?"

  He kissed her, and that was the only reply that was necessary.

  "You slept with him, didn't you?" said Attila the Hun.

  She was changing her clothes. Ned had gone to eat dinner with the rest of the men, but she couldn't bring herself to go with him. Superstition or something. Maybe they'd be able to smell the sex or something. Anyway, for some reason she had no appetite.

  "I did," she said.

  Attila plopped down in a chair, folded his arms. "Great. Just great. Now when you dump him, we're going to have a heartbroken soldier on our hands."

  "What did Lao Tzu say about heartbroken soldiers?"

  "Unreliable." He sniffed affectedly.

  "I didn't say I was going to dump him."

  He gave her a surprised look. "Well, did you ask him to help us break into the biolab and have that look you so desperately and foolishly want?"

  "No."

  "No? Why not?"

  Looked at him. "I just didn't."

  "Look, I thought the whole idea of getting to know this guy was that if he liked you, he'd help us
."

  "No. That wasn't the whole idea."

  "Okay, okay," Attila said peevishly. "You had the hots for him."

  "I liked him. I saw something there. And you know what, Til? It is there."

  "Wonderful. I'm happy for you. There's a there, there. But you didn't ask him to help us."

  "Look. It's our suspicion. It's our problem."

  "He's a hireling, too. It's his problem if we find anything we don't want to find. Which makes me wonder now if we should even bother. I mean, clearly you're not that concerned."

  "Look, Til. I'm sorry I've upset you. Are you jealous?"

  "What! Nothing of the sort. I hope you had a very good time. May you both be very happy together. Et cetera, et cetera."

  "I just don't want Ned to get involved at this point .... Okay, okay, I don't want him to get into trouble. We get into trouble, that's different. We're at a higher level. We're more likely to take the heat without a burn. Sanchez, though-they can boot his ass out of here, no money, no nothing."

  "Okay. It's your decision. Maybe it's for the best."

  She nodded. "Thank you." She put her dinner plate to one side. "So, Attila. Your little recon-how did it go? Are we even going to be able to take a stab at this crazy mission?"

  He finally smiled.

  "While you were so amorously whiling away your time, ducks, I simply waltzed into the biolab factory."

  Her mouth dropped. "So then we don't even have to break in! You've done it."

  "Hardly. I certainly wish. No, the truth is that apparently much of the factory is under very loose security. And why not? This is a small settlement. There is no crime here."

  "So how did you get in?"

  "I just walked in, saying I wanted to look around.

  They said fine, sir-there are just certain areas that are off limits. Certainly, I said. I understand completely. I took a little tour."

  "And?"

  "And it seems to be just what Evanston claims it is-a biolab. Cloning factory. Lions and tigers and bears. Exotic alien animals. Simple enough."

  "But."

  "I'm glad you inserted your but there. It's a big but."

  "Hey. I like it."

  He smiled. "But a cute one, as Mr. Sanchez will no doubt attest. No, Machiko, there are large areas simply off limits and I saw most of what was necessary to be a fully functioning biolab."

  "So the question is, what else is there?"