A C Crispin

by Alien Resurrection

  Lifeboat one has been destroyed," Father said, its voice sounding incongruously calm. "Lifeboat two has been disabled by unknown forces. There is a shipwide emergency. All personnel are to evacuate immediately. Repeat. All personnel are to evacuate immediately."

  "No!" Wren shouted, outraged. They could hear and feel the destruction of the first lifeboat even here in the mess. They could hear shots being fired, things blowing up, people—and other creatures—screaming.

  And it kept getting worse! How was this possible? The more Father told him about the nightmare taking place aboard the station, the more Wren's rage bloomed.

  He spun on Call, the woman who'd started it all.

  "What have you done?"

  "Me?" she shot back.

  "All right," Elgyn said, sounding amazingly collected. "Enough of this. Time to bail out. We make for the Betty. "

  The other woman, Hillard, looked at him worriedly. "The Betty's all the way across the ship! Who knows what's in between?"

  Distephano, the soldier, stepped forward to address Wren. He, too, was surprisingly calm. "Sir, we have to go—"

  Go? Wren thought, incredulous. All my work is here! I'm not going anywhere!

  But before he could say anything, Distephano said to Elgyn, "Let him go. No quarrel."

  Was he bargaining with these terrorist? I'll have his commission!

  Elgyn shook his head firmly. "You can have him when we're off. Not before."

  The huge black man shoved Wren forward, nearly making him fall. He realized the Betty crew still had their guns trained on himself and the soldier. This was ridiculous! Outrageous! He had to get to the lab....

  Elgyn leaned over a dead soldier's body and took the man's weapon.

  Hillard said worriedly, "What about Vriess?"

  The ugly man they called Johner growled, "Fuck Vriess!"

  Then, suddenly, Wren understood what was happening to him. He understood these were not people who could ever care about him, his work, or what it represented. How could they, when they couldn't even care about one of their own? And he understood that his life was in their hands.

  He glanced at Distephano, realizing that the soldier was his only potential ally, and determined to cooperate until he regained control of the situation. Perhaps, at the right moment—

  The others moved them out of the mess and into the corridor to begin their journey.

  John Vriess had just finished packing all the spare parts he wanted into the various cubbyholes and stashes that were part of his chair when things started to go wonky.

  He heard strange sounds, like muffled explosions. Screams followed. Then the computer urged evacuation, while Vriess tried to figure out what the fuck was going on. Quietly, cautiously, he started out for the Betty. He didn't think Elgyn would leave without him, but he knew Johner wouldn't be willing to wait. Even if he did have all the spare parts.

  He rolled steadily down the eerily empty corridor, keeping his eyes open. What the hell could've happened aboard this massive vessel that could cause so much damage so quickly that the computer would tell them to evacuate? Core breech?

  He was halfway toward the end of the corridor when he heard something. Something above him. Vriess looked up toward the ceiling grid. Through the grates overhead, he thought he saw something moving up there, a bowing of the grid, as if from weight. And he could hear slithering. Rats? Aboard a barge like this, a military ship? Impossible. Of course, he'd had to slap at a stray mosquito in the storage hold, which kind of surprised him, but...

  He heard it again. Whatever it was, it was moving. Toward him. Vriess had the feeling that whatever it was, was big. It moved closer, scuttling quickly. Just about overhead....

  Vriess reached down over the side of his chair, moving slowly but smoothly, with no wasted effort. Under the armrest he pulled off what seemed to be a decorative pipe, but was actually part of a weapon. He reached over the other side and found its mate. Behind him was the trigger mechanism. All of it cleverly camouflaged into the design of the chair. In three quick moves he had the gun assembled and armed. Still moving with slow, easy motions, he aimed the gun at the ceiling....

  And fired!

  The blast sounded enormous in the closed place.

  Something in the ceiling screamed, an incredibly high-pitched, inhuman sound. Vriess could hear it scrambling away from him, letting him know he'd only winged it. Whatever it was. Vriess's eyes tried to track the progress of the creature as it scuttled over the ceiling.

  His attention drawn, he didn't see the drop of Alien blood suspended from the ceiling right over his leg. The drop hit at almost the exact same spot as Johner's knife had just yesterday. Then a second struck. And a third.

  Vriess didn't become aware of it until he smelled his smoking flesh and clothing, and glanced down to see parts of his leg melting away. Confused, horrified, he slapped at his leg. Some of the stuff eating away at his leg got on his fingers and started burning like hell. He swung his hand, then nearly put it in his mouth before realizing what would happen. The whole while he struggled with the pain, he had to force himself to remain quiet. He didn't want the sound of his pain to attract whatever was hanging out in the ceiling!

  Suddenly, a searing drop of burning acid hit his ear, and the pain was so excruciating he had to bite his lip to keep from screaming.

  Then, it was back, he could hear it—or could it be a different one? This one was more aggressive, not just scrabbling around the ceiling, but trying to get through it. Suddenly, it broke a comer of the tiling free and shoved its head through. And it was all head, a huge, elongated, nightmare head with no eyes, no ears, no hair, just skull and—

  TEETH!

  Gigantic, steel fangs, millions of them in a huge maw hissing right at him! Then its mouth opened wide, and something came out and—and—

  THERE WERE MORE TEETH!

  Vriess cracked finally and screamed hysterically. His finger squeezed the trigger. He fired, and fired, and fired.

  The thing with teeth screamed back at him and exploded into a million fragments, all of them raining down on the berserk Vriess.

  The door to her cell buckled as the creatures battered and bashed at it. It could not hold much longer.

  Ripley looked around the cell, trying to find something, anything, that might help her. She glanced above, realizing that she had not seen the guard for a long time. Dimly, she could hear the computer voice urging evacuation. It seemed a good idea, but how—?

  She remembered something—

  Try to break the glass! Hurry!

  There was no glass to break.

  They cut the power. How could they cut the power? They're animals!

  Her eyes searched the cell, found the cables encased in metal, followed them to a metal housing sealed into the wall.

  Cut the power!

  She punched the housing with her fist as hard as she could, bashing at it the same way the Aliens were bashing in her door, trying to get to her. She hit it again, again, again. It bent, buckled, started to twist. She worked harder, hit harder, all the while feverishly glancing at her failing door.

  Finally, she could get her fingertips under a small tear in the metal. She pulled at it, twisting, tugging, until the metal yielded and she yanked it away from the electrical circuits inside.

  They were almost through—

  Jabbing the side of her hand against the sharp edges of the torn metal, she cut herself badly. Holding her injured hand, she forced more blood out, dripping it on the circuits and cables she'd revealed. Almost instantly, they started to melt. There was a sudden burst of sparks, making her jump back. The cell was plunged into darkness as the lights went out, but Ripley could still see.

  Then there was a whoosh and an emergency exit opened in the wall of her cell. With a final glance back at the damaged door, Ripley left the cell.

  Christie was on point, and Elgyn was bringing up the rear. Like old times, the Betty's captain thought, but the memories were not fond ones. They we
re in a single line, with the soldier and the doctor somewhere in the middle, and they were making pretty good time down the corridors of the Auriga. The desolation of the big vessel rattled Elgyn. Where the hell were all the soldiers, all the officers, all the researchers? This place was like a goddamned hive, so where were all the bees?

  The computer voice urging evacuation was a constant distraction, and if he'd known where they were, Elgyn would've shot every speaker to bits. And that made him think, again, that they'd made an error in the mess hall by not taking more weapons and ammo off the dead soldiers. You can never be too armed or have too many bullets, right?

  The crew ahead of him jogged on, passing another semidarkened adjoining hallway. As Frank drew up to it, something caught his eye. He looked again.

  A military weapon, some heavy-duty baby, just laying there on the floor. What the hell—?

  What could have made a soldier just abandon his piece like that? Elgyn really didn't care, this was his chance to correct the mistake from the mess hall.

  Finder's keepers.

  Glancing cautiously around, he snatched the weapon up, only to discover yet another one, lying three yards farther up the hall. This was too weird. Shouldering the first weapon, he approached cautiously, and picked it up as well.

  This one was nearly glued to the floor with some horrible gummy stuff. As Elgyn lifted the rifle, gelatinous filaments trailed off it like snail slime. Gross.

  But it shouldn't affect its performance. What the hell happened to the lights down here?

  Behind him he could hear Hillard's voice.

  "Elgyn?"

  "I'm coming!" he shouted back, and started to turn—

  When he spied a third gun on the floor a couple meters ahead of him, just beyond a hole in the floor, where it looked like the decking was simply melted away. Could a grenade do that? Stepping cautiously near the hole, he reached for the third gun.

  Something, some sixth sense made him freeze. He had a sudden memory of a boyhood day with his grandfather, when they'd laid a box trap for some squirrels by making a path of peanut butter on crackers that led into the box.

  "Elgyn!" Hillard called again.

  Leave it. You got two. Let it go, and get the hell out—

  Two huge, dark hands shot through the solid floor with inhuman speed, wrapping themselves around his ankles, and giving a sudden, sharp yank. The deck plating collapsed around him as Elgyn was pulled down. Flinging his arms wide to stop his fall, his palms slapped the deck as his arms suddenly blocked his descent. He clawed at the decking for purchase, trying to pull himself out of the hole, but those hands were still gripping his legs. His scavenged rifles clattered away from him, too far to reach, one of them falling right into the hole in the floor that was a half meter in front of him.

  Elgyn started kicking wildly, trying to rid himself of the taloned hands still gripping him, clawing him, dragging him down. He could feel them on his calves, on his knees, on his thighs, and whatever it was that had grabbed him started climbing up his body. He yelled, kicking, pushing against the floor, fighting to get free, fighting for his life.

  His entire lower body was embraced, as massive, unbelievably powerful arms gripped him around the waist, holding him securely.

  What is it? What the hell is it?

  Something incredibly powerful and razor sharp like a huge spear punctured Elgyn's chest with breath-stealing suddenness. The pirate captain felt every centimeter of its passage as it punched its way through ribs, lungs, heart, until it passed through his back, leaving a gaping hole. Unable to breathe, his heart crushed, Elgyn felt consciousness slipping away, as he continued to struggle in the grip of his murderer.

  What is it? What the hell is it that's killing me? And why?

  Elgyn's last conscious sight was of something huge and black and hideous coming up from the hole in the floor, gripping his red heart in silver teeth.

  9

  Christie was halfway down the hall when he finally realized the others weren't with him. He ran back to find them all gathered at the mouth of the last corridor they'd passed. "What the hell's goin' on? We gotta make time!"

  No one answered him. They all just stared at the darkened hallway.

  Hillard was yelling, "Elgyn! Elgyn!"

  Christie pushed his way up front, just in time to see the shadowy figure of his captain being yanked through the floor. "Holy shit!"

  He dashed down the hallway, aware of the others running beside him.

  The only part of Elgyn that was visible was from the shoulders up. His features were set in a mask of pain and horror.

  "Get him out!" Hillard was shouting. "Get him out, dammit!"

  Johner and Distephano moved quickly to comply, grabbing Elgyn by the arms, hauling him up out of the floor. Christie stared, transfixed by a huge gaping hole that ran right through the center of Elgyn's chest. He was dead. Elgyn was dead? Christie could see clear through the hole and out the other side. Elgyn was dead.

  Everyone stared, horrified. Even Wren had paled, his skin suddenly clammy with sweat. Hillard didn't move, but simply regarded her dead lover lying limp in their arms.

  A loud crashing sound made them all turn to stare back up the hall. The floor between them and the main corridor exploded upward in a shower of decking and debris, and suddenly the mouth of the hallway was blocked by a vision from hell. Some kind of towering, massive monster. Christie dimly remembered Call talking about Wren's science project, about breeding creatures, about...

  "If they get loose, it'll make the Lacerta Worm Plague look like a fucking square dance. "

  Oh, yeah, Christie thought, you got that right, babe!

  The creature opened its jaws, revealing an incredible row of gleaming, stainless steel teeth, then it stuck out its tongue and hissed—

  The entire group panicked, dropping the body of their dead captain unceremoniously across the gaping hole in the floor and running hell-for-leather in the opposite direction of that—that—thing!

  They rounded a corner and found themselves facing a dead end.

  It planned this! Christie thought frantically. That thing found a way to lure Elgyn, then used Elgyn to trap us. Now it's got us all. Shit! He took a deep breath. He had to think, had to think—If they weren't half as smart as that thing, they were dead for sure. Christie pressed himself against a wall and started inching his way to the comer. He needed to know where the hell it was now.

  Grabbing hold of Johner's shirtsleeve, Christie towed him into position beside him. Johner had gone gray, especially around his jagged scar. But at least he was sober. Of that, Christie was sure. Johner was shaking. He'd never seen Johner tremble from fear before. He never even thought he was capable.

  "You okay?" Christie hissed at him.

  Johner blinked, took a breath. "Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you."

  That's what I needed to hear, the big man thought.

  Moving his head quickly around the comer, Christie glanced at the Alien. At the other end of the wall, the creature rocketed up out of the floor and started moving toward the dead Elgyn, who was sprawled across the gaping, melted hole. Christie blinked the sweat out of his eyes.

  "Is it coming?" Johner hissed at him. "Is it?"

  "Dunno. Might be after the body."

  In the comer with the others, Hillard let out a soft moan.

  Johner was together now, Christie could feel it. He leaned around Christie, taking a look for himself.

  "Is he coming?" Christie asked.

  "Yep!" Johner said almost matter-of-factly.

  Hillard exhaled in a rush. "Oh, great!"

  "That's what I say!" Johner said, pulling his gun up. "Let's get it over with."

  Christie looked at the scarred man, and the two of them grinned at each other. Then Christie sobered himself, realizing they were a hair away from hysteria.

  Christie leaned around the corner to take another look. It was coming for them all right. Eight or ten feet tall, yet as graceful as a spider, it stepped over Elgyn
's body and kept on coming.

  Until Elgyn's body moved.

  Christie stared, disbelieving, but he could clearly see Elgyn's sprawled body through the monster's spindly legs. He motioned Johner to take a look. Cautiously, Hillard joined them.

  Elgyn is dead! How the hell—?

  The impossible movement must've confused the creature as well, because it turned back, leaned over the corpse. It almost seemed to be sniffing at it. The corpse moved again, heaving slightly. Christie was all too aware of the various, strange things a body could do after death, but this sure wasn't on the list.

  Now the monster was sniffing the huge hole in Elgyn's chest. The body rocked slightly as it did, then suddenly, the barrel of a rifle eased out of the hole! Christie blinked, then looked at Johner who was staring just as wide-eyed as he was.

  The Alien didn't know what to make of it either. It sniffed the muzzle, then pulled back its lips in a snarl. The barrel suddenly tapped the monster brazenly on its massive head.

  Then it fired.

  The blast blew its head all to hell and back, and the Betty crew dodged back around the corner to avoid being spattered. Christie was the first one back to look. The monster had crumpled to the floor and everything its blood had touched was now melting. Christie edged warily around the comer, his gun ready. Johner was right beside him. Then the others came to see.

  The rifle barrel jutting from Elgyn's body disappeared back through the hole, then the body itself heaved upward and fell over on its side.

  Two slender hands appeared on the lip of the hole and deposited the rifle there, then the gunner levered up out of the floor. Christie was shocked to see that the shooter was the woman who'd beaten the shit out of them earlier—the woman they'd called "Ripley." She hauled herself up in one smooth move, brushed herself off in a casual way, and shouldered the strap of her gun as if she'd always worn one.

  Christie glanced at Johner. He didn't look like he was the least bit interested in putting the make on her now.

  No one moved for a long moment until the woman suddenly knelt over Elgyn's body, and started searching him.