Alien: Out the Shadows

The docking was smooth and textbook perfect. Lachance muttered to himself all the way through, going through procedures, whispering encouraging words to the dropship, and occasionally singing a line or two from songs Hoop mostly didn’t know. The ships kissed with barely a jolt, and Lachance performed a frantic series of button-presses and screen swipes that secured them together.

“We’re docked,” he said, slumping in his chair. “Sneddon?”

Ripley unbuckled and jumped to the door.

“She’s fine.”

“And she’s with us until the end, now,” Kasyanov said. “I’ve been thinking about something I can put together to…” She trailed off, but Hoop nodded at her.

“I was going to ask.”

“So what’s the plan now?” Ripley asked.

Hoop blinked and took a deep breath.

“Now we get the cell to your shuttle,” he said. “Everything else is secondary.”

“What about the other alien?” Kasyanov asked.

“Let’s just hope it’s hiding somewhere.”

“And if it isn’t? Say it attacks us, we have to fight it off, and the cell is damaged.”

“What do you suggest?” Ripley asked.

“Hunt it down,” Kasyanov said. “Make sure it’s dead and gone, and only then transfer the fuel cell.”

“My shuttle is on the next docking arm,” Ripley said. “A hundred yards, if that.”

“So we recce the route now,” Hoop said. “When we know it’s clear, we lock all the doors leading back into the rest of the ship, transfer the cell. Then two of us guard the shuttle while the others gather food and supplies for the journey.”

“Outstanding,” Ripley said. “But what about Sneddon?”

They all looked to the airlock. Sneddon was watching them through the small window, that same sad smile on her face. Hoop opened the inner door and she entered slowly, looking around at them all.

“I felt it move,” she said. “Not too long ago. So I think… maybe I should go first?”

Ripley held out her plasma torch, and Sneddon took it with a nod.

They slid on their suits’ helmets again, all comm links open, and prepared to cross the vacuum of the vented airlock and vestibule.

“I’ll start bleeding the air now,” Lachance said from the pilot’s seat.

Hoop swallowed as his ears popped. The last of the air bled away. The Samson’s outer door opened, and Sneddon walked through back onto the Marion.

He didn’t think he’d ever known anyone so brave.

21

PAIN

PROGRESS REPORT:

To: Weyland-Yutani Corporation, Science Division

(Ref: code 937)

Date (unspecified)

Transmission (pending)

Samson has docked with the Marion. Contact between ship and dropship computers has been cut. This intimates to me that Ripley is still on board.

I have no idea who else is on board or what has happened.

But I persist in hope.

All cctv and communication systems within Marion are patched into central computer. I have eyes and ears everywhere.

As soon as they dock I can assess the situation. Only after that can I decide upon future actions.

I have located the loose alien on the Marion. I have full remote access to blast doors… for now I have trapped the alien in Hold #3. It remains there, still and quiet.

There, if I need it.

* * *

Sneddon stepped out into the vacuum of the docking vestibule and approached the doors leading into the corridor beyond. They would have to lock those doors and seal the hole again before pressurizing the corridor, and only then could they access the rest of the Marion, including Narcissus’s docking arm.

She disappeared through the door. The others waited nervously in the vestibule, Ripley swaying back and forth. Her stomach and shoulder wounds were hurting more and more, but she embraced the pain, using it to fuel her resolve. There would be time for medicine, and sleep, later.

Sneddon soon returned.

“All clear,” she reported. “Doors are still closed and sealed.” Her voice was fuzzy and crackly through the suit’s communicator.

“Okay,” Hoop said. “Change of plan. We’ll bring the fuel cell through before we seal the door up again. Otherwise we’ll be going back and forth by opening and closing the damaged door, and that’s asking for trouble.”

“But if the thing appears and—” Lachance said.