failed.
Junior turned a corner and skidded to a halt. As he did so the alien whirled.
‘Run, run!’ The grieving prisoner charged past the monster, which gave chase without hesitation.
They all converged near the entrance to the toxic storage facility; Ripley and Dillon, Aaron and Morse, the other surviving prisoners. As the alien turned to confront them they emulated Aaron’s example, lighting mops and heaving the makeshift missiles at the beast. Junior took the opportunity to move up close behind it.
‘Here! Take a shot, fucker!’
Where quarry was concerned the alien once again demonstrated its inclination to choose proximity over proliferation. Whirling, it pounced on Junior. The two tumbled backward. . into the storage chamber.
Struggling to ward of the intense heat, Dillon continued to extinguish flaming companions. When the last man was merely smouldering, he turned and tried to penetrate the flames to reach the back wall.
Ripley reached the control box and fumbled for the red button as Aaron jammed still another flaming mop into the entrance. A moment later Dillon managed to activate the sprinkler system.
Junior uttered a last, faint, hopeless cry as the heavy door slammed shut in front of him, sealing off the storage chamber.
At the same time the showers opened up. Exhausted, terrified men, all with varying degrees of smoke or burn damage, hovered motionless in the corridor as the water poured down.
A noise from behind the door then, a distant skittering sound. Things that were not hands exploring, not- fingers scraping at their surroundings. The trapped alien was hunting, searching, for a way out. Gradually the noise ceased.
A couple of the survivors looked at one another as if about to burst into cheers. Ripley anticipated them curtly.
‘It’s not over.’
One of the men retorted angrily, ‘Bullshit. It’s inside, the door worked. We’ve got it.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Aaron challenged her. ‘We got the bastard trapped, just like you planned it.’
Ripley didn’t even look at him. She didn’t have to explain herself because the silence was suddenly rocked by an ear-splitting concussion. A few of the men winced and a couple turned to run.
The rest gaped in amazement at the door, in which a huge convex dent had suddenly appeared. The echo of contact continued to cannonade along the multiple corridors. Before it had faded entirely a second thunderous boom reverberated through the antechamber and a second bulge appeared in the door.
‘Son of a bitch,’ Aaron muttered aloud, ‘that’s a ceramocarbide door.’
Dillon wasn’t listening to him. A survivor of another kind, he was watching Ripley. She hadn’t moved, so neither did he. If she started running he’d follow close on her heels, without any intention of stopping.
But she continued to hold her ground as a third dent manifested itself. His ears rang. This is a lady I wish I’d knownbefore, he mused silently. A lady who could change a man, alter thecourse and direction of his life. She could have changed mine. But thatwas before. Too late now. Been too late for a long time.
No more concussive vibrations rattled his eardrums. No fourth bulge appeared in the barrier. Dead silence ruled the corridor. Gradually everyone’s attention shifted from that no longer perfect but still intact doorway back to the single woman in their midst.
When she slowly sat down and closed her eyes, back against one wall, the unified sigh of relief that filled the room was like the last failing breeze that marks the passing of a recent storm.
XI
The survivors gathered in the assembly hall, reduced in number but expanded in spirit. Dillon stood before them, waiting to make sure all were present. Only then did he begin.
‘Rejoice, brothers! Even for those who have fallen this is a time of rejoicing. Even as we mourn their passing we salute their courage. Because of their sacrifice, we live, and who is to say which of us, the living or the dead, has the better deal’
‘Of one thing we are certain: they have their reward. They are in a far better place because there can be no worse one.
They will live forever. Rejoice. Those who are dead but go on, freed of their restraints, free from the excoriations of a thoughtless society. It abandoned them, and now they have abandoned it. They have moved up. They have moved higher.
Rejoice and give thanks!’
The men bowed their heads and began to murmur softly to themselves.
Ripley and Aaron watched from the gallery above.
Eventually the assistant superintendent glanced over at his companion. Both had spent time in the showers. They were far from refreshed, but at least they were clean. Ripley had delighted in the hot, pounding spray, knowing that this time she could enjoy it without having to keep a wary eye on the sealtight or the vents.
‘What do you think of this?’ He indicated the ragged, makeshift assemblage below.
She’d been listening with only half a mind, the rest of her thoughts elsewhere. ‘Not much. I guess if they take pleasure in it. .’
‘You got it right there. Fuckers are crazy. But it keeps ‘em quiet. The super and I were in agreement on that. Andrews always said it was a good thing Dillon and his meatballs were hung up on this holy roller crap. Makes ‘em more docile.’
She glanced back at him. ‘You’re not the religious type.’
‘Me? Shit, no. I got a job.’ He looked thoughtful. ‘I figure rescue team gets here in four, five days. Six, tops. They open the door, go in there with smart guns, and kill the bastard. Right?’
‘Have you heard anything from them?’ Her tone was noncommittal.
‘Naw.’ He was feeling pretty good about the situation. And about himself. Out of this mess there was sure to come some good things.
‘We only got a “message received.” No details. Later we got something that said you were top priority. Again, no explanation. They don’t cut us in on much. We’re the ass-end of the totem pole out here.’
‘Look,’ she began guardedly, ‘if the Company wants to take the thing back—’
‘Take it back? Are you kiddin’? They aren’t lunatics, you know. They’ll kill it right away.’ He frowned at her, then shrugged mentally. Sometimes he thought he understood this unusual woman perfectly, and then she’d throw him a complete curve.
Well, it wasn’t his business to understand her; only to keep her alive. That was what Weyland-Yutani wanted. With Andrews gone and the alien safely contained, he was beginning to see some possibilities in the situation. Not only was he now the one in charge, it would be up to him to greet and explain things to the Company representative. He could render himself, as well as recent events, memorable in the eyes of his superiors. There might be a bonus in it for him or, even better, early retirement from Fiorina. It was not too much to hope for.
Besides, after years of toadying to Andrews and after what he’d been through the past couple of days, he’d earned whatever came his way.
‘Hey, you’re really concerned about this, aren’t you? Why?
What’s there to be worried about? The damn thing’s locked up where it can’t get at us.’
‘It’s not the alien. It’s the Company. I’ve gone around with them on this twice before.’ She turned to him. ‘They’ve coveted one of these things ever since my original crewmates discovered them. For bioweapons research. They don’t understand what they’re dealing with, and I don’t care how much data they’ve accumulated on it. I’m concerned that they might want to try and take this one back.’
He gaped at her, and she found his honest disbelief reassuring. For the moment, at least, she was not without allies.
‘Take it back? You mean alive? To Earth?’
She nodded.
‘You’ve got to be kidding.’
