corporal. 'Tell me something, Hicks: Does that mean I can plead insanity for shooting this mierda? If I can, I might as well shoot that sorry excuse for a lieutenant while I'm at it. Don't want to waste a good defence.'
'Nobody's shooting anybody,' the corporal informed her firmly. 'We're getting out of here.'
Ripley met his eyes, nodded once, then turned and sat down She put a reassuring arm around the only conscious nonparticipant in the discussion. Newt leaned against her shoulder.
'We're going home, honey,' she told the girl.
Now that their course of action had been determined, Hicks took a moment to check out the interior of the APC. Between the fire damage and the holes eaten by alien acid, it was clearly a write-off.
'Let's get together what we can carry. Hudson, give me a hand with the lieutenant.'
The comtech eyed the paralyzed form of his commanding officer with undisguised distaste. 'How about we just sit him up in Operations and strap him to the chair? He'll feel right at home.'
'No sell. He's still alive, and we've got to get him out of here.'
'Yeah, I know, I know. Just don't keep reminding me.'
'Ripley, you keep an eye on the child. She's sort of taken to you, anyway.'
'The feeling's mutual.' She clasped Newt tightly to her.
'Vasquez, can you cover us until the dropship touches down?'
She smiled at him, showing perfect teeth. 'Can pigs fly?' She tapped the stock of the pulse-rifle.
The corporal turned to face the landing team's last human member. 'You coming?'
'Don't be funny,' Burke grumbled.
'I won't. Not here. This isn't a funny place.' He switched on his headset pickup. 'Bishop, you found anything out?'
The synthetic's voice filled the passenger bay. 'Not much The equipment here is colonial-style basic. I've gone about as far as I can go with the tools available.'
'It doesn't matter. We're getting out. Pack it up and meet us on the tarmac. Can you make it okay? I don't want to abandon the APC until the dropship's on final approach.'
'No problem. It's been quiet back here.'
'Okay. Don't take anything you can't carry easily. Move it.'
The dropship rose from its place on the concrete pad fighting the wind as it lifted. Under Ferro's steady hand it hovered, pivoted in midair, and began to move over the colony toward the stalled APC.
'Got you on visual. Wind's let up a little. I'll set her down as close as I can,' Ferro informed them.
'Roger.' Hicks turned to his companions. 'Ready?' Everyone nodded except Burke, who looked sour but said nothing 'Then let's get out of here.' He cycled the door.
Wind and rain poured in as the ramp extended. They filed rapidly out of the vehicle. The dropship was already in plain sight, edging toward them. Searchlights blazed from its flanks and belly. One illuminated a single human shape striding through the mist toward them.
'Bishop!' Vasquez waved. 'Long time no see.'
He called across to her. 'Didn't work out so good, huh?'
'It stank.' She spat downwind. 'Tell you all about it sometime.'
'Later. After hypersleep. After we've put this place far behind us.'
She nodded, the only one of the waiting group whose attention was not monopolized by the approaching dropship Her dark eyes continuously scanned the landscape around the personnel carrier. Nearby, Ripley waited, gripping Newt's small hand tightly. Hudson and Hicks carried the stillunconscious Gorman between them.
'Hold it there,' Ferro instructed them. 'Give me a little room I don't want to come down on top of you.' She thumped her headset pickup. 'It'd be nice if I had a little help up here Spunkmeyer. Get off the pot.'
The compartment door slid aside behind her. She glanced back over her shoulder, angry and not bothering to hide the fact. 'It's about time. Where the.?'
Her eyes widened, and the rest of the accusation trailed away.
It wasn't Spunkmeyer.
The alien barely fit through the opening. Outer jaws flared to reveal the inner set of teeth. There was a blur of movement and an explosive, organic whoosh. Ferro barely had time to scream as she was slammed backward into the control console.
From below, the would-be refugees watched in dismay as the dropship veered wildly to port. Its main engines roared to life and it accelerated even as it lost altitude. Ripley grabbed Newt and sprinted toward the nearest building.
'Run!'
The dropship clipped a rock formation at the edge of the causeway, slewed left, and struck a basalt ridge. It tumbled turning completely on its back like a dying dragonfly, struck the tarmac, and exploded. Sections and compartments began to break away from the mainframe, some of them already afire. The body of the ship arced into the air once more bouncing off the unyielding stone, fire blazing from it engines and superstructure.
Part of an engine module slammed into the APC, setting off its armament. The personnel carrier blew itself to bits as shells and fuel exploded inside it. A flaming Catherine wheel, the remains of the dropship skipped past and rolled into the outskirts of the atmosphere processing station. A tremendous fireball lit the dark sky of Acheron. It faded rapidly.
Emerging from concealment, the stunned survivors stared at the debris in disbelief as their superior firepower and hopes of getting off the planet were simultaneously reduced to charred metal and ash.
'Well that's great,' said a near hysterical Hudson. 'That's just great, man. Now what are we supposed to do? We're in some real fine shape now.'
'Are you finished?' Hicks stared hard at the comtech unti Hudson looked abashed. Then he glanced at Ripley. 'You okay?'
She nodded and tried to hide her real feelings as she looked down at Newt. She could have spared herself the effort. It was impossible to hide anything from the child. Newt looked calm enough. She was breathing hard, true, but it was from the effort of racing for cover, not from fear. The girl shrugged sounding remarkably grown- up.
'I guess we're not leaving, right?'
Ripley bit her lip. 'I'm sorry, Newt.'
'You don't have to be sorry. It wasn't your fault.' She stared silently at the flaming wreckage of the dropship.
Hudson was kicking aside rocks, bits of metal, anything smaller than his boot. 'Just tell me what we're supposed to do now. What're we gonna do now?'
Burke looked annoyed. 'Maybe we could build a fire and sing songs.'
Hudson took a step toward the Company rep, and Hicks had to intervene.
'We should get back.' Everyone turned to look down at Newt who was still staring at the burning dropship. 'We should get back 'cause it'll be dark soon. They come mostly at night. Mostly.'
'All right.' Hicks nodded in the direction of the ruined APC. It was mostly metal and composites and shouldn't burn much longer. 'The fire's about had it. Let's see what we can find.'
'Scrap metal,' suggested Burke.
'And maybe something more. You coming?'
The Company rep rose from where he'd been sitting. 'I'm sure not staying here.'
'Up to you.' The corporal turned to their synthetic. 'Bishop see if you can make Operations livable. What I mean is, make sure it's. clear.'
The android responded with a gentle smile. 'Take point? I know what that means. I'm expendable, of course.'
'Nobody's expendable.' Hicks started across the tarmac toward the smoking APC. 'Let's move it.'
Day on Acheron was dim twilight; night was darker than the farthest reaches of interstellar space, because not even the stars shone through its dense atmosphere to soften the barren surface with twinkling light. The wind howled around the battered metal buildings of Hadley town, whistling down corridors and rattling broken doors. Sand pattered against cracked windows, a perpetual snare-drum roll. Not a comforting sound to be heard. Inside, everyone waited for the nightmare to come.
Emergency power was sufficient to light Operations and its immediate environs but not much else. There
