Aliens

could be other similarities. An alien queen analogous to an ant or termite queen could be much larger physically than the aliens we have so far encountered. A termite queen's abdomen is so bloated with eggs that she can't move by herself at all. She is fed and tended by workers, mated to drones, and defended by highly specialized warriors. She is also quite harmless. On the other hand, a queen bee is far more dangerous than any worker bee because she can sting many times. She is the centre of their lives, quite literally the mother of their society.

'In one respect, at least, we are fortunate that the analogy does not hold up. Ants and bees develop from eggs directly to larvae, pupae, and adults. Each alien embryo requires a live host in which to mature. Otherwise Acheron would be covered with them by now.'

'Funny, but that doesn't reassure me a whole lot. These things are a lot bigger than any ant or termite. Could they be intelligent? Could this hypothetical queen? That's something we never could decide on back on the Nostromo. We were too busy trying to keep from getting killed. Not much time for speculation.'

'It's hard to say.' Bishop looked thoughtful. 'There is one thing worth considering, though.'

'What's that?'

'It may have been nothing more than blind instinct attraction to the heat or whatever, but she did choose assuming she exists, to incubate her eggs in the one spot in the colony where we couldn't destroy her without destroying ourselves. Beneath the heat exchangers at the processing plant If that site was chosen from instinct, it means that they may be no brighter than your average termite. If, on the other hand, it was selected on the basis of intelligence, well, then I think we're in very deep trouble indeed.

'That's if there's any reality to these suppositions at all Despite the distance involved, the eggs these aliens hatched from might have been brought down here by the first ones to emerge. There might be no queen involved at all, no complex alien society. Whether by intelligence or instinct, though, we have seen that they cooperate. That's something we don't have to speculate on. We've seen them in action.'

Ripley stood there and considered the ramifications of Bishop's analysis. None of them were encouraging, nor had she expected any to be. She nodded toward the stasis cylinders.

'I want those specimens destroyed as soon as you're done with them. You understand?'

The android glanced toward the two live facehuggers pulsing malevolently in their tubular prisons. He looked unhappy. 'Mr. Burke gave instructions that they were to be kept alive in stasis for return to the Company laboratories. He was very specific.'

The wonder of it was that she went for the intercom instead of the nearest weapon. 'Burke!'

A faint whisper of static failed to mar his reply. 'Yes? That's you, isn't it, Ripley?'

'You bet it's me! Where are you?'

'Scavenging while there's still time. I thought I might learn something on my own, since I just seem to be in everybody's way up there.'

'Meet me in the lab.'

'Now? But I'm still—'

'Now!' She closed the connection and glared at the inoffensive Bishop. 'You come with me.' Obediently he put his work aside and rose to follow her. That was all she was after; to make sure that he'd obey an order if she gave it. It meant he wasn't completely under Burke's sway, Company machine or no Company machine. 'Never mind, forget it.'

'I shall be happy to accompany you if that is what you wish.'

'That's all right. I've decided to handle it on my own. You continue with your research. That's more important than anything else.'

He nodded, looking puzzled, and resumed his seat.

Burke was waiting for her outside the entrance to the lab His expression was bland. 'This better be important. I think I was onto something, and we may not have much time left.'

'You may not have any time left.' He started to protest, and she cut him off with a gesture. 'No, in there.' She gestured at the operating theatre. It was soundproofed inside, and she could scream at him to her heart's content without drawing everyone else's attention. Burke ought to be grateful for her thoughtfulness. If Vasquez overheard what the company representative had been planning, she wouldn't waste time arguing with him. She'd put a bullet through him on the spot.

'Bishop tells me you have intentions of taking the live parasites home in your pocket. That true?'

He didn't try to deny it. 'They're harmless in stasis.'

'Those suckers aren't harmless unless they're dead. Don't you understand that yet? I want them killed as soon as Bishop's gotten everything out of them he can.'

'Be reasonable, Ripley.' A ghost of the old, self-assured corporate smile stole over Burke's face. 'Those specimens are worth millions to the Bioweapons Division of the company Okay, so we nuke the colony. I'm outvoted on that one. But not on this. Two lousy specimens, Ripley. How much trouble could they cause while secured in stasis? And if you're worried about something happening when we get them back to Earthside labs, don't. We have people who know how to handle things like these.'

'Nobody knows how to handle 'things like these.' Nobody's ever encountered anything like them. You think it'd be dangerous for some germs to get loose from a weapons lab? Try to imagine what would happen if just one of those parasites got loose in a major city, with its thousands o kilometres of sewers and pipes and glass-fibre channels to hide in.'

'They're not going to get loose. Nothing can break a stasis field.'

'No sale, Burke. There's too much we don't know about these monsters. It's too risky.'

'Come on, I know you're smarter than this.' He was trying to mollify and persuade her at the same time. 'If we play it right we can both come out of this heroes. Set up for life.'

'Is that the way you really see it?' She eyed him askance 'Carter Burke, alien smasher? Didn't what happened in C leve of the processing station make any impression on you at all?'

'They went in unprepared and overconfident.' Burke's tone was flat, unemotional. 'They got caught in tight quarters where they couldn't use the proper tactics and weapons. If they'd all used their pulse-rifles and kept their heads and managed to get out without shooting up the heat exchangers, they'd all be here

'Besides, everyone will know we found a devastated colony and that we got out as fast as we could. No one will be looking for us to smuggle anything back in. The Company will back me up on this, Ripley, especially when they see what we've brought them. They'll take good care of you, too, if that's what you're worrying about.'

'I'm sure they'll back you up,' she said. 'I don't doubt that for an instant. Any outfit that would send less than a dozen soldiers out here with an inexperienced goofball like Gorman in charge after hearing my story is capable of anything.'

'You worry too much.'

'Sorry. I like living. I don't like the idea of waking up some morning with an alien monstrosity exploding out of my chest.'

'That's not going to happen.'

'You bet it isn't. Because if you try taking those ugly little teratoids out of here, I'll tell everyone on the rescue ship what you're up to. This time I think people will listen to me. Not that it would ever get that far. All I have to do is tell Vasquez, or Hicks, or Hudson what you have in mind. They won't wait around for a directive, and they'll use more than angry words So you might as well give it up, Burke.' She nodded in the direction of the cylinders. 'You're not getting them out of this lab, much less off the surface of this planet.'

'Suppose I can convince the others?'

'You can't, but supposing for a minute that you could, how would you go about convincing them that you're not responsible for the deaths of the one hundred and fifty-seven colonists here?'

Burke's combativeness drained away and he turned pale 'Now wait a second. What are you talking about?'

'You heard me. The colonists. All those poor, unsuspecting good Company people. Like Newt's family. You said I'd been doing my homework, remember? You sent them to that ship, to check out the alien derelict. I just checked it out in the colony log. It's as intact as the plans Hudson called up. Would make interesting reading in court. 'Company Directive Six Twelve Nine, dated five thirteen seventy-nine. Proceed to inspect possible electromagnetic emission at coordinates — but I'm not telling you anything you don't already know, am I? Signed Burke, Carter J.' ' She was trembling with anger. It was all spilling out of her at once, the frustration and fury at the incompetence and greed that had brought her back to this world of horror.