It was a steep climb but not a long one. Dim light marked the end of the ascent. From above she could hear the wind booming like air blowing across the lip of a bottle. Narrow climbing ribs dimpled the smooth sides of the shaft.
She looked down to where the chute punched a hole in the floor and disappeared into unknown depths lost in darkness Nothing stirred down there. Nothing came climbing toward them. They were going to make it.
She put her foot onto the first climbing rib and started up Newt followed as Hicks emerged from the main corridor behind them.
The girl turned to wave. 'Just up here, Mr. Hicks. It's not as far as it looks. I've done it lots of tim—?'
Rusted out by seeping water, worn through by the corrosive elements contained in Acheron's undomesticated atmosphere the rib collapsed beneath her feet. She slipped, managed to catch another rib with one hand. Ripley braced herself against the dangerously slick surface of the chute, turned, and reached back for her. As she did so, she dropped her flashlight watched it go skittering and bumping down the opening unti its comforting glow faded from sight.
She strained until she was sure her arm was separating from her shoulder, her fingers groping for Newt's. No matter how far over she bent, they remained centimetres apart.
'Riiipplleeee. '
Newt's grip broke. As she went sliding down the chute Hicks made a dive for her, laying himself out, flat and indifferent to the coming impact. He slammed into the floor next to the chute, and his fingers dug into the collar of the girl's oversize jacket, holding the material in a death grip.
She slipped out of it.
Her scream reverberated up the chute as she vanished plummeting down into darkness.
Hicks threw the empty jacket aside and stared at Ripley Their eyes met for just a second before she released her own grasp and went sliding down the chute after Newt. As she slid she pushed out with her feet, braking her otherwise uncontrolled descent.
Like the corridor above, the chute forked where it intersected the lower level. Her flashlight gleamed off on her right, and she shifted her weight so she would slide in that direction.
'Newt. Newt!'
A distant wail, plaintive and distorted by distance and intervening metal, floated back to her.
'Mommy—where are you?' Newt was barely audible. Had she taken the other chute?
The shaft bottomed out in a horizontal service tunnel. Her undamaged flashlight lay on the floor, but there was no sign of the girl. As Ripley bent to recover the light the cry reached her again, bouncing off the narrow walls.
'Moommmeee!'
Ripley started down the tunnel in what she hoped was the right direction. The wild slide down the chute had completely disoriented her. Newt's call came again. Fainter? Ripley couldn't tell. She turned a circle, panic growing inside her, her light illuminating only grime and dampness. Every projection contained grinning, slime-lubricated jaws, every hollow was a gaping alien mouth. Then she remembered that she was stil wearing her headset. And she remembered something else Something the corporal had given her that she'd given away in turn.
'Hicks, get down here. I need the locator for that bracelet you gave me.' She cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted down the serviceway. 'Newt! Stay wherever you are. We're coming!'
The girl was in a low, grotto-like chamber where the other branch of the chute had dumped her. It was crisscrossed with pipes and plastic conduits and was flooded up to her waist. The only light came from above, through a heavy grating. Maybe Ripley's voice had also, she thought. Using the network of pipes, she started to climb.
A large, bulky object came sliding down the chute. Hicks wouldn't have found the description flattering, but Ripley was immensely relieved to see him no matter how rumpled he looked. The mere presence of another human being in that stygian, haunted tunnel was enough to push back the fear a little way.
He landed on his feet, clutching his rifle in one hand, and unsnapped the emergency location unit from his battle harness. 'I gave you that bracelet,' he said accusingly, even as he was switching the tracker on.
'And I gave it to Newt. I figured she'd need it more than I would, and I was right. It's a good thing I did it or we'd never find her in this. You can bawl me out later. Which way?'
He checked the tracker's readout, turned, and started off down the tunnel. It led them into a section of serviceway where the power hadn't been cut. Emergency lights still brightened ceiling and walls. They switched off their lights. Water dripped somewhere nearby. The corporal's gaze rarely strayed from the tracker's screen. He turned left.
'This way. We're getting close.'
The locator led them to a large grate set in the floor—and a voice from below.
'Ripley?'
'It's us, Newt.'
'Here! I'm here, I'm down here.'
Ripley knelt at the edge of the grating, then wrapped her fingers around the centre bar and pulled. It didn't budge. A quick inspection revealed that it was welded into the floor instead of being latched for easy removal. Peering down, she could just make out Newt's tear-streaked face. The girl reached upward. Her small fingers wriggled between the closely set bars. Ripley gave them a reassuring squeeze.
'Climb down off that pipe, honey. We're going to have to cut through this grate. We'll have you out of there in a minute.'
The girl obediently backed clear, shinnying down the pipe she'd ascended as Hicks fired up his hand torch. Ripley glanced significantly in its direction, then met his eyes as she lowered her voice.
'How much fuel?' She was remembering how Vasquez's flamethrower had run out at a critical moment.
He looked away. 'Enough.' Bending, he began cutting through the first of the bars.
From below Newt could watch sparks shower blindingly as Hicks sliced through the hardened alloy. It was cold in the tunnel, and she was standing in the water again. She bit her lip and fought back tears.
She did not see the glistening apparition rising silently from the water behind her. It would not have mattered if she had There was nowhere to run to, no safe air duct to duck into. For a moment the alien hovered over her, motionless, dwarfing her tiny form. Only when it moved again did she sense its presence and whirl. She barely had enough time to scream as the shadow engulfed her.
Ripley heard the scream and the brief splashing below and went completely berserk. The grating had been half cut away She and Hicks wrenched and kicked at it until a portion bent downward. Another kick sent the chunk of crumpled metal tumbling into the water. Heedless of the red-hot edges, Ripley lunged through the opening, her light clutched in one hand, its beam slashing over pipes and conduits.
'Newt! Newt!'
The surface of the dark water reflected the light back up at her. It was placid and still after having swallowed the section of grille. Of the girl there was no sign. All that remained to show that she'd ever been there was Casey. As Ripley looked on helplessly, the doll head sank beneath the oily blackness.
Hicks had to drag her bodily out of the opening. She struggled blindly, trying to rip free of his embrace.
'No, noooo!'
It took all his strength and greater mass to wrestle her away from the opening. 'She's gone,' he said intensely. 'There's nothing you or I or anybody else can do now. Let's go!' A glance showed something moving at the far end of the corridor that had led them to the grating. It might be nothing more than his eyes playing tricks on him. Eye tricks on Acheron could prove fatal.
Ripley was sliding rapidly into hysteria, screaming and crying and flailing her arms and legs. He had to lift her clear of the floor to keep her from diving through the gap. A wild plunge into the water-filled darkness below was a short course to suicide.
'No! No! She's still alive! We have to—?'
'All right!' Hicks roared. 'She's alive. I believe it. But we gotta get moving. Now! You're not going to be able to catch her that way.' He nodded at the hole in the floor. 'She won't be waiting for you down there, but they will. Look.' He pointed, and she stopped struggling. There was an elevator at the far end of the tunnel.
'If there's emergency power to the lights in this section, then maybe that's functioning too. Let's get out of
