"He's stable, vitals are good."

"Minimal blood loss, heart rate is normal."

The reports came from either side, continuously updating the status of the patient as the surgery progressed. The reports and the rhythmatic noises from the monitor machines helped keep the surgeon focused as she stared into the small opening in the chest of the man.

"I can see it," she said calmly, though she could barely hear herself past her heart in her ears and her own breathing, "forceps."

The tool was placed in her open hand and very carefully she opened them and placed them into the small cavity, kept open by the retractors.

"Time."

"Three-eleven, twelve minutes since induction."

"He's still in the heavy stages of sedation."

Good, only once had this kind of surgery gotten away from her due to the sedative wearing off, she never wanted a repeat. She used the forceps to clamp around the round fleshy node. Everyone around the table held their breaths, even after witnessing at least twenty of these surgeries already. But even she couldn't help but catch her breath in her throat. Very carefully, moving the forceps back and forth she wiggled the node loose from its tightly curled position. The major part of it came loose almost startlingly but she did not allow herself to flinch.

Letting out her breath slowly, she began to pull taking out the long slender fleshy creature, tiny forelimbs curled up underneath its oblong head, armed with crystalline teeth. It was an ugly thing, a dangerous thing. A nurse was ready with a canister, and the fleshy, blood-covered snake-like parasite was placed inside. With a press of a button, the canister was filled with a gas, and the creature was put to sleep.

Relieved sighs and smiling eyes were everywhere. Her own eyes sparkled as she began the work on stitching up the patient.

"Vitals still good, heart rate normal."

"Good work doctor," came a voice from above them, and her amber eyes shot up to the glass above them where a man in a labcoat was watching, and three people in suits that she didn't recognize, "another success."

She was out of the surgery room shortly after, having disposed of her mask and scrubcap, the gown and the nitrile gloves. She was back in her grey jumpsuit in no time, but didn't even let her hair down before she was out and into the hallway where a mother and two children were waiting. Expectant eyes landed on her, and she could see the relief that her smile alone brought to the face of the older woman.

"The surgery was a success, the parasite was removed with no problem," she said and the woman began to cry. She stood, being much taller than she, and hugged the young doctor tightly sobbing gratitude. She let her cry, it was always good to cry. Once the woman let her go, she smiled and held her shoulders comfortingly, "he's still asleep, but he's recovering quickly, he'll be ready to go home in just a few days, but if you want to see him now, you can."

"Oh God," whimpered the woman, clasping her hands before her mouth as if praying. She inhaled and swallowed, "yes, we want to see him."

The young doctor smiled and nodded, turning to lead the woman.

"Miss Carnica," came the same voice from the room and the young doctor turned. She knew the doctor standing there very well, but the three unknowns were with him still, "can I have a moment of your time?

"Yes I—, in just a second? Please?" the doctor's small voice pleaded gently, and the doctor put his hands in his coat, but nodded with a smile. The young doctor smiled back and led the woman and her children down the hall. The three of them filed into the room, lined with metal walls, but otherwise had the feeling of a real hospital. The two young boys hopped in and scrambled into the chairs next to the man's bedside and peered over the side to look at the man. The woman, smiling and holding back tears, rested a hand on her husband's brow and stroked it lovingly.

"Daddy?" one of the boys called and touched his father's arm.

"Shh, daddy's sleeping," said the woman and hugged her son.

"When do we see daddy's baby?" asked the younger son quietly and the woman let out a gasp that was sort-of a laugh.

The young doctor stood outside the door, looking in, smiling gently, so glad that she could help this family avoid tragedy. It was beautiful.

"Miss Carnica?"

The young doctor turned around and gave him a listening look. He smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder, "well done, you're a miracle worker," the young doctor shook her head at the praise, but smiled.

"Kaylin, I'd like to introduce you to Karl Bishop Weyland, senior director of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation," he gestured to the man and the young doctor smiled and shook his hand. She didn't need the man's title added to his name, she was wearing the company logo on the front of her jumpsuit, above the saying 'building better worlds.'

Strangely, the doctor didn't introduce the other two, a man and woman of mixed-Japanese descent, the man shorter than the woman, and more 'purebred' in appearance with dark eyes, hair and ochre skin, while the woman was more Caucasian, like Kaylin.

"Miss Carnica," Weyland said, his grip was strong and firm, "what you did today was amazing, and Dr. Wilkins tells me you've performed this miracle some twenty times now, and that you pioneered the method, after only being here for a few months."

"Yes I—I was assigned here as a genetic specialist, to test and discover the medical properties and application of the local flora and fauna. I learned shortly after that the parasites were an inherit problem found in this place and had caused forty-two deaths prior to my arrival. I—I discovered the method of safely extracting the parasite nymph, after one Mr. Johnson had been impregnated for longer than usual. I found in his blood tests that he had a genetic thyroid disorder that slowed down his metabolism, and so also decelerated the growth of the parasite."

"Interesting," said Karl smiling, "tell me more," he put a hand on her shoulder and turned her down the hall. Kaylin smiled and sorted through her thoughts before continuing.

"The process from there was very easy, I was able to synthesize a metabolism slowing agent that can be injected into an impregnated person the moment that the parasitoid detaches itself from its victim, for as we know it is impossible to remove it once it's placed it's ovipositor within the victim's throat. This means that we can have a more controlled time-frame between impregnation and the nymph's completed maturation.

Kaylin was momentarily distracted as she realized she did not recognize the hallway she was in, and looked around for some familiar features, or signs to show where she was, but Karl's voice interrupted her, "go on."

"From there it became very simple, using what I had learned I was able to develop a sedative that was capable of affecting both host and parasite, as previous attempts had only resulted in the host being sedated, but the parasite within was not, which had…," she swallowed and looked down with a guilty conscience.

"I'm very sorry Kaylin," said Weyland and she looked up with an apologetic smile.

"I've streamlined the process now, and I have not lost a single patient since."

"Incredible," Weyland said quietly, shaking his head, "absolutely remarkable. Dr," Dr. Wilkins turned to look at Mr. Weyland, "have you increased her pay?"

"I've offered many times Mr. Weyland, but she refuses to accept payment for her surgeries and continues only to live off of her original agreed-upon contract salary of 63,700 credits."

"Which I think, is still too much."

"Too much!?" Mr. Weyland said, stopping. His wrinkled brow was raised in surprise as he looked down at the small woman. She shifted sheepishly under his hazel gaze.

"I'm not doing it for the money," she clarified. Mr. Weyland blinked and then laughed.

"What an interesting person you are," he said and resumed leading her somewhere, "well Kaylin, we at Weyland-Yutani are very impressed with the work you've done here. After some discussion we would like to invite you onto a project we've had going on here for a while. It would grant you a great opportunity to study the alien life forms we discovered and open a path for leaps and bounds in the medical field."

Kaylin's eyes turned to Mr. Weyland, sparkling at the words he was saying.

"It's a classified project, we will have to write up a new contract and your clearance will be raised to level three. You will be granted access to the lower levels of the facility here on LV-7, but I want to make it clear, you won't be able to tell anyone what's going on down there, no relatives or friends. The project is in its very delicate beginning stages, and a single leak could cause the entire thing to crash. Do you understand?"

Kaylin nodded without hesitation.

"Good."

Mr. Weyland continued their walk and began to dictate a contract, which the man behind his began writing on a tablet. Kaylin stayed near Dr. Wilkins, but her eyes continued to wander towards Mr. Weyland. She was, of course, paying attention to what he was saying, to see if there was something he was adding in that she didn't agree with, but most of what he was saying had to do with secrecy. Whatever this project was, it was obviously very important not to let it be known.

Once the leisurely stroll ended with the finishing of the dictation, Mr. Weyland turned and took the tablet from the man and read it over, before handing it to Kaylin with the stylus, "here, this will be just a working contract for now, I'll have a more formal one renegotiating your salary and such, but I don't think that will be a problem, as you've stated you've no interest in money."

Kaylin took the stylus and smiled, signing where the line was. Mr. Weyland took the tablet and took from the woman a badge, handing it to Kaylin. It was a very simple, plain white badge that had a orange stripe and the number '3' sitting on it above the Weyland-Yutani logo.

"This will be your temporary badge allowing you access to the lower levels, until your new ID can be printed off, just wear it below your normal ID, but show this one to the scanners. We'll update your retinal information into the computers as soon as we can."

Kaylin looked down at her jumpsuit and clamped the plain badge underneath the little ID badge that had her picture and name on it, and the clearance level 4 marked underneath. She then smiled up to Mr. Weyland who grinned, wrinkling the crow's feet by his eyes.

"I'm very excited to show you what we're working on, come with me."

Kaylin followed along with Mr. Weyland's brisk steps further down the hallway and to an elevator. It was no secret to the colonists like herself that there were lower levels to the facility they were working in, the only mystery was the wonder of what those levels were for.

Kaylin was about to find out. Mr. Weyland ushered her into the elevator with Dr. Wilkins and the unknown woman, but the young man stayed outside. Mr. Weyland pressed the button for the lower levels and a panel slid open for the bright blue light of the retinal scanner. He leaned forward for just a second as the blue laser moved down and then up across his eyes then he leaned back.

"Welcome Mr. Weyland," said MOTHER's voice, "detecting other passengers aboard, confirm level three or higher clearance please."

The woman stepped up and had her eyes scanned and the computer welcomed her as well as 'Mrs. Yutani' and then also welcomed Dr. Wilkens. When MOTHER asked for Kaylin's clearance, Mr. Weyland opened up a panel manually, grunting a bit as it got stuck, but then typing on a pad within before shutting it.

"Guest presence authorized," said MOTHER and the elevator began to move down. Kaylin was very excited, barely able to contain herself and she clasped her hands together. What was down here, what where they working on? The elevator only went down one level and the doors opened. Dr. Wilkin's opened the grate to allow the three others out before following. Kaylin almost had to skip to keep up with the longer legs of the three individuals with her, not at all disappointed at how this level looked almost identical to the level above it; metal walls, metal doors, metal floors and ramps, rusting in some areas with electrical lights lighting up signs to doorways and hallways.

"Here we are," Mr. Weyland said with relief, stopping at one door labeled '103.' He opened it up and stepped inside. It was immaculate within, and Kaylin's eyes immediately dropped to the table where strange instruments were laid out. What appeared to be an oblong-shaped case was opened out and emptied, and what was presumably the contents were placed on the table beside it. Two people were walking around and taking notes on other things made of the same metal as the case, a strange metal that seemed out of place. Kaylin, absent-mindedly grabbed a mask, gloves and safety glasses as she stepped in, almost in a trance.

She moved to the table and got a look from one of the other doctors, who then looked to Mr. Weyland who only nodded in affirmation, and the doctor got back to work. Kaylin lifted what was undoubtedly a syringe, filled with a clear fluid. She didn't eject any of it and set it down. Her hand glazed over a vial of some sort, another container and a disk that had folded plates clamped down over it. There were also tools, not unlike the ones she had been using just minutes ago. But they were all made of the strange metal, not iron or steel, not anything that she could recognize just by looking at it.

"These are what we presume to be medical supplies that were picked up outside the facility," Mr. Weyland said.

"Who's… are they? They're not human…."

"No," Mr. Weyland said and a hand rested on her shoulder, "they're his."

Kaylin looked up at Weyland, then forward at a glass panel beyond a viewing room. Behind the tinted glass, a dark shape moved and a massive frame lifted. Bright eyes glowered from dark sockets and for clawed mandibles spread in a silent roar.

Kaylin's eyes widened as she watched the alien ram its shoulder into the glass again and again before roaring once more. One of the doctors pressed a button and a gas filled the panel, hiding the creature from view. She saw its dark form collapse and the doctors got back to work as if nothing had happened.

What had she gotten herself into?