Ios is pronounced Eee-aus. This is a prettied up version of the first chapter, for my enjoyment as well as yours. Sorry for the heading clutter.
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ALIEN
EXTINCTION
By Tyrammafar
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Chapter 1
Dust and Echoes
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You can't see it, the very air filled with fear and death. The cries of the wounded and dying, the unholy, inhuman screams of our foe that roams this place like the very shadows on the walls. You can't see them…it's all dust and echoes.
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June 9, 2853
10:23 PM (ST- Ship time)
Undesignated planet
[POSSIBLE XENOMORPH HIVE LOCATION
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Tic…tic…tic…tic…
The motion tracker tapped out a steady rhythm, the sound echoing in the large chamber. It was dark, the air humid and unnaturally warm, a faint dripping pinging in the room like the sound of a bell, but the sound was muffled slightly by the black resin that covered the walls like a skin.
Tic…tic…tic…bleep…bleep…
Corporal Harper looked down at the little screen on his pulse rifle, grimacing and looking around. The little screen showed a blank around him, and a faint movement off to his left, where he turned, rifle raised and safety off. The motion tracker bleeped at a higher pitch as he strode forward, sweat pouring into his eyes.
Bleep bleep bleep bleep…bleep…tic…tic…tic…tic…
Whatever it was, it was gone or had stopped moving. Harper tapped the side of his rifle, the button he had pressed sending a signal up his suit and to the lamp on his shoulder, turning it on. The beam cut through the darkness, the pale light actually making it seem darker around him, the shadows reaching for him as he looked into the nooks of the room.
A man was lying on his back in the pool of light, near the resin-coated wall. His skin was a pale and lifeless gray, eyes of the same color staring upwards motionlessly, mouth slightly open and teeth bared. In the man's hand was a pistol, and in the other…a little box, off-white and mostly featureless, except for the telltale yellow W on one side. Weyland-Yutani.
Harper moved to the man's side, looking around quickly and setting down his rifle, putting his finger to the man's neck to feel for a pulse. There was none. Reaching down to grab his radio and report, Harper heard a faint humming sound, then a series of metallic clicks. The dead man's eyes…looked right at him.
Harper was a normal man, and being perfectly normal…he screamed. He stopped after a second, picking up his rifle and aiming it at the now living man, eye wide and finger tightening on the trigger.
"System reboot successful, minimal damage sustained." The man said in a hollow voice. Harper finally understood.
"This is Corporal Harper, I found a survivor…a synthetic, armed and fully functional." Harper said in his radio, trying to help the synth up. The android ignored his hand, standing and looking around slowly. "What is your designation and orders?"
"Cannot comply with command."
"Why not?"
"Please state access code to play confidential information"
"Confidential? Military override, access four-four-nine delta."
"Override confirmed." The android said. "Designation ZUS-98892, combat synthetic 4th generation. All other information is classified."
"Override." Harper said, getting annoyed.
"Access denied, only Weyland-Yutani personnel may access information." The android went silent, head turning from side to side, scanning the room.
"Weyland's up to something…" Harper muttered, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "ZUS, fall in step and defend me until further orders are given, confirm command."
"Command rejected." The android said. "Only Weyland-Yutani personnel may give commands. HG-5 protocol initiated…" The android suddenly raised its pistol, placing the weapon right between Harper's eyes.
"Holy mother fu-"
Light lit up the chamber, highlighting the resin coated walls for a moment, and then a sound followed, echoing through passages and corridors into infinity, but heard by nothing.
Nothing human, at least…
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Two weeks later…
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LG-5877
Zerus System
Weyland-Yutani laboratory
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"So, as you can plainly see, the Xenomorphs are indeed not extinct, and in fact are more deadly than ever before." Doctor Isen said, showing the map of the known galaxy, all the Xenomorph infested planets highlighted I red. That being so…half the planets glowed a crimson hue, as if showing the malice that resided there. "They are spreading at an astonishing rate, some human cults even helping them propagate. This is officially a war, gentlemen, one we cannot win…
"Until now." Dr. Isen smiled slightly, thinking about the knowledge he was about to divulge. "The Xenomorphs are an adaptive species, built for evolution in living members in a few hours, not generations later when a threat may have passed. They are the ultimate killers, the ultimate conquerors…but how can they possibly hold up…against themselves." The man looked out to the crowd of seats before him, smiling with outright glee as he motioned for the cage next to him to be uncovered.
It was the size of a human cell, and only one thing was inside…a little creature, about the size of a dinner plate, off-white and moving quickly about the cage, unable to escape. It had eight legs splayed out in a spider fashion, and a long tail that it coiled beneath it to leap towards Dr. Isen, only to be knocked back by a forcefield. The crowd was not amused, this was the most deadly creature in the known universe…the first stage in the Xenomorph lifecycle, and the one all in the galaxy knew as the 'facehugger'.
"Beautiful, isn't it? Don't worry, we are all quite safe. This specimen was captured by a combat synthetic two weeks ago. Most of you know that these little buggers die within hours after leaving the egg, but this one hasn't. It is a new strain never seen before, and now by using a form of chemical-resistant equipment…we have extracted Xenomorph DNA completely intact, and alive.
"What does this mean? This is the original specimen…but we don't need it anymore. We have been working on a way to not have to kill off humans in order to use these as programmable weapons; we only have to do a little work with what is available to us. This brings us to the latest project…code-named Extinction. A new strain of Xenomorph, created solely to destroy others of their kind." Dr. Isen covered the cage again, and several people breathed a sigh of relief. "We wanted to turn them into weapons, but now we will use them only as an eradication technique. We cannot use this species, that has been made clear, but now we can kill them off once and for all…
"And it was made possible by one Ellen Ripley some hundred years ago…she provided the first DNA samples to make this possible. No Queen will be made, they cannot reproduce, they are merely hunters without any thought other than to kill Xenomorphs…and in a month they will be ready to send out. As we speak the first line has been completed, and will begin their testing in a few minutes…"
The crowd applauded, this was good news, a way to eradicate the species forever and never have to seen them again, destroying the hunters after they had done their job. None would be left alive.
Dr. Isen was a little nervous…he hadn't told them everything he should have, but it wouldn't matter. "Dr, Isen, we are ready for you to begin your testing." A synthetic said from the side, and Isen nodded. This was it, the moment of truth…hopefully this one wouldn't fail like the last four had…
"It is time…"
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Thirty minutes later
Weyland-Yutani Lab
Sector 5
[HIGH SECURITY SECTION
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When we experiment on a cloned specimen, do we stop to think about how it feels? No, we just keep poking and prodding it like a computer…eventually push comes to shove, and the 'computer' always shoves a little harder than we expect…
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"Subject is responding well…no anomalies…this may be a successful one, sir."
"How is the DNA holding up?" Another voice said.
"Perfectly, and it is almost completely Xeno as well." The first stated.
"Almost?" The second.
"It is 95 percent Xenomorph and 5 percent of the original subject, enough to keep the rest stable. It is working wonderfully!"
"Excellent, when may we begin the testing?"
"Sir…the subject…it's been awake this entire time!" This was a new voice, and female.
"Isn't it sedated?" The second voice.
"It was! It has developed immunity to the drug, and it has been conscious since we began to unfreeze it."
"Well…let's see what the specimen thinks about all this…" The second voice said.
Ios shook his head, his vision clearing. All he saw was blue, distorted, and cold. He tried to move, but he was paralyzed by something, and he couldn't so much as twitch his fingers. He had no idea where he was or what was happening, but he knew instinctively that he was a prisoner. He looked about, seeing around him glass and a blue liquid, bubbles swirling around him as if they had life of their own.
"Subject is fully conscious and responding to input." The first voice said. Ios saw outside of the glass a white room, and many figures around him.
There were three people in front of the tube, working in a frenzied way. One was a plump man with a bald head, eyes bright even through the glass and liquid. Another was a younger man, only twenty by Ios's reckoning, and working at a computer. Another was female, with blonde hair to her shoulders, working on a computer as well. All wore the telltale white coats and yellow insignias of Weyland-Yutani scientists.
"How are its vital signs?" The fat man asked.
"They are normal for a Xeno, Dr. Isen, perfectly normal. All lights are green, nothing going wrong on the physical side." The young man said.
"You're a miracle worker, Dr. Hendricks. How about you, Sarah?"
"Why don't you call me Dr. Mirad like all the others?" The woman said.
"You deserve a proper name, young lady."
"How charming." Sarah said sarcastically. "Mental scans show everything green, perfectly done and acting just as a proper drone should.
Drone? Ios asked himself.
"Sir, there was a spike in mental…it's gone now, must have been a glitch."
The last thing Ios remembered was being on his way to a sort of boarding school with a few of his peers, something about him needing more than the orphanage could handle. He had been frozen for the trip…and now he was here. But…where was here? Had he been injured and was now in a nanite-tube for healing? What was going on?
"How long until we can begin the tests?" Dr. Isen asked.
"Quite soon if the DNA holds together unlike the last one." Dr. Hendricks said. "All going well so far."
"Almost time for our shift to end too, so it's good all around." Sarah muttered. "Hey, John, what's his pulse?"
"It's at over thirty-thousand beats a minute, like any other Xeno. Damned too fast for us to count manually or for pulse sensors to get a proper reading, but it's what it should be." Dr. Hendricks responded. Ios tried to move again and was able to twitch slightly. "The paralyzing agent is wearing off. Should I inject some more?"
"Go ahead." The computers beeped several times, but nothing seemed to happen to Ios. "It's still moving…"
"It's a reflexive thing; they still do that even when under the drug. It can't see us or hear us from my scans." John sighed, stretching. "Shift's over, Doctor, should we freeze it?"
"Just leave it like it is and use the shielding system." Dr. Isen said. "Good work everyone…you make me proud to have trained you, and I know this may be your crowning achievement."
Metal suddenly slid over the glass, obstructing Ios's view. He tried to see, but the light above dimmed and all went black.
Where the hell am I? Who are these people? What is going on?!
Ios waited for some kind of answer, but there was none. Eventually he became tired, and drifted to sleep, not even trying to find a way to get out. If he was in the tube, it was for a reason…a good reason…
This isn't a very good start, but I'm planning something similar to my other AvP story…but no Yautja, sorry guys. This is going to be pure Aliens, all-around. Review, people, and enjoy the next chapter…