Chapter Three: Explaining "Things"

"The scariest monster

Isn't the one you can't see.

The scariest monster

Is the one that looks like you or me."

-Anonymous

Matt sighed from where he stood by the entrance to the colony. After the crash of the dropship, the dejected group of survivors had salvaged what they could from the wreckage of the APC, which wasn't much. Matt looked up at the complex, that once had been called Hadley's Hope.

"'Hadley's Hell' is more like it," he mumbled to himself. He watched as Hicks, Hudson, Vasquez and Ripley carried what meager supplies they had scrounged from the APC wreck. Drake was just barely able to stand, but he helped as best he could, offering to carry medical kits and light items. Gorman was laying unconscious on a folding stretcher just inside the door, Burke keeping an eye on him. Matt pulled his jacket tighter as the snow began to fall in earnest, the white powder covering the ground. "Come on. Let's get inside," Matt muttered as they entered the colony and closed the doors. Matt looked around, eyes darting around, as if looking for something. He almost jumped when Ripley touched his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" she asked, concern filling her voice. Matt could only frown.

"Not exactly, but I'll manage," he replied. Matt walked over to where Gorman lay unconscious on the stretcher. Matt looked at Burke, who held one of the First Aid kits. "Here, help me with this," said Matt as he bent and grabbed one side of the stretcher. Burke nodded and grabbed the other side. The two were able to lift the unconscious Lieutenant and carry him through the wrecked corridors of the colony towards Operations. Newt was not far behind, carrying a box of flares under her arm. Ripley glanced back at Matt over her shoulder.

"What else is here?" she asked. Matt sighed as the others looked at him.

"Another kind of alien. Not like the bugs. This Thing is something else," he replied as he adjusted his grip on the stretcher. Before anyone could ask for further details, Bishop's voice came over their headsets.

"Bishop here, I have some good news," said the synthetic, sounding pleased. Hicks couldn't help a grin.

"Great. Could use some good news. What is it?" asked the Corporal.

"I've found another survivor." Matt froze in place, forcing Burke to halt with him. When they looked, they were shocked at the change in Matt's appearance. His eyes were wide, the fear clearly written across his features. Newt looked the same.

"What is it?" Ripley asked. Matt was silent.

XXX

When they entered Operations, Bishop was there to greet them. He wasn't alone.

"Thank god you guys came!" said the other colonist from where he was standing near the window. He was a little taller than Matt was, his head was closely shaved, rather like the Marines. He wore glasses and a dirty, greasy jumpsuit. The man was clearly relieved to see the Marines. Matt, on the other hand, was silent as a grave, being careful not to be seen too soon as he entered the room behind Ripley and the others. Bishop smiled as he helped them set Gorman on top of a desk.

"He came into Operations a while ago. Said he heard someone, wanted to investigate," said Bishop. The colonist smiled as he moved forward to shake Hicks' hand. He stopped when he saw Matt.

The two colonists stared at each other for a long, silent moment.

"Matt? Is that you? Where the hell have you been?! We thought we lost you!" the colonist seemed happy to see Matt. The reverse was most certainly not so. Matt's eyes were narrowed, clearly on edge and on guard.

"Where were you, John?" Matt asked pointedly. John stopped at that.

"What? What do you mean?" John replied, chuckling. Matt showed no emotion as he stood, eyes focused on John. Everyone else looked confused as they watched.

"When the lights went out in the Maintenance bay, where were you? You disappeared. Nobody could find you," Matt stated coldly. Hicks frowned as he looked between the two of them.

"Hey, what's going on?" Hicks asked. John's smile was gone, replaced by a stony, cold glare.

"Where were you? We couldn't find you, either. And where's Jed?" The two were silent as they stared each other down, the others looking on with confusion and worry.

"Matt, what's going on?" Ripley asked, worry clear in her voice. Matt's eyes never left John as he replied.

"The other creature running around here . . . It's worse than the bugs, because it can copy any living thing it absorbs. Even humans," Matt replied, glaring at John. They all stared at Matt, thunderstruck. John's gaze never left Matt.

"What do you mean? Do you mean . . . he could be one of 'em?!" Hudson yelled, looking at John with a growing horror.

"So how do we know you're human? Has anybody been alone around him?" John asked, tension and anger in his voice, glowering at Matt. Matt returned the glare.

"Right back at you." The whole room was tense. Hicks gently waved his hands.

"Everybody take it easy!" Hicks tried to defuse the situation that was rapidly becoming a standoff. As Hicks moved forward, Matt growled.

"Don't step in front of him," Matt snarled, startling them. John gave a thin smile as he pointed at Matt.

"What have you got to hide? What're you afraid of?" John asked. Matt's face twisted into a mask of anger.

"Of being turned into a monster like you!" he swiftly shot back. This sparked a massive argument, everyone yelling. As it was, nobody heard the sound like a match being struck. Suddenly Newt lunged out of where she had been hiding, her doll clutched in one hand, a lit flare in the other. With a grunt, she shoved the flare into one of the large pockets of John's jumpsuit.

"Newt! What're you doing?!" Ripley yelled. John screamed as his greasy clothes quickly caught on fire.

"Somebody get a fire extinguisher!" Hicks yelled. John's scream rose in pitch as he stumbled, ripping at the flaming clothing. Hicks had just snatched a fire extinguisher, when John's scream changed to a shrill squealing. Everyone looked, and their eyes grew wide in horror.

John's body split open from the top of his head down to his belt, the inside a massive maw of sharp teeth, tentacles flailing like tongues. His arms split down his hands to his elbows, the fingers becoming long, thin and twisted, the nails long talons. His shoulders opened, revealing horrible, inhuman eyes.

"Madre de Dios!" Vasquez swore as she brought up her pulse-rifle.

"Shoot it!" Hicks yelled as the Thing howled in anger. Matt threw himself backwards, trying to get as far away from it as possible as it lunged forward.

"No! Burn it! You gotta burn it!" Matt yelled as the shells tore through it, doing little more than slowing it down, as fact he was grateful for, as it was coming after him.

"Jesus, what is that thing?!" Hudson yelled as he fired. Ripley grabbed Newt and tried to get to Matt, but she didn't dare get closer. Matt jumped up on a desk and leaped halfway across the room, just barely getting out of the way as the Thing lunged, howling.

"Burn it! Burn the fucker!" Matt yelled.

"Flamethrower! Move!" Hicks yelled, grabbing one of the weapons. Hicks managed to get a short burst of flame out before the flamethrower sputtered and died. "Damn it!" he swore as he checked it. The burst of flame was enough to catch the Thing on fire, the monstrous beast flailing as it screeched. Matt took the brief opening to dash forward and grab up his makeshift flamethrower, sitting on a desk. He whirled and let loose a torrent of flaming death as the Thing yowled. It stumbled and fell. Matt glared as he aimed and burned it, the whole room lit bright-orange by the fire. Ripley shivered as she watched, holding Newt tightly against her as the eerie yowling of the Thing filled Operations.

XXX

Everyone was gathered around the examination table in the lab as Bishop carefully examined the burned corpse of the Thing.

"Fascinating. I've never seen anything like it," he stated, clearly interested.

"Nobody has," said Hicks, hands on his hips. The others were gathered, watching, but, at Matt's insistence, nobody came anywhere near it, other than Bishop. The android took a thin slice of tissue and placed it under a microscope, adjusting the dials to focus. Ripley was fighting to keep from throwing up. The stench was awful.

"Hmm," said Bishop as he looked. "Doesn't look like any cellular structure I've ever seen. If I didn't know better, I'd say I was looking at some sort of-"

"Virus?" Matt interjected. They all looked at Matt, who was on his fifth cigarette. "That's what it is, according to Adam." Burke nodded at this.

"Adam Danvers, D.M.D. He was the head doctor here," clarified the Company rep. Matt blew some smoke as he stood, back against the wall, his homemade flamethrower clutched firmly in his hand. Bishop turned and looked at the burned corpse on the table.

"It's also very hardy. There's still cellular activity in these remains," said Bishop. At this, Hudson and Burke backed even further away.

"Yeah, these Things aren't easy to kill. You have to really burn them to ash, which is why we made a batch of thermite and other stuff to burn them with," said Matt, puffing more smoke. They looked at him.

"Thermite? That hall, up on the second level," said Hudson, remembering the destroyed hall. Matt nodded.

"That was Max and Sam. They went to get supplies. We never knew what really happened, but you saw the result." Matt took another drag of his cigarette. "They were probably ambushed, and went out with a bang," he finished.

Burke looked at the misshapen, distorted corpse with fascination.

"This is really something. First the other ones, now this," he said to himself. Hicks rubbed his neck.

"Speaking of supplies, we should check on ours, see what all we got out of the APC," Hicks suggested. This was met with murmurs of agreement.

"I'll stay here. Keep an eye on Gorman, continue my analysis. Maybe I'll find something helpful out," said Bishop. Matt nodded his agreement, his mind elsewhere.

XXX

Looking at the meager supplies on the table, Hicks wished he could triple it just by looking at it.

"All right, this is absolutely everything we could salvage out of the APC wreckage. We got four pulse-rifles with about fifty rounds each. Not so good. About fifteen M-40 grenades, eight U-4 firebombs, and three flamethrowers. Two half-full, and one damaged," said the Corporal, listing all they had been able to get. Matt stood with his arms crossed, watching and listening.

"You can rule out everything but the flame weapons. Bullets just piss this Thing off, and the last thing you want to do is blow it to pieces," said the engineer as he surveyed their weapons cache. Vasquez looked at him.

"Why? Wouldn't that be easier?" she asked. Matt looked at her.

"You blow a Thing up, the pieces will get up and start moving around," he shot back. Ripley looked sick at the thought. Drake huffed from where he sat in a chair.

"This Thing's a damn nightmare," he muttered. Matt frowned as he looked at the armament, glancing up at Hicks.

"You've got a shotgun, right?" Matt asked. Hicks pulled out the weapon from the scabbard on his back. Matt nodded. "A couple people had shotguns here. There's probably still some ammo laying around. Won't kill it, but it'll damn sure slow it down. I'm pretty sure I can refill the flamethrowers. It'd have to be with kerosene, but it'll work." This brought more than a few relieved smiles. Matt picked up the damaged flamethrower, the one Drake had been carrying. It was pitted by acid in some places and there was a few holes, but he nodded. "I can fix this, no problem." Vasquez smiled at this, as did Drake.

"Right on, man," said the male smartgunner, grinning. Matt didn't smile, nor did he frown. He walked over and grabbed his pipe-bombs and spare fuel tanks he'd been carrying when they first met.

"These aren't regular pipe-bombs," he said as he laid them out. "These are filled with thermite, white phosphorus and magnesium. They'll really burn," he said as they looked at the homemade, but powerful weapons. Ripley looked at Matt, reminded of Parker and Brett, so long ago.

"Is there any way to tell who's infected?" Ripley asked. Matt puffed some smoke as he set the flamethrower back down. Everyone was watching and listening.

"Yeah, but not pleasant ones," Matt began, puffing some smoke. "You could tie 'em to a chair and gas 'em. If they're a Thing, you'll know really quick. If they're human, though . . .?" he let that hang. Hicks sighed from where he sat in a chair.

"This Thing's pretty smart," mused the Corporal. Matt nodded. Ripley looked at Matt.

"What about a blood test of some kind?" she asked. Matt frowned.

"I'm just an engineer, and only a Class-4. The doctors and the scientists were the ones that knew that, and they're all dead," Matt sighed, walking over and sitting on a console.

"I'm afraid that might be more difficult than it sounds," said Bishop, startling them. Bishop gave a soft, wry smile of apology for startling them. "I just checked the blood supplies, and it seems someone had the same thought, and sabotaged the frozen blood. Somebody didn't want that test." They all looked at Matt as he sat, smoking like a chimney.

"I wasn't in that group, but I heard a lot of people yelling about an 'accident' in Med-lab." He looked at them. "The Thing isn't some dumb animal in a human form, it assimilates intelligence, too. That's what makes it so dangerous," he sighed as he put out his cigarette. Bishop nodded.

"If I could get into the research files of the colony, I might be able to provide more answers or a solution," said Bishop. Matt chuckled from where he sat.

"Try 'Claudia974'," he suggested. Hudson sat in the chair and typed in the code. They all watched as the screen loaded, a bright, cheerful green:

Password accepted

They all stared, surprised. Hudson looked at the young engineer.

"How'd you do that, man?" Matt gave a soft chuckle.

"It was Dave's favorite password. And Playmate," Matt said as he stood to the side. Hudson was able to smirk at that.

"Good going, man." Hudson sounded impressed. Bishop looked over Hudson's shoulder as the comm-tech accessed the colony files.

"This is good. It looks like the files are uncorrupted. I should be able to access all their files and research," said Bishop as Hudson let him sit. Matt came forward and frowned.

"Gimme a look at camera 176," Matt asked. Bishop typed, and the screen displayed a long, narrow tunnel. At the end was a large lump of the resin they had seen in the Alien Hive. It completely blocked the end of the tunnel.

"What the heck is that?" Hudson asked. Matt sighed softly.

"The service tunnel to the Processing Station," Matt stated. They looked at him. "For a while, the bugs were using it to move from there to here. When the Thing popped up, though, they sealed it off." This got their attention. Ripley turned and looked at Matt.

"So, they're afraid of it?" Ripley asked, sounding curious. Matt nodded softly.

"Yeah. That's how we were able to figure out when the Thing was in a group. If the bugs didn't attack, or ran, somebody wasn't human." They all watched Matt as he spoke. Hicks looked thoughtful.

"Maybe we could use that? Find out who's the Thing," Hicks ventured. Matt raised an eyebrow.

"You really wanna go back there?" he asked. Hicks nodded his agreement with Matt.

Hudson frowned as Bishop checked the security cameras.

"What the hell?" the comm-tech breathed. They all looked, catching just a brief glimpse of something disappearing around a corner.

Something big.

Matt frowned at the brief glimpse of something twisted and distorted. Bishop frowned as he typed, trying to switch cameras. The other camera in the area displayed only a screen of static. Hudson glanced at Matt, who wore a troubled expression. "What the hell was that?"

"That would be the Big Thing," Matt replied. Everyone stared at him.

"How big?" Ripley asked, her voice shaky. Matt lit another cigarette.

"Well, if everyone who disappeared was assimilated, and the Things all merged into one," Matt paused, thinking on it. "Its biomass would be equal to about thirty people." Bishop was the only one who didn't look frightened.

"It can merge together?" the android asked, sounding intrigued. Matt puffed some smoke.

"Oh, yeah. Saw more than a couple fuse together from pieces," replied Matt. Drake groaned from where he leaned against a console.

"So, where'd this Thing come from, man?" Drake asked. The others looked at Matt.

"My Mommy and Daddy found it," said Newt. They all looked at her, stunned.

XXX

In the Med-lab, they were all gathered around one of the small metal tables. On the table was a strange metal capsule of some sort. It was about the length of a person's thigh, relatively smooth, except for the ends, which looked like they had been plugged into something. The capsule was open, split open and forming a "Y".

"When they brought poor Russ Jorden back with one of the bugs on him, they had that with them. They found it inside that ship. Since they were more worried about Russ, they just left it in here. The next time somebody checked, it was open and empty," said Matt as Bishop examined the capsule.

"Hmm, never seen a material like this before. I can't tell if it's metal, or something else," said Bishop. Ripley wore a deep frown as she looked. She'd only seen brief, shaky images, but she recognized the styling of the capsule as the same as that of the derelict ship. She looked at Bishop as he looked inside the capsule.

"Bishop, is it possible that this Thing is the Aliens' natural predator?" she asked. Bishop looked at her.

"It's certainly possible," he replied.

There had been a time when Ripley couldn't have imagined anything worse than those black monstrosities that haunted her nightmares. Now, though, she knew there were far greater horrors, lurking in the darkest places in the universe, where stars do not dare to shine.

Author's note: It may have taken two years, but I finally got the third chapter up. More than anything, I wanted to do this to show myself, and my readers that romance isn't the only thing I can write. Happy Halloween . . .