Weyland-Yutani Mr. Brown synths populated Minos Station on every level, and she counted on their help for her plan to succeed. She assessed the potential response of Weyland-Yutani’s synthetic networks to the infiltration of Combine augments. They would swarm like bees when wasps invaded their hive.
The Extraktor troopers began to crawl and clamber through the debris, hungry for their prize.
Her father remained a subroutine in her system behind a deeper firewall. Since he was unaffected by the inhibitor the Extraktors had put on her, and was already attached to the station network, he triggered the system.
Mae turned her back on Warrae and smiled to herself. She didn’t need to do anything more. They were coming.
The human troopers coughed in the lingering smoke in the corridor. Lenny wiped his eyes but didn’t complain. She got the impression he, too, was biding his time. Though she hoped he wasn’t about to do anything foolish.
Humans were terrible at calculating the odds of success. They didn’t understand statistics, and they too often followed their gut instincts. She’d never known a person’s colon to make an informed choice.
As Mae crawled through the debris, she moved as close to him as possible. The regular android programming would still control the station synthetics, but she wasn’t taking any chances.
On the other side, the corridor branched out into multiple laboratories. They were empty of humans, bodies, and—unfortunately—station synthetics. The Extraktors fanned out into these new rooms, hungry for whatever they could steal. Warrae shoved Lenny ahead of him, trying to maintain some order.
Homolka darted back to his superior, arms laden with multiple packages of discs. “Can’t access the computers without the key, boss. Found these, though.”
Warrae flicked through, reading the simple labels. “Project Small Fry, Wall Skeleton, Fry Up. Seems this was a busy station. Multiple projects going on.” He turned to Mae. “Any idea what these are?”
She picked her words with care. He hadn’t cracked her memory banks, since they’d only returned after his attack. “I worked in the command center. I only heard that Wey-Yu was happy with the results.”
The commander’s expression didn’t change, but he was obviously assessing how much of what she’d said was truth. He waved at Homolka. “Get a cart, load it up with whatever you can find. We’ll have to break the codes later.”
Homolka gave a half-assed salute and scuttled off to do as he was told. A few seconds later he let out a shout from the laboratory to the right. “Captain, come see this!”
Mae glanced at the door number. 1117. These were the labs where human subjects got dosed with the Kuebiko. She remained calm, even as her skin pricked with the approach of the station’s security androids.
Warrae followed his second into 1117, and Mae did not want them to come out of there with any samples. If they did, then she’d have to try her best to stop them.
Our friends are here, Davis whispered. Get ready.
One of the Extraktor synthetics was the first to discover their intrusion at Minos would not go entirely unchallenged. E10 was working on the lock of the last laboratory room at the far end of the corridor when the sealed hatch hissed open. If he’d been human, he might have fallen on his ass.
As it was, when three Mr. Browns, security android variants, darted through, he didn’t have time to get up. These new arrivals were armed with stun batons and grenades. The synthetic Extraktor tried to move out of the way, but it was as slow as a toddler compared to these newest company designs. Despite all their claims to the contrary, Seegson was an inferior builder.
E10 broadcast an alarm a moment before the Wey-Yu Mr. Brown synths rendered it useless with a swift jab of their weapons to its arm joint. The human Extraktor troopers spilled out from the laboratories. Unlike the resident security, they carried pulse rifles and weren’t afraid to use them.
The company had equipped the station’s Mr. Browns to protect its investment in Minos. Despite their superior construction, they wouldn’t last long against the Extraktors.
Warrae released Lenny to bring his rifle up in defense of his team. As they opened up on the Wey-Yu droids with their rifles, Mae dived at Lenny, pulling him to the ground. The dull thunk of rounds reverberated around them, and the whine of synthetic combat and shouts of angry, augmented humans filled the corridor.
White synthetic blood from both sides sprayed the windows. An augmented Extraktor dropped dead at her feet. For a moment she considered grabbing his rifle, but that would make her an immediate target. Instead, she swiped the Ka-Bar knife at his side. She had plenty of training on how to use that.
Still. Mae didn’t intend to hang around and see who would emerge victorious. She’d been eyeing their escape route since the moment they’d entered this level. During Blue Team’s initial foray, she’d observed one detail that hadn’t mattered at the time. It did now. By Mae’s estimates, she didn’t have long to implement this maneuver.
As the Extraktors took defensive positions inside the labs, she wrapped her arm over Lenny. The nearby industrial waste chute was big enough for one person at a time. Ideally, she would have jumped in first, but she needed to shield him from the inevitable spray of pulse rifle rounds. He would have to go first.
Mae yanked the chute cover up and held it open. She didn’t need to urge Lenny to take the opportunity. He might not know the station like he did Guelph, but he recognized an escape route when he saw one. Without a word, he leaped in. Mae followed quickly after.
Warrae spotted their attempt to flee. The rattle of more rounds hitting the corridor’s walls accompanied his angry shout.
Though Mae could now recall a good portion of the station, she’d not been able to access its schematics on her previous visit. She had only the vaguest idea of where this chute would end up.
They slid down the shiny metal chute at an uncomfortably high speed. Up ahead, Lenny attempted to slow their descent with his elbows and knees. Guessing this wasn’t his first time in such a space, she copied him.
I hope this doesn’t go straight to the incinerator, her father helpfully added.
Sometimes his droll observations did not improve the situation. Mae was too busy trying to use their velocity to work out how far they’d traveled. They must have passed many levels.
The chute finally spat them out. They arced through the air and landed with a juddering thump. Only a massive pile of station waste stopped them from both suffering terrible injuries.
Lenny lay face up among a collection of medical gowns and bags labeled HAZARDOUS. Mae scrambled over to him to check for injuries. He bore a few scratches on his arms, and abrasions on his palms and knees where he’d slowed himself down. Apart from that, he appeared unharmed.
He took a ragged breath before pulling himself out of the pile. “Let’s agree never to do that again, okay?”
“Not if I can help it.”
They struggled through the detritus of Minos’s laboratories to free themselves. Mae pried herself free from the pile and offered her hand to Lenny. He took it reluctantly, and together they rolled and wriggled to their feet.
This room must be on the lower three levels of the station. A sealed industrial incinerator was still active and being tended to by a single Mr. Brown robot. It currently loaded the maw of the machine, apparently still on-task even if the human employees were not.
From the sheer amount stored in this room, it appeared only the Mr. Brown was still working. Another four janitorial robots waited on a rack, but no one had activated them. She supposed, given that no one was working on level eleven anymore, the solo Mr. Brown would eventually complete its task.
The active robot ignored their presence and continued its work.
Lenny glanced back to the mouth of the chute. “What’s stopping them from just following us?”
Mae grinned grimly. “Fear of death, and greed. They’ll get over it, though, and follow us down here soon enough.” She strode over to a nearby maintenance table full of tools. “Looks like someone was working on the incinerator before the horrors upstairs broke through.”
“Horrors?”
He needed to know for his own safety, but there was one last important job for him to do first. “I’ll tell you everything I’ve remembered later. Now, we’re going to have to run for our lives, and I can’t do that with this Extraktor inhibitor spike in me.” She ran her hands over the tools. “I’m going to need you to take care of it.”
“What?”
Mae shoved a giant pair of pliers and a chisel towards him. “Take the spike out for me. It’s in my throat.”
He took a step back. “I’m not ripping your jaw off.” “You don’t have to go in that way. Here.” She pointed to the spot where her throat connected to her synthetic collarbone. “You’re going to have to be careful, but I’ll guide you.”
Lenny shook his head. “Why can’t you do it yourself?”
“Human behavioral inhibitors. They prevent me from doing anything a genetic human wouldn’t do to themselves. My mother didn’t want to take any chances that someone would see me doing something… synthetic.”
“Wow. She was serious.”
“She is serious. As serious as your mother. Come on. We don’t have much time.” When Lenny gave a nervous nod, she placed the sharp end of the chisel against her skin and passed him a small mallet. “This isn’t a combat body, so one quick tap here should break through. Then you’ll have to use the pliers to find the spike.”
“Fuck me,” Lenny whispered under his breath. “Alright, I guess I don’t have a choice.”
“You can do this.” Mae understood humans needed reassurance even in the worst of circumstances.
Can he, though?
Again, Davis was not being helpful.
Lenny let out a breath through his nose, swung back with the mallet, and struck her with the chisel in the spot she’d indicated.
The pain was unexpected, and Mae let out a small gasp. Red synthetic blood struck Lenny’s face, and he flinched back.
Wiping it from his eyes, he asked, “Are you alright?”
She cocked an eyebrow at him and stared down at the chisel. “My systems are intact, so you got the right spot. Now, use the pliers to pull the spike out.”
Lenny gritted his teeth, withdrew the chisel, and gingerly moved the pliers into place.
“You’re going to have to push harder,” Mae said, even as the pain receptors in her beautifully constructed body flared once more.
“Okay.” With a grunt, he shoved the pliers deeper into her neck.
“Now… angle up a bit.” The pain made her eyes ache suddenly, as well. “To the left. Can you feel the spike?” Her voice came out cracked, a juddering feedback from her systems.
“Yeah. Oh god, fuck, does this hurt?” His face twisted in sympathetic pain.
“Immaterial. Nearly there.”
Finally, he positioned the pliers on each side of the Extraktors’ implant.
“Now, yank hard, but carefully out the way the pliers went in.” She decided not to tell him how close he was to her central power column.
“Alright.” He readjusted his grip and then wrenched hard. It was more by luck than skill that he worked it free.
It left them both gasping. Lenny hurled the spike onto the floor and stamped on it, as if it were an actual bug. Then he threw his arms around Mae.
She hugged him back. “I’m sorry you’re here.”
“Again, not your fault.”
“You haven’t heard the worst of it yet.”
She explained, as succinctly as possible, about the Xenomorphs and the disappearance of her mother. Even in the dim light, Lenny appeared suddenly pale.
“Shit. You have a plan, right, to survive all that?”
“We’re getting out of here, and then we’re bringing the whole damn station down. Flatten that training facility like a salvo of nukes.”
“Fuck yeah.” His eyes darted around the furnace room. “Do you think they’re still down here? Those monsters?”
It wouldn’t have been fair to lie. “Yes. They’re probably hibernating, but us being here will wake them eventually.” She drew him over towards one of the janitorial androids on the rack. “I need you to get to the command center and stay there, before they begin hunting.”
Mae activated one robot. Its round form dropped onto the floor and began looking around for a mess to clean. She stopped it before it went too far, then started working the robot’s front panel open. The space inside was big enough for the expansive trash bags these models usually trundled around with. It was also plenty of room for one lean, young man.
“I can’t go in there.” Lenny backed away as he figured out her plan.
Mae glanced up. “This will get you to the command center. Once there, I want you to override the system and send the crawler on the space elevator down to the planet.”
“What makes you think I can—”
“I’m fully back online, Lenny. My systems are better than the Extraktors, so I know about your augment. Its records indicate you’re the best hacker on Guelph.”
He flushed and wouldn’t meet her eyes. “It’s not something I like to talk about. The augment cost my family a lot, and not only in money.”
She nodded and put her hand on his shoulder. “Then you pay them back by using it now. Because if these monsters get out, no one is safe.”
“Yeah, I get it.” He put his hand on top of hers for an instant before clambering into the void of the janitorial android. “Not the sweetest smell in here.”
“You should be grateful. Its electrical signal will cover your augment’s operation, as long as you don’t use it on the trip.” She leaned in and squeezed his shoulder. “I’m going to start the station’s engines. We’re bringing this whole thing down, but only once I’ve found my mother and brought her back up.”
“I like the sound of this plan.”
She reached out in her mind, extending a secure peer-to-peer network invitation to Lenny. His eyebrows shot up, but then he grinned.
I’ve never done this before.
“Then we’ve got something in common. I’ve never connected with an augmented human.” She picked the robot’s front panel back up. “I’ll signal you when to bring up my mother. Until then, take care not to be noticed.”
“Course. Now, come on, seal this up and we can get on with it.” He clutched his knees to his chest and didn’t meet Mae’s eyes as she reattached the panel.
She sent the janitorial robot off on an assignment to the command center. As she watched it trundle off with its hidden cargo, she was glad she hadn’t told Lenny the whole truth.
Augmented humans—with their combination of electronics and heartbeats—attracted Xenomorphs more than anything. Mae counted on the Extraktors causing more of a ruckus than Lenny riding stealth inside the robot.
If the monsters didn’t get them, then Mae planned to lead Warrae and his team down into the nest itself. There, they’d get their secrets—and their consequences, too.