Her mother’s voice stopped Mae in her tracks. For 0.265 of a second, Mae considered that her mind had fractured and she was lost again.
“Mae? I can’t…” Zula Hendricks’s voice cracked, then she composed herself. “Mae, I’m so proud of you for coming back. Rook told me you had some problem with the splinters and the protection protocols?”
“I’ve cleared the station synthetic network of the remains of Kaspar, so we have full access to the station and the buildings on the planet. This is a much more efficient way to communicate.” There was no mistaking Rook’s gravelly tone. “I’ve missed you, Mae. Are you alright?”
The third lowest level was warm and abandoned by humans—at least genetic ones. She hastily found a closet and shut herself inside. Patching into the station’s synthetic network was like finally going into the warm embrace of family. It was a lot to process, but her synthetic core was more capable of doing so than a human one.
Not only was Zula Hendricks still breathing, but Rook had reached Minos again. She determined the three of them would have a hell of a reunion. For now, though, her words were for her mother.
“Mom? Rook? Is that really both of you?”
“It is, hon. Are you alright?”
“Hanging in there.” Rook’s reply.
Mae held back a whoop of delight. “I’m fine. I’m here on Minos. How are the Jackals? Captain Shipp? Lieutenant Ackerman?”
Zula Hendricks’s voice came out thin and tired. “We’re… well, we’re fewer than we were. Lost some good people down here. Olivia’s still with us. We’re a bit banged up, but alive. We’ve had access to the company’s vehicles down here. So, we’ve been running a lot, trying to keep ahead of the Xenos. Last few days, they’ve been hot on our tail. I think we’re the last humans around that they can use for their nest. Makes them… motivated.”
“Then it’s time to leave.” Mae pressed her hand against her eyes. “I have a friend, Lenny. He’s working with Rook right now on getting the crawler functioning again. I need you all to get to the elevator as soon as you can.”
Zula was silent for a moment. “We’re in a tricky spot right now, but—yeah, we’ll try our best.”
Resting her head against the metal door, Mae croaked out, “I’m sorry I took so long. Rook triggered my protection protocols, and it took me a while to get myself back.”
Rook remained quiet during this mother and daughter reunion, but broke in for a moment. “I did as asked.”
“I understood, Rook. And Mae, you don’t need to apologize either.” She paused, and her voice became stern. “Now, what’s your plan to level this place?”
Something creaked outside. Mae pressed her ear against the door, trying to distinguish if it was a monster or an Extraktor. “The Fury is still on executive lockdown. So, my objective is to bring the entire station crashing down onto those training grounds. By my calculations, that’s better than a nuclear bomb.”
“What about blowing the elevator cable instead?”
Mae understood why her mother asked. It sounded like a simpler solution. However, it wouldn’t be enough. “Even if I cut it above geostationary orbit, the station would remain intact. The cable itself would burn up in the atmosphere rather than doing damage to the training facility. I have to aim Minos at it deliberately.”
Her mother repeated this explanation to someone else in the room with her, most likely Olivia Shipp. “We can get behind that. Should wipe them all out. Can’t have this Kuebiko concept spread around. The queen made good use of her human zombies.”
Red Mae’s memories were hers now, too. “I understand. I have a few hostiles up here to worry about, but I know you can handle them. There aren’t a lot left. I need you and all the survivors to get up here and run to the Fury. My friend is unlocking the umbilical, so we can at least pull away.”
“I can guide you past them,” Rook broke in.
“Good. We have ground transport. Getting through might be tough, but we’ll find a way.”
They’d survived this long, so Mae didn’t doubt it. “When you reach the space elevator, the crawler should be waiting for you.”
“Alright, then.” Her voice softened again. It was the tone Zula only used when they were alone, and rarely even then. “You have to promise me you’ll be there when we arrive on the station.”
What use were a synthetic’s promises?
As good as a genetic human’s, her father murmured.
“I promise, Mother. See you on the other side.”
Zula Hendricks let out a “Oorah,” and cut the connection.
Now she and Rook were alone. “A remarkable bond, Mae. Makes me wonder for the future of the synthetic people.” His tone was melancholy and distant. “Go complete your mission. I’ll be here.”
“Keep your head on a swivel,” Mae said. “I want to hear all about the Blackstar and what happened. Those are memories I haven’t got back.”
“And so you shall.” Rook slipped out of the network.
Mae eased the door open and slipped back into the corridor. The last staircase down to the engine room lay ahead. However, her calculations on Captain Warrae’s pursuit indicated he might be closer than was comfortable. Searching along the network, she found several security synths still on their racks. They were fully functional and charged, so Mae set them loose. They’d been armed with electric prods, but they would be up against pulse rifles. The best she could hope for was that they would slow her pursuers.
The Wey-Yu synthetics slid down off the racks and marched back the way she’d come. Mae slipped past them and continued down the stairs.
When she emerged from the stairwell, she was now only one level above the station’s engines. It was immediately apparent that the Xenomorphs had taken over this level. The air was thick and moist—not normal for engineering uses. Curving seams of resin hung from the ceilings and walls, reshaping everything from a human facility into something fit for monsters. The resin glistened in the emergency lighting, and there was a faint alkaline odor.
She stepped carefully, moving at a steady pace and mindful not to touch anything. Researchers had not extensively studied the nature of Xenomorph polymer, but it might conduct tremors to the monsters themselves. So far, luckily, nothing stirred. After overwhelming all the humans on the station, the Xenos must have gone into hibernation.
They had sealed a safety hatch open with resin, and beyond it were the maze of catwalks that surrounded the reactors and engines. Minos was a station with her own navigation controls. Smaller than most of the processing rigs and mining stations like Guelph, she only needed to be large enough to act as counterweight to the elevator.
Stabilizers kept Minos in orbit, but the massive engines that brought her here were silent. It was Mae’s mission to change that.
From the catwalk, it was impressive. The engines took up two stories, while below them the smaller orbitals triggered only when Minos threatened to fall out of its safe zone. If she ignited the engines and set their course for the bottom of the space elevator, they would crash spectacularly. However, someone would have to keep the station AI, Kaspar, from altering the trajectory.
You are guilty but relieved, then guilty you are relieved. Davis sounded pleased at her complexity. You know your mother needs you alive. Either Lenny or Rook will have to fall with Minos.
Running along the walkway, Mae didn’t answer. She was already more concerned with how much resin there was in this massive chamber. Ovomorphing must have occurred, and that meant somewhere around here lurked a second queen.
The walls dripped with moisture, and soon enough, more horrors. As Mae worked her way around the catwalk towards the engine ignition station, she discovered the fate of the employees of Minos. They hung from the walls, limp and long dead. Encased in resin, they’d died to birth more drones. Every chest lay exploded from within, while their dried internal organs hung over their stomachs. Rows of empty Xenomorph eggs rested at their feet.
One face was familiar but did not trigger an ounce of regret. The Xenos had taken their revenge on Station Chief Rolstad. He stood encased in resin, and his face wore a surprised and horrified expression as it lay against his shoulder. The explosive exit the xenomorph had made from his chest left his ribs splayed open, his internal organs pooling and rotted at his feet. He’d been part of the company machine and must have thought himself immune from the horrors others experienced. Mae hoped his last thoughts were terror-filled, like the others he condemned to join the colony.
Scientists, workers, and finally even the infected humans under the planetary queen’s command were all turned to the purposes of the hive. The station chief was not exempt.
She turned away, to concentrate on her task of saving all the humans she could. With the information from Red Mae, she recalled the queen they’d encountered. The number of available hosts aboard the station must have triggered the birth of a second queen.
If they were working together, or separately, it didn’t matter in the end. Both were deadly, and any queen nearby would perceive Mae as a threat if she got too close. That kind of Xenomorph possessed intelligence beyond a mere drone. She would not spare any synthetic in her presence. Mae needed to move fast.
As she worked her way around the circular catwalk, a voice echoed after her. “Bioweapons? You really weren’t lying, after all.”
Warrae and his team emerged from a side corridor up ahead. She counted more troopers than she would have liked, though it seemed only one completely synthetic Extraktor had survived the station android attack she’d arranged for them.
It didn’t matter. She had a second army at her back.
Mae’s eyes narrowed. Being generous, she gave them a second warning. “You should go back, Warrae. Board your ship and get the hell away from Minos. It’s only death that lives down here.”
“And the Combine is quite willing to market that.” He examined their surroundings, probably trying to calculate his own profit share.
Homolka raised his pulse rifle. “We don’t need her anymore, correct, sir?”
“Yes, Sergeant, that’s true. She’s surplus goods. Open fire.”
His sergeant didn’t need any further urging. He poured his rage at her with his pulse rifle. The rounds struck all around Mae as she dove for cover. Aiming at her, Homolka wouldn’t hit anything vital in the chamber. She’d been expecting it. Hoping for it, actually.
The rattle of gunfire was more than enough to wake the hive to immediate action. She flattened herself down on the steel grating of the floor as the Xenomorphs uncurled around her. Their hisses and snarls echoed down the catwalk. The Extraktors’ combination of human heartbeats and the flicker of electrical impulses worked like chum in the water for the monsters.
“What the fuck?” Homolka screamed, his voice punctuated by the sound of more gunfire. This wasn’t precise or accurate shooting. For all their swagger, the Extraktors only dealt with frightened humans and synthetics. The Xenomorphs were far beyond their comprehension and skill level.
Mae didn’t stop to look. She pushed to her feet and ran on, though the screams of the Extraktors were sweet to her ears. They’d wanted Minos’s secrets? Well, now they’d found the mother lode. They didn’t sound happy about it, though.
She darted around opened eggs, her gaze fixed on the blinking lights of the engine ignition station. It waited just ahead, on a platform that extended towards the center of the vast room.
When something snapped around Mae’s leg and dragged her down, at first she thought it was a Xeno. Tumbling to her knees, Mae glanced back. Warrae, for all his faults, was a determined creature. He must have abandoned all his troops to pursue her. However, Xenomorph blood splattered over him. It tore deep holes in the synthetic skin of his face and torso. Mae knew the pain of that from her databases. His ability to remain functional meant Warrae must’ve had his pain receptors severed during the augmentation process.
Mae kicked him in the face repeatedly, but he crawled up her length, refusing to let go. His not-inconsiderable weight pressed down on her. Once again, the lack of a combat body did her a disservice. He straddled Mae, dripping white circulatory fluid over her face.
“Let me remind you what you are,” Warrae hissed. He pinned one of her arms to the ground and reached for her jaw with his free hand. He planned on ripping it loose again. He wanted to make her suffer while shaming her for her synthetic form. Of all the emotions Mae had experienced so far, that was not one she’d ever summoned up. She would not allow him to hurt her like that again.
Instead, she latched onto his ear with her free hand and wrenched as hard as her strength would allow. At the same time, Mae shoved one knee into his stomach and pushed her other foot against his thigh. He might not be able to feel pain, but apparently he still howled in outrage. Mae jerked her hips and threw him off her.
She leaped to her feet and drew the Ka-Bar she’d stolen earlier. It wasn’t much, but it would do for Warrae. She wanted to show him what an armed synthetic could do. One that could fight back.
Part of Mae wanted to play with him, slice him in multiple ways, make him bleed and panic. However, she did not have the time for it. She kept him close and made it quick.
Warrae foolishly reached for her, and she slashed out with her knife. The cut to his wrist seemed to come as a surprise. He bled white like all those he’d tormented. He must not have known that she could injure him. He expected her to be bound by the same rules as other synths.
Mae smiled. Behind him, the Xenos were tearing his Extraktors apart. They took those capable of hosting alive and screaming. She wanted Warrae to know he’d lost.
“You’re the last. The last piece-of-shit Extraktor to die of greed.” She kept her knife moving with one hand while protecting her face and neck with the other.
In this moment, he was a small man. Only now did the face he wore reflect any emotion, and it was fear. He tried to bat away Mae’s attacks, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him in close instead. In that intimate embrace, she drove her knife into his neck, severing his central column.
Warrae collapsed to the floor, gasping and immobilized but still alive. She stared down at him for a final moment, then turned and left him to the monsters. The Xenomorphs stalked towards him, their feet striking the catwalk like iron hooves. He watched them come and screamed, over and over.
Mae enjoyed his final drawn-out bellow when it came.
She glanced down at the mix of blood on her hands. White and red. Mae considered. She’d killed Xenomorphs—plenty of them—but this was a human. Or at least, he had been. She should feel something, but no emotion came. Her father was silent.
Up ahead was the engine ignition station. She peered down the many stories into the heat exchange and vents. The Xenomorphs had built up a lot more resin structures there. The queen, laying her eggs, was just visible against the warm glow of the orbital thrusters’ power sources. She’d nestled herself in good and tight. The shapes were beautiful, and the movements of the queen were elegant. For all that they did, there was something fascinating and compelling about them.
Mae felt worse about destroying the Xenomorphs than she did about Warrae. The monsters were only doing what they needed to. It was people that took them and tried to exploit their power. Humanity’s worst impulses created this situation.
Mae? Careful now. You need no more data on them.
Synthetics and Xenomorphs, they were both only obeying their programming.
Remember Zula. She’s depending on you.
Mae pulled herself away from the view of the queen and moved to the control panel. After punching in the coordinates for the training facility, she ignited the long-dormant engines. They roared to life, as if they’d been waiting for this moment. The power of them shook the chamber, rattling loose pieces of resin and almost knocking her off her feet. Below, the Xenomorph queen screamed. Minos’s alarms blared and a calm voice announced:
“Warning! Trajectory will result in planetary impact. Shutting down all engines. Safety Protocol Three-Delta.”
Mae reached out to Lenny in the command center. She hadn’t anticipated that the station’s systems would still be in such good order.
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. The AI is overriding my instructions. I need you to stay in the command center and keep Kaspar from interfering.
She’d brought him to Minos to die. She and Zula would survive, but the man who rescued her from the darkness would perish.
It’s alright. Rook’s words came through the network. The boy deserves to live. I’ve had my turn. Sorry we won’t get the chance for a proper reunion, Mae Hendricks. I’ll keep overriding Kaspar’s safety measures. You get to the space elevator. I’m sending Lenny there now.
Rook—I don’t know what to say. All the memories of their time together raced through her mind. Rook was the one synthetic who came closest to understanding who she was. In the end, she hadn’t needed to hide from him. He felt like… family. Mae wanted to know so much more. Her mind was a blank when it came to how she’d been ejected into space. He possessed all the remaining answers, but not the network capacity to share it. He held the faith while she was lost. One more information dump, and her core might crack. Rook would have to keep his mysteries.
No one ever does. Now hit those switches again and keep moving. I’d hate for this to be a waste.
Mae’s bespoke eyes blurred with tears as she flicked the switches and ran.