?No. We need an autopsy.?

?You’re joking.?He gaped at her.

?No way. You think I’d joke about something like this? We have to make sure how she died.?Ripley’s eyes were steel-hard.

?I told you: she drowned.?He started to slide the body drawer back, only to have her intervene.

?I’m not so sure.?She took a deep breath. ?I want you to cut her open.?

He stared at her in disbelief. ?Listen to me. I think you’re disoriented. Half your system’s still in cryosleep.?

?Look,?she said in a thoroughly no-nonsense tone, ?I have a very good reason for asking this and I want you to do it.?

?Would you care to share this reason??He was very composed.

She hesitated. ?Isn’t it enough that I’m asking??

?No, it is not. ‘Request of close personal friend’ won’t cut it with Company inspectors. You’ve got to do better than that.?He stood waiting, impatient.

?AH right,?she said finally. ?Risk of possible contagion.?

?What kind of ‘contagion’??he snapped.

She was clearly reaching. ?I’m not the doctor. You are.?

He shook his head. ?You’ll have to do better than that.?

?Cholera.?She eyed him squarely. Her determination was remarkable. 41 Alien 3

41

?You can’t be serious. There hasn’t been a case reported in two hundred years. C’mon, tell me another. Never turn down a good laugh in this place. Smallpox, maybe? Dengue fever??

?I am telling you. Cholera. I was part of the combat team that nuked Acheron. They were experimenting with all kinds of mutated bacterial and viral strains in what was supposed to be a safe, closed environment. Maybe you know about some of the Company’s interests. The infection got loose and… spread. It was particularly virulent and there was no effective antidote. Nor could the infection be contained, though the people there tried.?

?So they nuked the place? Seems like a pretty extreme prescription. Of course, we don’t hear much out here, but it seems to me we would have heard about that.?

?Really? I guess you don’t work for the same Company I do. Or maybe you did hear. Your superintendent doesn’t strike me as an especially loquacious kind of guy. He may know all about it and just decided there was no reason to pass the information along.?

?Yeah.?She had him confused, Clemens had to confess. And curious. Was Andrews hiding that particular piece of news? It wasn’t as if he was obligated to keep the prisoners conversant with current events.

But cholera? Mutated strain or not, it still seemed like a pretty thin story. Of course, if she was telling the truth and the little girl’s corpse was infected with something they might not be able to combat…