?What is it??Aaron asked her. He prodded the husk with his foot.

?It’s shed its skin, molted somehow.?She looked sharply up the tunnel. ?This is a new one. I’ve never seen this before. Not at this stage of development.?

?What’s it mean??Dillon muttered.

?Can’t say. No precedent. One thing we can be sure of, though. It’s bigger now.?

?How much bigger??Aaron joined her in peering up the dark passageway.

?That depends,?Ripley murmured.

?On what??

?On what it’s become.?She started forward, holding her light out in front of her as she pushed her way past him. 145

145

Something inside her urged her on, making her increase rather than slow the pace. She hardly paused long enough to shine her torch down the side passages that branched off the main tunnel. The discovery of the alien husk had charged her with the same sort of relentless determination that had enabled her to survive the devastation of Acheron. Determination, and a growing anger. She found herself thinking of Jonesy. No one wonder she and the cat had survived the Nostromo. Curiosity and a talent for survival were two of the skills they’d shared.

Jonesy was gone now, a victim of the time distortions made necessary by space travel. No more cat-nightmares for him. Only she was left to deal with life, and all the memories.

?Slow up.?Aaron had to break into a jog to catch up with her. He held up the map, then gestured ahead. ?Almost there.?

She looked at him. ?I hope this was worth the climb. What happened to all the damn lifts in this place??

?You kidding? Deactivated when the installation was closed down. Why would a bunch of prisoners need to be in this sector anyway??He started forward, taking the lead.

They walked another hundred meters before the tunnel opened up into a much larger passageway, one wide and high enough to accommodate vehicles as well as men. The assistant superintendent stopped next to the far wall, holding his torch out to illuminate a sign welded to the metal.

TOXIC WASTE STORAGE

THIS CHAMBER HERMETICALLY SECURED

NO ACCESS WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION

rating B-8 or Higher Required 146

Alan Dean Foster

?Well, well. What do we have here??For the first time in days Ripley allowed herself to feel a twinge of hope.

?There’s more than a dozen of these scattered around the facility.?Aaron was bending to study the detailed inscription below the plate. ?This is the closest one to our living quarters.? He tapped the wall with his torch and sparks dribbled to the floor.

?They were gonna shove a lot of heavy-duty waste in here. Refining by-products, that sort of thing. Some of these are full and permanently sealed, others partially filled. Cheaper, easier, and safer than stuffing the junk into drums and dumping it out in space.