“We’ve arrived!” Alistair informed them over the intercom. Jake dropped his jam sandwich on the table and leapt out of his seat. “Entering atmosphere in thirty seconds!”

“Where are you going?” Advena inquired, easily keeping up with Jake’s pace, even though he was sprinting.

“The airlock. I’m not staying on this ship for a second longer than I have to,” Jake told her. He pressed a few buttons, opening the inner door of the airlock. He jumped inside, Advena practically stepping on his heels.

“This is a little cramped,” she complained. The ship shuddered slightly as it broke through the atmosphere, but the turbulence stopped seconds before there was a slight bump, then stillness.

“Haha!” Jake yelled. He sailed through the air, then landed on the ground with a thump that sounded slightly painful. Advena stepped gracefully down from the ship, relishing the feeling of fresh grass tickling her feet. Jake lay on his back on the soft and springy grass with an enormous smile that seemed bigger than his face. He took a deep breath of fresh air. “Freedom!” he yelled, then started laughing again.

“Hm, I think you’ve spent so long cooped up in that ship that you’ve gone insane,” Advena observed.

“Yup,” Jake quipped. “And you have to live with it for the rest of your life!” She pounced on him playfully, pinning his arms and leg to the ground. She lay on top of him, resting her cheek on his.

“You’re right; it is nice out here. Maybe I should sleep like this...” she stifled a yawn, then settled back down on Jake’s body.

“As long as you’re within groping distance I’m cool with it.” Advena blushed, which made Jake burst out laughing because whenever she did that her face turned slightly green, albeit a very dark shade of green.

“Hmph, would serve you right if your parents walked in on us while you were doing it.”

“Oh yeah,” Jake remembered. “My parents, that was the whole reason we came here. I swear, if they don’t have something nice to say, I will destroy their ship and abandon them here so they can never bother me again!” Garry stepped outside, surprisingly with a melancholy Jeica and a concerned-looking Mozart behind him.

“C’mon Jake, we’ve got a little trek to complete before we get to where our parents are,” he ushered. Advena slid off of him, allowing him to stand up.

“We’ll pick this up where we left off when we go ca –” Jake started, but was cut off when Advena mashed her lips into his.

“Shhhh! That’s our little secret, okay? We won’t tell them until we leave.” Advena pulled away, then let her tail hang loose around his shoulders as they began walking. Wow, she’s really serious about this. She really did not enjoy this journey. Jake grinned to himself and put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer. Jake couldn’t help but notice that Jeica and Mozart’s hands were entwined as they walked. Jake opened his mouth to make a remark about this, but received a slap on the butt courtesy of Advena’s tail. “Leave them be,” she chided him, there was an edge of seriousness to her casual tone however. Jake just smirked at her.

“How come we never hold hands anymore?” Instead of answering, Advena gripped his hand in hers and shuffled her body so she could rest her head on his shoulder.

“I thought you’d never ask,” she said, in much the same manner as a teenage girl would if they were talking to a guy who had just asked them if they wanted to dance at a school ball. They stopped in an empty field. All they could see was a stretch of flat land. No ship, no parents. Garry scratched his head.

“These are the coordinates...” he explained. He held a finger to the small headset. “Hey Alistair, are you sure this is the right place?”

“Yes... (gasp) definitely... (pant)... the right... errgh!” came the interrupted reply. Garry blinked in confusion.

“Alistair?” he asked. “Alistair!” Everyone looked at him when he yelled.

“Ah! It’s... Ooooooooh... it’s okay!” Heavy breathing was heard after this before Alistair finally continued. “The Chestbuster!” The radio cut out.

“Advena, take Garry back. Mozart, take Jeica. I’ll wait here and try to contact my parents,” Jake commanded. There were hesitant nods before the humans mounted the Xenomorphs, who sprinted back to the ship. Jake pulled out his phone and started dialling.

Jeica, Garry, Mozart and Advena burst into the room. There was a fair bit of blood on the walls and floor of the Pilot’s Cabin. Garry’s hand shot up to his mouth and he quickly exited the room. The trio rounded the corner to see Alistair with his eyes half shut, on the floor, propped up in a sitting position against the wall. His shirt had been ripped off, revealing a large scar on his chest, sealed and starting to heal via some Xenomorph resin. Also on his bloodied chest was a freshly hatched Chestbuster that was curled around its host’s neck lovingly. The occupants of the room could hear a small, yet clearly content, purring sound emitting from the creature. They breathed out a sigh of relief.

“Advena, you and Garry get back to Jake. We’ll wait here until Alistair wakes up. His Xenomorph isn’t mature enough to protect him,” Jeica ordered. Advena nodded. As desperate as she was to get back to her mate, she didn’t think she could sprint back like she did getting to the ship. So she and Garry walked side-by-side back to where they’d left him. However, when they got there, they did not see him. Instead, they found a Weyland Industries ship, just starting to take off.

“No!” Advena screeched as she ran towards it, wishing now that she had sprinted there. Then she might have made it. But the ship managed to rise up, slowly gaining momentum until it zoomed away, disappearing into the distance. Advena snatched up Garry and ran as fast as she could back to the ship. She collapsed onto the floor of the airlock, barely managing to press the button to close the door behind her. She wasn’t supposed to run that fast that much. She found herself wishing she had been born as a runner as she lay there panting on the cold, metal floor. Garry stepped past her and rushed into the Pilot’s Cabin.

“We need to go!” he yelled, startling Jeica and Mozart, who may or may not have been about to kiss. Jeica wasn’t dumb enough to question him before she started up the engines. Only when they were rattling out of the atmosphere did she ask what was happening. “Weyland ship took Jake!” Jeica quickly brought the radar to life and found the ship in question. She sped towards it.

“Garry, this pile of junk can barely keep up! I don’t think we’re going to catch them!”

“They have to land some time,” Garry growled.

“So do we...”

Jake peeled his eyes open. What... happened?

“No Glover, experiment first, pound him into the ground with your fists later,” someone said. Jake seemed to remember that voice from somewhere... After a lengthy pause, the voice spoke up again. “Actually, it’s rather interesting. I once said it would be easier to remove it next time, and now we’re about to find out!” More silence. “Well, maybe. The boss might want to see him after that, so he has to be alive for that long before you put that new body of yours to good use.” Finally, Jake’s dazed mind took in the bright white, sterile-looking room. Weyland’s signature colour scheme. And sterile environment? Weyland laboratory. He tried to move his arms, but found he was strapped down to a table. A masked face appeared in the edge of his vision, looking down at him. It was the scientist that removed Advena from him all those years ago. He didn’t go down with the station? Obviously not. In fact, this ship was most likely one of those that was in the station’s hangar at the time. Wait, didn’t he say Glover before? Maybe he’s losing his mind; he was talking to himself before after all. Maybe the guilt of all those innocent lives he ruined had caught up with him. But then there was the possibility of cloning... But then why hadn’t Glover been talking before? Oh no... A large midnight black face appeared on the other side of his vision. A drop of drool landed on Jake’s face. Hm... that appears to be a Praetorian... The Praetorian snarled at him. “That was really disgusting too be honest. You may have a Xenomorph body, but your mind is still human, so start acting like it!” the scientist told him off. So, Glover had been brought back as an Xenomorph... that probably wasn’t good. Jake suddenly felt pressure build up in his chest. “Ooh! It’s ready!” the scientist clapped his hands together in excitement. He picked up a scalpel and set to work on Jake’s conscious body. His fully aware and still feeling body. He creamed as his skin was sliced open and bones were cracked out of the way. His vision swam, then went black as he passed out from the pain.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” the scientist asked, holding up the small glass cylinder that contained the small Chestbuster.

“It’s ugly as fuck,” Glover snarled. He tapped the glass with one of his enormous claws, causing the little creature to screech at him angrily. “Feisty little bastard.” The scientist set it down on the table. “So Bill, you better start healing that wound. Believe it or not, it’s not very fun to kill a dead body.” ‘Bill’ rolled his eyes at the Xenomorph.

“Remember what I said about the boss wanting to see him? Good, then you realise you’re going to have to be a bit more patient.” Glover growled at him, but turned his giant Praetorian body away and stalked out of the room. Bill lazily started to fix up Jake’s body. He healed him just enough that he would eventually fully heal in the long term, just in case the boss wanted him to stay alive. After all, they all wanted to know where the Xenomorph’s safe haven was. It was dangerous to have a colony of potential enemies breeding, and they would have to be eradicated. Bill sat himself down and leaned back, admiring his handiwork. He smirked to himself. He’s gonna wake up screamin’.