Chapter Eight: Internal Comms

Oh great, Ripley thought as she looked at the screen. Great, great, great, that's just fucking great. Gritting her teeth and growling as she kicked the bottom of the console, the resounding thud that resulted made her immediately calm down... well, maybe calm was the wrong word, since now she was worried that one of the Working Joes had heard the sound, but thankfully none of them came to investigate. This was a good thing, since there were really no areas in this room that she could hide in, and she didn't like the idea of having to take on an Android with nothing but a maintenance jack.

This meant that no matter what happened, she had to keep both calm and quiet if she didn't want to end up like that man she had seen back in the corridor, but it was a little difficult to stay calm with all of the lunatic shit that had been happening since arriving on Sevastopol. All she had wanted to do was collect the Nostromo's flight recorder and find out what happened to her mother, but instead she had gotten crazy people, malfunctioning Androids, and that... whatever the hell that thing was that had killed Burke's people.

"Okay, Amanda, think." She said to herself, trying to figure out her next move. "Apollo turned off external communications... so what are your options?"

Since the order to stop external communications had come directly from the station's A.I., there was no way to get around it, at least not from where she was. However, she didn't know where Apollo's interface core was located, nor was it likely that she would be able to access it, so Ripley needed to think of something else. Damn it, if only she had someone with her who knew the station that she could ask for... hey, that's it! External communication was down, but maybe she would still be able to contact someone inside the station.

Scrolling back through the menu on the console in front of her, she was a little worried about alerting more people to her presence, especially after Burke and his people had tried to kill her. But then again, Axel had been sane... mostly, so that meant there had to be at least a few normal people left on Sevastopol. Finally there was some good news as she was able to access internal communications, and as she scanned through the different frequencies, she couldn't help but smile when she heard a familiar voice.

"Hello, is anyone there?" Samuels' voice said. "If anyone can hear this, we need help. Repeat, we need help urgently, please respond."

"Samuels, you're alive!" She happily exclaimed after locking onto the frequency. "I thought you and Taylor... is Taylor with you, did you both make it?"

Finally, something was going right for a change. If she could link up with Samuels, she wouldn't have to worry about the Working Joes any more, since Weyland Yutani models like him were far more advanced, and probably a lot stronger, too. That, and he had been given the radio by Verlaine... but then why hadn't he contacted the Torrens yet?

"Ripley, thank God." Samuels replied. "Taylor, it's Ripley, she made it, too. Yes, Ripley, we both made it, but the radio booster was destroyed in the blast, and Taylor was injured. She was hit by a piece of debris, and I can't move her until I treat and pack the wound. We're at a Transit Hub near the lower entrance to Medical, but the door's jammed, and I won't be able to get in until...

"No, no, no, no, Samuels! Do not leave her alone for even a second." Ripley interrupted. "Everything's gone nuts on this station; Seegson's God damn Androids are killing people!"

Being a Synthetic himself, Samuels was quick to remind her that harming a Human Being was a violation of primary Synthetic programming, and she would have believed him if she hadn't seen it happening with her own eyes, and that wasn't even the worst of it. Beyond saying that the creature onboard Sevastopol was big and lethal, she really didn't know how to describe it. Of course, she probably sounded like a lunatic when she guessed that it could have been some kind of Alien or an illegal experiment, but instead of trying to give him further details, Ripley was using the console to bring up the station's schematics.

"I'm pretty close to the top levels of Medical." She continued, trying to follow the maps. "I'll see if I can find some help for Taylor... you just stay there and protect her no matter what."

"I understand." Samuels replied. "But what should we do if this... creature shows up?"

The only advice she could think of to give him was to hide until it went away, but then she had to quickly press the button to end the communication when she heard what sounded like footsteps coming up the stairs. The steps were getting louder, meaning that whoever was out there was approaching, so Ripley franticly looked around before moving into the only possible hiding place, which was to press herself up against the wall behind the doorframe.

"Apollo and Working Joes." The Android said as if doing a commercial as it reached the top of the stairs. "Working together for a safer, better connected Sevastopol."

She could just barely see it as she peeked around the doorframe; the Working Joe just standing there for the longest time before turning and heading the other way into the room where she had listened to the logged communications. As much as she wanted to stay there and hide, Ripley knew that it was only a matter of time before the Android came to check this room as well, so she came out of hiding and moved toward the stairs as quietly as possible. The Working Joe was focused on inspecting the other room, so she was able to sneak back down the stairs, but from the maps she had seen, the elevator that would take her to the top levels of Medical was on the far side of the communications chamber she had seen earlier.

Ducking behind the doorframe again once when she reached the bottom of the stairs, Ripley tried to figure out the best way to reach the elevator. She could see it, all the way on the other end of the chamber and to the right, looking more like a transit car that would take her over to the SCI/MED Tower, but there were two more Working Joes patrolling the area. The good news was that they seemed to be moving along a set route, so all she had to do was wait for them to be out of the way... but the bad news was that the Android upstairs could now be heard coming closer.

"You always know a Working Joe." It said as it took the first step down.

There was no more time for thinking and planning, so she moved back into the corridor, and crouched down as she entered the communications chamber, ducking down and hiding underneath the first console that she came to. Luckily the patrolling Androids didn't seem to have noticed her, and she waited until the nearest one passed by, before crawling over to the next console and hiding underneath it as well. It was a slow process, made even slower when the third one reached the bottom of the stairs and resumed its normal route as well, but every minute or so she was able to get closer to the transit door.

"Hello, can anyone hear me!?" A new voice yelled from a nearby console. "I need to be put through to Marshall Waits... my daughter's been taken!"

"Log and store communications entry." A Working Joe said as it moved to the console and locked it. "Seegson access only."

"Damn it, there's been an explosion!" Another voice from a different console shouted. "A stabilizer's been blown, is anyone monitoring?!"

One of the other Androids moved to that console to do the same thing the first one had, and as sad as it was to hear all those people's calls for help being locked away, it did give her the distraction that she needed in order to come out of hiding and move up to the transit door. Pushing the button, she expected the doors to immediately open, but this was not the case. Instead, the button just flashed red, and Ripley's mouth ran dry as she realized that the transit car was locked. It was probably meant for only Sevastopol Executives to use, and any moment the Androids were going to return to their regular route, so she took the access tuner off her belt and tried to lock onto the right frequency.

"You really shouldn't be here." One of them said just as she locked on.

It only took a few seconds for the access tuner to change the light to green and make the door open, but now there was a Working Joe with glowing red eyes walking toward her. Standing up and rushing into the car, Ripley pushed the button, and the door was just starting to close, when the white hand reached in, causing the safety sensor to make it open again. With only an instant to think before the Android would be in with her, she did the only thing she could, which was to swing the maintenance jack upward as hard as she could just as the door was opening.

"Why not ask me about Sevastopol safety protocols?" The Android continued. "You and I are going to...

The Working Joe was caught completely off guard; the maintenance jack striking under the chin so hard that it was knocked off its feet, but this blow didn't seem to actually hurt it. The Android started getting up immediately after hitting the floor, but this time the doors had just enough time to close. Then the transit car started moving, leaving the Working Joes behind as it carried her across the bridge toward the SCI/MED Tower. Rushing out the moment the car stopped and the door opened, Ripley was about to try using the access tuner to lock it down so that the Working Joe couldn't follow her, when the light turned red on its own.

"Unauthorized security breach detected." The automated voice said over the intercom. "All transit shut down by order of Apollo."

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she realized how much it sounded like this Apollo computer was intentionally trying to block her from doing, well... anything at all. However, stopping the transit car had also prevented the Working Joes back in Communications from following her, so it was one of those give and take kind of deals. The good news this time though, was that the car had taken her exactly where she needed to be; pointed out by the painted sign above the nearest door that read:

SAN CRISTOBAL MEDICAL